Re: The Glorious Championship! [S3G5] [Round Three: The Epigen Center]
06-01-2012, 03:49 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Anomaly.
A parade of humiliation. A long line of defeats. Utter enslavement to moronity. A drawn-out coronation as Fate's bitch.
All of these described the situation in which Gaurinn had inexplicably found himself today. Or not today. Frankly, it was impossible to tell if time even existed anymore. Even space had given up for a moment. The entire universe had apparently unanimously decided to make Gaurinn out to be the fool. He was supposed to be a soldier. Fighting was his job, and he'd have liked to think he was damned good at it.
Unfortunately, being damned good at something means nothing when you're tethered to an idiot who soon becomes a virtually brain-dead zombie. He'd been defeated by a goddamned laser pointer. Every possible chance of alliance that had shown its face was promptly defeated by the fact that he had no mobility, and hardly any ability to control the murderous half-corpse that was once Cailean. Even electricity wasn't working very well anymore.
"Cailean... Let it go. It's gone, okay?" In spite of everything, Gaurinn still felt a vague sense of pity for his rotting companion, who was quite adamant about finding the magical disappearing red light. He'd once merely been a slightly-annoying, yet mostly reasonable imbecile, but events no one could really understand had reduced him to this... thing. He wondered if there was anything left of him that could be salvaged. But moreover, he wondered if there was a way to attain his own freedom.
"Wait," he said to an unlistening Cailean. "We're in a goddamned laboratory. A goddamned secret laboratory. Maybe there's something here that can help one or both of us. You don't have any idea what the hell I'm saying. Are you even listening?"
Cailean was not. He seemed content in gnawing on some pipes lining the wall, having little success in breaking through.
"Cailean, I, uh. I think I saw something red and shiny going that way." Gaurinn pointed down the corridor. To even his own surprise, he wasn't lying. A red warning light had managed to illuminate itself sometime in the past few seconds, accompanied by a quiet, but somehow still grating alarm.
His daze was broken by the ringing of the phone. He shook his head as the moment slipped away into nothingness, then begrudgingly answered.
"This had better be important. I don't have time for you, whoever you are."
"Lucky VII speaking. I'm terribly sorry for interrupting you, sir, but it has come to our attention that the entire team sent to kill the aliens has relocated to the main lobby."
Mr. Clemens's eyebrow gradually furrowed. "Are you saying, 'Lucky VII', that the entire HazMat team has decided to ignore their orders?"
"Actually, sir, a large number of your employees have decided to do the same. The employees know as Cailean and Gaurinn are still on C-level, but they're no longer out of dan-"
"I don't care. Let the aliens have them, for all I care. I want you to make it clear to all of those employees that if they don't return to their posts, immediately, they're all fired. Understand?"
There was no response, except for a sudden alarm sounding across the building. Typical.
Except for the aliens. To Gaurinn's moderate dismay, a number of shambling figures appeared from seemingly nowhere to clog up the endless network of corridors. They looked like they might have once been Epigen employees, minus the fact that their heads were gone, replaced by some... things. He didn't really know what to call them besides that. Insectoid-looking things with numerous excessively-sharp appendages melded into the host's spinal cord. They didn't even have the decency to have eyes. On a normal day, Gaurinn might have been slightly unsettled by this, coupled with the numerous insectoid growths and appendages emerging haphazardly from the humans' bodies.
This was not a normal day. Gaurinn hit them with a heavy dose of electricity, blowing them off of the headless bodies, which quickly slumped to the ground. He'd already had to deal with several of these things. He could probably do this all day.
No, that wasn't true at all. He'd been hiding it, but he was starting to get extremely tired. He'd been making heavy use of electricity for a long time, and hadn't even had anything to eat except for a few inadvertent flecks of pancake.
Gaurinn continued to steer Cailean forward, looking for signs of any strange machinery that he could hopefully keep the zombie from destroying. Honestly he wasn't sure why they would have a convenient un-undeadifier or a magical separation device, but honestly he'd be willing to believe anything. Maybe he could just find a really big knife and cut himself out. If separation from Cailean could kill him, it probably would have already.
"Cailean, I don't see anything remotely useful here. This is a laboratory, there should be something here."
"Liiiiiiitteee is heeeeerrreee. Caaaaaatsh."
Gaurinn sighed. "Cailean, I want to help you, but I don't think that's possible. These lights aren't going to lead us anywhere interesting, Cailean. Can we go a different way?"
Cailean looked confused. "Liiiiiiiite."
"Dammit, Cailean. Look, just... keep trying to catch that light. You'll get it eventually."
A few minutes passed, very few of the alien parasite things showing up. A bit concerning in itself - what threat did they even pose? Considering the fact that they'd needed some kind of hazmat team just to take them on, Gaurinn thought there would be more danger than this.
And more like... that, he thought, as the pair turned another corner and found an enormous machine looming over them. It didn't look to be activated, but that didn't help the fact that it was surrounded by the alien-zombie things, much more heavily mutated than their counterparts elsewhere.
"Okay, look, this is not a good place to be in. Cailean, I want you to listen to me. Don't go in there."
"Deeelliiiishuuuuss..." Cailean began edging toward the machine.
"Cailean, if they see us they'll kill us. Don't do it."
He got a response in the form of a horribly loud screech from above, as one of the aliens dropped onto Cailean's head. Gaurinn felt vaguely ill.
A parade of humiliation. A long line of defeats. Utter enslavement to moronity. A drawn-out coronation as Fate's bitch.
All of these described the situation in which Gaurinn had inexplicably found himself today. Or not today. Frankly, it was impossible to tell if time even existed anymore. Even space had given up for a moment. The entire universe had apparently unanimously decided to make Gaurinn out to be the fool. He was supposed to be a soldier. Fighting was his job, and he'd have liked to think he was damned good at it.
Unfortunately, being damned good at something means nothing when you're tethered to an idiot who soon becomes a virtually brain-dead zombie. He'd been defeated by a goddamned laser pointer. Every possible chance of alliance that had shown its face was promptly defeated by the fact that he had no mobility, and hardly any ability to control the murderous half-corpse that was once Cailean. Even electricity wasn't working very well anymore.
"Cailean... Let it go. It's gone, okay?" In spite of everything, Gaurinn still felt a vague sense of pity for his rotting companion, who was quite adamant about finding the magical disappearing red light. He'd once merely been a slightly-annoying, yet mostly reasonable imbecile, but events no one could really understand had reduced him to this... thing. He wondered if there was anything left of him that could be salvaged. But moreover, he wondered if there was a way to attain his own freedom.
"Wait," he said to an unlistening Cailean. "We're in a goddamned laboratory. A goddamned secret laboratory. Maybe there's something here that can help one or both of us. You don't have any idea what the hell I'm saying. Are you even listening?"
Cailean was not. He seemed content in gnawing on some pipes lining the wall, having little success in breaking through.
"Cailean, I, uh. I think I saw something red and shiny going that way." Gaurinn pointed down the corridor. To even his own surprise, he wasn't lying. A red warning light had managed to illuminate itself sometime in the past few seconds, accompanied by a quiet, but somehow still grating alarm.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Mr. Clemens sat in his needlessly-large office chair, staring out at the wall as if it weren't there. For a brief moment, everything that his career had been leading to was realized. He could see it all. Epigen was his, and it was beautiful. He stopped worrying about employee loyalty, if only momentarily. All that seemed insignificant compared to the vast, finely-tuned machine that was Epigen. Every tiny, insignificant employee played a role in the grand scheme, and it all came back to him. It was perfect. He didn't even think it odd that dozens of employees had suddenly congregated together in the lobby.His daze was broken by the ringing of the phone. He shook his head as the moment slipped away into nothingness, then begrudgingly answered.
"This had better be important. I don't have time for you, whoever you are."
"Lucky VII speaking. I'm terribly sorry for interrupting you, sir, but it has come to our attention that the entire team sent to kill the aliens has relocated to the main lobby."
Mr. Clemens's eyebrow gradually furrowed. "Are you saying, 'Lucky VII', that the entire HazMat team has decided to ignore their orders?"
"Actually, sir, a large number of your employees have decided to do the same. The employees know as Cailean and Gaurinn are still on C-level, but they're no longer out of dan-"
"I don't care. Let the aliens have them, for all I care. I want you to make it clear to all of those employees that if they don't return to their posts, immediately, they're all fired. Understand?"
There was no response, except for a sudden alarm sounding across the building. Typical.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Gaurinn's job of directing Cailean was made much simpler by the prevalence of needless red warning lights. Each time Cailean approached one, he'd shoot it out and direct his zombified compatriot toward the next one. He kind of hoped he wouldn't run into any HazMats down here, although they seemed to have disappeared around the same time that physics did. No one to stop them now, he thought.Except for the aliens. To Gaurinn's moderate dismay, a number of shambling figures appeared from seemingly nowhere to clog up the endless network of corridors. They looked like they might have once been Epigen employees, minus the fact that their heads were gone, replaced by some... things. He didn't really know what to call them besides that. Insectoid-looking things with numerous excessively-sharp appendages melded into the host's spinal cord. They didn't even have the decency to have eyes. On a normal day, Gaurinn might have been slightly unsettled by this, coupled with the numerous insectoid growths and appendages emerging haphazardly from the humans' bodies.
This was not a normal day. Gaurinn hit them with a heavy dose of electricity, blowing them off of the headless bodies, which quickly slumped to the ground. He'd already had to deal with several of these things. He could probably do this all day.
No, that wasn't true at all. He'd been hiding it, but he was starting to get extremely tired. He'd been making heavy use of electricity for a long time, and hadn't even had anything to eat except for a few inadvertent flecks of pancake.
Gaurinn continued to steer Cailean forward, looking for signs of any strange machinery that he could hopefully keep the zombie from destroying. Honestly he wasn't sure why they would have a convenient un-undeadifier or a magical separation device, but honestly he'd be willing to believe anything. Maybe he could just find a really big knife and cut himself out. If separation from Cailean could kill him, it probably would have already.
"Cailean, I don't see anything remotely useful here. This is a laboratory, there should be something here."
"Liiiiiiitteee is heeeeerrreee. Caaaaaatsh."
Gaurinn sighed. "Cailean, I want to help you, but I don't think that's possible. These lights aren't going to lead us anywhere interesting, Cailean. Can we go a different way?"
Cailean looked confused. "Liiiiiiiite."
"Dammit, Cailean. Look, just... keep trying to catch that light. You'll get it eventually."
A few minutes passed, very few of the alien parasite things showing up. A bit concerning in itself - what threat did they even pose? Considering the fact that they'd needed some kind of hazmat team just to take them on, Gaurinn thought there would be more danger than this.
And more like... that, he thought, as the pair turned another corner and found an enormous machine looming over them. It didn't look to be activated, but that didn't help the fact that it was surrounded by the alien-zombie things, much more heavily mutated than their counterparts elsewhere.
"Okay, look, this is not a good place to be in. Cailean, I want you to listen to me. Don't go in there."
"Deeelliiiishuuuuss..." Cailean began edging toward the machine.
"Cailean, if they see us they'll kill us. Don't do it."
He got a response in the form of a horribly loud screech from above, as one of the aliens dropped onto Cailean's head. Gaurinn felt vaguely ill.