Re: The Phenomenal Fracas! (GBS2G6): [Round Four: The Warped Edifice]
03-06-2012, 03:35 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Anomaly.
God
dammit
There was no avoiding it. Other than on the off-chance that some crazy muderous happenstance had just happened to coincide with their arrival, Eureka had obviously gotten herself into significant trouble once again. Could she have been the murderer? No, that was impossible. Eureka wasn't the type to kill anyone so much as run away from danger and maybe complain about it or yell at him for screwing something up as he quite frequently did. But then why was the black sludge here? Even then, he had specifically sent her to have the Malevolence's tentacle removed before it caused any further harm. She had been a little spacey when they last met, but she certainly hadn't gone insane. Something must have gone wrong when the pirates attacked.
Syvex studied the contents of the bottle still tightly clutched in his claws. A little less than half remained. Maybe, maybe its use could be enough to destroy the Malevolence entirely. But then she'd have a big gaping hole where there was decidedly not supposed to be one, and she could just as easily bleed to death after its removal. Whatever, he'd think of something. Wasn't much sense in worrying about that when he didn't even know if she had gone insane and murderous or not, and when he had no idea where she even was.
He'd have to find her. The door had been shut and, as he quickly discovered, locked. Conversely, it was made of fairly normal wood, and, frankly, when one is a 700-pound shadow snake, and especially a 700-pound shadow snake who is pissed off about being trapped in a small room, doors don't pose that much of a problem. As such, the locking mechanism was quickly dislodged from the rest of the door in a spray of splinters, and the door swung uselessly open. The trail of sludge led back toward the bodies, around which a large number of under-dwellers had gathered. The trail of sludge unfortunately didn't really exist other than around the bodies, so he'd have to find another lead elsewhere.
Maybe she had been taken to the under-dwellers' "god" at some point. He figured it was worth a shot. As such, he charged past the crowd, ignoring their outcries, along the path that had taken him from "Xiuhcoatl"'s chamber, and back into the city's central building. He managed to find his way back to the chamber (assisted by the fact that it was fairly close to the entrance), and, as it happened, directly into Alm, who froze in the middle of her conversation with another woman, her expression very quickly growing angry.
"You... are supposed.. to be in... your room!"
"Yeah, I know. I broke the lock. Now step aside. I need to speak with your 'god' immediately."
"That is... unacceptable... return to your room... at once..." Alm looked ready to use force if necessary.
Syvex held up the bottle. "You really don't want to make me use this. I'm not here to hurt anyone. There's someone I need to find before something worse happens. Now, out of the way!"
Alm failed to comply, instead forcefully taking him by the arms, a gesture which, admittedly, works better if the subject doesn't have more than can actually be held. Syvex mustered what little strength he could with the power-reduction of the Underlands and discharged a weak burst of dark energy into Alm's side, too weak to cause any singificant inury. She momentarily dropped back, clutching her side in pain.
"I'm sorry. You're only doing your job, but there are more important things at stake here." Without a word of acknowledgement for the very-shocked Kahsh, Syvex threw the door open and burst into "Xiuhcoatl"'s throne room. The bright light within left him essentially blind, of course, but he could very clearly hear "Xiuhcoatl" talking in a frantic and distinctly ungodlike manner.
"...like I said, I don't know that! It's O5-level clearance! Anyone who tries to access it without permission dies a horrible death! Memetic kill agent or something."
"...Who are you talking to?" the serpent questioned.
A vague whisper forced itself into Syvex's mind, though as little as he could see it might as well have just been someone talking quietly. "This does not concern you. Leave at once."
"...Muriego, or Laguna or whatever? I thought you tended to keep out of our way. Finally taking action? Whatever, I don't care."
"If you wish to keep your life, you will leave, serpent."
"I don't even know what you can do, but if you could just kill me so easily you would've done it long before now. Look, I'm not even here to interfere right now. Do you know where Eureka is or not?"
"The cloth mage is no longer here. She was taken to her room. Now leave."
"No. 'Xiuhcoatl', or whatever your name is since you're pretty obviously a fake. Do you know where she might've gone?"
"No... No, I don't. Get the hell out of my throne room!"
"Alright, alright. Just so you know, someone out there is murdering the under-dwellers, so I'd suggest actually doing something about it when you two are done making out."
Syvex left through the door, immediately being confronted by a much larger group of under-dwellers than he had left. They looked to be quite angry with him, a big change considering the usual passiveness.
"Um... Xiuhcoatl isn't seeing anyone right now. Seriously, don't go in there." Syvex didn't want an uproar over their false god when he was trying to find Eureka. "I have spoken to the great Xiuhcoatl, and it is his will that I continue to search for Eureka without being disturbed. If any of you know where she is, I would very much like to know. Alm, sorry about the whole shooting you thing. I did what i had to."
One of the more twisted-looking under-dwellers stepped forward on uneven legs. "Saw a figure... entering north tower... might be... who you are... looking for," it intoned with the larger of its mouths.
Attempting to not be slightly repulsed, Syvex slithered past the crowd and out of the temple. A few minutes later, what was left of the group noticed him re-entering.
"Which one is the north tower, exactly?"
"...big lizard thing, completely indestructible. Adapts to everything we throw at it. Look, there are thousands of these things. I can't tell you about all of them! I don't even know about all of them! Let me go and I'll tell them your story."
A brief period of silence passed before Saenger kept talking, but Beringer had heard enough. Face burning red, he switched his communication channel at once.
"Agent Korsikov? I don't have time to talk. Saenger's revealing SCP secrets to someone, I don't know who. Get your task force in there and neutralize him at once. I don't care what it takes. I don't care if you take the whole damn undercity down. The experiment is over! According to him, a number of potential SCPs have appeared in there, at least one of which he seemed to think could be Keter-level. Be careful down there. Now go!"
God
dammit
There was no avoiding it. Other than on the off-chance that some crazy muderous happenstance had just happened to coincide with their arrival, Eureka had obviously gotten herself into significant trouble once again. Could she have been the murderer? No, that was impossible. Eureka wasn't the type to kill anyone so much as run away from danger and maybe complain about it or yell at him for screwing something up as he quite frequently did. But then why was the black sludge here? Even then, he had specifically sent her to have the Malevolence's tentacle removed before it caused any further harm. She had been a little spacey when they last met, but she certainly hadn't gone insane. Something must have gone wrong when the pirates attacked.
Syvex studied the contents of the bottle still tightly clutched in his claws. A little less than half remained. Maybe, maybe its use could be enough to destroy the Malevolence entirely. But then she'd have a big gaping hole where there was decidedly not supposed to be one, and she could just as easily bleed to death after its removal. Whatever, he'd think of something. Wasn't much sense in worrying about that when he didn't even know if she had gone insane and murderous or not, and when he had no idea where she even was.
He'd have to find her. The door had been shut and, as he quickly discovered, locked. Conversely, it was made of fairly normal wood, and, frankly, when one is a 700-pound shadow snake, and especially a 700-pound shadow snake who is pissed off about being trapped in a small room, doors don't pose that much of a problem. As such, the locking mechanism was quickly dislodged from the rest of the door in a spray of splinters, and the door swung uselessly open. The trail of sludge led back toward the bodies, around which a large number of under-dwellers had gathered. The trail of sludge unfortunately didn't really exist other than around the bodies, so he'd have to find another lead elsewhere.
Maybe she had been taken to the under-dwellers' "god" at some point. He figured it was worth a shot. As such, he charged past the crowd, ignoring their outcries, along the path that had taken him from "Xiuhcoatl"'s chamber, and back into the city's central building. He managed to find his way back to the chamber (assisted by the fact that it was fairly close to the entrance), and, as it happened, directly into Alm, who froze in the middle of her conversation with another woman, her expression very quickly growing angry.
"You... are supposed.. to be in... your room!"
"Yeah, I know. I broke the lock. Now step aside. I need to speak with your 'god' immediately."
"That is... unacceptable... return to your room... at once..." Alm looked ready to use force if necessary.
Syvex held up the bottle. "You really don't want to make me use this. I'm not here to hurt anyone. There's someone I need to find before something worse happens. Now, out of the way!"
Alm failed to comply, instead forcefully taking him by the arms, a gesture which, admittedly, works better if the subject doesn't have more than can actually be held. Syvex mustered what little strength he could with the power-reduction of the Underlands and discharged a weak burst of dark energy into Alm's side, too weak to cause any singificant inury. She momentarily dropped back, clutching her side in pain.
"I'm sorry. You're only doing your job, but there are more important things at stake here." Without a word of acknowledgement for the very-shocked Kahsh, Syvex threw the door open and burst into "Xiuhcoatl"'s throne room. The bright light within left him essentially blind, of course, but he could very clearly hear "Xiuhcoatl" talking in a frantic and distinctly ungodlike manner.
"...like I said, I don't know that! It's O5-level clearance! Anyone who tries to access it without permission dies a horrible death! Memetic kill agent or something."
"...Who are you talking to?" the serpent questioned.
A vague whisper forced itself into Syvex's mind, though as little as he could see it might as well have just been someone talking quietly. "This does not concern you. Leave at once."
"...Muriego, or Laguna or whatever? I thought you tended to keep out of our way. Finally taking action? Whatever, I don't care."
"If you wish to keep your life, you will leave, serpent."
"I don't even know what you can do, but if you could just kill me so easily you would've done it long before now. Look, I'm not even here to interfere right now. Do you know where Eureka is or not?"
"The cloth mage is no longer here. She was taken to her room. Now leave."
"No. 'Xiuhcoatl', or whatever your name is since you're pretty obviously a fake. Do you know where she might've gone?"
"No... No, I don't. Get the hell out of my throne room!"
"Alright, alright. Just so you know, someone out there is murdering the under-dwellers, so I'd suggest actually doing something about it when you two are done making out."
Syvex left through the door, immediately being confronted by a much larger group of under-dwellers than he had left. They looked to be quite angry with him, a big change considering the usual passiveness.
"Um... Xiuhcoatl isn't seeing anyone right now. Seriously, don't go in there." Syvex didn't want an uproar over their false god when he was trying to find Eureka. "I have spoken to the great Xiuhcoatl, and it is his will that I continue to search for Eureka without being disturbed. If any of you know where she is, I would very much like to know. Alm, sorry about the whole shooting you thing. I did what i had to."
One of the more twisted-looking under-dwellers stepped forward on uneven legs. "Saw a figure... entering north tower... might be... who you are... looking for," it intoned with the larger of its mouths.
Attempting to not be slightly repulsed, Syvex slithered past the crowd and out of the temple. A few minutes later, what was left of the group noticed him re-entering.
"Which one is the north tower, exactly?"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Saenger! Respond!" Dr. Beringer yelled into his communicator, to no avail. It didn't make sense. His headdress was equipped with a one-way communicator; Saenger should have been able to hear him. In theory Beringer also had the capability to activate Saenger's regular communicator, so he could at least hear what was going on that would keep the agent from responding. He did so at once."...big lizard thing, completely indestructible. Adapts to everything we throw at it. Look, there are thousands of these things. I can't tell you about all of them! I don't even know about all of them! Let me go and I'll tell them your story."
A brief period of silence passed before Saenger kept talking, but Beringer had heard enough. Face burning red, he switched his communication channel at once.
"Agent Korsikov? I don't have time to talk. Saenger's revealing SCP secrets to someone, I don't know who. Get your task force in there and neutralize him at once. I don't care what it takes. I don't care if you take the whole damn undercity down. The experiment is over! According to him, a number of potential SCPs have appeared in there, at least one of which he seemed to think could be Keter-level. Be careful down there. Now go!"