Re: The Gradual Massacre (GBS2G4) [Round 3: Las Orbitas]
01-10-2011, 07:18 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by whoosh!.
Aic stood up in the room of white a changed woman. The Quad, or whatever the hell this shrimp had been calling it, hadn’t taken effect as quickly as she would have liked. The first minute was just waiting, staring at that other full line on the mirror. She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but the trickle of mucus down the back of her throat hadn’t been it. Aic only really noticed something was different when she found herself stroking the magazine clips in her pocket.
And then it hit her like a tidal wave. She was alive. And who wasn’t? Holly, that’s who. Good on her, the damn bitch. Grinning, she leapt up. This was a great situation. What had she been so moody about before? Some doomed relationship with an up-herself weirdo, that’s what.
Aic paused, her grin faltering slightly.
She really had to stop answering her own questions like that.
But that didn’t matter. What she going to do now? Her gun was gone (Dropped? Or forgotten?) and that wasn’t good. These guys she’d been shoved in this fancy cage with were real killers, or honest to goodness superheroes. At least for the superpower part, anyway.
Aic was distracted by the thought that she didn’t really have any way to express her pensive thinking. She made a note to herself to pick up a packet of cigarettes and a light somewhere to correct this.
But she could just go and hurt some people. That had been fun, in the past. These combatants were resilient buggers, that’s for sure, but they’d probably never been stalked by someone with intent to torture. And when it came to being on the other side of that encounter, Aic was the unbeaten champion.
Although… something was wrong.
Aic slowly spun around, flinching at the blinding white state of the room. It couldn’t be that someone was there. Only the addict knew where she was, and he’d fled, completely out of his mind some time earlier. A very long time ago indeed. No, she wasn’t being watched. This feeling of wrongness – it was much more like something was missing, an arm, a sense of balance, a response – a sibling.
Something dark rushed past behind Aic, softly trampling the floor.
She lurched around. The same hideous white room filled her vision. Filling her. That unutterable blankness. So it didn’t want to be seen. Or it couldn’t be.
"Yeah. Yeah! A sibling, that’s right. Only I never had a sister or a brother –"
- a thunderstorm, gently rumbling and illuminating the land in snatches at a time. Mud sloshes against her bare feet, the huge warm droplets of rain pelting her. In the distance she can see the stern silhouette of the mountains. A dark shape rushes behind her, softly trampling the wasted ground. She turns and opens her mouth to shout -
Aic stared at the white wall, her pupils huge, her mouth slightly hung open and her whole body quivering. With not inconsiderable effort she turned her head to look towards the only door, a dark slit punched out of the raging white. She needed to get out of here.
"You can’t get to me that easily, little sibling or whatever manner of thing you are," Aic slurred out angrily at the room. Its only response was to keep its silence.
"Yeah, I thought so."
More of the drug suddenly came into effect, immediately relaxing her and allowing her to regain her cool confidence, but she wasn’t about to waste it on insane visions. Instead, she followed her instincts and got the hell out of the room. All that white was giving her a headache.
Stepping out into the thankfully gloomier corridor, Aic tried to reassess.
'What do I need? A weapon, primarily, to save my skin from monsters hellbent on capturing my soul or what else it is they do. Something to eat. Flooding and hopping around museums to getting to me. And, and… more Quad.'
Aic turned back to the white storeroom, utterly silent. She then proceeded to retract her previous plan of never stepping foot in there ever again, if only for a few moments. When she was done messing around with her absolutes she stared down the corridor, unleashed a clanking, screeching laugh and scampered off deeper into the ship.
----
It was, however, not long before she was brought to an unpleasantly abrupt halt by the presence of another.
This one was lounging against a doorframe, enjoying a secretive cigarette outside of the watchful gaze of a higher-up. As it was, the sight of someone not dissimilar to a Medic rushing wildly through the halls startled the poor woman several levels. Within the seconds the faint glow of the cigarette was swiftly stomped out and her uniform fiercely tugged into a more orderly appearance.
"M-medic! What’s happening?"
Aic juttered to a stop and stared at the engineer. Wordlessly, she grabbed one of her arms and used it to shove her against the metal wall. Curiously enough, the victim was far too well conditioned in the ways of respecting authority to do much more than whimper in response.
"Where are the weapons?" Aic spat out the words like they were poison.
"Oh god… what…"
"Where!"
The engineer took one look at those mad eyes and their dilated pupils, and paled dramatically.
"What on earth has happened?" Her words were a little steadier, her eyes a little deader.
Aic paused, and glanced over her shoulder. The dark empty corridor stared back. Satisfied, she returned her focus to the trembling person she had pinned down.
"Something bad. If we don’t do something, the ship is liable to break up with us still inside in about, perhaps, twenty minutes. Maybe a little less. Do you understand?"
"But – the escape pods-"
"Gone!" Aic screamed into the others face, her spittle flecking her skin. "All gone! Your life is at risk, and by those mad gods that spit down on us you are going to help me!"
Once more the engineer was smashed into the metal, winding her. Again and again she suffered the full exquisite brunt of the cold steel that she had barely even registered before, other than to mutely accept them as dividers. Now she was all too aware of them, but not for much longer.
She was losing consciousness.
"Tell me," something hissed in her ear.
Suckered in by the sweet relief of the pause in the pain, the engineer could do little else but quietly acquiesce. After that, all she heard was the soft padding of bare feet before she slipped away in blessed blackness.
Aic stood up in the room of white a changed woman. The Quad, or whatever the hell this shrimp had been calling it, hadn’t taken effect as quickly as she would have liked. The first minute was just waiting, staring at that other full line on the mirror. She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but the trickle of mucus down the back of her throat hadn’t been it. Aic only really noticed something was different when she found herself stroking the magazine clips in her pocket.
And then it hit her like a tidal wave. She was alive. And who wasn’t? Holly, that’s who. Good on her, the damn bitch. Grinning, she leapt up. This was a great situation. What had she been so moody about before? Some doomed relationship with an up-herself weirdo, that’s what.
Aic paused, her grin faltering slightly.
She really had to stop answering her own questions like that.
But that didn’t matter. What she going to do now? Her gun was gone (Dropped? Or forgotten?) and that wasn’t good. These guys she’d been shoved in this fancy cage with were real killers, or honest to goodness superheroes. At least for the superpower part, anyway.
Aic was distracted by the thought that she didn’t really have any way to express her pensive thinking. She made a note to herself to pick up a packet of cigarettes and a light somewhere to correct this.
But she could just go and hurt some people. That had been fun, in the past. These combatants were resilient buggers, that’s for sure, but they’d probably never been stalked by someone with intent to torture. And when it came to being on the other side of that encounter, Aic was the unbeaten champion.
Although… something was wrong.
Aic slowly spun around, flinching at the blinding white state of the room. It couldn’t be that someone was there. Only the addict knew where she was, and he’d fled, completely out of his mind some time earlier. A very long time ago indeed. No, she wasn’t being watched. This feeling of wrongness – it was much more like something was missing, an arm, a sense of balance, a response – a sibling.
Something dark rushed past behind Aic, softly trampling the floor.
She lurched around. The same hideous white room filled her vision. Filling her. That unutterable blankness. So it didn’t want to be seen. Or it couldn’t be.
"Yeah. Yeah! A sibling, that’s right. Only I never had a sister or a brother –"
- a thunderstorm, gently rumbling and illuminating the land in snatches at a time. Mud sloshes against her bare feet, the huge warm droplets of rain pelting her. In the distance she can see the stern silhouette of the mountains. A dark shape rushes behind her, softly trampling the wasted ground. She turns and opens her mouth to shout -
Aic stared at the white wall, her pupils huge, her mouth slightly hung open and her whole body quivering. With not inconsiderable effort she turned her head to look towards the only door, a dark slit punched out of the raging white. She needed to get out of here.
"You can’t get to me that easily, little sibling or whatever manner of thing you are," Aic slurred out angrily at the room. Its only response was to keep its silence.
"Yeah, I thought so."
More of the drug suddenly came into effect, immediately relaxing her and allowing her to regain her cool confidence, but she wasn’t about to waste it on insane visions. Instead, she followed her instincts and got the hell out of the room. All that white was giving her a headache.
Stepping out into the thankfully gloomier corridor, Aic tried to reassess.
'What do I need? A weapon, primarily, to save my skin from monsters hellbent on capturing my soul or what else it is they do. Something to eat. Flooding and hopping around museums to getting to me. And, and… more Quad.'
Aic turned back to the white storeroom, utterly silent. She then proceeded to retract her previous plan of never stepping foot in there ever again, if only for a few moments. When she was done messing around with her absolutes she stared down the corridor, unleashed a clanking, screeching laugh and scampered off deeper into the ship.
----
It was, however, not long before she was brought to an unpleasantly abrupt halt by the presence of another.
This one was lounging against a doorframe, enjoying a secretive cigarette outside of the watchful gaze of a higher-up. As it was, the sight of someone not dissimilar to a Medic rushing wildly through the halls startled the poor woman several levels. Within the seconds the faint glow of the cigarette was swiftly stomped out and her uniform fiercely tugged into a more orderly appearance.
"M-medic! What’s happening?"
Aic juttered to a stop and stared at the engineer. Wordlessly, she grabbed one of her arms and used it to shove her against the metal wall. Curiously enough, the victim was far too well conditioned in the ways of respecting authority to do much more than whimper in response.
"Where are the weapons?" Aic spat out the words like they were poison.
"Oh god… what…"
"Where!"
The engineer took one look at those mad eyes and their dilated pupils, and paled dramatically.
"What on earth has happened?" Her words were a little steadier, her eyes a little deader.
Aic paused, and glanced over her shoulder. The dark empty corridor stared back. Satisfied, she returned her focus to the trembling person she had pinned down.
"Something bad. If we don’t do something, the ship is liable to break up with us still inside in about, perhaps, twenty minutes. Maybe a little less. Do you understand?"
"But – the escape pods-"
"Gone!" Aic screamed into the others face, her spittle flecking her skin. "All gone! Your life is at risk, and by those mad gods that spit down on us you are going to help me!"
Once more the engineer was smashed into the metal, winding her. Again and again she suffered the full exquisite brunt of the cold steel that she had barely even registered before, other than to mutely accept them as dividers. Now she was all too aware of them, but not for much longer.
She was losing consciousness.
"Tell me," something hissed in her ear.
Suckered in by the sweet relief of the pause in the pain, the engineer could do little else but quietly acquiesce. After that, all she heard was the soft padding of bare feet before she slipped away in blessed blackness.