Re: The Vivacious Deadlock: S3G6: Round One: Genreshift
07-12-2011, 08:03 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by fluxus.
‘One’, Ivan thought to himself, a small yet ruthless smile playing at his lips as Phere’s auburn-haired dog continued to follow his lead, her footfalls on the sterile linoleum flooring nearly as silent and sure as his own. The laboratory‘s hallways stretched out long and dangerous before them, guards and workers milling about like the mindless drones they were. In a wordless agreement, Ivan had been elected to guide the Empress’s small assassin through Castle Matic’s labyrinthine halls, his mental map of the building‘s inhabitants proving to be an asset- as it always did. And still both Phere and Abys thought him incompetent.
Twenty-three minutes ago, when he’d handed the small radio back to Abys, he’d done his best to give her the most doe-eyed, uncertain expression he could muster and hoped for the first time in his life that he looked younger than his age. “A distraction,“ Phere had called him then, though he was still unsure whether her words to Abys had been meant for his ears as well. But with her command given, and (more importantly) his safety ensured, all immediate contact with Phere had ended, though he was still uncertain whether the Empress’s seemingly omnipotent gaze had left them also. Then for a few heartbeats the silence had been deafening. Ivan had stared awkwardly at his bare feet while Abys eyed him darkly, exasperation etched clearly across her delicate face. “Follow me,“ she’d said through gritted teeth, as though the two words pained her terribly, and they’d set off down the corridor, Abys again cloaked in nothingness while Ivan silently dogged her footsteps. And it was in that moment that he’d known she was his. ‘One.’
Ivan had had plenty of practice playing the fool, laying in wait behind someone else’s shadow for an opportunity that suited his goals. And Phere, he knew, would be the perfect shield in this death game. It’d take a good deal of effort on his part to convince the sweet Empress that he belonged to her- but he knew he could do it if he survived the night…. Yet with all his underlying confidence Ivan knew that was still a big if.
It hadn’t taken long for Ivan to take the lead, despite his disadvantage of visibility. The first seven minutes they’d spent lurking the corridors after Phere had cut their connection had been some of the longest of his life. A commotion deeper within the castle had caused a flurry of activity amongst Matic’s associates and left their progress stunted. At that point Abys still hadn’t uttered him a word more than her initial two and, without the guidance of Phere, she’d been leading them into what he knew to be an enemy swarm. Her stealth, though obviously gained from years of experience, wouldn’t have saved her from creeping ignorantly around the corner and into their midst, regardless of her invisibility. But his hand around her wrist had. With a quick shake of his head he’d turned them in the opposite direction and lead them in an awkward but safe path away from Matic’s people until at last they were again alone.
Abys was utterly silent behind him but Ivan could hear her presence loudly with every step he took. They continued until he found another deserted hallway with a barricaded end, much like the one in which they’d met not so many minutes ago, and then he turned to face her, abandoning the cold-blooded smile he wore for a look of reserved concern. “The guards and uh… scientists… have mainly moved off to the north-western side of the castle,” he began without preamble, his voice low and slightly unsteady. “There’s some sort of commotion on the floor below us in… in that direction and I’d bet they’ve moved off to go, uhm, to go take care of whatever it is that’s down there. I know for certain that whatever is causing all the, uh, shall we say ’action’? isn’t human and it’s in more than one place at once so… I’d be willing to bet that that’s where we’ll be finding the, uhm, the Tome.” He paused, all too aware that it looked as though he were talking to himself, but Abys said nothing and continued to watch him with cold, unseen eyes. “We’re-we’re safe here for now,” he continued, nonplussed, ”but I’ll be able t-to get us there without incident. I can draw you a map if… you’d like.”
Suddenly Abys’ invisibility melted away, and a fine-boned young woman stood before him, her eyes hard and bitter. “How?” she asked, and Ivan found himself strangely focused on her mouth. She was actually quite pretty and… he mentally smacked himself.
“H-how can I… draw you a map?” he said fingering the pen hanging from his collar. She nodded and it was clear she had no love of words. “Well….” Upon the nearest wall he began to sketch a simple map of the level on which they found themselves, feeling the buzz of electrical wiring through the thin metal siding beneath his hand. Each immaculately straight line he drew carved itself into the white-scrubbed wall until he had produced a scrawling that took up two feet of space. Ivan finished by marking a small, neat ‘X’ in the lower right corner and tapped it with the tip of his pen. “This here,” he said, glancing over his shoulder to make sure he held Abys’ attention, “is where we are right now. And here,” he drew a large circle around a grouping of lines, “is where all the commotion was earlier.” Abys’ eyes were intent as he drew larger ‘X’s through vast quantities of the map. “All this,” he said as he continued to cross areas out, “is heavily guarded. Which leaves us,” he began to draw a fine line through what had apparently been designated as hallways, “with a path that will look something like this, assuming not much changes in the next few minutes. But even as we speak, things are changing.” Though he was very aware that he was the only one actually doing any speaking.
He was also aware of the strange, inhuman shape that was creeping up on them as he stalled.
Abys studied the map for a few moments more and then fixed him with her steely gaze. “How do you know this?” she asked, her tone skeptical.
‘And she graces me with five words,’ Ivan thought to himself. But as he opened his mouth to reply, an astringent stench filled the corridor and he hastily scrawled a neat series of symbols onto the wall next to his map. ‘Took them long enough,’ he mused as Abys again melted into invisibility- but they both knew she’d been seen.
As the map Ivan had drawn on the wall began to melt away, a three headed-being he recognized as the hydra he’d met with the other contestants approached him. It was a great beast, oddly terrifying and comical in equal parts with three heads that seemed to possess very different personalities. Not a year ago Nalyg and his other heads would’ve horrified Ivan into inaction, as the small fleshy being upon its back- the one called Merrifield- would have. But he was a different person now and he stood his ground as the hydra began to speak.
Hello, Ivan. I'm Nalyg,” the middle head said, and nodded to the left and right as it introduced its body-mates. “These two are Razaran and Kanpeki, and the other is Merrifield. We'd like to propose an alliance." It’s voice rumbled from deep within its throat, strangely soothing to the ear. Merrifield had the Tome in her gory clutches and made no attempt to hide it. After giving the two beings before him a quick once over, Ivan locked eyes with Nalyg and attempted to discern if he and Abys were being threatened by it. He felt the cool press of his pistol against his waist where he’d stowed it beneath his shirt.
“Hello Nalyg,” he said, his voice small. “Razaran. Kanpeki,” he nodded to each head in turn, never one to forget his manners, and then looked to the small catlike creature on their back. “And Merrifield. Im-imagine my surprise to- ha- to see you all so soon.” He allowed his voice to waver but held his ground before them. Guards were heading their way already, from above and below.
“Please don’t think me rude, Nalyg,” he said more confidently, “but why exactly would you want to align yourself with me?” Shouts and footsteps were now able to be heard through the ceiling even by human ears.
Suddenly Abys began to move and Ivan craned his neck around so quickly that he felt it crick. He’d thought in that moment that she was running, leaving, but he’d been mistaken. She was deftly moving to one of the barricaded corners of the hall where…
A security camera was watching them.
“Shit!” Ivan hissed and began mentally cursing his downright stupidity. “Abys!” he called in as loud a voice he dared, though she heeded him not. He turned and held up a finger to the hydra. “I’m sorry. Just- uh - one moment-” and he was taking off after his invisible escort.
“Abys it’s too late- you know that as well as I do,” he said in a rush. “They’ve seen everything.” He ran his hands along the thin metal wall. “Destroying the camera won’t help us here but I think…. I think I know what can.” That got her temporary attention and she stopped where she was. “Do you have anything on you that can cut through the metal siding of the wall? And-and only the siding.” He traced a rectangle with his fingers across a patch of wall ten inches long and six wide. “Right here.”
Ivan barely had time to move before a shot of hot energy poured forth from a tool in Abys’ hand. When he blinked, an approximation of the rectangle he’d drawn with his fingers hit the ground in a clatter of cheap metal. “Thanks,” he muttered, eyes narrowed at her still invisible form.
Within the wall was an intricate lacework of wires and circuitry that was not at all unfamiliar to Ivan as he’d feared it would be. It seemed Dr Matic was using technology that was strikingly outdated to what Abys’ gear had lead him to expect. “Hello beautiful,” he murmured as he gingerly picked up a wire between finger and thumb. “If we had more time I think I would’ve been able to scramble their camera footage and reprogram their systems from here,” he said to no one in particular. “But seeing as we’re hard-pressed for time….” He located the wire he was looking for and drew CARET’s pen, writing familiar symbols straight onto its plastic casing. “This is going to have to do.”
A snap exploded forth from the wire upon which he’d written even as he began to scrawl into the circuitry beneath it. A moment later a white spark that smelled of crisp, raw power and burning metal flared. When it had gone, it took the building’s electricity with it.
‘Let’s play,’ Ivan thought as he plunged them into darkness, still unaware of the shadowy figure with the red glowing eyes that had found its way onto the castle grounds.
‘One’, Ivan thought to himself, a small yet ruthless smile playing at his lips as Phere’s auburn-haired dog continued to follow his lead, her footfalls on the sterile linoleum flooring nearly as silent and sure as his own. The laboratory‘s hallways stretched out long and dangerous before them, guards and workers milling about like the mindless drones they were. In a wordless agreement, Ivan had been elected to guide the Empress’s small assassin through Castle Matic’s labyrinthine halls, his mental map of the building‘s inhabitants proving to be an asset- as it always did. And still both Phere and Abys thought him incompetent.
Twenty-three minutes ago, when he’d handed the small radio back to Abys, he’d done his best to give her the most doe-eyed, uncertain expression he could muster and hoped for the first time in his life that he looked younger than his age. “A distraction,“ Phere had called him then, though he was still unsure whether her words to Abys had been meant for his ears as well. But with her command given, and (more importantly) his safety ensured, all immediate contact with Phere had ended, though he was still uncertain whether the Empress’s seemingly omnipotent gaze had left them also. Then for a few heartbeats the silence had been deafening. Ivan had stared awkwardly at his bare feet while Abys eyed him darkly, exasperation etched clearly across her delicate face. “Follow me,“ she’d said through gritted teeth, as though the two words pained her terribly, and they’d set off down the corridor, Abys again cloaked in nothingness while Ivan silently dogged her footsteps. And it was in that moment that he’d known she was his. ‘One.’
Ivan had had plenty of practice playing the fool, laying in wait behind someone else’s shadow for an opportunity that suited his goals. And Phere, he knew, would be the perfect shield in this death game. It’d take a good deal of effort on his part to convince the sweet Empress that he belonged to her- but he knew he could do it if he survived the night…. Yet with all his underlying confidence Ivan knew that was still a big if.
It hadn’t taken long for Ivan to take the lead, despite his disadvantage of visibility. The first seven minutes they’d spent lurking the corridors after Phere had cut their connection had been some of the longest of his life. A commotion deeper within the castle had caused a flurry of activity amongst Matic’s associates and left their progress stunted. At that point Abys still hadn’t uttered him a word more than her initial two and, without the guidance of Phere, she’d been leading them into what he knew to be an enemy swarm. Her stealth, though obviously gained from years of experience, wouldn’t have saved her from creeping ignorantly around the corner and into their midst, regardless of her invisibility. But his hand around her wrist had. With a quick shake of his head he’d turned them in the opposite direction and lead them in an awkward but safe path away from Matic’s people until at last they were again alone.
Abys was utterly silent behind him but Ivan could hear her presence loudly with every step he took. They continued until he found another deserted hallway with a barricaded end, much like the one in which they’d met not so many minutes ago, and then he turned to face her, abandoning the cold-blooded smile he wore for a look of reserved concern. “The guards and uh… scientists… have mainly moved off to the north-western side of the castle,” he began without preamble, his voice low and slightly unsteady. “There’s some sort of commotion on the floor below us in… in that direction and I’d bet they’ve moved off to go, uhm, to go take care of whatever it is that’s down there. I know for certain that whatever is causing all the, uh, shall we say ’action’? isn’t human and it’s in more than one place at once so… I’d be willing to bet that that’s where we’ll be finding the, uhm, the Tome.” He paused, all too aware that it looked as though he were talking to himself, but Abys said nothing and continued to watch him with cold, unseen eyes. “We’re-we’re safe here for now,” he continued, nonplussed, ”but I’ll be able t-to get us there without incident. I can draw you a map if… you’d like.”
Suddenly Abys’ invisibility melted away, and a fine-boned young woman stood before him, her eyes hard and bitter. “How?” she asked, and Ivan found himself strangely focused on her mouth. She was actually quite pretty and… he mentally smacked himself.
“H-how can I… draw you a map?” he said fingering the pen hanging from his collar. She nodded and it was clear she had no love of words. “Well….” Upon the nearest wall he began to sketch a simple map of the level on which they found themselves, feeling the buzz of electrical wiring through the thin metal siding beneath his hand. Each immaculately straight line he drew carved itself into the white-scrubbed wall until he had produced a scrawling that took up two feet of space. Ivan finished by marking a small, neat ‘X’ in the lower right corner and tapped it with the tip of his pen. “This here,” he said, glancing over his shoulder to make sure he held Abys’ attention, “is where we are right now. And here,” he drew a large circle around a grouping of lines, “is where all the commotion was earlier.” Abys’ eyes were intent as he drew larger ‘X’s through vast quantities of the map. “All this,” he said as he continued to cross areas out, “is heavily guarded. Which leaves us,” he began to draw a fine line through what had apparently been designated as hallways, “with a path that will look something like this, assuming not much changes in the next few minutes. But even as we speak, things are changing.” Though he was very aware that he was the only one actually doing any speaking.
He was also aware of the strange, inhuman shape that was creeping up on them as he stalled.
Abys studied the map for a few moments more and then fixed him with her steely gaze. “How do you know this?” she asked, her tone skeptical.
‘And she graces me with five words,’ Ivan thought to himself. But as he opened his mouth to reply, an astringent stench filled the corridor and he hastily scrawled a neat series of symbols onto the wall next to his map. ‘Took them long enough,’ he mused as Abys again melted into invisibility- but they both knew she’d been seen.
As the map Ivan had drawn on the wall began to melt away, a three headed-being he recognized as the hydra he’d met with the other contestants approached him. It was a great beast, oddly terrifying and comical in equal parts with three heads that seemed to possess very different personalities. Not a year ago Nalyg and his other heads would’ve horrified Ivan into inaction, as the small fleshy being upon its back- the one called Merrifield- would have. But he was a different person now and he stood his ground as the hydra began to speak.
Hello, Ivan. I'm Nalyg,” the middle head said, and nodded to the left and right as it introduced its body-mates. “These two are Razaran and Kanpeki, and the other is Merrifield. We'd like to propose an alliance." It’s voice rumbled from deep within its throat, strangely soothing to the ear. Merrifield had the Tome in her gory clutches and made no attempt to hide it. After giving the two beings before him a quick once over, Ivan locked eyes with Nalyg and attempted to discern if he and Abys were being threatened by it. He felt the cool press of his pistol against his waist where he’d stowed it beneath his shirt.
“Hello Nalyg,” he said, his voice small. “Razaran. Kanpeki,” he nodded to each head in turn, never one to forget his manners, and then looked to the small catlike creature on their back. “And Merrifield. Im-imagine my surprise to- ha- to see you all so soon.” He allowed his voice to waver but held his ground before them. Guards were heading their way already, from above and below.
“Please don’t think me rude, Nalyg,” he said more confidently, “but why exactly would you want to align yourself with me?” Shouts and footsteps were now able to be heard through the ceiling even by human ears.
Suddenly Abys began to move and Ivan craned his neck around so quickly that he felt it crick. He’d thought in that moment that she was running, leaving, but he’d been mistaken. She was deftly moving to one of the barricaded corners of the hall where…
A security camera was watching them.
“Shit!” Ivan hissed and began mentally cursing his downright stupidity. “Abys!” he called in as loud a voice he dared, though she heeded him not. He turned and held up a finger to the hydra. “I’m sorry. Just- uh - one moment-” and he was taking off after his invisible escort.
“Abys it’s too late- you know that as well as I do,” he said in a rush. “They’ve seen everything.” He ran his hands along the thin metal wall. “Destroying the camera won’t help us here but I think…. I think I know what can.” That got her temporary attention and she stopped where she was. “Do you have anything on you that can cut through the metal siding of the wall? And-and only the siding.” He traced a rectangle with his fingers across a patch of wall ten inches long and six wide. “Right here.”
Ivan barely had time to move before a shot of hot energy poured forth from a tool in Abys’ hand. When he blinked, an approximation of the rectangle he’d drawn with his fingers hit the ground in a clatter of cheap metal. “Thanks,” he muttered, eyes narrowed at her still invisible form.
Within the wall was an intricate lacework of wires and circuitry that was not at all unfamiliar to Ivan as he’d feared it would be. It seemed Dr Matic was using technology that was strikingly outdated to what Abys’ gear had lead him to expect. “Hello beautiful,” he murmured as he gingerly picked up a wire between finger and thumb. “If we had more time I think I would’ve been able to scramble their camera footage and reprogram their systems from here,” he said to no one in particular. “But seeing as we’re hard-pressed for time….” He located the wire he was looking for and drew CARET’s pen, writing familiar symbols straight onto its plastic casing. “This is going to have to do.”
A snap exploded forth from the wire upon which he’d written even as he began to scrawl into the circuitry beneath it. A moment later a white spark that smelled of crisp, raw power and burning metal flared. When it had gone, it took the building’s electricity with it.
‘Let’s play,’ Ivan thought as he plunged them into darkness, still unaware of the shadowy figure with the red glowing eyes that had found its way onto the castle grounds.