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GBCE · 07-27-2010, 01:43 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by GreyGabe.

He didn’t feel the need to mention that if they couldn’t figure out some way of attacking their abductor, they’d probably have to try to kill one another.
Marcus limped along for a while longer, silently regretting not getting not shelling out the extra money for the enhanced combat armor with reinforced joints, impact dampeners and an integrated medical system. Then again, that stuff cost as much as small cruiser. Ugh.
Suddenly, Marcus noticed something warm and sticky coating his hand. He sniffed quietly.

“You still bleeding?”

Sarika shifted slightly, and groaned quietly.
“Yeah, a bit. It may be a little worse than I thought. I’m not going to die any time in the near future, though.”

Marcus stopped suddenly, sighing and shaking his head as if to clear it.

“Yeah, that might have been useful a while ago, now.”

“It may seem kinda--” Marcus stopped as he realized he had been interrupted again. He clamped his mouth shut and made a show of ignoring his cargo for a moment.

Sarika shook her head slowly and groaned again as one of her mini-headaches took hold. “Okay, okay. Sorry. Please, continue.”

“It may seem kinda stupid on my part,” Marcus began again, smiling faintly, “But I do have a med-kit. Have had it since the beginning.”

“Yeah, that might have been useful a while ago, now.”

Marcus shrugged. “It’s nothing extravagant, just some basics. Bandages, disinfectant, mild painkillers, that kind of thing.”

Sarika sighed, smiling wearily. “Don’t suppose you can do anything about my leg or my rib, huh?”
“Nope. Not in the dark at least. If I could take a good look at the leg I can at least set it and bind it with bandages, maybe put together a makeshift splint if I can find some stuff. Try to do it in the dark, and I’d probably do more harm than good. I had emergency first aid training like every Armada Marine, but it was never my specialty. Although I was always better at it than--”

“Ssh!”

Marcus went silent instantly, straining his senses. He couldn’t hear anything but his and Sarika’s breathing, and he couldn’t see much of anything in the dark.
Several tense moments passed. Marcus heard a quiet, hissing noise from behind them. It was disturbingly close. Finally, there was a quiet scuttling noise that gradually grew quieter and quieter until it was gone.

Finally, Sarika spoke.
“Okay… I think it’s gone.”

“What was it?”

“Uh… it sounded pretty bad. We… we didn’t go quietly.”
“Ah.”

“We should keep moving, then?”

“Yeah.”

Marcus moved on, trying to keep quiet. The steady squishing sound of the goop under his boots seemed very, very loud. His leg loudly reminded him of its displeasure at his continuing insistence on movement. It didn’t feel like a break, anyway. Probably a sprain. He hoped it wasn’t too serious. Something told him anything that impeded his movement was going to be very unwelcome in the not so distant future. They continued on that way for some interminable amount of time, Marcus resolutely ignoring his traitorous limb as its cries for attention grew slowly but undeniably louder. He was so focused on his leg that he almost missed it. Stopping suddenly, he backed up a few steps. He stood perfectly still for a moment.

“What is it?”

The only answer was a slight, cool draft, blowing in from the right.
“There’s a tunnel leading off to the side here.” Marcus slowly walked towards it, ready to retreat if Sarika saw anything… er… heard anything. He took a few tentative steps in. Though his boots were still coated in goop, he could tell that the floor in here was definitely cleaner, and almost certainly man-made.

“Must be a maintenance tunnel or a ventilation shaft, or something like that.”

“Why just here, though? Shouldn’t there have been more openings, if that’s what this is?”

Marcus considered for a moment. “Maybe… there were other entrances, and we just missed them. Or they got covered over by debris. Hell, maybe I’m wrong and this is some sort of burrow. Only one way to find out. Also, if we keep following the amazing goo tunnel, we might run into whatever made it. Just think how fun that’d be.”

Sarika was silent for a moment.
“Well, nothing kills us in the next few minutes, anyway. Let’s go.”

Marcus nodded and proceeded down the tunnel slowly. He hoped that they could find someplace relatively safe to stop soon. He wasn't sure how long his leg could hold out. He did note, with cautious optimism, that the tunnel seemed to slope upwards slightly. Maybe they'd make it out of here after all.

It watched as the two creatures proceeded into the side tunnel. Perfect. Soon it would feed on them, tear their flesh, crunch their bones, drink their blood. Eat their hearts. It writhed in near ecstasy just imagining it. After a few moments, it recovered. Mustn’t let the prey escape, no, no, no. It slipped to the floor silently. Oh, how it had fooled them. They believed it had left but now it followed them once more. Pale, luminous eyes narrowed and thin, slit-like nostrils flared as it inhaled their scent, flesh and blood, laced with fear and pain. Silently it began to stalk them.

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Dragon Fogel · 07-27-2010, 04:20 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

GreyGabe Wrote:

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SpoilerObviously I have to make some changes from my previous color scheme... [img]images/smilies/mspa_face.gif[/img] I hope that darker grey color works. Let me know if it does not for some reason. I'll go back and change my older posts... later.

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GBCE · 07-27-2010, 12:55 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Drakenforge.

Karen slowly picked herself off of the ground. The annoyance of having on two different occasions been threatened at close range with a sharp object to her neck was beginning to die down. She wasn't an emotional person at heart, but even she had her limits.

"So, anybody else want a go? My neck is right here." She commented sarcastically.

Lloyd slowly ventured into the room, gazing at the wreckages Karen and CHARLIE had caused.

"So, about this game of yours. You really can't tell that this is real?"

Karen was silent as she tore her sword from it's lodged state. She rested it onto its place on her back.

"A game that utilises consciousness wouldn't leave pixels sitting around, if that's what you mean. So technically, no. If you're bent on pretending not to know, or maybe you really don't, but Legends of Fate was totally realistic in every way. You could feel the bark of a tree, the heat of a desert, the cold wet rain that fell. The only thing that it didn't have was pain, which is a small blessing."

Lloyd seemed to get an idea at that point.

"But if you feel pain now, wouldn't that prove this isn't just a game to you?"

Karen actually took this train of thought seriously. Sure, she hadn't been hurt yet, but during the game she'd take damage eventually. What if it hurt? Would that mean there's no safety system? Or worse, that what Lloyd said is true. She stared at the Charlie and the plant creature. Was it just coincidence that they could make characters like that? She began to doubt everything she had built up inside her head. Her own existence. If this was real, how could she use magic, or wield her sword? She even wore the clothes that her character wore.

"If that time comes..." She eventually muttered, "then I'll take what you say seriously. But right now, I know what I want to believe. My head tells my this can't exist in reality. Ignorance is bliss, as they say."

Lloyd seemed to be irritated by her response. She didn't mind. She would feel the same in his shoes, watching someone attempting to believe a struggle for survival was just a VR game. She was fighting a losing battle with her excuses.

The largest doors of the room opened. Charlie was the first to pass through them, seemingly ignoring the other three.

"I suggest you go next Lloyd."

"Why, so that I'm behind the killer robot and not you?"

"No. To make it so that the floating plant thing isn't directly behind you."

Lloyd stared at Reudic for a brief period, and seemed to agree that he'd take his chances with the giant killing machine. Karen followed just behind him, and motioned for Reudic to follow. The corridor was just average. No traps or holes, just a walkway towards the next room.

"A little too easy, don't you think?"

"Just for saying that something bad will happen soon."

Karen shrugged, she could handle it.

Probably.

At that time, an intercom system crackled into life.

"Accelerating laser wall to *crackle* error in speed calibratio*hsst* Messy floors *static*"

Is incomprehensible as the announcement had been, sure enough, bright red beams of light shone vertically, obstructing the doorway they had just passed through, and was advancing in their direction.

Karen dove behind Reudic and shouldered it in the direction of the exit in an attempt to rush the oversized rosebush. She heard Lloyd yelling "I hate it when people jinx it!" As he and CHARLIE got the message pretty clearly and were making their way down the long corridor pretty fast. Karen looked at the beams. They were slow now, but something told Karen there was more to it. They would get faster. They would outrun them all. It was just speculation on her part, but she couldn't shake the feeling. If she ignored it, they could all be minced. She had to find a way to stop it, and fast. The housing for the lasers must be able to move on some sort of rail housed underneath the floor and above the ceiling. Karen gripped her sword and swung it off of her back. She rammed it down into the floor. The sword barely cut two inches deep into the dense metal. She needed a wider swing, or at least a strong technique, which few would manage in such a situation. She began to back off, and the lasers, as expected, began to climb speed. She turned her back and sprinted down the corridor, sword poised by her shoulder. She slammed her foot to the ground, forcing her body to stop, and used the momentum to swing her sword through the ground in an arc. The sword broke through the metal plating, and Karen forced it to rip through a large part of the floor. She forced magical energy through her arm and into the sword, expelling it through the tip of the blade as it left the floor. The cut seemed to continue ripping after her sword left the floor. Karen saw several layers of electronics, but couldn't discern what was what. With the lasers catching up, she hastily tossed several Fireballs into the mix, causing minor bursts and explosions inside the floor. She raced down the hallway as the crackling electronics began getting louder and louder. She turned her head to look back, and saw that the lasers had stalled short of where she had broken the floor. However, new beams sprouted from the walls, and began racing after them in their place. She tutted and put on another burst of effort. The wall spanned to the left suddenly. She didn't even attempt to slow down; she leapt sideways, planted her feet on the wall, and leapt again down the next corridor. She heard a loud rumbling back the way as she ran. She had a creeping notion in the back of her mind that was telling her 'Setting fire to dangerous modern equipment wasn't the smartest idea you've ever had. I mean, it'll probably explode now. Lasers you might have a chance to outrun, but an explosion?'

"I really, really hate modern settings" Karen groaned as she ran.

The ground shook violently, causing her to stumble onto the floor. She could hear the blast travelling through the corridors now.

"Damnit" She said feebly. This was how her adventure ends, sprawled on the floor, taken to oblivion by a blast she caused. How bloody ironi-

"Get up you idiot!"

Karen felt a hand grab onto her arm and pulled her sharply to her feet. Lloyd was practically dragging her down the corridor.

"Why did you stop?" She asked, dumbfounded.

"I dunno! I'm not making a whole lotta sense right now! Now shut up, you'll bite your tongue!"

Karen began to run once more, staring at Lloyd's back. He had selflessly stopped and came back for her. Why? He had no clear reason to. She was someone that should be a target, not an ally.
Her thoughts changed to the game. If she was really in danger, then she would have actually bit the dust had he not come back. It reinforced the facts.

This was for real

The exit was fast approaching, but Karen could feel the blast catching up at a tremendous speed. They wouldn't make it.

"Forgive me, Lloyd!"

Karen slammed her palm into Lloyd's back, and hit him point black with a Tracker Bolt. His feet left the ground as his body spiralled out of the corridor. She summoned fireballs into her hands, twisted her wrists so that her palms faced backwards, and detonated them. She felt her body lurch forward with momentum, just before a strong force slammed into her back, sending her toppling through the air. It was all noise and light and a lot of spinning from then on.

She slammed into the ground. Dead or alive, she couldn't tell. She felt the effects of shock seeping into her.
A voice. Lloyd's? She couldn't tell; her ears were still ringing. After a few minutes, she sat up, letting a sharp headache run through her head.

"You in one piece?" He asked casually.

"Yeah, think so." She replied.
Her body seemed fine. Her back ached, but she didn't feel burnt our torn up anywhere. But as she checked, she noticed blood trickling down her left arm.

"Doesn't look deep, just a scratch. Must have been some shrapnel from the walls. Hey, you listening to me?"

Karen couldn't hear his words. She was scared. For the first time in years, she was afraid for her life. The images of the accident flashed through her mind. She could die. Physically die. Her arm hurt. It was actual pain, pain she hadn't felt in what seemed like years.

"I get it now. This... it's real" She sputtered. Her emotions were becoming havoc. She didn't know how do deal with the situation, so she curled into a ball and said "Leave me alone for a bit."

And she said nothing more.

**btp** · 07-27-2010, 02:22 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by bobthepen.

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GBCE · 07-27-2010, 05:31 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Drakenforge.

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EDIT: changed. Major changes were made, I suggest reading it. Sorry for the trouble of making you do it.

Anomaly · 07-27-2010, 09:52 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Anomaly.

bobthepen Wrote:

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Spoileraccording to the map, there is another obstacle room dekowin and lillian have to get through before reaching the main room, of course Marcus and Sarika are who knows where. Just saying for you 4 already in the main room now, it may be a bit before anyone else shows up.

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MalkyTop · 07-28-2010, 10:31 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.

It's very hard to describe a dark tunnel in an interesting way. Even harder to stay interested and alert when the only thing you've been doing for the past few tediously long minutes was walking. When they first entered this new tunnel, Marcus started noting several small details that made it different from the tunnel they had been in before. There was the obvious he had already noted, no green slime, man-made, blah blah blah. The floor also didn't rumble under his feet as much, which he took to be a good sign, and while the air in the green-slime tunnel seemed slow-moving, stale, and smelled just a bit funky, here, the air seemed fresh and moved down towards them. As it went by, it seemed to make a small...echo-y, rush-y sound. He wasn't sure if there was actually a specific word for that sort of thing and to be honest, it seemed unnecessary to name it. What it mostly seemed to mean was that this tunnel would open up into an open area such as a room. Whether through a vent or some other way, it didn't matter. As long as--

"Watch out," Sarika said, sharply.

"What?" said Marcus just as his head bumped into something low-hanging and unfortunately metal.

"Sorry," Sarika said, flustered, as Marcus reeled back. "You can, um, just duck under it..." Marcus was curious, though, and started feeling whatever it was that he had walked into. It was definitely some sort of bar and had cables coming out of it. It was also quite hefty, which he found out when it snapped off and clattered to the floor. He leapt aside as it fell and it released a few bars of dull red light that flickered before dying again.

"What was that?" Marcus asked.

"Ow!" Sarika replied, rubbing her eyes.

Before the marine could ask if this was another future thing, the lights turned on, blinding Marcus as well just as Sarika finished rubbing the spots out of her eyes. He stumbled a bit, but soon his eyes adjusted and the two could finally see the tunnel they were in in greater detail.

The walls were made of metal plates. The ceiling was a confusing jumble of various wires and cables in many different sizes. While Marcus had left behind a trail of green goop, Sarika had dripped blood. There wasn't really much else of interest. Though the sudden lighting had made him realize just how covered in goop the both of them were. They looked like they swam in a pool of the stuff. Sarika pulled her goggles back over her eyes once more, tried to wipe it clean, then realized how hard it was to clean goop off with something caked with more goop.

"Welp," said Marcus, setting the bird-woman against the wall carefully, "I think this is the perfect time to look at whatever it is that's bleeding."

"No it's not," Sarika snapped. Marcus didn't really pay any heed and took out his medkit. "If the lights suddenly turned on, that might mean someone's coming! We have to be ready for them!"

"And I'm sure we can be ready for them with me having a bad leg and you bleeding and unable to walk. Actually," Marcus added, pausing as he took out the bandages. "How long have you been bleeding?"

The woman shrugged, resigned to the fact that they weren't going anywhere for a while. "As long as we've been down here. Which means I don't know."

"It should've scabbed over by now, or at least slowed, don't you think?" He insisted, taking out the medical tape as well. "Maybe the green slime did something, I dunno. In any case, I doubt you'd like bleeding to death. Show me the wound." Without a word, Sarika untied the sash around her waist and started lifting the hem of her bloodied and slightly slimey dress. She started wincing as she peeled the cloth off of the wound slowly and soon, she revealed the whole gash on her side.

It looked pretty bad, perhaps even horrible. But Marcus didn't just stop to stare at a gushing wound and comment on how fatal it could possibly be. Disinfect. Bandage. Tape. And Sarika was leaning back against the wall once more, trying not to touch her wound but touching it anyways in a sort of morbid curiosity. Marcus took this chance to sit down himself and examined his bad ankle.

"So tell me, did you hesitate because you were uncomfortable with revealing yourself or because you wanted to wait until I actually asked the question?" Marcus teased. Yup, his ankle was swollen. Which probably meant a sprain.

"Hm?" Sarika absentmindedly replied, tying the sash around her waist again. "Oh, I'm not sure if you noticed, but I blinked. Not seeing the future right now. I think I need a break anyways. It's exhausting seeing things that are about to happen and changing them to avoid death." It wasn't quite the oddest thing Marcus had heard today, but then again, it had been a fairly odd day.

He had no ice and probably would be unable to elevate it for long. He settled for just binding it...

It had forgotten light. Oh, how sickeningly bright it was...it burned through its skull. It wanted to scratch its eyes out...but soon it was able see, albeit blurredly.

It wasn't used to this environment. It was cooler than it was used to. Brighter. It wanted to adapt, but had no energy. Maybe if it ate the wounded one it would gain some. And then it could evolve to eat the other.

It changed its skin color to better camouflage, from a dark blue to a uniform grey...it started creeping up on its prey, who had stopped...carefully and silently...until it was within jumping distance.

Noticing movement out of the corner of her goggles, Sarika turned and saw a vague shape with not-so-vague teeth coming her way and reacted accordingly by screaming rather loudly and batting the thing-with-teeth away with her staff. It collided with the wall and backtracked, hissing crossly. Marcus jumped to his feet again and searched wildly for the attacking beast, but was interrupted by something prodding his leg. Looking down, he noticed a small, white, blocky robot. It was helpfully labeled REPAIR BOT XM342. It was currently holding a welding torch to his leg. "PERSONNEL PLEASE TO MOVE ASIDE TO ALLOW THIS REPAIR BOT TO MAKE REPAIRS PLEASE." He stared at the robot who seemed to think that if it continued to wheel itself into his leg, he would eventually move. He looked back to the beast who seemed to have disappeared. He looked back at the robot.

"PLEASE TO MOVE ASIDE TO ALLOW THIS REPAIR BOT TO MAKE REPAIRS PLEASE."

GBCE · 08-01-2010, 01:15 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by GreyGabe.

Marcus picked up the robot, twisting it this way and that to get a better look at it. It waved its arms and spun its wheels in a vain attempt to escape his grasp.
“PLEASE TO PUT DOWN THIS UNIT! THIS REPAIR BOT IS NOT DESIGNED FOR PERSONAL USE!”
Marcus snorted.

“Uh, is this really the time for this? That thing could come back at any second!” Sarika whipped her head from side to side to illustrate her point.

“Well, then. I guess you should keep an eye out.”

“What are you doing with that thing, anyway?”

Marcus ignored her. “Repair bot XM342?”
The machine stopped its struggling for a moment. “PLEASE TO PUT DOWN THIS REPAIR BOT TO ALLOW THIS REPAIR BOT TO MAKE REPAIRS PLEASE.”
Marcus nodded. “Repair bot, I give you new orders. Guide us to the nearest medical bay or laboratory.”
The repair bot was silent for a second. “UNAUTHORIZED PERSONEL ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO GIVE THIS UNIT INSTRUCTION. PLEASE TO PUT DOWN THIS REPAIR BOT TO ALLOW THIS REPAIR BOT TO MAKE REPAIRS PLEASE.”

“This is a waste of time. We should get going before that creature gets brave again.”

Marcus rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Sarika.
“Trust me. Now that we’re onto it, it’s gonna hang back a while. Bide its time. We’ll get distracted, or our wounds will weaken us so that we’re easy kills. Then it’ll be all over us.”

Sarika inhaled deeply, wincing at the pain it sparked in her chest.“…I guess that makes sense. Still, we shouldn’t hang around.”

“No. We shouldn’t. That’s why I’m asking for directions.” He looked back at the small repair unit that had now resumed waving its arms and spinning its wheels. “Repair bot XM342. Please to give us directions out of these tunnels or to the nearest medical bay, please.”
The little robot stopped once more and seemed to consider, or perhaps to communicate with a central control unit. Which is basically the same thing for a robot. “REQUEST GRANTED. PLEASE TO WAIT ONE MOMENT WHILE FACILITY MAP IS ACCESSED…”
A small opening appeared on the robot’s head… top… area, and a small projector peeked out. As the projector flipped on, it showed a detailed wiring schematic, which quickly cleared. Marcus put the robot down so that he didn’t have to look straight up to see the hologram. It began projecting a three-dimensional map. A spider-web of tunnels and ventilation shafts became visible, broken up in places by larger chambers. Several places on the map were overlaid with purple blocks, some over passages, a few covering entire rooms. About two-thirds of the way down the map, a large red stripe ran across, undulating slightly. A few inches from that, a small green light blinked in a tunnel leading away from the stripe. As Marcus watched, a thin, green line wound its way down the tunnel and towards a large, round room, passing through several smaller chambers in the process. A large red arrow appeared in the center of the large chamber, pointed up. Marcus took this to be an elevator… or stairs (Oh god no…) Thankfully, their path was a fairly straight shot, only turning a couple of times. He noticed that it passed through one of the purple areas, and not one of the smallest on the map.
“PLEASE TO FOLLOW THIS ROUTE TO ENSURE MAXIMUM CHANCE OF SURVIVAL. ROUTE AVOIDS MAJORITY OF POWER DEPRIVED AREAS. PLEASE TO AVOID PROLONGED TRAVEL IN POWER DEPRIVED AREAS.”

“I take it that the purple represents ‘power deprived areas?’”
Marcus glanced back to see Sarika regarding the map with interest.

“AFFIRMATIVE. PLEASE TO AVOID PROLONGED TRAVEL IN POWER DEPRIVED AREAS. MANY SUBJECTS CURRENTLY IN SUBCOMPLEX ARE ADAPTED FOR TO THRIVE IN DARKNESS. CONTACT WITH SUBJECTS HAS BEEN FOUND NOT CONDUCIVE TO CONTINUED FUNCTIONALITY.”
“You’re just a bright ray of sunshine, aren’t you?”
“NEGATIVE. THIS UNIT IS DESIGNATED REPAIR BOT XM342.”
“Hmph.”
The projector shut off and the panel on top of the robot shut again, barely leaving a seam. “REPAIR BOT HAS PROVIDED YOU WITH REQUESTED INFORMATION. PLEASE TO MOVE ASIDE TO ALLOW THIS REPAIR BOT TO MAKE REPAIRS PLEASE.”
Marcus stepped to the side, and the little machine trundled off the way Marcus and Sarika had come from.

Sarika sighed. “Well, at least we know where we’re going, now.”

Marcus nodded, “Yep. Break’s over, now. Let’s get moving.”

The bird-woman groaned, but didn’t see how she could possibly disagree. Although…
“Hey, what do we do if that thing, uh… sneaks up behind us?”

“I’ll carry you while you watch our backs. Everything’s pretty well lit, so I don’t think we’ll need your crazy future vision thing for the moment.”

“Uh… right.”

Marcus picked up Sarika once again, barely even making an effort. After a moment of thought, Marcus shifted her to hold her supported by his hip and a single arm across her lower back. She helped by tightening her good arm around his neck, managing to only hit him in the head once with her staff.
With his other hand, Marcus drew one of his pistols. It was a simple, straightforward model with no built-in ammo counters or target trackers or any of the other bells and/or whistles that manufacturers had managed to incorporate into guns. Still, since he could hardly wield Retribution one-handed, the pistol would have to do. He shifted his shoulder once to make sure the Retribution was still hanging securely from its strap.

“I just want you to note that this is as awkward as it is uncomfortable.”

“Yes, I noticed that. Thank you.”

“Okay, just wanted to be sure. Let’s go.”

Marcus set off limping down the hall. He was pretty sure he had damaged his leg more, but the binding helped. Slightly. Still, he couldn’t afford to use any painkillers right at the moment. He needed to stay aware if he wanted to live.
A tiny part of him whispered that if he really just wanted to live, all he would have to do is leave the girl behind.
And the rest of him knew that, if worst came to worst, he would. He might hesitate. He’d certainly feel real bad about it afterwards. But he would leave her behind to die, if it came to that.
Shit. This is morbid, even for me. When did I get this way?
Marcus frowned and began moving faster, despite the pain in his leg.

It watched the small dead creature roll past it, sparing it only a moment of attention before turning back to the hateful prey. It had tried to eat one of the small, dead creatures, once. They had no taste, no blood, and their hide was hard and hurt its teeth. No... the hateful prey would not escape. Especially not the feathered one. The feathered one would suffer. It would kill the one with the armored hide first, quickly, quickly, and then it would savor the feathered one, the one that had struck it with the club. But first it had to catch them. It crawled out of its nook, squinting in the light, and began to follow, slowly, staying far back to escape sight. It stopped once, extending a long tongue to lap at some blood left when the hateful ones had stopped. Delicious. But not enough. Never enough.

**Pinary** · 08-03-2010, 02:54 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.

During his storage in the SCP facility, Lloyd was periodically interrogated. It was, for them, a relatively simple process. Two copies of the same 700-page hardcover book were printed; initially, they were identical.

"The plain, white room measured five meters by five meters. There were no doors or windows, but the air never got stale or stagnant. Other than a display set into one wall, two comfortable beige recliners facing it, and a small table between them, it was entirely empty. In one chair, a nondescript, middle-aged man sat, frozen in time. He would awaken a few seconds before any other being entered the room, and, when conscious, he was capable of calling a great number of items into existence. These items would not survive outside the room, but they were as real as the rest of it while they were there. He possessed a near-perfect knowledge of Earth circa 2009, able to recall anything from world history to modern culture.

The display on the wall, although its mechanism was unknown, would somehow change to reflect the page number of the novel it occupied. It currently displayed the number one, as well as the percentage of pages passed (0.14%).

Were anyone to enter the room, the man would greet them by name, offer them a seat, and propose an exchange of information. For every question the visitor answered, the man would return the favour to the best of his ability."
-The Fifth Interview, Dr. Werrington.

The remaining 699 pages were blank. One copy was stored in the cabinet, and the other went through the procedure to transfer Lloyd into it. Lloyd was reluctant at first, but he quickly came to see the value in the data the man provided, accepting the offer almost jovially in later interviews. (He rationalized this to himself as a chance to buck anyone's preconceptions of him as chaotic-neutral, actively ignoring the inherent paradoxicality of such an act.)

In one of the earlier interviews, the man had asked him what motivated him, and Lloyd outlined his desire to shake up the otherwise monotonous lives of most characters. For his next question, though, the man asked again, "why?"

At this, Lloyd was stumped. He tried a few lines of thought, failed, and eventually settled on saying, "It's who I am; it's what I do."

While he waited for Karen to come back to her senses, he thought over it again. Now, he had even less of an idea what would motivate him. Here, there wasn't a set plot to throw off, so his primary goal was meaningless.

"No," he said, murmuring to himself, "not entirely. The Monitor knows how he wants this all to go down. He's the closest thing to an author there is here. I can still do my best to rock his boat."

Next to him, Karen sat up, clearly in pain. There was a bit of a cut on her arm, but it wasn't serious. She was probably fairly sore, he guessed. Casually, he asked, "you in one piece?"

After a brief exchange, she curled up into a ball and turned away, telling him to leave her alone.

He considered this for a moment. "Listen," he said, "you were playing a game. That's great and all, but every game has to end some time. This is real life, good or bad. It's no use worrying about what you can't change."

She didn't reply.

He sighed. "Anyway, I'm going to go look ahead, see if I can't catch up with the plant and the robot. I'll be back in a bit."

MalkyTop · 08-07-2010, 03:06 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.

Sarika's arm felt moist and slimy around his neck. It was a little disconcerting, but as they walked through the maintenance halls, he got used to it. At one point, another maintenance bot sped around the corner and right past them, almost making him trip over himself and causing Sarika to jam her staff on his foot, but they stayed upright. If he had to guess, his fellow contestants were making a mess somewhere.

As he walked, the floor gently sloped upward, closer to the ceiling, a constant indicator that they were going in the right direction. Sarika spent the time craning her neck over his arm to peer behind, thinking silently to herself, huffing every once in a while in a very annoyed way, and generally showing her disapproval at the situation. He supposed she was a little bored now, not used to just waiting and healing. He also couldn't help but think that boring was better than being attacked from behind by a horrible beast-thing.

Apparently the two of them had decided at the same time that they had exhausted any conversation topics that they could bring up. The walk was made in silence. The atmosphere wasn't exactly stifling, more like languid. Nobody had anything to say and didn't have the social consciousness to even bother to say anything. If they had, it would probably be about something needlessly unnecessary, like their workplace or how annoying the younger generation could be. It was easily seen that trying to make conversation anyways would move the atmosphere from relaxed to awkward and nobody wants that.

So nobody said anything until they reached a power-deprived area, the one purple spot on the map they had to cross. Marcus stared into darkness for, what? The tenth time today?

"It's not that bad," Sarika commented, and he had to agree that compared to what they had been walking in before, this darkness was quite pleasant. It didn't come at them like a threatening, impenetrable wall of obscurity. In fact, if he had brought a book, he probably could have read it here, admittedly with some difficulty and some mussing up of certain words. He would be able to see the book at the very least.

Marcus made a vague noise that could have meant anything. "Keep watching the back."

"Aye aye, captain," Sarika replied in a wearied tone. "Ugh, my arm fell asleep," she muttered as Marcus limped through.

This was much easier than before. Even with his limp and Sarika trying to complain subtly in his ear, he felt entirely safe that he would be able to notice any bottomless pits or any weird traps (...in the maintenance tunnels...?) beforehand. He hated that. It made him feel paranoid.

Littered around the area were more little robots, doing something he couldn't really see or care about. They were mostly sticking to the sides, but once in a while, he would have to step over one or move to the side as another moved. He found it odd that none of them had any lights, but then he supposed robots didn't always need them.

Nothing much really changed from before. The two went back to just not talking. Likely one would note that it was getting lighter, but perhaps not.

And behind them, still camouflaging itself and biding its time, the creature lurked.

It was impatient, apprehensive and aggravated all at once. It made it hard to concentrate on staying hidden. The two morsels were slowly getting back Above, where the knowledgeable voice was. And where the knowledgeable voice was, there would be others. If it didn't do something soon, it would miss its meal. Either the others would get them or they would get it if it continued to follow them. But it couldn't act now; its jaw was still smarting from that last failed attack. But it had to act now, but it couldn't but it was so hungry.

Something else was happening that it didn't particularly like. The giant, whose domain they had left long ago, was coming around. Years of living with the giant constantly boring its way around made it able to feel how close it was. And the giant seemed to be getting particularly close.

There was no reason for the giant to come up this small side tunnel. It was sure the giant was not even allowed up here after an earlier mishap, but there was also no reason it wouldn't. It could easily make a bigger tunnel for itself. And if the giant came up here, there was a good chance that more than just the walking dinner up ahead would be eaten.

The creature entered a three-way debate with itself; eat now, no wait, but they'll escape soon, no you need to escape, there are no side tunnels, eat now, but you don't want to get eaten yourself, but...

GBCE · 08-13-2010, 11:27 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Drakenforge.

So this is reality, huh? Taken from our homes and forced to fight like enslaved gladiators. At least I’m not the only one with fighting experience. That space guy seemed competent at least. Hopefully the other four haven’t encountered something out of their league. She wanted to meet the others. No real reason why, she just did.
Oh, and there was someone even younger than herself, wasn’t there.
There was no way Karen could let a child die here. Not someone with a future, with dreams.
Yes, Karen had neither of those. Her prime was in the game. She had nothing else in her life. She wouldn’t mind dying like this, fighting for survival with her back to the wall. It was how she lived. No, this might be even better. Her life was really on the line. She makes one mistake, and it’s all over. One feels most alive when they’re feeling the pressure and fear of death. And she would go out with a fight, that’s for sure. She didn’t want to win anyway. What was there to go back to? The only person that’d really miss her was… Coal. She wondered what he’d think, probably that she just quit playing. No, Coal wasn’t that quick to doubt his friends. He would wait for her most likely. Wander the world asking for people who knew where she was. Maybe even go so far as to ask a GM to give him the time she last played.
He didn’t know where she lived, and even if he did he was in another country.
Well, he’d move on eventually. Karen wasn’t exactly the most livid person to spend your time with. But there was something in their silence they shared. Well, Karen shared anyway. Coal could talk about anything and everything, and people would listen. Karen never had the same effect on people. She didn’t have much to say, so usually she didn’t bother. She wondered how she will cope in this situation. At least two of the contestants were not speaking in a way that could form a structured conversation. Lloyd was… not the nicest person to be with. At least he seemed motivated.

What to do then. She could probably cut his head off with ease. Just one swing and the round would be over. Of course, the thought of killing a human disturbed her. CHARLIE and Rheudic however… The first would be hard to kill, but the other might yield to her sword and magic combinations. They were machine and monster, right? But still, they lived. They weren’t just bundles of data. No, even killing them would prove difficult to do. Then would she be forced to try to survive the game by not killing any of the contestants? It seemed pretty hypocritical to think that though.
Then what would she do. She could oppose the game entirely. Would that work?

“It's no use worrying about what you can't change.”

But, what could she change then. The rules of her world seemed to still be in effect. All her powers and her strength were still with her. She wondered, was this her real body given power, or had her mind and her avatar become one? There was no real way to test that, unless she returned to her own world.

“You’re right”

Karen stood upright and gazed into Lloyd’s eyes.

“So I’ve decided. I’m going to save you. All of you. My sword and my body shall be as a shield. My life was over before this game began, so do with it as you wish.”

Lloyd stared, dumbstruck. Karen expected as much. She was, in his eyes, probably throwing her life away. What little life she had was more than worth giving for these strangers though. Yes, she was sure Coal would do the same thing after all.
She saw her sword lying beside her end bent over to pick it up. In the metal’s reflection she saw her face, but behind that, something was moving. She looked up to the ceiling to see a large monster clinging to it. It was positioned directly over Lloyd, and was about to detach right on top of him.

“Hold up, you can’t be serio-“

Karen leapt at the same time as the monster fell. They both aimed for the same target: Lloyd. She got there first and shouldered him out of the way as the monster impacted on the floor, swiping at where Lloyd had been. Chubby fingers closed around Karen’s body and sword arm. The monster raised her to its ugly six eyed face. It was like a giant gorilla/insect hybrid. Its grip on her tightened and the pressure on her chest increased.

“Karen!” Lloyd yelled below. The beast was at least seventeen feet tall, so one small man was no threat at all. In fact, it was probably a meal. Her eye caught CHARLIE rotating to look at the creature. Would it attack it? Karen wasn’t helpless however. She could move her left arm. For her, that was more than enough.

“You poor pitiful creature,” She said to its face, “Having to meet someone like me. In my eye, you are nothing more than mid-level trash. So do not cry, this will not hurt for long.”

She outstretched her hand. The monster briefly wondered what she was doing when the fireball connected with its left set of eyes. It howled in pain and released its grip on her. In that instant, Karen swung her sword around, severing several of its fingers in the process. She dropped to the floor below and readied her sword again. Blood seeped out of the hand she had cut and the monster wailed around. Its fingers lay scattered around her. CHARLIE had assessed the situation it seemed, and had backtracked to take on the lumbering beast.

“As I thought, you have no resistance to my magic at all. I shall defeat you, so that we may move on. I have people I need to protect, after all.”

GBCE · 08-17-2010, 08:59 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by GreyGabe.

Marcus began limping along a little faster. The lights were on up ahead. Finally. He had begun to think this powerless section just stretched on forever. Typically darkness didn’t particularly bother Marcus, but between the strange creatures he had seen, and intermittent rumbling noises echoing through the tunnel, he was far from comfortable. Besides, if it was well lit enough, maybe he could put down bird-girl and let his leg have a rest for a few minutes. He’d had more painful injuries before, but he’d be damned if this wasn’t one of the most annoying.

“Uh… Marcus?” Sarika muttured quietly, tightening her grip on his neck slightly.

“Look, you wanna get down and walk, princess? I’m doing the best I--”

“I thought I saw something move. On the wall.”

That stopped Marcus dead in his tracks. Slowly he turned, his gun held at the ready, peering into the darkness.

“Which wall?” He whispered.

“To the right. It was kind of a ripply motion.”

Marcus glared into the darkness, trying to spot any sign of motion. Nothing. Either the thing was on to them, or it was better at hiding than they thought. Or hell, maybe Sarika was seeing things. Who knew? Still, Marcus considered, it seemed like a good idea to err on the side of not having your head ripped off from behind in the dark. He glanced back over his shoulder. They weren’t very far from the light. But it was still a pretty good distance, and he definitely knew he shouldn’t run on his leg unless he absolutely had to.

“Okay. Here’s what we’re gonna do. I’m gonna start backing up. You’re going to keep an eye out to make sure I don’t trip over anything or get eaten or whatever. I’m going to keep an eye out this way. If anything moves, I fill it full of bullets.”

“Uh, okay. Sounds like a plan. Let’s go.”

Marcus backed up slowly, keeping alert for even the slightest movement. Occasionally Sarika muttered warnings or directions to get him past obstacles, but mostly there was silence.

“Hey, we’re almost there! Oh, watch out for that cable. Oh, and there’s some sort of bucket or something to the right. No, my right! Better. Good. Just a little further…”

Marcus tightened his grip on his pistol. Just a little further, sure. Like that thing was going to let them get away. It had tracked them this far, hadn’t it? He was just beginning to wonder just how patient that thing could be when he saw the rippling on the floor, moving towards them very, very quickly.
He guessed its patience had worn out.

The hateful prey was almost to the light again. Already the darkness of the tunnel was less oppressive, more gloomy than dark. Loathsome, revealing light, it hurt its eyes. If it did not catch them now, it might not have a chance again. It had to strike fast, kill or cripple the pale one and then it could take its time… it began moving, along the floor. Slowly, at first, until it realized it was unseen, and began to pick up speed. A scant few meters away, the pale one noticed it, but too late! Too late to flee! It would be on them soon!

Marcus fired quickly, trying just to wound it so that he could manage it better. One of his shots hit, causing the thing to scream and flinch, turning what would have been a deadly pounce into a head-long tumble, which hit Marcus in the knees and knocked him down. Marcus tried to catch himself, and would have if the ground hadn’t have gotten in the way of his face. His gun skittered away across the floor. Sarika was thrown a short way to the side, hitting the ground with her bad arm, gasping in pain. Marcus blinked twice, and started trying to stand up. A weight hit him from behind, knocking him down again. Strong, clawed hands started scrabbling at his armor and the back of his head, probably trying to get a grip on his neck. He threw an elbow behind him to try and throw the creature off. It flinched from his arm, but otherwise was unfazed. Marcus thrashed about, trying to throw it off. He was strong, but it seemed to be stronger, or at least had a stronger position.
Finally its dexterous fingers found their way around his neck and began to squeeze. Marcus began thrashing faster, but to no avail. He had just enough time to think something along the lines of ‘Wow, what an embarrassing way to die,’ before there was a loud thumping sound and the creature shrieked and flinched, trying to turn around. Marcus threw his weight as hard as he could, managing to tumble the creature off of him. Sarika half-sat awkwardly nearby, clutching her staff and glaring at the thing. Marcus looked at the creature, with its pale, slimy skin and a wiry, compact form. It stared back with large, pale eyes, that seemed to glow with their own unwholesome light. Marcus managed to stand never taking his eyes off the thing. It clutched at its side, where pale green ichor oozed out between its digits. Marcus pulled another pistol, and aimed directly for the thing’s head. It shrunk back slightly, malice and rage clear on its face. Marcus fired twice.

He holstered his weapon, and picked the other one up from where it dropped. He then knelt down next to Sarika.

“Thanks for the assist.”

“Well, you looked like you needed it.”

“You think? I’m guessing that you hit it where it was already wounded?”

“Yep.”

“It didn’t seem to appreciate it.”

“Nope.”

Marcus looked past her and towards the lighted area. The back and sides of his head were covered with a criss-cross of thin, red scratches, with a couple of larger gashes on the back of his head. A few bruises were beginning to make themselves manifest as well. His neck was scratched and bruised, but not as severely as his head. The scratches weren’t bleeding much, but they looked fairly ugly.

“Ouch. Looks like that thing did a number on you.”

Marcus gently ran a hand over his head. “Could be worse. At least it didn’t get my face. I would be beside myself if it had marred my perfect visage.”

Sarika was unsure whether she was supposed to laugh or agree with him. She settled for a blank stare.
“That was a joke.”
She continued staring blankly.
Marcus rolled his eyes and stood up again.

“Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to find out if that thing has any friends.”

“Yeah.”

Marcus picked Sarika up, this time opting for the easier and marginally less awkward bridal carry. He began hobbling towards the light once more.
Finally, they made it. The tunnel only continued on for a short way after that. A single door waited for them. As they approached, the doors silently slid open. Marcus slowly entered, checking the room carefully for any sign of approaching nasties. The only signs of life in the huge, circluar room were a few maintenance bots, trundling around and working on various pieces of equipment. Control panels, gauges, and screens took up most of the floor space, measuring things and showing readouts that Marcus wasn’t even going to pretend he understood.
What he could understand, however, was the lift near the center of the room, and the control panel sitting a few feet from it. He silently offered a prayer of thanks, to anyone who might be listening, that he didn’t have to climb any stairs. Slowly, he limped over to the side of one of the control panels, and gently set Sarika down next to it. He lowered himself to the ground with some difficulty, and stretched out his bad leg in front of him.

“Gimme a few minutes to rest, then we’ll check out the lift.”

“Right. Um… do you hear that rumbling sound?”

Marcus tilted his head and listened for a bit. “Yeah, it’s probably some big machine or something. Sounds pretty far away.”

Sarika frowned. “I think it sounds closer than it did before.”

Marcus shrugged. “Well, maybe we worked our way closer to it. It’s hard to tell where it’s coming from, these tunnels run all over the place. Big metal complex, vibrations travel pretty well, if they’re strong. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Hmm… Maybe. But I still think we shouldn't stay here any longer than necessary.”

"We won't." Marcus leaned against the cool, metal side of a console, shutting his eyes. "Just gimme a minute, and we'll go."

Sarika frowned and shifted uncomfortably. She knew Marcus was probably tired, but she couldn't help but feel that they should keep moving. And that rumbling sound... he might have thought it was just a machine, but it didn't sound mechanical to her. And... was it getting louder?

GBCE · 08-19-2010, 12:45 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by gloomyMoron.

Reudic stirred from one of his mental lapses, regaining some semblance of actual cognitive thought. Having had spent countless solar cycles alone in the wild had dulled the Viridiofloran's mind substantially. Instead of thought the plant had learned to rely on instinct during times of great crisis and activity. As the giant beast dropped from the ceiling and proceeded to attack the others, Reudic only now was beginning to realize that he would have to change.

"Rowbaught Char-lee. Atta-ack kree-tch-ore. Reudic atta-ack touo." Reudic was slowly getting used to the language the others were using, but he knew he was probably barely understandable. He just had to hopedthe the strange metallic being understood, and that it didn't use it's flame attacks. Trusting the robot to do what it does best, Reudic moved towards the beasts injured hand with surprising stealth and speed.

Reudic was still unsure if all of his abilities would work on these beasts the same way they did back on the beasts of his home world, but it was something he'd have to try sooner or later. Deciding to take a gamble now, against a fairly manageable enemy, seemed like the best choice to Reudic. Still, the plant didn't have time for the effect to take hold the normal way and had something else in mind.

Reudic climbed onto and wrapped his vines around the beasts injured arm just as Charlie started using his metallic pincers to tear into the beast's other arm. With the time bought bought by the robot's attack, Reudic managed to dig his vines into the beasts arm as well as dig some tendrils into it's open wounds. The plant's vines began to excrete a more potent version of the chemicals it used for illusion creation and mind domination directly into the large beasts body and bloodstream. The effects were slow at first, as the pain from Charlie, Reudic, and Karen's attacks kept its mind focused and sharp, but soon enough it would be rendered helpless by the potent toxin.

Reudic released his grip on the beast and moved away from the fighting to watch and see how the creature behaved after being exposed. As expected the creature's movements dulled as a particularly potent illusion took hold. The beast seemed to swat at thin air and not even notice the fighters that were still attacking it. Reudic decided that, with the fight now all but won, he would test how much control over the beast's mind he had from a distance. The plant floated around the arena testing how well it could control the creatures movements from various distances before deciding on an optimal range.

The beast started to behave even more strangely than before as Reudic started to get used to how the animal's musculature and body worked. Soon Reudic was controlling the beast almost effortlessly as he had it continually dodge Karen's sword and magic strikes as well as continually knockbacking Charlie without lasting damage.

Deciding that he experimented enough on the beast's motor reflexes, Reudic began reprogramming the creatures brain. While his abilities didn't allow him to know what the creature was thinking, he could make it so the creature would think certain things. Reudic programmed an intense fear of the 4 contestants into the creature's head. An overpowering, instinctual fear that would cause the creature to flee rather than fight further when Reudic released control over its mind. He also took the time to program a fear of any other sort of beings as 'strange' as Karen, Reudic, Charlie and Lloyd. The beast would only ever be able to attack creatures native to this area, or so Reudic thought anyway.

After having had the beast dodge a particularly brutal assault from and increasingly frustrated Karen, Reudic relinquished control over the thing's mind. Immediately the creature reacted as expected, and started to run off terrified of the four. Reudic remained indifferent about his success, but was oddly glad that the beast was escaping. Reudic rather disliked killing needlessly, and this thing was just too big to eat. The beast, however, would not remain alive for long.

Reudic watched blankly as Charlie charged a strange weapon before firing at the fleeing foe. A large hole appeared in its midsection as it slumped and slid along the floor, crashing into one of the arena's walls. Reudic began to feel a flash of something he had long since forgot. Emotion, particularly that of anger. Reudic loudly growled and hissed something completely unintelligible, though the two humans in the room seemed to understand enough to know that the plant was pissed as Karan and Lloyd instinctively recoiled from the sounds. As quickly as the sounds started, they stopped. Reudic regained some form of composure and attempted to move past the anger he felt at the needless death.

The attempt would, eventually, fail, but for now Reudic returned to his indifferent self.

GBCE · 08-19-2010, 02:24 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Draykon.

"What the fuck is this thing supposed to be?!" Dekowin shouted.
The machine in the center of the room was simple enough, a small platform, with a few colored buttons on it- four red, four blue, and four green. A couple screens on the machine showed what appeared to be a room containing colored boxes. One red, one blue, and one green, as well as three yellow indentations scattered throughout the room.
"I thought they sent us here to kill each other, not to screw around with weird puzzle shit."
Dekowin crossed her arms in frustration, and glared at the machine, as though she might be able to scare it into opening the door. Lillian had followed in meekly, and refused to look directly at Dekowin.

Before, she had had a decision to make. She could have followed the scary bug girl, or gone back down to save the nice bird lady. But now that Dekowin had pulled her across the hallway, she didn't have a choice. She couldn't just go back now. As far as she knew... the others were...

"No one's dead yet by the way."

Lillian suddenly looked up. Dekowin continued glaring at the machine, but she was talking to Lillian.

"I've been thinking about this place. Or at least, how it looked on my end. I leave my starting area, run into one guy. We progress forward, run into you and that bird chick. I'm betting it's set up like a tournament bracket.

The asshole that sent us here said he wants to 'gather data,' which I guess means he's studying our fighting techniques or something. He also said he wants us to meet up before we kill each other, which means he expects us to reach the end of the tournament bracket BEFORE we start fighting. And at the same time, he said there'd be "Arenas," as in, more than one.

Basically, what it all points to is that the asshole who sent us here would make a much bigger deal outta one of us dieing- and ESPECIALLY two of us dieing at once- than just letting them fall down a big black hole."

She sighed. It really was shoddy reasoning, but this girl couldn't do much good being all mopey like that, and there's no way Dekowin would have the patience to deal with this puzzle.

"Anyway, if two of us are allowed to die in an instant like that without any sort of change, it's gonna be a pretty shitty battle for 'data gathering' or whatever, so they probably landed in a big vat of jello or something."

Lillian made little change in expression. It was pretty obvious Dekowin was just babbling, and she still had no idea what happened to the nice bird lady. Dekowin sighed.

GBCE · 08-20-2010, 05:06 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by WoodlandBeef.

TARGET TERMINATED

The Hunterbot surveyed the creature’s smoking body and scanned its vital signs. The primate-insectoid had a very weak pulse and wouldn’t last maybe but a few more minutes if it fought to stay alive. Satisfied with eliminating the threat, Charlie rotated and observed its companions carefully. It seemed both the plant and female had more up their proverbial sleeves than the Hunterbot had originally identified. The Viridioflorian seemed to have done something strange to the creature while it was latched onto its wounded arm that caused it to react the way it did; and the female warrior’s abilities were far from anything the robot had encountered in any of its missions. CH4-12-L13 made note of this new information and stored the data away for later.

The mech lumbered towards where Lloyd and Karen were each respectively rubbing their temples while recuperating from some spike in the current audible frequencies. Unsure as to why they were so easily overcome, Charlie extended one arm and nudged Karen’s shoulder as gently as a large mechanical machine constructed solely for killing could muster. Karen’s smaller frame lurched from the gesture and she turned to glare up at the robot.

“What is it now? You pretty much pissed off the bush over there you know?”

Ignoring the latter part of Karen’s remark, the same claw gestured towards the door on the far side of the room that emitted a hiss as it slid open and allowed the group to press onwards. Charlie simply waited for the others to make a move, intending to take the rear lest any more creatures attempt a surprise attack.

“It makes a pretty good point. No sense heading back, might as well move forwards and not waste time”

Karen eyed Lloyd contemplatively, not because she disagreed, but more so to reaffirm her newfound conviction and plan out how they should move onwards. In any of her past video game adventures, taking a party into a dungeon and make it all out alive was simply about positioning the players where they were best suited. She and the robot were definitely the strongest currently and could probably take more punishment than Reudic and definitely more than Lloyd. That put the Viridioflorian and novel dweller to stay in the middle where it was generally safer. Karen exhaled deeply as she took her new role to heart.

“Lloyd, you and the bush stay behind me. Charlie will cover the rear so nothing should be able to get the drop on us…literally…”

“You can’t really be up for this Karen! You shouldn’t be so willing to throw your life away…th-there’s always plot holes; there has to be. If we find them, we can use them against the Monitor! Don‘t you value your own life?!”

The sword wielding girl turned around and regarded Lloyd with a determined gaze.

“This is what I must do; my heart is set on it. You wouldn’t understand anyway…”

The words exchanged between the two humans held little interest to the Hunterbot, and as its programming dictated, the mission had to go on as there was no time to waste. The mech emitted a whirring noise to garner the others’ attention and once again gestured towards the hallway beyond the open door

“Char-lee…wahn…mouv…fur-wards”

“Yeah…we know. We should go before anything else unpleasant happens”

Lloyd nodded to Karen and the small group set off through the portal. The hallways was really more of a corridor; small, narrow, and dimly lit. The steely gray walls offered no solace to the troubled minds of Lloyd and Karen, although the latter was somewhat better off as she was focused on one particular task at hand. Saving everyone else in this godforsaken steel hell. Karen’s mouth was set in a grim line as she led the group with Lloyd sticking rather close to her. He didn’t seem too fond of being metaphorically arm in root with some creepy talking plant, and he still had a sketchy acceptance of the robot. Trusting something with that much firepower that was supposedly an opponent in this battle to the death wasn’t quite as easy. The inability to really communicate on a normal, humane level with either the Viridioflorian and Hunterbot did little to help justify Lloyd trusting either of them.

Charlie’s processor was satisfied that their group was moving again. Soon enough they would reach the target destination and the Hunterbot could complete the secondary objectives. Oddly though, the way the female now carried herself and the way she exchanged words with the male piqued the robot’s mechanical intrigue.

‘…value your own life?!’

Life was a concept both foreign and familiar to the robot. The mech possessed no conscience of its own, but it was debatable if Charlie be considered ‘alive’. To be alive was to have function…to have purpose…and CH4-12-L13 indeed had purpose. Its purpose was to terminate life. Something about Karen’s actions caused a temporary faltering in the machine’s processor. Charlie accessed its databank once more to try and make heads or tails of the female’s actions and came to settle on three words.

‘Protect. Save. Sacrifice.’

The Hunterbot started to slowly lag behind as it processed the two words; definitions, uses, synonyms, everything, and then applied it to the recent events that had come to transpire. Charlie soon discerned just what Karen was planning to achieve. She sought to protect those she could, save them from the one known as the Monitor, and she would sacrifice herself to do it. Something about the nobility of her actions struck the Hunterbot’s core A.I. as uncanny and rather incomprehensible. Then again, Charlie came from a place where only greedy politicians and pigheaded warlords ruled the galaxy, stabbing one another in the back for fame, money, and power. The Hunterbot needed more data.

The three in front halted at the edge of what looked to be a seven by seven board slightly illuminated by red, blue, and yellow lights. Charlie’s optics noticed the change in lighting and halted, just in time to avoid bumping Lloyd’s head with its main body segment. There was a small terminal situated before them and three poles situated on the opposite side of the board.

“What do you make of this? Looks like some kind of game…”

Lloyd tentatively took a step onto the partially illuminated board, expecting lasers or flamethrowers to sprout from the walls and blast him. Nothing happened so he took a few more steps, still retaining heavy caution until Reudic floated right on by to the other side.

“Ar Kheez. Dohr…oh-pen”

Karen was unsure of what Reudic was referring to at first, but a closer observation of the door revealed three unlit orbs surrounding it. She then turned her gaze towards the poles, which each had colors matching the orbs, but were also unlit. Lastly, Karen’s eyes fell towards the console and the three bars of light. The console was dark, save for a big red button.

“Hey Charlie. Can you blast that door for us?”

The robot twisted to ‘look’ at Karen and then the door. A whirring noise followed by a discharge of heat, steam, and light followed as Charlie’s laser fired at the door. They were all astounded when the bolt dissipated into a rippling effect as if there were some kind of energy shield protecting the door.

“Figured as much…guess we gotta’ press the big red button and solve the puzzle”

Putting her knowledge of the gaming universe to the test, Karen pressed the button and immediately, the console lit up showing a miniature version of the board except that each square had basic square and rectangular shapes within them. From her perspective, each square could be rotated and shifted with those adjacent to it; and whenever the open ends of the squares connected properly with those of the colored squares, the color would move up. It was fairly simple for her to figure out except for the fact there seemed to be a particular time limit to complete each link, which would cause the puzzle to reset if she was too slow. Despite this, Karen’s adept intellect at such ordeals made the challenge trivial to bypass with only having to restart twice.

The three poles were lit up and Karen, Lloyd, and Reudic each touched one. The orbs around the door lit up and the shield dissipated as the door opened allowing them to proceed onwards into the largest of all the arena-like rooms. There wasn’t much of anything inside the next room save for some ages old bloodstains and battle damage. Still, there was no reason that any of them should let their guard down. This place was as dangerous as they come; more dangerous than any dungeon, novel, forest, or planet the four had encountered in their existences.

/-|=+=|-\

Outside the immense space station in the vast expanse of stars, a mass of metal sped towards the facility. Some of the engineers aboard the station noticed the strange object hurtling towards them and called in a visual scan. It looked to be a basic planetary mining frigate that had suffered some heavy damage. There were no interstellar routes in this sector so seeing something like a mining frigate so far away from any planet was indeed call for concern. Members on board the space station directed communications towards the ship ordering the crew to change course or slow down, but only received static mixed with strange noises in response.

An explosion towards the aft end of the mining frigate caused for alarm amongst those aboard the station and sirens sounded. The frigate wasn’t even an eighth of the size of one of the ONX Training Facilities, but a head on collision was inevitable and the damage could be significant; not only to the station itself, but some of the valuable experiments within those cold, steel walls. The station’s scanners calculated the trajectory, velocity, and several other readouts on the incoming frigate wreckage. Training Facility ONX 5 was where the frigate would impact. With nothing that could really stop the encroaching ship, the station’s occupants held their breaths and watched as the spacecraft smashed into ONX 5 and a plume of fire erupted from the impact site. A scan of the damage indicated something that none of the scientists aboard the facility were pleased to hear.

/-|=+=|-\

Charlie and the others had just crossed the threshold into the new room when a jarring series of tremors shook the facility from communications array to storage center and every where’s in between. The Hunterbot, Karen, and Lloyd had all been knocked off balance and hugged the floor until the shaking subsided, whereas Reudic floated lazily beside them. The lights went out, leaving the four contestants in complete darkness. Charlie instinctively activated its thermal and infrared sensors to keep watch for anything suspicious.

“What the hell just happened? An earthquake?”

“I…guess? It sounded more like an explosion to me. Either way, seems like the power is out…” Not even five seconds after the words left Lloyd‘s mouth, a loud buzzing sound echoed throughout the area and dim, red lights flickered to life bathing the room in an ominous glow.

“…scratch that. Though these have to be the emergency generators. Whatever happened…really did some damage to the facility”

‘Attention all personnel! A mining frigate has collided with Facility ONX 5! Critical damage to the main reactor sustained! Repair teams deployed!’

“A…mining frigate? Frigates mean ships, but ships don’t tend to mine…unless…” Karen’s jaw dropped as things finally registered in her mind.

“We’re in space!?”

The sound of scuttling intermingled with some of the most grotesque organic noises ever heard filled the ears and audio receptors of the four contestants. Karen and Lloyd exchanged glances while Charlie faced the hallway from which they came. The Hunterbot’s sensors could pick up movement, but neither the thermal or infrared could fully identify it…or them…or whatever it was. Reacting as programmed, Charlie’s pincers opened and spewed jets of flame out into the hallway behind them. Screeches and pops could be heard as the nearly undetectable organisms behind them burned and died. Suddenly, a form came from seemingly nowhere and smash into the Hunterbot, sending it sprawling across the room.

“What the hell just happened to the robot!?”

“U-Uh…Karen? We have bigger problems! Our friend is back…and uglier than the last time!”

Indeed it was. The primate-insectoid hybrid was looming before them, but unlike before, its body was still missing a large part of its torso. Strangely enough, parts of its flesh had become covered in enormous blisters, tendrils, and decaying plantlike matter. The missing fingers and other wounds had been filled in by wiggling tentacle-like growths. Two of the creatures eye sockets had alien flowers protruding from it and its lower jaw hung limply allowing its bloody drool to slather over the ground below it. Overall, the creature looked hideous enough that even Charlie‘s emotionless processor was repulsed by the sight. Either way, the thing was back and it was pissed.

Dragon Fogel · 08-20-2010, 07:18 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

Show Content

GBCE · 08-20-2010, 11:15 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by Drakenforge.

Karen stared at the hulking monstrosity and its mutated new form. Types of spells formed in Karen’s mind, she assessed each carefully. The revived specimen seemed to be moving oddly, as if it was not used to its own body. The wriggling tendrils covering the body concerned Karen, what were they? Its revival reminded Karen of the zombie type monsters she had killed before. These seemed like parasites, ones who inhabit the bodies of others and take control. The major wound in its chest didn’t even faze the overtaken host, which meant it was probably immune to pain senses from the host. She guessed if all of the smaller creatures died the larger one would revert back to a corpse. But she’d need to do it fast; the beast had already moved Charlie back to the other side of the room. Karen surmised that the robot would be able to take that kind of hit and keep going, but this thing was learning its new body at an alarming rate. She didn’t want to take any hits from something that large. Before it was merely mid-level, but now it seemed to her more like a mid-boss of a high level dungeon. She wasn’t used to taking such things down on her own. She took a step back, peering over towards Reudic.

“You affected it before, made it afraid. Does it still work?”

Reudic made a strange drawn out tone which didn’t seem to optimistic. The parasites must be interfering with its brain on a level the plant could not overcome. She hadn’t expected much, but the prospect would have made things easier.

“We already killed that thing once. Are you entirely sure it can even be killed now?”

“The parasites, do you see them? I kill them all, we win.”

Karen didn’t make a move for her sword. Cutting an animated corpse was nearly useless. You destroyed their vital points, generically their head, but in this case it had many little points moving across, and probably inside, its body. She decided she would eliminate them all with her magic. Individual small spells wouldn’t cut it. She needed something big, something massively powerful. There were such spells, but they bore a heavy price on her power. But such worries were beneath her. She had lives to protect. She knew what her limits were, and she could probably surpass those in this situation. Casting off her thoughts, Karen broke into a chant.

“Hear me, master of the flaming domain. Answer the call to me, your vassal. In my hand I hold your flame.” She ignited her right palm, raising it up above her head.
“In my heart I bear your spirit. Thou art in me, and I command thee. I bind thee to the name Ifreet! Head my call, and incinerate my enemies! Immolate their corpses, leaving nothing but ash!!”

By the end, Karen was practically screaming her words. Nothing happened for a few seconds, but Karen didn’t lower her guard. Lloyd was about to speak up when the fireball in her hand exploded, sending huge waves of fire in every direction. They spread around the floor, narrowly missing the group, to form a massive circle of fire. Lines crisscrossed the area forming triangles, runes and other symbols in the circle.
Suddenly a large crimson hand punched through the floor, yet leaving it intact. The hand instantly ignited, and was followed by a large body of pure flames. It’s shape crackled and wavered, as if there was no real body to house the flames. It loomed over Karen, staring deep into her eyes.
“I paid my dues to you long ago spirit. With this our debts to each other are cleared.”

The flames didn’t respond, save for turning it’s back to her. It grew larger, overtaking the size of the parasitic corpse of the gorilla bug. Karen leaped backwards over the small flames of the circle, and gathered the group together in the centre.

“If you value your life, don’t move.” She said sharply.

Charlie reluctantly remained stationary beside her. Satisfied, Karen clapped her hands together. When they parted, a small sphere or bubble appeared between her palms. The further she moved her hands apart, the larger it grew. Spreading her arms out to the fullest it started enlarging on its own, harmlessly passing around Karen so that she stood inside it. The others passed through as well, surprise dying down as they got acquainted with the bubble. As soon as the bubble took hold of everyone, the flame spirit lurched forward, slamming into the infected creature. It resisted, trying to throw the flames away, but it enveloped it. The metal around them began to glow amber, and it quickly spread to the other parts of the room. Karen saw several of the parasitic forms fall to the floor, only to sizzle on impact and burn to death. The dead beast suddenly pushed back, slamming Ifreet into the far wall, right next to the doors that the other contestant would have had to take to get into the room. The amber glow spread to the door controls, obliterating them in and instant. The doors seemed to be made of another substance of the walls and quickly melted, leaving a large gap in the wall. Ifreet responded by bear hugging the colossal fiend, and enveloped it whole. It’s vague shape could be seem through the flames. As it was quickly incinerated, a hulking scream bellowed from its maw. It sunk to the floor in a gloopy mess, before even that was reduced to ash. Ifreet regained its form, and stared around for any trace of the creature. Seeing none, it seeped across the floor towards the door the infestation had entered from. It grabbed each side of the doorway, and it melted an impromptu wall with the doors, sealing off the corridor. Its job done, Ifreet returned to the centre of the circle. The glow of the heated floor stopped at Karen’s bubble, but the strain on her body increased to keep it that way. Without a word, the eidolon disappeared into the flames of the circle. The fires stopped, leaving only scorch markings and desolation. Karen let the bubble go and slumped to her knees. Lloyd stared in amazement at the sheer damage left by the short fight between behemoths. Karen reached into her pocket and retrieved a vial filled with a strange blue liquid. Popping the cork out with her thumb she downed it in a single gulp.

“Still tastes like bubblegum at least.” She remarked idly.

“What did you just drink?” Lloyd asked quizzically.

“Something that helps me regain my magic level. It seems a bit different though. It must be because instead of recharging a number, it’s actually affecting my body and mind now.”

Lloyd seemed satisfied with the answer, and examined the state of the melted doorway. The back up generator was powering the lights on the other side, much like it was in the large room they were in. If they were headed this way, they’d be able to enter now through the redecorated entrance.

“Think the others are beyond there?”

“If they are, we’ll be waiting to greet them.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lillian was finding that the bug lady was issuing small bursts of spittle every time something sudden happened. When the floors and walls had shook they had both taken a bit of a tumble. Neither of them were hurt, but Dekowin still issued a short word that Lillian hadn’t quite understood. She had been pestering her about it for a short time.

“Why won’t you tell me what bollocks are?”

Dekowin wasn’t too chuffed with having said that, but the frustration she was managing to hide from the young girl had sort of let that one slip.

“It’s nothing. Nonsense. Just a thing I blurted out in the heat of the moment. Really”

Lillian didn’t look convinced, but let it drop for now. She was intent on finding the nice, fluffy lady from before. Moving ahead seemed like it would lead to the end of some sort of labyrinth or maze. With one true ending, it was natural to assume that everyone would eventually reach it if they tried enough times. She decided to look for her there, and if she wasn’t present, to wait patiently for her. The warm feeling of her down was still fresh in Lillian’s mind. And her expression, though hidden behind a pair of goggles, was almost motherly. It was understanding. Dekowin didn’t radiate a bad feeling, not really anyway. She just didn’t know how to cope with a child. Lillian could see that quite easily.

The two had left the puzzle room behind when the power had cut out. The backup generator did not power the console, but it seems an automatic system had kicked in and unlocked the door anyway. Since then they had quietly reached another turn in the corridor. This signalled the third such turn. Oddly, the faint smell of smoke flowed through the air around this area of the corridor. Dekowin motioned for Lillian to stay put as she went ahead to check out the source of the smell. Sure enough, the farther she went, the stronger the smell became. At the edge, the source of the smell became apparent. The doors had fused into a solid grey mass on either side. A large gap was left in the middle, more than enough for her to pass through. She hesitated for a second before peeking over it. She saw the four other contestants resting in the centre of the room. Around them black marks were scorched onto the ground. The female of the group spotted Dekowin with the eye not hidden by her hair and waved. Sensing that the group didn’t hold any violent intentions for the moment, Dekowin motioned for Lillian to approach the doorway too. When she did, Dekowin said “I’ll go ahead and make sure it’s safe. If anything happens, just stay hidden. Okay?”

Lillian nodded in response. Dekowin gave her a quick smile before stepping over the wreckage. She strode towards the group with a prideful walk. The group regarded her, and the girl asked straight away, “Where are the others?”

“Sarika and Marcus are missing. They collapsed into a tunnel underneath these areas. I was hoping they’d be here, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

Dekowin noticed Karen peering around her side. She hoped Lillian had did as she asked and remained hidden.

“And you told the little one to wait while you checked out the situation”

Dekowin spun around to look at the door, but didn’t see any sign of Lillian.

“How did you know that?”

“You just told me.”

Dekowin stared dumbfounded at the blank faced girl. She eventually muttered a cuss under her breath and sighed. She called over to the doorway, and sure enough, a little head popped out.

She strolled across the floor, casually stepping around the back markings on the floor. She looked over the four new, strange… they weren’t even all people. One was a large floating ball of leaves and flowers and vines. It was also dripping a strange yellow goo on the floor, but it didn’t seem to mind. Another was large and scary and it had claws and was metal. It was really tall, so Lillian didn’t really like it. A man with a towel over his shoulder was staring at her oddly. He tutted and turned away, focusing on no point in particular. And the blank faced black clad girl had a sword on her back. She didn’t seem scary. In fact, she seemed to regard Lillian in a fond way.

“So, you’re Lillian right?”

She nodded a response.

“I’m Karen. We’re going to wait a little bit longer for the other two to show up. I’m sure they’re on there way here as we speak. You don’t mind waiting, right?”

Lillian sensed an infinite amount of patience inside the girl. It wasn’t the kindness of Sarika, she just seemed… used, to dealing with people who didn’t understand things. Lillian smiled at the news they’d meet Sarika again, and to the surprise of anyone looking at Karen, she gave a small smile back.

MalkyTop · 08-21-2010, 02:52 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.

They rested. Marcus was milking this break for every second he felt he could. Spraining your ankle and having to carry around a (admittedly light) bird lady had a way with making you a tad lethargic.

Sarika still wasnt very comfortable with it, though she couldn't argue much. If he wanted to rest, well, it wasn't like she could just go off on her own. And to be honest, getting her broken arm all knocked around back there didn't really do it much good. In fact, it was still throbbing a bit in a way that warned her not to do any acrobatics for a very long time.

The small maintenance bots wheeled around, some of them actually looking quite idle, unneeded at the moment as others did vaguely important-looking robot stuff. There were always a number of robots going in or out that hallway the two had just gone through. Sometimes they would wheel into her, sending numb aches throughout her body, and she would have to move slightly for them to pass or else they would wheel continuously into her side, completely baffled why it was moving its wheels, yet not moving forward. It was especially hard when they ran into her leg. Sarika wasn't exactly willing to move her broken leg for these rather simple-minded robots and just kicked them away. They would then spin off wildly in a random direction, get confused about what just happened, then simply forget it and move on.

Marcus seemed content to let his mind wander but she persisted in being a suspicious bitch. That rumbling was just too overbearing to ignore. Or, well, she supposed it wasn't overbearing, but just sort of in the background at the moment. It wasn't too loud, just made itself known. But that was loud enough to put her on edge! Any sort of rumbling was a suspicious rumbling and this rumbling was especially suspicious as it was definitely getting louder, although maybe that was just her.

She knocked aside another small robot and listened so intently that Marcus eventually noticed and chuckled a little at her serious expression.

"Is it that sound?" he asked, trying not to smirk too much.

"Yes," Sarika snapped back, her nerves feeling a little overworked now. "It's getting louder." Marcus stared at her. "I, er, I think."

He couldn't help but think that, though some suspicion was healthy, there was such a thing as too suspicious. "If you don't backpedal a little, your brain'll fry."

"No, look, haven't you noticed that there's a bunch of robots coming back here instead of going out? Huh? They're fleeing from something!"

Marcus looked back to the field of robots. They almost looked like a flock of sheep, milling about randomly. Their limited AI was probably on a sheep's level, even. He could even see two robots running straight into each other, neither budging to let the other aside. It was a little depressing.

"I'm not seeing it."

Sarika seemed to stare at him for an uncomfortably long amount of time before continuing the conversation in a hauntingly slow and low voice. "It's dark. Things are sparking. It's the dead bodies of dim-witted maintenance robots. Some wheels still spin in a vain attempt to escape what has befallen them. This room is completely destroyed and it can be inferred that other parts of this base is in the same condition. Something unnatural covers the walls."

Marcus didn't scare easily, however, and wasn't quite impressed. "That's your future vision, I take it."

"Yes," Sarika snapped again, grounded back in the present. Her impatient snappiness was actually getting a little annoying. He could imagine her being an overbearing, bossy wife. The image of her in an apron, holding a rolling pin and brow-beating an unfortunate man brought a small smirk to Marcus's face that Sarika didn't appreciate.

"And can you even be sure that in this disasterous future, we're even still in this place? That we haven't moved on to the next round? To a new arena?"

He could tell that he got her there. Sarika stuttered and reluctantly conceeded that no, she couldn't be sure. "But I still think--"

"Yeah, I know, we should get going. I'd like to get healed soon anyways." With a grunt, Marcus was back on his feet again. The various robots that had been constantly running into him were now free to roll forward blindly. With another grunt, Sarika was back in his arms, slightly covering them in slime, which didn't matter too much because they had already been covered in slime in the first place.

What he did mind was the sudden, unwelcome jolt that shook the whole room and swept him in the air for a short moment before he landed roughly on the metal floor and some metal robots. Sarika landed on her arm again and let out half a curse, something that had to do with her weird religion. The power stuttered and went off.

And then went back on.

‘Attention all personnel! A mining frigate has collided with Facility ONX 5! Critical damage to the main reactor sustained! Repair teams deployed!’

As the room bathed in red light, Marcus painfully got onto his feet once more and waded through very frantic maintenance robots until he found the bird woman. The first thing she said when he picked her up once more was, "'Mining frigate'? What do ships mine?"

Marcus shrugged. "Fish?" That got a little smile out of the prophet.

Taking the situation a little more seriously now, Marcus turned towards the elevator. Apparently, the maintenance robots were needed elsewhere and were piling up quickly on the lift. He waddled through the sea of robots again, overtaking them quickly, trying to reach it before the doors closed. He even shouted "Hold the door!" and felt stupid as he did so. Still, he managed to squeeze in before the lift left and shuffled uncomfortably as one robot took it upon itself to press a floor button.

They ascended. Marcus tensed despite the laid-back atmosphere. The soft red light just made him feel on-edge, as if just with different lighting, something horrible would happen. And being in an enclosed space such as an elevator made him feel unprepared to deal with whatever might transpire. Either that or Sarika's prophecy actually did get to him.

Nothing happened for a long time. The robots stood still, waiting to do their job. Sarika started tapping her staff on something and eventually switched to fiddling with her necklace. She apologized hastily when she accidentally nudged him in the head with the wooden staff.

And then there was a rather explosive sound below them. As the robots muttered something nervously in loud, audible monotone, Marcus tried to peer through the glass door to see what was happening, but found it difficult to see anything besides a wall and part of the floor. But he could definitely see something moving down there. And it was pretty big.

"Oh shit." he said. And the lights went out.

By the terrifying sounds of shredding metal, he assumed the giant whatever-it-was was barrelling its way up towards them with no regard for the fact that the walls simply couldn't fit it. Which meant it was tearing easily through wires, indifferent to what the wires did. Like power emergency lights to the maintenance bot docks.

"This may be about when my vision took place," Sarika commented in a way that sounded so calm that Marcus was sure she was scared out of her wits.

"Don't be smug about it," Marcus shot back, not feeling very optimistic himself. As he thought, inside an elevator, he couldn't really do much. It would be nice if he could shoot something and make it die, preferably the thing chasing them right now, but that would involve somehow forcing the doors open and then jumping down towards it to get a good aim which was probably a tactical no-no.

"Can't this elevator go faster?" the mercenary shouted in frustration. The maintenance bots huddled closer together as if thinking, but whatever plan they would come up with was interrupted by the elevator breaking apart underneath them. Every part of it, the metal frame, the glass doors, the buttons and the occupants inside, fell between the pincers of a giant worm.

----------------------------

The large group of six contestants did not have to wait long when a low rumbling sound started up beneath them. It shook the floor slightly, almost the same as the recent frigate crash, but this rumbling grew as did the shaking.

"I think we should--" The back-up lights flickered as the shaking became strong enough that Karen toppled over and had to remain on the ground. The others did likewise, though Reduic just floated and looked as nervous as a plant could and Charlie merely stumbled and dug its leg determedly into the floor. Dekowin, not particularly fond of feeling so useless on the floor, took to the air as well.

Lillian's Kindred Spirit was disconcerted. It spoke to her of a beast beneath them. Something gigantic and coming towards them very quickly. It advised her to move towards the wall and, though the floor shuddered violently and she wanted to close her eyes and try to block out the noise, she repeated the instruction to her new friends. She wasn't sure if they had actually heard her, but the little girl started trying to drag herself towards where she thought a wall might be.

The floor seemed to be pushing her aside now. It was bulging near the middle, straining, straining, until something erupted forth, knocking everybody aside and taking most of the floor with it. It looked to be a huge worm, slick with green slime that came out of its mouth. Pincers adorned each side of its head, which currently was rocking about in apparent confusion and agitation. Beady eyes stared blankly at a wall as it seemed to wobble drunkenly before spewing a mess of green goo that stung the flesh and softened the wall. The worm spit splashed against a wall before sloshing down to what was left of the floor. Within the mess, several things could be seen, such as miscellaneous rubble, half-digested glass, long-twisted metal, a group of panicky and excited maintenance bots, and two rather recognizeable figures.

Marcus carefully stood up, wondering if he would ever feel clean again and trying to shake some of the goop off before it started to coagulate while Sarika settled for lying down and gasping, clutching her staff as though it were her lifesafer, which he supposed it was. Giant worms, like many other creatures of the universe, did not like things getting stuck and/or forcibly jabbed into its throat.

It wasn't quite the reunion anybody had expected, but that wasn't much of a concern at the moment. The giant worm was recovering very quickly and it seemed as though it would like to regain all the food it had just lost.

Dragon Fogel · 08-21-2010, 03:11 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

From his control center, the Monitor observed the battle.

"Excellent," he said to himself. "They are all in one place. Slightly faster than predicted, in fact."

He began poring over the data.

"No conclusive signs of the Controller's presence in this world. The only evidence is circumstantial. The combatants have yet to uncover anything of interest, either. A shame. This round has not been as productive as I had hoped."

He began pressing buttons on his console.

"And so I shall hasten its conclusion. It is time to deactivate the interference program."

With one final button press, the Monitor returned control of ONX-5's systems to EOS.

Show Content

Anomaly · 08-21-2010, 03:20 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Anomaly.

"Unknown interfernce dissipating. Initializing Executive Operation System, v2.58...

...

Quantum processes initialized. Shunting molecular flux...

...

All systems operational.

Attention, unauthorized bioforms. I am known as EOS, this station's main computer. I regret to inform you that you are to die shortly. All lost datalogs from the past 59 minutes and 23 seconds have been successfully recovered, and I have viewed your actions within this facility. So far you have terminated several very valuable research experiments, as well as caused various damage to sensitive equipment throughout. #ZX0012, codenamed the "Extirpator", has gone rogue within that facility as well. You may recognize it as a gigantic slug or worm-like creature which excretes a green slime-like substance.

In addition, you have destroyed at least one highly-valuable defense drone, which appeared to already be damaged by the time you got there. Several unknown dimensional anomalies have occured throughout, which have been scanned and will be defended against in the future. And, whether or not you are aware of it, all of the creatures you have mercilessly slaughtered today were sentient life, likely as intelligent as most of you. Some were not even hostile in the slightest. I hope none of you have problems with killing innocents.

But likely none of this is important to you. What is important is that a defunct White Plateau mining frigate, unable to be destroyed due to defense system malfunctions, has crashed directly into facility ONX-5, causing severe structural damage to the upper levels, including the facility's antimatter core. Since we are still not able to teleport into or out of the facility due to interference, we are left no choice. Facility ONX-5 will be jettisonned at high speeds into deep space, in order to prevent the destruction of the station or damage to the planet below. In about 11 minutes, the facility will be completely obliterated by an antimatter core meltdown. I regret the loss of subject #ZX0012, especially after facility JDO-5 and subject #ZX0011 were lost in another jettison just three months ago.

At the time I finish talking, the facility will be jettisoned, and you will have 10 minutes left to live. All personnel have been evacuated. Thank you, and have a nice day.

...

Access codes confirmed. Locking clamps released. Blast doors shut. White Plateau Biological Research Division Testing Facility ONX-5 will be jettisoned from the station in three seconds."

Show Content

**Pinary** · 08-23-2010, 07:17 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.

As the speakers clicked off, the docking clamps disengaged, sending a booming echo through the facility. Once it passed, though, all was silent. No one moved, pensive. Nothing happened.

As nothing continued to happen, people began to stir. The worm began to orient itself, deciding which of the tiny things it would eat first, and the combat-capable of the group started preparing to defend. As Marcus moved forward, Sarika started, "Don't-", but she was interrupted before she could finish.

The jettison charges detonated, knocking the facility clumsily away from the rest of the station and sending it spinning off into space.

Inside, there was chaos. In the shock of the detonation, the unstable antimatter core fluctuated wildly, making every system waver on and off. The artificial gravity went wild, flying from normal to triple to none to negative over the course of a few seconds and reverting back a few moments later. The lights flickered crazily, making things that much more chaotic. No series of coherent events could really be discerned, just flashes of tiny scenes: Charlie floating halfway above the floor in momentary null gravity; Lillian pushing her head into Karen's shoulder; the worm being shoved back down its hole- all just tiny slices of the noisy, flashing, confusing whole.

Then, a moment after it had started, it was done. The facility was still tumbling, but the charges had successfully set them on their way, and now that they weren't being jolted around, the core had settled down to merely being unstable and about to detonate.

As the core normalized, so did things in the final chamber. The lights went back to normal, the gravity came back to where it had been before, and the eight contestants were given a moment to relax. The worm was down in its hole somewhere, and for now, no one seemed to be making any aggressive moves.

Marcus, for his part, hadn't fared too badly. He was no stranger to artificial gravity, and this was far from the worst experience he'd had with it. Of course, it was hardly a pleasant one, but he couldn't really complain. He was alive, wasn't he?

There was, however, a man draped over his legs about which he could complain, since he was twisting Marcus' ankle in a rather painful way and making him rather annoyed.

Lloyd, on the other hand, was grinning madly. The lights, the gravity, the chaos, it had all come together in a way that was much more real for him than anything he had experienced before. Sure, he'd have a few bruises, and he'd want to take a few minutes to steady his stomach, but otherwise, it hadn't been so bad.

Standing up, he extended a hand to the man he'd landed on. "Marcus White, I believe?"

Marcus eyed him dubiously. "Yeah. And you're Lloyd. The bookworm."

"Exactly that. I think we should probably have a bit of a chat. No, don't look at me like that- you really should trust me on this one."

He was disgruntled and suspicious, but Marcus took the proffered hand. "Alright," he said, moving back towards Sarika, "talk." His ankle hurt like blazes, but it didn't seem any worse than it had been before.

"I've spent my life," Lloyd began, "seeing and disrupting chains of events. It gave me great pleasure to see a sequence of cause and effect thrown to the wind, and it's practically second nature to me to throw a wrench in the works whenever I can."

"And? What's your point?"

"My point, you see, is that there is such a chain of events building. It starts with one simple question: What, exactly, is the most logical thing to do when you're kidnapped by a rather powerful being?"

"Well, do what it says, I'd imagine. Cooperate. But that's ignoring-"

"Right, right. Now, it just so happens that we find ourselves in such a situation, and we've been given exactly two instructions." He held up a finger. "One: kill all the other contestants." He held up a second. "Two: do not do so until all of them have reached this room- the one we are standing in."

Marcus stopped and turned, his boots making small squishing noises in the goop as he did. He gave Lloyd an annoyed look. "What are you getting at? Are you saying I should kill you right now, because that's the 'logical' thing to do?"

Lloyd held up his hands. "No, no, far from it! We're not just rational beings, but emotional as well, and that includes things like having a conscience and a desire not to kill at the drop of a hat. But if, say, you were a purely logical being, you would think that now would be the point at which to start attacking, yeah?"

"Sure, yeah. Your point?"

"My point," Lloyd said, gesturing behind them, "is that if I were an invisible robot, armed and ready to kill, I'd be on the hunt, aiming to take out the most dangerous targets first."

Marcus saw the distinctive footsteps of the Hunterbot in the ooze on the floor behind him just as it leapt, its cloaking system rendering it just a ripple in the air.

He had a pistol in his hand sooner than Lloyd would have expected, and he got off a glancing shot before Charlie was on him, claws knocking the gun away. The two grappled, Marcus trying to reach any of his various weapons to use against the robot and Charlie trying to reach for any of Marcus' various weapons to disable and remove them.

Lloyd, glad to finally have something even vaguely his size to pick on, jumped into the fray, wrapping his towel around the Hunterbot's tail and hauling back hard. He wasn't sure it'd do a lot of good, but he'd be damned if he was going to just sit back any longer.

Dragon Fogel · 08-23-2010, 11:15 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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GBCE · 08-23-2010, 04:13 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by WoodlandBeef.

The Hunterbot’s termination protocol had kicked in gear as the machine bore down on its first and highest priority target, Marcus. Even as the robot and man grappled, Charlie’s processor worked double time to ascertain useful data about the man. Indeed Karen’s display of powers had escalated her position to one of the more dangerous beings present, but the Hunterbot’s logic demanded it secure data on the weapon toting soldier. If not for the Monitor’s initial description of Marcus, it quite possibly could’ve been Karen being deadlocked with the CH4-12-L13 unit. Meanwhile, Lloyd could only hang on to Charlie’s segmented tail by his towel in vain attempt to bring down the mech.

“Thanks, but Lloyd…you’re insane!” “Seconded.” “…can somebody else help me out here!? Holding hands with the thing intent on killing me isn‘t my ideal afternoon you know”

The mercenary’s palms were in an inverse tug-of-war with the robot’s pincers as the two pushed against each other. They were almost evenly matched if it weren’t for Marcus’ lack of a third arm and leg where Charlie possessed a clear advantage of balance and available weaponry. The Hunterbot’s left leg stepped forward and then its right as it pushed Marcus back into the room’s wall and started to bear down on him. A point blank shot from that menacing laser cannon would turn Marcus into a smoking bloodstain on the wall; the only thing saving him was that for some odd reason, the robot hadn’t bothered to fire it.

Reudic gave the situation some thought and against its better judgment, floated slightly closer to the clashing trio and lashed out with its extendable roots. The plant’s tendrils snaked their way up and around the tail segments, trying to locate a vital point and perhaps work its mental influence on the armored beast. Charlie’s turret segment rotated around and faced the Viridioflorian and Lloyd while continuing to pressure and hopefully overpower Marcus. The primitive looking man grunted as he was forced to one knee while both Lloyd and Reudic tugged vehemently on Charlie’s tail. The Hunterbot’s central processor whirred and decided that the plant and other humanoid could be terminated just as quickly, if not quicker, than the current high priority threat.

“What the heck are you all doing!? We have more pressing matters to attend to! Like-” Charlie expunged a hiss of steam from its coolant tank, drowning out Sarika’s words as the Hunterbot’s pincers began to rotate and grind into Marcus’ palms. The man winced at the sharp tip of metal digging into his toughened skin when suddenly his hands were grasping at the air. He didn’t wait long to figure out where the claws went though as one swatted him aside and the other doing the same to Lloyd in the opposite direction. Both men were sent sprawling to the opposite ends of the room and the Hunterbot fixated its optics on the roots attached to Reudic. Reudic made a strange noise that was a cross between a dismayed groan and frightened shriek as the Viridioflorian acknowledged where the armored beast’s attentions were focused.

“Hae-alp”

The machine’s pincers opened, exposing the flamethrower nozzles and directed them towards the roots still hungrily exploring the polished, steel surface. Twin jets of flame erupted forth and set the biological matter ablaze, forcing some of the contestants to look away while Reudic struggled to somehow dislodge itself from the now-burning roots. The dancing tongues of flame lapped hungrily at their food source and began to quickly slither towards Reudic’s deliciously flammable body. There was a quick movement and Deokwin was hovering near the floating rosebush with claws extended. The burning ashes fell to the floor harmlessly, until some of the cinders landed in some of the goop splattered across the floor.

The green substance gradually turned a vibrant orange and began to bubble and froth as small fires manifested on the surface. Soon, the blazing goo started to smoke and sink into the floor, or rather began to eat away at the floor. Charlie’s processor scanned the strange gelatinous substance and found it now had an acidic quality that would constantly eat way at whatever surface it was present on. The other contestants were either recuperating or watching the goo and Hunterbot carefully, except for Lillian whose emotions began to run rampant and she began to cry uncontrollably.

“What the hell is wrong with you!? It‘s okay Lillian…shhh…it‘s okay, I promise I‘ll protect you” Karen urged as she backed the small girl up to a wall and used herself as the shield. The gaming female did not move, but her hand hovered cautiously by her waist where the hilt of her sword was presently located after having slung it upside down.

Marcus grunted and rubbed his head as he shakily rose to his feet, but fell back to one knee. Being swatted by a big steel claw into a big steel wall did absolute wonders for his injured leg. Despite the pain, he drew his trusted firearm, the Retribution. Sighting down the barrel, Marcus planned to fire off some shots when Sarika cried out.

“Don’t shoot!”

The mercenary muttered under his breath and grit his teeth together, but after all that time spent in the tunnel with the prophetess, Marcus knew better than to ignore warnings and commands from her. It proved to be a good decision because Dekowin’s fluttering form was upon the killer mech with her biometal claws poised to gouge the metal and rip out its circuitry. If Marcus had shot, he might‘ve actually done the killing rather than the robot.

The pre-pubescent Volkhanbet screeched in a bloodcurdling manner that sent bits of spittle everywhere, smoke rising from the surfaces that it touched having become acidic. Charlie’s left pincer lashed out to swat the fly as well as shield its body from the dangerous substance. Small holes melted through the claw’s frontal plates as the acid ate away at the paint and armor. As futuristic as the Hunterbot’s armor was, some biological acids just couldn’t be totally protected against especially if their content was unknown in their universe. Ignoring the superficial damage, Charlie released a jet of flame that the Volkhanbet easily dodged while setting more ooze ablaze.

Dekowin was clearly faster than the Hunterbot as she fluttered around the machine and took potshot swipes with her claws. Charlie’s armor was thicker than she expected as her claws only seemed to scratch the paintjob. She tried to get closer to the central body so maybe some of her acid spit could eat away at the armor plating, but the machine seemed to become more and more aware as it tried to fight with her. Not to mention spitting acid did wonders for her throat. This only infuriated the warrior princess and she grew more aggressive, almost to reckless levels.

As any good hunter would do while stalking its prey, Charlie was securing data on Dekowin and her fighting style even in the heat of battle. The human-insectoid was quite a threat, especially with the biological substance that she could spew at will it seemed. Unfortunately, the only way to quickly dispose of the pesky fly would to blast it with the plasma cannon; and at such a close range inaccuracy was abundant. Charlie’s body segments shifted back and forth as it tried to avoid Dekowin’s rapid slashes until the Volkhanbet’s attack pattern became rather predictable in her recklessness and the Hunterbot struck back.

A wide arcing swipe by Dekowin whiffed as Charlie’s tail folded backwards and was punished by a metal claw clamping down on her abdomen. The strange composition of the Volkhanbet’s exoskeleton prevented the robot’s claws from crushing and snapping the girl in half so Charlie did the next best, logical thing. Gyrating the arm segment, the cool, heartless, well-oiled machine slammed Dekowin into the ground before forcefully hurling her across the room and into a wall. The jarring impacts left the girl relatively stunned state against the wall. The Hunterbot’s turret hummed and buzzed as it charged the tail-mounted laser cannon. Several of the contestants collectively drew in a sharp breath.

“Shit!”

Marcus quickly brought up the Retribution and sighted up Charlie’s tail tip. He didn’t have much time so this shot had to count or not much of Dekowin would be left save for a stain of smoking blood and plasma fused to the wall. Exhaling a deep breath, the mercenary’s finger moved to the trigger.

“Marcus! Don’t….shoot…SHOOT! No don’t! Yes! No! Sh-”

“SHUT IT!” snapped the mercenary and he depressed the trigger.

‘Whatever your stupid future vision holds has to be better than the guilt on my mind of letting another person die. It’s why I went rogue in the first place’

The Retribution’s barrel kicked back with a flash of the muzzle. The bullet whisked through the air and it felt like time slowed around the mercenary and Hunterbot; allowing the other contestants to see the bullet’s trail through the rippling air. Lloyd was pushing himself to his knees; Lillian cowering behind Karen who watched impassively; Reudic who floated with a wary indifference; Sarika clutching at her staff while pressed against a wall; and Dekowin clutching at her abdomen with one eye trained on her imminent executor. In a flash, everything happened…

Lillian and Sarika screamed. The bullet casing glanced off Charlie’s turret, but the impact jostled the aim. The plasma bolt discharged from the turret and seared through the air with an electrical crackle. Lloyd spat a curse, but it was unsure if the curse was directed at Marcus or Karen. Karen’s visage was stoic at the burst of plasma heading directly for her and consequently Lillian behind her.

“I promised to give my life protecting you all, and that’s what I intend to do…” Karen stated as her hand grasped the hilt of her sword and drew it with a flourish. “…but I’m not going to end here!”

The swordmage’s magically infused blade clashed with the sparking bolt. Her hair fluttered outwards and the girl’s teeth were bared in a fiercely determined expression. With a cry and white-knuckled grip on her sword, Karen twisted and deflected the laser bolt. Her hair fell haphazardly over her face concealing half of it while the other glared with a heated fury.

“You’re a hero! BUT ALSO AN IDIOT!”

The burst scorched and exploded into the far wall where it should’ve harmlessly just damaged the infrastructure. That wasn’t the case though as the doors previously sealed by Ifreet clattered to the ground, semi-melted and smoking. Even though the hallway from which Lloyd, Karen, Charlie, and Reudic had been concealed by the smoke; all eight of the contestants could make out forms of various sizes scuttling, scampering, slithering, and making all sorts of grotesque, gut-wrenching noises as they proceeded towards them.

GBCE · 08-24-2010, 10:22 PM

Originally posted on MSPA by GreyGabe.

Well. This is just becoming an absolutely amazing, complete and total clusterfuck of epic proportions.
The doors were open, and dozens of strange artificial creatures were swarming in the room, screaming, cackling, moaning, and howling. Marcus began firing indiscriminately into the approaching horde, Retribution’s battle-cry combining with the cacophony.
After a second’s deliberation, Marcus activated his pain suppression implant. He hated using the thing, and not just because of the chance that he could worsen existing injuries. The implants were quite safe, not using any kind of chemical or drug. They simply prevented the pain from reaching the brain. Or something like that. Marcus had failed biology. Point is, it didn’t make him groggy or slow his reaction time.
However, use of the implants could be highly addictive if abused. Not to mention the fact that if you became to dependant on the things, you lost your ability to cope with pain naturally after a while. So Marcus avoided it whenever possible. At this point, however, he didn’t feel he had a whole lot of choice. He’d have to be able to move if he was going to deal with this many threats.
Marcus glanced at the others. Charlie had come to the conclusion that the approaching creatures were the greatest threat currently, and was also firing his weapons into the crowd. Karen was flinging fire into the crowd, while the little girl cowered behind her.
Reudic was recovering from its near brush with incineration, but looked more or less calm. Of course, Marcus had never seen a plant look scared or angry, and wasn’t sure he would know it if he had. Sarika was nearby, leaning on her staff. Lloyd stood next to her, staring nervously at the mass of creatures and wringing his towel in his hands. Dekowin had mostly recovered, and glared at Charlie once before turning her attention to the creatures.
Marcus began to shout over the noise. “Sari--”

“Got it!” Sarika nudged Lloyd with her staff and began limping towards Karen and Lillian. Lloyd looked at the creatures a second longer and hurried after her.

The creatures were almost on them, now. Marcus emptied the Retribution’s current clip, ejected and slapped a new one in place. As he was doing that, Dekowin leapt forward, slamming an armored fist down onto one of the creatures leading the charge. There was an audible crunching and the creature went down twitching. Dekowin waded into the press, claws flashing, her expression a mixture of anger and joy. Marcus hoped she was working out some of her issues. Reudic floated forward, wrapping a rather large primate-like beast in its tentacles. The creature thrashed wildly for a few moments, and then slowed. After a time, Reudic released it, at which point it turned and began attacking its former allies, striking them and crushing them in its huge, knobby fists. Charlie had waded into the fray, engaging multiple hostiles at once, crushing, slashing, shooting, and burning, cutting a huge swath through the enemies’ ranks (“ranks” being a term used very lightly in this case).
Marcus himself was hanging back, firing at anything that tried to get the drop on the other contestants, occasionally stopping to knock away anything that got too close. A fireball flew over his shoulder, impacting one of the creatures approaching him. He glanced over his shoulder at Karen, who was still standing her ground in front of Lillian. Lloyd stood beside her, shifting from foot to foot. Behind them, Sarika sat on the floor with Lillian, holding her close and trying to comfort her. Marcus turned back to the fighting. All-in-all, this wasn’t so bad. Or it wouldn’t be, if not for the noise and the killing and all. Still, he reflected, the press seemed to be abating somewhat. Maybe they would actually get out of this in one piece!

The floor began rumbling, and the giant worm erupted from its hole, shrieking its outrage for all to hear. Marcus decided that optimism was a highly unhealthy habit to be getting into and he was going to leave off it for good. The gargantuan worm's small, pale eyes blinked blearily in the light as its head swung around, taking in the chaos. Finally, it rushed down at the thickest concentration of food, which just happened to be where Charlie was fighting. The worm made a loud sucking noise, and the creatures surrounding the machine, along with the machine itself, disappeared.

“Oh no. Not Charlie. He and I were such good pals. And now he’s gone! Oh woe, oh misery, et cetera.”
Marcus’s grin died somewhat when he saw the rippling movement on the wall, climbing steadily upwards.
“Ah. Huzzah. He lives.”

Energy bolts flew from the rippling mass, hitting the worm squarely in the eyes. The huge creature shrieked again, flailing wildly. It slammed it head into the walls, attempting to crush Charlie with its bulk. Charlie easily skittered out of the way, letting loose more shots. It didn’t seem to cause much damage, so much as just piss the giant worm off. Marcus turned his attention back down to the dwindling crowd of creatures in time to see Dekowin being overwhelmed. Reudic was pulling some of the beasts off with its vines, but there was only so much the sentient plant could do. Marcus groaned and began firing. Dekowin burst out a few seconds later, covered in ichor, shaking herself and sneering.
“You okay?”

Dekowin told him to do something unpleasant and probably anatomically impossible. Marcus decided she was probably okay for the time being. Looking around, he saw that there were only a few dozen of the smaller creatures remaining, along with the worm that was being harried by Charlie.
A few creatures had went around the other side of the worm’s hole, and were trying to take down Karen and her charges, but she was dealing with them easily. Lloyd even had one down on the ground, kicking it repeatedly. Marcus had to admit the guy had balls. Reudic and Dekowin had pulled back some, as had the creatures. A few seconds passed before the beasts began to charge again. Marcus could feel the pain inhibitor beginning to deactivate (for safety reasons, a safeguard was in place that kept it from operating for more than ten to fifteen minutes at a stretch. It only stayed fully active for a few minutes, then began to cycle down, opening the channels slowly so as not to send the user into shock). He hoped they would be done with this soon, as he took aim and began to fire.

Dragon Fogel · 08-25-2010, 12:44 AM

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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