RP: Die Screaming [Die Screaming] Purgatory

The Spooky Morgue Room Place Thing. Now Outside of the Box.

Carina's attention had become riveted on the sounds coming from the outside of her metal box. The sobbing and almost unintelligible babbling accompanying the sounds of clattering and then the uniquely grating sound of metal slicing into metal. Had there been some kind of lock on the thing? No. That wasn't important right now. Getting out of the fucking box was. And whatever trainwreck that was blubbering on the other side working fervently to get her free would be welcome to a bit of a thank you if they did the job. As the grating sounds continued, the young medic had become steadily impatient. Her feet pressing firm against the door just as the latching mechanism finally gave. With a little rush of air and the whispering hiss of hinges, it swung open.

And whatever budding, self-absorbed and selfish thoughts of freedom shattered at the shriek. That brief dream in tatters as she realized that her body hadn't slid out. But now, instead, she had to wiggle and endure the cramping of muscles and the sheer uncomfortableness of getting out.

It wasn't until her toes brushed cool decking that she realized a little too late she'd come too far. Unable to stop herself in time, Carina fell out, and with a plop felt a dull jolt of pain radiate on her backside as her legs, unused for however long for the moment didn't support her. Though surprisingly she hadn't felt so much as an ache in her tailbone. Still, she had grunted at the impact staring numbly around her. More darkness. After that all too brief analysis of her situation, she pressed a hand against the open lip of her former prison. Working her legs slowly and with effort, she found them under her wobbling just a little at the knees.

The shuddering sobs on the ground hadn't necessarily gone unnoticed as she took in her surroundings with a bit more clarity. The light within the room was woefully dim, and even as her eyes tried to adjust the shadows remained deep. But once she noticed a brighter patch in the dark, Carina saw the brighter illumination of some work area. With a sudden frown, she looked down at herself. And in the darkened room she couldn't just tell what she was wearing. Running a hand along her front, the familiar feel of polyester and polymer ran along her palm and fingertips. The top was a bit loose, and upon feeling the bottoms she felt the same. On a whim, Carina felt herself further and found pockets in familiar spots. Though... something was off. Strange. She felt heavier. Her movements odder, more pronounced. As if something had changed...

Scrubs? Her mind jumping back to the attire. What in the hell was she doing in scrubs? The cold floor came raring back as well once she took note of nothing covering her feet. Not even a pair of thin socks. Bare. The sobbing had continued, and now she tracked it with a squint into the gloom. There is just enough light near the temperature control unit to make out the vague shape of a person.

The one that had gotten her out she concluded. While her first instinct was to try and shush the pitiful female on the floor. Her medical training had included some basic psychological training. But, Carina being Carina had wanted to go with her gut instead of her head.

That training had kicked in finally and so she adopted a second approach. She quietly examined the woman for a few moments. Taking in her position, her quiet crying. Before being freed, Carina had taken note of what she could hear through the confines of her box. Screaming, the sound of something shattering. Then another wail of pain or terror. Silence had followed until that voice had called out. Now while looking down at the woman, she quietly reached out in a slow sweeping motion against the deck plating. Whatever the woman had used to bust her out had been tough enough to do the job. And that sawing sound only elicited the natural Nepleslian response when it came to weaponry and trying to place it. Likely it had been a saw. Or some form of knife.

And that was why she was now feeling around the floor slowly with her foot. Having heard glass shatter before, Carina's slow scanning of the floor before her received a little more attention and care had there been any of the stuff around. But the main course was if that terrified woman on the floor was armed or not before trying to engage with her. With the weapon, she would and could be a danger to not only herself but Carina. Without it would have come down to simple fisticuffs and a prayer they were not augmented with cybernetics.

And so now she had begun taking the cautious approach. Her attention was divided on the woman and floor. Though on an occasion she would stop and try to get a better look at the room. Whatever had driven her wreck of a savior in here might still be lurking. Or the woman was just batshit insane.

And so she went back to searching. If anything like what she had heard being used to free her turned up, it'd been taken out of reach. If there wasn't... Carina's attention would go back. If she didn't find anything, the young woman would take a step back and ready herself in case things decided to turn for the worse, calling softly to the shuddering, fetal-positioned woman on the ground. It was a gentle call, soft, comforting considering who it was coming from. Carina had grown up around everything from marines, to Kennewesian toughs at the girl's academy her mom had insisted on to the local and regional affiliates to the gangers on Planet Nepleslia she'd occassionally hung with or boosted airbikes and other oddities for to even a shady Iromakuanhe Sund Wakir with a penchant for ignoble deeds and the procurement of incredibly legitimate goods on Francia. That, and the man, had had good taste in his employees. Who knew Helashio girls could be so damn cute? Or help teach her with her balisong?

It had thus left an undeniable mark on her psyche. But given the circumstances, and with no one around... Carina could afford to be at least a LITTLE gentle and understanding. Especially considering her current predicament. The woman was in the way to what lay beyond. And she may if she wasn't a complete loss able to answer some questions. But until then, playing it safe was key. She was in an unknown situation, had woken up in a box, and now had a stranger who had whatever knew what in their hands unless she'd dropped it somewhere. You didn't suddenly go running over and begin petting the wounded Rok'veruian Rottweiler just because you thought they needed it. Or were some kind of cat woman from the other side of the territorial fence who gave no fucks because they could just pop another of themselves out of a tube ready for the upteenth daily orgy on the battleship after a 'victory'. Carina had the itching feeling SHE wouldn't wake up from the inside of a cloning tube if the shit hit the proverbial fan here and now.

So she whispered, low, non-threatening after her soft call from before. This time with a little more urgency. " 'ey... lady?" her voice hushed as she kept an eye on the woman and trying to do so around the room as well.

Lupin And Molotra

Pushing onwards the freakshow of crossdressers and pseudo tank/vending machine hybrids inched their way deeper into an area that a nice sign was nice enough to ask specific people like them not to enter. They weren't accosted or stopped by anyone, not that there was anyone to do so. The hall was short but easily wide enough for several men abreast, it ended in two saloon-style doors with a single pillar diving them as was common in most restaurants where servers would enter through one to pick up an order and leave back through the other back into the resturant.

The obvious nature of their surroundings drew up a distant pang of hunger in the two and a more immediate dryness in the back of their throats that no doubt made one if not both of them regret not raiding the cafeterias vending machines.

More immediate concerns came to light however when one of the small windows on the saloon doors lit up briefly before them, bathing the hall in a split second of illumination. To the naked eye the hall seemed stuffier with what was some kind of airborne dust or ash that floated weightlessly in the hall all around them. It was odorless and blended in well enough in the dark that even lupins now enhanced eyes had yet to see it.

The light passed by, or perhaps extinguished itself, as another fit of crashes and conversation could be heard within.

Looking through either of the windows, at least for someone of the propper height like lupin, two forms could be seen inside; One leaning ontop of the other in some kind of struggle...

Sebastian.

Fluid slowly drained from the gaps between the glass and Sebastians wedged leg at an arduously slow pace. He knew he should have known better by that point, after all how many times had this happened now?

With an attempt at a sigh that felt way too much like a burp, continuity caught up with him.

How many times had this happened now?

The statement was odd but for some reason felt that it was the single most true statement to have ever crossed his mind when reflecting on it. Despite the lethargy, despite the confusion and uncertainty of the situation that thought sprung forwards again and caused a chain reaction of fragments of memory so fast and distant that it made the young SOL feel like he was whirring around in circles unable to stop.

Attempting to focus he was unable to comprehend most of what he saw next.

A familiar face he has seen not long ago now decrepit in age.
The very same person, young again but on fire, while they burned from the inside-out without uttering a single sound.
Agreeing to his own death alongside comrades who looked not quite what he remembered.
A woman with her eyes stapled open.
A dark tower piercing into an even darker sky.

None of it made sense...

There was clarity to the images even as they faded and became harder to recall. The only thing that stuck was the original epiphany that triggered the visions and was easier to focus on. While he wasnt able to predict what happened next directly, Sebastian cringed in anticipation as his subconscious recognized a pattern that his concious was unable.

For when the fluid drained enough for gravity to place itself whole on Sebastian again his legged ripped out of the glass and took more than its fair share of glass with it.

What was left of the fluid now in the tank was dyed red with a slow trickle of blood dribbling out from his calf and he finger length shard of half-inch thick glass protruding from it.

On the bright side the glass of the tank had spiderweb cracks sprawling across its surface and a dim green light could be seen through the new hole!

Otto And Tobias

Tobias searched around the room with the light of the datajockey. It was a large room containing a half-dozen beds not unlike his and Otto's but in various stages of being unmade. End-tables at the side of each bed contained all the same uninteresting and useless items like view-screen remotes that failed to turn on screens at the end of each bed being devoid of power, simple pamphlets on coping with mutation and the optimistic ways it still allowed one to live a normal life, basic advertisements for hospital-rate cybernetics surgeries at affordable payment plans with fine print so small not even he could make it out, and odd reading material so old it still had dating back to the old Nepleslian Star Empire markings.

The only things of note in the room was a window at the close end of the room that was so dark he couldn't make out anything beyond it, yet it felt both warm and cool to the touch at the same side and vibrated ever so slightly with an almost imperceptible hum.

The other was the muffled but distinct sound of a pair of stomping boots as someone passed by their room without stopping. The lack of light underneath the doorway of the room implying it was just as dark out there...

Sometimes I can't help but feel this is nothing more than a frightening dream.

Otto's thoughts were still a mess but clarity was quickly returning to him as Tobias scrounged around. Mirroring Tobias' actions before he woke he quickly relieved himself of an IV and unfortunately enough, a catheter, with some discomfort before placing his feet on the floor.

There was lethargy and muscle discomfort but it seemed he wasn't out of shape and could hold his own weight without issue. A tactical part of his mind took over and he froze at the same time as his corporal when the clear sound of someone passing by could be heard.

It was unclear why, clearly in a medical facility of some sort where it should be safe and full of staff, that the presence of another would trigger so much alert in him.

A memory flashed briefly of a dark form in a ship lunging at him with a foot and a half of gleaming death plunging towards his side, causing Otto to jerk violently back to dodge the vivid memory as if it had only just occured.

Unfortunately for him he tripped over the hospital bed and took a cheap vase with faux plastic flowers down with him. The crash and crack of the vase might as well have been the loudest sound in the world. As the two men froze and the sound of movement outside the door suddenly stopped Otto forced himself to look the specter of death in the face as he relived the memory of the blade being plunged though his ribcage; His lungs seizing up and his breath catching in his chest as the phantom pain of his own death flared up.

Carina.

The weeping turned into a panicked shriek as Carina prompted her for a response. It was so sudden and violent a response as the woman began to kick and thrash that carina jumped back on instinct and slammed into a rolling cart, knocking it and its contents to the floor with a loud clatter that sent her heart racing practically out of her chest.

When nothing else reacted and the woman died down back into pitiful sobbing It was, by pure chance that her foot came down on the one item she needed the most as the paper-plastic rectangle before her smushed under her foot after falling off the cart and the texture of several paper tubes could be felt as they spilled out.

Stepping on a pack of cigarettes was inconsequential. What got her mind racing and moved her into action was the hard piece of metal in them; A lighter!

The small lighter was not a traditional fire-based lighter but one that created a small arc of electricity to start a fire and was short and cylindrical. The most important feature of it, however, was the dim but heartlifting 10 lumen light and laser combo on the other side that created a laser pointed on one button push and a useless in just about any other situation dull light on the other!

With the other occupant of the room still a stationary mess on the floor Carina was able to explore her surroundings slightly until she chose her next choice of action.
Her locker home was a familiar sight she had seen before and made her gut wrench; A morgue drawer!

She was crammed into a morgue drawer like a goddam corpse!

The handle of the drawer which had to be pulled open had a small trace of blood on it that, tracking it to the source, lead back to the crying jumpscare a few feet away. Shining the light on her, and it was a her, enough light was shown on the woman to get a good picture without getting any closer.

She too was barefoot and bare up to the thigh with oddly matte-gray skin that was cut off at the groin by a series of white-straps that crisscrossed her groin like a harness and wrapped around the dirty white jacket with a series of buckles and straps that immobilized her arms across her chest in what was clearly some kind of straightjacket.

From the neck up she had the same matte-gray complexion but mixed with a dark streak of blood that led back to her mouth and her long and unkempt hair was pressed down from bandage and gauze bandages covering her eyes.

An unsettling realization came to as the pieces started to form from seeing her condition. Blindfolded and immobilized from the waist up the woman had been blundering around blind searching for carina and the noise she was making.

And with no way to use her hands it hadn't been a saw or a knife she had used to open the door.

The blood on the latch and her mouth. The sawing sound wasn't the teeth of a saw but her own teeth trying to get purchase on the handle.

A pit formed in Carina's stomach at the revelation of the woman and how desperate she had sounded and acted to free her.

Beside her, The woman's sobs had died down into occasional sniffling as she pulled her knees up to her chest and into a fetal position. Beside her, from the knocked-over rolling cart was a scattering of surgical and autopsy tools. A scalpel chief among them catching her gaze but not before the handle of a familiar blade poked out from just past the woman on her other side...

The contents of Molotra's jacket pockets, as discovered by Lupin;

A small capsule of non-descript pills. Several folded sheets of paper; With just enough light, he could tell that they were photographs of... bolts?... for some reason? A single left-hand glove. A hard copper-smelling oblong with a slight bulge in the middle, likely an old battery. Gasmask filters. A keychain with a red rubber dinosaur on it... The facial expression was really dumb.

Ongoing chronicles of a tank clanking around in the dark;

"...are we... on a ship, or are we on a planet?..." Molotra spoke with a hush, apparently putting the sound of two people fighting aside for a moment. In truth, the gathering dust was sparking their habitual worry that the environmental systems had shut down. Running out of air didn't sound exciting, but it could kill them just the same. They were just thankful that the mask protected their nose from the itching sensation. "...This is... like... one of those food places that you go out of your habitation to eat at?... Can't tell... Nep ships are so confusing..."

She was expecting to find a big knife, or a meat tenderizer, or a dinner chainsaw, or something... But no, there didn't seem to be much in their direct vicinity to defend themselves with. Pretty annoying. What kind of eating chamber was this?...

With a small hydraulic hiss, the tank arced their front tracks forward, propping themselves up on the rear pod, so that they could just about see over the barrier.

"...What... What are they fighting over?..."

She tried to get some semblance of their uniforms or clothing through the random light flicker. Who where they? Were they definitely Nepleslians?

Otto And Tobias

As the washout stumbled, Tobias made to steady the other man. He silently cursed as the vase crashed to the ground, silently wincing as the sound rang out. If anyone who meant them ill had heard that, they'd be on their way. Looking back to the ex-IPG beside him, he gestured toward the door, making an NMSC signal to stack on the door.

"If whoever just passed by heard that, they're going to be on their way, get ready just in case." He simply said, trusting the other man to know what to do, as he picked up a blunt object to batter an intruder with if need be.

Molo and Lulu

Lupin didn't think too much of the contents of the 'spacer's jacket beyond wondering why she'd been fully clothed and he'd been left butt naked on a cold table, the thought that he'd been handled and had any number of potential things done to his nude, unconscious figure left his pride hurt and made a small part of him feel violated - though he tried to push all that aside for the time being and focus on the more tangible threat of two people fighting in the next room.

That odd battery-looking thing might make a nice bludgeon if he needed to clobber someone, and he could tell Molotra about the extra filters when they were somewhere that felt safer~

The brief flash of light made retro reflective tissue behind the oddly-dressed marksman's retina light up briefly, not so dissimilar to what one might see when a predator stalks past a trail camera, though just as soon as more genetic oddities made themselves known he squinted and the visible light faded - bathing his world in orange hues of infrared illumination once more.

Bare feet quietly padding against the floor Lupin scurried to press himself flat against the wall, its surface cold enough against his bare cheeks to make the lad suck in a quiet breath before he peeked one eye out to look at the writhing mass of grunting limbs.

"Uh yeah, it's a cafeteria of sorts I reckon, didn't smell like it'd been used recently~" he whispered back to the mousy woman, the mere mention of such things causing his guts to grumble and gurgle out a small complaint at him, they could always circle back later and look for food so Lupin pressed one hand to his stomach to tell it to behave for the time being.

Feeling deeply entrenched lines of heavily defined abs instead of the smooth, taut surface he was used to was a very off-putting sensation for the lad and served to further the disconnect between his memories and the meatsuit he was wearing, but he shrugged it off after a moment to keep concentrating on trying to piece the situation together.

"I don't know," he hissed, quickly re-checking the small laser pistol to further familiarize himself with its controls before continuing, also trying to discern any military markings or other identifying features on the two fighters.

"They might have more information for us, but at the same time there's gotta be some reason for them to be fighting~ we at least have rudimentary weapons and surprise on our side if we decide to get involved... what do you think?" Lupin offered, broad shoulders shrugging slightly beneath Molotra's jacket.

Otto and Tobias

Nodding to acknowledge Tobias' Signal, Otto quietly, moved towards the door frame, careful to not step on the now broken glass. listening carefully for additional footsteps. signaling back, to dispatch enemies if more than one together. his dark eyes now taking in the details of the infirmary door, as he continued to listen carefully for perceived threats. Ignoring his burning wound, Otto waited for what was to come.

Creepy Morgue

Carina's heart thumped in her chest as she had to dance backward. The shriek from the bundled mass before her eventually quieting down again as she had remained quiet a few seconds afterward as well despite the clattering of the tray behind her. Shit. The medic couldn't help but think back on the neo-horror films a friend on Kennewes used to drag her into watching. The genre had been old even then. Well over a century out of date without the colorings of today's bundle of fucking chaos that was the Kikyo Sector. Back when there had been some twisted bastards in the genre and one, in particular, played in her head as she took a step forward only to feel something beneath her foot. It had collapsed almost instantly with a little crinkle and little resistance. Though on a whim she felt a little more and tried to squint in the gloom to see what it had been.

Eyes widening a little, her toe had chanced on something else. Whatever else she'd stepped on paled to her next find. More sturdy, Carina knelt, eyes on the silhouette of the woman. Grasping the object, her hazel eyes squinted harder as she felt the thing over as well as trying a visual inspection. With an ever-widening realization of what was in her hands, Carina thumbed the ignited only to see a little arc of blue-white electricity snap to life before her. It made her recoil a bit in surprise. Well. It wasn't like the cheap liquid fuel-based brands you could pick up just about anywhere.

As she ran her thumb across the lighter's surface and chancing on another button it was quickly pressed on a pure instinctual drive to push back the dark. Eyelids fluttering a little as she scowled at the weak little laser that emanated from the lighter. It wasn't much use indirect light clearly as she shined it around. The gibbering mess on the ground was momentarily forgotten as the little pointed glinted red off the burnished steel of a row of lockers. Who the hell puts a live Nepleslian in a morgue drawer? Her scowl ramped up into a baring of her teeth at the thought of potentially beating the sick or possibly dumb bastard that had done it filled her mind for as long as she stared at it. The moment passed quickly as she heard a sniffle and sob.

She had ignored the pitiful thing on the floor long enough. When she truly gave the woman a look, Carina could only stare with eyes wide opened.

'Tha' heck is this place? Some kind of freakin' mental hospital or some shit?' thinking as her gaze lingered on the bloody mess of her savior's mouth. Muttering a string of expletives that would do her family proud, the blood and skin were worrisome. She didn't know if the poor thing was still bleeding. Let alone the grey cast to her skin. Did she have 'netics that caused the coloration? Sickness? On some sort of drug cocktail with visible changes on the body? There was no way of telling without a more thorough examination and she expelled that notion as her eyes caught the dull glint of steel.

Tools if she had to guess. Something for the bodies. Autopsy tools she surmised. The long slender metal form of a scalpel... and with a sudden intake of breath something familiar. Too damn familiar that left an ache of longing within her to scoop it up, flip it open, and run it through its paces in the dangerous twirls and swirls and flicks one grew accustomed to when owning a balisong. But a question arose from a small, reasonable-sounding voice within her head.

Why was it there? Carina exhaled through her nose in exasperation. Fuzzy memories floated in her head. Those that she would rather forget. Locust, the crazed cyborg monster pinning her to a wall. Gun gone. Knife gone. She'd just had a utility belt and her environmental suit. Everything after that was a haze and then it just ended abruptly. And had woken up in a god damned morgue locker. And there on the floor was Fukov. Passed down from her grandmother to Suku and then to her. The thing should've been left on the Kuvexian ship.

What were the chances? If she'd had a hat atop her head right now she would've lowered the brim in thought before choosing her next move. Wii had rubbed off on her. They were low. Taking you for a sucker low. The man had once remarked he could've made an encyclopedia on just the words luck and coincidence. There were plenty of morons on Nepleslia that boasted about their criminal careers and wind up in the lockdown likely to become 'friends' with a burly ID-SOL named Chuck or the female equivalent. Nah. If you wanted the real deal. You went to the ones who worked under the table and hustled your ass for all you were worth without you even realizing it. And if you did, you were shit out of luck afterward and left wondering how the hell it happened. You didn't get in trouble if you didn't get caught. Words to live by.

" 'aight." she said finally, still at a distance from the woman. Her tone soft, low. Friendly in a way or just trying to be comforting. Looking at the lady with her dribbling of blood still wet on her lips, her brows were scrunched together before powering on.

"I'm tha' one you gnawed outta that lockah," Carina admitted while watching still. Her normally cheerful, a mischievous glint to the eye had turned flinty. "Thanks, f'that." she did sound grateful, however, while beginning to edge around the woman keeping a bit of distance between them. Being scared shitless she could understand. But given the situation that could be almost as dangerous as fiddling with one of those old perpetual candy machines CSEIA had once made before they'd been taken out by the Mishhuvurthyar.

"I wanna ask'ya somethin' tho, lady." her tone had reverted to the soft, comforting tones from before. " 'an I want an ansah'. We in some sort of shit?" the question tumbling out of her the savior had clammered in the room on her own and after a closer look she couldn't help but feel a tightness to her stomach. "Tap y'foot on tha' floor. One for yeah, two for no." taking it no further, she let the possible, and almost symbiotic implication hang that she'd leave the woman there if she lied. You usually read someone by the look on their face. The emotion behind the eyes. Their tell, the chink in the poker face or the intent behind a false smile as some jackass tried to hauk cheap repros of quality cybernetics, guns, and other assorted accouterments that made up her people's lives.

No. Carina couldn't see whatever hid behind that gauze. The rest of the face though... the sounds. She wanted to walk over to the woman, ask her questions with a finger on her pulse. Medical training held a versatility to it she'd been exposed to at an early age watching her adopted mother work on screaming marines while she screamed right back at them. It could now. That was if she'd dared to get close to the woman on the floor and apply that as a pseudo if somewhat inaccurate lie detector was palpable. Instead, she waited, blinking only every so often to wet her eyes when the discomfort became too strong. Right now was the first card draw of a seeming crapshoot of a situation.

Molotra And Lupin.

As Lupins eyes adjusted more and less became clear inside of the kitchen they peered into.

The two individuals, before appearing to be in some sort of scuffle or altercation and was reaching some kind of climax as one of them laid bent over the other, his hand ontop of the others head to press them down against the work surface while the two made muffled grunts of...

A second of staring longer reinforced a growing notion in the back of lupins head that might have yet not reached Molotra as the very... Piston-like motions of the scuffle, and a distinctly female set of sounds that hardly sounded distressed came from one of them and...

Yeah, they weren't fighting...

They performed their... Actions... Over a large work surface piles in a large pyramid of canned foodstuffs that shifted and occasionally toppled a can off to make a loud clang against the table as it rocked; The sound of loud crashes heard earlier.

What immediately caught Lupins eye, more than the act itself was the euclidian nature of the two people that prompted further watching as if his brain couldnt quite make our what he was trying to discern. Both of them apeared for all the world to be living shadows; With forms that seemed solid black but clearly had a lack of tangible form or shape beyond humanoid. Each had the clear outline and shape of clothing, gear, military webbing of some kind, what appeared some kind of cloak (more ridden up on the one bent over...), and some kind of hood and mask combo that shewn the only non-shadow nature of the forms as two green orbs of light sat in a soft and peering glow where their eyes would be.

Even to Molotra, blind as a bat in the darkness, would be able to see the two sets of glowing eye monologues as they shifted back and forth over one another. They could both also see how the receiver of the coitus looked in their direction briefly and then made a double-take.

She, by the nature of the rather high-pitched series of muffled cursing briefly righted and wrestled away from her now confused partner and grabbed the dark and shadowed form of some kind of weapon, pointing and muffling something inaudible in their direction as the larger, obviously male form now clear due to a shadow-y apparatus they struggled to tuck away looked between his partner, his partner down below, and towards the kitchen-doors where the odd-[air of Molotra and Lupin stared back.

Otto And Tobias

The only sound audible to either of the two was their own heartbeats as a slow eternity; Comprised of barely a few seconds. Stretched on before them.

And then, just barely loud enough to catch over their own breathing and the blood rush in their heads; The sound of a measured and almost silent boot.

And then another. Just as slow and measured as the first; Combat pacing of someone moving slowly and deliberately, in their direction. As it got closer more could be heard:

The sound of a single person's footfalls, slow and deliberate.
The soft scrape of heavy fabric rubbing.
The clink and adjustment of gear on webbing or a vest.
A single, audible and unmistakeable Click, right outside the door.

And then the doors handle before them, barely visible in their night vision made a sound as it began to move almost unnoticeably downwards.

And then their world erupted with ringing as three shots rang out from a kinetic weapon. The first through the center of the door, the second directly in front of Tobias' face enough that his sense of smell immediately flooded with the strong scent of cordite, and the third directly between Tobias and Otto.

Without pause after the shots the handle flung downwards and the door swung open; One hand pressing forwards on the handle while the other connected to the black form of some kind of rifle barrel being shoved forwards into the room and imminently swinging towards them in a room-clearing maneuver.

Carina.

The woman jerked in fright when Carina spoke with an audible squeak of fear. She either ignored or didn't register the words of the request and pushed herself away slightly from her before righting herself to sit up and into a cross-legged position.

It was unsettling with how much grace it was done with despite how clearly blind the woman currently was. It was double-unsettling when Carina watched as she did so and didn't even register how it buried the head of a scalpel into her calf.

In the light the woman's blood wasn't even close to red; It was black.

Clearly still restrained in a straight jacket the woman sniffled and gave off the occasional sob before composing herself and looking around despite her blindness.

"Sanroma?" She muffled out a choked question into the dark between sobs. It immediately registered as wrong to Carina that hearing her name from this strange woman wasn't what triggered a warning flag for her.

It was that she felt she was used to hearing it from this stranger. This was somehow someone she knew?

"Sanroma I don't want to do this anymore!" The woman choked out, sobbing once more. "Please, I cant do it anymore!"

All kinds of warning flags started popping up for Carina the more the woman spoke. Her voice was familiar to her but she couldn't place it; Hoarse but smokey and mature.

Whoever this was. She was either extremely dangerous or-

"Please, Sanroma. Don't hurt me again, just forgive me! I cant! I... I won't anymore, I promise!"

The final statement elicited a buildup of anger in Carina more than it did confusion. So much so that she could feel her free hand form into a fist.

Otto And Tobias

Even as Tobias' ears were ringing, his conditioning kicked in, and he grabbed onto the rifle and yanked it down and away to pivot the barrel in the direction of the floor, attempting to disrupt the rightful owner's control of the firearm and shove the barrel in a direction where it would do the least harm if dischanged. As he did so, time seemed to crawl as he recalled his training.

This was a terrible situation to be in. He was without a firearm, without even so much as a blunt object for bludgeoning, and was attempting to disarm a presumably hostile combatant. Two options then; The first was to identify as IPG, no scratch that, as NMSC, and hope that the assailant was a friendly who was unaware of their identities. The second was to attempt to disable the assailant. He'd have to do it fast, make sure he took control before the other got back control of the rifle.

First, then second if it doesn't work. He told himself as his mind finished processing his options and his body began to act. As soon as the barrel was pointing downwards, He slipped his other arm over the other's, grasping the now elevated buttstock and wrenching it away to attempt to gain control of the weapon. "NMSC!" He shouted, as he made an attempt to fully wrest the rifle away and gain distance to take control of the situation.

Mothman Dirty Film Set

Molotra was already grabbing Lupin's sleeve and mouthing the words 'Shoot them!', both in answering his question, and reacting to the incredibly strange circumstances of the situation. This pair, to her eyes, seemed to be well equipped soldiers rather than ghosts; At any rate, not simple survivors like they were... or where they? What about the supplies strewn around?... And that meant they'd totally have the upper hand if- Too late, they were noticed!

The tank girl's track suspension depressurized, and hit the lino again with a stern wap sound. A dozen tactical scenarios flooded their head, reaching annoying inconclusions where she couldn't cross-reference the results with polysentience examples. She hated feeling this alone in her own head.

What was a well tested, and concrete-proven, fact was that Molotra's tank legs couldn't sidestep. Not exactly a great combination with this narrow back passage.

"Lu-Lupin. Doorway! Let's g-get back!..."

Reversing at full speed, they bonked the door open with their rear tread-pod. Arcing their torso forward, just in case the enemy came out firing-

Hopefully with the both of them outside, the unknown figures would come bursting out of the staff area doors, and they could surprise the shadowy figures at gun-and-arm-point...

That was the plan, anyway.

Without time to subtly explain what they had in mind to Lupin, it was the toss of a coin whether he understood what Molo had in mind...

Accidental Voyeurism

It was a pretty solid testament to the kind of person he was that Lupin's mind processed danger first and only realized the two figures were fucking once the man's shadowy member came into view, whether or not the marksman was following unspoken plans was unclear as he shot upright and turned to run back the way they'd come, bare feet slapping against the floor as Lupin burst through the doors shortly after his half-tank companion.

"Who the fuck were they? What were they?" the young man huffed out to Molotra as he turned to aim the dinky laser pistol back towards the still-swinging doors, taking a few steps further back from them and standing off to one side, hopefully making himself less of a target, A frown of equal bits confusion and concern was quickly shot across to the stubby tank-girl as Lupin bent his knees slightly and adopted a textbook defensive pistol stance, half-charged weapon close to his chest and cocked at a slight angle as both knees bent a fraction.

He could take solace in the fact that his muscle memory at least seemed to still be working fine, even if those muscles were over-developed and alien compared to what he was used to.

"NSMC!" He called out hesitantly to the armed lovebunnies, maybe that wasn't the right idea but if these folks felt comfortable enough to screw their brains out in a kitchen then they probably had a good idea of what was going on.

"Identify yourselves!" his surprisingly deep, manly voice barked out with some sense of authority, hoping to hear something since it very much seemed like the odds were stacked against him and Molo.

The lad suddenly remembered the Yamataigo signage they'd seen on the way in, and in a desperate bid to avoid a fight they were vastly under-geared for, repeated himself in that foreign tongue. His accent left something to be desired but the lad's pronunciation was pretty spot on and more than clear enough to be understood by a native speaker of the language.

Otto and Tobias

As the resounding fire came from the door, Otto's ears began to ring. Shaking the feeling he began to focus, already seeing his partner taking the weapon from the cloaked assailant. His only thought was to dispatch the perceived threat. Using the chance Tobias made, His own training and experience kicked in, and with all of his might, a left arm and hand, slammed into the throat of the target, as Otto's left leg stepped behind the assailant, kicking it out from behind the Shadowy figure forcing them to meet the ground with a rather swift and resounding thud." Good distraction, check our corners, I'm going to search the body, it sounds like they are coming from our right hand side, but provide overwatch." Otto, made the conversation brief as he attempted to inspect the downed figure, hoping to find a weapon and radio.

That Room with the Crazy Grey Lady


Carina had yet to take her eyes off this woman. The blood she noticed not the bright cherry red of oxygenation nor the darker. Or even arterial. Though the smooth, graceful movements also had caught her attention. Straitjacket or not. You didn't see the crazed, depraved, or prisoners able to perform such feats without some sort of fit or struggle. She wanted to curl her lip into a snarl as her name was called. No, her surname. Not Carina, not Gabrielle. But Sanroma. The only ones who had done that had been those red-necked, pulsating veined drill sergeants screeching at her during basic. Or her former CO, Sergeant Valentine. Heck. Even Lulu, that tall, lanky boy with the cute puppy dog eyes and manner about him. She'd made it an effort for her squad to refer to her by name, or at least rank or profession. But this? The begging, the pleading.

Her gaze lingered a moment on the face, taking in the almost contortionist-like movements. Nor even the wince of pain from a scalpel cutting into this thing's leg and the black smear of blood or grey cast of skin. This wasn't a Nepleslian her mind had made up this was something else. The way it moved and color were wrong no pain from the scalpel and the black blood. Even as the woman pleaded, begged for mercy, the medic's fist clenching to white despite her lovely olive skin. And there. In the back of her mind. She felt almost as if she'd heard that voice before. Something like Deja Vu. Kind of like one of those one-off songs you liked the beat too but it quickly faded to obscurity. But that building within her, the bubbling of red and almost thump of her pulse in her ears. Calm. Keep Calm. There was something off here. Wrong. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up just a little.

This was a con. She'd run her own. Card sharking. Shell games. Lifting air bikes and passing them off is better than they were with a slap of stickers and paint. Hell. Even handbags and shoes. If her family had known she'd followed in her grandfather, Mario's footsteps chances were they'd have packed her off to an all-female boarding school until she was eighteen. Still though. Why in the hell did she feel so weird? Heavier, her back ached a little, her gait was a little wider and she swayed in a way more than she had. And landing on her rump hadn't hurt nearly a bad as it had before. Shaking her head. More immediate concerns.

She reached behind her, once smaller hands, fingers curling around the metal of the tray she had knocked herself into. It hadn't been altogether too heavy if it had moved so easily. A lifetime of living on the streets, running with gangs, fistfights, firefights, hell month in the Marines and her own regime so as to not become some rolly polly fat bastards she'd seen sitting behind desks lighting up moderately expensive cigars, waited on by fine-looking female staff or handsome low rankers men in those neat and pressed uniforms all the while with their balding pates superiors, and sense of smug superiority. The desk jockeys. She'd seen it before as a kid on her way to Francia. One of the old generation of the IPG. A Commandant. Chubby bastard in one of the old uniforms blustering at being protected by Vel Steyr and his team at the new base located a few klicks out of Coldashell. He'd even tried to get a little too friendly once and met the end of an old bucknife at his throat in the piss poor quarters they'd assigned him for his efforts. Marines took care of their own, and she'd been the littlest of the bunch. Even if she didn't get to pilot those badass ELEMENT armors.

And she squeezed the hollow aluminum of the roller. It gave a little in groaning protest which astonished her just for a hairsbreadth.

" 'aight' lady." she began, voice measured, yet it held steel to it. That sort of edge you got when you went face to face against some gangoon who thought they were tough shit and was new to the block. Out to make a name for themselves and getting the 'friendly' introduction as a result.

"Ya' beggin' me. Beggin' me. Not'ta hurt'ya. Sure. I won'." her voice turning silky smooth a purr. It'd turned more than a few heads at her school, even if it had been a girl's school there had been plenty there who looked at her with lust in their eyes. Same for when she transferred back to Los Apagos with boys awash in machismo and hormones soaking their brains.

"Seems I know'ya, yah?" a coo now. Her grip tightened on the metal, slowly, methodically, her other hand still clenched. "Okay. grey-face. Who's my fuckin' nemesis? Tha' one I had since I was'a girl. Tha' one bitch I always fought wit. Wheneva I had a chance?" the squeak of the roller tray wobbled toward her slowly but surely. " 'cause since'ya think I hurt'ya so sure. I prolly told'a a buncha shit. Boastin'. Souns' like me. Papi always said I was too much like'em for my own good." with a shrug of her shoulders one of her feet slid back behind her, the front forward just a bit. Ready to fling the thing with all of her tiny might.

" 'cause lady. I met me some con artists back in Pinkerton, Garand Street, Tha'back alleys Patton Avenue back in Funky all them places those rich fuckah's who live in tha' Towahs don' go to. 'an y'know what? Con's? All'a them are actahs. Y'make'em believe ya'even when it ain't jack 'an they jus' haukin cheap shit at'ya or lookin' for a bit'a papah t'line their pockets or you end up in an ice bath wit'ya 'netics or organs gone." her voice turned dangerous, venomous even as the anger she'd felt before continued to bubble in her brain and the thump in her chest. That fight or flight response's effect was roaring in her ears then.

" 'an I met one-legged hobo-fucks wit'cardboard signs sayin' they fought them winged fuckah Elysians wit more convincin' than you. So cut'tha shit."

Otto And Tobias.

Without question, the well-rehearsed teamwork of Otto and Tobias easily dispatched their assailant. With a simple flourish and a strike from one and then the other Tobias was left with a stock M2 assault rifle in his grasp as he pulled back and Otto easily swept the man down onto the ground where, despite the jab to his throat, simply lay motionless without so much as a twitch or the rising of his chest.

Before any of this could register, Otto had attempted to search the man only to make another strange and startling discovery.

His hand passed right through the dark black mass of the man's center mass to touch the floor...

The body now seemed semi-incorporeal with a matte black mass making up the body, clothing, gear, just about everything except for the rifle wrested from him earlier. It seemingly had so little mass that it felt as though Otto was pushing his hands through nothing at all.

Before there was any time at all to think a single shot, followed a second later by another, sounded some distance away down the hall from them.

Not knowing just how either of them knew, they both somehow knew instinctually that there were two more enemies and that a comrade of theirs was about to die.


Molotra And Lupin.

Pulling away and back from the door Lupin was able to see one of the mysterious shadow beings take priority in stuffing himself back into his trousers before trying to wrestle a rifle of some kind from a sling hanging at his side. It was by sheer luck that the obvious receiver of the encounter was also flailing and trying to pull up and buckle up his or her trousers while attempting to kick the other being back to give themselves some room.

Wardrobe malfunctions aside it gave him and Molotra just enough time to get down the long hall and towards the cafeteria.

Lupin managed to shout out just as a single shot flew down the hall from a rifle caliber weapon, followed by a follow-up.

His declaration of NSMC had gone unchallenged. But his own followup of demanding identification got an answer, if a strange choice of one.

"No. You identify your-self!" Came the muffled response of a woman from the kitchen they had just fled from.


Carina.

It was getting rather frustrating (well more than it already had) that every time Carina opened her mouth the batshit loon in front of her would cringe away like an abused hound.

With some persistence in her rant and demands, the woman stopped cringing and ceded to her demands with a quivering lip and wide eyes.

"The Vel Steyr girl?" She guessed. Another warning flag starting to wave.
"Matsobuki Suku?" She guessed again, unsure. Another flag.

It was clear the possible imposter knew some of her history but was vague at best. It was still too much for anyone to know or Carina to be comfortable with strange grey people who bled black-ink instead of red to be name-dropping anyone from her life like that.

And then, as a light of clarity seemed to overtake the woman she made one final guess.

"No. It has to be Mu. Its always Mu, Right?"

Confusion at first as to who moo was first crossed Carina's head. And then as if remembering a repressed memory it came to her.

Mu. One of her fathers comrades from the Alliance, more like a big sister to her than-

The revelation was cut off by the faint pressure of Elsae coming to the forefront of her consciousness, snapping her out of whatever the hell that was. Like a fog was suddenly lifted from her mind at Elsae's intervention Carina knew who was before her now. She had flesh and blood legs instead of the strange back-jointed cybernetics she had used to kill those two red boys infront of her in the bunker, And her skin was grey now for some reason. Most of all without that terrifying deadpan stare and monotone voice it had completely passed her by as to the identity to the now obvious crazed murderer and psychopath before her.

Without realizing it, and with a tone as cold as ice the name slipped from Carina's tongue, turning the woman before her back into a mewling mess as she started wailing and kicking back away from her like a murder-victims' death throes before their killer.

"Locust."

That Now Boiling Hot Morgue


Carina found her hackles rising as the cringing and quivering mass of whatever sort of humanoid began her response only to inhale sharply. Warning lights flaring one after another in her head. She felt the steady creak of the bit of hollow metal frame she had grasped while a pressure grew behind her eyes. It was that sort of sensation one came across while looking at a screen all day or dealing with other work bearing closer scrutiny. The names, those damned names! The very thought of that prim and proper rich bitch could boil her blood within seconds if it hadn't been for the next name drop. The bubbling fury that had begun to build higher at the mention of that particularly disliked person went brittle and cool within seconds. How in the hell did this crazy shit on the floor had known?

That first was a shot in the dark. Vague enough to have just a bit of meaning and substantiation to it. Her jaw set, yet Carina had thus far held back from grinding her teeth as it continued. Yet it just kept hitting her in the back of the head. How had she known that answer? And her mother? Just out of the blue like that? She felt the urge to grind her pearly whites subside enough as whatever this person-thing was speaking again.

The hell was a moo? Mew? Mu?

A frown had replaced the snarl that had seemed to have become the bog standard thus far with this woman creature. She blinked, the frown growing more as that name seemed to flick a switch. One of her hazel eyes narrowed, the other remaining open in what could have been a truly malicious and creepy leer if she'd continued with the expression any further.

She'd been a buddy, well, as far as buddy went with Rico and women pre-her current mother and the distinct chance of striking out. Or so she'd been told by multiple sources that may or may not be a good-natured pack of assholes looking to pick on the Los Apagos native of the squad.

Chances were high that he'd made a pass at her once or twice in the mess when dealing with the 'illegitimate inconvenience' that had followed him around like a puppy. And came close to getting him in so much trouble in the process. Sometimes regularly back then. She'd helped spare her from her father's decidedly, and scarily potent inane wrath that had shocked and awed the six-year-old bundle of energy into submission on a few occasions he'd managed to make it stick. Even shared her food sometimes she'd been nice... the little reel of memory ended with a mental cut of the scissors as something else began to replace it. Though the freight train of that surging presence was little more than a hard mental smack across her face it stung like a bitch. Her ear even rung just a little. The young woman had come close to letting out a twitch despite the seemingly primed position of her about to try to beat the woman to death with a cart.

A swear word came to mind as she felt, actually STILL FELT the sting against her cheek and her jaw as the ringing began to recede. Her jaw began to unclench on reflex, that subtle urge to reach up and rub where she'd been 'struck' had been close to irresistible.

Her gaze lingering low on the woman, with a grimace of having to look at those ugly remnants of bloody-black teeth in the woman's he-

If it had been possible, she may very well have felt her pupils constrict as her eyes landed upon a familiar face. That simmering heat that had steadily been building toward an inferno petered out and had been quickly replaced with something akin to ice water flowing through her veins. Inwardly she seethed at the sight of what lay before her. Desperate, helpless at the time, Carina had been in the clutches of this murderous psychopathic maniac. The sudden flash of memory brought only fear and pain with the nigh-unseen feeling of having brushed against death itself at the end. And now to wake up here. With the one who had inflicted that upon her and who knows how many others.

The tone was colder than the tundra on Francia and the emotion wrought in it bespoke of just how she felt on the situation. As Locust's name passed between her lips she saw the woman began to squirm and then thrash and try to back away a little more vigorously than one would expect when facing whatever mind-twisting version of her past victim she'd heard.

It was then that she felt rather than heard the light grinding of her teeth. And just as quickly, that icy vein'd sensation was replaced by a now re-stoked blaze. Her lungs filled with air, exhaling and inhaling like a bellows as she looked upon her seemingly broken nemesis with all of the fiery hatred that could radiate from within her eyes. Her hand clamped involuntarily on the rod, the pressure causing a small squealing crunch. And like the snap of a guitar string, that singular moment of remembrance mixed with those minute ghostly sensations she'd felt. Everything. Blew outward.

There was no red haze of totally blind anger and rage but it was so damned close. But the anger, rage-fueled shriek that followed was all that needed to be said of her sudden mood change and the arcing of the little medical trolley table over Locust's head as Carina flung the thing a little too high to hit the mess of a sadistic killer on the floor and stumbled as it was released to sail over the grey-skinned killer. Her little release of verbal emotion was followed by an almost red-faced snarl as she went into a brief, but decidedly surface of the sun-level hot insulting assault on her one-time captor.

And it was with great, if not a herculean effort that she hadn't pounced upon the madwoman. But it was dead and damned clear she'd reached an unknown vista of being pissed off. She felt pain from her fists. She'd been gripping so tightly it'd almost felt like something would've ruptured if it had continued.

"What," her voice held a keen, and threatening edge to it as she managed to barely speak the word and to continue, "Are. You. Doing. Here?!" demanding as she punctuated every word with venom dripping from each. The whole thing had gone from weird, to fucked in the span of however much time had passed since getting out of that freezer. Something was happening. Going on. And now the antagonist from her twisted dream lay before her in a fearful mass trying to get away. The subject of her ire. Now seemingly de-chickenlegified and more humanized with her sickening grey tint seemed to be holding her attention for the time being. Pacing now, eyes never leaving the woman while wondering what fascinating shade of black or whatever would erupt from a massive and brutal head wound on her would be killer.

Revenge was hot in her mind. But so was survival and at the moment, and with a great damn amount of disappointment she didn't immediately fly at Locust and see for herself what it'd look like. And instead waited on, no, had demanded an answer.

Molo and Lupin

Lupin grabbed at his ears and grimaced as the concussive retort of those rifles funneled down the hallway towards him, his back slamming into a wall once more as a high pitched ringing noise filled his ears. Though amidst the deafening sound of his eardrums being blown out he heard that voice repeat itself again, had it been a warning? who was it from? were they to be trusted?

Considering the voice in his head hadn't been shooting at him... yeah, it definitely seemed like the more trustworthy of the two options right now.

He looked down at the half-charged laser pistol in his hands and then across to Molotra's mousy features as his ears started recovering, it wasn't just his life in the balance and he needed to use that to his advantage. The marksman quietly slid down the wall into a squat, keeping the pistol ready just incase the aggressors pushed, but hoping to keep the fact they had a single weapon a secret for the time being.

"Molotra," Lupin hissed, trying to not be too loud as he spoke to the mini tank woman.

"I think we need to try and flank around and ambush them, we're not winning this if we try to take them head on~" he explained, slowly moving up to a nearby trolley that was storing some thin Durandium trays, quickly toppling it in front of the doorway with an almighty crash to both create a slight obstacle and hopefully create an early warning system of sorts with all the clutter.

"I think we should go back the way we came and try to find a hallway parallel to this one, y'got anything against that plan?" he asked the 'spacer with a small shrug before resting his elbows on his bare knees.

Otto And Tobias.


"What the hell..." Tobias half-whispered as he saw Otto's hand pass through their mystery assailant as if they had never even existed in the first place. Something insane was happening in this place, but the IPG operative didn't have the time to think about it too much, as the twin shots rang out, the sound of them traveling down the hallway and into the hospital room.

Gesturing to the Marine sniper, Tobias began to swiftly but carefully move through the halls, hospital gown swishing and crinkling as he moved and M2 at the ready. Every corner was checked, but not for more than a split second as his training helped him to identify any threats, or more accurately the lack thereof, as he moved towards the source of the gunshots.

Coming up to a closed sliding metal door, Tobias indicated for Otto to stack up on the other side of the door with him, and prepare to breach it on his count, as gestured to the opposite side of the doorframe and gave a finger countdown as his other hand gripped the pistol-grip of the rifle, trigger finger readied outside of the trigger-guard.

Three... Two... One...

Suddenly A Mothman Action Movie

Molotra nodded at him rapidly, craning their head upwards just slightly, whilst snatching two of the metal trays and shoving them under their organic arm. Truth was they didn't have time to argue, and Lupin's sudden air of authority had rather cut through their nagging feeling of confusion and self doubt.

"...My... Backpack... Sit on it! Rear gunner!" A stuttering tone managed to garble out, whilst their tracks accelerated back in the direction they had come from. The electronic whine sparked and reverberated in the dark, turning the cold and dark corridors into a haunted house ride. Slow at first, but then just at the upper edge of human running speed; Waiting for her companion to jump on, so they could go even faster.

The thing that worried her was that these obvious Yammies were probably trying to flank them all the while. But they hadn't seen Molotra, so surprise was still on their side, most likely?...

Internally, her electronically extended brain reached out, trying to reach something, anything, that was powered and could receive a connection. Maybe a door? Maybe a camera? Maybe one of the spooks following them was giving off radio signals?

Carina and Locust

Locust continued to thrash, kick, wail, and downright caterwaul at Carina as her tantrum reached a peak. The other woman failing to find purchase when she finally hit the freezer door and tried to push herself back up, only to slip on some of the black blood running off her foot from the scalpel still embedded in her thigh.

She hit her head when she slipped and was finally silent for a glorious moment before she started moaning, sobbing, and weeping on the floor. At some point locust had begun to thrash against her restraints and despite the blood rushing in her head, Carina could hear the audible pop as the woman actually managed to dislocate her own shoulder and began to pull the arm free of its sleeve.

She didn't pause her attempt at freedom from bondage when Carina demanded to know how she had gotten to wherever here was, but let out with a concerning amount of growing confidence with the possibility of escaping her restraints. Her answer made about as much sense as the situation they were in...

"We've told you that already!"

She hadn't.

"You always promise not to hurt us again if we tell you! You're supposed to promise, otherwise-" She huffed, managing to pull her arm out of the sleeve and pop it back into place with a grunt and begin fidgeting with the buckle holding her other sleeve pinned to her side.

For a moment, the woman before her froze when the buckle was undone and the sewn sleeve released. In the few seconds it took locust to free herself, Locusts demeanor changed as her posture became more rigid and her tone seemed to level out into an emotionless bevel as even the woman's face turned from terrified victim to deadpan murderer. Now free, Locust was on her feet in a flash and steadying herself against the freezer door.

Even without her cybernetic legs, locust still stood a head taller than Carina, not even including the slight hunch the woman favored from who knew how long of having to lean over due to her 'netics just to interact. The wild frenzy of her gaze had turned into the familiar hollow-dead eyes of the killer she saw casually end two red boys in a flash. With no apparent discomfort, Locust casually plucked the scalpel from the meat of her thigh and turned it over in her fingers to examine it before closing her grip around its handle with the blade pointed at the ground.

And just as fast as it had happened, whatever those dead eyes had that could even freeze Carina's hot blood faded and the operators mask slipped as she let Carina's hesitation go and actually took a single shuffling step away from her, a hint of mania returning.

"You have to promise." She stated, the obvious still present fear of Carina edging her tone.


Lupin And Molotra

The odd form of Molotra trying to balance Lupin; With nothing but a pair of panties, now sitting on her back and awkwardly clinging to her sides with his feet, jerked through the hall and back into the cafeteria.

Even with Lupins directions, simply uttering left, no MORE left, did little to steer the dark-blind spacer through the maze of tables. Her sides may bump one, and her treads would more often than not kick the heavy cafeteria benches away to no damage to her. But Lupin was quick to catch a lot of hits on his shins and knees as the spacer barreled through them.

With the only doors being several sets of double doors lined in a row the only way to go was through them and into an unfamiliar hall. While lupin examined the large and open lobby of some kind, fit with a distant reception desk and even several adjoining halls (two of them, opposite of one another, running parallel with the cafeteria as desired) Molotra was able to see the first thing clearly since she awoke.

In the lobby, was a massive set of windows from the floor to the ceiling. And what was originally black outside of them struck bright in the distance as a bright flash of lightning illuminated the backdrop of towering monoliths resembling skyscrapers in the distance. The light also briefly caught the torrential downpour outside and despite the obvious buildings how none of them had any light whatsoever inside of her even seemed odd to a spacers mind.

The quiet in the halls was broken by the distant plat plat plat of naked feet on the ceramic tile as two figures, dark even in Lupins enhanced vision, came into view down one of the long halls parallel to the cafeteria. The clear outline of a rifle visible in the sway and gait of one of them as they charged their way.

Otto And Tobias

Making a tactical pace down the halls more questions arose than any answers. Clearly in a hospital of some kind they found themselves in a long hall with multiple doors leading into rooms like their own. Each, like the entire facility it seemed, was dark and silent. Even outside the hall windows the occasional glimpses of a city in a torrential downpour backlit by lightning striking their towers was dark.

Beyond some of them, was the backlighting of something, but was obscured by many of the skyscrapers. A distant blue glow like distant spotlights but larger in scale all consolidated on one point in the distance. Nowhere was the bustling traffic of shuttles or ships, no distant fires or tracers from gang warfare, not even the iridescent glow of massive floating billboard advertisements or volumetric holograms the size of a building advertising shows or events or strip clubs could be seen.

The hall lead on, occasionally branching off into locked card-reader doors that actually had power enough to show a red no entry locked status, leading them on the oonly way they could go. After passing a series of nurses stations; Abandoned and cluttered with paperwork, discarded data slates, and dead terminals, they caught view of a larger opening ahead.

A flash of lightning, closer than the rest, illuminated an odd shape ahead of them and seemingly staring right at them. And past that shape two more appeared beyond them, the clear outline of weapons pointed at the first amalgamation of a figure.

Otto And Tobias

Whatever location, whatever city they were in, was abandoned. That much Tobias knew from the lack of activity in the skyline and the building, how dead it all seemed. Long since stubbed out cigarettes littering ashtrays marked the location as occupied by Nepleslians, at least once. But the previous occupants were long gone, leaving only the strange shadowy assailants and whatever other elements remained of the mission to that jungle moon.

As he and the dropout, Otto, he said in his head as corrected himself, approached the opening he slid behind a piece of cover and began to think. The two figures were clearly the aggressors, but he couldn't get a positive ID on the figure closest to him. A flash of inspiration sparked as he remembered the terminals they had passed; mostly dead but the facility still had power enough to lock doors.

Reaching out, Tobias sought entry into the system, flicking through barely-functional servers which he didn't have the time or reason to look into until he found a directory of security cameras. Most were nonfunctional, either out of power or with hardware faults. Still, there were one or two still online and by a small miracle, one was in the next room

The IPG hacker did a small double-take when he looked through the lens of the camera; the facial recognition software built into the camera listed the closest figure as one of the marines that had been on the Small Death, Lupin Kennedy. Raising his rifle to a ready position and giving Otto another finger countdown, he swung out from behind the piece of cover after dropping the final finger and fired at the two armed figures, aided by the cameras showing him their positions from another point of view.