[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/r9Sbxts.png[/img][/center]

[h2][color=gray]Secret HiveMind Facility[/color][/h2]

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A familiar [url=https://imgur.com/a/rgArvpf]head researcher[/url] sat at a computer desk filled with holographic data, smacking a lollipop in her mouth. A hum escaped her as she sang to herself, flipping through patients' data. Faces flickered across the holographic display: Theo, Stella, to name a few.

Lost in her own little world, it took the head researcher some time to notice the tip-tap of footsteps behind her. Turning, her lollipop was shoved into a cheek as she adjusted her goggles at her guest.

[b]“Director Von Galloes, pleasure seeing you here today.”[/b] She purred in a honeyed voice.

Director Von Galloes stared at her dispassionately, adjusting the blue gloves over his hands, donning his own lab coat over a dress shirt. [b]“How are they?”[/b]

[b]“Vitals are perfect, sir. A little spike, a little adrenaline pumping, but nothing that will affect their health.”[/b]

Von Galloes nodded at that, before pulling off his labcoat and throwing it over an arm. As he turned away, he spoke to her, [b]“I’m diving in. I trust you’ll handle things, yes?”[/b]

She nodded at his receding back, giving a salute. [b]“Of course, sir.”[/b]

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[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/dQrrhJP.png[/img][/center]

[h2][color=gray]Caana, Courtyard[/color][/h2]

[@SporkoBug], [@Days], [@WhiteAngel25], [@Lexisheeps]

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[quote=Jaylyn]"This is not really how I wanted us all to meet! Names' Jay!"[/quote]

Cosette stared at the brown-haired girl and her [i]strange[/i] companion, half hiding behind Nick. She was aware of others joining them on their expedition, but she certainly wasn’t expecting [i]this[/i]. She cycled through all the times she had been burned by AI, namely the time The Beast kidnapped her, and immediately narrowed her eyes at Axen.

[b]“I’m Cosette…”[/b] She said hesitantly, peeking out from behind Nick.

When Star introduced herself, Cosy could have choked on the humid air in surprise. [b]“Nova? Since when? [sub]This is news to me…[/sub]”[/b]

[quote=Nova][color=peachpuff]"Yellow? Red. White. Black. Hmm. Sacrifice. Perhaps blood. Would blood be enough? You know, a non-deadly amount?"[/color][/quote]

Cosy looked at the growing holes with a grimace, scanning them against her database. After a few seconds, the results came up negative. Nothing matched this. It was entirely unique. Or displayed in such a way her AI couldn’t regonize it.

At the mention of blood, Cosy immediately thought of her MIA mother, and what she had to do in Egypt. She tried to keep the pain out of her voice, instead focusing on the task at hand. [b]“Whatever these supernatural forces are, they’ve reacted positively to blood in the past…It just might work.”[/b]

[quote=Annalise]"Hi, I'm Annalise, you can call me Anne or Anna though,"[/quote]

Cosette stared at the curious girl, who appeared to only be slightly younger than her. Immediately, she felt a connection wth her, and stepped out from hiding behind Nick. [b]“H-hi Anna.”[/b]

That’s when she noticed Annalise’s bags just… disappeared. Perhaps it was the CDE still wanting the teleport objects? Surely, no human could make such a feat happen…

That’s when Cosy’s dad spoke.

[quote=Nick]"That's where the biggest ritual room is.Or should be there. They'd do their blood sacrifices there. But maybe they're…[i]Demon portals,[/i] That will take you to Egypt or some shit. So for shits and giggles, I'm checking west out first."[/quote]

And watched with a slightly slack jaw as her dad just [i]dove[/i] into one of the holes. With frantic scrambling, Cosy found a CDE sword, gripped it tightly in her hand, tightened the straps on her backpack slightly, before, with a terrified squeal, jumped into the hole after her father.

Gravity worked fast, pulling her down into darkness. Until, slowly, she began to feel weightless, and the darkness gave way to a CDE platform, tables once made out of stone in the center. There were CDE walls along all four sides of this new area. Little did Cosy know that she and her father now resided in section 35.

Wisps fluttered in the sky, until, all at once, a [url=https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fyjztliz1ej7b1.jpg]massive figure[/url] morphed in the sky, seeing almost too large, their face taking up the sky. Cosy looked up with wide eyes, caught in the shadow of the being’s headdress. 

[b]“So you choose to struggle. Very well. I admire your courage. But you won’t leave this room alive.”[/b] the figure spoke, its voice shaking the foundations of the Caana.

Cosy’s AI scanned the being, and began sending off alert after alert, warning of danger. She sucked in a breath, turning to Nick.

[b]“Dad, I don’t know how to tell you this but… this [i]thing[/i] is apparently Buluc Chabtan, the Mayan god of war, violence, and… uh, [i]sacrifice[/i].”[/b]

The figure only smugly smirked, before it waved a hand, and from the edges of the room, Mayan warriors, wisps falling off their blend of phantasmic and corporeal forms, charged at Nick and Cosy will all manner of clubs and spears…

Meanwhile, in the courtyard, the holes continued to expand, threatening to engulf the remaining archeologists and researchers…