[IC] Free For All

[MikkishtheLeprechaun]

Mikkish' eyes flicked open to see a dark concrete ceiling. From what he remembered, he hadn't drank that much the night before. Even if he had, why was he here, of all places?

His head didn't ache as he rose to his feet. No hangover. What was going on here?

"Hello?" He shouted, his voice echoing. Maybe he had just stumbled here drunk the nigh before. Still strange. He reached in his pockets and found empty space in place of his cell phone and wallet. Fantastic. He would need to deal with that later, however. First priority was getting out of here.

[Karkinos]

She's not alone here.

A thick, sticking substance has accumulated on the concrete floor. It creeps from the shadows, casting just enough heat to in turn cast a faint glow, moving at the slowest pace possible while still implying sentience.

The pile of putty leaves a faint trail like some super-heated mollusk - yet it's not warm enough to burn. It crawls towards the closest life form it can sense; maybe it's looking for comfort in this strange and hollow place.

[Gentlemanvaultboy]

Dog crept his way across the cold concrete, his shoes dangling from his hand so the echoes of his footfalls didn't give his position away. One foot in front of the other, slowly, carefully, meticulously. The only sound he let out was when he occasionally lifted his head and sniffed. He didn't know where he was, but he did know that he wasn't alone. There were others here, but others he had never met. It certainly wasn't his team. He'd be able to pick out the grease on Eels skin or that cocoa butter Swan smeared on his legs every morning from half a country away on a good breeze. These people, he didn't know who they were and that scared him.

He knew he hadn't been captured by the enemy, that would mean either torture or dissection. He supposed this could be some weird form of psychological torment, but he doubted that. They were much more direct in their methods than this. Neither did he think this was some test from The Good Doctor, they had stopped all that years ago before they'd been sent out into the field. He stopped for a moment as the thought that he might be dead crept into his mind. He shuttered, but wrote that off too. No, he wasn't dead. Dog was still young, the doctors hadn't told him anything during his last adjustment and they were through. If he was going to die anywhere it would be during a mission and the last Dog remembered he was going to bed. Thus, he couldn't be dead.

Unless of course something had wiped out the base.

No, that was impossible. They'd all be here with him then.

Right?

He remembered an old movie that Spider had shown him, telling him he was the luckiest among them because he at least was guaranteed to show up before the pearly gates no matter how many fucked up things they were ordered to do. Was that it, then? Was the reason they weren't here now because he'd left them all behind and gone to Heaven? Alone!?!

Dog senses told him to stop, and he stepped back into the shadows more on instinct than anything. The sound he'd heard cut off the religious crisis building up in his head at the root. He moved faster, coming around one of the pillars an crouching in its shadow to observe the guy that the greeting had come from. Just a normal looking guy from the look of it. He wasn't armed. He seemed just as out of place as Dog felt. Civilian? Not the best of companions, but at least it was something.

Dog grabbed the collar of his shirt and lifted it up until it rested just under his nose. That would have to work so long as he didn't have his bandanna. Civilians weren't exactly comfortable looking at his ugly mug. The black eyes that could usually handle or write off, but the maw was flat out unacceptable. "Hello?" he replied standing up and walking out, hands up, voice like he gargled gravel every morning. "You know where we are?"

[MikkishtheLeprechaun]

@Gentlemanvaultboy

As soon as Mikkish heard the voice asking where they were, he turned to the source of the noise. A guy who had pulled his shirt over his face was wandering, looking lost. Mikkish would have wrote him off as just being homeless, on drugs, or legitimately lost, had he not noticed the guy's unusual looking eyes. It didn't shock Mikkish, with all he had experienced since age 19, not to mention the world he had grown up in. Still, was this guy friend or foe?

"A...garage?" That was Mikkish's best guess. Clearly it wasn't, or where were all the cars?
Mikkish then considered his actions, and who he had pissed off in the past "Do you work for Maniacles?"

Mikkish meant Maniacles Corporation, the mercenary and weapons technology company that ruled the world where he was from. This other guy wouldn't know who they were, but this was the first question that came to Mikkish' mind.

[Gentlemanvaultboy]

@MikkishtheLeprechaun@Karkinos

Maniacles? Dog had never heard of it. Maybe one of the smaller labs out in the country? "Uhhhh, no. No." He said, shaking his head. "I'm from Baskerville." He didn't see any problem in saying it, seeing as whoever had taken him had to have found the Baskerville facility. Either this guy worked for these people, in which case he already knew, or he was being held here as well, in which case their outlook was the same regardless.

An outlooks that appeared to be moving closer, from the look of that faint glow he spotted over the guys shoulder. Something was very slowly moving closer, some sort of...glowing slim was seeping at them. "We're not alone!" He said urgently, and pointed to the form. New theory: sometimes you kidnapped your rivals to test new weapons on them. He crouched back down as the blob inched closer, ready to either pounce or flee at a moments notice.

[King Cosmos]

In a separate part of the underground structure, the only sounds that could be heard were the low scraping of Alastair’s shuffling footsteps and the frantic mutterings that poured forth from his mouth. Walking with his head held low his gait seemed unsteady as he wobbled from one step to the next, almost falling forward before catching himself a few times, as if he was drunk or disoriented.

“Your voice is so quiet, I can barely hear it. Barely hear it.”

Coming to a stop in the middle of another intersection Alastair paused for a moment, swaying on his feet as he turned this way and that before deciding at random on a direction. “You do not know where we are? Strange. You know so much. I know so much, through you. Too much. But you don’t know where we are.”

Alastair let out a grunt of pain as he suddenly bent over double, clutching at his left arm with his other hand as something underneath his jacket began to bulge and writhe around, the fabric stretching and twisting to accommodate it. After a few seconds the spasms subsided, Alastair straightening and resuming his shuffling walk as if nothing untoward had occurred.

“Yes, yes. Sorry. I know it is not your fault. Something is suppressing you. Something in this place you do not know. Strange. Your voice is so quiet.”

[MikkishtheLeprechaun]

@Gentlemanvaultboy@Karkinos

The faint glow of the orange slime caught Mikkish' attention. He knew Maniacles was always doing strange experiments, but he hadn't seen anything this weird since the Infestations. Perhaps there was nothing truly strange about the orange slime, at least no by comparison with the other things Mikkish had seen, but the situation was putting him on edge. Still, something told him the orange slime wasn't dangerous. He wouldn't be dumb enough to go touch it, he could be wrong after all, and his stupid ideas had gotten him into enough trouble before.

Another thought crossed his mind, and it was about the other guy here. Mikkish looked at Dog "You can stop hiding your face, by the way."

[Strong Potato]

Zanni regains consciousness.

"My first nap in 250 years... How it reminds me of walking the thin line between life and death. And with walking I mean pushing little orphan boys over it. Anyways, back to my circus."

After standing up and collecting his body parts, the fact crosses his mind he has no memory of his current position. Zanni starts looking for the simpleton whom shouted a while back. The only one to awaken people from their slumber should be me, he ponders.

[Samdragonx]

@Gentlemanvaultboy@MikkishtheLeprechaun@Karkinos

Voices, lovely, but confused voices. The great shiny bulk of the green and red moved the Naijio forward. Steadily judging the distance between his next few steps, his mind awoke and his sight returned.
A grey mass, littered with cracks. How would I ever hunt when I could easily fall through all these?

More voices, audible ones. Some far away, but most really close by.

After some radio static and high squeeking sounds, the noise of a screaming little girl was sent to meet the lovely voices just around the corner.

[Illiren]

Ashley woke up like she normally does, one sense at a time. The air smelled musty and stale like it has been trapped here for some time. The ground was cold and hard, concrete probably. And finally, she could see the gray concrete walls illuminated by a row of lights coming from a center of the expanse.
None of that was important compared to the realization that she was alone. The Familiar feeling of a sheath that should be clutched between her hands was missing. It is not on her hip, and it is not around her. Ren is not here.

Needing to look around, to find where she is at, and were Ren is, Ashley realized how alone she feels without the presence of her partner in the back of her mind.
'This place is to clean for some of my enemies, not nice enough another, and generally does not have enough fire for the third.' Ash reflected, peering out from the nook she awoke in 'So where am I here?'

[King Cosmos]

“We are not alone.”

There was a person ahead. A head with long blonde hair poked itself out of an alcove in the wall. There was also light ahead, the mere suggestion of it on the walls enough to cause Alastair to duck his head further inside his hood. “Prisoner or jailer? Yes. I agree. Another person trapped in this labyrinth.”

Continuing his shuffling walk forward, Alastair drifted over until he was brushing against the concrete walls beside him with each step. It felt darker somehow, more sheltered from the searing light that was up ahead. “Should we? No? But you are weakened and it might help. No. You are right, as always. There is no need for haste. And we should learn what we can.”

Abruptly, Alastair slowed to a stop. If it was even possible he seemed to curl even further in on himself where he stood, head dropping nearly to his chest as his knees started to bend. “You, you want to do to that? But you know I am no good at it. Yes, yes. Of course. It needs to be done.”

For a few moments Alastair stood still, slouched against the concrete wall as he took deep breaths, as if preparing himself for something. After a moment he straightened, standing completely upright and at his full height, his hunched posture completely erased. He walked forward with his head held high, the slow, ambling steps replaced by a more normal walking gait. His movements were stiff, as if he needed to consider each step carefully, but it was still far more normal looking than his previous zombie-like cadence.

As he grew closer to the blonde-haired figure he called out to her, his voice loud and clear, if a little raspy. “H-hello? Are you – are you lost here as well?”

@Illiren

[Gentlemanvaultboy]

@Samdragonx@MikkishtheLeprechaun@Karkinos

"I would really rather keep it hidden.." Dog replied, before his head jerked in the direction of the scream of a young girl. Dog was about to spring into action immediately, actually starting to run before the smell hit him. He sniffed, loudly. Then held up a hand to the other guy and shook his head. The problem was he couldn't think of a way tell the guy that, whatever that scream was, it hadn't been human without also telling the thing. Even if Dog showed his face it wasn't as though Dog could mouth it to him with his awful choppers. "Keep an eye on that. I'm going to check it out." he said, pointing to the sludge. He hoped the obvious caution with which he crept toward the source of the scream was enough to clue the guy in that something was up.

[Karkinos]

The slime may have been aware of the attention it drew to itself, enough at least to respond to the hint of anxiety. When the masked man _{(@Gentlemanvaultboy)} pointed, it stopped. Meandering there, as if it has mistaken itself the center of conversation.

"You can stop hiding your face..." _{(@MikkishtheLeprechaun)} the slime overhears, and contemplates, molding on its own as if pulled by some invisible hand into a 'sitting position' - a bubbling mound apparently paying attention to the people directly in front of it.

It could have toyed with them more. Out of everyone, the pile of putty was the only one not really reacting to potential danger. That would change in a scream. _{(@Samdragonx)}

From a distance, the sound rippled through it, like a shudder. It lost its form. The sticky puddle went red, magma hot, if its intense aura was any indication, and for the first time, a genuine sign of sentience emerged on its surface: a pair of eyes winked to life, ogling the environment, searching for the source of that awful sound.

One of the men pointed in its direction again, but it didn't follow with the assumption of staying put, slinking across the ground at his heels. It left a blackened shadow over the ground as it moved, and the eyes rolled around and around, riding the wave.

[Illiren]

5'6", Really pale, baggy clothes make reading him harder. Stiff movements and the stutter could be nervousness, or maybe a Skin changer and is not use to the human form yet. 'Please be the former, I am so done with shape shifters at this point'.

Deciding to just be nice and pretend to not notice any strange behavior would get her further. "I didn't think I would run into anyone so quickly, this place looks pretty big!", Ashley exclaimed in a cheerful voice, as she took a step around the wall.

Looking down at the man 5 inches shorter than her, she decided to rotate to be on his right side with her left shoulder facing him. If you are shoulder to shoulder, instead of square on people tend feel better and normally allow you to stand closer, more so for men.
"As it seems that neither of us know what is going on, I guess the only option is to carry on." Pointing in the direction that he was walking towards. "Oh, you can call me Ash by the way!"
@King Cosmos

[Samdragonx]

@Gentlemanvaultboy@MikkishtheLeprechaun@Karkinos

The naiji notices a creature with a color over his mouth approaching. Slowly turning towards the creature, he seeks to make contact.
A high screech follows as he lifts his tongue.
A tigers roar is next with his tongue starting to wave.
A piece of wood scraping across the floor starts to resound as his tongue is moved past his teeth.
A wolfs howl as the tongue is retracted is heard next.
A binary dial-up was his final attempt.

Carefully analyzing the responses from the creature before him, The Naiji makes one final conclusion and attempt:

"Hello", Static noise ensued but gets corrected after a brief silence, "Hello".

The sound of a heavy low female voice, one that switches every few sillables and a voice that seems to always be singing filled the room.

"Friend or foe?"

The naiji stands immobile but tilts its head down slightly to look the 'humanoid' before him in the eye with an eerie, ice cold stare.

[Assallya]

She lay sprawled across the concrete, unawakened, kohl dusted eyelids closed and black painted lips partially open. Breath slipped unseen across her lips betraying her condition as she slumbered. She was a beautiful woman, trailered ears hidden in golden tresses illumining her elven heritage. Slender limbs were stretched out in a long line, swathed in translucent black silks, loops of metal surrounded ankles and wrists while her fingers and bare toes were adorned with gold and silver rings.

[Karkinos]

The slime has run its stare over the hulking, cacophonous creature _{(@Samdragonx)}, only for a second, before it draws its disembodied eyes inside and out of sight - it has seen all it has to.

The molten puddle, terrified, takes advantage of its melted form, gone from thick to runny in the wake of absolute fear, and slips across the ground, becoming a tendril to fit between the monster and the masked man _{(@Gentlemanvaultboy)}. After a rush of jagged movements, a message is burnt crudely into the concrete.

To those who could read it: FRIENDS.

[Gentlemanvaultboy]

@Samdragonx@Karkinos@MikkishtheLeprechaun

As he saw the strange thing Dog stopped and brought his hands up in a fighting stance. But the thing didn't attack. Instead it just stood there, cycling through different noises. It stood there, roaring and screeching and...was that wood? Dial up? Wait, yeah, it was trying to communicate. No sooner had he though that then the thing started speaking in English. Asking him if he were friend or foe.

"Uhhhhh..." he started, before suddenly the choice was made for him. The blob monster from before put itself between them. Dog, who hadn't even realized it could move that fast, leaped back. His shirt pulled down in the jump exposing his pearly whites for all to see. But he figured that if weird things like those two were also just victims in all this anyone who'd be worried about his mouth was crazy. "Uhhhhh, yeah." Dog said, pointing at the blob. "What he said. Friend." He tuned his head and called around the corner. "Hey, um, huhh, Manacles! Hey! Turns out we're all friends here. Over here."

[MikkishtheLeprechaun]

@Gentlemanvaultboy

Mikkish shrugged as the weird guy walked off. He turned his attention to the slime. In every video game where he saw something like this, they were always the weakest enemies in the game. Of course, he also remembered that movie "the blob."

@Karkinos

Then the blob went into what looked like a sitting position, at which Mikkish prepared to dodge if it lunged at him. That didn't happen, however, as the blob heated up and chased after the guy with a mouth cover.

'Well shit' Mikkish thought. He had nothing better to do now but follow them. Despite the fact the blob heated up, something told him it wasn't following Dog just to eat him.

@Samdragonx

Mikkish arrived with the others a minute late, after wondering why he was hearing wood dragging, weird computery noises (he didn't know what dial up was) and animal noises. When he arrived, Dogs cover was off, the word "friends" had been burned into the ground, and a huge robot was standing and staring at Dog.

"I'm right here, dumbass." He said to Dog, looking at his chompers "You got a purty mouth by the way." He said with as redneck an accent as he could manage.

Mikkish looked over the robot. "So are you a robot or power armor? Please be power armor."

[Samdragonx]

@Gentlemanvaultboy@MikkishtheLeprechaun@Karkinos

"Freeeee..."
The Naiji slowly lifted his foot. He put his foot down on the friend burned into the ground. A heavy pound revealed the weight of this creature.

He tried to pet the magma body, before putting himself upright.

Slowly moving forward with cracking and screeching sounds, he uttered: "Blood... Food."

The naiji points towards the end of the room. "Hunger"

Seemingly hinting it wishes to eat someone or something further down the dungeon. It's motivated and ready to go.

Barely waiting on the others, it took note of his newfound "freedom from cracks fighters" and their radiant powers.