[IC] The Ward

[Lady Selune]

When at last the descent into the antediluvian depths had ended, the harnesses were released and your small party were allowed to take their first steps unaided by themselves.

"A series of supply caches are being delivered to you to assist with the completion of this task." The Warden's garbled, mechanical voice echoed out from within the tube-like structures that had shunted you down the Boreholes. "Try to avoid being crushed." Sure enough, as soon as the voice had quietened, a soft rumbling could be heard, a series of similar looking devices deposited around you. "Firstly, life support." A soft red glow would shine out from the lower portion of the first of the drops to have arrived, and when approached steel shutters noisily cranked back to reveal bottles, boxes and pouches; similar to those that you might find in a child's lunchbox, but with a viscous, thick internal consistency when touched. "Water. Nutrient paste. Gas mask filters. The gas mask contains a small rubber tube that runs throughout its construction. Attach to the provided straws to consume the contents." The upper area would then open.

"Other pertinent pieces of equipment. Use sparingly, power is limited." Handheld torches, small knives better suited for fabric than flesh, and a single peculiar device that looked like a box with a microphone attached to a wire, if the microphone was a simple silver cylinder. A dial on the front of the device had a needle that currently bounced about on the lowest bounds, but there was only a series of numbers with no appropriate unit to measure those numbers in. There was also what appeared to be a medical kit, complete with a pale grey cross on the front and what appeared to be a small tablet, if said tablet had been crossed with a brick. Lastly, a blocky plastic carrier case held a series of test tubes and stoppers along with syringes of various sizes and a small set of nitrile gloves. "Various tasks will require the use of these. Protect them well. The medical case should be used to ensure a member of the team is fit to continue onwards. Remember, extraction is only avaliable in limited areas of the Borehole.

Then, another drop would open. There were no different compartments here, instead every one of the walls were covered in firearms. "Primary and secondary weapons are located near the bottom. They are designed for quiet and efficient removal of threats. Tertiary weapons are located at the top. They will bring more attention than they remove. Use for large, unavoidable conflict exclusively, ammunition is scarce." The lower bounds of the supply shuttle held eight sets of guns, four copies of two different models. The smaller gun had an elongated surpressor attached to it, and appeared to be bolt action, whilst the second was stubbier and the surpressor was much smaller. "The smaller gun utilises subsonic ammunition. Working the cycle is louder than firing it. Use only at point blank range, and only when a lethal first shot is guarenteed. The second gun is far more versatile." Then there was the 'tertiary' guns. A bullpup submachine gun, magazine fed shotgun, assault rifle and what appeared to be a squad automatic variant of the assault rifle, with an elongated barrel and a larger magazine. In addition, numerous blocks of a marzipan-looking substance had been stacked up, with what could only be detonators pushed inside. If you wanted firepower, this was where it was. Ammunition, unfortunately, seemed scarcer. Even the large squad automatic had a mere three magazines for it, whilst the smaller pistols had entire boxes for themselves. If a large fight was gotten into, it seemed that finishing it quickly was the priority.

"Lastly." The Warden's voice would crackle out. "Many have owed their lives to these tools." The final shuttle would open, and inside were four, identical, peculiar devices. They looked like the bastard child between an axe, a crowbar and a shovel, and it even had a serrated edge on one side for sawing through obstacles. Just below the crowbar bill there was also an elongated spike, allowing the weapon to slash and stab effectively. "Use them well. Your first task; find room Blue 5. It will be locked. The tablet will allow you to spoof access." There was a momentary pause. "Warden out."

With that, you were left to adequetly equip yourselves in silence. Apart from the occasional groans of metal around you the facility was dark and silent, only a few motes of thin light piercing through here and there. Lines traced the walls; red, yellow, blue, each running off in different directions along the unchanging steel of the walls.

[Nyxira]

The first to step free of the pods was the biggest of the four, bursting out of the harness almost before it had even been released. He swayed briefly when he did, and naturally so. After all, he assessed quickly even as he steadied himself, he had just woken from a presumably artificially induced slumber only to have immediately been plummeted into the dark depths. It would have been more strange if his balanced had been perfect coming out of that.

At least the long ride down had given him plenty of time to think about his situation.

As such, he was not about to let it get the better of him. He didn't have time to be feeling disoriented. Sure, he had no idea where he was or why, and barely even had an inkling as to who he was. Rather, all the more reason to keep his wits about him and remain wary of his surroundings. He could not afford to be vulnerable in any way.

Nothing and nobody were to be trusted.

Without so much as pausing, he had just begun to cast his gaze around at the scene and individuals around him when that wretched voice piped up once again, diverting his attention upward to take note of what he should be avoiding before the man stepped aptly aside to do so.

If he flinched at all when the object had landed or opened, he gave no visible sign of it behind the thick gear and gas mask which concealed his features. Instead, once he could plainly see the contents, he crouched down calmly before it and began to check each package as the mysterious 'Warden' rattled off the list. The 'food', if it could be called that, was telling. Disgusting, perhaps even irksome, but it told him what he needed to know, and if they had wanted to kill him with poison or experiment on him with weird chemicals, they wouldn't have gone to the likely expensive effort to drop him down some shady hole when they'd already had him in their clutches.

Probably.

Deciding to accept it for now, albeit with caution, he grabbed an assortment of the supplies and stowed them on his person before moving on to look over the 'other pertinent pieces of equipment', as they had been so vaguely described. Lights, uselessly tiny pocket knives, and an assortment of mainly unidentifiable devices as far as he was concerned, aside from the medical kit. No instructions for anything as far as he could see. Even though they were supposedly important science shit. Maybe one of the others they had sent down was well versed with that stuff, he didn't know. But he would rather leave it to them, anyway. Why should he have to take some stupid samples for those bastards who wouldn't even come own to get it for themselves?

The other stuff he could think about later, for once the second drop had opened his priorities immediately shifted. Weapons. And lots of them. This was a proper arsenal that had been sent down with them, and no meager one at that. Well, not in terms of firepower, anyway. The first thing that he did in approaching the container was to check the provided ammunition, and what he found caused him to click his tongue in disgust. 'Scarce' indeed. Already too scarce for an operation that evidently required such a heavy assortment of guns. Whoever or whatever they were expected to be shooting at, they were not well enough supplied to do so.

Most of the bigger guns looked like they would eat through all of their ammo in no time. Not something which he considered ideal for their limited stock. What he needed was something with shots that would count.

Without hesitating, he skipped over the rapid-fire weapons and took hold of the shotgun. A less attractive weapon, perhaps, but he didn't care about what was attractive. This was a bit more familiar to him in feel (if not quite in form), and it looked like it could do some damage. With a grunt of satisfaction, the man loaded it and slung it onto his back, then did the same with one of each type of pistol and dropped them into the holsters that had so clearly been intended for them. The extra ammo he placed in some of the many pouches on his chest which would hopefully make for the quickest possible reloading if it were needed.

He had a feeling it might be.

With that done, he turned at last to the remaining case and watched as it opened to reveal the unique objects inside. Now this was an instrument that he could get behind. Nearing the latest array without delay, he hefted one of the strange things and turned it over in his hands, then gave it a few swings for good measure. Solid. Versatile. Perfect. Definitely more his speed, though he wasn't opposed to the other weapons, either. This one just felt right in his sturdy hands.

The Warden had almost nothing to say about these, but neither had they said all that much about the others. Or anything else, for that matter. Before he knew it, that robotic words were uttering one last nebulous directive before signing off.

"Great." Muttered the brawny figure in a deep, gravelly voice.

[AelitaJezebelle]

Confusion. That was all Sam felt as he made his decent into the Borehole. Where was he? What was happening? The voice speaking to him didn't offer much explanation. What task was he supposed to be accomplishing here? Whatever it was sure seemed to involve a lot of supplies. He looked at the nutrient paste in disgust and reluctantly took it. That was gonna taste nasty. No doubt about that.

He took the other supplies offered to him, though he couldn't help but be a bit worried about what the syringes were for. What choice did he have really but to take them? He didn't even know what some of these things he was getting did. "I don't suppose you answer questions, do you?" he asked. Probably not. It was probably just a recording.

The next round of supplies terrified him. What the hell were they going to be facing that he was being offered so many firearms?! He grabbed a shotgun and a couple handguns and the ammo for them. The next object he was offered was unusual, to say the least, but certainly looked like something with many uses, including as a weapon. He took it and took a deep breath before finally looking around at the others there. "Does anyone here have any clue about what's going on?"

[DJAtomika]

Aaron rubbed his wrists as the harness around him undid itself and he could step free from the armatures that had lowered them down into the depths. His breaths were deep and slow in the confines of his gas mask that he'd woken up in, although the rest of the suit didn't feel as uncomfortable. It calmed him, this ritual, and it was a holdover from somewhere, some time long ago.

He couldn't remember why or how, but it was like instinct. The sleep he'd had before waking up in a suit, trussed up like a turkey with a stuffy gas mask on his face was oddly calming and he didn't feel panic. Only a sense of grim unease and foreboding, tempered by some sort of willpower that he didn't really know he had or whose origins he understood.

Around him were his presumed companions, released from their own harnesses and left to their own devices. But then the Warden's voice boomed from above: a briefing, as it were. Bags of equipment and supplies ferried down from above to be distributed equally among themselves, which is what he did. His hands worked like they had a mind of their own, attaching pouches and boxes to the appropriate places on the vest he had, along with a knife on his left shoulder, handle outwards. But he took only what he deemed necessary for himself, leaving enough for the others to stock up based on their own needs.

Then came weaponry. There were enough of both sidearms to sufficiently arm himself and his three companions, so he took both the semi-auto and silenced pistol and shoved them roughly into holsters on his tactical rig; silenced on his thigh, semi-auto on his chest with the grip oriented towards his right side. And finally, he took the assault rifle. It sat very well in his arms and with a practised eye, he looked over his weapons; removing the magazine to check his round count, slapping it back into the weapon, chambering a round and performing a quick press check to make sure the round sat within the chamber.

Then a quick click of the safety to turn it on, before he continued with his sidearms. Methodical, slow and measured in his actions, it wasn't until he finished checking the ammunition and safety of the bolt-action pistol did he talk.

"No idea. But whatever it is, we do it or we die here. Alone."

[Xandrya]

She was a bit shaken up, though not entirely from fear. Cassidy took in her surroundings, trying to make out what little she could see with the limited lighting. Someone who would later refer to themselves as the Warden voiced instructions to her and the others who found themselves in the same predicament. The young woman did her best to listen, her gaze angled downward to concentrate and analyze everything he was saying. As the Warden went on, she picked off the supplies she would need for the tasks. What were the tasks for, exactly? That she didn't know, but she would find out in due time and so at that moment it was best to listen to the instructions and follow along.

The armament presented to them made her curious as to what exactly they'd be going up against. Cassidy reached for two of the handguns and made sure they were safely secured on her person. She then reached for the larger rifle, taking a moment to inspect it and try to familiarize herself with the weapon. What felt like a million thoughts were racing through her mind as she couldn't help but wonder just what the hell was going on. Even though she continued to organize her equipment, Cassidy wanted answers.

Blue 5

Cassidy hadn't been paying much attention to the others, but that would stop then. They were getting through the challenge they were up against, and they would do it together.

"I'm ready to go," she said, turning to the rest of them there.

[Lady Selune]

The silence was deafening. When Cassidy's words had finished echoing, the group would be left in silence for a good few seconds, until from somewhere below them the groan of old metal would rumble out. The Borehole was clearly not the most stable of constructions. Torches swept through the gloom, disturbing only dust and long-rusted desks. Had this been an office complex? Or, more disturbingly, an educational facility? Who could tell? Past these, where the lines ran off to, there was a sign. B2. The blue line had encircled it, and then pressed on, forking off in a hallway and darting away both directions.

Neither of which looked particularly promising.

For a start, the entire area was pitch black, barring a single small spot where a thin light streamed down from some unknown location. Underneath this spotlight, a black, withered mossy plant had eked out a living, eating away at whatever scraps it could scour from the dust and dirt that lay in the decaying facility. A torch shone down that direction would show several more doorways and then another fork far at the end, whereas the other direction revealed itself to have but two. A choice would have to be made.

[Nyxira]

The giant of a man only half listened as his equally reluctant companions exchanged a few brief snatches of conversation, mainly continuing to ignore them as he went about his business of stocking up what he could and making sure that his weapon was serviceable. They didn't seem to have much of value to say as far as he was concerned, anyway. Mainly just asking pointless questions and answering with obvious answers.

Honestly, he was not remotely opposed to dying alone. He would rather not have to put his life in the hands of anyone else, and would have much preferred going it alone, regardless of what was to be thrown at him. However, if the oh-so-mysterious 'warden' was to be believed, it seemed that he would have to work with the others if he wanted any chance at surviving.

And he was determined to survive.

It was not until the woman among them spoke up that he actually turned to regard her silently. She was quite small, yet stood holding the very automatic rifle which he had deliberately passed on. Possibly the only thing that had been left over. Not that it mattered. And she'd had the nerve to say that she was 'ready'.

Scoffing he looked away, mounted his torch in its place on his shotgun, and started off further into the borehole without stopping to wait for the rest of the group.

[DJAtomika]

"Blue 5, huh? Well I suppose we should-"

And then one of the group, a taller, burly man, made a move and left the group, heading into the borehole without waiting for anyone else. Probably the worst thing he could do in a situation like this. Aaron swore, tightened the strap of his rifle and ran after.

"Hey! Wait!"

Once he'd caught up with the bigger man, he grabbed him by the shoulder and attempted to spin him around in a threatening manner. But the man was too burly and all he did was make himself stumble as the walking refrigerator tromped off into the darkness. More than a little pissed, he yelled at the vanishing figure.

"The fuck, man?! We're all stuck down here without a god damn clue of what's ahead of us, and you want to just waltz on ahead and get yourself killed by yourself?!"

[Xandrya]

The young woman had noticed she was the only female of the group. Did that mean something? And why her? These thoughts lingered in her head for a few moments as she fiddled with her equipment once more. Cassidy had slightly underestimated the combined weight of the gear. Not that she couldn't handle it, but the bulkiness made her feel a tad awkward, and that was not ideal in the event they needed to break into a sprint for whatever reason. If that were to occur, she was betting she'd be last.

In the midst of it all, however, the biggest one of the group decided to take off without addressing them at all. It seemed he was the silent type, or at least, that's what she pegged him for. Cassidy only hoped that he wouldn't be hard to work with, though at that point things weren't looking all that great.

It was then someone else intervened, but to no avail. There was the possibility of a fight for a moment, though that didn't happen and instead, the giant kept on walking as if none of them were also stuck in the same shitty situation as him. Not that there was an expectation for them all to suddenly become best friends, but a little cooperation would have been nice.

"Don't worry about it, apparently he couldn't care less about himself and neither should we."

Cassidy shook her head with a sigh. She may have said those words a little louder than she had intended, but that didn't bother her. However, the other guy's attitude was a different story. "Let's find this room, shall we?"

[AelitaJezebelle]

Sam took the time to check his weapons and ammo, making sure they were in good condition and that he was prepared for whatever was ahead. As he did this though, he listened as the others spoke. It seemed no one else had any more idea than he did of what was going on here, which wasn't comforting yet...kind of was at the same time. At least he wasn't alone in his confusion. He couldn't help but wish someone had answers though.

He watched as the burly man walked off and another attempted to stop him. He agreed that they needed to cooperate together. Hopefully that guy would realize that...before it was too late. "Let's get moving then. He's right. We need to stay together," he said as he followed.

[Nyxira]

At the feel of someone grabbing his arm, he jerked it away and aside from waving his hand at them to cease, continued to ignore the offender until they began to yell after him. Irritating, he noted. And foolish. And before he could even fire off a retort, the woman was also joining in with a comment which was equally annoying, and the last of the group was not far behind her. "Then keep up." He growled when the others had finally shut up, turning swiftly askance to glare at the lot of them through the visor of his gas mask. It was not all that visible, but it evidenced itself in the tone of his voice, which now that he had said a full sentence was noticeably with a distinct Scottish accent. "An' quit yeer shoutin'."

Skies, the fuss in these folks. He'd not even gone very far, yet they were behaving like it would be the end of him.

Rolling his eyes, the big man turned back the way he'd been going and took another couple of cautious steps. "Just scoutin' ahead." He explained simply, shining his light pointedly around the junction he'd just reached and down each forking path to wordlessly indicate the divergence to the others.

[Xandrya]

The group was at a crossroads. If she was being honest with herself, Cassidy would undoubtedly go with her first pick. But she wasn't alone, therefore she had to take into consideration what the others wanted to do.

"Alright, so which way?"

The young woman took a step forward to place herself between the two paths. "We can go down this route as there seems to be more rooms. But that's just me, we make this decision together." Cassidy stood and waited for the others to chime in with each of their opinions as she looked over at the man who had caused the ruckus a moment ago. She had judged him too quickly, that much she could admit, though she was just glad he hadn't ran off.

[DJAtomika]

Aaron followed along a few steps until the group reached the first junction. Obviously the first of many. The burly man he'd stopped earlier went ahead a few paces to shine his flashlight down each hallway to indicate the fork in the road and that a decision needed to be made. The other three people didn't seem to make concrete judgements, so Aaron stepped up to the plate.

"Let's check the left first. If nothing comes of it, we come back here and go the other way. Either way, let's try and follow that blue line on the wall."

At a slow and steady pace, Aaron took the lead, his silenced pistol now out and in one hand with his flashlight in the other. He pointed the firearm straight ahead and braced his flashlight-holding forearm underneath his right wrist, holding the light backhand to illuminate his path as he took the first few tentative steps into the hallway on the left.

[Maglar]

Marty had watched in a fugue as everyone settled into their circumstance, pillaged through the caches that had fallen from above them, and began walking in the direction of the blue line. As he came to feel alone he let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding and his mind started working. What is this? he thought, What did I do? ....Oh, God! He looked up on impulse and felt himself begin to pray, What does thou wish of me Oh Lord? What is thy test?

Resolutely, he walked over to the container with the nutrient pack and began to load what gear he could. There was a military issue duffle bag at the bottom of the crate under the blocky container of vials. Marty smiled, he felt a strong sense of familiarity see the duffle, Thank you Father, he prayed. Carefully he loaded the vials, the med kit, the rest of the nutrient paste, and the blocks of what he figured were c4 explosives. The device with the dial that didn't make any sense hooked to a carabiner clip on his belt. Checking the weight and fit he shouldered the pack and picked up his weapons. He attached the torch to the small machine gun and then holstered the handgun and the weird looking thing that had the silencer on it. Every weapon had it's place on his person, it was too perfect not to be intentional.

Feeling the duffle on his shoulders and a vest loaded up felt good, it felt familiar. Marty took a moment to acknowledge that he didn't know who he was, how he had gotten to this dark place, or what was going to happen; but oddly, he didn't feel afraid. Somehow, deep inside, he knew he believed in a righteous God, and if this was where he was then this is where he deserved to be. He took a steadying breath and marched towards the voices of the others, they hadn't gotten far. There was the short girl and the giant, and there was the handsome guy walking ahead of them following the blue line. Marty sucked on some of his nutrient paste from the straw in his visor and wordlessly followed from the back.

[Nyxira]

Despite the woman's suggestion that they come to a collective decision on the direction to start in, the man who had grabbed him before opted to take charge and make their decision for them, starting off by himself. He'd half a mind to let him stay by himself, considering how obnoxious he had been about him taking any sort of initiative.

Clearly the type who thought himself more capable than the rest here. Or else one who just wanted to be in control at all times. Hell, maybe he just thought himself a natural leader, or some kind of hero. In any case, the bigger man was not a fan.

He took a moment to scan the walls of the intersection for any further indicators of where they were or which direction they should be taking, but seeing that there were none to be found, he turned instead toward the woman and attempted to gauge her reaction to the soldier's 'leadership' through her mask. "...Thoughts?" He asked, prompting for her opinion. Mainly just to spite the other, although she was right that it was best they be in some form of agreement on decisions, considering that they had no prior knowledge of one another. And that their very lives could be at risk for the wrong choices.

[Lady Selune]

The one with more doors would be chosen. Other colours darted off this way as well, into the gloom and the darkness. Yellow, Red, Green. Each step taken was another towards their goal... Or, away from it. Perhaps both; maybe in this mismatched maze of corridoors and hallways even space itself fell prey to the Borehole. Blue 5 was their goal, and it lay somewhere in this place. R16. B3. B4. Y31. Then there was an open door, the blue line circling past a rusted sign. Through the door however, there was nothing. Up above, jagged metal and scorchmarks showed the passage of something large and sparking, and the floor of this area had collapsed through time and time again, leading to a vortex of black that swallowed up any hope their objective would be that easy.

They would need to descend, then, one way or another.

[Maglar]

Marty took a few hesitant steps forward, using his weapon to point his flashlight into the bland darkness of the hallway. Nothing but doors and dusty colored lines, he thought, hopefully one of these leads to the room "Blue 5," I'm guessing the blue one. Father help us if the Warden is just messing with our heads.

The others had their back turned while Marty slipped by them through an open door, his breath echoing loudly behind his mask. Behind the door was a large room that felt colder than the hallway. Slowly Marty panned his light from left to right, there was nothing too see on the walls but more grey with colored lines. Marty would have turned to look in another room except for the massive gaping hole where there was supposed to be floor. Reluctantly he shined his light into the hole, the small L.E.D. flashlight only penetrated about 30 or 40 feet down which was just enough to illuminate the broken edges of some lower levels before getting swallowed up by the inky darkness. He then shifted to shine his light on the ceiling where he saw metal and concrete that looked jagged and blackened.

"Guys," Marty said out loud, still looking up, "I think something really big fell through here... at least, I hope it fell."

[Xandrya]

"I tend to follow instructions so we keep trailing the blue line. I don't really want to find out what happens if we don't complete our task because I don't think the Warden is someone we oughta be messing with."

They kept walking for a little while longer and eventually, Cassidy and the others reached the room with the open door. Purely out of curiosity, she followed one of them inside to take a closer look. The man was right, something had appeared to have fallen through. What, exactly? Who knew. After a moment, she then took another step forward and instantly regretted her decision. The young woman must have bumped her foot on something as she nearly fell forward into nothingness. Luckily, Cassidy caught herself, backing up until she hit the wall. At that point, her heart threatened to burst out of her chest. "Nope, fuck that, I'm not messing with what appears to be a black hole." Beads of sweat started to form on the surface of her skin. Cassidy was out of it momentarily until she eventually moved again, this time to head out into the hall once more.

"This is ridiculous! This place isn't safe, and we're supposed to wonder around, inches away from death while some idiot is playing god with our lives?"

It was unusual for Cassidy to take such tone of voice, but her words were a result of the adrenaline still coursing through her veins.

[DJAtomika]

"...yeah I'm gonna agree with that last one, lady."

Aaron moved forward and shined his flashlight down the hole, but the darkness within seemed to swallow up whatever light that shone from the LED within his flashlight. With a shake of his head, he stepped back from the edge of the hole and reattached the flashlight to the shoulder of his combat vest, before turning to address the rest of the motley crew.

"Options? Unless the rope we have is long enough to go down...however deep that hole goes. And I can go first, if anyone else isn't going to volunteer. Or maybe we could...go around?"

Aaron turned his light onto the edges of the hole ahead of them, trying to figure out if the blue line on the wall that they'd been following went past the crevice in the floor.

[Maglar]

Marty began to pull the rope from his pack. "The blue line goes around this hole and I think that's where Blue 5 is." Marty stopped and looked at the others, "I think one of us has got to edge around the hole, tie a line to the other side, and the rest of us can shimmy across." Marty handed the rope the Aaron, "you wanna go pretty boy? You and the big guy are in the best shape," Marty smirked.