Nova took off her diving mask, which was a clear glass visor that allowed her to breathe and see while she dived, having it dangle by the connection point on her shoulder as she looked down the narrow hallway filled with deadly water. Wet dark curls that had escaped her ponytail framed her face and she pushed some from her forehead. Her hand went to her watch, turning her functions on again now she had an idea what all the noises were. Immediately, words appeared. ”Star? I think we’ve lost connection for a bit. Do you hea- read me?” Julia, the assistant from Voidlight tried to reach Nova as her words appeared in the scientist’s vision. The electric wires were making sounds, but they sounded weird and warped for Nova, not something her cochlear could handle. The flashes indicating sounds left and right were annoying and disorientating. She tried to ignore them. ”I read you, Julia.” Nova said, not wanting to bring any explanation for now, as her eyes zeroed in on the people across the flooded hall.
Immediately, she recognized Ghost from the picture Dragon had shown her. Found ya. Now she could go back to the safety of her basement, right? Maybe ask Dragon on a date, what the hell, right? She almost died like twice just getting here. Tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed. The operative she was meant to find was tossing discs into the water separating them from each other. In a nurses uniform. Nova blinked. A rumble came from the floor beneath her feet, yet Nova couldn’t hear the growls from the ducts, mistaking the flashes indicating sounds as more electric hissing instead of impending danger. She stepped through the door, careful to keep her feet away from the water and instead remained on the small platform before it. A girl was coming her way over the discs, which Nova now realised acted as conducting stepping stones. Ghost was a smart one. The girl was young, too young to be here, making Nova frown in confusion. She tried to remember what Dragon had told her. Ghost, a Louvre director, three allies, and a person named subject #3.
Quickly, she scanned the people behind Ghost. A blonde man in some type of guard uniform supported by a dark-haired man in neat clothes which were an odd choice to explore this place. Yet, he held himself with more grace than the rest. The blonde man seemed hurt, though Nova’s quick scan couldn’t find the cause. Then, another blonde man, younger, looking like the other one. Brothers? The last one stood behind them, a closed laptop in hand. Ghost and allies, presumably. Blinking, Nova’s vision returned to normal and refocused on the girl coming her way. God, this was dangerous, but that girl was brave as hell. ”Julia, I found Ghost. And… associates.” She said softly, before calling out to the girl. ”Be careful!” Despite not knowing the girl, her heart thumped in nerves and only eased up when the surprisingly nimble youth arrived before Nova, asking about Voidlight right off the bat.
It took Nova two seconds to process, before she glanced down at herself, a logo on the side of her arm. Ah, the girl was perceptive. What was a girl this young doing here, anyway? Nova hunched down, one knee on the floor while her forearm rested on her other one, coming eye to eye with the girl. It seemed the pink eyes saw right through her soul, and Nova looked back with her honey-glazed one, the other bright blue. Her gaze was disrupted by words forming. ”Find and bring the Vice President STAT, Star has found Ghost.”
Nova refrained from rolling her eyes. Julia was terrible at muting her communications while not talking to Nova. She focussed her attention back on the girl. Was this the subject? If so, what sick type of experiments were taking place here? It seemed the girl heard something Nova didn’t, as she looked over her shoulder back to Ghost so Nova couldn’t read her lips. But the girl’s words formed in her vision anyway. Not safe? What was going on? In any case, it seemed like they were all coming this way. When the girl asked her question, Nova nodded. She had seen another door. And since the she came was not a way back, that would have to do. The sub was made for one person, and they were now with seven. ”Hi, I’m- Star.” There was a slight hesitation as Nova introduced herself through her new name. ”There’s… a door. But it’s submerged. I can-” Nova was cut off by the girl calling out a name. Nick? She looked back at the group, where the hurt man seemed to be the subject of an argument that her augmentation couldn’t follow. They looked animated as they threw words around while the man in the guard uniform looked like he wasn’t… really here at all.
A lot of things happened at once while Nova clicked open the strap on her chest that held her backpack. She put it down beside her while keeping her eyes on the other side of the hallway. The put-together man was holding the dishevelled one, saying please, please repeatedly. A small yellow word underneath the text in her vision saying French told her his pleas were being translated by her augmentation. Deduction told her the man begging was the Louvre Director, then. The dishevelled man someone called Nick.
She didn’t know what the actual fuck was going on, but now that she found them, she wanted to get the hell out of there. Two loud clicks were heard from her backpack as she unclipped two small tanks, both equipped with a small bar reader and a mouthpiece. Emergency dive tanks. She only had two, and both only had about 6 minutes of oxygen in them. ”Girl, listen to me.” Nova said with a soft but urgent tone, not knowing her name. She handed the girl the two tanks. 6 people, two tanks, 6 minutes. It meant three trips, Nova helping two people cross at a time, and they could only use 2 minutes per person. Which meant Nova had to find out if the route through that door would take longer than two minutes. If not, then she could bring two people to whatever is behind that door, come back with the tanks, and take the next two. ”I work with Ghost, and I came to get her. And you, too. So I need you need to trust me here. Nova gave the girl a soft smile. "Hold these. They have 6 minutes of oxygen each. I’ll go back, and see if there’s an unsubmerged part we can go to. Then I’ll be back here to take you all, okay?” The researcher said, her eyes searching the little girls before standing straight again, strapping her backpack back on. Sensing the urgency, Nova put back on her mask and turned. There were sounds behind her, but since they didn’t translate to words, just flashes, Nova assumed it was the electricity.
As she went down the steps to descend into the water, the floor beneath her feet shook and rumbled just before she pushed off, not having seen or noticed the terrifying beast that arrived on the other end of the hallway behind the others. She swam with her thrusters. She could time the distance on the way back. The dark research room was even more eerie than before while Nova tried to control her breathing. Dragon really, really hadn’t been kidding when he said it was dangerous. Her fingers searched for leverage once she came upon the door she had previously swum by before they eventually curled around some type of handle. Once more bracing her feet beside the door on the wall, the young woman pulled with all her might.
”Star? Do you have any updates? What is the status of Agent Ghost? And the others?”
Nova groaned in the effort. ”Not…now…Ju…lia.” She could feel the ligaments of her right shoulder stretch, and desperately hoped it wouldn’t follow with a pop. Her body shook as she pulled. Loud thundering sounds came from above, distracting Nova at the wrong moment as the door unlodged unexpectedly, flinging open and slamming into the woman. A shocked yell came from her lips before she could stop it as she tumbled backwards, disorientated by the bubbles of water her spinning body was creating around her. Words formed in her vision, Julia, asked what the hell that was and if she was okay, but Nova closed her eyes. Eventually, she stopped tumbling in the water.
After opening her eyes, the word ‘Star’ was displayed several times in her vision but she ignored it, trying out various parts of her body and seeing what’s hurt. It felt like she got hit by a truck, but nothing was broken, just bruised. With her hand going to her watch, she turned off Julia for a moment. She didn’t know what the hell was going on up there, but it wasn’t good. Swimming further in through the door, Nova’s focus was on finding oxygen. She didn’t look around, didn’t focus on anything but going forward. She came upon a similar staircase, but this one was fully submerged. An open steel door invited her into a hallway that was narrow, dark and downright terrifying, but Nova pushed on. After the hallway, she swam up and appeared above the waterline. She was in a big room, but there was oxygen. A bit further away, she saw a platform where they could go. From there, they would have to figure it out.
Nova didn't take in any other details of the room as she turned her thrusters off and swiped on her watch, starting a timer as she dived under again. She swam back on her own might. She stopped the timer just as she came back to the steps she had left the girl on, taking off her mask once more. 2 minutes, 12 seconds. It meant that everyone going down would have to keep their own breath for at least twelve seconds before using the emergency tank. That would be manageable, right? She stepped forward, her eyes on the hallway where she had left the group, yet found an entirely different scene.