HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Floor 3, Secure Control Room
@Lexisheeps
A crystal glass of wine slowly stirred in Von Galloes' relaxed hand as he lounged in his business seat, staring at the sea of security feeds stretched across the wall in front of him. He was watching two feeds in particular. One feed showed as Nick and Thierry scuttling down the hallway, panicked and scared. The other showed shadows creeping around Stella, Star and the group as they made to face off with the Void Dragon.
"Nice trick, Mr. Cress. It produces the results I like to see."His eyes flickered to the security drone hovering beside Mr. Dress's chair, and gave a small nod. The drone proceeded to fill Mr. Cress' glass up to the half-way mark with more deep-red wine.
Von Galloes stared, sizing Mr. Cress up like a child would a puppet.
"Now, now, you needn't worry, Mr. Cress," His smile revealed sharp teeth.
"Your British Museum is safe, as long as you keep giving me what I want."
HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Floor 1C
@Lexisheeps,
@Days
The blaring of the emergency sirens seemed to fade to the background as the elevator dropped off the lonesome pair, Thierry and Nick, to floor 1C. Here, the emergency lights flickered similarly, in shades of red and back, along grey tile and stark white walls. Similarly, on this floor, there was an eerie presence. However, the Hollow kept to the shadows, watching its prey and lurking just out of sight.
The hallway seemed to stretch on forever in silence, until they came across room 6425. It was locked, however, a control room 30 paces down had a panel that, with the flick of a button, would allow the cell door to slide open.
Peering into the dark cell would reveal a horrifying sight. Sitting on the dark tile, panicked whimpering escaping her parted lips, was a small woman. Her ashen blonde hair was lack luster, and her skin paler than the sun-kissed texture her father had last seen her with, seven years ago.
But there was no mistaking it. This was Aurélie de Villiers, dressed in the rags of a patient suit in the basement of HiveMind's facility, white coller around her neck. And, with a dealth-like vice grip, a needle with a long razor point hovering millimeters from her jugular vein was held in her hand.
"Well, Monsiuer Thierry. What do you have to say to my meeting now?" There was a dark chuckle over the intercom as security drones floated into the hallway, their presence crowding the door where Thierry and Nick stood. They had stun batons at the ready, red eyes locked on them.
"Make one wrong move, and poor little Aurélie here will get a lethal amount of morphine in her system. She'll be put to sleep... And it'll be your fault." Von Galloes said, like a cat watching his prey.
"You don't want that, do you? You'd do anything for your sweet little angel, even after all these years. Hm? Surrender. And.... let's have a little chat. We can talk all about how well I've cared for your daughters after all these years."Upon closer examination, a trained eye could tell some foul play going on in Aurélie's system. The hand that gripped the needle stood icyly still, like an executioner's blade waiting for the signal. The rest of her body had minor muscle spasms, like she was trying to fight the puppet strings over her form.
While Nick had mental control augmentations done to his mind, Aurélie had physical control augmentations done to her central nervous system, controlling the precise movement of her muscles.
"Well. I'm waiting, Monsieur Thierry." Said the sickly sweet, cold voice of Von Galloes over the loudspeaker.
Outside the HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Radioactive Ruins
@WhiteAngel25,
@Days,
@Lexisheeps
Subject #3 tugged on Stella's sleeve as she spoke, her voice high-pitched.
"I-I can turn on the submarine, b-b-but that... thing I recognize it. It was... my mission. Where I had been sent to... to... never come back. Where you found me, with the wolves. It... they want it."Subject #3's voice was too shrill. A flap of dark shimmering wings, a turn of its long neck, and its glowing violet eyes locked onto Stella. She heard a voice in her mind as the dragon towered over her.
"Human... you dare to play with me? You really think you can handle the raw power I possess?" Its voice was metallic in her mind, and black like ink.
It turned to face her fully, claws breaking away the stone in its grasp. It was easily three times her height with its neck fully raised.
"Very well."Its glowing eyes narrowed.
"I challenge you."Its sharp eyes shifted to the rest of the group, watching Subject #3, Star, and Aaron. They would subsequently here its metallic voice in their mind.
"I challenge all of you. Prove to me you are worthy of what I possess, or die."As Star watched the dragon, she would realize a couple things. It was the same as her textbooks and research in her old office. This large dragon was the personification of Dark Condensed Energy. Every manifestation of DCE required different tactics to 'open the treasure' and get the condensed core within. As this dragon represented the heart-of-hearts, nullifying or deactivating the DCE here might mean the collapse of dark energy in the area, and a resumal of natural order.
As Stella held the ornate stick, a quick shift to the side would reveal glass. There was, in fact, a see-through glass tube all the way through the centre of the artifact. Staring down the sight would reveal a bright, glowing orb in the shape of a thumping heart in the dragon's chest. The ornate stick was hefty in her hands, and had a slight tingling sensation. It could reveal just as well as it could deliver an electrical shock to anything it touched.
As Ramses lagged behind the group, he would notice something strange with his shadow. Every few seconds, it seemed to twitch, like it had a life of its own. Perhaps Ramses' eyes were playing tricks on him, but for a moment, red eyes appeared in the head-area of the shadow, watching him, before he blinked, and it disappeared.
Slypheed
LimeTime966
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