Slypheed
LimeTime966
Days
NoriWasHere
Thayr
Asuras
AtomicEmperor
Kronshi
OwO
SnowdropsUnknown Museum, Office
@WhiteAngel25
As Sabrina stared at the now brightly lit hallways of the HiveMind's secretive basement level, she would notice one strange thing.
In the corner, where there was a slight shadow, there were a pair of red eyes staring at the security camera. Staring at her.
The feed of the camera glitched, going fuzzy for a moment, before the visual was restored. The eyes were gone.
Instead.
In the quiet darkness of the museum's office, the air grew cold. Thick. Tense. Sabrina would feel a chill shiver her spine as a presence could be felt directly behind her.
HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Floor 1C
@Days, @Lexisheeps
After Thierry resigned to his fate and was dragged away by the security drones, Nick and Aurélie stood alone in the brightly lit hallways of floor 1C. There was an uneasy atmosphere, tense. The light pushed back the presence of the shadows, but there was something lingering. Something... unsettling.
A raspy, otherworldly scream tore through the hallway, causing each light overhead to violently shatter. As the lights shattered one by one, the hallway was once more plunged in stifling darkness. Except this time, the darkness was far more dangerous than before.
This time, the shadows had come out to play.
At once, Nick and Aurélie felt a bitter chill as cold, phantom-like hands reached out for them.
And just like that, they disappeared.
Outside the HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Radioactive Ruins
@WhiteAngel25, @Days
The arrow cut deep, and the speared artifact met its mark. The dragon gave a terrible roar, thrashing as it was struck, before it eyed Stella. Life had been painful for it. All it loved, it's children, had been taken away. It fought and raged, refusing to be tamed. It held out all this time.
But seeing this group in front of it, something... settled, something... surrendered, within it. As its eyes slowly closed, it wondered. Maybe now... it could finally rest.
Stella absorbed the heart of hearts in a violent transfer, once that caused her to fall to the ground, and be unable to make it to the craft. But just as Subject #3 was about to do something reckless and try to drag Stella into the submarine, a strange thing occurred. The darkness grew. Shadows formed around Stella's fallen form. And, in a blink, Stella vanished.
Subject #3's eyes widened, her breath hitching.
"Stella!!"
Alas, it was too late. All they were left with was the empty ground, the body of the dragon, slowly disintegrating into void dust, and the lapping of water.
Subject #3 squeezed Star's arm as they stood in the submarine, tears pooling in her eyes. "S-stella..."
After Aaron suited up and ventured back into the facility, Star and Subject #3 were left in the submarine, sitting as the craft bobbed in the black water.
Subject #3 tried wiping her eyes on her sleeve, having removed the helmet of her hazmat suit. "I... I don't know what to do... Everyone is gone. Nick, that big man that's always with him, Aaron... that nice man who asked my name....S-stella.."
She sniffled, turning to Star. "Everyone is gone..."
Little did she realize, while she had been talking, dark energy was coalescing around the fallen body of the dragon. It poured down from the sky-like haze along the rock ceiling, crackling and fizzing with purple-ish energy. It gathered, pooled, and condensed, causing the hair to raise on Subject #3 and Star's arms, until-
BAM!
Just like Star had studied and theorized, the DCE that had blipped on TRUMPET's scanner disappeared. However, it wasn't a peaceful fade-into-the-night.
No.
It started as a slight vibration, then a rumble. Then, full-on shaking as a shockwave raced towards Star and Subject #3, radiating outward from the dragon. Everything began to disintegrate in the wave. The birds flying overhead. The orb of dark energy they had walked into. The rabbits, the grass. Even the buildings were fading from reality - the DCE had been the one thing tying this strange form of collapsed reality in place.
And, this wave of dark energy, this final cry before being struck from reality, was headed straight to wards the submarine.
Without thinking, Subject #3 hit the auto-pilot button, just like Aaron had pointed out, and the hatch slid shut just as the monsterous wave approached them.
Almost immediately, the were rocked violently, smashing through the rock face of the cavern. Streams of bubbles passed the small reinforced window as Star and Subject #3 were shot out into the void. Into absolute darkness. Into the pitch blackness of the infinite Mediterranean Sea, 4,000 feet below sea level.
The impact lit up at least a dozen warning lights in the submarine, as they slowly tumbled head over heels in the black water, one more key thing happened.
The engines of the submarine cut off, leaving them suspended in blackness. Unmoving.
HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Sub Contained Lab
@WhiteAngel25
A white light flashed in Stella's face as she lay in a padded table. If she were to look around, she would see overhead lights, similar to the ones you find at the dentist, shining down on her. To her right, a full medical unit and a desk with an accompanying doctor's chair, holograms streaming with data as IVs and electrodes were hooked up to her arms and chest. The ceiling and walls were stark white, and there was an observation window beyond the steel door. It seemed she was in a contained lab, much like the one she had freed Nick from not long ago. Except this one seemed colder, darker.
If Stella were to try to move, she would find metal restraints on her wrists and ankles, preventing much movement.
Movement in the corner of her vision. A lab technician with pink hair and large opaque goggles on her face, stepping around the desk to come close to the table, a lit up device in her hands making whirring noises as she hovered it over Stella's form.
The resercher's nose writckled. "Damn, these vitals are all over the place."
She hummed, smiling, sticking a lollipop in her mouth before leaping back into her chair, spinning on it before typing furiously on the holographic keyboard. "This might tickle."
The lights overhead whipped, changing their formation as a magnetic shockwave zapped Stella's brain with about the same force as a bully's finger flick to the forehead. Isntatly, the pressure and heat Stella was feeling in her chest would ease back a bit, making it easier to breath.
The researcher giggled to herself, pushing her wheelie stool back over to Stella and holding up a clipboard. "There, that should be better. How ya feeling?"
A sudden rumbling shook the walls of the lab, causing the researcher to slide a bit on her chair. She re-adjusted her goggles, looking slightly surprised. "Good heavens."
HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Unknown Room
@Days, @Lexisheeps
When Nick and Aurélie were released from the shadows, they found themselves in a very strange predicament. They were no longer near floor 1C. Instead, it felt like they were in a glorified broom closet. The air was warm, and stuffy. It was dark, except for the screen in front of them, and the camera recording them.
If Nick or Aurélie tried to move, they would find themselves strapped to metal chairs, rope tied around their wrists and ankles tightly, preventing them from moving too much as they sat. On top of each of their heads was a strange contraption. A very light, metallic headpiece, with a single appendage. At the end of this appendage was something Aurélie was all too familiar with. A needle, filled with a lethal amount of morphine. And, the neel's sharp tip was poised neatly just millimeters off the skin of their necks. The headpieces glowed with electronic parts, so it made sense the appendage could move ona whim. That meant it could deliver a lethal dose... on a whim.
Upon realizing this, Nick and Aurélie would see the screen placed in front of them. They would see the inside of Von Galloes' pretty control room, with Von Galloes and Mr. Cress lounging in chairs with cups of wine.
And, in the center of the screen, arms held back by security drones, was Thierry.
A sudden vibration shook the floors and walls, causing the camera to look at them slightly mishaply.
HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Floor 3, Secure Control Room
@Lexisheeps, @Days
"Trust me, Mr. Cress. I'm not concerned with some washed-up de Villiers loyalists."
Vons Galloes said nonchalantly to Mr. Cress as they sat together in the plush control room, watching the events of the facility unfold in front of them.
The door clicked open.
Von Galloes looked over. "So nice of you to join us, Monsieur Thierry."
Von Galloes peered at Thierry over his glass of wine, watching with triumph as the Louvre man was dragged in by the arms, security drones holding on tightly. They plopped Thierry down in a plain wooden chair in front of Von Galloes, refusing to let go of him. Security reasons, presumably.
But what really made Von Galloes smirk was the feed he had just enlarged on the screen in the control room. If Thierry looked to his right, he would see the dark closet-like room that Nick and Aurélie were currently held in, how they were restrained, and the needles poised at their necks.
"I'm sure you can see what happened to your beloved Nick and sweet daughter Aurélie, courtesy of Mr. Cress' information," Von Galloes said chillingly, a cold glint in his eye.
"Just like before, the needles contain lethal amounts of morphine. But unlike before, you will be unable to save them." He continued.
Von Galloes lifted his hand, peering at Thierry like he was a puppet on a string. "Now... I want you to listen very carefully because I'm only going to say this once. You get to choose which one lives, and which one sleeps. Will it be your darling pet? Or will it be your long-lost daughter?"
He smirked, hitting a button on the control pad. A timer flashed on the screen. 3 minutes. His eyes crawl over Thierry's form, knowing the man was livid, knowing he was so angry, and relishing the hell he was raining upon Thierry.
"I'd choose quickly if I were you."
There was a sudden rumbling, and a notification flicked green across the screen: 'TRUMPET Signal Lost'.
Von Galloes' smirk widened, staring up at the screen. "And another one of my precious loose ends is tied up."
HiveMind Underwater Research Facility, Hallways
@Lexisheeps
As Aaron wandered through the facility hallways, he began to get flashes in his mind. Floor 1C. A steel door with two security drones hovering outside, brandishing assault rifles. A striking upgrade from the usual stun prongs. Across the door it read 'Storage Closet'. Aaron saw one more flash in his mind: Nick and Aurélie, strapped to chairs and sweating with needle contraptions over their jugulars.
Just as the flashes stopped, Aaron would experience rumbling in the facility. It passed just as quickly, but Aaron would notice one other thing.
There was an absence of dark energy creatures roaming the hallways. It was just... quiet.