WhiteAngel25

The Dark Beyond

"While I do appreciate the offer to kick at the Hive, I'm afraid I'm scheduled to go pick up our friends. If you do need help though," the Vice President produced a box device with a simple button on it. "This little beauty will immobilize enemies in seconds." He said as he left just before Thierry, Aaron, and Ramses were beamed out.

The device was an electric bomb. The moment Thierry would detenate it, a radius of electricity would be released around him. Electrocuting any close enemies within a six foot circumference.

---

Stella paid no mind to the fact Nick was naked, wasn't the first body she's seen and probably wouldn't be the last. She heard the gun shots as she assumed it had to be other agents, there was no other explaination. Stella did have a hard time keeping up with him once he got his sea legs back. She followed him into the room where voices were coming from and found him in the thick of battle. Stella recognized agents from various other organizations, including Thierry.

"Whoa, whoa, I don't think killing Nick is the answer here, Monsieur." Stella said as she walked over and squatted down to be eye level with Nick while Thierry held him. She had observed enough of the sessions with his personal doctor to figure out code words.

"#004, assignment is complete. You may relax and help us," Stella said in a calm voice with steady breathing. Then the alarm rang out about the evacuation. Her eyes widen wit slight fear.

"#3, are you there?" She asked the same question a few more times before her heart broke. She went back out into the hallway to see monsters and experimentations. Stella gritted her teeth, #3 was supposed to hide in the vents until she returned, they still had time left.

"If you want to live, I suggest you follow me." Stella said and wasted no time in pulling out her sniper rifle. She then down several beasts. Her augmented vision saw the dark matter energy source of one of the bear creatures. She recalled what #3 said about the heart and what it wasn't. Stella took the chance while the creature was blinded by her sots and slid underneath one, using all her force to punch her dagger like hands into the creature's chest and ripped out its power source. It was one of the masks that #3 had in the VR temple.

Stella ripped it out, she received a bit of repulse shock from said action but took it with whatever she had left. She was on a war path back to find #3. Stella rolled out under the creature in time before it fell on her, she lifted her bloodied arm at Nick and showed him the mask. "I told you these were a dime a dozen," she said a bit breathless as she made her way to the vents. Stella couldn't rest, she needed to make sure #3 was okay. She crawled cautiously through the vents, not bothering to care who followed her.

The white haired and bloodied woman dropped down from the vent. "3!" Stella exclaimed as she was relieved that the girl was still alive. The way #3 was positioned was definitely a trap but what choice did Stella have? She carefully rushed over to #3 but paused as she heard beeping. "Please, don't let it be what I think is attached to you, 3," Stella begged as pulled the blanket carefully off of her.

Stella winced as a bomb of some sort had been strapped to the poor girl before her. She smiled softly. "You were supposed to wait, silly. Now, look at what happened," she spoke as an attempt to keep the situation as light-hearted as possible. Stella's features fell serious. "I'll get that off of you, 3, I promise." She said as she removed the gag from #3's mouth and the blindfold.

The Dark Beyond

@Estylwen@Lexisheeps

Stella sucked in her breath as the red-eye thing appeared and began calling out in a choppy manner. She wanted to whine and stomp her foot at the utter insanity she had experienced the thirty or so odd days. She never thought that being sent to explore an ancient dig site would land her in a research facility. It was time to move again. Stella motioned for #3 to follow her back into the ductwork, unfortunately, that meant abandoning the little area they had called home for a month.

Once they were somewhat secure in the vents, Stella handed #3 the mini monitor of the security feeds of the facility. "We're going to get Nick out now. There's no time to waste. First, I want you to wait in the vent by the abandoned garage where our sub is. Don't get in the submarine, wait until I tell you to start it up. I don't want you to get compromised. " Stella whispered as she smiled softly at #3 and handed her the earpiece to #3. "I'll be back in thirty minutes tops. If I'm not, I want you to get whatever that creature was out there to cause a distraction. I think it may be the only way out, unfortunately."

Stella quietly opened the vent, pointed the laser finger to disable the two security cameras in the hallway, and hopped down with barely any sound behind the lone security guard. She took the rifle out of her pack, flipped it around, and knocked the security guard on the side of the head. Stella's swing quickly knocked the guard out with the butt of the gun. She wasted no time and dragged him to a supplies closet and swiped his keys and uniform. Stella tied his hands and feet together before she stuffed a cleaning rag in his mouth to keep him quiet when he woke up. She placed the rod-looking key that matched #3's and Nick's collars into her pack.

Stella quickly threw her hair up into the hat and tightened whatever she could be checking the hallway. As long as she kept her head down, she would be okay. She was just tall enough to be mistaken for a short guy, especially with her hair in the hat and her chest suppressed by her sports bra.

Stella would lay low for a while. She kept moving like she was checking rounds as if it were her actual job. The thing was that Stella and #3 had spent so much time in the vents that Stella had only a vague idea of where she was. She had the ductwork memorized but not the hallway. A couple of times Stella thought she was going to be spotted but she was lucky enough to act like she was getting something from the vending machine or checking rooms.

Finally, Stella's blue eyes spotted where they were holding Nick. She watched around a corner as a nurse and a few guards entered the observation room. The guards exited with the doctor who had implemented the augmentations on Nick, which meant there was only that nurse in Nick's room. Stella could handle her.

Stella waited until the guards and the doctor were out of sight before she slipped into the observation room. She didn't wait to disable the cameras before she took out the nurse. Thankfully, Stella just knocked her out. She then beamed her laser finger at the camera before she started the protocol of unhooking Nick safely and hacking the security cameras, appearing normal. There might have been a moment where the camera got a glimpse of her side profile but it was minuscule. She had to act now.

"What's the status, #3?" Stella whispered as they were fifteen minutes in. She quickly changed into the nurse's uniform and security badge. Nick was going to have to wear something when he woke up.

"Come on, come on," Stella muttered to herself as she watched the loading bar get closer and closer to the end. She looked at the clock on the wall as she knew that they were losing time but this was what she had to do to make sure Nick would be okay. While Stella waited, she prepared the nurse to appear as a body double of Nick to trick the security guards into buying them some time.

Stella finally heard the pressurized release and sighed in relief before she went into the exam room and began to unplug Nick from the various monitors. She helped him into a chair, handed him the uniform, and produced the key to unlock the collar around Nick's neck before putting it back in her pack.

"I don't have time to explain here, change into this and we need to go. We have exactly ten minutes to get where we need to. All I can say is that you're in danger," she said as picked up the nurse and laid her on the table before she covered the nurse's body with a blanket. "Oh, and you're going to need this," Stella added as she handed him the security guard's loaded 9mm and a stun gun from her pack.

---

Meanwhile, Thierry would be greeted by a tall, young man with dark hair and goldish eyes. He was dressed in a dark navy blue business suit. He stood up from the waiting room chair, smiled, and shook Thierry's hand. "Monsieur de Villiers, I'm Voidlight's Vice President. We are glad that you took the time to speak with us. I know you're a busy man. We can discuss things on the way to the airport. Shall we?" The man said as he handed Thierry a file folder and opened the door to back out in the hallway.

The Dark Beyond

@Estylwen I posted the CEO and the co-agent under the Voidlight hider if you want to see if they're okay.

@Lexisheeps I agree with you. It is nice to have real-life companies to set the tone for things.

The Dark Beyond

Here is Voidlight's CS. I will add the CEO's and Stella's co-agent later.

Voidlight

Voidlight

Company Size:
30 at the administration building, field employees number 100+

Augmentation:
Many of Voidlight's employees are mechanics, IT personnel, plumbers, construction workers, nurses, lab techs, certified nurse assistants, lawyers, and engineers with various augmentations. Interestingly enough, the augmentations connect to a separate database.

Defining Trait:
Prepared

Backstory:
Voidlight appeared on the scene about a decade after HiveMind established itself. Voidlight is an employment company that serves the general public. They have contracts and connections with almost every major hospital and laboratory throughout the world. Rumors are that Voidlight is more than just a simple employment company but no one, not even HiveMind has been able to prove any of the rumors.

Skills:
Machinery knowledge
Laws knowledge
Healthcare
Medical knowledge
Technology based

The Dark Beyond

@EstylwenSure!

The Dark Beyond

”We haven’t heard from Ghost in weeks, sir. I’m afraid one ofour best has been compromised.” A tall, olive toned, 30-year-old man stated to the older man with salt and pepper hair and gray eyes, however, his left eye had an eye patch over it.

The older man smirked as he stared out the window of the Voidlight building. ”We would’ve been contacted by HiveMind by now if they had her. She’s exactly where she needs to be.”

Voidlight, on the surface, is a maintenance company. Fixing vehicles, resetting technology and simple home repairs are all within their wheelhouse. They even hire employees for hospitals, laboratories, and various other healthcare businesses. At least, that’s what a majority of people thought. Voidlight is an information-gathering group that works outside the government’s boundaries.

Stella had joined up with Voidlight, shortly after she had accidentally hacked into their system when she was attempting to get deals on updated augmentation software. They were impressed her her ability to avoid detection and how she was able to just disappear. They nicknamed her Ghost as no one in the group gave their actual names for safety.

---

Days had turned into weeks and then weeks into months since Stella and #3 had escaped in the nick of time. Stella didn’t want to leave Nick behind, she honestly thought he was just behind her but she glanced back to see the drone knock him out. She hadn’t slept well since.

Stella and #3 had made themselves a little base in the abandoned section of the facility. They were pretty far down, but still close enough that Stella could move through the vents to find food and water. She also began to hack into HiveMind’s computer system little by little, leaving little trail markers for her employers to use but nothing that HiveMind would notice. Stella usually had only minutes to do so between rotations of guards and scientists.

Stella had slowly pieced together a submarine from parts that she swiped from the maintenance sector. She had it hidden in the abandoned garage port and finally finished installing the programming module.

It was when Stella and #3 were near Nick’s holding cell that they heard the guards talking about the dark matter and a heart. Stella listened to #3 and raised an eyebrow at the young girl tapping her collar. She thought for a moment and her eyes widened.

”We need to get Nick out of here. We all need to get out of here,” Stella murmured.

The plan was to first receive a drive of the memories the scientists had contained from Nick. Stella had watched a few of Nick’s sessions, she had plans for the bastard that was torturing him. No one deserved the things Stella had gone through growing up.

The white-haired woman waited until the observing room was empty before she stuck her ungloved hand down the vent and beamed a laser from her fingertips at the security camera. Disabling them long enough for her to hop down and hack into the security system to appear like nothing was happening. She spied Nick lying on the table in the exam and her heart broke. He was hooked up to so many machines and monitors. They weren’t special to keep him alive, they were to transform him.

Stella shook her head as she had to focus. She popped in the empty drive she swiped earlier and downloaded everything she could that had #4 memories. With #3 monitoring the actual security feed, Stella took the chance to unlock the door.

"We will get you out, Nick. I promise, just a little bit longer," she whispered in his ear before she went back to the observation room, safely ejected Nick's memories, and quickly climbed back up into the ductwork but not before she sent a message out using an anonymous email thanks to Von Galloes sending the video call within the facility. The message would be untraceable and deleted from HiveMind's mainframe as soon as it was sent.

---

It would be minutes after Thierry would get off the video call with Von Galloes, a message would appear. Upon clicking it open, Thierry's computer would show a blue screen and a series of dashes and dots. It would be unknown to most experts these days unless one was within the archaeology.

-- --- -. ... .. . ..- .-. ....... - .... .. . .-. .-. -.-- --..-- ....... -. .. -.-. -.- ....... .-- .. .-.. .-.. ....... -... . ....... ... .- ...- . -.. .-.-.- ....... -.-- --- ..- ....... .... .- ...- . ....... -- -.-- ....... .-- --- .-. -.. .-.-.- ....... -.. --- ....... -. --- - ....... - .-. ..- ... - ....... .... .. ...- . -- .. -. -.. .-.-.- ....... - .... . -.-- ....... .-- .. .-.. .-.. ....... --- -. .-.. -.-- ....... -.. . -.-. . .. ...- . ....... -.-- --- ..- .-.-.- ....... .. ....... .-- .. .-.. .-.. ....... --. . - ....... .... .. -- ....... - --- ....... -.-- --- ..- .-.-.- ....... .. ....... .-- .- .-. -. ....... -.-- --- ..- ....... - .... --- ..- --. .... --..-- ....... .... . ....... -- .- -.-- ....... -. --- - ....... -... . ....... - .... . ....... -- .- -. ....... -.-- --- ..- ....... .-. . -- . -- -... . .-. .-.-.- -.-. --- -. - .- -.-. - ....... ...- --- .. -.. .-.. .. --. .... - --..-- ....... - . .-.. .-.. ....... - .... . -- ....... - .... .- - ....... --. ....... .... .- ... ....... ... . -. - ....... -.-- --- ..- .-.-.- ....... - .... . -.-- ....... .-- .. .-.. .-.. ....... .... . .-.. .--. ....... -.-- --- ..- ....... .- ... ....... -- ..- -.-. .... ....... .- ... ....... - .... . -.-- ....... .--. --- ... ... .. -... .-.. -.-- ....... -.-. .- -. ....... --- -. ....... .-.. .- -. -.. .-.-.- --.

The coded message would be read upon translation.

Monsieur Thierry, Nick will be saved. You have my word. Do not trust HiveMind. They will only deceive you. I will get him to you. I warn you though, he may not be the same man you remember.

Contact Voidlight, and tell them that G has sent you. They will help you as much as they possibly can on land.

G

After ten minutes, Thierry's screen went back to normal. The message was gone with no indication of who G was only that they were Nick's ticket out of the facility.

---

Stella caught her breath finally as she slid in after #3 into their little hidey hole. She put her glove back on but not before clipping Nick's memories safely into her forearm. It was a little storage section for such devices. Stella looked at #3, determination in her eyes.

"We're going to get Nick out and get that collar off your neck. As soon as they finish making their rounds. With Nick's memories safe, we can leave and hopefully reupload them at my base on land. I saw one of the lab guards have a key for collars like yours that they put on Nick. We've got this, #3." Stella said with all the confidence she had within her. It was all, honestly, she had left. Raised to be the perfect soldier, this was what Stella was meant to do with her life. Infiltrate, rescue, destroy if necessary and that was exactly what she was going to do.

The Dark Beyond

I plan on posting later today. The posts were amazing! I’m happy that I joined. :)

The Dark Beyond

@Lexisheeps@Estylwen I’m thinking Stella and #3 are hiding somewhere in the HiveMind’s ductwork and inner systems. 😆

Also, I have decided that this other company that hired Stella is a rebellion group against HiveMind and since she is one of the few people that isn’t linked to HiveMind’s systems, she’s great for infiltrating them.

The Dark Beyond

@EstylwenI was thinking once the whole battle is over and they (hopefully) escape. Stella will contact her employer company. I was thinking that it is a secret mercenary branch that is trying to usurp HiveMind’s hold on the monopoly of the dark energy power. They want to level the playing field of the energy crisis.

The Dark Beyond

Stella watched Nick put on the mask. She was a little shocked when he did so. The mask had dark energy to it, no telling what it was exactly. Stella put her sketch pad back into her pack when Nick showed signs of wanting to take it off. She was nervous that the mask would stick to learn all it could about him and would have to help take it off. Stella sighed in relief when Nick managed to get the mask off but noticed the tears that managed to escape his eyes.

When they reached the lava river, Stella raised her eyebrows. This wasn't right. The lava would be dark and crusted over from exposure to being underwater... Suddenly, everything disappeared, replaced by a white room. Stella gritted her teeth and cussed under her breath.

"Another fucking simulation. I should've known," she muttered as she didn't like the way the drones were nearing them. Stella quickly grabbed #3 and pulled the girl behind her to protect the young girl.

Stella rolled her eyes as the lead researcher spoke over a loudspeaker. "Well, this will be a fantastic time for target practice. She said as she pulled over her rifle from her pack, lined up her sight on her scope, and fired three shots at three drones. She hit each of her targets. The bullets went through the middle of the floating orbs of steel, where the memory bank and power source were. With a destroyed memory bank, nothing that was recorded by the drones would survive.

"These people are ridiculous. We need a plan, fast," Stella said to Nick as she ejected the empty casings and reloaded new bullets before taking down three more drones. Then the tremor hit, and her eyes widened slightly as Nick was right. They needed to get out of here fast.

Stella looked at #3 and smiled reassuringly down at her. Although her eyes flickered to the white collar. We need to get that off of her, Stella thought as she spied the door. She quickly reloaded her rifle and shot at the hinges of the door.