“Tempo is dead.” It wasn’t until after saying it, that Oliver realized the irony in that … or rather, remembered it. ‘He was eaten by this world,’ the old man corrected, but it was a conversation of one, ‘and if we don’t get our asses into gear, we’re next.’ The group was being toyed with. The demons were trying to break them. Even though this was what he told himself: that they were venturing through some twisted maze in Hell, that the devil himself had orchestrated it all; there was something familiar getting in the way, causing friction against his theory—his detective’s instinct. At the moment, though, it was too quiet to be heard and Oliver Nash was still a far shot from the bitter reality of Friend or Foe.
---
After hours of trekking alongside the water vein, the group finally came to their destination: the water processing plant. It looked like any other factory or plant with rectangular structures and monolithic spires. Not to mention the overabundance of pipes and elevated filtering ponds. However, upon closer observation one might notice that the location was poorly kept. Rust was pasted on the sides of the building, while vines crawled up from its foundations. A green tinge decorated the concrete walls, which were probably white at some point, and the atmosphere was thick.
Ashe was the first to state the obvious. “Well, this is the place.” Sage pinched her nose at the foul odor that resonated from the plant. It was far worse than the stench of the sewers. Oliver scratched the untamed bristles at his neck. Considering the chemical smell and other details it was becoming more and more likely that this ‘processing plant’ was hiding something far more retched, and something about the setting was off-key. Kazuya’s expression read similarly.
The party of five took cautious steps toward the large metallic doors of the facility. Oliver, was in a battle stance and Uzamaki was hilt-in-hand, while the openly-female contestants were huddled close, Rose leading them behind the alpha pair. The white-haired human stepped forward and tapped the door. With little resistance, it swung open, with a fairly ominous creeeeeek. But after that there was only silence. If Oliver didn’t know any better, he would have thought the place abandoned. If being the key word.
“Keep together,” the samurai had said unnecessarily. None of them wanted to make this place their concrete coffin, a likely scenario if they were to split up.
Silent steps carried them forward, through a dim-lit hallway. There were doorways lining the hall, observed by Uzamaki and the pink-haired woman. ‘Ashe’ was her name, if he recalled correctly. They zigged and zagged in their scope of the area. Most of the doors led to storage or conference rooms, with a few washrooms on the way. The end of the hall forked off and its three prongs were pasted on signs: to the left was primary treatment, the right—secondary treatment, and between the two was a set of stairs; its sign was covered in a dark green sludge … but you could see the beginning of something.
“Re… re-what?” asked Rose, taking initiative to wipe away the strange matter. “Research and Development,” she read out loud. Oliver gave the sign a crooked look, while she smudged the slime against the wall. “Gross.” Rose finished.
“I… I don’t want to g-go up there,” coughed the glacier-haired sprout. By her side, pouting in agreement was the dog—that for the first time since they found him wasn’t making a ruckus. Oliver frowned, and Ashe patted the girls back. “We’re just looking for some answers. No one’s here and we’ll be out in no-time.” Consoled she who was in possession of the tear. “Oh-ok..ay.” It just doesn’t feel right! The girl projected, unintentionally. The samurai shook his head and was the first to ascend the flight of stairs. She was getting tired of the pipsqueak’s lack of control.
And so, the decision was … somewhat unanimous. They would check out this ‘R&D’ sector, in hopes of finding something—anything—that could help them beat this game.
---
When they searched the second floor, they discovered that it was much more than a place for R&D discussion and consultation; it was a full-blown laboratory, with state of the art equipment! Like the rest of the facility, an eerie silence hung over the place. “Too quiet,” muttered the ex-con as he and the rest of the crew examined pieces of machinery, scattered reports, and tables. Green stains were splattered across the walls and there was broken glass about. Something had gone wrong here.
“I sense sabotage,” the samurai suggested. Her hunches were quite good, bordering on retrocognitive.
“Or some freak acid—,” started Rose, when she was cut off.
The Wizard had silenced the girl. He was fixated on a piece of photo-paper, while her face was flushed with anger. She was getting sick and tired of this old bastard. Who did he think he was, barking orders and cutting people off? It was due time that someone put a silencer on him. Rose was on the verge of knocking some sense into him, when he presented he with the photograph, “Are these your goblin buddies?”
“Oh. Yeah… that would be them.” Rose said, and at this—Ashe gulped. “Shit, you don’t think…?”
“Wrong. That’s exactly what I think.” There were words unspoken that clearly spelt out ‘trouble’ for the Friend or Foe contestants. This was a goblin hideout. They would have to move quickly.
After this realization, they split up further, to hasten the chance of new discoveries. “If we don’t find anything useful in the next ten minutes we leave. We don’t want to be here when they get back.” Ashe had made the order; no one protested.
Meanwhile, Sage approached what looked to be an aquarium of sorts. It was filled with a cloud of murky green so thick that you couldn’t see the contents—until… dun, something tapped the glass and became visible—the head of an alien fetus! The girl screeched in fear of the pre-birth mutant as it floated about the swampy tank. “Get it away!” She cried, terror driving her to the floor; where she shook, traumatized by the sight. Oliver jogged over to her, wrinkled eyebrows narrowing at the creature. He tapped the glass and she shrieked again. “It’s dead,” he said.
Rose dove in for the save and took the girl from the ghastly display. Curious as he was disgusted, Wizard read over the scattered documents and sticky notes. There were sketches and photographs of what looked like … genetic templates? “Phragmites ambulens, also known as Saiba—Jesus, it looks like they were trying to cross-breed this thing with a goblin.” Just the kind of warped science he’d expect to see in the depths of Tartarus. In the corner of his eye, he saw a vile with two seeds. Quickly, as to not grab too much attention, he pocketed the alien specimen.
Uzamaki spent less time looking at pages as she did looking at footage: live footage of several entrances that apparently led to the lab. Security protocols, she suspected, to protect the madness that was going on in this place. While the cameras didn’t show any signs of life, she had spent more than enough time in this hellhole. “I’m sure as HELL that it’s been ten minutes.” She said this, not out of fear, but out of insight of what was to come.
Ashe, for reasons unknown was drawn to the garbage room, in the corner of the laboratory. Shock greeted her, when she passed through the automatic door. There were broken parts and shattered glass everywhere but what stunned her the most was what sat upon the heap of trash. There was a decapitated robot, sprawled out like a ragdoll. Its left arm was torn off and it was wearing what looked like a lab coat. Only four feet away was the thing’s head and this was no Mr. Handy. It looked almost human. Forged of pale-white flesh and rare alloys, it had a permanently grim expression and three prongs sticking out of the forehead. Even though fear gripped her, something about the mechanized scientist intrigued her. Slowly, she moved forward. Cringing, she bent down, picked up the head, and screwed it upon its body. Its eyes snapped open; opaque, but alive. Startled, Ashe leapt back and prepared for the worst.
On the opposite end of the laboratory, the dog barked incessantly. It was so loud that Wizard was taken out of his detective’s work, in which he had gotten lost. Annoyance was in his eyes, but there must have been something bothering the mutt. After getting the old man’s attention, the quadruped darted off outside the laboratory, towards a catwalk that led to parts unknown, beckoning him to follow. Oliver glanced at Kazuya, who had noticed this, and the samurai nodded in approval. And so, he chased the dog.
Its gaze, the color of pearls, stared blankly at Ashe as the robot was reanimated. It twitched and its neck crackled with electricity. It opened its mouth, but at first nothing came out. And then…
“LWARET noilen atesmr si htat uoy?”
Ashe cocked a brow, giving the android a quizzical look. “Uhm—“
“Deltnamsid I saw yhw?” Another question in cyber-tronic gibberish.
“What?! I.. I can’t understand you,” – “Error. refreshing. processi—kzzt--10110010 vocal.” It paused as a wave of recalibration washed over the machine. “Master … my are … you … not.” – “There, that’s getting a little clearer.” Suddenly, it’s eyes became an alarming red.
“Intruder… Intruder! Alert! Intruder! Code Red: Intruder Alert!”
“Oh Kaio.” She cursed.
“Initiating defensive lockdown,” it droned, “Establishing quarantine.”Out of the blue, thick metallic walls started crashing down around the inhabitants of the lab, closing them in. All the exits were shut off; they were trapped. Unsure of how to handle the situation, she sent a sharp jab to the metallic cranium of the droid. “Intruder alurrrrrrrrrr…” was the machine’s last utterance as it faded back into non-existence. Ashe walked out of the disposal room just in time as a steel barrier came crashing down behind her. Sage looked on with worry as the room was bathed in crimson; the light of warning klaxons.
Oliver heard the noise and looked over his shoulder, only to see the door between the catwalk and the laboratory come down with a ‘klunk’. Immediately he rushed the door and tried to break it open, with fists, knees, and anything else he could use, but it was no use. The thing wouldn’t budge.
Everyone in the lab looked around at each other for an appropriate response to the situation—except Kazuya. Her eyes were fixed on the cameras. And what she saw next wasn’t pretty. There were dozens of them, yelling and crying out for blood. “Goblins.” She warned the group. How could she forget those ugly faces? The horde moved as a united front of devastation, and the facility’s security was letting them through the blocked off areas... which meant, there was nothing stopping them: and one could only guess where they were heading. Sage backed up against a counter.
The Wizard cursed the barrier before him, hammering at it relentlessly. “God damnit!” He cursed. The man turned around slowly to face the mangy animal. “It’s all your fau—,” his sentence was cut short by the sound of footsteps. Emerging from the shadows at the end of the catwalk was a giant of a man. He was on one knee, petting the dog. “How did you get out here, boy?” asked the juggernaut of the tiny mammal. It pouted in protest. “Heh. Must have been those merc bastards, eh?”
Oliver clenched his fists, “What the HELL is going on?!”
“Ah … Mr. Nash. I’ve been eager to meet you!” bellowed the tanned titan. He snapped his fingers and the dog scurried off.
“And you are…?” growled the Wizard, demanding he get some answers.
“Jackson Pride: your endgame.”
[Requesting post from Friend or Foe please ^_^]
---
After hours of trekking alongside the water vein, the group finally came to their destination: the water processing plant. It looked like any other factory or plant with rectangular structures and monolithic spires. Not to mention the overabundance of pipes and elevated filtering ponds. However, upon closer observation one might notice that the location was poorly kept. Rust was pasted on the sides of the building, while vines crawled up from its foundations. A green tinge decorated the concrete walls, which were probably white at some point, and the atmosphere was thick.
Ashe was the first to state the obvious. “Well, this is the place.” Sage pinched her nose at the foul odor that resonated from the plant. It was far worse than the stench of the sewers. Oliver scratched the untamed bristles at his neck. Considering the chemical smell and other details it was becoming more and more likely that this ‘processing plant’ was hiding something far more retched, and something about the setting was off-key. Kazuya’s expression read similarly.
The party of five took cautious steps toward the large metallic doors of the facility. Oliver, was in a battle stance and Uzamaki was hilt-in-hand, while the openly-female contestants were huddled close, Rose leading them behind the alpha pair. The white-haired human stepped forward and tapped the door. With little resistance, it swung open, with a fairly ominous creeeeeek. But after that there was only silence. If Oliver didn’t know any better, he would have thought the place abandoned. If being the key word.
“Keep together,” the samurai had said unnecessarily. None of them wanted to make this place their concrete coffin, a likely scenario if they were to split up.
Silent steps carried them forward, through a dim-lit hallway. There were doorways lining the hall, observed by Uzamaki and the pink-haired woman. ‘Ashe’ was her name, if he recalled correctly. They zigged and zagged in their scope of the area. Most of the doors led to storage or conference rooms, with a few washrooms on the way. The end of the hall forked off and its three prongs were pasted on signs: to the left was primary treatment, the right—secondary treatment, and between the two was a set of stairs; its sign was covered in a dark green sludge … but you could see the beginning of something.
“Re… re-what?” asked Rose, taking initiative to wipe away the strange matter. “Research and Development,” she read out loud. Oliver gave the sign a crooked look, while she smudged the slime against the wall. “Gross.” Rose finished.
“I… I don’t want to g-go up there,” coughed the glacier-haired sprout. By her side, pouting in agreement was the dog—that for the first time since they found him wasn’t making a ruckus. Oliver frowned, and Ashe patted the girls back. “We’re just looking for some answers. No one’s here and we’ll be out in no-time.” Consoled she who was in possession of the tear. “Oh-ok..ay.” It just doesn’t feel right! The girl projected, unintentionally. The samurai shook his head and was the first to ascend the flight of stairs. She was getting tired of the pipsqueak’s lack of control.
And so, the decision was … somewhat unanimous. They would check out this ‘R&D’ sector, in hopes of finding something—anything—that could help them beat this game.
---
When they searched the second floor, they discovered that it was much more than a place for R&D discussion and consultation; it was a full-blown laboratory, with state of the art equipment! Like the rest of the facility, an eerie silence hung over the place. “Too quiet,” muttered the ex-con as he and the rest of the crew examined pieces of machinery, scattered reports, and tables. Green stains were splattered across the walls and there was broken glass about. Something had gone wrong here.
“I sense sabotage,” the samurai suggested. Her hunches were quite good, bordering on retrocognitive.
“Or some freak acid—,” started Rose, when she was cut off.
The Wizard had silenced the girl. He was fixated on a piece of photo-paper, while her face was flushed with anger. She was getting sick and tired of this old bastard. Who did he think he was, barking orders and cutting people off? It was due time that someone put a silencer on him. Rose was on the verge of knocking some sense into him, when he presented he with the photograph, “Are these your goblin buddies?”
“Oh. Yeah… that would be them.” Rose said, and at this—Ashe gulped. “Shit, you don’t think…?”
“Wrong. That’s exactly what I think.” There were words unspoken that clearly spelt out ‘trouble’ for the Friend or Foe contestants. This was a goblin hideout. They would have to move quickly.
After this realization, they split up further, to hasten the chance of new discoveries. “If we don’t find anything useful in the next ten minutes we leave. We don’t want to be here when they get back.” Ashe had made the order; no one protested.
Meanwhile, Sage approached what looked to be an aquarium of sorts. It was filled with a cloud of murky green so thick that you couldn’t see the contents—until… dun, something tapped the glass and became visible—the head of an alien fetus! The girl screeched in fear of the pre-birth mutant as it floated about the swampy tank. “Get it away!” She cried, terror driving her to the floor; where she shook, traumatized by the sight. Oliver jogged over to her, wrinkled eyebrows narrowing at the creature. He tapped the glass and she shrieked again. “It’s dead,” he said.
Rose dove in for the save and took the girl from the ghastly display. Curious as he was disgusted, Wizard read over the scattered documents and sticky notes. There were sketches and photographs of what looked like … genetic templates? “Phragmites ambulens, also known as Saiba—Jesus, it looks like they were trying to cross-breed this thing with a goblin.” Just the kind of warped science he’d expect to see in the depths of Tartarus. In the corner of his eye, he saw a vile with two seeds. Quickly, as to not grab too much attention, he pocketed the alien specimen.
Uzamaki spent less time looking at pages as she did looking at footage: live footage of several entrances that apparently led to the lab. Security protocols, she suspected, to protect the madness that was going on in this place. While the cameras didn’t show any signs of life, she had spent more than enough time in this hellhole. “I’m sure as HELL that it’s been ten minutes.” She said this, not out of fear, but out of insight of what was to come.
Ashe, for reasons unknown was drawn to the garbage room, in the corner of the laboratory. Shock greeted her, when she passed through the automatic door. There were broken parts and shattered glass everywhere but what stunned her the most was what sat upon the heap of trash. There was a decapitated robot, sprawled out like a ragdoll. Its left arm was torn off and it was wearing what looked like a lab coat. Only four feet away was the thing’s head and this was no Mr. Handy. It looked almost human. Forged of pale-white flesh and rare alloys, it had a permanently grim expression and three prongs sticking out of the forehead. Even though fear gripped her, something about the mechanized scientist intrigued her. Slowly, she moved forward. Cringing, she bent down, picked up the head, and screwed it upon its body. Its eyes snapped open; opaque, but alive. Startled, Ashe leapt back and prepared for the worst.
On the opposite end of the laboratory, the dog barked incessantly. It was so loud that Wizard was taken out of his detective’s work, in which he had gotten lost. Annoyance was in his eyes, but there must have been something bothering the mutt. After getting the old man’s attention, the quadruped darted off outside the laboratory, towards a catwalk that led to parts unknown, beckoning him to follow. Oliver glanced at Kazuya, who had noticed this, and the samurai nodded in approval. And so, he chased the dog.
Its gaze, the color of pearls, stared blankly at Ashe as the robot was reanimated. It twitched and its neck crackled with electricity. It opened its mouth, but at first nothing came out. And then…
“LWARET noilen atesmr si htat uoy?”
Ashe cocked a brow, giving the android a quizzical look. “Uhm—“
“Deltnamsid I saw yhw?” Another question in cyber-tronic gibberish.
“What?! I.. I can’t understand you,” – “Error. refreshing. processi—kzzt--10110010 vocal.” It paused as a wave of recalibration washed over the machine. “Master … my are … you … not.” – “There, that’s getting a little clearer.” Suddenly, it’s eyes became an alarming red.
“Intruder… Intruder! Alert! Intruder! Code Red: Intruder Alert!”
“Oh Kaio.” She cursed.
“Initiating defensive lockdown,” it droned, “Establishing quarantine.”Out of the blue, thick metallic walls started crashing down around the inhabitants of the lab, closing them in. All the exits were shut off; they were trapped. Unsure of how to handle the situation, she sent a sharp jab to the metallic cranium of the droid. “Intruder alurrrrrrrrrr…” was the machine’s last utterance as it faded back into non-existence. Ashe walked out of the disposal room just in time as a steel barrier came crashing down behind her. Sage looked on with worry as the room was bathed in crimson; the light of warning klaxons.
Oliver heard the noise and looked over his shoulder, only to see the door between the catwalk and the laboratory come down with a ‘klunk’. Immediately he rushed the door and tried to break it open, with fists, knees, and anything else he could use, but it was no use. The thing wouldn’t budge.
Everyone in the lab looked around at each other for an appropriate response to the situation—except Kazuya. Her eyes were fixed on the cameras. And what she saw next wasn’t pretty. There were dozens of them, yelling and crying out for blood. “Goblins.” She warned the group. How could she forget those ugly faces? The horde moved as a united front of devastation, and the facility’s security was letting them through the blocked off areas... which meant, there was nothing stopping them: and one could only guess where they were heading. Sage backed up against a counter.
The Wizard cursed the barrier before him, hammering at it relentlessly. “God damnit!” He cursed. The man turned around slowly to face the mangy animal. “It’s all your fau—,” his sentence was cut short by the sound of footsteps. Emerging from the shadows at the end of the catwalk was a giant of a man. He was on one knee, petting the dog. “How did you get out here, boy?” asked the juggernaut of the tiny mammal. It pouted in protest. “Heh. Must have been those merc bastards, eh?”
Oliver clenched his fists, “What the HELL is going on?!”
“Ah … Mr. Nash. I’ve been eager to meet you!” bellowed the tanned titan. He snapped his fingers and the dog scurried off.
“And you are…?” growled the Wizard, demanding he get some answers.
“Jackson Pride: your endgame.”
[Requesting post from Friend or Foe please ^_^]
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
click here for inspired character noise...?
click here for inspired character noise...?