It takes almost no time for the other arm of the huntress to align it with ice. She was ready to bust out of this disgusting cavern, to eject herself and the princess away from that awful, decaying smell. Heavy as it made her limbs, she preps herself before latching her ice aligned claws into what Winter considered the weak spot of the doors. They drive like a wedge between the silver cracks as she pulls her arms apart to break the four tiered layered door.
Princess Aress watches in total awe. Screeching emanates from the alloy curling. It’s loud, even a bit difficult for Winter, but she makes it work in her favor. She plunges even further into the crack she’s created, seeing light protrude onto her physique. There’s another side, a long hallway that leads to somewhere she couldn’t make out. Bent metal beams uphold the walls of the inside, white lights decorating the outside of them. It was pristine, as if no one had ever touched it.
Winter turns her head back to the princess after gazing upon the scenery. Her expression switches from awe back to one with her usual confidence, a look she flares off to give some type of reassurance that everything would be fine. The ice evicts itself from her dermis and falls to the ground. She walks over towards the princess, gently picking her up into a bridal style, assured the princess is as comfortable as can be within her arms. She doesn’t know how much time the princess has left, but since she is royalty, Winter will treat her with utmost respect and gentleness.
“Let’s go, princess! Let’s get you some help from that Demi-God! Or whatever he is. Don’t you worry!”
Winter clutches to the Cloaks princess. She struts her way down the rather radiant hallway, observing every inch of technology she’s never seen in her life. It was odd architecture for a native of this planet, as their buildings were mostly made from stone and wood. Some places had metal, but typically it was the Cloaks who could afford such fortification to their housing.
“I don’t feel so good…” Aress wheezes out, a hand of hers promptly reaching up to her chest. “The Prayers said the blood of something called a carrier would be the one to ascend. I heard them talking about it. I knew I was never that. But my chest hurts a lot! More than anything else!”
“Hang in there, princess!” Winter tries to console Aress. She wishes she knew what was wrong with her. The amount of blood this poor child must have coughed up… she couldn’t imagine how much pain she's in.That does peg the question to Winter: How long has Princess Aress been down here, and in this condition? There’s a lot of unanswered questions that she’ll have to ask later once Princess Aress is in better condition. “I’ve heard legends of a place like this. They’re known as ‘Lairs of the Gods.’ I didn’t think they were true…but I wonder what kind of magic they’re using.”
The icy huntress takes a few more steps down the halls, footsteps echoing to fill the void with Aress’s coughing. It isn’t until there was a blue line on the ground Winter stumbled over, a few drops of blood from Aress splattered over it. It was at that moment that the hall’s lights flashed to a vibrant red, followed by a loud siren firing off. Winter’s face instantly saturates with panic.
“That can’t be good…” The Winterlance stops in her tracks, taking a brief look behind her as she swore she heard some type of mechanism move in the distance.
“Did we walk into a trap…?”
The doors begin to close behind them, several of them in fact. It seemed each triangle-like beam of the room was designed to have doors to lock them in. If the doors close behind them, Winter has no idea what other types of activities would be in store for them. The huntress does the only thing she knows she can do.
Run.
“The doors are closing in on us! Okay! We’re running now!” She sprints hastily. The sound of each clunky door slams vehemently, ushering Winter to pick up the pace. Her teeth grit, digits clutching tightly into the fabric of the princess’s dress as she holds onto the teenager for dear life.
LOCATION: Elator laboratory [5 minutes earlier]
It failed…Again.
Arch Extent looms over the microscope, disappointed at the usual results. He’s been trying for a few years now to see if he could create something that could help fend off Cosmos Plague. He watches as the cells are destroyed, Cosmos Plague replicating itself and bursting them apart violently at the microscopic level. He wants to rub his eyes and press his fingers into his temple, but he knows that it wouldn’t do anything beneficial for his well-being. Nor for the frustration that pulsated through every fiber that made up his existence.
He’s so close, yet so far. If only he had his original test subject… before Atlas decided to take it away.
We’re running out of time. We were so close before. The scientist crossed his arms. How many years has it been since he first worked with the one person he discovered could become immune to Cosmos Plague? He’s at a limit, not that he never was at a limit, but this feeling of defeat isn’t ceasing anytime soon.
Sometimes I wish the answer to our problems would just appear already…
There’s a few minutes of silence that fill the cold room, besides the small few beeps here and there from the local technology in the vicinity. His hands turn into brief fists, relieving themselves as he adjusts his slouched position. Then everything suddenly became loud, and the room turned red.
A biohazard warning sirens off, the once light blue, now turned into dark cardinal painting the floor tiles. T-6 stands behind Arch Extent, panic forming behind the black helmet. The Arch stares at the screen, seeing what protocol it summoned. Everything was on lockdown, which was a huge problem.
It only meant one thing: Cosmos Plague is present in the lab, contaminating one of the areas.
Contamination…?! How?!
Arch Extent grits his teeth, trying to remain calm. If Cosmos Plague had gotten loose, it would have to be from something outside the lab. He thought it was well fortified outside the lab, as there was no one physically able to get through the metal door–let alone one of the Prayers out there.
Could a Blazerock tribe member melt it? No, it was fireproof. Any other tribe he could think of wouldn’t be able to. Was it a creature? Potentially. He’d have to find out.
“Arch Extent! There’s a breach in the Elator Cave entrance!” T-6 shouts out, his fingers pointing directly to the holopad.
“Don’t just stand there! Find out what it is, and take care of it!” Arch Extent turns towards the other scientist.
“Yes, sir!” T-6 hurries to the side, accessing cameras on a different console.
“--Or better yet, I’ll take care of it myself,” Arch Extent directs a determined look at a mask not too far from him on the work counter. He begins to mutter to himself. “What kind of monster can break a door down like that…?”
Gloved latex digits grasp tightly at the mask, instantly bringing it up to his face and clipping in the band around his black hair. He presses one of the circular cylinders on the side, clicking in the metal to activate the mask. A brighter azure lights up along the glass part of the mask, glowing enough to where it would actually be difficult to see his eyes or any other distinguished facial features. Arch Extent looks over at T-6, wondering if there was anything found on the cameras.
There was an intruder.
The scientists both see it, a blonde woman holding a sickly looking teenager with a giant hole behind her. With each step of hers, her teal scarf wavered. Who was she? How was she able to just open the door? From the footage, it didn’t seem like it was a bomb, or anything hot wired. It appeared as if...the door was simply torn open.
Arch Extent is undoubtedly intrigued by how this native accomplished such an arduous task.
“Boss, what should we do?” T-6 looks at the Arch for guidance.
“Have security turn off the alarms and shut the doors behind them. We don’t want Cosmos Plague to contaminate any further. That girl is infected, and that native is bringing her directly to us.”
The underling scientist simply nods and fetches off to grab their few local security guards in the other part of the laboratory. Whilst T-6 prances to snatch the small security team, Arch Extent brings it upon himself to grab a weapon from their limited armory. He’s learned well that with each expedition to Division 5, you need something to defend yourself. He doesn’t want to kill that blonde woman.
He just wants to study her.
A tranquilizer should do the trick.
LOCATION: Elator laboratory [CURRENT TIME]
“HEY! I think I see someone ahead!” Winter gleams out, some relief on her face. This meant the door was open now, an escape from whatever this elaborate trap was. As Winter draws closer, she notices a man step out. He’s dressed with a unique mask that shimmered in the same nuances as the walls, ebony pants and what appears to be a distinct form of a jacket. The most notable feature about him was his hat. There’s a good chance this wasn’t a Tribesfolk. Instead, this could be the Demi-God the Cloaks princess mentioned between her coughing fits. If this was true, it would make Winter’s relief even more immaculate.
It didn’t though. She didn’t know what that device that he pulled up was. Was it a weapon of sorts? It had to be because something from that weapon was shot out of it. She instantly felt something hit her leg, sending her into a delirious state. Her body became frail, unable to hold the princess in her arms. Winter is losing consciousness, and she doesn’t understand why. Was she drugged by this strange man?
Fuck! I can’t keep awake! Everything is…fading…
Winter tries desperately to fight it, but she can’t. The huntress loses her grip on the princess, her eyes completely shutting as she wobbles over.
Shit…! I can’t feel myself holding the princess anymore! Damnit! Winter collapses to the ground.
“My chest! It feels like it’s going to burst!” Princess Aress is thrown to the side, her tiny hands still gripping to her chest. She’s writhing in pain as she swears it feels like the end for her. Her head rolls over to Winter, questioning why this woman suddenly passed out.
“Do not enter the Elator Cave entrance! There’s a native with a stage five about to happen!” The man in the hat warns his fellow scientist. Arch Extent reaches to slam his hand down on a scanner, identifying the employee level and name of the man: Arch Extent, Level 10 employee. A glass door slides in front of him and T-6, watching the inevitable of what the result of Cosmos Plague was.
Ichor spews across the glass, and Arch Extent feels himself wince internally. He hated seeing the mess, the way that young girl’s chest exploded into a horrific sight. This was his reality, one he’s been living since he’s been born. Her ribs were prying out, the nasty tumors that oozed out from the growth and many attempts at trying to recombine with human flesh. He couldn’t save her.
I was too late…
Another innocent soul lost to Cosmos Plague.
“Hurry up and clean up this mess.” Arch Extent commands T-6. “And take the other native as well.”
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