A
Asuras
Guest
Original poster
There was a groan in the walls where the machine had exploded, and after a moment the steel and pipes cracked and burst outwards. A jet of water about as wide as a basketball surged into the hallway, quickly dousing the flames in its way and spreading outwards. Nary a few seconds later, the hallway erupted in a deafening electronic buzzing. Yellow lights periodically illuminated the area as the alarm rang. They had a few choices.
There was always the option of escaping back the way they came, despite the complete lack of actual danger present in the leak -it would take quite some time before the water flow filled the place in any significant manner- but would ultimately result in them losing the quick opportunity to find the White Coat facility. If they stayed for too long, though, they might face some unsavory mechanized investigation forces. The Shanhu police were welcoming of the Final Five's exploits more often than not, and while they were willing to turn a blind eye to questionable activities such as trespassing, they only did so in person. It wasn't often, but the former Final Five were known to have encountered the police's attack robots on occasion. While their human counterparts were capable of being reasonable and understanding, an investigating death machine faced with clearly dangerous individuals wasn't so empathetic. If they were to send one down into their hallway, it'd delay them considerably.
Their other option, then, was to hurry as fast as possible before any authorities arrived. The further deep they went, the more likely they were to avoid any police-robot-deathmachine conflict as well. It wasn't particularly hard to decide, in the end. Following Iphigenia's sixth sense, they eventually came across another hallway. It initially appeared long, though with Iphigenia's perception, it seemed as, this time, the cloaked entity before them was simply a door.
Approaching it, a mere hand through the cloak dispelled the illusion, revealing a heavy steel door. A console behind the cloak afforded the Final Five's computer genius to quickly hack her way into access, opening up what was apparently an elevator to even deeper levels in the submarine locale.
While the elevator had a glass wall at the back, the elevator shaft itself was enclosed and dark. After a minute's descent, the shaft disappeared though the elevator continued to descend. Outside, a massive facility, enclosed by pristine white structures, revealed itself beneath the waves. It looked like a small village of homes and labs, as if countless individuals actually lived within. From above, however, it seemed vacant.
Ding.
The elevator reached the end and opened up quietly into what seemed like a metal street, surrounded on all sides by countless pathways and doors into buildings. It was dead quiet, save for the occasional groan of the exterior walls against the water pressure outside.
'All personnel participating in the recapture process; please proceed to Facility 11 and report to officer Bernard Toland', said a female voice over an intercom. Looking above, there seemed to be a massive jumbo-tron displaying a number of meaningless scientific jargon beside time schedules. An error message flashed at the top it all.
'Error 1094B: Instruction package expected. Received null. Cannot update.'
'All personnel participating in- gzzrt'. The intercom halted. The lights at the top of the massive cavern of steel began to flicker, and a phantasmal howl like wind washed through the area. Slowly, a blackish haze seeped down into the street from the buildings around the Final Five, collecting into a fog that permeated their street.
From behind the curtain of blackness, a shadowy figure stepped forth. Much like the abyssal they had fought mere hours before, the figure was but an utterly black mass, save for a pair of human, reddish eyes, unblinking. The shadows collected around their form like great and plentiful robes, dragging along the ground. It did not speak.
Raising a hand, a red energy sprouted upwards like lightning, but disappeared into the air. Instantly, the same red energy gathered around Ling. The red energy swirled about before becoming a perfect circle of red at his chest. The same symbol appeared right after on the shadowy figure. Ling felt a strange pull towards the individual, nearly walking straight towards them. He could resist it, but only if he focused.
The shadow lifted up from the ground, hovering on dark mist a few feet from the street below. With a flourish, it extended its arms to its sides, as if taunting the Final Five to attack.
There was always the option of escaping back the way they came, despite the complete lack of actual danger present in the leak -it would take quite some time before the water flow filled the place in any significant manner- but would ultimately result in them losing the quick opportunity to find the White Coat facility. If they stayed for too long, though, they might face some unsavory mechanized investigation forces. The Shanhu police were welcoming of the Final Five's exploits more often than not, and while they were willing to turn a blind eye to questionable activities such as trespassing, they only did so in person. It wasn't often, but the former Final Five were known to have encountered the police's attack robots on occasion. While their human counterparts were capable of being reasonable and understanding, an investigating death machine faced with clearly dangerous individuals wasn't so empathetic. If they were to send one down into their hallway, it'd delay them considerably.
Their other option, then, was to hurry as fast as possible before any authorities arrived. The further deep they went, the more likely they were to avoid any police-robot-deathmachine conflict as well. It wasn't particularly hard to decide, in the end. Following Iphigenia's sixth sense, they eventually came across another hallway. It initially appeared long, though with Iphigenia's perception, it seemed as, this time, the cloaked entity before them was simply a door.
Approaching it, a mere hand through the cloak dispelled the illusion, revealing a heavy steel door. A console behind the cloak afforded the Final Five's computer genius to quickly hack her way into access, opening up what was apparently an elevator to even deeper levels in the submarine locale.
While the elevator had a glass wall at the back, the elevator shaft itself was enclosed and dark. After a minute's descent, the shaft disappeared though the elevator continued to descend. Outside, a massive facility, enclosed by pristine white structures, revealed itself beneath the waves. It looked like a small village of homes and labs, as if countless individuals actually lived within. From above, however, it seemed vacant.
Ding.
The elevator reached the end and opened up quietly into what seemed like a metal street, surrounded on all sides by countless pathways and doors into buildings. It was dead quiet, save for the occasional groan of the exterior walls against the water pressure outside.
'All personnel participating in the recapture process; please proceed to Facility 11 and report to officer Bernard Toland', said a female voice over an intercom. Looking above, there seemed to be a massive jumbo-tron displaying a number of meaningless scientific jargon beside time schedules. An error message flashed at the top it all.
'Error 1094B: Instruction package expected. Received null. Cannot update.'
'All personnel participating in- gzzrt'. The intercom halted. The lights at the top of the massive cavern of steel began to flicker, and a phantasmal howl like wind washed through the area. Slowly, a blackish haze seeped down into the street from the buildings around the Final Five, collecting into a fog that permeated their street.
From behind the curtain of blackness, a shadowy figure stepped forth. Much like the abyssal they had fought mere hours before, the figure was but an utterly black mass, save for a pair of human, reddish eyes, unblinking. The shadows collected around their form like great and plentiful robes, dragging along the ground. It did not speak.
Raising a hand, a red energy sprouted upwards like lightning, but disappeared into the air. Instantly, the same red energy gathered around Ling. The red energy swirled about before becoming a perfect circle of red at his chest. The same symbol appeared right after on the shadowy figure. Ling felt a strange pull towards the individual, nearly walking straight towards them. He could resist it, but only if he focused.
The shadow lifted up from the ground, hovering on dark mist a few feet from the street below. With a flourish, it extended its arms to its sides, as if taunting the Final Five to attack.