Collapse, Jaklo fell to his knees as the adrenaline dissipated into a shrill pain running up along his back like the devil's blanket coating his spine. His fist holding his sore body up and pressing into the cold, tile floor. He grunted in pain, blood stained the bullethole on the material of his jacket, pooling around and letting most members of the group see it. "I can't walk around like this, it burns and hurts at the same time.."
Ellis walked over, immediately crouching next to him and holding him up. Being there in his aid, inspecting the wound "Luckily.. You aren't bleeding too much Jak, the heat of whatever shot you has potterised the wound--" He was immediately cut off by a laughing Semper who crouched next to him as well "It's Cauterised.. Not Potterised.. Is Potterised even a damn word?-- Look, You're gonna be fine, the heat of the bullet did the work for you."
Jaklo slammed his fist into the floor, baring his teeth and grunting again "Hell fucking no, I need this shit out of me.. Right fucking now, that bullet is still in there." The pain fuelled his anger, Jake walked over and sighed at him. Lifting him up and stabilising him "Quit being such a fucking pussy, it's a flesh wound. You act like you've never been shot before."
The raccoon looked over at Jake, smirking for a moment before resuming his angered expression "Probably because it's rare for me.. With my ability and all, just took it like a champ back there didn't have time to rewind with all the running." Jake agreed, sighing deeply and holding Jaklo's arm over his shoulder. "We're going to find a medical room.. or some shit, this place is bound to have thousands of those right?" He'd ask Ellis mainly, recognising his smarts. But Ellis merely shrugged "I'm.. not too sure, Jake.. It's a laboratory, you'll most likely just find medical tools-" Ellis spoke to him in a soft tone, smiling at him. Jake didn't return the same expression however
"Bullshit, they're bound to have something. Tell you what, we're going to find something I can use to fish that bullet out of this guy's back. And then we're going to get the information we need on our little runner. Semper, Rasmus. You stick together, go find the information we need. You're both good soldiers, I have no doubt in my mind you'll get the shit we need. Ellis- you come with us, I mean you were going to do that either way. You should marry this guy already-"
Jake joked, but Ellis scoffed at him completely insulted "What does that imply?! We've been great friends for a while, there's nothing homoerotic between us and you're just being grotesque-" Jaklo grunted, wincing again and shaking his head at Ellis "Lay off it, he was joking.. Come on, let's go. We need to be careful, if a house had an automatic turret.. Like Semper said I'm afraid to find out what this place has in store."
Semper and Rasmus stuck together, eyeing up a hallway and walking close to it. Rasmus drew his blade and stared into the dimly lit hallway, that smell of chemicals filled his nostrils and it repulsed him. Everything in here felt wrong, things didn't feel humane and the hint of cruelty lurked within the chemical-like smell. "This way, we'll find it eventually. Should be signs or a map or something that'll lead us to an information room-" Rasmus said to Semper, who agreed and traversed down into that hall. Jake practically carried Jaklo who was still whining like a baby about the bullet, Ellis was concerned and Jake was moreso annoyed. Patting his shoulder and reassuring him "You're gonna feel so embarrassed when I dig out that bullet, you're acting like you just got your leg blown off." The Jackal taunted Jaklo, to which he replied "It fucking feels that way!"
Jake laughed in response, sorta playfully. Coming to a stop as they stare down the main hallway, an interesting thing they noted about this place was how seemingly untouched it was. The reception office they were in seemed untouched, normally excess scrap would be pulled out of the walls by people about now. Or graffiti would be all over the walls, this place just seems like it was closed and was fully operational on your average Monday.
The shadows on the ceiling above were eerie, it was like it kept rising and you couldn't see the top. A sound was ringing throughout the facility, like mechanical whirs or even worse it sounded like the structure itself was shifting, an immense banging noise followed by mechanical whirs. It seemed to be echoing from down every single hall and the source was unknown.
The three traversed down the main hall, lurking and approaching a room which seemed even more dimly lit than the rest of them. Upon entering, it was a small lab and it was perfect. Jake tried a light switch and to his amazement it worked perfectly, power was still somehow running through this metal fortress and whatever was powering it was unclear. There was medical tools as simple as a scalpel and others that were barbaric like a bone saw, there was also an empty cage in the middle of the room that looked to have dry coated blood inside of it. In fact the operating table had plenty of blood on it, the sight was grotesque but in Jaklo's moment of desperation he collapsed right onto his stomach along the table. "Give me something to bite down on.." He asked pleadingly, Ellis sufficed his request and grabbed a book from a nearby shelf. Giving it to him to bite down on while Jake scanned the table, searching for the one right tool for the job.
In the meantime, Rasmus and Semper explored. They steadily walked down the halls and analysed every sign and information board around the hallways, each would lead to places such as experimentation rooms or holding facilities, when taking a glance inside of them they looked more like prisons than holding facilities and the sight was disturbing.
The place was dark, not an ounce of sunlight dared to show it's presence here by the looks of it. Shadows encompassed the maze that was the Ill-Will laboratories, the duo were getting uneasy and tired of searching. "I think we just passed this room already, where do we even need to go?" Semper asked, he was a little shaken up judging by the noises coming from deep within the facility, in fact they were doing their best to avoid it.
Rasmus, was calculated and calm as always. Coming to a stop and peering into another room, the darkness had taken over inside and it was vacant of anyone inside. "I'm not sure, maybe we should go towards the noise. We've been avoiding it this entire time, we're looking for an overseer office or something similar, they would definitely have all the information we need there."
Semper sighed, staring down the dark hallway and clutching the handgun in his hand. He wasn't sure at all, there was even blood on the floor leading to the end of the hallway they'd have to traverse down in order to get to the source of the noise "You hear that? It sounds like a machine of some sort, we just got attacked by multiple auto-turrets outside, what makes you think this.. highly secured facility won't have the same if not worse?" The place was eerie, for some reason they weren't being attacked just yet. But they both felt the same sense of dread about going down that hallway. "Come on, we got to check it out. If anything happens, we turn back and run."
The loud echoing mechanical whirring would grow louder as they both slowly walked down the narrow corridor, following the blood trail as a hesitant Semper follows Rasmus along "If you didn't want to come, you could've just waited in the car." Rasmus coaxed him a little, Semper of course fired back immediately "Oh shut up, I just don't want to get us killed is all.. I didn't realise we'd be walking into a living, breathing spider web that you call a fucking city."
Raising his voice a bit, suddenly the mechanical noise grew louder. A panel in the ceiling would drop to the ground in front of them, electrifying the surrounding area for a moment as the high voltage cables disconnected. It was as if it was trying to aim for the two but failed, Semper immediately jumped and even yelped while Rasmus dashed back and clutched the hilt of his rapier. "..."
"..."
"Place is getting old, huh? Watch your step." Rasmus ordered Semper, who was sceptical about how easily it just fell but continued on.
Back in the laboratory, Jaklo grunted loudly and bit down hard on the book as Jake used a pair of crucible tongs to dig into the bullet wound, it was much harder and painful considering the heat of the bullet had closed off the wound while entering. The squelching of open flesh filled the ears of Ellis who was feeling sick just watching, forcing himself to look away as Jake slapped Jaklo
"Hey, Quit fuckin' moving.. I swear the more you tense up, the harder this is going to be. Would you like me to use a scalpel to open the damn wound again? We don't have much time before this closes over completely, I almost got the damn bullet out of you it didn't go that deep you.. pussy" He let out a sigh, being more gentle with how he used the tongs. Digging deeper into the wound ever so slightly and clipping onto the bullet, slowly pulling it out. With one last pained, muffled scream into the book the bullet left Jaklo's body. Jake held it up to the light and stared at it, a confused look slowly formulated on his face.
"It's a tracker.. the drones wired you with a tracker, they really are advanced.. good god." This was evident by the blinking on the side of the strange bullet, throwing it to the side and listening to it cling against the tiles of the cold floor. Looking over at Ellis and ordering him soon after "Hey, Fetch me a bandage from the cabinet. And any painkillers if you can find some." Jake asked, looking down at Jaklo and taking the book out of his mouth.
"Hard part is over, you might not be able to move your arm for a bit but.. think of it as exercise fatigue, it'll go away soon enough. Just don't be too harsh with your punches if you're gonna be throwin' any." The jackal spoke over the raccoon with the same domineering tone, pocketing the crucible tongs and walking over to the side. Stopping and staring directly up into the corner of the room, spotting something he didn't exactly see before. There was a camera, a security camera and there was a blinking red light to indicate that someone or something was watching him.
"The fuck...? Thought this place was supposed to be empty.. Who's the peeping tom?" Jake exclaimed in surprise, glaring up at the lens.
Jaklo looked over, still harbouring a pained grunt in his expression as he laid there. Staring up at the camera with narrowed eyes "I don't know.. probably just been on for.. years-" Ellis hurried over, carrying some bandages and starting to run the soft material over the wound and tightening it, causing the raccoon to grunt as blood starts pooling around it. "There, there.. okay- that should hold it for a few days then you'll have to replace it." Ellis added, Jaklo quickly sat up and put his shirt and jacket back on. Continuing to stare over at the camera with curiosity to who or what could be watching.
A loud beep would be heard as the button on the side of the automatic door was pressed, the sliding door would move to the side and open up automatically as Rasmus stares into the tech savvy room. Semper stood by his side and stared in, the sight was bewildering but it confirmed one thing, this was definitely the main room that held all the information.
The rattling in the next room over could be heard more and more, like a robotic cry that begged to be free. The soldiers ignored it for now, both of them stepping inside and their eyes were met with something overstimulating to their minds, not used to this kind of technology. There were multiple desks inside this headquarters, each filled with monitors and computer systems. The amount of wires running around in the untidy workplace was intense, there was a solid desk in the middle with a single computer. It had to have been the main system.
Semper quickly approached it, kicking the office chair to the side as he goes to type on the keyboard of the computer. The rattling office chair would roll over and bump nosily into a wall, or so it would seem. This wall was actually a tinted dark window, looking into a dark room where the silhouette of a colossal structure inside could be seen. It was hard to make out, a giant pillar encased in something. Above it, was a jumbo screen of some sort. A face appeared on it, the expression was bitter even as simple as it was. The design was exact to that of the Protogen butlers and servants shipped around the world, was this some sort of A.I?
"The fuck is that?" Rasmus asked, gripping the hilt on his rapier tighter and watching as the ceiling panel above the office chair would drop. This time, a high technological turret would deploy down from the fresh gap, it had heard them. Semper immediately ducked, hiding under the crevice beneath the table as Rasmus did the same behind another desk. Peeking from around the surface of the desk as the laser on the powerful turret would shine around the room, it was huge. The wires extending out of it were intimidating, it had absolutely no restraint on what damage it could do. Perhaps it was designed to destroy this room at the first sign of intrusion.
"Stay still.. look at the size of that thing.. those bullets would tear us in half." Semper whispered in a hoarse, quiet voice. His expression was fearful as his heart pounded, his eyes locked on Rasmus who was calculated and thinking of a plan. Ducking his head away just as a laser shone in his direction, threatening to detect his presence in the room.
The two would stay like that for a while, not daring to move while they contemplated their next decision. The inevitability of fight dawned on them, their mind could only think of what kind of bullets the monster of a turret would fire at them.
Silence overwhelmed the scene, nothing but the silent groaning whir of the turret would flow through the room it scanned. Eventually, there came a turning point. An empty can with a blueish tint would be thrown by someone, it first bounced off of Rasmus' table but eventually rolled over towards Semper's side and clunked against the edge. The turret acknowledged the movement immediately, firing multiple large bullets that immediately disintegrated the can into sparks. The side of the table was also pierced, blowing it apart as well as Semper's leg.
Adrenaline raced in the jackal, staring down at his severed leg in disbelief and staring silently. Soon enough, a loud scream would be let out. Gripping his decapitated leg tightly and squeezing it as the blood gushed out. The bullet was more than enough to split his leg apart. This would surely spell death for him, the sound of the shrieking scream of shock would rattle the room. The turret facing Semper directly, even under the table and preparing to fire before it stopped. The man-tearing mechanism shook and rattled as if being controlled by something, soon overheating as if it was trying to consistently fire the bullets. Eventually it was tore out of the ceiling altogether by something and thrown right across the room towards Rasmus. The soldier immediately dodged out of the way just as the mechanism stuck it's loud landing right against the wall.
Rushing over, practically crawling along the floor. Rasmus would loosen his own belt, quickly tying the makeshift tourniquet around his severed calf to reduce the blood flow. Shushing him like a mother would as he screamed in frantic shock, then his eyes would look up. Meeting his gaze somewhere in the dark, shadowy corner was a figure who stood still. Watching the situation unfold, they were just a normal person from the looks of it. A monster, lurking in the shadows
"You think that tourniquet will save his life, ey'?" The smug accent caused Rasmus to growl, immediately responding to the man "Who the fuck are you? You threw that can, didn't you? You nearly got my friend killed."
The man stepped out of the shadows, it was a border collie. A white hand mark located on his hand, spitting thick spit along the floor as he prepared his next response, staring dominantly over Rasmus with a sincere expression. "10 units.. 10 whole units of blood in that there man's body, you know his popliteal artery has been damaged heavily. May even cause a blood clot, ask if his thigh is getting numb.. does the femur feel like a bag of sand yet'?" His southern like accent stood out more than the most, pointing towards the two as Semper tried his best to calm down. Rasmus immediately stood up and clutched his sword, glaring at the man and drawing the rapier.
"I said who the fuck are you?" He demanded to know, the smug expression forming on the man's face was menacing as he continued to speak. "It won't be the bullet wound that caused the blood clot, let me tell you that. You ever heard of coronary thrombosis? Coronary, the artery that supplies blood to the heart. Thrombosis is a clot, just had to dumb that down for ya'.. I'm not much of a doctor, but boy am I fascinated with blood.. if I wasn't, then there wouldn't be much use for my ability, would there?" Semper suddenly began to gasp, clutching his chest in pain. His breathing becoming erratic as the man pointed his finger at him, almost like he was manipulating things within his body.
"Iron, it's an essential part of blood. Blood is miniscule, especially red blood cells. But, when compact together in a place like this heart. It is so easy to manipulate.." Rasmus was too concerned for Semper, staring down at him with a worried expression. Falling to his knees and holding his head in his lap "Breathe.. Breathe, slow and steady.. That's it.."
Semper stared up at Rasmus, gasping out his words "Fuck.. Man, this really- fucking hurts.. what's happening? Wha- what is he doing to me?" Rasmus didn't know what to do, cradling him like a baby without knowing how much danger he was in. Breaking away from the emotional situation and going right back to drawing his blade on the man, the sincere expression returning on his face just as Rasmus' expression was full of anger.
"God damn.. Stop it, whatever the hell you are doing. STOP, NOW! WHO THE HELL EVEN ARE YOU?" Rasmus immediately rushed forward, pressing his blade in the direction of the man's face before. It didn't land, he was instead shoved backwards and his back would hit the wall, it felt like he had just been winded. Having difficulty breathing, pins and needles all over his body as if his blood just stopped working for a moment. The man lifted his hand away from Semper, giving him a moment to rest before stepping forward further out of the shadows towards Rasmus.
"To answer your question, boy.. My name is Manny Thompson.. others know me by magnet man, does that jog your memory? You know what I can do right? That uniform.. what a waste, you don't have any valor.. you boys tried to take me down once and failed. Just like how you failed with The Musician."
Rasmus froze, hearing the words Magnet Man. "You're.. you're that terrorist.." He spoke, just as he was getting his breath back from the attack. "You took that plane out of the sky.. you tore those buildings down.. why here.. why are you here?" Rasmus was practically pleading to know, utterly shocked. He knew Magnet Man, he knew he was once just as powerful as The Musician, he was terrified.
Manny would step past the one legged man on the floor, the outline of a colossal beast in the next room moving and analysing the place. It could be seen through the dim windows, it was hard to make out thanks to the darkness of that room.
He'd walk even closer to Rasmus, right up until the point his rapier was pressed right against Manny's throat. Rasmus desperately tried to thrust the blade in to kill the man there and then, but it only shook and rattled. It was held in one place and wouldn't move, he could not control his blade anymore. "I've been sent here, I work under the Musician's orders now. He caught wind of my.. gifts." He'd raise his hands, blood leaking down from his nose because of the slight use of his ability "And thus, tore me from the White Hand and sent me here on a mission to destroy the system.. He requires some damn information, from the Overseer's terminal of this laboratory. Only all the men he sent to this place have died trying because of the system. Once I destroy it, they can get all the information they need out of the terminals."
Rasmus growled, trying to jolt his blade even more. "There's.. There's no way you will- we already have others who are gathering the information on the terminals now as I speak." Manny looked a little surprised after hearing this, but it dissolved into a smug grin. "You haven't been here for very long, have you boy." the border collie spoke in a smooth way, feeling he had every upper hand in this situation. Rasmus would shake his head, he felt his hand getting numb and soon he couldn't lift a finger off of the handle of his blade.
"The fuck you talking about?" The solider asks, to which Manny responds in a firm voice. "The system has encrypted the terminals, it has full control of not only this facility but the entire fuckin' town. One could say it's become sentient, it's angry.. Machines aren't meant to show emotions. I'm here to tear the mechanical.. but metallic body out of the earth and destroy it in exchange for luxury living over'in Stardown.."
Rasmus sighed, knowing this was another problem. Now they had to shut down the heart of the entire facility just so Jake could get the information he needed. He learned the Musician probably had the same idea as Jake, gathering information on the person he wanted to capture to find his weaknesses.
"We'll kill you- then we're going to kill whatever the hell the system is.. And then we're going to kill the bastard your leader is after."
Manny smirked, suddenly Rasmus' hand got even more numb and soon was almost going a deathly pale judging by the fur tone. "I'm willing to go All In on that, are you all in as well.. Private?"
Screams, loud screams could be heard from down the hall. Jaklo and Jake were finishing up in the medical room, Ellis stood outside as he felt squeamish seeing Jaklo in pain. The screams rattled him to his core, believing the others were in danger. Acting out of instinct, he ran right down the hall towards the source. Approaching it as fast as he could to help.
The other two would remain inside, Jake took care of the camera and was helping Jaklo with the bandage. Once everything was sorted and done, he passed him his shirt and jacket and gave him a nod. "Right, let's go find your friend." The jackal states, Jaklo got up and smiled a little. Patting him on the shoulder as a token of affirmation for his help. Stepping outside to discover Ellis was gone, worried he frantically marched up and down the dark halls to lookout for him. The results were negative, he was gone.
"Hey, Ellis is gone somewhere. Where the fuck is he? It's not like him to wander off like this." The nervous raccoon adds, Jake steps outside with his loaded shotgun and shrugs, he didn't look too concerned. "That fella seems slippery, he'll be fine. Unless you wanna go searching for your man yourself, and I'll go find your friend?" The offer sounded too daring to the raccoon, letting out a deep sigh and staring at the floor for a moment before giving his response. "Let's just find him, and then the others. We'll do this quick. I got a bad feeling in my gut about this place."
Jake chuckled a little dryly, nudging his shoulder against the raccoon as they descended the hall "Hah- You're telling me, place is fine. Just full of defective scrap-heads." Right as he finished his sentence, from the ceiling dropped a.. corpse? It wasn't a corpse, a mechanical body. It was a protogen, the robot was battered and beaten. The faceplate hung nearly off and it was twitching, it was defective just like Jake described.
The android slowly stood to it's feet, controlled by something other than it's regular programming and Jake immediately could tell. Aiming his shotgun and taking the shot to put it down for good. The protogen's face would cave in, thanks to the bullet, but this showed a gruelling revelation. The shot in the darkness of the hallway revealed an entire army of silent protogens just lurking, staring. Without a moment to lose, Jaklo quickly grabbed Jake by his shoulder and immediately ran in the opposite direction "You fuckin' fool!" The raccoon shouted, huge and heavy mechanical footsteps could be heard on the floor and ceiling above them as they moved almost like a hivemind.
"Not my fuckin' fault, I see a threat I shoot, you got an issue cupcake?!" Jake shouted, holstering his shotgun over his shoulder and sprinting down an opposite hallway. Reaching the advanced holding facilities, it looked more like a prison at this point. In fact it had the iron bars to match, Jake ran immediately into the cell block and slammed the gates shut. Leaving the boundless amounts of protogens to claw and squish right up against the gates, the two barely got away and their panting and spitting emphasised that.
"You're.. never shootin' one of those things again.." Jaklo added, almost furious with him. Jake rolled his eyes and looked back at the gathering crowd of Protogens, almost confused now that the reality was setting in. What was causing them to be this way? "Right, what's up with them anyway.. The models were like our butlers, they shouldn't be programmed to attack us.."
As they both recovered, Jaklo would shrug and advance forward further into the holding facility. It was a barebone cell block, fit with cages and rooms. An expanded hallway fitted with tables in the middle and on either wall was a jail-cell. "Maybe a virus they caught? I don't know, people are handy with technology nowadays.. could be one of the people we are actively trying to murder, ever think about that?"
The laboratory was bristling with activity, yet the living death trap that was Archer's Haven was eerily quiet all around. Just outside of the town, deep within the woods near another small-time forest town, similar to Archer's Haven. There was a forest clearing nearby, one that was fitted with a trail, a car would pull up along it and stop near a disembodied corpse. The corpse was fitted with a tracker on the leg, the first to exit the car would be The Musician himself. Stepping over to the corpse and scoffing, the smell was utterly repulsive and he'd hold a napkin to his face in a bitter manner.
"Another one? Good, he's leaving us a snail trail." A man would approach from behind, he was cloaked completely. The hood he wore covering his face and body, the voice and extremely tall stature immediately gave away who it was. "Nnnnot good.. snail trail? yes. But these corpses are evidence of his strength. No matter who we send to chase him, they always end up sssshrivelled up and old.. even though they were young, I have no idea what kind of Outsider he would be.. thisss.. is the very first I've seen like this.. and I eeenvy it~"
Krover smiled, the cloak blocking out the sun from piercing his sensitive skin. The tall bird would step towards the corpse in the robe like outfit, reaching a long talon out and flipping it over. The tracker along the leg was dusty, it looked like the corpse had been sitting here for years. "Strange, looks like he's been here for a long time but he only stopped moving an hour ago.. according to the tracker." The Musician held the napkin away from his mouth and took his hat off, his ears twitching in amusement. "I know what he's capable of, he's going to be hard to catch.. but we'll get the information we need from the laboratory, I've sent my very best to retrieve it. There we'll find any potential weaknesses recorded during his time spent there. Every Outsider has a weakness, you'd know that wouldn't you Mr. Limelight?"
The Raven looked back at the Musician, his piercing and almost glowing eyes staring right back at the small cat. Even though his face was covered, you could tell he was smiling in a similar amusement. "Well, another corpse popped up very close to this town. I believe he likessss it here.. Perhaps we should find where he livesss.. get him in his sleep..?"
While this idea sounded appealing, The Musician shrugged. "He's a cautious man, something tells me he wouldn't exactly shit where he eats Mr. Limelight.. these people run miles and miles before seemingly they drop dead from old age. It'll be difficult to find where he'd want to sleep, he's a decent runner. Outruns every single athletic youngin' we throw at him.. All I need is his blood, then the Great Filter will unfold.. As I expected."
The forest grew quiet, not a bird chirped nor a field mouse moved. A hunt was ongoing, a hunt that two oppositions were after. A single man, a runner. The Musician desired him and so did Jake. This runner individual was one of the most wanted men in the current country.
The scene at the laboratory was still ongoing, embedded deep within the ghost town was a frightened Rasmus. Holding his blade up and baring his teeth in desperation, his heart beating rapidly. Manny stared him down, moving silently closer.
"Cold chill in your hand? You're not going to move that, not as long as I'm here. You're going to stay like that until you tell me, are you going to fight me or are you going to leave.. If you don't answer in three second's I will blow your head off."
Rasmus' eyes widened, the time limit on the question almost made it seem like it was to force the answer out as soon as possible so he didn't have the ability to manipulate the situation "Fight- I'm going to fight, I'm going to kill you." As the soldier said this, he bit his tongue. But Manny seemed pleased, a smile widening along his face and the intentions behind that grin seemed sickening. Semper was still bleeding out on the floor, drifting in and out of consciousness as he stared down at his decapitated leg. His quivering hand reaching for his gun as he stares directly at Manny's back
"Fight? You can fight all you want.. I was picked for this here easy job- for an unfulfilling gift, no matter the V.I.P lounges they give me for this job. I can never find a gem.. such as you-.. how daring.. you want to fight me?" It was satisfying him to hear, like watching a fly squirm under his grip as he pinned it's wing. Moving closer to Rasmus. In another odd way, he felt pleasure. Disgusting pleasure "You'll never beat me- I can keep you here until you starve. You'll obey me either way- or else I'll pull your entrails out, isn't that right boy?"
Rasmus was frozen, seeing Manny move closer and without a moment to think about it. Suddenly the Collie's tongue was pushing up along his cheek. Rasmus, with absolute humiliation, swung his free hand to punch the man directly in the jaw. Sending him stumbling back with a loud groan, followed by a lusty chuckle. "Oh-! Oh, you fucking pathetic old bastard-.. It's going to be.. so much fucking worse for you and your friend now."
Manny quickly approached Rasmus again, the wolf was frozen and in a literal sense too. He felt disgusted, terrified and powerless. Semper quickly raised his hand, the adrenaline of the situation fuelling him to squeeze the trigger. Firing a shot right in his direction "FUCKER!" The one-legged man squealed, blinking a few times in order to notice the severity of his actions.
The bullet was stopped mid-air, dropping right to the floor as Manny turns to face him. Semper was moreso concerned about his reaction time, rather than the bullet actually stopping. The pain didnt give him anymore time to think, it wasn't even pain and it was just brutal agony. Semper's hand began to convulse, shrivelling as the veins bulge from his backpaw. Small and insignificant, but strong roots of metal pierced his skin and wrapped up around his fingers. It was almost like he was being robbed of each drop of iron in his bloodstream, soon twisting the gun and forcing his hand like a puppet to point upward at his chin. Rasmus seen this unfolding and screamed at him
"Stop! Leave him alone, You've done enough you sick fucker. Let us go.." The wolf was ever-more desperate, Manny glanced at him for a moment and smiled "No-no.. I give ya' a damn chance to leave.. You said you wanted to fight.. So let me tell you something, the exact moment I blow his head off. I'm going to do whatever I want to you, and nothing is going to stop that.. do you understand?"
On a power trip, he'd turn fully to face Rasmus again "You picked this yourself.. You're as good as mine. I can't say the same.. for your friend here.."
The gun in his hand pushed further up into his chin, Rasmus let out an wail in Semper's name "SEMPER!" Right at the moment the trigger clicked, firing a bullet up through his chin and directly through the top of his skull, killing him instantly. Rasmus for the first time in a long time would shed a tear, he felt absolutely miserable and didn't know what to think. The sheer power of this Outsider could bend anyone to his will, maybe even Jaklo and Jake. It was too late to contemplate, he knew what was going to happen next, either he'd lose his dignity, life or maybe both.
"It's so beautiful.. he struggled so much-- good lord.." Manny gasped, rubbing his shoulder and staring at the bleeding corpse in front of him. He was so distracted, so lost in the gore he caused. Rasmus shouted in the background, lost in his own rage. "I'll kill you, I'm going to kill you motherfucker- You're a dead man.. A DEAD MAN!"
Out of the shadows, through the doorway. An approaching hope to the situation came along, Manny's reflexes weren't in the cards and his one weakness seemed to be his own ego. Pleasured by his own self-love, if he wasn't, he would've been able to see the desk lamp smashing into his head. Sending him to the floor and knocking him brutally unconscious, at the very same time Rasmus would be released. His hand falling limp as he runs right at the fallen body of Manny, in a ravenous way he tried to kill him there on the spot but Ellis' morality and strength would hold him back. Hugging his arms around him and pushing him into a wall.
"It's NOT worth it Rasmus! He's gone- He's gone.. don't be like him, we got him.. We're not going to kill anyone!" Ellis chirped out loudly, keeping a tight hold on the flailing Rasmus
"Kill that BASTARD.. He's SICK! He's fucking SICK! It's MAGNET MAN ELLIS.. IT'S THE TERRORIST.. YOU NEED TO KILL HIM.."
Ellis looked back, almost in surprise. In his thoughts he felt like he wanted to murder him, he was apart of the problem. But his morals wouldn't let him, the only person he truly wished to kill was the Musician. Keeping a tight hold on Rasmus and shushing him "Shh.. SHH- You're okay, It's not worth it.. You're not Jaklo, You got a good heart and I can tell.. take this anger out on The Musician or Clovis.. Calm down.. I know this- this isn't exactly fair!"
Rasmus would calm down, dropping his anger to a bleeding pant as he quietly whined. The sight of death in his vision against sent him over the edge, it brought him right back to The Mines where he brought an end to Pete's life. He couldn't let him live, not after what Pete devolved into. Rasmus needed to eat, his own selfishness. And he thought it was over, he was being selfish again. "I can't keep losing PEOPLE, ELLIS! LET ME FUCKING KILL HIM.."
The soldier let out a warcry, soon he would dissolve once more and relax onto Ellis. Slowly being waddled out of the room alongside him, The bearded dragon would keep the wolf's eyes covered. Not wanting him to see their fallen comrade's corpse. Ellis was not going to go down the same path of Jaklo with the killings, he was going to live as good as he could be and he knew Rasmus was the same, he wasn't about to let this soldier experience anymore trauma. He'll sleep good knowing he did the right thing and spared him, at least he thought he did.
Out into the halls, Rasmus' tantrum continued. He couldn't take it, knowing he was in there with someone he willingly murdered and simply knocked out, only to awake with a mild headache. He'd rush past Ellis, ignoring his command and immediately dropping to his knees next to his body. Punch after punch, after punch. Loud thuds, blood and flesh squelching. The wolf bared his teeth, getting more and more feral. Ellis walked in, but he stopped and stared. Watching Rasmus punch him and for some reason it felt good to see, he knew this was a terrorist in his heart he figured he deserved it.
He stood by, watching. He felt he soon had to intervene again, pulling him off of Manny, the collie's face was bloodied and bruised and swollen and there was no telling if he survived the pummelling or not. Rasmus would shove Ellis off of him "Get the hell off of me.." Getting up and speeding out of the room, where the bearded dragon would follow "You happy? You beat a man to death.. He may have been a monster but you took a life for a life.. do you really want that to live that life?!" Ellis berated him, they'd continue trampling down the hallway. Bickering back and fourth "Maybe I do, I was trained to kill fuckers like him.. He's had it coming from the moment he threatened to degrade me.. the sick fuck- he.. he killed our friend, how can you be so lenient?!" Rasmus snapped, looking over at Ellis who was just as angry "Because if every fucking issue in this world was solved with violence, we're no better than the Musician.. This is what he wants! You're stupid.. if we kill people we're no better than the Musician- JAKLO of all people should know that, but look at where he ended up.. A god damn murderer-- a murderer that was once.. my leader."
The lizard's cold but endearing heart sunk, looking down at the floor and feeling an overwhelming sadness. He was ready for Rasmus' next comeback but he was dead silent, simply staring ahead. Ellis looked up to see what caused the silence, a camera was pointed directly at them and in turn there was a hallway full of Protogens. It was many, but at the same time it was a singularity. They were meshed into one, it was like a hideous ball of mechanical rot that took up the majority of the hallway and threatened to grind the two fleshy people in front of them to a pulp.
Rasmus and Ellis immediately ran, heading right in the opposite direction similar to how Jaklo and Jake done earlier on. Hearing the clumping ball chase after them, they'd frantically search for rooms and to no avail. The voices of each android clumped together would speak, some voices were distorted pre-programmed commands and others were genuine cries for help from a sentient being.
In the cell block, it was an eerie sight. There was some long decayed corpses laying dormant behind the iron bars. "Poor bastards must've starved." Jake exclaimed, pointing out the obvious. Jaklo stared over at them, feeling an odd sense of familiarity as if he had seen it all before. The static in his head grew, the noise almost deafening him as he zones out. It took Jake to shake him by the shoulder and snap him out of it.
"Hey.. Chop chop, quit zoning out like that. You're gonna make me think you got tetanus from that bullet or something, who knows how old those drones are that shot you." Jake states firmly, walking around and investigating some of the cells. There was a huge bundle of cables running over along the floor, leading up into the ceiling. The source of these cables came from a cell just down near the bottom of the block. Jaklo nodded affirmative to his statement and simply approached it slowly, staring around the corner into the dark and open cell.
"I can hear a buzzing.. are those cables on? Why are they exposed." The raccoon was curious, gazing down at the cables before turning the corner into the prison cell. His heart dropped, almost as quick as he almost dropped to his knees at the sight. It was Rosco, he was sitting up against the wall in a motionless state. The raccoon couldn't move, he didn't know whether to feel overwhelmed with happiness or sadness or anger. Was he alive? He had to find out, rushing over he'd shake the boy. Admiring his new looks, the nerdy glasses were there. His outfit seemed the same, there was a large scar on the side of his head and the fur along the scar is shaven completely. He'd continue shaking him.
"Rosco.. Rosco it's me.. Jaklo.. Please tell me you're still with me- Buddy it's me.. I'm here." The raccoon hugged him, although he was still motionless. It was like he was in a never-ending sleep. "Is he in a coma?" Jake asked, stepping forward and lowering his shotgun. There was odd like cables extending from his veins, wrapping around his arms and running through the prison, were they using him how they used me? Jaklo thought, it infuriated him. "Don't do this to me.. I can hear your heartbeat, you're alive.. Come back to me, please." The desperate whines in the raccoon's voice were new, Jaklo was hellbent on getting him to live. Hugging him closely.
There was a TV sitting nearby, propped up along a counter as if it was moved there on purpose by someone. It would turn on by itself, catching the attention of Jake. Turning to stare at it while Jaklo half-mourned, crying into his practical son. "Hey, raccoon. TV turned on by itself."
Jaklo's ears perked up at the sight of this, turning to face it and staring. "He's trying to communicate.." he said silently, before going closer to it and turning the volume up, trying to communicate back "He has- .. fuck he's an Outsider, Digitalmania.. Okay?! He can communicate through things like this- Look there's even a cable attached to it." Clutching the small cable between his hands, the raccoon admired it and then looked back at Rosco. Jake was confused by sat by anyway, trying to give Jaklo a chance. Although deep inside, he thought this was pointless. He tried to tell the raccoon this "Hey- Listen.. I know it's hard but-"
( Raw Power by Perturbator would Play Here )
The raccoon would interrupt him, shushing him and talking right to Rosco instead "Can you hear me buddy? Come on, tell us what to do. Do we pull the cables? Destroy this TV? Would that hurt you at all.. You're in there, please just tell us what to do.. Use the TV" The raccoon adjusted the antenna on the television set, trying to fidget with it to make it more comfortable for his friend. Soon, static overwhelmed the Television. For the first time in a while, Jaklo was actually excited to see static. It wasn't a reminder of his past this time, it was a reminder his friend was here.
The static faded and an image was presented, it was pixelated like a retro video game almost. It embodied Rosco's personality completely and Jaklo smiled widely "Yes, Come on. That's it.. Just show us what to do-"
The video game was simple, the title of the game was simply known as 'Eternal Entropy'. There was a sprite of a man standing outside of a house atop a hill. The controls were presented on the screen, the buttons along the television were to be used for the controls, the volume button and channel button for example was to move. Jaklo took note of this, Jake stared at him like he was crazy. The raccoon would fiddle with the controls, moving along in the game world as the man was encountered by husks of some sort. It looked like goblins, he had a loaded firearm that would take them down in an instant.
One thing to note, the sky was a bleeding orange and the sun was a bleeding red. Flashing around on the screen, the character himself would take damage when he moved out of the shade for too long. It was a side-scroller, he simply had to continuously keep moving to the right. His only objective was to 'Find Rosco'. And that he did, Jake noticed the more the raccoon would play, the more Rosco's body laying against the wall would seemingly glow. As if the electricity coming from the cables was giving him power, it was generating static like images around him and almost glitching in a way as if Rosco was able to create pixels. He was definitely controlling the gaming system itself.
"What the hell is this? Is he connected to that game or something?" Jake asks in confusion, admiring Rosco before returning to Jaklo to watch. It seems the character on screen had to go through multiple homes, killing multiple random innocent characters for no other reason than they were considered an obstacle. The game seemed to move more and more far away from a fantasy plot to real life the more levels he'd complete. "I don't know, but he's on here somewhere.. This is the only hope we have, I'm not touching those cables.. I don't know why they have him set up in here at all- I wish Ellis was here, he's better at video games- fuck! where did he run off to?" Jaklo persisted throughout the game, soon something would shock him.
The image of a girl on the screen showed up, it was too pixelated to understand but, she had a name. Her name was Daisy, the second Jaklo realised it was her the television would form static for a moment. Rosco would twitch, Jaklo's fingers sliding around on the makeshift controls and immediately shooting Daisy, she was an obstacle. "... That-.. That was my friend- How does he know about her?.. I don't get it.." He was in disbelief, maybe it was a coincidence? He didn't know, he persisted with his one and only goal. Soon the screen would display messages, many of them.
"Eternal Entropy- The Sun is Red and Hot.. The Clocks Have Ticked all They Could.." The same fantasy theme would continue, but something was definitely orchestrating the game, playing it like a puppet. Jaklo had a feeling Rosco was the puppet master.
The player on the television screen would enter a castle, Jaklo struggled to fight off hordes of the goblins. The goblins would slowly but surely turn more and more into people, ordinary and nameless people. They were easier to kill, almost like it was instinctual to the player. Jaklo felt a slight unease playing, shifting the controls and moving forward as fast as he could.
The bars outside holding back some remaining protogens would clang, slowly coming off of it's hinges. Jake heard this and tapped Jaklo on the shoulder, indirectly stating him to stay put. "You better hurry this shit up, They're getting through.. Got that?! At this rate we'll have to rip the cables out of his arms and carry him to the god damn car."
Jaklo grunted, staying hyperfixated on the game and talking back to Jake as he loads his shotgun "No- We're waking him up here and now. I just have to complete this, I have a feeling that this is the key to his freedom." There was a ghost within this TV, orchestrating each move. Jaklo had a slight shock when he could interact with Clovis, laying dead on the floor with sprites of birds and crows pecking his eyes out. It was a gruesome display even while it was pixelated, Rosco would twitch and slowly a statical mask would appear around the left side of his face, it covered the scar on his head.
Cocking the shotgun, Jake would aim it. Pointing towards the door and awaiting the four loose protogens that were hellbent to get through, controlled by something. A horrible realisation kicked in, he would turn to Jaklo and then stare directly at Jake and his glitching-like form. "Jaklo.. It's him- what if it's him? He's controlling those fucking robots- We're going to die-"
The raccoon stared up for a moment, staring in utter disbelief as the video game reflected in his eyes. The visual of the bleeding red sun sprite appearing in his pupil, he'd shake his head in disapproval "You're- How can this be him?! He'd be helping us, not wanting to kill us. You- Don't you dare." Jake lowered the shotgun for a moment, growling at Jaklo "Things aren't always as they seem, that cunt is trying to kill us. He's hooked up to this fucking place, he can control the television, he can certainly control those protos too."
Jake aimed his shotgun, staring down the barrel. "God knows how much more are coming- There was practically hundreds out there a minute ago, we're not getting out here alive if we don't kill him." The raccoon stopped playing altogether, fixing his attention on Jake and feeling himself start to panic "You don't know what on earth you're talking about- You don't know that he's controlling those things, don't you dare call him a fucking cunt."
The police officer aimed his shotgun in the direction of Rosco sleeping peacefully with his back up against the wall, before suddenly; he was jumped. A hunk of metal would land atop him, pinning him to the floor. The metallic whir of it's mouth would open up and reveal cogs and other metallic scrap inside, threatening to chomp down on Jake's head. Jaklo immediately stood up, getting ready to defend himself by any means necessary, as well as Rosco.
Jake recovered quick, having used his ability to pre-cognate the many unfolding scenarios ahead and managed to correct himself. Using the shotgun to blow a hole through it's belly, which just so happened to have it's processing unit. Shutting the robot down almost instantly, he would stand to his feet again. Focusing himself on the approaching protogens from across the room, some moving fast and others were clinging to the walls, trying to strategise again the police officer.
"You better be fucking right.. I could just kill him and save us the fucking trouble of getting back out again" Jake shouted, feeling really standoffish, Jaklo went back to playing and tried his hardest to focus on beating it. "You need to stop being so presumptious about every thing, you don't know if he's the perpetrator or not!"
The raccoon's fingers began to hurt, his eyes burned from staring at the screen from the distance he was sitting from it, playing his heart out. By this point of the game, it would appear that it was less of a fantasy simulator and more real life than anything. Jaklo was supposedly on the final stage, the character he played as was a police officer similar to Jake. Entering an innocent home, talking to Rosco's mother. Explaining to her what happened to Rosco and convincing her that he was in fact dead.
Jake on the other hand, just finished pulverising the metallic skull of a protogen's face. Glaring over at the last one sat stationary on the wall, targetting him while the other three laid dead on the floor. He would cock his shotgun, letting the shell fall out just as the protogen jumped for him. Firing a shot right as it did, it killed it but it wasn't enough to stop the claw from slicing into his arm. He'd let out a devastating grunt, almost dropping his shotgun and clutching the wound as closed as possible with his fingers. Blood seeped out between them as he leaned against the wall, watching Jaklo play. Suddenly the wound wasn't so painful before, adrenaline took over his normally calm and calculated body at what he saw.
Even Jaklo was surprised, he was confused because he didn't know her. There was a girl standing in the kitchen named Christie Abbott. "How..- How the fuck does he know my Wife?"
Jake was angry, looking down at Rosco and feeling ready to strangle him. The mice boy's ability allowed him to generate a mask, suddenly it all made sense. Jake had seen him before, so did Jaklo. It was the Mannequin Man from their dream, but how. He didn't speak like Rosco at all, he tormented them both in their sleep. "How-.." Jaklo was staring directly at Rosco, his hands almost slipping off of the controls. But at that point it didn't matter, the game seemed to be playing itself. It would show pixelated forms of past scenarios. First Jake's wife was shot, the screen would cut to static. Jake was left in disbelief, feeling like he was reliving that night. Then the screen would resume again, only this time there was a series of chaos. There was a man standing in what looked to be a populated city, surrounded by police and army forces. His hand raised to the air, presumably pulling the descending plane out of the sky completely with mere psychological strength.
Static, once more. The scene would resume again, only this time it was a Bird like figure sitting at a formal table with plenty of food and drink. Each person except the tall bird laid face down, dead in their dinner. A sinister smell was generated along the face of the bird. And finally, static. This static would resume for longer, Rosco would let out a loud grunt almost like he was hit by a defibrillator. Slowly sparking him back to life just as the image reappeared on the screen, a final scene. Jaklo stared as the pixels on the television hummed loudly.
Rosco stood in front of the character within the screen, both of them were pixelated heavily. The main character would hold a gun and aim it towards Rosco's face, it was just a dark room and the only three sprites were; Rosco, the protagonist and a red sun flashing around above them both. Jaklo hesitated for a moment, Jake got closer and beckoned the raccoon "Do it, get this over with.. Press the button" Jaklo stared at the action button, realising he had to manually shoot Rosco. Dread overwhelmed him, he'd glance back at Rosco and see how badly he was generating pixels thanks to his ability, he was twitching. Without thinking, he'd press the button. Just wanting nothing more than to free him from this curse, the screen would cut to black and it was as if it was never on. Both of them admired their expression reflected in the black mirror before them, in the corner of the room there was a ticking clock. Slowly ticking down the seconds.
"Did it work?" Asked Jaklo, and his question was answered immediately
Rosco woke up, letting out a devastating gasp and sitting up. Almost breathless as he panted, looking around and stumbling. Jaklo hugged his arms around him, holding him closely and pressing his face against his shoulder, keeping him still "Shh Shh- I got you- I got you.. You're okay, I saved you Rosco.. I saved you.."
He'd remain like that for a while, Rosco was speechless. Simply relaxing into Jaklo and he felt himself silently crying, all those years of untold torment and trying to give them the signal that he was alive, he thought it was going to waste. The only way he could communicate was through entering the unconsciousness of dreams in people's heads. Warning Jake about the Musician didn't work, demanding Jaklo to save him and asking him to heed his warning about the Musician's plans. He thought it wouldn't work, but it did. And this was forever clarified by the warm embrace of the raccoon's arms tightened around him
"You... Need to stop him.. Jaklo, he's going-.. to destroy everything." Rosco bleated out, his voice weakened. It had been years, but this alone was enough to make Jaklo deeply concerned.