On the other side of the door is a long hallway similar to the ones we passed through on our way up here. This time however there's some serious security here. I memorized the structure of the building so I can get to the server room but the issue is that I have to pass through a number of these hallways and even avoiding every room along the way there'd still be a number of them.
Deciding that I just have to sprint I start running down the hallway as fast as I can. Hopefully this will both decrease the time it takes to make it to the server room as well as increase the time the stealth suit can be active for. I'm not sure how long it will last but I have to hope that all this running will make it a lot longer than half an hour.
I continue to run down the hallways in the directions I marked in my mind making sure to avoid any rooms I come across. Dealing with another situation like the previous one will be a tad more difficult now that I don't know if Marianne and Tommy are nearby. In fact if they knew we were here and split up the people working here would likely attempt to hunt us down now since we're the most vulnerable at the moment.
Occasionally I would run into guards in the hallways and I would slowly walk past them as though nothing was amiss and most of the time that's enough for me to get away. I was now only a few corridors down from the server room and though I didn't know if Tommy and Marianne were close to the room as well or not I had to assume they are otherwise our whole plan goes belly up.
This is the most important and most likely to fail part of the plan. If any of us get caught while we're split up or even worse if they alert the guards that someone's inside then not only do we lose the justification that Mainframe said we need but we would also lose a member of the team and likely permanently meaning that all the information that member has will be collected by the enemy.
So I make sure to be extra careful when guards approach and I keep myself ready for anything as I proceed. As I do so however my instincts halt me in front of a certain hallway. I don't know why, but I get the sense that if I step in there I'm toast. I decide I have no choice and if this is a waste so be it.
I look through the helmet of the stealth suit but I turn on the light spectrum viewing mode. This takes up quite a bit of battery by itself but something about this hallway just gives me a bad feeling if I don't trust it something could go seriously wrong. As it turned out I am right to trust my instincts.
In front of me on the viewer in my suit is a number of lines, contraptions and gadgets all nigh invisible to the naked eye. Lasers cross the halls, sensors appear to be stuck onto the walls and while I'm not entirely certain what type of sensor they are I'm almost certain that they can pick up my suit for some reason.
There also appears to be panels on the walls that if I look at with infrared suggest they've been heated up quite significantly compared to the area around them. I'm not entirely sure what they are but I get the feeling that if the sensors detect me they are going to do something about it.
Stopping in my tracks and hearing a muffled clink as the weird material of the suit makes contact with the concrete floor as I try my best to stop by digging my heels into the floor I try to think what the best approach to this situation is.
I'm not an infiltration specialist and actually none of us are. That would suggest that we can't get past this but how close am I to the server room. I consult the mental map of the floor I'm on and wince internally. Yeah there's still a few corridors left isn't there.
Realizing I can't brute force this or at least not safely makes me realize this is a serious issue I'm going to have to think about for more than a few seconds. The issue is that I'm using my suit's stealth function and It's likely not going to last much longer.
'Do I risk turning off the stealth function since there's no one in this corridor. Given the number of traps I have to imagine that no one would come here unless I trigger one or more of said traps. But what if there are more I simply can't see and my suit is currently protecting me from them?
I look around me trying to get an understanding of the space I'm in and pinpoint any obstacles to my current objective. The first things to catch my eye are a pair of cameras on each end of the hall. One behind the traps and one right above me.
Luckily the cameras look like they're old models. 'I never thought I'd be helped by this company's scrimping on costs' I muse to myself realizing that had the cameras been able to see in the same light spectrum as my suit I would've been discovered already.
Still this means that I can't just turn off the stealth function and think about it for a while. I have to make a decision now. Boil it down me. Do I go back and search for another route? Go through the traps? Or just break them all and brute force the idea regardless of the consequences? I have to decide now.
2nd would take too much time so that's out. Don't have the skills. 3rd is possible but risky. I don't really want to be spotted and this would do exactly that and a number of guards would be on me in short order. Though they would be anyway once we get to the server room so perhaps this is just starting a little early?
Still it would harm the other's chances so last resort. 1st option? Possible but it might take too long to go a different route as well. I don't have time to ponder like this my suit's battery is ticking down by the second.
Making my decision I go for something a little drastic. I jump upwards and spin around so that my feet touch the ceiling. Then I magnetize my boots such that I can cling to the ceiling. This'll drain even more battery but I don't have a choice it'd be faster than thinking something up or going around.
I curl myself up as small as possible and run forwards. It's more like hobbling since I've kind of balled myself up on the ceiling but it's still faster than walking. The soft clinking sounds of that strange material hitting the ceiling with a tad too much force ring out as I desperately move my legs to make sure that I don't run out of battery suddenly and plunge into the lasers and whatever else below.
Unfortunately as unorthodox as my tactic is I'm not the first person to use it and countermeasures have been put in place if only bare bones ones thanks to their scrimping. Which means the moment I race across the top of the deathtrap the sirens blare and the whole room flashes red and all the lights go out.
Yeah figures. I also figured out the hell scape that unfolded below me. Flames rush out of the panels I saw with my infrared were a little heated. The lasers meanwhile start to dance around trying to find an intruder that just isn't on the same level as it. I was expecting the flamethrowers or at least something similar hence why I ran across the ceiling.
If I'm going to brute force this then I need to do so without getting myself killed in the process. Continuing to hobble along like a drunk overweight dwarf I try and fail to speed up my progress across the deathtrap.
I hear the roar of the flames and I start to smell the smoke from the fires below me as well as the distinct smell of molten rock and metal merging together in a gloop of burning hot fire. My suit is still nominally a combat suit designed for outer space so despite being a stealth suit it does have air purification capabilities meaning that the smell is actually an artificial replication by the suit to tell me what the outside is like but it's still disturbing.
Then I feel the inside of the suit start to change temperature. That makes me start panicking. 'Oh yeah I forgot this suit isn't built for high temperatures.' That thought pushes me into trying to hobble faster but once again I'm going as fast as I can at the moment and the heat is only continuing to build.
'Maybe I didn't think this through?' was the thought that comes to mind as I hobble my way through the flaming ball of death that surrounds me. Regardless I've made my choice. 'I have to commit to it'. I thought to myself and continued to single mindedly hobble towards my destination. A turn in the hallway up ahead that leads to a different hallway that I'm fairly certain doesn't contain any similar traps.
'Though now that I've alerted the guards it might be out of the raging flames and into the frying pan but at least I'll be skewered with bullets rather than burned alive.' My reasoning in this situation being I can survive a bullet or two but burning alive only happens once.
'Must make it to the turn.' I repeat this thought in my mind like a mantra and hobble along the ceiling thinking only about the next step. Step. Step. Step. Each followed by a clink. Clink. Clink. Of my boots hitting the ceiling and sticking to it with magnetic force.
Come on. The turn is a few more steps away. I can do this. "Must make it to the turn" I start mumbling to myself. Lucky no one's around. The turn in front of me is all I see in my newfound tunnel vision as I continue to make one step closer to it.
Two more steps. I can… My hazy mind can't even think of the sentences any more. I'm not sure if it's the heat, the stress or both but my consciousness is starting to become hazy. But If I pass out here… Not even able to finish that thought I will my feet forwards for another step. A step that sends me towards my destination and nothing more.
I can feel the sweat pouring off of me like a waterfall. The humid air clinging to my skin. My clothes that are now stuck to me like a second layer of skin. Even the suit appears to have been stuck onto me by the sweat I'm currently outputting. Despite feeling this, I can't see anything.
My vision has started dimming and with how dark it is inside the suit… "One m-" I try to mumble but my throat is so dry it comes out like the cracking of an old tree branch. I am likely the only one who could understand what I just said.
Yet… "on-" Less and less sound comes out of my mouth but I move my limbs trying to take that last step around the corner. 'step…' Is my thought crossing the border into the next hallway. Unfortunately as much as I might have set that goal for myself it didn't suddenly become cool or anything.
It's certainly cooler than before because I'm no longer bathed in flames inside what appears to be a conductive metal suit. But it's still not cool. Likely because the suit also retains heat rather well meaning that the temperature hasn't changed much. I'm on the verge of passing out but I remember that there might be guards coming my way around the corner and so I try to think of a way to cool myself down.
Eventually I decide that taking things off is a good thing when you're hot so I press the retract button on the suit and it melts into that inky substance again. Or at least I think it does. I can't actually see much in my blurry vision.
The only thing I see around me is a black blob that appears to be moving. It makes vague somewhat understandable movements in the corner of my vision as I look around in something of a daze. When the inky substance finally retracts from over my face it feels as though I was trapped in a metal coffin and the world has opened up before me.
Of course the world is a cruel and merciless place. In front of me is a long black hallway the same as all the others I've been passing through today. Honestly the scenery is starting to become seriously boring and perhaps a trigger for trauma if I'm honest.
Of course that's not particularly merciless. If that was all there was I'd be weeping in joy and perhaps losing the little fluid I have left in my body so silver lining I suppose. Unfortunately the sight before me might bring a different kind of tears to my eye. Luckily realizing this I attempt to hold in the little fluids I have remaining.
In front of me is a number of blurry human shaped black figures almost indistinguishable from the background to my current hazy dehydrated vision. I can't tell what they're saying or doing but it's fair to say that they're guards and they're not very pleased to see me.
They approach in a sort of formation from what I can tell. 3 of them all in a triangle coming to surround me. Well at least there aren't many of them. I'm not as good a fighter as Marianne but average guards shouldn't be an issue for me usually.
Unfortunately I'm not in the best of states in the moment and they can clearly tell. The one at the head of the triangle comes towards me and attempts to grab my hands with a form of handcuffs in his other hand.
I put my hand on my lap and hide my palms waiting for the moment he grabs them and attempts to bind me. They come closer and closer yet my vision still doesn't allow me to see any details of the hand. Is it rugged? Are there callouses? Is he well trained?
I don't have the time to answer those questions. Instead I wait for my chance. The moment his fingers are a brush away from my own. Then I strike. A sharp metal glint appears in my hand and my eyes barely even register it before the warm sensation of some sort of liquid hitting my face assaults my frayed nerves.
I don't have the time to revel in my victory however as even before I hear the thump I should be from directly in front of me, I see the other two figures out of the corner of my eye. They are clearly ready for combat and are approaching me with the caution I deserve.
Well this'll be a lot more difficult. I wanted to get more than one in the beginning but oh well. Jumping to my feet and stumbling as soon as I get there I attempt to get my bearings and square off against the two incoming shadows.
A kick aimed directly for my head whizzes past my face while I'm stumbling backwards and seeing an opportunity I kick back in that direction. It's far less polished than it usually is and certainly doesn't fly in a clean and straight arc but it manages to catch the man's torso and knock him backwards.
My hazy mind decides I can ignore him for a while and focus on the more immediate threat. That being the fist quickly approaching my left temple. I spin around using my lack of balance to my advantage. Feeling the impact of fist against palm I grab it down hard and use it to swing myself.
I don't know in which direction I'm spinning but I poke my elbow out nonetheless. I feel a pain radiate from the elbow and assume that man's down as well. Thus I relax. Not noticing the palm strike heading straight for my gut.
Pain immediately radiates from my abdomen. Already delirious from the heat I. Don't. Have. Enough. Air. My thoughts become jumbled. I don't have time to untangle them however as I immediately hear the sound of rushing air. Instinctively I jump away from the spot I was just in. I think I see the vague resemblance of a leg pass through that area.
Trying to catch my breath once again I notice that sound once more. I try to move but my body refuses to budge and I pay for it. More pain. This time on my thigh. My leg crumples backwards and unable to support my weight I topple over. I land with my hands stopping the fall from impacting my front.
Thinking I'd protected my abdomen I'm surprised when I feel a sharp pain radiate from that exact spot a moment later. I roll across the floor and my consciousness becomes hazy. Am I really going to fail? I feel another sharp pain in my stomach. Feels like a heel. They're certainly digging their heels in. The pain in my abdomen tells me so.
For some reason the only thing to come to mind are ridiculous puns to keep myself stable. The pain continues appearing in the same spot over and over. This is it huh? My already blurry surroundings darken once more. I sink into the sea of unconsciousness and figure it's the end of me.
Until I hear a distinctive sound and the pain stops. The sound of a hard impact. Flesh on flesh. My consciousness returns back to me. This time it's not coming from me. Turning my vision towards the noise I try to see what's going on. Of course my vision is still blurry and my consciousness still hazy but I spot a honey coloured blur following the vaguely defined image of a man in front of me.
Upon making contact with the vague man, the honey coloured blur does something I can't quite comprehend and immediately the vague shape of a man is now crumpled on the floor. I let out a little giggle for some reason. Knowing I should be happy about this occurrence but not entirely sure why.
Then even through my hazy mind I hear a voice. I can hear it perfectly but for some reason I can't comprehend the words it's saying. As though I understand the sounds have meaning but can't quite do the mental mix and match quick enough to comprehend it.
Still I make out the vague message of 'are you alright' from the sounds being made. The sounds are coming from the honey coloured figure. They're rather soothing. They almost send me back into unconsciousness but for some reason I fight against that.
She must've noticed the lack of light in my eyes as she conveyed a message similar to 'I'll support her' with those strange sounds again before lifting me up and putting my arm around the honey blur's shoulder.
I walk for an amount of time I can't quite determine in my current consciousness after that. I can still feel the pain in my abdomen and I'm starting to notice other types of pain as well. The sweatiness of my body is only now starting to annoy me as well but I just continue to walk for a while not quite with it enough to do anything else.
Eventually my consciousness returns to me in fragments. First comes the typical questions. Where am I? What am I doing? Why am I doing it? Followed by more specific questions such as Is that Marianne? Is she carrying me? Why do I recognize her? Eventually my mind stopped asking questions and my mouth decided to take up the mantle.
"What am I doing?" I asked sounding dazed even to my own ears. I see Marianne next to me with a gentle smile. A rare sight from her though now that I think about it she always had a weird motherly vibe to her. But now I feel like she's taking care of me and I'm ok with that for some reason. It's soothing.
"What do you remember?" Asked Marianne gently as she carefully lifted my arm off her shoulder and let me walk on my own. My feet are unsteady at first, I wobble as I try to walk and end up wandering left and right without Marianne to support me. I do get a grip after a while however and try to think back and answer Marianne's question.
"Sophie's gone…. New toys... Mainframe... Tommy…. Marianne... mission" My words come out haltingly as I grasp at my memories like trying to catch butterflies in the yard. Every time I get near it felt like my net would just graze past them or they'd fly right through the net in it's entirety.
The moment I said the word mission however it was as though everything snapped into place all at once. I instantly became alert. I scanned my surroundings and confirmed a lack of danger. I also felt the pain in my abdomen and winced. This isn't good.
"Calm down. We are safe. You are still on mission but for now we are safe." Marianne softly repeated we are safe to me soothingly and my wariness lessened. I stopped scanning my surroundings as though there were enemies around every corner and let myself relax a little.
"Do you remember what we're currently doing?" Asked Marianne as gently as possible. It felt like she was handling me as though I was a small animal or a piece of glass. It was what I needed at that point in time but I still found it uncomfortable.
"We're on a mission in Flux's headquarters. I was caught in a trap, burned then fought some guys and lost consciousness I think?" I said repeating my memories out loud to solidify them as fact and not the product of hallucinations which would be entirely possible in my previous state.
"I cannot confirm the trap but yes you were fighting and you appeared to lose consciousness" Affirmed Marianne still in her soothing tone.
"So where are we and what are we doing?" I asked. Not referring to the mission itself of course. I was talking more about the next step of the mission. Hearing me Marianne turned off her comforting mode as it were and got to business.
"Once we walk a little further down this corridor we will find the server room according to the map we were shown." Said Marianne now back into her usual booming voice. What she said though makes sense.
Looking around me the hallway was the same as all the others but the way forward was marked with employee only and Do not enter signs. I have to assume this is at least close to something important. If Mainframe's right this is the server room.
We're so close to our goal. I can't back out now. I feel exhausted and even with the time regaining my consciousness I didn't manage to get a drink or clean my clothes so I feel absolutely awful. Sore throat, sweaty clothes sticking to my skin and I don't have a change of clothes or any water on me either.
"It's only a little longer I guess I can manage." I mumble to myself not actually doing so consciously. Marianne appears to hear however as she shows me a concerned gaze but comments no further.
She simply walks onwards as though she hadn't heard me and attempts to lead me through the hallways. There was almost no sound in these halls. Perhaps because we were not talking and our footsteps were quiet but regardless there should've been the sound of employees, guards, machines yet all of them were utterly quiet.
As reached the end of the hall I saw in front of me what I was expecting. A large guard outpost. Two guards were standing in front of the door their physiques like taught strings ready to spring towards us at any time. Next to them was a reception window similar to the one we first saw on this floor when we came up the stairs.
This time instead of one counter housing an old man and another the young one, this pair was different in all sorts of ways. To start the man on the right counter was asleep while the one on the left had her head on a swivel as though an enemy could pop out from any corner.
As you may have noticed one of the other differences was their gender. The man on the right appeared to be covered in body hair so thick I couldn't actually see his face. That could be because his face was planted on his desk in restful slumber but the thin and hairy arms he was resting on the counter next to his head would suggest I wouldn't be able to tell much if I saw it.
Even in sleep the man made as little movements as possible. His arms didn't so much as twitch neither did his head as it lay down on the hard desk. It hardly seemed like a comfortable sleeping position and yet he was sat there without complaint.
The other counter meanwhile was manned by a woman so unique in her features that it was honestly a little hard to describe her. She was standing straight, her posture rigid and poised, while her head moved erratically looking for signs of movement. But her movements were the only thing normal about her.
Her clothing for example was a number of colours so daring I almost wondered if she wanted to be mistook for a neon sign. Bright blues, neon pinks, reds and oranges so bright they almost seemed like a roaring flame but most of all the odd green and blue pattern that appeared every so often out of nowhere like a grassy field covered in water balls.
Her clothing wasn't the only thing with this colour scheme. On her head was a feather of some sort that matched the blue and green pattern exactly. It would sway with the wind as she moved her head from side to side and was rather striking against the rest of her outfit. Behind her were a number of similar feathers puffing out behind her.
That jogged my memory of what she was. A peacock person. A rather rare species of beastkin who are said to be incredibly flamboyant and a race full of showboats. Despite this they're all a lot like models in a way. In fact there are a lot of peacocks in the modelling industry. Because of how hard they work to reach that goal.
They're very particular about appearances and very industrious when they want to be. They try to learn everything they can from anyone they can about caring for themselves and have managed to get a reputation for their nature of always looking for better beauty methods.
Now that I'd identified her though, I did wonder what she was doing here. She was a peacock and they weren't particularly strong. Sure they were diligent but there's more than diligence that you need from a guard and it's not as though you could generalise an entire species just because the majority of them were like that. It would be incredibly rare to find a peacock who both worked hard and didn't put all that hard work into their appearance.
Yet right in front of me was a peacock woman doing just that and clearly taking it seriously. A little confused I examined her closer and found that appearance wise she was average looking. She had a severe expression in her eyes like a bird of prey but otherwise her appearance was fairly plain ignoring her colour choices.
Looking back at the man sleeping with his head on the table in front of him I actually thought he was somewhat normal as a guard compared to the peacock which was rather strange in and of itself. No one would hire a guard to sleep all day and yet no one, not even the other guards, was reprimanding this guy for sleeping on the job.
They treated this like an every day occurrence and continued on with their work as such. Looking around the room I realised that this room actually opened up quite a bit compared to the hallway we were peeking in from. It was rather wide a good 40m or so.
Even though the halls on this floor were all the same as the ones before them this room appeared quite a bit different. To start, there were pipes lining the walls and ceiling. They all lead into the same wall as the door to the server room so I had to guess they lead in there.
Actually the whole room had a sort of steampunk vibe to it. The floor was a brown metal that appeared similar to tin or copper but obviously wasn't. The pipes mentioned previously were a brown and black mix looking a little like chocolate or perhaps some less appetising examples.
The walls they were stuck to meanwhile was the more standard colour for metal. Grey. Completely ordinary and frankly boring compared to the rest of the room. Both the walls and the ceiling were made from this metallic grey material and I had to wonder why.
I turned to Marianne and asked "So how do we get past this?" Which was the start of the disasters.