"Peri… All the computers are on…" Amethyst said into the walkie talkie,
"What?" Was all she managed to say before Lapis and Amethyst launched towards the door to keep it shut as the experiments began to scratch and bound at in from the outside. Lapis gasped when a hand smashed through the window and almost knocked her away, she barely managed to keep dodging it.
"Great idea Peridot! Now we're sitting ducks out here!" Amethyst grunted into the walkie talkie as they kept struggled to keep the door closed. It was now slightly opening when the monsters would pound and the hands in the window had multiplied.
"Listen I never knew that the computers would all turn on at once! and so suddenly!" Peridot replied from the walkie talkie,
"That's a load of b-"
Suddenly Amethyst was interrupted by a loud thud coming from down the hall, it was so loud that they could feel the impact and the surviving glass that wasn't broken by experiments were shaking. They watched all the monsters run off, chasing after the noise and Lapis left the room as soon as she was sure they where gone.
"Well, that's convenient…" Lapis hums, Amethyst just stared with a gaping mouth. They had been extremely lucky recently.
They continue walking again and decided to investigate what caused the mysterious noise, purposefully avoiding the well lit areas as it made the experiments swarm like moths.
Looking round the corner that the monsters disappeared past, they discovered that a larger fusion had wandered into a ceiling fan and it caused the entire ceiling panel to come down. A metallic smell emanated from the scene and some red liquid hand prints were found on the walls, it was as if something climbed up it. Lapis glanced at Amethyst to confirm what she seen, the short girl remained expressionless as they walked away as quietly as possible.
"Place is falling apart," Amethyst whispered, "Back there?" She pointed to the computer room, "That was close, too close!"
They continued to creep away from the ridiculously lucky event, past the computer room and down the hall. All previous plans of splitting up had left their minds. Amethyst switched off the walkie talkie long enough for them to get a safe distance away, she planned on calling Peridot and ranting about how lucky they were. They never done this of course, Lapis's legs still shook and Amethyst still had the 'I can't believe it' expression of hers. They walked like zombies, fully conscious and alive, but slowly losing sanity.
Amethyst absently turned the radio on and brought it to her face, "Garnet," she said lowly into the device, "I thought that you would call us before you turned the power on…"
"Oops." Was all that she replied,
"OOPS?!" Now enraged, Amethyst marched on ahead all whilst muttering how much she was going to kill the two of them. Lapis genuinely hoped that she was joking.
They took a sharp corner and yelped at they seen two lights pointed at them, Lapis froze when she was looking down the barrel of a gun, it was inches away from her face. She stepped back and (thankfully) seconds later the weapon was put away into the holster, they sighed in relief when it was only Garnet and Peridot. But if it wasn't for Amethyst that kept her up, her knees would have buckled and she would have fallen just from the shock.
"What have I said?!" Peridot turned to Garnet, "Stop pulling out your weapon! You know you can't use it in here!"
"Sorry, it's a habit," Garnet shrugged,
Lapis smiled despite her near death and welcomed the familiar faces. It even made Amethyst forget her anger.
"Finally!" Amethyst grinned and hugged them both, "It took you two long enough!"
"We had to clear out the debris." Peridot blushed and hugged back, "find Pearl?"
"Not yet," Lapis replied, "But we managed to call her, so we know she's down here."
"You have a lot of explaining to do." Amethyst suddenly frowned and crossed her arms, 'Nope, she still demands vengeance.'
"I'm sorry?" Peridot said weakly,
Amethyst looked at her blankly for a moment, then she folded her arms. "It's fine, we're just insanely lucky to be alive, yeah, no biggie." Amethyst huffed, 'I doubt she's fine, but at least she's calmed down.'
"We're happy you guys are okay," Lapis added, it earned a few smiles, "and I'm certain Pearl's okay too, we'll find her."
"Yeah, I mean, how big can this place be?" Amethyst agreed,
Peridot regained her sly smile, "Actually… About that…"
"This place is huge," Garnet replied, "There are three levels that connect with each other and hundreds of possible places where Pearl can be at any given time."
"She said that she would find more rooms with computers if that's of any help," Lapis said quickly, her hands clenched slightly and she gripped the torch tighter,
"It still doesn't change the numbers," Garnet replied, "she may be searching for a specific room but it doesn't mean she will be there."
"Then what can we do?" Amethyst groaned,
Garnet fixed her shades, (that Lapis thought impractical) before finally answering.
"We must split up."
—
Splitting up never really bothered Lapis, she was finally making more progress than she did with Amethyst. Dodging the swinging lamps and running through the darkness, Lapis reached her first set of stairs. She pulled out a walkie talkie that Garnet had given her and decided to report in her progress. It really did feel strange acting like something she wasn't.
"Just go down and try not to get lost." Garnet responded,
"Please don't get lost, we don't need another Pearl." Peridot also responded from Amethyst's device. Lapis was rather happy that Peridot was paired with Amethyst, it was like the brawn and the brain, working together harmoniously. Then again, she knew the real reason Garnet put them together was for them to become closer.
Quickly running down the rusted staircase whilst trying to make as little noise as possible (which was close to impossible), Lapis was in the next floor of the underground base. She gasped at the state it was in, several panels had fallen off the ceiling and blood was splattered all over the walls. Many electronics had been ripped to shreds and sparks where dangerously coming from the lights, papers and documents stained in dried blood were discarded all over the floor and the stench of death was unbearable.
Carefully Lapis began walking through the many hallways, the experiments in this area must have been horrific if it made this many test subjects rampage so violently. By the state it was in, it was safe to assume that this was where it all started.
Lapis continued being careful and checked the holes in the ceiling regularly in-case of ambushes, but everywhere she turned it was just dust and blood.
She clicked on the walkie talkie and decided to ask Peridot about it herself.
"Peridot, do you know how many monsters there are?"
A few seconds later and Peridot responded, "Around about one hundred test subjects at any given time, but I'm sure that half of the 'monsters' you're on about were just like you and me." Lapis's stomach lurched when she seen a limp arm that nearly looked identical to Peridot's. It looked like it was torn off and it lay limply over some rubble, perhaps she was trying to defend herself in her final moments.
"Why are you asking?"
"There's no life on the second floor, it's just… death…" Lapis finally developed a stomach to reply as she looked away from the… other… Peridots arm.
"Then I guess the clones never survived, and it explains what happened to the researchers." Lapis heard Peridots voice again from the walkie talkie, she needed to get out of this area, there was no way Pearl was here. "Look on the bright side! Now we know that there is less than fifty or so monsters!"
Peridot was Not helping.
"I don't think she's this far into the base, I'm returning." Lapis sighed.
Just as Lapis turned to leave and go down the stairs to the third level, she heard someone running behind her. She turned and seen some movement in the darkness. Peridot was saying something to her but she quickly clicked the radio off and carelessly dropped it. She bit her lip, the radio will have to stay on the floor for now.
"Wait!" She called after the figure and began running, she followed them across the table and chairs blocking her way and took corners that they took, but it was no use. She had lost them as soon as they took a right turn in the maze like area, Lapis tried catching her breath and muttered curses as she continued on down the hall.
'Where?-' Some creaking and heavy foot steps answered her question. She sharply took the corner and jumped over a fallen chair, she caught another glance at the figure.
"Please Wait!" Lapis called out to them again, but she was slowly regretting her rash judgement. The figure couldn't have been Pearl, much too big. But it couldn't have been an experiment, they weren't this smart.
Lapis ran round a corner, she had to stop running and catch her breath. The figure was gone once again and more of those red, paint-hands were plastered to the walls and floors. 'Too many hands...' Lapis creeped down the hallway, she already knew that she was lost and this was the only thing that knew it's way around. She raised her torch again, she had cornered the figure and she needed to know what it was, who it was.
Lapis went cold when she seen the figure in the light. It wasn't human. A devious fusion experiment was in front of her, grinning wildly and multiple eyes glaring. It looked like a spider. Each tangled limb had a broken hand painfully keeping them standing on bleeding finger tips, the skin was peeled back slightly and the bones protruded through, several of the hands had paint coating them. 'No.' Lapis corrected herself, '...blood.'
It wore a ragged hospital gown, torn at the edges and covered in grime. 'MAL-0613' pasted on it.
It was a project.
A project like Lapis...
A failed project...
She heard another figure run past her and she glanced back. It was long enough for the monster to creep up the walls and hide in the ceiling, successfully escaping to kill her off later.
It was the spider and Lapis was caught in it's web.
Lapis heard the running again.
She was going to die.
Before she knew it something smacked into her side and she was thrown to the floor.