Silence.
The only thing that could be heard as Junko ; clad in a crudely craft Carbize Suit with a glowing ring of Firebolt Crystals draped around his waist and a specially tailored Gas Mask around his mouth, walked slowly down the corridor to the engine room.
WARNING! TIME TILL DETONATION : 4 HOURS 58 MINUTES
Ignoring the blazing heat wave that was seeping out of the slit between the door to the Engine Room Junko continued to walk.
Held in his hand where 2 Lure Crystal Rods, fresh of the grinder and created by Radarr himself. The bright blue glow was comforting in light of what Junko was about to do.
Junko didn't know much about Radiation, all he knew was that it killed and it couldn't be cured. This is probably the reason why he was the first one to be picked. In simplicity the self-explanatory word 'Deception' immediately comes to mind in view of Junko being picked, the remaining Storm Hawks knew about Junko's lack of knowledge about Radiation or the Reactor for that matter, or the sheer danger that it presented. This is why they picked him. True, it was cruel and utterly harsh in all manners, taking advantage of someone the Storm Hawks loved was probably one of the most irreparably horrible things that could be done, especially in light of the fact that there Deception of Junko may well lead to his death.
But it was too late to contemplate the matters, what was done had been done and even if Aerrow wanted to call of Junko's incursion into the Engine Room it would be too late.
Silence again.
Junko had reached the door to the Engine Room, peaking through the slit gap between the two doors the large grey eyes of the Wallop widened as he saw an almost evil red light emitting from behind the Reactor's door.
'Junko?' a voice came through on the Radio 'How you doing?'
Junko gulped. 'Um..Aerrow?' his shaky voice said 'Are you sure about this?'
On the other end of the Radio, sitting on a stool in the Bridge, barricaded behind the door to the corridor and the pile of rubble assembled next to it an upset Aerrow sat. He didn't like what he had done or what he was about to do, in fact he felt like he had betrayed the Storm Hawks. Sending one of his team on a suicide mission for a plan that might not even work? Not a good enough excuse for such trickery.
Aerrow's voice was solemn, now he would have to live with it and probably with the fact that he may have caused the likely death of his friend, his lip quivered. 'Yeah Junko, I'm sure. Its only 5 minutes, okay?'
Junko gulped again, small clusters of sweat were running down his forehead.
'Remember, Junko' Aerrow's voice said again 'Rip out the Coils from the Stabilising Tray and put the two rods in place off it, if you can get this done in below 5 minutes then good'
Junko nodded although no one was there to see it.
'Good luck' Aerrow said quietly.
Aerrow turned his head nodded towards Stork, perched between Stork's Arms was Dosimeter, its arrow pointing in the green sector, 'Radiation Levels Normal'.
Slowly but steadily Junko reached for the Door Switch, his breathing became heavy. It was hard summoning up the courage to press the button, but Junko stayed strong even amongst the spiralling fear and firmly he pressed the button…
The doors opened.
Immediately the Dosimeter between Stork's arms began to click, the arrow began to slowly climb its way from the green sector to the blue sector, 'Radiation Levels Rising'.
A massive heat wave struck Junko as soon as he entered the Engine Room, a dense and dull red fog covered everything, even the Reactor. Condensation was slowly forming on the Reactor and the windows of the Engine Room, and above all the bright red light from the reactor was slowly seeping out from its doors, like some devil trying to escape its realms.
Walking slowly over to the Reactor door an intense burning began to throb in Junko's lungs, he wheezed trying to get the vital oxygen to his lungs, movement became sluggish and the effort of clambering over to the Reactor Door's became harder and harder. But reaching them Junko violently grabbed the two doors and separated them with his swelling fists. As soon as the doors slid open the bright red light suddenly became an extremely intense blaze of light and Junko pulled his hand up trying to shield himself from the intense exothermic reactions that the battered Stabilising Compounds where undergoing.
Gazing horrified at the Stabilising Compounds Junko had time to look at his fist and watch as the skin began to slowly peel off, he cried out and looked around for something for shield himself with. But there was nothing, only the Lure Rods remained blunt in his hand.
Scrapping the idea of Shielding himself Junko grasped the Lure Rods and with all the strength his dangerously irradiated body could muster he slammed against the Stabilising Compounds. The Force of Junko's attack with the Lure Rods wasn't having much effect and Junko swung the Rods at the Stabilising Compound Coils again, still no or little movement from the Coils.
Finally realising that hitting the Coils with the rods was ineffective Junko lunged out and screamed as his fists pounded the Coils dislodging them violently and flinging them across the interior of the Reactor Vessel.
With Radiation closing in on all sides Junko's body began to falter, dangerously. With his last ounce of strength he grasped the two Lure Rods and pushed them in place of the Coils ignoring the excruciating metallic screech as they grinded between the Stabilising Compound Rigs.
Back in the Bridge Aerrow paced up and down continuously looking at the clock suspended from the wall.
'How long has Junko been?' he blurted out.
Stork shrugged, the Dosimeter between his Arms had begun to click more rapidly with the arrow approaching the yellow sector, 'Radiation Levels Abnormal'
'3 Minutes 28 Seconds' Piper replied, the quietness in her voice was an obvious sign of anxiety.
Aerrow began to pace faster and faster with the frustration building up, Radarr just continued to watch, unhappily.
Exhausted beyond belief from the Radiation, Junko couldn't find the strength to even pick himself up or dismember the vomit filled Gas-Mask. Crawling out of the Reactor and grabbing for anything that could pull him along the pain of sheer contact with anything was too much to bear, but letting go now would be downright suicide, Junko knew that for sure.
Having managed to pull himself to the open door all that was needed to do was to exit the Engine Room and await retrieval from the Storm Hawks, Junko only wondered if they would retrieve him either alive or dead and judging by the horrendous suffering he was now victim too, chances on the 'Alive' option were excruciatingly slim.
In the Bridge the uneasy silence that had settled in was soon shattered by a quiet clunk from deep within the Engine Room Corridor.
Aerrow's eyes widened, Radarr's ears pricked up.
'He's alive!!' Aerrow blurted out in joy.
Smiles instantly formed on the faces of the Storm Hawks, grabbing there Gas-Masks and Firebolt Rings they clambered over to the barricade and began to tear violently at the rubble. 'Just hang in there Junko!!' Aerrow thought, 'Just hang in there!!'
But what they were expecting and what they got where two different things.
The Storm Hawks dashed down the corridor to the crumpled body of Junko, Aerrow gaped in horror at the sight of hideously burnt skin and murky blood seeping from Junko's Body. It seemed like they were too late.
Frantically Aerrow grabbed Junko's Swollen arm and hoisted it over his shoulder, 'Junko!? You alright? Can you hear me!?' he yelled from inside his Gas Mask.
Junko slowly lifted his head up.
Piper screamed.
Grey eyes were now bloodshot orbs of black pupils, the small horn of Junko's nose was now a puffed out mess of puss and semi-solid bone, blood was pouring from his gums and his tongue had turned a most disgusting black colour. But the skin on his face….
It was too horrible.
Stork promptly threw up at the sight of Junko's face.
Radarr looked away trying to shield himself from the fear and the sheer horror of the fact that it was happening again…
Just like 1 month ago.
