Sorry if I didn't make disclaimers before but, characters from Outlast (Chris Walker, Miles Upshur, Richard Trager) are not mine, and belongs to Red Barrels Games! Also, Detentionaire is not mine, as it belongs to Teletoon. However, I do own some of the OC's (excluding Miles).
"SO!"
Trager sprung back to attention after his little confidence boost.
"Now that we got all that stuff out of the way, we get to business now!"
"What kind of business?" I asked.
"Well…I got some things that need to be said on camera!" He responded, gesturing towards my camcorder.
I did as he asked, so I took out my camera.
"So people of…wherever you're from! I am Richard Trager, former employee of Mann Wurst Finnwich." He began with his introduction. "And I'm here to talk about," He took out a big pair of shears, which were the same ones he used before. "The bullshit that this company has led me, and others…to, and my friend here, Miles Upshur reporting, is here to capture this."
"Ok, can I ask you something?" I questioned.
"Hmm, yes." He responded.
"Why…in your brainwashed state, did you mention something about two people from the bible?"
"Ah, Paul and Peter? Well…don't really have an answer for that anymore. I can't explain it, but…here's the definition of Robbing Paul to Pay Peter." He began to walk back and forth, looking at his giant shears. "Ok…so, it means to take something away from someone, leaving them at a disadvantage, and also, leaving one debt behind, having to get into another."
"Does this relate with…your life?" I asked.
"Yeah…" Trager responded with little enthusiasm. "Basically after the fire, I basically lost who I was, my purpose, my honor, even my loved ones, and became a crazy man. Thanks to you however, I got back on track, and remembered what I'm really supposed to do!"
Ok so, he lost everything after the lab incident, which left his family, his original job, and also he left himself! He had his name changed, I'm not too sure if he chose that name, or if the company told him his name is Richard Trager, and not Jeremy Victoria…Then again, he was brainwashed.
"Um…HEY! It's not only me, um…you kind of experienced this?"
He is right on that part, I did lose one of my best friends, and the one who I had a relationship with at one point, and now I have that pain, replaced with the weight of the task of recording the true occurrences within this company, but at the same time, that old pain has come back.
"And also, those damn Pings…" He suddenly mumbled.
"Excuse me?!" I scolded.
"You do know that The Serpent, whose name is L to the I, Li, is part of the Ping family, right?"
"I'm aware of that." I responded.
"The Ping's before the loss, had to do a bunch of running and hiding ever since Korea, and actually…let me see if I still have it."
He reached into a little unorganized cabinet, filled with crumbled papers, and documents.
"Ok, it's gotta be here-! AH! AH! HERE IT IS! So," He slammed the cabinet shut, then approached me with a photograph. "Have you see this before?"
It was a photograph of Lee's mother and father, holding a baby, which was The Serpent.
"Yes, I've seen it. When The Serpent went to the hospital to see his father." I said, recalling the events of that day.
"Well, I guess HE, explained everything about sending you in, right?" He asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"Right…" I murmured.
"NOW, it may seem hard to answer, and heck, you could put your Cam away for this." Trager said.
Ok so, whatever he wants to say, it's not for the camera so, let's hear it.
"How long has it been ever since you saw your parents? Hmmm?"
I just cringed at that question and…just couldn't control myself.
"You OK buddy?!"
I snapped myself back to attention.
"I don't know it's uh…hard to explain."
Trager leaned his forward more closely and said: "Go on…"
"So one day, I'm done University, next thing I know I move into my own apartment, then starting my career as a Journalist about a couple months later, then when I go back to my parents', the house basically was well…deserted, and when I found my own way in, there was basically a sticky note in French."
"So where do you think they went?" Trager questioned.
"Well, I'm not sure to this day. They didn't leave nothin' at all for their own son to find them!"
I couldn't bare thinking of this so, I just slammed my fist against the wall.
"But what it said was…Nous vous aimons fils. Nous sommes désolés. We love you son. We're sorry."
"So what, you think they moved to Paris or something?"
"No…I think they're still in Canada. Actually, I've always overheard them talking about going to Quebec but I can't be sure of where they might be."
I turned around to reach the handle for the door.
"Hold up buddy!"
I kept my grip on the handle door.
"You gonna join the fight?"
"What do you mean 'Join the fight'?"
"When shit hits the fan, will you…ya know, fight with this army, against the invaders?"
I thought for a moment, as much as I would like to fight, and prevent the deaths of people around the earth. I've never killed anyone (except for the couple of hazmat suit robots that I've damaged), is it just to kill them? Or is it defense? Hmm…how did they even get in the pyramid anyway?
"I'm not a fighter, but I'll do everything I can to keep everything safe."
"OH! And…If I don't make it out of this hell hole alive, will you look after her?"
With that, I gave him an unsure nod and left the room, and outside was Jack Charles, who was now wearing a pair of round sunglasses.
"This way Upshur." He said, wagging a finger.
He began to walk, and I followed.
Everyone was still bewildered, looking at the woman in black who was a member of the council, was standing on her feet once more.
"Ok! OK! So, why is she even here?!" Jenny questioned.
"Because, Finnwich says so! She's literally the only person that can help us!" Lynch explained.
"Really?! WHY?!" Lee asked, furiously.
"Miss Kerrigan, you know more than anybody on the old, inactive area of Coral Grove, am I right?" Veronica asked.
"Yes, I do! However…I am afraid there is something that I have not covered." Kerrigan shook.
"I know that MWF had something, but I'm not sure what it is." Lawrence spoke out.
"Actually, didn't one of the founders of the company originally plan for some kind of..." Anna paused for a moment.
"What, Mercenaries?" Jennifer questioned.
"Something like that…?" Anna shrugged.
"Actually, I think I know!"
Everyone turned their attention to Veronica.
"Turn the camera on Tina." She requested.
Tina did as she told, and everyone else continued to listen.
"I believe that Mann Wurst Finnwich used to run not only brainwashing experiments, but a body mutations experiment."
"Body Mutation Experiment?!" Jenny asked, confused.
"She's getting to it! Shh…" Lynch scolded.
"Lynch…Shut up." Lee unenthusiastically said.
"Now…" Veronica continued. "Before any of us came around, I've heard something's about an abandoned project involving genetic changes in a person."
"Woah, woah, woah! Really?!" Jenny asked.
"This doesn't surprise me one bit…" Li said.
"During my imprisonment, and I believe Lawrence, Anna, and Jennifer know this…"
"Chris…" Lawrence grumbled.
"Walker." Jennifer said.
"Chris Walker was one of the first to be tested, is that right?" Anna asked.
"Correct." Veronica responded. "What they tried to do with Walker was, alter his body to warp into a dolphin's...characteristics."
"Everything that she says is true!" Lynch assured.
"Yes, Cassandra needed loyal soldiers, one's who wouldn't question her authority." Kerrigan added.
"And I believe she needed strong ones to. Originally, test subjects were former members of the military." Veronica said.
"Chris unfortunately…he was a failure, at the same time he was a slight success." Veronica said.
"Oh…so what was the whole purpose of Dolphin Soldiers? To swim fast in the water?" Tina jokingly asked.
Everyone (except for Lynch, Kerrigan, and Li) laughed a bit.
"Actually, yes. The goal was to have these soldiers be fairly agile and quick, BUT, not only underwater, but also on land." Kerrigan said.
"But instead, Cassandra had to waste her time with me!" Li scolded.
"Maybe, maybe not." Jennifer said.
"Theoretically yes, Cassandra needed him to be her loyal servant, since the other project was a failure." Lawrence stated.
"Hmm…seems about right…" Jenny nodded.
"OK! Before we lose track of things, are we going to get to the older parts of Coral Grove, or not?" Veronica questioned.
"Actually! There is one slight detail about this project!" Anna blurted out.
"And what's that?!" Everyone questioned.
"Up until the 90's, MWF used nosy staff as test subjects."
"Good thing I typed that e-mail in the 2010's!" Li smirked.
"Hey Mrs. Ping, you've been quiet for a while now." Jennifer said.
"This is a lot to take in, and I still don't know…my husband didn't explain everything to me."
"Padres! Padrets! Are we going to work together?" Lynch asked.
Everyone looked at each other, some of them eying each other fairly closely, then came to a decision.
"Let's take 'em down!" Veronica yelled.
"All in favor of working together?" Sue asked, raising her hand.
Everyone raised their hands. Well…almost everyone.
"My original goal was to find out what was in that pyramid, and also make things that would benefit all of man-kind!" Kerrigan raised her hand. "I'm in, if that's alright with you."
Everyone put down their hands.
"Again, I wish Miles could have been here." Tina said, depressingly.
"Knowing him…I think he's closer than we think." Veronica said.
"How can you be sure?" Tina asked.
"Because," Veronica walked forward ahead of the group, then looked down, closed her eyes, and clenched one of her fists. "I can feel it."
She began to walk forward but…
"We're supposed to be going this way…" Kerrigan said, pointing back down the opposite side.
"Hey um…where's Biffy?" Lee asked.
Miles followed Jack to where it appeared to be an armory and equipment storage, lined up with a variety of rifles and gear. Michael and Mitchell were also in the room.
"So…" Michael clapped his hands, once. "Let's get started."
"Yeah that's right, we're gonna get you dressed up! Yay." Mitchell cheered, in a gloom manner.
"Right, so you've shot a crystallizer, you can handle this!" Michael assured.
"Gentlemen, let's get started."
HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYBODY! And sorry if that was shorter…