Chapter Thirty-6: Satanic Flashback
"Warning! Building stability is unstable. Floors one hundred and up has reached critical stability. All personnel, evacuate immediately!"
Tange jumped out of the way as both Diablos smashed their menacing claws into the metal door, creating a deep gash in it. "Can't you guys just give me a break and let me go!" He shouted as the towering duo slowly turned to face him. "I've only got a few rounds in the .44, there's not plenty to go around..."
Both seekers stood their ground, looking at him strangely. "And now you make matters worse. You give me the eye. Well, I am the cause of the future collaspsing of the building, I guess I can't blame you for wanting to hump my leg."
He made a face and fired the .44 at the perfect conditioned Diablo. With the round aimed for the head, the sword like claw came in between its face and the traveling bullet.
Ka-chk-shing! To his dismay, Tange smiled, for the round disconnected the sword-like claw from the Diablo's arm. The blade-like talon clattered onto the ground and Tange pulled the trigger again at the other Diablo firing a round into its kneecap.
Black goo, shot out of the wound and the Diablo faltered a bit, as the second charged Tange head on like a raging bull.
He jumped forward towards the talon and cartwheeled underneath the charging bastard's extended arm. Tange snatched the talon and held it firmly in both hands, funny... feels like a sword.
He swung the talon around a bit, getting used to its weird way of holding it. "In the words of Dusty... I say: DIE BITCHES!"
Tange turned around and ran forward and eyed as the Diablo prepared for another charge. Diablo charged, both now heading for a head on collision course.
Diablo extended both its arms out to the side as Tange performed a cartwheel. Going under its extended arm again, he flung the talon up and heard a clean tearing noise.
Getting to his feet and turning around, he saw the huge arm of the Diablo lying on the floor, in a puddle of forming black goo. Several feet ahead, the armless menace turned around and looked at its arm on the ground and let out a huge roar.
Tange charged the spike-less tyrant and swung the talon through its neck, decapitating it. The headless body fumbled, taking twitching steps before falling forward.
There was now the second Diablo left, fully recovered from the blow to its knee. But, before it could make a move, Tange decapitated it as well-
"Advanced?" He snorted dropping the talon.
"Umbrella Surveillance Building Critical. All floors must be evacuated at once. All locks released. Fifteen minutes calculation before building collapses."
After the message the doors to the elevator opened.
"We've underestimated both of them long enough." Osiris said, "And it's time to scratch them from the list."
Two more operators had joined Dehorn a few hours after Project Ghost was activated. "What do you reckon we do?" Dehorn asked.
Osiris smirked looking at the status of Ghost from a LCD monitor, "Time to send out the weapons."
"Are you sure, sir?" Dehorn said, typing away at the laptop.
"I'm positive. Send a chopper to the power plant. And give new directives to Ghost: Have her stats maxed out. Strength, speed, the works and have her make her way to the plant."
Surge and Orchid crashed through a pair of metal double doors and stopped at the sight of rows of LCD screens, computers, and the gigantic structure that was positioned in the triangle shaped room; the generator.
"Hmm, no one here." He said, "This is very awkward."
Orchid caught up with him as he walked towards the generator. "How are we gonna take that thing out with no explosives?"
"You're the one with the grenade launcher. Improvise."
Orchid smirked slinging the launcher into her arms and aimed at the lava lamp shaped generator and pumped a round.
A trail of smoke jetted out towards the generator and a huge flash of light engulfed the room. Half a second later, the noise hit of the collapsing of metal and burning of fire.
"We're not going to see that again for a while," Orchid remarked throwing the launcher to the ground, "That was the last one."
"Structure stability critical. Ten minutes until sequential floor collapse. Elevators offline. Power offline. Switching to emergency power. All personnel evacuate immediately."
"Fuck!" Surge shouted, as both of them ran for the double doors once again.
"Great, what the fuck is with these computers? What about emergency power to the elevators as well!" Orchid commented as they ran down the laser hallway, leaping over the cleanly slaughtered corpses.
They came to where the elevator docked and found nothing but a huge gap before them.
Surge made a face looking at her, "Shit! Across this area were I got off there was a stairway access point."
Orchid grinned as she noticed a red box labeled Emergency evacuation. She crouched down next to it and found to buttons, one blinking. Figuring that the blinking light meant a good thing, she pressed it.
There was a loud clicking noise and the bottom of the red box opened and a long contraption shot down, extending to an incredible length.
A ladder. Orchid and Surge glanced down over the ledge seeing the ladder still extending and seconds later heard the clatter of metal meeting marble floor.
"Who's going to go first?" Surge asked. "You?"
"Exactly. Orchid said already starting her way down the ladder, "If it was you, you'd slow both of us down."
"Why?"
"Because you would be looking at my ass. Besides without you doing that, it lowers the risk of you falling off."
Surge smirked, "Good point."
The elevator came to a halting stop midway between floors. The jerk of the abrupt stop nearly sent Tange off his feet. Cursing under his breath he stood straight up and wondered what to do next.
The lights went out but soon came back on via emergency power and Tange could see his surroundings again.
And that marble door hatch on the floor. Tange approached it and opened the hatch which revealed a set of cables and a lever which had a two way setting, Auto and Manual.
He grabbed the lever and shifted it down to manual-
and was nearly hit in the face as the cables shot out through the floor. Tange saw that the cables were strung around a pulley mechanism.
Tange examined it and found a knob set against a gear. He grabbed the knob and pulled it from its place and the gear began spinning at a fast speed, getting faster every second.
The circular elevator gave a jerk and began journeying down, half the speed it was supposed to go. But since this was a manual and not running on electricity, it better get my ass down in time.
Just then, his senses suddenly gave him a warning; he didn't know how he sensed it, reaction maybe? Anyway, he looked up and gasped as a huge dark figure came from above towards the elevator.
"Shit!" He said to himself as he jumped out of the way of the falling figure, why can't Corin just have a break and blow it out his ass?
For the first time in a long time, Tange was surprised. The figure was not Corin. So, since it wasn't him, then it was probably an Umbrella fuck who lost his balance on the upper floors.
But, the figure landing on both feed, crushing the marble surface between their feet. So, it wasn't an Umbrella fuck. Tyrant? No. Dressed too neatly.
Tange couldn't see the figures face due to the gas mask it was wearing. The figure stood about a foot taller then him and packed some serious equipment; None of them fire-arms.
That came to a surprise as well. All the figure had were two swords equipped to his back. The figure also wore a suit. Similar to what the Osiris was wearing when Tange met him. Stylish.
Before Tange could say anything, the figure spoke. "Long time no see, Tange."
He smirked taking a step back, "Do I know you?"
The figure laughed, the voice muffled due to the mask, "Neither do I." The figure then placed both hands on the mask and pulled it off slowly.
With the figures face fully unmasked, Tange's head was quickly filled with confusion, "Dusty?"
"So..." Dusty said, "That's what I was called when I died. Surprised to see me Tange?"
"Confused. But... you're dead."
Dusty smiled wickedly, this is going to get ugly! The smiled faded quickly, "True, I did. But, that doesn't matter now."
Tange set his hand on the butt of his .44 as he took another step back, "Why? What are you doing here?"
Dusty made eye contact with him with now glowing red eyes. Red eyes? Holy shit! "To get Corin, so he can meet his... sister."
"Are you sure? Not for revenge for getting shot in the back of the head."
Dusty laughed again, the laugh not completely human. It was as if there were two voices going off at once: the laugh and a sort of growling noise. "No, Tange. Revenge has nothing to do with it. I'm dead. Everything to see that resembles Dusty is no longer him."
"Okay, there goes about half my questions." Tange said adding in the hint of sarcasm. "So, I'll just be heading my own way-"
"That would be very inappropriate." Dusty, "You see, not only will I get him, I will kill all I approach."
Tange smirked, "Meaning, you've gone mad?"
"Enough!" Dusty shouted, "Die!"
Already knowing that he was going to use, Tange drew the magnum and fired as Dusty charged, hitting him in the head.
Dusty stumbled back, now with a hole in his forehead. Tange was expecting the pour of blood from the wound but there was none at all. Instead, he watched as Dusty growled-
and a read pentagram appeared on his cheek, glowing brightly. Red lines then grew out from the pentagram and surrounded the wound. Tange also noticed another insignia, engraved directly over the pentagram.
"What the fuck?" Tange said, completely surprised and disturbed on what the fuck he was seeing right now.
Dusty stopped growling as the two symbols disappeared and the magnum wound no longer there. He then looked at Tange and smiled, "Oh, the look on your face..."
"What are you?"
Dusty pulled out one of the swords and pointed it at Tange, "Let me show you."
The elevator then stopped and everything around Tange turned to a swirling blur. The blur then dissolved revealing flames burning high into the dark abyss that lay above.
Dusty was still in front of him, smiling as he put his sword away. "Welcome. To Hell."
Before Tange could say anything, Dusty disappeared into thin air, leaving him all alone in the burning hell hole. He hoped that this was a dream and that he would wake up back to his reality.
The setting began to change. First a wall dropped down to his left, another to his right. He looked down and saw the dirt ground disappear and a floor suddenly came up below his feet. And lastly, the ceiling then appeared.
Tange was now in a complex, and it was looking very familiar. It was the Blue Umbrella labs from Scrapeson he was in. Voices then entered his ears, which were coming from further down the corridor.
He ran until he got into an opening were a group of four people stood. His eyes grew big to what he was seeing. Himself! Along with Caitlyn, Dusty, and Corin.
Apparently, they didn't notice him, "This is were Dusty died." He then said to himself.
He watched and saw Dusty turn around and run. Behind him, Corin drew his weapon and fired. The back of his head exploded and the round blew out of mouth, along with the exiting of blood as well.
Before Dusty hit the ground, the setting changed again. Next, he was gazing over Scrapeson and noticed the nuclear missile making its way towards the city. It hit the city and a devastating boom erupted loudly. Tange watched from the sky as a shock wave went through the city, turning buildings to waste. And then came the next wave that would burn the city to a crisp.
A ring of fire expanded through the city, igniting everything immediately to flames and stopped as it hit the mountains. Then the setting changed.
Tange was back in the labs after the explosion, the same area were Dusty was killed. He didn't know the lab still held, but there were support beams, glass, and rubble polluting the area.
Near Dusty's body were a group of U.S. army troops loading his body into a body bag.
The setting began to change again. That was what Tange thought. Instead, the whole room was engulfed in flames, for no real reason. The soldiers began screaming as they caught fire, trying desperately to escape to the elevator. Minutes passed and the flames died down and the elevator doors opened.
A female figure then stepped out, her face covered by the darkness of the room, who is she? The setting then changed again and Tange was now in an unfamiliar location.
It looked like a ritual room. Again there was the lady standing over a body. Dusty. He was lying on a pentagram, carved into the ground, that explains the pentagram on his cheek, but what about the other symbol?
More people then entered the room, all dressed in black robes, their faces covered in black masks.
The room then grew dark as they all began chanting in unison. The chant itself was creepy and beginning to annoy Tange which made him wonder when the setting was going to change again. As the chanting grew louder, the pentagram began to glow blue.
The woman then walked to the pentagram and held a sword which had the symbol engraved onto the handle. She went of the other side of the pentagram and faced everyone and held the sword up, preparing to plunge its blade into Dusty's chest.
The room brightened up even more with the amount of light the pentagram was letting out, and Tange was able to see her face. She was not what he expected, she was beautiful. And then he noticed her eyes. They were similar to what Corin's eyes looked like, "Sister?"
She plunged the sword into Dusty's chest and the chant grew even louder. She began shouting her own words as she held the sword down, sinking it even deeper into his chest, "RISE! PLAGAS! RISE! RISE!"
The blue light from the pentagram then quickly faded away and the room lighting went back to normal.
Tange looked at Dusty's body and saw his eyes open, now red in color. He then spoke two words in a distorted voice, "Yes... Master."
He looked at Dusty with complete confusion as he was now being pulled away from the scene. The setting broke down and he was then thrust back onto the elevator.
A second after he was back to the real world, he quickly jumped to the side as a blade came down towards him, missing him by inches.
"You're faster then I anticipated!" Dusty screamed lifting the sword up.
Tange ran into him, tackling him to the floor. Before he could give Dusty a punch to the mouth, he was thrust up in the air. Tange landed on his feet eyed the pulley system that was lowering the elevator.
"Two minutes until collapsing of upper floors. All personnel evacuate now!"
The elevator wasn't going fast enough. Before he could shoot the cable which was connected to the system, he caught the flat end of the blade between his hands.
Dusty was still pushing the captured blade towards Tange. Tange was struggling to stay on his feet and broke the blade, quickly faced the pointed end at Dusty, and plunged into his neck.
As he heard Dusty drop the broken sword, Tange ran around him and withdrew the other sword from Dusty and swung the blade at the back of his knees. He stumbled forward as he tried pulling the blade out of his neck.
Tange then ran the sword into Dusty's lower spinal area and heard the growling come from him again. He was then kicked in the chest and flew back, pulling the sword from his back as well and fell onto the marble floor.
Dusty got the blade out of his neck and threw it at Tange. He moved out of the way as the blade struck into the surface.
He got to his feet holding the sword in his hands, ready to take down anything. Expecting Dusty to charge him, he didn't. Dusty roared his inhuman roar, put his hands together and slammed them onto the ground.
The whole elevator shattered like glass and both of them began their free fall to the surface.
"Orchid, we have a big ass problem!" Surge screamed as he saw the elevator above him explode into pieces.
"What!"
"Move faster!"
"You move faster!" Orchid shouted.
Surge looked down at her and saw her already at the bottom. He was just eight feet from the floor. "Shit!" He cried as he then jumped from the ladder and landed on the ground next to her.
They then looked up again and jumped out of the way as marble rubble began raining down onto the floor.
Fifty floors from the ground, they both fell. Dusty grabbed Tange by his collar and punched him in the face. Tange returned the favor grabbing on to him and nailed him a few times when Dusty let go.
Tange then kicked him in the side and swung the sword again, slicing Dusty's torso. He growled in frustration and slammed Tange in the chest.
The ground grew bigger and thinking fast, Tange rammed the sword through Dusty's side and grabbed him and guided him to the front of him. He was going to use Dusty's body to cushion his fall.
BOOM! That was the only sound Tange heard as they both hit the ground, or shall he say, Dusty hit the ground. Tange's plan actually worked with Dusty's body cushioning his fall, despite the pain he now had in his hands.
Dusty lay motionless on the ground and Tange got up and spotted Orchid and Surge staring at him.
"Who the fuck is that?" Orchid said.
Tange smiled as he grouped up with them, "An old friend."
Note: Sorry for the long wait. I just got a job and I'm in shit up to my knees. I'll get the next chapter up as fast as I can.