R E V E N G E
Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story.
Chapter 1: Darkness
It was dark that night, and very quiet around the Baenre Technologies building. A light breeze blew through the alleyways lifting discarded papers and dust clouds for a moment, before dropping them again. Dan was glad he was inside the building. He had been assigned the night watch shift along with his friend Kyle. All they had to do was watch the security cameras until morning.
Dan looked over to the football game his Drow friend was watching. "Who's winning?" he asked.
"Other team by seven points," Kyle replied.
Dan took a sip of water and returned his attention to the security monitors. A flicker on one of the screens caught his attention, but nothing was there. I must be tired, he thought, and reclined in his chair a bit more.
"No way, he caught it!" Kyle yelled. "He's going for it! Come on buddy, make that touchdown..." Then the lights went out, along with the TV.
"Dammit!" Kyle pounded the desk in frustration.
"Power outage, bummer," Dan said.
"No," Kyle replied, "The top left screens are still on."
"Breaker must have blown then."
"Yeah," Kyle said. "Take a flashlight upstairs and see if you can find it. I'll stay here and reset the computers on backup power."
Dan nodded and walked out the door, flashlight in hand. He quickly turned the light on as he entered total darkness and walked up the stairs to the top floor. There was a long, dark hallway at the top, with rooms and other hallways branching off from it.
"What does it take to run a building like this?" he muttered to himself. He flashed the light around, looking for some clue as to where he should start.
"Ah dammit.." Dan headed down a hallway to his left. Doors were spaced along the walls, each with a convenient label. The darkness seemed to close in even more on the man, grinding at his nerves as he walked along, searching for the electrical maintenance room.
It wasn't quite a fear of darkness, but more a feeling of vulnerability. His eyes could only see as far as the flashlight's beam extended, and even then it wasn't illuminating a wide enough area. An attack could come from any one of the shadows beside him, and he wouldn't be able to see his attacker in time.
Dan shook his head and shrugged off his uneasiness. Why would someone be up here at this time of night? He opened a door labeled 'Electrical' and walked in.
Electrical boxes lined every wall of the room, and conduits ran along the ceiling, through the floor and between boxes. Fans in the ceiling sucked hot air out, and blew cool air in, keeping the room at a reasonable temperature, but making it all the noisier.
"Can't even hear yourself think," Dan grumbled to himself as he scanned the room for a red light indicating that the corresponding breaker had blown. He frowned upon seeing that every light was green. There was one section though that was black.
"The hell?" he muttered as he walked over and found three breakers laying on the floor, a mess of wires cluttering three empty slots in the electrical box. He knelt down and picked up one of the heavy breakers. A white sticker on the front labeled it as the 23rd floor breaker: the floor that the security room was on.
Dan took out his radio and called Kyle on the security channel. "Kyle, you there?" He waited a moment, then called again upon hearing no immediate response.
After another pause, Kyle replied, "What's up?"
"I found three disconnected breakers up here. Breakers to the security floor, attic and floor 18."
"Come again?" Kyle called back.
The radio erupted into intense static for a brief moment, then went normal. "What the hell?" Dan wondered aloud, then paused when he heard a very faint noise, and felt the floor vibrate.
Only one thing could make a concrete floor vibrate like that: the freight elevator. "Kyle!" Dan called, suddenly serious. "Grab your gun and get down to floor 18!"
Dan got up and ran out the door, as Kyle replied, "Roger that!" The vibrations through the floor intensified as the freight elevator passed the attic floor. Dan reached the bottom of the stairs as Kyle passed, and caught up with him in a matter of seconds.
"What's going on?" Kyle asked as they reached the passenger elevator.
Dan punched the "Down" button and replied, "The freight elevator is down at 18. Nobody should be on that floor this late at night."
The elevator doors opened, and half a minute later, Dan and Kyle emerged on floor 18, guns ready.
"Where are they?" Kyle whispered.
Dan shook his head and slowly walked forward, sweeping the hallways with his gun. They continued down the main hallway, passing a sign that read, "Floor 18: Weapons Development."
Kyle paused to let his eyes revert to the infrared spectrum, then continued down another hallway, peering into the weapons labs through thick glass windows. In the blur of colors created by the heat in the building, he barely made out a figure moving behind a worktable.
Spotting a pair of red-glowing eyes, Kyle darted past the window and backed against the wall, bringing his gun up. Checking to make sure the safety was off, he slipped around the corner and yelled, "Freeze!"
The pair of eyes whirled around, then disappeared. Kyle's sharp sense of hearing picked up a muttered curse word and the sound of a clip being loaded into a gun. He then heard a high pitched whistle before the Drow behind the work table jumped up and fired a round of shots.
Kyle dropped and rolled to the right, planted his feet and brought his gun up to fire three shots at the glowing figure coming towards him. The figure weaved through the shots with impossible agility, and fired another round.
A glowing blue light illuminated the room then, as a magical portal opened and three more Drow stepped through, called by the magical whistle the other Drow had blown.
One of the Drow muttered an incantation and waved his hands in Kyle's direction. Kyle immediately felt his limbs stiffen from the binding spell. Damn, he thought as he helplessly watched Dan come around the corner, only to be frozen as well. Didn't see that coming.
Dan and Kyle were ignored then, as the other Drow went to work. A table was flipped out of the way, equipment was thrown carelessly aside as they made room for a hovertruck that had been parked in the hall. One Drow wizard signaled a worker to move some equipment in front of a pallet, then signaled another to get the truck.
As the equipment was moved out of the way, Kyle got a glimpse of what was on the pallet. Shit, so that's what they're after! The device on the pallet consisted of four metal cylinders surrounding a larger cylinder covered in magnetic coils and rubber hoses. This was one of the most advanced devices in the building. This was the Discharger.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story.
Chapter 1: Darkness
It was dark that night, and very quiet around the Baenre Technologies building. A light breeze blew through the alleyways lifting discarded papers and dust clouds for a moment, before dropping them again. Dan was glad he was inside the building. He had been assigned the night watch shift along with his friend Kyle. All they had to do was watch the security cameras until morning.
Dan looked over to the football game his Drow friend was watching. "Who's winning?" he asked.
"Other team by seven points," Kyle replied.
Dan took a sip of water and returned his attention to the security monitors. A flicker on one of the screens caught his attention, but nothing was there. I must be tired, he thought, and reclined in his chair a bit more.
"No way, he caught it!" Kyle yelled. "He's going for it! Come on buddy, make that touchdown..." Then the lights went out, along with the TV.
"Dammit!" Kyle pounded the desk in frustration.
"Power outage, bummer," Dan said.
"No," Kyle replied, "The top left screens are still on."
"Breaker must have blown then."
"Yeah," Kyle said. "Take a flashlight upstairs and see if you can find it. I'll stay here and reset the computers on backup power."
Dan nodded and walked out the door, flashlight in hand. He quickly turned the light on as he entered total darkness and walked up the stairs to the top floor. There was a long, dark hallway at the top, with rooms and other hallways branching off from it.
"What does it take to run a building like this?" he muttered to himself. He flashed the light around, looking for some clue as to where he should start.
"Ah dammit.." Dan headed down a hallway to his left. Doors were spaced along the walls, each with a convenient label. The darkness seemed to close in even more on the man, grinding at his nerves as he walked along, searching for the electrical maintenance room.
It wasn't quite a fear of darkness, but more a feeling of vulnerability. His eyes could only see as far as the flashlight's beam extended, and even then it wasn't illuminating a wide enough area. An attack could come from any one of the shadows beside him, and he wouldn't be able to see his attacker in time.
Dan shook his head and shrugged off his uneasiness. Why would someone be up here at this time of night? He opened a door labeled 'Electrical' and walked in.
Electrical boxes lined every wall of the room, and conduits ran along the ceiling, through the floor and between boxes. Fans in the ceiling sucked hot air out, and blew cool air in, keeping the room at a reasonable temperature, but making it all the noisier.
"Can't even hear yourself think," Dan grumbled to himself as he scanned the room for a red light indicating that the corresponding breaker had blown. He frowned upon seeing that every light was green. There was one section though that was black.
"The hell?" he muttered as he walked over and found three breakers laying on the floor, a mess of wires cluttering three empty slots in the electrical box. He knelt down and picked up one of the heavy breakers. A white sticker on the front labeled it as the 23rd floor breaker: the floor that the security room was on.
Dan took out his radio and called Kyle on the security channel. "Kyle, you there?" He waited a moment, then called again upon hearing no immediate response.
After another pause, Kyle replied, "What's up?"
"I found three disconnected breakers up here. Breakers to the security floor, attic and floor 18."
"Come again?" Kyle called back.
The radio erupted into intense static for a brief moment, then went normal. "What the hell?" Dan wondered aloud, then paused when he heard a very faint noise, and felt the floor vibrate.
Only one thing could make a concrete floor vibrate like that: the freight elevator. "Kyle!" Dan called, suddenly serious. "Grab your gun and get down to floor 18!"
Dan got up and ran out the door, as Kyle replied, "Roger that!" The vibrations through the floor intensified as the freight elevator passed the attic floor. Dan reached the bottom of the stairs as Kyle passed, and caught up with him in a matter of seconds.
"What's going on?" Kyle asked as they reached the passenger elevator.
Dan punched the "Down" button and replied, "The freight elevator is down at 18. Nobody should be on that floor this late at night."
The elevator doors opened, and half a minute later, Dan and Kyle emerged on floor 18, guns ready.
"Where are they?" Kyle whispered.
Dan shook his head and slowly walked forward, sweeping the hallways with his gun. They continued down the main hallway, passing a sign that read, "Floor 18: Weapons Development."
Kyle paused to let his eyes revert to the infrared spectrum, then continued down another hallway, peering into the weapons labs through thick glass windows. In the blur of colors created by the heat in the building, he barely made out a figure moving behind a worktable.
Spotting a pair of red-glowing eyes, Kyle darted past the window and backed against the wall, bringing his gun up. Checking to make sure the safety was off, he slipped around the corner and yelled, "Freeze!"
The pair of eyes whirled around, then disappeared. Kyle's sharp sense of hearing picked up a muttered curse word and the sound of a clip being loaded into a gun. He then heard a high pitched whistle before the Drow behind the work table jumped up and fired a round of shots.
Kyle dropped and rolled to the right, planted his feet and brought his gun up to fire three shots at the glowing figure coming towards him. The figure weaved through the shots with impossible agility, and fired another round.
A glowing blue light illuminated the room then, as a magical portal opened and three more Drow stepped through, called by the magical whistle the other Drow had blown.
One of the Drow muttered an incantation and waved his hands in Kyle's direction. Kyle immediately felt his limbs stiffen from the binding spell. Damn, he thought as he helplessly watched Dan come around the corner, only to be frozen as well. Didn't see that coming.
Dan and Kyle were ignored then, as the other Drow went to work. A table was flipped out of the way, equipment was thrown carelessly aside as they made room for a hovertruck that had been parked in the hall. One Drow wizard signaled a worker to move some equipment in front of a pallet, then signaled another to get the truck.
As the equipment was moved out of the way, Kyle got a glimpse of what was on the pallet. Shit, so that's what they're after! The device on the pallet consisted of four metal cylinders surrounding a larger cylinder covered in magnetic coils and rubber hoses. This was one of the most advanced devices in the building. This was the Discharger.