(Recommended listening: "Main Theme Sentou 1" from the Freezing OST)
Vela took off her boots and put one foot in the still water, testing it for temperature. The ripples rand from her toes to the edges of the pool. It was definitely cold, but not too cold. It smelled clean, and she could see straight to the bottom. She put her boots back on, flipping a switch on the side of each. The boots transformed around her feet, clinging to her skin and filling in between her toes.
The Nanotech military issue boots by Adidas were her favorite by far. They could adapt to nearly any situation, including water environments, in an instant. Popular among exercise fanatics, the only downside was their inability to take extreme heat.
A thin skin stretched between her toes and extended outward, webbing for increased maneuverability in water. Vela stepped back into the water, taking several deep breaths as the water crept up around her legs, thighs, stomach, and torso. After another deep breath, she plunged her head under the water, acclimating her body to the surrounding temperature.
She looped around the small pool a few times, stretching her muscles and warming up while taking longer and longer breaths. It was calming for Vela, being able to relax and do something mind consuming. It kept her from thinking about other things. Like her brother.
Vela stopped swimming and treaded water. When the Admiral had given them the go ahead for the mission she'd felt great. It was a chance for her to feel needed again. That chance was overshadowed, though, by her own brother. He was better at everything. Planning, attacking, seeing the small details… compared to him, Vela couldn't help but feel useless, even light years from home. Useless to the military, useless to the Tribals, even useless to her own brother.
"He just… doesn't get it," Vela could feel her blood starting to boil. Taking one last breath, She held it in her lungs and dove beneath the surface, towards the exit to the drains.
A small beeping noise from the main console drew Amos' attention to the screen. The Life Signs radar, which had been blank only a moment before, now showed a gigantic red blob near Vela's location. Just as soon as it appeared, it and Vela's faded to black as if they were never there.
Better safe than sorry, he thought to himself as he grabbed a hand held radio. "Vela, do you copy?"
Silence answered him, and Amos tried again. "Vela?"
"Amos, what's wrong?" Juno's voice patched in on the radio.
"I just saw something on the Life Signs detector. A huge reading came through for about two seconds near Vela before disappearing again. I thought it was a glitch, but now I can't reach her at all, and her own life sign is gone, too."
For about ten seconds, there was silence on the line. Juno's voice came though, slow and deliberate.
"If the Drains area is shielded from radar, there could be something down there we don't know about. In that case, the only reason you saw anything is because Vela opened the door to the drain system. After it closed behind her, she went dark."
"Juno, Vela has no idea that thing is down there!" Amos' voice started up in panic. "None of your guns work underwater, either!"
"If she realizes something's up, she'll head for the exit closest to the ships. I'll head there. I want Fala and Nae to cover the exit closest to you. Do not go down after her, understood?"
"Got it."
It was dark and damp inside the drains. Vela turned on her Maglite and swam further into the tunnels. Trying to remember the shortcut to the ships, she turned right at the first fork. More turns presented themselves, and after a few more impetuous path decisions, Vela decided she was lost. She swam to batch of tanks connected to the system and looked up, scouting for a gap of air. She didn't need it yet, but if she couldn't find her way soon, it was best to have a plan.
After finding a suitable tank, Vela lit off a flare and placed near the bottom. Even if the flare went out, she should be able to see the remains, and know where she was. She swam up to the tank's top, taking a quick gulp of air before diving back into the water.
As she left the tank, a quick movement to her left drew her attention. She immediately whipped toward it, only to find the area in front of her empty. There was a turn up ahead on the right…
No, Vela shook her head. I'm probably just imagining things. Her hair, which was still let down, floated in front of her face, obscuring her vision. She hated pigtails, but her paranoia won out over her fashion sense. I need to be able to see clearly, even if that means wearing these damn things.
It stalked in the shadows, just out of the line of sight of it's prey. It had been a long time since it had had anything but fish. This new creature interested it. It could swim fairly well, but it was nowhere near as fast as it was.
Curious, it decided to wait, following the little one. The little one was probably lost in the tunnels. If she got close to either exit… it licked it's mandibles with it's tongue. Tonight, it would eat well…
The creature began moving again, swimming in the wrong direction, away from the exits. It was easy to track her; the light shining from her gave her away. Slowly, it unfurled it's body, twisting through the water, making sure to keep at least one turn between itself and the little one.
The light began moving straight down the path, without taking any turns. The path they were on eventually would lead to an adjacent tunnel, which led to an exit. It kept close to the light, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
Vela clung to the roof of the tunnel with her hands. Her Maglite, now detached from her suit, floated forward in the current, held buoyant by her Nanotech boots. Now barefoot, Vela waited to see if her paranoia would pay off.
As her boots rounded a corner, an immense shadow passed beneath her. Head, torso, torso, torso, torso, torso, torso… Vela kept calm and took stock of the insect passing under her. The head and torso pieces were identical in size, but where the head had eyes and mandibles, the torso had five appendages on each side; ten legs. There were more torso pieces, and Vela counted them off. Eleven total, including the head.
A centipede? Was that thing here the last time I came through? Jeez… As the last section of the beast passed, Vela made note of a large metal plate covering it's rear. What the hell is that?
She pushed off from the ceiling, keeping close to the monster's rear as it followed her decoy. Vela kept her eyes forward, making sure she was staying out of the insect's line of sight. The tunnel up ahead became visible, and Vela recognized it.
That's the landing pad entrance tunnel! Score!
Her celebration was cut short by the Centipede, who lunged forward and snatched the light between it's jaws. Confused, the creature continued trying to attack, not realizing that Vela was no longer accompanying it. After it noticed that it had been had, the Centipede continued down the tunnel away from the exit.
It was waiting for me to reach the exit… bastard.
Vela swam up to her discarded Maglite and removed her boots, careful not to draw the attention of the behemoth moving away from her. She slipped the boots on, then swam towards the exit. The door opened automatically as she drew near, and her radio came to life.
"Vela?" the sound of the radio was garbled by the water. The Centipede whipped it's head around, alerted by the sound. Vela was treading in front of the door, and looked back to see the Centipede twirl it's entire body around, heading straight for her.
Shit.
Vela swam straight up, curling her legs and resting on the open door's ledge. The Centipede made incredible time, shooting through the water like a rocket.
"Vela, he's right behind you!" Amos' voice blurbed.
No duh, Vela sat, waiting for the right moment. Thirty feet, fifteen, NOW!
She kicked off with her legs, launching herself to the opposite side of the door. The Centipede blew past her, the wake of it's path carrying her out of the door. She grabbed a passing leg, hitching a ride as it tore through the water in the shallow pool that served as the entrance to the tunnels. It reared it's head above the waterline, flinging Vela into the air. She landed on her back in the knee-high trough in front of the Temple's entrance.
The Centipede's body began falling back down, intending to slam it's underbody against Vela. She quickly rolled to her right out of the trough, and scrambled onto the smooth roadway that led to the ships. It landed about a foot behind her, and the force of the blow threw Vela forward. She landed on her butt and slid a good ten feet on the well polished crystal before ducking behind a raised ledge for a small pond.
"Vela, can you hear me?" Amos' voice crackled through the radio again, and Vela grabbed the receiver in frustration.
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm a little busy right now, and your nagging isn't helping me stay hidden."
"Vela," Juno's voice came over the mike. "I need a sit rep. What's going on?"
She peeked her head over the barrier. The Centipede, who could hear the conversation taking place behind the pool, let out a shriek before shooting green wads of slime from it's mouth. Vela sprinted cross the open courtyard to the raised pool on the opposite side, taking cover behind it. The spot she'd been crouched a moment before was now a charred pit; the water being held in the pool by the raised ledge poured out freely across the crystal yard.
"There's a giant bug trying to kill me, obviously! Requesting radio silence!" With that, Vela switched her radio off, scurrying further behind cover to hide her position.
The Centipede circled the pool counterclockwise, trying to get a glimpse of his prey as Vela continued to stay out of it's sight by moving with it. Her attention was arrested once again by the metal plate on the monster's rear.
Why put a metal plate there? That's got to be a weak spot…
Vela drew her Homing Missile Launcher and clocked the plate as it moved away from her. The image verification system worked quickly, locking onto it's target. As soon as the behemoth rounded a corner, Vela let a shot loose, watching as the missile arched through the air in a complete one-eighty.
The rocket exploded on contact with the plate, mutilating it and sending it flying through the air. A terrible screeching noise came from Vela's right, in the direction of the creature's head. Keeping ahead of the head, she moved closer towards the rear to inspect the damage. Underneath where the plate had been was a hole, about two feet wide. Through it, Vela could see the creature's muscles, tendons, veins, and organs.
Yup. Weak spot.
Juno moved with a purpose, through the Atrium that served as the Landing Pad side entrance to the Temple. Gas torches lined the walls, casting dark shadows in the recesses of the hallways. Juno systematically checked each one as he passed, not wanting to run into any surprises later.
Vela, please be okay…
He pushed open the main doors to the Atrium, and was blinded momentarily by the sunlight pouring in. He forced his eyes open, adjusting his sight. In front of him was a knee-high trough that Vela had used to enter the Drain system before. Beyond that…
Sighing deeply, Juno moved forward. Green blood and bits of muscle fiber were strewn everywhere across the crystal courtyard. One of the reflection pools was totally out of commission, the water spilling out through a hole in one side. In the other, Vela stood with her battle armor discarded, wiping bits of bug juice out of her hair and off her undergarments.
Seeing her brother approaching, she hopped out of the pool and re-donned her Jet Force gear. A large chunk of meat with mandibles sticking out of it, presumably the head, had a huge gaping hole where the neck should have been, and Juno could smell burning Tri-Rocket fuel.
"Are you all right?" he asked, concerned.
Vela smiled quizzically, as if to say "What do you mean by that?".
"Are you mad at me?"
"Not anymore, I'm not." Vela answered, marching in the direction of her and Juno's ships, just visible from their position beyond the courtyard.
Juno threw up his hands in confusion, then dropped them, giving up. "Ugh… women."