Here's another chapter for Dead Hearts! I have a few surprises in this one i hope you enjoy.
Chapter 4: Obliteration Imminent
"Hey, Isaac. Do you mind if I ask a question?" Sora asks as they ride the Tram to the bridge. Faint rumbles echo throughout during the trip, the debris field getting ever closer. Isaac looks away from the screen towards Sora, who is leaning against the wall of the Tram as Kairi sits by his feet.
"Sure. What is it you want to ask?"
"Well, it's about the lights on the back of our RiGs." He says while looking at the glowing lights on Kairi's back. "I remember you said they were so we can see our health, but what were they originally made? The same goes for the window on your Plasma Cutter. These helmets we are wearing already show us what's on our backs, so why?" Isaac looks at Sora for a few seconds before chuckling to himself. It was a fair question.
"Alright. I'll answer that. It's mainly related to the type of work I do." Isaac says as he brings his Cutter out. "As an engineer, I usually work in low light conditions or other places where visibility is poor. So I wouldn't be able to see what my wounds would be like. And while we do have it as a display in our helms, they are not easy to see. So that's why we have it on our backs and on the gear we use. So other people can see and point it out to us, and vice versa. Make sense?" The couple nod at him in confirmation, simple enough reasons for the lights on their backs. Then, they could feel the Tram gradually slow down before stopping, opening the door to the bridge tram station, its layout just like any of the others. Wondering onto the platform, Hammond immediately calls them via com channel, with a very distressed look.
"Kendra's right, you three. The ADS is completely shot. I'll need your help to fix this, Isaac. Kendra, how is it going with the ship's records?" The screen changes to Kendra, who was starting to show signs of exhaustion under her eyes.
"Well, if you want the good news, I've managed to gain access to nearly all of it. The bad news? Well, I hate to say it, Kairi, but you are right. The Marker IS on the ship in cargo." Kendra regrettably confirms to the three, who trade worried glances between them. Have they been subtly influenced by it already? "Still, I find it curious that CEC knew nothing about this. Are you hiding something from us, Hammond, or are you lying?"
"Alright, knock it off. We don't have time to be pointing the blame at anyone." Isaac interjects before an argument could break out. "We need to get the ADS online, or we are all going to have a very long spacewalk." Hammond looked ready to comment on Isaacs remark when suddenly the screen goes out for a few seconds before returning, but with a noticeable amount of static.
"We've entered the debris field! Get to the bridge. I'll explain everything later. Hammond out." The call goes dead as another slight vibration rattles the ship. The three look at each other before moving towards the hallway leading to the bridge. "Do you think Hammond is keeping something from us?" Kairi asks as they approach the turn in the corridor, a large pool of blood covering the floor.
"I don't know. I hope Hammond isn't, but then again, he and Kendra DO work for the government." Isaac replies as they walk down the corridor, a section of wall covered in dark tinted glass. "Besides, we have a lot more problems to worry about than-" His line of thought is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a giant hand breaking through the glass. Isaac jumps back as the couple summon their keys and aim at the long and thick arm as it thrashes about in the hallway before pulling back. The three take deep breaths before slowly moving up to it, keeping as much distance as possible from the hole. Suddenly, a decomposing face attempts to break through the glass but only manages to crack it further. It roars at the three, revealing its lower jaw had split into two like a spiders mouth, with long fangs protruding upward, almost passing its forehead before it retreats away.
"I think…we have found a new variant…." Sora comments quietly as they slowly move past the windows. Isaac and Kairi quietly agree before they continue down the hallway, finding another store. "Think this store has any suit upgrades, Isaac?" Isaac could only hum before moving towards and activating it, discovering the Level 3 suite available to them to his delight. Nodding in satisfaction, he clicks on the icon before moving into the store, while Sora and Kairi look around them for any surprises. Once the process was complete, Isaac stepped out of the store.
His new suit kept the same armour on his right shoulder and arm but now included an armoured greave from his elbow down to his hand, while his undersuit looked like it was just fresh off the line while still holding the same dull green and grey. The armour on his chest now stretched around to his back while being smaller for more manoeuvrability, while the bulky belt was replaced by a slimmer one. His greaves also changed, becoming hole pieces of metal rather than slapped together pieces. His back is more armoured as a black cord extends down from his RiG and connects to his belt. Finally, his helm had also changed to having three lines while being much more streamlined. Isaac nods over himself in approval before gesturing to the other two to do the same.
After upgrading their suite, the couple took a moment to look over their suits. While their helmets have not changed much, save for some black details on Sora's and pink on Kairi's, highlighting their emblems, their body armour is slightly different from Isaacs.
Sora's undersuit is entirely black, save for red lines around his legs, thighs, chest and arms, with two red armoured greaves on both arms, and while he has the same armour pieces on his chest and right arm like Isaac, on his left shoulder is a red pauldron with silver edging.
Kairi was primarily the same, with a deep pink undersuit with black lines racing up her legs, waist, chest and arms. She sported similar greaves on her arms in white, with similar armour as Isaac on her right arm and chest. Like Sora, a pauldron rested on her shoulder, coloured black with white edging. The two nod at each other before looking at Isaac, giving the two an approving hum before moving onto the bridge proper.
The bridge is a vast open area with large windows arranged along the entirety of its width. Large yellow screens dotted around the area as several terminals lined up around the empty space. A large twin elevator sits in the centre of the room, as a second door to a work area sits beside the door they came from. Outside the windows, contrasting against the vastness of space, a constant stream of rocks flows past.
"Welcome to the bridge, you two." Isaac greats while opening his arms dramatically, giving the young couple a chance to laugh at his theatrics. They didn't have long, though, for suddenly, the sound of several floors being rammed through echoes across the room, like a Large Body through planks of wood. Then, a piece of debris punches through the bridge's roof before carrying on down several more levels below. "Well, crap." Isaac could only say as they moved away from the hole.
Warning! Hull Breach Detected.
"That's a bit redundant…." Kairi comments as they stare at the hole in the floor. Just then, Hammond activated a comm channel to them, letting them know that the damage was minimal and life support was still good before reaffirming that the ADS needs to be brought online before ending the call. "Alright, where is the bridge?"
"Just over there." Isaac points out towards the front of the room, where a series of steps go down. Walking over to it, while avoiding the surprisingly small hole in the floor, they move down to a lower level where a service elevator waits for them. Stepping on, they move down to enter a room filled with pods.
"What are these?" Sora asks while examining one. It looked big enough to fit several people in it.
"These are escape pods. They are located over the ship, but these are primarily for the bridge crew." Isaac replies before walking over to the main doors leading to the captain's nest. Entering the room, they are greeted by an oversized chair with a giant hologram in front of it, two chairs and consoles, while a vast window opens up before it. Standing to the side examining the hologram is Hammond. "Glad to see you're still alive, Hammond," Isaac says before walking up and shaking his hand.
"Glad to see you three are still kicking. Liking the new looks, by the way." He says while giving a passing glance at their new suits. He sighs heavily before giving the three a weary look. "This place is making me jumpy, and asteroids coming through the roof are not helping… I know Kendra doesn't trust me, but I have no idea about any Marker or what it is. I'm no Unitologist. This was supposed to be a repair job, clean and simple." He says while giving a knowing nod to Isaac before turning his gaze back to the hologram.
"What are you looking at?" Sora asks. His knowledge of computer systems never beings his strength, despite Tron and Cid teaching him.
"This mess, is the Asteroid Defence System," Hammond replies before Isaac moves in to give his own opinion.
"Well, it looks like we have two main problems. One problem is the boards in here, but that is an easy fix. The main problem is the main power supply. We are going to have to re-route power to bring it back up." He turns to face the couple. "Let's move you two. We need to use the main elevator upstairs to get to where we need." They turn to leave before Hammond calls out to them.
"By the way, you three… Be careful. I saw something big up there, but I couldn't tell what it was. It was big though, REALLY big." The three could only glance at each other worryingly. They have a slight idea what it could be, though. Leaving the nest, they move back to the service lift before a Slasher attempts to break out of a pod next to Kairi. She jumps back with a yell as Sora and Isaac raise their weapons. "Shit! Stand back!" Hammond calls over the call before ejecting the pod. "I thought that one was dead when I sealed it in…."
"Well, it's gone now…Thanks, Hammond." Kairi replies before they head on back up. They walk over to the central lift, only to find it not working. "Well, what now?" Isaac and Sora glance around until Sora eyes the other door, next to the one they came in through.
"How about we try that door? It's got to lead to something that can help." The other two nod at the idea before they walk over to it. Suddenly, a large pound echoes from the door. "What was that?" another pound, and the doors seem to bulge open. The three raise their weapons at the door as another pound slams against it, buckling it even further as a low growl purrs from it. Finally, the door gives away as it is busted open, sending the door slamming against the walls as they are peeled back like a banana skin, as a large hulking mass emerges from it, the same beast that tried to break through the glass, with two large hulking arms connected to a large body with tiny legs. It walks like a Gorilla before charging at them with a blood-curdling roar.
"Blast it!" Isaac says as he fires plasma at the beats, as Sora and Kairi let loose with Fire and Ice. But to their shock, their attacks bounce off the creature before they dodge out of the way as it barrels forward, slamming into some controls and flattening them. "Frontal assaults won't work!" Isaac cries as he moves away as the creature charges him again. Sora and Kairi share a glance before throwing their Keyblades at the beast with a Strike Raid, only for it to bat them away with its arms. It then turns to look at them before firing sludge from its face at them.
"Not even a Strike Raid?! What the hell are those arms made of?! Sora yells as they dodge the sludge. Sora looks over the creature. How can we hurt this thing!? Its arms are just too strongly armoured! But, wait… He looks at the creatures back legs, seeing how small they are. Let's try this! He aims his Keyblade at the creature's legs before firing an ice spell at them, freezing them. The beast howls in rage as it turns to look at Sora before pouncing, but the force of its jump shatters its tiny legs, still encased in ice.
But it still refuses to give in. Instead, it pounds its arms along the ground, dragging it towards them with surprising speed. Finally having enough, Isaac blasts the creature with Stasis before running around and aiming at the back of its arms before unloading into them, finally removing one of them as Kairi runs behind to unleash a Strike Raid on the other, cutting it off and finally ending the creature. Seeing the beast finally lay low, the three collapsed to their knees, exhausted.
"That was…hard…." Kairi comments as she struggles to regain her breath before rising to her feet.
"Yeah…It reminded me of the Fat Bodies and Fat Bandits we encounter in our realm. Only more aggressive and a lot faster." Sora comments before walking over to Isaac as he glances over his Cutter.
"A Brute. That is what it was, and from now on what we will identify it as. Nothing else needs to be said." He looks between the two before glancing at the ruined doors. "Let's hope it didn't smash anything important in there…." Sora and Kairi could only nod sadly as they moved over to the now identified Security room, its floor plastered in blood. Slowly looking around, the three are startled when the screens above them come to life with blue static, Nicole's face plastered on each of them.
"Isaac… make us whole again…" she says before the screens die out, leaving the three confused.
"Um…what did Nicole mean by that, Isaac?" Sora asks as he rubs the back of his helmet. Isaac could only shrug in response, himself confused by Nicole's words. He glances around before his eyes fall upon a bench in the next room, a slight gleam in his eyes.
"Sora, remember how you said back in Engineering that you wanted some upgrades to our suits?" Sora nods in response before he and Kairi follow his gaze towards the bench. "Well, it looks like your wish has been granted." The three walk over to it, excitement in their eyes as Isaac begins the upgrades, placing another three nodes into each other rigs while placing another two into his cutter. "Alright, our RiGs have more air now, while also displaying our vitals better," he motions to the fifth light on their backs, "And my Cutter now has more ammo and can fire the plasma more efficiently, otherwise known as increased damage." They give a small chuckle at Isaacs attempted humour before walking over to a terminal. Isaac types in several commands into the terminal, bringing the elevators back online.
Atrium elevators are now online.
"Okay, now that we have the elevators on, which one do we use first?" Sora asks as they re-enter the atrium, the elevators glowing blue with power. Isaac glances at the one they are standing in front of before motioning towards it. Nodding in acceptance, the three enter the lift, with Kairi finding what looked to be another audio log lying on the ground. Curious, she picks it up before activating it, playing a video with the Captain, Terrance, and two guards in what looked to be a fancy room.
"This is mutiny!" the captain cries as the guards restrain him. "You'll all be tried for mutiny! Kyne, make them listen to me!" his pleas seem to fall on death ears ask Terrance orders the men to hold him. The three look on bewildered. What is the medical officer doing?
"By maritime law article 5469, I hereby declare Captain Benjamin Mathius unfit for duty." Terrance proclaims. The captain's eyes go wide as the three watching the video draw in gasps. Aren't these two part of the same cult? The captain seemed to be wondering the same, as he desperately claims that the Marker needs to be delivered to the church. But Terrance refuses, proclaiming that he could not be allowed to do this.
"I don't know who this Terrance is, but it looks like he has woken up to reality…." Isaac says with what could be a hidden smile before it fades into a frown as Terrance attempts to use a needle to inject a stimulant into the Captain, who fights backs, calling him a traitor and heretic. But, unfortunately, his struggles prove to be his undoing, as he stabs himself with the needle in his eye. Sora and Kairi gasp in shock as Isaac shakes his head. So now they know how he died.
"No! It was an accident! I had to stop him…." Terrance pleads as the guards arrest him before the video cuts out. The three glance at each other as they move out of the elevator into a sitting area. "So, Terrance tried to use maritime law to remove the captain, but why?" Isaac mumbles to himself. "It's obvious he saw what was happening had to stop. Did he know how?"
"You okay, Isaac?" Sora asks as he and Kairi move to an open door leading to the Ship Systems Room. "You seem distracted.…."
"It's nothing, Sora." Isaac dismisses as he walks up to them. "Just wondering if that Terrance person is still alive. I want to pick his brain about what he is thinking. He might even know how to stop this, if it can even be stopped, that is." Sora and Kari could only look at each other before shrugging their shoulders. Who knows if he is still alive. Deciding not to dwell on it any further, the three move out into the hallway, noticing a storage room ahead of them as the hallway turns in a zig-zag pattern. Deciding to see if anything could be used, Sora enters the room while Kairi and Isaac wait outside. He glances around, noticing a 'dead' Slasher lying on the ground. Deciding to try out an old spell from his first journey, Sora focuses before aiming his Keyblade at it.
"Force!" he calls, as a sphere of dark energy, mixed with celestial imagery and stars, forms around the Slasher. It struggles to stand as the globe encompasses it, snapping its limbs off as it attempts to stand, ending its own life. The creatures cries did not go unnoticed as Kairi and Isaac rushed into the room, only to see the now dismembered Slasher on the ground. Sora turns to them with a sheepish expression hidden by the helmet. "I decided to see if I could use an old spell from my first journey, Gravity." He admits as Isaac looks at the corpse. Kairi immediately asks Sora to learn the spell but puts on a pouting mood when he says only after she knows Aero.
"I'm sure you will be able to pick it up as we go along. It's how I did it during my journey." Sora amends as they move into the hallway, slightly improving Kairi's mood until a communication from Hammond interrupts them.
"Heads up guys, it looks like some of the Gravity Plating is Malfunctioning in that area. Probably due to the asteroid strike. Keep an eye out for any distortions."
"Understood, Hammond," Isaac replies as the call cuts off before turning to the couple, already anticipating the question on their minds. "Gravity Planting is what we use to create artificial gravity in the ship. Without it, we would be floating all the time and lose muscle and bone mass." The two could give a simple 'huh' in response as they move on down the corridor and enter the Ship Systems. The fact that Ani-Gravity does not really exist the same way in their realm, to their knowledge at least, was interesting to hear.
Walking into it, they are greeted by a row of panels, similar to up on the bridge displaying countless information in orange light, while a vibrating hum echoes through the room. Then, moving carefully, they turn around a corner to fin what looked to be light shooting up from the ground. Sora and Kairi turn to Isaac, about to ask what it is, until a Lurker runs around the corner at them, rushing through the column of light. Only to suddenly find itself flung to the ceiling at tremendous speeds, turning into paste.
"In case you are wondering, THAT is a malfunction gravity plate." Isaac deadpans before moving forward. The couple follows him, walking around the gravity before turning around the corner to find another Lurker and a Slasher waiting for them. In contrast, Isaac dealt with the Lurker with his Plasma Cutter; Sora and Kairi readied themselves to deal with the Slasher until it ran into another gravity pulse and soon became acquainted with the ceiling. The couple look at each other before sharing a shrug.
"You know, if all our enemies did that, I wouldn't mind," Kairi comments before they continue to follow Isaac through the maze of malfunctioning gravity. "I mean, it saves Isaac on ammo, and it saves us on mana." Sora nods in agreement as they continue on before finally exiting the maze of gravity. Turning another corner, they are ambushed by two Lurkers crawling on the walls as a Slasher attacks from behind, only to lose its arms from a Strike Raid by Kairi as Sora freezes one of the Lurkers with ice. Isaac, for his part, runs up to the final one and kicks it instead. "Running low on ammo, Isaac?" Kairi asks worryingly after seeing his display.
"A little bit," Isaac replies before glancing over himself. "I only have a few more packs at most. The sooner we find more plasma packs, the better." The couple nod in agreement before continuing into another room filled with what looked to be heat sinks. "Alright, the terminal we're looking for should be in here…" Isaac begins until the sound of thunder reaches their ears, followed by numerous heat sinks being torn apart as a Brute charges forward towards them. The three dive out of the way to avoid it before Kairi blasts it with a shot of Stasis. Sora complemented using thunder on it, but decided not to risk it with the gravity panels not working correctly. Instead, choosing to use Gravity, ironically enough.
As the sphere of darkness surrounds the Brute, it fights back against it, losing its two tiny legs before Isaac blasts its arms with his cutter, ending the beast. As Kairi mentally remembers who Sora used the spell, Isaac walked over to it before examining it. He only caught a glimpse of it, but he was sure this Brute had some plasma packs on it. Sure enough, around its chest were several packs of plasma. Isaac smiles behind his mask before a call from Sora grabs his attention.
"Isaac, I think we found what we need, but we have a problem." Isaac moves up to join the two, only to see what the problem is. Before them is the asteroid that crashed through the hull, its height only just as tall as Isaac, with the terminal they need to the right. The only problem was the two giant electrical wires sparking like made, flailing about like leaves in the wind. "So, how are we going to reach it without getting electrocuted to death?" Isaac looked over the wires carefully. They could use stasis to slow them down, but there was still a chance they could get shocked until he remembered Sora's gravity magic.
"Do you think you could use your gravity magic to hold the cables in place?" Isaac asks. Sora thinks to himself before looking over the wires.
"I think I could, but it would take my full attention on one." He says before looking at Kairi. "Looks like your learning Gravity much sooner, Kairi." She beams under her helmet before walking up to Sora, pointing her Keyblade at one of the cables. "Okay, the best way to use Gravity, or how I use it, is to think of moving the object with your mind- That you are using a pair of giant hands to move or crush. Okay?" Kairi nods before turning her attention to the cable, picturing a pair of hands grabbing onto it and squishing it to the wall. Then, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, they shout at the same time.
"Gravity!" At once, the two singularities appear on the cables, dragging them to the wall. For an added precaution, Isaac blasts them with a shot of stasis before running to the terminal, re-routing the power from the area to the cannons before moving back to the couple.
Power transferred to the ADS
The three sigh in relief as the two cables stop sparking and fall to the ground limp, all current stopping. They nod to each other before beginning to retrace their steps through the gravity maze. "How's it coming along, Hammond?" Sora asks the comms as they re-enter the hallway to the elevator.
"Coming along nicely, Sora. I'm making some progress here, but there's one cannon giving me a hard time. Reroute one more box, and we should be green to go." The three acknowledge this before moving on, encounter two more Slashers in the corridor that attempt to rush them, only to be engulfed by flames from Sora and Kairi. "Man, with the amount of time's we've used fire in this place, you'd think we would have summoned Axel by now," Sora comments, earning a laugh from the redhead.
"I can hear him now. 'It's my show now, kids! Got it memorised?'" she says, poorly attempting to match Axel's voice, causing the both of them to devolve into laughter. Isaac looks at the two with a smile of his own. Despite all the horror they have seen, they still managed to find something to lighten the mood, even if he doesn't get the joke.
Heading back up to the atrium, the three start to walk to the other side of the elevator until the destruction of a grate alerts them to an attack. Glancing to the ceiling, their eyes widen as five Leapers pour out of the vents before leaping towards them. Thinking quickly, Kairi unleashes a blast of gravity magic, bringing the five of them down to the ground at a rapid pace, ending them. "That worked better than I thought it would." She comments before grasping her hand a few times. "Although, I felt the drain on my mana more than usual." She turns to look at Sora, who nods at her before explaining that Gravity magic was one of the more advanced forms, like light, dark and time. When Isaac asked what Gravity magic is, Sora explained that Gravity is considered non-elemental, neither light nor dark.
"And as Kairi has said, more advanced types of magic drain our mana much quicker than Fire, Ice, Thunder, Cure, and Water. So by my guess, it would take around five uses for Kairi to run out, while for me, it would be around seven- the drain is that much."
"In that case, best save that kind of magic for emergencies or when dealing with situations like those cables earlier," Isaac says before beginning to walk to the elevator, with Sora and Kairi following him while agreeing unanimously to Isaac suggestion. Walking into the elevator, Isaac glances at the screen, asking for the level they want before selecting level 1.
"Isaac, Sora, Kairi, listen up." Kendra suddenly contacts the three over a commlink. "I've already mentioned this to Hammond, so I'm letting you know now. I've gone over the Med-Lab reports and found out these things are Bio-Recombinators."
"What?" came the flat reply from all three. Not even Isaac knew what it meant. Kenda seemed to slap herself over the com before explaining what it meant.
"What it means is that they take dead tissue, absorb it and mould it to new forms. You have already seen the form that creates all the others while they create the corpses to infect. The same goes for the weird material you found in Engineering. It's a habitat change." Kendra ends the call there as the lift stops allowing the three to enter another waiting room.
"So my guess was right…." Kairi mumbles to herself as Sora comforts her. "those walls are because of them, which means that…" she leaves the sentence unfinished. The three leave the room before entering another corridor with two dead miners near a door. Isaac grimly sighs before walking over to them, intending not to let any infector have their way with them.
Until the door they were at implodes inward as all air in the hall is expelled, leaving them in a vacuum. Sora and Kairi rush over to Isaac before he tells them he is alright. Signing a breath of relief, Kairi glances at the door that was blown out. "Well, there goes the Hall Storage." She weakly jokes before they move on, the air in their tanks slowly depleting. Ducking into a smaller storage room, they find more plasma packs for Isaac and some meds packs for emergencies. They nod in satisfaction and rush through the hall again before reaching another waiting room outside Mining Admin Room.
They enter the pitch-black room, the only light coming from the memory banks and broken Gravity Plates. In the distance, they see a black Slasher dragging a corpse along the floor. Not sparing a moment to think, Isaac fires on the arm holding the body, severing it as Sora and Kairi launch fire at it, engulfing both in flames. They flinch at what they did before turning their attention to a second Slasher charging at them as it runs around the gravity flows. Isaac turns his cutter on its legs, blasting one off before severing an arm, ending it. They breathe a sigh of relief before noticing how many corpses are around the room, with several hanging from the ceiling. Not wasting time, Isaac grabs them with Kinesis and places them into the gravity surges, sending them into the roof. While he was doing that, Sora and Kairi moved ahead to the console at the far back, activating it before moving to join Isaac as he dealt with the last of the bodies.
Power transferred to the ADS.
"Alright, how many more left, Isaac?" Sora asks as they move back to the elevator. Isaac turns to him, saying that one more is all they need, and it should be located on the third level above them. Moving with purpose, as the shakes increase in frequency, they head back to the elevator before moving up to the third level. So far, nothing eventful has happened until the doors open to the next waiting room. Standing in the doorway to the hall is a badly injured security officer with dark hair and a disfigured face, but one that Isaac could almost recognise.
"Chen?" he asks hesitantly. Sora and Kairi themselves could only look on in disbelief. They saw Chen die, and yet here he was, standing before them. It seemed he recognised them as well as he lifted his face to see them.
"Make us whole again." He seemingly says before walking down the corridor with a limp. The three rush out after him, asking him to stop, only to find a Pregnant lumbering towards them. Stopping quickly, Sora throws his Keyblade at it, severing off its arm as Isaac removes its head, avoiding any shot to its inflated abdomen. They look around the room they ran into, seeing no evidence of Chen or anyone else being here.
"What's going on? That was Chen, wasn't it?" Sora asks worryingly. Kairi and Isaac could only shrug their shoulders in response. Then, shaking his head, Isaac walks over to the lit-up terminal before initiating another power re-route, bringing the doors on this level online at the same time.
Asteroid Defence System Online.
The sounds of guns firing begin to echo through the hull of the ship as the ADS springs to life, bringing smiles of joy to the three, with Hammond sharing their satisfaction over the comms before going sour. "Good news, guys, the ADS is back online. But we have another problem. One of the guns is not responding."
"What do you mean not responding?" Isaac asks harshly. They had JUST brought the system online; how could there be any more problems!?
"The ADS auto-targeting system on that cannon is down. Until I get it back on, a large section of the hull is vulnerable. So I need you to head up and over to the gun pit while I try and bring it online here." Hammond ends the call as the couple follow Isaac through another corridor, leading to the gun in question. Heading up into an elevator, Isaac turns to brief the two on how they will get to it.
"You mean we have to walk on the exterior of the ship with a limited oxygen supply AND asteroids raining down on us?" Kairi exclaims as Sora rubs the top of his helmet. But, of COURSE, it wouldn't be that simple.
"I'm afraid so. Luckily there should be several protrusions for us to take cover behind, and a few even have oxygen refill stations. So as long as we are quick and careful, we can make it." Isaac reassures as the elevator stops. They walk towards the airlock as Sora thinks to himself.
We could use our gliders to get across. If it's outside, then there should be enough room. But those asteroids would tear us up. I'll bring it up for the trip back. Sora thinks to himself before getting ready to step through. Once the door opens, the air immediately around them is expelled into the vacuum of space as they rush forward along the open trench.
Warning! Multiple impacts detected across the starboard hull.
The Ishimura's A.I alerts the three to an oncoming storm, forcing them to duck behind a metal protrusion as it takes the blow, with pieces of metal flying off. As the wave of rocks passes, the three sprint from cover to a second one, with an oxygen relief station waiting for them. As they wait out a second storm of rocks, they refill their tanks before moving on again, taking cover for a third time as the door to the gun pit lays before them.
"Almost there, guys, just one more push!" Isaac says over the comms as the couple nod at him. Then, as the last of the rocks pass over them, they launch themselves through the air towards the door, with Isaac opening it and allowing them to fly in. Breathing in the air from the Ishimura as the door seals itself, Isaac walks over to a chair with two control sticks in it, surrounded by a circular frame with three tall windows in front of it, covered in metal sheets.
"Okay, I'm going to switch the guns into manual mode. One problem with that is these guns are quick to overheat when in manual." He turns to look at them. "I remember you said about using water magic. Do you think it would be enough to cool the guns down?" The two look at each other before nodding that it should be as long as they have mana. Nodding to that, Sora moves to stand on Isaac's left, and Kairi moves to his right, both readying themselves to summon orbs of water around the guns. Breathing deeply, Isaac flips the guns on as a display of the hull integrity of this part of the ship is displayed in an almost video-gamey style. The shutter flies upwards, revealing the twin guns before them as the ammo racks are shown on both sides. The couple summons orbs of water around the barrels of the guns. Isaac gives a few test fire shots, and seeing the water not hindering the guns; he gives the two a thumbs up as several asteroids start flying towards them.
What followed next was hell. At first, the rocks came slowly, no doubt picked off by the other guns nearby, but soon more began to fall upon them. Isaac could barely keep up with the stream of rocks, with several of them slipping past him and impacting around them, sending sparks dancing across the room. Sora and Kairi, for their part, could feel the constant drain on their mana taking its toll as the spheres of water start to disinform and wobble.
"I can't keep up!" Isaac yells as the rocks begin to come down like a swarm as he goes from strategic fire to rapid-fire, rapidly building up heat in the barrels. "How are you two doing?"
"Can't keep it together any longer!" Sora says before the sphere of water explodes, plastering the window with water, followed shortly by Kairi as they both collapse to the floor. The water on the window instantly freezes up, blocking Isaacs view. They could only close their eyes and wait for the inevitable, only to hear the gun start firing on its own. They open their eyes to see, to their joy, the auto-targeting system running without a hitch, followed closely by Hammond over the call, satisfaction seeping through his voice.
"Nice shooting, Isaac! And smart idea from your friend on having water on the guns to keep them cool."
"Well, couldn't you have worked a bit faster, Hammond? Almost didn't make it there…." Isaac comments as he slowly gets out of the seat before glancing at the hull integrity. 51% left.
"Well, next time, let's switch places. Anyway, auto-targeting is online and clearing a path for us to orbit! The moment we are clear, I'll set the ship to auto-pilot again. Head back to the tram station; I'll meet you there."
"Copy that, Hammond," Isaac replies before glancing at the couple as they tiered lean on each other. "You two alright? You look like your ready to drop."
"Well, we DID exhaust our mana supply during that.…." Kairi explains as she takes big breaths while leaning on Sora's shoulder. "But give us a few minutes, and we will be back in strength…."
"Sure thing. After all, we need to head on back through the vacuum anyway…."
"About that," Sora interjects suddenly. "I might have an idea on cutting that time down…."
These things are crazy! Isaac exclaims in his thoughts as he rides with Sora on a flying hoverboard. More specifically, Sora KEYBLADE turned into said hoverboard, or Keyblade Glider, as Sora calls it. It consisted of a long silver board with silver wings designed like angle wings, while Sora's crown is stamped right in the middle with a blue gem located at the front, while underneath are two golden landing gears.
Meanwhile, Kairi's looked almost the same, except the main body was orange, with the wings are red with a yellow flow on each, with a yellow gem in the shape of a star at the front while a similar form is imprinted on the board. Underneath are two landing gears like Sora's but in an ocean blue.
Even though these things defied every law of physics he could think of, he could not doubt their usefulness. Already they were back inside the Ishimura's airlock, and the air counter had not even gotten past 80s. If it wasn't for the lack of air, they could EASILY get away from here. But not without their friends.
"I would ask why we didn't use this at the start, but I can guess why," Isaac says to the smug wielders as they walk over to the elevator. Sora could only put his hands behind his head as Kairi folded her arms before leaning into him. They could afford to be smug about this. The good mood, however, could not last.
"Wait, everyone! You're not going to believe this." Hendra suddenly calls over the comms, with evident distress in her eyes. "Oxygen levels are falling. Something's poisoning Hydroponics air production."
"You have got to be kidding me…." Sora mutters as Isaac slams a clenched fist on the elevator wall as Kairi shakes her head in disbelief.
"I'm afraid not. Fortunately, I can make a poison to destroy it, but I need you three to head back to the Medical Deck to get the ingredient I need." The three nod begrudgingly before Hammond interrupts the call, himself holding a hand to his head.
"Will this never end?" he mumbles before taking a deep sigh. "Okay, you three, head to medical. I'll finish things up here, then head to Hydroponics, see what I can do to slow it down."
"Take care, Hammond. Something tells me we're going to need it." Sora replies as the lift ends. They end the call before moving down the hallway and re-entering the room with the power router. Before they could head to the elevator, though, they encountered a peculiar and disgusting sight. A lone head with three tentacles coming out from where its neck should be slivers towards them along the floor. They look to each other, confused, before it jumps up and latches onto Isaac's neck, choking him. Sora and Kairi grab it by the head and pull it off before throwing it at the wall.
"You okay, Isaac?" Sora asks as Isaac rubs his neck. He confirms he is before suggesting they keep moving. Not needing to be asked twice, they head back to lift and return to the Atrium. Entering the atrium, the three sprint from the elevator and return to the tram station, once again in a race against time, only this time, it's for air.
And there we go. A few things to talk about. First off the fight with the first Brute. I wanted it to las long and show just how much of a treat these tanks can be when you first encounter them to contrast it with the second time when you can just stasis it and make it look like a fool.
As for Kairi learning Gravity Magic, I'm sure some people would think of it as a darkness move, but I see it as a non elemental instead.
For the Keyblade Gliders, don't expect them to use them whenever they like. The Ishimura hardly has enough room for them to swing the Keyblades, but they will uses them when they can. Also, I'm sure people will see what I'm doing with the armour they are wearing, but that's as far as they will go. For now anyway...
Next time, they face a true horror...