The chapter names for DS 2 were really to the nose.
Chapter 16: Going to Church
The first thing they noticed was the chilling blue of the room. The ornate walls and stained glass gave the corridor an alien feeling, as though it was not made or designed by human hands. Along the edge were terminals, holding Unitologist propaganda ready to be played, yet they went unheard. For there were more pressing concerns on their minds rather than the ravings of madmen. But there was one other thing that had their attention more.
"Why is there a security guard here?" Kairi asks as they approach the body of one of Tiedemann's men, his RiG empty and holes in his chest. "I wouldn't think they would come here, seeing as how they would be at odds with the Unitologists."
"I doubt they would give us an answer even if we asked them." Isaac replies as he knees next to the dead body. "We are 'Key Subjects', remember?" Sora and Kairi stay silent as they look around, eyeing any and all vents for ambushes. In contrast, Isaac looked over the man's RiG. There has to be something here I can use… Looking it over, he spies a chip sticking out of the body. Taking it out, he smiles at it, seeing it as an identification chip. This is just what I need!
"What have you got there, Isaac?" Sora asks as he and Kairi walk up to him. Isaac stands while putting the chip away before looking forward to the doors leading farther in.
"I'll tell you when we reach another shop. For now, let's move on. I'd rather not stay here for any longer than is necessary." Walking through the doors, they are suddenly greeted by not metal stairs but of stone. In fact, the entire building before and around them was built in traditional masonry and stone, with two giant statues on either side of the church entrance. While above, several ornately designed windows lay across the entire ceiling. It was clear to Isaac they took inspiration from the old religions back on Earth, but how much of it was stolen from them?
Not that he could ponder for long as countless pulse rounds rained down from above as the gunship made its return. This time for the kill. Avoiding the shards of glass and rain of fire from the gunship, the three sprints into the Church just as the air is sucked out and sends the room into a vacuum.
The moment they enter, the door seals behind them as air is pumped into the room, which screams of Markers. The walls were decorated like the surface of a Marker, while the doors and gates were styled AS Markers. The only thing missing was everything being draped in deep red and black. Instead, everything was either a dull gold or brown, while the light shone in as a sickly green, the same with the display screens. Shaking off the extreme feeling of uncomfortability, Isaac opened a channel.
"Daina, a quick question. Why the Church of Unitology?" He asks, masking his displeasure while Sora and Kairi scan the room. This was prime Necromorph territory. Daina's response was not all that reassuring.
"It's one of the few places on Titan Station that Tiedemann can't monitor. Separation of Church and State."
"More like an excuse for them to do whatever they want without the State finding out about it." Kairi quietly mutters to Sora, who nods in agreement. Meanwhile, Isaac couldn't hold it in any longer and decided to say it to Daina.
"Daina, this is the last place we should be right now. We shouldn't be here!" He says, hoping to change her mind, yet already knew it would be a doomed venture.
"Isaac, my brother died trying to rescue you." She bites back, startling Isaac for a moment while grabbing the couple's attention. "This is important. This will work. I'm in a saferoom at the top of the church. Meet me there, okay?" And with that, she ends the comm. But not before setting off alarm bells within the three.
"A safe room at the top of the church?" Sora asks as he looks at Isaac. "How does she even know that's there? The only way she knows is if someone here showed it to her or if she already knew about it. But that would make her—"
"A Unitologist." Isaac finishes with bitterness as he looks at them. "That explains everything. I won't be lying if I said that I hope she's like Dr. Kyne, but something tells me that won't be the case. Especially since she seems more concerned about me than all of us."
"Then does that mean she was lying about this dementia that's killing us?" Kairi asks before giving a complementary look. "Then again, those visions we are having, and the fact me and Sora are being shackled—"
"As much as I hate to say it, but we'll find out when we get to her." Isaac ends on a sour note before looking to his right, a standard door unlocked before them. "Let's just get up there, get the cure, and get out of here." Moving through the door, they find themselves with a grand curving staircase, with Unitologists bodies lying all over the floor. Before they could move up the stairs, Isaac's video call suddenly sprang to life. The familiar Nolan Stross appeared on the other end, still panicky as ever.
"Isaac! I know you all can see the symbols too. They mean something!" He says in desperation, as though he is fighting to stay sane. "We're a threat to them. The Marker, Earth Gov, the Unitologists. All of them! We have to work together!" He moves to continue before he notices his nose bleeding. With that, his eyes lose focus as he becomes distracted by the sudden nosebleed, despite Isaac calling for him to focus before the call ends.
"Stross doesn't seem to be holding on well…" Kairi points out as they ascend the stairs. "Will that be us eventually?" She asks with a hint of fear. Sora responds by giving her a one-arm hug while Isaac remains silent. He didn't voice it, but he found Stross's condition worrying. But he did not have long to ponder, for as they passed through the only working door and entered a small library, they could hear the sound of an Infector doing its job to a body nearby.
Rushing forward, they see the Infector latched to the corpse of a Unitologist acolyte, his black robes with gold trim covered in blood. Kairi doesn't waste a second before turning the flamethrower on it, burning both to a crisp while setting the nearby bookcase on fire. Rushing past the burning books, they descended to a lower level, where an elevator built into the central pillar waited for them.
But before they could enter, two more Infectors burst out of the nearby vents before rushing to the bodies around the room. Sora and Isaac turned to face them, both hitting them with Stasis before firing at the wings with their cutters. Seeing the threats eliminated, the three enter into the lift just as the fire upstairs begins to spread.
Not that they cared about what happened here.
Rushing over the small bridge and entering another hallway, the three enter into a room with a window overlooking the Sprawl while the propaganda they heard back at that recruitment centre echoes around them. While a door further down was closed off, a room to the right looked to be a security room.
However, when they entered it, they found it to be nothing more than another means of propaganda, with the 'booths' being nothing but holographic libraries.
"Hey, Isaac. What is this in the wall?" Sora suddenly points out, pointing to a holographic diagram of the two rooms. Walking up to it, Isaac realised what it was that Sora had found.
"This is the panel that controls the doors in this room." He says, pointing to the chips near each display door. "Those chips tell the system which doors can be opened or locked, depending if they are inserted or not." Looking at it, he realises that only two chips are in it, the third either missing or destroyed. Picking the one that opened the door they used to enter the first room, he places it next to the door leading to the Observation. Instantly, the door opens up, before promptly slamming down again before repeating.
"Of course, it's damaged." Kairi says with an exasperated sigh. The boys could only share in her annoyance before they walked back in, only for several Slashers to bust out of the vents before them. However, they were right next to the window, and before they knew it, they were being sucked right out of said window when Sora fired a shot into the glass, shattering it. Isaac then shoots the emergency override release, activating the emergency shutters and sparing them from a trip outside the Sprawl.
"One thing I can say about the Necromorphs is without a Hive Mind, they are surprisingly dumb. Or that's just the Unitologists ones." Isaac says as he casts Stasis on the malfunctioning door, allowing the three to rush inside. But no sooner did they enter than the pain hit their heads again as the monitors before them showed X-Rays of a skull.
I'm so cold, Isaac. It hurts. Where are you going? You can't run from the pain forever. None of you three can. Soon you'll beg for a way to end it all.
"This is starting to get annoying." Isaac says through gritted teeth. Sora and Kairi shake their heads of any lingering pain before following Isaac into the room, his waypoint guiding them to another maintenance hatch. Entering it, they are greeted by the same darkness as the others, with only their visors lighting the way. The tunnel itself was also short and not long, they were exiting the tunnel into another room.
But before they could even get a bearing on their surroundings, Nicole suddenly appeared with a syringe, aiming to piece Isaac's right eye. He grabs onto her wrists, fighting back to stop it from reaching him, as his helmet suddenly retracts, exposing his head.
Sora and Kairi were about to move forward when they suddenly found their Keyblades, still deformed, hovering at their necks as their helmets vanished into light. They couldn't move as they could feel the blades pressing into their necks, not hard enough to draw blood or rip into the undersuit, but hard enough that if they made one careless mood, their heads would be rolling.
They could only look in horror as Isaac fought back against Nicole, who was screaming at him to make them whole, as the constant ringing and pain in their heads flared.
For a moment, it looked as though Nicole would win as the needle got ever close to Isaac's face until suddenly, it stopped. Nicole and the Keyblades had vanished, leaving Isaac, Sora and Kairi alone but in shocking and horrifying positions.
Isaac was holding the syringe with his hands towards him, like he was trying to stab himself, before realising what he was doing before dropping the needle to the ground, stunned.
Sora was holding a knife at his own throat before dropping it out of shock.
Kairi was holding another knife to her own throat before slowly pulling it away while looking on with wide eyes. "What…What were we doing…?" She asks quietly with horror in her voice, dropping the knife to the floor.
"I…don't know…" Sora replies, shocked that he was about to slice open his own throat. Isaac was looking between both of his hands before scanning the room with a disgruntled face. It was clearly designed for a higher-up, with a fancy seat and table along with a bookshelf.
"It's the Marker." Isaac replies before reactivating his Helmet, as the couple re-summon their helmets. "It's trying to delude us into killing ourselves. Our wills are far stronger than it likes."
"So it's trying to trick us into having a phantom kill us. And in our case, it's Nicole and our Keyblades." Kairi surmises with a frown. It was terrible enough for Isaac to be haunted by his dead girlfriend, but for Sora and Kairi's own Keyblades, which had saved their lives more than they could count, against them was another thing altogether.
With that uncomfortable fact upon them, the three leave the room before entering another fancily decorated room, with blood staining the carpets and statues. Passing through, they enter a large room with a quartet of female figures seemingly offering up bowls to a stained glass window in the ceiling, with light streaming down. While all around were bloodied handprints dotting the floors and walls.
It didn't take them long to realise they were in the main hall, as they could see the church entrance from their balcony. Descending via a nearby lift, they walk towards the middle of the room before moving to the far back, where a door lay between them and the interior of the Church.
Until something from the inside collided with the door, ballooning it outward and shutting it closed.
"What the hell?!" Isaac says as the three jump back in fright. Seconds pass as they wait for another punch to the door. But nothing came. Keeping his eyes on the door while Sora and Kairi turned around, Isaac activated his comm. "Daina, we're locked out. Something is inside the church. It broke the door." He says as calmly as he could. I KNEW coming here was a bad idea!
"What could have caused that?" Daina questions to someone, or no one. "Hang on, I'll try to override the gates in the area and find another way for you." No sooner does she say that could the sound of a vent grate breaking echoed through the room, putting the three on high alert.
"Hurry. There's something in here too…." Isaac says before ending the call. The three slowly moved to the middle, eyes peeled around them as they could hear whatever had entered the room move about. Kairi even used her Kinesis to grab a spiked rod from the ground. For a second, the three believed that the Hunter had found them until Sora noticed a flash of movement to his right.
Turning around and preparing for the worse, he was surprised to see a head sticking out from one of the corners. It looked at him, tilting its head like a bird, which its head resembled in a way. Until it suddenly broke from its cover and charged straight towards Sora. Its body is a cross between a Puker's arms and a Slasher's chest and legs. Seeing how fast it was charging at him, Sora let out a blast of Stasis, hitting it and slowing it down. He wasn't going to chance it being as quick as a Twitcher.
With it slowed, he fired at its legs, cutting off its prised speed before shooting at its head. But as Sora was dealing with this new variant, two more charged from the shadows towards Isaac and Kairi. While Kairi launched her projectile at hers, and pinned it to the wall, Isaac used his own Stasis on his foe, repeating the same as Sora. The moment that all three stopped moving, the Marker like gates retracted into the floor, a bit too convenient for their liking.
"So now we have a variant that stalks us from the shadows before charging at us head first." Isaac remarks as they look over the new variant. "These things are getting more sophisticated as we go on…."
"At this rate, they could form into anything." Sora says before glancing around. "I just hope we don't see any Drag Tentacles."
"Please don't bring those up, Sora." Kairi pleads. "Those things are bad enough when they DON'T grab onto us. I've seen enough of them three years ago to last a lifetime."
"You're not the only one." Isaac quips before walking over to a panel and ripping it off. "Best keep an eye out for any more Stalkers. I'm going to hotwire this lift to get it working again." Sora and Kairi nod before walking to Isaac's side as he fights with the wires. Seconds pass, and, to the couple at least, it seemed as though the shadows were growing darker. Until Daina suddenly and rudely interrupts Isaac.
"Isaac, I can't get the elevator working."
"Well, it's a good thing I'm already working on it." Isaac grunts before he joins the wires, bringing life back to the lift. A ding for Daina's end also alerts her to power being sent to.
"So I see." She remarks with some amusement. "Anyway, the route I have for you goes through the Funerary wing of the Church and then through the crypt. Also, it is VERY important you do not—" She begins to say before her communication is cut off abruptly before she returns, although with heavy static. "No! No, Earth Gov can't jam us! Not here!" she shouts in anger and, hidden beneath, shock before her signal is cut.
"Wonder what she was going to say?" Kairi asks as they step onto the elevator. "What is important in there that we shouldn't disturb?"
"I don't know, but if it's anything related to Unitologists, then it's probably Necromorph in origin." Isaac says with an uncaring shrug. A hum from Sora caught the two's attention as the lift stopped, the young man seemingly thinking hard. "What's up, Sora?" Isaac's quest seems to snap Sora out of his musings as he turns to look at them.
"Well, I was just thinking. We know how desperate these guys are for the Marker and how it will bring about this 'Convergence' or whatever. So, what are the chances that this outbreak was caused by the in the first place?" Isaac and Kairi stop to ponder Sora's question before he continues. "I was thinking back to what Kendra said, how that Marker was an experiment. If that is the case, then Tiedemann would know just how dangerous this would be. So it doesn't make sense that he would be responsible for this outbreak."
"You make a good point, Sora." Isaac says as they leave the main hall and enter another hallway. "Earth Gov may be hungry for energy, but they aren't dumb. The Unis, on the other hand, are fanatical and crazy. Deliberately causing something like this to get what they want would be right up their playbook." Sora and Kairi trade worrying glances. Just how indoctrinated are these people?
Walking silence, the three follow Isaac's waypoint before a sign pointing to a door on the left catches their attention. It was pointing towards a store. Glancing at what he had taken from the Security officer, Isaac walked in the direction of the sore, with Sora and Kairi close behind, wondering what he was doing. Descending a flight of stairs, they soon find the store, sitting right next to more Unitologists propaganda.
Ignoring it, Isaac walks into the store with the identity chip. He plugs it in as the story verifies it before it updates its selection. Isaac smiles at seeing the new items but frowns when he sees only two items available. He was hoping he would get more things for the couple, but this would do. Pressing on a suit icon, the back of the shop opens as Isaac steps in.
Sora and Kairi look on with curiosity as he steps inside before the outside doors close. Soon, the familiar glean of light beams from inside before the door opens and shows Isaac in a completely different suit.
The undersuit was heavily padded, with light grey around his chest and arms, while a light beige was on his shoulders and legs. The armour was curved, designed for equal protection and moveability, while coated in jet black. The word 'Security' was printed on the armour on his left bicep, while on the right knee guard was the number two. A thick iron collar goes around his neck, which Isaac pulls at while the flaps on his back test themselves before the helmet covers his head. Unlike the Engineering one, this helmet had only two green lines. At the same time, the armour was concealed around it, giving it a bulky yet slim appearance.
As he turns around, a compartment opens on the side, revealing a Pulse Rifle. Picking it up, Isaac gives a small smile, feeling the weight in his hands. It's not Hammonds, but it will do. Watch over us, okay? He could feel Sora and Kairi's curious gaze on his back, prompting him to turn around. "Before you ask how, I managed to get an identification chip from the body we passed. It's given me access to not only this suit but some more weapons. But this was all I could get at the moment." He holds up the rifle before placing it on his back. "Think yours will also get an upgrade?"
Casting a glance between them, Sora and Kairi figured they would try. Stepping into the shop, they were pleasantly surprised to see it upgrading theirs into a more recognisable form. While their base clothes remained unchanged, apart from the appearance of more armour plates on their shoulders and waists, their Keyblade Armours had gone through a significant change.
Stepping out of the shop, Sora Keyblade armour now bore a solid resemblance to Ven's, with a black undersuit and red lines, while the armour was a mix of silver, red and gold. His helmet combined elements from Ven's and the one he wore here, with the Leopard motif even stronger than before, forming into the top of a Leopard's head while the glowing eyes remained. His emblem remained on the side of his helmet, more detailed than before, while a similar one appeared on both of his shoulder pauldrons.
Kairi's was in a similar pattern, hers looking identical to that of Aqua's while retaining her deep pink undersuit with black lines, while her armour danced with a mixture of white, pink and blue. Like Sora's, her helmet combined her current one with Aqua's, while the Fox influence only grew in turn, forming into the top of a fox's head. The glowing eyes remained as before, while her emblem on the side grew in decoration. Similar ones appeared on both sides of her shoulder.
"Now, this is more like it." Sora says as he looks over his new Keyblade armour. "Although I think Ven would complain that it looks a bit too much like his."
"I'm more interested in why we seem to have animal heads on the top of ours." Kairi says as she points at the top of Sora's helmet. "I don't remember Aqua, Ven or Terra's ever having that or images of our emblems on the side." Sora could admit that Kairi had a point. Why were their helmets so different to the others? Just what is going on?
"You can ask them that when we find a way back to your realm." Isaac chimes in as he goes over the Pulse Rifle one more time. "They are probably worried about you if you've been here for three years. I know I would be." The couple frown at Isaac's remark. He was right that they had been trapped here for three years. What was everyone doing? The Yen Sid they encountered, whom they had long concluded he was a fake, said they would be able to see what they were doing. Was he lying? Was that obelisk still there? Did they even know what was happening to them? But as much as they wanted these answers, they knew they couldn't get them.
All they could do was keep moving forward, just like Aqua did when trapped in the Realm of Darkness.
And so, taking a moment to look over themselves once more and get acquainted with the new suits, the three returned to the upper level and proceeded to the funerary wing. But as soon as they enter, they are blasted by more Unitologist speeches.
Children of the Marker, we gather now to pay respects to the bodies of the dead, those who have been fortunate to be called ahead of us. Their bodies and souls go now into protective custody of the Church, where they will be looked after and cared for. This is not an occasion for grief, but an occasion to rejoice. Let us always remember that death is a blessing.
"Just how much of this bullshit do they believe?" Isaac asks in disbelief as they walk up to a casket at the far end, cold air seeping off as a body is frozen inside. The couple were about to comment before a swarm of, well, Swarmers dropped from the ceiling as a Zealot Slasher climbed out from a pit in front of the casket. Before Sora or Kairi could act, Isaac raised the Pulse Rifle and fired off a grenade, destroying the Swarmers and blasting off the limbs of the Zealot Slasher. "It's good to have this back again." He quips as he lowers the rifle with a smile.
"Just don't go too crazy with it, okay, Isaac?" Sora says as the couple walk ahead of him, walking past the wall behind the casket. "You do know that we are limited on what we can carry, right?" Isaac gives him a 'look' with his helmet before giving a brief chuckle. Sora was right about him going a bit crazy with the grenade function. Catching up to the couple, they find an elevator hidden behind the wall, leading to the crypt below.
With resigned breaths, the three enter the lift and descend to the room below.