Chapter 24: The Drill
The door opens with a quiet groan, revealing a vast cavern of stone and metal. Red warning lights illuminate the gangways as bright white lights shine down from above. And resting in the centre was a vast machine, its sides covered by dome-shaped pods armed with cutting teeth. Held in front were two cylindrical drills, each covered in similar mining teeth spaced in unique patterns.
Working on a power cell jutting slightly, Ellie was busy realigning the cell without shocking herself. "Wish I had a Kinesis module right now…" She grumbles to herself before stopping at the sound of heavily plated footsteps. Turning to her right, she smiles at seeing Isaac, Sora and Kairi approach her, helmets retracting or vanishing in Sora and Kairi's case. "Glad you guys got here. It looks like the mechanic was dragged away while fixing the battery. One is missing while this one needs realigning." She informs them, looking over the battery and the empty slot beside it.
"Stross is dead, Ellie." Isaac quietly informs her, a slight sadness in his voice. "We tried to snap him out, but he was too gone." Isaac looks at him, her lone eye gazing at him with a slight shock but neither surprise nor pity.
"Well, I'm not sorry about that. Won't blame you for trying to stop him, but I think he's better off now. Can't say the same about my eye, though…" She hisses a bit as she places a hand on the patch covering her right eye. A warm glow fell over her as the pain in her eye lessened considerably. Glancing at her friends, she saw Kairi holding her hand up as a green glow encompassed them while leaves fell from above. Soon enough, the glow vanished along with the leaves, but she felt her exhaustion leave her for some reason. "What was that?"
"Healing magic." Kairi replies. "Remember when we said Sora and I are not from this dimension? Well, we can use magic as well. But because of the Marker, we are limited to only healing magic. And it's not as strong as it usually is either." Ellie looks at her and Sora before rubbing the patch over her eye. She had tried earlier to use a Med Pack to heal up, yet it did nothing. And yet what Kairi did not only lessened the pain but took away her fatigue.
"If you had told us back when we first met, I would have thought you were crazier than before." She quips, lowering her hand. "But after all I've been through, I believe it." Sora and Kairi take a moment to breathe sighs of relief before Ellie looks back to Isaac. "But what happens now? I thought you needed Stross to destroy the Marker and the Portal?"
"Stross wasn't helping us, Ellie." Isaac replies, taking out Stross's last recording. "He was running away from his guilt." He plays it, letting Ellie listen to his last words of sanity. "But I'm not running away. Neither of us are. We made this problem, and we are going to fix it." He looks up at the drill towering over them with a smirk. "Well, this drill is a stroke of good luck regardless. Tiedemann won't be expecting us to roll up in this. Why don't you head up to the cab and try and get it started? We'll look for the other power cell."
"Actually, Isaac. I think it's best if I stay with her." Kairi suddenly says, surprising the three. "I may have healed her, but she's still missing her right eye. That's why it's best to stay with her and offer protection." She looks at her with an apologetic look. "Not that you wouldn't need it if you still had your eye."
"You're right about that." Ellie replies before pushing the power cell in. It sparks to life just as she steps away to safety. "But you're also right that I can't see well right now. And my right hand is my dominant hand, so firing with my left is a no-go." Kairi nodded at her before looking at Sora, who had a look of apprehension and pride.
"I'll be fine, Sora. I was okay when we split up on the Ishimura, and I'll be safe here."
"I know you will." Sora replies before giving her a hug. Kairi returns the embrace before the two groups head in different ways. Ellie and Kairi up the drill, and Sor and Isaac went deeper into the mining area. "We'll be back the moment we find another cell!" Sora shouts to the two girls, who give him thumbs up from the ladder.
"Hope they don't take too long. I'd rather not be here when those things catch up to us." Ellie quips as they reach the top of the drill. A large flat area looms as an enclosed control station jutted out from the back.
"Sora may be a lazy bum, but when the situation calls, you can count on him to pull through. Same with Isaac." Kairi replies as they enter the control room. Ellie gives her a smile as she looks over the controls, the holographic screens shining blue.
"Heh, I can see that. Your boyfriend and Isaac won't let us down." Kairi looks away with a blushing face just before the holographic display suddenly goes yellow, blocking all progress. "What the hell?" Ellie asks before opening a comm to Isaac. "Hey, what did you two do? I just lost the hologram controls."
"Yeah, the circuit junction shorted out. We'll have to find a new one." Isaac replies with exasperation in his voice.
"Well, it's standard, so there should be another one around here somewhere."
"We'll look. Had any luck up there?"
"Well, no. Not anymore." Ellie replies, folding her arms. Kairi rolls her eyes at Isaac's question as the call between them is cut. "Guess we're stuck here waiting for them to find the part." Ellie turns to look at Kairi with an intrigued look on her face. "So, magic, huh? What else can you do apart from healing wounds?" Kairi turns to look at her with a startled look before contemplating.
"Well, that depends. If we weren't shackled by the Marker, Sora and I could use Fire, Ice, Thunder, Wind, Magnet, Gravity and Reflect magic. That and we would be using our real weapons." She opens and closes her right hand, wishing she could summon her Keyblade once again.
"Is that so?" Ellie replies, arms crossed, thinking back. "That reminds me. Tiedemann said the two of you were from a different dimeson. I still have a hard time believing it, but after seeing you have magic, I'm starting to. So what is your dimension like?" Kairi folds her arms as she hums in contemplation. For such a simple question, the answer was not easy to explain. But the more she thought, the more she realised what her and Sora's home had that this place had lost.
"Well, if I had to put it into as few words as possible, it would be warm and bright." Kairi answers, turning to look out the room. "Not just that. But it is also colourful and vibrant with life and energy. Here though, I don't feel any of that. It's dark, suffocating, depressing. That life is drained of that vibrant colour that Sora and I grew up with. That, and just how cold this place feels… Not that the fact we are Islanders is helping in that regard."
"I see." Ellie contemplates with a hand on her chin. "Cold and dark, huh? Can't disagree on that part. We used to have those things once a long time ago. But as we grew as a species, we ate away at that warmth. It's what we are told as kids in history, after all." She lowers her hand before placing it on the console before her. "I…wish I could experience that. Even once." Kairi looks at her with a sad frown before walking over and touching her shoulder.
"In that case, why don't you come back with us?" Kairi offers, much to Ellie's surprise. "Isaac has already agreed to return with us, so we wanted to offer you the same chance. If you want to, that is…" Ellie looks at Kairi for a few seconds before closing her eye. When she opens it again, it is holding a fire of hope.
"You bet your armour that I'll join you. What else is left for me here other than hiding from Earth Gov. Sure, I could start a movement to reveal what's happening, but there's no guarantee that it will work." She places a hand on Kairi's shoulder as a smile spreads across her face. "Count me in." The two of them shake on it just as the hologram lights inside the cab glow…
"We'll be back when we find another power cell!" Sora calls out as he and Isaac move into an outlet nearby. Kairi and Ellie wave from above before continuing to climb the drill. Sora turns back to Isaac as they regain their helmets, hiding the worry on Sora's face. "There will be a power cell nearby, right Isaac?"
"There should be one in a holding unit. Standard procedure to keep them nearby to power the cells when they need a recharge." Isaac replies before turning around a corner, finding a metallic grey container before them. "And we have just found one." He walks up to it before opening the front, revealing a fully charged power cell ready to be used.
Grabbing it with Kinesis, Isaac guides it back to the drill, with Sora keeping watch with his Plasma Cutter. The cavern was silent, with nary a sound from the Necromorphs.
Which only helped raise the tension in the air rather than deflate it.
"Alright, put this baby in its crib, and we are out of here." Isaac mumbles to himself as he inserts the power cell into the holder. But the moment it did, sparks shout out from a compartment next to the cells, throwing out a sparking board as smoke raises from the hole. "Shit…"
"Isaac? What happened?" Sora asks as Isaac waves his hand in front of the hole. Before he could answer, Ellie opened a call to him.
"Hey, what did you two do? I just lost the hologram controls." She asks with alarm as Sora looks at Isaac in concern.
"Yeah, the circuit junction shorted out. We'll have to find a new one." Isaac replies with exasperation in his voice. "I just had to jinx us, huh?" He whispers to Sora, who shakes his head in annoyance.
"Well, it's standard, so there should be another one around here somewhere."
"We'll look. Had any luck up there?"
"Well, no. Not anymore." She replies grumpily. Taking the hint, Isaac closes the comm before looking to Sora, who had a hand on his hip. He glances around before noticing a device spinning on an outcrop above them.
"Let's try up there. That device should have it." Sora follows his gaze before nodding at Isaac as the two head up a nearby stone ramp to a gondola. All the while, Sora looked at Isaac with worry. The words he said when he managed to win(?) against Marker-Nicole still echoed in his mind.
"Isaac. Are you okay?" Isaac turns to look at Sora, startled by the sudden question.
"Yeah. At least physically, I feel fine. Don't ask me about my mental state, though…" He replies, the last part getting quieter as they step onto the gondola.
"It's just…those words you said back then. After Nicole let go of you." Sora reveals as the gondola moves past the drill cab. He saw Ellie and Kairi talking before shaking hands as the holograms flickered. Looking out at the other side, Isaac rubbed the back of his head before shaking.
"I…don't remember." He reveals, startling Sora. "I remember Nicole letting go and us heading to the shop. But I don't remember what I said. It's like…like I was auto-pilot." Sora continues to look at Isaac with concern, Isaac's confession bringing back memories of Castle Oblivion. Well, what Naminé and Riku had told him, Donald and Goofy at any rate….
But he had no time to ask as two Enhanced Slashers grapple their way other the railing nearby. Nearby, a third Enhanced Slasher drops onto the cab just as Kairi rushes outside and blasts it with her Flamethrower. Sora smirks a little before focusing on the two before them.
Seeing how close they were, Sora blasts them with Stasis before he and Isaac open fire with their Plasma Cutters. Slowed by the Stasis, the Slashers were helpless as the plasma bolts sliced through their legs and arms, leaving nothing but blackened torsos on the ground. A quick glance over to Kairi told a similar story: she used her Kinesis to remove the burning body from the drill deck.
"Nice reaction there, Sora. You've got a good handle on the Plasma Cutter." Isaac says with praise, patting him on the shoulder. Sora chuckles at him before removing the empty plasma pack and inserting a new one.
"Well, I had a good teacher." He replies, earning a chortle out of Isaac. Isaac looks at the device, power surging through it before he removes a panel. Then, nestled in its holder, was a circuit junction. Removing the device, the machine abruptly halts mid-spin. Nodding to himself, he and Sora return to the gondola as Isaac opens a call to Ellie. "We found one."
"That's great." Ellie replies with a sigh of relief. "We've got good news on this end as well. I've managed to hotwire the controls to bypass the need for keycards. The second you get that board inserted, we are good to go."
A low roar echoes around them, dust and lose rocks falling from above. A very familiar roar.
"Guys, hurry up and come back! I don't like the sound of that roar!" Kairi shouts over the comm, fear seeping into her words. It was not hard for Sora to know why. He recognised that roar anywhere.
It was from that Necromorph that appeared when they first woke up. The one with the nobody emblem on its chest.
"Isaac. That roar. It's from the one that has the Nobody emblem on it." He tells Isaac as calmly as he can, but on the inside, he is panicking. If they had their Keyblades and magic, it would be possible they could kill it. But as they were now? Thankfully, Isaac had gotten the message.
"That one? Oh shit. This we do NOT need."
"What are you guys talking about? And what's a Nobody?"
"Long story. Focus on getting that drill moving." Closing the comm right after he speaks, Isaac and Sora rush back to the drill. A Puker ambushes them along the way, spewing its stomach acid at the duo before meeting the same fate as its Slasher cousins.
It wasn't long before they arrived back at the drill, with Isaac inserting the board into the open slot. While it was a perfect fit, the system in the drill had other ideas.
"New problem. It does not recognise the new junction. I'll have to hot wire it from up here." Ellie reports. But Isaac was not going to sit around and wait. Without saying a word, he opens a panel next to the junction box and rearranges the wires as Sora looks on. A few seconds later, and several wires in new locations, the drill suddenly roars to life with Ellie cheering herself and Kairi on the other side of the comm.
"Let's not say anything to them. Let them have it." Isaac whispers to Sora, who agrees before the two climb the drill to the top. Standing on the platform, they find Kairi waiting as Ellie remains in the drill cab. "Alright. Are we ready to roll?" Sora and Kairi nod in agreement as Ellie smirks inside the cab.
"Alrighty. Let's see what the beast can do." Her voice echoes through the speakers as the drill spins in place. Bellow, they could hear the screeching of a horde of the Pact bellow them, along with several Slasher miners lumbering around. They all look up, angrily screaming as the drill faces the wall before Ellie pushes the stick forward.
With a mighty crash, the drills, spinning at maximum rotation, chew through the rock as though it was but dirt. But the rock soon became flesh as the Necromorph growth covered the entirety of the cavern, the drills tearing through. The drill struggles to pass through the growth, the treads sticking to it like glue, but it powers on. Crushing any Necromorph that tried to stop it.
The tunnel soon opens into a large mine shaft, with work equipment and lights scattered about on outcrops and stone bridges. Lurkers tried to ambush them from above but were stopped by Kairi, who used her Kinesis on a fuel barrel and threw it towards the Lurkers.
Passing into another tunnel, they encountered more of the growth as it fought to immobilize the drill. And yet it could not be stopped, even with Slashers climbing up on the sides to attack the group. Only to fall to the ground as their arms are blown off the moment they grab onto the railings.
"You three okay out there?" Ellie asks through the speakers as the latest wave of Necromorphs is beaten back. The trio turn to look at her unamused before the Pack make their return. Scrambling over the railings, they attempt to swarm the trio, only to be met by a wall of fire on one side and a hail of pulse rounds and plasma bolts on the other.
"How much farther do we have to go?!" Kairi asks as she uses her Seeker Rifle to snipe the Lurkers attacking from the outcrops. The round tearing through the attack spines like they were paper.
"We should be getting close, just a little more!" Ellie replies, moving the drill into another tunnel. It wasn't what they wanted to hear, but then again, they didn't have a map of the mines, so they were going in blind. But then, something appeared out of the darkness of the tunnel. A large metallic wall, flanked on all sides by rock.
"Is that it?" Sora asks as the drill comes to a stop. Isaac looks at the wall before nodding to himself.
"Yeah, that's it. Behind that wall is the Government Sector. Now then, how do we get in?" He looks at the couple, who shrug their shoulders at each other. They could go hunting for a door, but there was the chance they would all be locked. And with a horde behind them, they didn't have time to look for a way in.
"Well, we do have a giant drill." Ellie says over the horn. The trio turn to look at her as she smirks at them. And they did not like the look of that smirk or the gleam in her eyes.
"E-Ellie. You do know that were are riding on this. Right?" Ellie's smirk only gets bigger at Kairi's question. Before they knew it, the drill was thundering towards the wall at top speed. Seeing the coming impact, the trio cling to the railings of the drill just as it impacts the wall. Giving way to the drill's power, the wall crumbles apart, but not without taking the drill with it. The wall's remains damage the treads of the drill, sending it careening onto its side as Isaac is sent flying onto a platform above. On the other hand, Sora and Kairi were sent flying towards the ground.
"Ouch…I'm going to feel that for a while…." Sora comments as he and Kairi pick themselves up from the floor, Ellie walking to them with a smirk before looking up to where Isaac had landed. The couple follows her gaze as they turn to look at Isaac, who has just gotten back onto his feet. "You okay, Isaac?"
"Yeah. But holy crap, that hurt." Isaac calls back as his gaze falls on the room they are in. It was as big as the tram station, with stairs leading up to thick doors behind a processing station. And above them was the symbol of Earth Gov. A globe of planet Earth, complete with a rotating sign of Earth Gov.
"Well, we can all compare bruises later." Ellie calls out before looking back at the entrance behind them. "And this is definitely the Government Sector. And that Marker and Portal of yours are behind those doors." She points at the huge doors, the magnetic lock holding them in place.
"Well, we better move fast. The Necromorphs are going to be following us through the path we made. There has to be an elevator or a path I can take to get down to you guys." He glances to his right, spying on the passage next to him. "Hold where you are. I'll come to you. Sora, Kairi. Keep an eye out, okay?"
"Got it. We'll keep an eye out." Sora replies, giving a thumbs up. Isaac returns the gesture before glancing towards Ellie.
"I'll try and meet you halfway." She calls up before vanishing into a door nearby. Isaac shakes his head at her with fondness before going his own way. They were close now. So very close to ending this nightmare once and for all.