Chapter 7: Molten Darkness
Orange light filled the lift as the doors opened. The hardened trio move out onto the Tram station, orange lights casting dark shadows as Isaac deactivates the lockdown. As the covers fell, they could see across the gap the Engineering Tram station before the Tram came and blocked off the view.
"How large is the Mining Deck, Isaac?" Kairi asks as they follow him into the connecting hallway. A small storage area filled with boxes welcomes them before they turn a corner, finding another area filled with cargo.
"Well, the mining deck is separated into four different layers. Hopefully, we can find someone around here. The Mining Deck is filled with mining tools, after all." Isaac holds up his Cutter. "The perfect tools to deal with the Necromorphs."
"If only things were that simple, Isaac." Kendra suddenly buts in with an exasperated look. "The Mining Deck systems are running haywire. Not sure if its damage from outside or internal interference. At least I can get the elevator running."
"Where do you think the SOS beacon is?" Sora asks as the trio enters into a changing room. At the far end was the main elevator.
"Best bet is the mining control room. The launch tubes there can send out a beacon, easy." Isaac replies, going over his belt in case they need to restock. Before, a voice suddenly cut in over Kendra's call.
"Anyone there?" Hammond's voice asks, surprising the four. "I'm in the vents, hoping they don't hear me."
"Yeah, those things are everywhere…" Isaac mumbles, glancing at a pool of blood nearby.
"No, the Unitologists. They're all here, on the Crew Deck. I've been hiding in the vents to avoid them. They're lost it. One of them stabbed her friend's head. He just stood there—he fucking smiled!" The trio grimaced behind their helmets, hearing how much the Unis had lost it. Unfortunately, Hammond's signal was weak, and soon they had lost it with Kendra working to find it again.
"At least Hammond is still alive but crawling through the vents?" Kairi asks, with the trio stepping onto the large lift. "What is happening on the Crew Deck?"
"I don't know, and I do not want to know." Isaac replies before looking at the terminal. "Great, two of the sub-decks are locked down. Hopefully, Kendra can find out why." He presses the terminal, activating the lift. "Thankfully, the Mining Deck is not one of them."
The lift descends slowly and methodically as the lights flicker. Even though the lift was large and spacious, the trio still felt vulnerable and exposed. A small fluctuation of power temporarily halts the lift before fixing itself as it continues on down the shaft. Eventually, it arrives at the C Deck.
The door opens, revealing a corner turn with the wall painted in red paint. Displaying a warning for all.
"'Beware. Traps ahead.' Well, at least they were kind enough to warn us." Sora comments as they turn the corner. A red flare illuminated the next turn as a low hum rumbled down the corridor. "Wonder what they had left?"
"Well, let's go and find out, shall we?" Isaac replies, pulling out the Force Gun. "Traps huh? Why am I not surprised?" Approaching the corner, they soon came across what the miners had left.
Laser tripwires were placed down the hall. A small tunnel was immediately on their right, but the door it led to was broken. Jammed with a dead body and metal debris. The sound of a vent being destroyed turned their attention back down the hall as a Slasher jumped down. It roars at them and charges straight into a laser tripwire. The device activates, firing red mining lasers at the Slasher. Burning through its decaying body and severing it to pieces before destroying itself.
"Well, that happened." Kairi comments as Isaac grabs a nearby metal pole. He pokes it into the tripwire, activating it and disarming the trap. He repeats this process a second time, opening the way to a second tunnel with a functional door but it was the next turn in the hallway that had his attention.
Continuing down, instead of leaving the hallway, Isaac comes across an unlocked storage room. Opening the door, he finds what could be best described as a shop horror show.
A shop kiosk stood before him, covered in blood, skin and shards of bone. It was clearly in an inoperable state, as what looked to be the remains of a body could be seen in the back of the Kiosk. Where one would have their suit upgraded or replaced.
"Isaac? What did you find?" Sora asks as he and Kairi enter the room before stumbling across the scene. Words die in their throats as Isaac shakes his head at the two, picking up a discarded audio recording from a broken security station. "What happened in here?"
"Don't know. Hopefully, this recording can tell us what happened." Isaac replies, activating the recording.
"Security? We've got a freak called Harris stealing from Ore Storage." A miner's voice comes through, and almost instantly, the trio knew what was about to happen.
"Dr. Mercer sent me for osmium. To complete his work." Harris is heard replying, sounding almost robotic in his tone of voice.
"I don't care if God Almighty sent you. You skin from CEC's profit margin, we get screwed."
"God…?"
"So you can put that osmium down, or I can break your arms first." A tense silence comes from the recording of what could only be thought of as a standoff.
"I worked with people like you on Aegis VII. They'd steal my power nodes. Leave me to dig with no light." A scuffle is heard as Harris tackles the miner, who can be heard being forced into the shop Kiosk as it activates. "But when they abandon you in the dark, it's not empty. The Marker whispered its revelations there. Now, I understand them. Do you want to understand them?"
The shop could be heard warning that the person using it was untrained. The minder pleads, begging for him to stop, but Harris is unmoved.
"I said 'please' when they shut me in. I screamed it, too. I promise I won't laugh like they did."
What followed next was the miners' dying screams as the Suit Kiosk did its work, with the audio recording ending soon after.
Incident report filed to Bridge by: Dr Nicole Brennan. See related RiG activity.
"Harris. He was completely under Mercer's control, wasn't he?" Kairi asks. She could see the similarity between him and Xehanort in how they worked towards their goals. Although Mercer seemed to be more deranged and without any remorse for his actions.
"We can find out more later. For now, let's find that SOS beacon." Isaac replies, exiting the room with the couple behind him. Returning to the working door, they open it to find a dying miner beyond it. Before they could even help him, he died of his wounds. Blood loss from a missing limb.
Entering into the chamber proper, they could see a giant mining beam spanning the entire room, pulling chunks of rock from something. A metal walkway with protective covers spanned across the room in a U shape.
Walking to the central catwalk, they find a battery lying on the table while a service lift with an empty socked lay to their left. On the far right was a passage leading to the broken door next to a locked door.
An infector tries its luck by snatching onto a nearby miner corpse only to be blasted off by Isaac's Force Gun right into the gravitation beam above their heads. It was torn apart within seconds while being dragged into the belly of the Ishimura.
"Serves it right." Isaac mumbles before grabbing the battery with Kinesis and inserting it into the empty power socket. The service lift hums to life as the trio steps on before rising to the next level. Finding themselves in a small corridor, a group of Swarm charged down the hallway towards them to run right into a flame wall from Kairi's flamethrower.
With the nuisance taken care of, the trio continued on moving past a level 3 security door. Eventually, they arrive at the control room, overlooking the mining room, where a chunk of the planet is currently in the middle of being slowly mined.
"The launch tubes should be in here somewhere…" Isaac comments, glancing around the blood-soaked room. Bodies of several mines lay scattered around with their limbs chopped off. Control terminals line the left and right walls, with two more located in the centre, along with one more underneath the viewing window. Along the left side of the room, several pipes and tubes run from floor to ceiling, lining the wall. "Found it." He says, walking over to the wall. Sora and Kairi follow, their backs turned to keep watch on the vents which were surprisingly still intact.
But as Isaac went to access the launch tubes, the system locked down.
Launch tubes sealed. Please contact Supervisor Dallas for authorisation.
"Should have figured it would be too easy." Isaac grumbles, opening up a comm channel. "Kendra, we have a problem. The launch tubes are sealed."
"Just when I managed to get somewhere with the Mining Deck systems…" Kendra mumbled before typing could be heard on her end. "If the tubes are sealed, you'll need an admin RiG to open it. According to records, Supervisor Dallas is on the Processing Sub Deck. There's also RiG activity from a Jacob Temple as well. Maintenance Sub Deck. Maybe he left the SOS beacon there? Just hope you can reach it through all these malfunctions."
"Not malfunctions, Kendra. Traps. The miners' way of holding the line." Isaac informs a small smile on his face before closing the channel. "Looks like we've got other decks to visit before were done. Wish things were simple for once."
"In our experience, Isaac, these things are never easy." Sora replies before the three make their way back to the main lift. The journey back was quiet, with no signs of the Necro's nearby. They could not help but think that they were being watched.
Glancing at the lift controls, Isaac brings them up to the B Deck, processing. Figuring that securing the SOS beacon now would be better than later. Stepping onto the deck, they are greeted with what looks to be a small work room, complete with a bench and mining tool. With a video recording waiting to be viewed.
Intrigued, Isaac sets the recording to play, generating a holographic video of a man moving to the bench. Gearing up with a Force Gun.
"Hey Liz, it's Jacob. I couldn't reach you. If you find this, I'm off deck. But I'll be right back. I got a call from another survivor. He sounded terrified. I'm going to lock up the SOS beacon and go get him. The best launch window's not for a while, anyway. And his sounds like the risk. A doctor, although I couldn't get his name. Either way, about time we got a fucking break. I love you. Please, be careful down here."
The recoding ends with Jacob leaving the room, off to find the survivor.
"Who do you think he went to save?" Kairi asks while Sora uses his Kinesis to remove a makeshift barricade of boxes. A pool of blood stains the floor underneath.
"Impossible to say, at the very least, I hope it wasn't Mercer. Who knows what he would do to him…" Isaac replies as they move past the barricade. They enter a room comprised of handing platforms made into a walkway with an orange abyss bellow their feet. More bodies of miners litter the floor, blood pooling around them. Just as they start to navigate through the maze of dark corridors, Slashers charge at them from the shadows. On instinct, the trio open fire with their tools, Isaac's Plasma Cutter slamming into the Slasher's arms as Sora's Ripper ricochets towards the legs. Kairi lays downs walls of fire with her Flamethrower, hindering the Necro's movements.
As the last Slasher falls to the ground, the trio continue on, not wanting to waist any more time. Passing through another door, they enter into yet another corridor, although this one has a covered window wall, allowing light from the other room to seep in. Along side the hum of a gravity beam. Walking along the corridor, the trio came across a piece of rock that had slammed into the wall after breaking through the covered window.
Allowing the trio to enter into the Zero-G room. And floating around them where four pieces of rock that had managed to separate themselves from the gravity beam.
"The room's in lockdown until we can get rid of those rocks. Uses Kinesis to throw them into the gravity beam. It's too dangerous to do it by hand." Isaac calls out, activating his thrusters and floating to the nearest piece. Using his Kinesis, Isaac grabs a floating piece of rock and flings it into the beam, the boulder disintegrating almost immediately. Shit. Why did they not design these to be enclosed? Isaac wonders as he repeats the process again. Sora and Kairi managed to fling one each into the beam as Isaac dealt with his second. Allowing the system to enable gravity to be restored.
With gravity restored, the door leading to the ore processing control room opens. With the way cleared, the group walked around the edge of the room towards the control door. Entering into the room, they find the bloody body of Dallas. His left arm and legs blow off with a Plasma Cutter in his right hand.
And judging by the contorted look on his face, they could guess what had happened. As Isaac gently moves Dallas's body over, Sora and Kairi keep watch for any movement. A chime appears in their HUD, informing them about their clearance level, now at level 3 just as an audio log begins to play from Dallas's RiG.
His final words.
"Supervisor Dallas. Final Log." His words were heavy as he struggled to hold back emotions. "I've made sure they can't leave this deck. But neither can I. I've seen what they do… to the bodies. What they become. And I cannot let that happen to me. At least if I don't have any limbs… I can't kill anyone when I'm infected." He chokes back a sob as the sound of a tool powers on in the recording. "Please, tell Dawn… and the kids… that I love them."
The recording ends with the sounds of Dallas firing the Cutter on himself, screaming in pain.
"Dallas… you made the hard choice…" Isaac whispers, kneeling down to the dead man and closing his open eyes. "But… it was the right one. Infectors don't go for bodies missing limbs. Rest easy…"
"Isaac…" Sora whispers as he and Kairi stand near the exit, giving him space. Isaac glances at them before straightening up and joining them.
"I'm okay. I've already accepted those I knew on this ship are dead. I'm just holding onto hope that Nicole is not among them…" The couple nods at him before leaving through the exit. Emerging into the connecting tunnel they arrived at.
"Hey, the admin's RiG changed location. You got it?" Kendra's voice chimes in with a hint of joy. A feeling that none of the trio were feeling.
"Yeah, we got it. We also found Dallas's body." Sora replies for them. His response seemed to snap all joy out of Kendra as she sobers up.
"Oh… I see." She ends the call right after that. With the call abruptly ended, the trio made their way back to the lift, fighting past two Slashers who tried to ambush them from behind and front. Reaching the lift, Isaac sends them down to the D deck, maintenance. While the lift descends in another bout of eerie silence, a video call is activated on Isaac's suit.
It was Hammond in a vent.
"Hammond? What's wrong?" Isaac asks as Sora and Kairi gather round him.
"I've been following the crew members. Trying to find out what they're doing." Hammond replies, breathing heavily as he twitches in the confined space.
"I'm guessing you managed to find it?" Kendra asks.
"Yeah. They're bringing something in…. hold on." He moved the camera so they could see beyond the vent. And what they saw was unnerving.
A spiralling obelisk with two points looms over the crew members as they chat religiously. All of a sudden, the video call goes into static as a high pitch ringing sound pierces the brains of everyone listening.
The sound almost sends Isaac, Sora and Kairi to their knees as Kendra yells for it to stop. But just as quickly as it appeared, the ringing stops.
"What… What was that?" Kairi asks as she shakes her head.
"I don't know…but it hurt." Sora replies, rubbing the back of his neck. Isaac groans as he rolls his shoulders after ending the call with Kendra, looking o the door leading to Deck D.
"We need to get off this fucking ship." No one complained at Isaac's comment, as they soon found maintenance to be in an even worse state.
The same fleshy growth that was spiralling out of control in food storage and engineering was here as well, along with howls of a lone Guardian echoing through the abandoned halls. Walking up to the descending ramps, they quickly find the Guardian blocking the way to maintenance, but a single blast from Sora's Contact Beam ends the soul's agony. Before they went through the door, Isaac spotted a second door, leading to a Secured Storage.
Glancing between both doors, Isaac came to a hard decision.
"Guys, let's split up." He informs the two. "We're running low on time, and we can't stay on this deck for too long. Jacob has to have put the SOS beckon through one of these doors, and it will be quicker if we search both at the same time."
"Are you sure, Isaac? The Necromorphs could be waiting for us to split up so they can ambush us." Sora replies, worried that this could end up doing more harm than good. But Isaac stands firm.
"I know the risk, but we're on a time limit. Even now, that Marker must be weaving its influence on us. And I would rather not become a pawn of that thing." The couple wanted to argue more with him, but they could tell Isaac would not budge. With great reluctance, they agree to Isaac's plan as they watch him vanish into the Maintenance storage.
"Well, let's see what's waiting for us in Storage?" Sora asks as he approaches the door. Kairi quickly moves to join him as he opens the door, revealing a room almost over grown with the growth.
Four doors line the tight corridor before them, each connected to a single circuit break that would be powering the door. But at the moment, none of the doors had power.
"Alright. Which door should we power up?" Kairi asks as they try to peer into the four rooms. One of them had its door completely covered while the one next to it was about to burst apart from the growth. The other two, lying on the left side of the room, looked to be flesh-free, but it was hard to tell from the outside.
"I'm thinking this one." Sora points to the one at the far back, next to the fuse box. "Something tells me we'll find something here." With the choice made, Sora redirected the idling power into the room, allowing the door to open.
Inside, they find a storage room that had been repurposed into a makeshift room, complete with a sleeping bag and writing table. All over the walls were the writings left behind by its occupant, with 'Amelia' being the most prominent one.
"Who was hiding here?" Kairi asks as she sees two audio logs on the table. Sora shrugs his shoulders as Kairi picks one of them up and activates it.
"Record then. What difference does it make now?" A defeated Kyne asks.
"Terrence, I know the Marker is responsible for this outbreak. I need to know why." A desperate Nicole asks back.
"It's signal. When it pulses, that signal can trigger alterations in genetic code. Neural structure, even. You've felt it, haven't you?"
"But how do I stop it?"
"Mercer must know. He's taken all his Marker research up to his room on the Crew Deck and sealed—" There was a pause in his speech before he shut himself up.
"Sealed it? Do you know how? Please, I need Mercer's data!"
"No! He'll kill you! I won't have any more deaths on my conscience! Unitology was all I had when I lost Amelia. Look what it's come to."
"Terrence…Listen." She takes a breath as she is heard readjusting herself. "You loved Amelia. As much as I love Isaac. But if I can't cure this outbreak, I'll never see him again. Please, help me."
There was a long silence in the recording as Kyne took his time to reply. When he did, it was filled with resignation.
"…Three, nine, two, seven, seven. If you must get into Mercer's room, that code should do it."
"Thank you." Nicole replies, with relief in her voice, before she puts something on the table. "Here, these will be safe with you." From what she was talking about, the couple could guess that it was the audio logs left on the table. As the Nicole in the recording made ready to leave, Kyne called out to her one last time.
"Dr Brennan—Nicole. The only thing Mercer feared was death. Now… I don't think he's afraid of anything."
And with that, the recording ends.
"So, Nicole went to the Crew Deck? We should let Isaac know when we meet up. It might help us find out where she went next." Kairi says as she pockets the audio log.
"Good point, but what is the other one that she left? It must be important." Sora points with an open hand to the second recording. Picking it up, Kairi activates the recording, which starts with a hint of static.
"Isaac, are you there? Come in, Isaac~" Nicole's voice begins before she bursts out laughing at something as Isaac's groans come in. "Oh god, I'm so sorry, Isaac. The time difference! I'll call you back later."
"No, no." Isaac's groggy voice comes through. "It's okay, it's okay. How are you doing?"
"Good. You were right, Isaac. The Ishimura is a GREAT ship. I am so lucky to be serving aboard her."
"Well, enjoy it while it lasts. You know they're going to decommission her next year." The tone in their voices was not only one of familiarity but of a slight longing as well.
"Isaac…Thank you. For pushing me to do this. I mean, if it weren't for you, I never would have made it this far because you made me stick with it."
"Well, just remember I'm giving you up for six months so you can do this." Sora and Kairi could feel their hearts sink at hearing this. They knew what it was like to be separated for long periods of time. The ache of the heart that came with it. But they also knew that Isaac has to punishing himself. For it was because of him that Nicole was here on the Ishimura, to begin with. Not that anyone could have predicted that this would happen, but the guilt was no doubt there.
"We should join up with Isaac." Sora comments. Kairi nods, picking up the audio log to give to Isaac before noticing something else in the room. Three star-shaped necklaces made from blue, green and brown glass. Each with a heart-like symbol in the centre, holding them together.
The edges were covered in blood.
"Sora…" Kairi breathes as a dark chill runs down her spine. "These are…" She shakingly picks them up, holding them out to Sora who stares on in muted silence. He picks up the green star, holding it gently before placing it on his hip next to Roxas's necklace.
"Why are Aqua, Ven and Terra's Wayfinders here?" Sora asks to no one. Kairi remains silent as she places the other two onto her own belt, gently touching Naminé's sketchpad on her back. "Let's get out of here." Sora gently grabs Kairi's hand and pulls her out of the Storage room.
Moving back to the main room, they find themselves all alone as the growth beneath them squelches underfoot.
"Should we go after Isaac? Or wait for him on the lift?" Kairi asks. Sora takes a moment to think, glancing between the door and the flesh-free area nearby.
"I think it's better to wait here. We can wait on the raised platform that's growth-free." He points out to the area nearby. It was on the way to the lift, so they would still be in sight. Moving up to it, they heard the door behind them opening as Isaac trudged through the growth. A cylindrical device is attached to his hip.
"You found it!" Kairi calls out as Isaac joins them. While his helmet hid his face, they could see in his posture that he had a victorious air about him.
"That I did, but not only that." A cheer could be heard in his voice as the trio made their way to the lift. "I found Nicole. She's alive." The couple look at him with wide eyes and happy grins hidden behind their helmets.
"Really? That's great, Isaac!" Sora replies before tilting his head. "But why is she not with you?"
"We were separated by a pit. There was no way for her to cross." Isaac replies, his mood going down before picking back up. "But I know we will meet again. She's survived this long after all." The couple glance at each other as Isaac activates the lift, bringing them back up to C deck.
"By the way, Isaac. We found where Kyne was hiding out." Kairi informs Isaac, handing him the two audio logs. "Nicole left an audio log with him alongside their recording. Kyne told her about Mercer's research being locked up in his room on the Cred Deck. He even gave her the code to get it. Three, nine, two, seven, seven."
"I see…" Isaac replies, hand grasping around the logs. "Thank you. The moment we are able, we'll check out the Crew Deck and see what she found. But before that." The lift comes to a stop as the door opens. "We have a beacon to launch."
The path back to the control room was filled with optimistic caution. Despite no Necromorphs popping out of the vents to attack, the trio remained on guard as they made their way back to the room. The bodies still lying on the floor.
Isaac accessed the terminal, inputting Dallas's credentials to unlock the launch tubes as a feeling of hope blossomed in his chest.
Only for the entire contraption to shut down, with sparks flying and metal screeching in Isaac's face.
"GAH! WHAT THE FUCK!" Isaac yells as he backs away, almost bashing into the couple as they turn around in surprise.
Error. Launch tubes obstructed.
"Of COURSE it wouldn't be that easy…" Isaac groans as Sora and Kairi facepalm. "Kendra, we have a problem. The miners had booby-trapped the launch tubes. They're scrap." A groan could be heard from the comm link before a thud quickly followed.
"Well, that's great. We can't just toss the beacon out the window…" she angrily grumbles. Isaac shakes his head while staring at the tubes while Sora and Kairi gaze out the window, overlooking the chunk of rock being mined.
"What about that?" Sora asks, pointing outside. Isaac follows his arm, eyes falling on the piece of earth before gasping in realisation.
"That's right… We could use that."
"Use what?"
"The asteroid. The one in the Mining Bay for smelting." Isaac replies, joining the couple. "If I place the beacon on its surface and jettison it away, it should reach a favourable distance to send out a signal."
"You do realise that the systems ARE still working, right? And that they can't be shut down? You'll get killed!"
"That same machinery will have kept the Necromorphs out as well, Kendra. This is our best shot. We're taking it." Isaac turns to leave, signalling to the couple to follow him. "We should be able to reach the holding bay from the floor below. Come on." Retracing their steps, they return to the room with the gravitation beam, heading to the door located directly ahead of the service lift.
Entering the room, they find a small boxed space with two large vented support pillars. But also a small problem.
"We need another battery for this lift as well?" Sora asks, gazing at the empty socket next to the service lift. While Kairi tilts her head at the awkwardness, Isaac grumbles to himself before backing out of the room. Before the couple asks what he is doing, he returns with the battery from the service lift.
"Times like this make me hate the old tech on the Ishimura." He grumbles as he inserts the battery, activating the lift. Stepping on, they descend to the lower level, rumblings echoing through the vents. They arrive at a padded service tunnel leading to the Mining Bay. Moving through the tight corridor, they soon arrive at twin bulkhead doors. Sealing off a Zero-G area. Moving past the doors, they find themselves in the Mining Bay.
Two large gravitation tethers connect to the asteroid from the floor and ceiling as the machines slowly spin around the asteroid to loosen it up for the graviton beam to tear pieces off it.
"So, what do we do?" Kairi asks, looking around the large room.
"Well, since there is no emergency shutdown, I'll have to shut down the gravity tethers the hard way. Then head outside and set the SOS beacon." Isaac replies, aiming his cutter at the device next to them. He hits it with stasis, slowing it down and allowing him to hit the fuse box, powering it. "I'll have to do the same to the two on the outside. You guys deal with the one on the ceiling while I head on out."
Before either of them could argue, Isaac activates his thrusters and takes off towards the asteroid. He waits as the giant device rolls over the giant rock before blasting out through a gap and into space.
"I don't like this…" Kairi mumbles as they head for the ceiling. "Why is Isaac acting like this? Splitting us up just doesn't feel right."
"None of this feels right." Sora replies, reorienting himself as he aims Kingdom Key at the tether. A blast of stasis from his hand and a fireball from the Keyblade resulted in another dead tether. "I know we felt this when we arrived, but it feels like we've already done this before. Not only that…" He places a hand on the items on his belt. "But these… They don't feel real. Even if they 'look' real."
Kairi hums worryingly as they hear the system warning about the deactivation of the outside tethers. "Do you think… That the Marker is already messing with our minds? That we, all of us, are going crazy, and we just don't know it?" Sora stays quiet as they see Isaac outside the gravity field, keeping the air in, waiting for the grinding arms to move.
"I don't know, Kairi. I don't know at all…" Sora replies quietly before turning to Isaac. "Did you plant it?"
"Yeah." Isaac replies with a nod. "Let's head back to the control room and launch this rock." Returning to the floor, the trio retrace their steps back to the service lift, only to run into a small problem.
"Why is fire coming out of these?" Kairi asks amongst the roaring flames. For some reason, the three pillars were erupting bursts of fire from their sides, blocking the paths for a few seconds before going quiet. Only to erupt into flames once more.
"They are not supposed to do that in the first place." Isaac yells, removing the battery. "The Ishimura is an old ship for a reason! It's why she's to be dismantled next year! And the damage the Necromorphs have caused is not helping things either!" Isaac watches the flames, mentally timing how long the bursts of flame last before making his move. "Now go!"
Following Isaac's shout, the trio sprints through the gauntlet of flames, soot staining their armour before making it to the other side. They were lucky no Necromorphs decided to attack them, but at the same time, the Necromorphs would have easily fallen to the flames as they could have.
With the flames behind them, Isaac reinserts the battery and leads Sora and Kairi back to the control room. For the third time, the shutters open to revile the now-primed asteroid. With a few clicks on the terminal, the asteroid is ejected away from the Ishimura. Its SOS beacon on full blast.
"Alright, now all we can do is wait." Isaac tells the two as they begin to settle down.
Hazardous anomaly detected. Quarantine activated.
"Uh oh…" Sora whispers as the room locks down. The shutter over the window closes, plunging the room into darkness while a metal great covers the door. A looming red light activates, spinning from its position in the centre of the ceiling as a rumbling echoes through the vents. The trio ready themselves for the incoming attack, ready for whatever burst through the vents.
But what came through the vents…
None of them were prepared for it.
"IT'S THE GODDAMN HUNTER!" Isaac screams as the Hunter bursts through the vent near the launch tubes. Within seconds, it was hit by a blast of stasis before all three of them attacked it with plasma bolts, ripper blades and flames. It quickly fell to the floor, still in stasis.
But more Slashers arrived through the vents. Even as Sora and Kairi used their Keyblades to keep the Slashers at bay, giving them room to use the tools, the Hunter was slowly regrowing its limbs.
"KENDRA!" Isaac yells into the comm, startling her as he blasts the Hunter with more stasis. "Override the manual door release! NOW!"
"G-Got it!" She replies back, shocked at Isaac's tone of voice but quickly understanding once she catches a glimpse of the security camera in the room. As Kendra got to work, Isaac switched to his Force Gun as the Hunter slowly got back up while Kairi brought out the Line Gun. With a single blast of the Force Gun, he forces the Hunter back away from him along with two Slashers as Kairi uses the Line Gun to sever the legs.
A small chime from the door indicated that the manual release was ready. Isaac grabbed the handle with Kinesis and forced it down. With it depressed, the quarantine is deactivated, allowing the trio to sprint out of the room just as more Slashers burst out of the vents behind them. Getting onto the lift, Isaac slams his hand against the holographic display as Kairi sets a Line Gun trap for the charging Slashers, buying them more time.
The trap goes off just as the lift descends, while Isaac places the Force Gun on his back and brings out the Pulse Rifle. "Run for the main lift, and don't stop!" Isaac tells the two, watching as Sora pulls out the Contact Beam from his back. He probably would have used it first if they knew the Hunter was nearby.
The moment the lift reached the bottom, the trio sprinted for the exit. Ignoring the shop on their way. Only for the Hunter to appear before them once again. Smashing through a vent just as they enter the connecting corridor. Isaac blasts it with his remaining Stasis, allowing the trio to run.
Only for more vents to burst open as Slashers, Spitters, Leapers, and Lurkers scramble out of the vents after them.
Spinning around, Isaac aims his Pulse Rifle down the hall and fires a grenade, damaging some of their attackers as Kairi lays down another trap. The red trip-line activates in an instant, the red plasma beam slicing through the legs of any that crossed it before dying out.
As Kairi and Isaac run for the main lift, Sora stays at the corner. He fires the Contact Beam, blasting into any remaining Necroes still charging at him before running as the Hunter breaks out of its stasis lock and stomps towards him.
"SORA! COME ON!" Isaac yells as he and Kairi wait on the lift. As Sora runs through the door, Kairi lays down a flame wall to slow the Necromorphs down as Isaac hits the terminal, sending them back up to A Deck. As the lift ascends, the Hunter steps through the fire and glares through the closed door. Eyes filled with hunger and the thrill of the hunt before turning around and leaving again through the fires.
"Fuck…that was close…" Isaac breathes as he leans on the wall, Sora and Kairi falling to their knees as the adrenaline leaves their systems. "Kendra…is that Hunter still after us?" A video call activates, showing her frazzled face on the screen as she double-checks the systems.
"I think it's gone. But I can't say for sure. The systems bugging out." She backs away, placing her hands on her hips with a distressed face. "I'm getting those camera glitches. The one that looks like my brother. Waving at me." She sighs deeply before moving back to the terminal. "At least the beacon is away. I'm aligning the—wait. 'Array receiver not responding?' Oh shit…"
"The comms relay…We never got round to fixing it…" Kairi answers, drawing sharp breaths from Isaac and Kendra as the lift comes to a stop.
"Guess it wasn't a broken encoder. We need to head to the bridge. That's where the comm relay is. Let's hope that the rough estimate we gave is wrong. No comms, no rescue." With heavy hearts, the three return to the Tram Station. While a pair of hungry eyes follow their every step.