Summary: Menace 1-3 begins their venture into the Gene Clinic. What secrets will it hold as they head to secure the VIP?
The halls of the Gene Clinic were sterile, as always. Oppressively sterile. That pristine white with a hint of red and black accents lining the walls. The occasional decorative plants here and there. And of course, the alien propaganda.
Banners of a refined Sectoid "helping" a fallen human. Banners of an Elder with one set of arms around a human and their other arms raised high above. Embracing. And then those statues. Those obnoxiousgolden statues of the Elders. They were simplistic renditions of Their forms, but radiated every ounce of Their holier-than-thou attitudes to all. Whether it be the statues with Them elegantly poised, arms stretched out, sweeping in the wind. Or those statues similar to the banners of the Elder "embracing" a human, imparting their knowledge unto them. That arrogance and superiority. And they tried their best to hide that. But an occasional comment, especially comments on the barbaric Old World and those that rejected Their kindness, would slip through when they would grace humanity with Their presence. Especially from that long-tongue lier, that Speaker. But with how delicately, how eloquently, the nice ones spoke, most of humanity never noticed.
A few times Warlord was tempted to break one. Like most rebels, he hated them with a great passion. Every chance he got on a mission that had any ADVENT propaganda, he would destroy every scrap he could get his hands on; especially the statues. But knew better than to do that now. Now was not the time, he was already in hot water from what he did earlier. Tripping those soldiers in the darkness. Entirely worth it in his eyes to toy with the ADVENT tin heads(he so lovingly calls them) and they were none the wiser in that blackout.
As the trio passed another corner, there was another one of those golden statues. It was a small one sitting on a table. His nose wrinkled at the sight. How many of those damn things were in this clinic?
"So tempting…"
He muttered under his breath as he passed it. Eyes tracking it. Fingers twitching, ready to reach out, grab it, and throw it on the floor. But he held back that urge.
"Oh, if things get hot…"
But if their cover was blown, he wasn't going to hold back. As long as it didn't put him in the line of fire, he was going to wreck the place. He'd deal with the fiery punishments from the Commander later. It would be worth it. These clinics were a death sentence to so many who had gone missing.
"The layout of this place is atrocious." Iris grumbled. "And that growing mist isn't helping."
The three-man squad had made it to the stairs on the first floor with no problem. Little to no encounters with guards or any workers there. Looked to be a rather quiet night… On the first floor. The second floor was much more active. And there was an odd red-tinged mist that sparkled, permeating the floor.
"Having to wind about just to get to the third floor." Iris was double-checking the blueprints to the gene clinic for any shortcuts they could use.
"Why couldn't the stairs go all the way to the third floor? Why is there only one elevator that leads to the third floor directly? Who designed this place!?" He had never seen nor had been to such a poorly designed gene clinic in his life. He had serviced several when he was once under ADVENT as an engineer, more on the technician side. Scanning the blueprints for the umpteenth time, with the help of his Gremlin, he wasn't finding any alternate routes around their current obstacle.
"If there weren't checkpoints on each floor, we could have taken the elevator."
How much he wished they could have used those. Straight shot to the third floor and the VIP. But he knew from experience — having serviced some rather important gene clinics — and the blueprints. There were checkpoints on each floor, just outside the elevator. They couldn't work their way past that without bullets.
"Thanks for the extra mask, Warlord." Hexx said. As the trio had a moment to catch their breaths and plan their next move, Hexx was donning one of the many spare respirators Warlord carried with him.
The trio were in a darkened side room at the moment. Trapped like cornered rats due to how active the second floor was. Several workers in the various labs, others moving about from room to room, some moving projects back and forth between rooms. Most were wearing full face masks. And the guard patrols were heavy as when one patrol would pass, barely 4 minutes would pass when another appeared. Most patrols were comprised of the standard ADVENT Trooper, but there were a few Stun Lancers in the mix. Perhaps they were there to catch any escaping experiments. Oddly, none of the soldiers were wearing masks. Possibly whatever it was, was safe for them to breathe in. And then those areas where the mist was at its thickest, must have barely phased their enhanced eyesight.
From the sounds of how active the floor was and the looks of tired and nervous workers, something important was being worked on. Thankfully, the room the trio was residing in was free from that mist.
"Don' mention it. Don't trust the city air and don't trust this bloody mist." Warlord was peeking out the window. "Hope the filters work for this shit."
"It smells sweet and metallic. Tastes kinda like copper." She said. "Just… weird. Kinda feel more energetic after breathing some in."
"Wonder what it is?" Commander Reeves mumbled. She made a mental note of possibly having their soldiers deploy with masks when entering facilities like this. Already made it mandatory for going into the "Lost Cities", so it wouldn't hurt for to apply it to other operations. "Iris."
"Already have Daedalus gathering samples, Commander." He dryly responded, eyes still intensely focused on the blueprints. There had to be somewhere they could go.
"Also, if you can, see if you can find an access terminal." Commander Reeves added. "I'm curious about why this level is so heavily guarded and why there's so much activity for this time of night."
She watched the monitors, especially the ones that had views of the labs. Rather tame, no human experimentation going on compared to other labs and Blacksites they've had to deal with. But there had to be a reason for all the mist and activity.
"What do we have here?" One room caught her attention. She had the video enhanced.
One of the standard lab room layouts, various stations, examination tables, and nearby terminals. But this one was heavily bathed in that mist. There were a handful of workers who were carefully examining strange spheres on the examination tables, held in a partial containment field. Seven in total. They were semi-transparent floating spheres, swirling with many colors of energy. Small bright lights, bright lights like stars looked to be held within. Then there were oddly shaped metal shards, sweeping organic, yet sharp, forms, circled around them. Like the planets revolving around the Sun.
As one worker poked a sphere, they jumped back as that iridescent gas was expelled from it, causing the metal shards circling it to spin rapidly. As the metal shards slowed down, that iridescent gas slowly shifted through a series of colors before finally settling on the red mist flooding the rest of the floor.
Then on other tables nearby, those working with the spheres, was something dismantled. Looked alien just from a quick glance, but not of the Elders' designs. Though dismantled and some objects looked broken, a few of the pieces resembled collars. Control collars at that. Some pieces were rather slim and other parts bulky and bulbous. There were other pieces, resembling neural implants, external and internal ones. Beads with numerous glass-like threads that looked like it would be implanted under one's skin, with a few metal nodes that would sit on top. Then a few segmented devices that looked like they would go on and around one's head; attaching to one of those control collars. Some were almost similar to that horn-like amplifier that the Warlock wore. It all looked like a mess, strangely familiar to the Commander.
"Hm…" She mumbled as she studied those pieces. "Old… yet familiar. Something from a time before… me." Something was slowly coming to the forefront of her mind. But the memory quickly disappeared when a scientist pulling away from one of those mist-spewing orbs caught her attention once again.
"Hm, explains the origins of the mist." She muttered, biting at her lip. "I wonder what it is and what they are doing… Yokoai, start recording this." She gestured to one of the nearby Bridge personnel to record what was on the screens. They gave her a thumbs up Almost seems familiar to me.
"I'll see what I can do, Commander. The computer in this room isn't fully connected to the facility." Iris acknowledged her earlier request, already multitasking. "If we can get out of this room, is another thing…" Another grumbled, eyes darting up as a shadow passed by.
"Timing moving is gonna be rough." Hexx peeked through the window on the other door. She watched as a patrol was passing by and a pair of workers were passing them. She ducked back down.
"If the vents were larger, we could use that as another route, but noooooo…" A long, drawn-out grumble came from Iris. He quickly clipped his datapad back to his waist and let it fall from his hands. "Blueprints show nothing. I want to meet and slap this designer."
Warlord was oddly quiet. And oddly still. Not natural for someone like him. He was looking at his data pad, and occasionally peeking out the door; watching the patrol patterns and how often workers were moving about. "Hmmm…"
"Don't like this." Central mumbled. His eyes watched the screens. "May have to try doing a distraction of sorts. But there's a risk of it blowing up in our faces."
"It's never easy." Commander Reeves shook her head. Looks as though they may have to go loud sooner than they would have liked.
"Yo, Iris." Warlord broke the silence. "Think you can whip up a short little blackout like Bones?" A crazy suggestion. "Move through the shadows and confusion. Empty room to empty room?"
"Are you cRA—" Iris barely caught himself before he raised his voice. Just a natural reaction for him when Warlord said something stupid. "Wait." Iris at first looked at Warlord like he had grown a second head. An intelligent head. "Wait…" He shook his finger. "That… that just might work." He tapped his chin a few times. "It's crazy, but it might work!"
"I do got a brain, ya know." Warlord rolled his eyes. "Ya don't live in the wilds, nor scour these cities long without one."
"Uh, huh." He pulled out his datapad again. "Yes, I just need to get Daedalus to a junction box or control panel… which one should be in the vent system." Eyes darted between checking the blueprints and checking the room. "Bingo!" He spotted a vent. One by the floor next to the desk. A small opening, but his Gremlin could fit through it just fine. "Pry that open for me!"
"On it. Hexx spot."
"Got it!" She nodded.
Waiting for a moment, to make sure no one was passing the room, Warlord quickly made his way over to the vent and pried at the cover.
"Nrgh!" The thing was bolted on tight. "Come on." He gritted his teeth as he tightened his grip. It creaked and cracked as he worked on it. He had a pause a few times when Hexx said someone was passing by. But in no time, and with a loud snap, he pried off the grate.
"Shit!" A cursed whisper slipped from his lips. Not expecting it to give away like that, he fell onto his back, barely keeping a grip on the grate.
The room was quiet. Just the sounds of the outside chatter could be heard.
"Phew." Hexx sighed. Looked like they got lucky.
"Get that Gremlin going now." Commander Reeves ordered. No chance to take a breather.
"Already on it." Iris said.
With a few commands, the drone squeezed its way into the vent and traveled down and up the shaft. A few twists and turns until it came across a junction box.
"Should work on an upgrade that gives you something to open stuff like this." He mumbled to himself. He wondered if Shen would like the idea, would be a nice enhancement for the Gremlins. "Let's start low first, Daedalus. Give it a slight shock." Iris instructed his Gremlin. "Need to see what it affects."
Beeping in response, the Gremlin took a moment to charge before letting off an electric burst.
Lights to the entire floor flickered. A few rooms lost power to their lights entirely. They could hear a few yelps and crashes throughout the floor.
"Sensitive. Fried some circuits." More incentive to design "hands" for his Gremlin. Iris looked at his data pad. His eyes dropped as he frowned. "And killed a few cameras… sorry about that Commander."
"You've got them distracted, a few guard patrols are converging on the affected rooms." Central spoke up. Though he hated they were partially blind on the floor, it was better than nothing. They could deal with the static on a few of the screens for now. Hell, they could switch those to the outside cameras for the time being or check on the third floor. "That's your opportunity to move."
"Well, let's get going. I'm taking point." Warlord was already at the door, having tossed the grate to the side. The lights were still flickering, but the movement was different. Something he was counting on. Just the slightest change would benefit them. "I suggest getting your bot ready for 'nother zap." He was already opening the door. "Just in case."
"Rather not have us fully blind on this floor." Iris shook his head, but was already giving instructions to his Gremlin. "But I'll have him ready." With instructions set, he got himself ready to follow Warlord's lead. "Just hope your 'sixth sense' is activate."
"Mate, it's always on."
Now the little outage had caused quite a mess. Confusion and frustration permeated the floor. Lights flickered, workstations were rebooting, someone(if not multiple people) had knocked a few plants and decor over; shattered containers and liquid covered some floors, and a few workers had minor injuries in the blind confusion of the darkness. And then that mist wasn't helping, even in the areas that still had lights.
The guards were already calling in some technicians to get the power fixed; thinking something with the city's power grid had affected them. From a quick translation from one of the mumbling guards, it had happened a few times this week. Another complained that most of them still weren't issued flashlights for these outages. And one more stated their enhanced eyesight, their partial night vision, was blurred by the heavy mist.
It was just the perfect amount of confusion for the trio to take advantage of. Especially for Warlord's "sixth sense". They were on the move once more, with him taking point.
As they moved, and as Iris mentioned, it was like Warlord had a sixth sense. He knew just when to stop the group, moving them into the shadows or a to room when he could sense movement. Especially in those completely dark hallways. They barely squeezed by a patrol that was stumbling through the darkness and heavy mist-laden hall and ducked away into a room just as there was a light patch of mists, where one soldier would catch a glimpse of them. He did trip a few guards as they moved. An opportunity he couldn't let slip by. An opportunity he couldn't let slip by.
"I'm wondering if Warlord is partially psionically sensitive." Commander Reeves couldn't help but comment as she watched the soldier's video feed. Thankful it had night vision built into it.
His predictions were uncanny. How did he know a guard was about to come out of a room? They barely made a sound, even while fumbling through the darkness, but somehow Warlord knew they were there and stopped the group at the right movement. Now, she just wished he could hold back his cantankerous side. The cocky man tripped a soldier or two as they moved. They were lucky the general confusion wasn't giving away those little trips. At least he held back his snickers.
"Well, Dr. Marin and his team nearly have the Psi Lab up and running, and I know he wants to start testing soldiers as soon as possible." Central said. "And I think he is, especially with how he picks up Chryssalids swarms." He visibly shuttered, thinking of some dire situations he had been in with those things but was thankful for Warlord's uncanny ability to pick those things up before an ambush. And the guy had an equal amount of fear and hatred towards those bugs, more than anyone on the ship. But Warlord never froze up when he had to fight them.
"Good to hear." Always nice hearing new facilities were nearly done. "I know Warlord won't like being poked and prodded, but it would be good to cycle through all the soldiers first before any other personnel."
As she turned her attention to another one of the screens, it looked as if a bit of Warlord's tenacity infected Iris. He was itching to find a terminal or computer to hack, to see what experiments were being conducted here. But their blackout had knocked out most of the terminals he could access safely. But something caught his eye. Faint twinkles of glass and metal on the floor and a worker blindly fumbling about, trying to pick up it up. Datasticks and datapads.
"Oh! Those could work." An excited yet hushed whisper came from the specialist. "One sec guys." He split from the group.
"What are you doing?" Hexx looked over her shoulder.
"Make it bloody quick." Warlord barely paused his movement.
Iris quickly tipped toed over to the scattered mess and frazzled worker. "Oh, this is a jackpot." Though hidden by his scarf, a grin crept across his face. Once there, he quickly pilfered as much as he could, stashing it in his bag. Feeling like he secured enough, and faintly hearing voices of guards coming around, he quickly caught back up with Warlord and Hexx.
"Thank god they all don't have flashlights." Iris couldn't help but notice that as he pocketed what he found. But knowing there was a slim chance they could run into a patrol — or workers — that had some.
"Finally." Warlord whispered an annoyed grumble.
Creeping down a barely illuminated hall, their destination was finally in their sights. Illuminated by still-working lights was the door leading to the third floor. A locked security door.
Warlord raised his hand, stopping the group. He could hear chatter down the hall, towards the left of the door. "Hearing some chatter. Tech boy."
"A sec, jack rabbit," Iris grumbled. Already flipping out his tablet and connecting it to the Network. "Gotta hack it and Daedalus get ready."
"Make it quick, patrol coming 'round the corner any second and the mist is getting thin here." His eyes darted around. No escape routes and doubling back was not an option.
"Lights out and door's open." Iris chuckled.
A moment to hack the door, a moment for his Gremlin to process the command. The hall went dark. The entire floor went dark. Yelps, shouts, curses, and crashes filled the air again.
"Menace 1-3!?" Central's eyes darted from static screen to static screen. The rest of the camera feeds for the inside of the clinic went dark for the Bridge.
"Still here Central, don't get your knickers in a twist." Warlord said. "Moving now."
Seizing the moment, the three rushed through the darkness towards the door. Barely slipping by the guards who were just about to reach where the hallways intersected. Thankfully, the latest outage had the patrol occupied, as one had stumbled and brought down their teammates. They carefully opened the door, slipped through, and made their way up the stairs.
"Meet us on the third floor, buddy." Iris instructed his Gremlin.
"Hopefully it's less busy up here." Hexx said.
"Doubt it." Warlord scoffed. "VIP doc and that Durga lady up here? Bound to be busy."
The rooftop was quiet, minus the hums of the AC units working and the sound of the city night below. There was not a guard in sight on the roof. Which was odd for a Gene Clinic, especially since this one was an important one. Even more so with whatever project was being conducted on the inside. There was an overabundance of surveillance cameras. But that didn't matter.
"Still can't believe we, and them, have all the cameras hacked and ADVENT is none the wiser." Warden mumbled. He was sitting on an air duct, one eye eying one camera just above the rooftop door and the other on his tablet tracking the team on the inside. Usually, they had to stick to the shadows and stay out of sight, but for once they could somewhat relax out in the open.
"Whoever is doing the work on their side is a silly one." Every once in a while, he noticed the camera's light would flash in a quick sequence, looking to be some kind of code, before waving back and forth.
"Anything new, Blackout?" He shifted his head in her direction.
"The same patrols below. Nothing has changed. That one convoy hasn't moved." She responded. She was making rounds around the roof, occasionally peeking over the edge to see what was going on down below. "How about your end?"
"Well, the clinic's screens are all fuzz, but from the chatter," he glanced down at his datapad, "looks like others are halfway through the second or heading up to the third." He flicked to another screen containing data on some traps his Gremlin had set. "And nothing at the doors."
"Got them trapped?"
"You know me." He laughed. "Shockers and tripwires. They'll deactivate as soon as the others are in range."
"Nice."
"Menace 1-2. How's the roof?" That familiar voice of the Central popped on their comms.
"Fine, Central." Blackout said.
"Quiet and clear like the air on a rainy day, Central." Warden answered. "What's going on with the others? Screens are fuzzy."
"Impromptu Bones' blackout technique. They're heading up to the third floor as we speak." He said. "You guys be ready for them when they have the VIP. Extraction is still a few blocks away and Firebrand will be heading that way once they have them."
"Door is rigged for any surprises and our escape points are secure." Warden hummed.
"Don't get too comfortable now. Stay alert."
"We're staying on our toes, Central." Blackout rolled her eyes.
"And I think our 'guardian angels' would alert us if something happens." Warden eyes that one security camera again. Still blinking and waving back and forth.
"This may be the quietest mission I've ever done." Warden chuckled to himself. "Don't get those too often." He was going to savor every moment of it.
"Careful with that grate!" Iris chastised.
"Yeah! Yeah!" Warlord grumbled.
Just at the top of the stairwell, Warlord was prying off a vent. Sitting just behind the grate was Iris' gremlin, Daedalus, hovering rather impatiently. With a few more yanks, and nearly tumbling down the stairs, the grate was off and Daedalus made its way over to Iris.
"How are you, buddy?" Iris chuckled as his Gremlin buzzed around him and beeped. "Glad no negative feedback and what's that?" He looked at his tablet. New data from his buddy. "Info on this floor and found some active access point nearby, huh? Well, let's see where it is…" With a quick tap, he switched views to the third floor. Cameras looked unaffected by what they did. "Uuuugh," a long groan came out, "nearest one is by elevator guard post."
"The other one?" Trish asked.
"In the doctor's room… hmm can't see the camera feed for some reason."
"It's jammed on our end too." Central spoke up. They were working on switching the screens to the cameras on the third floor. Some were fine and others were giving nothing but static. "Trying to get that cleared up on our end."
"Hmm," Iris rubbed his chin, "I'll see what I can do as we move."
"Let's get moving." Warlord was already opening the door.
"I'm taking point this time." Before Warlord could even get through the door, he roughly nudged him out of the way. "Don't need your 'sixth sense' for something more tech-related."
"Oh, shut up." Warlord growled.
Finally, the third floor they had been working towards. Another labyrinth of halls and lots of glass walls for several rooms. But it was quiet. Far too quiet compared to the busy second floor.
"Where is everyone?" Iris cautiously looked at his pad to see if there was a memo or something in the system. Even on the cameras they had access to, the guard patrols were rather light.
It was a nice change of pace for the trio, but it just didn't feel right.
"Why the hell is security so light?" That was something Warlord couldn't shake. Eyes bounced around. Ears twitched. Just too quiet for his liking.
"Good question." Central didn't like it either. "Picking up anything, Dimitri?" He cast a glance over at her.
"Nothing, the network is quiet for this floor compared to the second, thanks you idiots." Dimitri grumbled part of that under her breath. Their little disruption was affecting the data she was going through and tracking. "Mild movement and chatter. The doc seems to be where she's supposed to be from the readings and there's chatter. Something about an important project."
"Durga is probably with her." Commander Reeves said. "And there may be a soldier accompanying Durga."
"And someone else, but…"
"But what?" They didn't need any more surprises.
"Picking up something else where they are. Not registered on the Network like one of the ADVENT, and the readings are odd." Though her screen was in the headset she was wearing, she was leaning forward like she was trying to get a closer look at something. "Oddly picking up what it's saying through the Network, but can't decipher what this thing is saying and sounds like static so far. Sending it to your screen, Commander."
A new panel popped up on the screen for the Commander to scrutinize. The wavelength barely resonated with the Psionic Network. With a few taps on the keyboard, she brought up a system they had been working on to translate the various alien languages and scripts. As the system cycled through the various languages, nothing matched up or produced pure babel when it attempted to translate it. Not even the more personal, if not private, Elder speech she was familiar with, unwillingly. Whatever it was, it continued to translate into pure nonsense.
"That's interesting." She mumbled. But she knew it had to be something. Maybe giving it a listen would help? "But…" She raised her hand to the screen. "Hm…"
"What do you think it is?" The new information and Menace's screens divided Central's focus.
"Don't know. Almost… looks… familiar to me." Her curiosity was strong. There was something about those wavelengths that told her it wasn't interference. She tapped on the panel just to hear what this chatter was. Her eyes went wide, flashing blue for a second, as she felt a reverberating crackle ring throughout her body. "ARGH!"
"Commander!"
One second she was standing, the next she was on her knees. Her eyes closed tight, gritting her teeth as she clawed at her earpiece. Holding back the urge to cry out again as her face twisted in pain. "Aaaaah…"
"Commander!" Central was by her side and ripped off the earpiece, tossing it to the side. "Hey! You alright?"
Her eyes were still closed tight as she shook her head back and forth. "God, that noise…"
As he got to her feet, he noticed her complexion growing pale, and she was breaking out into a sweat. "Dammit…" He cursed under his breath. "Nix and Orion, get over here! And Decker, get one of the doctors!" With the help of those two workers, they moved Commander Reeves over to her chair.
"Get a new earpiece prepped for her, Nix." He told her before turning his attention back to the Commander. "The hell just happened?"
"It sounded angry."
"What sounded angry?"
"That!" She pointed at the screen. The wavelength looked more or less the same, but did look like it was moving faster. "Reverberating, twisting metal. Like a perverted wind chime that howls, no…" She paused, eyes trembling. "It screeches, when wind passes through it." She shook her head. "Whatever that chatter is, it sounds angry. Very angry at something or someone."
"Hm." What a description. He didn't like that. Hopefully, it wasn't a bad omen for the mission..
"Hello! Tacky aquarium wall up ahead!" Warlord excitedly, but quietly, announced.
Up ahead was that welcoming glistening blue sight. Starting from the floor and almost reaching the ceiling was the aquarium. Dozens of fish swam about, several looked alien, and there was equally alien-looking flora decorated the landscape. Gold filigree abstractions of the Elders' form and their embracing arms — stretched out — framed the aquarium. Like Bones said, gaudy.
"Now we need to be careful because Dae— Hey! Wait! Wait!" A hushed, but panicking yell from Iris caught Central's attention.
"What's going on!?" With one of the staff looking after the Commander, Central turned his attention back to the screens. Iris had barely yanked Warlord and Hexx behind a couch as the back glass to the aquarium wall suddenly became transparent for a second before going back to being fully opaque. It flickered like this a few times before becoming opaque again. And just for that moment, there were some people on the other side. It was hard to make out, but looked to be three figures.
"Whoa!" That sudden change caught Warlord off-guard.
"Ey!" Hexx yelped.
"What was that!?" Central was just as confused.
"Electrochromic glass." Iris said. "Geeeez, too close." In a huff, he slid to the ground. A free hand whipped his head before pulling his ponytail back a few times. "Glad I was reading the info Daedalus pulled. Think the zap downstairs has messed slightly with the power flow on this level."
"Nice catch, Iris." Central said.
"Hope they didn't see us." Hexx peeked over their cover.
"The heck is this 'special' glass?" Warlord asked, swatting Iris' hand from the back of his collar.
"Explain in full back a base, but in short the glass is made of special materials so when an electric voltage passes through it, the opacity of the glass can be changed."
"Shit? Really? That exists?" Warlord asked, not fully believing him. "Like really exists?"
"Yes, we had it before the aliens took over." He couldn't help but roll his eyes. Part of him wondered if Warlord always had to doubt his expertise. "Again, tell you back at base."
"Alright… That's pretty neat." For once, Warlord was interested in hearing one of Iris' technology explanations when they got back. If they didn't tick each other off again before then.
"Iris, did your Gremlin pick up any other places that use that glass." Central asked.
"A few rooms on the way, but quick camera check and they are empty. So we should be good."
"Alright. Stay sharp, nearly at the goal." He turned his attention to Dimitri. "Dimitri! Have that camera feed up yet?"
"Still working on it!"
"We'll duck into the room on the left just before the end of the hall." Iris said as they started moving again. "We can wait there until there's an opening to get to the doctor."
"Yeah, yeah, gotcha." He waved him off. "Just keep your eyes open for that fancy glass messin' up again."
In little time, they made it to the room to take cover in. And just in time, the glass to the aquarium was acting up again and one of the rare guard patrols was coming around. The trio got settled as Iris worked his magic to get access to the camera in the doctor's office. The Bridge was doing likewise.
"Sending back some data to you Dimitri, may help crack these cameras faster." Iris said. He wondered what was causing the interference. All the other cameras were a breeze to break into, but this one in the doctor's office was strange.
"Thanks. Almost got this sorted…" Dimitri mumbled as she was busy figuring out what the interference was. One could imagine the frustrated look in her eyes, behind that alien headset she was wearing, that accompanied that nasty scowl.
"
Xunxun… Chyort voz'mi!" Frustrated curses came from the comms officer. One from her heritage and one she learned from someone dear to her. They usually slipped out when something was frustrating her. "
This oscillation is annoying… Like something is radiating some kind of energy in that room." Dewpoint! Adjust the frequency down a few mini ticks."
"Got it, Dimitri!" A buzz-cut wearing worker nearby her responded.
There was great anticipation building as all were curious as to what the static-filled screen would reveal. Who was in the room besides the doctor? What was the untranslatable alien's speech? A few were guessing Durga was in that room as none of the other camera feeds for the level showed an elaborately dressed guard roaming about. Nor did the first floor, and the second floor was completely out of the question with all the cameras there being completely fried.
But who could the third person be? Another doctor? Some other important ADVENT member? An additional guard? One of the many aliens the Elders employed? Only time could tell.
"Diah! Kargi!" Dimitri shook her fist in victory, spotting out her excitement in Georgian. "Here we go." She grinned. She was finally getting somewhere. The static was slowly clearing up. "Nearly there, got the audio figured out so let's see what they're say— ARGH!"
Not only did she let out a sudden shout of pain, but anyone else in the room who was tuning in with their headsets also let out various shouts of pain as metallic howling and screeching played through their comms and speakers. A flurry of curses came from several as they were ripping their headsets off and others scrambled to turn down the volume for the comms and speakers.
"Hell!" Central could barely pull his headset off when it all started. He shook his head several times to dull the ringing sensation in his ears and head. Felt like it went down his bones. "What the hell…" He glanced at Dimitri who was currently cursing up a storm, under her breath, in a mixture of English, Somali, and Russian(with a hint of Georgian).
From the bits and pieces he could make out, it was something about that noise scrambling her work; felt like a stake was being driven into her skull, and she may have to pull off her headset sooner than she would like. May need to have a doctor check-up on her next after a quick look over for the Commander.
"That's the sound." Commander Reeves said. Shaky eyes staring intensely at the screen with that wavelength. "Still furious."
Central turned his attention to her when he heard her speak. She was looking better, less pale and shaky. Not as disturbed as the rest of the crew with that screeching sound. But the look in her eyes was concerning. "So that's what you heard?"
She closed her eyes and nodded. "Screeching wind chimes." When she opened them again, she looked at the screens, waiting for the camera feed that was nearly unscrambled. "And now it's starting to make sense to me… Hate to say it, it sounds familiar to me."
"Familiar… to you?" That made him more concerned. He moved over to her. "Don't tell me?"
"Connection to Them? No." She shook her head. So glad that wasn't happening right now. "No, just feels like it's something I've heard… when They had me. Maybe all the languages and other data They crammed in my head, but I feel like I heard this before." It was on the tip of her tongue, mind clawing through memories, trying to remember just what she had heard this sound from. It had to be alien, but what kind? Something told her it wasn't in the Elders' service. Something that only had a mutual tolerance towards Them. A strange fact she didn't know why she knew that.
"Lovely…" He hated to think of how much the Elders may have experimented done her. Even with some of the beneficial things they left her with — nearly able to translate every Human and alien language they came across and her knowing some of the ins and outs of how some of ADVENT worked and their basic weaponry — he wondered how much damage was done to her. "Wonder if we'll ever be able to get that fully checked out."
"Let's hope this Dr. Vox has all the data so we can see how badly the Elders toyed with my genetics."
"Ya'll rang?"A female voice with a slight southern twang spoke.
Turning to see who it was, both saw it was one of the doctors who finally made it. Ruddy brown skin and curly dark brown hair freely flopping in front of her face, was it Dr. Isa Chalsa. She was one of the main infirmary doctors when Tygan and Kosh weren't pulling her away to pick at her brain for certain projects and many autopsies. Floating to her side was her personal Gremlin; she named it Eloise. It had a white and silver paint job.
"Dr. Chalsa." Central nodded towards her as he stepped away from the Commander to give her room to work. "Just a quick check to make sure nothing's wrong."
"I'm better now, just a lingering headache." Commander Reeves waved her off, not wanting to waste the doctor's time. Much to her annoyance, that Gremlin was already floating around her, taking scans.
"Let the doctor scan you, Jynn."
"Still stubborn." Chalsa chuckled. Though it was annoying, she always found it funny. "It'll be quick and brought the usual medication if you need it." She raised her hand, showing an orange bottle, and gave it a shake. There was a little rattle.
"Fine," she dropped her shoulders as a heavy sigh came out, "and thanks. Dimitri might need you next."
"Dimitri?" Chalsa looked over to where that comms officer would be. "Oh, she's wearing that. That's up Quinn's and Marin's alley." She sighed, just having a feeling Dimitri was going to be in a world of hurt later. She was already sending messages to the others to get things prepped. "I'll let those two know."
A few scans later, and a minute or two to process the data, they had the results.
"Slightly increased heart rate, some adrenaline flowing through your system, and your neural pathways are more active." Chalsa went through the information on her pad. "Otherwise things look good, but whatever caused this, try to avoid it."
Commander Reeves rolled her eyes, sensing a hint of a joke. She gestured to everything around her. "That may be tough."
Chalsa let out a chuckle with a hint of huff. She tried. "Blue pill in here can help with the calming." Chalsa produced that bottle again, and gave it a shake, before setting it on the armrest of the Commander's chair.
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Bingo!" Iris triumphantly, but quietly, said. He gave his Gremlin a little fist bump as he furiously typed on his pad. "Sending this to you Dimitri, got the camera up on my end."
"Thanks, got set back." There was a slight growl in her voice but was happy with the assistance. "Hope you guys didn't have that disturbance."
"Heard it, but low volume."
"Should have the doc's room on the screen shortly, Commander and Central." Dimitri announced.
That pixelated screen soon became clear, finally revealing the doctor's office. It was rather moderately decorated compared to the gaudy aquarium wall, though that was just as gaudy on this side of the wall. It was rather a lively-looking room with earth tones compared to the rest of the sterile walls of the clinic.
And there were three people in it. Dr. Vox Wi'low was sitting behind her desk. She looked rather nervous. Dark curly head plastered on her face as visible sweat ran down her face. Fingers digging into the arms of her chair, pushing herself back into her chair like she was trying to get away from someone.
On her right was Durga. Immaculately dressed in one of her signature black and red kimonos. This one had a golden trim to it, as well as golden flower patterns flowing down the sleeves. She was leaning forward, arm extended and pressing against someone on the other side of the desk. Her other arm was tucked behind her back, but from how tense the arm looked, she must have been gripping a weapon. Lips pulled back, there was a firm sneer on her face as she was staring daggers at the person. Partially exaggerated by her kabuki-style makeup that made her look livid.
Now that person, if not being, was on the other side of the desk. It was a strange-looking being, but imposing. Towering over the doctor and Durga by several feet. It was definitely alien with a roughly humanoid shape. Its body was like a disconnected metallic skeleton, some gravitational force holding all the floating pieces together. Several metal shards swirled around them. A few areas resembled what one could call "clothing" with several shards and strands of metal interweaving itself to create a "skirt". The color of the metal "skirt" changed to gunmetal grey with red clamshell-like stripes.
Then there were several of those semi-transient orbs, similar to the ones down on the second floor, carefully cradled within that skeleton. All at varying sizes, several small and medium ones — ranging between golf balls and baseballs — were where the "joints" of where the limbs would meet. More medium ones floated about in its "torso". And there was a large one, if not the largest one, that sat in that "chest" cavity. It looked to be about 10ft in diameter, best compared to a beach ball. Possibly it was the central one, because of its placement and several metal shards were shaped around it; making a secondary cage of sorts, like protection.
Then there was a mist in and around the being; so similar to that mist that flooded the second floor. But here, it looked like cosmic dust, stardust, with all the colors it shifted through and in some areas looked to be miniature stars. Though a majority of the mist around its torso and head was red and white. That mist intertwined itself in this being, giving more illusions to clothing that bellowed of it, but most gathering around its chest and what one could assume was its "head". Like a flickering candle. There were no eyes, but with how a few metal shards hovered around the "head" it gave a rough illusion of a face. A rather angry one with how that mist aggressively wicked around its head and the shards shifted in a biting manner.
"What!?" Commander Reeves exclaimed. Quickly hopping out of her seat, she drew herself closer to the screen. "What is a Fragmenta doing all the way out here?" She uttered. She froze, eyes going blank as her mind processed what she just said. "How did I know that?"
"A Frag-what-a?" Central asked. A brow raised, but there was some concern due to how she jumped out of her seat.
"Frag- Fragmenta…" She hesitantly repeated.
"What is a Frag… menta?"
"I… I don't know." As quickly as the information came to her mind, it left.
She noticed the Fragmenta, leaning towards the doctor, ignoring Durga's growing disdain for the thing. Then she noticed its hands. Four long segmented digits, if not claws, that were digging into the wooden desk. Digging so deep, they were causing the wood to curl in front of the claws. Then she noticed something on the desk. It was glowing, and the shape looked eerily familiar.
Is that a chip? Her eyes narrowed. Looked like it but nothing like the ADVENT ones. Yet again, feelings of familiarity bubbled inside of her. A distance memory out of reach, so far out of reach… from another time. "Dimitri, get us some volume on this." She wanted to know what had this Fragmenta so upset. And if it dealt with the chip.
"Hope that screeching is gone." Dimitri mumbled as she and others worked to get the audio back on and things translated.
"Here we go —" Just as she was sliding the volume up. Something came through.
"COTALO! EKTRATA! EKTRATA! 'AVE SO'GOVE OSHTA SO'GOV'TISH VIND'EADTO'ILL."
The voice. It was harsh. Angry. The sound? Like nails on a chalkboard. Howling metal pieces, that perverted wind chime, screeching and twisting in the wind. The chimes, tingling out of tune and groaning.
"ISH'NO 'ASTA SO'GOV UN'TYN XOR'VO'TAN XA'VIND TOA'TALO ESCHE'TA ECTHRALLS!?"
Author's note: Fragmenta are of my own creation. Not from the games or from any other works.