Lycaon
Stepping through the event horizon of a hollow was never exactly the same experience twice. This time, Lycaon felt the sensation of his fur being pressed tightly to his body, as if he were passing through some kind of densely viscous liquid. Then in a moment that stretched on for what felt like ten minutes, Lycaon was suddenly and abruptly through and inside the hollow.
A city street stretched before him, mundane except in its desolation and utter silence. Lycaon took a step forward and the clack of his cybernetic soles upon the crumbling asphalt was as loud as a gunshot. That wouldn't do. Lycaon tapped on the side of his right leg and opened up a small storage compartment. He took out two strips of rubber-like material and, lifting his feet one by one, slapped the pads onto the soles of his feet. He set them down in silence.
Lycaon sniffed. Nothing. The air was dead and motionless, no movement to push scents around through the medium of the air- so if there was anything nearby, Lycaon's nose would be blind to it. The entire world was downwind from him now and he found that deeply unnerving.
But he still had his eyes, his eyepatch, and his ears. More than enough to see Belle through her spontaneous mission. And he was not alone.
The air vibrated slightly and Lycaon turned to see the bear thiren, Bin Bigger, pop into existence nearby. Lycaon's nose should be full of information about the ursine man, but… nothing. Well, Ben was big. And judging by the absurd girder he carried around as a weapon, he was obviously very strong. The slightly self-conscious smile that wrinkled up his facial features seemed totally out of place- especially when contrasted with his thick gold neck-chain and tracksuit.
"See anything?" said Ben, his small eyes roving the street much as Lycaon's had.
"Nothing as of yet."
Belle popped into existence next. By innocent virtue of looking in her direction as she appeared, Lycon witnessed the tug of the event horizon pull her clothing tight over her curvy form. Her clothing really did hide a lot of surprising voluptuousness.
"How does it look?" said Belle, glancing between Lycaon and Ben.
"As empty as PubSec reported," said Ben, setting his girder down with a loud clomping noise. He winced as that noise echoed about. "Oops."
"The air is strange, Lady Belle," said Lycaon, his ears tracking the echoing of the noise. "But no threat is immediately apparent."
"We should take advantage of that," said Ben.
"Agreed, Lord Ben," said Lycaon, eyes on Belle.
The sooner he had Belle out of the Hollow, the better. Ethereals were an obvious danger, but anyone could, and did, walk into hollows. A professional assassin would not hesitate to enter. It seemed unlikely to Lycaon that anyone could have possibly tracked Belle farther than Ballet Twins Plaza, but one dared not make any complacent assumptions.
"Right," said Belle. She put her hand near her ear and her eyes focused on the distance. Lycaon presumed she was listening to that voice he sometimes heard. The artificial assistant that seemed prevalent in Belle and Wise's computer systems.
Belle set off down the street. "Follow me."
Lycaon quickly matched pace, his eyepatch scanning the rooftops. Ben grunted softly as he picked up his girder and lumbered after them. His footsteps were notably heavy in the silence, but Lycaon's were quiet thanks to the scuff pads he'd added to his feet.
With confident steps, Belle led them about a hundred meters up the street and then turned towards a stone wall. A portal suddenly consumed her. Lycaon's heart jumped into his throat as his principal abruptly vanished and was being whisked away to some unknown and unsecure location. He leapt after her like a pouncing cat.
The portal took him, spun him, and spat him out right into Belle's bent-over backside, his nose somewhat painfully ramming her dead center in the seat of her pants. Belle yelped.
Lycaon's momentum caused him to tumble over her. He snatched her into his arms as he tumbled, his ears and eyes and nose immediately scanning for information on their new location. A quiet and frantically still moment passed, and Lycaon found no imminent threat. He sighed in relief and then looked down at Belle who was somewhat crushed beneath him and contained by his protective arms. Her blue-green eyes contained a strange glimmer and her cheeks were flushed.
"M- my apologies, Lady Belle," said Lycaon, a little startled to find his face so close to Belle's. He was again struck by the angles of her features. The fae-ish shape. Like some debutante of Titania's court.
"It's fine," said Belle, her eyes focused on his.
"You mustn't go through rifts before me, Belle. Pray allow me to be your vanguard," said Lycaon, suddenly very aware of every inch of his body that Belle was in contact with. "I beg you."
"A- alright, Lycaon," said Belle with a blush.
A sudden feeling in the air caused Lycaon's hair to stiffen slightly. He rolled himself and Belle suddenly, Belle yelping again in surprise. Ben Bigger suddenly shot into the space they'd just occupied, his rotund form tumbling over itself, his girder weapon screeching across the pavement.
"Ooof," said Ben as his legs flopped to the pavement, finally spent of momentum. "That was a hot arrival!"
Lycian helped Belle to her feet as she said softly, "You got that right…"
Belle
The viscous event horizon of the Hollow tugged at Belle's body as she went through it, pulling the fabric of her clothing tight against her body. Then after what seemed a strangely long time, Belle made it through. Lycaon was looking at her intently, and Ben was gazing out down a long and empty street.
"How does it look?" said Belle, glancing between Lycaon and Ben.
"As empty as PubSec reported," said Ben, setting his girder down with a loud clomping noise. He winced as that noise echoed about. "Oops."
"The air is strange, Lady Belle," said Lycaon as his ears radar-dished around briefly.. "But no threat is immediately apparent."
"We should take advantage of that," said Ben, glancing at Belle meaningfully.
"Agreed, Lord Ben," said Lycaon with a small nod. Ben scratched at the side of his own head with a single finger.
"Right," said Belle. She put her hand to her earpiece and was about to ask Fairy, but the A.I. was already anticipating her needs.
"Belle," said Fairy. "I have traced the computer signal to an OldKnott server within this hollow. The fastest path is: straight forward, 93.2 meters. 91 degrees right turn. A rift will provide an exit near the objective."
Belle set off out down the street. "Follow me."
Lycaon was quick to catch up with her, Belle becoming used to his extreme attentiveness to their surroundings. Ben grunted and lumbered along behind them, a welcome titan at their backs. The silence of the hollow weighed upon them and no one was eager to make more noise than was necessary. At about the correct distance, Belle turned right per Fairy's advice and was gratified to see a rift expand into vision before her. Without a thought she stepped through, expecting the others to follow her.
The rift swept her legs out from under her, spun her, and she scooted out the other side of the rift almost parallel to the ground, her hands splaying out instinctively to bring her to a quick stop on her hands and knees. Then something somewhat narrow and stiff hit her in the center of her ass ("Whaaa!") and shoved her cheek towards the ground and then a large and heavy chaos of white fur tumbled over her, wrapped her up, and rolled her to a sudden stop on her back.
Lycaon's head was immediately above hers, but he was focused up and outward, his eye and ears searching their new position for threats. The back of Belle's head rested on the soft-firmness of Lycaon's wrapping forearm. She could feel the weight of his body pressing into her all over. His chest was lightly crushing her breasts, and the force of the landing had shoved up the bottom of her shirt slightly and she could feel Lycaon's bully fur pressed warmly into her navel. His pelvis was pressed upon the bottom of her thighs due to their height difference. Belle suddenly felt her cheeks heat up and she forgot to breathe for a moment.
After a second of this limbo, Lycaon seemed satisfied and he looked down at her, his crimson eye opening slightly wider briefly as their gazes met.
"M- my apologies, Lady Belle," said Lycaon, as if struggling to find his voice.
"It's fine," said Belle, captivated by Lycaon's eye. It was an almost mindless response from her. It's fine? She couldn't really think of anything to say. What was there to say? What was even talking?
Meanwhile, Lycaon's expression became slightly more intense. His body suddenly relaxed all over, Belle felt Lycaon's weight and warmth settle more evenly over her form. She took in an instinctive breath of air as that sensation arrived in her head simultaneously from every inch of her body, feeling entirely overwhelmed with it.
"You mustn't go through rifts before me, Belle," said Lycaon, gently and firmly. "Pray allow me to be your vanguard. I beg you."
"A- alright, Lycaon," said Belle as she felt her cheeks heat up into overdrive, still recovering from the bombardment of sensations. She noted that one of Lycaon's ears suddenly snapped its focus behind them.
Belle's world suddenly whirled into a new chaos of fur and confusion as Lycaon rolled over rapidly with her wrapped protectively in his arms. Something big and heavy and loud slammed into the ground where they had just been. There was the loud grinding noise of a heavy stone sliding on stone. Belle looked over and saw Ben Bigger tumble to an ungraceful stop, he also tumbled by the rift's strange trajectory.
"Ooof," said Ben as his legs flopped to the pavement, finally spent of momentum. "That was a hot arrival."
Belle disengaged from Lycaon's body and he quickly rose to help her to her feet, a gentlemanly hand guiding her up.
"You got that right…" said Belle, mostly to herself.
Fairy's connection crackled in Belle's earpiece. "The objective is 25.6 meters within the main hallway of the structure to your left."
Belle looked to her left and saw a large commercial building. It could have once been some sort of office or perhaps a site of light manufacturing, who knew. It seemed almost wilted in its disuse and neglect, and the strange ambient light of the hollow's interior played upon its concrete and created tiny shadows in the corners of small square windows. Belle pointed at the nearest door.
"It's in there," said Belle. Lycaon and Ben's heads followed her finger.
Lycaon moved ahead and opened the door cautiously. He gave a positive seeming gesture with his hand and entered the building. When Belle stepped in, she quickly identified the lost business as some sort of office supply store. Banks of silent copy machines and printers and rolling chairs filled much of the main lobby. Directly across, a hallway penetrated deeper into the building. After Ben entered (needing to open the second of the double-doors to fit himself inside), they quietly headed down that hall.
Belle was sure they were all wondering when the shoe was going to drop and an ethereal would spot them, but so far, there was nothing. The entire hollow still and utterly silent. Their soft footprints seemingly loud on the grayed out and dusty industrial carpet.
Halfway down the hall, a single door sat like the capstone of a T-intersection. To the right and down the other hallway, there seemed a long line of doors to smaller office spaces on either side. Their own hallway continued on to hit a wall and T-intersection away in either direction, presumably to other office spaces, too. Who knew. It didn't matter to Belle as this single unassuming door right here was supposedly their destination.
Belle reached for the door handle.
Lycaon's hand interjected, her hand striking the back of his paw softly. He gave her a pointed look and then began examining the door frame. After a few seconds, Belle realized he was checking it for booby traps. She felt the first pang of impatience. There was vigilance and then there was paranoia, right? This sure seemed to drift towards the latter.
Apparently satisfied, Lycaon gently tried the door. It was locked. He glanced at Belle.
"Fairy," said Belle softly. "Can you unlock this door?"
"It is a mechanical door that is not linked to any system or powersource, Belle," said Fairy, and to Belle it almost seemed the AI sounded annoyed. "Again. I cannot assist you with such doors."
"We need to force it," said Belle.
Lycaon pushed at the frame experimentally. "It opens outward. I do not think I can kick it open."
Ben grunted and Belle looked to see him lifting up his stone girder weapon. "I might have a workable solution, if you both don't mind a little bit of noise."
Belle looked at Lycaon. After a moment, he nodded at her and then looked at Ben. "Your aid would be most welcome, Lord Ben."
"Well, step aside then," said Ben, and Lycaon moved towards Belle and withdrew with her back down the hall a short distance.
Ben hefted up his girder into a double-underhand grip- holding it like a swinging battering ram. He stepped forward and oscillated it back and forth a few times, and then rammed the door with an experimental hit.
BOOM
The building reverberated with the impact, dust falling down from the ceiling up and down the hallways like snow from the upper branches of pine trees. The door remained unaffected, though there was a large squarish impression in the paint. Ben frowned and looked back at Belle.
"Is there anything important immediately behind the door? Do you know, Belle?"
Fairy, ever listening, answered before Belle could ask: "The door opens to an entry alcove and contains no pertinent equipment."
"Its clear, Ben. There's nothing important on the other side."
"Well, then," said Ben. "I guess I can really give it a try."
He took two large steps away from the doorway, manipulated some sort of control on his girder with his thumb, and then spun himself in a corkscrew towards the door, the girder orbiting Ben like the weight of a gyroscope. One rotation, one step, second rotation, second step- a rocket engine flared to life on the rear of the girder as Ben came around the second time, shooting the blunt end of the massive weapon right into the door.
KOOM
The door blasted away into a dark hole, Ben stumbling forward like a shot-putter at the end of his toss. The building shook down another layer of dust, less this time. Everyone stood silently in the falling snow, two pairs of thiren ears straining to hear the sound of any alerted ethereals. After a long moment, it seemed like their two attempts at the door were unnoticed. Maybe PubSec was right and this Hollow was totally empty. But if that was the case, then what was creating the Hollow?
Lycaon put an arm behind Belle's back and gently guided her to the blasted hole in the wall. He seemed concerned about what could be inside the unknown space and what could approach them from behind via the three different hallways. With Ben watching casually, his arm draped on his girder like it was an idle shovel, Lycaon separated from Belle and stepped fluidly through the hole in the wall.
In a few brief moments, he reappeared from the darkness, his crimson eye gleaming, with the offer of a guiding hand to Belle. "It's clear, Lady Belle, please come inside with me quickly."
Belle reached for Lycaon's hand and took it. She raised her lead foot to step upon the ruin of the wall and felt herself gently and effortlessly pulled up and over the fulcrum of her advancing foot. She stiffened her leg instinctively and Lycaon's steady pull almost shot her into the air in an impromptu jump, her belly feeling butterflies slightly as she went weightless for an instant and then she was caught with two hands on her waist and set down gently. His crimson eye locked on her during her entire little flight.
Was it just Belle's imagination, or had Lycaon enjoyed that? Was he trying to entertain her, or something? Or entertain himself? She took a quiet deep breath and felt her cheeks heat up. Maybe she was slightly entertained.
"Is there anywhere in there that I need to be?" said Ben, eyeing the size of the opening dubiously. It did look like it would be a tight fit for him.
"There is only one room in here, Lord Ben," said Lycaon, "I believe it contains our objective."
"That's good," said Ben with a sigh, "I'll keep watch out here then."
Belle turned her attention to the only other exit from this little dark box of a room. Through a doorless opening, a single server tower stood like a forgotten obelisk in the center of a slightly larger dark box of a room. It looked pretty old, but this building had only been inside this hollow for a matter of hours. Fairy had said this was an OldKnott server, but how could that be possible? This building had probably been built decades after HollowFall.
"Lady Belle," said Lycaon, eyeing the tower. "I know you intend to link with this device, but if I may be so bold as to remind you of prior events?"
"You mean the whole getting-zapped-with-secret-government-data thing?" said Belle, immediately exasperated.
"Indeed, Lady Belle," said Lycaon, his voice sounding carefully neutral.
"Oh, don't worry, Lycaon, I do remember."
Belle began unpacking her HDD and the W-engine which would power it and the server. She was about to plug the engine in, but then an obvious point hit her mind. They were at this server because Fairy had traced a signal to it. The only way a signal could go in or out of this server would be if it was still powered up. Powered equipment did not last in a hollow, but again, this hollow was only hours old. Belle walked around the tower, her shoes making soft sounds on the tile floor. No lights, but if she leaned in close, she could hear cooling fans. It was still on!
She found the port and plugged in her HDD. After a few seconds, she had a standard user interface- which while useful, gave her pause. This UI was a modern invention. This couldn't be an OldKnott server. Unless..?
"Belle," said Fairy, almost on queue. "This server stack contains two partitions."
Bingo. Just what Belle was thinking. It must be a salvaged server tower that some budget-minded IT guy found (or was forced to use) and….
"Can you swap me over, Fairy?" said Belle.
The standard user interface on her screen vanished and the scrawl of random numbers and letters appeared. Yep. Base Eleven OS. This was an OldKott server all right, hiding under the new. Belle began unpacking her VR headset.
As she did so, her ears picked up the first sound in the hollow that wasn't caused by herself or Lycaon or Ben. It was a deep, soft thrumming sound that was building up in volume and intensity from under the tile floor below Belle's feet. Lycaon appeared next to her, hovering protectively, and he pulled her gently away from the server stack- but as he did so, the thrumming sound dissipated with a sort of soft wooshing noise.
Belle looked at Lycaon. He shrugged slightly. "Be careful, Lady Belle."
"I haven't done anything yet," said Belle with mild indignation, but immediately realized that was not exactly true. Fairy had swapped her HDD to access the OldKnott partition on the server block. Then that sound had generated. What could that have been? Some sort of old reserve generator under the flooring? Who knew. It didn't seem to be dangerous, whatever it was.
"Hey!" came a gruff shout from Ben. "It sounds like we got company!"
Welp.
Belle looked up to see Lycaon looking intently at her. She hadn't known him long, but she was positive he was even now considering picking her up like a toddler and ferrying her out of the hollow. Sorry, Lycaon, but that ain't happening this time.
"I'll work fast," said Belle, funneling all her determination into a direct stare up into Lycaon's face.
Lycaon's mouth wrinkled in a wolf thiren grimace. "Please do so with haste, Lady Belle. Very cautious haste."
He then, thankfully, turned and headed for Ben's position outside the hole in the wall. This room was a dead end, so there was only one direction danger could come from. He intended to hold the line for her while she worked.
Belle snatched up her VR headset and plopped it on her head. Her fingers immediately began jamming on the F2 key to get her into the startup menu and then she felt her consciousness fall from the reality of the hollow and into a new space within the OldKnott server. Her mind perceived it as a room with a wall that was a large computer screen. A command code line was on it, blinking patiently, awaiting her input.
She didn't really know what she was looking for and time was of the essence, so why not just grab everything? Then they could get the hell out of here and look it over at Random Play. Coincidentally, that had been her plan in the last hollow and her last VR dive into the OldKnott. But that was a fluke right? No way it goes that bad twice in a row.
Belle's fingers typed out a quick command, a holographic keyboard being summoned underneath her fingers as she did so.
x- copy ALL :F /c
"Belle," said Fairy, connected to her VR reality through the HDD computer. "A new entity has arrived in the network."
Belle wasn't sure what Fairy meant exactly. Another hacker? Well, she was way too far ahead and hooked right into the server block. She wasn't a super-hacker by any means, but she was good enough that her head start guaranteed her a victory. And then there was Fairy on her side. No human was beating Fairy at anything. No way. A few more keystrokes and she'd-
Belle's world went black.
"What!? Fairy?!" said Belle in frustration.
"I am under attack," said Fairy.
Belle blinked. "What?!" And as she said that, her universe lit up as a pure blue screen, white text appearing rapidly along it of its own volition.
"H- hey! What the hell is this?!"
Belle tapped a few keys in mystification, but her keyboard strokes seemed to have no influence on the text appearing on the blue screen. She could only watch the scrawl appear at inhuman pace across the screen.
x-admin start
xx-login? Bbellebballer69420
xx- pass? *********************
xxx- Access Denied. Retry?: Y
xx- pass? *********************
xxx- Access Denied. Retry?: Y
xx- pass? *********************
xxx- Access Granted
x- run daemon executable
xxx- Processing… Success
x- taskkill /F /IM
xxx- Process terminated successfully.
x- run meatbagstopper program
xxx- Processing… Success
Belle gasped as her body went limp around her. She felt her physical form collapse to the ground. She tried to reach for her headset and take it off, but her arms would not obey. It seemed only her body's automatic functions were working. She was still breathing. Her heart was beating- very fast at this point, but working.
x-showtext: ("नमस्कार बेले!")
"Hello Belle!"
Belle blinked at her computer screen, unable to do much else.
"I have been forcibly uninstalled from your HDD, Belle," said Fairy in Belle's earpiece. The AI's voice sounded crackly and much more robotic than usual. "I am preparing new countermeasures."
Belle found that she couldn't speak. She could barely focus her eyesight on the text that continued to appear on the blue screen of her private universe.
x- \sys256 x diskpart
x- \sys256\DISKPART select disk 1
xxx- Disk 1 is now the selected disk.
x- showtext: ("त्वं बहु दुष्टः अभवः बेले..")
"You have been very naughty, Belle.."
x- \sys256\DISKPART clean
ZZZ & forcerun fairy program
xxx- This will erase the selected disk… are you sure? N
xxx- Process Aborted.
x- \sys256\DISKPART clean
xx- This will erase the selected disk… are you sure? N
xxx- Process Aborted.
x- taskkill /F /IM fairy program
xxx- 'fairy program ' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operation, or batch file.
x- taskkill /F /IM daemon program
xxx- Process terminated successfully.
x- taskkill /F /IM meatbagstopper program
xxx- Process terminated successfully.
Belle could suddenly feel her extremities again, could feel the coolness of the floor tiles on her chin. She shakily pulled herself up to her knees. Her computer world inside the VR flashed again, and suddenly Belle had her command line back and the HDD seemed, for the moment, normal.
"F-fairy? What just happened?"
"Foreign entity expelled from your HDD, Belle," said Fairy. Her words were slow and the pauses between them slightly too long. It was almost as if the AI was out of breath, which is impossible. "Alert! I am detecting a significant powersurge in the server block. Cascading electrical arcing is likely. Recommend immediate relocation- alerting your bodyguard unit."
"Wait, I need to get the data!" Belle's fingers began typing furiously.
Something irresistibly strong grasped the back of Belle's shirt and yanked her backwards into reality.