Da da da da dum, dum de la dum… A faint melody echoed in the inky darkness of Siebren's subconscious. The vague yet intense familiarity of the melody threatened to drive him mad as he searched the blackness for any sort of clue of its source. Da da da da dum, dum de la dum… What was that melody? Siebren wandered aimlessly, blind to the inner workings of his mind. All was black and inky save for a small spark of electricity that seemed to gravitate him closer.

Do…ct…or… De…Kup….ier

A faint, somewhat recognizable voice was floating above the maddening melody. It appeared to come from the small spark ahead of him. He felt the gravity continue to pull him in that direction.

Doctor…..De…Kup…..

The voice was wavering yet becoming clearer. The melody continued at slightly increasing increments. Da da da da dum, dum de la dum…

Doctor De..Kupier…wake…..up

Someone was calling out to him over the melody. But who? The voice was difficult to interpret. He strained his ears to hear it as he grew ever closer to the spark. He was mere inches away from it now, the glow emitting in a warm hue. The melody was almost deafening now, making Siebren clench his jaw tight. What was it? Siebren's hand slowly reached out to the spark, pulled by its weight. His fingertip made contact and…

SMACK.

Siebren's eyes snapped open in response to the harsh, crisp slap that had just crossed his face. He groaned and blinked rapidly as blinding lights filled his vision. A shadowed form stood over him, hazy in his newly conscious state.

"Who…?" he rasped out as the figure began to take a recognizable form.

"Good," an Irish accented voice said, "You're awake."

"Doctor?" Siebren asked more clearly as the form of his colleague Dr. O'Deorian sharpened before him.

Moira stood up from where she had been crouched at his side moments before, grunting with a hand to her side. Siebren took in their surroundings. They appeared to be in a dimly lit stairwell-the one that connected the laboratory barracks to the main floors of the lab. He was propped against the corner of the landing, bloody tracks coming from the descending stairs. He took in Moira's grim face, the swollen lip and small trickle of blood that had dried there. He grabbed his forehead as a sharp pain shot behind his eyes. He cursed.

'What…what happened?" he grunted out.

"Your little demonstration backfired," Moira said with disquieting calm. "Horribly." She added.

She was now standing before him, hand still resting on her side.

"Are you-" he tried to ask.

"Just some broken ribs, nothing I cannot mend," she said curtly, interrupting his inquiry.

He sighed, taking inventory of his own injuries. His shoulder was likely dislocated giving the sharp pain that shot through it as he tried to stand.

"You were thrown against the wall. Hard." Moira explained, eyeing his lame shoulder. She was quiet, analyzing his state, the way only a medically trained professional knew how.

Siebren shook his head as images of those…creatures…pouring through the rifted Quantumix; The fear in Dr. O'Deorian's eyes; The searing pain rippling through his flesh as he tried to contain it. He winced as he splayed his hands in front of him. They were stained a deep violet, with inky spindles of ebony snaking up his arms. He chanced a curl of his fingers, assessing the damage. He bit back a yelp, the movement feeling electric and like the skin was tearing anew.

"How did we…" he began but trailed off. It didn't make sense. There were so many of them. "Where…" he tried.

"You blacked out," Moira clipped matter-of-factly, "It was by sheer luck your shield managed to hold long enough for me to wraith us out."

"I- I wasn't aware your talents could extend to others," he stammered out.

"Neither was I." She was tired. Her normally pristine posture had begun to sag a bit. Her eyes looked weary.

"I- You-," Siebren stuttered before sighing, "Thank you." He wouldn't have expected the doctor to sacrifice so much for him. She didn't seem to like him much, but perhaps dire circumstances had given her a change of heart. He forced himself to his unclad feet with a groan, trying to use his nearly spent anti-gravitational assets to rise.

"What do we do now, Doctor?" He towered above her, even without his anti-gravitational pull.

"I don't know," Moira admitted quietly. She was spent. "But," she continued, looking up at him, "My biotic pack is disabled." She outstretched her hand to show him the sad sputter of biotic healing that emerged.

"I believe there are utilities in the lab that could repair it," Siebren said with a grim face, glancing at his own injured hands.

"So you suggest we go back, like lambs to the slaughter?" Moira said, her lip curling in disapproval.

"What other option do we have?" Siebren said more firmly, "This laboratory was designed to contain should this very scenario occur. We better our chances of survival if we repair your equipment until aid from Talon arrives."

Moira was quiet as she contemplated her colleague's point. She hated that he was right.

"Very well," she said with an aggravated sigh, "if we can repair my device, I can tend to our wounds and…perhaps we can also send a plea for assistance."

"Agreed," Siebren said with a curt nod, "Follow me."

The shadow-beasts that had erupted from the Quantumix had appeared to vanish. It struck Moira as fortunate, albeit suspicious, as she and Dr. de Kuiper made their way back to the main laboratory. The only indication that those beasts had even been there were the slew of corpses and blood strung across the hallway. Bullet-holes lined the walls, accompanied by sprays of blood. The guards and other Talon employees had been slaughtered. That much, Moira thought, was certain. What was also certain was the now constant throb in her side as she marched behind Siebren. While he had been unconscious, she had silently surveyed the damage. Four broken ribs, and potentially a fracture on her scapula. Normally she would have already regenerated her damaged body, but with her biotic healing supplies drained, she would have to grit through it. She was brooding, reflecting, assessing, entirely unfocused as she ran right into Siebren's rigid figure.

They had made it up the several flights of stairs and had entered the hallway leading to the laboratory. She began to protest at his sudden halt, but snapped her mouth shut as her eyes followed his gaze. Across the corridor, in the threshold of the now mangled laboratory doors, were three of those shadow-beasts, gorging themselves on their fallen comrades. Such gruesome sights would normally not elicit a shudder from Dr. O'Deorian, but that…

The corpses of the Talon soldiers-if one could even call them corpses-appeared to have been drained entirely of any essence of life. Husks was a more accurate term to describe the withered state of those poor people. Their faces were contorted into images of pure agony, as if their very life-soul-had been sucked from them. The hollowed out eye sockets and withered grey skin, snaked with ebony veins made the soldiers look like they should have been dead for several years-no, centuries. It was as if they'd been mummified alive. Moira felt her legs begin to tremble slightly as she watched the shadow-beasts, in their spindly forms. When they had first exited the rift, they had seemed entirely ethereal, but now their forms had begun to solidify. Their limbs were elongated, with claw-like hands at their base. Despite the slightly humanoid appearance, the hunched stance of the creatures revealed canine-like legs, curved at the haunches. Situated on an elongated neck, each creature had a humanoid head but with horribly distorted features. Their mouths were nothing more than slits from ear to ear, with hollowed out eyes that crackled with that violet electricity exhibited with the rift.

Siebren's breath hitched and Moira felt her heart stop as one of the creatures emitted a low growl and snapped its head up to look at them. It's two companions followed suit, their grotesque grins seeming to grow even larger at the sight of their new prey.

"Siebren…" Moira said, a hitch to her voice. She hadn't realized she'd been gripping his arm, digging her nails into his unmarred flesh. His arm was shaking.

"When I signal, Doctor," Siebren said through grit teeth, "Use whatever power you have left to wraith yourself past them."

"What? But-" Moira began to protest but was silenced by her colleague's piercing stare.

"Listen to me, Moira," he growled. She felt a bit of flush run to her cheeks. When had he ever addressed her so informally? When had he ever seemed so present?

"I am going to buy you some time," he said in a low voice, "When I attack, I want you to use whatever energy you have left to wraith as far from this room as possible. There might still be some back up transmitters on the lower floors. Try to get in contact with Rialto."

Moira felt her mouth gape open as she realized small bits of debris had begun to tremble and rise from around them. His arm hadn't been shaking in fear, but with power as he mustered whatever strength he had left. She spared a glance between him and the slowly approaching beasts. Yes, they were predators, enjoying the hunt as they clicked and growled at each other.

"But-" she tried.

She was cut off by the howl of the center creature as its two flanks began to lower themselves, preparing to strike.

"One of us has to survive," Siebren barked. Moira glanced at him, her eyes wide. A bead of sweat was trailing down the side of his temple. "If not for Talon, then for our research."

Moira scowled. He was right. They couldn't let this threat reach the outside world, nor could they abandon the pursuit of scientific advancement. She began to inch backwards, drawing the attention of the left-most creature. It loosed a growl and lunged at her. In a blur, a mass of solid debris slammed into the creature, knocking it backwards.

"GO!" Siebren roared as the other two creatures made a break towards him.

Moira mustered her strength and faded into mist.

The two creatures slammed into Siebren as he barked for Moira to run. He threw his arm up to shield his face as he was toppled to the ground with a painful crash. He managed to fling a smaller ball of debris at the smaller of the two, knocking it back. The one he had previously knocked back had returned, immediately taking the other's place. He screamed in agony as the creature slammed into his injured soldier. Spots danced in his vision, his grasp on consciousness rapidly failing. As his vision began to blackout, he heaved a relieved sigh as he saw the misty remnants of his colleagues retreat.

Moira raced down the winding staircase, clenching her eyes shut at the sound of Siebren's screams. Just get help. Help. HELP. Moira was aware for the first time in her miserable life, she was experiencing raw, true, unrelenting fear. She had been in warzones, conducted experiments that would make even the most evil dictators blush, and even battled with her own sanity. But this…this was unnatural. Unfamiliar. She tumbled forward, down a flight of stairs, having lost her footing in her panic. She yelped as white hot pain shot through her ribs as she tumbled to the floor. At the bottom of the steps, she groaned as she tried to get up. She was so, so tired. The sounds from above had since ceased, leaving her to conclude that Siebren must be dead. She choked back a sob. How could everything have gone so horribly wrong?

The soft sound of footfall on the stairs behind her tore her from her thoughts. She shifted, trying to push herself into a sitting position. Her head was throbbing and her vision spinning. She craned her neck to look up, hoping beyond hope that the figure descending the stairs was Seibren, or at least not a threat. She let out a low hiss as a metallic chuckle emitted from the grey-clad figure descending the stairs. Moira snarled at the blank, metallic masked figure that stopped in front of her.

"Hello Doctor," the metallic voice purred, "I believe you and I have some catching up to do."

The last thing Moira felt was a mix of irritation and dread as her body and mind finally gave out, sinking into deep unconsciousness.