"We're not just three soldiers. We're Team GEAR, and that's what makes the difference." Michael perks up at your words. Sam, who had been staring listlessly at the sinkhole, tilts his head, showing you have his attention as well. "We stopped being just another group of soldiers when they assigned us as Nepgear's support. Jessica knew that when she died, and so did Richard. We accepted the posting knowing that our probable survival rate was less than five missions. Hell, we'll be lucky to last past seven... But that's our job. To survive just long enough to keep Solid Core out of trouble until she can stand on her own. Sooner or later she'll reach the point where we'll probably die just by stepping onto her battlefield. When that day comes though... I want to be able to face my death with the knowledge that I gave her the chance to get there. To know that I made that kind of difference. What about you two? How do you want to die?"
Sam and Michael share a look. A silent conversation held within a glance. And in that instant you know their answer as well as you know your own. When they turn back to you nothing needs to be said. You walk past them, and they join you.
In the center of the sinkhole is an actual gap. A black pit that light failed to effectively illuminate the darkness. "Flashlights on when we hit bottom." Your teammates don't respond as you anchor drop lines at the edge of the hole, instead choosing to double check their gear before they head down with you.
Once the lines are in place, you throw the hundred foot ropes over the edge of the drop. Team GEAR hooks up to their individual zip lines, then jump over the edge as one.
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
"The hell do you think it is?" Michael's whisper breaks the silence of the pit you find at the end of your decent.
"No idea, but it looks familiar." Sam's response is equally as soft as Mike's question. You hum in reply but keep your eyes focused forward, watching carefully for any sign of movement.
The object of their conversation though is plain to see. The bottom of the pit is a large dome-like formation that is obviously unnatural. The wall are held up by a purplish-black substance that coats everything. The single tunnel that swings out of sight is also covered in it.
As your team's lights play over them, you can see lines and ridges embedded throughout the walls. And as the three of you begin to enter it, you can hear what sounds like the slow drip of some kind of liquid coming from deeper within. "Feels like we're in some kind of horror movie."
"Didn't the horror industry die off near the start of the war because of the... oh shit." You and Mike stop at Samael's swear. You both turn to him.
"What?"
The other soldier is staring at the walls as if he was wishing they were something else then what he thought they were. "The reason the walls look so familiar. Me and Izzy had a movie marathon last time I was able to get some time off, and she got me to watch some old horror movies with her. One of them was "Alien VS Predator". These walls look like the walls of the xenomorph nest." You freeze at that. You yourself hadn't been much of a movie fanatic when you were younger, but one of the movies you had seen was one of the 'alien' movies. So you knew what he was talking about.
"Children of Nightmare?" You can hear Mike's wish for something else, but you knew just as well as he does that it wouldn't be.
"Probably."
"Well... fuck me with an evergreen." You sigh.
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
The Children of Nightmare. The most recent addition to the Unified Darkness' factions, literally no one knew where they came from. Including the Children themselves. What was known though was that they fell into two groups.
The first and most well known group was also what caused the Horror industry in human entertainment to simply wither and die off in less than a year. The reason? The 'Lesser Nightmares', as they were known, were born from fear. If enough sentient entities were afraid of something specifically, a Child of Nightmare would be born from that fear.
The only saving grace of that though, was that the thing causing fear had to be something tangible. Like say... a monster from a horror movie. It was this revelation that lead to humans almost collectively dropping horror flicks like hot potatoes. Sadly though, this came too late to stop some truly horrific Children from being born. And since they tended to have the powers portrayed to them, absolutely no one wanted to be the poor sod that ran into the likes of Freddy Kruger or Jason.
The sheer number of creatures that had been portrayed as unstoppable or unkillable in their fictional works had caused the Unified Light more problems then Humanity truly wanted to acknowledge. Especially since it was technically all their fault that the Children were as diverse as they were.
It was a bit of an embarrassment, as you'd probably guess. It also didn't help when Counter Force soldiers ran into ones they recognized from those old movies that still surfaced from time to time. Like the Alien movies.
Those had a bad habit of wiping out entire strongholds when no one caught them in time.
-/LINE BREAK IDENTIFIED\-
"SHOOT THE FUCKER!"
"I AM!"
"IN THE HEAD! SHOOT IT IN THE HEAD!"
"I AM!!!!"
Finally, a lucky bullet from Sam's gun breaks through the dense shell of the creature trying it's hardest to bite his face off and blows it's brains all over the opposite wall. Thankfully none of the 'xenomorph's acidic blood sprays over any of you as it dies. Sam climbs to his feet while scrambling away from the corpse.
"Holy shit, am I thankful for Nep's power boost. Fucker just wouldn't die!"
As he pats himself down to check for injuries you poke the corpse with a toe in a clean area. "Flamethrowers always worked better in the movies. Bullets tended to just bounce off unless the characters dumped whole clips of normal ammo into them. That why our guns are a larger caliber then they used to be, despite being more expensive." The acid finally eats a hole through the floor and the dead monster falls through it with a wet splat. "Whelp, if the gunfire and shouts didn't let them know we're here, the hive mind certainly did. Better get moving before they swarm this place."
Samael reloads his gun and Michael takes the lead. Sam takes up the rear, while in the middle you carefully keep an eye on the walls and ceiling of the hive tunnel the three of you work your way down. Your gun lights cut through the darkness with relative ease, the higher technology level not running into the problems that the actors ran into in their own horror movies. "So, what do we do if we run into someone and they have a facehugger on them?"
"Oh god I hope not. These fuckers take on traits of their hosts, and I do NOT want to see a Magical Girl Xenomorph." Now there was a terrifying thought. "I vote we leave a grenade or three and save them the birthing pains."
The banter cuts off as Michael's light reflects off something metallic. The flash has all three of you swinging your guns around in unison to the origin.
"Holy shit. Gabriel?!" Sitting against the wall of the tunnel is the sole angel member of Team GEAR. The girl is unconscious, and covered in grime but you can recognize her easily. Swiftly, the three of you dash over to her, Michael kneeling next to her and checking for a pulse. "She's alive."
You look across the ground, sweeping your light around. "No facehuggers. Check her heart. If one of those things got to her, we might be able to feel it's kid moving around." Michael slips a hand up behind her breastplate, carefully feeling around her chest.
"Nothing but a heartbeat. She's clear." You sigh in relief. An angel-xenomorph would have almost been as bad as a magical girl one. Michael carefully shakes Gabriel's shoulder, and the rookie angel groans in response. "Wakey wakey. You need to get up Gabriel, now's not the time to be sleeping on the job."
Slowly Gabriel stirs. "Huh? ... Mike? What happened? Last thing I remember is the ground and dirt." She sits up and rubs her face, clearing away a bit of the grime that covered it.
"Well... the ground apparently decided it wanted to eat everyone standing in the park. We came down to try and rescue you guys."
"Um... Thanks." The angel blushes, and looks around. "So... do you know what caused the ground to cave in?"
"Children of Nightmare." Gabriel visibly flinches at that. "Thankfully though, these ones aren't immune to bullets. And the three of us are familiar with them." This time she sighs in relief. Michael stands and steps away from her, giving the angel the room she needs to stand herself, and pick up her dropped sword.
Once in her hand, the blade bursts to life, and it's holy light pierces the darkness, scattering the writhing shadows with far superior ease than your flashlights. "Well, lets find the others and see that we can do about this hive, shall we?" And with that your off again, plus one.
You pull Gabriel into the middle of your little formation with you, "Alright... these things favor ambushes. Especially from either below or above. The walls are designed to let them blend in easier, but if you look close enough you'll be able to see their outlines. They move quickly, are stronger than a normal human, and have acidic blood that can east through both stone and titanium in seconds. Their primary weapon is their tails that can pierce steel, and a second mouth that they can thrust hard enough to do the same."
Gabriel nods, but doesn't take her eyes off the walls. She also includes the ceiling in her watch pattern, to your pride. Kid learns fast.
"If we come across a little spider-looking thing with a tail: dodge, don't block. Their skin is weak and they have acidic blood as well. If we come across someone with one on their face then they're as good as dead. We blow them up and move on."
Thankfully though no more of the creatures pop out of the walls at you. Weather or not this is a good thing though is debatable. Instead, you come across a huge room, reminiscent of the first chamber that had been under the sinkhole. The chamber is lit by bright, glowing lines of magic that crisscross the walls. The floor is smooth, and at equidistant points are three entrances, one of which you had come in through.
And there, against the far wall, is one of the Magical Girls you had come to find.
The Maiden of the West is suspended three feet off the ground. Black cords of some unknown material wrap around her, with her arms spread above her head, while her legs are bound together and pulled towards the floor.
The glowing lines across the walls converge on the crucified Magical Girl into an intricate magic circle that spans the entire chamber.
"Hey, isn't that one of the crazies?" Samael asks. The circle pulses.
"I think it is. Should we cut her down and bring her with us?" Michael is still watching the tunnel you had come from, but Gabriel steps forward.
"We should, no one deserves to be a sacrifice to the Children of Nightmare. No matter who they are."
You glance between her and the suspended Maiden. While a part of you agreed with her reasoning, a still significant portion of you pointed out to the rest that this girl had tried killing off Humanity with a super virus just because. You find yourself conflicted.
[]Cut her down. No one deserves to be a sacrifice, especially a young girl.
[]Leave her. She tried killing everyone, so it's the least she deserves.
+10xp Recovered Gabriel
+3xp Killed a Xenomorph?
+50xp No one gets left behind
+63xp Gained = 906 EXP Total
(WARNING! You cannot vote to spend EXP until AnastasiaNepgear is rescued!)
