| Murphy's Law |
[Feb. 12th, 2008|12:14 am] |
((WHOO! My writer's block is gone and now I'm getting into the good stuff! Expect me to finish this up before next session! I've gotten into the good stuff and this is the stuff I enjoy writing! Also, I posted this in a short amount of time after the one before this so if you're a little lost on this one, read the one before this.))
As the cargo elevator descended, the surrounding area became more dark, more dull. When it finally stopped, there was little lighting on the bottom. The faint patter of footsteps and yells could be heard from above as the underground depths were remarkably silent. The solid, blocky walls in this underground tunnel even made a noticeable echo to mimic Jarek's breathing. His footsteps were no different despite how hard he tried to quiet them. Dim red lights lined the passageway for a straight rail system, much like the last tunnel. Jarek stuck to the side, a small walkway aside from the rails as he crept on over. The eerie silence coming from both ends made him uncomfortable, as all he could continue to hear were his own footsteps echoing throughout the walls. In the middle of his journey to the other side, things already started to go wrong.
A bright white light eminated from the end and the sound of an electric motor could be heard echoing down the tunnel. The rails were rumbling and the motor sound was increasing its pitch. The damn tram was coming this way and the light was casting itself onto Jarek, who recoiled a bit, shielding his eyes with his left arm. The tram was moving down the tracks at a rather fast speed, probably faster than it should. Every time Jarek unshielded his eyes to check, however, he was once again blinded by the headlight coming from the tram, so for some reason he decided to turn the other way. Simply just turn his body 180 degrees and face the direction the light was going. The tram came roaring past, hurting Jarek's ears a bit thanks to some amplification caused by the echoes. He looked to see who was on the train. While he couldn't make out features, he could make out slight silhouettes. There were two people on the cargo tram facing the direction they were heading. Whether or not they saw Jarek, he didn't know. It didn't seem like they got suspicious so the only thing he could think of was hauling ass in the direction he was going in originally.
Finally to the other side, Jarek climbed up a ladder to the side of the elevator to get to the top. He peeked over the edge, there was no noise, no guards, nothing but a rather nice hallway, definitely nice compared to the other two blocks. He pulled himself to the top and stood up, back onto his feet and entered through the only door there was - a large, powered door that was already open. This block was already taking on a familiar pattern. Faced with 3 ways to go, two of them were hallways with several identical doors, each evenly spaced. These were infront and to the left of him. The way to the right was outside. That way, however, was guarded by a checkpoint. Jarek took a moment to look around a bit more, staring down a security camera that looked directly at him. Like the first security camera he stared at, even though it should be fine, he can't help but shake a feeling that he's screwed. Finally Jarek decided to head straight forward, looking at the doors he was passing by. They were numbered, starting from 1 and moving on. It felt like a cheap motel but this was the living block. With the way the doors were spaced it didn't seem like there was a whole lot of room to begin with.
Jarek took a moment to look around for anyone nearby. No one. =Aigaion. Do you know where the officer's quarters are?= He spoke quietly as he didn't expect the rooms to be soundproof either. However, much to Jarek's dismay, after waiting a good 10 seconds, he realized that there was no response. Jarek started to fear the worse. =Aigaion, please tell me you're there.= He said again, still no response. Jarek cursed under his breath and started to worry. He had no guidance this time around. Hsueh must have gotten to him sooner than he had thought. Without someone to back him up, Jarek thought for sure he was going to die unless he could escape, and that was the thought that usurped it's way into Jarek's top priority. He stopped walking, turned around, and took one step before he froze again. Foreign words penetrated his thoughts once again. It was Aigaion's voice. 'Save our country, save their lives.' Jarek took a moment to tap his earpiece under his facemask, checking to see if Aigaion really did say that again, but it was too clear. Jarek's memory spiked in and reminded him of what he must do. The spotlight's on him now, only because there is no one to put the spotlight on. He would have to be the hero. He just didn't think there would be so much pressure in being one. Jarek turned around again, walking deeper into the block, searching for a door that had a retinal scanner, the door that would lead into the officer's quarters.
Within time, he found it, but like Aigaion said, the scanner wouldn't work, and because of that the doors won't budge. Jarek took a quick look around, namely on the ceilings. There was a ventilation grate, the size of a large square. Aigaion did mention infrared sensors in the ventilation ducts. The vents were definitely large enough to fit Jarek in, along with his stuff, and it wasn't namely out of reach either. It was mounted on the wall about 7 feet up. Jarek took another look around to make sure the coast was clear, and he jumped up and grabbed onto the 'spokes' of the ventilation grate. He placed his feet on the walls and walked up it a bit, enough so that his feet were just below the grate, and Jarek pulled. Hard. The end result is after a good 5 seconds of pulling as hard as he could, a loud metal CLANG was heard as the grate popped off from it's hinges. Jarek fell down and landed on his upper back, flopping onto the ground. The grate landing on the hard surface, out of his grip, creating a large metallic clang much louder than before. Jarek took a slight moment to recover before he realized how much of a noise that made. He got up to his feet and jumped again, grabbing onto the edge and pulling himself in.
The ventilation system seemed roomy at first, but when you're actually inside of it, it was very cramped with just enough room to shuffle forward in a crawl. It was dark with only openings in the vents as a source of light. Jarek wandered around the vents for a good 10 minutes, peering out some of the gratings to see where he was. Finally one such opening featured a rather luxurous, roomy room with a carpet. "Jackpot" Jarek mumbled to himself as he pressed his feet against the grating, getting ready to kick it out. There was a loud clang again from the force of Jarek's feet, but the grate landed silently on the rather soft carpet. Jarek scooted his way out of the vent and dropped to his feet. He looked around the room, taking time to examine it. It was almost as if he just crawled into another world. This place was rich with Elarian art, sculptures, culture. Everything in here was luxurious, to say the least. The bed was very large, much larger than any normal person would need.. Except for maybe Raymond Hark.
Jarek shook his head at the thought of his old team member. He's dead, but that wasn't the point. With his mind back on task, it was clear Hsueh or anyone else was not in this room, so he would lay in wait for him. In the meantime however, he would check around the room, going through desks, closets, cabinets, only to find luxury after luxury. There was, however, a small room attatched to it. There was a door blocking his entrace, however. It was locked. Jarek simply kicked the door open, breaking the mechanism inside. The important part was that the door still looked fine on the outside, save for a dusty bootprint which Jarek took some time to wipe off. In this room, however, was papers and various electronics. This seemed to be his base of operations, or at least where he gets his stuff done. As he checks out the room, most of the papers were in Elarian, making them useless to Jarek. However, some of the papers he found were in Basic. They were messages from a person that Jarek had recently met. A lot of these were discussions between the two about how the project was going, about security detail changes, and right under that one was a complaint. There was one more, deep in the pile. The paper was in a slight tint of brown, showing age. The paper was dated two years ago, and it detailed a transport route. This transport route was apparently carrying schematics and some resources for a secret project - a mobile weapons platform. All of these were from one Major Victor Voycheck, straight to Yiding Hsueh.
=Gabriel, are you still alive?= A sullen and quiet, familiar voice broke through his earpiece. It was Aigaion.
=Aigaion....=
=We're in it deep. The Elarians came in here and held us hostage 5 minutes after the security mainframe went down. After that Hsueh showed up, now we're being taken to the main block. I don't know why but I don't think it's good. Jarek, Hsueh and just about everyone else is heading there.=
=God dammit... Is Voycheck with you?=
=No, I don't know where he is. I can only fear the worst. They know you're lose.=
=Well what the hell am I supposed to do now!?= Jarek shouted in frustration.
=Please... Gyges must not be launched! Get to the main block and stop it from starting up!=
=How!? Just about everyone's going to be there, I can't just walk in!=
=I don't know...=
There was a long moment of pause.
=Well shit, you're no help. I'll try, only if I am to become a hero in Cervia.= Jarek said, his tone of voice changed to something a bit louder, a bit more ill-tempered.
Aigaion simply chuckles quietly. =If we make it out alive, I'll tell the tale.=
=Hmm.. Alright I'm on my way.=
=Please hurry.=
Jarek ditched the papers in his hands and walked out of the small workstation and out of Hsueh's room. He met no resistance , even with security heading out of the officer's quarters. When he reached the checkpoint at the exit of the block, there was no one to be found. The guards that were there are not, which made it easy to slip out. There was a metal door that he had opened, and then he was greeted by something he dearly missed--the outdoors. The smell, the feel, the light. Without a doubt it was a nostalgic feeling, to say the least. The village buildings here, he could actually recognize some of it. This was where him and Narkissa were at, only to have him end up in this mess. He had pondered the idea of Narkissa being out here, coming to rescue him, but in a flashback of when Jarek had been shot, the memory was lucid and clear. "I'm sorry Jarek!" That was her last words before she ran away. Now all he could think about was how she was either long gone, or dead. Either way she wouldn't be anywhere near.
He looked up at the sky, into the clearing. It was mid day. He couldn't tell which direction the sun was at, per se, so it either recently became morning or it will soon become evening. All that time Jarek was down in the complex, he could have sworn it was night. Though there was twice a time where he was out cold. His head tilted back down, viewing the jungle clearing, viewing the village. Jarek walked forward, trying to picture the layout of the underground complex. There was a south, west, and a north block. In the middle of that there was a main block, where Gyges was housed. The only way to get into the main block was form the surface, and sure enough his eyes caught hold of a large lump in the ground, on the side of it was a metal door just like the one on the entrance to the north block. Jarek opened it without a problem, entered, and shut it behind him and walked down a confining, well-lit staircase. Now he was in the demon's lair. |
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