Dr. Gordon Freeman (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
trustycrowbar) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
anemoi2012-06-28 12:54 am
trustycrowbar) wrote in anemoi2012-06-28 12:54 am
Entry tags:
Transformation Matrix
[The basement of the labs was dark and still, a graveyard of steam pipes and forgotten items and disused equipment that no one really wanted to see anymore. The area was all too familiar to Gordon; this was where his suit's charging station was sequestered.]
[But this isn't why he had come here this time. He coughed, leaning against the wall; pale, clammy, and trying to catch ragged shreds of breath. His lungs felt like they were on fire. At first he thought it was just stress, or exhaustion, or some fucking flu virus... he doubles over and coughs from the bottom of his lungs. Pieces of bloody... something, splatter to the floor. His own lung tissue maybe. Oh god, no wonder he couldn't breathe. There's plenty of soft defenseless tissue for the nanites to mess around with in there...]
[Yes, he knew exactly what was going on. That's why he wanted to get as far down and away from people as possible. Lock himself up. Hopefully the others will figure out what happened to him--]
[He lurches into another violent coughing fit and doubles over, wrenching himself to the floor. And those splatters of inert bloody tissue recoil from the impact, and slowly begin to inch away.]
[Video]
[Oh hey, look, it's one of those wormy scientist guys! Why is the background so dark...?]
"Ah, is this thing on? Oh, alright. Ahh... ahem... It seems that just to compound the difficulty the power to the labs has gone out. No one is sure of the cause, and to top it off our illustrious Mister Freeman has gone missing. I knew the boy couldn't handle the pressure of administration. It may be a while before we can--wait, what was that? No, over there. By the air duct! Oh FINE, I'll go looOH GOD--"
[The rest is cut off by screams and a sickening prolonged crunch. It's safe to say that the Labs would like some help.]
[But this isn't why he had come here this time. He coughed, leaning against the wall; pale, clammy, and trying to catch ragged shreds of breath. His lungs felt like they were on fire. At first he thought it was just stress, or exhaustion, or some fucking flu virus... he doubles over and coughs from the bottom of his lungs. Pieces of bloody... something, splatter to the floor. His own lung tissue maybe. Oh god, no wonder he couldn't breathe. There's plenty of soft defenseless tissue for the nanites to mess around with in there...]
[Yes, he knew exactly what was going on. That's why he wanted to get as far down and away from people as possible. Lock himself up. Hopefully the others will figure out what happened to him--]
[He lurches into another violent coughing fit and doubles over, wrenching himself to the floor. And those splatters of inert bloody tissue recoil from the impact, and slowly begin to inch away.]
[Video]
[Oh hey, look, it's one of those wormy scientist guys! Why is the background so dark...?]
"Ah, is this thing on? Oh, alright. Ahh... ahem... It seems that just to compound the difficulty the power to the labs has gone out. No one is sure of the cause, and to top it off our illustrious Mister Freeman has gone missing. I knew the boy couldn't handle the pressure of administration. It may be a while before we can--wait, what was that? No, over there. By the air duct! Oh FINE, I'll go looOH GOD--"
[The rest is cut off by screams and a sickening prolonged crunch. It's safe to say that the Labs would like some help.]
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"Shhh!" "Good god, are you TRYING to let them know we're here?!" "I'm too brilliant to die..." "--you got your degree online, you hack, you're not fooling anyone."
[There's a sudden, loud and suspcious crash ahead. Turning the corner they'll find the last few pebbles bouncing down over a pile of rubble that covers the stairs, completely blocking the path. There's also a flash of oily red in the darkness as something draws back into the ceiling. Looks like they're not getting out THAT way.]
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Mordin considered the problem quickly. There were several other ways out of the building, but they were all far further from here. If whatever this thing was could block one exit, it was likely it could block all the exits in short order. Creating an alternate way out was far safer. "Need explosive. Blow a hole in the wall. May be able to improvise something in lab upstairs."
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[He has the instinctive feeling that diverting from the course it wants would be very bad. Not sure how, just that it would be bad.]
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*He manages to get the bucket off. SOMEHOW.*
So what, we just supposed to let the damn thing tell us what to do?
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"Oh no! It's surrounded us!" "AHHH! There's another one!"
[The other panicked scientist points at another tendril, half-oozed out of an air vent and waving idly. The hallway it's in the direction of leads down. Mordin would recognize it as being the direction of the biology labs.]
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"Definitely not. Can't go down. Not going back. Only other way, up."
After all, the stairs may be collapsed beneath them, but they go both ways.
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Up it is, then.
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*He really, REALLY wishes he could use his abilities right now.*
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"N-no, you're not the only one. Dark creepy corridors, phantom sounds, faceless monster appendages--" "Oh, dear. I think I'm going to be sick."
[Stairs and corridors angle their way up, leading to the gentler divisions of the Labs; administration offices, interrogation rooms, the maze that new admittants run when they are first introduced to the place. The banging and clanging in the walls has subsided, leaving a creepy, dark silence.]
"Well this is better." "We might be able to get out of here, if we pass through the cafeteria and jump down from--" "Are you out of your MIND?" "IT'S EITHER THAT OR GET EATEN BY A TENTACLE! OR WHATEVER IT PLANS TO DO TO US! IN FACT I DON'T WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT!"
[While they're arguing, there's a large crash, as something with four legs and seemingly made completely out of congealed blood crashes through an office window into the hallway. The scientists scream shrilly and scramble backwards. Another blood-beast crashes through the cafeteria's glass-paned window.]
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As he swung around, he brought up his omni-tool and selected "INCINERATE.EXE". Microassemblers whirred for about half a second, then a small projectile was launched out of the front towards the blood-beast. The projectile burst into flames about two feet past the end of Mordin's hand and left a brilliant between the Salarian and the monster before exploding into sparks and flames.
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Are you able to do that again? Because if not, I really think we should run.
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Run where?! If you have a suggestion, I'd like to hear it!
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[The other one circles the first with the repulsion of an animal smelling death on another, then picks up speed on its advance.]
[That is, until a net of tendrils lurch out of three nearby airducts in the corridor, tripping and grappling the creature all at at once.]
[Immobilizing it...]
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[Nevertheless, he runs. And it feels... disturbingly familiar. Like he's done just this sort of thing before. Many, many times. It's even as though he's always had the right shoes for it and everything...]
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