We All Fall Down [Plot]

[Mara Ackart]

This place kept throwing surprises at them. Mara wasn't sure she'd stand up to another one. The moment she was through the door she collapsed. Just moving took all of her effort. Mara looked at her companions and struggled to her feet. It took all of her strength and several minutes to accomplish the feat but she did and she began moving down the hallway. A peek into the first office she came across revealed a horrible mess. No doubt the staff had left in a rush.

"Staff is gone it looks like. Made a heck of a mess getting out."

It took Mara several more minutes to reach the end of the hallway. Not only was her body giving out but the snacks and coffee in the break room had been a serious lure to her. The woman was seriously low on energy reserves. Chances were good that she might pass out completely if she attempted another manipulation. There was enough energy for her to either move or use her power but not both. She peered into the large office at the hallway's end and immediately noticed the body. A tired smirk drifted onto her face.

"Well, you aren't looking too chipper. That's a shame. I really did want to hurt one of you suit types."

[Lucian Verdus]

"This is the only item of sufficient use." In moments, the combat servitor was upon the body, taking it up in its claws and giving it a brief examination. It looked usable, both to the servitor and to Lucian, and the servitor gripped it tightly as it continued to walk around. Lucian saw converting it into another inquisitor. Perhaps taking yet another skull for yet another probe. He would also need more parts, and reminded the servitor to grab a few computers and metal bits on the way out, preferably from the laboratories. It would only be a claw-full, but he could always go back and get more later, depending on what happened to the guards.

From what was observable here, it was clear that these guards were not fully in control of whatever was happening. Or, if they were, they were doing an impressive job of hiding it. They were potentially vulnerable, and he potentially had a combat force larger than only his servitors. It was only a matter of convincing the mutants that, not only were they vulnerable, but behind this plague. But, just how he would do that was beyond him. He would need something that vaguely looked like proof, at the very least. Enough to convince them.

As the servitor gradually made its way to the rear of the office, Lucian was on the lookout for anything that may be convincing. The laboratory was effective proof in itself, he considered, but would it be enough? It seemed like making the dead suit talk wouldn't be too convincing, either, since it was obvious to anyone that he could make it say whatever he wanted it to. In any case, at least, he would finally have some clout around here, having just been integral in infiltrating the facility, if not indispensable. If, by chance, they happened to find the cure, he could tout it freely.

Reasonably separated from the others, having moved slightly faster to an out-of-the-way portion of the rear of the office, the servitor found what appeared to be a case on a stand. He knew not what it was, but thought it was worth brief analysis. Popping it open, the free claw carefully slid out one of the vials and slipped it in the other robe pocket before shutting the case. Quickly moving to the other side of the room, the servitor did its best, under Lucian's advisory, to be utterly fascinated with the walls and floor, the corpse of the suited man still dangling comically from his claws. Whatever this serum was, it would have to be analyzed personally.

[Kita]

As the doors closed behind them and the lasers were left behind the air grew more chilled, as if the offices were being kept cooler for a reason. Was this where the cure to the disease was being kept? Possibly. Kita basically followed Mara's lead and began to check the several offices along the hallway. Not much was worth noting; it was in pretty much the same state of disarray as the laboratories had been. All she could manage was a blink when Servitor took up a dead body in its claws. To do anything with a corpse other than to bury or burn it wasn't right. There was the feeling that the machine had no intentions whatsoever to do those things. The thought sickened her. She may not be partial to personal attachments with others but at least she had respect for the dead.

Where had the worker bees of this place gone? The barracks had been swarming with guards but the labs and offices were as dead as the corpse was. They had encountered no one besides the guards themselves on the way in, so how had the workers gotten out? Why would the scientists leave but not the drones? Nothing made sense. Perhaps a more in depth look into the offices would reveal answers if there were any to be had.

[Mara Ackart]

Mara watched the Servitor haul the dead body around with cold disdain, though she kept it well hidden. Such disrespect for the dead made her stomach turn. She wanted to destroy the damned thing but it had come in very useful on this mission and Mara wasn't about to destroy something that might possibly have more uses yet. Mara crossed fully into the office of the dead man, stepping around the pool of his blood. There had to be something in here other than the man's corpse. Mara shuffled through the papers on his desk. Nothing really incriminating there.

That was when Mara spotted the case on the table behind the desk. With effort she made her way over to it. With a couple of clicks the case opened to reveal many vials of some serum or another. There seemed to be one missing. Mara suspected the Servitor but she would say nothing against it for now. She pushed the case closed and hefted it off the table.

"I think I found what we came here for. Now lets get out of here. Something else is bound to happen soon I just know it."

Mara made her way back toward the door to the office. Now that she had what she presumed they were after it was best to split. The offices hadn't struck at them yet and lords only knew when they would.

[The Guard]

Barely a minute after the woman picked up the case a loud alarm began to sound through out the facility. A metallic creaking could be heard from the rear of the offices as a computerized voice crackled over the loud speakers.

"Five minutes until flooding. I repeat: five minute until flooding."

In the barracks the guards began to rush out of the facility as the team of mutants were left back in the offices to run for their lives and pray they made it back topside before an angry torrent of raging water swallowed them whole.

[Lucian Verdus]

The servitor expressed little interest in one of the females locating the serum case. It was only important that a sample was analyzed. It was then that the voice came over the speaker. The servitor knew enough from the "I repeat" that it was relevant, if not exactly positive, news, and was swift about getting the data to Lucian. Immediately it was clear that there was no more time for searching or intrigue. Lucian, upon receiving the audio data, immediately ordered the swift retraction from the base. The servitor's legs emerged, and it frantically skittered down the hall to the door, servos whirring and pumping loudly as the legs clung to every available surface; legs, wall, and ceiling, all serving only the purpose of getting it to the door faster.

Subtlety mattered little, now, and the swiftest and most brutal tactics would have to be taken on anything that got in the servitor's way, be they door, or be they human. Lucian made sure that the self-destruct protocol was disabled in all scenarios. If his servitor blew up now, he'd lose both the serum and the archive. One seemed important, and the other he could not afford to lose. Thankfully, the door to the laboratories still seemed open. Whether the door to the barracks would be was a question unto itself, but he would circumvent it. If he was right, he would need only physically overload the keypad instead of doing so with data. In other words, channel plenty of electricity into each claw and shove them into the keypad.

In theory, he could send one of the aquatic models he planned to make to recover the serum, but he doubted the archive would survive the torrent. Time would only tell, however. As the servitor neared the door, Lucian was curious how the humans were faring. Not as though it mattered, at this point, and it was easily a tragic accident. Though, if that would be more believable than some alleged intentional murder was debatable. Still, the spiderlike machine hurled itself through the threshold of the door, into the laboratory beyond.

[Mara Ackart]

Mara swore fluidly as the speakers erupted into a warning of a flood coming. That's what those huge metal doors were for. There was probably an inordinate amount of water lurking behind them to drown the whole place. Despite how tired she was she began to run and at the same time called upon her power to speed herself up. The result of which was that after a foot or so down the corridor she crashed to the floor, her sick body worn completely out. The case containing the vials clattered to the floor in front of her.

Still, the woman refused to cry out other than the forced 'Ooomph' that she'd uttered when she hit the floor. Mara was too proud to overtly ask for aid. Even in this situation she'd rather drown than do so.

[Kita]

Five minutes was all they had to escape. While it didn't leave much, if any, time for dilly-dallying it did leave plenty of time to reach the entrance in the barracks. Seconds after the announcement finished Kita stepped into gear and began running back the way they had entered the area. Servitor was a small blur in her line of sight as it also fled from the area. So, it was all for one now, eh? That was easily dealt with. As she neared the entrance to the offices, there was a loud crash on the floor behind her and a screech as something slid across the floor.

A moment was taken to give a glance back at the noise. It was a purely reflexive action; loud noise, see what the cause was. The origin of this was the other woman on this little expedition. The case with the serum had fallen a few feet in front of her and she seemed to be too ill to move. How cliché. To fall and become immobilized right when there was immediate danger at hand. Kita could hardly believe her eyes. It felt like she was in some bad action film. By all rights she should just leave the woman there to drown.

Still, Kita felt herself slowing, her eyes on the case in front of Mara. No need to come out of this place empty handed, now was there? Turning back toward danger wasn't something she often did, but there was something to be gained from the action. As she reached where Mara lay on the ground, Kita gathered up the case and attached it to her belt. That way she wouldn't have to worry about dropping the thing like Mara had. The fallen cohort wouldn't stand a chance without help. Now that time was short and the way back to the surface was open, she had lost her usefulness.

However...

There was always something to gain from giving favors in that the ones that benefited now would owe you later. This Mara Ackart had more to her than met the eye. Or, at least, Kita hoped she did as she helped the woman up to her feet. Having already performed one spontaneous act of "rescue" today, what was another? Mara would likely reject, if Kita had learned anything of her in this brief encounter, but to have one's pride hurt was rarely worse than being dead. With that thought Kita shrugged to herself and bent down slightly. She came up with Mara on her shoulders in a fireman's carry and began to run.