Chapter 2: Episode 1 - Into The Depths
Michael Ethan Arran took a step forward, silently examining the ruby statue of a broadsword sheathed in a mound of stone.
The three foot wall of metal surrounding it held a plaque that simply read: Luxcalibur.
"How long have I waited to stand inside this very facility? I must end this cycle of destruction for good." Michael stated. Or rather...Meta. He hadn't gone by his true name in years. It had been so long, in fact, he himself had forgotten it. Cold gray eyes examining the circular white room, Meta stepped away from the sword, and towards one of the many doors in the spacious room. The door opened as he approached, and out stepped a young woman slightly shorter than Meta himself. Her hair was a hue of chocolate, and her eyes a similar shade. Meta stepped to the side. He already knew who this was. Alicia Palmdragon.
She rushed past him, her mind elsewhere. He already knew why.
He entered the hall Alice had left.
In this laboratory, at this very moment, his greatest enemy was hatching a plan to rewrite human history, and take over the past, present, and future.
And Meta couldn't let that happen.
* * *
"Alright Jake. I'm going to slowly turn up the lights, okay?"
Jake nodded, desperately wanting nothing more than to tear off the restraints of the metal table he was strapped to.
For a moment, the glow of his icy blue eyes was the only thing Dr. Frank McGregor could see from the observation deck. Gradually, the lights rose, illuminating the white room ever so slowly.
Frank pressed a button on the console he was working at, and Jake's restraints unclipped.
"Please exit the testing chamber, and tell me what you felt."
* * *
Meta stalked the halls of HEL1, searching desperately for the source of the pain he, along with so many others, had been forced to endure. This was his final mission. He would destroy Prometheus. And if he failed, he could only hope the next Meta would succeed. But he would not fail. He would not fail like so many of his other selves had done throughout time...
The alarms began to scream, tearing Meta from his thoughts.
"ALL UNITS REPORT TO TESTING ROOM 1. I REPEAT, ALL UNITS REPORT TO TESTING ROOM 1. SUBJECT 7 HAS LOST CONTROL-"
Meta ignored the voice, knowing what was happening. He continued his search, knowing now where he was to go...
* * *
Multicolor smoke billowed through the doorway as the Proto's, save Alice, Jake, Chuck, and 8, blasted the door off it's tracks. Mable entered Room 1 first, followed by Johnny, then Rick, and finally Chelsea. Johnny let a gasp slip as his eyes surveyed the room. Glass littered the floor, fire blazed upon the once active computers and machines, and bodies lay on the floor (dead or unconscious, Johnny couldn't tell, though he had a good guess...). In the middle of the once pristine and blindingly white room, a restraining table was the only thing left standing.
Mable was the first to speak.
"Oh god..." Stepping forward, she approached one of the many bodies in the floor. Crouching down, she put her ring finger to the mans neck. "He's dead..." She said, confirming Johnny's fear.
Rick stepped forward, towering over Mable. His glowing amber eyes burning into her, he too knelled down, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"We will find him."
* * *
A bolt of azure weaved through the air, striking Chuck in the chest. The hulking man fell, but Meta did not cease his attack.
Chuck let out a scream. Not of agony, but of anger. Through Meta's assault, the maniac got back on his feet.
"Impressive...am I to assume you are the rumored...Subject 8?"
Chuck sprung forward, his left arm splintering into five, before flaking away like dust through the air, leaving a stump on his side. Meta remained silent. He wouldn't give himself away. The
flakes soared around chuck, before returning to his side and reconnecting. However, they did not form an arm. Instead, a bulky scarlet cannon was now charging a bolt of black energy.
Meta barely managed to dodge as Chuck let the bolt loose, ravaging the hallway around them. Meta charged forward, cannon aimed straight for the where he knew his opponent's weak point would be.
"CHUCK!"
The unexpected voice was just enough to catch Meta's attention.
Chuck reared back his right fist, and slammed it into Meta full force, sending him flying across the hall. Subject 7 turned around, and came face to face with; "Dear Alicia..." A devilish smile adorned his face, as his eyes began to glow a shining crimson as he turned to where Meta was. "What a surprise Subject 8! We have a new friend to play..." It was then Meta's absence became noticed. "...with."
Alice lunged forward without warning, and time seemed to slow...
* * *
Brycan glanced at the clock in the corner of the room. 2:41 AM. Finally the door to his office opened, revealing a nervous Alice, still wearing her dark blue pajamas. "Sorry I'm late. Johnny wouldn't go to bed..."
Brycan smiled. "It's fine. Please, come in. And lock the door behind you." He said, moving a stack of paperwork to the side of his desk. Alice did as requested, before sitting down at the seat across from him.
"So..."
"Your wondering why I called you to my office at two in the morning."
"Couldn't have said it better myself."
Brycan paused, still trying to figure out how to break the news to his friends. He rested his head in his hands, yawning.
"High Command has voted to discontinue Project Luxcalibur.
Unless we can fix...Chuck...
there's...a good chance MA-51 will be shut down. They never were that keen about you 9."
Alice was taken by surprise. Much worse accidents had happened in MA-51. Why now did this have to happen?
"How soon will we know...?"
"Three weeks. I'm having the development lab's focus be moved from Subject 9 to Charles' condition. High command thinks that coding glitch of yours will make you turn like he did."
Alice's eyes widened. Only now did she catch on to the minor wording Brycan had displayed.
"Subject...9?"
* * *
"IŦ IŞ Μ€ΔŇIŇGŁ€ŞŞ ŦØ Ř€ŞIŞŦ. I ĆΔŇ ₣IЖ ¥ØỮ..ĆĦΔŘŁ€Ş..Ħ€Ħ€Ħ€Ħ€Ħ€!"
The shrill voice in Chuck's head screamed to him, as another agonizing surge of electricity was sent through his body.
"Ł€Ŧ Μ€ ₣IЖ ¥ØỮ!"
* * *
A tall man strode through the silver halls of MA-51. The man with skin so pale it reflected the shining lights hanging above stopped at a doorway. His sideburns thick, and running from his hair to the vertical center of his face. His thin eyebrows raised, as he ran a gloved hand through his well-styled chocolate hair. He pushed his red aviators farther up the bridge of his nose hiding his eyes from view. He raised his right hand towards a keypad to the right of the door, before stopping. "They don't bite, Ken."
A voice rang through the hall, just as the man managed to input the code.
"It's not them I'm worried about..."
* * *
The Tantalum skeleton was still on the restraining table, the heart inside of it beating rapidly as the men in tattered black coats around the skeleton searched desperately for something they couldn't find. Suddenly the skeleton began twitching violently, rocking the table. Kay Manix turned around, her raven black hair choppy and uneven, and her lifeless blue eyes burning into the skeleton. "Useless junk! I know not of what Lord Prometheus has planned for you, but you will not-"
The sound of a door bursting open echoed through the L shaped room, and a split second passed before the guards of MA-51 filed into the room. But Kay and the men in coats had vanished into thin air in that split second it took the guards to turn the corner.
* * *
"And...Brycan says High Command thinks the coding glitch in my system is gonna make me turn sour like Chuck did." Alice explained, tears streaming down her face in the process. Proto's two through six sat around the card table, listening intently. Chelsea perked up, her flowing raven hair bouncing as she did so.
"Coding glitch? I've been diagnosed too. Main Cranial Processor."
Johnny spoke next, his voice muffled through the handful of potato chips he had stuffed into his mouth seconds prior. "I haf cody gitchoo!"
Mable stopped playing with the dice in her hand for a moment, thinking."Okay...if you've been diagnosed with a coding glitch in your Main Cranium Processor, raise your hand."
One by one, the Proto's raised their hands, each glancing at the others nervously before doing so.
"Well..." Mable began, her face srunching up as she rose from her seat. "I think I'll go have a talk with old man McGregor."
And with that, she left. But behind her, another person entered. Johnny was the first to take notice, and spoke up excitedly. "Guys! Subject 8 is finally here!"
The other four raised their gaze upon the newcomer, who shook his head. "9, actually."The new arrival made his way to a far corner of the room, before sitting down there, and staying silent, still, and completely unnoticeable.
* * *
Kay Manix stalked the ominous lightless halls of the underground lab her lord had inhabited. The shredded metal walls doing nothing to hide the growth of mold and various plant life, and the holes above allowing droplets of water to seep through. She continued onward, deeper into the laboratory she and her brethren now called home. Finally she stumbled across a bloodstained hall, leading to a long since broken airlock door. Walking through the door, the sight of a makeshift throne greeted her. Upon this crudely assembled throne sat a hulking figure, enveloped in shadow. The triad of glowing scarlet lights that rested upon the figure's face brightened momentarily as Kay Manix entered. Four feet from the throne, she lowered herself to her knees, her arms spread wide.
"Oh great one, Lord Prometheus, I come bearing good news."
The figure spoke, it's gravely voice deep and booming, yet weak. "Rise, dear Einda Prato...and report your findings to me."
Kay rose, standing tall, her confident demeanor unwavering. "Subject's 1 through 6 were not effected. Subject 7 however, has let us in. He is now your puppet to control." The figure cackled, before speaking again. "Good work Sonic Death...but what of 8?"
Kay tensed, fearing her master's response to the second half of her findings. "He fought Subject 7 my lord. He is very powerful. His whereabouts are currently unknown. Or rather...he is in two places at once. I have confirmation Subject 8 was on the transport train yesterday. However...he was at MA-51 at the time of the attack."
The figure growled, its trio of eyes brightening violently.
"I will use Subject 7 to tear apart MA-51. And then, Subject 8 will be the key to taking the world under my control."
It raised a hand, and scarlet lightning gathered at it's fingertips, barely illuminating it's dark Grey face. It's teeth were jagged, and bloodstained, and it's face sunken in where its cheeks would have been. "The puppet masters will become the puppets. The damned shall rise up. Inform the other Einda Prato. It will soon be time to strike. You are dismissed..."
Kay left silently, and a few moments passed as the lightning flickered out.
"Soon they will bow to their new god..."
* * *
Mable thrust her foot forward, and the door collapsed, revealing the terrified Dr. McGregor on the other side. Stomping into the room, the slammed her right fist on the desk, leaving a rather large crack. McGregor shook as Mabel spoke. "You wanna explain WHY we all have a "minor" coding glitch in such an important part of our systems, and it hasn't been fixed yet?! You haven't even TOLD us how dangerous this actually is!"
She pulled a chair towards herself, and plopped down.
"Start talking ya filthy Dutch bastard."
McGregor began stuttering incomprehensively, and Mabel rolled her eyes. "English doc. Do you speak it?"
"W-w-well, it was just a m-minor coding error. It can easily be f-fixed." At this, Mabel faked a surprised look. "Oh. Really?"
The doctor nodded. "THEN FIX IT."
* * *
Ken felt another light jab in his ribs, yet continued to lie motionless in his corner.
Alice stomped to the corner, and tore the pencil away from Johnny. Just like that, the jabbing had stopped. But Ken stayed motionless, eyeing the hooded figure in the corner.
"Useless junk! I know not of what Lord Prometheus has planned for you, but you will not-"
"Hey. You alive?"
Ken slowly nodded, prompting Alice to continue. "Listen. I'm Alice. I'm the leader of our little band here. And as leader, I want all of us to be comfortable with eachother. So why don't you think of something we can all do when Mable gets back. We've got movies, highly outdated gaming consoles, even card games. So...only if you want to."
Ken nodded again, a faint smile showing on his face.
* * *
Johnny slammed the Super Nintendo controller down, growling quietly. The Proto's had spent the past six hours playing games from the late 1980's, and early 1990's. An era they had learned Ken cherished very much. Jake picked up Johnny's controller, and high fived their newest addition. "Never thought I'd ever be beaten at Street Fighter...another round?"
"Yeah. Dibs on Bison."
"I'll take Guile then."
* * *
The triad of scarlet lights dimmed as Prometheus sat.
Seemingly stoic, and unmoving, the being was, in searching for a link he had made long ago. One that would allow him to tear apart MA-51 from the inside...
* * *
DATA LOG: JULY 4, 3228
SUBJECT 1: ALICIA PALMDRAGON
"A new addition showed up last night. It's been years since we've had a newbie. I think Chuck scared those dorks off of making things like us for a while. Either way, who cares. Ken is...old fashioned. And really, really odd.
He has these sunglasses that he won't take off. Maybe its kinda like Jake's left eye...? Honestly, he reminds me of Steven from "That 70's Show".
He's decent. Just...I dunno. I guess it's just that he's new. None of us are used to him yet."
A beep is heard in the background, and Alice lets out a sound of surprise.
"Oh look. The pizza rolls are ready. End Transmission."
TRANSMISSION ENDED
* * *
Ken rubbed his right arm, the sleeve of his black blazer rolled up, revealing the pale white skin. Slowly, the skin rolled itself upward to his elbow, revealing the buzzing and shaking nanites beneath it. His breath became shaky as the nanites began to float into the air, grouping together to form a rapier, which fell into Ken's skeletonlike Tantalum hand. The nanites seperated, slithering up his arm again. And then the skin rolled down, bonding together as if it had never seperated.
"In time, you will get used to this. It will seem normal to you." A voice rang through the empty training room, prompting Ken to turn around. Rick and Chelsea stepped into the room, as Rick continued. "I do not know who you were before. But you are a soldier now. You are a new addition to the family. You must not live in the past. This is your future."
Chelsea smirked, as her own forearm transformed into a shining cobalt cannon, with three triangular barrels. "That's Rick's way of saying "You'll get used to it." and "Welcome to the family."
The barrels began to draw in blue light from seemingly thin air, whirring all the while. Rick sat down at a bench built into the steel wall, while Chelsea sudden unleashed a barage of sparking azure energy, forcing Ken to jump to the side. The skin of his right forearm rolled up again, the nanited under it quickly forming a cannon similar to Chelsea's own. Another group of shots was fired by Chelsea. Ken ducked under them, a crimson blast emerging from his forearm, as Chelsea narrowly raised a field of energy around her, absorbing the energy, which was suddenly sucked into her own weapon. She rushed forward, left fist balled, only to be met with a flying black mass sending her flying back, leaving a dent in the steel wall.
The mass of nanites flew back to Ken's left arm, and the skin rolled back down. He raised the cannon on his right arm, and suddenly, a deep purple blast knocked all three Proto's backwards. Chelsea was the first to recover, smirking at the bewildered look on Ken's face. Rick merely let out a grunt, before exiting the room. Chelsea followed close behind him, leaving Ken on his back in the training room.
"A little help here would be nice! Hello? Anybody...?"
* * *
Three days passed before Brycan finally called Alice to his office again. The room smelled of oil, rusting metal, and fried circuits as Alice sat down in the chair opposite of Pierce Brycan's own.
"High command has agreed to continue Project Luxcalibur, so long as we...terminate Chuck, and Subject 8...."
"But that's-"
"Yes. Murder. I know. I'm trying my damndest to find a loophole."
"I assume no luck?"
Brycan shook his head, before Alice spoke again.
"Why Subject 8...?"
Piercr ignored her, opening a drawer. He rummaged through it for a bit, before pulling out an old piece of parchment. "I want to discuss something with you Alice. But first...read this..."
He slid the parchment across the desk, before tapping it twice with his pointer finger.
Crimson and Azure, two become three, violet abounds when the hoard is split. When the titans seperate, the earth shall shake, and the tides shall recede. Fire and destruction shall reign until the bringer of light awakens once more, his suffering relieved. Three become two, violet is all that remains, as the remaining titan stands tall, having conquered the chaos after a millenia of chaos.
The trio shall reign over the hoard, until this day arrives, pulling the ethereal strings of reality to his whims.
"What is...?"
"Many millenia ago, a hero walked the Earth, seeking to destroy a great being that wished only to conquer and destroy.
This hero, with his hand's of lightning, struck down Tyrant, Dragon, and Siren, releasing the world from the evil being's grasp. The people of that time came together to forge a gift for the man. A blade embued with the very same energy the hero used to free them. They melted down a claw of the dragon for the blade. They used the bone of the siren for the hilt. And lastly they gathered the residue energy off the tyrant's carcass. This great sword was given the name Luxcalibur. But the hero was long gone by the time of it's completion, and the people left alone. And so they used Luxcalibur to defend themselves, and advance their civilizations."
"So..."
"MA-51 represents that sword Alice. And the Proto's, the hero-"
And then all hell broke loose.
Sirens blared, as red lights faded in and out of existance. Not just in Brycan's Office, but through the whole facility.
"ALL UNITS TO CELLBLOCK B! SUBJECT 7 IS LOOSE! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! THIS IS- WAIT! What are you- AGH!!!"
Alice's right forearm rolled back, seemingly melting from existance, as the Tantalum bones of her forearm shifted rapidly, forming her cobalt arm cannon.
"Hello MA-51!~" A feminine, singsongy voice rang through the speakers throughout the facility.
"This isn't a drill. This is real.
Your inpenetrable defenses got penetrated like a whore on Friday, Boo-Hoo!~"
Suddenly, something in Alice clicked, as she bolted out of the office, and to the chambers of her brethren. Brycan followed suit, having no trouble keeping up with her.
"You don't realize the purpose The Great One has given you. But that is no matter. In due time, you will understand."
The two took a turn, and input the security code into the Chamber Lock.
"He has arrived. He is ready to show you your inevitable fate."
"Prometheus has risen."
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