The sky was nothingness. A dismal, shadowy nothingness, that served seemingly no purpose. But it was a constant reminder to those who suffered in the dreary landscape below. The sky was a memento of the mistakes of the past; a cold, undying memory of mankind’s failures. The heavens were now contaminated into a murky abyss that veiled the earth and locked it away into the darkness. Ceaseless, was this state, and yet, ironically, the horrors of the species of man, and its lust for destruction and domination, was equally incessant. They would never change, and the cursed firmament above would forever remain as it were.
But to Dominique Chambers, it was never a curse. It had always been a dream, and one that she had achieved. It was her escape from the misery of her past life, and the people below who sought only to annihilate one another. The sky was as serene an environment one could hope to find, and Dominique and the people around her, had found it. They had reached the unreachable, and it was their realm now. This was heaven, and they were angels in God’s vast playground. How fitting a name they had come to give themselves, the Furious Angels, in a world where there seemingly was no greater being. And the gloomy, destitute state of all beneath the scorched black sky only attributed to this idea.
Dominique herself, despite this, had always held a close, artistic appreciation of it all. To her, there was something strangely, aesthetically pleasing to the inundation of the clouds. As calm as it looked from afar, the true nature of the atmosphere was a continuous churning of vapors. She saw it almost as if it were an expansive canvas; a pastel work of art in a perpetual work-in-progress state. It was violent, and yet tranquil, cold, and silent. Dominique knew she had easily found magnificence in the strangest of things, but for those inclined to examine the skies, she found it difficult not to appreciate the artistry of mankind’s most prominent work. It was that love and appreciation that had made her the pilot she was.
But even then, her dreams were never satiated. She enjoyed danger, the infamous image of theirs her group had obtained, and rather enjoyed the company of all those who came with her. Nevertheless, she always wished she could accomplish something else, despite it being totally implausible. Of course, she had seen pictures, and she knew well enough what it looked like… But to fly into the ‘blue yonder’, as it were: soaring in sky devoid of darkness and shimmering with sunlight would be an exhilarating experience. She often found herself toying with the idea in her head, and it was always nice to have dreams. It made her want to strive harder: she wasn’t exactly getting any younger, so if any imaginings of her were to come to exist, she’d rather they did sooner.
She had left her previous, nihilistic existence so long ago, it seemed. Yet, it had always, and would continue to be, impossible to forget. She had tried hard, too, and she had become happy, in the best sense the term could have when dealing with her. Dominique would be lying to herself if she told herself she didn’t miss her parents, or that she didn’t still remember every detail of the fire, or the screams she heard on occasion at night. But there was no reason to let others know. Some of the others probably already knew of her nightmares, which plagued her whenever she slept. Of course, they knew she was strong about it though, and it never got in the way of Dom’s capability as a leader. They were becoming more frequent as of late, and she found herself avoiding sleep every so often, as to deter the awful thoughts. Which it would, for the most part, and it wasn’t much of a problem anyway, as she enjoyed her time alone thinking, rather than sleeping.
She seldom could find time to herself, which had annoyed her, though it was to be expected. There being six ships, for ten of her faction, meant she was almost constantly in the company of someone else. Coupled with the fact that most of her group were males, didn’t exactly make her the happiest around. Not to say that she disliked having the opposite sex around, but she always felt awkward and tense in their presence. And being the leader, ineptitude would surely follow such awkwardness, which was something she wanted to avoid.
It had been two weeks since Dominique had last gotten some time alone, and that was gracefully spent in the storage locker on top of a couple of crates, a few minutes after waking up in cold sweat and stumbling about in darkness. Needless to say, she was pleased to finally get a chance to just clear her mind and relax a bit, especially before another raid. The last few, while enlivening, certainly had made her weary and more edgy than usual.
Unfortunately, her current state of recreation would have been a bit better, had she actually been comfortable. She was occupying one of the smaller quarters, and the mattress was horrid. For the last few minutes, she lay on her side, twisting about on the firm surface of the bed and wondering how someone could ever get any sleep on the damn thing, let alone relax for a couple moments. Her height had only made things worse; the mattress was one of the smaller ones, and her tall and thin figure didn’t exactly go so well with it. Dominique had often times resorted to just stealing one of the larger ones from one of the guys, but was too lazy and didn’t have the time as of this moment. But she was starting to regret that, because at this point, she felt a rock would have better suited her needs.
Her eyes flared open and looked around in the well lit room, then turned onto her back, sighed, and quickly propped her feet against the wall. She had the lights on so that she wouldn’t find herself falling asleep or losing track of time, and for a few instants, her blue eyes searched the surface of the ceiling overhead. Dominique’s eyes fluttered for a moment, and closed, as her body finally sank into the surface of the bed. It was a nice feeling, the cool air against the skin of her bare arms, her socks sliding up against the concrete wall, and absolute silence, save for the hum of the electricity in the light-bulb that hung over the center of the room, spilling pools of illumination throughout it.
The calm atmosphere was only meant to be brief, however, as Dominique’s brow flinched at a noise in the hall beyond her room. This room seemed to be no different than many of the others, the clacking of heels echoing through the corridor whenever someone walked by. Usually, those people would be courteous and make their way to their destination quickly and quietly, especially when Dom herself was trying to get a bit of rest. Her hearing stay focused on the clearly audible movement outside of her room, and figured this would be no different.
And then the footsteps paused, started again, and stopped at her door.
‘Damn...’ Seconds later there was a faint, but persistent knocking against her door, enough to force Dominique’s weary eyes open once more, and she slowly sat up, sliding her feet down to the bed. Her hands lay rested on the folds of her work jeans, and she took a moment to brush her blond hair from her eyes, before turning sideways toward the door. ”Alright... Alright, what do you want?”
There was another pause, and then the russet door slid open automatically. A young woman leaned in the room, two arms posted at either side of the doorway, and one of her legs lifted back, so that she carelessly was supported by only one of her feet. It was unmistakably Livewire, one of the youngest of the group. Her apparel was unique and obviously aiming toward rebellious; white shirt that cut off at her stomach, with blue sleeves, dark pants that were rolled up to just past her ankles, and a borderline excessive amount of jewelry that littered her wrists.
The nineteen-year-old girl’s style of dress suited her personality well; including the several piercing that went across both of her ear lobes, but it definitely wasn’t the most noticeable feature of hers. Livewire’s hair was short and spiked down against her shoulders, but the color was striking; a mix of chrome on one side that merged into light-blue on the other, the dyed blend making it impossible to tell what her original hair shade even was. It was an odd assortment, and somehow, it worked, matching her brilliant blue eyes, and metallic-esque lipstick. And her slim and attractive figure certainly showed she wasn’t lacking in that department either.
Livewire’s eyes dutifully searched about the room, inquisitive, but nonchalant, as was her voice. ”What are you up to in here…?” She asked indifferently, yet to turn her eyes on Dominique herself. The blonde watched her, with a somewhat annoyed look on her face, though partly because her hair had decided to fall back in front of her eyes again. She responded after a moment, with irritation apparent in her voice.
”Probably trying to get some rest- Which I, specifically, told you I wanted fifteen minutes of, exactly.” She slowly brought her legs off of the bed, turned, and started slipping into her boots, sighing perceptibly. Livewire turned her eyes onto Dominique, slowly walking into the room and closing the door behind her, leaning against the far wall and looking about as carelessly as before.
”Well, ‘Nique… We’re all a-waitin’, and it’s been twenty seven minutes.” She spoke a-matter-of-factly, bringing a hand to a loose wisp of hair and wrapping it along her finger.
The expression on Dominique’s face was unchanged as she slipped into her footwear, and she lifted her head to look at the young girl, along with a hand and the middle finger. ”Fuck you.”
A grin began to spread across Livewire’s silver lips, and she sarcastically pushed off the wall and began talking in a mock-innocent voice. ”Oh, that would be an utter, most sincere and delectable pleasure of mine,” She laughed slightly at her friend, stretching a bit, “Now, if only you’d get off your lazy ass, we’d get right to that.”
Dominique let out another, though slightly less bothered, sigh. She unhurriedly stood, giving the unwanted visitor a glare. She was accustomed to the girl’s constant barrage of smart remarks, a trademark almost as prominent as her looks themselves; but being disturbed was being disturbed, and humor wasn’t making up for the lack of time Dom had got to herself. She slowly walked over to a chair next to a relatively, unused desk in the corner, and grabbed her trench coat, as Livewire continued. ”…And by the way, Haven sends his regards. He knows how much you enjoy a good greeting when you’re just coming around, and wanted to know where you stood on that date offer-“
Slipping into her trench coat and reaching into one of the side pockets, she replied quickly, pulling out a half empty package of cigarettes. ”Ask him how many times I have to say no, before I’m forced to politely put a gun to his head.” She smirked and reached over onto the desk, feeling about for a lighter. Her hands quickly found it, and she brought one of the cigs to her lips, before lighting it carefully and talking at the same time.
”Nasty habit, don’t ever do this.” She stood still for a moment, taking a long drag from the cigarette, almost to the point where it looked skillful, and walked to the door, opening it quickly and stepping into the passage outside. She paced along the metal grating of the floor, her boots clicking against the steel, and her trench coat ruffling in the air behind her. Livewire soon followed, and Dominique spoke inwardly. ‘Here it comes…’
”Mm, but wouldn’t that only hamper my chances of becoming as disgustingly cool as you?” The girl said, once again in a pseudo childlike tone. Dominique smiled to herself, shaking her head slightly and taking another drag from her cigarette.
’Saw that one coming.’
* * *
Five billion dollars rested beneath Dominique’s feet. It was five billion dollars of concrete, steel, manpower, and fossil fuels. She had done her research on it, and was quite amazed by what she found, especially after she set foot there. The oil rig had been titled Typhon, and was, at its time, a marvel in technical engineering. It was two-hundred and thirty meters high, and took seven long years to build, out in the middle of the foggy Atlantic. The architecture was magnificent, and the sheer size of it was dizzying. It was so complex, and so many parts were integral to making it work, and yet it had been achieved by people. Though, perhaps it was just another odd fascination of hers, as the structure, Typhon, had been abandoned for over 78 years. Its iron had collected massive amounts of grime and rust, the concrete was cracked, and in a way, it saddened Dominique.
So much effort put into such a creation, only to be abandoned, obsolete. Hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil had been left here, only to become useless when other means of fueling had been found. At least, for now, she had restored some sort of purpose back into such a forgotten place. She and the Furious Angels had been occupying it for a few months now, and what a perfect location it was, as it suited all of their needs. Hundreds of miles from the eastern shore, in a desolate and rarely traversed sea, concealed by dense fog, it was well hidden, which was a would-be group of renegades dream. The topsides facility was large enough to serve as a platform for their ships to dock and refuel, and had enough housing for hundreds of people. The place still generated power well, despite its condition, and the Furious Angels had it all to themselves.
The fog had lifted slightly, now, in this midnight hour, which was a prime condition for getting themselves going. Dominique tossed a cigarette away and stepped onto the main platform, where her ship, a cargo vessel with some modified armament and weaponry, lay parked. Granted, she never got a chance to use the heavy cannons she spent a week working on to install, as she detested it, but felt they were worth having, in case things ever got ugly. Behind her plane, were the rest of the eight Angels, standing in a half circle and awaiting her words. Livewire soon passed by her side to meet them, and crouched against the cool ground, resting a hand against its surface.
Everyone met her eyes, and Haven was the first to greet her verbally, with a quiet laugh. “Get a good sleep, Captain? Snoozed a little too long, I heard.”
She grinned in reply, shrugging. “Well, you know how it is, the constant fantasies about me… Killing you with a blunt object, they’re just so hard to ignore or let go, you know? I hope all of you got some rest.” She looked them all over, and nodded, looking back at the auburn haired man, who always seemed to have a problem with his ego. Apparently, outgunning one or two fighters in his past had gone to his head.
Bishop and Rook, the twins, were at his side, their eyes hidden by dark glasses, as always, and they never really chose to speak. Fine engineers they were, though, and even better when it came to computers. Cube was one of the other females of the group, sporting normal, if not, dirty clothes and her hair tied back in a pony tail. She had a pack hung over her shoulder, most likely an assload of ammunition carelessly tossed into a sack; she always had a thing for guns. Icarus was behind her a bit, fixing his headset and checking his watch. Sphinx, one of the older ones, and a middle-eastern convict with a knack for hijacking airships, stood silently, watching her. Gryphon was pretty much giving her the same attention, though he was less blatantly cold about it, and almost, eager. Finally, at the end of them all, in fact, a good ways away from the rest, was Raven. She always wore a hooded shirt, preferably dark ones, and had a wicked smile on her face, suggesting she liked the idea and the danger behind what they were going to do tonight.
Dominique examined them for a moment, and spoke quickly, after making sure everyone had their gear in check. “Alright, you guys should already know the drill, and what we’ve gathered. This place is three buildings; a central one for research, with weapons on the higher floors, and scientific and miscellaneous offices in everything below the twentieth. The left flanking building is three floors, and again, mostly offices, which need to be ignored, except security.” She crouched and looked over at the twins. “Dynatech Labs is high security, Bishop and Rook will go in, and they will bring down the security net, Livewire will drop me in, and stay back as communicator, incase one of us happens to get lost or shit goes down,” She pointed to Raven, Icarus, and Gryphon.
“You three have the coordinates and the plans to the third building; its three floors like the other and is mostly a military, as in guns and fueling for aircraft, which in turn, means opposition. When the net is down, shit should be out of order, so you know what to do.” She finally stood, heading over to her ship and bringing down the back cargo hatch, turning to Cube. “You and Sphinx will be flying to make sure Rook and Bishop get the job done.”
Cube nodded and began to jog off, her eyes focusing on Dominique’s. “Good luck, Phoenix.” She saluted her slightly and continued across the platform, as Livewire and the lanky blonde brought down the large cargo ramp of the plane and walked up the steel, raised area, and as she pressed the switch at the far wall to slide it back into a secure, closed position, she grinned. “Fly high, Angels,” She reached into her coat pocket for another cigarette, turning to the young, azure and silver haired woman at her side, speaking again as she lit the end of her smoke. “Just another day at the job… You ready?”
”No. But that’s what makes it so fun.” Livewire nodded and walked ahead of Dominique en route to the cockpit. The Phoenix took a long drag from the lit cigarette and blew a billowing cloud of smoke into the small compartment, closing her eyes for a moment. “Let’s do this, shall we?”
* * *
"I’m seriously ticked off about the whole 'window of opportunity' idea. It's quite possibly the dumbest shit I've ever heard-- Can’t we just take it down permanently? And another thing: why are we the ones waiting? I'd feel better if we were heading this mission.”
”You’re too eager. Calm down, and we have to fall back. Just take it easy and keep it slow, and they’ll be done with the charges soon.”
”And what if something’s happened? No communication until the system is down seems like a bad idea to me. I mean, I know we do that every time,” the girl began to rant, practically yelling out every word, obviously anxious. "But if Rook and Bishop make a mistake one of these days, we're screwed."
”Nothing ever happens. Trust me.”
The plane was cruising slowly, high above the skies of Washington D.C. They had just entered this district, and Rook and Bishop had gone ahead of the rest, who were following at a dispersed angle, among other flight traffic, as not to attract too much attention. Dominique sat quietly at the controls, staring at the intercom and waiting for some type of signal, her hand firmly gripping the accelerator for the thrusters. Granted, she was just as eager as Livewire, who sat at her side, switching off the lights in the cabin and staring out into the foggy sky, as if looking for something, though knowing there wasn’t a damn thing to look for anything. Just endless fog and the faint beacon of a civilian ship every now and then.
The noise of static from the intercom rang in Dominique’s ears, the sound becoming awfully disturbing, but necessary, as they waited for a response from the others. Though the procedure was to be quick and precise, the blonde was almost twitching at the searing whine of radio nothingness, and was just about compelled to turn it off. And she probably would have, had someone not cut into the frequency.
”The charges are set, they should blow out some of the power, and the compound’s security will be down for fifteen minutes. Go.”
”That’s our cue.” Dominique’s hand quickly drove the accelerator into high gear, jerking back as the ship suddenly lurched forward, gaining incredible speed. They sheared through the thicket of clouds as the descended forward, moving faster and faster, the whir of the engines and the burning thrusters propelling them ahead grew louder. The broke through the haze and could see the large skyscraper ahead of them. That visual check was all Dominique needed as she suddenly spun out of her seat, Livewire hopping into her place, and she dashed down the corridor of the hull of the plane. “Set us up right over the tower and let me know when you’re there.” She snatched up a loaded M16 from wall at her side, and headed to the backside hatch.
Livewire, steadily working the controls, threw an arm back and signaled Dominique that she was in place. “Set it off, girl.”
”Will do.” Dominique hurriedly lowered the lift, the cool, midnight air and the breeze and swirl of wind from the jets of the hovering ship caused her hair to whip about. The ship was slowly swinging around and situating itself closer to the front of the building. The dark tinted glasses showed no signs of what lie inside, but at this hour, chances are the higher floors were seeing less activity. Dirt from the outside of the building and it’s windows billowed about at the rush of air, and she raised her rifle, its flashlight shining against the cool, dark green glass surface. Taking aim, she fired quickly, scattering a few rounds against its surface and causing it to crack, as Livewire edged her closer. She ducked her head under her arm, and ran forward, firmly slamming side-first into the glass and shattering the section of it, rolling against the carpeted floor as shards of broken window cracked underneath her coat and boots.
She immediately swung upright, her weapon poised as she looked about. It was a storage room, boxes and old computer parts, as well as other electronic equipment that seemed relatively unused or discarded. The area was clear, and she only had fifteen minutes, which meant she had to move quickly to get to the twenty fifth floor, so she hurriedly dashed forward, still scanning around with her weapon, before making a right and weaving between junk and unmarked boxes. She found what she was looking for soon enough: an elevator, which hopefully, was going idle at the moment. She quickly pressed at the key to bring it to her floor, and switched on her headset, pulling down the small microphone so it was level with her cheek. Immediately, she began getting feedback from Livewire, at the other end, who should have been safely making her way from the building at the moment.
”Phoenix, are you there? I’m making some distance; everything seems to be going good. Rook and Bishop seem to be heading out right now, but I’m not sure. The others are breaking into the other parts of the facility. I made a quick scan - activity on your tower is pretty light, feel free to do what you like as long as you don't trip any wires or.. something.”
"I'm good, don't get lazy, I'll be out fast." There was a soft chime as the elevator made its stop, and its doors slid open. She speedily made her way inside and opted to go for the weapons lab for her first visit, the doors sliding closed again. Normally, after leaving the elevator, she would expect to need I.D for further progress, but thankfully, that was out of the way. The elevator steadily made it’s way down the shaft to the twenty fifth floor, and Dominique kept her rifle ahead of her, just incase there would be opposition. Her descending abruptly stopped, and she peered ahead, yet luck seemed to be on her side yet again; the area seemed empty as well, hallways of pure white flooring and cobalt walls. It seemed to junction into several directions, as she hastened herself through the corridors, but she knew where to go.
Taking the rightmost passage, she looked up into the corners where the wall and the ceiling met. The cameras were unmoving, limp, and dead, so all things were clear. There had always been a sense of luck in what they did, as her and the Angels could never truly be sure of their reconnaissance’s worth until they got to the mission, though so far, there were never any serious errors in their judgment, so it had always gone well. She made her way to the first entrance at the right, a doorway that seemed to need a pass code, and was sealed tightly shut.
Dominique was never much for pass codes. She aimed the end of her rifle and fired several rounds at the small console, breaking it and causing it to crack and snap apart, the popping of electricity in the air. Her hand shook at the recoil, and the door gradually lurched open partially. She had no problem with forcing it the rest of the way open, and grinned, lowering her gun slowly as she looked about in her new surroundings. She spoke into her intercom after a moment, a devilish tone in her voice. “Oh, I like what I see here, Livewire. I like it a lot.”
"Well, what do you see?"
"I dunno. It’s a very big play toy…”
There was a slight chortle from Livewire. "Sounds exciting, Phoenix. You should know, by the way... we have approximately… Eleven minutes until you have a clearing team on your floor and all over your ass, and as such, I suggest you lug whatever you found out of there fairly soon. So we can sell it.”
She didn’t respond, nor comply or hasten, either. The room was surrounded by computer consoles that were all powered off, in three of the four sides of the room, and at the farthest end away from her, behind a panel of glass, lay something extremely appeasing indeed. It had to be at least five and a half feet long, and weigh a pretty hefty amount, as well. It was a gun, but unlike anything she had seen before. There was no barrel, and while the back end seemed to be just a modified version of the machine gun she held in her hands, the front could only be described as two, long prongs that seemed pretty bulky themselves. It was a large gun, though mainly only top to bottom, rather than wide, yet it seemed more like a cannon.
She shook her head, and quickly jogged over to the console beneath the paneling of glass that separated her from the weapon. It turned on fairly quickly, a nifty, and mercifully, short Dynatech Labs animation came up, before a menu, offering specs on the weapon. She pressed her hand against the screen of the console and selected to see the overview, and was suddenly greeted by an almost, mechanical, female voice from the speakers on the wall, under the pane.
"The LSR-X89, version one point seven prototype electrical pulse cannon. The LSR-X89 was designed by chief technician and weapons engineer Darrin Sikes, and his colleagues, at Dynatech Labs in Washington D.C, in the year of 2134. In the process of two years, a prototype was released and tested. The weapon itself weighs 70.56 pounds (32 kilograms), and is 1.5 meters (5.1 feet) in length. While originally designed as a rail gun armament for military vehicular purposes, its designer later opted for a far greater destructive capacity, rather than precision. Since then, and as of the second Quarter of 2137, 500 of the LS2-X89 have been manufactured.”
The female narrator continued, as the screen showed a diagram of the weapon, highlighting various areas of it. "The LSR-X89 uses no dispensable ammunitions, is fully rechargeable on its own, and fires a highly effective bolt of electrical energy at a speed estimate twice that of the velocity of a normal rifle bullet. Its munitions are drawn directly from static electricity within the air, which is processed into the highly powerful (if somewhat unstable) beam. For areas where the energy needed for operation of the weapon is not obtainable (this is highly unlikely, as the user should give off enough for minimal use), unused energy is stored in the LSR-X89 auto-recharging battery, with a capacity of—"
Dominique efficiently aimed her rifle and fired into the console, disrupting the woman’s voice and ending the program fairly quickly, and she grinned. “Okay, fuck, bored now, shut up.” She raised the end of her rifle and slammed it forward with all her weight, crashing through the glass that displayed the gun. She strapped the M16 over her shoulder and reached past the broken shards, lifting the new present off of the hooks that held it, and she pulled it closely to herself, turning around and getting a feel for it in her hands. The operation seemed simple enough. She aimed it forward after a moment, slowly pulled back a lever at the side of the cannon, and there was a soft hum. It began to increase for a few moments, and when the pitch didn’t seem as if it would go any higher, she positioned her finger against the trigger, before pulling back. Dom was instantly sent to her back, slamming into the broken monitor she had shot up, as a twisting, tangled beam of electricity blasted forward, found its way to the door she had broken into, and blew it apart, snapping the partially opened entranced and taking chunks of the doorway with it.
Though her face should have been wincing, her eyes were wide and she shot to her feet, lifting the heavy gun with her, slowly. "Holy... Fuck! Oh yeah, I think we got ourselves a winner—"
"Wonderful, now please hurry, Dom, you don't have much time- Damn, hold on, a transmission from some of the others.”
She frowned slightly, quickly dashing through the wreckage she just caused. ‘Ruining all the goddamn fun.’ She thought to herself, as she sprinted, LSR-X89 in tow, back to the elevator to get to an exit. She was pleased enough, her job was done here. As she made her way inside the elevator lift, and its doors closed, there was a sudden flicker in the fluorescent light overhead.
Blonde hair fell across Dominique’s blue eyes as she peered up at the buzzing light, before suddenly, it shut down, and the elevator suddenly lurched, before grinding and sliding down suddenly. She fell to the floor in pitch darkness, a loud, metallic screeching ramming into her ear drums, as she unwillingly began to descend in the shaft. She shouted into her intercom at Livewire, despite being unable to hear a damn thing but the scraping of steel against concrete and more steel. There was a jolt, and she shot forward, almost smacking against the doors of the elevator, before it shuddered once more, dropped a bit farther, and stopped.
There was darkness, silence, and then a light overhead, a thin, red one that lined the top of the back of the elevator, shone visibility back into the area. Dominique quickly got to her feet, the cannon falling to the corner of the elevator, and she straightened out her headset and brown trench coat, that had slid off half way. “Christ, Livewire, what was that? Are you there? Tell the others to quit fucking around.”
"To late for that, 'Nique... Remember how I said we'd be screwed if they fucked up?"
"...No?"
"Well, they did. The twins, they crashed."
Dominique quickly ran a hand through her hair, feeling as if she was going to have a headache, and incredibly pissed. “What the hell are you talking about?”
”They were taking off, and they crashed- There was a malfunction, or something, I don’t know, Cube, Sphinx, Gryphon and Raven and the others are going to pick them up, they’re okay, but they fucked over the goddamn place’s power. The Labs, hell, the entire damn block is out. I really can’t tell what happened exactly, so just get yourself out of there…”
"We lost a fucking ship? Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Please tell me you're kidding.”
"I'm kidding... Not."
"Just what I needed, a migraine." She didn’t reply much more after that and instead, lifted up the newly retrieved firearm and thrust it against the hatch section of the elevator, breaking through it, before tossing the heavy gun out with a loud clang. She leapt up and grabbed onto the edge of the escape, and slid the length of her body out, her coat getting caught at the end, and forcing her to yank it free, before lifting up the gun once more. The Elevator had stopped almost directly below one of the floors, and she wasted no time moving forward and pushing the doors apart, as the gears inside seemed fried, and didn’t keep her from doing so. After a few moments, she had slid them far enough to allow her to slide inside, and the environment was cast in a dark crimson from the emergency lighting.
She turned back, and looked at the wall alongside the elevator, that stated she was on the fifth floor. She sure as hell wasn’t going to run her way back up to the top, so it seemed as if she was going to have to make her way to the bottom. Unexpectedly, ahead of here, there was the sound of movement. Her eyes shot forward and she raised the LSR-X89, keeping it primed ahead of her. She stealthily moved forward down the hall that seemed to split and merge into several other passages at either side. But the sound had come from the end of the hall, so she continued on that way. It was an eerie scene, the lighting not making her feel any less uneasy as she made her way to the end and checked all directions. There was no sign of anything around.
'Shoot first, ask questions later. Shoot first, as questions later. I dare something to jump out at me, I'll blow your ass to hell and back…’
She decided to take the left path, and began quickly heading along it, her boots clicking against the cold floor softly, before she heard movement again, behind her, and turned to see several weapons readily aimed at her. They were military, most likely guards of the facilities’ higher most floors, where research had gone on. She was lucky enough not to run into them at the twenty second floor, but her luck seemed to have run out.
"Freeze! Hands over your head, now! Drop the weapon!” The man shouted out the commands as he moved closer forward, ready to fire. There were two others behind him.
"Jesus, look at the size of that thing, where the hell did she find that? R&D?"
"No idea. But I think we just bagged ourselves a—" Almost instantly, something shot out of the main hallway Dominique had just came from. The marine, who had been ready to shoot her, suddenly turned away as his comrade let out a scream. Dominique raised her pulse-cannon high, as the man at the far end was slashed across the neck by a blurred figure. The one closest to her was kicked against the wall, and the figure effectively twisted the arm of the other, breaking it audibly, and reversing the direction of the man’s weapon, before plunging the rifle through his chest, impaling him on it. Dominique watched, still backing away slowly, without firing, as the figure then speared the last of its military opposition through the gut.
She saw it clearly now, even under the hard, scarlet light that made the spilt blood seem like oil. It was a chimera woman, a half breed of feline (it seemed, though she couldn’t tell what) and human. Her long, auburn hair ran down the back of her shoulders, and she was wearing a hospital gurney. Her extended fingernails were about half a foot in length, each, and they seemed like fairly capable weapons. She twisted her hand as she gored the man, and he let out a bawl of pain, before she silenced him with her other hand, which Dominique turned away from, the sound enough to make her sick.
The body slumped to the ground, and Dominique sharply looked back, her finger easing closely against the trigger.
And then she slowly lowered the gun. The woman looked at her with strangely luminous eyes, before smiling barely. “I'm guessing you turned off the power."
Dominique stared back coldly, yet nodded. “I owe you one.”
”... You owe me nothing. I owe you my life.” The chimera slowly backed away, its claws slowly sheathing themselves, as she dashed down the opposite corridor. “Three floors below, someone needs your help."
"I'm not here to help anyone."
The engimatic female glanced at Dominique from over her shoulder. "You helped me. Now help the little girl." And that was the last thing she said, before she rounded the other corner and disappeared out of sight.
'Chimeras... What the hell else were the testing on in here…' She didn’t take a moment to peer down at the bodies on the ground, and turned away, continuing to a door that led to the staircase that would be her ticket to getting the hell out of dodge. As she burst through the door, and hurriedly jogged down the steps, Livewire began trying to reach her once more.
”Dominique, where are you? Rook and Bishop and the rest are on their way out, get out of there before we get into more shit.” Dominique raked a hand through her hair again, still carrying the pseudo rail-gun in her hands, which was making for a difficult run indeed.
”Meet me at the first…The… First…”
The door to the second floor was open. It was a long hallway, a long, bloody hallway. It was littered in an obscene amount of gore, blood, and entrails. Children, it was all… Children, some adults, scientists, nurses, workers… A pain shot down the back of her neck and through her head, her voice trailing off, and her eyes and mouth open at the scene, and her body suddenly felt hot, as if it was going to burst into flames, as if she could feel flames. And then there was a weak movement in the middle of the room, under a pile of rubble from a ceiling that had been torn apart by some unseen force. It was another child, half buried, and her hair sprawled against the floor. Her body was limp and devoid of consciousness, but she was alive, but just barely, and bleeding.
Dominique, for a moment, saw herself lying there, and there was no noise: even the sound of Livewire on the other end wondering if she was okay, was drowned out in her mind.
The M16 fell to the floor, and the LSR-X89 took its place over her shoulder, as she hurriedly ran toward the girl lying gravely injured on the icy floor. She lifted her up quickly, staring at the girl almost perplexed at her decision and emotion, and spoke coldly back at Livewire, finally. “Second floor, north side, be there, now.”
”… Right… Phoenix, God, you gave me a scare.” There was an exasperated sigh over the air.
Dom sprinted forward, past the bloodied remains and streaks of crimson that ran along the walls and floor, and headed through a partially opened door, to an office, a plain office with windows littered about just like the higher floor. She looked about quickly, cursing herself inside, and peering down at the young, bleeding girl in her arms. ‘Come on Livewire, don’t let me down.’
To her right side, the jets of the plane could be heard through the glass, its lift shuddering open as Livewire steadily parked it in position. Suddenly, gunfire could be seen and heard against the hull of the ship, and Dominique rushed ahead, diving against the glass at running speed, smashing through it with her side, landing and rolling along the steel flooring of the lift, and she reached up, exasperated, and slammed her hand as hard as she fucking could against the trigger to close the lift. The strange little girl slid from her arms to the floor of the plane, and Livewire began yelling something to Dominique as she fell to her knees, her head wracked with pain and the gun falling to the ground as well. Her vision slowly blurred, and she looked onward, searching for Livewire, and exhausted from mental and physical fatigue, collapsed against the metal flooring.
As they began to speed off and the backside hatch closed completely, the clacking of gunfire subsiding, Dominique looked at the girl beside her, losing consciousness herself and looking up at a stunned Livewire, who had made her way to the back, and obviously set them on autopilot.
”Dominique, what the hell… Happened… Who is this…?”
The blonde shook her head a bit, her vision distorting even more, as the headache worsened, and she didn’t feel like relaxing anymore. She needed to sleep, and she mumbled a slightly as she slowly came to rest against the metal grating. “Help the kid, damnit... I’m just fine… I just need a smoke…” Dominique Chambers closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep, willingly challenging any nightmares to come and wreak havoc on as she slumbered. Livewire bent down and changed channels on her headset, speaking to Cube. "Get everyone back to Typhon... We've got an, uh... Developement."
She turned her head to the girl who lay on the cold grating and lifted her up slightly, examining the apparent knife wound with a quick glance, before lifting her up and carrying her off to the nearest seat in the plane.
"Nothing ever happens. Right."
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