Lake Night Terrors

Yang had a good point. There was no sort of…precautions or preventive measures to block access to the camp. The town just left it open. It was in fact strange and a bit worrisome. Perhaps the town felt as though the strangeness wasn’t all that serious? Or perhaps they thought that the urban legends were enough to keep people away? It was hard to say for sure, but Melody supposed they would find out soon enough.

Mel watched as her companion tried the door, then…tried the door with a bit more force. She smirked, nodding with approval. “Nice.” She had zero issue with brute forcing their way through trials and tribulations. She waited to see, or rather, hear if there would be any reply. There was none immediately, but her ears picked up something strange. Something falling over upstairs, perhaps a product of the sudden force of Yang’s blow, but then…a heavy slump of something below. Perhaps there was a basement to this place.

Melody eyed Yang for a moment then nodded as she stepped in, checking the place out. The cabin seemed in relatively good shape. Though, still, Melody reached for the light switch, half expecting nothing, but surprised by the sudden buzz of the overhead light. The room was illuminated and all the easier to see. It looked like a normal den, couches, a lounge chair, and an old TV with a tape player. There was an open door which led into what looked like a kitchen and then a staircase that went both up and down. However, in the room there was one thing that caught Melody’s eyes. A closed beartrap in front of the kitchen. There was rust, or at least what she hoped was rust on the upper end of it. Never a good sign.

“Right…so…I’m thinking this isn’t a great place to be.” She looked to the staircase, grimacing a bit. “I have the feeling we’re close to something here…I got that sinking feeling, you know? Like we’re not alone?” She let out a breath, “Though we’re not gonna get anywhere just by standing around. What do you think? Up or down?”

Yang looked around the ground floor of the house. Her brow arched slightly in surprise as Melody flicked a switch and they were greeted by light. It really shouldn’t have been such a shock considering it was a light that lead them here in the first place, but with the way the rest of the campsite looked, it was a wonder there was any power at all. Yang crept along the bottom floor, making sure not to stray to far from her companion. There was something here that was nagging at her. It was energy. Lots of it.

Creeping closer to a wall, Yang draw a hand from her pocket and placed her palm against the cold stucco surface. There was a distinct buzz she could feel just beyond. “There’s a lot of energy here. Like a lot a lot. Enough to power a city block maybe.” As Yang continued to investigate, two mysterious figures looked on via security footage.

“you left the light on?”
“Yeah. Standard operating procedure whenever the perimeter sensors are tripped.” Said one man to the other before taking a sip of coffee from a sterile white mug that brandished their company logo.
“Aren’t you worried that they’ll find this place? I mean didn’t you see how that one blew down the front door? They’re certainly not our normal trespassers.” The second figure said in a slightly worried tone. “I…I mean what is she even doing right now?” he’d stammer while squinting his eyes at the monitors.
“Relax. The head of security has already been notified. The teams are ready to deploy at a moments notice. Besides, Asset 1 should be waking up any minute now as well. We’ve got nothing to worry about.” the first figure would say, reclining in his seat and proceeding to finish off his coffee.

Back in the house, Yang continued to feel out the walls, tracing the currents as best she could. “There’s definitely something here. Like probably below us or something. The question is…..Where’s the elevator?”

Melody eyed her friend for a moment, biting the inside of her cheek a few times. “Enough to power…” She looked around the room, her gut screaming at her that something was about to happen. She balled her hands into fists, furrowing her brow as she looked around. She couldn’t help but smile at their situation. It was this kind of job that made her excited to be a hero. She couldn’t help but be pumped up for whatever was going to come their way. It was the waiting that was killing her.

As Yang continued along the wall Mel would begin to search the center of the room, though her eyes were fixated on the staircase. Up or down, she didn’t trust any of it. She also doubted that this room would have any sort of clue or discovery. Her gut was telling her what they needed would be above or below.

She gave her friend another look at her comment, giving her a small nod. “If its an elevator…it would be in the basement or kitchen. Kitchen cause that’s where they put them in the movies, either in the fridge or in a dolly of sorts. And the basement…well, that’s just because I don’t know where else they’d put it. Doubt it’d be upstairs.” She shrugged at the end of her statement. “I’ll check out downstairs if ya wanna check out the kitchen.”

She’d begin to walk forward, heading towards the stairs, but halfway there she was stopped by a sudden sound. It wasn’t ear shattering or even all that loud, but it was unnerving. It was the sound of steps on a creaking staircase. It was a steady ascension as someone or something made its way up the stairs. It sounded heavy, or at least bulky, a low groan coming from whatever it was.

Mel would glance back to Yang once before looking back to the stairs, just as the ascent stopped. Her fists tightened and she took a step forward. As she did a loud crack would sound through the room as the floor beneath Mel would open up, causing her to fall down, down into the dark basement, separating her from Yang. It would be then as Melody fell that the sounds of steps would continue upward towards the ground level.

Whatever was on the stairs, it was coming.

The basement seemed to make the most sense in terms of the location of a secret elevator. But then again that was kind of obvious wasn’t it? “Wouldn’t be much of a secret if it were down there…” Yang mumbled to herself as Melody declared that she would search the basement. She continued to trace the walls with her fingers as she tried to determine which direction the power was flowing in. She also took not of any points along the wall where the energy seemed most dense. That was most likely a sign of a power box or junction.

Just as Yang was approaching the back of the kitchen where a hallway connected it to the living room and two back rooms, there was a loud crash from the direction of the basement. “Melody!?” Yang shouted as she rushed to where the stairs were. As Yang rounded the corner she came to a sudden halt, nearly falling down into the newly formed pit. “what the f-” before the young woman could finish her sentence a massive and imposing figure would appear from the staircase. He was at least three or maybe four feet taller than Yang and covered in a heavy looking black trench coat. The figures head was obscured by a wide brimmed hat that matched its coat in color.

“whoa hey there, where’d you come from?” Yang said, trying to play it cool. He only response was the massive figure trying to take a swing at her, to which her response was to promptly back hop away. Upon landing, Yang could hear and feel the floor nearly give way beneath her foot. The sounds grew more prominent as the massive creature began to slowly approach her. “Damn, there’s no way Im fighting this thing in here. The whole house could come down on top of us.” Yang wasn’t really that concerned with her safety, she knew she’d survive, but she didn’t quite know where Melody stood in that regard.

She had to think of something quick. Priority one was getting to Melody and getting her out of the house. Or at least regrouping with the young woman. Afterwards they could lure the thing outside and deal with it there. There was one small problem, she was now backed into a corner. She’d have to bust through a wall or something to get to Melody, and honestly she wasn’t sure if the house could take any more damage. “Hey! Can you hear me! You ok? Can you walk?” Yang called out to her companion, all the while keeping her focus on the large figure approaching her.

Melody had hit the ground with a hard thud. Thankfully, though, she had built up enough energy to resist the impact of the fall. Still she had inhaled a good deal of dust and it caused her to cough up a fit. Not only that, she was disorientated, the fall threw off her balance and she had to lay there for a moment. As she laid there for a moment she could hear something going on upstairs. There was two pairs of footsteps, one she knew was Yang, but the other…the other was of something bigger. She couldn’t leave her partner alone with whatever that was.

She quickly stood up, grunting a bit and brushing herself off. It was then she heard her name being called, she gave a nod, not that Yang could see it, and called back up. “Yeah! Totes fine, just…” She let out a few coughs, “Real dusty…I’m coming up, watch the floor!”

With that said, she would bend her knees slightly, narrowing her eyes and smirking to herself. It was at this point more of her rabbit-like features came out. Two large rabbit ears popped out from her head and she readied her fists. With a major hop she popped back up out of the hole she had fallen through. It was at that moment she saw the new figure, a terrifying, hulking mass of muscle. Her heart sank for a moment, but she kept that confident smirk on her face. This was getting good.

She looked over to her partner, making sure she was alright. She’d nod at Yang, “Miss me?” Then, once she was actually on the ground, she’d dart towards the large figure and throw a light punch, augmented with a small amount of energy.  If this guy was anything like a normal person it would at least hurt a decent deal. The sound of the impact echoed through the room, but as Mel looked up at the figure it was obvious that the blow had done nothing at all to the guy.

The smirk on her face faltered a bit, seeming now a bit sheepish or nervous, her ears dropping some. “Ah…you’re a big guy, aren’t ya? Uh…hi?” She gulped once as she saw the figure raise a fist and take a swing at her. She was quick enough to dodge back, but in the motion she felt the floor give away more. She started to fall, but before she went completely in, she grabbed the edge of it, holding herself up. “Oh shit!”

Yang was equally happy to hear and see that Melody was fine after her little spill. That was a good start to figuring out how to deal with this brute. The young overseer’s grin would quickly fade however as Melody appeared from the abyss, poised to strike. “I don’t thi-” before Yang could finish her sentence, Melody charged the massive figure and attacked it. There was a loud thud as the young woman’s fist connected with the beast’s thick trench coat, a layer of protection perhaps? There was no time to dwell on it.

Despite the punch seeming to have no effect on the towering monstrosity, it chose to retaliate. Of course it retaliated, it seemed to want them both dead. Ideas were beginning to spin in Yang’s mind. They’d have to wait as a familiar sound filled the room. Yang quickly leapt back just in time as the floor collapsed beneath her feet. Using her ability to fly, to hold herself in the air, Yang looked over to where Melody had landed after dodging a swing from the cloaked behemoth. She was hanging on to a floor board, dangling just above a pick of darkness that was the basement.

The building would give out an ominous groan from the stress the sunken floor was creating. Yang would quickly dash to where Melody was and pull her up. They had to get out of the house and quick. Doing a quick double take of her surroundings, Yang looked for the closest wall. “Hold on tight!” she warned Melody, before wrapping an arm around the young woman’s waist. Quickly extending her hand in the direction of the wall to her right, Yang would fire off a large blast of energy that would tear through the decrepit building.

Wasting little time, Yang would dash through the hole she created, dragging Melody along with her. She wouldn’t stop till she was a safe distance from the house, which would come quick with the speed she used. Gently relinquishing her grip on Melody, Yang would let out a sigh of relief. “You ok?” Her attention would turn back to the house as it let out one final groan before completely collapsing in on itself. Hopefully it took out that hulking brute with it, but Yang had her doubts.

Melody grunted a bit as she was hoisted up, giving a nod of approval to Yang as she brought to ground level. She opened her mouth to say something, alert of something that she had saw in the basement, but before she could even get a word out Yang had lifted her hand and blasted a hole throw the adjacent wall. Melody didn’t even realize that Yang had dragged her out, she was just completely caught off guard by the sudden burst of power her associate had just shown off.

She looked to Yang after the question, grinning wide and nodding. “Ha, woah! I am now.” She chuckled a bit, looking back to the building, “Ya really showed them, didn’t ya? Didn’t even give me a good shot to get in there.” She gave a Yang a hard pat on the back, “Damn. Color me impressed.” She let out a breath, taking a few steps forward towards the house. “What do you think that thing was? I was holding back with that punch, but he didn’t budge.” She frowned a bit, shaking her head, “Do you really think a building was enough to take him down.”

She rubbed his chin, thinking for a few moments. “Oh!” She snapped a finger, pointing it at the collapsed building, “Sorry! Almost forgot to mention, when I fell down in the basement before I think I spotted a way down. There was an old fashioned lever on the wall, a big freaking switch like something from one of those old monster movies.” She looked back to Yang, “Ya know the one I’m talking about?” She looked back to the building, biting the inside of her cheek. The damage Yang had dealt was quite impressive, though digging through might be an issue. “I could try and…knock all that way if ya want?” She rolled her shoulder a bit, starting to move forward. If she got the okay from Yang she’d clench her fist, balling it up into a tight grip. Then, empowering her fist with a good deal of energy, she’d swing forward, still a good twenty feet from building. The release of energy would be more than enough to send the rubble of the building into the woods.

So there was a secret elevator or doorway hidden in the basement, who would have thought? Still that didn’t help the duo much at all now. The building lay in ruins after collapsing under its old age. [color:cf35=f509ab] “My guess is that, that thing was sent to silence us. We’re on to something here and I aint about to give up. Something tells me our hosts are willing to let us leave either.” Yang said while stroking her chin in thought. That decrepit old house could be the only entrance to their facility, that would just be shoddy building planning.

Melody would waste little time using her impressive power to blow a large stack of debris off the buildings foundation and into the woods, Before Yang could offer any sort of new plan of action. “My, my, you are a brash one indeed.” she’d say to Melody, completely ignoring the act she had committed moments prior, but hey, their lives were in ‘danger’. Yang sat back and looked over the ruins. Such a large mess for such a small building. Moving all the wood and concrete was far too much manual labor for Yang’s liking.

She was ready to give the surrounding buildings a peak to see if they housed another entrance to the facility. Then, something filled the air, the distinct sound of a helicopter’s blades cutting through the stormy sky. “Pretty bold to be flying this kind of weather. Something tells me that’s the back up welcoming party.” As Yang finished her sentence the rubble from the demolished house would begin to stir. At the same time the helicopter would make a quick pass over the campground. A low whistle would fill the air as something massive plummeted from the sky, which was then followed by a heavy splash as that object collided with the lake just a few feet from the two woman.

“I’m going to raise this entire campsite if that was another one of those things, I swear to god.” Yang would exclaim with audible irritation.

Melody grinned widely at what she thought was a compliment. Being brash was something she strived to be. She rubbed the back of her head, chuckling ever so slightly, “Ha! Sorry, hope that wasn’t too much, but I can’t be the only showing off their power, ya know?” She looked back to the house, or…where the house had been and frowned a bit. She still couldn’t shake the feeling building up in her gut. Things still seemed wrong, off…there was something here that made her stir.

Her rabbit ears would then flick at the sudden sound of the helicopter. She’d look up towards them, a scowl replacing the frown. She jammed her fist into an open palm, nodding a bit. “I think I could jump and knock the thing out of the air if you want.” She let out a breath, then dropped her shoulders, losing her stance. She’d shake her head, “Nah…probably wouldn’t go well.”

She watched as whatever it dropped plummeted into the water, wincing a bit as it splashed down. “Ouch…hey listen, I won’t tell anyone if you do. I’m pretty much over this entire place.” She balled her hands back into fists turning from the lake and moving back towards the rubble of the building, looking into whatever wreckage remained. “If it was whatever we found in this place then should we just try and take it down or do we wanna try and, ya know, question it? We could attempt and restrain it.”

She’d kneel down, kicking it lightly with her foot. “Damn thing, not gonna hold back next ti-” Before she could even finish the sentence a massive hand would shoot out from the pile of rubble and wrap around Mel’s neck, grabbing her tightly. It would pull her into the rubble and pull her down and into a clearing under all the debris. It was a miracle that this small clearing was down here, but somehow the rubble had supported it. Standing down there with her was the hulking figure from before, looming over her.

She would look up at the beast, eyes wide as she wondered what exactly she should do…couldn’t go all out with risking bringing this place down, couldn’t really run with this guy, and there wasn’t a lot of room to run around in dodge. Everything was looking pretty grim from this angle.

“MELODY!” Yang yelled as she watched her companion get dragged into the rubble of the ruined building. Disregarding whatever was dropped into the lake, the young overseer would rush over to the building. Her arms heaved from side to side as she flung large pieces of debris away, all in an effort to create an opening. A groan and shifting of the wood and drywall would cause Yang to give pause. If she kept digging she risked the whole pile collapsing further into the basement. Somehow the building had collapsed in such a way that it created a barrier above the space below. “Gimme a sec, I’ll try to figure out a way to get you out of there!” Yang would call out to the young woman.

The overseer would take a few steps away from the building. Perhaps she could borrow from Melody’s earlier example and blow the debris away. Just as Yang was getting ready to give her idea a shot, she sensed something. The hair on the back of her neck raising in anticipation. Feeding her instincts, Yang would duck and roll to the side, quickly snapper her head back to see another large figure looming over her, recovering from a swing it had just taken at her. “How did I know there would be more of you?” Yang would say, rolling her eyes.

Yang would extend an index finger in the direction of the large mutant. A bright and searing hot beam of energy would fire off. As expected, the beam would penetrate the large behemoth, but seemed to have little effect in the way of staggering or dropping it. Letting out a groan of frustration, Yang would rake her arm forward, releasing an orb of energy into the figures chest. This to seemed to prove useless as the figure proceeded to reach through the smoke to grab Yang, prompting her to leap backwards.

If her energy attacks weren't going to be effective then it was down to raw power then. Not like she hadn’t been holding back with her energy, but that was how she was. She liked making things interesting, in this case it was holding back. Then she remembered she had someone else depending on her. “Fuck” she mumbled to herself. Clenching her hand into a fist, Yang would launch herself at the beast. Her fist would connect with the hulks head sending it tumbling back a few feet. Yang would shake her hang out, taking note of how hard the creature felt to hit. “Just what the hell are you made of?” she would question before turning back to the house.

“Melody, take cover or something!” she shouted, hoping the young woman heard her. Thrusting both arms in front of her, wrists touching, A large orb of energy would form in between her palms. Letting out a small but loud grunt, the orb would explode in a torrent rushing forward and eventually consuming the debris.
(think This but smaller )

Down below, Melody dodged out of the way from a massive fist from the hulking figure. She gritted her teeth as she weighed her options. On one hand, she could most certainly take the fella, he was thick-skinned and a heavy hitter, but he was slow and she could break through the skin with enough force. However, if she used that force she could bring down the building on herself, which was not a huge issue, but if there was another one or if the elevator was damaged…she didn’t want to risk that possibility.

She dodged again, this time, her back slamming against the wall of rubble. She succeeded in her dodge again, but she couldn’t keep up with this either. If the hulking figure continued with his onslaught he would do the damage that she was afraid of doing. She was working with a time limit down here.

Above, she could her friend in conflict as well. There were blasts and she swear she could hear Yang yelling something, but she couldn’t quite make it all out. She worried on whether or not the blasts were coming from Yang, but there was no way of actually knowing until she broke out of this place. She had to do something quick so that she could get up there and help out her ally.

She dodged a third time, this time dust falling from the rubble above, as the bestial man struck the ground. Her worry deepened, but a sudden relief would come. Yang called to her, this time she could more clearly hear her. She needed to get cover, and fast. However, Mel would be more relieved that Yang was alright and not needing of help. Of course, now came the pressure of what exactly Yang was going to do, but she had no real time to worry about that. She could worry about that later.

At the current time, she needed to think of what exactly she was going to do for cover. There wasn’t exactly anything down here, just rubble and the big gu-well, she knew what she had for cover at the very least. The question was if it’d be enough…she didn’t have much time to think on it, but if she managed to take out one above then the big guy probably wouldn’t last long, that just meant she had to…

Feeling determined, she waiting one more moment, then dodged out of the way of a fourth strike, ending up behind the man and facing the direction in which Yang had called him. She reared back her fist and in a strong swing forward she launched an energy charged fist at the man, sending an incredible wave of force at the hulking figure. The swing would come at the perfect time, sending the man forward in a wave of energy, up and at the blast of energy Yang fired off. The man would be caught between the two high powered energy releases. The rubble between Yang and Melody would be completely devastated and in a bright flash there would only be speckles of the rubble gently falling down to the ground, though it'd be more like ash.

Melody wasn’t quite sure what happened to the big guy, but she didn’t see him. She did, however, see Yang standing on ground level. Mel panted, but she was far from too tired to go on. She slowly raised a hand, giving Yang a thumbs up. In between her breath, she’d flash a smirk, “You good?”

The resulting wave of energy that left Yang’s palms, shook the forest surrounding the campsite. It also served its purpose in clearing the debris from the foundation of the demolished building. What Yang didn’t see through the flash of her own attack, was the one Melody ended up throwing out. With the force of both beams colliding, it seemed as though the first big beast had been devoured in the sea of energy. Once the cascade of energy ceased flowing from Yang’s palms, the young woman would rush over to the now exposed basement to check up on her companion.

“Where’s the big guy?” Yang would ask, with a puzzled look. Placing her hands on her hips and looking around the campsite once more, Yang would reply to Melody, “Yeah, everything’s cool up here….Gimme a sec yeah?” she would say, remembering that there was still one more of those goons lying behind her somewhere. She would quickly pivot on her heel to check behind herself. And like any good spooky story or horror movie, the massive freak of nature was gone. “Figures.” she’d mumble to herself before leaping down into the basement with Melody.

“You aint to banged up are ya? We’ve still got a lot of work to do it seems.” Yang would begin to pace around the outer edge of the basement, running her hands along the wall and following the flow of energy behind them. “You remember where you saw that switch at?”

Meanwhile, down in the underground facility, staff began to scramble to hide their work or delete it off their stations as an evacuation order was given. Since the camera feed from inside the building had gone down, and the two intruders hadn’t been spotted, it was only safe to assume they would make there way down sooner or later. The plan was to get all of the scientists out while the security team and a few of their special units were left behind as a last line of defense.

Melody stretched her arms up, cracking them and her back in the motion as she waited for Yang to join her down in the ruins of the house. Releasing energy was never that strenuous for her, but trying to equalize with the blast Yang shot out took it out of her. She was far from tired or down for the count, but she hadn’t been prepared to let loose that much and that in itself called for a brief reprieve. It wasn’t like they were in immediate danger after all. The big guy was down for the count, that’s all that mattered.

As Yang made her way down Melody grinned broadly, shaking her head with a glint of confidence in her eyes. “Ha, it’s gonna take more than that to knock me out. That blast of yours was the first real workout I got in weeks.” She laughed a bit, hands at her side, chest puffed out. “As for the big guy…” She looked around, “I think he’s pretty much nothing at this point. Or dust. Or chunks somewhere. We really messed him up bad.” Her smile faltered a bit at, though it still remained. Part of her felt bad for destroying an enemy, wasn’t the heroic thing to do, but she doubted that it was human so it wasn’t completely bad…she hoped.

She looked back to Yang and motioned her to follow with her. She walked over to a small remaining pile of rubble and reeled back a fist before slamming it forward and knocking it aside. The cleared spot would have a large lever on the wall next to a large, rusted door. Melody pointed lazily at it, “Here we go. One door leading who knows where?” Not seeming to even care about whether it was trapped or not, she would go on to try and pull the lever, only to flinch back as the sound of rusted grinding gears began to sound in the air. She covered her ears as it continued, only to stop with a pleasant ding as the rusted doors slowly slid open. Surprisingly enough, the inside of the elevator looked clean, like a modern-day elevator. Melody blinked at it, then looked back to Yang with a shrug. “We going in?”

“We didn’t just waste all this time knocking did we?” Yang said with a smirk before darting into the pristine elevator. Her crystal blue eyes immediately darted to where the panel would be to select a floor, but there was none. “Uh…What!?” she said in minor confusion, taking not of how there was nothing to activate the elevator from the inside. No key card scanner, no facial, retinal, or fingerprint scan, nothing. Yang would have dwelled on the subject more, but her answer came the moment Melody stepped aboard.

The doors would slowly shut, the rusted outer doors squeezing and grinding as they did so. A small jolt would signal that the elevator was now descending. “What, no cheesy elevator music? Whoever these people are, they can afford to make hulking killing machines and fancy hidden labs, but they cant spring for some tunes?” Yang said, trying to break up the monotony of the silent ride. There wasn’t even a floor indicator in this elevator to let them know if they were getting close or not. The elevator would eventually come to a stop, answering Yang’s silent prayers.

The doors would slid open, no annoying rusty door sounds to greet them, but instead a pleasant ding and a rather sterile and modern looking reception area. The lights would flicker a bit as the two women stepped out into the lobby. Yang took note of the desk to their right and the company logo adorning the wall. There was no words, just a picture of the planet, all of the continents sported a spider-web pattern on them. “Well that’s not concerning at all.” the young overseer would comment as she approached the desk.

Circling the counter Yang would take note of how the computer monitors there were flashing a critical error screen and were flashing on and off as though corrupted. “Looks like they were prepared for our arrival. If we want to find out anything about this place or these people we better move fast.” she’d say while rummaging through the drawers behind the counter, looking for anything that might help them like a map, or walkie talkie or key card.

As the elevator descended downwards Melody would let out a breath and a small smirk at her friend’s remark. There’d be a faint chuckle there too, but Melody’s mind was somewhere else at the time. She wondered what exactly would come for them down below, what kind of other strange creatures would emerge from this place, and worst of all…how long had this place been running for? These questions raced through her head and as they did, she would thump her foot on the floor of the elevator, both to help that train of thought and to building up more power, she had a feeling she’d need it for whatever was to come next.

As she walked off the elevator she’d look back at Yang, still smirking, “These guys really don’t know what their doing. First they let us come down her and then they don’t even include music? They’re amateurs.” She’d look forward, a bit taken back by the reception area. This was far from what she expected. She thought there would be something more in the vain of mad scientist lab, oooor…terrible butcher shop. Though, it did match the elevator, so there was something more…modern to this place. Either way, none of it sat well with her.

She shook her head, breaking the train of thought and looking to Yang as she dug around in the drawers, searching for whatever it was she wanted. Melody would begin to make her way into the room, her eyes narrowing at every small thing that seemed too clean or orderly. That picture they had was concerning as Yang had stated and it filled Mel with some doubts as to what her initial thoughts were. There’d be no helping it at the very least. She’d just have to follow along with whoever was running the show until she could get close enough to beat some sense into them. Or kick them into a cell. Provided, that was, that there was no creator left and those monsters were all that remained…

Regardless, she’d nod at Yang. “Yeah, fast…I’m good at that.” She motioned up to the rabbit ears, “Basically my nature at this point.” She’d then move with a bit more pep in her step, moving over to one of the side doors in the reception area. She was ready to break it open when she decided it’d be better to at least try the door first. She gave a small jostle of the handle and sure enough it was open. That was a surprise. She swung the door open and inside was a long hallway with a clean marble floor, further down her sensitive ears picked up the sound of classical music? The hall was lined with statues and paintings, though her ears flicked once more. She couldn’t quite pick up on the sound but it was something like the noise a computer would make or…some sort of high tech machinery? She couldn’t place it though.

Mel would look over her shoulder back Yang and point forward. “I found this; it was open.” She’d turn her gaze to across the room at another door, her eyes narrowing as they homed in on it. “Though that one is gonna need a keycard it looks like.” She looked back to Yang with a bit of a devious look. She’d give a small flex of her right arm, “I can try it, though, if you prefer.”

Yang would shuffle through several more drawers, but her efforts would be futile. It seemed that these people were thorough as they made sure to leave no aid for the would-be trespassers. Yang couldn’t even use the computers to check for information. There was a small room just behind the counter that Yang would slip into as Melody continued to investigate the lobby. Inside the small room, Yang found more of the same. An inoperable computer, empty desk drawers, an empty trashcan, and even an empty weapons locker. There were only two ways for them to go, the side door Melody had opened, and a large sliding door that required a key card to open.

“Let’s see where this leads first” Yang would say, pointing to the fancy hallway just beyond the door Melody opened. “We can level that door after.” Yang would take point this time, moving past Melody and into the hallway. Yang moved cautiously down the long corridor, her hand clenched tightly into a fist with a small stream of energy flowing into it. If something tried to surprise her, she would be ready for it.

The notion of being attacked felt highly likely. The statues gave off an uneasy feeling about them. Marble statues depicting humans oddly mangled or twisted in agony. Each one posed differently from the last. The painting didn’t do anything to help either. They all seemed to be paintings of catastrophe in some way. “Whoever asked for this stuff to be put here really needs to see a shrink.” Upon reaching the end of the hallway, the two woman were forced to make a right turn. When they rounded the corner, they were met by two large fancy looking doors. On both sides were walls made of frosted glass, making it difficult to peer inside. That being said, Yang would swear she saw movement.

Yang would press her shoulder to the door, her gaze shifting back to Melody. “I’ll lead. Stay close.” Without much warning, Yang would bash the door with her shoulder causing them to fly open. Her hand would immediately shoot up, an orb of energy forming in her hand. “HANDS UP!” she’d shout, upon noticing a figure behind a large oak desk near the back of the room.

The figure, jumped with a small scare, but drew a gun almost as soon as Yang had burst through the door. They were clad in what appeared to be a security officers uniform. Heavy body armor and plenty of fire power adorned their body, while their head remained obscured by a baclava and ballistic helmet. “Don’t shoot!” the figure spook, raising their hands. “Please give me a second.” they would plead as they lowered their gun onto the desk. The security officer would proceed to remove their helmet, revealing a slender woman’s face. Her skin was nearly as pale as snow, her hair though messy was jet black and fashioned in a bob cut. From here it was hard to tell, but her eyes seemed an unusual color. “You must be the two who caused all the fuss.”

Yang arched a brow in confusion, lowering her arm and allowing the orb to fade. “Us? Yeah were like super fans, had to see the place with our own eyes and all that jazz.”

“Well super fans, you might have just ruined my chances of bringing this whole operation down!” the woman retorted while undoing some of the heavy gear she was wearing. “Im sorry, what?” Yang said, her confusion only growing as the slender woman stripped down in front of her and Melody.

The woman would eventually wiggle her way out of the uniform to reveal a tight silk red dress that clung to her form. She would then attach a shoulder harness and gun belt from the uniform to her before briefly flashing a badge at the two young women. “Aden Li. Im with the FBI.” she’d say hastily while making sure she had everything she needed from the uniform she was wearing. “Im with a special task force that has been looking into the mysterious disturbances reported from the town. I worked my way in as a rookie security officer. I was making some progress in finding out what was going on, until you two showed up….Now you’re going to help me” she’d say with a stern look before walking towards and eventually past Yang and Melody. “Come with me.”