《[Data not Found]》 [01] [*#&@%#$... Error... Data not Found... Restarting...] Huff huff huff The sound of men panting echoes throughout the long cavernous hallway, their boots resounding desperation against the metalic floor. " ''Ome on, now!! We''ve almost made it! Just ''rounda corner!" A Scottish voice shouts out. From the direction of the shout and footsteps, a well-beaten group of adventurers shows as they turn into the corridor, their hair disheveled, armors bent, weapons broken, guns needing of maintanence, and everyone having a various number of wounds. At the front of the group, a burly, potbellied man, his beard singed, smiles back at his comrades. "See?! What I tell''ya? Aren''t I right?" he says as he tries to pick up slack while supporting the group''s wounded leader. At the other end of the corridor was a set of stairs leading back up to the next floor. The rest of the group started to smile at one another and followed the burly man''s lead, starting after him, hobbling and running as best they could. Three of the group soon past the burly man and leader, but of these three, only one was noticeably less injured and carrying a large backpack, obviously over filled with something. As the three kept running, one of these somethings slipped out of the pack and almost fell to the ground, luckily being caught by a woman carrying a slinged SR-25, a large caliber rifle though the barrel was cleanly and recently cut mid way through. "Thomas!" In an aggravated voice, "Fucking be careful with the Egs!! Every one of these things is a meal back home!" she says as she tries to stuff the Eg back into the pack. "Sorry, Tirra," Thomas says back with a strained smile, "but dont bother placing that back. Place it... I dont know... in a... in one of your mag pockets! Yeah! One of those should be empty, right?" " ''One of those should be empty, right?'' Of course they aren''t! I reuse mags you know?! Do you have any idea-" "Well ''soooorry,'' I thought the Eg was bit more important than an empty magazine?! And also, aren''t magazine''s cheap?" "What the Hell would you-" "Now both of you shut the hell up and quit acting like a bunch of babies!" The other person finally fed up with their chatter, "Right now, we need to make sure everything is clear at the stairs! Now, Thomas, you''re sure those bastards won''t be chasing us up the next floor?" "They shouldn''t! From what I''ve read, normally they don''t chase people past the yellow zone into the green zone... but... but these things have been trailing us ever since Y7! They aren''t normal!" Thomas replies with some concern. "Haven''t you learned? Things here are never as they are meant to be. Up becomes down, left becomes right, what is there isnt, big becomes small, vica versa. I mean for fuck sake; we''re being hunted down by large ass mechanical spiders!" "TLDR: Fuck normal, here''s weird. Tch, you and your philisophical paranoia, Jerome, but for some reason or another, you are our second in command." Tirra chimes.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Scoffs "Better to be paranoid than dead." retorts Jerome as the three finally make it to the base of stairs, "Now, secure this stairway. Tirra, stay here and cover the rest of the group with what bullets you have left-" "Not with what my baby''s been through," Tirra whines. "Your ''baby'' will do just fine. Cover them with what you can. Thomas, you''re with me, leave the pack with Tirra" Thomas nods and gently lays the overfilled pack near the stairs. In one of the pack''s outside pouches, he retrieves a spare MP5 submachine gun and a weird trinket in the shape of a dumbell. Confirming his items, Thomas nodded to himself, loaded a magazine, placed his trinket in the newly vacated pocket, and followed after Jerome, who was by this time already started up the stairs with his custom 12 gauge, a shotgun outfitted with a custom made recharging front shield fitted near the start of the barrell.
As the two climbed up the stair, their nerves, tense and twitchy, from the journey here, started to loosen. Thomas breathed in deep and slowly released. Almost done, Thomas. Almost done. Thomas thought to himself. Jerome noticed this and broke the silence. "Breathe in a sigh of release once we''re out of here, not while we''re still in" Startled, Thomas replies, "I know, but we''re almost out. It should be smooth sai-" Jerome quickly covers Thomas''s mouth. "Do NOT say that phrase. It brings nothing but trouble, and in here, it listens and learns." Jerome says with intensity, slowly uncovering Thomas''s mouth. With the palpable intensity returning around Thomas, Thomas sulks a little. "Damn paranoid," Thomas grumbles under his breath.
The climb up took about 10 minutes and Jerome was the first one to reach the top of the stairs. However, with a silent but aggravated sigh that was only compounded by intense stress getting to this point, Jerome stood still shotgun at the ready. When Thomas''s soon arrived at the top, he heard a whisper from Jerome, "Thomas, when we get out of here, remind me to punch you." To the duo''s surprise, or atleast one of them, what was waiting at the top of the stairs were mechanical spiderlings. Thomas remembered that spiderlings are easy to deal with alone. That though they have razor like appendages for legs and can easily ambush a person unwary of their presence with deadly accuracy, they are big enough to be hit easily and, if they are hit once, explode sending shrapnel in a very small radius. However, they are hardly done in easily. For if there was one thing these pests were good at, it was jumping. Luckily, it was only one swarm. As soon as Thomas realized what they were up against, Jerome fired his shotgun, immediately destroying a good chunk of the 400 strong swarm but also alerting of the duo''s presence. "Don''t just stand there! FIRE!!!" Jerome shouted as Thomas opened on the swarm in reply. As a rain of bullets and lead filled the air for about 9 seconds, the 400 strong swarm of spiderlings didn''t manage to put up much of a strong retaliation. The swarm was only able to put minimal damage upon the duo, though just adding on the number of wounds the uo already had, exploding in a beautifully array of yellow and red, and killing their breatheren in death. "Phew..." Thomas says and smiles, "Think we can atleast scrap together some of those spiderling blades?" Jerome sighs and was about to say something when gunfire starts echoing from the stairway. Jerome stares at the stairway for a second, and glances at Thomas, mouthing a "no" as he starts dashing down the stairs. Just when Thomas was to follow after the second in command, a large explosion rocked the room, causing Thomas to stumble and his triket to fall out of a tear in his vest. Huh, one of the spiderlings must''ve gotten lucky... Thomas thought, and as he reached down to pick his triket up quickly, a quick, intense pain ran through his body as his thumb pricked something on the usually smooth surface of the trinket. Ouch... Not the time... gotta the others! Thomas quickly pockets the trinket and chases after Jerome.
In Thomas''s pocket, the trinket quietly humms to life. Intricate but beautiful blue lines start manifesting on the handle and "bells." Within, something awakes.
[... ... ... ACC: Restarting ACC Program...]
[02] [Diagnostics Check...] Inside the stairway, two men were scrambling down with as much speed as they could muster, all the while helplessly listening to an echoing chorous of gunfire, indistinct shouting, and the occasional metal screeching. Huff Huff Huff In Jerome''s mind, he could picture broken machinery, guns, limbs scattered here and there, hear people dying, see agony written all over their faces. He sees himself holding on to a broken person as their life slowly drains away from their eyes. BANG BANG BANG BANG SCHREEEEEEEEEEeEEEeeEeeeeee The sounds of battle waking Jerome from his delusions. He can feel butterflies in his stomach, his cold back as his shirt, drenched in sweat, stick to him. "Fucking hell... I won''t lose another!" Jerome mutters to himself as he tries... begs his body to go faster, to make it. Behind Jerome, Thomas, still struggling to catch up to his vice-leader, finds himself getting further and further behind. "Gah! Wait up!" Thomas says with a second thought. "No!" Jerome yells back without even bothering to even turn. Begrudingly but understandingly, Thomas tries to once more catch back up.
It took them nearly 5 minutes to get back, maybe 4 and a half for Jerome, but when they finally saw what was happening, what the duo steeled themselves for, they had arrived at the most dire time. As Jerome and Thomas reentered the cavernous hallway, the group had been pushed back and seperated to either side of the hallway, both sides looking as desperate as the other behind their EMS Shields, translucent domed shields that rely on ambient and recipient mana to be deployed. Nearly on top of each group were the perpetrators, the stalkers that was hunting the group, Silverline Spiders. These mechanical monsters were nearly 8 feet tall, had smoothly serrated legs, and had a head that only meatgrinder would love. They also had gotten their name because of two things they were known for. One was, if ever you were ambushed by one, the last thing you would see was a sliver line. The other, however, was quite literal because out of their mouths comes-- "Fucktards! DUCK!!" Tirra''s voice screams out. As soon as both Jerome and Thomas ducked under the influence of instinct and command, a silver beam passed through where their heads once were and struck the stairway, leaving behind only dark silver scorch marks and the smell of burning metal. "Holy shit..." Thomas remarked in awe. However, there was no time to gape in horror or awe. For after that initial fire, another silverline spider dropped directly infront of the duo. Its eyes, nearly invisible in its headframe, locked on to them, mouth open, revealing its rapidly rotating shredder gears, anticipating new treats, but its body shot up to hell. SCHREEEEEEEEEeeeEeeEEeeeThe tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Then, it raised its fore-legs. "Shit" Jerome cursed, "Dodge!" Both he and Thomas then dived. As the spider''s skewer missed them both and hit the metal floor with intensity, making an impressive sound and puncture, it screeched once more in frustration and something else. On the floor, the duo lay prone, somewhat dazed at the sudden turn of events, but both knew they had to get up or theyll be more than shish kebabs. As Thomas began to get up, he began to have a funny feeling, and not in the "haha" way. Where am I anyway... Thomas threw a glance at his surroundings and saw Jerome, just beginning to stand with his eyes glaring towards something above him, a bit away from him, just after some weird serrated blades. For Jerome, he had managed to dodge that skewer by dodging to the right of the attack; as for Thomas, however, when he dodged, he managed to get himself underneath the Silverline Spider. For Thomas, it was as if timed stopped as he realized his situation. I... I''m going to get skewered. Thomas thought as his mind started to panic; then, he heard, "Thomas! Shoot the damn thing! Its stuck and its on its last legs, now''s the best we got!" Jerome barked, oblivious to Thomas''s location, and started firing. At his new orders, Thomas ignored his own initial dread, lifted his MP5, and started firing into the belly of the beast. TATATATATATATATATATATATA BANG chik-chak BANG chik-chak BANG chik-chak SCHREEEEEeEEeeeEe TATATATATATATATATATATA BANG chik-chak BANG chik-chak KREEEeereeee.... TATATATATATATA After just only 7 seconds of gunfire, the mechanical monster chittered its last and started to collapse. Underneath the monster however, Thomas, a bit of panic returning to his face, was scrambling to get out from under it. Luckily, Thomas was able to get out, and with a satisfying metalic crunch, the beast lay dead at their feet. "Phew..." Thomas breathed out. "No time! Come on already!" Jerome shouted as he dashed past Thomas towards one of the groups. Thomas agreed in his mind and turned to follow Jerome, once more into the fray.
As Jerome and Thomas sped to one of the cornered groups closer to them, the duo slowed, when they were near enough, to draw their refilled weapons and fire upon the new spider, adding on to the chorus of mayhem. TATATATATATATATATA BANG chik-chak BANG chik-chak They both knew that their new fire support would be a relief to their comrades, however, as they soon found out, this spider wouldn''t go down like the last. TATATATATATATA BANG chik-chak As the spider quickly noticed the presence of the new interlopers, one of those trapped started to shout at them. "-ome! Get to the others now!!" a man''s voice boomed over the chorus of gun. "What?!? Hold on Chris!! We''ll get you out first!" Jerome replied, "Thomas, hurry, round the beast and shoot at its abdomen there, I''ll hold its attention and-" "JEROME!! GET TO THE OTHERS NOW, THATS AN ORDER!!!" Chris''s voice boomed once more with authority. Jerome flinched at this, "But!-" "They wont hold out much longer!! We''ll handle this Silverline with Thomas! I need you on the other side!" As soon as Chris finished, a sound akin to glass shattering was heard across the hallway. When Jerome turned to where the sound came from, he saw no shield but only 3 human figures and a large backpack being stared down by one damaged but irate spider. "NOW!!!!" but by this point Jerome had already started running towards the other side, hoping to make it. "And dont forget to protect the Egs!!" Tirra''s voice trailing afterwards. However, this left poor Thomas alone, his breathing starting to become eratic, as 6 tons of mechanical monstrosity bares its sights on him.
[... Diagnostics Check... Power:4946yrs9mo15d35m25s... Power Supply:Not Connected... Mainframe:Sub-optimal... ROOT Connection:ERROR... ERROR... ERROR... Beacon:Activated... ... ... ... Surrounding Check...]