Charlotte woke up for her shift at night watch. Well, it was more of wake up earlier than everybody else now. Charlotte had her pistol and sword out, just in case something outside had broke into the room. She patiently looked around, and occasionally glanced at her teammates, seeing that they were sleeping light or just keeping their eyes closed.
I have my confidence in them. We will prevail... she thought, examining her pistol. She looked Eric again, thinking back to that wonderful night back when they were only 20 years old.
It was her solo room, she requested well back when she had turned 18. A barely lit room with candles, making sure that they were away from anything extremely flammable. Eric had stepped into the room with her, smiling at each other as Eric had slowly started to...
As sexual as that scene was... We never did anything. Charlotte smirked as she remember how it went during that night. All they did was talk about how the UNC was, and what could have been. It was amazing really. Successful people... Alot of them were former Vanguards, but with the usual hostility that came with it, the UNC Command sealed their records, like what they did with Natalie Alassandra. She shifted in her spot, trying to get more comfortable.
But it was only once. The two believed that they were in love, and they were. But... It was just awkward for their feelings after another night like that. They remained friends, and kept it like that.
This ship... Its teeming with life but...
Much like any other Vanguard, they could sense the feelings shared by the other Vanguards or Wardens. But there was something in the Pandemonium that gave her chills. Something seemingly crawling in the back of her mind, a liquid ooze trail dripping down at every step. It chilled her and her squad-mates; but they would never admit it.
Hours had pasted when Otis and Lorella woke up followed by Eric.
"Morning you three." Charlotte smiled, extending her hand over to them. Eric grabbed her hand and slowly got up.
"Morning to you too..."
Code:
[center]Morning time cycle initiated[/center]
The four of them frowned as they got up and exited the bank to see that the artificial sun. However, the city itself had seen better days. The hole where the UNC Chiron broke through was now sealed thanks to the emergency liquid glass protocols. The buildings scattered about were either ruined as if some bomb was set off in them or completely demolished. A few charred out corpses were littered about the streets. Some filled with bullet holes. Other's with bite marks.
Lorella's eyes gazed over. "Come'on. We gotta head to the bridge."
"Right." The four of them started walking towards the "head" of the ship, but in the corner of their eyes, they could see the mutated creatures peeking out of the buildings as if they were scared of the light.
"Looks like we are safe in the daytime... Somewhat." Eric said, switching his sword into a SMG. The growls of the humanoid creatures echoed around them as their shadows crept around and red glaring eyes stared back at them.
"They looked pissed." Otis claimed.
"They're feral animals now, of course they looked pissed. We're their hunt and they can't reach us." Charlotte replied.
"I don't like this one bit." Eric replied.
"How so?"
"They can still track us down, while we fumble in the dark. Fire at them." Lorella, Otis and Charlotte looked at Eric cockeyed.
"F-fire at them?" They questioned. Otis turned to Lorella who gave a visible frown. Eric sighed. "They are not humans anymore, just animals."
"They still
look like humans."
"So do monkeys." Eric fired back, as Lorella shook her head slightly. "As much as I don't agree with this. We need space between us and them."
"There's nothing more we can do for them. Fire at them." The three hesitantly raised their automatic weapons into the buildings.
"...FIRE!" The four shot into builds, taking chucks out of the builds as the wails of the creatures roared back, partially paralyzing the group. Charlotte and Co. could hear a white noise once again rise up as their thinking clouded for a millisecond before they had control again. They started to walk away, tight in a circle, continuing their fire into the buildings. A few of the creatures emerged from the darkness as they were lit on fire and burned as they stumbled towards the four, only to be reduced to ashes.
The four remained quiet until Eric saw something off in the distance. "Hey... A R/N terminal building! Maybe we can find out what happened here! Vanguards, move it!"
The four started hurrying towards the building as they noticed a large bridge between the building and the platform they were on. The gap was too large for them to jump across even with their augmented abilities. With their armor already heavy as is, the materials around were not in the best condition to try and make a bridge.
"Looks we are taking the sewers then." Eric said with a sigh. The other three turned and faced him with a confused face.
"Really? The sewers?" Charlotte asked.
"There is an alternative to these situations Eric." Lorella said in her usual tone.
"And what exactly alternative do you see Lorella?" Eric rebuked. The three remained silent.
"Exactly. I'm right by group consensus. Let's go." Eric brushed off to find a sewer manhole. The other three disgruntled followed after him until they found a manhole. Lifting the manhole, Eric plunged in first followed by Otis, Lorella and Charlotte as they slammed into the concrete as their helmets luckily filtered out any air bacteria.
Charlotte was the first to notice a strange growth coming from the wall as she pointed at them. Otis just raised an eyebrow. "What exactly is this mess?"
"We are going to find the truth behind all of this." Eric grumbled.
"That is not the mission objective. We are just going to call for backup." Lorella said in response. Eric shook his head a hurried as they followed down the sewer as the growth seemed to disappear as they continued on.
"Char are your powers in working order?"
"What do you mean?"
"I believe we are seeing things." Otis shrugged. Charlotte closed her eyes as she saw... something. A memory of her being taken away from her parents many years ago. Slanting her eyebrows she thought.
I.... never did keep that promise?
"I... think they are working properly." Charlotte said.
"'Think'? It's a yes or no answer." Eric looked back slightly.
"... Yes." As the four continued down the sewers, the pitter patter of splashes were echoing around, as shadows seemed to creep around adjacent holes.
"The infected aren't that smart. They shouldn't be in the sewers. Things things have failsafes."
"Char, are you sure that your powers aren't screwing with us?"
"... Ok, there is something strange with them, but..."
Eric, Lorella and Otis all frowned at her. "But what? Can't you control it?" Charlotte tightened to close her eyes as she gripped her hands into a fist as the echos started to come closer and more rapid.
"Your powers can kill us if you don't hurry your sweet time princess!"
"Shut up!" Charlotte opened her eyes as she threw her hands out as the echos slowly disappeared.
"There. Happy?" Charlotte grumpy said, hurrying towards the end of the sewer destination.
"You need better control." Eric chastised. Otis stepped up.
"You know the things with Conduits. Their powers are harder to control than anybody else."
"There is fact in that."
Eric rolled his eyes. "Still..."
The four eventually reached their destination as Charlotte reversed the Newton Gravitational constant to blow off the manhole cover and blast off to the surface. The other three did the same as the four took in the new location.
The place was less or more... normal besides large scratch marks on vehicles. Even some puncture marks on the ground and buildings as trees hung with no leafs despite the season being early fall in the Research Ship. Their bodies were twisted, broken and even some uprooted as well.
The scattering of police rifles and pistols laid as a testament as the remaining humans survived in the area not too long ago.