Subterranean Sugarbeast Safari

After the great blast of the concussion grenade, there is a pregnant pause, filled with little more then the sound of caramel, chocolate, and candy cherry dripping off of lab tables and walls. Eshaal's eyes dart over to Magtok's plan in progress, and there is a nod of acknowledgement, though her senses remain trained on the area on the far wall. As a trepid silence falls on the area, it becomes apparent that the multicolored glowing biofilms are pulsing gently, ribbons of color flowing across them in a rhythm not unlike ripples in a pond. Focusing on them, it becomes apparent that there are subtle vibrations, making it through even the significant movement and sound dampening built into the first rate labs. Slowly Esha's finger squeezes, a smooth, calm pull, just barely beyond the break point of her rifle's action, longarm and mercenary one and the same.

Then the silence breaks in a dies irae of sound, shrapnel, and violence. The first sound is a high pitched shriek as long ebon black scythes pierce through the bulkhead of the blast doors, shredding through metal and concrete like a knife through hot butter. The sound is almost disorienting loud, some form of a supersonic cutting action built into the black sugar blades, combining with a strength rivaling titans as doors easily half an arm's length thick are cut and bent away like a soda can. Impressively, the force causes some of the hardened metal to explode under stresses, while softer portions heat to bright crimson in the throws of friction. As the vicious claws pull the wreckage apart, a beast that could stand easily several stories tall stoops into the hole, crawling into the thinner labs like a badger squeezing into an anthill. It looks for all the world like it's half beast, half alien, slavering maw leaking a lime colored fluid that wilts the biomat on contact and steams.

Esha doesn't miss a beat, however, the rifle ripping a response. There is a deep vrap, a streak of white hot ionized air, and the smell of ozone as she pulls a clean shot through one of 8 glowing pink orbs about the size of large jawbreakers. She tumbles back, not pausing to look at the effect of the railgun's shot, but instead ripping out another round and replacing the single shot. The clean shot leaves, for a moment, a mediocre looking hole about the size of a gold coin clean through the beast, which rapidly seals shut as vibrant blue glowing fluids gush into place and harden into more black-purple plating. A glimpse just beyond shows that the underwhelming nature of the shot wasn't the railgun's fault however, as a head sized white hot hole pierces through the hardened steel plating of the wrecked door like someone had thrown a portable hole onto the surface. "Look alive, the heavy armor's gotten better!" Esha begins to line up another shot, guiding the beast toward Mag's trap as the creature surges forward, faster than anything that large has a right to be.