Skyside 6: Return of the Cheddar

[Hattish Thing]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Ambrosia brought up a good point. "You're right on that, there's no way of really knowing." Things seemed to have worked out, though. "Found the place a year ago, though - nothing seems to have spread." Dr. Valiance shrugs when she mentions health checkups. "I mean, I did what I could. The whole operation was running on what little I could make selling shiver to cartels." When you're as low on funding as he was, you couldn't necessarily afford the best possible healthcare. At least Dr. Valiance was right there with his team, risking exposure rather than sitting back and sending proxies to their potential doom.

Then she brings up his friends again. Might as well be honest, she didn't seem to judge. "Well, uhh - you know. They were the kinda friends you can buy." Mercenaries, that was. But, not quite. "You know, junkers. Some handymen here and there, just some guys I knew." Then she gestures towards the skeleton. Dr. Valiance frowns. "Nah, nah. Not my idea of decor, you know?" He frowns at the skeleton. If it could, it would surely frown back. "This guy was ConZeta, see?" He points towards a black armband. He seems unhappy to see the symbol printed on the armband once again. Dr. Valiance wore one, long ago. "Oh yeah, the cameras!"

"That's an old ConZeta trick. I actually use the same strategy in the lab." He goes on to explain. "See, cameras will, uhh - wipe footage every morning unless a randomly generated numerical passcode is entered by a high ranking officer." They seemed to have been quite paranoid. "Same with research, data - all that jazz. So, the cameras were useless. I tore 'em apart and sold the little bits for scrap."

[Shadowcaller]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Ambrosia peers closer at the skeleton as she listens. Nodding occasionally as what he says make sense. Sounds like he and the people he hired were lucky then. Except those that died of course.
But it did sound like he was willing to invest a fair bit of money and effort into this place so whatever he found here must have been valuable.

The camera problem sounded troublesome however, but she did have a potential solution...
"I see." She gestures at him. "But remember how I mention ghosts and how they're made up of so-called residue which are like the mental remains of a persons personality? Since I might actually be able to pull out parts of this persons memories so I can see what happened here depending on how long they've been here. We'll have a look at your experiment here first but I think some valuable information might be gained from it, don't you agree?" Her eyebrows raise. "If there are more bodies like this, I would likely be able to gather even more information."

[Earl of Purple]

Warehouse of Payne

The killder is also zapped, taking the lights with it.

Felicity goes to look at Shocker and Heavyhanded, the latter of whom is starting to stir- so she jabs him with her shock prod, apologising as she does so.

Payne is slapped, and... Well, isn't unconscious, but he's not in a position to fight back. Not that he's fought back for a while. He's trying to memorise what he can about Anika, though. Even after she leaves, he doesn't move. His mouth opens, though, and a large fly crawls out. It's far larger than a normal fly, and its forelimbs end in hands. It's going to try and land on Anika, so if she gets zapped next it goes with her. It's about the size of a golf ball; big enough it could be noticed quite easily, but smaller than the other creatures Payne burped up earlier.

[Hattish Thing]

[Warehouse of Payne]

Dr. Valiance scans the warehouse one last time, muttering something to himself as he does so. Okay, everything seemed to be in order. Journals, research - ingredients, even some proper samples of the product. Everything he would need to start creating his own version of the serum. "Okay, uhh - everybody group up! We're outta here, baby!" He grins beneath his helmet, careful to make sure everyone was nearby. Then, he glances towards Payne. Should he bring the bastard? No, that'd just muddy the waters. No need to take unnecessary risks. "Everyone ready?"

Unless anything else occurs, the group will find themselves shifted off to a third location: [Deadsite- Abandoned Crematorium.]

---

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

The skeleton is particularly gruesome; sickeningly wet, and rank. It appears to have once been a woman, as is evident by what few scraps of flesh hang off of her bones. "Yeah, uhh - I wouldn't get too close to that, okay? Smells awful, really hard to get off your clothes." Perhaps an insensitive warning, but its clear he's at least somewhat concerned with Ambrosia's comfort. "Well, if its bodies you're looking for, uhh - there's a whole room of 'em." He didn't seem particularly pleased to mention it. That was not a room he'd braved before, not even with his crew. It seemed overwhelmingly dangerous.

"We'll definitely need protective gear if we're going to head that way, though." A task for another time, perhaps? As Dr. Valiance prepares to lead the way further into the laboratory, Ambrosia might notice something which bulges out of the skeletal woman's coat. There's a journal of some sort in there, partially concealed.

Reaching it without touching the webbing would be difficult.

[Shadowcaller]

[Warehouse of Payne]

The bear nods. She was ready!
She doesn't notice the weird fly though, but if someone else did they could always warn her.
Otherwise it will likely be zapped along with everyone else once they get out of here.

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

"Oh, I wouldn't need to get near it." She remarks casually as she steps away from the body. "But it sounds like things went quite catastrophically bad down here. I'm amazed you go here at all with things being what they are. At least without any protective gear." Having to stare down a half-melted corpse every time you entered wasn't exactly pleasant.

So it had to be something that hadn't been easy to move from here. Perhaps he simply needed whatever parts of the facility that still was functioning? Sounded like the camera system was still online, though she couldn't help to wonder supplied it with electricity if the company it belonged to had gone under. Was Val paying the electric bills or was someone else unknowingly doing it? Hrm...

As he starts moving again she asks the question. "So what's powering this place now? Is VIGIL?" She inquires.

But as the two are leaving something unseen will attempt to carefully attempt to lift the journal out of the skeletons coat. Something which wouldn't need to fear the effects the webbing had on biological matter.

[Hattish Thing]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Dr. Valiance nods at that. Wow, that was great news! "Oh, awesome. Really didn't wanna head that way. Crew and I had started calling it the nest, you know, as a joke - but then, once we poked around a little, it wasn't funny anymore." He seems somewhat distant at that. What had he seen that affected him so? He just shrugs once she mentions protective gear once again. "Didn't have a choice before. We only stayed afloat by dismantling the tech here, computers and cameras and the like." A waste of what was obviously a very expensive setup, perhaps. Not like it was doing anyone any good here, though.

"At this point, you know - I'm just sort of used to it." Still, he would definitely spring for hazard suits next time. "VIGIL? Nah, nah. I was down here long before I joined VIGIL." He scratches his head. "There's a generator room, its mostly functional. As for the rest, uhh - you know, I never thought about it. Good question." Then, Ambrosia retrieves the journal.

It's a logbook of some sort, appearing to have served as an inventory checklist. Although many of the entries appear heavily redacted, intact statements make mention of human specimens, foreign flora and fauna, preserved organs of alien creatures, exotic substances, assorted esoteria, and other supplies brought into the facility.

These records go into little detail but suggest the laboratory (or more accurately storage facility) had been in operation for at least fifteen years.

Furthermore, Ambrosia will discover the facility name code: 5103-2094-X2.

[Shadowcaller]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

"The nest?" Her eyebrows raise as she stares right at him. "Dr. Valiance, are the specimens who caused this still inside the facility?" Ambrosia's tone is remarkably collected considering her question.

The presence doesn't open the journal. Instead it puts it away somewhere on its person, causing it too to disappear out of sight as if it had never been there.

[5a Violista]

[Olympian Extractions - Factory Floor]

Carlie knows how insurance plans work.
Which is why she brought that up.
If Ms. Meggie is too prideful to realize she's in the wrong - to the point that she feels the need to insult the person who pointed that out, then Carlie doesn't see the point in trying to convince her.

"Alternatively," Carlie says, assuming that what was said about the union is true, "since the union hasn't 'pounced' yet, it's because they probably already know why names are missing." So if Ms. Meggie doesn't want to help her own interests - as Calm Reed has said - then it's pretty obvious who they need to go to next.

[Recaiden]

The horses aren't as smart as the humanoid skeletons, and don't have any remnant of their prior lives. They are animated by lesser spirits, ones that only have a body when bound in this way. They don't have enough real awareness to remember things, even a time before they were bound to the bones like this. They do as they're told, by the people who animated them or usurp control somehow. Arron could probably do it, but not subtly.

"Oh? Were you planning on returning Mildred and the other things you have stolen?" Benedict honestly doubts it. He waves his manservant forward, to take the wand and anything else Miri plans to return.

One more time with the fake memories. Arron, didn't Miri just remind you to take over the horses? ((How many of them are there, by the way?))

"Borrowed. Well, if I were a book, I would be quite reasonably worried about someone destroying me. But the rest..."
Sparks start to jump around Miri's antlers, at the very idea of Benedict continuing to ... be the way he is.
She hands over the wand, and then tosses over that fancy box from the crypt, and then the jar of possibly dangerous herbs, which happens to be open as she hands it over, and then she'd try to step neatly away from the manservant, breath held, done returning things.

[Hattish Thing]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

An uncomfortable look passes over the scientist's face. "I uhh - well, likely not the same one?" Whatever caused all of this mess is probably hiding out in some abandoned warehouse somewhere, being awful. Standard escaped monster stuff. Dr. Valiance shrugs before explaining further. "There were growths, let's say. There was definitely something brewing in there, was gross as hell to look at." There's a positive here, Val! You didn't see anything actually move. Got to remain positive in these situations. "That doesn't necessarily mean that, uhh - anything's moving about these days, though. I installed a turret."

Ah, yes. A turret. This would make all the difference. "Motion sensor, propane tanks - all that jazz." Seemed super secure, why even worry? Then, he notices her pocket the journal. "Hey, you gonna read that?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

"Growths on the bodies or just in their general area?" Ambrosia inquires. "But really, you should have VIGIL clean this place up rather than rely on a turret. Besides, they might find out about this place eventually so its better to do it intentionally rather than having it come as a surprise. I do know that VIGIL have interests in Skyside and this place could be their key to the city. I mean, you're not using all this space anyway and it could be carefully delegated to them. I'd be like a gift which I'm sure you'd get a lot of favor for. You simply need to present it in the right way." The scholar argues as she gestures around at the facility they're walking through.

[Hattish Thing]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Dr. Valiance ponders the question. The room had been very dark, and these weren't memories he was particularly fond of revisiting. "General area, I think. It was all over the walls, you know? And the floor, it was wet. There were people, too. Or what was, uhh - left of them." Yeah, that whole room was a drag and a half. He takes several seconds to ponder the VIGIL idea. "That's a pretty neat idea, Rosie. But, uhh - I'm already on thin ice, I think. Probably best not to bring too much attention to myself, yeah?" Interests in Skyside, hm. This idea sounded better and better the more she spoke about it. "What's the spin on this place, you think?"

"How, uhh - would we present this thing?" Once the pair proceed into the corridor beyond, they'll come to an area consisting of three seperate hallways. Illumination is dim here, with many of the glowing panels having become fully obscured by thick membranous layers of webbing.

Three plaques are set into the walls beside each corridor.

REFRIGERATION

SPECIMEN STORAGE

LABORATORIES

[Shadowcaller]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Ambrosia strokes her chin as she considers Val's question. "Depends on just how far you'd like to stray from the truth. Either you just found the place after following up some old leads after joining VIGIL, in which you need to come up why someone have clearly been modifying things after the fact. But you'd have plenty of time covering up that. The other option is being closer to the truth and either move your experiments or simply modify them."

She pauses. "Do you pay any attention to an organization known as KABAL? They're a mercenary organization that's pretty big in Skyside and according to their propaganda they have fought off both MERC and VIGIL trying to 'invade' the city. Now, I doubt they would be so successful if VIGIL came here in full force but KABAL isn't the only organization that are hostile towards the organizations. SLAVE, the slave organization, and every little robber baron that makes a living out of the misery of others here in the city would hate VIGIL coming here and 'policing' them. But regardless of what's inside this facility it would be a huge tactical advantage to set up shop here for VIGIL. Regardless what they might think of your character it would hard to deny just how useful this place would be for them. From here they could start to shut down the slave trade and actually protect the downtrodden of this city. I believe the moral victory of that would trump most of the unethical experiments that you're performing in here." Another pause and then a smile.
"But of course, I haven't seen them yet."

The entity that grabbed the journal is now following them soundlessly through the facility.

[Hattish Thing]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Dr. Valiance mutters to himself for a moment or so before responding. "Yeah, uhh - I already mentioned that I used to work for these people, so." Might be difficult to purge the place of any references to Conference Zeta. As such, exposing the facility would definitely incriminate him. "I'm not really worried about the stuff I'm doing here, uhh - its nothing super weird, just a little freaky." He frowns as he looks over the membranous growth layered over the closest light panel. "I haven't even fully explored this place, you know. They did things here. Things that, uhh - probably shouldn't ever see the light of day." He'd heard stories...

With a shiver, Val starts to head towards Specimen Storage. "Invade the city? I lived here for years, never heard of something like that. Guess I don't read the news too often, though." She had some good points. He didn't care particularly for VIGIL's cause, but he certainly couldn't clear the deeper levels of this facility alone.

"You know, uhh - I think you've got the right idea. Hey, maybe you could help me make my case?" The pair turn a corner.

Just then, a strange, muted groan can be heard coming from somewhere down the corridor they'd just passed through.

The lights flicker for several seconds before shutting down.

[Shadowcaller]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

"Oh, I didn't mean purging their name from it. It makes perfect sense that you found it since you used to be a member of it. It's not like you were responsible for everything they did personally. It sounds like it was a large organization after all." The scholar follows his gaze as he looks around. "Indeed, and I imagine VIGIL would want to make sure it didn't." But when he mentions the invasion Ambrosia smiles again. "I imagine you didn't as I doubt there were any invasions at all. Just KABAL propaganda." She certainly hadn't heard about VIGIL invading the city from any other source.

"But sure, I-" Then the moan and the lights starting to flicker.
With a look in the direction of the moan, she whispers. "...safe room?" He had mentioned a turret.

[Hattish Thing]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Dr. Valiance immediately pales. The moan was one thing, the lights were another entirely. Couldn't have been coincidence. "Hey, uhh - just keep moving, its... just keep moving." He'll reach out to grab at Ambrosia's hand before moving forward as quickly as he can. "Step where I step, and be careful!" Last time he'd been down here, he'd set up proximity traps leading this way.

Judging by the expression on his face, Dr. Valiance seemed to know more about the strange sound than he was letting on.

[Shadowcaller]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Ambrosia doesn't need to be told twice. This does feels like something she should have been informed about though!

She will do what she's told and keeping holding his hand as he had to know the way better than she did.
Explanations could wait until they were (relatively) safe.

[Hattish Thing]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

The pair turn another corner, seemingly finding safety within yet another chamber, although it seems just as vile.
Ambrosia may notice tripwires scattered about, which Dr. Valiance is careful to point her across.

The chamber is thick with a more aggressive version of the milky-white webbing which exists throughout the facility. This particular sort of growth is dotted with fleshy red patches of membrane which pulse and secrete a strange crimson film. Lights flicker and flare periodically here, briefly illuminating the hall ahead with every flash. Fourteen ominous, glowing vats line the chamber, each one labelled with a plaque which depicts a selection of numbers and letters. Several of the vats have been shattered, but others remain intact.

The intact vats appear to contain human sized masses. Some have sunken to the bottom of the vats, but a few float within the fluid.

An overturned operating table has broken one of these containers, spilling viscous liquid across the floor. A much larger glass cylinder stands to the southeast, though it appears to have broken open long ago.

--

Dr. Valiance crouches around the corner, gesturing for Ambrosia to follow.

"Okay, okay. I think... we're alright."

[Earl of Purple]

Shopping Centre

There's four horses to pull the carriage, though they've been disconnected.
Arron begins his chant, and the skeletal horses start to look at him.
"Horses heed me,
Skeletons need me,
Riders feed me,
You are mine."

Benedict interrupts by drawing a simple green symbol in the air and channeling magic into it; Arron's the intended target, but if Miri looks too long at it, then she may too be affected. It's a sleep glyph, since that's relatively subtle and won't cause any collateral damage that would attract the local gangs that keep the peace here.

The manservant is quite a good catch, and the noxious herbs in the jar won't affect it anyway. Might kill the body faster, but the manservant can use dead bodies as well as living ones; it's just the decay that causes issues. That and the fact corpses can't feel fear, so the manservant can draw on less power from its host. Plus the toxins from the plant require either contact or inhalation, and it's holding the jar and not really breathing; there's no breathing holes in the bronze plate nailed to its face.

Warehouse of Payne ---> Dead Site- Old Crematorium

Felicity is teleported, and fails at noticing the fly. If Val doesn't notice it, the bug will be teleported along with the others.

Is the wrecked shuttle Val flew here in left behind, or does he teleport that away too?

[Shadowcaller]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

As soon as they stop she gives him a stare. "Mind filling me in? Since it seems like there are creatures loose in the lab."

The presence that follows them thankfully didn't have to dodge the tripwires so it can easily keep up.

[Rebonack]

[Warehouse of Payne ---> Dead Site- Old Crematorium]

Oh wow this place is kind of creepy.

An old crematorium? That's where mortal burn their corpses and grind their bones to powder right? The cherub isn't exactly feeling chipper when he realizes where he ended up. Hopefully this new idiot will let him out instead of keeping him in the cage. But if not... maybe he'll be a bit more receptive to suggestion than that other fat jerk was.

As the perfectly normal human child's container bounces against the floor he's jostled by the walls, yielding a sizzling sound and the smell of burning incense.

That really helps him work up the tear.

"Please pleas please let me out!" he cries. "I've been in here so long and that evil fat man was always sticking me with things. I'll be good I promise!"

Will his new captors listen to his plea?

He sure hopes so.

[Hattish Thing]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Dr. Valiance grimaces before slowly rising up to his full height. Whatever had made that sound didn't seem to have followed them this way. "There's, uhh - there's not supposed to be! If that even was, you know, anything. I dunno, but it seems... we're okay, now." He sighs before approaching the nearest vat, setting his gloved hands against the tank. He frowns, his face reflected in the crimson fluid within.

At this, he'll gesture for Ambrosia to approach. "So, can you keep a secret?"

---

[Deadsite - Abandoned Crematorium]

With a zap, the group vanishes. Just before they disappear, Dr. Valiance taps at a button built into a device worn around his wrist. Ten seconds later, the shuttle will self-destruct, exploding in a blast of shrapnel. Fortunately for any survivors of the blast, the explosion will have caused the paralytic gas to dissipate.

Surviving the blast is another question entirely.

--

The abandoned crematorium is not particularly pleasant. It is choked with dust and reeks of preserving fluids. The windows and entryways have been boarded up and blocked with heavy furniture from the other side; metal cabinets, shelves, and bolted paneling. Carpets have been torn away from the floor and piled into a corner, revealing cement below. It is an electrician's nightmare, for parts of the walls have been excavated in order to replace the electrical wiring with strange mechanical instruments designed to cater to Dr. Valiance's bizarre machinery.

It is composed of only four rooms: a converted laboratory filled with enormous computer systems, a preservation hall turned storage facility, a set of crumbling bathrooms, and a cremation chamber turned dormitory. At the moment, all of the stolen equipment will have been ported into the preservation hall. Tables filled with dust choked beakers and jars have been pressed up against the walls, and the outlines of rectangular shapes have been taped onto the ground. An attempt at some sort of rudimentary inventory plan, perhaps?

When the group arrives, Dr. Valiance will start collecting helmets and discs from his co-conspirators. "Okay, okay! I am so proud of you guys, hell - that was amazing!"

He will ignore the weird child sounds, instead focusing on passing out hugs.

[Shadowcaller]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Ambrosia doesn't look too reassured by his claims of safety. But she does approach as he gestures to her. "If you didn't believe I'd be capable to, I doubt I would have been invited to come here, Dr. Valiance." His question seemed rather rhetorical in nature so she was just going to wait for him to pull aside the curtains on this one.

[Hattish Thing]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Dr. Valiance nods gravely. It was not, perhaps, an ideal response. He would have preferred reassurance, given the circumstances. "Alright, well - here we go, baby." He's quiet now, his voice almost a whisper. With a shiver, he reaches down to activate a light switch. The tanks are now lit from the bottom, though some flicker yet. An eerie effect befitting of the gruesome content within.

Each tank is filled with a human sized mass, a dermoid cyst of outrageous proportions. It is a whorling nightmare of eyes and teeth, of stunted sinew draped in scales.
The doctor can only grimace at the reveal. "I, uhh - I've learned how to clone... things."

"They... don't feel pain." At least, he was semi-certain of that.

[Shadowcaller]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Ambrosia watches the cyst's with a grim expression as they are revealed. "For what reason did you clone her exactly? Simply going here is quite the undertaking apparently so you must have a good reasoning for it." Not to mention how VIGIL might feel about these abominations.

[Hattish Thing]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

With a shrug, Dr. Valiance pulls up a nearby chair. It's quite comfortable, though splattered with blood. "Okay, I'm not cloning her, we should, uhh - get that straight." He frowns, wringing his hands as he absentmindedly spins about within the chair. Cloning the teenager herself would have been super unethical. Just cloning her parts, though? That was... maybe less unethical? "There's no nervous system, nothing even close to a life." Time to properly explain things. "See, I've been working with a guy up here. In the city, I mean - we share notes on cloning stuff. This isn't perfect, but... It, uhh - gets the job done."

That still sounded super creepy, Val. "At first, I was interested in cloning Obsidian's tissue, uhh - all kinds of tissue, for a project of mine." Better make sure Ambrosia knows what that is, too. "See, she's weirdly resistant to all kinds of stuff. I've been working on a universal vaccine." A big, nice word for a project which, so far, has only produced terrible, awful things. "I'm sure you can see the, uhh - appeal, er. The importance of something like that?" He had almost given up, in truth. Once VIGIL came by and his focus turned to non lethal weaponry, he more or less abandoned the project. "Didn't get too far, though - its been really hard."

Now onto the new experiments! "You mentioned, uhh - that demons are vulnerable to draconic tissue?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Ambrosia looks for a chair of her own that isn't splattered with blood. If not, she'd prefer to stand. “Cloning as in replicating her DNA, not her.” The scholar clarifies as there seems to be some confusion regarding the term as she watches Val spin around in the chair. He was acting rather restless.

She nods on occasion as he explains his experiment, folding her armored hands together as she listens. "That does sound like a noble endeavor." In her tome a note is made to make further inquiries regarding this 'cloning guy' that Val just mentioned.

"I have seen countless examples of dragons being remarkably resistant to all sorts of things but never actually seen it being put to a test in a laboratory. It's all too common that dragons are extremely proud and don't want to donate their tissue or blood to scientific endeavors such as this." She gestures at the tanks and their gruesome contents.

"But yes, I've seen it with my own eyes. This specific type of demon, recognized by the black substance they bleed, can't even stand being near a true dragon. The effect does seem to lessen the less dragon-like something is. For instance, dragon-scales separate from the dragon itself can melt them down to their core components but they can at least stand to be near it. As I mentioned before, it doesn't seem to matter what kind of dragon it is as long as it's commonly recognized as one. Though it's not anything I've been able to confirm scientifically of course." Ambrosia shrugs.

"VIGIL have put some research into it however. Lady Mithar herself have experimented with the essence and I have even helped them out a bit by actually conducting an interview with a member of this group of beings. It's quite fascinating but also considered rather unethical in the nexus now. These demons have attacked and killed a lot of people so anything related to them is considered 'evil' or dangerous." Doesn't sound like she fully agrees with this assessment though.

[Hattish Thing]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

Fortunately for her, there's a cleaner chair nearby. Perhaps Dr. Valiance chose the bloody one as a kindness of sorts. "Ah, right - yeah. Words are hard, but I dig it." It did feel a little sketchy, cloning her without her consent. But then, just how much of a right does one have to one's own genetic blueprint? "You're just right, that's what all this is for! Won't need samples!" Hell yeah! But still, there were complications.

Probably, at least. "Well, uhh - at Ms. Mithar's request, I'll be pumping this stuff into all kinds of, uhh - demon repellents, I guess." It sounds casual, but something about the way he says that is somewhat sinister.

[Shadowcaller]

[Deadsite - Zeta Labs]

"And while you're at that, you should also request getting access to the samples of demonic essence she have in her possession and tell me once you do. I can help you analyze them and I believe you will find them quite interesting." She could get more in-depth on the subject then but for now they should focus on the contents of the lab.

"But if I ever want to return here again you might need to explain just what caused the lights to flicker. It has happened before, hasn't it? You looked more fearful than confused so what exactly were you fearing?" Her tome floats over to her and she takes a hold of it. The next part was going to be important.

[Earl of Purple]

Payne's Warehouse

The person closest to the self-destructing shuttle is Heavyhanded, who is pretty badly mangled by the blast. It doesn't stop him, though; now he's no longer paralysed, he'll stand up as the injured tissues are healed by swapping them with those from one of his extradimensional duplicates and start to clear the way. Shocker hasn't recovered yet, but another person- one that hadn't been seen during the attack- has appeared from nowhere and is placing invisible forcefields against the ceiling to help keep the warehouse from collapsing further. Payne himself is struggling up with the help of the three-limbed creature he generated from his gullet earlier.

Deadsite- Abandoned Crematoria

Now it's been teleported,t he large fly launches itself from Anika and starts flying around, looking for an open window, vent or chimney it could fly through. It's pretty big, so Val or Anika could notice it at this point, before it finds its way out.

The lights that were hooked up and shining on the other child are no longer plugged into an electrical source, so they do not glow. In the darker environment, the child glances up slightly, though 'glances' might be the wrong word- he has his eyes shut. He seems to see just fine, however, and tilts his head to one side before hunching back over and weeping.

Felicity stumbles after the teleportation, losing her balance due to the sudden shift in the floor beneath her feet- it's no longer the rough rubble from the blasted wall she stood on before. She looks around with great interest; not her first time in a villain's secret lair, but her first trip to one of Val's secret lairs.