Experimentals (reboot)

OOT: Well, this should be quite interesting, Brother Ginger.

Masato jumped a little when he heard the girl's voice come from seemingly nowhere.
"What the...?"
He pulled his hand away and peered into the room behind Bran and saw something that made him do a double take.
"Who's that girl passed out on the floor?"
He then gave Bran a rather suspicious look and took a few steps back.
"You've got a perfectly good explanation for why there's an unconscious girl over there...right? And it's not because you're into the freaky stuff, right?"
He slowly picked up his gun, still looking a little wary of his new friend who he knew absolutely nothing about.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm listening and I promise I'm not gonna jump to any conclusions...but still, I am gonna be watching you, just saying."
With his index and middle finger, he made the "watching you" sign.
"Just saying. Like a hawk."

 

Bran froze in a cold sweat, upon Masato's question. He had found Leah but it would be difficult to explain why he had here in the first place. Oh she's my insurance policly or sheild, yeah That would go over really well... As Bran thought of how he should explain Leah he heard a sound behind him

He turned to see if Leah was wake only to find her still asleep. That's great timing, maybe he didn't..... Shit. As Bran was finishing that thought Masato noticed.
Masato jumped a little when he heard the girl's voice come from seemingly nowhere.
"What the...?"
He pulled his hand away and peered into the room behind Bran and saw something that made him do a double take.
"Who's that girl passed out on the floor?"
He then gave Bran a rather suspicious look and took a few steps back.
"You've got a perfectly good explanation for why there's an unconscious girl over there...right? And it's not because you're into the freaky stuff, right?"
Thinking quickly Bran made an answer "You wanted to get allies right? Well I was one step ahead of you, Leah here was put under by a nurse when i Just happened to stumble into her room, kinda like us finding each other masato" he said trying to calm the now suspicious Masato. Could have went the brother route, been more believable until she woke up. Masato slowly picked up his gun, still looking a little wary of his new friend who he knew absolutely nothing about.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm listening and I promise I'm not gonna jump to any conclusions...but still, I am gonna be watching you, just saying."
With his index and middle finger, he made the "watching you" sign.
"Just saying. Like a hawk."
Masato's last words stung at Bran, "Well Masato, I wouldn't be the only one to watch. From the nurse's reaction to me freeing her, Leah shouldn't be allowed free movement. I'll let you guess at what that means, as even I don't know what they did to her" Bran said with a tone "Also.... watch yourself, a real guard wouldn't have hesitated to shoot you"
Bran the picked Leah back up and set her on his shoulder.
"Those gun shots definitely will draw attention, need to find another way down. Masato you coming?" Bran asked his new friend

OoT: Your move Brother DM, choose wisely muahahaha

 

OOT: I always choose wisely! Except when I don't. But that doesn't happen too often!

Those words clearly struck a chord with Masato. He glanced at the unconscious girl with a look of worry.
"So...they did all kinds of crazy experiments on all of us, right? But she's the one they're really worried about? What does that even mean?"
He felt a slight shiver as a seemingly endless stream of possibilities came to mind.
"I guess we'll just have to hope she's on our side when she wakes up."

He laughed nervously, averting his eyes.
"Yeah, uh, about that. Look, I'm no action movie hero, okay? I'm actually pretty new to all of this."
Even though he was still trying to convince himself, he managed to put on what looked like a confident smirk.
"Besides, as long as they don't pop up out of nowhere like you did, I think I can manage."
His smirk faded as the idea crossed his mind.
"That's not gonna happen...is it?"

He shrugged.
"It's not like I've got any better ideas. Lead the way, Bran."
He followed along, making sure to check every corner with his gun at the ready.

 

Bran lead the way down the hall with Leah over his shoulder and Masato behind
"Just for the record I not a hero either, just have minor experience at a shooting range and a overwhelming disire to live. Can't really blame anyone there huh?" Bran told his new ally as the walked. Something was off as the group had made it all the way to nurses station and had not seen a person yet. This isn't right there should atleast be a nurse here what is going on here?
A loud ringing alarm went off as they pasted the nurses station, a hidden nurse slammed on a button activating it.. The nurse screamed and panickly ran away from the group.
"Masato we need to move now!!! Guards have to be on their way, get ready for a fight!' Bran looked over to Masato to see his reaction

 

"Wait, hold on!!"
Masato called out to Bran as he made his way behind the counter of the nurses station. He frantically looked around for anything that might be helpful and his eyes landed on an information terminal.
"This has gotta be it!"
He kept talking as he tried to log on and gather any information he could.
"We have no idea where we're going, right? Well, there's gotta be something here that can help us like a map or...I dunno, a blueprint or something!"
But after just a few seconds, he heard a voice shouting from down the hall, talking into his radio.

"Form up! They're here at the nurses station!"

Masato felt a shiver crawl up his spine. Without a moment's hesitation, he ran up to the wall facing the hallway where the voice was coming from and leaned around the corner with his submachine gun aimed straight ahead. The guard noticed him and aimed his weapon, but by that time it was already too late. The two were looking each other right in the eyes, but Masato's finger was the only one already on the trigger. He opened fire, unloading a short burst of bullets into the guard who slumped down to the floor. Although it was easier than last time, Masato started breathing heavily after taking yet another human life. Despite this, whether it was his pumping adrenaline or survival instincts, he quickly went back to work on the terminal as if nothing happened.
"Okay, I'm getting close! Can you hold them off for a while?"
He kept on typing away for some time, but soon ran into a problem that made his heart sink when he saw it.

*ACCESS DENIED*
*PLEASE SWIPE YOUR KEYCARD TO CONTINUE*

When those words appeared on the screen, Masato slammed his fist onto the desk and let out a yell of frustration. He didn't have time to do much else as more guards were approaching quickly, this time from the opposite hallway. Gunshots rang through the air and Masato ducked instinctively. He then rolled forward so that he was under cover behind the counter, coming up for a few brief moments gun down two more guards who were getting dangerously close. After that, he called out to Bran.
"It's no good! I need a keycard!"
He knew exactly what the computer was talking about. Unfortunately, he couldn't get his hands on one. One of the guards had a card on him, but it took some of Masato's gunfire and was completely ruined. The other guard wasn't even carrying one, probably because he was too busy slacking off and completely forgot. Masato could only hope that Bran picked one up along the way.

 

The beast Hexen smashed his way until he finally broke out of the complex. Free, and now outside, he looked for a good direction to go.
Free, finally. And rid of that foolish name "Trump". What is that anyway?
Unfortunately, all the horizon revealed to him was an ocean. Jumping on top of the building, Hexen climbed to a high point, trying to determine what the land mass was.
An island. I shall now need a way off, now that my wings have been torn from me.
Agitated by this, he jumped back down to where he smashed out of the lab.
Saw a map earlier.
He plodded back into the lab, to the wall that was somehow left standing in that area.
Let's see... Ah, there is the hangar. Time to head that way.
Hexen began running, plowing through the lab on his way to the hangar. Coming across a new group of guards advancing on two men and a girl (Bran, Masato andLeah), he swatted the guards, gibbing them across the hallway.
"PUNY CREATURES!"

 

Spoiler: Nobody's Mask

Item: Nobody's Mask / Nemo Larva
Until I can draw up a picture of it I'll just use the image I got inspired from.

Spoiler: Inspiration

Description: A metal mask of unknown material that has so far proven to be invulnerable to any damage. It has four eye openings that are closed unless being worn. The openings are situated two on each side of the midline of the mask with three lines showing where the nose and brow are located. Two additional lines are on the forehead, it is unknown if these are additional eyes or just cosmetic. The eye openings are situated with the top two that cover the wearer's eyes, and the bottom two over the wearer's cheeks. The mask does not grow additional eyes on the wearer, but seem to be part of the mask. The eyes are a dull orange in color with the exception that the first eye to open always matches the host's natural color. Even with only one eye open, the host has 360 degree vision.

The reverse side of the mask is an organic material vaguely formed as a sort of breathing device. The organic side of the mask can be damaged but regenerates. All tested samples have concluded that it is thousands of years old and is human flesh of European descent.

Abilities: The mask is capable of causing spontaneous combustion in the wearer, immolating them completely and leaving nothing behind. Fire is the most effective weapon against the host as depending on which and how many eyes are open can cause other means of termination to be almost fruitless.

Every host will eventually succumb to the mask's effects on their bodies and be consumed. It is unknown exactly why or when this will happen to any given person. (This operates similar to the idea in Madoka Magica, where if a Magical Girl uses too much of her magic without purification, she will become a witch.)

Each eye grants the host a distinct and separate ability. The two eyes on the right side of the mask govern physical abilities while the left two eyes are in control of mental ones. As the eyes open powers are added and the host grows stronger. If all eyes are open at one time, the host enters a hyper state and is nigh untouchable. This state consumes the host's energy at a phenomenal rate and can only be used for short periods of time.

When the mask attaches to a host, one eye will open and will stay open until the host is consumed by the mask. The starter eye is determined by a D8 role; the top right eye opens with a result of 1 and 5, the bottom right eye with a 2 and 6, the top left eye is 3 and 7, and the bottom left is 4 and 8.

Physical abilities:
Top eye - Stamina Buff - With this eye open the host has their body heal much faster from physical damage. The exception to this rule is fire. If this eye doesn't open the host's life is drastically shorter due to the benefits of the healing ability to keep the host body from decaying as quickly.

Bottom eye - Agility Buff - With this eye open the host can move and react faster than any normal human being. Pushing the human body beyond it's normal limits can cause damage to the muscles and joints. It is best to limit use of this eye until the stamina boost eye can be opened.

Mental abilities:
Top eye - Telekinesis - Lift stuff with mind. While the host can lift extremely heavy things, lifting too much at once or something too heavy for a long period of time can cause damage faster than it can be healed.

Bottom eye - Perception Boost - With this eye open the host has vastly improved hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch. The downside is that this also makes the host more susceptible to pain and loud noises.

Possible Sentience: Nobody's mask is named this as when the Germans first began experimenting on their Jewish prisoners, the hosts that spoke coudl only speak in Latin. When the entity was asked its name, it gave Nemo as its name. Over time it learned German and later Russian, English and many other languages as it absorbed hosts.

When the mask is placed on a host, that host is subjected to the memories and fragments of thought from the hosts before them. This may drive the new host insane causing them to go berserk until they are killed. This effects a low ratio of new hosts. The majority begin referring to themselves as Nemo and ask to be made whole again.

As far as the consciousness being independent from the host's is unknown, as the host recognizes their own name and behaves the same as they did prior to becoming the host. However the hosts that can speak mention that there is a voice whispering in their ear that they can speak with and get answers. It is unknown if this is from the entity that calls itself Nemo or if its just the collected voices of the previous hosts.

It is possible for the mask to be removed from the host's face and allowed to rest on the side or top of the head. If the mask is removed from the host body the host will immediately die.

Origin: It is unknown where the mask originated from although general acceptance of one theory among researchers is known. It is suggested that the mask was a holy relic of a small pagan cult caught by the Inquisition of the Medieval Era. The mask had been left in the church placed under blessings and holy symbols.

The mask was taken from the church by the Nazis in their quest for occult relics to help them win World War II. During the siege of Berlin the warehouse the mask was in was destroyed by a bomb. The mask was discovered by Soviet forces in East Berlin after the war when the research documents for the mask were found in another building.

Building on the German research, the Russians made quick advances in understanding how the mask worked.

It seemed to prefer women over men, especially women aged 15-35. The reasoning for this is that women are able to wear the mask longer than men and open more of the eyes before they are consumed by the mask. Incompatible hosts spontaneously combust upon having the mask attached to them.

Another boon for the mask were women with blonde hair and blue eyes were able to wear the mask longer than any others. This no doubt fueled the research of Nazi scientists as it was another shred proving Aryan superiority.

As genetic research became more advanced, it was discovered that the closer the host's DNA matched the DNA of the mask, the more compatible they would be.

After the end of the cold war the Russian occult researchers joined the Global Occult Force and the mask was sent to the United States for further study. The Nobody's Mask currently resides in a sub-level of a larger compound devoted to experimental research on humans.

The goal of further research is to ascertain what the metal alloy is composed of to revolutionize manufacturing. It is hoped that the entity known as "Nemo" will eventually give out this information with the right host.

There are mentions in the Nazi documents of a suit of armor matching the mask. Sketches were drawn by hosts of the mask under Nazi control but it is unknown if Nemo wants the armor to be made or if it is hidden somewhere in Europe.

Special Ability: Awakened Mode, when all four eyes are open the host is capable of extreme feats, though this is a very rare occurrence and will kill the host.

Weaknesses:
Fire, it is unknown why fire is so damaging to the host. A theory was proposed about why suspected witches were burned at the stake but no solid evidence is available for this claim. A more accepted theory is that due to the damage multiple burns do to the body, the healing ability can't keep up with the constant damage and thus uses too much of the host's energy.

Parasitic Nature, the mask needs a host to be more than just a mask. Without a host it is inert, though when put in the vicinity of a compatible host it will attempt to lure the host to it. The potential hosts report hearing whispering in their ear that do not stop. If they do not find the mask they suffer psychological damage over time.

Spoiler: Roll Explainations

D8 rolls are to decide which of the four eyes open upon first contact
D% rolls are to decide if the new host goes berserk or not 70 - 100 results in berserking
D6 rolls are for when the next eye on the mask can open, granting more abilities.
D20 rolls are for deciding if the next eye will open, 13 - 20 for success
D12 rolls are for showing how many posts before the new host will die

Spoiler: First Post

Spoiler: Kimberly Rolls

D8 - 5 Healing
D% - 70 Insanity
Other rolls unnecessary

Spoiler: Meghan Rolls

D8 - 1 Healing
D% - 20 Sanity
D6 - Second eye may open in 5 posts
D12 - Death in 12 posts

Uuugghhhh… she groaned as her eyes opened to take in the bright light glaring down into her eyes. Meghan’s brain struggled to fight through the haze of sleep and figure out what it was that was bothering her. She couldn’t put her finger on it right now, but something was definitely wrong about where she was. She shook her head to try to clear it of cobwebs and found herself regretting waking up.

“Wuff tha hull?” She asked herself out loud, discovering that there was a rolled up piece of fabric shoved in her mouth. Alarm quickly followed this revelation and she tried to move her body and get up but was securely bound. With her pulse pounding in her ears drowning out her thoughts, she began to scream for help.

The screaming accomplished nothing, so after a few minutes she stopped to get her breath back and think up something more productive to be doing. Willing her heart to slow down some, she looked around the room she was in for anything useful. It was a small room from what she could gather from her limited view. The walls looked to be made of glass and there weren’t any cabinets or counters that she could see. Directly to her right was a monitor attached to the ceiling that showed her vital signs. She wasn’t sure if her blood pressure was outside of whatever normal was at 150/90 but she knew that a pulse of 100 seemed higher than it should be. Next to something reading 98% was a bunch of squiggly lines that was monitoring her heart, she knew that much from medical dramas. It wasn’t beeping and flat so she was still alive. Hooray.

Her entire body was strapped to a metal table with thick straps. There were two on both arms and legs, one around her waist and under her breasts and a final one around her throat. Fighting for calm with the pressure of a strap on your throat didn’t really help anything. Meghan screwed her eyes shut to try and block out her situation.

What’s my happy place? She asked herself half-jokingly.

The sound of an air conditioner kicking on brought a cold draft into her room. The cold air caused her flesh to goose bump and the realization that she was naked and strapped to a table brought a new rise of panic. She was just fighting it back down when she heard the footsteps.

A group of men and women, maybe six in total, with armed guards walked past her room in the hallway. She could hear muffled speech but couldn’t make anything out. All she could do as they passed out of sight was pray they weren’t coming for her. A door opened… Meghan held her breath and closed her eyes, her imagination trying to show her, her worst fears.

They didn’t come inside her room. Opening one eye she tried to find them and saw them standing in the room just next to hers. They stood around a metal table that held another bound and naked female. One of the doctors pressed a lever with his foot and the table slowly moved vertical and she heard her gasp fill the room as she saw Kimberly strapped to it.

Kimberly’s eyes were wide with fear and her mouth seemed to be moving behind the gag in her mouth. The doctors spoke among themselves before on set a case on a cart and opened it. He took something out and showed it to Kimberly who seemed confused for a moment before she started struggling again. The man approached her with the thing in his hand and pressed it against her face as one of the others quickly removed the gag. A brief scream escaped her friend’s lips before the mask cut the scream off.

Meghan could only watch, praying to the god that she hoped was listening right now to let her friend be okay. She watched through the glass with worry as the doctors began consulting instruments and screens in the room. A scream shattered what seemed to be a routine moment for the doctors and left Meghan’s ears ringing with the intensity of it. The doctors rushed out of the room as Kimberly fought with renewed strength against the straps that held her down and tore them like paper.

Eyes wide with surprise, Meghan watched as the armed guards rushed into the room, brought their rifles to their shoulders and opened fire. Kimberly fell to the floor in a pool of her blood and Meghan felt her throat as she screamed and tears in her eyes as these people just killed her friend like an animal. Blinking through her tears she tried to focus on the scene before her as Kimberly slowly got to her feet and let another deafening scream out from behind the mask. Four blazing eyes glared around the room as she continued screaming. The two guards had fallen to their knees before her and she beheaded one with a casual flick of her wrist. The other man dove to a button set next to the door and pressed it before he was thrown across the room hard enough to crack the glass wall. He fell unconscious to the floor and didn’t move. Kimberly turned from the body and stalked towards the door. The next instant the room was a ball of fire and a horrible shriek once again left Meghan’s ears ringing. As the fire cleared there was nothing left in the room but the charred armor of the two guards and scorch marks covering the warped glass.

The doctors returned to the room and picked up the mask, she couldn’t see anything of her friend attached to it, not even bones on the floor. They made a few notes on some paper and must have called for more guards as three more appeared to take the place of the dead. Gathering up the mask, the doctors let Kimberly’s room and stepped into Meghan’s.

The poor girl was bawling under her gag and it took several attempts of getting her attention for her to focus on the doctors. Her whole body froze and a sob died in her throat as she saw that horrible mask held in one of their hands. Shaking her head no she began to plead to them, but it was clear that they felt nothing for the girl before them.

“Subject 120449,” the woman said, “Meghan Webber, sixteen years old, a student at Central High School, track team, volleyball team, 3.39 GPA.”

“How high was her genetic match?” One of the men asked.

“90, but she’s a blonde, so it’s more like 95 percent.”

“Good, this should be a better test than that one. Where’d she come from anyway?”

“They were brought in together. The nurse at the school called our collection team.”

“I see,” he turned to Meghan and slapped her in the face. “Conducting test 120449.”

The other man had circled around behind her and removed the gag from her mouth. Once the fabric was removed she let out a scream she hoped was as ear splitting as Kimberly’s had been.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

The mask covered her face, wet flash suctioned onto her cheeks and forehead. Tendrils forced themselves into her nose, past her lips and clenched teeth, opened her eyelids and wrapped around her eyes. Meghan had never imagined anything like this before, she had no words to express the violation of herself right now. She tried to scream to anything that actually gave a damn to make it all go away. Go away right now!

“Relax,” whispered a stern voice in her ear. “Relax! Shhhh…”

The whisper in her ear turned to static and she felt her consciousness slipping away. Thankyouthankyoutha-

“Nemo, can you hear me?”

“We do,” echoed the voice that slithered out from behind the mask.

“Is this one more to your taste?”

“Yesss.”

“Very good, now let us proceed.”


Hours passed and Meghan awoke with something slimy on her face. Memories shot back into her waking brain and she screamed but no sound came, just the rubbery texture of that thing on her face, in her mouth, behind her eyes.

“Shhhh,” the whisper again, “We are one. I am you, you are me. We are Nemo.”

“Nemo?” Meghan asked the voice.

“We are Nemo. We need to become whole.”

“We must be whole again. But… I-We, I… Kim…” Nemo faded away back into the darkness, a greasy black tear slipping out of the opening over her right eye. The green eye stared unblinking from the mask up at the ceiling and that glaring light shined down on Nemo’s host.

 

"It would be nice to have a map of the place, get on it! I'll keep a look out in the mean time" as Bran said this he heard two voices, one from over his shoulder and another of a guard. He looked over saw the guard and Masato running with this sub machine gun toward cover. He found cover as well behind the nurses station.

Setting Leah down Bran answered "Leah we are... we are at a bad place right now so i need you to listen to me if you can hear me" He paused seeing Masato turn the corner toward the guard "My friend and I are trying to help you but it's going to get very loud soon." Several gunshots rang out. Masato ran back to the computer and the guard laid on the floor. Damn, Damn DAMN.... this is going down hill fast, gotta keep this girl on our side
"Just.. just please stay down and calm. I promise we will make it out of here!" He said to Leah.

"Hold them off?! We don't have a choice just make it quick! They start coming from both sides i wouldn't have any cover, I'm not dying today Masato" Bran said as he grabbed one of the rifles from his back and took cover at one of the walls to the hallway. As he thought he heard footsteps a loud crash and thunderous roar followed by screaming. ......What the hell was that..... god i hope that doesn't come this way........

"Masato! Catch!" Remembering the cards he got he threw one over hoping it worked

OoT: Ella and Brother DM your moves

 

OOT: Brother DM takes the field once again!

Masato heard the noise as well and swallowed hard.
"This might be wishful thinking, but...maybe that thing is on our side? If it's not, then hopefully it doesn't notice us..."
As much as he wanted to look over there and see what it was, he had to make sure the enemies standing right in front of him didn't fill him up with holes. He kept firing and took down a few more guards, though he still worried about those noises in the back of his mind.

He caught the card, whispering "Yes!" under his breath as he got up one more time, laid down some suppressing fire and ran back to the terminal. He went back to typing-- as quickly as he could since the situation was clearly turning against them-- and swiped the card when the computer prompted him. He read the screen and his expression quickly turned to one of both anger and despair.
"Not authorized...? Well, why isn't it authorized?! Read it again!"
He swiped the card a few more times, only to get the same result.
"COME ON!! You've gotta be kidding me!"
He pounded his fist on the table a few more times, each time a little harder than the last.
"The clearance level on this one isn't high enough! Do you--"
Before he could even finish, a stray bullet from one of the guards came dangerously close to hitting him, missing its mark by only a few feet. Masato quickly went back to cover and started firing back while calling out to Bran.
"Do you have another one on you? I don't know, maybe a different card would do it!"

When he looked over and saw the girl shooting out bolts of electricity, his eyes went wide.
"That...that's not good, is it?"
Then, much to his horror, some sort of vortex formed nearby and started sucking in everything around it. One of the guards panicked and tried to shoot at it, but the bullets were simply swallowed up by it and disappeared from sight. Masato had a look of absolute horror written all over his face as he gripped the counter tightly.
"Oh, okay! She's that kind of dangerous!!!"
He let out a yelp as some loose objects from the nearby counter went right over his head and were sucked into the vortex. He looked over to the girl who was causing all of this nervously.
"If we can get her to calm down then maybe this craziness will stop. It's worth a shot!"

He took in a breath and called out to her.
"Hey! Leah, right?! Listen, I know that this whole situation is terrifying and confusing and you just want to go home, but you've got to get ahold of yourself! We're scared too, okay? But if we want to get out of this crazy mess, we've gotta stay calm and work as a team! We can help you find your brother. I don't know how, but we'll figure that out once we get out of here! Please, you've gotta trust us, let's get out this hellhole together!

 

Bran had been laying down covering firing taking out a few of the guards on his half. He then saw Leah begin to emit sparks, then a void appeared. That, that can't be..... suddenly items began flying into the void and disappearing. THEY WEAPONIZED A BLACK HOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are they insane?? Giving a girl that much power..... she gets anymore upset that thing could go out of control fast. Bran the saw Masato try to calm Leah, as a guard had gotten close to then and began firing at the black hole. Landing several shots on the guard, he slumped fell slumped over as bran ran to the other side to deal with the approaching guards.

Bran snapped his fingers down the hall creating a flash blinding the incoming guards. Stumbling and covering their eyes, the became easy targets and fell quickly. Bran then ran back to the far side almost taking a few bullets as he returned to cover. After a few well placed shots bran had cleared the current wave of guards.

"Okay Masato.... we are clear for a moment...." Bran said with heavy breath "Huh? Oh yeah here try this on-UAGH" As bran reached into his pocket to get the nurses key card, a guard had ran up and hit him with his rifle. The key card was sent flying, landing on the floor near the black hole and beginning to be pulled in. Bran laid on the floor looking up at the guard who was aim down at him ready to fire...

OoT: Brother DM, DOIT!

 

OOT: I'm going for it...FULL SPEED AHEAD, BROTHER GINGER!

Masato had a hopeful look as he turned to face Bran, but when he saw what happened that look turned to shock and horror.
"BRAN!!"
Two major, life-threatening problems at the same time. It certainly wasn't an enviable position to be in. The card was dangerously close to the black hole-- in fact, he could actually see it sliding closer-- and a guard was standing right over Bran. Masato didn't even have time to think. He had to react and he had to do it right now.

He ran out from behind cover and jumped right for the card, despite how dangerously close it was to the black hole. In mid-leap, he turned to face Bran and the guard. Fortunately, his shot was easy to line up: the guard was in a standing position will Bran was slumped down on the floor, so even for a novice like him, aiming wouldn't be an issue as long as he aimed for the upper torso. He did so, unloading a volley into the guard who fell to the floor, his rifle clattering as it landed beside him. Then, at the last possible instant, Masato turned his head back towards the card and quite possibly his impending doom and right when he landed, he stretched out his free hand and grabbed the keycard, quickly pulling it back to safety. Or at least, what he thought was safety. With his eyes practically bulging out of his head and his mouth agape, a horrified whisper escaped his lips.

"It's...got me...help."

As he laid prone on the floor, staying as flat as he possibly could, he could feel the gravitational pull of the black hole threatening to swallow him up at any second. The card was almost directly under it when he snatched it up, so he was now only a few feet away from it. Slowly, carefully, he turned towards the nurses station.

"Make it...stop..."

At that moment, he felt the absolute horror of knowing that he was so dangerously close to oblivion. The pull was getting stronger by the minute. The sense of near-weightlessness he felt shook him to his core. He knew that this was his last chance to get away. Ever so carefully, he reached out with his right arm and began to pull himself away from the black hole. Then he used his left arm, alternating between the two and making very slow, but relatively safe progress.

It wasn't enough. The black hole pulsated and grew slightly stronger than before, making his situation even more dire than before.
"No...I won't..."
Just then, as he was just about to push himself forward in a last, desperate attempt to get away, an ethereal blue aura surrounded his legs.
"I won't let it take me!!!"
With a grunt of effort, he gained his footing just long enough to jump forward with an unbelievable burst of speed, easily clearing the black hole and launching him towards the nurses station. Unfortunately, his power faded quickly and he slammed into the wall, leaving him in a daze for a while.

 

Amazed by the events that had just happened Bran looked over at Masato. What was that blue aura, his power?? Hell of a boost if so, need to becarful then, his speed could trump my flash. Seeing a guard fast approaching the dazed Masato, Bran was helpless but to watch as his rifle had been knocked way and didn't have time to pull out his pistol. "No, no Masato!!!" Holding out his hand he yelled to warn this ally, suddenly a stream of fire shot from his hand and extend just long enough to catch the guard's uniform on fire. Panicking and flailing about around the room, the guard had giving bran enough time to pull out his pistol. two shots rang out as the guard slumped over.
"Masato, how much longer? That thing is getting bigger and i'm close to running out of ammo" Bran asked Masato as he got back up on his feet. Damn it I've got to do something... Seeing Leah in the corner with her hands over her ears and eyes closed he slide over to try and calm her panicked state. Grabbing her arm he shook her a little.
"You alright? Hey Listen, we will find your brother but we have to make it outta here! But we need you to calm down a bit, even just a little. My friend there masato is working on a way out of here, just bare with us a bit more" Bran paused then looked back at Masato
"Well?"

 

Masato's vision was still blurry and he was breathing heavily as the guard approached. In his hazy stupor, he still felt a vague sense of panic come over him and he tried desperately to will his arm towards the submachine gun that now laid just a few inches away from him. But even that negligible distance might as well have been miles away as his hand uselessly clawed at the ground in front of him, failing to grasp the weapon on every attempt. The guard soon put a stop to this, giving Masato a swift kick to the midsection as he took aim at Masato's head. Masato closed his weary eyes, helplessly waiting for what would come next.

His eyes shot open again. Though it was distorted and muffled, he heard Bran cry out which helped bring Masato back to his senses. As if startled awake from an unpleasant dream, he felt more aware now than he had just a moment ago and his eyes were now focused just enough to see what happening in front of him. He laid there in stunned amazement as a stream of fire shot out from Bran's hand, setting the guard aflame. Gunshots soon followed, putting the guard down for good. Though his voice was weak and shaky, he still managed to voice his reaction.
"Whoa. Awesome."
Soon after, he had recovered enough to get back on his feet, albeit slowly. Once managed that, everything came back into focus and for the most part, he'd recovered from the incident. He listened to Bran and Leah talking and he noticed that as they did, the black hole now seemed much weaker than before. He still felt a little nervous at the sight of it, especially after what he'd just been through, but he felt like they could finally get back to work now. Speaking of...

He gave Bran a firm nod.
"I'm on it."
With the new keycard still in his hand, he made his way back to the terminal and tried to gain access again. He swallowed hard when the computer asked for verification. With a slightly shaky hand, he swiped the card.

*ACCESS GRANTED*

Masato threw his arms in the air with a loud "YES!" before getting right back to work.
"Alright, here's the deal: I found a map of the facility we're in right now. No way...this place is huge! I can't get a map of the entire facility from here, but I've got the layout for the building we're in right now."
He studied the map quickly and thoroughly, specifically looking for every way out of the building that he could find. The most obvious one, the front door, was a long way down and it seemed way too obvious, they'd likely be swarmed by guards and killed. There were a few fire escapes that looked promising, but those exits faced the other buildings and what they really wanted was to get away from the entire facility. Then his eyes landed on a part of the building that he pointed to as he whispered "that's it." He called out to Bran when he found it.
"I've got something! Two floors down, we can get to a service elevator that'll take us down to the docks! We need to go..."
He looked out and pointed to the left.
"...That way! We've gotta make our way to the next set of stairs before we go down, then it's just another couple of hallways to the service elevator!"
He made it a point to mention taking the stairs instead of taking the elevators two floors down because he'd seen enough action movies to know that the regular elevators are bad news. If you're really unlucky, the bad guys might bring in an attack helicopter to gun you down the hero while he's in there. Only the service elevators can be trusted to take them all the way down to where they need to go, but even then, the hero might run into a few enemies on the way.
"Let's move while they're still waiting on backup!"
He loaded one of his precious few spare magazines into his gun and started to make his way down the hall.

 

Nodding his head bran agreed "Masato lead the way, you are the one that know the lay out" Turning to Leah he answered her plea.
"Come on we have a way out now, once we get to that service elevator we would have a bit of time to talk and explain a few things as well" Bran lent a hand to Leah in case she needed help getting up off the floor


Atlas and Echo emerged from the engine room after about five minutes of working on the engine. They made their way to the deck while talking to each other.
"See what happens when you don't break something, repairs get done in a flash!" "Lad if someone fixed it right to being with I wouldn't have to smash it" "Ughhhh let's not shall we? Oooooh....... she's in one of those moods again" As the pair it closer to the bow, they had seen the several piles catch fish and Frost dancing.
"She couldn't wait i guess, ah well means we have some catching up to do" Atlas sighed as he then took up the port sides fishing net, Echo took the right and began fishing as well. Hmmmm ah, seems the finished already..... and i was just getting to the good part as well, back to work then. Frost opened her eyes and began freezing columns in the water, these columns helped funnel fish into the nets of her friends. After several repeats of casting, freezing and unloading the crew of the Albatross had filled their deck with piles of fish. "That should do it right, Come on let's go to the rendezvous point and unload 'that cargo' already." Frost said as she climbed back aboard the ship. "I don't like it as much as you do lass but it's a pretty penny.... We won't have to do this soon enough, just wait." Atlas said sternly "Echo get us going, then we head for Kamaka, The beach, the sun, and the girls entertaining the tourist ahhh" Atlas began day dreaming while Frost and Echo just shook their heads.

 

Hexen paused to see a group of people fumbling with a locked door, before seeing a black hole form.
...Well, screw them. I can go a little out of my way to avoid one of those things.
Hexen passed their area, intent on avoiding unnecessary trouble. He continued smashing his way to the boat hangar, slaughtering any unfortunate guards he met.

"We're out!"
Arc had passed up Violet, following Hexen's route to the outside world. But just like Hexen, they soon realized they were on an island upon climbing to a high point.
"Great. An island."
"Don't need to go on that island vacation anymore. Already on it!"
"This is no vacation. Perhaps we can find a helipad?"
"I saw a basic outline map inside. Let's see if that will show us the way out."
They scaled back down to the entrance, and reentered. There, they saw the same map Hexen used.
"Boats are that way, and helis are in that area too. Well, let's go!"
"Looks like something already cleared a path to the boats. We might run into that creature again."
"We'll need a map though."
Arc paused and stared at the map, naviagting the menu in his head before finding the camera and taking a shot.
"There, I'll lead the way."
They proceeded, with Arc in the lead as he followed his picture of the map. They eventually saw a messy hallway, where splattered guards adorned the entrance of he hallway while in the other direction, Hexen wake was obvious.
"This route shows the bloody hallway is right, but the other is the route the beast took. I think we should take the proper route."
"That is reasonable. I don't want to meet that creature again."
Violet shuddered, remembering how Arc was temporarily killed. She raised her BFG, ready to deviate from Hexen's destructive path.
"I doubt this way will be cleared. Keep an eye on your radar!"
"Already on that. And I see... three dots ahead. Let's move!"
Arc began to run, Violet tailing. They rounded the corner, and saw the source of Arc's three radar dots. Two men and a girl. One had apparently opened the door, while the other guy spoke to the girl. Violet raised her heavy BFG 3000, pointing at them. Her endosymbiont's dark tentacles helped support the gum, green lights pulsating from it.
"Don't move or I'll blast all of you!"

 

Just as they were about to make their way out of the nurses station, Masato froze in place upon hearing a voice call out.

He put his hands up, turned around slowly and saw two figures standing in front of him. The most important thing he noticed was that the woman who called out to them had a very big gun in her...tentacle hands which was giving off some very ominous-looking green light.
"Look...we don't want any trouble. We're just trying to get out of here in one piece!"
He dropped his gun and put his arms up, turning his head towards Bran in a way that his mouth wouldn't be as noticeable when his whispered to him.
"I've got an idea. Do the flashy thing."
Of course, he had no idea if this plan would work as it depended on him using his power that he knew almost nothing about, but right now it was their best chance of getting out of here.