RES University

"Wait... Is that Craixen?" Legion said suddenly, stopping in her tracks to get a better look at... whatever she was looking at. "Did she merge with the plague thing?!" 

"This isn't the time to think about that; we have to run!" Green urged as he tugged at her arm. "Legion, please, I can't lose you here!"

It reached the floor, standing on its back legs to gain height. It continued to walk forward, occasionally leaping over objects and just to catch up.

As they ran, Rek'Sai noticed Dave struggling to keep up. She growled, turning around and picking him up with her mouth, and then burrowed into the ground, her shark-like fin on her back alerting the others to her prescence as she tunneled along with them.

"Like a bloody taxi, eh?" Hoxton chuckled, but quickly stopped when he glanced back at the monster.

"D'you think it still has those decay powers?" Lawrence wondered aloud.

"We're not sticking around to find out." Hazel replied briskly. "How far away are the tunnels?"

"They're close." King said. "We'll make it, at this rate."

But Aria, who was simply not one with a high stamina, quickly fell behind as her body grew tired. She was struggling now, gasping for air as she watched the others pass her by. 

A split second.

That's all it took for her to trip, and fall, and inevitably succumb to the corrosive effects of the plague mist.

And I'm sure you'd rather not read of the details.

CPD hissed as it walked over Aria's corpse, a claw stabbing into the few remains and throwing it aside as it gave chase to the others.

"Well, s***. The only tolerable one here's dead." Hoxton muttered as he ran.

Altair, who had fallen a bit behind, heard the hissing. He glanced back once, and instantly regretted it, seeing what was left of Aria. And the monster up close. "O-Oh, g-g-god..."  

"Okay, I think I see some familiar buildings up ahead." Lawrence said, hovering as high as he could without losing sight of the group. Sheesh, what the hell was that fused thing? 

Legion and Green continued running, neither one of them even noticing Aria was gone. 

Finally, the mall was in sight. Destroyed sign, vandalized walls, and abandoned parking lot.

"Okay, we're here, we're here!" King practically sprinted over to the tunnels entrance, but suddenly froze. 

"Hey, what's wrong?" Lawrence asked, catching up.

Not only was the entrance open, but the lights were on. "I remember turning those off..." 

CPD's eyes flashed red, and hallucinations of the broken, decayed face of Crangle flashed in the group's eyes for a second or two, hissing.

"What the f***?!" Hoxton shouted, startled. He kept running, though.

King visibly flinched at the sudden hallucinations. "L-Let's.. get inside."

"Wait... someone switched on the lights." Hazel objected. "Someone's in there."

"I'm not sticking around this thing anymore!" Lawrence declared, vanishing into the entrance.

Green hardly noticed the vision what with all the adrenaline surging through his veins as he slowed to a stop in front of the tunnel's entrance. 

Legion, however, was visibly affected.

"Are we going in there?" Green asked his father, looking behind him every so often to make sure he was still a safe distance away from the abomination that once was PD and Craixen, separated.

"We don't have much of a choice, I suppose..." King replied, still clearly shaken from the hallucinations. "Whatever could be in here is likely less of a threat than this... t-thing." 

"That's good enough for me." Hazel said, heading down the stairway. Leona followed, looking around, visibly paranoid. 

Hoxton sprinted into the entrance.

Seeing them go, CPD laughed. A creepy laugh, an echo-ey one, combined with the static, distorted voice she used to have. Then, it left them alone. For now.

All of the lights in the base were on, and the whirring of machines could almost be heard from outside. There was the tapping of computer keys, and muffled voices as well.

"Do you hear that?" came a female voice that was tight and seemingly irritated.

"Hmm? No, I dont think so. What am I listening for?" asked another innocently, feminine as well, though distinctively higher pitched than the previous one.

"Ah, it's probaby just your machines again," said a male voice. It had a lilting edge to it, as the words it spoke were dancing.

"Hmph, whatever. If it's a threat I'll just blast it with the security beam," grunted the first voice as the clicking of keys resumed. 

Lawrence, already halfway through the wall to the hideout, froze up. Security beam? He flew back out to the others, suddenly frantic. "Okay, guys, we have a problem." 

"Is someone in there?" Leona asked.

"At least, like, three someones. And they're about to shoot the security beam!"

"I'm surprised they got that working." King said, impressed. "Well, that's beside the point..."

"I don't think it's a good idea for us to go back outside," Green noted. "Whatever was chasing us earlier might still be out there.''

"Do we even know what we're up against here?" asked Legion.

"Can we just get through those tunnels and kill that goddamn kid?" Hoxton asked. "Sheesh. And, uh, where the hell's the monster and that Dave robot?" 

In reply, the ground shook slightly.

"Well, now we have some tremors. That... can't be right." King said, looking around.

"Can't be worse than that fusion thing." Hazel said. "Lawrence, you're intangible. Go see what's going on."

"Again?" The shadow groaned. "C-C'mon, that's not nice."

"Striker, what was that?" came the now quavering, first female voice. The clicking of computer keys abruptly halted as the soft humming steadily grew into a powerful buzz.

"It appears that we might have company," said the male voice, Striker's, in a hushed tone.

"A-Are we under attack?" squeaked yet another voice, this one seemingly belonging to a small boy.

"I dunno, are we?" asked the other girl.

"Guess that answers my question." Hoxton shrugged.