No matter how hard Chen pulled up on the emergency brake the car kept skidding. Momentum told him he was sliding sideways but he expected the braking system to help. If only the cabbie from whom he'd stolen the car had been willing to drive closer to the breached area he could've been saved the trouble. Once, twice and finally a third time the car spun until the back crashed through what sounded like metal and glass. There were better ways to get around, he'd decided, but none so fast as his.
Bits of glass slid off of Chen's jeans as he exited the vehicle. There was some minor stinging in his chest area but he'd somehow managed to avoid killing himself. Carefully, he felt along the side of the car until he'd found the backseat door - miraculously just a few feet away from the gnarled metal that in which the trunk had become embroiled. From the back he'd managed to retrieve a satchel that contained the only materials his limited salary could afford him.
From out of the inner pocket of his zip-up jacket Chen pulled his compact alternative to his standard folding guide cane: a laser guide cane to check that it had gone unharmed. A few test clicks each with a corresponding beep meant that it could still detect obstacles - it was good enough for him.
Bit by bit the collision's whiplash gave way to the overwhelming stench in the air. Unless the words "containment breach" referred exclusively to an invading cloud of fart gas he felt the higher-ups were being over-dramatic. For all he knew it was a roundabout exercise to initiate him to the Tokyo branch due to the nature of his transfer. Still, he removed the gun from his satchel and readied a few cartridges both to ready himself for the impossible and wait for the remainder of the team to arrive.
Sabishii Aki, for all of her composure, stood with mouth agape at the sight that unfolded before her. Head cocked to the side, she tried to comprehend any part of what happened. He had to be drunk, there was no way he wasn't drunk, he was totally drunk... right?
With an almost cautious step towards him, she reached out with a tentative hand briefly, before shaking her head in utter bafflement.
"Are you okay?" Even her words seemed to convey the utter confusion.
The Tokyo Bay Complex led down from within a small number of larger buildings. Underwater, a sprawling complex held numerous facilities which seemed to be rather popular for being destroyed in rapid fashion as of late.
Scratching at her dusty blonde hair, Aki couldn't muster any more words for the man who had managed to skid out on a public road sideways, and slam back-end first into the glass pipes that ran into the water treatment facility where the breach was located at.
Richard Griffon-Jones had pulled his low-slung, black Rolls Royce to a halt at the curb when a car spun wildly out of control and sailed past him in a violent collision. He leapt out of the car and pelted down the street to see where it had come to a halt. A man emerged from the wreckage and staggered around, either drunk or dazed. The redheaded aristocrat came to stand next to the blonde woman who was asking after the collision victim and felt both of them emanating a wave of spiritual energy. They couldn't be, could they?
He glanced from one face to another and raised an eyebrow. He maintained his cool tone of voice and his classically stiff upper lip.
"I presume both of you are members of the team tasked with Tokyo Bay chemical containment. Richard Griffon-Jones here, Intelligence and Observation, Cerberus. Who might you be?"
Ewan turned the final corner on his motorbike and eased the machine to a stop. For a newbie he had to admit he wasn’t all that bad. The thing had been pretty hard to control at first but after a couple of weeks going from home to work and back he was much better.
Just gotta finish paying for the blasted thing... What the fuck? The source of his surprise was the car now embedded in the wall of the Tokyo Bay complex. He hopped off the bike and wheeled it forward slowly, his eyes wide in both confusion and shock.
I’m glad I wasn’t in that thing. He nudged the kickstand and removed his helmet, hanging it on the handlebars. Ewan had heard there was to be five of them on this little mission: himself, a couple more from Orpheus and a pair from Cerberus, one of whom was apparently Zakki’s boyfriend Richard. Despite having only met the guy once, he was glad to have someone he knew there.
“Morning all,” he said, grinning at Richard. The other man wasn’t looking at him and girl looked completely baffled. Right. “Er, Ewan Phillips, Lieutenant at Orpheus.”
Markus was a bit shocked that he was being pulled from the machine shop to assist in the operations. He thought again as he remembered he was a ranking officer in the organization, and used to be a field agent. That and being that they needed all hands on deck were the logical reasons he was being called away. While normally he would find some way to stay in the shop working as he intended, when he was ordered personally from Masato, he knew there was no other options.
Quickly he packed away the essentials he deemed were worthy. Stuffing two full duffel bags full of ammunition, tools, parts, radios and shackle, with the assorted odds and ends he zipped them up and hooked them onto his motorcycle. It was a little cliche to go everywhere in a motorcycle, but it was the only form of reliable transportation he had and it was free since he stole it from Brazil.
Speeding out of the compound he flew down the city streets towards his destination, as he activated the program on his bike to make sure all the lights were in his favor. Turning the corner sharply as the place came into view. He brought his bike to a stop as he looked on over the people he was assigned with. He did not know any of them personally besides from what he read in their dossiers. Swinging off the bike he grabbed the bags as he tossed one out in front of them.
"Grab what you need, we don't know what we're going to come across. Inside you'll find what I call proper communication devices, spare ammo, and chip which I want you to place behind your right ear. Don't forget shackles, we have not been cleared to take unnecessary lives."
All of the rounds Chen could get his hands on were as ready as they’d ever be. Much as he tried to dig through the remainder of the bag for further tools he could find only wire. Spool after spool of monofilament wire greeted his hands. Apparently he couldn’t just requisition rocket-launchers and grenades and expect to get what he wanted. Frustrated, he zipped up the bag right as the rest of the team seemed to arrive.
“Eh?” Chen stood up with his firearm holstered in a loose shoulder strap For some reason his sunglasses seemed to slip off of his nose as he moved. Having turned to multitasking while he turned to face Aki greatly slowed his rotation. In search of the problem he grasped his broken sunglasses.
“Son of a...” he muttered out of frustration. To confirm his suspicions he grasped at the sunglasses’ lenses to make sure that they were in fact broken. Sighing, he threw the glasses as far left as he could.
“Yeah,” he acknowledged in what he thought to be Aki’s direction. “I’m fine. Might need a band-aid.”
Chen adjusted his stance in an attempt to face the direction of the second voice. Without trying to focus on footsteps he could only hazard a guess as to where anybody was actually standing.
“Name’s Tsao Chen. Orders are to secure and contain the breach.” He felt like he was forgetting something. Not a secret password or code, or even identification came to mind beyond his name. A concealed, inward gasp gave away that he remembered he had left out his rank.
More had arrived before Chen had a chance to speak again. He frowned in the direction of the voice he estimated had roared onto the scene on a motorcycle.
“We’ve got guys knockin’ on our territory with bombs. If there's any of 'em still there, they're waiting for us and flashing cuffs isn't going to send the right message.” Chen spoke entirely from his limited experience with members of Triad families. As much as the world of Orpheus’ field operations was alien to him he felt confident about his insight into the criminal mind. It helped that he was still recovering from having been one himself.
Superseding outrage entirely, Aki instead resigned herself immediately to the situation. Cradling her head in one of her hands despairingly, she spoke in as matter-of-fact a tone she could manage. She didn't bother to introduce herself, instead immediately motioning for Richard and the others to follow. "Forget the fancy toys! If we miss our window, it won't mean a thing!"
Without another word, Aki was dashing into the nearby building. Every second wasted was however many gallons of infected water that would slowly make its way into Tokyo's pipes.
[ 89 / 255 ]
Notes
Active chemical spill + wasting time = bad plan. Aki's taking off and only she and Richard actually know their way around the Complex. Considering that it's probably actively flooding as well without a sealed bulkhead, we don't really have time for a meet and greet.
Snapping out of his momentary indecision, Richard spun quickly and followed Aki without another word. He'd been momentarily lulled by the violent automotive mayhem that Chen had been a part of but the young woman in front of him had cleared that from his mind. Realizing that she was right, that he did know where he was going to some degree, he stuck close to her heels. They weaved their way through the passageways of the Complex, moving towards the gallons of toxic water that would poison Tokyo if something wasn't done.
The solidly-built young man wondered if he'd really be any good in this situation but he wasn't willing to give up without a fight. At least the viscous slime that he was unfortunate enough to create as a part of his powers might prove useful to help stem the toxic tide. He could only hope.
Ewan followed Richard and Aki through the complex, maintaining a steady jog with his hands in his pockets. All the time he was looking around, taking in the features of the walls and the like. No signs of any useful metals anywhere. He quickly pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled a number before he lost all signal.
“Hey, we still have those iron plates I gathered a while back? Cool, get them sent over to where I am now.” He hung up and increased his pace, catching up to the two leaders.
“So this is some sort of toxic waste right? Or water? Any chance we could block it off or do we have to send it somewhere else?”
Markus undestood the need for a hurry, but the ‘toys as she so bluntly put were not just for looks. They were tools he created which used a person’s unique reiatsu signature to send out a special signal which he could lock into. They worked much like RFID, but on a different wavelength. It did not matter whether she used one or not, enough of the members had them, so he could track them through the facility.
Grabbing the bag and what was left of the supplies he headed off into the building. Assuming the rest of them were heading off into the facility to reach the breaks,, he was heading towards the control room where he could see the damage on an overall scale. From there he had hoped he could find out just how bad this was.
“I am headed for the control room. I’ll see what I can do from there, keep radio contact we don’t know how bad this is.” He called out through the radio to the rest of his team.
“Huh?” Chen’s immediate response to Aki’s lecture was confusion. “Is this happening?” Rushed footsteps answered his question. Frustration gave way to the necessity to move forward. In a hurry he grabbed his back and followed after the sounds of footsteps. All he could do to stay on track was make a few sweeps with his guide laser to make sure he’d be following the right obstacles.
In mere moments the expensive accessory was hardly necessary. As bad as the scent had been it became increasingly pungent the closer they came to the building. Trying to pinch or twist his nose did nothing as he could practically taste the fumes. Prior to moving any further he turned off the laser and slid it into his pocket.
“Hold on – you don’t know how we're supposed to stop the leak?” Chen asked the question just as he stepped through the door. “I guess I’m not the only one walking into this that's totally blind.”
A roll of her eyes was Aki's response. Seizing the radio from Ewan's grasp, she responded through it. "We are moving to seal the bulkhead ahead of the breach. After that, we'll need to locate and deploy a snare filter. It'll catch the majority of the shit filtering out into the Bay, and it's the closest shot we have to taking care of this.
"You'll find our flow control room in the east wing. Fourth door on the right coming from the south entrance. Set up what you need, and get back to us on how much water the complex is taking on." She listed the orders off blandly, as though reciting them from elsewhere.
Pausing briefly, she added, "Please."
Tossing it back to Ewan, she looked back for a moment. Then, with seemingly no hesitation, she seized Chen's hand. "We're not going into this blind. Cerberus was prepared for this. Orpheus, it seems, was not.
"Richard!" She called ahead to the man who now took the lead, "get to the bulkhead with Ewan! Chen and I will get the snare ready!"
Yanking the blind man's hand, she took a sharp turn down the next hallway.
[ 196 / 451 ]
Notes
Doc and I are gonna locate an uncontaminated filter while Moony and Tom get to the bulkhead. Be careful... it may have already been flooded through. *wink wink nudge nudge*
The flame-haired aristocrat nodded his acquiesence to Aki and motioned for Ewan to follow him as he turned down the corridor that lead to the bulkhead which had sealed the entire Complex off from the bay that was around it. He was terrified that what they’d find was an unmitigated disaster. There was an acrid burn in every breath of air that told him all was likely not well.
As they got closer to the location, Richard realized that there was a misty miasma in the air, a fog that wasn’t entirely composed of water droplets. He looked back at the young Welshman behind him.
“I do rather feel that we ought be careful not to breathe too deeply, I don’t really want to know what’s in this fog."
They wound their way deeper into the bowels of the place and the fog grew thicker as the acrid air began to sting his blue-grey eyes. Now he was worried.
Turning the final corner the bulkhead loomed up in front of them and it showed every sign of being breached by the flood of chemical-laden water. The smell overpowered. Turning to Ewan, he said, “This is really not bloody good. Any suggestions?”
Looming, towering above even some of the highest buildings to grace the Tokyo landscape was a visage distorting most of the sunlight raining down upon the Tokyo Bay. A mass of tentacles, radioactive goo and all manner of waste composed the body of a gargantuan hollow as it rose from below sea level to not even half its actual size.
Waves upon waves began to tear at the bay it was encroaching on, picking up speed with every passing meter until more often than not the water crashed over the bay and onto mainland Tokyo.
Its bone-like substance, creating images of serpentine beasts each more worse than the other, began to thrash forward ever so more violently as it let out an earth-shattering roar.
“I have to admit I am pretty low on ideas at the moment,” Ewan muttered, kneeling down and putting his hand over his mouth and nose, “Even with all these weird Advent bonuses we have, the chance that we could happily swim to the breach and seal it is very, very slim.” He removed his hand and stood back up, looking around the area.
“Is there a room nearby where we can siphon this stuff off to, like an unused office or something? Unless...” He looked up at the ceiling... or rather at what he felt beyond it.
An almost crushing presence practically threatening to crush them all.
Oh that can’t be good. He briefly considered going out to investigate but decided against it, turning his eyes back to the water.
“What’s under us? Is there any way we can siphon the water deeper into the complex?”
Thinking quickly, Richard realized there was still another floor underneath them. It was a risky idea to fill it up with chemical water but it was better than letting it get into Tokyo Bay. Not that the water out there wasn't already polluted, it was just a matter of the nature of what would come leaching out of Cerberus' facilities. There was also the small matter of the strange, portentous noise that was being made somewhere above them. It wasn't heartening.
Turning to Ewan, the redheaded young man spoke quickly.
"If we can punch a hole in the floor here, we can drain the water down and I can use my powers to seal it in. If you block the breach with something, that should deal with the issue. I hear tell you have some abilities to manipulate metal. That should make a useful patch. After we do this, we'd better go investigate what's making that noise up there. But first things first!"
Casting about for something that would work to puncture the floor, Richard's eye fell on a large broken section of pipe. It was jagged and when wielded with post-human force, it would work nicely. The solidly-built youth walked over to it and hefted it, using his terrifying strength. He aimed it at the centre of the room and threw it with all of the force he could muster. There was a cracking, breaking noise and it drove itself into the floor. A moment later, water began pouring down into the breech.
Once the room was drained, the director of Intelligence used the bizarre blue gel he could generate at will to block the opening and keep it sealed. He nodded to his Welsh companion.
Down each winding hallway, Aki could feel the wet of the Bay begin to seep up her feet and spill through her shoes. Turning panicked eyes to the floor, the steadily climbing water brought a frenzied message through the static haze of Kairososhi to Richard. What did you do?
Chen was tugged along easily, the man muttering and occasionally exclaiming some sarcastic quip but largely complacent. Finally, they rounded the final corner. At the end of the hallway was a simple door, bold-printed words reading, 'SUPPLY CLOSET'.
Abandoning the Chinese man briefly, she sprinted to the door and kicked it open, the lock immediately yielding under her supernatural strength. Casting about, she scooped up what appeared to be a pair of small canisters, each about half the length of her arm and twice as thick. Even with her incredible strength, she strained under their weight, and made her way back to Chen.
Taking one of the dark-haired man's hands, she placed one canister in it, "I need you to carry this, okay? We've gotta get to the source of the breach, and then attach these to the outside of the complex."
Aki didn't wait for an answer, yanking Chen back the way they came.
Out of an impulse to break free from Aki’s grasp, Chen jerked his body to the left. Rather than break free he’d just swung his body somewhat without disturbing their momentum. Just in time for him to move out of the way an object of some kind disturbed the air just an inch from his face. Synchronized to the near-miss was the sound of water running through something metallic – it was a pipe, he’d decided.
“Dammit! You c—” Chen could hardly voice his dissatisfaction before something heavy was shoved into his hands.
“The hell I—” he choked on his words. The shock of the object’s weight was made no better by Aki’s renewed efforts to pull him back through the hall. It wasn’t clear to him that the two were headed back toward the pipe he’d narrowly avoided. Frustration built until he was prepared to get violent with his protest.
A resounding clank soared through the narrow hallway. His head had slammed into the pipe just as he heard the telltale metallic gurgle. Stopping short let him free from Aki’s pull but the pain resounding through his head had briefly hijacked his attention. All control over the floodgates of profanity was lost, releasing a torrent of profanity entirely in Cantonese.
Pain radiated across his head in pulses causing his verbal assault to turn to various accusations of prostitution and parental promiscuity with each pulse. Had his immediate reaction not been to clutch the object tighter he might have abandoned in it in favor of holding his head. Other than the feeling of resounding pain, he was largely focused on expressing the frustration he’d been building over the past few minutes.
“Shit! Are you drunk!?” As the ringing left his ears he managed to filter his words into Japanese. “Idiot! If you want me to follow you then fucking say it!”
Bit by bit the worst of the pain was subsiding. However, Chen’s mood wasn’t improving any. Carefully, he bypassed the pipe and took a few steps to his approximation of Aki’s position.
“You know? With your words. In glorious Nihongo. Or read a Haiku to honor your shogun. But say it.” Following the bitter tirade he found himself still grumbling in Cantonese. If more pipes awaited them outside of the building he’d rather walk into them of his own volition rather than be pulled around by somebody else.
“I’m not autistic, I’m blind.” Chen repeated his least favorite phrase. “Lead the way and I’ll handle myself.” All of the noises that had passed, whether it was the quake from the exterior or the destruction the other duo were involved in, all went unnoticed by him thanks to the incident. If the mission would involve anything beyond leaving the structure to fiddle with valves it was beyond his perception for the moment.
What was never the most crystalline of blue waters to begin with, slowly turned into a sickly green with every waking moment. Every minute, every second, every thought, every idea anyone could ever had brought with it only more and more filth and diseases upon the waters of Tokyo Bay.
It came closer, closer, even closer and soon the beast known only as Jörmugandr rose from its watery body to an insurmountable height, casting a darkness over the bay. Further, more, higher, greater. It roared once, again, multiple times, until it finally began tearing through that which it had interested for some time now.
Well, mostly the water first. It crashed upon the water again, diving deeper and deeper into the depths of the bay as it took with it the most vile of disease and filth. It no longer inched closer to its destination, it literally sliced through the water like a knife would cut through butter.
Its cries, its echoes of agony, intensified as Jörmugandr plowed head first into something thick separating it from its prey.
[180/310]
There’d been a few times where Richard had received messages via Kairososhi but he could never quite get used to the voices that came filtering into his brain directly when it happened. He answered back I drained the bulkhead so the contaminated water wouldn’t escape and I sealed the breach I created. Why? He was letting his Welsh companion finish sealing the hole when there was the distinct sensation of something very heavy colliding with a solid object. At first the broad-shouldered, crimson-haired man thought they were experiencing an earthquake but when he concentrated for a second he felt overwhelming spiritual pressure coming from outside of the facility. There was something gigantic and dangerous out there and it would appear to want in. Richard let Ewan know that he’d better get a move on. When he was sure that his companion was going to be alright, he turned on his heel and began to move towards the energy signatures of the other potentiated humans. He didn’t want to be alone when whatever it was attacked. [175/964]
