Intensely focused upon the television, Bach narrows his stare, contorting his face, and quickly presses buttons on the game console controller. He leans forward from his seat on the couch, fidgeting in response to the brutal battle playing out on the screen. With the digital characters on the television fighting it out, Cideeda presents a toothy smirk and unconsciously twitches her long, fluffy tail along with the fast clicking of her claws on her gamepad. Sotalia stands off to the side, swaying in place, her attention fully on the tense match of organized chaos upon the screen. Near the dining table, Aristespha sorts through a stack of paperwork and tablets. Occasionally, she pauses a moment and glances over at the ongoing duel between Bach and Cideeda, resuming filing through documents seconds later. Sebastian hovers next to Aristespha's seat at the table. Aristespha lifts up a partially filled-out form, and Sebastian checks over her shoulder. A bit of discussion later, Aristespha taps out an entry into a tablet, and Sebastian distracts himself with game battle, idly mimicking the button presses for certain character moves. Watching from the kitchen area, Dretphi studies the maneuvers and methods upon the screen, lifting an intrigued eyebrow at chains of combos.

The life bars dwindle down to the near ends at equal rates. The power meters fluctuate wildly. The opponents attack and defend in sync with each other. Only minute gaps of proficiency allow for any opportunity to gain ground. A smug smirk emerges upon Bach's light tan face, and he chuckles to himself darkly. Cideeda's furry ear perks over, and her stare tightens with anticipation. On the screen under the "Ionis" name label, the man clad in form fitting blue, electric armor slams his fist into the ground, sending a shockwave of electricity along the floor. Under the "Tataelee" side of the battle, the fvalian woman in a fanciful ninja attire leaps over the front of the arcing burst. Quickly tapping out a fast series of buttons, Bach grins eagerly. Ionis pounds his fist down again, and another flow of power coasts lightning fast across the wake of the previous wave. The second shockwave overtakes Tataelee and knocks her to the ground in a spark swarmed slump. Sebastian grins proudly and nods to his brother. Bach laughs with a confident air and commands Ionis on the screen. "Stunned and low on power... What can you do?"

Widening his stance, Ionis brings his hands close together and pulls back his arms. Ambient electricity from the area arcs out in chaotic flows, collecting towards him, and travels to a growing, bright blue white orb of power. Cideeda's emerald green eyes search the battlefield, pulling in all the information possible, and settle upon her character's gradually increasing power meter. Pondering briefly, she cracks a sly, hopeful smile and furrows her light brown brow. "I don't know... What can YOU do?"

Lifting a puzzled eyebrow, Bach laughs amused. "Oh... This."

Ionis flings his arms forward, hands open and wrists touching. A brilliant blue white beam streaks across towards Tataelee. In the splinters of time, the energy column blazing imminently upon Tataelee, she disappears in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a cheap dummy of herself. The decoy quickly disintegrates in an explosion of flame, and Bach's blue eyes widen in sharp, abject realization. In the narrow moment, his gaze shifts from the destroyed mock-up towards Tataelee's status bars. Spotting a freshly zeroed energy meter and an unchanged life gauge, Bach's stare tenses and revelation weighs heavy upon him. Cideeda presents a wide, toothy grin and feverishly taps out a series of clacking buttons on her game controller. Tataelee fades in from the shadows of the game background right behind Ionis, stuck performing his super move animation. Bach's jaw drops, and he gawks in astonishment, barely able to utter a word. "Oh."

Tataelee grapples Ionis from behind, shifts her weight around, and power kicks Ionis high up into the air, the background scrolling to keep up. She launches up, immediately passing above Ionis midair, and releases a mighty spinning kick down. She plants him into the dirt with a dramatic, colorful descent and ground cratering impact. The game animations slow down. The music changes to a matching victory tune. And, the announcer blares out. "K! O! Winner, Tataelee!"

Suppressing a near reflexive snort, Sebastian breaks out into half-hearted, commiserating laughter at Bach. "Holy shit! Aww, that's ROUGH, bro. But, I warned you she was pretty awesome with Tataelee."

Bach blinks blankly, the rest of his brain catching up with the sudden shift in situation. "Uh... Yeah. Damn. You got just enough for a decoy swap right then. Wow..."

Wagging her long, fluffy tail in contended victory, Cideeda smiles brightly with a bit of relief, the tension fading from the match. "YEP. I saw the rate it was increasing, and got ready to trigger it when I could. Preloaded it in the combo system and hit the last button before the move buffer timeout happened."

She reaches out her hand to Bach and waits. Nodding in agreement, Bach shakes with Cideeda and sighs in genuine astonishment. "Wow. Nice game."

Pausing in thought, he lifts a curious brow at Cideeda. "By the way, did you ever go to any competitions?"

Cideeda stretches her arms out, curling her back in a stretch, and shrugs her shoulders indifferently. "A few local ones. But... Nothing too serious. I mean, I probably had enough skill to MAYBE make it mid way through, but those pro players get a bit scary for me."

She grins toothily and chuckles to herself with a nonchalant sigh. "It didn't seem like a good return on my investment to go to THAT level."

With a greedy glint in her emerald eyes, Cideeda flexes her clawed fingers and rolls her shoulders, smiling at past satisfaction. "Anyway... I made PLENTY of easy money from stomping all the wannabe pro players in the neighborhood when they wandered in the comic book shop I worked at."

Gazing to Bach with a sly, devious smile, she giggles, working the controller through the game menus. "Always got a real kick out of the ones that looked like they wanted to cry afterwards. Never could get those to go double or nothing afterwards."

Dretphi smirks in amusement and slowly shakes her head. "My poor brothers. Did not anticipate you."

An evil grin slips out onto Cideeda's light brown face, and she rolls her emerald green eyes at herself. Flicking her furry ears against her head of short, multi-color hair, she calls over towards Dretphi in the kitchen area. "Hey. They challenged ME. I delivered. What can I say? They said they could play the game. So, I played it, too."

Nodding in complete agreement with a smug smile, Dretphi resumes cleaning up another section of countertop with a rag. "Nothing to say. We all saw the challenge. They received what they deserved. Thank you for educating them."

Cideeda smiles toothily and nods victorious. "Anytime."

Twisting his mouth in ill humor, Bach shakes his head with a roll of his blue eyes and scratches the back of his head of longer brown hair. "So... Wait... Your boss was okay with you running a betting operation out of his store?"

With a laugh, Cideeda snorts and nods with a grit of her teeth. "Oh. Yeah. It brought in customers. I wouldn't call it a betting operation... Officially, we billed them as free tournaments with prizes."

She slides a side eye over to Bach and smiles impishly. "BUT... We had a secret system in place for getting in on the real action happening."

She winks to Bach with a smirk. "And, my boss got a percentage of all action. So, he was PERFECTLY fine with it all. Always made sure he got his cut first."

Tapping Bach's shoulder, she holds her hand out and hems with an anticipating grin. "My turn?"

Bach passes the game controller over to Sotalia, slides over to the middle seat on the couch, and glances ahead at the television. Sotalia excitedly sits down, settles into the cushions, and mulls over the character selection screen. "So, Bach..."

Lifting an inquisitive eyebrow, she leans close to Bach, idly flicking the controller. "Who should I use against her?"

Twisting his face in thought, Bach indecisively ponders the options on the display and glances over to Sotalia with a shrug. "I don't know. Really. I thought Ionis would be a good one to keep Tataelee from working too many of her ninja arts. But..."

Cideeda arches her brow curiously and smugly at Sotalia. "Choose whoever you like... I'll beat them all the same."

Sotalia furrows her gaze briefly over to Cideeda, smirks, and playfully mutters a quick string of phrases in a dialect of fvalian. Cideeda's long, fluffy tail twitches, and she eyes Sotalia with a chuckle. Clicking a button on her controller, she replies in kind to Sotalia with a similar dialect of fvalian. Bach's blank stare bounces to either side, between Cideeda and Sotalia, and he sinks back into the couch cushions, positioning himself out of the line of fire.

Sebastian slowly shakes his head, glances over to the tabletop of tablets and paperwork, and notices an alert on notification on a screen. "Hey, dear, looks like you got a message or something."

Aristespha snaps out of her concentration daze, blinking around, and surveys the table, picking up the tablet in question. "Oh. Thank you, Sebastian."

She unlocks the tablet with a code, navigates through the user interface, and opens up the prompt into an aethermail application. Quickly reading the short message, she cocks her head curiously to the side and glances over to Sebastian. "Interesting... The guild sent us an alert about a job nearby."

Sebastian furrows his brow briefly, pondering quietly to himself for a moment, and cranes his head over for a glimpse of the screen. "Okay... It must be similar to stuff we've done lately if they are pinging us about it. Kind of strange. Not really used to them alerting us first."

Nodding in agreement, Aristespha tugs at the corner of her mouth and taps through interface screens to a guild app. "Yes. I have heard that the guild will try to alert certain groups in an area if they think they can get a particular job done better, upon request of the client. And... We have been in this area for some time now. And, we have done quite a few jobs successfully."

Pondering for a moment, Sebastian settles his suspicions between contemplative rocks of his head and analyzes the mission post on the tablet. "Yeah... That's true. We've never really been in one area that long in the past. And, we were kind of focused on one specific thing So... What do we have?"

Aristespha's violet eyes trace the words on the screen, and she visibly mulls over the potential assignment. "It seems like an initial exploration quest. A small, old ruin site with a single entry archway that has been sealed off with a barrier until recently. No other obvious signs of activity. Verified from aerial photography."

Aristespha props screen up for Sebastian to read. Leaning his transparent form close to the screen, Sebastian nods slowly, pondering out loud. "Yeah. Everything says it's just been left alone for at least a hundred years and left that way. I bet it was too well hidden. Yeah... By the time it was found the Doctrine of Dormancy was in full effect, so it's just been left there."

Aristespha slowly nods, scrolling up the guild brief on the tablet, and rocks her head side to side in deliberation. "Plausible. It is still quite strange that it just now opened up."

Shrugging his ethereal shoulders and holding his hands out to the sides, Sebastian nonchalantly smiles and laughs lightly. "Something that old? If anything, the power probably finally went out on it. I don't think field generators are that power efficient."

With a long sigh, Aristespha leans back into her seat at the dining table, stretches her neck out, and gazes lovingly at Sebastian. "So, Sebastian... Should we bid on it before everyone else does?"

Glancing over the area, Sebastian calls out to the rest of the team. "Any of you against doing a little ruin exploration tomorrow? We just got notification of a job to check out a site. Some old ruin had a barrier preventing entry, and it's gone now."

Dretphi walks over from the kitchen and studies the guild job post, Aristespha angling the tablet towards her. She twists her mouth and debates the points. "Nearby. Acceptable pay. No past reported problems. No other recent activity. Cursory inspection only."

Gradually mustering up a nod, she turns to Sebastian. "I have no problems with the task."

Bach gazes over from the couch, fighting a mix of past experiences upon his face, and sighs in acceptance. "Maybe? I mean... Just haven't had the best of luck at exploring ruins lately. But, you know..."

Tapping in a few quick combos onto the game controller, Cideeda watches Tataelee on screen piledriving Ionis into the dirt and glances away from the victory screen towards Sebastian. "Yeah. I kind of have to agree there."

With a sly smile, she gazes over to Bach . "BUT, if it's only an initial check of the area, we probably won't get that far in there before running into another sealed door. Then, we take pictures, confirm the state it's now in, and go home early with a full day's pay."

Sotalia grumbles out of her frustration at the game, rolls her shoulders out, and turns her head towards the discussion. "So... No signs of anyone trying to crack it open?"

Sebastian glances back to the tablet and shakes his head. "Nothing on the report."

Rocking her head of fiery orange, wavy hair, Sotalia hums, deliberating. "Strange. It could be the barrier probably just ran out of power."

Sebastian nods towards Sotalia. "Yeah. That's what I was thinking."

Bach's attention turns inwards, and he searches his mind for a few seconds. Gradually nodding, he voices his opinion. "You know, I bet it's probably something to do with the maelstroms that were in the area. BUT, it might be good to check it out. Given a certain someone's habit of stirring up old ruins in the area..."

Blinking in sudden thought, Aristespha twists in her chair and stares at Bach, mulling over the idea. "Previously undisturbed ruin of no known importance being opened up randomly... THAT, indeed, does sound awfully familiar."

Everyone exchanges dutiful glances, leading to a group acceptance. Sebastian musters up a proud smile to the team. "Well, if there's no major objections, we'll put the bid in and spend the afternoon getting ready."

----

Samantha slowly paces across the floor in the small bedroom towards the windowed doors. Pausing at the doorway leading to the balcony, she crosses her arms and grumbles to herself, a bit of frustration mixing with petulant hints. "Damn it. We need something else to carry us to the next big job. But... There's NO small jobs right now."

From his chair at the desk, Gerald glances over his shoulder and switches out data cartridges in a camera, twisting his mouth in thought. "Yeah. I know. That storm with all the maelstrom cells really helped us out get some good material for the episode."

Rolling his dark brown eyes, he wrestles down a smirk. "But... I don't think a clip episode will keep the ratings going. Those run out of steam quick."

Groaning out the welling annoyance within, Samantha pivots, tossing back her brown hair, and sighs with a grit of her teeth. "We need some kind of DRAMA... Some kind of upset..."

She tightens her fingers in fists and huffs. "Gods dammit, Veevi! You need to get your manipulative bitch ass self into high gear."

Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, Gerald snorts and settles his attention back upon the equipment on his desk, frowning. "Well, it's NOT from her lack of trying. That's for certain. I thought Trakenthin was going to cane her for a second there. And, Modoran keeps on giving her the slip..."

He curls a humored smirk. "Which makes for GREAT comedy clips."

Samantha sneers her upper lip briefly, searching her mind, and shrugs her shoulders in a modest acceptance. "Yeah, that clip of her grabbing the crotch of the towel dummy has made its way around the fan forums pretty quickly. Lucky that living room camera caught it even in the dark."

Gerald grins proudly and chuckles to himself. "Howard might hate the budget costs, but battery backup and night vision features pay for themselves in moments like THAT."

Pulling out her aetherphone, Samantha slowly slides through her contact list on the screen and glances over to Gerald. "Speaking of Howie... I think we need to contact him and see what he thinks."

Gerald rocks his head side to side indecisively, eyes over to Samantha, and sighs in a mutual agreement. "Yeah... We need to figure out a plan now, so the crews can be ready and where they need to be."

Samantha taps an entry in her contact list, and the phone flips between prompts as it dials out. Seconds later, the call connects, and Samantha rests the phone on the desk. From the aetherphone, Howard's plotting voice sounds out into the room. "Hello?"

With a happy chime in her voice, Samantha perks up towards the device. "Hi, Howie! I hope we didn't wake you up. I know Sunday is your recovery day and all."

A humored chuckles echoes out from the other side of the conversation, and Howard dons an amused tone. "Actually, you didn't. I actually woke up at a decent hour. Even had breakfast at the proper time."

With a sly smile, Samantha furrows a playfully astonished brow and giggles. "Good gods... What was the occasion?"

A long sigh sounds out from the speakerphone, and Howard mumbles out with a bit of embarrassment. "It's mother's birthday, and I took her out to her favorite breakfast place. After I get a few things taken care of, I'll be taking her and the family out to dinner tonight."

Gerald glances over to the phone and tilts his head curiously. "Oh. Where to? Somewhere fancy?"

Remaining silent for a moment, Howard laughs loudly. "No. Not really. As per her request... And maintaining family tradition, we will be dining at the illustrious... Draco-Burger."

Samantha blinks blankly in shock, slowly aims her bewildered stare upon her aetherphone, taking a few steps closer with an incredulous retort. "Really, Howie? Draco-Burger?"

With a mildly annoyed tone, Howard's voice addresses the issue firmly. "YES. It's a long running family tradition for big birthdays. This particular Draco-Burger will actually reserve a huge section for the entire family. Her, my grandmother, and my relatives love the casual gathering..."

He squelches a reflexive snort. "It also distracts all the kids for long enough... And, it's the cheapest I'll be able to feed them all for."

Clearing his throat, he draws a long breath in and seizes control of the conversation. "Anyway... I'm glad you called me, because there is something I need to discuss with you two."

Samantha lifts an intrigued brow and shifts her weight onto another foot. "Would it happen to be about something to do before the next job?"

A dark chuckle sounds out from the phone into the room, and Howard's tone brightens. "Yes! I see you two saw the same issue I saw, too. And, I've got a solution!"

Gerald glances up to Samantha's curious face and stares apprehensive at the aetherphone on the desk. "And... THAT would be?"

Howard's satisfaction resonates out from the speakerphone, his plotting cadence hinting at potential. "Trakenthin's surprise will be arriving in town... Tomorrow."

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Samantha's eyes open wide in surprise, and she leans over closer to the phone. "Really?! You think it'll give us what we need for the next episode?"

Howard's sly amusement seeps out into the room with Samantha and Gerald. "OH. Yes. I plan on making it the main focus."

Twisting his mouth, Gerald crosses his arms and flicks a dubious gaze between the aetherphone and Samantha. "So... When the hell are you going to reveal this surprise? I mean, I'm going to need to know at least the WHEN, much less the WHAT."

With a calculated tone, Howard simply replies. "He will be arriving at their doorstep, Tuesday."

----

Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastian, and Sotalia push through overgrowth along an old, barely visible path between old trees. The trail empties out into a small area in front of a large stone and steel meshed archway, opposite of the team. Gazing up from her tablet, Aristespha flicks her violet eyes down at the image on the screen and compares it to the huge entrance across the clearing. "It looks very much like the pictures."

Sebastian's ethereal form drifts back onto the ground, and he slowly pivots, scanning over the area. "Okay. Here's the plan. They've only asked for an initial inspection of the place. So, we don't need to check in depth for anything."

Glancing over his shoulder, he addresses the team. "SO... Go in as far as we can without breaking into any sealed off area and take a bunch of pictures."

He pans his examining stare across the perimeter of the forest surrounding the grassy area and twists his mouth apprehensively. "And... Before we barge on in there, let's check the outside for signs of anything going in or out, first."

The group fans out into the clearing, carefully progressing in methodical searches of the area. Dretphi steps out a few meters, narrows her gaze around the vicinity, and aims her attention downwards. She taps her heavy boots onto the flat dirt, judging what she feels, and kneels down. Her gauntlet covered hands dig into the loose, rocky soil, and she sifts through the material in her hands. Underneath the grassy top covering, a mixture of dirt, gravel, and asphalt leftover rains down from Dretphi's fingers back onto the ground near the fresh, shallow hole. Drifting down from above, Sebastian lands next to Dretphi. "Find something?"

Dretphi brushes her hands upon the soft under armor between the hard plates, flicking off some grit from the faded bluish fabric plate covers. Standing back up, she nods in thought. "Yes. Curious why there was a clearing here. Asphalt underneath the dirt kept trees from taking deep root."

Sebastian ponders the information and glances over to Dretphi curiously. "Okay. Any idea how long this thing has been sitting here?"

With a slight frown, Dretphi lifts up the full visor on her helmet, crosses her arms, and sighs uncertainly. "At least as long as the report says. Would not be surprised if older. This build up took time."

Floating back up in the air, Sebastian nods appreciatively and glances over towards Cideeda walking the perimeter. "Okay. I'm going to check to see if Cideeda's found anything on that side."

Dretphi points over to the side opposite of Cideeda, waiting for Sebastian's attention. "I will inspect that side."

Sebastian gives a quick thumbs up to Dretphi and floats slowly over in the direction of Cideeda, surveying the area from above. Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia stand in the middle of the clearing and stare at the archway. Aristespha blinks her glowing violet eyes, cocks her head to the side, and glances down at her tablet. "This is quite an interesting design. I have seen similar... though. I think this would date it at least right after the Second Period? Maybe at the very end?"

Sotalia squints her dimly lit, golden eyes for a second and closes them hard. The illumination fades, and she focuses upon the rusted out and weather-worn sign on a bent up post. Quirking her eyebrow, she rests her hands on her hips and snorts in mild frustration. "Yeah. The few remaining letters on that sign would put it roughly in that time period. But..."

Furrowing her brow, she tosses back her fiery orange, wavy hair and frowns slightly. "It's really strange to see that language HERE."

Bach narrows his gaze upon the sign and eyes over to Sotalia, inquiring. "So, what does it say, exactly?"

Crossing her arms, Sotalia sighs with a twist to her mouth and slowly shakes her head. "All that I can make out is Storage Bunker. There was probably more on the missing parts of the sign."

With a gradual nod, Bach grumbles, gritting his teeth briefly. "Yeah... Anyway, um, what's so strange about that language being here?"

Aristespha shifts her focus upon the sign, narrows a growing glare, and growls to herself. "It's an earlier variant of the language the Dark Evuukians adopted as their own."

Bach and Sotalia aim their inquisitive gazes at Aristespha and wait. A long irritated sigh later, Aristespha rolls the anxiety out of her shoulders and presents an unamused smirk towards Bach and Sotalia. "Officially, they never left that doomed city of theirs. But... It seems before their whole cursed society imploded, they had plans to expand."

Lifting an apprehensive brow, Sotalia leans her stance back in surprise and motions towards the archway. "You don't think there's anything left over from THEM in there?"

Aristespha rolls her violet eyes and shakes her head with a long exhale. "OH. Gods no. In all likelihood, they built the structure, and it was left abandoned long enough for someone else to use it instead."

Staring off into the deep dark past the archway, Bach glances over uncomfortably at Aristespha with an awkward smile fighting for space on his face. "Yeah. Huh. I mean... That doesn't really make me feel that much better about it."

Aristespha presents a confident smile and points up to the mix of stone, modern materials, and magical markings on the entrance way. "The Dark Evuukians stuck to strict magical mechanisms. So, I believe someone added this modern solution after they were long gone."

Sotalia shrugs her shoulders and contorts her light tan face in thought, tilting her head to the side. "And, who would do THAT and why would they not get rid of the sign?"

Scratching the back of his head of longer brown hair, Bach aims his gaze at very prominent landmarks in the area and points out a few notable features. "Well... If you were looking at this from a distance, you would think it was just some abandoned hole in the side of a hill. Maybe some old survival bunker? I mean, unless you were really bored or knew this place was here, you weren't going to just stumble upon it. So, why do anything to make it stick out more?"

The trio of mages stand for a minute and slowly inspect the archway from a distance. Bach sneers his upper lip uneasily and sighs. "Yeah... Thinking about it... THAT doesn't make me feel any better about this place. Now there's intent behind it all."

Drifting down, Sebastian lands behind the mages, walks around to Aristespha's side, and eyes the darkness beyond the gateway. "So? Any more info about what we're dealing with, dear?"

Aristespha smiles at Sebastian and indecisively mulls the situation over, tapping through a few menus on her tablet. "Not particularly, Sebastian. Apart from the fact the archway seems relatively undisturbed, with the known exception being that scorching on the top, it matches the recent pictures."

Sebastian peeks over Aristespha's shoulder, and Cideeda and Dretphi rejoin the group. Adjusting her tactical vest, Cideeda stretches out her arms out over her head and flicks her furry ears. "No signs of anything moving in or out from my side."

Dretphi nods in agreement and motions towards one side of the clearing's perimeter. "Nothing on my side. No disturbances in the underbrush. No oddly broken branches. No fresh paths through the overgrowth."

Sebastian hums ethereally to himself, staring ahead towards the entrance, and floats a few meters closer to the archway, in front of the group. He stops, pivots around, and shrugs his shoulders with his hands out to his sides. "Well, I guess there's only one way to find out. Let's head inside. I'll scout ahead. Cideeda and Dretphi will be on point. Aristespha and Sotalia will maintain the middle. And, Bach, keep an eye behind us."

With shared unease and foreboding, the team assembles into their marching order, turn on their lights, and slowly cross the threshold into the dark hallway leading deeper inside.

----

Down a long, dim corridor, open sliding doors line the old, worn walls. With the team searching around, flashlights shine out along the hallway, magical glows illuminate the immediate area, and small orbs of light drift off towards distant surfaces. Aristespha peers around a metal door frame and stares into a dark room. Casting the light from her magical orb inside, she slowly inspects the scattered contents from the threshold into the space. "This one seems like an office of some kind. In relatively good condition given how long it has likely been sitting."

She holds up her tablet in front of her, aiming the back camera inside, and taps the screen. A brief flash floods the room with light, fading immediately. Guiding her flashlight's spot along the corridor, Dretphi twists her mouth into a puzzling grimace. "Simple design for this place. One main corridor."

Narrowing her stare, she darts her steely gray eyes around the stone and metal infrastructure. "Have yet to run into another large branch. Just opened doors to rooms."

Cideeda sniffs the air, swaying her head in the stale air currents. Tracking a smell, she halts the hunt and frowns slightly. "There's that smell, again. Gods. I can't quite pick it out of the mix here. It just seems to be... Everywhere."

Bach glances up and points up to a charred spot upon support structures underneath cabling above in the ceiling, furrowing his brow curiously. "Hey, um, you think it might be the leftover funk from these spots?"

Aiming her bright flashlight up, Cideeda maneuvers the light spot around, following along a few paths, and indecisively rocks her head side to side. "Oh, there's definitely a smell from those. But, THIS..."

She wrestles down an uncomfortable curl at the corner of her mouth and droops her furry ears slightly. "This smell feels... Familiar."

Bach's eyes illuminate blue, and he narrows his stare at the thick conduits running through the support framework above. "Huh. There's still some residual magical energy on these lines. I guess whatever happened was pretty recent."

Outside another room, Sotalia adjusts the aim of her aetherphone's camera and taps the on screen button. The flash reflects off of various research implements, and the light glints off of several magical apparatuses. Sotalia rests her hands on her hips, twists her mouth in thought, and tosses her head of fiery orange, wavy hair to the side. "Well, this room had to have been a magical research lab. It has all the usual tools. Surprising how they haven't changed that much over the years."

Sebastian drifts down the dark hallway, pauses, and peeks into another opposing pair of open sliding doors, thoughtfully scratching his chin. "Okay... What's everyone's guess as to what this place actually was? I'm leaning towards a survival bunker of some kind. One of those that has everything to rebuild society. Those always seemed popular with any elitist group."

Slowing to a stop, Aristespha pivots in place and ponders out loud. "Well. This might be my personal bias, but I think it was a research facility, Sebastian. You have a mix of administrative offices and support services, along with labs."

Sotalia lifts a brow inquisitively towards Aristespha and smirks slightly. "Magical research lab, maybe?"

Inspecting the frame of one of the sliding doors, Dretphi carefully analyzes the support wall and hums in contemplation. "Military depot. The doors for the storage rooms are reinforced. We have found guard posts. Empty armories. Barracks."

Slowly nodding agreement, Bach furrows his brow at the conjecture and crosses his arms with an uneasy, awkward smile. "Military... SOMETHING. I mean, it's like they only had one kind of door for everything in this place, and it was heavy and armored. Even the janitor's closet had a door that looked like it could take a direct hit from a rocket launcher."

Cideeda points a claw tip up towards the many cameras and other monitoring devices, sitting dark and inactive. "Well, they were doing something worth the security coverage. They didn't hold back on that."

Stepping by another open door, she halts immediately and sniffs the air carefully. She wafts over the stale air from the door and smells it cautiously, pondering the aroma. Her emerald green eyes widen in recognition, and she slowly pivots around, facing the rest of the team with a very uncertain stare. "Okay... I KNOW I've smelled THIS before. It's faint, but..."

She frowns vaguely and sighs. "This odor reminds me of the ruin with the cybernetic zombies."

The rest of the group exchange uneasy glances, cautiously search the immediate vicinity, and share a very similar sentiment. Minutes of apprehension later, they group back up and venture further down the dark corridor, deeper into the facility.

Minutes of following the huge overhead bundle of conduits within the heavy ceiling supports later, the team reaches a T-intersection and the main junction point of the thick power lines. Reaching the center point, the group shifts their attention down one path. At the end of the hallway, the faint glow of an emergency light escapes through an open heavy, sliding door. Surveying the open doorway briefly, the team slides their focus over down the other passage. Searching stares turn towards the curious, apprehensive, and cautious, seeing the massive, heavily reinforced, and securely sealed double doors. Dretphi cocks her head back warily, spotting the unique traits of the huge entry, and glances over the rest of the team. "THAT is strange. This is the only closed door. Every other door has been opened."

Cideeda flicks her furry ears around, twisting her grimace apprehensively, and narrows a stare at the huge double security doors. "Yeah. THAT is really strange. Especially given that these doors are of a completely different design from everything else here. The style is even different. I don't think these were original construction."

Hovering out in front of the group, Sebastian contorts his face uncertainly and sighs ethereally, peeking over his shoulder towards the team. "Well, as much as I don't want to get too close to something like that. We need to at least check to make sure the doors are securely locked..."

He tightens his tense smile. "And there's no immediate threat to us or anyone else in the area."

Understanding, reserved expressions emerge upon the team, and they ready themselves for the approach. Slowly and methodically, the group closes in on the tall, massive double doors and carefully fan out, inspecting the gateway in their own ways. Aristespha and Bach both illuminate their eyes in magical radiance and study the doorway. Aristespha tilts her head to the side curiously, lifting an inquisitive eyebrow. "I am not seeing anything blatant, but there seems to be significant, old traces of some variety of enchantment on the join between the two doors."

Gritting his teeth, Bach contorts an uneasy frown. "Yeah. I mean, I'm seeing that, too. I'd put my money that it was some kind of sealing or locking enchantment. Which..."

He swallows hard and slides a side eye towards the team. "Doesn't really make this whole situation feel any better..."

Stepping forward upon the concrete and metal floor, Cideeda kneels down in front of a large vented panel and shines her flashlight through the grates. "So, what do we have going on here-"

She blinks in surprise, her furry ears perking up against her headgear. "Oh..."

Through the vent gaps, Cideeda cranes her head around for the best viewing angle into the cavity beyond and narrows her emerald green eyes. "That's really strange... Okay... OH, now THAT is really strange."

The team congregates closer around Cideeda, searching glimpses of her discoveries. Noticing the team looming nearby, Cideeda motions towards key points of interest, explaining with a puzzled tone. "So... The hydraulics for this big thing are on THIS side of the wall. Even the control lines. Which isn't something you do if you want to keep from going IN."

Sebastian blinks to attention, stares at the huge metal double doors, and carefully drifts closer. Glancing at the group, he puts forth a brave smile. "Well... Let's see if I can get a peek at what's on the other side?"

The team agrees, and Sebastian phases through one door, disappearing inside. A minute later, he slowly emerges from the doorway, paler than his typical ethereal self. Gathering his thoughts with the prompting stares from the group, he releases a nervous, ghostly exhale, and points a thumb over his shoulder at the gateway. "OKAY... It was really dark in there... BUT..."

Pausing a moment, he grits his teeth. "I did make out a HUGE fluid-filled tank that could fit our humvee in it... And, SOMETHING floating in there."

He releases another long ethereal breath, visibly mulling over his feelings about the situation, and gazes over the group. "I couldn't make out exactly what it was... And... I REALLY didn't want to get close to it... Just in case."

Silence looms over the team. Seconds later, an unspoken agreement occurs, and they collectively, slowly move far away from the heavy, reinforced doors. Past the intersection point of the T-junction, Aristespha lifts her tablet up and takes a picture without a flash. The team reorientates itself in the opposite direction and travels down the hallway to the open room with dim emergency light. Peering inside through the doorway, the team gazes upon all the partially working control consoles and barely functional generators. A few beeps and chimes sound out, and the group spots a bank of operational computer equipment giving constant updates, warnings, and alerts. Cideeda aims her voice towards Sebastian, inquiring in an affirmative tone. "I think it would be best if we investigated this room a bit more?"

Crossing her arms, Sotalia nods in complete agreement and eyes Sebastian. "Yeah. It'd be really nice to at least see what was going on here and maybe figure out what else we need to be on the lookout for."

With a smirk, Sebastian slowly nods and hovers into the control room. "After what I saw, I can't argue with that sentiment. We should probably figure out if we need to call in the army or something... Or if everything is going to stay roughly this way."

The team files in, fans out, and starts searching the room for more clues.

----

Hovering in the middle of the dark hallway down from the intersection, Sebastian stares out at the opposing corridor, sneering uncomfortably at the darkness leading towards the heavy, suspicious double doors. He crosses his arms and watches the spotlight from Dretphi's submachine gun accessory methodically travel from one edge of the thick, reinforced frame to another. Squinting her steely gray eyes behind her full visor, Dretphi twists a faint grimace, hints of anxiety leaking through her stoic facade. Sebastian's ethereal form rolls his shoulders against nervous energy, and he releases a long sigh, glancing over to Dretphi. "You doing okay? Need to rotate out for a bit?"

Dretphi blinks back to attention, making eye contact with Sebastian, and shows an appreciative smile. "I am okay. I can continue to stand watch. Just wish we could get the information we need SOON."

Nodding, Sebastian returns his stare down the shadow blackened hallway, grumbling. "Yup. I'm with you on that one. I know we're probably going well beyond what we need to do. But, I think we need to give the guild the info they need to send the right forces out to deal with this potential mess."

Dretphi draws in a deep breath and sighs out the tension. "Indeed..."

Sebastian briefly grits his teeth, crossing his arms, and glances over to Dretphi with a sarcastic tone. "You know... Let them know how many tanks they need to bring to take out whatever that thing is."

Searching the top of her mind for a second, Dretphi shifts her weight to the other foot, mulling a thought out loud. "Tanks would work. My house father would recommend detonating explosives to collapse the entire front of the entry corridor. No need for an encounter."

Sebastian thinks to himself for a moment, slowly agrees, and resumes his watch of the dark corridor across the intersection. "Yeah... Honestly, at this point, I would do the same, and just have our report say we found it that way."

Twisting her mouth in deliberation, Dretphi settles to a slow nod. "Simple solution. Pity we do not have enough explosives."

A dry smirk appears on Sebastian's face, and he chuckles lightly. "Don't let Cideeda hear THAT. She'll think of it as a challenge to what she can do."

Pivoting partially, Dretphi gazes into the nearby room at the end of the dimly lit hallway and smiles, checking on the activity in the emergency light illuminated area. "A challenge I wish we could attempt."

Inside the control room, Cideeda checks on her shotgun propped up against the computer console bank and returns her focus to the constantly scrolling alerts and messages on a screen. Biting her lower lip, she tries to decipher the stream of information. Bach sits in a chair next to Cideeda and stares at an informational graphic of the power system with flashing sections and prompts. Scratching his bearded chin, he hums in thought and side eyes over to Cideeda. "I don't know exactly... But, man... It seems to be prioritizing power to something at the expense of everything else in this place."

Cideeda grits her teeth, taps her finger tips together on both hands, and grimaces, lowering her furry ears. "It's GOT to be that damned area beyond those ridiculous double doors. From what I can figure out, SO FAR, this system is redirecting power from EVERYTHING else to keep that area SATURATED in power."

Pointing a claw tip at a long log list on the screen, she taps through the entries, shaking her head. "It looks like this thing was frantically trying to balance power around to all these other systems, and then... Just gave up, and stuck to just this one."

An uneasy cringe washes over her, and Cideeda leads Bach's attention over to another screen showing a slowly descending graph line against a constant line of another color. "THIS... This worries me. If what we've translated is correct, then this line is the power output from some generator. At this rate of decline, we've got maybe a day before it drops below the demand."

Bach winces, shuddering briefly, and glances over to Aristespha and Sotalia. "Yeah... That's not a good margin to work with. Any more luck with those manuals and documents?"

Carefully flipping through another set of pages in an old, dusty binder, Aristespha slowly shakes her head of long, silvery blue hair with a frown. "Unfortunately, nothing that would seem useful for the power system. Still finding daily memos and written orders."

Sotalia stacks up another old book upon a pile nearby. She brushes her hands off on her cloak, cleans off the cobweb on her horn, and sighs with a shift of her stance. Retrieving her aetherphone, she navigates through a few menus and sorts through a series of photos taken of the facility. With an uneasy frown, her golden eyes recognize elements in the pictures in a new light, and she tenses her shoulders. "I get the distinct feeling we were ALL correct, in some way. This place seems like some kind of strange cybernetic, biological, and magical research base for military applications."

Glancing over at the pile of paperwork and books nearby, she hoists up an unamused eyebrow. "At least... That's what half these documents keep hinting at."

With a long uncomfortable sigh, Aristespha nods in agreement, puts another binder in her backpack, and closes it up. "Yes. I have to agree. And, given recent events, I am NOT too terribly keen on sticking around here for much longer."

Standing up from her chair, Cideeda brushes off the dust from the backside of her tight bodysuit and back of her tactical vest. She throws the carrying strap of her shotgun over her shoulder and straightens her posture. "YEAH. I think we have all the information we need. Let's get the hell out of here, and call someone with some serious firepower to handle whatever might be here."

Sotalia releases a sigh of relief, stuffs a few choice books into large pockets inside her cloak, and walks towards the door of the room. "OH, girl, don't have to tell me twice."

Bach and Aristespha head out the exit with Cideeda and Sotalia. The four meet up quickly with Dretphi and Sebastian. Studying their expressions, Sebastian quirks his curious brow at the group. "So... What's the consensus?"

Grinning awkwardly, Bach shrugs his shoulders with a facetious tone. "Well... This place is creepy as fuck, and we want to go home now."

Sebastian snorts and nods quickly. "Sounds good to me, bro. I think we've done all we can..."

Flicking his stare around the dark passage, he wrestles down a frown. "And, all we probably should."

The team starts to face towards the center of the intersection-

A sharp, mechanical thunk resonates from some place beyond the power control room nearby. The emergency lights flicker. From the dark corridor and behind the secure double doors, faint arcing and sparking vibrates through the structure of the building. The corridors ignite in full emergency lighting, and klaxons blare out. Frantically surveying their immediate situation, the team searches for answers. Cideeda leans over and catches a glimpse inside the control room, watching the screens chaotically spew forth new alerts. An electronic voice sounds out over the intercom system, echoing out through the facility. Listening carefully, Sotalia gazes at Aristespha and translates, growing more worried with each word. "Lockdown failure?... Lab... stasis field... generators... Malfunction?! OH. GODS... Am I understanding THAT correctly?"

Aristespha's light ivory complexion pales further, her understanding coinciding with Sotalia. "Y-Yes. Unfortunately, so."

Gazing over the team wide-eyed, Sebastian slings his point down the hallway and yells out in a surge of determination. "Form up, and let's GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

A powerful, thunderous slam rattles the structure of the complex. From overhead, dust breaks free, and old rust flakes off support structures. Bach reflexively spouts out in fright. "THE FUCK WAS THAT?!"

Another earth shaking thud shakes the area from something large impacting a solid surface, the resonate groans of metal straining within. Sebastian gives the signal and flies out, leading the team towards the intersection. A massive object rams into a structural piece of the bunker, and the overhead lights flicker. At the intersection, Dretphi's steely gray eyes widen in utter shock, and she points out down to massive, double doors. "THEY MOVED!"

Hydraulic strain gives way, and a cacophony of loud spraying fills the air, thick fluid gushing out from the vented access panel. The heavy doors crack open... From behind in the dark space, something moves around in front of a backdrop of chaotic light.

IT peers out.