Katsi stared a long time into the flickering light of the hallway, the screech against the steel fading into the empty halls. She didn’t want to look. In her mind she already was. She had seen too many dead friends to not be able to see it in her mind. She thought about going into the armory by feel, covering her eyes until she could get into the room, but what did she expect to find? Best case scenario, she would see the spatter from the initial scuffle and maybe find some kind of gun. But if those were going to work, why would…
She couldn’t even finish the thought. Closing her eyes, she felt something warm touching her back. She ran her hands along the metal wall. Despite seeming flush, she discovered there was a spot that was warmer than the rest that ran along the wall. Keeping her eyes closed, she followed it, wondering if this was another form of obscure navigation that Shawn came up with. Eventually, she felt a strange gap. Putting her hand in, she felt some kind of pipe. Pulling it free she winced, her eyelids flashing for a moment.
Looking at the mysterious odd object, she blinked. The sparks coming off the end made clear this was some kind of hidden weapon. While it seemed like a kind of cattle prod, she couldn’t be sure. Looking around she realized again that she had even less of an idea where she was from before. Placing her hand on the wall again, she worried as the warmth had vanished. Of course. As the lights pulsed again, she growled, stomping her foot. As she did, she felt the floor buckle a little. Lifting her foot, she noticed that the floor didn’t stop pressing against it. Moving her leg to the side, she saw the floor panel tilt up like a lid, a handle on the underside. Looking beneath she saw a tube clearly designed for human transport. She sat on the edge of it for a moment, terrified at the drop into nothing. But this was a one way trip near a hidden weapon. That has to mean something.
Saying a silent prayer to whatever greater power might show mercy on her, she held the weapon above her head for safety and cast herself into the void below. The darkness made it seem like free fall, the only hint that she was supported at all was the sudden shifts in direction as she lost all sense of place. She began to wonder if this was how it ended. Trusting the eccentric design choices of a man she had never met out of sheer desperation. She began to see some form of light, a dull orange glow not unlike the emergency lighting she and Anisa had used before. Seeing that light approach at what seemed like terminal velocity was anything but reassuring. As it came upon her she tried to scream only to taste sand. She found her entire body buried into a small man-made dune, the grit of the sand scraping her skin fiercely.
She heard someone coughing and tried to scramble out quickly as she coughed and spat. In her haste, she scattered the fine sand into the air, making sight more difficult. Worried that this cough had come from an intruder, Katsi swung her weapon at the sound. She opened her eyes just fast enough to see the weapon make contact with the injured Tak. And watching turn her to ash in a fraction of a second. Dropping the weapon as its sparking stopped, she looked at the ash pile that had once been her friend. She didn’t notice the fact that the only light was the chemical emergency lights. She couldn’t see the console or the prison cells. She didn’t have time to process when the cylinder was taken or when it made a sharp impact with the back of her head.
She came to sometime later, now trapped in the containment cell. She saw a figure pacing and knew exactly who it was. Their hunter. The Falos hound designed to chase them back into the sheep pasture. She shouted, “I won’t go quietly to slaughter you bastard!”
Before she could continue her tirade beyond this, a venomous but disinterested tone came from a voice she recognized. “Ah, you are awake. And already figured us out? A shame.” Tak’Nasi stepped close enough for Katsi’s eyes to recognize her in the low light. “That’s a pity. I had hoped I could play the hero for you. Milked you for information before I shot you into space.” Katsi froze, unsure of how to process. Tak didn’t seem to care. “Since your friends seem to have built such a well equipped interrogation chamber, I’m going to ask you each of these repeatedly until you answer me. Are we clear?” Katsi stared in disbelief and the clone tapped her head in sudden realization. “You DIDN’T know. Well, you gave the whole game away so I just…. Well this is egg on my face. Guess it doesn’t change much now.
Katsi asked, “Didn’t I just… dust you?”
Tak laughed and nodded, picking up a knife from a table and examining its edge. “You know, you don’t realize how fragile life is until you watch yourself die. I have no issue showing you what that feels like once I’m done getting the information I want from you.” These were the words of a surgeon. Spoken with the same confidence as a butcher promising a prime cut. “So, where is the other one?” Katsi was confused and Tak laughed again, stabbing the table violently. “The other one. Don’t make me ask a third time.”
Katsi felt chilled, her skin trying to leave her bones behind as it tried to escape. She stammered quickly, “My sister was in the armory. I don’t know if she is still there or-“
Tak pulled the knife out of the table, her approach to the cell silencing Katsi from anxiety alone, “You are precious. I don’t mean Zora. We will take care of her later.” When Katsi only grew more confused, Tak growled, “I will come back once you have had time to reflect on my question.” Seeking to give the prisoner space, Tak walked away to a nearby console, clearly struggling to get it to work. As she tapped away, Katsi stared in panic as a panel in the ceiling of the room quietly sunk into the ceiling and shifted aside right above Tak. Should she say something? Yes, she was threatened by her, but maybe it was the mind control. Should she say something?
Before she could, a lasso of what looked to be industrial grade electrical wire dropped from the hole, wrapped around Tak’s neck, and began to pull her into it as she kicked fruitlessly at the air. Katsi squinted but in the dim lighting was unable to tell who was doing this. After she went into the ceiling there was silence. Minutes passed without a single sound or sign of life. No hint as to if the power had returned up stairs. No sounds of a struggle or a fight. Right when she wondered if she would ever get out, the door on the cell made a loud hiss and popped open.
She walked up to the console that Tak had been struggling with and noticed it was giving some kind of signals. There were fifteen total that the machine was tracking. Each one seemed to have some kind of color, location code, and enigmatic third column that she suspected was probably an additional form of identification that only Dean and his friends knew. She glanced up at the still open ceiling and nervously decided she would investigate this later, looking for some other obscure form of transportation or marking that would lead her out of what she was slowly deciding was some twisted clubhouse.