Chris walked down the hallway alone, only encouraged by the fact that he'd walk back out to a friendly face when he was done. He began descending the stairs, trying not to think about how the walls seemed to get danker and darker the further down he went. He pressed a hand firmly to the wall on his way down, wary of falling and cracking his head open before even meeting his partner.

When the stairs finally evened out into a room it wasn't what he expected. He'd thought maybe there'd be some people, possibly even a helpful desk with a disinterested secretary to point him in the right direction. What he got instead was a very square room less than a dozen feet across in either direction. There were no people, no helpful desk, and certainly no form of disinterested secretary.

There was, however, a single torch on one wall sending flickering light across the room. What might have been a homey, warm glow was actually sinister looking when the tablets lining every remaining wall cast deep black shadows. The entire room hummed with a kind of electric energy that left him feeling on edge and uncomfortable.

He wandered towards the tablets, unsure of what else to do, and leaned in close to examine the markings on each one. They glowed faintly, some glittering a little when he got near others blacking out completely. He reached out to touch a green one that almost looked like a hammer when someone hummed disapprovingly.

He turned around quickly, expecting to see a person, but there was no one. Suspicious, he narrowed his eyes at the room at large but turned back to the tablets. There was a brilliant yellow one towards the top whose rune was shaped like a crude sword, and he reached up (way up, he was pretty sure he could barely reach it on his toes) to grab it.



Chris spun around again, but like before the room was empty. He went as far as to walk to the entrance and peer up the stairs, but there was no one waiting to laugh in his face. He was hearing things.

He walked slowly back to the tablets this time, now paranoid and confused. Just as he was about to pass one wall and move on to the next a blue light flared brightly, startling him into taking a step back. He reached out to take the offending tablet from the wall and just as he touched it the light crawled up his arm and solidified into a heavy gauntlet.

Chris's cry of surprise was just this side of undignified.

A breathy voice sighed, personal and private.

He shook his arm to try to dislodge the gauntlet, but it was stuck on securely. He looked around for a third time to find that he was still very much alone, but there was definitely someone talking to him.

"Hello?"



Chris finally gave a hard look at the gauntlet on his arm. There was a short blade jutting out from the end, and the armor was intricately carved with a beastly face. His brain reluctantly kicked into gear.

"Are... are you a gaunlet? Talking to me?"



"..Talking... to... me?"

The voice gave an impatient sigh.

"You're the partner Nevada was talking about?"



Chris made a strangled, confused noise and turned for the stairs. He had a lot of questions for Nevada.