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The Tunnels

Choosing to hang back felt like the better option initially. Lex's exposure to this bizarre reality grew with each successive assignment, the last being Camp Lucy, and the next promised its own set of informative experiences.

Especially since the mission landed them in the Sahara, where Von would promptly melt into the ground given his proclivity for wearing black with black on top. He stuck to the back of the pack, which offered him a decent view of the others in their forays, but the choice left him in the sun for much too long. In any standard cloudy environment, Lexington tended to burn on the rare day when the sun arrived. Here in the Sahara, he felt that his skin would sizzle off in all the heat.

After slipping into the cave, the drop in temperature felt significant. Lexington wasted little time in wiping awway the beated sweat on his face, and tried to disperse some of his heat by touching the cool walls. He found little time to dally, however, for as the rest proceeded forth, he encountered twisting corridors that staggered and swept about in difficult fashion. He found few indicators of which looked a promising direction, so Lexington settled for the nearest tunnel that boasted a slightly lower grade than the rest. Unfortunately, that choice proved neverending.

Scarabs and other bugs littered the walls, providing the cave with some luminosity. He climbed stairs ad infinitum and found no recompense for his perseverence; he only met with more stairs. Sometimes he crossed intersections, and other times he found nondescript rooms in which he could not see. As the trail opened out, Von was greeted by a sickening stench. He coughed, wrapped his scarf over his mouth and nose, and halted abruptly at the clicking noise. It sounded unfamiliar, but Von listened carefully to see if he could deduce anything about the clicking noise itself. Was it a digital sound? Was it the result of blades touching together?

"Me," said the voice, but this time they seemed to be much further away. There was the sound of glass, jars being knocked over, many of them at once but when Lucky looked around, everything was as it was.

"Who are you talking to?" Said Mimsy's voice and only her voice, from behind him.

ALL CURRENT TUNNEL PEOPLE

The buzzing noise was getting louder, louder still-

- Until they felt something brush against their face, against their arms. If any tried to grab one on reflex they would find in their hands a rat-sized, squirming locust, long legs still flailing madly.

One of them flew too close again - there was a sharp p***k - then blossoming pain - and then piercing again and again as the swarm descended and everything was insect wings and legs.

Vaguely, there were people screaming in the tunnels. Belatedly, some of them would realize the screaming was coming from themselves.

[ THE DISSECTION ROOM ]

"Mark? Hey, Mark, there's a abusive murderer in the bakery now. Don't think abusive murderers belong in the bakery. Really ruining the atmosphere here in the bakery." Caroline spoke very casually and pretended as hard as she could that she wasn't paying attention to the aforementioned person. When Mark didn't respond - not to her beautiful wordsmithing, nor this, nor anyone else, her voice lost a bit of confidence. "Mark? You there? Don't be dead--okay?"

Mimsy glanced in Lawr's direction, hesitated, and went back to work inspecting and collecting what was most potentially valuable for research (or safekeeping). She stifled a yawn and hesitated again - it was unusual for her to be tired at this hour, and certainly not while working. As she gathered her focus to respond to Lucky's question regarding hand ownership, she instead found him in a panic, and groggily stared in an effort to determine what he was distressed about.

"Lucky? Are you all..." She paused again as Liam moved towards her mother, finding herself unable to remember if he'd always been here. The drowsiness was clearly causing more strain on Mimsy's mind than her body. Caroline, however, was fighting through it as best she could, especially with the arrival of Liam; she clutched him against her in a panic, holding onto him with nearly the same ferocity as he was clinging to her.

"Stay with me baby, don't move," she whispered, leaning her head against his. "Don't think about it--don't look at it. Close your eyes and--and think of something nice."

In her need to protectively defend one 'baby', she failed to hear what put her daughter on the defensive.

"My posturing?" Mimsy asked, straightening up. "If you believe that my actions are posturing, your perception is pathetically inaccurate. You are simply envious because you failed to sustain your perfect family, and I still have mine. I will always have my family, and you will have nothing." A tense pause; she clenched her teeth to fight a yawn. "You do not deserve to speak of him in any capacity, nor to hypothesize about his actions - but you are undoubtedly aware of that."

ALL CURRENT DISSECTION ROOM PEOPLE

It wasn't even the active limbs or strange eyes looking at them still from the jars - it was the moths. A green mist had begun to steadily cloud the room, to the point where everything was covered in a green haze.

The effect wasn't terrible at first, it was actually quite welcoming and soft. It left any within with a rather sleepy feeling, like a very nice sedative still slowly beginning to make its rounds. The feeling was immediately accompanied by one of happiness. Everything actually felt quite good and comfortable. They were safe.

It was just a shame that everyone else in the room was a murderous horseman.

The door opened quite easily, shattering like some sort of thin wood filament. At the other end of the door was a very cozy room. It didn't hold much, a few bookshelves and a small collection of weapons tablets on the floor that seemed like they had been there a long while. The swarm of locusts followed her inside.



The shackles broke, but the cage still remained adamant, the girl refusing to move from it either. She began to claw at Ace's hair before sinking her teeth into his arm.



The body that Kimberly prodded suddenly attempted to latch onto her with whatever it could get, going for her arm first before biting down.



Through the swarm of moths, the clicking noise was barely audible, but occasionally it would stop, and if he listened a little closer, would hear someone shouting very hoarsely, "They're coming back."



It was impossible to tell which way that clicking was coming from with the horrific swarm of moths. Occasionally it would stop, and if they listened a little closer, would hear someone shouting very hoarsely, "They're coming back."



Very faint Pokemon Sun (or Moon) music began to play from the headset rather suddenly after Caroline's comment. It was the opening theme on repeat over and over.

[ The Tunnels ]

It was impossible to tell if they were getting closer or not, the sound seemed to be coming from all around them. Until it wasn't. Gretchen paused, a look of deepest concern crossing her features as a new sound made itself apparent, but there was only a very brief second to worry about it before something brushed the trainee's face, making her jump, a little yelp escaping as she made a grab for Harper's arm.

Instead, her hands wrapped around something else. Something that squirmed. Something that had numerous limbs that twitched and flicked between her fingers. Gretchen froze for a horrifying second, a scream bubbling up in her throat, then echoing out through the twisting tunnels around her as a stabbing pain struck the side of her hand.

The shrieking continued as she tried to fling the thing away, only to realize there were more of the things flying around them, and then falling on top of them. Swarming. Biting.

In what was quickly dissolving into a blind panic, Gretchen summoned Devika, swinging wildly around her.

HP: 38
DMG: 6
CHG: 6