Welcome to Gaia! ::

The three girls stared at the spot where Dust had dissolved for a moment before turning back towards the corridor. "Let's go," Misa said without comment. She led the group down the corridor without incident. Eventually they came to a small opening in the side of the hallway. Reilly grinned. "This is it!" She said happily. Misa ran forward and hit the "open" button. After several moments there was a grinding noise ending with the *thunk* of the elevator arriving at their floor. The service elevator clearly hadn't been used for a while. The doors slowly ground open to reveal a small, dusty and slightly rusted elevator. It was smaller than the freight elevator they had used before. Fortunately it seemed way too small for a harvester to ambush them like it had before. Misa stepped into the elevator, looking back at the group. "Let's do this," she told them as the girls ushered the WeaponMeister team into the elevator, following them in.

The elevator doors ground closed just as they had opened, slowly and loudly. Misa leaned forward and hit the button marked "down". "The 43rd floor. Then we can end this once and for all..." she said quietly, the bitterness and anger evident in her voice. "Yeah..." replied Reilly. After a minute or so the elevator lurched to a halt, causing the group to bounce slightly. The doors ground open yet again and the group was staring down another corridor, but this one was different. On either side of the corridor stood sturdy glass windows looking down on lowered rooms rather than simple walls. The rooms were filled with strange machines and mutilated looking creatures. Fortunately most of them seemed dead. Misa led the group down the corridor, but stopped when she reached a certain room. Inside the lowered room was something completely different than the others:





Misa and Reilly both frowned as they heard the team's answer, clearly in disagreement with hit. "The room is sound-proof," Misa explained to Kaoru. "She wouldn't be able to hear us anyway." Tessa seemed relieved, allowing a small smile to cross her face. Misa sighed and pressed the "back" button. After several moments of typing a new option appeared on the screen:

Release Specimen?

Misa paused for a moment before pressing the "Yes" button. There was a brief pause before the doors in the lowered room slowly ground open. The Sufferer's head snapped towards the noise as the doors finally opened. Fortunately the doors led to the floor below them since the room was lowered and they were on the observation level above it. With surprising speed The sufferer leaped into action, darting out the door and down a corridor leading deeper into the facility that was out of sight from the observation level. For a moment nothing happened, then the sound of gunshots rang out, followed by horrendous shrieking and the sound of metal being torn asunder. Alarms began to blare on the level below them followed by more gunfire and the sound of tearing metal. "Well, that takes care of anyone on the level below us..." muttered Reilly as more gunfire sounded. "Let's hope she doesn't come up here." Misa looked towards the group. "Let's keep moving," she told them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well, we could try writing on the wall and see what she does." Kaoru said as he looked for a pen. He halted as the screen flashed a new color with a new message. He watched as Misa pressed "Yes" and released the person. "...Ooor we could do that..." Kaoru said as the Sufferer rushed out of the door. "Well, we can still take her out. Right guys?" Kaoru said as screams echoed throughout the hallways. "Y'know, maybe this is a good thing and she got our message and is helping us..." Kaoru said wondering whether or not he could take credit for the work the Sufferer did when he returned from his mission.

Misa shrugged at Rei's questions. "I don't know. Oh well." She turned to face down the corridor. "The Doctor is waiting down there somewhere," she said, the eagerness in her voice obvious. She led the group further down the corridor until they turned a corner. Before them stood a massive steel door that was sealed tight. In large red stenciling across the center it said:

REACTOR CORE

A grin came over Misa's face as she read the lettering. "This is it," she said quietly, looking up at it. Reilly walked up beside Misa, though she was frowning. "Great. But how are we gonna get through it?" She asked as she stared up at the steel door with Misa. "Umm....I could use Cinder to ah....break through it maybe?" Tessa asked tentatively. Misa shot her a look. "Don't be stupid. That would take forever," she replied. "O...oh..." Tessa said, looking away from Misa's gaze. Misa turned back to the door. "Maybe some sort of acid....?" She said. Reilly stared at the door for a moment longer. "Looks like we'll have to find another way," she said finally. "WHAT other way?" Misa asked in annoyance. She turned back to Rei and Karou. "Hey, you're a Weaponmeister team. Combine your soul resonance with us to level this door," she told them impatiently.

Misa V2's face lit up with a smile. "No problem!" She told him happily as she skipped over to where the hatch was and held her hand out towards it. "Boom!" She said. A massive blast of sonic energy pulsed from the glove on her hand, slamming into the hatch and causing it to crumple like a piece of paper. The hatch fell into the duct, landing with a loud *clang* on the floor below. "There'sanotheronebutdon'tworryI'lltakecareofittoo!" She said all in one breath, clearly getting excited by the action. She hopped down through the hatchway and disappeared. there was a pause and then another loud blast of sonic energy, followed by a similar *clang* as the exit hatch was blown open as well. "Okay I got it!" She called up from below. "Why are we going to this floor though? Are we visiting The Doctor?" Suddenly alarms began blaring further down in the complex and the distant sounds of shooting could be heard. "Uh oh," Misa V2 said from below. "That's coming from the floor below. Something really bad must have gotten out." She looked back up at Illo, waiting for him to come down.