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[Gaia Action 9 News, 2 years ago]

The newscast interrupted nearly every channel across Gaia as the Beautiful and Famous Newscaster stood on screen inside a moving helicopter. A moment in delay as everyone's attention attached itself to the headline, weapons of destruction frozen over. "This Is Cindy Donovinh reporting to you live with breaking news! The once secret weapons research facility outside of Aekea has appeared to freeze over in a thick layer of ice over night! The cause of this is still unknown and all efforts to break through the ice has been met with failure." She turns around momentarily to see them getting closer to the frozen over building, she quickly returns her attention to the camera and issues a warning. "We have found within the ice a scene that many may want to close their eyes for. Are we getting this?" The camera shifts outside and zooms in on the roof of the building, at first it just looks like a large chunk of ice similar to a glacier but inside something could be seen. Standing on the roof within the ice was a young man dressed in a white lab coat that was torn and bloodied, he held a weapon in one hand pointed at something large and near spider-like but it's features were impossible to fully figure out due to the several reflected angles through the ice.

For months people made a big deal over the frozen labs but soon after it was forgotten and everyone continued as if it never happened.


[Barton, current day]

It was late at night, the only sound that could be heard was the roar of the sky as a storm passed overhead Barton. Not a soul was outside in the rain as the wind struck the windows with such force it was a wonder how they stayed whole. Gina slept on the couch of Hunter Roge’s auto shop, she had been there for a few days while Liam was flirting in Isle De Gambino and Sam was busy with work. The screams of thunder had managed to overpower the screams coming from Gina in her sleep, a nightmare of visions from her past flashed before her.

In her dreams everything was a mess, everyone was running through the halls of a dimly lit building as she was being dragged by a man in a white coat pulling at her arm for her to move faster than she was. The dream skipped ahead showing her on a helicopter with three others, old business men, and the man in the white coat stood on the roof signaling for the helicopter to leave without him, and the same conclusion every time, the roof broke through as a monster rose from the debris. It stood thirty feet high easily with eight legs longer than the body itself, a spider of ogre proportions but the rest of the story left unseen as the monster lunged for the helicopter and showed its face, a true horror with a jaw of fangs and teeth, a monstrous spider’s body with a head that couldn’t tell if it was meant to be that of a human, a canine, or even a demon.

Gina awoke in a panic, finding herself drenched in a cold sweat she grabbed the first thing she could see. The remote to the television felt comforting after reliving through the worst moments of her life that she could remember, which wasn’t even much more than five or six years. She struggled with operating the remote as her hands still shook from the vision of the face, a face that has haunted her for years, and a beast that gave her a severe case of arachnophobia. She managed to hit the right button after a few minutes as the television set began to hum as it booted up. The light left a faint glow in the room and the last channel left on was Action 9 News, sort of a predictable thing for Hunter, the main headline widened Gina’s eyes as it was a repeat of the story two years ago. The story of the frozen labs, the man in the white lab coat, and the spider-like monster frozen in an eternal fight to the death, the same scene she had just seen again in her dreams.

“This is Cindy Donvinh with breaking news! If you are watching this then you should remember now the Laboratory frozen in ice overnight, two years ago today! Almost as quickly as it appeared the ice has now melted from the labs allowing access.” The screen shifted from the Beautiful newscaster and changed to a picture of the labs frozen over, a focused eye easily noticing the monster on the roof, then a picture of the labs without ice taken only minutes ago which shocked Gina as the roof was now completely bare. “Officials are prepared to enter the Laboratories and search for anything that may have caused the barrier of ice that has kept them out for years but before the plan of action passed Aekea’s government a private investor has already laid claim to investigations. The person has wished to be left anonymous but has left us a message saying they will just be running simple investigations and monster extermination.” Gina muted the television as the story changed to something about a government official of Gaia has a Chocolate coated peanut stuck up their nose. “I take it you saw it?”

Gina spun on the coach, she knew who exactly spoke but it was early and she didn’t hear him approach. Hunter Roge stood in the doorway from the kitchen with a cup of chai tea that still steamed as it was just made, he had some papers in his other hand which he observed closely and a scent came from the paper Gina could figure was fresh ink. “I’ve had some people scouting out the area, you’ve spoken about the place in your sleep a lot. Reports say the ice melted in less than a minute and after that they sent in my request backed by a few Aekean power figures that owed me one. You’d better rest up, we leave in the morning.” And with that he left leaving Gina in a state of confusion, fright, and joy.

[Barton Streets, the next morning.]
Gina stood in front of the town fountain, dressed in dark red robes and a pair of red shorts only a few shades darker than the robes and no shoes. She fidgeted with a ring on her middle right finger as the remains of her gear were in the bag behind her. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail except for a portion in the front she clipped to the right of her face, but the most unusual thing was that on top of her head were a set of fox ears and a tail hung behind her, she usually hid those with magic but she was far too nervous to do that now. She stood with a sign to her left that could have been made with better wording, ‘Seeking Adventurous Individuals Not Afraid of Dying a Slow, Terrible, Painful, Mutilating, Death.’ There was no more room on the sign for more. She had no idea who would join her for the trip but she did know that Aekea would supply them with a few more heads once they reached the city, they only granted four soldiers but that was still better than nothing. She checked her gear in a nervous habit, she was looking forward and frightened for the path in front of them to the final destination which also happened to be where she considered being her beginning.

(GAME BEGIN)

Her mind was racing with thoughts and memories connecting to each other. After learning of the journey at hand she could barely sleep for the remainder of the night and at the first moment of the storm calming down she rushed out to prepare her supplies and gear. Nothing could break her of her trance; at least she thought that until it was broken with the embrace of a man with a stench of strong liquor. Her mind had jumped to one conclusion of a person and was surprised to see the drunk holding her tight had two working eyes and wore a red some shades similar to her. She returned the hold trying to keep her mind from jumping again; she failed however as a memory she tried to keep suppressed resurfaced before her eyes. Tears began to form within her eyes that she fought back as she spoke, “Hi Rez, how’re you on this capitalist filled day?” With a small laugh she pushed away and slipped out of Reznov’s grip, returning to her seat on the edge of the fountain. Her right hand was shaking as she dipped it into the water and her tail spinning the water in circles in a nervous habit.

Hunter and Duke walked up to Gina. Hunter noticed Reznov dunking his head into the water. Hunter and Duke looked at each other and smiled. Hunter carefully picked up Nut off of Reznov's back. Duke proceeded to deliver a solid kick to Reznov's rump forcing him to be pushed face first into the water.

"Don't leave yourself open like that Red."

Hunter said Chuckling.

"Still feelin' nervous there Gina?"

Hunter asked turning his attention to Gina

He held his palm flat as not to squeeze nut.

"Neither would two jackboots full of water." Reznov said huffily, far more sober then he wanted to be. "Well then, may I ask where and when we leave to, gan?" he asked, about to pat her on the back before he realized he was a tad too wet.

"Well.... I'd like at least one more person to join us..... To watch our backs....." Gina's head slumped to the side as her eyes almost closed. She caught herself before falling backwards into the fountain. She reached into her bag and pulled out a blue can larger than most conveniently sold drinks.