Isaac's Story

At first Ember thought that would actually get away with it and manage to escape outside. However her movement was cut short as quick burst of static sounded the cyborgs displeasure. Ember froze, carefully turning herself back around lest this sound was followed by an attack.

"Others are seeking you. They will bring danger to us. You have brought danger to us by coming here, but also by escaping. They will seek you here. I-I"

Immediately fear tugged at Ember again. She'd made the wrong move telling this creature the truth. It was evidently making her more wary of them and less hospitable. Suddenly it stepped forward. Horrified Ember immediately took two faltering steps backward. Something wasn't quite right in the way the machine moved. She cocked her head to the side slightly her eyes narrowing in concentration. Despite her best efforts the source of her unease was not found before the cyborg continued.

"I cannot just let you go… You’ve endangered us, and you are already in danger. There are weapons below, tools and food. Old Storage that was never emptied, if you will help us we will help you."

This time Ember's reaction was one of alarm. Not only was she now stuck here temporarily but the crazed piece of machinery wanted to attack the guards? She made a strange noise of disagreement unintentionally before quickly silencing herself. There was no way to win a battle with the guards. Their weaponry would far be superior considering how long this old facility had been rusting away. The cyborg continued to step forward sounding more welcoming, but her movements again put Ember ill at ease. That's when it hit her- there was no sound. No noise to suggest the slight grinding of metal nor the transfer of weight onto the concrete floor. And the movements were jerky and uncoordinated. [Perhaps a hologram?[/i] she thought wistfully, as the cyborg continued.

The was when the cyborg mentioned a 'her'.

"You don't need to trust us." Ember started in a neutral tone. "But we can leave you and thereby keep whoever it is you want safe. Fighting the guards is a sure way to get all of us killed. There is no way I am going up against them, I'm in enough trouble already."

In her panic Ember failed to notice the breathing entering on the peripherals. When the breaths suddenly got within one meter, she let out an exclamation of horror and spun around preparing to grab her knives.

She’d moved towards the group as she spoke, her body language doing its best to convey a sense of trust and honesty in her words but the movement was jerky at best and broken at worst due to the malfunctioning imagers. Her hand never touched the hilts. The nozzles of seven guns were pointing at her companions and her own heads.

"Don't move or we'll be forced to shoot." The man in the lead said evenly, carefully staring down the viewpoint at Ember. "Despite what it looks like, it would do you good to trust us. The names Zac, and these are a few of my men. We are not aligned with the facility, on the contrary we oppose. We'll help you get out of this predicament, however we are not stupid. Unfortunately the use of the weaponry here is a necessary evil, as we are all away not all Anomalies are peaceful."

He cocked his head slightly in Ember's direction at the end.

"Now lay down any weapons you have for Ammon to collect."

A strange ringing sound was echoing in Ember's ears as the blood began to rush to her head. She had failed to listen to Zac's little speech, and even if she had there was no way she would trust a human. Her eyes were mere pin pricks surrounded by white iris in her terror and all she could think of was being taken back to the facility. Her frame began shaking violently once again, her small body no longer coping with the intense stress of the last few hours. All of a sudden she felt very cold.

"The wraiths going into shock." Zac's voice was devoid of emotion. He glanced over at Hector, his gun remained aimed at Ember. "Disarm her."

"We're not treating her until I'm sure she won't kill of one of our men. Ammon, once she's disarmed, approach from behind and cover her mouth."

"Ember! Don't touch her! Move back! I said move!"

The sound came as though from behind a closed door; muffled and altogether distant. Through her hazy sight Ember saw one of the men fall and suddenly someone was holding her. The touch was gentle but she was not in her right mind and her nerves automatically went on fire causing her to convulse in panic.

"Ember it's alright, it's me. It's just Neppy,"

She froze. Her tremors subsiding as her sister held her. For a moment Embers whole frame relaxed, collapsing in Neptune's arms.

Zac watched the proceedings with his eyebrows raised before turning to Ammon.

"I thought I told you to dart em if they came even close to hurting one of our men." he said in a low voice. His eyes accused Ammon as he stared him down.

Ammon just gave him a crooked grin.

"What was she going to do? Throw us into an illusion? She couldn't kill us." He paused, his expression suddenly lighting up to something cheeky. "…Besides she's rather pretty."

Zac appeared to ignore his last comment, instead turning his attention to Neptune, his expression puzzled.

"We need to get moving."

This had an immediate reaction on Ember with the girl once again going rigid. She clung to Neptune.

"They're taking us back, they're taking us back!"

"They're not with the facility, no one is taking you back. No one is taking us back, we're free."

Ember just went glassy eyed and gave up, once again just falling back into Neptune's embrace. She felt herself being rocked and finding herself having no energy to react she just let it all happen, staring unseeing at the ceiling.

"You need to give her space! When someone is having an anxiety attack you don't rush towards them! That just makes it worse!....Hey, you gonna be alright? Do you need me to carry you?"

Ember couldn't force herself to respond. As far she was concerned shutting down was her only option. Abruptly she felt Xandres presence on her mind. In desperation she immediately started mentally calling out to him. She wasn't even aware if he could hear her, but she figured she didn't have much to lose. She begged him to come help them for a few seconds before she felt herself slipping away. She accepted the unconsciousness gratefully allowing it to suck her in to its darkness.

"Do you have proof? Show me something that says I can trust you."

Zac paused for a moment, assessing Neptune carefully before he opened his mouth.

"And how would we prove it? Technically anything could be an act. However think for a moment, really you have two options. One: You fight us off, wander around on your own until Sam picks you all up and takes you to the second facility. Or Two: You risk coming with us.

"We're not your enemies Neppy. We're around here trying to pick up Anomalies to get them away to safe houses before the facility finds them. The guns are a precaution. Due to our moles in the facility we are well aware of the dangerous Anomalies. If it wasn't for your sisters bloody past, all the guns would have darts in them. As it is- darts aren't enough of a deterrent for the more deadly. We found that out the hard way."

His voice quietened at the end.

"We need you to come with us." He said with a sense of urgency. "If we take too long now, the facility will take all of us too and then who will stop them?"

“Who said that? Show yourself. Step forward slowly or we open fire.”

Zac glanced over to see one of his men aiming at a figure in the dark. Suddenly it came towards them, arms raised in surrender.

"I want to hide. To be left alone. Leave us alone."

The voice was distorted and difficult to understand. And then the tone changed. The figure seemed to explode in a rage before the hall was empty.

"Damn." Zac breathed out for a second. "Who is she?"

Ammon shrugged.

"Never heard of her…she doesn't live here does she?"

Zac ignored Ammon, and gestured to two of the men to follow him down the tunnel, calling back to Ammon as he did so.

"Get the rest to the safe house. We can't leave this one here, Sam will find her otherwise."

As soon as Zac disappeared, Ammon chucked his dart gun to the ground. He ignored the sound of a disapproval of the man behind him instead grabbing the bag the man had been carrying behind the group. Walking up to Neptune he held out a wrapped bar of some sort out to her.

"Take it. I know you mustn't have eaten for a while. Sorry 'bout Zac an 'is guns. He lost one of his men a few months back and now he's just cautious." The blonde carefully peered over Neptune's shoulder to glance at the Wraith.

"Yer sister's passed out" He commented, before his eyes narrowed in scrutiny. "She's not really what I expected. Them moles described her as a right terror."

He laughed suddenly, seemingly unaware that perhaps his comments were not particularly wanted. Suddenly his whole expression changed. It held a strong sense of sincerity.


"Are you goin' to come with us?"