//------------------------------// // Tight Squeeze // Story: Forces of Nature // by DrZed //------------------------------// They didnt have much time. The whole undersea base was about to break away from it's concrete pillars and sink to the bottom of the trench it was built over. "Whatever happened to 'We'll get this done quickly and get the hell out of here?' " Slaytor growled as he ran down the dimly red lit corridor, the alarm klaxon assaulting his ears. The squadron of insectoid drones chasing him wasn't helping his mood any as he kicked the double doors open into a slightly tilted chemical laboratory. He waded into seawater already flooding in from a damaged airlock, the level of the water slowly rising at an angle. "Goddammit Zed! I have some company to lose, but I should be there in 3 minutes." He frowns a moment as he listens to an inaudible voice. "Yeah, Yeah, Obi-wan, I get it." He ducks behind a the door of a large metal lab locker just before a cloud of needles embedded themselves in the door. "Too damn close" He pants. Slaytor takes a moment to scan the shelves.. grabbing two large full glass jugs and hurling then around his makeshift shield. As they fly toward the door they are tracked by the drones needle guns, the needles causing the glass to shatter in a seties of tiny explosions as the needles pierce their way through both the glass and the flammable liquid inside. The bottles more or less explode in a cloud of white mist. Slaytor pulls a flare out and strikes it, "This is the best they have?" He throws it after the bottles and drops to the floor, Covering his head with his arms, taking a deep breath, and holding it. The shining flare tumbled throught he air, meeting the mist wall and both exploded into a rolling cloud of flame. This did 2 things: - 1. It set off off the fire alarms and emergency doors slammed shut on a drone entering, cutting it in half, leaving only three that managed to make it through. 2. The sudden expenditure of oxygen in the room also caused a vaccuum, allowing the water level to rise rapidly, gushing in from the airlock. - Slaytor picked himself up and climbed up onto one of the metal benches, running for a ventilation shaft in the ceiling to the lab. He ripped the grating out of the way, ducking as he heard a burst of needles buzzing by his head... he threw the grating at the drones as a distraction then pulled himself up into the shaft above. He clambered up a few feet then stopped, taking a deep breath... waiting as he heard robotic legs splashing as the remaining drones came towards his hiding place. His draconian face grinned as he pulled a nasty looking device from his bandoleer, gave it a soft kiss, then pulled the pin and dropped it into the flooding room... 3... 2... 1... There was a bright flash along with the crackling hum of electicity...then three rapid explosions as the remaining drones overloaded, the propulsive gas for the needlers detonating. Slaytor grinned to himself, "I have to thank her for that one" then he started climbing through the duct work, following his HUD map of the base towards the high energy research lab that was the goal.