Isaac and Chrysalis remained near the store for a few minutes, making sure that they salvaged all of the ammunition crates that were scattered around the area and sold off the various pieces of ammunition that neither of them needed, as they didn't have the guns that the ammunition went to. Chrysalis used some of her credits to make sure she had a decent amount of bullets for her Pulse Rifle, which she was happy to have in her possession again, before she stepped away from the machine and smiled at Isaac. Sure, she might not have access to a Plasma Cutter like Isaac did, but she was more skilled with this weapon and she had her magic to aid her if she really needed it, especially since there was at least two new types of Necromorphs that they had to contend with and there was no telling how many more they would find in the Sprawl. Once she was ready to depart, and Isaac agreed with her, the two of them reengaged their helmets and stepped away from the store... though before they could move their audio links went off.
The duo shared a look with each other for a moment, as they were curious as to who was contacting them at the moment, though Isaac tapped the command and a video link appeared in front of them, where they found Nolan looking at them from the other side of the link.
"Isaac! you still alive?" Nolan asked, once more completely ignoring the fact that Chrysalis was even there, though at the same time she didn't mind that too much, as she and Nolan weren't part of the same group before the outbreak happened, but she was interested in what he wanted to say, "We can't talk long... I think they're tracking our signals. Are the memories coming back to you? They're coming back to me... the good ones... ow! Th... the bad ones. The more I remember, the more my head hurts. I keep seeing the symbols... do you see the symbols too, Isaac? And him... I keep seeing his face... Ah shit... they've found me!"
That was followed by Nolan disappearing from whatever he was using to contact Isaac and the video link was disconnected, leaving Isaac and Chrysalis to stand there for a moment as they wondered what Nolan was talking about, before they sighed and headed towards the elevator that was near the store. According to the sign the elevator was supposed to take them to the Concourse Mezzanine, though Chrysalis honestly had no idea what that was and climbed into it with Isaac. Once they were on the elevator Isaac pressed the button and the elevator started moving, though not even ten seconds later the elevator stopped and opened the door in front of them, where they walked out and entered the new area of the Sprawl that they had discovered. As they walked out into a mall like area, as that was the only thing that Chrysalis could think of to call the area, a member of the pack climbed onto the railing that was in front of them, where Isaac dismembered it's legs and killed it in seconds.
The moment the Necromorph was dead, and they started to explore the area around them, Isaac raised his hand and activated the audio link once more, though this time he had a very specific target he wanted to talk to before the two of them delved deeper into the infested area.
"Hey Daina, there's this crazy guy that keeps contacting us." Isaac said, though at the same time he refused to say Nolan's name, as he wanted to give Daina the sense that he didn't trust Nolan, which was partly true in a sense, so he could see what she knew about him, "I saw him back at the hospital."
"His name is Nolan Stross," Daina replied, though the sound that was coming from the audio link indicated that she was bringing up the file that had the information that would give Isaac a few answers, "He was a patient in the program, just like you were... and just like Chrysalis was supposed to be, but they could never get the program to work for her."
"Really? Why was he there?" Isaac inquired, though the reason he didn't ask about Chrysalis was because he knew that there was a certain someone that must have been helping her avoid being subjected to the program as well, to which he focused on Nolan, "What does he want?"
"Isaac, he's a psychopath, so steer clear of him." Daina stated, but at the same time Chrysalis knew that the term meant Nolan was dangerous, though with the Marker messing with his mind that was to be expected, "He murdered his own wife and child."
"Then we'll be careful, if he shows up again." Chrysalis said, though at the same time the mention of a wife and child made her wonder, for a few moments anyway, what it would have been like if she had saved Wildfire, before she shook her head and continued onward as Isaac disconnected the audio link.
Once the connection was terminated the duo explored the area around them, where Chrysalis smashed some of the windows that were near them and gathered some essentials, mostly some bottles of water and some sandwiches that had been left behind, that she and Isaac chowed down on before they continued moving. The reason she had done that was because it had been some time before she and Isaac had actually eaten anything and knew that it was best if they kept their energy up. Since the majority of the citizens of the Sprawl were already dead, thanks to the outbreak, she didn't bother to leave any compensation for what she took, though Isaac didn't say anything as they moved through the area and headed towards the doorway Daina's route was bring them to, while also collecting a gold semiconductor that was on the ground on the floor below them.
Unfortunately the route they were following brought them to a Unitology Recruitment Center, along with a text log that was titled 'Altman's Footsteps', which mentioned that they believed that EarthGov was trying to squash the truth that they were trying to spread... though at the very end Chrysalis noticed the term 'Convergence' and could only feel a sense of dread when she looked at it.
"If the events of Aegis VII and the Ishimura weren't enough to make the Unitologists seem insane, this just puts the final nail in the coffin," Chrysalis commented, though her eyes lingered on the word Convergence, because her foreboding feeling about it made her wonder what terror the Unitologists wanted to unleash this time around, "Any idea what the word 'Convergence' means in this context?"
"Based on what the Marker's done since it's been activated, and the Unitologists worship them, I can only guess that this Convergence is something horrible." Isaac stated, as he remembered the Hive Mind and the Leviathan, massive creatures made of the flesh of those they had corrupted into Necromorphs, which only made him shudder at the thought of what a Convergence Event would create, "We should get moving before the Necromorphs find us... we can talk about what this means in the future."
Chrysalis nodded and approached the elevator that was in front of them, to which she stood guard as Isaac removed the cover and started hacking into the controls that powered the elevator, though a few seconds later the two of them walked onto the elevator and started headed to wherever it was taking them.
"Daina, I thought you were routing us through residential." Isaac said, opening the audio link between them and Daina once more, because where they were going didn't sit well with either of them, especially after everything that they had seen on the Ishimura, "This looks like a Unitologist Recruitment Center. Are we still on track?"
"Yes." Daina immediately replied, though that only made Isaac and Chrysalis look at each other, as the last time they walked into an area that had been controlled by the Unitologists, Mercer anyway, they had been nearly killed by the creatures that called that place home, meaning that they could be walking into a trap, "There's an old maintenance access point in there that will take you through the waste disposal system and into the Cassini Tower. Stay sharp."
When the elevator arrived at it's destination the duo walked through the door and entered the waiting area for the recruitment center, though at the same time they did their best to ignore the message that was playing and continued walking, while Chrysalis found a text log revealing that the layoffs the CEC had been handing out was also hurting the church. She wondered why the CEC would be laying people off, something that Isaac was definitely interested in, though at the same time they both decided that time would tell and kept moving, while hearing that the church aimed for all of humanity to be of one body and soul. That seemed to relate to how some of the Necromorphs were made, as many people went into creating monsters like the brutes and the tripods, though if that was true it only made them truly wonder what sort of monster a Convergence Event would create... and what type of firepower they would need to bring such a monstrosity down, if the event was completed.
As they rounded the corner, however, two vents blew open and a few Necromorphs crawled into the area, which was two members of a pack, a slasher, and an exploder, though Chrysalis smiled as she noticed how they were so close to each other and Isaac practically read her mind... as he loosed a Stasis blast at the whole group, allowing her to have a clean shot so a short burst of bullets ruptured the goo sack the exploder was holding and tore all four of them to pieces. That was followed by five more members of the pack using a pincer attack on them, as three came from the direction Chrysalis was facing while the remained two attacked from the path they had come from. Once their enemies were dead the duo carefully explored the rest of the area, since most of the doors seemed to be locked at the moment, and found only a few bits of ammunition for their efforts. The moment they finished searching they returned to the engineer vent that was where they needed to go through and Isaac climbed into it, where Chrysalis waited for enough room to be open before she followed her friend to their next destination.
It didn't take them long to reach the other side of the engineer vent, though when they pulled themselves out of it they found a dead man resting against a machine with a video log that they could play and download into their own RIGs, but Chrysalis was a little disappointed in the message since it detailed how to use the parts of a Necromorph as projectiles to take them out, which they had been doing the entire time.
From there the duo walked up the nearby ramp and headed into the control room that contained the panel that would allow them to switch off part of the machinery, which would them allow the two of them to safely progress through this area before they found their next target. Sure enough Isaac found the terminal in question and entered the command, to which the compressor piston went offline and the computerized voice for this area told them that it was now safe to enter the chamber. Chrysalis would have used the nearby Bench to empower her weapon, but in the heat of getting the Pulse Rifle again, and stocking up on ammunition, she had forgotten to purchase a few Power Nodes, but in the end they headed back through the door and returned to where the man had been resting. As they walked down the ramp, however, they were greeted by three slashers and an exploder, though since one slasher came all on it's own Isaac dismembered it before Chrysalis blew the others up with the explosive goo sack.
The moment their foes were taken care of Isaac and Chrysalis walked through the door they had ignored a few minutes ago and walked into the short hallway between it and a circular door, which opened up and let them enter a Zero-G area... to which they both discovered that the new suits they were wearing had been upgraded in this field, as there was a command option for them to engage their boots and walk along a surface or disengage them and float through the air around them. Isaac immediately headed over to the other door, as he wanted to progress forward and get out of here quickly, though as he turned around he noticed that Chrysalis had opened a door near the one they had come through and simply waited. She floated to where he was a few moments later with a Power Node in her hand, meaning that it was worth the few seconds she spent, before they engaged their boots and touched down on the walkway below them, to which they opened the door and left the Zero-G area behind.
From there the two of them walked down the short hallway that was in front of them and approached the terminal that was at the end of it, where Isaac tapped the commands and opened the circular door that had been in the room they had just passed through. Chrysalis noticed that the tunnel it was connected to had opened the other door that they were now standing near, to which Isaac led the way back into the previous room and carefully lifted themselves into the Zero-G atmosphere again. From there they floated over to the open circular door and avoided the large pieces of trash that were coming their way, while at the same time they moved down the tunnel that they needed to pass through, before they reached the door that would take them to the Cassini Tower Infrastructure. Of course that involved them reconnecting with the floor and made sure that their boots were sticking to the ground, though once they determined that fact the two of them opened the door in front of them and walked into the hallway that was waiting for them.
As they entered the area that was in front of them they discovered that the area was slightly darker than normal, though since there weren't any Necromorphs around the area the two of them walked around and found a ramp that brought them to a door that needed it's power box put back into the waiting receptacle. When they reached that level, however, a slasher burst out a vent and tried to attack them, though Chrysalis happily dismembered the Necromorph with a short burst of bullets while Isaac inserted the power box into where it was supposed to go. The instant the power box went back into the receptacle the lights came back on and let them see what was around them, while at the same time restoring power to the elevator that they had been heading towards. Chrysalis also noticed that there happened to be a store resting nearby as well, or rather what remained of a store, as it appeared to have been smashed in some manner when the outbreak originally occurred... to which the two of them walked onto the elevator and rode it up to their next destination, while carefully listening for anything out of the ordinary.
When the elevator came to a stop the duo discovered a box with a Power Node on their left, which they collected before they headed towards the door that was near them, to which they discovered an apartment area that looked like some Unitologists had been there, based on the symbols anyway. A group of little Necromorphs, the members of the swarm Chrysalis realized, emerged from the room in front of them, to which Isaac blasted them apart before they moved away from the door they used to enter the area. As Isaac opened fire on the other swarm members, coming from another room that was in the area around them, Chrysalis quickly backed into the first room and found a text log, one that revealed some people being interested in what was happening soon, but even thought they didn't name the event that was supposed to be happening she had to determine that it was the Convergence Event they discovered earlier. The instant she stopped reading it she stored it away and headed into the room that Isaac had walked into, though that was when she watched him walk into the room that they had to walk through.
That was when Chrysalis got worried, because the instant Isaac walked into the room he started to stagger and seemed focused on the bed that was to his right, as if someone was sitting on the bed and was demanding his attention, which made her step forward to help him in some manner... only to stop when she heard him talk.
"You're not Nicole!" Isaac stated, pointing his Plasma Cutter at the bed for a few seconds, telling Chrysalis that he was seeing the Marker's image of Nicole again, which was apparently trying to mess with his mind once more, "Nicole is dead! You're not really here!"
"Isaac!" Chrysalis said, to which she reached forward with her hand and grabbed onto her friends' shoulder, where she shook him for a few seconds and snapped him back to reality as he lowered his weapon and seemed to stare at her, like he was lost or something, "Isaac, are you sure that you're alright?"
"...yeah... I'm fine..." Isaac replied, but this time around Chrysalis knew that he had to be lying to her, as the memories were mixing with the Marker's signal and it was causing pain to his mind, something that he was trying to avoid speaking about while they were together, "Come on, let's keep moving before something terrible finds us."
Chrysalis looked at Isaac for a moment, as he opened the door that was resting to their left and walked into the hallway that was on the other side, as she was concerned for her friend's well-being and knew that this was going to be tough on him, to which she determined to help him to the best of her abilities before she walked through the door as well. They carefully explored the rest of the apartment area that was in the hallway around them, though at the same time they discovered that the doors all around them, that would let them enter the various 'houses', were locked, meaning that the only path they could take was the one in front of the door they had walked through. Since they had no choice in the matter the duo returned to the only unlocked door and opened it, which allowed them to walk out onto a walkway that rested above an area that the Unitologists used... and, possibly, where a good number of corpses used to rest before the outbreak occurred.
As they walked out into the open, however, a gunship flew by the glass to their far right and stopped as it looked into the area that Isaac and Chrysalis were in, though that was when Chrysalis realized the danger that they were in, as she was sure that Tiedemann and his soldiers had found them at last.
"Daina, we've got another complication." Isaac said, though at the same time he stared at the gunship as well, as he silently agreed with Chrysalis that they were in danger, even though she hadn't said anything, "Tiedemann's soldiers have discovered our location... they're tracking us in some sort of gunship."
"You're almost there!" Daina replied, to which Isaac and Chrysalis realized that she might not actually care about the fact that Tiedemann had discovered where they were, though that only made Chrysalis more annoyed with the lady that was 'helping' them, "Hurry!"
Isaac and Chrysalis did just that, because before the gunship had a chance to fire at them, since it was a gunship and not an observation ship, they headed towards the door on the other side of the walkway and opened it, disappearing before their enemies could find them. As they walked into the hallway a slasher burst through an apartment door and turned towards them, where Isaac dismembered it as they moved forward, as now wasn't the time to be cautious about how they were moving. From there they turned around the corner and entered the elevator that took them down to the level that was below them, though that happened to be the floor where all the Unitologist bodies were waiting, which caused the duo to prepare themselves for whatever was waiting for them, as they were both sure that the area in front of them was going to be a trap.
Sure enough the moment they entered the area the gates on either side of them closed, though Chrysalis was the first to react as she spotted an infector moving, as she blasted it to pieces before it could even reach the corpse that it happened to be heading towards. As that happened Isaac spotted two pukers emerging from the entrance of the Unitologist Church, the last place either of them wanted to be, and opened fire on them before they had a chance to start puking up their acid in order to damage them. The moment the pukers died, and the duo gathered in the middle of the floor so they could see everything around them, another infector burst into the area and headed towards a corpse as two slashers joined it. Chrysalis grabbed one of her bone blades and hurled it through the air, impaling the infector before it had a chance to turn more of the corpses, while at the same time Isaac dismembered the slasher in front of him and left the other one for her to deal with... which died in a hail of bullets, causing the gates to rise back up and allowed them to move around once more.
The unfortunate thing was that both of them knew that they had no choice but to enter the Church that was resting in front of them and see what horrors awaited them, though despite the fact that they needed to hurry the duo stopped at the various terminals and got the history of the Church. This was purely because Chrysalis had next to no information on Altman and the Church, save for what they found from time to time, and she listened to them as Isaac frowned at everything around them, which she felt like replicating as she stood in front of the various terminals. The first terminal revealed that Altman discovered the Black Marker in the Yucatan Peninsula in 2214, which 'spoke' to him about a plan that would unify humanity and lead them to a bright future, something that she disagreed with. When she moved over to the second terminal she discovered that millions of people flocked to the Marker to see it and hear Altman's message, though by the next year he was assassinated by someone, becoming the first martyr for the new Church... where his followers became determined to not left his message be silenced, as they were the ones to create this made Church.
As she moved to the fourth terminal she discovered that the Unitologists could be found all across the regions of space that humanity owned, though while the message claimed that the Church was spread out over the entire universe Chrysalis determined that the universal part had to be a lie, since they were nowhere close to where Equus rested. The fifth terminal revealed that this particular Church started as a devout group of miners and flourished into what it was today, while also being the site of the annual Unitology Enigma Symposium, which she wasn't interested in learning about as she approached the final terminal. The final one revealed that all Unitologists were waiting for Convergence, where the message proclaimed that they needed to continue to nurture their relationship with the Marker and understand the 'future' that it was preparing for them... to which Chrysalis sighed as she walked towards the door that Isaac was standing near, since he had been ignoring the messages.
"Ready to delve into the Church?" Isaac asked, as he knew that the moment Chrysalis was with him again that she would be done with the messages that had been lining the hallway, though at the same time he prepared his Plasma Cutter for whatever was waiting for them in the actual Church.
"Yeah, we should get moving." Chrysalis replied, to which she pulled up her Pulse Rifle and turned towards the door that was in front of them, where she noticed that Isaac was more than ready for the dangers that were waiting for them in the next area.
Isaac nodded his head and made sure that both of their helmets were still engaged, though the moment he found out that both of their helmets were in place he opened the door and stared at the stairs that were in front of them, to which they braced themselves and stepped forward... while at the same time wondering what horrors and dangers waited them inside the Titan Station Church of Unitology.