Gelliana shifted from claw to claw, feeling rather out of place as she sat in the incident command post next to her hastily-organized cart, retrieved by two legionnaires moments ago. It had almost all of her various herbal anti-toxins, the legionnaires having inspected them and instructed her to simply wait and watch after originally arriving.
Celestia being at her side did help matters, the alicorn watching a hastily-erected display as she kept the shield around the site active. She had simply told Gelliana to stay, as her expertise for antidotes may come in rather handy depending what was found in the lab. To that end, the live feed from Toxic’s helmet was rather boring at the moment, the stallion shoving his way through a mostly-intact air vent.
The grumbling under his breath was rather amusing though. The pony said something in a half-chuckle concerning a crowbar and crawling through vents that lifted his spirits for a moment.
“I’m now past the area damaged by the explosion. I’m surprised these shafts weren’t compromised more.”
“If I had to guess, that gryphon was wearing a somewhat shaped charge. Energy went up and down, likely to try and release the reaction below. It was partially successful in breeching the floor seals at least,” Celestia relayed.
“I suppose I’ll find a different way out of here once I activate the neutralizing agents.”
“A modified recall spell should be able to punch out with enough power, Toxic. We are strengthening the emergency recall runes at this time. If not that, there are plenty of drainage and side tunnels that lead out of the facility to water treatment plants.”
“Understood.”
There was no tension in Toxic’s voice, something the gryphoness found rather intriguing. What else had this pony seen that this was not anxiety inducing? Especially the possibility of having to crawl through drainage pipes to escape?
“Exiting on sub level six now. I should be two floors above the lab area that went dark in the base levels,” Toxic relayed.
“Copy that,” a mare in the Canterlot Control room relayed.
As Toxic pushed his way out of the vent and into a rock hallway lit by dim emergency lights, the stallion casually looked this way and that. Other than a few missing ceiling tiles and draped wiring, it looked fairly intact.
“Heading to the elevator shaft and then the stairway.”
Halfway down the hallway, the stallion froze. A sinister, steady notification was now registering both from the instruments in the command center, Toxic’s armor sensors, and the Canterlot Control boards.
*click*...*click*…*click*…
“Radiation detected,” Professor Varti stated calmly. “Low levels, but there’s something down there. Appears to be high energy rather than airborne particles, only trace amounts at your location.”
“Why is there radiation here?” Toxic hissed, and Gelliana’s sharp ears picked up the heart-rate monitor on one of the screens taking off at a marathon’s pace. “Is this from the gryphon’s explosion?”
“Unknown, but I doubt it,” Varti added.
“Toxic, there were no radioactive materials in that lab. This had to have been from the event that made the floors go dark.”
Toxic’s heart rate continued to spike, ragged breaths slowing slightly as the stallion struggled to control his breathing.
“U-understood.”
The first hitch in the stallion’s voice gave Gelliana a brief glimpse of how rattled he was, and Celestia’s stern and focused features weren’t helping.
Toxic’s pace was now a bit slower, a brief glance at the armor settings indicating that all of the external shielding that fed from the leyline generator were set to maximum.
*Click..Click..Click..*
Toxic stopped at the elevator doors, pulling one of them open slightly, edging a hairs-width into the empty shaft.
*CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!*
Toxic shoved the elevator doors closed with a panicked gasp, sweat dripping from his forehead. A radiation alert chimed in his helmet, the Specialist struggling to control the rising panic even as Celestia’s voice rang in his ear.
Focus.
Deep breaths.
There were very, very few things that truly frightened the stallion and made him shake with absolute dread. Unfortunately, one of those things appeared to be in abundance in this lab, enough to trigger more than one radiation warning in his suit.
“I’d recommend an alternate route,” Celestia suggested calmly, no doubt picking up on the rattled stallion’s demeanor.
“I changed my mind,” Toxic whispered as he trotted back down the hall, “I like vents.”
The joke may have lightened the mood on the other end of the feed, but Toxic was still shaking as he slid into the ventilation duct.
Ok. Down we go.
The Geiger counter fell silent in the ventilation shaft; odd, considering the radiation was likely to have been circulated in the air. Or that just meant the concentration was elsewhere and not in the air system.
Varti must be right; it’s not in the airborne particles, but high intensity radiating from something.
“Ok, I’ve reached the floor above the labs,” Toxic relayed, venturing out and relaxing slightly. Desks and tables abounded, simple beakers, whiteboards, and mostly benign teaching materials scattered about in the clear-partitioned rooms on the floor.
“Checking the elevator.”
As much as he hated to do it, if he was going to venture down below, there had to be a reading taken from that point.
The metal door seemed almost spongy, yet still opened somewhat smoothly. Toxic frowned as the Geiger counter failed to read anything.
What in the world?
Cautiously, the stallion poked his head out ever so slightly into the shaft-
And his vision went black.
In the control room, Celestia let out an audible gasp as the feed cut out, the backup communication switching over immediately. Panicked gasps emanated from the microphone as a crude video image was relayed from the ear-mounted device on Toxic’s head. The stallion had torn off the helmet, the pony now sitting against a wall on the opposite end of the floor and looking at the piece of armor in his hooves.
The front of the solid metal helmet was completely melted into a dripping, useless mess.
“Varti,” Toxic asked calmly, but his heartrate signified ‘calm’ was the opposite of what he was feeling. “What would it take to melt this metal?”
“I…stand by,” the yak stammered, clearly collecting himself. “I don’t know. That metal can withstand low levels of dragonfire. It wasn’t the radiation, that’s for sure.”
“Radiation levels spiked into lethal ranges. Something is at the bottom of that elevator shaft,” one of the legionnaires relayed. “It was in the last frame or two of the helmet’s feed. Not sure what it is, but it’s directing energy upwards, and there’s stuff we haven’t seen before with the other energy waves.”
“A nice way to prevent anycreature venturing down,” Celestia mused. “How are you doing, Toxic?”
“Well, on the plus side, I can still breathe easily. No adverse effects just like on the top levels,” the pony relayed. “The downside is that my backup respirator just melted in my hooves.”
Indeed, a rubbery, sludgy mess dripped over Toxic’s forelimb, the pony then poking his armor. “The metal is starting to feel spongy, but I’m not affected at least? Perhaps it’s an agent that primarily attacks artificial materials?”
“Be careful. Can you test that idea on any of the items in your vicinity?” Celestia asked.
Walking over to a whiteboard mounted on a support beam, Toxic gently pressed his hoof against it-
And promptly sank through the board and deep into the metal beam.
“What in-” Toxic yelped, taking a few steps back. “This entire place is putty! What does that?!”
“I don’t know.”
Celestia’s simple statement had Toxic more than a little worried. But the fact he was able to breath was both a comfort and a fear.
My first line of defense is gone, including any anti-radiation measures.
Calmly opening a disturbingly-soggy armored pocket, Toxic carefully downed some pills, last-ditch measures against radiation and other nasties.
His spit would probably turn purple for a day, but worth it just in case.
“Stairs it is.”
The stairwell at the opposite end of the hall was disturbingly pristine, yet the metal guardrails were, once again, spongy and malleable.
Thankfully the rock steps seemed sturdy as ever.
“Descending now.”
Trying a door, the stallion frowned as he was able to mold the metal aside, a pile of rubble greeting him.
“The first basement level lab is inaccessible. Trying the bottom floor.”
“Be careful, Toxic,” Celestia warned. “We still have a lock on you for emergency teleportation, but the spell will take a few seconds to fire it up and punch through the interference.”
“Understood.”
As Toxic took a step down, the rock underneath his hooves crumbled into dust. The entire remains of the stairwell collapsed, shoving the stallion and the debris through the now paper-thing wall of the lab down below.
Brushing the spongey mess from his eyes, Toxic’s limbs began to shake violently, the stallion scrambling back from the horrific sight in front of him.
I’ve seen this before.
Torn catwalks, wiring, white walls; it all hung this way and that around the edges of the scorched rectangular interior of the lab. Instead of decontamination equipment, chemistry sets, and computer banks, a lake of bright green fluid bubbled and frothed with red tendrils where the laboratory used to be. The entire two high-ceiling floors were destroyed in what could only have been an explosion, metal warped out from an apparent epicenter. Flickering lights added to the unnatural glow of the fluid, sparks spitting out from cut wires leading to rooms that no longer existed.
The video feed was frozen yet not from an error; Toxic was unable to tear his eyes away from a floating object that now turned towards him. It was no clear to both him and everypony watching that the sinister ocean before him held much darker dangers.
The bare muscle and bone of a dead pony stared back at him, face eaten away by the fluid that bubbled all around it.
Luna appeared at Celestia’s side with a *pop* of magic, the other Princess’s sides shaking with barely-contained emotion.
The world shimmered, Luna speaking on a different plane with her sister in utter privacy. “Celestia, you need to get him out of there!” Luna hissed, gesturing towards the scene. “I don’t think Toxic can handle this!”
“I…” Celestia said, then shaking her head. “If he can’t activate the neutralizing agent, things will spiral out of control. He’s the only one who can be there! He’s ok, he’s still breathing, not affected by the chemical thus far. The radiation alarm hasn’t gone off, so…”
“It’s not the chemicals I’m worried about harming him.”
The haunted look in Luna’s eyes gave Celestia a clue as to what she meant, the solar princess frowning as she shifted back to reality.
“Toxic, what is going on there? Can you see the neutralizing agent tanks? Second floor, to your upper right?” Celestia asked calmly, trying to give the stallion a task to tear his gaze away from the dead body- no, bodies.
More ponies were now visible, easily a dozen corpses draped amid the wreckage or floating in the chemical ocean. Flesh dripped off their skeletal frames like the metal around them, more than a few grinning in an eternal, boney expression.
“Toxic?” Luna now asked, the stallion still frozen and borderline hyperventilating. Canterlot Control was silent, even the battle-hardened legionnaires likewise frozen to their monitors in horror. Gelliana had her claws latched around a metal post, talons digging into the metal. While the sound of a pony losing their lunch sounded over the communications from the Canterlot center, the gryphoness was apparently able to steel herself against the sight, taking a few deep breaths as she glanced towards Celestia.
“Luna?” Toxic asked, his calm tone clearly artificial and carrying with it a panic that bordered on an absolute breakdown. “I need somecreature to talk to me. No offense, Luna, but not you. That makes this too real, you know what I mean.”
Luna nodded, solemnly, looking over to Celestia expectantly.
“Canterlot Control? Anyone?” Toxic asked, panic starting to rise in his voice.
“I’m here, Toxic,” Celestia stated calmly, brow furrowing as the pony bit back a whimper.
“It’s melting…the metal…”
His armor was indeed flowing down Toxic’s limbs and torso, the leyline generator sputtering out as the Specialist’s protective shell was eaten away by the harsh chemicals surrounding him, barely a forelimbs-length away as he balanced on some unsteady debris. Only the crystal earpiece and accompanying camera seemed unaffected.
“Toxic, can you hear me?” Celestia asked, eyes flickering across the room. She levitated a headset over to Gelliana, gesturing to the screen as the stallion refused to reply.
“Please, talk to him.”
“Me?!” the gryphoness squawked, Celestia nodding curtly.
“He’s too used to my voice or Luna’s. It won’t snap him out of this. I need you to distract him, get him to the tanks on that second story and open them!”
Ears flattening at Celestia’s stern tone, Gelliana nodded and then felt a wing on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Gelliana, I just…”
“No, I get it, Princess. I’ll t-try.”
The understanding nod from the gryphoness put the ruler at ease, the Alicorn sitting back as Gelliana keyed the microphone without so much as a single stutter carrying over.
“Hey, Toxic? This is Gelliana, can you hear me?”
A new voice now echoed through Toxic’s nightmare, the stallion blinking as he nodded slowly.
“Gelliana? Yes, I can hear you. You’re the herbalist, right? The mare with the nice voice,” Toxic replied, tone indicating some sort of borderline shock.
“Huh? Um, yep, that’s me. Look, can you see…um, some large white tanks? Big huge things on that second story?”
Toxic looked around numbly, spotting the containers with ease. They were sagging, their heavy-duty construction still bolted to roof, wall, and ceiling thankfully.
“Yeah, I see them.”
“Ok, apparently there’s some valves on the tanks that need opening. Can you get to them?”
“I’ll try.”
A bit of the fluid frothed nearby as the stallion moved, splashing a section of Toxic’s bare front-left hoof with the contents. His heart rose in his throat as an icy chill ran up his entire forelimb, yet the offending liquid slid off harmlessly, nothing but the memory of the sensation marking its passage.
Scrambling over sagging metal and concrete, Toxic skirted the deadly scene as he clambered upwards. With a hiss, he slipped and sliced his hind limb on a sharp piece of glass, a few drops of blood dripping into the fluid below and making it bubble violently like a ravenous creature getting its first taste of a meal.
Making his way now to the second story, Toxic clambered over ruined lab equipment and fallen support pillars, finally coming to the massive holding tanks. On testing one of the three red valves on the vanilla-covered containers, Toxic frowned as the metal sagged in his hooves and magical grip.
“Uh. The valves are frozen. I’m going to blast them off. There’s not as much magical interference where I’m at.”
“Ok, um, Celestia says to hold on a second. They’re getting ready to teleport you out.”
“Ok.”
The stallion promptly sat down, now clearly in a state of shock.
“We’re ready. You need to hit all of the tanks though,” Gelliana relayed.
“Yup. I can do that.”
Toxic positioned himself and charged his horn, taking aim at the three massive tubes. When the charged-up shot began to make his head ache, the stallion twisted his head and sent a magical strike searing across all of the containers.
As milky-white neutralizing agent blasted out from the pressurized tanks Toxic’s world vanished as a teleportation spell yanked him to safety.
Yet as a familiar voice chimed in over the intercom, the stallion wondered why he hadn’t woken up yet, despite now having the sun splash on his body next to a shimmering shield.
“Varti! The decontamination chamber!”
“On it, Highness! Levitate him into there…Perfect!”
As a solid metal room sealed with a pressurized hiss, Toxic slowly began to come back to reality. The soft blue light radiating off dulled steel greeted his view, tubes, hoses, nozzles and sprayers all taking up position around his body, two glass sides of the rectangular enclosure letting a familiar large yak look inside.
“Starting decontamination now, Director. You know the drill. Put that tube over there in your mouth first,” Varti instructed calmly, watching as Toxic began to come out of his stupor, maneuvering his muzzle over a shaped tube.
“Seals holding, beginning extreme decontamination, steps one of ten, cycle one of six, also monitoring vitals and scanning for exposure to that fluid as well.” the yak stated, tapping a few floating symbols in front of the keyboard set in the side of the rectangular unit.
“Thank you for clearing this space, Highness. I had the teleportation matrix for the room set up already, so all I needed….”
Varti’s voice faded away as Toxic closed his eyes, slumping on the mesh floor as water coursed over his frame and air blew through his lungs, carrying with it any remnants of the horrors below the surface. He mechanically coughed up some black sludge as the various neutralizing agents scrubbed the toxins from the stallion’s lungs, magically-driven brushes now beginning to lather his body with a foaming solution.
Yet in his mind’s eyes, a skeletal, flesh-flayed eye still stared back at the stallion, refusing to be washed away by chemicals or water.
Icait paced nervously in the living room, the Windigo’s ears flat as Onyx watched from his position on the couch. The two had been confined to the dwelling ever since an explosion had rocked the city, the legionnaires assigned to them seeming rather on edge.
And it didn’t help two of their guards had been diverted to inspect a suspicious individual lurking around their apartment.
Onyx could see the Windigo starting to breath a bit faster, especially as she the shield around the site beginning to flicker and fade. Clearly it meant the incident was over, but did she know that?
Seeing her upset is…I don’t like it.
The Shadow Pony frowned, the tightness in his chest becoming harder to ignore. He obviously had to do something about this.
“Plants.”
Icait blinked, looking to Onyx as he put down the book in his magic grip, the gruff stallion looking over to her.
“Huh?”
“Plants. You came back the other day nearly incoherent because you were babbling excitedly about plants. What was that all about?”
Rubbing her forelimb with the other, Icait blush a soft pink at the memory, sitting next to the couch with a shrug.
“Oh, um, Gelliana, that nice gryphoness, has a greenhouse. Wow, that’s a lot of ‘g’s’,” Icait mused, then continuing on. “Just, it’s so alive! I’ve never seen so much living green plants before! The variety and everything! It’s not like a forest that I saw from the distance, but everything is up close and just there! It just feels good to be around! As soon as I get used to the shop in general, she’s going to start teaching me the different types and uses….”
As the Windigo continued to talk, she seemed oblivious to how Onyx’s shoulders relaxed slightly, stallion seeming to become visibly more at ease.
The legionnaires, however, didn’t miss the fact the barest hint of a smile twitched on his dark features, grey eyes watched Icait as she continued to elaborate on the entire experience.