//------------------------------//
// Chapter #10 
// Story: Operation Imortuus 
// by Pika53 
//------------------------------//

Equestria - Arkley Mansion/Research Center; west wing second floor, 10:35 pm 9th July 20xx, Night, Weather: Cloudy

As they stood in the blood-hued hallway, Zander tried to make sense of recent events. After the nightmarish run through the woods, he'd had a relatively easy time except when he'd been forced to defend himself against the pair of ghouls that had seen fit to assault him at the foot of the stairs leading to the second floor. Once they'd linked up, Zander had been intrigued by what Cameron had encountered while searching for him since he hadn't thought to go in that direction and instead had passed through the first door he'd seen after passing through the dining room. They'd already explored most of the rooms they could enter on this floor as they approached yet another bland wooden door.

As he recalled, during their search they'd found what he guessed was a researcher's will in one of the rooms along with a strange red jewel in a wall safe that had been hidden behind a fish tank. The contense of the will had been unnerving to say the least and under the circumstances, he could sympathize with the junior pegasi's anxiousness; everything about this operation was completely messed up. Reaching the door, Zander let his gaze drift and spotted another one at the far end of the hallway ahead of them that he guessed lead back to the main hall. Grasping the handle with a forehoof, he certainly hoped this one would open as he recalled his experience with another nearby door that refused to budge for him in the slightest.

Exchanging glances, he turned the handle and the door opened smoothly into an L-shaped hallway. The crumpled form laying against a wall further ahead had them sprinting into the area as quickly as they could. Upon reaching it, Zander looked on as Cameron bent down to examine the corpse more closely. The body was that of a cream colored unicorn mare with a light blue main and likely to be one of the missing Zeta's. From what he could see, the gaping wound upon the unicorn's left shoulder was drying; no fresh blood seeping through the mutilated tissue.

Zander felt ill about the discovery and couldn't help but wonder what happened as Cameron closed the mare's glazed, unseeing eyes and slowly shook her head while letting out a soft pained sigh. Letting his gaze drift, Zander randomly searched the silent hallway for some clue regarding how the unicorn had died. The hallway they'd entered was undecorated and empty; save for the mare's body. Frowning, Zander took a few steps toward the hallway's second doorway and crouched down; brushing at the dark tile floor. There was a dried crust of blood in the shape of a hoof between the mare's body and the plain wooden door ten feet away.

Zander stared thoughtfully at the door; figuring that whatever had killed the unicorn was on the other side.

“Zan, take a look at this.” Cameron piped up.

Turning Zander noted that Cameron was still leaning over the body; gaze fixed on the pony's torn shoulder. Quickly rejoining her, Zander wasn't exactly sure what he was looking at. The wound was ragged and messy as the flesh had been discolored by trauma. Curiously, it didn't appear very deep.

“Although I'm not an expert or anything do you see those purple lines radiating from the cuts? Or the way the muscle has been punctured hear and here?” Cameron remarked, pointing a hoof at two dark holes about eleven inches apart; each surrounded by skin that had turned an infected-looking red.

“If I had to guess this poor unicorn was poisoned somehow cause it would take hours to bleed out from
that kind of wound. Sis would know better about how to determine what exactly happened here though.”

The larger cyan pegasus lowered her gaze and grimaced.

“I just hope they're still okay.” she murmured worriedly.

Zander put a reassuring hoof on the junior pegasi's shoulder as he spoke.

“We'll find them.”

“Whatever, killed the unicorn is behind there.” he continued pointing toward the nearby door.

Standing up, Cameron silently nodded and the pair readied their weapons as they approached and flanked the door. Passing through the doorway, they entered yet another narrow hallway. Straight ahead were a few steps leading to another closed door. To their left however, was an offshoot of the hallway that ended at another doorway. Looking on, Zander noted that blood was smeared along the wall near the steps and suspected that the mare's killer was behind that door.

Zander quickly hoof-signed for Cameron to check the door at the far end of the hall while he checked the one ahead of them. The larger cyan pegasus planted her face in a hoof and uttered a long suffering sigh before complying. Rainbine meanwhile, seemed somewhat confused before finally pursuing Cameron as he approached the door ahead. Much like many of the others they'd encountered earlier, the door itself was unlocked. As he passed into the next room Zander realized that it was an enormous attic; as plain and unassuming as the rest of the mansion was ornate. Aside from a few boxes and barrels along the walls and numerous wooden support columns extending from floor to ceiling, the room was empty.

Stepping further into the room, Zander's guard was up as he scanned for movement.
Although he didn't see anything, his instincts screamed that he wasn't alone.

At the far end of the room was what looked like a stall of some kind. Slowly moving toward it, Zander could hear the hollow echos of his hooves upon the wooden floor. Edging toward the stall, Zander trained his sidearm over the top as he peered down; heart pounding. What he saw was a jagged hole near the floorboards between the two walls that was several feet high and just as wide. Additionally, there was a strange acrid odor in the area; much like the musk of a wild animal. Frowning at the scent, Zander started to back away when something in the hole caught his eye.

Just as he was about to move around the stall for a better view of the object, Zander heard a soft sliding sound from the rafters above. Looking up, he barely had time to process what he was seeing as an enormous dark cylinder lunged lightning fast at him from above. Although he recognized what it was, the creature had a diamond-shaped head and was as big around as a garbage can as it struck thin air inches from his right foreleg as it landed on the ground in front of him.

'Oh, Sweet Celestia!' Zander thought, wings flapping furiously as he rapidly stumbled away from the monstrous reptile.

Hissing, the beast raised up; lifting its head to tower over him by a good four feet and exposed dripping fangs. Zander quickly darted halfway across the room and spun; aiming at the monstrous reptile before opening fire. The creature meanwhile, let out a strange, hissing cry as a shot tore through one side of its gaping mouth; punching a hole through the tightly stretched skin. It then dropped back to the floor and whipped itself toward him with a single waving push of its long muscular body.

Zander fired again and a chunk of scaly flesh erupted from the monster's back; dark blood spewing from the wound.

With another roaring hiss, the animal reared up in front of him, its head only inches from Zander's handgun, blood gushing from the hole in its mouth.

'Eyes. Go for the eyes.'

Taking aim, Zander pulled the trigger and the serpent fell across him; knocking him to the floor as its body began thrashing around wildly. The tail slammed into one of the thick support beams hard enough to crack it as Zander struggled to free his pinned forehooves; to at least hurt it worse before he died. Almost as quickly as it began, the cold heavy body went limp; sagging bonelessly to the floor.

As he lay gasping upon his back, Zander could here the rapidly approaching sound of hooves and knew his backup had arrived..

“Zan, are you... whoa!”

His hooves found one of the wooden supports and with a tremendous shove, Zander managed to wiggle out from beneath the monstrous reptile. Cameron quickly helped him up; her eyes wide with awe as they stared down at the black, liquid hole where the creature's right eye had been.

“Are you okay?” she asked softly.

“A little sore but otherwise alright.” Zander replied.

He was about to elaborate further but was interrupted as Rainbine suddenly spoke up.

“So, what do you make of this thing?”

Turning, the pair saw the little blue pegasus hovering near the stall.
In her hooves was what resembled an oddly decorated, gray colored mask.

“I don't know. I never got a chance to get a better look at what was in the hole before I was ambushed.” Zander replied.

“Let's just hope there aren't anymore of these things slithering around the place.” he added quickly, rubbing the back of his neck with a hoof while gesturing at the beast before them.

Cameron murmured in agreement.

“Anyway, we might want to head back. Hopefully, the others found something useful.” she remarked after a pause.

Nodding, the trio quickly left the room and made their way back to the main hall.