79. Seth's Realization
The door crumples inward just from that one impact. I stand in a battle ready stance, my rifle already in its long ranged form, because I know that's the form that will do the most damage.
Still, I'm frightened. The laboratory of any scientist is regarded to be the single most important place to them, as it holds the results of almost all of their experiments. For that reason, the place is usually heavily fortified, whether through architecture or through more physical means in the case of a wartime scientist. In this case, the doors are made of steel and are thick as hell...and yet whatever is out there made it crumple inwards, just like that.
I can hear it getting ready for another charge, its footfalls making the entire floor shake like an earthquake is going on. Chancing a quick look behind me, I look for other exits to the room. There's only one, and it too is shut with a steel door. That makes me panic.
I quickly rush to the console, frantically exit out of the camera program, and then navigate to the same control panel that I used to shut the door across from me. I manage to open the opposite door to give me an escape route just as the thing on the other side of the door lets out another roar and charges.
What looks like a living wall of flesh barrels through the door and knocks it clear across the room and into one of the tanks, shattering the glass and splashing the liquid all over the place. I gape up at the monster, taken completely aback by its sheer bulk and appearance. It's so large, it couldn't even fit through the door entirely, and therefore broke right through the frame as well.
“Oh my god...” I stammer, looking up at it. In the short time I have to observe it, I discover that it's an Oppressed, but unlike any other I've seen to this point. It's as if every single part of it is mutated similar to the Oppressed in the tanks and the skeleton I saw back in Frozen's lab. Its arms are massive and bulge with frightening muscles, its chest has been mutated to a gigantic size, and it has four legs. It almost resembles a centaur...if it wasn't so freakishly massive, deformed, and contorted to a grotesque degree. Even its face is small and pressed into its chest with barely any neck to speak up, its gnashing teeth dripping with saliva.
I immediately angle my rifle at it as its beady eyes focus on me. It surges across the room to me like a battering ram, giving me barely any room to aim. I fire shot after shot into it, but even these penetrating shots that harmed even Chrysalis don't wound him at all. Damn its resistance to magic!
Letting my rifle dissipate, I frantically hurl myself to the floor away from its charge, painfully skidding across the fenced floor and rolling over several times. The Oppressed's fists slam into the floor right where I was a second ago . The impact is so great that it causes an entire segment of the fencing to shatter and fall into the river below. Bloodstained tables and carts filled with surgical instruments tumble into the gap with a cacophonous clattering, hurting my ears.
The Oppressed swings an open palm towards me just as I'm getting to my feet. Heh, you idiot. I may not be able to hurt you with magic, but I can still defend myself with it. I cross my arms in a guard and fill them with magic, anticipating its attack.
To my shock, the force behind the Oppressed's attack is so great that it overpowers me and sends me hurtling backwards. I cry out as I feel my back break through a metal table before finally colliding with the wall on the other side of the room, cracking it from the force. Jesus, that thing even managed to overpower my magic...is this the kind of monster that Vanta and Frozen were really trying to create!?
I don't even have time to collect myself before the Oppressed charges at me once more. I propel myself away from the wall with my feet just before the monster's tree trunk of an arm crashes into the wall and completely breaks right through it, disregarding the fact that its reinforced with metal.
My hands impact with the floor, and I flip back to my feet using them for leverage. On the floor nearby is the shard of metal that I brought from Frozen's lab. I should still be able to hurt it with physical force, so I grab it and turn to face the monster just as it rushes me again.
“Take this...you monster!” I roar, and then I rush to meet it, powering myself and using as much force as I can muster to ram the metal shard right into the mass of bulbous flesh that makes up its chest. That, combined with the Oppressed's own momentum, causes the shard to sink right through it...but the monster doesn't care. My entire body is lifted right off of the ground and into the wall headfirst with a single backhand from the Oppressed.
I groan and extricate myself from the crater in the wall. If it weren't for my magic, I'd be dead just from that. As it stands, my head aches, but I'm otherwise fine apart from a few bleeding scrapes and bruises. It'll take a lot more than physical impact to seriously hurt me. Even so...it's becoming clear to me that this thing is overwhelming me. It's physically stronger than me and able to take anything I throw at it.
As I watch, the Oppressed rips the shard out of its body and crushes it in its palm. It doesn't even bleed from the hole I punched through it. It's just there, gaping and unsettling. The monster releases another roar and single-mindedly rushes towards me.
“Right...fuck this,” I decide, and use magic to distance myself from the creature before it can reach me. This thankfully positions me on the other side of the room where I opened an escape route for myself. I don't wait around for the monster to get ready for another charge. Instead, I bolt from the room.
For some reason, the door slams shut behind me, even though I'm nowhere near the console. Whatever, who cares how it happened, because it'll help buy me some time...or not. The Oppressed charges through the door like it's not even there, literally backhanding the door away from it. The solid sheet of metal careens away from the doorway and clatters into the wall, cleaving right through it.
“Fuck fuck fuck!” I curse, totally freaked out by this juggernaut of a monster that's chasing me relentlessly. I run as fast I can down the hallways, not even giving any thought as to where I'm going. I keep my eyes open for ways to escape from the Oppressed behind me that's steadily gaining on me no matter how fast I run. If this keeps up, I might have to fly, but not only would that waste magical energy, I also can't turn on a dime, so it might actually slow me down.
I come to a staircase that heads predictably down, but that's fine with me. I vault right over the edge and let myself fall to the lower level without actually touching any of the steps, thinking that that would buy me at least a few seconds. I'm wrong about that too. The moment the monster steps on the stairs, the structure collapses and the Oppressed lands on the floor right next to me. I yelp as its hand clenches around my chest, and then I personally get to feel what it's like to be tossed right through a closed door, taking it off its hinges.
My momentum carries me through the door and across the ground in a painful tumble. I cough violently from the cloud of dust thrown up by the impact. Shit, I'm not sure how long I can keep this up. Every time I think I have an edge, it thwarts me and punishes me each time with pain.
Now, I'm in a hallway like the one several floors above, in that the walls have pipes running along them, only this time with valves and hot steam emitting from seams and loose rivets. I immediately pick myself up, holding my ribs, and keep running, just as the Oppressed forces itself through the doorway that's too small for it and continues to gallop after me, intent on dishing out a horrible death to me.
When I detect a path branching away from the main one up ahead, an idea strikes me. Without hesitation, I kick the pipe on the right side of the wall viciously with a magic cloaked foot, breaking it easily. Thus released, a cloud of scalding steam erupts from the severed pipe and obscures the passage behind me from view. Without waiting to see whether or not it actually hinders it, I turn down the offshoot passage and keep running.
Just as I'd planned, the Oppressed charges right past the passage I'm in, as it never saw me turn down here with all the steam in its way. I'm not sure how long the monster will be fooled, but I'm going to put as much distance between it and me now while I have some breathing room.
There's a room at the end of this hall. I throw open the door and shut it behind me, intent on passing through the room. Unfortunately, I walk right into another one of those areas that looks like a barracks...and this time the pony skeletons that are here aren't so docile.
“Ugh...why now!?” I yell as I'm suddenly assaulted by a hissing pony skeleton. I duck to the side and shatter its ribcage with a swift kick, sending it the floor in a pile of bones. However, it wasn't alone. I'm suddenly facing an entire room's worth of undead soldiers, each one equipped with a lethal sword or spear. I know they can't take me, but if I take too much time or make too much of a ruckus, that big motherfucker will find me, and I'll be screwed.
“Get out of my way!” I yell desperately, forming my rifle in its standard form and firing a dark blast of pure energy down the length of the room, destroying several skeletons unlucky enough to be in its path. “I don't have time to deal with you!”
Two skeletons lunge at me from either side as I try to leave the room and keep running, grabbing my shoulders with their teeth and hindering me. Their teeth don't pierce my skin, but just the simple act of holding me back makes me angry and desperate, to the point where I emit an explosive burst of magic from my entire body, destroying them. That was a waste, but I don't care. I need to get away from that gigantic Oppressed. I don't want to die down here. How the hell did they even make that thing!?
I pick up one of the fallen swords and leave the rest of the skeletons behind, knowing that I can outrun them pretty easily. New weapon in hand, I leave the barracks and follow a set of hallways that I think leads away from the monster. No matter how far I go, however, I can still feel the floor shaking under its lumbering foot falls. It's getting closer somehow, and I don't know how much longer I have until...
The wall behind me on my right explodes outwards and the gigantic Oppressed careens into the hall, slamming into the other wall and sending debris in all directions through his momentum. It quickly spots me and roars loud enough to hurt my ears, and the chase begins once more.
“Fuck you and your magic resistance!” I shout back at it, even though it can't understand me. Seriously, if it weren't for that, I'd kill it easily. Not to mention its seeming invincibility even to physical damage, considering that shard didn't even phase it. But...that was a small shard. Perhaps if I had something larger...like this sword.
I turn around and leap to the side of the monster, letting it run past me. It tries to swipe at me, but I duck beneath its flailing limb. As it does so, I hold the sword in a reverse grip and slice at its legs, hoping to cripple it. Once I'm behind it, I seize the opportunity to jump on its back and bury the blade deep into where I think its spine is.
To my shock, the Oppressed's arm bends completely backwards – a motion that would break any normal human's arm – and grabs me right off of his back. I cry out in agony as it squeezes me tightly. Just as I think it's going to try and crush me, it slams me right into the ground with enough force to crack it. Pain spreads through my back, but I was able to lessen the damage with magic.
The Oppressed brings a swollen fist down in an attempt to crush me, but I roll out of the way and fire a burst of magic at its eyes. It doesn't hurt it, but it does distract it long enough for me to scramble to my feet and use a burst of magic to propel myself a short ways ahead of him.
“Fuck, I can't fucking fight it!” I curse. My profanities always get repetitive and less eloquent in situations like this. There's literally nothing I can do to this monster to hurt it. It's still chasing me, even with the cuts I made in its legs! Every time I fight back, I just get hurt. I can't outrun it, either. What the hell do I do!?
I hear a crashing sound behind me, and I chance a look over my shoulder just in time to yelp and duck beneath a fucking door thrown at me by the Oppressed. It's thrown with such force that it shatters like matchsticks when it impacts the wall near me. There's a corner nearby, so I dash around it.
There's a wide open hallway stretched out before me, giving me plenty of room to run. Good, maybe this will give me time to think of someway to beat this thing. I can't run around forever, because eventually I'll get tired and then I'll be beaten to death by a living wall of meat.
A whooshing sounds from behind me, sounding an awful lot like...a sword being swung. I immediately throw myself to the wall just in time to see the sword that I'd stabbed the Oppressed with hurtling past me. Shit, that was close. I get right back to running, picking up the sword when it falls to the ground. Who knows, I might get a chance to use this.
There's a door at the end of the hall. I throw it open and shut it behind me before continuing on into what looks like a cafeteria of sorts. No doubt this room became obsolete once all the ponies died of old age or whatever.
I cut through the center of the room, jumping on top of one of the tables and leaping from one to the next to avoid getting hindered by them. Of course, when the Oppressed barrels through the door and enters the room, it doesn't bother doing the same. It just fucking knocks everything that gets it its way reeling away from it. This thing is literally destroying everything between itself and me.
When I reach the other side, I decide to try and slow it down again. Using my magic, I channel enough strength to pick up one of the cafeteria tables and hurl it at the Oppressed. The monster waves a hand to try and fend it off, but the legs of the table, which are of the kind where the legs connect at the bottom, loop around its arm in the process. Therefore, when it tries to follow me out of the cafeteria, the table gets caught in the door.
That buys me several seconds, allowing me to put some distance between us. Unfortunately it doesn't last for very long, because the monster eventually gets fed up and then rams its entire bulk into the doorway until it disintegrates before its wrath.
There's another wide hallway before me, lined with doors on one one side and pipes on the other. I don't have time to cut through one of the other rooms, and there's always the possibility of the door I choose being a dead end. I glance at the pipes, but they're not emitting steam like the others, so that possibility is out. Shit, once again there's nothing I can do except keep running.
The monster behind me is relentless. Like the other Oppressed, it won't get tired, feel pain, or give up until I'm dead. Now that I think about it, if I don't find a way to kill it, eventually some other pony is going to come into contact with it, and they're going to die.
I look ahead of me and notice a fork in the hallway ahead. Shit, there's no way of knowing if either one is a dead end. If I hit a dead end, it'll end up my grave, so I better get lucky. I choose quickly and turn the corner, glancing behind me to see how far behind the monster is...
...so I don't have any warning before I run right into something in front of me that hadn't been there a moment ago. “What the fuck!?” I yell out, feeling something soft and furry against me. It yelps and cries out in shock as well, but I'm too panicked to really register that. Instead, I leap back and form my standard rifle, leveling it at the new arrival. “I swear to god, I'll tear you to shreds if you try to get in my way!”
“Wha...Seth? Calm down, it's me!” I blink in confusion, and then my mind finally registers what I'm looking at. Rainbow stares back at me from where I'd knocked her to the ground, a mixture fear, happiness, and confusion on her face.
“What the...what are you doing down here? Actually, never mind,” I say quickly and frantically. I reach forward and hug her closely for a split second, causing her to yelp in surprise by the sudden uncharacteristic affection. I quickly release her and help her up. “We don't have time. Come on, we need to run!”
“What? Why? I found you...let's...” Rainbow tries to say, but then the Oppressed careens around the corner, every step shaking the floor beneath us. Rainbow's eyes widen in horror and disgust.
“That's why! Now hurry the fuck up!” I shout at her. Rainbow nods, and then the two of us sprint down the hallway. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you.”
“I...I noticed. You don't usually hug on sight,” Rainbow remarks, even as we do our best to get away from the creature behind us. “What the hay is that thing? Why haven't you beaten it yet?”
“What do you mean, 'why haven't I beaten it yet?' I can't beat it, that's why I'm running!” I snap at her, fear making my every word sound bitter and hateful. “It used to be a human like me. I have no idea how it became that, and I don't really want to.”
“Yeah, neither do I. Why can't you beat it? You're really strong, right? Just blow it away with your magic!” Rainbow tells me obliviously. Ugh, she hasn't fought this thing, so she's ignorant.
“It's immune to magic!” I shoot back.
“So beat it up! Smack it a good one!”
“I can't, goddammit! I've tried everything!”
“What? How can you not beat it up?”
“Because it's fucking invincible, that's why!” The two of us turn another corner and descend some stairs, finding ourselves in another hallway. Rainbow starts to fly next to me, going rather fast. She can turn much faster than me, so I guess that works for her. She can probably easily outrun this monster, but I can tell she's holding herself back so she doesn't get too far ahead of me.
As I run, I notice an open doorway on the right that leads out into darkness, looking very welcome to me. “Is that an elevator shaft?” I demand as we draw nearer to it.
“Leave it! It doesn't go anywhere!” Rainbow responds, yelling over the sound of the monster rampaging through the hallway behind us.
“What? How do you know?”
“I came from this direction; I checked it!”
“Goddammit! Can't I catch a break?” I complain. Apparently not. After passing the elevator shaft, the hallway abruptly ends in a dead end. “Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Through here!” Rainbow directs me, throwing open a door on the left end of the hallway. I don't bother questioning her, as there's no other way to run. The two of us duck inside the room and shut the door, even though it won't hold the Oppressed for long.
We're in another set of offices, complete with cubicles and computers. We manage to get all the way to the other side of the room before the Oppressed punches the door off its hinges behind us. In the next room, there's a room filled with steaming pipes, with a door that opens out into the hallway, directly across from the elevator shaft. Upon seeing that, Rainbow brightens up, and she leans over to me.
“I have an idea!” Rainbow exclaims, and then she quickly relays her plan to me in the few moments that we have before the monster gets here. I look at her in shock, as its a very gutsy plan and there's a very good chance that it fail and the both of us could end up dead. Unlike me, Rainbow can't defend herself with magic, so that monster could tear her to pieces in the space of a few seconds.
“I guess it's better than waiting to die. You better be ready when I come in through that door!” I tell her, and then I run back into the office before the Oppressed can reach us.
The monster is barreling through the desks and demolishing the computers in an effort to reach us. That being said, the moment the Oppressed spots me running back at it, it roars and heads straight for me.
“Hey! I'd insult you to gain your attention, but I don't think you'd understand me!” I yell at the monster. Plus, it already seems to be charging at me. “At this point, you are literally too stupid to insult...oh shit.”
I have to throw myself to the ground as the Oppressed hurls a desk at me. The ramshackle wooden construction shatters against the wall behind me, barely missing me. Almost instantly after that, the Oppressed is right in front of me, flailing its ham fists around with reckless abandon.
I weave around its fists, finding it actually really easy to anticipate its moves now that I'm focused and I see a chance for victory. I leap on one of its fists and use it as leverage to plant both of my feet into its gnashing face, breaking some of its teeth. It doesn't really affect the monster, but it does make it recoil long enough for me to land on the ground a good distance away from it. I turn and break a hole right through the wall, effectively making another exit into the hallway for myself.
The Oppressed chases me back into the hallway, but I determinedly evade its frenzied strikes and lead it over to the elevator shaft...and then I duck right back into the room where Rainbow is and shut the door.
The wall buckles in and shatters, the Oppressed charging its way inside...only to be faced with Rainbow and I, side by side, holding a long, thick length of pipe that had a jagged edge. The two of us let out a battle cry, and then we ram the monster head on. The Oppressed's momentum combined with our charge forces the pipe deep inside of it, even reversing the monster's momentum and pushing it back.
The monster feels itself being repulsed and reaches out with its hands to clamp down around the edge of the doorway, halting its backwards progress. Rainbow and I both yell at the same time, our voices steadily rising in volume and pitch as we put everything we have into this final assault. Magical power explodes from around me, reinforcing my strength.
The doorway crumbles, and the Oppressed loses its grip. Now that we have the advantage, we press it, pushing the monster all the way back...and right into the elevator shaft. Rainbow and I release the pipe and let go as the Oppressed tumbles down into the depths with a panicked roar. Then...a sickening crunch can be heard from the shaft.
“Did we do it?” Rainbow pants, exhausted from the effort of pushing something with that much girth such a far distance. Wordlessly, I peer into the shaft, and then a grin crosses my face when I see the fate of the overgrown Oppressed.
The monster is still alive...but is clearly in its death throes. The Oppressed is impaled on a massive spike at the bottom of the shaft, the point clearly protruding out from its torso. Finally, it falls limp, finally defeated for good. I let out a sigh of relief, and then laugh triumphantly. “Take that, you son of a bitch! What good is your invincibility now?”
“We did it. Hah, I knew my idea would work. I'm a genius!” Rainbow brags, so proud of herself that she's doing a backstroke in midair. You know what, she can brag. That thing was invincible. I think it could have even given Chrysalis a run for her money, with that total immunity to magic it had. At least the smaller Oppressed were hurt a little by my piercing magic.
I turn around and once again give Rainbow a hug, earning an adorable squeak from her. “Fucking...thank god you showed up. I'd be screwed if it weren't for you,” I say to her. I release her, and then sink down to the ground, my back up against one of the few intact walls around here.
“...You're awfully huggy recently,” Rainbow comments, though she doesn't seem to be all that annoyed by it. “Did you hit your head when you fell down the shaft?”
“Oh, fuck you. I just survived a fight with a goddamn zombie Broly, so get off my back,” I grumble, even as Rainbow laughs.
“Hold on, a zombie what now?” Rainbow asks, quirking an eyebrow. Right, reference. She won't get it.
“Skip it. How about you tell me how you got down here? I've been wandering for who knows how long, fighting the undead remnants of my race. This is pretty far down, how did you get here?” I question.
“It wasn't easy. The whole place freaked out when you fell, since you're like, the one who started this whole thing in the first place,” Rainbow began. “Commander Iron and Flash tried everything they could to get past that barrier, but the thing just wouldn't break.”
“Of course. It redirects force upon impact. You're not breaking that with brute force,” I state, remembering how it knocked me right through the floor of the elevator.
“Right. Rivet and Hammer suggested digging around it, which we thought actually worked, because we uncovered a whole different level of the building. Iron and I were going to go through it, but once I was through...the barrier came up again,” Rainbow finishes. “I've been wandering around, looking for you, ever since.”
“That settles it. If the barrier adapts to us, then it's not just some convenient trap. Something down here is controlling that barrier, and keeping us down here,” I grunt, pounding my fist into my knee in frustration. I growl, clenching my fists.
“Seth, are you all right?” Rainbow asks with concern. She sees my anger and immediately figures that something else must be troubling me.
“No, I'm not fucking all right. This place was a stronghold for Sombra's army, and his head general may still be alive down here through some kind of necromancy,” I tell her bluntly, taking her aback. “Oh, and you think that's bad? Some time after humanity died, these fuckers took captives, and turned them into monsters, like the one we just killed. Do you even know how many humans died in the process of making that thing!?”
Rainbow flinches beneath my ire, having not really expected such an outcry of emotion from me. She looks like she wants to say something, but I'm too far into this to stop now.
“Oh, and do you know what's even better? It turns out I may have been wrong about my race. Isn't that great? What good is it now to find out that my race wasn't complete trash, now that it's too late to do anything about it!?” I cry, my voice rising into a shout. “Perfectly good people...good people, Rainbow! I don't say that often. Perfectly good people died here in the worst possible ways, and none of them deserved that. Why!? Why do the best people end up like this? Why is the goddamn world so fucking cruel?”
I'm actually crying now, as I'm so angry, frustrated, and sad, both at myself, Sombra, Vanta, and my own rotten luck. I just can't help it. Rainbow slinks over to me and sits by my side, once again giving me comfort with her close presence. “Yeah...this is pretty personal for you, huh?” she says softly, nuzzling my shoulder gently.
“Now it is. Now it fucking is. Did you know that I once didn't care whether or not other people lived or died? And then I find out there's people like that out there...other than just my family...and I treated them all like shit. How the fuck do you think I feel!?” I punch the ground, hating that I have to feel like this. Hating myself. I rest my face in my palm, not wanting to show Rainbow how torn up I likely look now. “Just...goddammit. I'm such a fucking fool.”
“Ugh, come here,” Rainbow tells me. I look at her between my fingers to see her opening up her two front hooves for me. I raise an eyebrow, wondering if this is for real? Rainbow sees my questioning gaze and blushes. “What? This is like, the only way to make you feel better. Come here and quit making me feel foalish.”
I hesitate, looking at her blushing face and remembering our conversation in the labs area. Oh fuck, it, there I go, over-thinking things again. I lean into her offered embrace, once again finding comfort in it even though it's ridiculous that I do. Physical contact never really did anything for me before...but...for some reason, with Rainbow, I don't mind it.
“Just...what am I even supposed to do now? They're dead. They're all dead, and I can never find out for real if they were capable of being as kind as that,” I lament, holding Rainbow close.
“Make it up to them,” Rainbow suggests. Incredulous, I shift in her grip so that I can see her face and give her a look.
“What?”
“I said, make it up to them. You might not be able to talk to them yourself, but you can definitely use the lessons you've learned...and live your life for them. You're the last human. Make it count for something,” Rainbow urges me, her words seeming to sink into my chest and infiltrate my heart. That...actually makes sense. “And if that general guy is still alive...let's go give him a righteous beat down, shall we?”
“Yeah...thanks,” I reply after a silence. The idea of beating Vanta into the ground for what he did to my race makes me feel much better. It's hard to explain, but it feels...good, for lack of a better word, to care. It feels good to care about my race again, even though it makes me feel pain that I ignored them for so long. I won't say it aloud because it'll sound cheesy and cliché as fuck, but I'm the last human, and I'll be the instrument of their vengeance. I look at Rainbow, who's still clinging to me. “Okay, I think I'm good now.”
“All right,” Rainbow responds, letting me go. She's still blushing, but I ignore that for now. Suddenly, a mischievous grin appears on her face. “Who knew you could be such a giant teddy bear?”
“Really? Really. Fucking...just go straight to hell,” I snap back, chuckling ruefully despite myself. I feel much better being trapped down here, if it's with Rainbow. Now that I'm composed I get to my feet. “All right, we should get moving. That barrier's not going anywhere until we take out its source. I was heading for a large room at the bottom of the complex, where there's another elevator shaft. I think we should head there, for now. There was something strange that I saw down there I want to check out, anyway.”
“Sounds like a plan. Do you know the way there?” Rainbow inquires. I freeze, and then shake my head ruefully.
“Unfortunately not. I know it's at the very bottom, so I think we'll get there if we just keep going down,” I conjecture. Out of curiosity, I peer into the elevator shaft to see where it actually goes. Like Rainbow said, it doesn't go all the way back up. It only goes up one floor, which is still in the underground complex. It just goes down by two levels. The elevator car is at the floor above, suspended by the pulley mechanism, because the cable is hanging down the side of it. “We might be able to get down through here.”
“Is...that monster actually dead?” Rainbow asks worriedly, peering over the edge at the gigantic Oppressed impaled on the spike. Hm, that's a good question. If that thing flails around, one of us could get seriously hurt.
I form a pistol and fire a few shots at the thing. I figure that if it's still alive, it would at least twitch. Nothing. The Oppressed doesn't stir at all. “I think it is. As invincible as it was, not even it can handle a spike right through the middle like that,” I say. Suddenly, I have an idea. With my pistol, I aim up at the pulleys holding the elevator up and shoot them until they break...and the elevator car goes plummeting down, right onto the Oppressed's body. Rainbow and I wince as a dull wet thud echoes throughout the hallway. “If it wasn't dead before, it certainly is now.”
“You just dropped an elevator on it,” Rainbow deadpans. I just give a shrug in response.
“It's better than being taken by surprise. Now come on, we can get two floors down now. That'll get us closer to the bottom,” I tell her. Rainbow nods, and then the two of us enter the elevator shaft and hover down to the top of the car. A quick jab with my fist breaks through the hatch on top of the car, which allows us to hop in and crawl through the gap to the floor two levels down.
The first thing I notice is the sound of falling water. I'm standing on more fenced floors, suspended over darkness. Looking around the corner, I see quite the beautiful sight. The fencing comes to an end with a railing, and beyond that I can see a small cavern stretching out before us. The underground river from where the lab cascades down a tall waterfall into the river far below, where it then flows out of sight beneath a crevice in the rock.
Wow, Vanta must have really learned a lot from us humans. There's a waterwheel running beneath the floor, catching the water and turning endlessly. It looks like its connected to a hydroelectric power generator. Huh, well that explains how this place still has power. I doubt that river's stopped in the past few centuries. Especially if its been maintained.
I'm about to comment on the sophisticated nature of this place when Rainbow tilts her head, as if hearing something strange. “Hey, do you hear that?” Rainbow asks. I'm about to make a smart comment when I too, start to hear what she is. Whispering. Somehow, even as quiet as it is, it's loud enough to hear over the sound of the waterfall. Shit. The last time I heard this, the fucking juggernaut attacked us.
This can't be good.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S...
: *smacks* You did that already!
Okay, well, so here's a triple update. Not sure how long I can keep this up, what with school and all, but I'd like to get to the climax before it gets too much harder to keep up, so I'm cranking out the words as fast as I can. This one was fun to write, because I'd had it envisioned in my head a while.
And now, Seth's development is nearly done. Just a little more! Once again, I'd love to hear what you think about this particular chapter, since it's been a while since I've done a multi thousand word fight scene...or chase scene, in this case.
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5505836
Ohhh. I see. I just thought with the claws, zombie-like theme, and all.
Just me, being an idiot.
I can truly say that I i have not read a HiE fic this good since "Through The Well of Pirene" by Ether Echoes and it stacks up to it in terms of plot
Also personally i can relate to Seth, both of us are/where doing IT at collage, we both have an eclectic taste when it comes to music, we can both be major arseholes
(although i would not go as far as Seth), ect...
Keep up the good work my friend
5509029 I imagine them as lickers from resident evil.
sooo i will open with this.
context can be so fun
but still a great chapter and fun to read, specially when you see the centaur oppressed as a tank from L4D.
KEEP IT UP!
5509029
no i can see what you mean, the ghouls had those long claws and such that would make the click scraape.
i actually drew a picture of what the face would look like that terran said was pretty close
5509359
I laughed so much at that joke, and was thinking the same thing with the Tank!!
5509280 yeah I could see that. But I'm a try to keep to what terran34 said it looked like.
As it seems the rifle cannot affect them too much... Can he try to make other things? Maybe a shotgun or a bazooka or a Anti-Tank rifle?
continue good sir.
After thinking about these last few chapters, I suggest you reread them because the pacing feels.,, wrong due to the fact that it went from sad and emotional over the letter and turned into resident evil, and then all sad and Moppy to RAAAAAAGGHH I KWEEL YOO!! Again.
I love this story but you pulled a 180 on its strong point: emotion. And turned it into an action survival in just three short chapters
As long as you keep that in mind when then this will go on for a long time.
[mobile]
Wow now this chapter was intense.
Not as much to comment on as the majority of the chapter was a fight/chase scene between Seth and the mega Oppressed. When The behemoth first busted in, the description you gave for it was just terrifying to consider. A centaur like monster with over dosed muscles wrapped in human skin, just damn. He attempts to fight back, but with the creatures magic immunity and immense strength, he just gets completely owned and alters his approach to 'run as fast as you can hope you don't die!'
The thing is just so over powered. It gets metal fragments, magic bullets and a friggin sword stabbed through it and it doesn't even slow it down. Not to mention that due to it not being alive, it can even bend its limbs beyond human limits and break through metal like its tinfoil. Honestly, this thing is probably one of the most powerful threats he's faced, even Chrysalis would probably struggle against it.
When he runs into Rainbow again, the brief reunion is awesome, but the mega Oppressed really cuts it short. Still, his first thought was to hug her, and after his experiences in the complex, you can't really blame him. After seeing all that, then meeting up with your best friend, dear god he probably would have almost crushed her with his grip had they not been in mortal danger.
The teamwork they displayed when taking down the Oppressed was awesome, and the death scene for it was appropriately epic. Seth even overkills it later by dropping an elevator onto the corpse to be sure. Rainbow definitely gets to brag about this one. Twilight or the rest of the girls try to tone her down for this and Seth will likely slap them upside the head.
They get a proper reunion though, started by another hug. I strongly suspect that Seth subconsciously likes her a great deal if his first impulse is to hug her rather then just a warm greeting or a hoof bump. After the hug though we get a bit more serious. Seth relates some of what has happened in the facility and what the general did to the humans in the past. He admits that he may have been wrong about humanity (though he doesn't appear to have completely caved yet. he seems to think it's a possibility they were good, but can't confirm it). With a nuzzle and a warm hug (damn, the first time they hugged it was an intense moment in their relationship as they each admitted just how much they cared about each other during the changling arc. the Second time was when Seth was distraught after having to bury his niece and worried about the possibility of losing her to. However this chapter alone we have 3 hugs, 2 initiated by Seth as a greeting and as a moment of happiness and triumph, while Rainbow does one in a moment of care and affection. If this happens anymore frequently and Seth still doesn't work out he has feelings for her, he really needs a boot to the head) she gives him the advice to try and live up to a better version of humanity, to let them live on through him in a way that they would approve. Then she tells him they will find Vanta and kick the shit out of him. Damn these two are just made for each other.
Great work here. I can't wait to see what has them in their sights next, and what other secrets they can learn about the facility and about Sombra's plans.
5511780
This story was never meant to stick to one genre. That's why I never tagged it as either slice of life or adventure....because's it's basically both. I've actually reread each chapter more than once, and while falling into the pit may have seemed sudden, accidents in real life very rarely tend to happen with much build up. Action is always fast paced, and there's going to be rather a lot of it now that the story is nearing its end.
Wanna know why? Tell me: when you walk into a garden, which flowers do you pick?
The prettiest ones, of course.
5837822
Nope, i don't pick any, because fuck flowers!
in all seriousness, i wouldn't pick my favorite flower, because they tend to be closely attached to cacti, i don't want fingers full of needles
Fenced... you mean a catwalk?