• Published 25th Jan 2018
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Dead Space: Deep Space Terror - Blackdrag-rose



Chrysalis has made the greatest mistake of her life and must survive the horrors that await her in the darkness of the USG Ishimura.

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Sprawl: Train Ride

With a new suit of armor covering their bodies, making them feel that much more prepared this time around, Isaac and Chrysalis paused for a few seconds as they input the command to close their helmets, so that way they would be fully prepared once they left this area. A few moments later, when they were sure that they were ready, the duo turned towards the door that was resting in front of them, which would take them to the Emergency Arrival Area, and passed through it. As they opened the door they discovered that part of the area had been breached, since they entered an area that didn't have any oxygen, though as the two of them walked Chrysalis spotted a floating Power Node and collected it, since it was going to be useful further down the line. With the node in hand the two of them quickly made their way through the small ruined hallway that they had to walk through, where they found the door to the actual area that the emergency shuttles arrived in and smiled as the door closed behind them... restoring the oxygen to this particular room, since it was still undamaged.

As they started exploring the area, where Chrysalis noticed a Stasis Recharge Station on one of the walls, they heard a broadcast stating that they were in the Titan Station Emergency Care Wing and that, due to the evacuation order, all services had been suspended for the moment. Once the announcement finished, and was likely preparing itself to repeat it since no one was around to turn it off, the duo approached the burning shuttle that had been waiting on the pad, as they were unsure if this was what Daina wanted them to use to get out of here. A few moments later Chrysalis had Isaac stop as a large Necromorph climbed onto the top of the ship and roared at them, though as it did so she was disgusted by the fact that she could actually make out all of the individual bodies that went into the creation of such a creature, as well as the fact that it was like a larger leaper since it didn't have any legs... rather it had a tail where the legs would have been and had large blade like claws that let it move around as it hunted it's prey.

The only name that Chrysalis could even think of to give such a creature was tripod, since it only had three limbs and she didn't want to confuse it with an ordinary leaper, though she snapped her attention back to their foe as it leapt off the ruined shuttle and landed near them.

Isaac and Chrysalis retreated as the tripod came after them, though in doing so it fell for Isaac's trap as he unleashed a Stasis blast that slowed the Necromorph down, allowing him to open fire on the yellow weakness points on the tripod's left arm while Chrysalis used her blades to hack into the weakness on the right arm. This was the type of enemy that Chrysalis wished she had her Pulse Rifle for, since it's rapid fire was great for larger enemies that they had to use Stasis on, but unfortunately the only soldiers carrying them and taken them with them this time around. Still, without her preferred weapon she was still a force to be reckoned with since she had been the Changeling Queen for a thousand years after taking the position from her mother. She proved that by running flames along the edge of her bone blades and inflicted some fire damage to the tripod, while at the same time using some of her magic as she launched a fireball that slammed into the weakness that she had been aiming at the entire time.

Despite the fact that they had to Stasis the tripod two more times, once with the remainder of Issac's charge and another time with Chrysalis using her own powers to force the Necromorph to stand still, the duo was able to remove both of it's arms and inflicted the death blow on it... where they collected a gold semiconductor for their troubles.

"Jeezus, that thing sure was angry at us for some reason." Isaac commented, to which he took a moment to catch his breath, since it had been awhile since either of them had fought something like that, though as Chrysalis nodded her agreement he opened the audio link that had been established between them and their 'friend', "Daina? We've made it out of the hospital."

"Okay, the Tram Station is just beyond the apartment blocks." Daina replied, informing the duo as to what they needed to go through before they reached the area she wanted them to meet her in, even though Chrysalis smelled a trap that they were going to spring anyway.

"Hang on, we need more answers." Isaac stated, once more giving Chrysalis time to form a real opinion on Daina, if that was even her real name, as he knew that she wasn't too trusting of new people and already wasn't a fan of the person who sent a partner in to rescue them since she said nothing about him so far, "How long have Chrysalis and I been stuck in this place?"

"Three years." Daina immediately answered, as if she had been expecting that question, but the fastness of the answer didn't sit well with Chrysalis, as she recalled changelings giving her fast answers when they had done something wrong and didn't want her to know about their deeds, "Tiedemann found you two floating in space near Aegis VII and brought you both here for study. And the reason that you can't remember anything since the events of Aegis VII is because the Marker you found imprinted your brain with a self-replicating signal that only spreads when your awake, meaning that it's slowly killing you at this very moment. Tiedemann thought he could hold the signal off, and keep it in check, with memory suppressants."

"And you said you could fix it, right?" Isaac inquired, though at the same time he knew that some of what Daina had said should have applied to Chrysalis as well, but because she was an entirely different species he knew that she had to be immune to whatever was going on.

"Only if you and Chrysalis can reach me in time." Daina simply said, indicating that she wanted to save him from what was killing him, though at the same time silently stating that if they didn't get there in time it wasn't her fault if he died to the Marker signal, "Tram Station... get moving."

Isaac glanced over at Chrysalis for a moment, who disengaged her helmet for a few seconds so he could see the look in her eyes, silently telling him that she still didn't trust Daina and that they needed to be careful with what they told her, to which he nodded as she reengaged her helmet. From there they headed towards the door that was opposite of the one they used to enter this room, a door that would take them to the Vehicle Maintenance Bay, and followed the passage that was in front of them until they had to pass through another door. That brought them to a room that had some normal tools and gadgets sitting around, though the duo collected the credits that were on the floor, as that appeared to be the only thing in the area, before Isaac used the Kinesis Module to remove the cover that was covering the engineer vent... to which he and Chrysalis climbed into it and crawled through it as they made their way to their next destination.

It didn't take them more than a few seconds before they reached the other side of the vent, where they pulled themselves out of the vent and found a room that had another store, a Bench, and an audio log, which was just someone called Sorensen from the CEC telling people to aim at the Necromorphs' limbs, to which they stored it away before getting to work with upgrades. While Isaac walked over to the Bench and started using his Power Nodes to empower his weapon, since he was the only one with a gun at the moment, Chrysalis opened up the store and found that two new weapons were suddenly available for purchase, a Line Gun and a Javelin Gun. From what the descriptions said the Line Gun fired off energy beams to hurt foes, and also had a land mine firing mode, while the Javelin Gun fired javelins, like Isaac did when he first got the Kinesis Module, though the only difference was that they could electrify the last javelin fired. Chrysalis would have bought one of them, as she saw that she barely had enough credits for one of them, but at the same time she didn't really care too much about them since she could modify her spells to do the same.

Secretly, however, she was hoping for the Pulse Rifle to become available so she could have her favorite weapon back, though she sighed and closed the store, where Isaac finished upgrading his Plasma Cutter and joined her, to which they stepped through the door and walked into the large hallway that was in front of them... where they spotted some shuttles flying away, thanks to the glass wall in front of them. At the same time they heard an announcement from Tiedemann, a recording most likely, stating that he was declaring Martial Law and that everyone was being ordered to evacuate, while also stating that looters would be shot. Neither of them were sure how many people would be getting off this station alive, not with the Necromorphs being active thanks to the Marker that was on the moment, even if they had no idea where it was being hidden. A few moments later the duo sighed and kept moving, since there was no point for them to stand around and let their foes come to them, but at the same time they kept their weapons at the ready for when something did try to attack them.

Chrysalis spotted a health pack resting on an electric walkway and thought about grabbing it with her magic, though as she noticed the slasher resting close to where the pack was resting, pretending to be dead, to which she snatched the pack as Isaac opened fire, dismembering the slasher the instant it tried to get up.

Oddly enough that was the only Necromorph in the hallway, to which the duo approached the larger door that would allow them to access the Titan Heights Apartments and opened it up, where something further along the path exploded shortly after they opened the door. At the same time Isaac managed to find a Power Node from simply staring at the area in front of them, which he used on the locked door behind them, which gave him a few supplies, a schematic for Power Nodes, a ruby semiconductor, and a text log that detailed the quarterly report for the station. With those supplies in hand the duo turned to the door they had opened and repeated the process, though as they did so they spotted a lady being carved to death by a slasher, which they dismembered seconds later. As they advanced forward Chrysalis turned her head to the right for a moment and spotted some survivors that were running from an infector, who was turning a corpse into another slasher that would go hunt down the people she had just seen... though she latched onto the infector with her magic, before it could get away, and crushed it with her sheer power.

Fortunately the slasher that had been made turned towards them and shuffled towards the holes in the wall that revealed the hallway the duo was standing in, to which Isaac dismembered the distracted Necromorph, before both he and Chrysalis turned around the corner and found an elevator that they could use... and would take them up to level four, since two, three, and five through eight happened to be blocked off at the moment. As they rode the elevator in silence it seemed to stop as the lights went out, though that was before the doors opened and revealed that they were halfway between one floor and another. Before either of them could think about what was going on a man appeared in front of the elevator door and started to do his best to climb into the elevator, though as Chrysalis got ready to help him, however, a slasher carved the guy up from behind, which was the last they saw of the man as the doors closed and they continued towards the fourth floor.

When they arrived at their destination they were greeted by an impaled corpse that was resting in front of the elevator, though as they stepped off the elevator they both kept their guards up, because there was no telling when the Necromorphs would descend upon them.

"Isaac!" a voice called out, to which the duo turned around and looked out over the gap that separated the side of the building they were in from the other side of the building, where they found Nolan Stross waving his arms in their general direction as everyone ignored him, "Isaac! Over here!"

"Who are you?" Isaac asked, realizing that Nolan had connected to their audio links, though the reason he was asking wasn't because he had ignored the video they had seen earlier, but rather because he was interested in why the man said his name and not Chrysalis' at all, since they had all been in the same area until the outbreak.

"It's the drugs, Isaac." Nolan replied, completely ignoring the question entirely, though even as they got a reply Chrysalis turned around and made sure that Necromorphs weren't coming up while they were distracted, "They gave us drugs to make us forget... but it's all coming back... Look out!"

Isaac had been about to tell Nolan that he honestly didn't remember him or the drugs, but before he could actually say anything a leaper started to pull itself up in front of him, though that only made it an easy target for him to get rid of the moment his Plasma Cutter removed it's limbs. With the leaper taken care of the duo moved to their right and headed for the only unlocked door in the hallway, though as it opened a slasher burst through another door and came to a stop between them and two guys who were arguing over leaving someone behind. Fortunately the men moved out of the way as Isaac opened fire, dismembering the slasher in the process, though Chrysalis soon discovered that the person the two guys had left behind had been transformed into a puker, which she dismembered with her weapons before rejoining Isaac as he headed towards the next door they needed to walk through... which brought them into a laundry area, where the power went out a few moments later.

The duo sighed as they readied themselves, as over the next minute five slashers and a leaper dropped into the darkened area and charged at them, though thanks to the flashlight lighting part of the area up both Isaac and Chrysalis were able to dismember the Necromorphs before they even touched them, restoring power to the room at the same time.

Once they were done collecting anything of use Isaac opened the door that the Necromorphs had been guarding and found an area that collected where they had been to where Nolan had been, though as Chrysalis joined him they watched another shuttle fly through the air, but the back of this one looked damaged in some manner. After the shuttle left their sight the two of them opened the door to their left and walked into the hallway it was connected to, where they ignored the man behind a door that was telling anyone that he wasn't going to listen to the evacuation orders and was going to shoot anyone that tried to open the door. Chrysalis knew that the man was either going to die from lack of food or to a Necromorph that busted into his 'house', but since he wasn't in the mood to listen to reason there was no reason for them to stick around and try to help him out, even if it would have been a good thing to do. At the end of the hallway rested a text log that contained some information on what happened to Titan, before it became the station that many people called the Sprawl... though instead of focusing on it Isaac and Chrysalis turned around and headed towards the elevator that was waiting for them.

When they entered the elevator, and set it so they could head back down to the first floor, Isaac decided to have a little chat with Daina again, to which he opened the audio link once more and hoped that she was listening, since there was more to this mystery than what he and Chrysalis knew.

"With all the Necromorphs running around the place, killing and converting people, it's like the entire Sprawl in infected with dementia." Isaac commented, getting a nod from Chrysalis, since she agreed with the statement, though that was before he focused on who he wanted to talk to, "Daina, how in the hell did this happen? Chrysalis and I destroyed the Red Marker back on Aegis VII, when the tectonic load was released from the gravity tethers."

"You two destroyed A Marker... Tiedemann built another one." Daina replied, though at the same time something clicked inside Chrysalis' mind, as she had a good idea why Tiedemann and his soldiers were so keen on studying those that had been touched by the Markers.

"On the Sprawl?" Isaac inquired, because even though he understood that sometimes people made the wrong decision, and always paid the price, he knew that this had been an entirely stupid decision with a much more serious consequence, "Why in the hell would he do something like that?"

"It's a powerful alien artifact... Tiedemann wants that power." Daina said, though that was when the elevator came to a stop, something that she heard from the other side of the audio link and decided to change the subject, "Get to the tram, it'll take you to the Cassini Towers Tram Station."

Once the elevator doors opened the duo walked out and headed around the corner, heading towards the door that would take them to the Tram Station, though at the same time a slasher burst through another door and appeared in front of them, only for Isaac to dismember it in seconds. From there they opened the door and headed into another large hallway that they would have to walk through, though as they stepped out into the dimly lit area a shuttle turned towards the building they were standing in and collided with the side of the structure. Sure enough the explosion took out the shuttle and everyone that was aboard it, if there were any survivors, though at the same time Isaac and Chrysalis counted themselves lucky that they had made their way through the first part of the building they had walked through in such a fast pace, otherwise they would have been caught in the explosion as well.

As they headed down the hallway, however, they found a gold semiconductor that was being guarded by a slasher and a leaper, both of which were easily dismembered when Isaac was able to Stasis them together and both of them made sure to put their targets into many pieces before they moved on. When they reached the other side of the hallway they discovered that the door they needed to walk through was locked, though at the same time some exploders entered the area and started shuffling towards them. Fortunately a single well placed shot from a Plasma Cutter or a fireball was enough to destroy the goo sacks that the Necromorphs carried around, allowing Isaac and Chrysalis to blow them apart while expanding little ammunition in the process. The instant the last exploder had been taken care of the power was restored to the entire hallway, allowing them to access the locked door that they needed to go through, which wasn't locked now that the power was back.

As they walked down the ramp that was in front of them, however, Chrysalis noticed that Isaac seemed to be having a headache of some kind, though when they reached the top of the second ramp they came to a waiting area for the trains, where she spotted Nicole, who looked a little more scarier than usual, sitting on a bench... though when Isaac approached her he seemed to get better, before they watched as a burning train passed through the station in front of their eyes.

"Isaac... are you alright?" Chrysalis asked, because she didn't like the fact that her closest friend in this world might be going insane, though at the same time she was there to make sure he made it through this without breaking his mind or dying in the process.

"...Yeah... I'm fine." Isaac replied, though the way he said it didn't fill Chrysalis with hope, rather it made her worry that there was something wrong with him, before he shook his head and turned towards her, "Here's an odd observation; I've seen Nicole a few times since I was rescued from that cell, but not once have I seen a single trace of Wildfire. Why is that?"

"That's because I've been busy," a voice said, to which Wildfire appeared nearby, or rather she flew down into the area and closed her wings as she landed, where she offered the two of them a smile, "you know, killing Necromorphs and looking for Nicole. Speaking of Nicole, I just missed her, didn't I?"

"Yeah, she vanished when I approached her just now," Isaac said, though he paused for a moment, because there was something about Wildfire just said that didn't make sense to him, something that needed to be explained, "Wait a second, didn't the Marker create you to mess with Chrysalis? If that's the case, then why kill the Necromorphs, when they would technically be your allies?"

"The Marker didn't make me, it pulled me from Chryssi's heart and gave me a chance to see her again," Wildfire answered, though at the same time she smiled as Chrysalis scratched her behind one of her ears, something that they had done every now and then when Chrysalis had been locked inside her cell, "seeing her again, and remembering the love we shared while I was alive, reminded me of what we had... and I guess I became something more than what the Marker intended, as I haven't been destroyed yet. Anyway, I've noticed that Nicole has changed since we've been here and I've been trying to figure out what's going on, hence why I've been searching for her."

"Well, don't let us keep you from your mission," Chrysalis said, to which she moved her hand under Wildfire's chin and scratched her there as well, knowing that she liked that as well, before eventually pulling her hand away and reengaged her helmet, "Please be safe Wildfire."

"As far as I can tell, I'm invulnerable," Wildfire replied, though she sighed as she opened her wings and moved herself into the air around them, taking a moment to look at them before she departed, "but don't worry Chryssi, I won't let my past repeat itself."

Chrysalis nodded and waved at Wildfire as the pegasus flew off into the distance, where she eventually disappeared and left the area they were in, to which she and Isaac started searching the station for credits and ammunition, so they could be prepared for the future. One of the things that they discovered was a Stasis Pack schematic, which they may or may not use at some point after storing it inside a store, though their exploration was interrupted as the train behind them, which had been still the entire time, opened one of it's door and a slasher walked out towards them. Chrysalis, on the other hand, noticed an infector trying to hide itself as it made it's way towards another corpse, to which she hurled her bone blades at it and sliced it to pieces while Isaac dismembered the slasher... though once that was done, and they had all of the goods in the area, they walked onto the train and made their way down to the end of the vehicle, as Isaac knew what they had to do next.

As they reached the end of the train, and found the terminal that Isaac intended to hack into, Chrysalis stood guard and kept her eyes open for Necromorphs, though a few seconds later the train started moving and a voice said that they were heading to the Cassini Towers. Not even a moment later two slashers and a puker entered the part of the train that they were standing in, though while Isaac dismembered the slashers, after waiting for them to get close to him, Chrysalis blasted the puker apart before it could spit on them. The instant the three Necromorphs were dead the duo walked forward and opened the door they had walked through a minute ago, where Chrysalis instantly blasted the puker she spotted on the other side with pure magic, obliterating the Necromorph in a few seconds. With the puker taken care of the duo headed towards the other side of the train car that they were in and opened the door, where they discovered that the next car was missing... and that, if they wanted to reach the next car after the missing one, they had to engage the boosters in their RIGs.

Isaac went first and threw himself into the air, where he engaged the boosters and started flying in the area between the two train cars, where Chrysalis watched how he moved and used her magic to protect where she was standing the instant she noticed the metallic door being torn into two pieces and were thrown her way. Fortunately the magical shield protected her from all damage, though the instant Isaac was standing on the other car, after having to pull himself into it, Chrysalis sighed and lowered her shield, before hurling herself forward as the boosters came online. As she flew through the air she noticed that it was a smooth ride, since she didn't have to worry about the door fragments, though when she reached the other car Isaac grabbed onto her hand and pulled her into the car. As she touched the floor an exploder and a puker pulled themselves into the area behind them, near the door to the next car, but Chrysalis lifted a sharpened pole from the ground and hurled it with her magic, destroying the goo sack and both of their enemies in an instant.

When they attempted to approach the door that would take them to the next car, however, a slasher tried to attack them from behind and was quickly dismembered by Isaac, though the instant they actually walked into the next car things went wrong immediately. The train shifted for a moment, causing the duo to brace themselves for a few seconds, before they were knocked onto their backs as the train car tilted until they were heading downwards, where the doors now decided to open as the duo slid towards them. As they slid down the train cars, however, Isaac used the Plasma Cutter to hurt all of the slashers that appeared in front of them, before they reached the last car and were thrown out of the car, only to be caught on something and hang upside down, which wasn't great in the grand scheme of things. Chrysalis spotted a number of sharpened spikes resting around them and pulled them to them with her magic, as she knew that enemies would be coming at them soon enough.

Of course the moment Chrysalis thought about enemies they both spotted a few exploders and slashers heading their way, to which Isaac opened fire with the Plasma Cutter while Chrysalis used the spikes to impale those that were coming from a different direction. After the first few foes fell, however, a roar could be heard above them and the other Necromorphs disappeared, though as the duo turned towards the car above them a brute appeared from the area that had been around the door. They immediately opened fire on the brute, since they knew that it could easily kill them in this situation, before blowing off one of it's arms, causing it to roar in pain as it retreated and they dropped to the ground, only for Chrysalis to notice something bad. The brute's retreat had shook the train and it now threatened to squish them, to which she grabbed onto Isaac with one hand and used the other with a gust of wind, sending them sliding away from the train... to which they reached the wall and watched as it derailed and slammed into the area they had been resting in, meaning that they could have been killed if not for Chrysalis' quick thinking.

"That... was some excellent quick thinking," Isaac commented, though at the same time he and Chrysalis stood up as she stopped casting her spell, as she didn't want to expand her mana reserves on something so minor, especially when they might have a need for her magic in the future.

"Thanks," Chrysalis said, as she was fortunate enough to remember that spell that quickly, though that was before she shook her head and noticed that they weren't where Daina wanted them to be, which made her sigh once more, "Well, might as well give Daina the bad news."

"Right," Isaac replied, to which he tapped the side of his helmet for a moment and made sure that the audio link was still okay, though once he determined that the connection was fine he stopped stalling and braced himself, "Hey Daina, we hit another complication... we need another route."

"What happened?" Daina asked, though that was when Chrysalis noticed that she seemed to be sounding sad, but that still didn't make her automatically trust the lady she and Isaac knew nothing about, which was further proven by the ladies next couple of words, "I thought we lost you two."

"Unscheduled stop." Isaac stated, as that was the truth, because now it appeared that they might be under the original target Daina was sending them towards or even further away from it, but he turned his attention to the area around them as their friend worked her magic, "Can you tell us where we are?"

"How did you two end up there? Hang on." Daina replied, though her tone indicated that they might not be in the best place at the moment, but at the same time Chrysalis knew that, with Necromorphs running around, every place wasn't safe until they could permanently remove the undead creatures, "This won't be the most pleasant route, but it'll get the two of you to the Cassini Tower Residential Sector... Dammit! Tiedemann has your signal again. Keep moving!"

Chrysalis was sure that there was more to Daina than what the lady was willing to tell them, though as they explored the area for a few moments she found something that immediately made her happy, the schematic for a Pulse Rifle, which caused her to grin. Isaac noticed that there was a spring to her step as she headed towards the ramp that would allow them to reach the door that would take them out of this area, though as he accompanied her, after getting everything he could, they entered the hallway and noticed a child sized Necromorph fleeing from them. Chrysalis spotted a wall container that had a Power Node, which she eagerly collected before heading through the door that the path brought them to, dropping them off in another hallway like the ones they had used to view the shuttles in the past... though at the end of the hallway rested a store, which to Chrysalis' joy.

As they headed towards the store, however, more of the child Necromorphs, which Chrysalis was going to call a pack since the creatures came at them in such a manner, attacked them... but Chrysalis summoned a barrier around the store and made sure that she and Isaac were inside it before it closed, preventing the pack from getting at them.

Chrysalis chuckled as she approached the store and allowed it to take the schematics that Isaac was holding, since they would both benefit from having them available, before she added the Pulse Rifle's schematic to the list, where she waited for a few seconds before purchasing a Pulse Rifle. She stared down at it for a few seconds, feeling happy to have a familiar weapon in her hands and was even happier when she noticed that it was fully stocked at the moment, to which she pulled herself from the store and faced the pack. A few seconds later she pushed the barrier outwards and stunned the Necromorphs in front of them, though as the barrier faded she opened fire and dismembered the members of the pack that were in front of them, while also having a smile on her face at the same time. She stopped a few moments later and stared at the dead pack members, as having her own gun was going to make this even better for the two of them, since she wouldn't have to rely on Isaac shooting everything down.

"Oh yeah," Chrysalis said, to which she tapped the Pulse Rifle as Isaac looked at her, though at the same time her eyes were focused on the damage she had caused in a few seconds, before she glanced up at Isaac, "This is going to make things more interesting... for us and our enemies."

Isaac chuckled for a moment, because it was nice to see that, despite how this adventure started, that Chrysalis was happy to have a weapon in her hands and was even happier after seeing Wildfire again... though he knew that their enemies were going to be in a world of pain once he and Chrysalis found them, after they finished taking a short break near the store anyway.

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