Dead Space: Deep Space Terror

by Blackdrag-rose

Sprawl: CEC Facility

Isaac and Chrysalis barely waited for a minute before they walked through the open door that was in front of them, as they both knew that there were Necromorphs trying to kill them as they tried to find another way into the CEC factory that the two of them had entered. They walked down the ramp that was in front of them and opened the door at the end of the walkway, where they smiled as they both spotted a store they could sell off their excess items and purchase whatever items they might need for the future. As the duo entered the safe area, which might become unsafe later on, Chrysalis picked up an audio log that was from someone named Kaleb, the Xenogeologist from Langford Shift 1, and told all the other teams that there was something inside the facility, as they had lost three members of their crew already and that they couldn't contact Shift 4. That was followed by Kaleb stating that he and his team were abandoning their shift and that all the other teams were being ordered to do the same, though the log ended in shots being fired as more Necromorphs appeared near Kaleb and whoever he was with.

Once Chrysalis was done with the audio log, and stored it away, the duo appeared the store and suffered from another bout of influence from the Marker, but thankfully this time around it was just the damned contraption reminding them of it's presence and not her mother come to torture her again. She suspected that she had to thank the mysterious figure for saving her earlier, before the Queen could inflict one of her first sessions on her again, but until she encountered the other pony that the Marker had awoken, a third one when she reflected on the information, she was going to keep that to herself and said nothing to Isaac. Speaking of which Isaac was already interacting with the store, no doubt he had moved towards it while Chrysalis was thinking about what happened earlier, so she simply waited her turn and sold off a few things when Isaac made way for her to access the terminal. As she did that Isaac surveyed the area for anything useful and only found some ammunition for a weapon they didn't use, along with something that made things easier and slightly worried him at the exact same time.

"Well, the good news is that we only have one path to follow," Isaac said, pointing to the door that was on the left hand side of the room, before sighing as he waved a hand towards the other two doors that they could have used, which were both busted in some manner, "the bad news is that the only available path might be a death trap of some kind, just waiting to be sprung by whoever comes through this area."

"Then we'll just follow the path that's available at the moment and fix things as we go," Chrysalis replied, as that appeared to be how things went for the two of them they found something that was busted and either worked out how to get around it or fixed it and moved on, though at the same time she primed her weapon, "and personally, I'd like to get moving before the Necromorphs find out how to get into the facility from the entrance we used... and before a certain someone shows herself again."

Isaac nodded his agreement to that statement, because from what he had seen Crudelis was the worst possible thing that the Marker could have resurrected from Chrysalis' past, though at the same time it made him wonder something that his friend either hadn't noticed or was unwilling to talk about... and yet he had to ask her anyway, just to see if she was even aware of what was going on.

"Chrysalis, where's Wildfire?" Isaac asked, as they had gone through several areas that involved the Marker's influence since they had seen the pegasus that had captured Chrysalis' heart, and yet they haven't seen anything from the pony that was searching for Nicole.

"She's likely out there somewhere, killing Necromorphs." Chrysalis answered, though she knew what Isaac was trying to do and couldn't fault him for it, because she was worried that her mother might have captured Wildfire and was planning on doing something terrible to her in the future, "Come on, let's keep moving."

The duo walked up the nearby ramp and approached the only working door in the area, where they found a room with bodies on the other side, though as they carefully made their way through the room they gathered anything that would be useful in the long run, which included a Power Node. Since it appeared that there weren't any enemies in this room, which the duo was grateful for considering what they had fought before entering the facility, they quickly made their way to the door that would take them to the Operation Control Room. The room in question was small, had a stand that displayed a holographic version of the Titan Station, and had a back room that an infector was working in, transforming corpses into more foes for them to fight. Chrysalis spotted a slasher resting off to left of where they walked in and opened fire on it, because it looked too intact for her liking, and she smiled as it jumped up in surprise before it was dismembered, preventing it from doing any harm to her or Isaac.

Of course that had been a decoy that distracted them so the other four slashers, all black and empowered, burst into the room that they were in, to which the duo opened fire on the empowered Necromorphs and made sure to tear off their arms and legs. Once the slashers were taken care of Chrysalis noticed a locked door on their right and spotted the slot where a Power Node could be entered, to which she pulled out the one she just picked up in the other room and slipped it into place. On the other side of the door she found ammunition, medical supplies, two more Power Nodes, a gold semiconductor, and the schematic for the Vintage Suit, which pleased her greatly, though instead of heading back and getting the new suit she and Isaac continued along the path that was in front of them. They opened the door that was across from the storage room and found a man's body floating out in space, which they could see from where they were standing, before they sighed and headed down the path on their right.

As they reached the slightly larger room that was in front of them, however, they discovered a pregnant Necromorph waiting for them and, while Isaac fired upon it, Chrysalis heard the sound of a vent breaking behind them, where a slasher was trying to ambush them, to which she dismembered it as Isaac finished off his target. The duo paused for a moment, finding yet another audio log from Kaleb as he told Sorenson that he had better be behind him since he and his team were leaving a pile of angry dead body parts, making the duo wonder if he was referring to a divider. That was before someone said that 'they' were moving in ahead of them and Kaleb ordered everyone forward, though both Isaac and Chrysalis already knew that 'they' referred to the Necromorphs. When they considered what Ellie had told them earlier, about her friends dying, it was possible that pretty much everyone who came to work today, excluding their new friend, had died due to the outbreak... but they kept moving, as there was no telling how many Necromorphs were waiting for them.

When they entered the next room, however, they suffered a second bout of influence from the Marker, which was unusual considering that the last one had only been a few minutes ago, to which Isaac listened to Nicole talk about cracks forming and memories returning... while Chrysalis dealt with hearing the voice of her mother whisper that she was a failure and that she was always going to be one, something that apparently came true a thousand years later.

A few moments later, when the wave of influence was over, the duo collected themselves and kept moving, as there would be a time and a place for talking, especially since Necromorphs were searching for them, as well as Tiedemann and his forces for that matter. Before they moved towards the door Chrysalis spotted another wall box that contained a third Power Node, which she eagerly collected before she and Isaac moved through the door that was in their way, while at the same time looking out for enemies. They then entered what appeared to be a darkened hallway that required the use of Isaac's flashlight to even see anything, though as Chrysalis considered using her light spell again the actual lights came on and they found that the path they needed to take was on their left, since the right was locked. The door on their left allowed them to walk along a short walkway before coming to another door, one that was supposed to take them to Fueling Processing Control, and when they entered the room they found some dead bodies and some lockers.

The good thing they discovered was that they could see Ellie in a room that was connected to the one they were in, though the bad part about it was that the only door that seemed to connect them was busted and couldn't be unlocked at all, meaning that they would have to go down separate paths for the moment.

"Isaac! Chrysalis! Over here!" Ellie said, as if they hadn't seen her on the other side of the window, but they didn't feel like pointing that out and disengaged their helmets for a moment, so Ellie could see the relieved looks on their faces, especially since Ellie was back in the one place she hated, "The door is jammed... this must have been the last stand for whoever was left down here."

"Is there any way to get it open from your end?" Chrysalis asked, because this was one of those rare occurrences where she hoped that the answer was yes so they could skip everything inside this place, even though she already knew what the answer was going to be.

"No, the circuits are fried." Ellie replied, though the tone of her voice suggested that she had been hoping for the same thing, only to discover that the reality of the situation wasn't what she wanted, to which she moved away from the jammed door, "They must have fused the panel trying to keep those things out."

"There has to be another way in." Isaac commented, as most of the rooms they had walked by, since they escaped from where they were being held earlier, had multiple entrances and this shouldn't be any different from what he had Chrysalis had seen so far.

"The only way around is through the processing plant, but it's not meant for human traffic." Ellie said, though at the same time she came to a stop in front of the terminal that was in front of her, while Stross stood near her and switched his gaze from her to Isaac and back, completely ignoring Chrysalis, "I think I can stop it from here though."

"Alright, do it." Isaac replied, because if it was the only other way forward, for him and Chrysalis to take at the moment, then it was better than nothing, since he was sure that the two of them could overcome whatever was waiting for them inside the processing plant.

Ellie nodded and tapped a few of the commands on the terminal in front of her, though that was followed by a computerized voice stating that the shut down was accepted and warned that some systems might calibrate without notice, which told the duo that they would have to rely on the Stasis Module to get by those systems. Once that was complete Stross mentioned the steps again, as well as mentioning the 'she' from before, but Isaac told him to hold it together before he and Chrysalis headed towards the door that was labeled Pressurization Control. They then walked into the chamber that was in front of them and spotted the schematic for Detonation Mines, which they collected for later despite the fact neither of them was going to use it, before following the path that would take them to their destination. As they walked the machinery in the area came to life, no doubt calibrating like the computer had warned, though as they headed towards the Bench the two of them were assaulted by a pack of slashers that burst into the area.

Isaac and Chrysalis carefully avoided the attacks that were coming towards them while they fired at the Necromorphs, though the moment all of the slashers were taken care of, and they were sure that there weren't any additional enemies to fight, they spent a few moments empowering their weapons... or rather, Isaac upgraded his weapon while Chrysalis added some additional protection to her suit, before they departed from the Bench and headed towards the door behind them.

On the other side of the door they found a Zero-G area that would allow them to float through the area and contend with a venting system that appeared to be blocking their way, but even as they noticed all of that Chrysalis found some of those boosters they used on the Docking Pod earlier. Isaac made a comment about the venting system and Ellie told them that manually shutting down the plant froze all of the pressure valves in place, meaning that the two of them needed to find a way to force the valve open. Chrysalis, already forming an idea in her mind, gently kicked herself off the walkway that they were on and used her magic to lift one of the boosters out of the container that they were stored in, though as Isaac lifted himself off the walkway she attached the device to the valve and engaged it with her magic. The duo then watched as the single booster was enough to force the valve open, allowing them to bypass the valve and float through the air as they made their way towards where Ellie and Stross were located.

Of course they had to stop when they approached some of the machinery they turned back on and started spinning, though before either of them could ask Ellie what was going on, however, their video links became active as Tiedemann appeared in front of the duo for a moment.

"Isaac, Chrysalis, there you are!" Tiedemann said, though there was something in his tone that suggested that he believed that he was superior to the two of them, something that made Chrysalis want to kill him even more than she already did, "I see your friend has powered off the facility... remind me to thank her for providing me with your exact location. I've already locked the processing cycle on, and trapped you both inside. It ends here!"

Before either Isaac or Chrysalis could say anything to Tiedemann, or even proclaim that he was a madman for wanting to use the Marker in the first place, the connection between them was severed, to which the duo sighed as they carefully floated forward and found a few gaps in the machinery. Fortunately it only took them a few seconds to bypass the spinning drills of the processing machinery, though as they rounded the corner they found a square piece, one that appeared to be a blocker for the four vertical panels that were firing electricity at the wall opposite of them. Isaac carefully aimed at the moving part of the machine and fired a Stasis charge at it when it was starting to move over one of the four panels, though both he and Chrysalis smiled when it slowed down as it was passing over one of the panels. With the way open the duo carefully flew between the two bits of electricity and came to a stop on the other side, though just because they overcame two pieces of the machinery didn't mean they could relax... especially since there had to be Necromorphs waiting for them to get near them.

As they rounded the corner the duo found a pair of lurkers waiting on the wall that was opposite of where they were floating, to which they opened fire on Isaac and Chrysalis, forcing them to separate from each other, for a moment anyway, before they returned fire and dismembered the tentacles that their foes possessed.

"Ellie, can't you shut these things off?" Isaac asked, as he was sure that Ellie must have some sort of say in the system, since she was still a living employee of the CEC, something that had Isaac was surprised he still had considering that he's been gone for three years.

"No." Ellie replied, though while the duo was shocked by that fact they could tell that Ellie was pissed, which was more understandable when they heard why she was pissed off, "Somehow Tiedemann declared me dead in the system, and now my codes won't work anymore. Oh shit, something's coming. Stross, help me with the door!"

As the connection faded both Isaac and Chrysalis could hear Stross talking about Ellie needing to see the steps so she could understand, where Ellie told him to focus on what she needed him to do, before the connection was lost once more and left the duo alone for the moment. Instead of getting worried, as Ellie had proved that she could easily overcome any Necromorphs on her own, the duo turned towards their latest obstacle and prepared themselves accordingly, as all Isaac had to do was point at the spinning parts of the machine and loose a Stasis charge at it, slowing it down so they could pass through to the other side. Once they were on the other side they took care of the lone lurker that was hanging out near a valve they needed to force open, though once the creature was dead Chrysalis levitated a booster over to the valve and turned it on, to which they flew through the opening she had created. The next part of the machinery had what appeared to be a fan like area, though as they looked above them they found a ring of fire and another nest, one that would need to be taken care of before they bothered to leave the area.

It didn't take them long to reach where the nest was located, even though they had to avoid the flaming rings when they were open and had to fire at the projectiles that the nest sent at them, though once they reached the upper part of the tunnel they were in the duo tore the nest to pieces and moved on... though Chrysalis grabbed the ruby semiconductor for later, whenever they found another store they could access.

With the nest dead Isaac and Chrysalis were allowed the freedom to attach some boosters to the valve that was blocking their way, which the nest was likely guarding in some manner, before they activated them and opened the way forward once more. On the other side of the valve the duo spotted a walkway with a door they could access, though if Tiedemann was watching them he was going to be extremely disappointed in the fact that his plan to kill them had failed, even if he already had another one in place to deal with them. As they needed the door they got a video link from Ellie as she battled the Necromorphs that were coming for her, proving that Stross was still having his breakdown as he mentioned 'Step Three' this time around, which was more than what Isaac and Chrysalis knew. A few seconds later the connection was cut off once more, though Isaac opened the circular door that was in front of them and entered a short passage that allowed him to leave Zero-G... to which Chrysalis landed and followed after him, even as the door closed behind them and the one in front of them opened.

When they entered the room that Ellie and Stross had been in minutes ago, when they were standing by the glass window, the duo noticed that it was stalkers that had ambushed the others and that one of them was still alive, which Chrysalis quickly amended as she dismembered the Necromorph that was crawling it's way towards them. Isaac found a wall box that contained a Power Node, which they would put to use later on, while Chrysalis spotted a hole in the glass window that hadn't been there when they had come through this area the first time around. Since there wasn't much else they could do in this room, besides stand around and hope more Necromorphs came so they could make Ellie's escape easier, the duo approached the door that Ellie must have gone through and opened it... to which they had to quickly raise their hands, as Ellie was actually pointing her Plasma Cutter at the door and nearly shot them when it opened.

"Oh god, Isaac! Chrysalis!" Ellie said, to which she breathed a sigh of relief as she lowered her weapon, while at the same time Stross rocked back and forth of the crate he happened to be sitting on, which appeared to be normal for him at this point, "Glad to see that the two of you still have all your body parts."

"Are you alright?" Isaac asked, as he had seen part of her battle with the Necromorphs and wanted to be sure that she was fine, especially since she appeared to be a little annoyed about something, but he could hazard a guess who that something was.

"Um, yeah... no thanks to twitchy over here." Ellie replied, beckoning to Stross for a moment, who seemed to stop moving as he looked up at the group, even though both Chrysalis and Isaac disengaged their helmets for the moment so he wouldn't see them as enemies.

"Step Four... she'll be waiting." Stross said, though that still only told them nothing, since steps one and two seemed to be rather simple while the other two seemed to be difficult for him to remember fully.

"What's the fourth step?" Isaac inquired, as he still didn't remember what Stross was going through, which meant the drugs he had been given must have been even stronger than the ones that Tiedemann's officers and professors gave to Stross while they were captives, "Whose waiting at the end?"

"After the screws, after the needle, she'll be waiting." Stross replied, as if that was the answer to everything, even though it barely took them anything about how to shut off and destroy the Marker that they had helped Tiedemann build on the Titan Station.

"Damn, his condition is getting worse." Isaac commented, to which both Ellie and Chrysalis nodded their heads in agreement, as it was as clear as day to them as well, before he sighed and turned towards their new friend, "We have to keep moving."

"There's an industrial Transport upstairs." Ellie replied, beckoning to the area above them, or at least in the general direction of the shuttle in question, before she turned back towards Isaac and Chrysalis, "Runs on the same spoke as the commuter train. It should get us into the Government Sector. The only problem is that one of us will have to deploy it from the gear house."

"Well, that sounds like something we can take care of," Chrysalis said, to which Isaac nodded his head in agreement, as it was safer for Ellie to remain here and given them directions, if necessary, while at the same time keeping Stross safe until the train could be deployed.

"Hold on a minute," Ellie said, causing both Isaac and Chrysalis to stop for a moment, as they knew that they didn't have the time to be stopping, especially since Tiedemann could easily do something to the spoke that the trains traveled on before they even got the train deployed, "you still haven't told me how you did that earlier. That thing with all of those balls of light. What in the world are you?"

Chrysalis remained silent for a moment, as she remembered what she had said to Hammond and his crew, and the fact that not many of them had believed her until she proved that she could harness magic, before she decided that now wasn't the time to be holding back secrets... as she and Isaac trusted Ellie, who in turn trusted them, and she was tired of keeping secrets, even after the thousand years she spent as Queen of the Changelings.

"If you must know, I am a changeling," Chrysalis replied, to which she sighed as she wondered how she was going to explain this, though Isaac nodded his head and revealed that it was okay if she talked for a few moments, even though it might have serious consequences later on, "and the reason I can fire off and sustain that many orbs of light is because I can use magic. Yes, that means I can shoot fireballs from the palms of my hands, summon barriers to protect myself from harm, and do a decent amount of the things that humans believe possible with magic, even though my position as a changeling entitles me to a few other abilities."

"Oh really?" Ellie inquired, though the look on her face said that she wasn't buying it, despite the fact that the dead were trying to kill them after being remade by the signals that the Marker was sending out, "And what sort of 'abilities' do changelings posses that other magic users don't?"

Chrysalis, instead of responding immediately, stared at Ellie for a few seconds and took in the details of her body, as well as her voice, before she closed her eyes and gathered her magic, where her horn glowed with the green coloration that was unique to changelings before she was consumed in green fire. Isaac and Ellie stepped back for a moment, as they were surprised that Chrysalis suddenly combusted in such a manner, before the flames died down and allowed them to see what happened to their friend, only for them to stare at what was in front of them in total surprise. Standing in the spot that Chrysalis had been standing in earlier was none other than Ellie, or rather an exact duplicate of Ellie that was wearing the same clothing and the same bandages. Isaac was surprised by this turn of events, as he could have sworn that he had been told about this in the past and hadn't seen it in action, though Ellie stepped forward and approached her mirror image... though the only way someone could actually tell them apart was by the weapons they carried, as the real Ellie had a Plasma Cutter and the copy had a Pulse Rifle.

Still, despite the fact that it was only a weapon that prevented them from being the same person, Isaac knew that anyone else would have assumed that the two Ellies were actually identical twin sisters, even if they would have been wrong in their thinking.

"To put it in simple terms, changelings are shapeshifters," the copy said, speaking in Ellie's voice, so perfect that if she had replaced the actual Ellie, and went about Ellie's normal routine, Isaac was sure that no one would have been able to tell the difference, expect when asked about the past maybe, "We used this ability to sneak into towns and villages so we could carefully gather the necessary love energy for our species to thrive and exist, taking on the forms of whatever was appropriate for our mission. At first we were peaceful towards the other races of our planet, but then Queen Crudelis came to power and turned the various hives into a single united empire, even if she crushed and slaughtered those that dared to challenge her rule. She turned us into spies, infiltrators, and imposed many new rules to how we operated, while at the same time making herself into a warmonger that would never be satisfied until she controlled all of Equus, until some of her generals turned on her and killed her.

Once she was gone I came to power and spent the next thousand years trying to undo the damage the previous Queen had done, and I even managed to appoint new Queens to run the old hives with changelings that wanted their old lives back... but in the end I ultimately failed and lost my own hive. At least they found a better, more benevolent, ruler to watch over them as they finally ease back into a life that was almost stolen from them all by the old queen..."

Isaac knew that this was an extremely shortened version of the history of the changelings, something that even Chrysalis didn't want to get into because the beginning of it pertained to her mother, the dreaded Queen Crudelis, though he was surprised that her mother had actually gone out of her way to subjugate the other hives. He was sure that the true history of the changelings was one that started out with peace and prospirity, before coming to a force of spies and warriors that Crudelis created, and then slowly returned to what it had been in the beginning. Chrysalis seemed to notice the silence and reverted back to her original form, before she closed her helmet and walked towards the only other door that she and Isaac could take, where she stood beside it and waited. Isaac couldn't fault his friend for being upset, as her mother was one of the worst ones he had ever heard about and he was sure that Crudelis had done more than what Chrysalis had told them about... and yet he knew better than to provoke the pain that was lingering in her heart, especially with the terrible memories that had returned with the appearance of her mother.

Before he could move forward, however, a hand stopped him and he turned to look at Ellie, who was actually staring over at Chrysalis, as if she felt sorry for their friend, which was something that Isaac felt every time she was forced to remember or experience her painful past again.

"Queen Crudelis... she's Chrysalis' mother, wasn't she?" Ellie asked, though at the same time Isaac could hear the venom in Ellie's voice, indicating that she disliked the old queen, even if she was supposed to be dead.

"Yeah... she was." Isaac replied, to which he sighed for a moment, as he could only imagine the endless pain that his friend had been in over the years and admired the fact that she hadn't considered killing herself to end her personal torment, "Crudelis dominated the other hives and killed their queens, turned her subjects into something they weren't supposed to be, saw the other races of her world as nothing more than food, and beat her own daughter so much that, even a thousand years later, she still remembers the beatings. Her own generals declared a civil war on those that were loyal to the insane queen and removed her from power, leaving a broken Chrysalis to pick up the pieces... she's had a rough life, and that damned Marker is making her experience it all over again."

"Then stop standing around and get to the gear house," Ellie said, to which she stepped away from Isaac and tapped Stross' shoulder, indicating that she would keep him safe while the duo worked their magic, "besides saving what remains of the Titan Station, if such a thing is even possible, Chrysalis needs the pain to stop... before she does something that she'll end up regretting."

Isaac nodded and started to head towards Chrysalis, though as he did so he picked up the schematic for the large med packs and stored it away, so when the two of them were standing near each other, with their helmets engaged and their weapons primed, they moved forward and didn't look back. That, of course, meant that they had to move the tables out of the way so they could access the door that was in front of them, but the moment both of the tables had been removed Chrysalis opened the door and moved forward. As the duo entered the chamber that they needed to walk through they discovered that it was a fueling area, though since they were forced to follow the walkway there wasn't much they could do, save for dismembering the two leapers that crawled out of a vent that was in front of them. As those two Necromorphs fell a slasher attacked them from behind, where Chrysalis spun around and loosed a burst of bullets that tore it's arms and legs off, allowing Isaac to blast apart the next leaper that tried to attack them.

As the end of the walkway they found a cargo lift that took them to the floor above them, where Isaac was forced to listen to Nicole mentioning that they had only two short years together and that they were the happiest years of her life, before he made her start 'doubting' herself. Chrysalis, on the other hand, shuddered as another session with her mother came to life, but thankfully it was one of the ones that was short, as a general had stepped in with 'good' news and made the beating stop, only for the following one to be twice as bad to make up for it. As the duo escaped the Marker's influence, where they worried about how many were coming within a short time since the last one, a slasher tried to attack them when they neared the hallway they had to walk through, though Chrysalis tore it apart before it had a chance to react. The duo then followed the walkway that they had to go through, passing by a locked door in the process, before they came to an area where crawlers were crawling down the wall in front of them and were trying to approach them... to which Isaac and Chrysalis sighed as they used short bursts and tore them all to pieces, clearing the way forward.

From there it was a straight shot to the door that allowed them to enter a rounded room that was identical to the one that Ellie and Stross were resting in, or likely had been resting in if they had moved on already, though as Isaac and Chrysalis entered the room they were attacked by more Necromorphs... or more accurately two lurkers and a puker, all of which the duo dealt with in rapid succession.

The moment those enemies were taken care of Isaac approached the store that was near the door they needed to walk through and sold off what he didn't need and made sure to install the new schematics, that way he and Chrysalis could buy them if they desperately needed something. Chrysalis, however, picked up an audio log that was from Sorenson this time around, where he was telling Kaleb that he recognized the bodies that were chasing them since they were all from Shift 4. Of course the log revealed that Sorenson asked Kaleb where his team went and got the answer that he was looking for, as well as a warning that enemies were closing in from behind, though Chrysalis knew that the men had either escaped and had been gunned down, or had been killed by Necromorphs and transformed into the very things that killed everyone else. The moment the audio log was done she stored it away and waited her turn at the store, where she sold off a few things as well before she walked away from it, to which she and Isaac gathered near the door and opened it so they could press onward.

When they entered the hallway in front of them, and rounded the corner, they spotted a divider standing on the other side of the area that they were in, though it rapidly crossed over to where they were and was only slowed down when Isaac used a Stasis charge on it. That action allowed him and Chrysalis to open fire on the divider and tear it into pieces, where they then had to destroy the fragments that came alive when the divider separated itself, which they did quickly so they didn't get ambushed by more enemies. When the divider and it's fragments were dead, and they were absolutely sure of that fact, the duo quickly collected the gold semiconductor it had been carrying and walked towards what it had been guarding, which was an elevator that took them up to the High Pressure Storage area. A few moments later, when the elevator came to a stop, the duo were assaulted by a slasher that came from the right and an exploder that came at them from the front...though it was easy for the duo to dismember the two Necromorphs, especially when one died in an explosion and the other was cut apart by Isaac's Plasma Cutter.

Isaac also found a wall box on their right that had a Power Node, though without a Bench he simply stored it away as he followed Chrysalis to the door that was opposite the one they entered through, but as they entered the hallway Isaac heard Nicole whisper in his ear about what he had said to get her aboard the Ishimura, as if he wanted her to leave and get out of his life, which was the opposite of what he had wanted at the time. As he forced the voice to be quiet, so he could continue forward, Chrysalis grabbed a nearby box with her magic and floated it through the two laser traps that were in front of them, setting them off so she and Isaac didn't have to worry about them. When they reached the walkway ahead of them she then pulled some crates out of the way and collected a schematic for Flame Fuel, the ammunition for the Flamethrower weapon neither of them used... along with an audio log from Sorenson, ordering any remaining CEC personal to track Ellie's RIG, since she had cleared a path that was closing.

As the duo considered what was said they realized that whoever got that had either joined up with Ellie's group, or had died and become the very monsters that decimated her friends until she was the only one left, before they stored it away and headed down into the walkway so they could bypass the barricade in front of them.

When they walked up the second ramp, however, they came under fire from a guardian that was at the far end of the walkway, as well as from some of the pods that it had fired out to guard the area between it and the ramp they had used to get to this point. Chrysalis, not in the mood to mess around, used her magic to snap up a barrier that the pods attacked, allowing Isaac to move out into the open and dismember all of them, though once that happened she canceled the spell and joined her friend as they opened fire on the guardian and tore it to pieces. They then carefully picked up the gold semiconductor that it had been holding onto and then road the cargo lift beside it up to the next level they had to overcome, though during the ride Isaac tried to silence the voice that was whispering in his ear, saying that he couldn't bare to watch her message to the end and still went looking for her... despite he 'knew' that all he would find on the Ishimura was death.

At the same time Chrysalis disengaged her helmet for a moment as she coughed up some blood, revealing what sort of torment the Marker was inflicting upon her, before she wiped her glove off and used a small med pack to mend the pain her body was in from remembering her beatings... especially the ones that actually caused her to relive the torment and the pain, as they were accompanied by blood all the time.

As the cargo lift came to an abrupt stop near it's destination, however, Chrysalis reengaged her helmet and blasted apart the slasher that was going to attack them, before Isaac took aim and caused the exploder behind it to detonate it's payload, obliterating it as well. When the lift connected to the floor it was supposed to connect to the duo was ambushed by a pregnant Necromorph that was waiting for them, though they followed what they normally did in this situation and dismembered it before it could slice itself open, preventing new foes from being born. It was also accompanied by members of a swarm and another slasher, all of which the duo opened fire on and terminated, before they lowered their weapons and walked into the room that was in front of them. Fortunately there was a Bench inside the room, where Chrysalis decided to let Isaac have all the Power Nodes this time around as she explored the area, where she personally ended the fragment of a divider that was trying to hide in a corner and ambush them when they weren't looking.

The moment Isaac was done with the Bench he approached the terminal they needed to access and pressed a few of the commands, the ones that would help them with the train, until he found a problem and opened the line with Ellie, since she might be able to help them out.

"Ellie, the good news is that I found the transport," Isaac said, referring to the large object that was near the room they were standing in, which Chrysalis had ignored since they were previously under attack by Necromorphs, "the bad news is that there's a problem with the release mechanism."

"No surprise there." Ellie replied, though this time around the duo breathed a sigh of relief, as it sounded like she wasn't under attack this time around, which had to be great for her, "The parts to fix it should be located near the actual mechanism, so search the room you two are in and you should be able to fix it in seconds."

Sure enough the moment they disconnected from Ellie, and started looking around the room, Chrysalis found a circular device of some kind and slipped it into the upper part of the release mechanism, which seemed to be part of the process they needed to go through. Fortunately Isaac appeared to remember how to fix this particular mechanism, after having seen her slip the first part of it into place, as he raised a nearby tube into the air and revealed that it was actually a cover for a storage area of sorts, one that contained a second circular device that was slipped into the bottom section of the mechanism. From there he opened the second tube and held it in the air, allowing Chrysalis to gently remove the gear shaped device that was inside the second storage container, which she placed in it's proper place inside the mechanism and caused all the lights to go green. After that happened the duo approached the terminal again and Isaac put in the commands once more, though this time he got the message he was looking for, as he opened an audio link to Ellie not a few seconds later.

"All right, we've released the Transport." Isaac said, though at the same time Chrysalis smiled, as it appeared that they were one step closer to their goal, even if they both knew that their luck could change at any moment, "Ellie, meet us at the landing."

"We'll be right there." Ellie replied, though before the connection was terminated they could hear her trying to get Stross to move and hoped that his madness hadn't engulfed his very mind, otherwise their chances of beating the Marker will have disappeared.

As the duo made their way towards the Transport two empowered slashers tried to stop them in their tracks, but since they were expecting something like that Isaac and Chrysalis fired at their foes and dismembered them, opening up the path to their target. A few seconds later the two of them walked onto the Transport and Isaac took up point at the front, where he tapped in the command and they started to descend towards the landing that Ellie would be at, though at the same time he focused his mind and tried to banish the Marker's influence, as this time Nicole appeared near him. Chrysalis made no sound this time around, either because her mother was nearby or it was a session of total silence, but before Isaac could even ask her if she was okay she seemed to snap out of it and returned to the door as they reached the landing... where she opened the door, allowing Ellie and Stross to board the Transport.

"He's staring at me Isaac." Stross said, though as that happened Isaac let Ellie take the controls as he focused on Stross, as he might be the only one capable of calming the man down at this point, "Through the... holes... in his head."

Isaac opened his mouth, to tell Stross to relax and that everything was fine, but the man walked over to a seat and sat down, causing him to sigh as Chrysalis closed the door and they started to move down to the spoke that would allow them to get to the Government Sector... though both Isaac and Chrysalis, who disengaged their helmets, were shocked by what they saw off in the distance.

"Oh my god..." Isaac said, staring at the one thing he never thought he would actually see again, because he instantly recognized the vessel that was resting off in the distance, and he was sure that it haunted Chrysalis's dreams as well, "It can't be... that's..."

"... the Ishimura..." Chrysalis finished, staring at the ship where she first experienced the Necromorph outbreak and started to relive her past, though it was there that she had been reunited with Wildfire, who had been brought back to torment her until Wildfire turned into an ally they never expected to find.

"Yeah, used to be the pride of the CEC." Ellie commented, as she wasn't aware of the fact that Isaac and Chrysalis had a certain history with the planetcracker, though that didn't stop her from speaking about what she knew, "Sad story actually. I heard that everyone onboard died... some sort of terrorist attack or something."

"That's what their calling what occurred on the Ishimura? A terrorist attack?" Isaac asked, to which Ellie looked back and nodded her head, indicating that no one, excluding a few select personal, really knew what happened to the Ishimura three years ago, "That's where all of this started, the Necromorph outbreak. Everything that's happened on the Titan Station so far, happened on that ship three years ago. Chrysalis and I, as well as the rest of my original five man team, arrived after the initial outbreak, but we saw what happened to the crew of the Ishimura and had to fight our way through the undead host just to survive."

Ellie opened her mouth to say something, as this was definitely news to her, but before she could actually speak the Transport shook for a moment, causing the moment to be ruined as she turned back to the terminal behind her, though at the same time experience spoke volumes and both Isaac and Chrysalis reengaged their helmets.

"What happened?" Chrysalis asked, though as she spoke she primed her weapon, as she knew that she and Isaac were going to have to walk off the Transport and fix something, as that seemed to be common these days.

"I don't know... something must be blocking the track." Ellie said, as that was the only reasonable explanation for what was going on, even though it wasn't one that she wanted to think about at the moment.

"Then Chrysalis and I will go fix the problem," Isaac stated, to which the Transport came to a stop at a landing, nearly perfectly timed he mentally reflected, before the door opened and allowed the duo to step off the Transport.

Chrysalis sighed as she followed Isaac, because with the reappearance of the Ishimura in their lives she knew that something was going to happen to make them go back aboard the ship... and she wasn't looking forward to that happening in the near future, and she was sure that Isaac shared her thoughts on the matter.

Comments

[kojivsleo]

So are you just gonna rehash the plot of deadspace 2 or is it going to change anytime soon?

[Midnight Moon]

8880680
Going by experience with his other stories, it's mostly going to be a rehash, with a number of improvements made, plot holes fixed, and stupid or pointless bits removed, while at the same time showing how powerful an impact having Chrysalis along has had.

[Black--Soul]

I still remember this part quite well... Fucker on both sides have their own miss deeds and flavor of insanity...
EarthGov or Unitology... Both end in death.

[Black--Soul]

Good grief, Chrysalis and Isaac really never get anything but problems and stress...
One more time into the beach...

[Black--Soul]

EarthGov sure earned their destruction, to bad humanity in its majority is taken along.

Rather surprised they have a energy crisis with the ability to strip mine planets.