• 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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Tau Volantis: Departure

Chrysalis was fortunate that the path she had to the apartment was mostly hidden in the alleys that existed throughout the colony, as it was so ordinary that no one would ever expect to find it there, as a lot of people didn't use the alleys and it made it that much easier for her to lead Carver and Robert Norton to their destination. Sure, they had to stop a few times when she spotted Unitologists moving up the road in front of them, and had to stop the trigger happy idiots from giving away their position, but for the most part it seemed like they were going to get away with this. While they walked Chrysalis could tell that Norton was trying to understand who and what she was, why she had actually gone to the effort to make a code with Ellie, and whether they should believe her or not. Carver, on the other hand, trusted that Ellie had given them the right information and trusted that the three of them were on their way to see Isaac, which was the real reason he was silent and not talking at the moment. It also helped that she asked the both of them to remain quiet while they walked along the path she was taking, mostly to keep themselves hidden from their foes, as she knew that if they took out a single Unitologist they would effectively give away their position.

She wanted to do that after they were far away from the apartments, and Isaac was with them, before they started killing the bastards that were attacking the colony... though her mood improved when she spotted the apartment building and headed towards the front door, where she had Norton close the gate behind them as she walked up to the door that her, Ellie, and Isaac's apartment rested behind, to which she disengaged her helmet and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" a voice asked, though it was the one that Chrysalis was hoping to hear, because despite her precautions she knew that something could have changed while she was gone, but she was pleased to hear that this time around everything had gone right.

"Isaac, it's Chrysalis," Chrysalis replied, to which she heard Norton and Carver tense up for a moment, as in they drew their weapons, where she glared at them for a few seconds before turning back to the door, "Ellie finally used the code and sent some people to collect us... it's time we end the Markers, once and for all."

Chrysalis waited a few seconds, knowing that Isaac would think about the fact that Ellie had sent for them and the fact that she said that it was time to end the Markers, as that meant that Ellie had succeeded in her mission and had discovered the Marker Homeworld. Sure enough she heard the sound of Isaac touching his side of the door, where she placed her hand against it and undid her enchantments on it, to which the door opened and revealed Isaac, who hadn't shaved for a few days and was wearing the same clothing he had been wearing three days ago, standing before them. Isaac smiled when he saw her, as he was happy to see her again, before he glanced at the soldiers behind her, clearly weary of them since they were holding their weapons at the moment.

"Who are they?" Isaac asked, as he suspected that these were some of the friends that Ellie had made while she was researching the Marker and all the old information she briefly told him about the last time they were together, but he wanted to know who they were before they started moving.

"EarthGov's Last Battalion. I'm Captain Robert Norton," Norton replied, though he frowned when he gazed upon Isaac, as the fact that Chrysalis was ready to go, and was armed to the teeth, gave him the idea that Isaac would react to the news in the same way, meaning that he was disappointed in him already, "and this is Sergeant John Carver."

"Last Battalion?" Isaac said, putting some emphasis on the word 'last' for a few seconds, before he sighed and realized what that meant, as anyone with a brain could figure out what Norton was talking about, "Shit! The Unitologists moved faster than we thought they would. Okay, let me get my weapon and we can get out of here, before they figure out where we're hiding."

"I've already sent for a transport to get us out of here quickly," Norton stated, indicating that he wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible, even though that was against the plans that Isaac and Chrysalis had created for this scenario, but they said nothing as Norton looked at Isaac, "Where's your armor?"

"I sold it some time ago, to look more like a civilian and less like the person the Unitologists were hunting," Isaac replied, though that was followed by him pulling out the chest that his Plasma Cutter was stashed away inside, along with the few med packs that he had thrown in there, all of which he collected before grabbing a picture of him and Ellie, taken by Chrysalis, before turning towards the group, "Now then, let's ge..."

Isaac was cut off as they felt, heard, and saw the explosion that came from the area near the Marker building, which meant bad things for everyone if the Unitologists were involved, though a few seconds later Norton's communicator came online and revealed that the crazed fanatics had breached the concourse. That was then followed by a second explosion rocking the same area, where both Isaac and Carver agreed that it was time to go, to which all four of them drew their guns and headed outside the apartment building. Both Isaac and Chrysalis, veterans of dealing with Unitologists and what came after them, knew it was only a matter of time until they had to fight their way through a third Necromorph outbreak, which was why they wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. Norton rushed to the gate for a moment and stayed there, looking to see if the coast was clear and if their ride had arrived, though as he pressed the button and the gate opened, while the getaway car arrived, disaster struck... the Unitologists had discovered their location, as the moment they moved through the gate the crazed fanatics revealed themselves and started firing.

All four of them ducked behind the cover that was in front of them and waited for the bullets to stop flying, before they revealed themselves and opened fire, where neither Isaac or Chrysalis had any problems aiming for the heads of their foes, as one shot and one kill meant that they could move onto the next target with greater ammunition than they would if they dismembered the Unitologists. A few moments later, when the way seemed clear, Carver called for Isaac and Chrysalis to approach the car with him, though as they did so a suicide bomber climbed onto the top of the car and primed his charges. Chrysalis, seeing it coming, weaved her magic through the air and created a light barrier around her, Isaac, and Carver, where the explosion knocked them all off the area they had been fighting in and dropped them in the underpass that was near the apartments, though once they landed Chrysalis removed her spell... and also made her friend and new companion pause as a flaming car crashed into the area as well, but didn't even come close to hurting them.

"What the hell was that!" Carver demanded, staring at Chrysalis for a moment, as he could handle the strangeness of her voice changing, and he might have been able to handle her changing form in some manner, but what she had just done was something that wasn't of this world and it needed to be addressed immediately.

"Look, we'll fill you and Norton in later, when the Unitologists aren't trying to kill us," Chrysalis replied, though at the same time several more Unitologist soldiers dropped down into the path in front of them and started to raise their weapons, where she opened fire on the closest one, causing him to drop his grenade and blow himself up, "For now, let's focus on getting out of here alive!"

Isaac nodded and followed after his friend, causing an annoyed Carver to follow after them, where the three of them opened fire on the Unitologists that were blocking their path, though while Isaac and Chrysalis aimed for their heads Carver seemed more interested in just firing at their chests, which was still a good strategy. Fortunately the part of the underpass that they were in was short and sweet, as the Unitologists that were standing against them seemed ready for people who weren't a threat to their mission, and what they got was their worst nightmare. Even if Chrysalis didn't use her magic to kill their foes, like she could have, the three of them were able to overcome the foes that were in their way and reached the other end of the area they had been dropped into, to which Chrysalis guarded the ladder that was in front of them while Isaac was the first to climb up to the level above them. Once Isaac was halfway between the levels Carver put his weapon away as well and climbed up after Isaac, though when he reached that point, and Isaac was at the top, Chrysalis headed up the ladder as well.

The three of them found themselves in a small room that looked like a storage and maintenance area, though it appeared that the Bench that was in front of them was offline, thanks to the Unitologists that were attacking the colony, but they pasued for a few seconds as something came to Isaac's mind.

"So, the Unitologists are after us again," Isaac commented, remembering what happened in the past, especially when he and Chrysalis were dealing with the Necromorph outbreak that Tiedemann had created, and focused on what the fanatics had done, "what else is new?"

"They're after you and Chrysalis because you two have destroyed Markers in the past." Norton said, a video link appearing in front of them for a moment, where the group stared at him for a few seconds as he, and whoever was near him, fought against the Unitologists, "That, in itself, makes the two of you a direct threat to their 'plans'. Some sort of 'end-time' prophecy based on the Markers."

"Convergence." Chrysalis stated, remembering what happened back when they were taking care of the Titan Marker, the specific event that she and Isaac had stopped, even if she had been mentally scarred by her long dead mother and unlocked her 'true' power in the process.

"Yeah, and Ellie thinks you two can stop it." Norton replied, revealing that Ellie had told him some specifics of what happened three years ago, though fortunately they knew she wouldn't have told him everything, "Look, we don't have time to sit around and discuss what's going on. Get to the Dredgercorp Building as quick as you can, there's an extraction team waiting there."

Isaac and Chrysalis nodded, as they understood what was going on, while Carver remained silent, though at the same time they let Norton disconnect the video link between them and then smashed the ammunition crates nearby, where they discovered the ammunition for their weapons had been modified to be universal between all weapons. That was an interesting thing to discover, and that by adding it to their weapons their old ammunition modified accordingly, to which they sighed as they headed through the door that was in front of them and walked through the small hallway they discovered. When they walked through the other door they heard a Unitologist asking a lady if she had seen 'this man', meaning Isaac, and when she said that she didn't know she was fired upon, where they watched her dead body fall to the ground moments later.

As they walked around the corner, and let the pair of Unitologists know that they were there, Isaac moved fast and shot one of them in the head, while at the same time Chrysalis grabbed one of her bone blades and hurled it through the air, piercing the chest of their remaining foe, who coughed up blood for a few moments before collapsing on the ground. Once that target had been taken care of Chrysalis magically recalled her bone blade and sheathed it once more, to which she and Isaac moved forward while a shocked Carver looked at her at the same time, as his mind seemed to be trying to comprehend what she was doing. With those targets taken care of the three of them walked around the corner and found another Unitologist that was trying to fire at them, but he was backing up and was a terrible shot, though he saved them the trouble of having to waste a bullet on him as he walked right into a moving unmanned vehicle behind him and killed himself in the process.

"So, we've hit the freeway," Isaac said, recalling what he knew about the colony, something that Chrysalis insisted that he and Ellie learn in the event that they were attacked and separated for some reason, before he turned towards his companions, "Hey Carver, any thoughts on our current situation?"

"They're unmanned transports... they don't stop for anything." Carver replied, though while he said that Chrysalis sighed, as it didn't appeared that he was going to be of any help at the moment, not when he was still trying to understand who and what she was.

"Isaac, just use your Stasis Module." Chrysalis said, beckoning to the recharge station that was off on their left, where her friend noticed it and nodded his head, indicating that he understood and immediately recharged his Stasis, before he faced the traffic and held his hand out.

What happened next was what Chrysalis was expecting, as when Isaac loosed the Stasis charge the vehicle he struck slowed way down, allowing another one to slam into it before that created a whole mess that ended up blocking both lanes of traffic. Instead of wasting time Chrysalis beckoned for Isaac and Carver to follow and made sure that they could use the ladder while she guarded them, which was a good thing since Unitologists came out from the area the three of them had come from, where she decided not to play around. She raised her hand and loosed a shimmering magical arrow at the area above the entrance they had come from, where it detonated a few seconds later and collapsed part of the area on top of them, giving them a few minutes of peace before their enemies returned. A few seconds later Isaac called for her to join him and Carver, to which she rapidly climbed the ladder that he and Carver were standing near and followed them through the passage that would get them away from the Unitologists, who now had to go around the obstacle that Chrysalis had created to block the way.

As it turned out the door Isaac and Carver opened brought them to the entrance of the Dredgercorp Building, which meant that there was an elevator or a set of stairs that would take them to the roof, though it wasn't hard to find the elevator in question... they just had to ignore the dead bodies that they walked by, as well as ignore Danik's message that claimed the large television screen they spotted along the way. Isaac didn't comment on why the Unitologists were systematically slaughtering everyone in their path, and why they wanted to topple EarthGov, because the fanatics were interested in Convergence and wanted to kill the only threat to their plans, as well as remove the government that they saw as 'heretics'. The three of them opened the door to the elevator and climbed into it, where the three of them silently rode it up to the roof of the building, where Norton's extraction team would be waiting for them and they could get out of here before the Marker was activated by someone.

When the door in front of them opened a few moments later they found a blinding light that obscured what was in front of them from their sights, though that was followed by some bullets flying and Isaac, being the one without any armor at the moment, took a bullet to his side and fell to the ground. A few seconds later Carver and Chrysalis suffered the same type of damage as well, revealing these guys had armor piercing rounds, and fell to the ground as well, where Chrysalis spotted a figure, Danik based on the body, standing near the edge of the area they were supposed to being picked up in.

"This one's still alive!" one of the Unitologists said, one that happened to walk over to where the three of them were resting and focused on Isaac, which made sense considering that he was the main target of part of their mission, though Chrysalis had the feeling that something bad was going to happen next.

"Bring him here." Danik ordered, though as the fanatic pulled Isaac by his feet, and carried him over to where Danik was standing, the leader of the Circle put a bullet in the head of the surviving member of the extraction team, killing him instantly, before turning towards Isaac, "Isaac Clarke, just the man I was looking for. Oh, don't waste your energy, you and your friends will be dead in a matter of minutes. Pick him up, there's something I want to show him."

At their leader's command the fanatic that had been pulling Isaac forcefully picked him up and made sure he was standing beside Danik, giving him a good view of the large building that the Marker had to be stored inside, while at the same time Isaac moaned because of the pain he was in.

"There, you see that?" Danik asked, pointing right at the very building that Isaac had spotted, the same one that Chrysalis was focused on while she silently used her magic to mend her wound and Carver's as well, so the two of them could strike when their enemies least expected them to do so, "That's a Marker test lab. They're everywhere at all of the major colonies and outposts. As part of the Marker test program, Isaac, you helped make them... and today you, of all people, get to watch me set them free."

"You can't do that!" Isaac stated, though at the same time he gripped the area where he was wounded, but as he did that he glanced down and noticed a faint aura wrapped around where the bullet hole was, indicating that Chrysalis was working her power, to which he braced himself, "You'll kill everyone!"

"Death is only the beginning, Isaac." Danik replied, revealing that he fully believed in the Marker and what it promised, which made sense considering that he was the leader of the Circle, "Nature must take it's course... and I can't allow you, or anyone else, to stop that. Eyes forward, Isaac. Pay attention."

It was in that moment that Danik held out a small remote of some kind and clicked it, though that was followed by a large number of explosive charges being ignited from that had been stored inside the Marker test lab, where the entire building was consumed by a bright explosion and the Marker, revealed in all it's glory, loosed the familiar wave of energy that Isaac and Chrysalis knew all too well... informing them of what was coming next.

"And now it's time for you, and your friends, to join the cycle of rebirth." Danik said, though as he raised his gun again Isaac, Chrysalis, and Carver made their move while the Unitologists were distracted.

Isaac was the first to react, as he swung his arm and knocked Danik's hand backwards, forcing him to fire the bullet in his gun at the wall it was now aiming at, narrowly avoiding behind hit in the back of his head in the process, and that caused his companions to move. Carver grabbed his gun, surprised the soldier that was in front of him, and loosed a few bullet's into his chest, killing the fanatic before he even had a chance to understand what was going on, while at the same time Chrysalis used her magic to hurl the other soldier fanatic off the room of the building they were on before she moved forward. What she did was punch Danik in the face, knocking him to the side for the moment, but instead of finishing him off she grabbed Isaac and Carver, wrapped all three of them in her magic, and they all jumped into the opening in front of them, where they crashed into a large pile of dead bodies some distance from where Danik was standing... meaning that they were safe from their living opponents.

The reason Chrysalis thought about this situation as living opponents was because a few seconds later, after they landed on the pile of bodies, she watched the first of many Necromorphs rise up from the office area that was on the other side of the glass wall that rested in front of them... though this one appeared to have a seemingly normal body, save for the fact that it looked similar to Nicole when she was trying to tear Isaac down, and it happened to be carrying a pair of axes in it's hands, which it used to attack the glass.

"And now we have to deal with these bastards again." Chrysalis commented, to which she raised her Pulse Rifle and opened fire the moment the glass shattered, tearing into the fodder to pieces before it had the chance to reach them, giving Isaac a moment to use an actual med pack to heal his wound.

"At least we know how to deal with them," Isaac replied, which was when he lifted his Plasma Cutter and loosed a few shots that dismembered a fodder that was coming from the left of where the first one was coming from, before he got onto his feet and walked up to Chrysalis with Carver backing them, "only now we're going to need a new escape plan."

"Unfortunately the majority of my plans involved escaping before the Marker was activated," Chrysalis said, where she and Isaac watched as Carver, getting the idea on how to deal with Necromorphs, opened fire on the pair coming at them and tore off their limbs, killing the pair of fodders that dropped into the area, "now that it's been activated it's only a matter of time until the Necromorphs start slaughtering the survivors and start breaking all the vehicles we can use to get off the planet."

"So Ellie wasn't joking when she said you two had experience in this sort of thing?" Carver inquired, because while he believed that Ellie had told him and Norton the truth about what she had seen back on the Titan Station, before it's destruction, he still found it hard to believe that these two had survived two of these outbreaks.

"Well, we are experts in dealing with the Markers and the Necromorphs they create," Isaac stated, though at the same time he opened the door that was in front of them and they moved into the next part of the office building they were in, which required that they fire at some fodders that were blocking the way, "We were prepared for such a thing to happen, but like I said earlier, the Unitologists are moving faster than we thought they would, so all the plans we made are pretty much worthless at the moment."

Carver didn't reply to that, though whether it was from the shock that they knew this event was coming one day, the confirmation of Ellie's stories, or something else entirely didn't matter to Isaac and Chrysalis, as they made sure the last of the fodder were dead before they all climbed into an elevator and rode it down to the level it connected to.

"Carver, what the hell is going on down there?" Norton asked, where the trio heard him loud and clear, though it sounded like he and the rest of his team had no problems getting themselves to whatever ship they were on.

"Danik flat-lined the extraction team." Carver replied, knowing that his captain deserved to know what happened to the men he had sent to pick Isaac up, though whether Norton got mad or not was up to him, while at the same time he readied himself for whatever was next.

"FUCK!" Norton said, revealing that he wasn't happy with how the operation was currently going, especially given what Danik had done a few minutes ago, though not a few seconds later he seemed to decide on something, "Alright, I'm coming in with the Eudora. Find a way out of the city."

"How about the trains at Washington Station?" Isaac asked, recalling the layout of the colony once more and remembered Chrysalis making a comment that the station would be a good way out of the city, should the Unitologists attack them, "We can ride one of them out of the city."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Carver inquired, as he knew that Isaac was an engineer, which meant that he might have already thought of a way to get them out of the city the moment he made the suggestion to head over there.

"I'll leave figuring that part out to the three of you." Norton said, though his tone told them that he wasn't in the mood for this conversation right now and wanted to get away from the colony before they were blasted out of the sky, "I'll see you on the tracks."

When the elevator came to a stop, and the audio link was disconnected, the trio emerged from the elevator and walked out of the small office building that they had stopped at, where they walked out into a shopping area that Chrysalis remembered her, Isaac, and Ellie exploring the first time they came to the colony. She also found a small Unitologist artifact resting near the elevator, one that apparently contained information, though since time was of the essence she stored it away and they continued along the path that was in front of them. As Carver attempted to head to the left a barrier, a metallic one, lowered into place and prevented them from heading that way, though since it wasn't the way to go anyway Isaac and Chrysalis weren't annoyed by that at all. Instead they headed towards the store on the right of the one they walked out of and headed into a candy store, though as they made their way through it Chrysalis wished it had been a normal food store, mostly so she could get them something to eat when they got off the moon... to which she sighed as she followed Isaac and Carver out into an area between the various stores.

Of course when they entered the new area they were attacked, from both sides no less, by a large number of fodder and slashers, to which Isaac and Carver faced the path they needed to follow and continued firing while Chrysalis guarded the rear and dismembered the Necromorphs that dared to attack them from behind. Chrysalis did that by either using her Pulse Rifle to mow her targets down, used her magic to blast them backwards, or used her bone blades to dismember whoever she was fighting. Between the three of them they were able to make their way over to the entrance of the theater, which also contained a second path that held the elevator they needed to take, though not a few seconds later the door opened and they walked out into the area where the trains were being held.

"Where the fuck are the trains?" Carver asked, as he could see a few train cars resting around the area in front of them, but that didn't mean they had a whole train that they could use to get out of the city.

"It looks like maintenance was being done on one before the Unitologists started their attack," Isaac commented, to which he and Chrysalis looked at the various pieces that were around them, along with the special symbol on a few of them that he immediately recognized, "since this is a train yard, all we have to do is find the engine and a few other pieces before the train can move again."

"We don't have time for something like this!" Carver said, as if he felt that they couldn't get one of the spare trains operational before their foes found them, though that only made Isaac grin as he got to work, causing Carver to groan as he and Chrysalis kept their eyes open for enemies.

Isaac used his Kinesis Module to latch onto the engine car that was near him and pulled it into position in the middle of the room, though once it was in place the tracks shifted until it was facing the exit that he and his companions needed to take. A few seconds later, where the center of the room stopped moving, he latched back onto the engine car and moved it into the exit tunnel, causing the central ring to move back into the position it had been in moments ago, before he moved the first train car onto it. The exact moment the ring came to a stop he latched onto the fuelcar and moved it into position as well, though when it was in place the railings came down and the pieces of the train connected together before it started moving. As the train started moving down the exit tunnel a computerized voice told them to board at the rear of the train, though as they waited for the train to finish moving they heard the sounds of the Unitologists trying to cut through the various doors around them, just so they could kill the three of them... though instead of worrying about them, since he had Chrysalis and Carver backing him, Isaac opened his audio link and started talking.

"Alright Norton, the train is hooked up and ready to head out the south gate." Isaac said, though as he spoke the train stopped and revealed the back car that they could use to get away from the city, to which they started walking over to it as they ignored the Unitologists trying to catch up with them, "You can't miss it, since it'll be the only thing that's moving."

"All right, understood." Norton replied, though there was a hint of happiness to his voice, indicating that he was glad that this particular part of their nightmare was almost over, "I'll close in once you have cleared the city. Be ready for pick-up, because this is going to be tricky."

"Roger that," Chrysalis said, to which she, Isaac, and Carver boarded the rear of the train, though before the doors closed she smiled at the Unitologists that they were leaving behind, since the train started back up the moment Isaac touched the floor, before she turned towards Carver, "So Carver, what can you tell us about Ellie and where she went?"

"I don't know much about what happened," Carver admitted, though at the same time he remembered everything that had happened back when he and his captain last had contact with Ellie, "We were at Keyhole Station for a time, then she shocked out to some secret coordinates she found, which was around the time we lost contact with her. The last thing Ellie told us, before that happened, was to use the code she had given us to tell you two it was time to leave the colony, which worked like a charm. I imagine that she's alive and that she's pretty pissed off that we haven't come to rescue her yet, and help her complete her mission."

"That sounds like Ellie," Isaac said, where he sounded happy that his girlfriend might be doing just fine on her own, reminding him of when he and Chrysalis first met her, before he shook his head and turned towards the door in front of them, "Come on, we had best get to the front of the train so we can jump to the Eudora when Norton arrives."

As they opened the door they found that the Unitologists, using their gunships no less, had caught up with them and were already dropping soldiers into the area, though the first gunship that was in the air was blown apart as the Eudora flew in and Nortion said that the cavalry had arrived. While Isaac and Carver headed along the path that would take them to the front of the train, and through a good number of fanatics that had dropped in so far, Chrysalis decided that now wasn't the time to play around and used her magic to fly into the air. What she did while she was in the air was simple, she used a small amount of her magic, shaped to be an explosive charge, and hurled them into the sides of the gunships that were trying to fire at the Eudora, where they exploded and tore the enemy gunships from the sky, dropping them into the walls and ground that rested far away from the train tracks. It actually didn't take Isaac and Carver all that long to reach the front of the train, especially when she was taking out the gunships, though when they reached the front the two of them jumped across the gap that was in front of them.

Carver was the first to land on the platform that Norton had opened up, so they could make the jump, and he turned around to help Isaac up, as he had miscalculated his jump and nearly missed, though when the two of them were on the platform, and it was starting to raise back into place, Chrysalis blew up one last gunship before teleporting behind the pair, just in time to beat the door... to which Carver called for Norton to take them out of there, where the three of them felt the Eudora enter ShockSpace and left the colony behind.

"Now then, I'll show you to where you'll be spending the majority of our flight," Carver stated, to which he headed into the ship and beckoned for the duo to follow him, though he did turn back once and stared at Chrysalis, "where you'll explain who you are, what the hell you are, and what sort of powers you used back there."

Chrysalis chuckled as she and Isaac followed after Carver, because she knew that he wasn't going to like what she and Isaac had to tell him, especially since she no longer cared about hiding the truth about herself from those she trusted, and Carver seemed to be that sort of person... and it would give them something to do, besides sleep and eat for the journey to the coordinates that Ellie had shocked out to.

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