“According to this digital-pad, he is or was Kian, a member of the Eiru royal family. It doesn’t say the name of the family, but it states he was a willing host to…” Marie began to explain. “Oh, he’s a prince of Eiru and a willing test subject for project mortal bounding; the symbiote’s began to eat away at his organs and degrade his bones, so they replaced his affected organs, injected him with nano-machines and added cybernetic technology to replace his arm and eye,” Marie finished with a sigh, quickly looking away from the digital-pad to the willing experiment.
Aisling gasped abruptly, fighting back the urge to be sick. Marie gave the digital-pad to Aisling while she tried to take a closer look at the man.
“If we stay here, that could be us,” Aisling drawled.
When from the corner of her eye, Aisling could see the only dark patch in the bright white room. She knew a symbiote had found them, but she couldn’t move her feet. They had been held firmly to the floor by the symbiote’s hands that had somehow reached across the floor and took hold of her completely unnoticed. It covered her boots up to her ankles without her realising it. The body of the shadow slid along the floor quite quickly stopping next to her then began to extend upright and grow directly next to her, taking a firm shape; the symbiote had begun to look just like her, like a living silhouette of Aisling! Clearly, this symbiote differed from the others they had seen, it had a level of intelligence; at least enough intelligence to recognise the being it was trying to mimic. The ones they’d encountered in the facility above where dangerous but clearly not as cunning as this mimic.
“Marie,” Aisling mumbled, unable to take her eyes from the human shaped symbiote, black and navy in colour and as solid as a rock.
It was incredible to witness yet terrifying to behold, Marie’s ST-15161654 assault rifle made short work of the creature as she opened fire almost relentlessly. When the creature fell away from Aisling, it staggered backwards slightly before it burst into pieces with great force. Both Aisling and Marie ducked down behind the nearest pedestal providing some cover from the shrapnel. The burst of hardened symbiotic shards was forceful enough to shatter many of the cylinders around it, freeing the failed experiments inside them.
“Shite, we’ve well and truly over stayed our welcome,” Aisling announced, pulling Marie by the arm closer to her while she ran through the broken glass and symbiotes that lunged at them; both seeking survival.
They raced through the room, avoiding the jumping lunging symbiotes only to be met with a locked door that seemed to have no means to open it! There was no key panel, no handle or any overwrite possibilities.
Aisling frantically looked around the bright room, suddenly shouting, “Cover me!”
She raced back through the symbiotes, narrowly escaping them with only a few very close calls. Yet when it seemed she had avoided that hazardous minefield of horrors, she was attacked by a lonesome goblin! The goblin grabbed Aisling by the waist and the throat, lashed out its tongue then threw her away, knocking her against the chamber with ‘Kian’ inside; cracking the glass quickly, draining the liquid from the chamber and breaking a number of Aisling’s ribs in the processes. Aisling was tough enough to get up and stand firmly before reaching for the Pan-card she glanced at when she first entered the room. Now, she would have to make it back to Marie with yet another enemy in her path. She thought the list of enemies was long enough already, however, the symbiotes had leapt onto the goblin when they couldn’t find another host to bond with. The goblin tried to pull them off itself, but it was like trying to pick up oil with its bare hands! It’s screeching, and whaling fell to uncaring ears with Aisling and Marie who were hoping the symbiotes killed the beast. The symbiotes didn’t kill the goblin, they quickly bonded with it creating an even more bizarre and dangerous monster. The symbiotes seemed to act as a thick armour coating for the goblin, they even increased its movement speed to superhuman levels. It was able to chase after and catch Aisling in a mere moment; wrap its sizable hand over Aisling’s head and began to crush her skull!
Its evil face smirked at Marie who fired on the monstrosity, trying not to hit Aisling, but her efforts were in vain as the symbiotes had given the goblin a near indestructible armour coating and a higher level of intelligence enabling it to speak to them, “You humans are a plight on my lord’s realm. He will reward me for getting rid of you.”
Its voice was raspy and gritty and when it spoke, it had a demonic double audio to its voice like it was speaking over itself; as if its voice was been wrenched from an unholy plane of existence. It all meant nothing when a cybernetic hand broke the goblins arm by merely grasping the beasts arm tightly. The symbiotic coating may have stopped bullets, but it didn’t save the goblins bones from breaking. The goblin unwillingly released its hold on Aisling and looked up to the owner of the arm as it tried to free itself from the cybernetic hands grip. For a moment, Marie thought the goblin looked at this Kian like it knew who he/it was.
“In my kingdom, I rule over all and this is not allowed,” the man spoke, then he tore the goblin’s arm away from its owner, tossing it over his shoulder. Kian stood still, looking at the goblin with a stern scowl as the goblin writhed in pain.
“Ladies, I think it’s time you leave,” Kian suggested with a sense of garniture in his stance.
“Thank you,” Marie exclaimed