The Boomerang Patient

As the floor gave way to blackness, it quickly became apparent from the steel walls that they were falling down some kind of pipe system. The shadowy cushioning proving more useful than expected as the pipe system seemed to curve, sending them loudly tumbling through the dark. Although it was supremely uncomfortable, Rene did nothing to avoid the blanket of shadows, simply curling up his form so as to avoid any possible injury.

"I'm surprised we didn't have to pay to get on..." Elliot managed to joke to his companion who was probably in a slightly worse mood having his first experience being felt up by weird icy cold shadowy tendrils while curled into a ball falling down a pipe system. They'd been falling for quite a while, with all the twists and turns, the term "Water slide" came to mind.

With thundering impact and a loud metallic 'klang!' the 'ride' came to a sudden stop as the pair smashed hard against steel flooring. Rene letting out a groggy curse as they hit the ground, head swimming from the fall.

Despite the mattress like blob of darkness the impact was still had. The fact that Elliot was used to such falls and impacts did nothing to stop them from hurting like hell, and knocking the wind out of him. That said he recovered fairly quickly all things considered, and bounced up from the mass of darkness, waving a hand to dissipate it and looking around the room. "Well that was needlessly dramatic, it's good to see some things never change. You alive over there?" Elliot asked the guy with the Sword.

"Don't insult me fils de pute...I am quite alive!" Rene spat out as he shakily tried to push himself up, skull still hammering from the impact. For the umpteenth time that night, he wondered what exactly had he gotten himself into? As the swordsman shakily stood back up to his feet he took a cursorial look around the room. Big, dark,  square-shaped, the walls, roof, and floors all made up of the same metallic material.

"Well, best get comfortable then; we'll wait here until they send someone for us." Elliot said after looking around the room, apparently they still liked to keep people waiting. He frowned at the lack of any furniture to sit on. Frankly cushioned seats was one of the biggest positives he had considered for revisiting civilization again, but he made due as he had for the past several years, and found himself a wall to prop himself up and sit against.

"I...I don't trust it...something feels wrong." Rene replied with a firm shake of his head. "Jesus it's cold in here." He muttered, the mist of his breath only barely visible in the dimness of the chamber. Something was off, he could feel it down in the base of his spine, a squirming, wriggling feeling of apprehension working its way through his entire body. Then he heard it, both of them did, this harsh sound of metal grating roughly against metal, and it was getting closer. Shit, Rene snapped a look over to shadow puppets over there, concern clear in his eyes ""Fuck it..you hear that right? I'm pulling out the sword."

The sudden burst of light was near blinding as with an audible 'Tsching!' Rene brandished his blade and held it before him, the electric blue blade glowing like a defiant torch against the darkness of the chamber. And for but a moment, in the burst of light, two bulbous eyes could be seen gleaming in the dark, not more than 5 yards away!

Suddenly as he saw the bulbous eyes in the darkness Elliot's mind came to a realization; as he remembered the parted O in the elevator. "We may have the wrong place..." He was too distracted by the revelation to even be that surprised when his ally pulled out what looked like a lightsaber. "You cut us a way out of here, I'll keep it busy!" Elliot shot to his feet, a dark aura and grasping tendrils began to surround him as he walked between the swordsman, and the eyes in the darkness, and waited for the creature to take a step forward.

Almost Immediately, several links of what looked like rusty chains shot out from the darkness,  each attempting to wrap around Elliot and drag him into the dark. The grating was getting louder now, and closer by the second! Meanwhile, despite the tug in his gut that told him to join the fight, set to cut through the wall, sparks beginning to bounce off his armor as with strain he tried to slice into the metal.

Elliot countered by swinging out his hand at the creature, and forming a giant shadowy tentacle out of dark energy to bat the chains aside and strike out at the eyes in the darkness, right now he was a bit more concerned with stalling, than outright killing it, and he wanted to keep whatever it was at bay while sword man cut through the door. Yet Elliot seemed rather calm, he did not fear the darkness, it was no stranger to him.

The eyes seemed to have other ideas though, for just as quick as they were batted away the chains re-grouped into a shield to block the attack. As though commanded by the eyes' will more chains began to hurtle out of the darkness, aiming to smash into Elliot with the hooks or weights attached to their ends.

"Now would be a very good time to hurry..." Elliot remarked to the swordsman as he sidestepped one chains, and went on the defensive, blasting another to the side with a burst of dark energy. Elliot knew for now that whatever he threw at the thing was going to get blocked, which left him with only two options, go on the defensive until the creature began to tire, the swordsman cut through, or it made a mistake; or throw everything he had at it in a gambit to take it down. Obviously Elliot was going to go for option one in this situation, with maybe a side of trying to get a hint at what they were dealing with "I don't suppose you'd consider not throwing chains at us?" Elliot inquired as he blocked a third with a shield of writhing energy.

Without warning one of the creature's chains levitated on high and snapped out like a whip towards the back of Rene's head, trying to force an opening in Elliot's stance by forcing him to focus more on protecting Rene than himself.

Instead of defending himself or Rene, Elliot took a different option. When the creature raised the chain to strike, he attacked with speed and ferocity. Strange eel-like things made of the writhing darkness, shot from his hands and back, but nothing distinguished them from the darkness around them. Perhaps in the dark room the creature wouldn't even see them coming until it was already striking; after all how does one distinguish darkness from itself? Soon however they struck, razor sharp teeth biting down and ripping from seemingly every direction. Elliot hoped that they could strike the creature before it struck Rene, which was a gambit to be sure.

Suddenly as the teeth sunk down, there was a barrage of sound and light! First a crackle of static reminiscent of an old radio, then suddenly the whole chamber was lit up! Before anyone could react the voice of a woman called out " 298-2443! Cease security protocols immediately!"

As the Voice called out Elliot too ceased his attack, the eel-like construct pulled away from whatever they had attacked, after releasing their bite of course so as not to rip out chunks of flesh as he had intended earlier. "More numbers than me? I'm hurt." Said the former subject, who had apparently acquired a sense of humor during his freedom. Elliot breathed a sigh of relief as he looked around the room. He realized this was in fact probably a misunderstanding as opposed to an Omega trap, and reported in "Elliot Jones, S facility, Designation Subject 1-8-0." As he spoke, he tried to have a look at whatever had been attacking them.

A strange humanoid chimera like a creature of black beaten steel and burned red flesh stood before him. It was tall, and eerily dangerously skinny, what skin could be seen looked taught and drawn like dry leather. Along its torso, arms, and head, entire sections of its body replaced with black beaten steel secured by bolts and nails. And the eyes, two bulbous bloodshot orbs that peered out just barely from the beaten plates of metal that contained its head.

"What the fuck is that?" Rene murmured in a mix of shock and revulsion as he ceased his cutting, only for the intercom voice to reply "It's subject 298-2443...and it's made to deter intruders... You should feel lucky I got here before it could finish its task."

"One of us should..." Elliot said with a shrug, he didn't seem all that revolted by the creature. Perhaps it was because of his own inhuman nature; none the less he asked "Care to tell me what's going on here?" Frankly he didn't know if this was a DEAD or Omega facility. Dead had always been prone to shady experiment, and he wouldn't passed them to steal something from the omegas or even make something like this in desperation, on the other hand Chimeras were near synonymous with Omega activity. Needless to say though the monster had little effect on Elliot, the whole situation has put him ill at ease.

"Not exactly Subject 1-8-0, need to run your supposed designation through the database first, sit tight for now." The ostensibly female voice replied in cold clinical fashion, leaving the three to just sit there for a while in silence.

"It's likely been marked deceased along with the rest of S facility." Elliot added before shrugging at the swordsman, and finding a wall to lean against where he could keep an eye on the creature that recently tried to them.

Tense silence ruled the room for only a few moments, then the voice asked: "Did...did you say S facility?"

Meanwhile, Rene was very intently keeping an eye on Mr.Chainedbyfashion over there lest he decides to attack again.

"Yes ma'am, we were wiped out to a man by the red lady if I recall. Some of us were trying to evacuate, and they may have made it, but I never saw them again." Elliot replied his voice was casual at first, although briefly faltered, and a look of remorse came over his face. "Of those who stayed behind I was the only survivor."

" Well well well, this just got quite a bit more interesting hasn't it?" She remarked, and he could almost hear the sly grin in her tone of voice "Give me just one moment, I need to confirm your story." After a few minutes of audible typing, she spoke once more "Huh...Either you're an Omega duplicate of 1-8-0, and a damn good one at that, or you're not lying after all. Either way, you're too interesting to just leave sitting in the brig...Got to see you and your Jedi friend for myself."

"I don't know what a Jedi is but I've decided in your best interest that it is a compliment." Rene replied smugly as he slid his glowing blade back into it's sheath with a quiet 'hssss.'

Elliot had noticed her shift in tone, in fact it had left him more than a bit perplexed, why had her tone changed so much after hearing who he was and where he was from, why had that knowledge left her in stunned silence. Was this woman someone he knew? or did they have a particular interest in the tests conducted on him. He began to listen very closely to her voice, seeing if it resembled one he knew. "Not even the Omegas can duplicate perfection." he joked before glancing at Rene "A jedi is a fictional space wizard with plasma swords, control over a force that binds the universe together, and super human fighting ability." Elliot informed his companion afterwards.

If there was anything familiar about her voice he couldn't detect it, perhaps seeing her in person would clear things up? With a mechanical rumble and the shifting of some metallic wall plating, an automatic door appeared on a nearby wall, a blinking green light sitting at the top of the arch. "Well, ladies first of course." Rene remarked and gestured for Elliot to go ahead.