Alpha Project II: Axis

Chapter Two: Meeting

The right side of the hallway lead to another metal white hallway, one with several doors. He moved to the closest one and kicked it open, but it was completely empty. Just a plain white room about three yards wide. He turned around and kicked the opposite door open, but it was the same as the previous one. He turned to move down the hallway, but stopped when he saw the rocket coming towards him. It couldn't have been fired more than a second before he saw it, since it was directly in front of a person in a black hazmat suit, holding what Cole recognized as a XHP2P Guided Rocket Launcher. The next thing he saw, he couldn't immediately understand. A figure covered in a hooded cloak rushed from behind Cole directly towards the rocket. The rocket tried to move around the figure, but it caught the rocket in mid-air. The figure then spun around, throwing the rocket back towards the hazmat. The person in the suit dodged the rocket and it exploded against the ceiling a few yards behind him. The hazmat then ran towards where the rocket hit and passed under it, right before the ceiling collapsed, separating the person and the figure. The figure then stood up, it's hood falling as it reached it's full height of over six feet. What Cole saw was not human. It had nothing in terms of hair, which left it's grey "skin" completely uncovered. It did have black lines spreading across it's head. They seemed to go down the figure's body, but Cole couldn't tell. It turned to face Cole. It's eyes were simply two red dots. It's nose was normal, if off-color. It's mouth looked as if it was sewn shut, with stitches where it's mouth should be. The creature bowed to Cole.

"Ranto, return," A voice said. The figure flew backwards, to where the voice came from. Cole looked to the source of the voice and saw Kira. He nodded at her. She nodded back. Cole continued down the hall, to the wreckage.

"Any way you could unlock this?" he said.

"No,"

"Didn't think so," He approached the wreckage.

"You'd better back up, girl," he said. He put his hands on the wreckage and focused. He began glowing a dim yellow. Suddenly, the teen exploded, completely unclearing the hallway and destroying himself. Steam began swirling around where Cole stood, collecting in one area. The steam formed the outline of a person. The outline flexed, and Cole came back into being. He looked towards Kira.

"Lets continue,"

Lara and Lucia found an identical hallway on the left side of the hallway. They went along the the hallway, checking each room, but found each room empty. The then continued down the hall, which led them into a larger room. This one contained nothing but three large boxes.

"What are those supposed to be?" Lara asked, looking at them. At the sound of her voice, the three boxes opened. A humanoid figure jumped out of each box, the boxes collapsing. They were identical, about six feet in height, athletically built, and seemingly made out of steel, as they were greyish silver in color.

They began running towards the girls. Lucia stared at then, before realizing that they had targeted them. She jumped back and raised a shield. Lara realized what the humanoids were doing immediately and began to rush at the humanoid closest to her. The two hit each other, a large CLANK echoing through the room. The humanoid next to the one Lara was attacking began to change course towards Lara, but before it could get close, something knocked it off it's feet and onto the floor. Riku stood above it, then drove his flat hand through the humanoid's head. Black liquid spilt onto the floor, pouring from the hole in the humanoid's head.

Meanwhile, the third humanoid collided with Lucia's shield. She withstood the blow, holding onto her shield with one hand. Almost without thinking, Lucia created a small hole the shield, while simultaneously creating a long spike with her free hand. She drove it through the hole in her shield, impaling the humanoid. It stumbled backwards, with the spike still lodged in it's chest. Lucia dispelled her shield and summoned another spike. She closed in on the humanoid and drove the spike through it's head. Meanwhile, Lara pushed back the humanoid, then in one swift motion, grabbed it by the head and snapped its neck.

"Well, they weren't so tough." Lucia said.

Lara looked around and saw the two other humanoid bodies. She then looked to Riku.

"Where did you come from?" she asked. He ignored the question.

"What were those things?" Riku asked. "Because they certainly weren't metal,"

Lucia examined her attacker's body. It looked like an off-colored human. It's "skin" looked like steel. Lucia could tell that the black liquid that poured from it's body was just oil.

"What are these things?" Lucia asked herself.

"Should we dissect one of them?" Riku asked. He held his arm straight, like how one would hold a sword. Before anyone could respond, he knelt down and used his hand to chop a piece of flesh off of the body. He held it up in his eye level. The outside seemed to rust, turning a shade of brown. The inside was pitch black, but was shiny.

"Thats disgusting!" exclaimed Lara. She took a step away from it. Riku dropped the hunk of flesh.

"Lets move on," he said. "Whatever these things are, they aren't the only ones here."

Lucia looked at him, with confusion.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Stay silent for a moment and listen," He said. Lucia heard it almost immediately. It was the sound of footsteps, hitting the floor hard. There were at least six different sets. The sound was coming from behind where the boxes were. A door seemed to appear on the far side of the room. The door handle moved, and the door fell open...