Here I come, world....! Open Says me!
>//A Monster's POV//
"My eyes glowed as I rose off Mother Earth, my fist tightly clenched with raging energy engulfed around them and in that split second of my... liberation,
I boomed off with inhumane speed, my eyes set solely on my Escape!"
> The Thing On The RUN!
It was a dark and stormy night. Soft and cold, white snow covered the ground like a thick blanket of tremendous height. The wind howled wildly, the stiff trees with cold frost that bites. And upon it all stood a huge well-fortified fortress, a base with guards posted at every angle, every corner.
The base had a gruesome history as it's well designed and fortified structures kept whatever secrets it had hidden away from the rest of the world. Not many Monsters dared escape this dreadful place, and the few who do never made it out alive. That is until...
The tank that was used to hold a certain green Kaiju was seen to have had a hole punched through the glass, allowing the liquid content to leak out and Kiel to escape his watery prison. Wet footsteps were seen leading the way from the tank as the Kaiju rejoined humanity for the first time in so many years.
***********
An aftershock shuddered through the Foundation. One which gave everyone a scare. Emergency lights wailed as injured staff and security personeels helped each other out from underneath the rubble that had fallen on them as the building was shaken by the quake. It had only been but a few short seconds, but still managed to leave a trail of destruction in it's wake. Something wasn't right.
And while the wounded were bandaged up, given necessary first aid medical treatment, anyone and everyone who was still able to, started frantically checking the containment of every anomaly on the site.
The Foundation could worry about the origin of the quake later. First and foremost, they needed to assess the damages.
Luckily, multiple rapid sweeps of the facility revealed there weren't all that many high-level threat anomalies whose containment had been breached. A few of the safer ones were found cowering underneath tables or buried under fallen rubble and debris in their quarters, but for the most part, every anomaly was safe and accounted for. Except for one.
Damn it! Distraught and guilt-ridden, he cursed and muttered under his breath. Either by pure, unpredictable instance of human error, or through the act of some twisted karmic fate, the Rscp Foundation had an outbreak on their hands. The sound of an alarm system could be heard going off, blaring and sounding hard in the large winding halls of Site-Stonehaven as a man dressed in a white lab coat sprints across. Head researcher Dr. Rhys Stane Moores was having the second worse day of his life, and things weren't about to get any better. He ran down the main hall of the secure facility. All the while, all around him, ear splitting containment breach sirens blared and warning lights flashed a stark threatening red. Damn it! Damn it all! I guess I should have protested more. If I'd objected, if I'd really objected, then non... non of this would be happening right now! The thought raced through the mind of the young bearded scientist as he made his way past two of his fellow co-workers running in the opposite direction.
After running a few metres, he stopped abruptly, hearing a sudden crackle in the distance that cut him off from his existential tangent. His gaze faced upwards and were fixated at the speaker as it crackled to life.
"Security breach in cell block 2. All attendants please evacuate to Bay 6. All security personnels report to cell block 2. This is not a drill, I repeat... this is not a drill!" came the voice.
The scientist continued on his very way, venturing further down the narrowed path. Just an hour ago, things had been under control. Neat and orderly. Standard running operations. And now, they were staring down the barrel of both a masquerade scenario and a potential XK-class end of the world scenario. A bonafide phase 6. An extinction level event.
He took a sharp sudden turn and found himself soon staring face to face a strong-hold mechanical door. It, the creature, had breached containment, compromise site security, and now it was out for revenge. What was happening here? How could everything have gone to hell in a hand basket so fast?! He brought out his keycard and proceeded in sliding it in the keycard entry system nearby, granting him access to the secret room.
A mere look would convey alone the very essence of the room whose capacity was large beyond guess. Lined along the roof were flouriscent bulbs beaming with great white lights and fixed into the walls in one side were a row of computer desks and flat screen panels, displaying a series of holographic screens that were being operated upon. Behind the operators of these, stood a dark skinned woman, dressed in black suit with its sleeves tucked to her elbow and black shoes to match. Her hair though black, short and straight, exuded boldness and confidence that fitted her personality perfectly. There, she stood, standing before a bank of video monitors, monitoring and directing their every course of action. This was the control room, Only now had it become a safe haven, an area that guaranteed everyone's safety as long as they stayed in their respective places and did their respective jobs. A choice between visible hope and an invisible promise between them and the thing out there. The thing on the run!
"What's going on?" he asked. "The alarm went up."
"It's non of your business, Stane. Go back to your station and remain in there like the others." the woman replied, her gaze focused heavily on the screen as she spoke. She'd refused to let the operators carry on without strict oversight, worrying otherwise anything such as a 'little mistake' could get them all killed. Confused voices filled the room, yelling over one another. They'd all been caught off guard that none of them paid attention to what had happened. Before they had time to put even the pieces together, the anomaly was out the door of it's containment chamber, striding its way slowly down the corridor. The scientist had tried to reply when out of nowhere, a sudden unexpected burst of seismic activity rocked the base and its entirety, startling everyone. The researcher spun around and on the monitor next to the door, he can see a feed of the hallway outside. Guards run down the hall of the secure facility as a red emergency light flashes.
"He's escaped, hasn't he?" he went on. "For goodness sake Ganymede, he's also human like the rest of us!"
"Human?!" surprised by this, she spun around, facing the man. "You call that 'thing' human? That thing out there, causing this much chaos? All these destruction?! Just because it walks on two legs, Stane, doesn't classify it as human. You've seen the stats yourself, you know what it can do. You know what it's capable off. You know well yourself the troubles we had getting it in here in the first place," she continued, her voice louder and more direct admist the loud severe thuds that occurred in the background, reverberating throughout the building, "this research was fully funded upon, now I don't expect you to understand. All the more reason why I can't let this one get way, believe me," she said, turning away from him to face the screen, "... Or else the board would have our heads, my head." she corrected, rubbing her neck slight in deep distress. The site-director now was boiling over with emotions - Rage, Confusion... This was ofcourse supposed to be a remote facility. One where anomalies of different classifications be it safe, leveled, or threat level anomalies are contained to be researched on but if this kept up, these containment breaches could easily bring the attention of public eye. The last thing any of them wanted.
"Can anyone explain to me why?" the site-director demanded, pausing to calm herself. "Why do we have so much trouble keeping this subject safely contained? This is not the first containment breach!"
The operator team at the control unit looked at each other nervously.
"Well ma'am, nothing is ever certain. We've made sure everyone has the proper security protocols in place but anomalies of this kind are always... unpredictable at best." was the response from one of the male operators.
"Ma'am, how do you want to proceed?" the other asked.
The site-director looked over at the screen. Clearly, this couldn't continue and something needed be done about it. Right away.
It was here, the thing that had done all these solely. Battle stations, ENGAGE!
"Activate emergency protocols ALPHA 9," she began, ordering the operators, "I want this place in full total lockdown!"
And as instructed, it was carried out with immediate effect. Across site, protocols were enacted. Nobody in, nobody out. Bar after bar of steel doors came crashing down against the ground with loud severe thuds, blocking every possible and available path in the hallway.
It was lucky for everyone inside that this protocol also involved the automatic shutting of every window in the building for cover and concealment. Concealment, so 'their kind' do not see and cover to prevent 'them' from breaking out and if finding success, getting out into society. All that would've remained undoubtedly was a festival of blood and screams. And that meant anyone, any personnel of Foundation still locked up, really really needed to stay locked up.
In other words, it was very bad news.
Ah, this is just typical! She thought to herself. When it rains, it pours. We can never catch a break around here, can we?
Earlier, it all had seemed well at the site. Researchers, administrative staffs, containment specialists, and guards saw to their daily tasks. As one of the largest Rscp foundation containment site on the books, there is something so paradoxically prestigious and pedestrian about working at the legendary facility. Of course, amongst staffs of the Rscp foundation, the site was famous and took on a certain mythology around break room discussions for those who weren't assigned there. And of course, some rumors were indeed truer than others - The place where all of this started, all of the Rscps, all of the research, the secrecies, the assassinations, the deaths of countless innocent people and an equal number of guilty party, it all started right here. Site-Stonehaven, as a result of it's size does need a simultaneously large and elite staff to handle it's many more unique containment requirements. People work around the clock to ensure everything runs smoothly, knowing well that the risk of dropping the ball means certain death and destruction on a wide scale. Personnels had been trained to maticulously study new anomalies, discover their strengths and weaknesses, drum up ideal containment requirements, and get the situation on lock as quick as possible. Little oversights can pile up into sudden catastrophes over time, especially when you put your mind into committing the greatest sin of all, underestimating your opponent. Exactly as they had done.
"LOCKDOWN INITIATED!" a female operator spoke and they heaved together a sigh of heavy relief, knowing well fully that if they could manage to hold it off just a tad bit longer, they would be okay, but things didn't turn out exactly as they had hoped. While other technicians ran diagnostics test, Ganymede still stood behind the four operators of the control panel, confirming everything was going according to plan but as anyone who's fallen victim to one of the Foundation's many anomalies will tell you, 'just because you've done everything correctly, doesn't mean you are safe!'
The room is shaken by an even bigger explosion. The lights flicker and it goes dark suddenly, filling the room with red flashes of emergency lights. The power must have gone out from whatever is happening outside. In a normal company, the biggest concern in a situation like this might be massive irretrievable data loss, but of course at the Rscp Foundation, the issue is more of a massive irretrievable loss of human life. And also the data too. Then came the sounds of muffled gunfire, mixed with far off blood curdling screams coming from the outside, nothing but the red blare of emergency lights blotting out their very vision even as the desperate gravely voiced yells of security personeels filled their ears. Panic engulfed everyone. And it was in this panic, the researchers grabbed onto whatever was closest as the world around them shook. The anomaly could at this point be anywhere and a search effort to find it would only result in severe injuries, or worse. But, maybe they didn't have to find it. Careful examinations prior revealed it heading straight for them.
Being in this kind of predicament, this kind of situation, one could wonder only how the tension in the room would skyrocket and the people be left in a state of worry, a state of fear.
"Damn it, it cut the power too?" said Ganymede.
"Must be due to his energy output." head researcher Dr. Stane had responded, his gaze shifting around the place.
And as the tension grew, so did the mere mutters of the people, their apprehension clear. Why... Why is this happening to us? Some of them began to break under the pressure. "We can't just stay like this... here, forever!" They were all slowly growing impatient and it showed. Ganymede did infact agree with them, but what could they do? Suddenly, there was a scream. One in particular, coming from the outside. One just abruptly cut off. Something had silenced them. The rest of the world seemed to fall away now, but not for Ganymede. No, never for Ganymede. She reached for her covert ear communication device, hoping to ground herself in the moment, to avoid the panic that could so easily set in as she tried to get a hold of someone on the other line, someone who could presumably help, but alas... no response!
No one helped.
For the man she tried relaying information over to lay on the ground, unconscious, his fallen radio phone right by him. The Monster walked in it's direction and slowly, with a firm grip, picked it up, not saying a word but giving off a silent but threatening snarl before disconnecting thereafter, destroying the radio phone in it's grasp and continuing down it's path of destruction. The only sound heard from the receiving end were the heavy breaths of undeterred anger and what followed, radio silence. That was all the confirmation they'd need. That apparently was enough to sprout the thought, Who knew what it had in stored for them.
"Comm went dead. He's not responding," she clarified, looking at Stane. "It got to him."
Another thud was heard yet again, followed immediately by another and then another as the place shook right down to it's inches. All series of banging noises were dealt on the steel doors that proved as security measures. This in turn signaled the armed and ready mobile taskforce operatives to spring into action.
Reinforcements. Reinforcements had arrived. Oh, thank goodness!
A small fighting force, armed and assembled, along with several high intensity portable lights to hopefully slow the Monster down it's path of destruction, the soldiers rushed in from a hidden room, surrounding the entrance; the one door that proved a way in and out of the room. They could not risk it escaping either. The famous incident when the Kaiju single-handedly crumbled an entire military campsite, killing tons of personnels and destroying various launch sites still haunted the nightmares of many a staff member. They had to stop it NOW! With readied weapons in hand, they awaited for this 'thing' on the run. This troop stood out as the last line of defense between them and the thing out there for they knew if ever the creature got in, it would be game over for them all.
And then, there was silence....
No one uttered a word, no one moved an inch. They didn't dare too, for fear had crept it's way into the hearts of many. The soldiers stood there motionless, a lump going down their throats. Falling deadly silent, their eyes remained fixated and focused on that very door as if visibly seeing what lied on the other side. Sweat trickled down their tensed faces, their weapons aimed and their fingers ready to pull the trigger on the slightest of noises. It advanced, with each step, its bare feet slam into the metal floor with a sound and weight of a T-rex. They could tell well the creature was very much still alive. There was a low sound of panting breath even coming from the far outside, indicating that it hadn't perished, although it might as well have been injured. That something... That thing... was shifting and moving just beyond the Foundation made stronghold mechanical door keeping them locked in. They might as well could sense it. Listen close, and you could hear a shuffling, footsteps. Look, just below the open layer of the door a quarter inch to the ground and you could see from the refraction of white light outside, the shadow of something taller than an average human, the natural human survival instinct of the security personeels trying very much hard at this point to override the Rscp Foundation's various rules and protocols, their flight response about to kick in at a moment's notice. When someone's eyes are limited to a certain specific range of sight, they aren't completely cut-off from the world around them. Just being able to see doesn't entirely dull a person's awareness. Most people have a kind of sense. A specific alert that tells them what's nearby even if they can't see nor phantom what it possibly could be and in this particular moment, they were going haywire. The thing... the thing beyond the door was inching closer.
Bang!
Without the slightest of warnings, a loud thud occurred but this time at the strong-hold mechanical door, making a bulge appear which startled them all greatly. Ganymede was amongst the many shaken by what had happened. One of the female researchers in the group had shrieked hysterically at the sudden noise. This was followed too by a yellow liquid slowly pulling out from where she stood as though she'd had an 'accident'. She was, ofcourse, new at the facility. Probably her first front row seat to a containment level breach even. It's to be expected, were Ganymede's thoughts. The males amongst them were no less petrified. Again and again, loud deafening thuds sounded and more protrusions began to appear. Alarmed as they all were, the soldiers took notice of this and some careful steps back, they took. Some careful steps back, they all took.
In fear, most likely.
All of them had seen terrible things on the job. The kind of things that would saddle almost anyone with a lifetime of trauma, but almost nothing compared to the horrors of direct engagement during the anomaly 004's containment breach. It was all too clear that whatever was on the otherside was not going to stop till it got in. It was very obviously pissed, and for good reasons.
Accessing the situation, Ganymede, not wanting to give into despair and the tragic fate that awaited her and the rest of her team, reached quickly for the transmission radio on the control panel. She knew if she didn't radio in for help, sooner or later she'd be left in a state truly horrific amongst the others but based on what little headway she'd made in the time being there, at the Foundation, she didn't feel so optimistic about it. Few things on earth are as horrific as the alternative, she'd come to realize. She had no choice, and so did the only thing she could to try to mobilize a prompt second response to the rogue anomaly currently strolling through their high security containment facility. Perhaps she could contact the Council, the upper echelons of the Foundation while at it.
"Sos,
This is an emergency sos," she began.
"We're under attack, I repeat - we are under..." she reflexively twitched. The sentence had died there and then in her throat as she whirled in panic.
Why?
A severe thud had occurred once more against the mechanical door, sending it flying to the ground with it's several hinges and bolts ripped. It came crashing to the ground with such dreaded force dust erupted over at the scenery.
Smoke bellowed too from the outside and into the room, crawling along the floors like an octopus creeping it's way across the ocean floor. Within this plume, a figure was seen. A figure walking through it, approaching forth. It was the Monster who had caused all these and indeed quite humanoid, it looked. Nevertheless, the soldiers didn't hesitate to ready their weapons on sight. It was only going to get harder from here, they knew.
And then the unexpected happened.
An aura coated hand reached out of the plume and then with a casual swing from the arm, sets aside part of the dust, making a reveal. The soldiers could see it's face clearly now....
Actually... his face.
It was a humanoid, but of green complexion. No more than the age of 12, a kid. But a Monster kid.
"He... he's hesitating," Dr. Stane spoke the words in a whisper, "like he's taking in the sights around him."
"Almost like..." Another added.
"A predator." Ganymede finished scornfully.
Decorated by a pair of menacingly-looking eyes, they lit in the shade of yellow, glowing within the darkness, illuminating his odd features and the small green-coloured horn that rests atop his right forehead bone. The creature showed little noticeable signs of injuries too, his narrow face expressionless and his long elf-like ears that seemed to catch every sound, every movement. He moved as though in a trance, as though controlled, and that he was apparently, eyes rather expressionless and devoid completely of emotion- Eyes that allow him see in the deepest of caves and with perfect clarity on the darkest of nights. That boy... That... That thing rather... Whatever it is, Was hell on two legs! They trained their lights and weapons at him. The soldiers indeed were surprised and yet fascinated by these all but what stood out and scared them most of all were his raging fists. His fists released a blue fiery aura but no one dared ask why, for it had gotten in.
The thing on the run was now here!
When they discovered to their horrors that the lights didn't seem to be slowing it down as much as anticipated, they fell back on plan B.
Plan B standing for, 'Blast the living hell out of it with everything they had!'
"Fire!!!!!" they yelled, pumping round after round into his green form.
While each round gave a loud, meaty splatter, the Kaiju did not flinch. When he was close enough, all those years of lethargy gave way to sudden deadly speed. The last thing heard were the rapid shots of gunfire, the loud screams of personnels and finally, the shattering of a glass window. He attacked like a manic demon.
Sadly, that isn't how the story of RSCP-004 ends. If anything, this is where it all begins!
In many a ways, anomaly 004 was like a crocodile. A fierce and intelligent ambush predator who conserved his energy wisely. He could seem so deceptively languid that you could mistake him easily for something so slow and harmless, but when something in his head ticked, when you got within range, the sudden quickness and ferocity would take you off guard. Completely off guard. And by then, it's already too late.
... Up Next On Beyond the Horizon...
The Thing On the Run II!!!