Prospero (TWI ONLY | IC)

[Corindia]

"Well, I suppose someone has to. Let's go see what we can find"
Dr. Mata began slowly walking down the hallway to the right of the room they had started in

[Travencia]

I'll gladly lead the way if someone would lend me a weapon, or something I could use in a fight with a hostile entity. God forbid if I don't make it, you're more than welcome to take it back. Better yet we might have better odds if 2 or 3 of us lead the way, it might make the crucial difference of putting up enough of a fight to get the creature to back off.

[Lardingo]

Misty walked forward to join Dr. Mata and Mal, and offered her empty mug to Mal. "This might make a good temporary distraction if we do run into anything. It won't kill anything but if you aim right I bet it would get us a couple seconds."

[Atnaia]

The group moved down the darkened hallway to the right of their original location. The deep groaning sound grew louder, like a giant wheel struggling to turn. As they passed the last of the emergency lights, the hallway beyond was a dark, featureless void. The groaning noise was somewhere in the wall to their right.

Something squeaked at their feet and darted ahead of them. A trio of mice bearing lab identifier tags in their ears darted away, disturbed from whatever hidey-hole they had found by the passing group of people. They ran into the darkness, squeaking the whole way. As they disappeared into the black, there was a sudden, high-pitched shriek and the sound of the mice ceased suddenly.

[Corindia]

Dr. Mata looked back at the people in the hall behind her.
"Does anyone have a flashlight, or even a phone that still has some juice?"

[Athara Magarat]

"I do." Prasansa fished into her pocket and took out a Kodo Company (Athara Magarat's top-selling electronics makers) smartphone. "We can't have an Athara Magarati without a Kodo or Dhuri phone, can we?"

She turned the flashlight mode on to illuminate in the darkness.

[Atnaia]

The light speared into the darkness. The hallway extended another thirty feet, nearly the edge of the small flashlight's effective range. It then split in two directions, but sitting at the intersection was a bulky figure, silhouetted and unclear in the light. It seemed humanoid, but the way it hunched and slightly twitched was very much Other. It did not seem to notice the light at all, but it's small head twitched at each sound it heard, and as the sound of the group reached it, it turned its head towards them.

The chimpanzee was large for its species, and its eyes were pale and empty, clearly blind. It was also mostly bald, it's thick, corded muscles evident through its skin. It stood slowly and turned towards the group, it's nostrils twitching, and it tossed aside the handful of dead mice it held. Baring it's teeth, it tossed its head side-to-side, trying to hear something over the groaning in the walls.

[Ventlimer]

Vilna froze in her steps. The thing was... mad. It just had to be mad. She knew something was off about this place the moment she walked in, but this? What were they doing to these animals? She stopped and watched as it stared them down. Then, without thinking much, she grabbed the pen she had in her pocket and chunked it down the hallway away from the group.

[Corindia]

Dr. Mata stood completely still, making no noise. She waited to see whether the sound of the pen would distract the deformed ape.

[Atnaia]

The apes head shot sideways at the sound of the pen clattering down the hall. The creature shrieked and leaped towards the pen, slamming its fists into the ground with a furious passion as it wailed a cacophonous war-cry.

[Ventlimer]

Vilna moved slowly toward and picked up a cup on the ground. She gave the others a short look and ke0t moving towards the monster, then threw the cup further down the hall as she looked for a way to get past it.

[Vancouvia]

Lemuel had an idea. "Why don't we all yell as loud as possible all together all strong like, scare the damn thing off?"

[Ventlimer]

Lemuel had an idea. "Why don't we all yell as loud as possible all together all strong like, scare the damn thing off?"

Vilna shot an Angry look back at Lemuel, then put a finger to her lips. Being only 30 or so feet away from the thing now, noise from the down the hall was the last thing she wanted.

[Athara Magarat]

"Should I switch off my phone's light?" Prasansa asked the others as her hands was lowering her phone. Although her voice sounded calm, her shivering hands showed that she was frightened of the huge ape to the point of petrification.

[Lardingo]

"We might want to keep the light on. We don't know if it can track by smell or not, and it will get a lot more complicated if we can't see anything." Misty didn't mention that she would probably fall apart being trapped in the darkness with an evil monkey thing. Slowly, she drew out her little knife. "I think I could hit it's neck. However I don't know how much damage it will cause." Her hand trembled. Why in the world was this monster in the lab in the first place?

[Corindia]

Dr. Mata looked at Misty and Prasansa, and mouthed the words "be quiet" with as much emotion as she could, putting her finger to her mouth for added emphasis

[Atnaia]

The ape's head swung back towards the group and it stood, leaning upon it's knuckles. It's head went side to side again, listening carefully, as it slowly inched towards them, walking with paced steps.

[Ventlimer]

Vilna moved back slowly as it approached, then flattened herself against the wall as it came closer.

[Corindia]

Dr. Mata silently moved towards the side of the hallway, put of the ape's apparent path. "I guess Misty is going to find out how much damage a small spatula can do", she thought.

[Noronica]

Marcas, feeling the need to react quickly, slowly approached the ape. His thoughts whirled in his mind as he thought of a possible solution, settling on trying to disorientate the ape by slamming his palms into its ears. He hoped that the ape's eardrums would be perforated with the force, but there was a chance it would prove ineffective and Marcas would be attacked. Hell, at least if it was only him attacking the ape, the others would be able to get out quicker, able to take down the person behind this.

[Atnaia]

The ape stumbled back, momentarily stunned by the strikes to its ears. However, chimpanzees are tough animals and prone to violence. The comparatively weak attack of a human did little more than confuse it, and in a moment it was leaping forward, screeching wildly, and grabbed Marcas by the shoulder, dragging him towards the ground.

[Noronica]

Marcas let out an inhuman scream as the ape launched its assault, his body violently thrown to the floor as if like a rag-doll. His mind churned with jumbled thoughts as he struggled with the ape, shock setting into his body. His eyes were torn from the ape's face to the others, taking a moment to register the other humans.

Marcas, in a frightened and breathy voice, shouted out, "Fuck! HELP!" The ape was gaining ground and Marcas was gaining wounds, trying to fight back as his body was pummelled by primate fists. In a last ditch effort, his body already starting to slow with tiredness, he ripped his pocket open to grab hold of his keys, putting one in his fist, and thrust it into the ape. He hoped he had hit something.

[Vancouvia]

Seeing his fellow Noronnican in peril, Lemuel decided that he must seek enough courage to help in the fight. Raising his eyes to the damn monkey, he shoved past the others and sprinted towards the primate; his shoes sliding across the floor, he skated more than ran. When he got to the action, he found it on top of Marcas, but noticed that Marcas' stabbing had inflicted quite a blow. Lemuel threw caution to the wind and jumped on top of the pile-up, biting the ape's hairy back while simulatenously trying to drag it off of Marcas.

"Come on!" he shouted back at the group, noting their inaction. Just when he turned back to the fight, the ape hit him square in the head with its elbow, knocking him out. Unconscious, he loosed his grip and fell to the floor.

[Ventlimer]

Vilna was a lot of things. She was smart, resourceful, driven, and even a bit of an overachiever. But, as she stood frozen against the wall, vilna realized that there were some things she wasn't. She was not brave. She was not strong. And she certainly was not ready to die.

Slowly, she skipped away from the ruckus and out of sight in the dark hallway.

[Noronica]

Marcas, his work now slightly relieved by Lemuel's aid, continued to battle the ape, sweat freely dripping from his forehead as he grunted in exertion and pain. Tears had begun to fall from his burning eyes, not in sorrow but in fear and excruciating pain. He turned to see the clothes of what he thought was Vilna disappearing into the shadows. Rage burned through his mind as he continued to battle, the ape seemingly abundant with fearless energy.