Titans - March of Progress

Breathing heavily, Kasui watched as her breath misted in front of her. She shifted somewhat in her prone position, legs stretching out and the joints of her knees cracking. She let out a low hiss at the discomfort and then quickly hushed herself. Looking down from the rafter she was situated on, she watched a guard pass underneath, seemingly unaware of the individual right above his head as he held a lantern before him.

As the guard moved on in his patrol, Kasui let her body slowly un-tense before shuffling forwards until she reached a part of the rafters that connected with the wall. She hated jobs like this, crawling around in uncomfortable elevated spaces was not exactly what she had imagined when she had signed up to the army.

Remaining motionless, Kasui strained her hearing trying to identify if the guard had moved on or chosen to stay in the area. With a few minutes of nothing but silence, she sucked in a breath to compose herself and decided to risk a move.

So shifting her position once more, Kasui steeled herself and grabbed the edges of the rafter and positioned herself to drop down. A few moments later, she did just that, dropping down slowly, landing softly on the smooth dirt floor. Kasui instantly flicked her gaze around her as she crouched low and retreated backwards, pressing her back into the dark wall, her dark skin practically hiding her in the gloomy light that surrounded her. Pressing her back into the wall even more, she exhaled, and flicked her eyes around her, gathering her bearings even as her composure quickly returned.

Standing completely still, Kasui began to study her surroundings properly. She stood in an empty mine shaft, nothing more than a service passage really, the only thing in the area of note being the air shaft she had accessed the mine with. The shaft was an old well which the mines previous occupants had simply used to draw air down into the mine so that did not suffocate, and as such had been big enough for her to climb down. The only other objects of note were the occasional oil lantern fixed to the wall of the shaft providing only the barest of light.

After a few minutes, Kasui sucked in a breath, and began to move, stalking down the shaft, feeling the slight decline of it. Which meant she was going in the right direction. And also the direction the guard had been going in. She picked up her pace, her footsteps silent to the point that even she could not hear them.

Before long, she reached a T intersection, lit up by a much stronger light and she sidled along the right side of the mine shaft wall. Glancing down the left arm of the T she saw no one, so she peeked around the right corner to look down the right arm of the T. Scowling, she saw two guards slouched against a wall quietly chatting without a care in the world. She scowled even more as she pulled back around the corner. She needed to move forward, and those guards were blocking the way that she needed to go. Well that was if the old maps she had seen of the mine were correct anyway.

Kasui peeked around the corner again and exhaled softly as she saw the guards push off the wall, still chatting as they started to walk down the corridor, their footfalls heavy and loud. As they moved away from her by heading further down the right arm of the T, Kasui took her chance and started after them. Leaving behind the intersection she padded softly after them, the soles of her boots making not a single sound.

Coming into step behind the guards, she stood back from them as she recalled the blueprints she had memorized in the mission briefing. Looking along the left wall for a service tunnel, she found it ten meters in front of the walking and talking guards and once more she scowled, impatient. Kasui waited for the guards to pass the door and then she rushed forward, not a sound escaping her. She reached the tunnel and turned into it, silently moving down it for perhaps twenty meters before it opened up into a square, well lit room.

Kasui found herself in what she surmised to be a room that had no business being in a mine. She quickly flicked her eyes about the room, taking in its features.

The area was poorly lit by four flickering lanterns that cast eerie shadows throughout the room. The room was completely paved with stone tiles, including the walls, and was bare of any furnishings apart from the lanterns. At the back of the room, against the far wall however there was a set of stairs going straight down to the level below. Kasui sucked in a breath as she slowly began to move towards the stairs but stopped suddenly as she heard a sound below. Without a second thought she vaulted up into a corner of the roof as she drew on a surge of magic.

She extended the energy along her forearms and to her fingertips, creating an image of a clawed hand in her mind. Her fingertips dug into the wall and held her there, small holes forming under her grip.

Not a second later a single guard walked up the stairs whistling softly to himself, a musket slung over his back. As the man passed beneath her, Kasui waited patiently, being lit up occasionally by the flickering light. She stayed where she was in the relative gloom as the man started on up the mine shaft, missing her completely. Kasui waited until he disappeared up the shaft and then just dropped to the floor, her magic being released. She padded forward then and disappeared down the stairs as a silent shadow. Descending two flights of stairs with no incident, Kasui came to the final floor where the stairs ended. The room she found herself in much resembled the first, with a sole difference. In one of the four solid walls, there was a single steel door, with a closed slat in it.

Kasui approached the door and crouching down, she placed her hands on the door, and ran her fingers over it. It fit perfectly with the stone work it was set into, and no hinge, lock or handle was discernible. She surmised the door could only be opened from inside. Standing up, she placed her right ear against the door, and heard nothing.

Cursing inwardly, Kasui stepped away from the door, thinking.

"The patrol guard won't be returning anytime soon if he just started his route. Guess I should just test the security" she thought to herself and then smirked. So, she just balled her right fist, and thumped the door once, before stepping to the side of it.

A bare moment went by and then a slat in the door opened slightly, causing light to wash into the room, and a pair of brown eyes to be seen. The slat stayed open a moment and then a sigh sounded out from the owner of the eyes.

"Bran, that you? You are early" came a voice in the local Gestonian dialect and Kasui smirked, understanding it completely, and then just thumped the door once more from the side. She heard an intake of breath and the slat closed shut. She waited, and a moment later, the sounds of sliding metal came from behind the door, as whoever was behind it, opened it.

Kasui instantly stepped forward, and pulled magic from her core, weaving it into a thin mass around her, distorting light around her frame. Then she stepped in front of the door as it swung inwards, and a guard appeared. The man was clean shaven, with pale skin, and brown eyes set in a rather square face. He looked to be about six feet tall, and was heavy set. He wore a simple woollen hat covering his hair, and a simple military uniform. Not that Kasui focused too much on that.

The man stepped out of the doorway, his hand on a baton as he just looked around, firstly straight into the room, and then side to side to the walls flanking the door. Then he just clicked his tongue.

"By the ancestors, I must be going mad. Nothing here" he muttered to himself and just turned away, continuing to mutter something under his breath. He stepped back into the room he had come from, his left hand reaching for the door as his right placed his baton in his belt, and Kasui slipped in past his right side, into the room, her magic still wrapped around her, bending light around her figure, making her unseen to the naked eye. Then she just continued on, hearing the door being closed behind her, the locks being slid back into place.

Moving onwards, Kasui surveyed her surroundings as she went. She had entered a narrow corridor and her gaze revealed walls adorned with rough-hewn stones, remnants of the once-utilized tunnel that had once no doubt echoed with the sounds of pickaxes and labor. Now, it stood transformed into a peculiar living space, and work area. Looking back over her shoulder, Kasui saw the guard sit at a desk flanking the left side of the door she had come through, a flickering lantern set in the wall behind him allowing him to read the newspaper he picked up, as he made himself comfortable.

Paying him no more heed, she moved onwards down the corridor, her magic still wrapped around her, hiding her from sight. As Kasui proceeded, she cast her gaze to doors that lined the corridor, most closed, but those that were not, she looked into as she passed them. All the rooms appeared to be small dorm rooms, complete with single beds on the right side of the room, and desks on the left. Some had occupants, strewn out with blankets about them, quiet in their sleep.

Coming to the end of the hallway, Kasui paused, surveying the room that opened out before her from the hall. It appeared to be a common area, complete with an array of basic furniture and what appeared to be an eatery. Her eyes moved about the room, dimly lit as it was by myriad lamps and candles upon the tables. The area was empty of people, which was unsurprising considering the late hour, and she cared little for that fact. What she did care about was the doors situated at the far end of the room, which if the blueprints she had studied prior to the mission were correct, would lead to the facilities laboratory.

So Kasui started moving again, right between the tables and chairs strewn about the eating area. The silence seemed to hang in the air, not even her shoes making a sound as she went, and eventually, she reached the two doors. Plain wooden doors, set into the earthen wall around them. Placing her ear against the door, she listened, trying to gauge if anyone was behind them. After a minute of silence, she looked back over her shoulder, noting the eating hall to be empty still, no guards having come into it. Deciding to risk it, she simply pushed on one of the doors, and it opened quietly on greased hinges. As soon as the gap was big enough, she slipped through it, stepping into a new hallway that ran for a bout ten meters before opening into another room.

Walking down the hallway Kasui came to a stop as a few meters before her, a wall of glass appeared, extending around a large chamber in the center. Moving forward slowly once more, Kasui let her eyes adjust to the room, which was far brighter and well lit than the previous sections of the facility. The glass chamber seemed to be surrounded by a number of desks and seats, for viewing what was in the chamber. Flicking her gaze into the chamber, Kasui saw a row of four beds, each connected to strange looking instruments and machinery. They looked bizarre in nature, and surely served no purpose being next to a bed. If anything the machinery looked morbid, with strange looking saws, large needles and tubes all over them. The sight of them simply made her shudder.

Moving her attention away from the morbid machinery, Kasui locked her eyes on another door directly opposite her, on the other side of the chamber. And above it the metal sign identifying it. Inventory and Holding. Her jaw tightened. This was what she was here for. The blueprints she had studied in the the mission brief suggested that area was significant in size and connected to the main facility, eventually reaching the outside and a base camp. But more importantly, it was connected to a hidden laboratory.

Recalling another part of the mission brief, Kasui had been told that the facility she was to infiltrate apparently belonged to a Gestonian prince by the name of Bradley, who was a notorious warmonger responsible for war crimes in the Kratsch Empire. It had only been recently that the spies of the Samite Union had discovered this facility hidden deep in the mountains of Curaw. And so Kasui had been sent into the facility with two objectives, to obtain any research material she could locate, as well as some new weapon prototype only referred to as item thirty two.

Focusing once more, Kasui started moving towards the holding entrance, heading around the right side of the glass chamber, as surely the Inventory and Holding area would have more indicators of the lab she was looking for. As Kasui moved down the side of the chamber, a door to her right burst open, and a group of scientists erupted from the room beyond. Hurriedly stepping backwards so she did not get walked into, Kasui listened to a conversation among the scientists that seemed to be heating up.

“I just don’t know what the prince wants us to accomplish. It’s been five years since he brought in Thirty Two, and we have had so little progress it shame’s me” came a statement from a tired and gravely sounding voice, coming from an elderly man.

“Well, he is going to keep us here until we do get some results, so we need to come up with something significant soon” interjected another, deeper voice, one that belonged to a middle-aged man.

“Thanks for stating the obvious Bart. Surprised you thought that up by yourself” snickered another voice, a light feminine one belonging to a young woman.

“Shut up Chelle, at least I carry my weight around here unlike you” came a retort from the middle-aged man, the one called Bart.

“I can certainly see that lard ass” the young Chelle insulted the obese man called Bart.

A series of spluttering and indignant sounds erupted from the man called Bart and Kasui couldn’t help but smile at the situation. As the scientists walked in front of her however, she just slipped into step behind them, completely unseen. As the obese man seemed to be getting ready to retort, the elderly man intervened.

“Enough, both of you, I’ve had enough of your squabbling. You are not children. Stop acting like it. Get your act together. We are already running late so let’s just hurry down to the lab” the elderly man ordered, his words curt and to the point. His voice carried a tone of authority and Kasui guessed he oversaw the group.

Hearing the last few words though, Kasui felt her heart rush to her throat and she perked a brow in thought. Surely her luck could not have been better. These scientists were going to lead her to exactly where she needed to go. So she slinked after the trio completely invisible, sneering silently. Invisible as she was, Kasui pulled her mind back to the job at hand, not wanting to get distracted and make a mistake. Walking in step behind the group of researchers, she focused on them and her surroundings. She knew she would remain unseen and was confident in her abilities if she was by chance, seen and discovered.

The group of researchers suddenly veered to their left and stepped into the room surrounded by glass, before proceeding to walk to the center of the room in front of the tables and morbid machinery that was strangely clear of any objects. When they reached the empty space, the group stopped moving and waited silently, the leader checking his watch every few moments. Not sure what was happening, Kasui just waited as well, completely at ease. After a few minutes she heard a loud click and the floor beneath them shook.

With a shock, Kasui stifled a surprised yelp. As the floor section the group stood on began to descend, she looked for anyone who may have heard her. Not noticing a change in the group, Kasui concluded that the noise made by the floor had hidden her sound of surprise. As the floor continued to descend, Kasui made a guess at what was happening. It was probably a type of elevator that only ever activated on a schedule, what with the severe lack of obvious mechanisms around the floor, or was controlled from somewhere unseen. Whatever the case, it meant that there was probably no way out of the area she was going to.

As the elevator moved out past the ceiling of the floor below, Kasui flicked her gaze around her and quickly took in her surroundings, instantly recoiling in horror, her eyes widening at what she saw.