A field trip out of time/space.
Nat looked over his shoulder, exhaling a cloud of smoke. “Alright then girly, eres what you need to know. First off, you havnt got your fist dusting far as Im concerned, whatever earth youre from. I call you what I feel like.”
They entered a large, circular room with coves in it, lined with large lockers. Most were personalized, names scratched into the paint, dents here and there. A few blast marks where there had been disagreements. He went to a clocker in the back, kicking it open. Inside was a suit (like the one in the prompt I wrote for you and Matt, minus the floating weapons) gunmetal gray with dark green detail. Two weapons were at the feet of the suit, a one looking like a pistol with top glowing blue, the other a more traditional combat shot gun.
“This is an older model, JX-7 armor system. Vamps wont claw through it as easy, so you can depend on it for a little bit.” He pointed at the weapons. “Plasma Pistol. Shoot, they bust into flames. Shot gun, better in the tunnels. Shoots silver rounds. Get suited up, and whatever other weapons you want from youre bag. Ill be at the hatch.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards the center of the room.
“And if youre shy, their the changing room.” Another point to a room blocked off by a curtain.
Enigma’s jaw clenched, but she held her tongue. This was not her world; this was not her technology. She hated being considered a rookie, but she would wait and show him her stuff in the tunnels. “It’s VanSlyk.”
She looked over the suit and the weapons, picking them up. She would use her own pistol; it felt more right in her hand. and did the same thing. Other than that, she accepted the weapons without comment. Moving to the changing room, she quickly switched outfits and returned to the hatch, a gun on each hip. The suit was plated at critical junctions with feathered metal - it was heavier than she was used to, but would provide more protection. “Ready.”
Nat was in his full armor now as well, helmet on. His whole suit was a deep blue, nearly back, the visor tinted the same color. “Best not to try sudden movements till you get used to the speed and strength boots.”
The helmet filtered his voice as well, giving it a vague, mechanical sound. A gun was slung over his shoulder, along with one of the plasma pistols on his hip, as well as two rows of five throwing knives. He started cranking open the hatch and lifted, the door creaking on its hinges. A ladder led down into an inky darkness. Heat rolled up in waves at them from the open hatch.
“Geo-thermal power plant is causing the heat. They have a nest down here. We think some kind of “queen”, but more likely its just the sire of the vampires in this area. You have a night vision filter. Use it.” After that, Nat was headed down the ladder, pistol coming out as he reached the bottom, covering as she came down. “And close that hatch. Dont want any vamps getting in there.”
Enigma shrugged, which the suit decided to interpret by nearly dislodging her arm from its socket. Alright, fine. The suit was strong. Nice weapons and suits aside, she was not going to be impressed by this man just because he told her to be.
“Will we be too hot inside the suits down there?” Her own voice, too, was mechanized, and sounded vaguely like she was talking into an empty tin can while being simultaneously autotuned. Following his instructions, she closed the hatch. Everything turned dark, with a dull glow far below them eminating from the plant. Eni experimentally pushed a few buttons on the side of her helmet - infrared, x-ray, oops - no, that was the flashlight - ah, there was the night vision setting. Hopefully the short burst of light from her accidental flashlight beam had temporarily blinded Nat’s night vision goggles. It would serve him right, the cocky b——-d.
There was a string of cursing as the optics in his helmet flashed for a second before going back to normal. "No, we'll be fine. The gel layer against you skin adjusts the temperature according to body temp when you put it on up there."
He started walking a quick pace, hardly making a sound. The tactic wasnt really needed thanks to the constant hum of machinery and the occasional hiss of venting steam. More habit than anything else.
For a while it was just the two of them going down pipes, access hatches and the occasional crawl through a duct. Nat seemed to be following some sort of path. One Enigma's HUD (Heads Up Display) was a small marker in the middle of Nat's back, along with her distance from him, in case they got separated. The upper right hand had her current weapon and ammo count listed, and the lower right contained a motion tracker, good out to ten meters. Wonders of technology.
Eventually scratches in the wall, along with piles of very familiar dust started to show up around them. Strange sounds coming from surrounding pipes echoed around them. Scampering, hissing and growling. He held out his arm to stop her where they were in the center of a four way junction.
"Nest." Nat pointed to a hasty but effective cover, a simple metal plate held up with poll. He took up a spot on the other side of the tube, looking the same direction as Enigma.
After a minute, all the sounds stopped. Twelve pairs of little green pin pricks appeared and stared right back at them, a few seeming to gaze through their visors.
Then they charged, screeches and screams shattering the silence. Red dots started to appear on Enigma's motion tracker. Off to her right, Nat was shouting insults and firing with his plasma pistol, bolts of light and a steady "sceeeeee" sounding as the gun discharged.
