Eyes in the Dark

Posted on Fri May 22nd, 2020 @ 3:19am by Plexie Zane Ryan & Security Johannah "Mack" Shepard

Mission: Bright and Shiny things
Location: World of Starage Deck 7
Timeline: After Back on the Chain Gang

Zane walked to the starcade feeling a bit dejected from Natalya. She was just blunt sometimes, he knew that, but it felt different when he found it directed towards himself. He looked among the blurr of noisy games and machines, surprisingly few kids though. It was fairly early, and most of the older kids were working temp jobs as the Blue Sun ship arrived. He leaned against the wall of the Starcade and lit a cigarette. "This sucks." he said mostly to himself.

"Sure does." the voice of a young woman interjected.

Zane let the hair covering his eyes shift a little to make out who was talking to him. Jessica. She was a 15 year old girl going on 23. Slender, pale skin with a bit too much makeup around her eyes. She was a up and comer in the Plexies, while not about to knock Natalia off her throne, she made no secret she was pushing for queen bee position in the near future.

"Can I have a drag of that?" she asked of him with eager eyes.

Zane didn't really need this right now. Nat was thinking he was some complaining child, and here he was sulking. He took a deep breath from the cigarette and passed it to Jessica. She took it in her fingers rolled it around playfully and slid it into her lips in a way no 15 year old had any business doing. Zane just shook his head as she took a long draw from the smoldering weed. She fluttered her mascara clogged eyelashes at him as he stood up. "Where you headed? I'm looking for trouble." Jessica quipped in.

"I bet you are. I'm just gonna go mess with some stuff down on seven." Zane replied.

"I make good company." Jessica continued.

"Just checking some stuff. You can go where you want." Zane said hoping she would go away.

Her eyebrows rose in a flash of excitement. "Great let's go!"

"We're not going together. You follow me, that's up to you." Zane said a bit dismissively as he started walking for the lift.

Not taking the hint, Jessica twirled around once and settled in behind him, watching him closely as he walked. "Mhmmm." she purred.

"Whatever." he really didnt need this at the moment. Or maybe he did. He was feeling stupid.

Zane stepped into the lift, and Jessica followed right along, content to find where her own sense of adventure brought her.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Land of Storage was exactly what it sounded like, a labyrinth of 24 hour access storage containers filling four decks. A frequent hang out for plexies with an extra bottle of booze they stole or whatever they wanted to do away from the eyes of their parents. Zane put his hands in the pockets of his hoodie as he stepped out. Jessica danced along behind him seeming to relish the lack of attention he was giving her. At a minimum, this situation was gossip generating. Going into Land of Storage with the Czarina's boytoy certainly knocked her social credit up. She wasnt afraid to be bad, or just be called it. Zane typed a code into the gate, which slid open, the rows of containers spreading out before them.

"Whatcha want to check out?" Jessica asked using as much inflection in her voice as she could.

"Just working on something." he replied back uninterested.

"Can you show me?" she asked.

"You are here aren't you." he said resigned to her accompanying him.

"Great shere is it?" she said with great enthusiasm in her voice.

He rolled his eyes. "Just up here a bit. You can climb can't you?"

"You know it." she replied.

Zane stood on a crate next to one of the stacked containers, a thing length of rope was tied to a higher container. He quickly pulled himself up on top of the container. Jessica followed along, enjoying watching him climb. Once on top he walked across the container and leapt across to an adjacent stack. He lit another cigarette and walked around a dark corner. Jessica's eye glistened with excitement.

A small stack of crates was arranged like a side table and chairs. On the side of the container behind them was a larger mural in spray paint. A large pair or piercing blue eyes was framed by shapes and swirls of color. Zane pulled a can of paint from his hoodie and placed it down on a crate, standing back and taking in his work.

Jessica came up behind him, her arms in her hoodie pockets, looking at the portrait of what she knew immediately was the Donut Czarina. Her nose wrinkled a little with disgust at the show of affection Zane made for the other girl by showing her. Still, it flashed through her mind what a grave insult to Natalia it would be if she fooled around with her boyfriend under her icy stare. A cruel smile came across Jessica's lips. "Its quite good. You have some real talent for this. How do you find your inspiration?" she asked.

Zane exhaled a long plume of smoke. "I like to make what I find beautiful." he said. A cold shivver ran through Jessica. She shook it off.

"You ever think of finding a new muse?" she said, slipping over into the shadows near the corner. "Maybe you need something new and exciting." She peeled off her hoodie and threw it at Zane.

He shook his head. "I appreciate it, but I'm fairly taken."

"Really? Who are you running around in the dark with?" She said from the shadows. Her shirt shortly flew at him too.

"Jessica. I'm sorry. This was not a good idea." he apologized.

"What are you afraid to make mistakes?" she asked in as sultry a tone as she could muster. "I am one big mistake".

Jessica felt something warm brush against her waist. It surprised her a bit, as she thought Zane was still out by the mural. She turned around seductively to gaze upon a pair of yellow eyes glowing in the dark.

Zane heard her scream. He immediately dropped his cigarette and rushed around the corner. Where he was greeted by a deafing roar.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

".... there's something down here. Help....." the recording of a whispered terrified voice bounced around the security office for sometime before it got any attention, the shooting and riot at the Hub had held everyone's attention and resources.

In time the dispatcher relayed it to the security chief or the previous security chief, who in turn relayed it to his newly appointed superior. The stactic filled poor recording finally found its way to Mack Shepard's cortex.


"Xiànzài zěnme bàn?" (What now?) Mack said as she listened to the message. She sighed. "Méiyǒu bǐ zhè gèng jiǎndān dele (Nothing is ever simple)... Okay, this is from Deck 7, so... first deck of warehouses? I'll check it out. It could be some Plexie screwing around... just to be safe, scramble a four officer detail armed with something that will bring down a creature with that big a voice. Have them stand by at the lifts on Deck 7. Notify me when they're in position."

"I will see who we can spare, most everyone is keeping the peace on Deck 3. The crowd's on edge, armed folk running out, might start something." the reply came.

Mack started on her way towards Deck 7. On the way, she converted her pistol into a carbine once again. She pulled a sling out of one of the absurd number of pockets she seemed to have inside her coat and affixed it to the weapon. If she had to drop it quick, she didn't want to lose it. Mack felt fairly certain she could get the attention of whatever was down there, if not drop it outright, with her preferred weapon. It was chambered in a high velocity, hard hitting caliber that was known to penetrate ballistic vests and to shatter ribs and damage internal organs even when it didn't penetrate, just from the force of impact alone. When she reached Deck 7, she picked up her encyclopedia, linked up to the base computer, and asked it to identify the location of the cortex terminal the call came in from and direct her there. The system gave her a map, which she immediately memorized, allowing her to put the encyclopedia away and take up her pistol carbine in both hands, as casually as she could manage, so she didn't startle any warehouse workers... of whom she didn't see any... which worried her. Her worry increased when she came across a very badly mauled, and very dead worker. He looked like a wild animal had attacked him. Mack pulled out her encyclopedia and quickly called Security.

"Lock down Deck 7 above and below," Mack said. "No one in, no one out. Detain anyone attempting to leave this deck in either direction. Something very nasty is down here. I think it's an animal of some sort, but on the off chance it's a deranged psychopath, I don't want anyone leaving the deck unless we've taken them into custody. I'm going to try and get a hold of the marshal. He's allowed through." Mack quickly called Gil Anderson and waited for a response, while keeping her head on a swivel. She didn't intend to be a predator's lunch or a psychopath's next toy.

"An animal?! Where would we get an animal out here?" The comm went quiet for a few moments. "Chief, I got three officers with a stun net headed down to you. I sealed the bulkheads and set the lifts to authorized use only to Deck 7. Do you want me to pull additional personnel from Deck 3?"

"No," Mack said. "Leave everyone else on Deck 3. I'll deal with this. Call Trish in the Marshal's office and see if you can get us some back up from the Feds. Shepard, out."

The immediate surroundings of Land of Storage were their usual countenance of dimly lit with heavy shadows throughout the maze of stacked containers.

Having heard nothing from the Marshal for several minutes, Mack swore softly and started moving through the Land of Storage, senses stretched to their limits. She sort of wished she had a 12 gauge loaded with slugs, but as stated, she had quite a bit of confidence in the Shanxi pistol. She was comfortable with it, and was damned accurate with it, more so when she had the stock and scope attached. Mack found several gory scenes, most with bits of humanity, but sans corpses. There were signs that something had dragged the corpses away.

Well, Mack thought to herself. That's a good sign. Whatever is down here is quick and vicious and strong, but not large enough to actually carry the bodies away. Don't know why it left the last one...

The growling and snarling seemed to be a little closer, and yet further off behind her. Was whatever it was circling back for the leftovers? Mack looked down at the smear of blood on the deck. Tracking the creature back to wherever it was keeping its kills was a sure way to find it... Mack sighed. Keeping its kills? For what? Mack swore softly again. Seemed to the new Chief of Security that if the creature was saving carrion, it might be for a mate and perhaps some offspring.

This just keeps getting better, Mack thought. The trail of blood and gore would likely lead back to the creature, but if there were a mate and little ones in play, then Mack's presence anyway near its lair would incite a violent defense from the creature. Well, there's nothing for it, she thought. Time to go hunting,

Mack set off to follow the trail of blood and gore.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

A deep growl brought Zane back to his senses. He didn't feel right. Something was wrong with his leg. He struggled to focus in the dim light of... where ever he was. He had made the call to the Marshal's office, then... pain... darkness.... The current moment was not much different. His head hurt, his leg was numb, and something smelled really bad. He could make out dark shapes nearby. As he tried to sit up, the pain form his leg kicked in. Zane stifled a scream. It was difficult to focus on anything. His head felt dizzy. With what strength he could muster he pulled himself along the floor, only to find his trail blocked. He felt around in the darkness. It felt like someone's hand. He started to pull at it to get the person's attention. There was little resistance and he suddenly found himself holding a piece of a severed arm. He felt his stomach lurch as he flung the appendage away from him.

He was going to die. That seemed certain. Whatever had done this, was likely going to do the same to him next. The pain surged through his leg again. It occurred to him that it might have already done it to him. He reached down to his numb leg. It was still there, but he could feel blood coating it. This was not good. He wasn't ready to die. As much as he played off not caring about anything, he didnt want it to end. He had never told Nat how he felt about her. Now he might never get a change. His head felt light. He struggled to pull himself further across the floor. His bleary eyes were adjusting and he began to make out other bodies laid around him. Several expletives muttered from his lips. He had to get out of here. He pulled himself again, bumping up against one of the bodies in the way. He struggled to negotiate a way to lift his body over the other, and he saw her face. Well part of her face. Jessica.

A set of deep claw marks had ripped through her young face. He could just make out the deluge of blood that had flowed from the wounds and over her unclothed torso. He would never unsee that. It was too much for Zane. despite the terror he actually started to cry. Somewhere in the darkness he heard something move, and froze.


Mack found the critter's lair after some trial and error, part by following the trail of gore, and part by following her nose. The smell of blood and death was nearly overpowering. Mack had to stop to pull herself together more than once as she got closer to her destination. Mack frowned. Most animals, even apex predators, wouldn't leave such an easy trail back to their homes. Something was wrong with this one. Then Mack found was she was looking for and felt bile rise into her throat, the contents of her stomach threatening to follow. There were enough gore trails to convinces her that most of the stevedores on this level had been turned into kibble, and, as mentioned, there was the smell. Mack held off approaching, then heard was she thought was sobbing. She started to move towards the lair, when she sensed movement and pulled back and took cover. From her hide, she could see the creature dragging the corpse of the person Mack had found earlier. That was a point in Mack's favor. Between the scent of the corpse, and the fact that the air circulation system was currently pushing air towards Mack from behind the creature, it wouldn't pick up her scent easily. Mack took careful aim, ready to bring the creature down, when it suddenly dropped the corpse. Mack couldn't get a clean shot, so she waited. The creature must have heard the sobbing, and it started to growl as it entered its lair.

Too late! Mack thought to herself as she opened fire. Instead of the clean kill she'd hoped for, her rounds clipped the creature's hindquarters as it pounced swiftly into its lair. "Fènbiàn!" Mack cursed and moved, hoping to reposition for a better shot. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, but it sounded like someone was alive in there. If she wanted to keep that person alive, Mack would have to keep the feline-like creature's attention on her. "Hey!" she shouted. "Over here you mangy zázhǒng! Pick on someone your own---" then the creature turned to look at Mack, causing the former Browncoat to reconsider her life choices.

The sound of gunfire stirred Zane from the Frozen terror that had gripped him. Somebody was here. Someone was coming for him. Hopefully the Marshal and every deputy on the station. He called out for help, but his voice was barely more than a whisper.

The creature was huge. A panther, or a tiger, something that was only seen in history books and fairy tales. Its eyes seemed to glow bright yellow, it had fearsome claws, and teeth that were worse. It gave out a deep frightening growl, angry at having been shot. Then It lept and disappeared someplace atop a storage container, out of immediate sight.

Well that's not good, Mack thought. Keeping her senses sharp and on the lookout for the big cat, she called out to the person inside the lair. "My name's Mack Shepard. As of a few hours ago, I'm the new Chief of Security. I have no idea where the tā mā de the Marshal and his deputies are, and most of my people are tied up with something else, but I'm here and I'm going to get you out of this mess. What's your name?" Mack edged towards the entrance to the lair, trying not to gag from the smells, head on a swivel, expecting an attack any second.

"h...help!" a voice weakly called back. After a prolonged pause, "Zane... I'm Zane Ryan...help..." that was about as much as he could muster at the moment, trying to shift his body as best he could past Jessica. What had he done. Jess was plextrash, but she was here because of him. And now... Zane couldn't bring himself to deal with her shadowy crumpled remains. "oh god help!" he called out, "Jess..."

Mack turned and entered the lair. She took in the scene, fighting off shock but just barely. "Z--Zane," she said, finding her voice. "Honey, I don't know which one of these folks in here is Jess, but sweetheart, there's no one else alive in here but you and me. It sucks, but that's the way it is." Mack looked at Zane's leg. "If I bandage that up, can you walk?" Mack might be able to lead Zane out of the maze of crates and to the elevators safely if he could walk. If she had to carry him... that was going to be a lot more difficult.

Zane struggled to pull himself to almost a seated position and found himself again facing the barechested remains of Jessica. "I.. I can't get up. I can't move my leg. Oh god it hurts." In the dim light, Mack could make out a savage slash across the boy's thigh. Chance are he would bleed out in a few minutes without medical attention. Somewhere overhead a deep growl was heard. Zane froze.

Mack's com suddenly blarred. "Um Chief Shepard, you want us to bring that net in now? Nothing much going on here by the elevator."

Mack swore softly, turned the volume on her radio way down, and keyed the mic. "Negative!" she said quietly. She didn't whisper. Whispers carried farther than speaking softly did. "You'll get eaten alive! Stay by the elevator!"

Mack looked at Zane's leg and swore again. "Zane, we're going to have to---" Mack stopped talking when she saw Zane's eyes get as big as saucers. "Oh shi---" Mack started to say as she turned around, but was unable to finish as the big cat pounced on her. She wasn't even able to take aim, and instead ended up holding her pistol carbine horizontally in front of her and catching the big cats snapping jaws as it knocked her to the ground and knocked the wind out of her. The beast gnawed on the weapon and then wrenched it from Mack's grasp and tossed it across the lair. Mack barely managed to get her hagibis from her boot sheath before the beast's head came back around to face her. She reluctantly put her forearm in front of her to fend off the beast's jaws and screamed in pain and rage as the creature bit down on her arm and tried to tear it off. Only the toughness of her coat and the bracers she wore (on each arm) in case she got in a knife fight kept prevented the feral feline from biting through her arm. But while the padding and armor blunted the beast's teeth, the creature's jaws were strong. Mack had very little time before her arm was pulverized and/or ripped off. Marshaling her determination and willpower, Mack stabbed the 11-inch blade of her knife into its neck, through the carotid artery and the jugular vein and into the beast's throat and windpipe. She twisted the blade several times, then slid it out and stabbed the creature in the throat again, and again, and again, twisting the blade multiple times with each stab. She could hear the creature choking on its own blood and she felt the animal's grip on her arm going slack as its life blood spilled all over the former Browncoat. With supreme effort, Mack managed to free her arm and flip the beast over onto its back. The animal was dying, but Mack needed it dead RFN. She raised her knife in both hands and drove it into the creatures chest, right where she'd felt the animal's heart slamming in its chest a moment before. She drove the knife in again and again and again, attacking like a crazed beast herself. Again and again she stabbed the beast, until it finally stopped moving. Once Mack knew it was dead, she relented, and sat astride the vanquished monster, covered in the beast's blood, trying to get her breathing under control. "Just... gimme... a minute... kid..."

Mack wiped her knife off on one of the few spots on her pants that wasn't covered in blood and slipped it back into its sheath in her right boot. Grimacing, she felt around in the muck and found her pistol carbine. Somehow, she managed to break it back down into its pistol configuration, put away all of the extraneous parts, and put the pistol back in its holster. Her hands, particularly her damaged left hand, were shaking, but she pushed through it. Then she started over towards Zane.

Zane watched propped up against the wall as Mack battled the beast. He knew not only her life, but his hung in the balance. What transpired was unlike anything he had ever seen. Guys got beat up, sometimes shot. A covered sheet quickly hauled away to the service elevators. Life was tough on the station, but he had never seen blood and gore like what he had survived today. Now Mack looking every bit as savage as the animal was bathed in a shower of blood from the great beast. Everything around him was death and blood. Jess.... His stomach started to churn, but he could never quite bring himself to vomit. So much blood. He just looked blankly at Mack as she approached him. She brought death to death... his heart was beating fiercely in his chest.

Mack approached slowly and sat down next to Zane. She keyed the mic on her radio. "I killed the damned thing," she said. "Send the officers by the elevator on this deck location, but tell them to be careful. I'm not for certain sure there's not another one down here. There's a plexie down here with a cut up leg. He's non-ambulatory, and I think I've got a broken arm. We're going to need medical attention and help getting out of here." Mack closed the channel and turned to Zane. "You've called for Jess a few times now," Mack said. "If that thing got her, I'm fairly certain it's not your fault. Skyplex's don't usually have predators, at least not the four-legged kind."

"She followed me. I told her not to come, but she did anyways. She is .... dead. The only reason I'm not is because I let her stay. She died and I'm alive. This is all yi da dwei bun chou roh. Its my fault she is dead and her fault I am alive. I didn't care a thing about her... and now this." Zane said leaning his head against the wall in utter defeat.

It took several minutes for a team to arrive, first the officers from the elevator followed shortly by a team from the medical center on deck six. Even those that served through the war found the scene difficult to stomach. The younger officers lost their lunch immediately. A med tech ran up to Mack. "I dont know what happened here, but how can we help your two?" The cut across Zane's leg was fairly obvious. The tech immediately started spraying an antibacterial and started to bandage Zane's leg.

"That thing bit down on my left arm down forearm and tried to tear the whole arm off," Mack said. "My coat is pretty tough, and I'm wearing a bracer under it to protect me from attacks with a blade, so I don't thing it broke the skin with its teeth, but it had a powerful bite. My forearm feels like it might be broken. I don't think I got scratched up too bad, but, frankly, I can't tell under all this blood, most of which ain't mine." Mack started to feel cold and dizzy. "Actually, I think I just might be going into shock... just a little... which is embarrassing..." At that moment, Mack politely leaned to one side so she wouldn't splatter the med tech, and vomited. Fortunately, all she'd had recently was a few ponchiki and some coffee, so there wasn't much in her stomach to evacuate. "Ah... sorry..." With a shaky had, Mack reached inside her coat and pulled out a miraculously pristine white handkerchief and wiped her face, then put away the handkerchief. "Right.. I put myself in your capable hands."

The tech quickly started a diagnostic check on Mack's arm. Pulling out a scope she ran it over her forearm the tech stared intently at the palm monitor. "It looks like two fractures. Nothing too damaging, but we should be able to fix you up."

"Ma'am we've got a problem here!" a tech that was monitoring Zane called out. "Blood pressure is extremely low, I think he may be crashing."

The first tech released Mack's arm and spun around moving back to Zane. She ran the diagnostic scope over him. "We need him in ER now. I need a gurney here!"

A pair of support techs popped a gurney up and quickly wheeled it over. "Get some plasma started on him. And lets get him in motion." Moments later as a coordinated team the techs lifted Zane onto the gurney, started a drip of saline and plasma. "Ok, get clear! Let's move." The techs hauled Zane away.

Mack was left with a couple security officers. "Ma'am what would you like us to do?"

"Hang on," Mack said. She keyed her radio mic. "Shepard to Chang."

"Chang here," came the reply from Security Sergeant Michael Chang.

"Michael," Mack said. "Is that crowd finally dispersed?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Chang replied. "We're about done here. Are you alright? I'm hearing you fought... a big cat??"

Mack sighed. "Yeah," she replied. "And I'll tell you all about it later. I ended up with a broken arm and I'm drenched in the damn predatory feline's lifeblood. I need to get to the infirmary and then get cleaned up, eat, and sleep. Before I crash, I'll put together a very short preliminary report and send it to Miss Wilson. I'll meet with her in person in a few hours. Until then, I need you to arm some officers with the highest caliber assault and/or precision rifles we've got, break them up into teams of two, and have them sweep Deck 7. Then have the officers sweep as many decks tonight that you think they can do without their performance being compromised, then lock the ones you haven't searched down, let everyone get some rest, except for those we need to cover normal shifts, and start the whole process over again when we have an awake and alert staff, copy all of that."

"Uh, Ma'am," Chang said. "Most of the sensors on the warehouse decks don't actually work. The plexies and other elements keep disabling them. They don't like being watched."

Mack sighed. "Of course they don't," she said. "Do the sweeps, but quickly. More people on each deck, more than one deck at a time, double shifts authorized. Our teams are to check in every fifteen minutes and give their location each time. The SCC will record their check ins and locations and if anyone misses one, nearby units will go to their last check in location and investigate. If anyone goes missing for more than three check ins, and I'm not already awake, wake me up. And if you find anything, wake me up. I'll be back on duty in a few hours. Got it?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Chang replied.

Mack turned to the officers in front of her. "I look like the star of a horror vid," she said. "Even if I knew where the Med Center on this plex was, I'd scare the crap out of everyone on the way there. I'll need you guys to escort me there. Copy?"

"Yes, Ma'am," one of the officers said as she helped Mack up. "We'll get you there in one piece."