Dark Matter Ascension-Chapter 35B2 - : Empire State Tower: Server Room

Quinn’s voice crackled over Jace’s earpiece, “The basement level you’re in has a staircase that goes down to the server room, but there are several defenses set up. I’m talking turrets, electrified hallways: this is going to be tricky.”

Jace nodded as they reached the stairs, but paused as he heard a tremendous grinding noise of metal sliding on metal. He saw a part of the wall off to the side begin to slide upward, and could see the feet of mechs. “Get into the stairwell!” he shouted as he waved Greg and Priam past him.

The two did so, and Jace hid around the corner, watching as the mechs stepped out of the cargo elevator. “Twenty-four of them,” Jace whispered. The elevator doors closed and he heard the metallic grinding noise: much lighter than before but still present: as the conveyance went up.

Greg frowned, “I don’t have any more rockets. Priam, want to fry their circuits?”

Priam nodded and got next to the ground, crawling over to the door frame and poking his head out past Jace’s feet. “Wrath of the Gods (Rank 5).” There was a crackling, golden energy that shot out from his outstretched palm, flew to the center of the cluster of mechs, and then detonated. A storm of golden-yellow electricity shot out in all directions, and Jace winced as he heard the screams of men being fried inside their mechs.

But they were still moving. “Didn’t kill them,” Greg commented.

Priam frowned, “I didn’t want to torture them. Maybe another one. Wrath of the Gods (Rank 5).” This time, the sphere that flew out was a deeper golden hue, and it exploded into a storm of magnetic strength that caused the mechs to crumple inward. There were more screams of pain and agony: but the mechs still moved against damaged joints. “I’m sorry!” Priam shouted out

Greg grabbed him and shoved him back, “You’ll give away our position-” The thunderous report of enormous guns went off, and Jace pulled back with Greg dragging Priam as enormous gashes appeared in the wall as the rounds impacted deeply into the reinforced concrete wall. Clouds of dust from the decimated structure floated in the air. Greg grabbed Priam by the collar and whispered in a harsh, disappointed tone, “Why would you do that?”

“I didn’t mean to torture them,” Priam replied solemnly, his voice filled with a tremble of regret or maybe even fear. “I’m sorry, and they needed to know I was sorry!”

Greg set him down and looked at Jace, “I’ll fucking deal with the mechs. They’re slow enough I can manage them. Take him and go downstairs. I’ll catch up.”

Jace nodded and made his way down the stairs as Greg walked into the basement’s open space. Jace could hear the pounding of the guns above, and the battle-cries and whoops of glee from Greg as he continued to enact his revenge. Jace glanced down at Priam, “I get it. Don’t sweat Greg’s reaction too much.”

Priam frowned but nodded, “Yeah. It’s stressful being in combat. I get it. Sorr-”

“Don’t be,” Jace replied as they reached the bottom of the stairs. A large, metal door stood in front of him. “What’s on the other side of this, Quinn?”

“This is the room with the turrets.”

Jace nodded and stepped up to the door, stabbing his blade in before sliding it down to make a gap along one side. “Can you shoot your electricity Skill through this little gap?” Jace asked.

Priam nodded and walked up, placing his palm against the crevice. “How big is the room?”

“Thirty-feet long, ten-feet across, ten-feet tall,” Quinn replied rapidly.

“Wrath of the Gods (Rank 1).”

Jace couldn’t see what happened beyond the metal wall, but Priam took a step back and nodded. Using his blade, Jace cut out three more gashes and kicked in the metal door. On the inside of the concrete room there were eight turrets: and all of them were sparking and had gone dormant. “Good job. What’s next, Quinn?” Jace asked as he walked to the metal door on the far side of the room.

“Electrified floor,” she stated. “And walls.”

Jace smirked and glanced at Priam, “Does being Pulsar mean you get any innate electricity resistance?”

Priam shook his head, “Nope.”

Jace clicked his tongue, “Damn. Quinn, any way to shut it off once I’m inside?”

“Not really,” Quinn replied.

“Right then,” Jace gestured to his back, “Hold on then.” Priam scrabbled up and wrapped his arms around Jace’s neck. Jace took a breath and stabbed through the metal door, watching as the electricity charging the room tried to take hold on the metal of his sword: but failed to thanks to the Dark Matter imbuing it. Carving a hole, he stepped through: being very careful to duck far enough for Priam to not touch the walls.

The room was deep silver, and Jace could see the electricity crackling along the various surfaces. He saw it trying to zap his legs, but his Dark Matter Shield absorbed the energy harmlessly. “Can Greg get through this?”

“Rocks,” Priam replied. “Not very conductive.”

“Fair,” Jace replied as he walked through the room. “Alright Quinn, what’s on the other side of this door?”

“More turrets,” Quinn replied.

“Priam, you’re up.” Jace cut a hole through the gap, Priam shoved his finger into the gap and used his Wrath of the Gods once more. Jace cut the rest of his way through and walked through the trashed hallway.

“Beyond that door is the server room,” Quinn stated. “Catwalks that are suspended a foot above the water’s surface crisscross the whole room, connecting to the tops of the server towers. Water fills up the whole space to keep the towers cooled. It’s recycled from a chill tank a few sub-basements adjacent. So this water is lukewarm from the heat dispersion. The spot to put the flash drive is on top of the server rack: from the catwalk.”

Jace nodded and set Priam down. “Ready, buddy?”

“Heck yeah! Let’s shut this down and get out of here!”

Jace carved his way through the door and kicked it down. The room that extended out in front of them was tall: only ten feet up to the ceiling above the catwalks, but glancing down, Jace saw the server towers go down thirty feet before resting on the floor. And all that space below was covered with water.

“You arrived,” A voice said, drawing Jace’s vision. The rock-man that had tackled Greg off of the roof stood on the catwalk.

Jace gestured for Priam to back off, and the Pulsar Priest did so, ducking further back into the hallway. Keeping his sword level with the tip pointing at the rocky figure, he bladed his stance and slowly paced forward, watching for any movement from the figure. He just stood there, keeping his arms crossed. I cut one off, Jace thought. Did he regenerate? His eyes could so no seam, no sign of injury. That’s the most like-

The scaffolding under him was cut apart, and Jace went plummeting down into the water. A male version of Shhiv’s species began wildly stabbing at him with punch daggers, cracking Priam’s barrier while Jace tried to get his bearings. “You’re on my turf!” the Churkun said with slightly garbled words.

Jace felt the water grow viscous around him, holding him in place and keeping him from moving about. Some type of Skill to immobilize me? Jace thought. He saw Priam’s barrier crack further, and moved his blade up just enough to touch this Skill encompassing his body. It vanished as the [Astral Annihilator] Evolution. Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) [Rending]. Jace felt the slight energy drain as his legs and the knife strapped to him both began glowing with the same nebula-style light.

“Good luck breathing underwater!” the figure shouted as they swam straight down, leaving a vortex behind them that sucked Jace down.

“Idiot,” Jace replied.

This caught the Churkun off-guard, and he turned at the bottom of the pool. “What?”

Jace used his Ghostlight Grapnel Arm to attach to this Churkun, pulled himself to the figure, and stabbed forward with his sword. The Ascendant parried the blade and reached out, trying to grab Jace as his hands glowed with deep black energy. It was then that Jace saw the Cosmic Power and Ascended Power symbols. He recognized the Black Hole symbol, but the smaller dot was foreign to him.

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Ollie whispered in his ear, “That is Flux, the Ascended version of Nebula. You do not have to take the Ascended version of your base Cosmic Power.”

Jace drew the knife with his left hand and parried the incoming grapple, stabbing the blade into the outstretched hand. To his surprise, the outstretched palm stopped right before touching the slight, purple cloud of Dark Matter around the knife. Just like two magnets being pushed against each other with the same charge: they repelled each other.

But this was even more different, as there was a crackling storm that surged in between the Black Hole palm and the Dark Matter knife. Jace pushed forward and kicked out with his legs; but the Churkun Ascendant was faster than his kicks, and swam back and away. Raising his hands, the waters around Jace became a slashing, tearing torrent that tore away at Priam’s barrier, cracking it to pieces before it abruptly shattered.

Arbiter’s Anathema! Jace though as he focused on the swirling water. The fluid stilled, and he used the grapple line to pull himself to his opponent: who swam away. Jace was akin to a fisherman hanging onto his line for dear life as his opponent swam around the servers with intense speed, shooting off crackling beams of lightning that cascaded through the water before harmlessly impacting Jace’s Dark Matter Shield.

“Immune to electricity?” The figure gurgled out. “Fine, take this!” The water around Jace began to compress inward and squeeze him from all sides.

Arbiter’s Anathema, Jace used the second of his three uses as the watery shell that had been squeezing him vanished. His grapple line pulled him ever closer to his foe, and the Churkun reached the back end of the room. “No room to run!” Jace shouted, his voice slightly distorted by the liquid.

“Who said I was running?” The Churkun ripped into the wall and exposed energy conduits that he ripped. The water surged and sparked with electrical energy, and if not for Jace’s Dark Matter Shield, he would have instantly died. The Ascendant raised his hand as Jace came into slashing range, and all of the water turned to ice in an instant. Jace felt the icy chill permeate his skin as the water that was going through his gills froze: and he began to suffocate.

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The Ascendant was able to swim through the ice, the substance seeming to shift around them. “Flux let’s me access all aspects of Nebula. Ice, water, acid, electricity, and more.” The figure got right behind Jace.

Now! Dark Matter Dart (Rank 4) [Exploding]. The darts all surged into the space around Jace: and detonated. The ice was shattered and the enemy that had maneuvered behind him was dropped into the now-open, small, ice-surrounded sphere. They were in a pocket with no oxygen: but it enabled Jace to move his mouth and use what little air he had left in his lungs. Surprisingly, he was…just fine.

Ollie whispered in his ear, “The NICIF lungs are forcing the carbon dioxide in your lungs to go through carbon dioxide splitting. You cannot suffocate unless someone removes all of the CO2 from your lungs.”

Jace nodded, quite happy with the sudden development. Thanks, nanites. He stepped forward as the Churkun held up his hands in a martial arts pose, his palms glowing with deep, black gravity wells of Black Hole energy.

“What’s your pod designation?” Jace asked him.

The Churkun cocked his head sideways, “I am Flahjor-vol.”

“Good, I’d hate to be killing one of my girlfriend’s family.” Jace lunged forward after catching the foe off guard with the sudden banter and knowledge about his species, scoring a slash across the torso that began to bleed the purple and crimson miasma.

“Gah! Dirty play!” Flahjor screamed out as he tried to grab Jace’s sword between his hands: but Jace dropped the sword and lunged in with his dagger, scoring a stab to the neck that he swiftly ripped across the Churkun’s throat. A viscous, blue blood began to surge out: but the Black Hole energy surged across his skin as the blood was sucked back in and the skin repaired itself.

Must be a healing-style Skill, Jace thought as he summoned his sword to his hand.

Flahjor frowned, “Think you’ve won? No, this is far from over.” He began to move back into the ice and swim through the solid substance away from Jace.

“No you don’t! Wrath’s Embrace (Rank 10) [Focused]! Ruination Razor (Rank 1)!” Jace’s purple shield crackled and surged crimson with sparking energy as he felt the raging hatred boil up in him. He moved up to the ice before him and slashed with his sword a single time: shattering the structural key points. All the ice in the room shattered, fragmenting. No longer a single, solid chunk, Jace saw the Churkun’s hand glow as all the ice turned back into water instantaneously.

His grapple line was still attached to the Churkun, and instead of going to his target, he retracted and planted his feet into the floor. The opponent was tugged back to him, and Jace held his blade point-first towards his opponent. Flahjor was able to move his body to the side and tried to grab onto Jace’s arm with his still-coruscating hands.

But Jace pivoted using his anchored-to-the-floor foot-knives and was able to bring his sword around and slash through the Churkun’s leg as he passed by. The appendage was severed, and Jace heard the man scream in pain. The miasma was not only still spreading along his chest, but now from the leg-up.

“You’re out of your depth,” Jace growled as he felt the anger and rage flowing through him. Letting the grapnel go, he focused his gaze on his opponent’s eyes. He saw the predatory glare of hatred and rage staring back at him.

“Rah!” Flahjor’s body surged with black and blue energy as his leg re-grew and the [Rending] effect shrank to a tiny point on his body. Still present, still spreading, but suppressed for the time being. Then, the energy surged in an aura around him, and his eyes crackled to a deep, singular black with blue slits. “You’re going to pay!” he screamed as he surged forward and clashed into Jace.

Jace’s wrists were grabbed, and he could not bring his sword or the knife to bear. The Black Hole energy on his opponent’s palms drained his energy as the Shield prevented the miniature singularities from spaghettifying his prosthetic limbs. Hope’s Edge, Dark Matter Shield (Rank 3) [Reflecting]. Jace used his trump card.

Instantly, he felt refreshed and full of vigor as Hope’s Edge restored his energy commensurate to the damage dealt. And since his Shield was now reflecting at the cost of energy: his opponent was literally hitting himself with his Skill.

“What?” The Churkun shouted out in confusion.

Jace smirked and brought his legs up to his chest before kicking out with the razor-sharp blades on the feet: that were also covered with Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) [Rending]. He delivered rapid-fire kicks into Flahjor’s torso, and even though the aura surrounding him seemed to be some type of barrier, Jace’s rapid-fire assault cracked through that.

Flahjor tried to let go and swim away, but Jace grabbed his wrists in return and continued his assault. Not cutting deep thanks to his foe’s inherent defenses, but enough got through his guard that the bleed continued to spread. And Flahjor panicked further, thrashing like a fish caught on a line. “How?! I’m Tier 6!”

Yeah. And what of it? Jace thought. Looking down on someone you perceive as weaker than you, just going off of numbers? You’re just like these corpo-scum. He grit his teeth and with a powerful kick felt his foot go through the flesh and embed itself into his foe’s chest, eliciting a horrific scream that reverberated through the water.

The Churkun Ascendant leaned his head forward and bit down on Jace’s neck: finding only the [Reflecting] barrier as his own damage was reversed upon him. Reeling back, he growled with rage as his eyes shifted hue once more, becoming bloody-red. “This isn’t fair!”

“You are right, it is not,” Ollie replied as he floated out from Jace’s neck and swam in circles around the Ascendant. “Tier different does result in a damage offset. For every Tier of difference between you and your foe, or the threat on a given world, you deal or suffer 10% less harm. Against Flicker? You have 20% damage reduction.” Ollie crossed his arms as he flew in front of the now-desperate opponent. “You are going to die down here.”

Jace let the Churkun’s wrist go, summoned Nethaldrim to his hand using the (Returning) Augmentation, and stabbed the shark-man through the face, impaling him through the brain as he shuddered before going limp. “Dust him,” Jace ordered.

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[Stardust Acquired: 300]

[Stardust Split: 75]

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[Stardust gained from Split: 2,000]

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Jace looked up to the corrugated steel up above, and saw Priam hopping around from platform to platform, avoiding the enormous rock-man. Greg must have beaten all the soldiers and mechs up above, Jace thought. He’s why I just gained Stardust. Jace swam up and popped out of the water behind the rock-man.

Priam’s face showed relief as Jace appeared. The bunny-man was panting heavily, his golden barrier cracked in several places as he looked utterly exhausted. The rock-man didn’t look like he was in too good of shape, either, as his body was covered in glimmering, glowing, golden lines of magical energy. “I’m low on energy!” Priam shouted.

The rock-man didn’t seem to hear Jace: laser focused on chasing the rabbit in front of him. Jace walked up behind him and slashed at the back of his neck, slicing the head clean off. “Sorry I took so long,” Jace stated as he saw Greg running down the hallway in the distance. “Greg, watch out for the electrified floor!”

Greg continued running towards the two, his body crusted over with stone that repelled the electricity. He got up to the two and was sucking in breaths. “I’m all out of ammo,” he stated as he trembled. “And there’s reinforcements coming. I clogged up the elevator with some mechs: but we’re running out of time.”

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[Stardust Acquired: 200]

[Stardust Split: 50]

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Ollie pulled his paw back from dusting the rock-man. “Well, the Ascendants are dead. Just plug in the drive and we are good to leave!”

Jace handed the drive to Priam as he went over to the hallway, “I’ll carve us a way out of here,” he muttered, still under the effects of the Wrath’s Embrace.

Priam looked after Jace as he ran with incredible speed down the hallway and vanished up the stairs. He looked over at Greg, “Injured? Need healing?”

Greg shook his head, “I’m good. My Protector’s Panacea is a single-target heal, unlike yours, but at max Rank it cures all injuries and afflictions. Plus, not as much range.” He chuckled, “I’m not injured, just bone-tired.” He looked back after the now-gone Jace, “How does he have so much energy?”

“A Skill from an item,” Darrin replied, the spider Wayfinder crawling out of Greg’s armor and pointing his small, spindly leg. “The access port is there. Go put the drive in.”

Priam did as he was told, going over the metal walkways to the top of the servers and slotting the device in.

Xera’s voice came out of his hat: having taken over Bloopa momentarily. “That did it! Good job. Two more megacorps to go.”

Priam turned around and saw Greg holding up his palm. “Sorry, what does that mean?”

“Oh, it’s a hi-five.” Greg used his other palm and tapped it to his outstretched hand. “It’s a way of saying ‘good job’ with hands.”

Priam nodded and hopped up to deliver the high-five. “Let’s go help Jace!”

“I don’t think he needs it,” Greg said as he chuckled. “That guy is broken-powerful.”