Quoted By:
Your entire body is sore when you wake up–intact, devoid of any incapacitating injuries, but <span class="mu-i">sore</span>. A red haze hangs over your vision as you rub the blur from your eyes only to find that yes, the whole room is bathed in red too: flashing red warning lights with an ear-rending warning klaxon to boot!
“<span class="mu-s">WARNING: CRITICAL AIRLOCK DAMAGE DETECTED. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. WARNING: CRITICAL AIRLOCK-</span>”
The warning lady ain’t wrong… craning your aching neck behind you, you find that Chuck didn’t just drive through those laser emitters back in the airlock, but the whole damn <span class="mu-s">AIRLOCK</span> itself! Your mighty steed lies broken, battered, and even ablaze in the hole it punched through the door–a monument to your extremely good luck thus far as well as the crazy old groundskeeper’s insane driving skills!
“Good, you’re alive.” Remarks the man himself as he stumbles over to you and offers a hand! “C’mon, up an attem’.”
You graciously take him up on his offer and look around to find yourself standing at a crossroads: a four-way split leading deeper into a facility that makes the <span class="mu-s">MINE LAB</span> look like a coffee shop in comparison! Rising to your still-shaky legs, you waste no time in shambling around trying to find your other pals!
<span class="mu-s">RAJ! PEPPER!</span>
“YO!”
Following Raj’s voice, you find the skater suspended from the vaulted ceiling above, his <span class="mu-s">FIRE AX</span> embedded deep inside one of those <span class="mu-s">AUTO TURRETS</span> you tangled with outside! Guess that’s why you haven’t been shot yet, huh?
“Y’know what the weird part is?” He laughs as he continues to dangle from the turret like a cat from a ceiling fan, “I <span class="mu-i">totally</span> did this on accident, bro!”
You don’t even wanna try to suss out how Raj manages it anymore. The guy’s just incredible. Holding your arms out underneath him, you tell the skater to get loose–you’ll catch him!
“GERONIMOOOAAAAHH!”
Turns out the ceiling’s a <span class="mu-i">lot</span> higher than you thought–when Raj lands in your outstretched arms you nearly keel over immediately from the force of the drop! An unpleasant cracking noise emanates from your back as you return your buddy to his feet!
“Thanks for the catch, dude.”
Any… anytime… oof…
>CONTD.
