6/7 Instance: Evolutionary Creep

[Starfish]

Timeline: After "Tech-Heads".


Broo: "Well now, I didn't even know we had a basement for the basement." Broo said as they walked down the darkest corridor known to mankind. "I am rather thankful for the LED flashlights I installed into you now." he added gesturing to her torso.

Danger: "I don't dispute their usefulness, but did they have to be placed so... prominently?" The overlapping cones of light shook up and down along with Danger's steps, the clanking of her metallic feet on the cold concrete echoing through the deep, pitch black passage.

Broo: "Well it was the perfect spot really. It would have been silly to install them in your hands when you will surely be using them. And installing them on your head would just be a bit troublesome, seeing that there is little room left to attach anything else there." Broo explained as he followed the hand-held energy detector and following to where it was pointing.

Broo: "Plus it makes me feel taller if the light is lower than your shoulders and makes my shadow longer."

Danger: "If you want to feel taller, I could carry you on my shoulders," the robot suggested, easily navigating the dark tunnels with such nifty features as her light amplifying eyes and wide spectrum scanners. "You just have to be careful not to bump your head."

Broo: "In any other circumstances, I believe I would gladly take you up on that offer, unfortunately I will need to stay down here as we travel. I do not wish to miss any spot around here." Broo slowed a little down as the neared the large dot where the detector pointed towards. "Hmm... in this room." he said, tapping on the rusted old door with bolts on the outside.

Danger: Danger stopped in front of the sealed door and watched the pieces of rust flake off where the boy's small claws knocked against the solid steel. "I would be surprised if anyone would open us," the robot girl remarked as she shone her lights at the obstacle.

Broo: "Then I assume we will have to venture forth and open it ourselves." He just replied and tried to budge the door. "Guess it's rusted shut." he added, fishing out his little pocket laser knife and pulled his goggles down on over his eyes. "Watch out for your ocular lenses." he warned her as he started to cut into the door to loosen it.

Danger: "We have left the area deemed safe for habitation by SHIELD's engineering team a while ago," Danger remarked, her mechanical eyelids doubling as protective covers to shield her optic sensors. "I thought you should know this before we proceed further."

Broo: "I would hope so, this area seemed much too dark and damp and unhealthy for anyone to live in. Unless they wish to live here with a ring to rule them all." he said, trying out his funny bone with a joke. "There we go, that should do it," he added as turned the laser off and tried to open the door again.

Danger: The sharp screech that accompanied the rusted door, moving for the first time in uncounted decades, would have been painful for human ears. The robot girl, however, continued to watch with unfazed fascination even when the foul, dusty air wafted over the two unlikely explorers.

Broo: Broo unfortunately had to wave away the dustiness from his face. "Oh look, we have a few six and eight legged friends in here. Some I don't even even recognise, which is both fascinating and disconcerting seeing that I memorised all species of arachnid living in this area. Do we have any jars to take specimens?" he asked Danger.

Danger: "I could take some along in my storage compartments," Danger replied, approaching one of the small six-legged creatures. "Don't be afraid, little friend, we only want to do some science together. It will be fun."

Danger: The robot girl bent down to grab what looked like an unusually large praying mantis, when the insect turned around and took on a threatening stance. Unfurling a pair of big mandibles, a spark of electricity zapped between their tips.

Broo: "Fascinating." Broo mentioned, "An Electro Mantis. How wonderful is that? Oh look, there's something with a rodent in its... oh, it is a rodent based mutation. Now that is definitely what one would call a thing of nightmares, a Ratspider. Let's hope it doesn't lay eggs. Or babies."

Danger: "Whatever your detector is picking up down here, it has to be the cause of such rampant mutation." Danger pulled back her hand when the sparkling mantis zapped her finger. "Ouch, that was mean!"

Danger: Before she had charged the beam emitter in her palm to retaliate, however, the big bug's next zap was stopped short by an even larger predator striking from nowhere. The spider-like creature pounced the insect, then became blurry and vanished along with its prey.

Danger: "Light-bending arachnids," the robot girl said and took a step back, keeping her beam charged up just in case.

Broo: "Good thing none of our other fellow students have come along down here. They would have suggested we turn this whole room into an instantaneous furnace with an incendiary device or two. However from my scientific views, I suggest we use something larger and more lethal."

Broo: Broo took half a step back when more creatures started to hiss and chitter louder around them. "From my quick view of the situation, I see the walls and ceiling is concrete, the door is pure metal, nothing flammable except our little lethal friends."

Broo: Broo's little clawed fingers reached into his labcoat and pulled out a couple round balls. "Little Miss Danger, would you please step out with me? I wish to clean the room from any more creatures that might end up eating student faces and laying eggs in skulls."

Danger: "Good idea, I think the students will prefer their faces uneaten." Danger blasted one of the creatures as it lumbered towards them on long, thorny legs. Falling over when hit by the bright beam of energy, its bloated, pulsating body hit the damp floor with a squishy sound.

Danger: "Hurry up, I will cover our retreat!" After taking a few more potshots to keep the skittering mass at bay, the mechanical girl waited for her small genius friend to lob the small shiny devices through the open passage, then pulled shut the rusty old door.

Danger: "Keep behind me," she instructed Broo, pushing him back with her right hand while holding out her left arm. The robot's hard-light projectors formed the protective force field just in time before the whirlwind made of searing plasma melted through the ancient steel.

Broo: It was a deafening noise followed by pure silence, only broken by the hissing of charred and crackling bits from within the room. They waited another minute or two before Broo looked up and said, "Well then, if anything had survived that, they surely are the higher lifeform and should take over the world."

Broo: "Let's have a look, shall we?" he suggested, getting up and peeking over to the door that had a giant hole melted through it, only leaving the outer edges of it fused to the glasslike surface of the cement walls. "I want to say I overdid it, however I feel like it was just enough to make sure."

Danger: "If there is anything still moving in here, it can't be detected by any of my sensors, so I would say we used just enough firepower to make sure none of our friends will be eaten anytime soon." Danger stepped through the glazed doorway, then paused and looked back.

Danger: "Provided we can take care of whatever created these things, of course," she added, shining her lights at the molten door. "Because we just destroyed the only thing that kept them trapped down here."

Broo: "Danger, make a note that I should replace the door. With something heavier. And thicker. And stronger. Actually, make a note that I invent a stronger metal as well for the door." he told her as both carefully peeked through the man sized opening of the door. "Don't see anything moving." he held up his energy detector.

Broo: "The energy is still there, readings say the death of the mutated critters only made miniscule differences. In fact... we should be staring at whatever is causing these readings. Guess we will have to clean the place up and set up a lab in here then to try and actually find what is causing it."

Danger: Slowly turning in place, Danger swept the entire room across the full spectrum with every sensor, scanner, and detector fitted inside her body. "Either the source of these phenomena lies without the realm of known physics, or we might have to consider this the first documented case of a paranormal haunting."

Broo: "Don't be preposterous." Broo said, "There are several documented cases of paranormal hauntings." he added taking a step through the hole, and immediately jumped back out. "Ow ow... the floor's still hot."

Danger: "It was subjected to temperatures found on the surface of the sun not a full minute ago," Danger reminded her little friend. "Unless your feet are made of metal like mine, I suggest to avoid stepping on it."

Danger: She tilted her head and held up a hand. "However, my offer from before still stands."

Broo: He was about to decline once more, then thought about it while staring at the the inside of the room. He turned back to her, holding up his grabby hands and jsut said, "Up up, please."

Danger: Looking down at the small mutant, the flexible metal alloy put a crooked smile on Danger's lips. "How could I decline?" She crouched down and gently grabbed him underneath the arms. "And up you go."

Broo: THe boy hung like a giant doll in the robot girl's arms, his feet dangling while both faced towards the hole. And as they went in, a million and one ideas just rushed into Broo's head of things he could do with the unkown invisible energy that created such marvels. "Danger," he said, "I think I might be giddy with excitement."

Danger: "I know," Danger replied, clutching the boy to her curved metal chest as she stepped into the mysterious sealed room. "I can tell by the increase in your heart rate and the sudden spike in your hormonal levels."