A Bizarre Chill Through the City

[Cryatonic]

An average sunny day suddenly becomes strangely chilled. An ALPINE Eyeglass Center’s upper windows have thick shards of ice burst out of them, causing glass to shower nearby citizens. They shelter themselves with their arms over their heads as they scream and run away. The body of a young man seems to tumble out of the fifth floor window and flop onto the concrete below with a THUD!. He lays motionless for a few moments, before he stands, shaking his head, and unsteadily raises to his feet. He wears a long sleeved white shirt, with black words on the left breast saying “Subject 059”, and white pants. His hands and feet seem to be robotic prosthetics, giving a stark contrast to his all white attire. His head is completely wrapped with bandages, except for holes cut out to see through. He begins to awkwardly shamble away from the building, as if he is not used to walking.
He only manages to shuffle a few dozen feet before armed guards exit from the front entrance, lifting rifles that appear to be made of clear plastic towards the man, yelling “Don’t move or we’ll open fire!” The man just looks over his shoulder and tries to limp away faster. They aim their guns, and seem ready to fire...

[Zerminar12Admin]

From a nearby rooftop, a hulking beast jumps down to the street. It's head is similar to the muzzle of a rat while its body seems to be like that of a large ape. Similar to a gorilla it drags its knuckles on the floor and upon approaching the scene of conflict it beats its chest violently. The monster appears albino, with pure white fur and beady red eyes. Despite its hulking well-toned physique mucus oozes from its nostrils and pus leaks from various orifices hinting at possible illness. The beast howls prying at a steel collar around its neck before tearing 5 cubic feet of concrete from a nearby building and chucking it at the boy with complete abandon.

[Cryatonic]

The young man in bandages, overwhelmed by the situation, screams, “Please, leave me alone! Help! Somebody, help me!” He swings his right hand backwards; doing so causes spikes of ice erupt from the ground towards the guards. This causes him to stumble and fall onto his stomach, when he sees the chunk of concrete heading towards him. He covers his bandage-bound face with his arms, causing pillars of thick ice to grow around him. The concrete smashed against the ice, shattering both the barrier and the chunk. The man begins crawling away, as the guards turn towards the beast, bewildered by the new circumstance. One guard commands, “You six, go grab the subject. The other four will deal with this beast.” The four guards lift their guns and fire, shooting what appear to be tazing rounds. The other six begin approaching the white-clad man cautiously, guns raised. The man seems to be trying to clumsily scramble away faster.

[Zerminar12Admin]

The beast endures the tazing rounds without a second thought. They harmlessly bounce off of its thick hide. The monstrous creature crouches down low and monumentally pounces forward with great force. The earth beneath it is launched backward at high speeds as it leaps forward to tackle one of the six guards approaching the boy. As it does so it lets out a bellowing roar that echoes miles throughout the surrounding city.

[Cryatonic]

The guards begin to lose their composure as their comrade is tackled by the immense force coming from this ape-like beast. Many take out their sidearm, which is equipped with normal bullets, and begin firing with reckless abandon. “Kill it! Kill it!” one of them yells. The man sees this distraction, and places his robotic hand on the ground. A slab of ice forms underneath his body, forming a makeshift sled. The ground before him freezes over, as a icicle rapidly extends, propelling him forward and away from the beast. The guards seem to have lost all interest in the man and are instead focusing on not losing their lives.

[Zerminar12Admin]

The creature attempts to grab one of the guards and hurl him with great force at his comrades. Upon doing so he lumbers towards the boy with surprising speed for such a brutish and bulky beast. The bullets are even less effective than the tazing shots as they deflect off of the monsters unnatural skin.

[Cryatonic]

The man sleds away, and turns to see the beast giving chase. Icicles burst out from the sides and push against the ground to boost his speed as he slaps his hands onto the ground. A crisscrossing lattice of sharp icicles form behind him, attempting to slow or stop the beast. He looks behind him at the lumbering monster, “What the hell is that thing? Did ALPINE send it? I don’t recall any experiments like it, and it attacked the guards.” He clapped his hands together, causing all the moisture in the air to condense into a shrouding mist. “No time, however. I’ve got to get out of here, and fast!”

[Zerminar12Admin]

All of a sudden an electronic voice echoes from the creatures metallic collar.

"Halt, if you wish to be free of these men it is best we cooperate."

The lumbering creature leaps over the spikes, sniffs the air, and walks over to the young man with unerring accuracy.

The hulking abomination looms over the young man and the voice in the collar continues "You and I are alike, we should cooperate. These lesser beings only seek to use you, correct? I too am fleeing from those who would enslave me."

[Cryatonic]

The man rolls onto his back and lifts his arms to cover his face, obviously terrified. He stammers out of his muffled mouth, "We...? Alike? H-how can something like you... b-be cont-contained?" The bandages on his face show blood soaked spots, some old and some new, and his prosthetics seem to be warn, with frayed wires coming out of some of joints, and his left hand missing its ring finger; his legs aren't in much better repair. "Who are y-you? And... what are you? Why do you want to help me?" The air around him seems to grow colder as he grows more fearful.

[Zerminar12Admin]

The rat creature simply lifts a bony finger to its collar. There lies a plain white label painted on that read Mk 1. The rat creature leads the young man to a nearby manhole cover and lifts it up without a care.

"Tell me, do you wish to live as a slave or risk dying for a chance at freedom?"

The creature enters the sewers below beckoning the young man to follow him.

[Cryatonic]

Pushing the sled with his hands to the ground, he drags his body over to the manhole. He peers down, reeling back at the stench of human waste below. Glancing in the direction of the ALPINE Eyeglass Center that he called his prison for the last 4 years, he decided he was better off with the fierce rat-ape than those torturing bastards. He crawled off his ice chunk and pulled himself down the manhole, ungracefully flopping onto the walk below, before unsteadily standing, using the wall for balance. "I guess I'm among friends, now." He uses one hand to comfort his head as the other guides him along the wall in his slow gait ahead.

[Zerminar12Admin]

The rat creature leads the young man through a labyrinth of sewer tunnels. The darkness and confusing design of the underground network create such an elaborate maze that it is incredible that the dull looking beast can stride through the dark passageways with such confidence. Gradually the creature begins to slow down its pace and walks up to a strange metal door. It knocks three times and is met by three knocks from the other side. The door opens to reveal a more hunched gorilla-like beast. Its hump is veiny and bare of any fur while its face is wrinkled and weathered. While the head of this mutant appears more like an ape than a rat it bears the signature scaly tail of a rodent and similar scales on the rooves of its ape feet. It makes several gestures with its hands apparently aimed towards the rat-faced mutant and it appears that the ape bears metal shackles, similar in design to the rat's collar, on its arms.

"This is no ordinary human." responds the mechanical voice of the rat-ape. " He too suffers at the hands of weapon makers. It is our duty to offer him asylum and perhaps the chance to strike back."

The "normal" ape appears obstinate and stares sternly at his rat-faced companion. With much hesitance the mutant lets out a long and deflated sigh before opening the door to the young man.

[Cryatonic]

The young man stumbles through the opened doorway, looking around at his surroundings. His eyes are nearly undetectable in the dark, with his sclera being the same colour as the shadows, while only his golden irises reflect any light in this room. His lock-kneed gait is slowed even more on the filth-ridden floor beneath him, and he has to use his arms to counterbalance himself. "What is this place?" he inquires as he gazes around the sewer dwelling.

[Zerminar12Admin]

The young man enters a strange earthen cavern. Instead of the cobbled brick and steel surroundings of the sewer, he bears witness to a cavernous chamber carved from the natural stone. The ape creature enters the chamber followed by the rat-ape. It raises a wooden torch and sets it alight. The ape proceeds down a flight of stairs carved out of the rock itself and goes down deep within the earth. The rat-ape gestures towards the spiral staircase and gives a reassuring nod.

[Cryatonic]

The man follows the rat-ape, taking each step slowly, making sure both feet are on the current step before descending to the next. He doesn't seem comfortable with the situation at hand. His breaths are ragged and his body trembles.

[Zerminar12Admin]

As the group makes its way to the bottom of the haphazard staircase they reach a strange encampment based at the bottom of the cave. Numerous tents are pitched in a vaguely organized manner. All of them circle a central fire pit and each tent has its own set of torches lighting up the surrounding area. From the tents emerge various mutants far more grotesque and severely altered than the usual. While all inhabitants of Old Tokyo are "mutants" by Dome standards they are still recognizably human. If one were to ignore the occasional pair of gills or bulging eyeballs then one could identify as having been descended from human beings. The array of freaks before the young man, on the other hand, are completely alien. Each individual appears as though they are a different species to one another. One of them appears to have loose skin that oozes from his body in a manner that seems as though it is melting. Another being that looks to be a woman has pitch black eyes and pale white skin. Her head slightly bulges and numerous veins can be seen protruding from her forehead. While many of the mutants are entirely unique, there appears to be two noticeable patterns. Several of the mutants bear distinct ratlike characteristics like the ape and the rat behemoth. A few look almost entirely human save for strange dents and malformities of their heads. The rest are as foreign as the two rat beasts standing beside the young man yet monstrous in their own unique ways. The rat-ape walks forward leading the young man towards a tent filled with the more human mutants.

"Here, you may stay. They are like you. Human, but not." The mechanical voice echoes.

[Cryatonic]

Looking among the congregation, his shaking seems to stop a little. perturbed by the more monstrous variety, he makes sure to steer clear from them as he inspects his tent and the other inhabitants. He soon turns to the rat-ape and extends his hand, saying, "I thank you. I'm Ins... uh... Octopus. And yours?"

[Zerminar12Admin]

"Octopus? A strange name for a mammal. Oh well, you humans have strange names." The cold electronic voice of the collar states.

The rat-ape faces the hunchbacked orangutang mutant and looks at his hand gestures. The ape appears solemn and stubborn, his face contorted into an awkward frown.

"My friend says you may only stay here temporarily unless you take up our cause. Even then, if we get our way, this should only be a temporary refuge." The rat-ape states matter-of-factly.

[Cryatonic]

"I thank you for your hospitality. I should be back on my feet in no time, metaphorically speaking. And if I might ask, your cause is what, exactly? To save the mutants?" He fiddles with a screw on his wrist, causing his fingers to twitch, then fixes and re-tightens the bandages on his face.

[Zerminar12Admin]

"To destroy the weapon makers, ours and now yours." The cold mechanical voice replies ominously.

The rat-ape shuffles out of the "human" tent and greets its fellow cave-dwellers outside. The orangutang climbs the staircase once more to resume its vigil at the metal door. The other human mutants talk to one another with little to no hesitance or fear. The appearance of the gargantuan rat-ape was barely even noticed by the comparatively mundane mutants of this tent.

[Cryatonic]

Octopus turns to the other inhabitants of the tents, "So, where is the restroom, or some other private room?" He seems to be scratching his shoulders and neck.

[Zerminar12Admin]

One human with a particularly bulbous head similar to an onion removes himself from the card game he was playing and gets up. He walks over to Octopus and leads him outside the tent. There he points to a smaller tent located a long distance from the main encampment. The onion-headed man shambles back into the tent and sits on the ground cross-legged. He looks at his hand frustratedly before laying on the ground exhausted.

[Cryatonic]

Octopus limps to the far tent, and enters it. There, he removes his shirt and pants, but leaves on his bandages. If anyone were to see him, it would be apparent why he has been named Octopus. His flesh has a bumpy texture and is soft and squishy like an octopus' and has a slightly dull red hue, but more noteworthy are eight tentacle-like appendages wrapped around his torso; two coming from each shoulder and hip, all wrapped tightly around his torso and nailed to him to make room for the prothetics that have been attached at these bases. His back is covered with wounds and fractal scars, as if he were beaten and electrocuted regularly, with most showing signs of healing, and some of the older ones almost completely faded away. He sits down onto the ground, putting his head between his arms he has wrapped around his legs, and begins to sob silently until someone comes to the tent to use it.

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