Inhuman Resources (Grail Works Ltd. T-M/Dead Space Crossover)

[Altima of the Gates]

Now that i got to read this in it's entirety, I like it.

Although, does the "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" play for everyone, despite nationality(I don't know much about Dead Space)? You did a nice job at showing Rin not getting various English phrases, so would something like this be better suited for a Japanese person?

[Vigilantia]

Now that i got to read this in it's entirety, I like it.

Although, does the "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" play for everyone, despite nationality(I don't know much about Dead Space)? You did a nice job at showing Rin not getting various English phrases, so would something like this be better suited for a Japanese person?

Well, I think it's more of a "meta" thing rather than "everyone hears the song." I recall Dead Space 2 used "ring around the rosie" when you entered a daycare center with undead kids. Since it's the marker's influence on a person, I presume it would use something just as sinister so if the person had a nursery rhyme sung by their mother, it'd use that as well. Remember, Dementia by Marker is normally specialized for the victim.

[Vigilantia]

- Into Darkness -
Rin Tohsaka, GWL Agent
WAPB15-5C W. Anderson Building

“Hey McNab?” said Rin.

“Ma’am?” replied her partner. His voice was gruff and strained with pain, but he looked better than before.

“Where exactly are we heading?” said Rin. The blue motes of fire she’d conjured passed between them before joining its brethren illuminating the hall behind them. Although she knew it was slightly redundant to have three motes illuminating their rear and three exploring in front, she couldn’t deny just how reassuring the extra light made her. With the potential of one of those things jumping out from the walls, the additional lighting did wonders for her ever growing paranoia.

“Nearby control room I saw on the map. CEC mandated that all control centers need to have a tertiary backup power supply in case all power goes down. That’ll be the only room here with power and, hopefully, I’ll be able to find a way to restore power from there,” he replied.

Reaching another depowered door, he pulled the hydraulic release and pried open the double-doors by a crack. Tired, the tall agent sat down on a small round table that stood lonely next to the hallway wall. McNab looked downward at the assorted datapads arrayed on the table before picking up the lonely mug on the table. Opening the mug’s lid, he examined the contents before moving the mug closer and giving it sniff.

Rin wrinkled her nose at the action. “Really? You’re going to drink that?” she asked.

“Coffee’s cold but still smells fresh. Inside of the mug aren’t even stained yet. Whatever happened to this place was within the last several hours. There might even be people still alive here,” he said.

“I… oh…” said Rin. “That’s… a good observation.”

Approaching the crack in the door she simple flick one of her fingers and urged one of the motes to squeeze. The tiny ball of flame squeezed through and spread light into the room. This had been the third time they’d done this little procedure. Personally, she hoped the control room was close. This ever present darkness was starting to wear down on her nerves and in the disturbingly quiet hallways, she thought she could hear whispers in the far distance.

Looking through the crack, she could make out blood staining the silver metal floors that lay beyond but that was it. She sent two more motes through but even with their additional light, she couldn’t see the end of the room through the small crack. She ordered the motes to spread out further.

Sudden movement caught Rin’s eyes and she saw one of her motes disappear in a mass of clawed blades and necrotic flesh. She reflexively backed away from the door in fear as the four necromorphs easily shredded the remaining two motes. One of the necromorphs turned and looked directly at Rin. There was a wide gaping hole where its left eye should have been that was deep enough she could see the darkened room through its head. She felt another chill run up her spine. With a roar that called to its fellow brethren, the necromorph charged towards her with blade and claw at the ready.

McNab slammed the door shut on the necromorph’s face and smiled when he heard the door rock from the collision; their shrill screams and guttural voices muffled by the heavy door. As he looked back towards Rin, McNab could see her eyes wide in fear as she took several steps back the way they came. She took a nervous glance behind her shoulder, ready to flee.

Limping towards her, McNab placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. His voice was calm and level as he spoke, “Ma’am, I need you to focus. We can’t just keep running when we face these things or else they’ll corner us. We have to fight them. You are Tohsaka Rin, veteran of the Holy Grail War and agent of the Grail Works. I know you can handle this, Tohsaka. They’re just undead, not Servants.”

She forced herself to swallow down the sudden swell of fear in her chest before nodding. He was right, she had fought worse foes than this before.

Taking a breath to calm herself, she focused on the words to her incantation. Her body tingled as if static electricity had been coursing through her veins as she felt prana flow through her circuits. Winds rustled her clothes as she recited the lines needed to complete the spell.

Metal groaned and bent as the doors slowly bent inward from the necromorph’s assault. Razor sharp bone met and the center of the doors bent aside to reveal the head of a necromorph, this one bald with its eyes bloodshot red. Its claws plunged through the hole and ripped against the metallic frame, trying to fit its body through the narrow entrance.

With a motion from Rin’s arm, one of the metal floor plates broke free from its holding and floated in mid air. With another incantation, the square transformed into six different horizontal blade and, with a flick of the wrist, fired one of them at the necromorphs with a rush of air. Traveling almost at the speed of sound, the shaped metal blade cut clean through the thin door. Sharpened metal cleaved through the bald necromorph’s body, dismembering its arms and decapitating the head. Arterial spray splashed against the door and across the floor around them, coating the area in crimson.

The bloody naked remains of the necromorph toppled backwards with a sickening squish into its own pool of blood. Almost immediately, another slasher appeared to fill the void. She threw another one of the blades towards it, removing the torso from its shoulders upward and sending blood fountaining from where the massive wound.

Rin gagged at the smell and forced herself to breathe through her mouth. The rest of her blade flew through, taking apart the remaining necromorphs with the same ease until only one remained. She began to utter the lines to fire off another blade before she realized her blades had run out. Eyes wide in fear, she started out the incantations for a quick fire spell. Words blended together as she desperately tried to cut the spell’s casting time to zero.

The slasher gave a guttural roar, its arms raised above its head, before c-

A coffee cup smashed into the necromorph’s head and sent it reeling backwards; staining the necromorph’s already bloody lab coat a new shade of brown. It regained its footing before switching it’s attention toward McNab. Rin would have said it looked angry, but that was impossible considering the thing was already dead.

“Anytime you’re ready, Ma’am,” McNab yelled, holding a table at the ready.


The necromorph charged forth with a scream and the agent met it half way, slamming the table into it’s chest and pinning it against the wall. The necromorph roared once more before lashing out with its scythe-like arms, each swing coming dangerously close to the agent’s face.

“Rin...” said McNab nervously. He leaned his head back and narrowly avoided a swing; feeling more than seeing the jagged blade whistle past his face.

Those few seconds were all the time Rin needed. With a final motion with her hand, the necromorph burst into flames. Putrid flesh melted and dripped off the skeletal flame as the slasher wailed uselessly to put out the flames. The agent held the table against its body until it finally became still.

Rin breathed heavily as she surveyed the destruction left in their wake. Her circuits still tingled from the remnants of prana that flowed through the system and she had to close close her hands to stop them from shaking. Thaumaturgical Excess her father had called it, the way every sense seemed heightened and sensitive to the world around her; like being under the effects of twelve cups of coffee after having run a marathon. From what he’d told her, it was a result of residual prana that remained after a spell had been cast by misallocating the amount of prana needed for a spell; like having leftover flour from a recipe. Not even enough prana to summon the weakest spell but enough to make her nerves tingle with adrenaline.

Her friends at the Clock Tower had another name for them, “Combat High” or “Combat Chills.” When students fought at the Clock Tower, and it happened more often than the esteemed faculty would ever admit, they had discovered this interesting side effect of spells. It hadn’t taken long before the technique was replicated in dorm rooms and parties as if it were some sort of euphoric drug. It was normally reported in life-and-death cases simply because of the higher probability the magus would mix words together while rushing to finish the incantations... something like she had just done when the necromorph was bearing down towards her.

Rin felt McNab clasp her hand in his before saying, “Ma’am? Rin? Are you alright?”

She nodded, her teeth still chattering and her breathing still out of control. “I... I’ll be fine. It’ll go away in a moment.”

He looked at her for another moment “Alright, just take it easy. Don’t want you to expend yourself like last time,” he said. Rin rolled her eyes. She wasn’t the one limping around with a bloody leg.

Kneeling down, McNab wiped the stained card on one of the Necromorph’s clothes and pocketed it in his jacket before stepping through the shredded door and into the large room the necromorphs had come from.

Rin followed behind him. Casting another spell, she replaced the lost motes of fire from before and used them to cast light in the large room. Ordering a few of the motes upwards, she watched as they flew up... higher and higher until it was barely a faint glow from above. Hundreds of reflections bounced off one another, giving the illusion of thousands of lights above, as the flame’s images copied itself amongst the hundreds of panes of glass that lined the walkways and the walls surrounding them. Looking past the panes of glass, she saw that the majority of the walls were lined with the same white plastic composite as the rest of the halls from before.

“That’s pretty tall,” said Rin, admiring the light show above.

“It makes sense. Given the isolated nature of colonies, the CEC would want to build everything together to conserve energy and materials. Makes construction as well as building upkeep more efficient. Assuming they even cared about worker safety and living standards,” he said.

Still admiring at the light show above, she noticed the particles of white that floated upward into her view that drifted with the cold air in the massive room.

“What... snow?” she said. Looking around the darkened room, she suddenly noticed the chilling draft that blew through the atrium. The draft tossed her motes around like small blimps caught in a storm and she instinctively hugged her body to keep warm. She muttered incantations and sighed in relief at the wave of warmth that emanated from the newly created ball of flame. Placing the red flame in front of her, she followed where the draft came from.

Walking forward, the floor slowly turned white until she found her feet walking through several inches of snow. In front of her were two open double doors that led into a field of snow outside. Heavy winds whipped a seeming wall of snow in the air that blocked her vision as surely as thick fog. A gust of wind blew into her face and Rin was force to shield her eyes. Squinting her eyes to see past the seemingly impenetrable wall of wind, she thought she could see lights in the distance; however, with these weather conditions she couldn’t be certain.

“Cold...” she muttered. Rin placed more mana into the flame spell in a vain attempt to counteract the bone chilling winds.

“Minus twelve degrees outside to be exact,” said McNab beside her. The agent had rolled his sleeve up and looked at another silver device attached to his forearm, this one similar in size to a PDA. Blue light reflected off the holographic display and covered his face in a blue tinge before he turned it off. “Looks like they came in through here.”

Rin looked at the device that was strapped to his arm. Doing a double take, she looked at the AIM that was strapped securely to her arm then back to McNab. “Wait... I thought you gave me your AIM device... thing?”

“The design is modular and can be seperated when needed. I gave you the Shield and Inter-dimensional module. I need this one to interface with CEC’s internal systems and communications when the time comes. Besides, you wouldn’t be able to operate this one if you can’t even manage a cell phone.”

She gave him a death glare. “I can operate an iPhone… kinda…” Rin muttered under her breath.

Gripping the door by the handle, he grunted in exertion before finally forcing the door closed with a heavy thud. “Come on, let’s go. The control room should be nearby and I’d be feeling damn well better with some lights on around here.”

Walking behind him, Rin stared at one of the reflections on the wall; admiring the way the lights danced off the glass. High above, she could see large chandeliers held in place by wires from above. The place must have looked impressive under normal circumstances. In one of the reflections from the panes of glass above, she watched the way her motes flickered in the air like fireflies. Her eyes blinked and in that moment she saw Sakura appear in the reflection behind her.

Her sister wore a form fitting midnight black and crimson dress that seemed to writhe and flow across her supple form as if it were alive. Rin could see angry red veins flowing up her face and down her hands, the only part of her body that wasn’t covered in the living clothes. Her skin was ghostly white and her hair pale like ash. However, Rin knew this was her sister. Sakura’s lips curved upwards in a smile before she looked up into the same pane of glass as her before waving. Rin felt her blood chill in her veins.

Her eyes went wide and she whirled around. Her stomach lurched in its chest and she instinctively backed up, almost slipping on the metal flooring.

There was nothing there except the darkness and shadows of the atrium.

“Rin?” said McNab behind her, finished pulling open the next door. He looked back towards her with a puzzled expression. “You good?”

“Coming,” she replied, hustling towards him. She took another look around her but saw nothing besides random desks and chairs scattered in the atrium. It must have been her imagination...

She hoped it was her imagination.

===

Agent McNab, GWL Agent
WAPB15-5C W. Anderson Building

Closing the thick metal doors, McNab looked at the cold grey corridor that stretched into the darkness just like the numerous ones they’d navigated before. Grimacing from the pain in his leg, he began to walk forwards. By now, his limping had gotten better and he could keep pace along side Rin without needing her to slow down.

Besides Rin’s blue flame motes and crimson sweater, grey had been all he’d seen on the walls for quite some time. Grey metallic doors that led to plastic grey flooring and black walll tiles. Who the hell designed this place?

“Don’t they know work environments like these often lead to suicides?” McNab thought to himself. They really needed to hire a decorator to spruce up these halls. He hadn’t even been here for an hour and the place made him feel sick. Then again, perhaps it was just due to the excessive darkness.

“Y’know, McNab, now that I think about it, we don’t really know much about you,” asked Rin as they walked down yet another darkened hallway. With those few words, dread that surpassed McNab’s fear of necromorphs jumped into his chest. Maybe if he played dumb the useless questions would go away.

“I’m pretty sure I explained to you what the Agency does when I first landed in the Grail Works,” McNab replied.

“No, I mean about you in particular. You rarely leave your apartment except for dinner with the Works,” she said.

He stopped and looked at her with a tired stare. It was the same look he gave her when she asked about computers; a mix between fatigue and ‘can I take a bullet to avoid this conversation?’ Instead, he said, “In the case of us being chased by mutated undead monstrosities trying to turn us into one of them, how does this possibly in any way relate to our current situation?”

“It doesn’t. But it’s better than just walking in silence,” she said.

He gave a sigh once more. “Is there anything short of a Necromorph attack that will forestall this conversation?

“Nope,” she replied with a smug grin. For the first since they’ve been thrown into this abyssal hell, Rin smiled. Maybe it was just because she was back in her element, which seemed to be some sort of warped need for dominance in social interactions. He was sure there was some psychological condition for that in a Psychology 101 textbook. However, he figured as long as it prevented Tohsaka from curling into a ball that rocked back and forth he’d have to put up with it...

“Well... I started work with the Agency roughly five years ago, although most of that time was spent recruiting...”

“No, not that!” Rin said, annoyed. “I meant... well... don’t you do anything besides mission work? What do you do for fun when you’re not working?”
“Rin, I’m always working,” he said. “Why do you think Ilya has had free time to cuddle with Shirou or Rider's stopped dragging you, sometimes literally, out of bed to help Shirou and Ilya with Dimensional Analysis in the morning?"

This time Rin’s expression turned to a sour deadpan look. “Fine! Idiot…” she muttered. There was an uncomfortable pause as he almost felt Rin’s anger slowly simmering inside of her.

“I like listening to Jazz and Classical music,” he said, hoping to diffuse the situation.

“See! That’s what I’m talking about. Something to show you’re not just a machine,” Rin said cheerfully. “We really need to get you a girlfriend.” Her right hand rubbed her chin in deep thought. Even without having to delve into the girl’s mind, McNab already knew she was weaving webs of love and intrigue.

“See! That’s what I’m talking about. Something to show you’re not just a machine,” Rin said cheerfully. “We really need to get you a girlfriend.” Her right hand rubbed her chin in deep thought. Even without having to delve into the girl’s mind, McNab already knew she was weaving webs of love and intrigue.

“Who are you? Ilya now?” replied McNab. It was completely unbelievable. They were an infinite distance from the Grail Works, reinforcements or any sort of resupply and the only thing on the girl’s mind was matchmaking. He supposed he should let it slide, though, she was still a kid after all. In some ways, it was sad what Shirou and the rest of the Works was doing. Excluding the more recent arrivals like Forest or Ashley, most of the people in the Grail Works were kids; Saber included. Even at the rate the ISS Agency was losing the war, they’d be hesitant to send in kids at their age into situations the Works were engaging in.

“Hey, McNab. What do you think of Rider?” asked Rin, interrupting his thoughts. The question caught him off guard for a moment until he realized she was still thinking about matchmaking. He replied with a tired sigh. Luckily, they turned a corner and were met with the welcoming symbol of a powered door; it’s glowing neon glowing circle hovering like some angelic halo in the darkness.

“Door,” he said motioning ahead.

“You haven’t answered my question,” she said with slight annoyance.

“Well aware,” he said smugly. He tapped through his AIM’s interface before he started scrolling through lists of programs. The last time he’d visited this dimension, he’d been equipped with considerably heavier armaments than cloth-thin concealed body armour and a pistol. Still, at least he had his AIM.

“What are you doing?” inquired Tohsaka as she watched him tap the device.

“Looking for standard RIG signals. Everything in this universe is controlled by CEC’s standardized hardware and software. Everyone uses RIGS in this place, in some ways like that iPhone you don’t know how to use, so it’s normally not a problem,” he continued speaking before she could yell a retort. “Unfortunately, it’s been some time since I’ve been here so… ahh, there we go.”

Activating the archived program, he held his right hand upwards towards the door. Detecting an authorized RIG signal, the door unlocked and slid open with a smooth ‘shlink’.

The lights were on in the room, allowing him to finally see inside without needing one of Rin’s motes. On one side of the room, lockers lined the small room while numerous holo screens and computers lined the other. Refreshingly, he noticed the room was surrounded in a warm hue of yellow from the screens, although most of them were simply orange static. It was also oddly empty and spotless, barring several coffee mugs and datapads on the table. There were no bodies or signs of struggle, as if the guards had gone for coffee and never come back.

Moving aside several datapads and mugs, McNab sat down at the only working terminal in the room with Rin peering above his shoulders. The Concordence Extraction Corp logo hovered in mid air on the screen.

Tapping the screen once made the CEC welcome screen disappear and popped up what he assumed was the system’s welcome screen. A holographic model of the building appeared on the main screen tagged with flashing red markers. On the right side of the screen were flickering problems mark SEVERE and CRITICAL all vying for someone's attention.

“That doesn’t look good…” McNab muttered.

=====

[Kieran]

. . . Would you believe I'd forgotten that this was actually posted? I thought it was still only conceptual - eh, heh . . . Oi. ^_^;

Oh, well - now I have an excuse to read it all over again!

[Vigilantia]

. . . Would you believe I'd forgotten that this was actually posted? I thought it was still only conceptual - eh, heh . . . Oi. ^_^;

Oh, well - now I have an excuse to read it all over again!

Well, it has been a year. I think I should actually get back to this a write another Chapter up since I've got some motivation for it again.

McNab: "Alright. Now, just replace the burnt IC with the new one from the locker." (Gunfire in the background)

Rin: Eye-see? What's an Eye see?

McNab: Integrated Cir... (More gunfire and muttered curses)... Take out the burnt black piece and replace it with the new one!

Rin: Uhh... there's several that fit... which....

McNab: The gold one! Hurry up! (Sound of Necromorph screams in the background)

Rin: Alright, done. Now, the black screen says something about running the program with administrator access...

McNab: ...

McNab: ...

McNab: ... Fuck it, I'll just kill them all first.

[Kieran]

Please do - this is fun!