The
elevator gently hovered to a stop and the reinforced glass doors noiselessly
slid open. Out from it stepped a small group of researchers of various races. A
red-bearded dwarf wearing a lab coat and goggles fought his way free of the
crowd and began making his way down SkullTech HQ’s crowded entrance corridor.
By his side was a short young man who was also wearing a lab coat.
The
pair navigated their way through the noisy network of bright and bustling
halls, eventually stopping when they reached a door with the name “Dr.
Firehammer” inscribed upon it in gold letters. The dwarf produced a keycard
from his pocket and swiped it on a scanner next to the door, prompting it to
slide up into the ceiling.
“Wait
here. I will fetch the prototype,” the researcher ordered as he strode into the
office. The inside of the room was dark, but the light from the hallway was
enough to make out a heavy wooden desk covered in stacks of papers and
unfinished gismos. Dr. Firehammer flicked a small switch next to the inside of
the door, activating bright green flames within lanterns hanging from the
walls.
The
dwarf retrieved a small safe from under his desk and punched in a code. The safe’s
door opened with a faint click and Dr. Firehammer reached into it. From within
the safe, he produced a rectangular device made from mithril. On its top was a
large, glowing, green button, and on its front was an antenna ending in a
small, glowing amethyst.
“Got
it, Greg. Let’s head to my testing room,” the researcher affirmed in a
professional, yet obviously excited, tone.
Greg
the intern enthusiastically nodded his head and followed the dwarf down the
hall. On the way, the two of them passed multiple testing chambers where
scientists were testing out their new inventions. Before long, they came to a
door marked “Testing Chamber 114”, and with a swipe of his keycard, Dr.
Firehammer was in.
Inside
the room was e a pair of well-armored, humanoid constructs made from a matte,
black alloy called alchemos, each wielding a rifle forged from the same alloy
and with a series of green gemstones running along its sides. The room was
empty aside from a table with a variety of lab equipment and a cyan crystal
ball resting on a shelf in the corner. On one side of the room was a heavily reinforced
door leading into the testing chamber proper and a transparent wall of magical
force to allow safe viewing of dangerous experiments.
“You
ready?” the dwarf asked in a voice that was gruff, but nonetheless excited.
“As I’ll
ever be,” the intern responded with a hint of nervousness.
“Bill,
are we cleared to begin the test?” Firehammer formally queried, looking at the
crystal ball that sat in the corner next to a placard with the initials
“B.I.L.L.” inscribed on it.
The
ball suddenly lit up with a neon green face composed of an upward-facing crescent
below a pair of dots. “Indeed you are, Dr. Firehammer. I’m sure Wendellor will
be interested in the results of this test,” an enthusiastic voice
telepathically affirmed.
“Well
then, let’s begin,” the dwarf stated as he handed the device to Greg and
motioned for him to enter the testing room.
Greg
walked up to the heavy door and waited as one of the constructs opened it with
a lever on the wall.
“OK,
so you are gonna be testing my prototype teleportation remote,” Dr. Firehammer
explained as the intern entered the testing room. “The way this device works is
that you point the antenna at the place you want to go and press the button and
then bam! You are teleported to where the antenna is pointing! So, what I need
you to do is point the antenna at the opposite wall of the room and press the
button,” he explained as he got into position safely behind the magical wall.
Greg nervously
stood against one wall of the chamber and pointed the remote at the other, his
finger hovering just above the button. “Three, two, one, and AAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
Ì
Wendellor’s
brain rested in its adamantine and magically-reinforced glass jar upon the ornate
metal desk. With his mind, he levitated his enchanted inkless pen to make
adjustments to his latest schematics.
“Sorry to interrupt you, sir, but Dr.
Firehammer would urgently like to talk to you,” Bill informed the company’s CEO.
“Very well. After all, he is a senior
researcher, and he has invented some rather interesting things in the past. Actually,
I have been quite eager to see how his teleportation remote is coming along. Does
this have something to do with that perchance?” Wendellor queried, his voice
echoing across the room from within his jar.
“See for yourself,” Bill stated as
the crystal ball changed to show an image of Dr. Firehammer’s testing chamber
with Bill’s face moved to the upper lefthand corner.
Through the orb, Wendellor could see
Dr. Firehammer staring through the magical wall and into the testing chamber,
which was badly charred and now had a dark portal hovering inside it.
“Hello,
doctor. I see that your test went well,” Wendellor addressed with a telepathic
chuckle.
“Sorry
about that, boss. You see, I had Greg go in there and attempt to teleport to
the other side of the room, but as you can see, the teleporter exploded when he
hit the button and ripped a portal in the fabric of reality. Soooooo, that’s
great,” the dwarf responded, nervously stroking his beard. “Also, there is no
sign of Greg.”
“No
need for apology, Flint. This portal of yours could well be more valuable to us
than the teleportation remote,” the CEO mused. “Unless you think you have a
better idea, I am going to have to ask you to stay and monitor the portal with
the help of a few of your fellow researchers.”
“I
understand. I will set up some monitoring equipment right away,” Dr. Firehammer
confirmed.
“Very
good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to send for A.L.E.R.T.” the artificer stated.
“A.L.E.R.T?”
Dr. Firehammer quizzically repeated.
“Ah
yes. A.L.E.R.T. is a highly specialized division. Many civilian employees have
not heard of them,” Wendellor admitted. “They are the Anomalous Locations
Exploration and Reconnaissance Team. Now gather your monitoring team. Time is
of the essence!"
Ì
The chamber’s
door slid quietly open, admitting the members of A.L.E.R.T. into the room. Dr.
Firehammer observed that the squad had twelve members in total and that each
was wearing a suit of armor forged from the same alchemical alloy as the
security constructs. Each had SkullTech’s logo of a skull with a mechanical eye
emblazoned on one of their armored shoulders, with S.T. written above it, and
A.L.E.R.T. written below. Their helmets covered their entire heads and each one
featured a built-in air filtration mask, a visor made from reinforced dark glass
that heavily obscured their eyes, and a blue orb built into the right side.
One member of the group moved to the
front and approached the dwarven scientist. Instead of a full helmet, she wore
a mask that looked much like the front of the other operatives’ helmets, except
its small, blue orb was built into the forehead rather than the side, and the
visor was less opaque, allowing her snakelike yellow eyes to be seen. Her hair
was a nest of small cobras, covered with flexible scale mail made from the same
dark metal as her armor and shaped to mimic the snakes’ natural scales. The medusa’s
lower body was like that of a rattlesnake, and was covered with the same scale
mail as her snake hair. Her armor was fancier than that of the other A.L.E.R.T.
members and looked more advanced, one of the most notable
differences being her gauntlets, which each had a sizable green gem that
crackled with energy built into the back.
“Greetings,
Dr. Firehammer. I am Helixea, the team leader of this squad, and commander of
this mission,” the medusa explained in a cordial and businesslike tone. “Since
you are to be in charge of monitoring the portal, I thought I should introduce
myself and my squad to you before we head off.”
“I
appreciate the courtesy,” Firehammer replied, nervously averting his eyes.
“Don’t
be silly,” Helixea amusedly reassured. “You’ll only get petrified by looking at
my eyes if I want you to . . . which I don’t.”
“Good
to know,” the dwarf responded, his voice breaking into a slightly higher pitch
than usual.
“So,
here we have Morthos,” the medusa stated, gesturing at a tall, red-skinned
figure with horns and a sizable pair of leathery wings. “He’s a demon, but
don’t that that concern you. If the squad gets into trouble, you can count on
him to bring the big guns.”
“This
is Kethra,” Helixea explained, pointing at a human woman with a tall, humanoid
construct standing behind her. “She’s the team’s medic, and her custom-built
construct can be an asset in a fight.”
“We
also have Thunder,” the squad leader continued, motioning towards an orange-furred
tabaxi, or cat-person. “He is a bit of an anthropologist, so he tends to serve
as our ambassador to any foreign cultures we come across in our missions.”
“This
is our team’s researcher, Dr. Bones,” the medusa gestured towards an animated
skeleton.
“Wait
a minute, I’ve met Dr. Bones. I thought he was a senior researcher like me?!”
Dr. Firehammer confusedly exclaimed.
“Indeed,
I am,” the skeleton affirmed. “Seeing as A.L.E.R.T. is a specialized team that
is only rarely needed, most of its members hold additional jobs at SkullTech where
they work when they are not needed for missions.”
“Finally,”
Helixea resumed, “we have our team’s brave security guards: Darvin, Arveene, Abzug,
Igan, Luth, Kethoth, and Stedd,” she listed, pointing in turn to two humans, an
orc, a skeleton, a wight, a mummy, and a ghost. “Now that I have introduced everyone,
I think it’s time we head out and begin the mission,” she finished.
Dr. Firehammer nodded. “I agree. I’m sure Wendellor wants us all to make haste with this operation.”
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