Prism and The Red Wolves

“Get down!”

Ursun shouted at Prism when he saw a wall trap shoot several sharp darts out at his teammate. Prism ducked immediately and narrowly dodged the projectiles, mindlessly heeding the commander’s warning. Prism looked down at his foot and saw that he’d accidentally stepped on a floor sensor of some kind. Prism groaned, knowing that his recklessness had surely cost his team the chance to get a perfect 100 score on the event room that they’d nearly completed.

It would have been the last 100 that they’d need to proceed to the fourth level of the Undercity.

“Aren’t you supposed to have superhuman senses or something!?” Srell shouted from across the room while he stood amongst the rest of RED-1 near the exit.

“He didn’t have a choice. The laser cannon that came out of nowhere forced him to move onto the panel. Leanna didn’t detect either of those traps.” Jaik rationally defended Prism.

“This room was a tricky one. Gnapp went out of his way to shield the walls and flooring from scanners.” Leanna said while tapping on her smart glasses and shaking her head with irritation. “We can’t expect steady 100s on the third level, anyway. It’s a miracle that we’ve been doing so well.” Leanna added.

“That’s what he’s supposed to be for.” Lorias said with a discreet point towards Prism, who’d nearly joined back up with his team.

“Sorry everyone!” Prism shouted a short time later.

“It’s fine. You’ve been doing well up until now. Let us know if you need to take a break. We’re making good time, so we can afford an extended rest.” The normally hard-nosed Ursun said calmly to Prism, which surprised the others.

“Oh, that won’t be necessary. I’m feeling good. I just made a mistake, is all.” Prism said confidently to his commander.

When they all left the fifth event room of the third level, they weren’t surprised to see a large “95” appear on the prep room kiosk’s display. Srell groaned loudly before dramatically falling onto a couch within the prep room. Prism shrugged at Jaik when the curly-haired doctor looked at his bald friend.

“One more room before we can call it a day.” Jaik said with a smirk.

“That’s okay. We’ve already made excellent time. I think that we’ve only been at it for four or five hours.” Leanna replied while temporarily taking off her helmet and adjusting her hair bun.

“These rooms are getting too long, even with magic. I wish Gnapp would give us a break, for once in the old man’s life.” Srell complained loudly.

“Stop your whining. He’s probably listening in right now.” Ursun told Srell, who was quick to sit down and cover his own mouth.

Lorias was the first to check the kiosk for detailed information about their next event room. As he tapped and swiped the display screen in front of him, Lorias’ face became increasingly stern. When Leanna saw the frown on his face, she became worried herself.

“It can’t be that bad, can it?” Leanna said with a nervous laugh.

“Teammate Rescue.” Lorias said somberly while stepping aside from the display so that everyone else could see it. “It calls for two incapacitations.” He said loudly to get the attention of the others scattered about the room.

“That can’t be right…” Leanna said while looking at the event room details. She quickly learned that Lorias’ description was indeed correct.

“Holy Twins…it even specifies which of us have to be knocked out…” Jaik said a short time later, after all of them had crowded around the kiosk’s display screen.

“Lorias and Ursun!? What was Gnapp thinking!?” Srell shouted. “Is he really getting back at me that fast for talking crap about him!?”

Lorias gave Srell and light shove to calm the nervous man down. Srell looked at Lorias expecting him to be even a little concerned, but Lorias somehow managed to maintain his legendary coolness in the face of danger. Srell smirked, knowing better than anyone else how unflappable Lorias truly was.

“Our two eldest members, including our leader. This is sure to be a challenge.” Leanna said while biting down on the nail of her thumb.

“No magic is to be used to revive the incapacitated teammates…” Prism said in disbelief as he read the event room description. “That’s silly.” Prism said to himself.

“Keep your heads on, kids. All of you know how this event room works, with the exception of Prism. Two designated incapacitations during a Teammate Rescue is rare, but it does happen. It’s nothing that you four can’t handle.” Ursun said unworriedly.

“We’ll simply drink the sedative and be taken to the room’s exit by our most capable young crew, who will then administer a shot that will wake us up hale and whole.” Lorias made sure to speak as sarcastically as he could.

“Seriously though, you can count on us.” Jaik said with conviction.

“I may not be able to just wake the two of you up, but I can buff the heck out of the rest of us to make sure that we all make it through the room safely.” Prism said assuredly to Ursun and Lorias.

“You better, because if anything happens to Lorias, I’ll…” Srell was practically snarling at Prism.

“Down, boy. Nothing’s going to go wrong. We’ve got Magical Boy on our side.” Lorias’ sarcasm vanished from his voice as he pulled Srell close and spoke positively to him.

“…alright,” was all that Srell could say to his longtime friend.

Ursun put his coilgun within a large tubular locker that ran up and down the corner of the prep room. With a press of a button on a panel near the tube, his heavy weapon disappeared down the tube. Leanna had explained to Prism that the pneumatic tube system that ran throughout the Undercity allowed them to safely store and transport excess items that they no longer needed to their next relief room. Ursun was simply making sure that his teammates wouldn’t need to transport both him and his heavy weapon through the next room, whose layout was unknown to them.

After checking their gear and making sure that everything they possessed was in working order, RED-1 made their way into the next event room. Prism was surprised when he saw the prep room’s gate open up to a smaller room with a gate of its own. When the team entered the smaller room, the heavy industrial gate behind them closed and locked them in. A display on the side wall lit up, and directed Ursun and Lorias to drink an orange solution that was contained in two vials that sat within a glowing tray that slid out of the wall. Lorias and Ursun clinked their glass vials together before throwing them back like they were doing shots.

“See you soon.” Lorias said to Srell before closing his eyes and falling unconscious. Srell was sure to catch his friend before he fell to the ground.

“Lightweight.” Ursun said with a chuckle before succumbing to the effects of the powerful sedative himself.

Prism and Jaik broke the hulking man’s fall and then leaned him against the nearest wall. The heavy hydraulic gate doors leading to the larger event room slowly slid open moments after Ursun and Lorias became unconscious. While Leanna, Srell and Jaik stood before the gate in anticipation, Prism began to ready a barrage of spells to empower himself and his team.

His left iris shimmered red and his right iris shimmered green before he formed three small spell circles in his open right palm. Prism then sent the half-red, half-green circles at his three conscious teammates, who each briefly glowed when the circles made contact with their bodies before disappearing like snowflakes. Prism’s own multicolored spell circle glowed on the side of his bald head, but was hidden by the helmet that he wore. His teammates were no stranger to being strengthened by his magic since their time in The Center building, though the rush it gave them was almost intoxicating.

“I feel five times stronger! Damn it feels good!” Srell said before lifting Lorias up with ease and slinging the taller blonde man over his shoulder.

“We’re faster, too.” Leanna stated while moving her fist in the air in front of her at superhuman speed.

“This is the most you’ve ever buffed us. I thought you said it was dangerous to make our bodies this strong and fast?” Jaik said while his medical training kicked in.

“That’s why I’ve mixed in some regenerative magic into the empowering magic. It’ll allow you guys to stay buffed for about ten minutes with no ill effects.” Prism explained resolutely, which put Jaik’s mind at ease.

“From the looks of this room, we’re dealing with a multi-tiered maze configuration. I’d send out my drones, but it’d be faster for you to do your magical echolocation thing to chart our path, Prism.” Leanna said while activating the scanning function of her glasses.

“Sorry, but I’m locked in. I can’t use that sort of magic while I’m maintaining these buffs on all of you.” Prism said.

“Then alternate between your echolocation magic and your buff magic.” Leanna replied. She sounded as though she’d taken over the role of commander in place of Ursun.

“I can’t just switch between two complex magics like that. I’ll use too much mana doing that, and then I’ll be of no use to anyone.” Prism explained a bit guiltily. “And if I’d used my area scanning magic beforehand, then I wouldn’t have been strong enough to buff us.”

He hated that he still had such limitations, but mana wasn’t exactly abundant in the Undercity.

“We don’t have time for this!” Srell shouted and pointed at the timer on the wall display beside them counting down from 30 minutes. “We need to get moving.” Srell suggested in a calmer tone.

Leanna sent out her two flying insectoid drones from her hard-cased backpack and soon began receiving a visual feed from their eye-cameras. She was the first to run ahead and enter the actual event room. Jaik looked over at Prism, who gestured for Jaik to pick up Ursun. Jaik nodded curtly and lifted Ursun off the ground. Jaik wasn’t prepared for how easily it felt to lift the heavy man, though it was still a challenge to carry Ursun in a way that still allowed Jaik to use his PAW or his pistol. Realizing that he had no other choice, Jaik slung Ursun over his shoulders and grasped the unconscious commander’s arm in one hand and his thigh in another.

“You didn’t carry me like that.” Prism joked when he saw how ridiculous Jaik looked with the much larger man wrapped around him.

“That’s because you’re tiny in comparison.” Jaik replied with a smile before following behind Srell, who took off running behind Leanna after growing tired of their playful antics.

The four of them walked briskly through the maze with Leanna at the lead. She wondered why her drones didn't detect any traps or other challenging obstacles during their first five minutes within the maze, but she figured that Gnapp hadn't wanted them to endure too many dangers while their two most capable teammates were incapacitated. The thought of the room being shield from her scans had occurred to her, but the scanners within her drones were far more powerful than those within her glasses.

By the time their team had made it halfway through the maze, they'd been lulled into a false sense of security.

"We're making really good time. Shouldn't be much longer now, I hope." Leanna turned back and said to her allies while they all walked up a steep staircase.

But before anyone could respond, the steps beneath their feet suddenly gave way, sending them hurtling down to an earlier part of the maze. Prism, with his enhanced reflexes, was able to respond to the trap just as the others began to fall. Luckily, he was behind everyone else, giving him an opportunity to save them.

After a brief flash of red and green light from his respective eyes, he leapt from his step as it began to fall and rapidly grew his arms to over twice their normal size. While he flew in an upwards arc into the air, he caught his five teammates in his overgrown arms, then hugged them all tight as he came slamming down into the hard metallic floor above them on his back. He felt the air leaving his lungs when he struck the ground. He opened up his massive arms to allow everyone to roll onto the ground around him, and sighed as his arms shrunk back to their regular size.

"Now THAT was a rescue!" Srell shouted excitedly while he stood up and slung Lorias back over his shoulder.

"Excellent work. I apologize for not detecting that trap." Leanna said while she slid her glasses back up onto her nose. Her drones returned to her location and hovered busily above her shoulders.

"No worries. We'll just need to proceed with a bit more caution from now on. This room is just as shield as the r-" Jaik said while helping Prism back up to his feet.

"The magic I'm using on you guys isn't going to last much longer. We actually need to hurry up, or we won't be able to easily carry these two anymore." Prism interjected. "That little rescue took a lot out of me. I won't be able to recover enough mana to be of much use without a lengthy break. I'll need thirty minutes before I can buff even just two of you again, at least."

Prism had used a great deal of magic that day during their foray through the third level of the Undercity. He knew that once his personal buffs expired, he'd feel the full brunt of the day’s activities. He definitely didn't want to be in a dangerous event room when that happened.

"It isn't safe. My drones can tell us the layout of the maze, but not about any of its traps. This definitely won't be the last one we encounter." Leanna told Prism. He could see the worry in her eyes.

"Send the drones out as usual. I'll walk ahead of you to check for traps." Prism said to Leanna, who looked at him apprehensively. "Don't worry, I've figured out a way to scan for traps on my own." Prism said with a smile.

"Don't let us down, Magical Boy." Srell gingerly said to Prism.

Prism gave Srell a thumbs-up before putting on a game-face as he walked ahead of everyone else. He then turned his head around and nodded to Leanna for her to send her drones out. With a tap of the rim of her glasses, the two spherical bug-drones buzzed away from her and flew around the corner ahead of them.

"Looks good. Let's proceed." Leanna said resolutely.

Prism's red eye began to shimmer while he ran ahead of the others. He started to be able to see the complex lines of electrical wiring that ran through the walls, despite the extensive electromagnetic shielding that the walls had. Prism could feel a pain behind his eyes as he pushed himself to see the shielded circuits using mana that he constantly pushed out in all directions. It was like the magical echolocation that he'd used in previous rooms, except more specific. It became harder for him to see the actual details from his normal vision, though he did his best to maintain as much of his regular sight as he could. He overlaid the electrical information he perceived on top of the physical forms that he saw, which only further increased his eye strain.

It didn't take long before he saw lines of electricity leading to a complex network of circuits behind a section of the wall. The circuits were in the shape of an automated gun turret.

"Hold up, there's a turret trap." Prism said while holding his hand up to the teammates behind him.

While everyone stopped, Prism saw the circuits from the hidden gun turret lead to a panel on the floor ahead of them. He was relieved that there was only one such panel within the hallway, and that it was small enough to be avoided completely.

"Follow me. We need to avoid a floor panel." Prism said.

He leaned his back against the wall opposite to the hidden turret and walked sideways until he was clear of the floor trap. The others did the same, finding it easy despite Srell and Jaik still carrying the larger men on their shoulders.

After they’d made it around the trap, Leanna eyed Prism up and down with a gleam in her eyes. She was once again fascinated by him and the unknown ability he was using to see what her cutting edge gear could not. Sensing her eyes on him, Prism turned around quickly to speak with her.

"I can see the electrical currents all around us." Prism told her while pointing to the shimmering red iris of his left eye.

Leanna rubbed her chin before nodding her approval. She gestured for him to keep going, and he was happy to oblige. After a few more minutes of dashing through the maze and avoiding three more extensive traps, RED-1 made it to the event room's exit just as Prism's strengthening magics began to fade. When Prism pressed the door's control panel, he turned around to see Jaik's knees finally begin to buckle under Ursun's weight.

Jaik had no choice but to fall to one knee and drop Ursun to the ground as gently as he could manage. Srell laughed at the sight, as he had no problem with having Lorias slung over his own shoulder using only his own strength. Srell slowly and smoothly placed Lorias in a seating position beside Ursun, who Jaik had propped up to have leaning against the empty wall beside the exit gate.

"Good, the antidotes." Leanna said when a panel next to the slowly-opening door was revealed.

The panel slid up and slowly presented a glowing tray with two tack-like needles that didn't seem to have any fluid containers attached to them. Prism looked intriguingly at the simplistic, small needles as Jaik took the off of the tray. He had one of the needles in his right hand and the other in his left.

Without any warning, Jaik simply pricked both of the tacks into the necks of Ursun and Lorias at the same time. The small tacks didn't seem to leave a mark on either of the men. Almost immediately after being pricked, Ursun and Lorias opened their eyes and looked up at their teammates. Lorias gave a knowing smirk to Srell and then to Prism before rising to his feet. Ursun rubbed his thick red beard before standing up as well.

"Looks like we're in one piece. Good work." Lorias said to Srell with a squeeze on the small of the smaller man's neck. Srell chuckled and swatted Lorias hand away.

Prism was surprised by how energetic Lorias and Ursun appeared to be after receiving the antidote. He had been groggy and tired for days after awakening from his own drug-induced slumber, though he knew the circumstances had been drastically dissimilar.

"Good work, indeed. You all look tired. Let's get in to that relief room." Ursun said, which elicited many nods and words of agreement from everyone else.

The prep room's kiosk displayed a score of 100 for their completion of the Teammate Rescue event room. Despite triggering a trap, their blazing speed through the room had spared them a less-than-perfect score. After confirming that they'd amassed the 500 points needed to proceed to the fourth level of the Undercity, they heard the familiar sound of the prep room's center flooring opening up. A minute later, a circular elevator like the one that had brought them down to the Undercity rose from the opening in the center of the room. With a relieved sigh, Prism was the first to step onto the elevator.

It only took a few minutes for RED-1 to be brought down to their third relief room, which looked the same as all the others. Ursun saw that his coilgun sat within the pneumatic tube at the corner of the large room, and he was quick to retrieve it. Prism walked ploddingly over to the partitioned locker room area and began to remove his armor and disrobe. He'd been dreaming of taking a nice warm shower after being made to rush through an event room that became hotter and hotter to simulate escaping from a burning building. He was the first to step into the communal shower that day, despite them normally letting Leanna shower alone first. He was quick to apologize to her after he was done.

"Oh please! You definitely earned the right to shower before me today." Leanna said to Prism with a warm smile.

Prism soon laid down on the lower bunk of one of the many bunk beds that were in a partitioned corner of the room. He knew that it was only mid-afternoon, but he was too tired to do much else. Before he fell asleep, he could make out the others conversing in the common area on the other side of the room.

"Seems to me that the newbie has become much more of a team player already." Lorias said with only a hint of sarcasm.

"I must admit, I didn't expect him to be able to rise to all of Gnapp's demented challenges, and to keep us all safe in the process." Ursun replied. "I guess that mad scientist was right about Prism's capabilities." He added after a brief pause.

"Dr. Liam has a bone to pick with Prism. I'm not sure it's really in our best interests to put him in all of these wildly dangerous situations." Jaik said.

Prism could not only hear the restrained frustration in his voice, but he could sense it emanating from Jaik like tumultuous waves on an otherwise calm sea. Prism knew that there was quite a bit of bad blood between the younger and older doctor.

"It's definitely risky to put him under so much pressure, but he has risen to meet and beat each challenge. The kid's got heart." Srell said confidently. His words made Prism smile to himself while he laid under the covers.

"I just don't want us to wear him out before he can even help us on another big mission." Jaik said quietly.

"On the topic of our previous mission, what's the word on Goran Tinit? Have we executed him yet?" Lorias said. Prism could practically hear the smirk that appeared on Lorias lips.

"We aren't executing him, you cold-blooded kidder. He is in the process of spilling his guts to us, though. We're getting all sorts of valuable intel from him." Ursun said in a tone that was more casual than Prism was used to from him.

"Anything about the Vadamites? I've been hearing rumors that their preparing for some sort of big operation." Srell asked.

"You all will be briefed about all of that once we're back topside. Right now, we just need to focus on surviving the next day or so down here." Ursun quickly shut down the discussion.

"Aww, it was just starting to get good." Leanna said from the locker room area, echoing the same words that Prism was thinking.

The conversation between the mercenaries quickly devolved into small talk about various things that Prism didn't have much knowledge of. The tediousness of following each of their discreet discussions was enough to finally lull the Elementeitan to sleep.