.Space : Artifact Two by IXI aka Isaak Kraft van Ermel Was the room empty, were there no sounds, no people trying to grab him? Nick slowly walked in and out rooms, trying to find his way back to the surface. Stupid, he wanted to find out what was inside that vent, and ended up here. Most of the time he heard eerie noises, moaning, grunting. But one sound stood out. A loud scream, that sounded like three animals. He had heard it several times. He had also heard gunfire, he figured there were soldiers coming to rescue him. He was half right about that, and half wrong. The last thing he had heard was a rumble, coming from underneath. He had no idea what to expect. What was that? Nick turned around. He could've sworn he had heard something. He stepped backwards and stepped in something. He looked down and saw that he landed his foot in somesort of dark-green slime. He had this feeling, he was being watched. He looked up and saw a creature standing in front of him. Breathing... __________________________.....:::::Chapter 1 : Finding Nick:::::....._______________________________________ The three men were still amazed by the sight. Joseph shook his head. "Okay...let's move on." The team was about to turn around when they heard a scream. A boy's scream. A small kid came tumbling down the mine-shaft they had just passed. Followed by one of the creatures. Moving it's spider-like legs around and growling. "That must be Nick!" Barakith said. The boy ran as fast as he could towards the NTA soldiers. The soldiers raised their weapons and began firing at the creature. Their heavy plasma-weapons blasted the creature into oblivion. It fell to the ground. One of the NTA soldiers approached Nick: "Who are you? What are you doing here?" Nick couldn't say anything, frozen with fear.It was strange, Nick was supposed to be shot down immediately. But not by this NTA soldier. This soldier was actually nice to him."Maybe their Timeline isn't so...cruel." Joseph guessed and got up from behind the rock. Barakith warned him not convinced they weren't hostile. But that wasn't his biggest problem now. A growl, no two growls filled the cave. Not good...Joseph was paralyzed, so were his team-mates. They had fought one of them, but two...Two beasts emerged from one of the mine-shafts. Big, slimey, walking slowly forward.The NTA soldiers prepared themselves. Their attention went from Joseph to to the creatures. The beasts began their attack. One jumped updodging numerous plasma-bursts. Several soldiers ran away, scared to death. The creature severed an arm and the head of one of the NTA soldiers. The body fell to the floor like it was a toy soldier. The creature splattered apart from a single plasma-burst. The second beast slashed throughthrough a soldier like he was a twig. He fell screaming to the floor before his torso was crushed under the enormous weight of the creature.It turned it's attention to Joseph, who had raised his weapon. He puleld the trigger as the creature came rushing for him. A whole clip of bullets was fired upon the beast. The creature ran through the rain of lead like it was water. It jumped, preparing for a devastating slash. There was nothing Joseph could do. The creature almost landed it's claws into Joseph. Suddenly, a plasma-burst blasted the creature apart. Green flesh and blood splattered all over Joseph. He stood there for a few seconds, blood dripping from...well...everywhere. He spitted out bits and pieces of green flesh. He wiped some off his face. Smoke was coming out of a weapon, held by the remainign NTA soldier. But he didn't lower it. "Who are you?" He yelled. "Just let me..." Joseph didn't finish because he was removing the last remains from his chest. He wiped his hands off on his pants. "I should've kept that Haz-Mat suit." Mario and Barakith emerged from their hiding place. "Joseph, are you alright?" Barakith asked. "Never been better..." Joseph answered in a typical sarcastic way. "You didn't answer my question!" The soldier yelled, still aiming his rifle into Joseph's direction. "Would you quiet down already?" Joseph was not in the mood for questions. The soldier fired one round. Inches away from Joseph's head. Joseph didn't seem impressed. He was shot in the had once so this was nothing. "Okay then. I'm Joseph, meet Mario and Barakith," Joseph pointed at his fellow team-mates, "and we're here to find out what the frell is going on here..." The soldier seemed satisfied with this answer. He lowered his weapon. "Commander Jack Niles, NTA Marines." He introduced himself. "So what are you doing here?" Joseph asked. "Those creatures? We hunt them, they managed to find the Timegate. The rest is history..." Jack said. Barakith looked at the bodies and the remains of the creatures."Sure is..." He added. Nick was sitting on a rock. Breathing fast, his eyes filled with fear. Barakith sat down in front of him, one knee on the ground. "You must be Nick." He said. Nick didn't say anything. He just stared. "Well, I'm here to bring you home." Barakith tried to calm the boy down. The boy looked Barakith in the eyes. "You...are...?" He said, stumbling over his own words. "Yes..." Barakith answered with a relaxing voice. "Well, my mission has ended." Barakith got up and gave the boy a hand. Nick gladly took it. "Wo...wo...wo...wait, you're going?" Joseph couldn't believe it. "Yeah...I think you'll manage, so I'm leaving, besides I can't bring the boy with us." Barakith explained. "But...but..." Mario was also surprised. "Don't worry, I can find my way back." And Barakith left. Just like that. __________________________.....:::::Chapter 2 : The end of the beginning:::::....._______________________________________________ Joseph and Mario agreed to help Jack 'cleaning' the complex. Every mutant that crossed their path was blasted apart. Every creature, or Xenos as Jack called them, was killed in an instance. They had killed everything that looked hostile to them. It took quite a few hours to finish the job. But they managed to complete it and they returned to the cave housing the Timegate. Though there was one thing that worried them, the bomb. Its timer wasn't running, meaning that their team was still out there. But they were glad that the complex was mostly purged. 5 squads of TIR Marines would come and finish the job. It was time to say goodbye to Jack. He activated the Timegate and the light-blue stream shot to the ceiling. He was about to step in. But then... a single shot. It echoed through the cave and Jack fell to the floor. A small hole in his head. "Yu didn't...*ghhzzaaaaggrrrhhh*..think yu would get away?" Joseph and Mario were looking at the re-incarnation of their team. Mutated, fleshy bulbs all over their bodies. Their muscles overgrown. Their faces mutilated beyond recognition. In their hands, Plasma weapons, probably from the NTA soldiers. Held firmly by green claws. Normally Joseph and mario would win this fight. But the odds were not in their favor. They were outnumbered by one, plus their enemy had those plasma-weapons. "Mario..." Joseph whispered, "...can you set the timer of that bomb to 2 minutes?" "I can try...if you cover me." "Okay...on 3..." Silence filled the cave. The mutants were waiting for Mario and Joseph to make the first move, but so were our two teammates. "3 !!!" Joseph yelled and he fired a couple rounds towards the mutated men. They ducked away. This gave the two men the chance to get to the bomb. Mario pushed a few buttons. Joseph covered him with gunfire. The mutants were coming closer and closer. "Now would be a very good time...." Joseph said. Mario pushed one final button "Done, it's gonna blow in 2 minutes" The two men rushed away from the cave, as the bomb would certainly destroy it. They nearly reached the shaft. Mario entered it. But Joseph was struck down by Sphinx. "Joseph!" Mario yelled. "Mario! Go!!!" Mario did what he was told to. He ran away as fast as he could. The bomb would detonate in 1 minute. Joseph freed himself by pumping lead into Sphinx's head. He yelled. Mario cleared the hallway to the elevator-shaft. "Joseph!" All he heard was gunfire and screams. Joseph stood still, he looked to the TImegate that was still open. If he wanted to survive he had to get in there. He made a run for it. 5...4...3...2...1... Mario was pushed to the ground because of the shockwave. The explosion made the complex tremble. It wouldn't take long for it to collapse under its own weight. So he began to climb the shaft. Filled with sadness and sorrow. He was gone... The galaxy wouldn't be the same anylonger... The Pirateer Wars that raged throughout the Outer Rims...Joseph gone... This was the end... The end of the Beginning...