They were called Bio-guards, TROGS or even just Drones and they were the feared protectors of the BLOCC. But they were never seen patrolling the halls of the gigantic facility. Many had spoke about them and yet rarely had any seen one unless something bad was happening.
And something bad was happening right now.
All Subjects with a certain keen sense of smell would know their scent for the Drones 'musk' was something that was specifically and strategically coated around the BLOCC. But this 'musk' could not be detected by normal means. No, it took those with keen smelling Emergent Properties to detect. That or Year 3 Subects, like Bella, could catch a whiff of their 'smell' no doubt.
All Year 3 Subjects were almost ready to be released to their prospective owners and as such a Drone would be imprinted, scented and paired with the Subject as a free-of-charge protector, complements of the BLOCC house. That and should the Subject ever go missing, or more likely be forcefully abducted, the Drone would be able track down the Subject. If you are paying 10's of millions for your pet, such security measures should be most welcome.
And in such events of missing Subjects such as this current 'event', Drones would be an exceptional security/retrieval team independant of interference from a handler or tech. They were engineeered for such emergencies. They had several means to subdue, constrain and return their targets well within their arsenal.
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The pair of metal plated Bio-guards sprinted down the hallway, aiming to track down the source of the loud squawking. They moved with liquid ease and with eerie silence. The wispy smoke that streamed out from their bodies, created phantom tracers of their movents as they ran. The array of multicoloured eyes darted this way and that, seemingly moving independantly of the direction of each eye's designated pairing.
Several fields of visions switched over and over, one to the next, till they found the just right type of 'sight' necessary to track down the targets. Echo location was what they settled upon. Several shrill ultra-sounds they let out and only those with keen hearing Emergent Properties would hear such sounds.
Suddenly the pulsating red lights died. It was pitch black in the hallways in their immediate vicinity on Level 4.
The pair slipped into hallway, pausing only momentarily to inspect the leg that held the door open. One pair of eyes flashed away several times. Then both seemingly nodded to one another, sent off another shrill ultra-sound; one up the stairwell, the other down to Level 5. The Drones then proceeded to split up. On headed down the stairs, the other went up. Both their tails arched over their heads as they moved, poised like snakes ready to strike.
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~Jaycie~
Subject: JC - 31200016
Jaycie caught the daggers from Bella's dark eyes and immediately ceased her pantomiming a monster mid-action. The Jay knew that the Ferret was friendly enough and was not mean, but the Jay also held a reverence for those with more experience than her and so, as soon as she caught the Ferrer's 'look', her tail feathers and wings returned to their resting positions. A small shrug she gave as she watched the Ferret scramble over toward the Firedoor.
Level 3 -Admin and Security Check stated the writing on the door.
They were
that much closer to the mythological Surface.
Dark blue eyes of the Jay turned to Ada then those eyes slid over to where the Sparrow directed; the annoying door handle. Suddenly Basil swooped in and landed on said annoying door handle. His weight was not enough to turn it and so, the Jay then felt his request for help Tap away at her. But Shilo and Bella were already up to task. The little Panda had Bella on his shoulders and then rose up upon his hindlegs allowing the Ferret to grasp the handle.
The handle slowly began to turn but not fast enough. Jaycie took to wing, and mid-air she flipped upsidedown, dark bird feet outstretched. Like a trapeze artist trick, her feet grasped the dangling rear paws of Bella and instantly all Subjects' combined weight pulled down the handle and unlatched the door.
And then Pandemonium came rushing through the fresh escape path into the stairwell.
A flurry of fur, feather, and fear flooded the South stairwell of Level 3 and Shilo, Euler and Ada were caught in its midst.
Basil, Bella and Jaycie swung away with the door, like some kind of strange, chain-linked acrobatic troop connected to the door handle. But at least these three managed to avoid the swarm of panicked Subjects. And the horror to come.
The glowing red lights in the stairwell died and all went to blackness.
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Shilo, Euler and Ada were bowled over as most of the fleeing Subjects dashed, flew, and scrambled up the stairwell to Level 2 whilst two other subjects panicked and erroneously headed down to level 4. Of the group headed upwards, one of the Subjects took pause mid-way up the stairs and turned around. Before the red glowed winked out, Shilo, Euler and Ada would see that it was the newly annointed Year 2, Decker the Lop-Eared Bunny.
Meanwhile, the other two Subjects that had darted down the steps and into the darkness would rush into a horrible fate. Suddenly, two yips and chirps sounded out, echoing into the stairwell in sync with the sound of two electric shocks blasting out. The flashes of brillant blue lit up the faces of the fallen Shilo, Euler and Ada. And if the trio were to stare downward at the scene below them, they would see the Drone open its maw up wide, jaw unhinged like a snake. Then they would bear witness to the pair of poor unconcious Subjects being swallowed whole.
<<ADA!!>> broadcasted the black and white Bunny to her roan-hued pal
<<Come! All Dexs Run! Scars and Soldiers! Have weapons-->>
Right on cue, gouts of gunfire errupted from hallways of Level 3. Then the explosion of a concussive grenade. Of course, the screams and panic began anew.
And, in silence and in complete darkness, the whispering smoke and steel-armoured body of the Drone slid its way up the stairs towards the exposed trio of Shilo, Euler and Ada.
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