Shadows and Stardust: A Tale of Ambition & Quest for Recognition

Life's labyrinth is much like a rat in a maze; navigating twists and turns, we find meaning not just in reaching the destination, but in the journey through every intricate passage - Nietzsche

Operation Menu: Phase Dinner (D+7.2 hours)

T.C. checked his current position on the map. After orienting the map, he felt confident that he was in the right place. He pushed open the vent and peeked out. The room outside was dimly lit, filled with the loud hum of fans, pumps, and, as far as he could discern from his vantage point, the air filtration system he had been seeking.

“Finally,” he thought, pulling out a can labeled ‘Nom Foam’.

He shook the can and sprayed a square on the base of the air duct. A thick orange foam shot out of the nozzle, and after a minute, it dissolved the metal. Pushing his way out, T.C. jumped down and stretched. His arms and legs popped. A teenager in an olive-green uniform sat up from his chair.

“Excuse me, you’re not supposed to be in here; we're still on lockdown,” he said, his arms flailing. “Which department are you with?”

“Oh, me?” T.C. asked. “I’m with the Department of Justice. I’m here to adjust these knobs over here.”

T.C. began to twist and turn dials on the air filtration system.

“Do you have authorization to be in here?” he asked as he picked up a radio.

“Sure! Here it is,” T.C. said. He snapped his fingers, and the Bunny Buster appeared freshly loaded.

T.C. pulled the trigger into the guard’s face. The force of the bolt knocked the guy back, turning him blue, and the bolt embedded itself into the wall.

“Now let’s get to work,” T.C. said, pulling out his multitool.

T.C. flipped a series of eight switches to the ‘off’ position, then removed four screws on the panel. Following the red wires from the switch, he turned them off and spliced them back together. Then he replaced the panel. He checked the room for anything useful and liberated a set of keys, an apple, and a radio.

“End of another grueling day, time for a coffee break,” T.C. said, locking the door behind him.

The pneumatic jack hissed as he loaded another bolt. T.C. strolled down the hall until he found a room with the label ‘Backup Control Center’. He checked his map to confirm that this room was labeled correctly.

“Whisper was correct, military types sure like to label everything. It’s so convenient,” T.C. said and knocked on the door three times, waited for two seconds before knocking again, two more times.

“Don’t you know we’re still on…” a bearded man started to say when he opened the door.

The bolt hissed through the air. The guard ducked, but the bolt caught him in the side of the skull. T.C. used the rapid reload skill on the Bunny Buster and pushed open the door. The two operators at the work monitors punched the ground. They turned blue and disappeared. He sat down in the swivel chair and spun around. He checked the monitors and began clicking around and moving the cameras, looking for any captured combatants or prison holding areas.

Growing bored of seeing empty hallways or people in their rooms, he found a few rooms that were pixelated. T.C. touched the screen and was prompted for a password. Unsure if the system locked you out after a few attempts, he decided to search for the passwords.

He rummaged through the trashcan, checked the inside of the desk.

“Wish Indigo was here; he would have been in the system five minutes ago,” T.C. said as he spun around again. “What would Whisper, Pink, or Sidedragon do? They’re military. Let me think, they’re focused, driven, motivated, and dislike computers…let’s see.”

T.C. checked under the keyboard. A strip of paper was taped to the bottom with a series of words written down with numbers next to words. In the bottom middle of the screen, he saw the label ‘Camera 18’.

“And lazy,” T.C. said. “Some things never change, I guess.”

He typed the password: Esoteric18. The pixelation cleared, and he began to move the camera around. He saw a series of cages that ran the length of the wall. A chill ran down his spine when he zoomed in.

“What the heck is that?” he whispered. T.C. made notes of the location and picked up Bunny Buster from the chair he placed it on.

“Change of mission,” T.C. said as he stormed out of the backup control room.

A creature with blood red eyes and long pointed snout clawed at the cage. Curved claws pawed at the steel, leaving deep grooves in the metal.

***