Albur stayed silent for a minute. Slowly processing what Havoc had said.
"That's, kinda sad."
"You've heard of many similar backstories with the same archetype haven't you?"
Albur pulled his lips tight, he slowly sat up. He retracted his legs that were laid flat, and put his hand on his knees.
"Uh, yeah, but that is just heartbreaking to that guy. You hold the grief of his death all by yourself. With no one to talk to. You even spent your life in darkness and loneliness."
"I mean, I did reboot multiple times, trying to forget that. Loneliness is.....just something I could shrug off very easily."
"That's actually so sad."
"Be a man already."
Albur paused, he stared at Havoc.
"Come again?"
"Be a man already. Crying doesn't bring the person you lose back. Grieving just makes you feel worse. Just forget about it, move on. As long as you don't really forget all about them."
Albur silently looked at Havoc, he looked at his left hand.
Memories flashed before his eyes.
His left hand, the same one he used to desperately pull Johnson away from Siwel. He still remembers how hard he sweated that time, how loud Siwel roared, and how the face of Johnson turned to true horror despite he can't feel any emotions.
Rhea! Help!
Do something! I DON'T WANNA DIE!
SSAAAAAAAWWWWRRRRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The memories kept appearing in front of his eyes. He tried focusing on looking at his hand, he slowly gripped it into a fist, gripping tighter and tighter.
Havoc noticed Albur's shift in face expression and his fist.
"I'm sorry."
Albur blinked, he looked at havoc, he sighed and slowly relaxed the fist.
"It's alright....I guess you're right for some part, though that is just what you believe. I don't take that advice."
Havoc scoffed.
Albur stared to Havoc, then slowly used his hand and gently stroke Havoc's flash drive body. Havoc initially thought Albur was going to finger flick him or something, but realized he is just gently stroking him.
"Tell us what you are struggling with anyways. You're a member of the Glitch Wipeout crew, we're a team, no one gets left behind."
Havoc chuckled weakly, Albur slowly stood up on his own and picked Havoc up. But then, Havoc made a clear throat sound.
"But um.....to be honest, that touch is so disrespectful, I'm like 5600 years more older than you."
Albur blinked, and smirked.
"Aren't we friends?"
"That is just so corny."
Albur laughed,
"Bwobb..."
Just then, something dropped onto Albur's head, or should I say dripped onto his head that was protected by the virtual hazmat suit.
Albur raised his hand and touched that thing on his head. He then lowered his hand and look at the palm. It is a drop of purple liquid, it's warm, sticky and smells horrible. Albur looked at the ceiling in confusion, he noticed there is a crack on the ceiling. The purple liquid dripped down through that.
Then, Albur's hazmat suit barrier begun to flicker. Havoc scanned the purple liquid on Albur's palm.
"This is some AC-23 liquid."
Another drop of purple liquid dropped onto Albur's head. Albur took a step back from the crack. But then, another drop of virus liquid dropped onto his head. He looked up, a tiny crack appeared on the ceiling that is above where Albur is standing.
Subsequently, a crack appeared on the ceiling above Mysty's head. Virus liquid dropped onto her head as well. She woke up from her sleep, and looked up. Then, more cracks appeared on the ceiling, virus liquid kept dripping from the cracks.
The air is filled with the smell of flesh and the mix of metal and blood. The virus liquid no longer dripped from the ceiling. Instead, it poured downward in streams of purple, flowing into the space below. Mysty stood up, the two stayed next to each other, staring at the surrounding.
The virus liquid begun flooding the whole B3. Holes begun appearing on parts of the ceiling, even more virus liquid poured down from it. Albur and Mysty were shocked, they quickly grabbed their stuff on the floor and backed away from the flowing virus liquid.
"What are these?"
"Those god damn virus liquid...."
As more holes emerged on the ceiling, the floor of B3 begun to tremble. Cracks spread across the floor and walls, the fibrous substances on the walls and floor begun to squirm more frequently.
Through the holes on the ceiling, the two can hear thunder bellows and feel intense trembles from time to time.
"We must get out of here!"
"Where should we go then?"
"Just.....let's just try getting to B4!"
"What? Why? That just traps us further!"
"T-....bu-.....uh...."
As Albur speak, a part of the ceiling suddenly crumbled and fell. It fell right in front of Albur, the virus liquid on the ground splashed up onto Albur's face, his hazmat suit barrier protected him, but it begun to weaken again.
"Let's just go! We're not getting out of here if we stand still!"
Albur begun to run forwards, while avoiding the spots where the virus liquid pour down from holes. Mysty stammered her words, but still ran forwards to catch up to Albur.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
As they left the rest spot, a silhouette appeared there. A silhouette with glowing purple eyes. The silhouette made a silent cackle, and vanished into the dark again.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
The walls begun to collapse and the ceiling begun to fall apart. Even more virus liquid flowed into the B3 floor. The two kept running forwards, despite not even knowing where to go. They sprinted around for 2 minutes, until Mysty finally grabbed Albur's collar and pulled him, that nearly made him trip.
"Wait! Where are we supposed to go?!" she yelled, while trying to catch her breath.
Albur doesn't actually know, he turned to Mysty, he opened his mouth but nothing came out. Mysty stared at him, waiting for him to say something.
"Aren't we just blindly running around for no reason? That does nothing but drain our stamina!"
Suddenly, a part of the ceiling above Mysty's head collapsed, a giant part of the ceiling fell off and dropped.
"Mysty! Look out!" Albur yelled as he pointed upwards.
Mysty sighed, she pushed her foot on the ground and pushed herself backwards, dodging the falling part of the ceiling. The falling part of the ceiling plunked into the virus liquid, a crown of spray shot upward. Albur looked at that thing, then at Mysty.
"See what I mean?"
"But then where exactly should we go?"
"I don't know!"
Mysty exclaimed in frustration, just then, the two realized the flooding virus liquid had already reached the lower leg level. Havoc crawled out of the rifle slot hatch, he scanned the surroundings, the virus liquid level is rising higher and higher. He thought for a second, after a while, he had an idea.
"I have an idea! But first, you had to reach B4."
Albur and Mysty looked at Havoc. Mysty glared at Albur, and sighed.
"Fine, let's just search if there are any holes leading to B4."
Albur gripped onto the rifle and nodded. They kept sprinting in the floor, while running, they saw the other virus lifeforms panicking, trying to look for high grounds to avoid the flooding liquid to drown them.
The two ran for another minute, still, there are no signs of a hole leading to B4. The two stopped after a while, Albur exclaimed in annoyance and aimed his rifle at the floor.
"This place is collapsing anyway, I'm just gonna blast our way out!"
Albur fired his rifle at the floor, however, the rifle shot was dispersed before hitting the floor. Albur fired another shot, it still did the same. Mysty charged up two orbs and fired at the floor, still, it didn't hit the floor.
Albur reloaded the rifle, and tried to lower it into the liquid and fire it at the floor again.
"Woah, woah! Hold still, kid! This is virus liquid! The rifle will malfunction!" Havoc yelled before Albur lower the rifle into the liquid.
"Oh yeah....then....."
Albur pressed the activate button of slot 2, green lightning energy wrapped around the rifle.
"Hyper...."
"Are you insane? This liquid conducts electricity! You wanna get us all killed?" Havoc screamed again.
"Then how? We're gonna drown!"
Albur said as he looked at the virus liquid rose to their knee level. The ceiling above them collapsed yet again. Rocks and boulders splashed the virus liquid up and blocked their ways many times when they decide to head to another route.
The liquid level kept raising and raising to the point it reached their neck. Mysty started to panic, she grabbed her shirt and started breathing heavily. But then, when she is trying to not get drown, she noticed something, the virus liquid does not just stay still. Some of the virus liquid are flowing towards a direction.
She pushed her body hat is submerged in the virus liquid forward, she noticed the virus liquid from all directions flowed towards one same direction. She stared at it for a second, the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. She quickly hurried back to Albur who is still muttering something.
"Albur! I found a way to get to B4!"
Albur turned to Mysty, looking at her face, it is surprisingly filled with hope. Albur's lips shook, he then looked around.
"How?"
"This way!"
Mysty pushed her body forwards in the virus liquid. Heading towards the direction the virus liquid flows, Albur followed her. The place they are heading towards is nothing different than the other places in the car park, Albur looked around and glanced at Havoc for a while.
"Isn't this just the same as the other places of the car park?"
Mysty stopped walking forward, she looked at the floor, the flowing virus liquid all gathered to one point, forming a small whirlpool. Mysty inspected the whirlpool, and noticed the liquid flowed into it and disappeared. There is no visible pipes around here, she made a cold chuckle.
"When liquid moves to a specific spot, it is either being pushed, pulled by gravity, or directed through an opening or hole. I won the one out of 3 chance...."
Albur stared at the small whirlpool, a sudden realization immediately hit his head.
"Why I've never thought of it?"
Mysty stomped on the floor where the whirlpool is formed. The slight crack of the floor begun to become bigger. She stomped harder and harder, despite the liquid buffered the stomps, the crack still became larger and larger.
Until...
"BOOM!"
Mysty broke a giant hole on the floor, she fell into it. Albur yelped, he looked at the hole. The virus liquid started flowing into the hole, very quickly. The current is so strong it brought Albur in as well.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Albur fell into B4 while virus liquid gushed out of the hole. He landed shoulder first, but he didn't land on the floor. Instead, he directly fell onto Mysty who just stood up from the crashing down. They both dropped onto the floor, and was carried meters away from the hole by the gushing virus liquid.
Albur and Mysty groaned in pain, they opened their eyes, and had a brief eye contact. They soon realized how near they are to each other. Mysty immediately pushed Albur away, they both slowly stood up, whilst having red faces.
"...."
"...."
They both stared at each other silently. But then turned away again, blushing.
'Why do I feel like this is the second time we experienced this?' Albur thought to himself.
"YOU TWO!! CUT IT OUT OF THIS ROMANTIC CRAP! WE ARE IN A SERIOUS SITUATION HERE!" Havoc yelled at the top of his lungs, if he had lungs they would be ripped off now.
Albur and Mysty remembered the fact the virus liquid is still flowing. The backed away from the hole that still has virus liquid pouring down.
"So? Mr. Lived too long? What is your plan?"
"Get to somewhere dry."
Albur and Mysty looked behind them, B4 has the overall same structure as B3. With glowing cyan substances and more ruined buildings. The surroundings is still dark but the two managed to find out that this floor isnt that flooded. There are still a couple more places that are completely dry.
They hurried to it and stayed away from the flowing virus liquid.
"Now what?"
"Activate my powers using the tiny hyper gem in your rifle."
Albur blinked, he looked at the slot 2 of the rifle.
"QUICK! BOZO!"
"Ok! Ok! Sheesh."
Albur opened the hatch of slot 2, Havoc opened the slot 3's hatch and crawled out of it. Albur took him and placed him near the mini hyper gem.
Green lightning energy begun to wrap around Havoc's flash drive body. Though the power is very unstable. He begun to glow a rainbow light, it flickers however.
Mysty stared at the virus liquid that is slowly flowing towards them.
"Any minute now...."
After Havoc got the energy he needs, he hopped onto Albur's shoulder. He begun to glow a bright yellow light. He then unleashed a cluster of virus particles.
"Amber...Hexagonal SHARDS!!!!"
Havoc turned the virus particles into hexagonal shards that flickers time to time, similar to those made by the Prismatic Blade. The shards surrounded the two humans and formed a hollow hemisphere that formed something like a boat. The virus liquid didn't manage to reach them as they are blocked off by the hemisphere made by the shards.
Afterwards, the ceiling of B4 begun to collapse, vius liquid poured down. Except this time the two don't have their legs directly submerged in those virus liquid. The hemisphere begun to float on the flooding virus liquid. Albur panted and stared at Havoc, who has returned to his normal flash drive form.
"So this is your plan?"
Havoc sighed, and made am exclaim of relief.
"Better than nothing."
Albur and Mysty peeked out of the hemisphere at the floor, and sighed in relief.