Elements
A1C2
"You're a mistake! Do you realize the life Mom, Dad and I could have had if you weren't around! You've ruined it for us! And to add insult to injury, you take all of my old stuff like some sort of parasite, Laura!" 

"Abigail, how could you say that?!. I'm not a parasite! I'm not a mistake! I'm... I'm your sister!"

The mouse girl was in tears before her elder sister. The harsh comments burrowed deep into her mind. "We scrimp and save so much just to get by, maybe... maybe she's right?"

Laura paused. She could sense that something was not quite right. As she looked up she noticed the figure of her sister was no longer present. Wiping away her tears she started to look around the landscape. She spotted a strange figure, appearing as a silhouette comprised of a plethora of colors, one who looked familiar but she couldn't think who it reminded her of.  Surrounding this figure she could see her friends and pack mates.

"Martin! Hector! Sandra!" despite her screams the others did not respond, they were fixated on the same figure in the centre. 

Turning her attention back on the enigma "Who are you! What do you want!

"Gee"

"Gee?! What is that supposed to mean?!"

"Are."

"Are?! Why aren't you making sense?!"

"Ee"
"Ee"

"Tee"

"Eye"

"En"

"Gee"

"Es"

"Greetings?! W-What do you want with me?!

Laura started to scream, She was absolutely terrified. It was distressing enough to have to go through such cruel comments from her own flesh and blood but the alien figure was something she could not have prepared for. It's cryptic message was too much for her to handle.

"Laura, It's fine, It's fine my baby. Everything is all right."

Her screaming stopped. She took another look around. She was in her bedroom, in her pyjamas. Her mother was at the side of her bed. Without a second thought Laura went straight into her arms, seeking the comfort that only a mother could provide. Her tears were starting to soak her mother's arm

"I-I-I can't..." Laura could barely speak, the raw emotion stopped her from thinking straight and the prior screaming left her throat hoarse.

"Shhh. It's alright now. It was just a nightmare, it can't hurt you." This reassurance finally calmed Laura down, her eyes still wet with tears, but her composure regained. Questions started to flood her mind

"Wait? Why am I here? I don't remember coming back home... or falling asleep."

"Yes,  you did seem a bit odd yesterday. It was only a couple of hours after you left with Martin, you can back home, didn't speak a word and climbed into bed. It was only 2:00pm, and you've been asleep ever since, we tried to wake you but we just could not rouse you.

Laura rose out her bed, she threw off her pyjamas and started to clamber into her clothes "Are the other's alright? I need to know!" With her ensemble assembled Laura gave one more hug to her mother and rushed downstairs and off into the streets.

"Wait! Don't you want your breakfast first?!" It was too late. Laura was already too far gone to hear the question.
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Back towards the cliff wall underneath the plateau, Martin had made his way there, running all the way from his home. To his surprise Sandra was already there. 

"Let me guess, did you get a nightmare as well?" Martin had barely caught his breath before he could answer Sandra's question.

"Yeah, big colourful blob, looked like my grandfather and spelled out "Greetings" to me. I'm guessing this sounds like yours?"

"Yeah that's near enough what happened in my nightmare as well. I think it's safe to assume that Hec and Laur had the same thing happen to them as well." Sandra gazed down the path back to town "Oh, speak of the devils."

"Please tell me that you guys didn't have nightmares too. I really want this to be just a one-off nothing out of the ordinary nightmare." Hector was panting as he made his way to the rest of the group. 

"I wish I could Hector, I really wish I could." Martin was pensive. 

"You cannot be serious." Hector was distraught "I know we're the only teens in this town and better us than the young ones, but why did this have to happen to us?"

"A better question..." interjected Laura "...is what do we do now?"

Sandra spoke up "The way I see it we only have three relevant actions. First; we go back up there and explore, see if we can find some answers."

"But what if that blob is still there? What are we supposed to do about it?" Hector was right for all the pack knew this gelatinous ooze was still there

" From what my folks told me I was sort of, entranced, and went to bed after our run in yesterday. So I'd say worst case scenario, we're back asleep with the nightmare. It won't be nice but we've handled it once before. " The others nodded in agreement though with noticeable apprehension, not pleased with the idea of exploration but seeing little reason to doubt the logic.

"Which serves as a nice segue to the second action. In the nightmare I could have sworn I saw all of you in there with me, but you were all so distant and wouldn't respond."

"I had that too. It was absolutely awful, having such a terrifying experience and you guys not being able to hear me." Laura was starting to tear up with the memory but kept her cool.

"So I was thinking, maybe we should stay close to each other tonight. See if that makes any difference like, maybe we'll be facing this being together this time.

"Uh, I'm not sure dreams work like that Sandra" interrupted Hector "Where we are physically shouldn't make a difference."

"Normally no, but the fact that we all had the same nightmare shows that this isn't normal. We're all connected to it. Martin. Is it cool if we crash at your place tonight?"

"Oh! uh, sure I guess. I'll need to get some more food to feed us all though."

"Great so that's part two sorted. That just leaves the final part. It's incredibly likely that we'll be having this nightmare again, so I think we should be going to sleep with high morale and positive thoughts, if only to make us feel better. To that end I suggest one thing. Lots and Lots of OC!"   

The Pack stared at her with piercing gazes. "So I take it that OC is off the table." Sandra chuckled nervously.

Laura let out a sigh of exasperation "In all seriousness. She's right about the exploring and it wouldn't hurt to see if there'll be any difference tonight." before proceeding onto the cargo elevator.

"Let's find some answers! Hop aboard everyone!"

Before Sandra could board the elevator she was stopped by Hector, who beckoned her to lean down He whispered into her ear "If you think it'll help, I'll have OC with you tonight."

Sandra smiled "Oh I think it'll help lots." before finally boarding with Hector

The Pack ascended back up the cliffs and into the foreboding facility.

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The Facility was unchanged from the previous day, it still stood in its place overlooking the peaceful valley and the town below. Normally the pack would just hang out in the reception, talking, making plans and just generally having fun. Today was different. Something happened to them yesterday and answers were sorely needed.
  
"Well it's clearly not here right now. Where to?" 

"Well let's go over what we know. This is a space facility. Even now these places have lots in the way of security, chances are there will be a security room in the building, maybe even some footage from the cameras"

"That's assuming they're still working."

"You got any other ideas Hector?"

"I'm not disagreeing with you, it just needs to be said. This place is ancient. It's improbable that the elevator up here, even the lights in the lobby would even work after so long. We may not be so lucky with the cameras."

The quartet ventured deeper into the complex. The whole place started to feel off to them. This was a building that was hundreds of years old, having stood during the time of the Skin Plague and yet the further in they went they began to recognize. The building was in perfect condition. No peeling wallpaper, no signs of nature overtaking, no signs of any disrepair. Had they been there when the building was first opened, the pack would have seen no difference.

"This is wrong. There is just no way this place is pre-splice AND not have anything that needs fixing." as Martin examined the surroundings.

"What are you suggesting?" Sandra inquired, with a expression of nervousness.

Martin neglected to answer the question "Look, here's the Security Room." opening the door the room was much like the rest of the building, in perfect shape, nothing to suggest how old the place actually is. "We should be able to access the cameras from one of the terminals."

"Click"

A few seconds passed "Uh, nothing's happening Martin, you sure it doesn't need fixing?" Not long after Hector finished the operating logo displayed on the screen "Never mind."

The pack waited for a few seconds. A few seconds more. And a further few seconds more.

"It's still booting?" Hector was astounded. "I almost feel guilty when my PET takes a couple of seconds to boot now.

"Finally it's online." The Polar Bear sat down and began navigating through the directories. "Sanitation... Schematics... here we are, Security Footage. Upon clicking on the icon the screen filled with the footage of several different cameras all across the facility.

"That's odd. Given how much light that... thing gave off I would have expected the cameras to pick it up easily." Nervousness filled Martin's voice. "It's not here."

"But it has to be here. The only other place it could be is the town and there would be panic if that were the case." Sandra was firm in her reasoning. "Wait. What's that on Camera 7-F?"

Displayed on footage from said camera was a figure, humanoid in appearance, that was making its way slowly through the hallways. There was not enough definition for the pack to clearly see what it was. 

"That must be it then! It's taken human form!" Hector was starting to panic, visibly shaking  "Why us? Why us? Why us?"

"Calm down Hec!" Laura had grabbed  Hector and steadied him. "That can't be what attacked us yesterday. It kept shifting through colors,  we would see some change if that was it but there aren't any, that is clearly a solid color." 

"Martin" Sandra was leaning over him. "Where do you suppose it is heading?

"Let's see It's gone from 7-F, it's on 7-E now so let's assume it'll go down from there to..." Martin seized up, his heart started pounding.  "7-A."

Looking back on to the screen in the feed provided by camera 7-A it was made clear to Martin what part of the complex this being was heading towards. The camera was showing the Security Room and the four teens inside.

Immediately shutting down the terminal he spun around to his friends "Whatever that thing is, it's coming here!

"Then we need to get out of here, right now.

"It's too close, it'll see us and I don't want to risk a chase, we have to hide."

The pack clamoured around to find a place to hide, they were on the verge of being discovered, it was as Principal Sanders warned, anything could happen in here. They did not expect however to have been menaced by shiny goo and an unknown being about to discover them.

The door swung open. In stepped what appeared to be a human, risking being spotted Laura peeked out from her cover. She saw what had just entered. rather than a human it was a robot. With dark gray metal comprising the bulk of its body though it had piercing red eyes. The automaton turned towards her. In her haste she forgot to take into account her ears. 

In one fell swoop it knocked over the desk and grabbed Laura, lifting her up into the air. As she flailed trying to free herself from its grip, crying out "Let me go!" the others found themselves frozen in fear of the machine for a moment. Ultimately their friend was in danger and so, they plucked up the courage, to emerge from their cover and make an assault.

It was laughable, though they charged together, they were swatted away with ease. The situation was dire. Their foe was simply too much for them, they just weren't fighters.

"Seems like you could do with a Deus ex Machina."

The voice echoed throughout the pack. Their eyes darted around the room seeking the origin of this voice. "No I'm not there with you, Not really. But that's beside the point. Listen carefully. I need you to focus, visualize your foe engulfed in light and throw out your fist. 
Laura was confused with the instruction but saw little alternative "LET ME GO!" Laura screamed into the face of her assailant. and threw a punch. Her fist became engulfed in flames, the mighty blow knocking the machine off of balance, forcing it to loosen its grip.

"That wasn't supposed to happen."

The machine regained its balance and lunged out towards Laura once again. "Oh no you don't!" Sandra leapt in between her friend and her foe. At the moment it grabbed for her, Sandra's skin turned to Stone. It struggled to lift her and then resorted to punches. Sandra was unfazed.

"Why is this happening?"

Revaluating the situation the robot turned around and attempted to escape from the room. Instinctively Martin held out his hand and out from it sprayed a mist. Upon coming into contact with it the robot's leg was encased in ice.

"This isn't right at all!"

Finally with the robot immobilized Hector threw his arms forward, flinging orbs of gusty wind towards his target. The sheer concussion of the blast was enough to separate the head from the body. Within seconds the robot powered down, the red light in its eyes slowly fading.

"...Ok this was not at all how I expected this to go, but it worked out in the end"

"Anyone else getting tired of this disembodied voice?" The irritation in Sandra's tone was sharp. "Look, are you going to show yourself? Because the whole voice in our heads schtick is old."

"Fine, I suppose I do owe you an explanation."

Emerging from the pack was the same ooze from yesterday still psychedelic in its appearance. The separate pieces combined together into a humanoid form. "I suppose introductions are in order. My name is Prismatic."

The group looked on in disbelief.

End of Chapter.