The Father

As you scale up the side of the facility, the sun beating down on your back, you begin to regret accepting this job. It had taken you almost three hours to make it past the front gates and find a sutiable entrance. Sweat drips down your face, soaking your mask. Your armor and the various weapons holstered to your thigh and slung around your back weigh you down. Your hands begin to burn through your gloves. Perhaps using a metal rope in the heat of day was not your best idea. Nevertheless, the thought of your future pay [[fills you with determination]] to continue.

You slink through a hatch on the roof, landing heavily on the floor with a wince. Hopefully no one heard that. Thankfully, you had managed to sneak a keycard off someone from perimeter security, so no alarm goes off. The hallway is barely lit, and the dark gray walls and low ceiling make the space feel otherworldly. You can't tell what material the wall is made from, but it looks sleek, slippery. From what you can see, there are no doors. To the right, you can see an intersection in the distance. To the left there is a dead end with a flickering light. First you'll need to find a map. Which direction will you choose? [[Go Left]] [[Go Right]]

You turn on your heel and head left, keeping your steps as light as possible. When you reach the end of the hallway, all you can see is pannel after pannel of the wall. No windows or doors. Just a flickering light. It's when you start to turn that you notice one of the back pannels seems a little disconnected. Curiosity piqued, you squat down and pry the pannel back more. A sleek black card falls from it's hiding spot behind the wall. You pick it up and flip it around, but it is completely blank. With a shrug, you pocket the item. [[The Intersection]]

You head right, your weapons clanging against your side. It is weird how empty this place is. You expected more resistance. Instead, it is a ghost town. It's not at all what your bosses described. [[The Intersection]]

You shake your head and refocus. Where there is noise, there are people. You need to find a map if you want to get the job done and get paid. But then, the clanging sound happens again. Louder. As if there is a rope tied around you, you are tugged in the direction of the noise. You try to fight against the force pulling you, but there is no use. [[Investigate the noise]]

Something calls you to investigate, a tugging in your chest. Your feet have a mind of their own as they carry you in autopilot down the hall that you orginially landed in. After a few meters you notice the keypad and the vauge outline of the door, hidden in the cracks between the pannels. You trace the edge of it with your gloves, digging in to see if it budges. It doesn't. You pull out the keycard and swipe. [[Open the door]]

The door opens with a hiss. You ready yourself for a possible ambush, but no guards come at you. At first you can't see anything at all, and then you look down. There is a child on the ground. Your mind goes blank when your eyes meet, his dark and guarded. He is chained to the ground, wrists worn against the metal cuffs. There is a metal ball in the far corner of the room. You guess is that this is the source of the clanging, but you have no idea how he could have moved it. "Hello," You say softly, glancing behind your back before slowly lowering to your knees. He says nothing, looking at you with the same mistrusting expression. You cautiously reach over for the ball and hold it up to him. "Is this yours?" He nods slowly. And suddenly the ball is no longer in your hands, ripped from your palm by...something. You look around for a second before you see it, perfectly centered in the child's hand. A chill goes down your spine. "How did you do that?" You say, fear and wonder edging into your tone. //Mine.// The thought enters your head, foreign. You blink and gulp. This is much more than you were prepared for. The plan was to grab the files and go. But this - this complicates things. You're not sure what the right thing to do is, but seeing this little kid chained to the floor in this cold dark room makes something heavy settle in your chest. [[Take the Child]] [[Leave the Child]]

You nod to yourself and sigh. There is no way you can leave this kid. You begin to search around your body for something to safely free the child with when you are thrown against the wall. A groan escapes your mouth, the guns slung behind you dig painfully into your spine. The child is standing up now, fury in their eyes. //No.// The thought is forced into your mind. You hold a hand up, huffing loudly. "I wasn't trying to hurt you." Their expression does not change. "If you let me go I will free you." You try to speak as calmly as possible, but the pain and pressure is becoming unbearable. They hesistate. //Don't trust.// It's starting to feel more natural, but every time they send a thought to you, you shiver. "I don't know what they did to you, kid. But I have no intention of hurting you." They purse their lips, squinting up at you. //I will look.// "Look where?" And the something digs into your brain, like a little kid digging into sand. The feeling is indescribable. Memories flash. A flash of curly brown hair. A deep red puddle of blood. The grief. You flinch away from the kid, but they do not stop until their posture relaxes. //okay// It feels more like a mental pat this time, a caressing apology. You gasp as they let you go from their hold, clutching your chest. They hold their hands out, blinking innocently. [[Free the Child]]

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You manage to find the plasma slicer you had hidden in your boot and you gently cut them free. They rub their wrists and tuck the ball into the pocket of their pants. Although they have chosen to trust you for the moment, an uneasy tension still lingers between you both. "Let's get you out of here." You say, holding out your hand. They pause, eyes darting between your eyes and your hand. Slowly, they place their hand in yours, wrapping their small fingers around your palm. You step out into the hallway. But of course, it couldn't have been that easy. The moment the child comes into the hallway, a large blaring siern goes off. You are tempoarily disorentied as the once clinical white lights become a flashing red. All around you, the pannels of the walls open up, releasing humaniod soliders into the corridor. They begin to surround you. Your free hand tightens around the gun in your holster. The kid latches onto your leg. "Stay behind me." You say. [[Fight off the Soliders]]

You let go of their hand, pushing them slightly back into the doorway. The moment they are out of the way, the soliders attack. Your thoughts begin to blur as you react purely on instinct. In such a small space, it is impossible to use your long range weapons, so you rely on your smaller blaster and a switch blade. You manage to fend off most of their attacks; your armor saving your from the many blaster shocks. However, one guard was able to land a cut in between the joints of your amor when you had looked back to check on the child. Pushing through the stinging pain, you take down the group surrounding you. Sometimes you notice that your opponets fall back or are pushed away by some invisible force. You silently thank the child for their help. Throughout the fight, the sirens and the lights had continue. You know, no matter what, this is far from the end of things. Finally, when every attacker has been vanquished, you turn around. The kid stares at you, seemingly unbothered by the pools of blood that surround you. "Well, what do you say buddy? What should we do?" [[Continue with the mission]] [[Give up]]

The child shrugs at your question. You laugh to yourself. "I forgot, you have no idea why I'm here!" They nodd in agreement. You rub your fingers to your chin, considering. No matter what, getting out of here is going to be a hassle. Might as well get what you came for. You offer your hand to the child again. "I'll make this quick, and then we can get you out of here. Good?" //Good.// [[Break into the Control Room]] [[Break into the Boiler Room]]

The child shrugs at your question. You laugh to yourself. "I forgot, you have no idea why I'm here!" They nodd in agreement. You rub your fingers to your chin, considering. But as you continue to look at them, drenched in blood, your heart aches. There would always be another oppertunity to get the information, but you never know what could happen on the way. This child only has one life, and so far it seems to have not gone very well. You can't put them at risk more than you already have. You offer them your hand again. "Come on," You say, tilting your head. "Let's get you out of here." [[Escape from the Guards]]

You're already at the top of the compound, where it would make the most logical sense for the control room to be. You wander around the hallways, taking down the guards you run into. The further right you go, the busier it gets until the corridor opens up into a wider space. Before anyone can notice you, you duck into a small janitorial closet, hoping that it will have some kind of computer station inside. Today must be your lucky day, as there is, in fact, a small access point. You figure it is probably used by the janitors to communicate which areas have been cleaned. At the computer screen, (link-reveal:"you swipe the card.")[= The screen turns green and lets you in. You breathe a sigh of relief. But when you go to view the files. It asks you to (link-reveal:"swipe again.")[= The screen turns red. [[Copy the Files]]

(if:(history: where its name contains "Go Left")'s length is 1)[Suddenly, you remember the black card from earlier. Slowly, you pull it out of your pocket. You are not sure if it will work or not, but it is worth a try. You insert it into the card slot. A gray circle spins in the middle of the screen. Your heart races in your chest, breaths louder than the machines whirring behind you. The screen turns bright green. "Thank gods," You say in relief. You put your storage device into the port and begin transferring the information.] (if:(history: where its name contains "Go Right")'s length is 1)[You swear underneath your breath, hitting your hand against the screen. It looks like whoever had this card did not have high enough security access to see files of research results. You'll have to hack into it. Thankfully, the computer set up is similar to what you're used to. Your heart beats loudly in your chest as you mess with the access codes. It takes a bit longer than you would have liked, but finally it gives you a green screen. You insert your storage device into the port and hold your breath.] You try not to be impatient as the bar loads slowly. Outside, you can hear yelling, and someone begins to bang on the door. The childs eyes, lit up from the computer screen, stare at you. Their metal ball twisted in their hand as they played with it. "Not long now." You say to comfort them. //Okay.// The banging on the door gets louder, starting to move the items you had used to baracade it. The bar readers at 80%. "As soon as this is done, we will have fight like hell okay?" [[Stop the Guards]]

You go back the way you came. Since you're not completeting your mission, there is no point to exploring. Thankfully, it's not too far, and the hatch is still open. The sight of the brillant blue sky is a relief compared to the silver walls and flashing gray lights. You can hear distant yelling when you get to the hatch. Time is of the essense. "I'm going to hoist you up first okay? You gotta wait for me until I get up, stay low to the roof so they can't spot you." //I will.// "Good." You hold your arms out. The kid is slow to react, but they allow themselves to be manuevered until they are on your back. From that position, they are not that far from the ceiling "Step on my shoulders and pull yourself up." The kid does as their told, but their muscles are weak from lack of use. You try to help by lifting their legs up as high as you can once they have a grip on the edge. Once they make it through, you begin to shed some of your weapons. They are precious to you, but ultimately, they will weigh you down. You put down the sharp shooter rifle and a blaster, two weapons that are fairly replaceable, but your heart still stings to lose them. They have served you well. You can see the guards in the distance getting closer. You jump up, higher than you expected, as if the child gave you a small boost. They begin shooting at you, the heat from a blaster shot grazing your leg. Your arms strain as you get your self a bit higher. [[Go outside]]

[[The Child]]

You take your chance decide to look for a Boiler room. They tend to have controls and are less crowded than the control room. After wandering down the hallways for a bit, occassionally taking down groups of guards who you run in to, you find a stairwell. The further you descend, the busier it gets. At one point, you pick the child up as they cannot keep up with your pace. By the time you reach the bottom, you're exhausted. There are no signs, but you can hear the loud whirring of the boiler room. You use the card you stole to get in. The room is dark and loud. There are only a few workers inside that you can barely make out. You put the child down next to the computer station and barracade the door before getting rid of your company. At the computer screen, (link-reveal:"you swipe the card.")[= The screen turns green and lets you in. You breathe a sigh of relief. But when you go to view the files. It asks you to (link-reveal:"swipe again.")[= The screen turns red. [[Copy the Files]]

(if:(history: where its name contains "Break into the Boiler Room")'s length is 1)[The door breaks open, the guards flooding into the room ] (if:(history: where its name contains "Break into the Control Room")'s length is 1)[Your Text Here] [[Go outside]]

the child saves you [[Take the Child With You]]

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At the intersection, you look down the two new hallways. Again, nothing. The artifical light and gray pannels seem to blend in, you cannot see an end to the hallway. For a moment, you falter. What if you get lost? Your drawn out of your thoughts by a loud clanging noise. [[Continue looking for a map.]] [[Investigate the noise]]