[Event] If you want to get out alive...

[adminfury]

Those that sleep will awaken to a pitch black room with nothing but the faint red glow of the emergency lighting. This glow seemed to frame the ceiling of the room and gradually pulsate between a dimmer glow to a glow almost bright enough to read by then back down again. Every electronic device in the entire academy, dorms, and general building on the SHIELD grounds would display a black DOS-like screen with bright crimson lettering that read a simple, cryptic message.

SYSTEM ERROR LOCKDOWN MODE INITIALISED NEW MESSAGE

Activating the new message brings up another black screen with a mostly legible message to the students of SHIELD Academy. This ominous message doesn't seem to be salvageable by even the most brilliant of computer programmers. The file is just corrupt and there is nothing that can be done for it. It's a wonder the thing opened at all, to be honest.

the ⬛yste⬛ has bee⬛ compr⬛⬛ised time is short so make haste you have ⬛⬛ ho⬛rs to get out ⬛efore th⬛ purge sub⬛outine demo⬛⬛sh⬛s ⬛⬛e ⬛uil⬛⬛n⬛ to con⬛ain the th⬛⬛⬛t t⬛e cent⬛al c⬛⬛pu⬛e⬛ m⬛st be rea⬛⬛⬛d and reb⬛ot⬛⬛ dea⬛ti⬛ate the l⬛cking mechanis⬛s on yo⬛r door by ḁ̧̼͙͑5̡̙̩͎̭͗̆ͯ̍⬛̱͈̤̦̊͂ͩͦ̓̋n͉ ҉̬g̲̹̟̘̃ͣͤͬ͢y̩͔̓ͯͩͣ͑ͭ͜⬛ 8̘͍̳̤g̴̅ͫ̂⬛̲̞̺̜͉̿ ̢̲̙̗̩̐ͣ̍͊͗̚3̑͐̓͏⬛ ȁ̹̯̘͙͓̔́ͫ̈̃̃͡d͓͇̤͕͎̦͒ͪ̂̏m̷ͥ̃̇ͯ ⬛̠̩̯ ̌̓̂̉̽͏̯1̮͇̯͉͉͚̪͜ṇ̥͐ ̖̰̖͎͙̹ͨ͟ F̷̘̮̺̥̅̀ͯ͊ͣ͆̏Ȗ̩̦̅̈́̄̌R̨͔͎͎̥̱̼̘̈́ͧ̋͗̔̚̚Y̋͞|

Those that didn't sleep would have found the lights had suddenly gone off around 0400. Shortly following the assumed harmless power outage, the usually white glowing strips lining the edges of every room would have faded to a red that indicated a warning. The red lettering on the screens would have followed after that and finally, a good ten minutes into the disquieting silence, the blue message alert appeared. They would have found their doors locked, and the windows all barred by solid adamantium panels.

There is no riddle to be had here, no teacher seems to be present to consult. The students were alone, required to rely on eachother, their own cunning, and their unique abilities.

For those poor souls trapped in the Hazard Room, well... just don't make any sudden movements. The training protocols seem to still be active. Fortunately, they are set on moderate difficulty. You had been looking to hone your skills and blow off a little steam. Well, you just got your wish.

Mod Notes: Treat this post like a mingle-log. OOC plotting can be found here.

Targets and Weaponry: SHIELD bots come in a variety of sizes from no more than a foot in height to nearly four feet and come armed with a plethora of weapons designed to subdue and capture. Weapons designed specifically to counter the abilities of those that live here, just in case they lose control.

Small built-in turrets keep hidden behind sleek panels in the ceilings of most hallways and in the ground outside. These turrets fire wide range of power nullifying munitions as well as good old fashioned taze rounds.

Targeting sensors on all the machines and turrets use facial recognition to identify each student. Their powers and weaknesses are recorded in the main SHIELD database, which it refers to and decides the best course of action.

Comments

[gavemeaheart]

"Too easy?" A strong feminine voice boomed from the darkness, confident, amused, and almost otherworldly. It might hold a bit of familiarity, but not enough to identify why. "Then shall we make it more complicated?" A dark laugh followed those words. Whatever few emergency lights were on in the large room went black, leaving only the blinking LED blips of hard drive lights and other various little indicators flashing about the room. The boys would find themselves in complete blackness beyond that.

"When you boys were young children, did you ever imagine the floor was something other than a surface on which you could walk?" There was something far too foreboding to her voice.

The lights came back on to reveal that the ground was, quite suddenly, made of lava. Or so it appeared. The bubbling, churning, molten liquid gave off no heat. The ground at their feet was solid, but beyond that... The woman stood on a solid slab next to the main computer, which was on the other side of the room. "How will you boys reach me? Perhaps you should just turn back."

[voiceinthedark]

Sam gives his brother an uncomfortable look. Kevin had seen at least as many movies as him. "Why did you have to say that? Things always suck after people say that."

And as if on cue...

It was a woman speaking. Definitely a woman and he thought he recognised her voice, like he'd heard it somewhere before. Whatever it was, the laughter made him shudder.

"Who the hell are you?" he called out, only for it to end in a soft cry of fear when suddenly, suddenly the ground wasn't all that solid, wasn't anything close to safe, and getting shocked was about the last thing on his mind.

[vates]

Holy shit. Kevin is thoroughly freaked out, and when the floor changes, it's almost enough to startle him forward to fall into it. He grabs onto his brother in time to get his balance again, and then he keeps holding onto him because the floor is lava, apparently? And they need to figure this one out, except Kevin is scared and tired and really fed up, at this point. What the hell kind of school is this?

"We can figure this out, right?" He's seriously asking the question. It's meant to be something they can work around, right? "Like everything else? We just need to stay calm and think it through."

He takes a deep breath and thinks about what she said. "This is like playing the floor is lava. Maybe it's an illusion?" That's when he notices the lack of heat, the relative unchanged nature of the room, other than the floor made of lava.

"Test it. Do you have a pen or something?"

[voiceinthedark]

Sam grabs back, holding onto Kevin tightly while he looks in dismay at the ground. He can't lose his brother. This place is fucked up as hell and Kevin is the only familiar thing that he has here. For once, he really, really just wants to go home.

"Yeah," Sam replies sounding somewhat breathless. That lava looks awfully deadly. He doesn't like things that are deadly. "Yeah, stay calm while we're probably gonna get burnt to a crisp. You're the smart one who keeps his head about stuff." Sam was just there to remind everyone that Kevin was special.

He gives his brother an incredulous look. "The floor is lava right now," he said. Quite obviously lava, but he patted his pockets anyway before finally pulling out a cheap biro. "So just... throw it into the lava."

[vates]

"Yeah. That's the point. Do you feel like you're burning to a crisp right now? If this was real lava, like, the whole room would be melting." He frowns, looking back down at it. Despite the confidence in his voice, he's still clinging tightly to his brother.

"I guess it could be magic lava, though. That's why we should test it. Throw that in."

[gavemeaheart]

"My identity is of no concern."She listens carefully to the boys as they share their exchange and ponder the puzzle before them. She's very impressed by Kevin, but she says not a word on the subject.

If Sam were to throw the pen, he would find that it just rests atop the lava. Not floating, not bobbing in the disturbances, just... lying flat and still as if it sat on the floor.

[voiceinthedark]

"Fair point," Sam says. He holds his hand out and yeah, yeah Kevin's right. There's no heat. Not really.

He takes a breath and drops the pen and it just... it sort of lies there. It doesn't even look like it's on liquid, just like he'd dropped it on the ground.

"Okay. That is weird so... Only one thing for it, right?"

He keeps hold of Kevin's hand for a moment before he steps right off and onto the lava.

And it feels just like the floor.

"I'm not dead."