"So, how's it coming along? Have you gotten access yet?" I asked, crawling down the wall next to Conner.
"I almost have it, my queen." He mused as he tapped away at the busted console in front of him. "The network here has sustained massive damage, with entire sections cut off from the central system."
"Got it."
We were currently holed up in an isolated room; Ashley had sealed the entrance, welding it shut temporarily. Getting to this point had been a pain in the ass, to say the least. Most of the computers in this place were far too damaged to be useful, so it had taken us a while to find this one.
We hadn't encountered much resistance, mind you, just small groups of splicers that I was able to take out with facehuggers and stealth tactics. I didn't bother hiding the bodies; it wasn't as if this place wasn't used to random corpses littering the area, after all. I will admit I was curious about what kind of xeno would emerge from the infested splicers. Would the adam in their veins affect the creature that emerged? Thoughts for later, I guess.
During our search for a working computer we did have one close call that nearly cost us a life. One of Sapphire's people turned a corner and was almost mowed down by an automated turret partially hidden behind some rubble. It would have very likely shredded them into swiss cheese if their armour hadn't deflected the first few rounds, allowing them to quickly take cover.
Destroying it had been annoying as hell since it had been positioned in such a way that there was no clear shot at it without it being able to fire right back at us. In the end I got into an adjacent room and melted through the wall with my acid. Nerak then used his weapon, a firearm of some kind that looked like a mixture between a combat shotgun and a railgun made of shifting mercury, to fire a pressurised beam of glowing cyan liquid that sliced the thing in half.
Conner had surprisingly shown interest in its remains, taking a few minutes to look it over and see just how it worked. He was genuinely shocked that the people here were able to make automated defences with such crude technology. I honestly couldn't wait to see his reaction to the Hack Tool when we came across one, not to mention some of the other pieces of tech we would surely find.
"So these twisted... things used to be one of your kind before they became this?" Nerak asked as he leaned down to look at one of the splicers we had killed while securing this room. Red, who was standing next to him, simply nodded in response, his expression hidden behind his helmet.
"Nerak does not understand. Why would we possibly desire this 'adam' if it does this to those idiotic enough to indulge in it?" Red didn't have an answer for that, but someone else did.
"I can answer that," I said as I jumped down from the wall and walked over.
"Honoured friend of the princess?" Nerak said, turning his head to look at me.
"You can just call me Carmen." I shrugged, my tail swaying behind me.
"Erm... I'd also like to ask about that," Sapphire mused as she walked over. "You explained it a bit before, but..." She trailed off.
(I can understand their scepticism.) I thought as I looked at the dead splicers littering the area. (Seeing this, anyone would have doubts.)
"Well, the answer is simple." I cleared my throat and began to explain. "While yes, the adam can cause rather horrific mutations and even mental degradation, there are ways to avoid this."
"The main one is moderation; just like with any drug, taking too much is dangerous and can cause a variety of side effects." That part was obvious enough, but there was more. "Secondly, refrain from using adam harvested from corpses, as it retains the genetic memories and experiences of its previous hosts; this can cause hallucinations and mess with overall your mental state."
"We suppose that does indeed make sense," Nerak responded with a thoughtful expression.
"There is also my hope that Project Chimera will completely negate the negative effects as well." I muttered, the words barely loud enough for them to hear.
"P-Project Chimera?" Sapphire asked, confused.
"Just a little idea I came up with," I said, shrugging it off.
(If it all goes as planned, I should be able to gain a massive boost to my capabilities.)
"I'm in," Conner called, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"Oh?"
We all walked over to see him gesturing at the screen. "The main maintenance room of this structure is on the floor above us; unfortunately, that level isn't exactly unoccupied." He sighed.
It wasn't hard to see what he meant. In fact, even those from Sapphire's group who couldn't understand English were able to understand the situation by simply looking at the monitor, which was showing camera footage. To put it simply, the floor above us was infested with splicers roaming all over, too many for us to take on without sustaining a few losses ourselves.
"Okay, yeah, that's... that's gonna be a problem," I mumbled to myself.
"They're disgusting. Just looking at them makes me want to hurl," Ashley hissed from behind me.
Nerak looked equally disgusted, but his expression quickly became more solemn. "Nerak must agree with thee; however, we cannot help but pity their crude existence."
"It brings back dark memories, times Nerak would have liked to forget..." He muttered under his breath before saying something in a language I didn't understand; his fellow members of The Tainted Water nodded in agreement with whatever he said.
Sapphire sighed and nodded as well. "Y-yeah... yeah, I... I get that as well..."
(I know I said I wouldn't pry, but maybe I should ask her about it. We both seemingly didn't have very good experiences in our trials, so it might do her some good to get it off her chest so to speak...)
(I'll think about it for latter. For now, though, I have other things to focus on.) I thought, shaking my head as I turned my entire attention back to the situation at hand.
"Do you think you could take control of the defences on that level?" I asked as I stepped closer to Conner.
"Give me a second..." he mused as he tapped away. It didn't take him long to have an answer for me. "The turrets aren't connected to the network, unfortunately; I can't access them."
"But you do have access to all the security cameras on that level as well as their various functions, right?" I asked, a rather simple yet effective plan forming in my head.
"Errm... yes, why?" He said, tilting his head, not knowing exactly what I was getting at.
"All the splicers and turrets in there are marked as friendly by the cameras, so can you change that?" If I were still human, I'd be grinning from ear to ear. I may not like killing, but I had to admit I was interested to see how this would play out.
"I don't know what you're planning, my queen; however, I should be able to pull that off," he said, nodding.
"Good, then do it," I ordered before quickly adding, "And change the colour to something more appropriate while you're at it."