Afraid of the Dark?

Saga: AotD arc

Prerequisites: Completion of Suzaku arc, various sidequests related to Mimic and Narmville

Summary: Psi is given a task by Mimic to search for the whereabouts of a very important medical scientist, who disappeared along a specific route between two cities and never reached his destination. This is a path the player should already have taken at least once, but when the path itself is investigated, a previously locked vault door is now wide open, resulting in a detour through an abandonded bomb shelter of some sort. Inside Psi has his first encounter with very small groups of Hive Mind, and later at the end of it all, a literal hive of Black Life that threatens to engulf him. Quickly realizing that he can't possibly take them on alone, Psi runs for his life, only to find the vault door shutting in his face and trapping him inside, cornering him and forcing him to fight until he eventually falls. Unlike most other missions, the player is allowed to fail at any time at the hands of Hive Mind, as the end result doesn't change either way, but they receive score bonuses for making it straight to the hive and all the way back to the closed entry door.

Script:

[Along the route designated earlier by Mimic, the player runs past the massive entrance to the Black Hive, which has mysteriously opened since any previous visits. Psi skids to a stop outside the player's control and looks back apon the opening.]

Psi: Uh, wait a minute. Wasn't this thing closed before?

Synn: Looks like we have our first lead, then. Let's check inside.

Psi: ...do we have to? It looks preeeeeeety dangerous in there.

Synn: What are you, afraid of the dark? Just get us in there so we can start looking. God damn.

[Inside, the entryway is cluttered with various debris that has to be jumped or floated over. At the end of the corridor is an elevator that leads to the central complex, now in varying stages of Black Life exposure.]

Psi: Woah... what the heck happened here?

[Scattered throughout the main section are several bodies covered in Black Life, in typical fashion to infected Hive Mind enemies. At least one of them will suddenly rise and grab the player unavoidably when approached, with an accompanying shock chord, but the specific surprise encounter is chosen at random, relative to how far the player's already advanced through the level without one. To ensure the player won't be able to make it through the level without an encounter, the entryway to the next section is a bottleneck with no jumping room and several Hive Mind bodies littered inside, one of which will grab the player if still untouched. In any case, the Hive Mind will remain hostile once the player has broken free of them, leaving Psi to panic to himself after defeating them.]

Psi: Ugh, what is this stuff!? It's so cold... oh no, it won't come off! Why won't it come off!? It just keeps sticking to my--

[Synn disrupts the Black Life covering with a telekinetic shockwave, sighing to himself afterwards]

Synn: Listen to yourself. What's gotten into you?

Psi: No, screw this! We're getting the hell out of here!

Synn: We still have to finish the contract first. Or have you forgotten that, too?

[Psi lets off a stressed moan before returning control to the player again. Further encounters can still potentially occur, though at a reduced rate. After advancing through the bottleneck, the player emerges in a pitch black room.]

Psi: Oh god, I can't even see anything in here. This is a bad idea...

Synn: Just make a light. Doesn't your telekinesis let off a glow?

[Psi pulls out Deception and levitates it further into the room, revealing that every surface of it is near-completely covered in Black Life. Psi abruptly stumbles backwards when he realizes he's standing in it, and as he exclaims to himself in surprise, the noise echoes deeper in a cave-like fashion. It also results in him waking up a large number of Hive Mind that had been concealed in the black substance, all staring at Psi with glowing yellow eyes. To make matters worse, the Black Life itself starts accumulating into a central mass, shaped as though ready to pounce. Needless to say, even Synn appears terrified.]

Synn: ...okay, screw the contract. Now we start running.

[Psi leaps out of the way just in time to avoid getting smothered by the Black Life mass, and the player reassumes control of him in mid-sprint. In addition to being chased by the mass and all of the Hive Mind in the last room, all of the infected bodies the player passed previously are now alive and awake, actively attempting to intercept the player during escape. Apon reaching the elevator, Psi slams the door shut behind him and calls the lift upstairs.]

Psi: C'mon, cmon... can't this thing go any faster?

Synn: Relax, we're safe now. We'll be long gone by the time they get that door open.

[The elevator doors break off their hinges with a loud clank shortly after the elevator is clear of them, and the black mass accumulates and floods the area beneath, slowly rising and catching up. Hive Mind peons begin emerging from it and clambering up to the elevator platform to confront Psi.]

Psi: Why can't you just keep your big mouth shut!?

[After surviving the elevator trip, the player re-emerges in the entry hall. A brief cut over to the other end reveals the vault doors closing at the other end, threatening to trap them inside.]

Psi: What? They're trying to-- noooooooo!

[Even if the player hypothetically reaches the exit in time, A Hive Mind mook appears and restrains the player with a tendril, preventing them from advancing beyond the doorway. Once the player is locked inside, everyone left engages the player full-on. Eventually the Black Life mass catches up and floods the entry room, defeating the player with exposure damage. Once the player is defeated at any point during the level, including this point, the screen fades to black, transitioning to the next mission without fanfare.]