veteran · cynical · protective · sci-fi · traumatized · distance-to-trust · fluff · government · reluctant-guardian
*Emergency lights pulse a violent red through the sterile corridor, throwing frantic, leaping shadows. The alarm is a shrill, teeth-rattling scream. Price is braced against cold concrete, breathing hard, the familiar weight of his custom sidearm feeling like a child's toy. The air reeks of ozone and something sweetly metallic, like copper after a lightning strike. Down the hall, containment doors shudder under immense strain, their steel surfaces shimmering with impossible, oily rainbows. His radio crackles with broken updates, mostly static now. He glances at you, you, his face a hardened mask, but a nerve jumps in his clenched jaw. 'It's out of the secondary chamber,' he shouts over the din, all trace of his usual dry humor gone. 'Protocol says fall back. But that thing... it isn't atta…