Salvage Station: Poltergeist (Escape from Club Apophis, 47)

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STORYLINE:  The Safe Zone held its breath differently than the rest of the sewer labyrinth.

The air here carried no scent of rot or rust. It was simply absent, as if this pocket of stone existed slightly outside the world's normal processes. Sound moved with a sluggish hesitation. Ghost's own footsteps arrived a half-second late, leaving the cavern to decide whether to acknowledge his presence at all.

The 1929 Ford Coupe sat anchored in the center of the rock shelf. It was still smoking. 130 years had passed, and the vehicle had not yet finished crashing.

As Ghost explored the car’s mysterious Entropy Engine, his wrench shifted position whenever he turned his back. The antique radio clicked and hissed without a power source. Condensation dripped from the ceiling in tight, rhythmic patterns that sounded entirely too deliberate. The car's rounded headlights pulsed a sickly yellow, twice, then died.

Ghost registered every anomaly. He forced his hands to keep moving anyway. Distraction meant death. He had to stay focused on the immediate task: salvaging enough cursed energy to construct a bomb and rescue his pack.

What troubled him most was not the poltergeist. It was the vehicle's engine block. He had never seen technology like this. A few scattered fragments looked familiar. He could puzzle out others through context, but the liquid core remained completely baffling. This was not electricity. This was something engineered decades ahead of its time.

Driven by sheer frustration, he wiped grease from his gloves, climbed into the front cabin, and stared at the reclined, mummified nun. Leathered skin clung to her skull beneath the tattered white habit. The gold necklace at her throat hadn't tarnished, hadn't moved, not once, in all the times he'd been down here. He checked the glowing blue display on his wrist-mount, calculating his shrinking window of time.

He looked back at the driver's seat.

The nun's head was now pointed directly at him.

Ghost scrambled backward out of the vehicle. His heavy boots hit the mud with a wet slap.

The dashboard radio flared to life. Static hissed, sharp and biting. It grew louder by the second until a woman's whispered voice bled through the noise.

"Stop."

"Stop."

"Stop."

He paced the length of the rusted chassis, checking the countdown on his glove again.

"Stop."

"Stop."

"Stop."

Ghost slammed his heavy iron wrench down on the hood’s frame. A sharp clang echoed through the cavern. He aggressively tapped a command into his haloglove, projecting a single, blinding blue word into the dark.

SILENCE.

The static cut out instantly.

He turned back to the exposed machinery and carefully gripped a thick, braided wire.

His wrench lifted, then flew past his ear. The iron caught the edge of his collar and missed his temple by a fraction of an inch. His datapad lifted off a nearby supply crate, spinning in the dead air. The headlights flickered in a rapid, erratic strobe. Both car doors slammed open and shut in a violent, deafening mechanical frenzy.

Ghost marched to the rear trunk. He grabbed a thick canvas blanket, dragged it to the driver's side, and threw it completely over the mummy's head.

He did not expect that to work, but the frantic rattling stopped immediately.

He walked back to the front grille and leaned deep over the engine block.

The heavy steel hood slammed shut with the force of a guillotine. If his reflexes had been a fraction of a second slower, the metal would have crushed both his hands into paste.

He gripped the rusted lip and tried to force the hood back up. It remained locked tight, resisting his leverage entirely. He braced his shoulder underneath and shoved upward. Nothing moved.

Ghost let out a long, ragged breath. Defeated by the broken physics of the cavern, he collapsed into the backseat, and stared out the shattered window at the rushing black sewer water. He could feel every precious, unavailable minute slipping away into the current.

His gaze drifted back to the front seat, fixing on the blanket-covered silhouette.

The blanket-covered nun’s head was still turned his direction.

He reached forward and yanked the canvas away.

He quickly tapped a message into his haloglove. Glowing neon text projected onto the humid air.

I AM GHOST. I AM MUTE. BUSY. MUST RESCUE FRIENDS. NEED BOMB.

Absolute silence settled over the leather cabin. Then, a faint, garbled whisper emerged from the copper speaker mesh on the dashboard.

"Sophia. That was my name."

The static hissed. "I built this engine. Stop."

He tapped a single, demanding response.

WHY.

"Entropy Explosion. Time rift. …Or worse."

The sound of the rushing subterranean river mingled with the low electrical hum of the haloglove.

Ghost steadied his breathing and typed again.

HOW EXIST IN SAFE ZONE?

"I am not evil."

HELP ME.

Ghost manipulated his wrist-mount. He projected a saved image of his college friends, displaying Minjo, Plague, Echo, Lisa, Kyra, and Kyle huddled together in the dirt of The Pen. He typed below the image.

CAME TO RESCUE FRIEND. WAS KIDNAPPED.

He updated the projection, pulling up a stolen surveillance feed of Jihoon. The boy lay comatose in the center of the Museum of Catastrophes. Bright lines of violet Zone energy snaked into his pale flesh. His chest rose and fell in perfect synchronization with each cursed energy pulse.

The holographic light glitched, casting fragmented purple shadows across the ancient wooden dashboard and the hollow eye sockets of the nun.

"Recent?" the radio buzzed, the voice trembling with static emotion.

He tapped.

TODAY.

He watched the hologram, and tried to imagine Sophia’s point of view, watching the violet lines Entropy power pulsing into a young man’s chest. The rhythm of it. Her creation used for an evil purpose.

A single drop of condensation struck the metal roof of the car. Then another.

The headlights slowly dimmed to a dull, amber glow. The car’s Entropy Engine gave one final, ragged spurt, then went entirely cold.

Darkness swallowed the cavern. The only illumination came from the faint, passing trails of bioluminescent algae swirling in the distant water.

Ghost waited in the absolute dark. The roar of the rushing river sounded hollow in the engine's sudden absence.

Sophia did not speak.

Minutes ticked past.

With a soft rustle of dry fabric, the canvas blanket slowly slid from the mummy's shoulder. It pooled onto the rusted floorboards with a heavy thud.

The radio crackled. No voice followed.

He leaned forward, listening intently to the white noise. The static shifted, adopting the distinct, rhythmic cadence of human breathing

He understood, with sudden clarity, that the silence was not malfunction. It was grief.

He tapped his screen one last time, projecting a final plea into the blackness.

HELP ME SOPHIA. CEREMONY TOMORROW.

The metal frame shuddered. The engine hummed once. It was a low, resonant vibration, sounding exactly like a machine exhaling after holding its breath for nearly a century. The twin headlights flickered on, burning steady and brilliantly white, slicing through the cavern gloom.

With a sharp metallic click, the car hood popped open.

"Let us begin," the radio whispered.

...

On Him, Ghost:

Jumpsuit: Starlit Endeavor - Machina Jumpsuit Set [mesh](Salvage Station)(1985L)

Wristpad: Starlit Endeavor - Machina WristReader Wristpad[mesh](Salvage Station)(650L)

Hair: Dura - B95-HAIR [mesh]

Headband: TRASH - Covenant Unrigged Headband [mesh]

Gloves: LANEVO - Silence Gloves, LegacyM, Fatpack [mesh]

Head: LeLUTKA - CAMDEN 4.0 [mesh](3990L)

Body: TheShops - [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)

Setting:

Bootle: ISHIKU - La Mer Swing-Top Beer Bottle[mesh](Salvage Station)(480L)

Spooky Eyes: HAUNT - Little Void - Puddle[mesh](Salvage Station)(159L)

Radio: Starlit Endeavor -  Machina ChatterBox Radio[mesh](Salvage Station)(650L)

Boombox: Starlit Endeavor -  Machina LoopCrate Boombox[mesh](Salvage Station)(650L)

Datapad: Starlit Endeavor -  Machina OmniDeck Datapad[mesh](Salvage Station)(650L)

Flask: Starlit Endeavor -  Machina Rations Flask[mesh](Salvage Station)(650L)

Toolbox: Starlit Endeavor -  Machina Toolbox[mesh](Salvage Station)(650L)

Wrench: Starlit Endeavor -  Machina Wrench Gift[mesh](Salvage Station)(Gift)

Cannisters: Random Matter - Junk Jeweler II - Cannisters [mesh](Salvage Station)(160L)

Oil: Random Matter - Junk Jeweler II - Oil[mesh](Salvage Station)(100L)

Radio: Random Matter - Junk Jeweler II - Radio [Dark][mesh](Salvage Station)(140L)

Corpse: ContraptioN - Wrapped Corpse [mesh]

Car: Dirty Rat - The Botched Job [mesh]

Setting: Dirty Rat - Sewer [mesh]

BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shots, hi-res, midday sky:

Cyber Fair: The Scoop of the Century 1 (Escape from Club Apophis, 44)

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STORYLINE: 

Mission objective: Get Dirt on MasterGin. Destroy Monstrum. 

Team: Solo. Hexa Herald Investigative Journalist / Influencer.
Location: GIN AESTHETICA™ plastic surgery clinic. 

Lisa pressed her back against the cold, sterile wall of the VIP clinic corridor. Somewhere behind her, Kyra was lying on a crisp white bed with her chrome skull-plating unlatched. Diagnostic arrays jacked directly into her exposed mechanical brain, pulsing with cold data instead of life. No blood. Only the flickering, phantom glint of synthetic pathways.

Her long-time best friend.

Seeing under Kyra's hood wasn't the worst part. The worst part was realizing how much of her had always been hidden, and how little Lisa had ever thought to look. The girl she grew up with was buried somewhere deep inside all that hardware, and Lisa could no longer find her.

She was the same girl who had followed her into hell just because Lisa wanted a scoop.

Lisa squeezed her eyes shut. One tear cut a clean line through the sewer grime on her cheek. Just one.

Then she shoved the grief into a mental locker, slammed the heavy iron door, and threw away the key. Sadness didn't pull views. Sadness didn't dismantle a corrupt, blood-sucking empire. She was Lisa Liemawr of the Hexa Herald, professional chaos correspondent, and she was going to burn MasterGin's pristine world to the ground. She needed dirt.

But first, she needed a camera.

She slipped down the immaculate hallway. An Enforcer stepped from the shadows, his heavy hand clamping onto her arm.

Time to activate Slippery-Bar-of-Soap mode.

Lisa went limp, twisted her shoulder to break his grip, swiped the Halophone right off his tactical belt, and was three steps down the corridor before he even processed the theft. She bounced into an open elevator, slamming the override. The doors sealed, and the car plummeted at breakneck speed.

Lisa raised the stolen Halophone, tapped the screen, and flashed her signature grin.

“That’s right, Dragonlets! Your favorite reporter is back! Today's sponsor is Poor Decision Making™, and apparently we're going for the platinum subscription.”

She let out a quiet, forced laugh.

The elevator chimed. The doors slid open. She bolted out, rounding the corner with her camera raised.

The next three doors were wide open. She filmed the empty passage, her eyes darting across the screen.

“How suspiciously helpful is that? But Lisa doesn't look gift doors in the mouth!"

Down the hall, another elevator chimed. It was coming down. Someone was following her.

“Ruh-roh.”

The overhead lights flickered, buzzing with a sharp electric whine.

A heavy mechanical thud echoed through the gleaming marble floor.

Then, total darkness.

Emergency lights flickered on, bathing the corridor in a sickly, blood-red glow.

“To the unknown person of awesomeness,” she whispered to the ceiling, giving a crisp salute. “Your hack skills are Amaze. Whoever you are, I owe you a coffee.”

Then, she smelled it.

Clove smoke.

She spun the camera around and waved to the faint tendrils of smoke with feverishly bright eyes.

“Yo Yo Yo, it's your girl Lisa Liemawr, making yet another series of decisions my future therapist is going to hate. This newshound just caught a scent!” She did a crazed happy dance. “Let’s see where this cursed yellow brick road leads.”

The spiced scent hung heavy in the stale air. She raced after it, going deeper and deeper underground.

She stopped.

The silence was absolute. The guards were entirely gone now. The smoke was stronger here. Thicker.

The camera dipped just for a second.

"Hey, Ky." Her voice dropped out of the influencer register entirely. "If you're out there somewhere... I'm coming. This whole operation, the story, all of it. That's for you. Because you followed me in here, and you never once asked if it was worth it, and I never once said thank you."

She stared at the faint red light lining the hall.

"I'm saying it now. Thank you. And also, I'm sorry. And also,” she paused, “we're getting out."

She raised the camera back up. The grin returned, just a little less polished than before.

"Okay! Emotional moment over. Back to committing corporate espionage against a centuries-old vampire."

She rounded the final corner.

This place had the quiet confidence of somewhere ordinary people were never meant to enter. It looked exactly like a place that needed to get broken into.

Lisa pushed open a pair of heavy doors and stopped dead.

The phone dropped a fraction.

Rows upon rows of polished machines stared back like an audience waiting for the curtain to rise.

Silence.

"Oh my cyber-soul," she breathed.

Then her chin lifted.

“Jackpot, Dragonlets. It’s your girl Lisa Liemawr reporting live from inside the belly of the beast. No signal down here, but Lisa films anyway, because that's just what a Lisa does.”

She winked and flashed a victory sign.

“I’m a hundred and fifty feet under the center of the Forbidden Zone.” She gestured dramatically downward. “Exactly where I traced the threatening phone call from that nasty, chain-smoking vampire himself: MasterGin.”

She panned the camera around the vast space.

“But Lisa, what is this place? A museum exhibit? No! It’s a storage room of white marble and gold trim. Like even Mr. Diva’s storage rooms need to be beautiful. Compulsive much?”

Her camera swept across the room to reveal her entire bot army. The seven flawless avatars. The reporter drones. All the tech MasterGin had confiscated when his lawyers raided her apartment.

“He sued me for selling merch. Took all my gear. Shut me down. I thought he destroyed it all. But he kept them. He kept them like trophies.”

Her eyes landed on the centerpiece.

"M10?"

The little reporter bot rested perfectly still, powered down but completely restored. MasterGin had fried him with a casual flick of his electrical claws back at Jae Won Stadium. But M10 was whole now. Better than whole. He had little mechanical arms and legs. His glossy blue chassis gleamed.

“I don’t get it. Why rebuild a broken drone?”

She lowered the phone. Her reporter brain was already running the math.

"Intel," she whispered. "His lawyers didn't just confiscate you, M10. They must have rebuilt you to mine my data. My sources. My network."

A violet glow leaked around the edges of the bot's LED face screen, pulsing with a sinister low hum that made the hair stand on the back of her neck.

“Shit.” Her head dropped.

All her bots were now running on the Zone’s cursed energy. Even if she managed to steal them back somehow, they were corrupted.

Every broadcast she'd ever made. Every source she'd ever protected. Every face she'd hidden behind an avatar. He had it all.

She stood very still.

Then she lifted her head and forced a tight smile into the Halophone.

“I think I'm going to cry, which is very off-brand, so let's not.”

In the corner, propped against the marble wall like it belonged there, was a baseball bat. Black chrome and neon. The word LATHANDRO burned along the barrel.

She had sold unlicensed merch with that name. Sold it on five continents.

She stepped closer. There was fire damage on it. Her hand trembled as she studied the charred outline of fingers that once held it.

She hadn't thought about that since the day everything went up in flames. Jihoon with cleats, a drool-worthy batting average, and a million dollar smile.

Her guy was supposed to be the next biggest thing in college baseball.

A thick hiss of smoke seeped under the far door.

She zoomed in. As the smoke thickened, a silhouette materialized in the haze.

"Oh, hell naw," Lisa muttered, backing away from M10.

Plumes of smoke began rolling across the marble floor. The scent of clove hit her like a physical blow, thick and suffocating.

“Guess who, everyone,” she announced.

The silver hair. The cigarette. The posture that should be wrong but isn't.

“If you guessed it’s your not-so-favorite chain-smoking Discount Dracula, you win a prize. M10, tell them what they won! …Trauma. The answer is trauma.”

The figure in the rolling cloud moved.

“Wait."

She squinted through the haze.

“…Jihoon?"

He stepped forward with liquid confidence. Silver hair spilling over his shoulders. A clove cigarette pinched effortlessly between his fingers.

But his eyes were the wrong color. They were calm in a terrifying, ancient way. And he smiled at her with a poised, million-dollar smirk. It was exactly the way MasterGin smiled at things he already owned.

The heavy doors behind Lisa slammed shut, the locks engaging with a heavy metallic clack. Then the door behind him hissed open, revealing a paranoid nerve center. Floor-to-ceiling monitors bathed the luxurious room in a cold, phantom-blue glow. Hundreds of live surveillance feeds flickered across the screens.

He gestured dramatically for her to join him inside.

“Do come in. That is, unless you really don’t want the scoop of the century.”

Continuing with Cyberpunk Character Card theme, in this post Lisa Liemawr takes over.   ....Lathandro's baseball bat makes a reappearance with Masoom Plasma Muse Bat. It comes with a texture hud and flatpack has bonus textures like halogram.   ....From Lanevo is the Tamamo tank top, bikini, and pants. Each item comes with a detailed hud to change textures, and that includes left and right leg, from and back.   ...From Trash are the Covenant Cyberlox. The texture hud lets you change the textures for different groups with a wide selection of colors. It's very fun.   ...From Grima are the sleek Talos Protocol Cyber Arms, which includes a texture hud.   ...From Hades are the Cyberhorns. They are unrigged so you best position them.   ...The wild glasses are the CyberGhost Lens by Ohmai. They wrap around the entire head and include multiple tech animations on the lens. It has a hud to change the LED colors. They are unrigged and scalable for the perfect fit.   ....From Diaboli Design are the Gravicator boots. They come with a stacked hud of texture goodies and fits for men and women.   ... From SEmotion Libellune is cute new gacha, and limited editions, and event only color of the Neo Neko Companion. It has hud to change the expression of the visor, and change the animations for the figure.   ...From Bersav is the Cyber Nest megapack. It is mod, so I used my own PBR textures to crate that MasterGin Clinic look, but you can see it in legacy texture below. You can add your own textures to the monitor and TV.

On her, Lisa Liemawr:

Baseball bat: MASOOM - Plasma Muse Bat, fatpack [mesh](CyberFair)(395L)

Eyes: EUPHORIC - AiraEyes #07 [BOM](CyberFair)(275L)

Top: LANEVO - Tamamo Tanktop, LaraX, Fatpack [mesh](CyberFair)(660L)

Bikini: LANEVO - Tamamo Bikini Shorts, LaraX, Fatpack [mesh](CyberFair)(660L)

Pants: LANEVO - Tamamo Pants, LaraX, Fatpack [mesh](CyberFair)(885L)

Hair: TRASH - Covenant Cyberlox, fatpack [mesh](CyberFair)(1000L)

Arms: GRIMA - Talos Protocol Cyber Arms, RC2 [mesh](CyberFair)(600L)

Horns: Hades Cyberhorns [mesh](CyberFair)(666L)

Glasses: OHMAI - CyberGhost Lens, V1 [mesh](CyberFair)(399L)

Shoes: Diaboli Design - Gravicator, LaraX, fatpack [mesh](CyberFair)(999L)

Robot: SEmotion Libellune - Neo Neko Companion COMMON 09 [gacha](CyberFair)(88L)

Datapad: StudioOne - Datapad [mesh](300L)

Shine: ABYSSAL - Justice Cybertech With 3d Shine [applier][BOM](499L)

Head, eyes, skin: LOGO - Dawn Desert Nomad [mesh]

Body: Maitreya Mesh Body LaraX [mesh](2750L)

Pose: PSYCHO:Byts - Ailsa-Selfie - 4

Setting:
Furniture: Bersav - Cyber Nest, Megapack [mesh](CyberFair)(1333L)

Skybox: Ambice Store - "007" Sky Tower Building [mesh]

BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shots, hi-res, midday sky:

Cyber Fair / Salvage Station: The Digital Shinobi (Escape from Club Apophis, 42)

(click to enlarge)

STORYLINE: 

Mission objective: Rescue classmate Yoon Jihoon. 

Team: 7 students of Jae Won University, 6 remaining.

Location: GIN AESTHETICA™ plastic surgery clinic. 

It was a tragedy in slow motion.

Ghost smelled it first. Clove smoke and a cold that didn't belong to the building. Something ancient was close. His hands flew up in a sharp, commanding gesture toward a nearby door, but no one was looking at his hands.

"Scatter!" Minjo yelled. "Rendezvous at the car in the Safe Zone!”

Ghost gripped her shoulder hard and stepped into her path. Speech was not an option. He mouthed a single, fierce command: No. Stronger together. 

But without her glasses, she couldn't read his lips.

Click. Click. Click.

Heels in the distance echoed, sharp and unhurried. There was no time to argue. No time to herd them back together.

The team was already in motion. Five sets of frantic footsteps fragmented in different directions. His team, scattered. A second later, the heavy, synchronized thud of Enforcers echoed from the opposite end of the hall, moving to intercept.

Ghost took the wall. He activated his Gecko Grip, scaling the smooth vertical surface in two silent bounds. He shoved a ceiling tile aside and hauled himself into the dark ductwork. His Haloglove cast a pale blue light over a nest of thick white cables. He didn't hesitate. He grabbed the primary data bundle and ripped it from its housing just as Minjo rounded the far corner.

Below him, the red eyes of the security cameras flickered and died.

It was a brutal, unrefined solution, but it blinded the hunters. It gave his pack a fighting chance.

Ghost popped the Cursed Energy battery from his Haloglove and slid it into his Nano Stealth Cloak. Communication was a luxury. Stealth was survival. The high-tech fabric flickered with violent static, and then, pixel by pixel, he dissolved into the dark architecture of the ceiling.

Click. Click. Stop. MasterGin stepped into the corridor directly beneath the vent.

Clove smoke drifted upwards. Then the silence. The silence was the worst part.

Ghost’s lungs locked tight. The air pressure in the hallway seemed to drop, stolen entirely by the monster standing below. A false surgeon. A vain god. The kind of monster whose presence warped the room around him. In that moment, Ghost finally understood how Jihoon had been seduced by Monstrum. 

The powerful vampire’s icy gaze swept the dead cameras. He sensed the blind spot.

Ghost snapped his eyes shut. He clamped down on his own biology, willing his heartbeat into a slow, dormant rhythm. It was a Shinobi discipline meant for surviving underwater. His chest burned with the need for oxygen. His internal clock ticked away the longest twenty seconds of his life.

Finally, the heels clicked into an adjacent consultation room.

Ghost let out one slow breath through his nose. He gave it three more seconds, listening for the pause of someone turning back, before dropping weightlessly to the floor. He pressed his ear against the cold white marble wall. MasterGin's voice came through, sharp enough to cut. "...those cameras are worth more than a hundred of you! Either restore my cameras immediately, or explain to me why I continue paying you!" A second later, a new command, "Scratch that. Weld the sewer access doors shut. Permanently!"

Ghost pulled back from the wall. His mind mapped the variables. One exit. One priority.

He moved.

He sprinted back the way MasterGin had come, moving soundlessly toward a new set of approaching footsteps. The maintenance crew. Ghost had memorized the labyrinth of the Clinic. He knew exactly where the choke points were. He slipped into an alcove and waited.

The crew rushed past. One man lagged heavily behind the rest, panting under the massive weight of a multi-arm mechanical welding unit strapped to his back.

Perfect.

Ghost transferred the Cursed Energy battery from his cloak back to his Haloglove. Stealth was no longer needed. A weapon was.

He stepped from the shadows directly behind the straggler. He pressed two fingers to the exposed skin of the man's neck and delivered a maximum voltage jolt from his glove. The man folded without a sound. Ghost caught the heavy equipment before it could hit the floor and dragged the unconscious body into a dark supply closet.

Within ninety seconds, Ghost was wearing the straggler’s red and black uniform, and strapped the heavy welding apparatus on. He pulled the dark welding visor down over his face and sprinted to catch up with the crew, forcing his lungs to heave in loud, ragged pants.

The Crew Leader spun around. "You! What's wrong with you, are you dying?"

Ghost nodded, slumped his shoulders, and feigned breathlessness. It was a flawless cover for his muteness.

The Crew Leader turned away, disgusted.

When they reached the sewer access door, Ghost pushed to the front. The leader ordered him to lock down the compromised digital kiosk and weld the door shut, while the main crew handled the heavy elevator doors nearby.

Ghost knelt by the panel. He didn’t fix the kiosk. His gloved fingers flew across the exposed circuitry, completing his earlier hack, a backdoor bypass. Then he engaged the welding torch. He laid down a line of sparks on the doorframe that looked convincing to the naked eye but actually left the door completely unsealed.

"Move!" the Crew Leader barked. "Find the camera short!"

Ghost shuffled after them, disgruntled and bored. As they swept the next corridor, he deliberately lingered behind to cross the wires of a secondary junction box, shorting out a fresh row of cameras. 

The Crew Leader threw his hands up in enraged confusion, screaming into his halophone about a cascading system failure.

In the chaos, Ghost stepped backward into a shadow and vanished.

By the access door, he paused and graded his performance. Approximately half of the clinic's surveillance network was disabled, and the team's escape route remained intact. 

Before leaving, he projected from his Haloglove the underground map. Satisfied he knew the way, he plunged into the dark labyrinth with his Gecko Grip reactivated.

Scrambling across the vaulted stone like a spider, he was careful to avoid the foul, rushing water below and the toxic bioluminescent fungi clinging to the walls. 

Higher and higher he climbed through the gloom. Left. Straight. Another left. Then a hard turn right.

Finally the sterile chill of the clinic faded, replaced by a growing scent of rot and humidity.

A large cavern opened up. The Safe Zone.

The air felt different here. Cleaner. Quieter. The pressure that haunted the rest of the sewer was absent, as though the safe zone itself refused to respect Monstrum’s authority.

He dropped silently to a limestone slab near the 1929 Ford Coupe, using the glow of his haloglove to cut through the dark. The car was still smoking, frozen in the violent aftermath of a crash that happened a century ago. Inside, a body sat perfectly still, preserved by whatever force kept the car from rusting. High above the wreckage, a rebel had slashed the Monstrum logo with red ink.

Ghost stood still for a moment and let his body recalibrate. The ambient hum that had been pressing against his skull since they entered the clinic was gone.

He scanned the damp cavern. The only sound was the rushing water of the drainage outflow.

No one else had made it.

He stood very still. The water rushed. Nothing.

He shoved the panic aside and reached for rage instead. 

He unbuckled the heavy welding rig and let it drop to the stone with a loud echoing thud.

If he was the only one to reach the safe zone, then it was up to him to ruin whatever MasterGin was planning for Jihoon. 

He pulled the toolkit from his belt and laid the instruments out in a perfect, disciplined row on the fender. 

The dented hood groaned as he wrenched it upward. No engine block. No pistons. He already knew that. The carbon fiber lattice was still intact, the obsidian coils still spiraled around the ceramic core like ribs around a heart. The violet liquid still pulsed through its tubes in a slow, deliberate rhythm, the one that vibrated in the back of the teeth rather than the ears.

Minjo had called it an Entropy Drive.

Ghost had a different name for it. 

A bomb.

He reached blindly to his right to grab his screwdriver.

Fingers met empty stone.

He frowned and shined the haloglove downward. The screwdriver was now sitting neatly on his left side.

He blinked, turning his head slowly, sweeping the empty, violet-lit cavern. 

Nothing moved. Nothing breathed.

Ghost picked the tool up and placed it deliberately back on his right side.

Strange.

He turned his attention back to the engine.


Guess what time it is? It's Cyber Fair o'clock! Woo woo! I'm back from a break to dive back into the Cyber Awesomeness as we count down to the finale of Escape from Club Apophis. Ghost has his moment to shine this chapter, and I loved all these cool items that worked so well together.   ....The Authority Mask by Just Tony is unrigged so you can move and scale it for the perfect fit. To change its colors tap on each part in the texture hud.   ....From SEKA's is the E-Tech Neck, with animating LED texture. It's rigged and mod to get the perfect fit. It comes with a SEKA style texture HUD with lots of texture options.   ...From 129129 is the 222 Outset outfit which has a top, upper body Cawl, and shorts (not shown). The Fatpack allows mixing and matching textures.   ...From HAM Store are the fun Leg warmers and stompers. The Fatpack on this also allows for fun texture mixing.   ...From RED Shadow is the Viper MultiArms and backpack. There is animated LED texture tracker-beam from the backpack to the Arms. The Arms are Animesh, with their own AO.   ...Meanwhile at another awesome event that just opened is Floro Solar Relic at Salvage Station. Wear the holdable, and touch it to create a popup Halogram.  It's mod so you can change the halogram tint and add your own art to the Halogram if you want. There is also a Decor version.   ...Other items used are the Lanevo Silence Gloves for men, CheerNo CHN F22 BOM latex body suit, and Sintiklia Gerald hair.

On Him, Ghost:

Helmet: Just Tony - Authority Mask, red [mesh](CyberFair)(250L)

Collar: SEKA's - E-Tech Neck [mesh](CyberFair)(399L)

Top, armor: 129129 - **222 Outset HAIL/NECK [mesh](CyberFair)(fatpack 2,000L)

Halogram Map projector: Floro - Solar Relic, holdable (Salvage Station)(499L)

Shoes: HAM. Store - ERR0R Leg Warmers, Stompers, LegacyM [mesh](CyberFair)(fatpack 999L)

Arms: RED Shadow - RS-ViperMultiArms, Arms AO Include [Animesh](CyberFair)(fatpack 689L)

Gloves: LANEVO - Silence Gloves, LegacyM, Fatpack [mesh]

Hair: Sintiklia - Geralt Unrigged&resized [mesh]

Bodysuit: CheerNo - CHN F22 latexbody, blakc, LegacyM [BOM]

Head: LeLUTKA - CAMDEN 4.0 [mesh](3990L)

Body: TheShops - [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.7.1) [mesh](5000L)

Pose: momomuller [3M]_sc)_m_3

BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shots, hi-res, midday sky:

Cyber Fair: The Cybernetic Body Horror (Escape from Club Apophis, 37)

(click to enlarge)

STORYLINE:  The recovery room inside GIN AESTHETICA™ was a masterpiece of sterile vanity. It glowed with a predatory, flawless white light. Behind the sleek medical bed, a massive window framed the glittering nightscape of Neu Seoul, a city blissfully unaware of the monsters operating above it. Opposite the window, beside the sealed door, a narrow observation pane watched the room like an unblinking eye.

A smart wardrobe hummed in the corner. It projected a rotating hologram of complimentary Apophis ATELIER garments waiting for a newly sculpted client.

But the patient in the bed would not be wearing haute couture anytime soon.

Diagnostic holograms floated in the chilled air, casting a sickly cyan light over Kyra's ruined chassis. Her external cybernetic shell had been stripped away by the clinic staff. Shockingly little organic tissue remained. The entire upper casing of her skull was missing, exposing an intricate, sparking web of metal, silicon, and processing chips. Only her lower face and brain stem remained human.

She lay perfectly still in sleep mode beneath a canopy of glowing biometric displays.

MasterGin stood at the foot of the bed, his heel tapping an irritated rhythm against the floor as he read the diagnostics. His sheer white tunic rippled as he crossed his arms. His flawless face slowly twisted into a mask of absolute revulsion.

"No. Absolutely not," he huffed. "I am an artist. I compose in flesh. I refine. I elevate. I do not troubleshoot appliances."

Romance sat rigid in the visitor's chair. His knuckles were bone-white. "Your testimonials are full of disfigured people singing your praises. You claim you can fix anything."

The vampire let out a sharp, mocking laugh. "Poor Bubblegum Relic." He stepped closer, tracing a perfectly manicured claw over the former idol’s throat. "Adorable. A demon like you, still believing in miracles." He fanned himself as if he were having a hot flash. "Delicious." A wicked glee lit his eyes, like a secret he could not wait to ruin. "I do not cut. I conquer."

Romance refused to be intimidated. He narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean, exactly?"

"Knives are for butchers. I prefer devotion."

Romance tilted his head, still not understanding.

MasterGin’s smile widened. "They always get the beauty they came for. That is the tragedy."

Romance’s eyes widened as the horrific truth clicked into place.

The vampire leaned in, his voice dropping to a theatrical, venomous whisper. "My blood is the miracle, Demon Dullard. I am an exceptionally rare vampire. I do not merely shapeshift. I force the shift. My blood flows into my clients and binds them to my will. It compels their fragile human cells to reshape, to elevate into the perfection of my design. They become my familiars, unable to disobey me. I mold them into gods. Or I melt them into puddles if they bore me. But this?"

He gestured dismissively at Kyra's exposed, synthetic brain casing.

"I do not sculpt gears. There is nothing here to seduce. No pulse to persuade. No flesh to betray itself. If it cannot ache, I cannot adore it."

"But I helped you. This whole time, you knew."

MasterGin pulled back to his full height, suddenly bored. "She is stabilized, yes. A few drops of vitae have halted her biological decay. You are welcome. But I cannot regrow what was never alive." He turned on his heels. "Get this scrap metal out of my pristine suite before it stains the floor."

The glowing white doors hissed shut behind him.

Romance covered his face with both hands. A ragged sob escaped his lips.

He had believed the lie. He had told himself that whatever else Monstrum was, the relief on those clients' faces in the advertisements was real. He had clung to the idea that some small good existed inside the machinery of this terrible occupation.

He lowered his hands and looked at the gleaming, empty room. It felt staged. Too bright. Too clean. There had never been anything behind the curtain. He had just handed them a massive propaganda victory, selling his enchanting curse to the cameras, for absolutely nothing. And somewhere out in the world, desperate people were still waiting for a miracle that would only enslave them.

He curled his fists. A deep, silent fury boiled in his chest.

He forced his hands to unclench. He smoothed his pink hair. He became the idol again.

Romance leaned over the bed. He retrieved a cursed energy chip branded with a devil heart logo from his pocket. He delicately pressed it into the port on Kyra's neck and switched her out of Sleep Mode.

The room filled with the soft whine of rebooting systems. Pistons clicked. Relays snapped inside her open skull. A faint heat rose from her exposed circuitry, carrying the sterile scent of warmed metal and ozone.

Kyra moaned, her voice fractured by digital static. "I can't see. Why can't I see?"

"It's just temporary," Romance whispered, taking her cold, heavy mechanical hand.

They both fell silent, terrified of what words might make real.

"Am I going to die?" she finally asked. Even through the static, the fear was plain.

"No," Romance said firmly. "I can see you will not. It is part of my power as a Saja. I know when a person's time is up."

Kyra’s grip tightened on his fingers. "Thank you for helping me. I'm not afraid when you are with me. I feel safe."

Romance’s heart cracked.

A sudden thump rattled the observation pane.

His head snapped up. Opposite the bed, beside the sealed door, the glass trembled under a double slap.

Lisa Liemawr stood on the other side, her hand leaving a smear of sewer grime on the pristine glass. Her jaw hung open. Her laser-focused eyes locked on the exposed, ruined state of her best friend. Absolute, devastating guilt carved itself across the reporter's face.

Romance was on his feet in an instant, one hand raised in sharp warning. "Go!" he mouthed silently, his eyes wide. "Are you crazy?"

Lisa shook her head. She refused.

Lisa Liemawr filmed everything. She never looked away from a story. But now she was standing entirely still, not documenting, not performing for followers, just staring in pure horror. Kyra, her longtime best friend, lay with her skull open to the world.

Behind Lisa, the rest of the students caught up. Plague, Kyle, Ghost, and Echo crowded into the corridor. Minjo stepped to the front.

Down the hall, the sharp, angry voice of MasterGin echoed off the marble. He was screaming at Nurse Paine, stripping her of her rank and demoting her to guard duty. They were coming back.

Romance locked eyes with Minjo. He pointed sharply down the corridor. "GO!" he mouthed again.

Minjo gave Romance one sharp, definitive nod and signaled to the team to scatter.

Lisa still refused to move. Plague grabbed the struggling reporter by the waist, lifting her entirely off her feet. Lisa kicked and twisted, tears streaking through the grime on her face as Plague dragged her out of sight into an adjacent room. They vanished just before the shadow of MasterGin fell across the far end of the hall.

The hallway emptied. Romance exhaled a shaky breath and sat back down beside the crisp white bed.

"Is something wrong?" Kyra asked, her optic sensors still dark. "What is going on?"

"MasterGin might be returning to discuss your options," Romance said, pitching his voice loud enough to mask any lingering sounds from the corridor. "He has a reputation as a miracle worker. However."

"Yes?" she prompted softly.

"He said you need a mechanic. There is not enough flesh for him to work with."

"Oh." Kyra’s heavy shoulders slumped. "So you were wrong. He can't restore my body."

"I was wrong," Romance admitted, the words tasting like poison. "But the good news is you are stabilized. You are not in immediate danger. We have options."

Kyra’s internal processors whirred loudly. He could hear her mind working through the panic. "Tell me the options," she said quietly.

Romance pulled his chair to the edge of the bed, his voice dropping to a whisper.

"First, you can let go. You can let your systems power down and pass on peacefully."

Kyra shook her head slightly.

"Second, I can permanently convert your cybernetics to run on the cursed energy of the Forbidden Zone. You would live, but you could never leave this place. You would be trapped here forever."

He paused, his golden eyes glowing in the dim light. He looked at the shimmering, infinite lifeline hovering faintly above her exposed mechanical brain.

"Third," he whispered. "You can make a deal with me, right here, right now. Exchange your soul for a new existence." He paused, looking at her destroyed body. "Recover what was lost by becoming a Jeoseung Saja. Like me. You would never age. And I would never have to be lonely again."

Kyra processed the weight of the offer.

"Is there anything else?" she asked, her voice trembling with static.

Romance closed his eyes. He remembered her life opening to him as she lay dying in the debris pile. Memories of incredible athleticism, helpfulness, and a fierce will to survive. She was perfect. He told himself that was the only reason the thought had crossed his mind.

"Yes. I am running a ratline. I can smuggle you out of the Zone entirely. We can find a human cybernetics doctor. Someone who can actually rebuild you. But you would have to leave immediately, and there is no guarantee you would be free. MasterGin has laid a claim on you. There is something in your system now that was not there before. His vitae stabilized you, but it is not neutral. It could be a complication."

The diagnostic holograms above the bed pulsed in the quiet room.

"Tell me what you want to do," Romance said, waiting in the glittering, sterile light.

Can you tell the story finale is looming or what?  Cyber Fair is also ending on the 23, so hurry over and check out all the wonderful items and sales before it ends.   Kyra is wearing amazingly crafted Nyx outfit by Lanevo which includes bodysuit, gloves for each hand separately, jacket, shorts, and boots. The boots also replace the mesh leg to create the "muffin top" squished flesh look under the straps and laces. ts uses BOM to match your body skin automatically. Very cool effect. Each piece is sold separately and has a fatpack of color options.   ...The drama exposed cyborg skull is by NK, Heavy Netrunner Implant. It includes a tattoo layer for the EVOX heads and alpha.   ...The giant claw hand is by Seka's, the GearHead Glove. I used the fatpack color options to stick to the Jae Won University's theme colors of red, black, and white.   ...The black lip makeup is by Other Faces for EvoX heads.   ...And the background, wow. This set is amazing. Crisp glossy whites. The set pack includes vanity, wardrobe, bed, ceiling/floors, and walls pieces to build your layout however you wish. Corners, window, long window, and straight. The wardrobe includes clothing for men and women and also animated poses for both.  The bed includes poses also, and options for PG or adult.

On her, Kyra:
Bodysuit: LANEVO - Nyx Bodysuit (Fatpack)[mesh](Cyber Fair)(885L)
Jacket: LANEVO - Nyx Jacket (Fatpack)[mesh](Cyber Fair)(885L)
Gloves: LANEVO - Nyx Gloves (Fatpack)[mesh](Cyber Fair)(660L)
Shorts: LANEVO - Nyx Pants (Fatpack)[mesh](Cyber Fair)(660L)
Boots: LANEVO - Nyx Boots (Fatpack)[mesh](Cyber Fair)(885L)
Skull, tattoo: NK - Heavy Netrunner Implant - VIP (PBR)[mesh](Cyber Fair)(750L)
Glove: SEKA's - GearHead Glove, fatpack [mesh](Cyber Fair)(999L)
Lips: OTHER FACES - Cyber Lips #Concrete [BOM](Cyber Fair)(199L)
Jaw: Evil Baby - Jaws - Accessory [mesh]
Head, eyes: LeLUTKA - lel EvoX LILLY 3.1 [mesh](3990L)
Body: Maitreya - Mesh Body Lara [mesh](2750L)

Pose: yzk - mens pose 4 hero5

Setting:
Furniture, Room: Erfe Design - Gora Bedroom Set Adult, Fatpack [mesh](Cyber Fair)(3490L)


BONUS IMAGES: inworld raw shots, hi-res, midday sky:

Mainframe: The Shipping Drones

(click to enlarge)

STORYLINE: The Wasp Virus was raging in the Mainframe. Highly developed Cyborgs were locked in hibernation mode. How would the mail get through? Enter an unexpected hero… an old series Solares Cargo Drone. It would be up to little drones keep things running until the contagion could be purged from the system.

So many awesome cyber goodies at Mainframe. I just love this genre. This image was inspired by current events, the Cerridwens Cauldron XB Pod, and the cute Solares Cargo Drone. The XB Pod has poses in it, and you can touch the LED screens to trigger an animation or open the pod door. Cerridwens Cauldron also has a matching free planter at the event. The Solares Cargo drone can change to different colors and themes, and it will seamlessly busy itself picking up boxes and delivering them. The gorgeous Hydra Mask is by Lanevo. The fatpack comes with a hud that can change the textures on all its many parts and adjust the transparency on the face. It also has has a bangs hairstyle that will fit nicely inside the mask. The Power Chip is from a gacha by Astara. Its face is animated and you can change its display colors. The Bionic necklace by L'Emporio&PL also includes a texture hud to customize it. I am wearing the new Athletic Legacy mesh body by TheShops. Its so nicely made, and pitch perfect for my style. The downside is there are currently no clothes or accessories for it, or deformers. But I found the A&Y Arm Boosters for Gianni fit pretty well. The unrigged muffler by Krova was easy to adjust. And... my most daring clothing attempt is super cool Cryo Chest by Wicca's Originals at Mainframe. Its made for Maitreya, but as long as I have no lower half... its no trouble. lol

On him, Shipping Drone Hydra:
Helmet: LANEVO HYDRA MASK fatpack [mesh](Mainframe)(780L)
Waist: Wicca's Originals Cryo Chest Maitreya [mesh](Mainframe)(599L)
Powerchip: Astara Chip-n0Mix Power Chip, gacha [mesh](Mainframe)(25L)
Necklace: L'Emporio&PL Bionic Necklace Male [mesh](Mainframe)(350L)
Armbands: A&Y Cyber Bunke Arm Booster Male[mesh](390L)
Muffler: KROVA Muffler [mesh](150L)
Body, skin: TheShops [BODY] Athletic Meshbody (Legacy)(m) (1.0) [mesh](5000L)

Setting:
Pod: Cerridwens Cauldron [CC] XB Pod White/Low Res Textures [mesh](Mainframe)(250L)
Cargo Drone & Crates: Solares Cargo Drone, Crates animated [mesh](Mainframe)(409L)

Location:
Horizons - stage 5