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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 5026629" data-attributes="member: 3285">No Pain, No Gain: Part 8 – The Thing in the CaveJim-Bean followed the trail of the cable like a human divining rod.  He pointed at a large lava boulder near the river.  "It leads here."Hammer looked askance at the boulder.  "There's no way we can lift that ourselves.""Don’t be so sure," said Jim-Bean.  "I may not be able to telekinetically move it around, but I'm pretty sure I can lift it straight up."Jim-Bean put his palms to the boulder and concentrated.Slowly but surely, the boulder levitated upwards, inch by inch.  "When the opening is wide enough," grunted Jim-Bean, "Go!"After the boulder lifted up a few more feet, Hammer ducked inside, scoping out the cavern with his pistols.  Archive followed soon after.When it was about four feet high in the air, Jim-Bean, still keeping his hands pressed against the boulder, carefully ducked inside. Then he let the boulder softly return to its resting place.They were in utter darkness.  Hammer slapped his nightvision goggles over his eyes and the others did likewise."You realize," whispered Archive, "we're now trapped in here, right?""Can you see anything ahead?" Hammer asked Jim-Bean.Jim-Bean knew what he meant.  He shook his head.  "Music stopped, lights went out.  They know we're here.""Okay, weapons hot, eyes peeled," said Hammer.  They slowly advanced into a cavernous hallway…When the ceiling exploded. A series of planted charges fired in sequence above them.  The concussion alone was deafening, blasting them in different directions.  Hammer and Jim-Bean were thrown forward.  Archive, who was behind them, was not so lucky. The ceiling collapsed immediately afterwards in a cloud of dust and rock, pinning Archive under a pile of rubble.Dazed, ears ringing, the agents struggled to get their bearings.  Before they could even see, a huge form came bounding out of the dust cloud and pinned Hammer to the ground. It was a fiendish-looking wolf grown to monstrous proportions, easily the size of a car.  Bony protrusions jutted from its forehead, shoulders, and along the length of its spine, as if the mutation of Mother's Milk had caused its bones to burst from its hide.  Its paws were enormously, easily as large as Hammer's head.  One pressed on his chest, the other on his head.  He was barely able to breathe, much less fire his pistols.Jim-Bean was the only one left standing. "Give up," came a booming, feminine voice, "or Willie will tear off your friend's head.""Jenny right? Easy, easy," said Jim-Bean, trying to make out the source of the voice.  A feminine silhouette was visible in the dust and dirt.  "We're here to help.""Disarm yourself and lie spread-eagled on the floor," she commanded.Jim-Bean looked down at Hammer.  Willie growled, his hot breath washing over Hammer's neck.  He slowly let go of the pistols in his grip. Realizing that Hammer was capitulating, Jim-Bean did as he was told.  He dropped his weapon and lay spread-eagled.And then he saw her. Jennifer Armbruster was clearly a bodybuilder, her perfectly muscled, naked form towering over them at fourteen feet.  Her torso was abnormally long, with an abdomen that had too many individual muscles in it, but that didn't detract from the sheer presence of a perfectly sculpted giant striding towards him. Firm hands bound Jim-Bean's arms easily.  Archive was effortlessly dragged out of rubble by one foot.  All of them were searched over, weapons and communications removed. Willie picked up Hammer in its mouth and carried him down the hall.They were all unceremoniously shoved into a pen. The chamber was of solid rock, with a lockable gate of steel bars opening into the Lab. Willie sat down on his haunches, panting, an ominous reminder that even if they escaped they could be recaptured easily.  It was clear they weren't going anywhere anytime soon.</blockquote>

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