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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 5135567" data-attributes="member: 3285">Grace Under Pressure: Part 3 – In the Mouth of MadnessThe agents entered into the labyrinthine passageways of the sunken nightmare city."From what I could decipher from the laptop on the Joey," began Guppy, "there's three cultists down here.  Cho Chu-Tsao, Agent Powers, and William Davis Ko.""So Powers wasn't the only defector," said Caprice."No.  In fact, it looks like Majestic ended up funding Ko's research.  They gave him access to some piscid humanoids, codenamed BLUE HADES, retrieved from PROJECT JENNIFER—""Deep Ones," corrected Archive.Guppy looked at him.  "Okay, sure.  Ko got his hands on some Deep One DNA."Hammer nodded, his eyes tracking signs of Chu-Tsao's passage.  "That explains the fish-hybrids we found in Chicago. Tiger Transit was originally funding Ko's work."The trail led through broad and high corridors overgrown with dimly glowing algae and fungi.  Mysterious reliefs on the walls depicted nightmarish horrors. "Right," said Guppy.   "And I think Majestic-12 wanted access to Ko's experiments.  But I guess he was a double agent.""So Ko's research for Majestic-12 picked up right where he left off with Tiger Transit?" asked Caprice."Yeah," said Guppy.  "Worse, actually.  He stumbled upon a flu-virus under PROJECT PI.  The Pi prion can convert human DNA to Deep One DNA in a matter of hours."Jim-Bean paused for a moment, coughing.  "You okay Jimmy?" asked Hammer."I'm fine," said Jim-Bean.  He kept walking."They tested it on the native population," continued Guppy.  "And from the gist of the emails, they were going to unleash it on Ho's men too.""So we did Ho a favor!" laughed Jim-Bean. "Yeah," said Caprice slowly.  "A favor."The twisting trail led to a stone slab hallway that descended at a slight grade as it proceeded into a small hillock. There were signs of a lot of traffic in and out of the temple. The agents filed inside, weapons ready. The entrance opened into a passageway nearly ten feet wide and fourteen feet tall. Toward the bottom, where the walls were better protected from the elements, strange hieroglyphics covered them. The floor sloped at a nearly twenty degree angle."So what are the cultists up to?" asked Hammer.  "They want to turn the whole world into a bunch of fish people?"Archive shook his head.  "That's not enough.  They need a leader.""Or a god," said Jim-Bean.  He pointed ahead of them. The enormous hallway emptied into a waterlogged room nearly thirty feet across, twenty-five feet tall, and about sixty feet long. At the far end of the entry chamber was a huge octopoid form whose tentacles reached along the walls. The dank water was opaque, and the water grew deeper as the incline increased.With the slope of the structure, the sensation of helplessly falling to be consumed was nearly overwhelming. At the center point where the tentacles came together there was a hideous mouth with savage, irregular teeth. The teeth continuously dripped noxious green slimy secretions. The chamber was not lit, and their flickering flashlights illuminated the massive tentacles, the shadows making them seem to move around to pull all into its awful mouth. "Cthulhu," whispered Archive fearfully. "There was a journal in the sub too.  It was written in Aklo.  Translated, it read: Who disturbs his rest and breaks the seal, who can wake the sleeper for he will rise up and in his wrath the earth will quake.  Woe to them who disturb his rest, for his wrath will be directed at them and will destroy them.  The day will come when he awakes, sets his foot on land again, when R'lyeh rises again and challenges anew. It will come, the day, when time comes to an end."Caprice shook his head.  "No way. I am NOT setting foot in that thing's mouth.  It'll eat us!""It's just a statue," said Jim-Bean, fascinated.  He seemed unable to tear his gaze away from the horrible sculpture.  "What about the green goo?" squeaked Guppy.  "We'll just avoid it," said Jim-Bean, holding up one hand.  The goo began dripping in an umbrella-like pattern as Jim-Bean's telekinetic field held it at bay.  "Feel better?  Now can we please—"Water exploded in a series of geysers around them. Hopping, loping humanoids reared up, encircling them. Their predominant color was a grayish-green, though they had white bellies. They were mostly shiny and slippery, but the ridges of their backs were scaly. Their forms vaguely suggested the anthropoid, while their heads were the heads of fish, with prodigious bulging eyes that never closed. At the sides of their necks were palpitating gills, and their long paws were webbed.The agents tore into the Deep Ones.  Gunfire sparked in the darkness as the hopping things were blasted backwards, floating face down or face up.  More horribly, they bled like humans, great gouts of blood that spread in the water around them like a red stain. And as more fell, others sprang up out of the water."Where were they hiding?" Guppy fired his pistol, frantic.  "The water isn't that deep!""The laws of geometry and physics don't apply here!" Archive fired his Glock and a Deep One's head exploded. They were surrounded.  "We have to go through the mouth!" shouted Hammer, guns blazing. "We'll be completely underwater," said Caprice.  They had used up their oxygen in the HALO drop and the swim to the Horseshoe. "If there's no exit on the other side—"The thunderous explosion of an even bigger geyser behind them cut Caprice off. Something massive and squamous stretched to its full height out of the water.  Like a bent old man, it hunched over even in the huge room.  Rudimentary wings jutted from behind it, dripping seawater.  The writhing tendrils that made up its face were a disgusting bright pink, as were the wiggling appendages that constituted its forearms.  It shrieked an inhuman wail of rage as its tentacles stretched towards Hammer.Without hesitation, the agents dove through the Cthulhu-statue's mouth.</blockquote>

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