NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 5139289" data-attributes="member: 3285">Grace Under Pressure: Part 5 – Who's There?"No!" shouted Hammer.Cho Chu-Tsao was momentarily distracted, turning to look at the satchel tumbling down towards the altar.  Her defenses lowered, Hammer fired a bullet between her eyes.  She slumped backwards, mouth open in surprise.The ensuing explosion blasted the plinths off their bases. Guppy was nearly beheaded by one of the rocks as it whistled through the air.The shockwave stunned the agents.  In the ensuing dust and debris it was clear that the altar had been ruined.  Hammer, Archive, Guppy, and Caprice struggled to their feet.A figure strode towards them out of the cloud of dust.  Hammer's pistols were up in a flash. It was Jim-Bean.  He dusted his hands.  "Great, so now that's over…"The rubble shuddered.  A huge piece of stone slid off the back of the Deep One bodyguard.  It was bloody and battered, with one goggle eye smashed in.  In its arms was the frail Ko, looking like nothing more than a sickly child in its arms. "The stars are right again," Ko whispered as he expired. "What we failed to do by design…you did…by accident…"He died with a smile on his lips.The bodyguard made a low moan.  But it was not mourning over the dead man in its arms. As the dust settled, a horrible fact became clear: the door was open.By blood and force, the seal had been penetrated, its doors blasted open.  In the darkness, a mountainous mass pulsed softly with the same unnatural glow as the rest of R'lyeh.Jim-Bean's mouth fell open.  For once, he was without words."Run…" whispered Hammer, straining to tear his eyes away from the slumbering mass at the center of the dome.  "Run!"The agents turned.  Archive, like Jim-Bean, seemed entranced by the fleshy mass that stirred within.  A slit of yellow inched open, bathing the agents in an unholy light.  Slowly, a fiery red orb rolled down into view. The dual-pupils winced tighter, shifting from the far-off dreaming of a slumbering titan to keen alertness. An eye that had just regained its focus.Hammer shoved Archive. "RUN!" A tentacle unfurled out of the dark recesses and, with a yelp, the Deep One bodyguard was gone.  Jim-Bean turned and ran.  The place shuddered around them.  Onwards they ran, diving back through the submerged chamber.  Stone plunged in great showers, puncturing the watery passageways.  Of the Deep Ones and their dark lords there was no sign.They burst out of the entrance through the Cthulhu statue's mouth.  Struggling, with the water up to their hips, they lurched upwards, desperately scrabbling, crawling for purchase along the steep incline.  One of the statue's tentacles snapped off, spinning over and over as it bounced its way towards the agents.  Caprice dove to the side but not fast enough.  It smashed into his shoulder, spinning the agent back towards the void of the Cthulhu-statue's mouth.Hammer caught him by the arm.  Lugging the unconscious Caprice in a fireman's carry, he struggled on.  The other agents paused to look back."Keep going!" shouted Hammer.  "Jimmy, tell Ho to fire up the Wallaby!"Jim-Bean stumbled on like a man drunk. The psychic pressure was immense.  They didn't understand, the fools, what was happening.  They weren't running from a mere earthquake.  They were protozoa fleeing a Baleen whale.  Using his psychic powers was like screaming in a wind tunnel – he could barely concentrate, much less hear himself think.  Finally, they reached the Wallaby.  The other agents piled in.  On his way to the sub, Jim-Bean suddenly fell to his knees, hacking and wheezing.  It was as if someone was trying to pull his stomach through his mouth. Blue fluid filled up his lungs and nose, choking him.  Jim-Bean vomited it out in a spray.  The effluvia swam away with a life of its own. Jim-Bean found himself next to Power's corpse, staring at his vacant, dead eyes.  They had milked over completely with a yellow film.  His mouth was gasped open like a shark dying on land.Jim-Bean grabbed the belt of grenades around Powers' torso.  He wasn't going to need them anymore.The ground continued to tremble.  Jim-Bean staggered to his feet and clambered up onto the Wallaby.  He barely had time to pull the airlock shut when the submarine submerged.</blockquote>

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