Arkadin smiled as the facility swiftly began to burn and collapse. Normally he didn’t enjoy this sort of thing, but this horrible place was one of Yisini’s little ‘secret bases’ where she gathered up huge amounts of genetic material to use in her experiments, so Arkadin was quite happy that he got to destroy everything. He had noticed some somehow still sane souls managing to flee to the teleporter at the top of the building, but apart from those fortunate few, it seemed the mortals inside all wanted to die.
And the best thing about it? Someone had pressed the big yellow button. The button Yisini installed in case she wanted to have all of this torn down before Kinisis or Kenon saw it. So this place was now willingly being torn apart by the Lord of Death.
Or so Arkadin thought.
“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU FUCKING DOING YOU LITTLE FUCKWAD?”
Yisini screeched like the crazy snake she was. She tried to use her massive serpent tail to put out some fires, but chemical explosions stopped her from doing so.
“WHAT THE FUCK?”
The Thantophor blinked. “You pressed the button. I’m just doing as asked!”
“I DIDN’T PRESS THE BUTTON!” Yisini screamed, watching as her factory burned down. A northern wing exploded in a cloud of red gases.
“Well someone did. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here…” Arkadin tutted. “Either way, I’ve already started. I’m not stopping the destruction, even if you got down and begged.”
“But…”
Something else exploded. A plume of toxic smokes drifted from the furthest corner.
“But what? I’m not letting you take this away from me!” Arkadin growled.
“But you’re mind-”
“I DON’T HAVE MIND CONTROL POWERS!” The Thantophor roared in anger as he summoned a meteor and smashed it into the base of the building. As he did so, he spotted a small group of survivors, trying to get to the teleporter on the roof. With a wave of his hands, he created several puffs of dust and smoke to obscure them from Yisini’s vision. “I can’t control minds! I have been getting by this entire time on my friendly personality alone! If anything, Kinisis is keeping ME hostage! I had to sneak out to come and destroy that horrible, morally wrong factory of yours!”
Yisini seemed to ignore the entirety of her brother’s rant. She circled her beloved lab and tried to see if there was anything she could salvage.
“I put so much effort into this place…”
“It’s vile and wrong.”
“It’s not.”
“You kidnap mortal beings and put them in machines that essentially suck out their internal organs and fluids! How is that not morally incorrect?”
“It’ll all work out in the end when I discover a way to make things immortal! Morality means nothing when it’s for ending mortality!” Yisini hissed. She hadn’t managed to save anything interesting, just a large handful of various genetic materials, some of her latest supply, and fifty frozen Neo-Temthan eggs for a separate experiment. “Plus, I haven’t kidnapped anything in ages! Not since, like, last week.”
Arkadin rolled his eyes. “I don’t care. I’m destroying this place and that’s final.”
The Allbirther huffed and puffed, enlarging herself to make her seem more threatening. But clearly it wasn’t doing anything at all to Arkadin. Yisini knew she had the upper hand and decided to leave.
With his sister out of the way, Arkadin went back to tearing down the structure, demolishing everything. But not before he made sure that the teleporter was clear and that those who could escape had made it off safely.
Satisfied, the Thantophor let slip a smile as the facility exploded one last time, leaving nothing but dust and colourful smoke.
..
“Where are we?” Kayen asked as things materialized around them.
“Oh no…” Kohra gasped. “I thought I set a destination, but the destruction must have fucked something up…”
“Do you have any idea where we are?” Timik asked. “We’re breathing, but that’s about it.”
“I don’t know…” Kohra struggled to his feet. “Kayen, can you give me a hand scanning the local area? See if we can pick anything up.”
“Sure…”
“What about me?” Timik hissed. “What should I do?”
“I don’t know…” Kohra shrugged. “Just stay where you are, I guess. Is Phovos alright?”
Everyone looked back at Phovos, who was sitting awkwardly on the ground, staring blankly at the starry night sky.
“Phovos?”
The Raptor shuddered, then turned around. “He saw us.”
“Who?”
“The Thantophor. He saw us. He knows what we did…”