Umber looked about the hallways once inside. He remembered most of this building but needed a reminder. Umber pulled out his phone, and tried to look at the pictures of the building interior. "Ah… ok… So we are here!" He pointed at the screen on the phone to show to Emily.

Emily rolled her bloodied eye and moved Umber's finger a half inch to the left. He nodded and continued, "Yes… there. And there's a storage room, here. You got a card to get in. I say we snoop there before heading down to the sub-levels."

"Oh captain, my captain." Emily responded in an unenthusiastic and monotone voice as she floated by him. Clearly, she was ticked off about something, but Umber pushed the notion out of his thoughts and focused on the mission. "Come along, Ben." The trio easily walked through the hallways since it was evacuated. The emergency lighting provided enough ambiance as they made their way through the double doors and up to the storage room entrance. "Open sesame." Said Emily as she swiped the security badge along the reader. Even in emergency power mode, the site still had enough juice to make sure the locks and badge readers worked. Only essential functions.

The card reader gave the green light and an agreeable beep as the deadbolt lock retracted. Umber stepped through Emily and pushed the door open to view shelves and shelves of boxes. "AHA! Human treasure. A box repository. So many… you think this also doubles as a place of worship?"

Emily panned her head from side to side. "As a former human, I argue against your theory on human box fetishism."

"Noted." Umber looked over his shoulder. "But then why so many boxes, huh?"

Emily sighed and dropped her claws to her side. "I don't have a good answer for that. Let's be quick, yeah?"

Something they could both agree on. Umber looked to Ben, "Look around and see if you can find something useful." Ben bobbed up and down and flew up and over a shelf out of sight. Umber began the dig into a shelf along the wall. Pens, staplers, notepads, paperclips, tape, and any other generic small office supply item were displayed in open bins. Umber mulled over a travel size bottle of hand sanitizer. "The shadow is this stuff? It's a… thick water? Why would humans need thick water?" He gave the bottle a squeeze as a spurt of it landed right in his eye.

"GAH! IT BURNS! SHADOW SAVE ME!"

Emily rushed over and batted the hand sanitizer out of his hand. "Umber what happened? Is it venom?"

"YES! SHADJAR!"

"How can I remove it? Should I cut it out?"

"CUT OUT THE VENOM!?! NO!!!" He would have pushed her away if he could have. "Just! Just give me a second… I think the pain is going away. Nebcharzz! That hurts."

Emily nodded; she then looked at the bottle lying on the floor and read the back label. "Hand Sanitizer. Flammable, keep away from fire or flame. Do not swallow. Avoid contact with eyes."

"Well now it tells me!" Umber rubbed his eye vigorously to get his tears to wash out the hellish concoction. Emily continued to read. "Keep away from children. Why children?" She looked at Umber, then back at the label, then back at Umber. "…ah."

"What?" Umber pivoted around to look at Emily, his eye was almost as red as hers.

"Nothing." She quickly replied.

They are both interrupted when the unmistakable sound of Ben's ringing alerts both of them. At the top of the highest shelf, Ben had found something interesting in an open box. Umber looked back down, a balled fist in his eye trying to rub out the last remnants of the bottled venom. "I'm going to go see what Ben found." Placing a foot and hand on the shelves ready to ascend, he looked at Emily one last time. "Go see if the coast is clear to make it down the stairwell?" She nodded and vanished.

Umber ascended the mountain of shelves that nearly scraped the ceiling tiles as he made his way toward Ben. "What do we have, Ben?" Ben excitedly bobbed up and down at its discovery as Umber leaned over to peek inside, but was interrupted by Emily coming back suddenly.

"Clear all the way down to the door."

Umber was startled and lost his grip in one hand but was able to maintain grip on the other. He dangled like a Christmas ornament, looking down at Emily. "Excellent. Let me just see what's up here and I'll be right down." Swinging back over, he pulled himself back up to the top shelf and peeked inside the box.

Inside were three glass objects and a piece of blue paper. It had some limited information but Umber dutifully took a note of it for later use. "Good work, Ben." Looking down, he then started his descent. Emily waited patiently for him at the bottom. "You don't think this is too easy do you?"

Umber continued down the shelves. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, there's nobody here. During a lockdown there's at least somebody in the building."

"You're paranoid… HUP!" Umber jumped down with three shelves left to go, but managed to make a good landing. "They all evacuated. No reason to think that-"

"-It's a trap?" Emily interjected.

"I was going to say no reason to think that anyone would be left behind. You saw all the staff leaving. The rest went east towards the lake. We're fine." Umber confidently walked past her, but her words started to dig into his head a little. What if it were a trap? How would he know? And what they would have to do if it were. Stepping out of storage, the hallways were dim and deserted. He walked over towards the stairwell and it too was as quiet as the void. "We need to get down there.” Umber started heading down with renewed caution. Emily and Ben picked up the rear as they made their way down. It was darker than last time they were down there, which was when Umber was killed. He unconsciously rubbed his chest where the hole was blasted into him a week ago.

At the bottom of the stair, he could make out the two sets of double doors. One he knew led to the armory, the other towards the bulkhead that blocked the entrance into much wanted sub-levels. Emily crouched down to address the frozen homunculus at the bottom of the step. "What now?"

"Well we should probably hit the armory." Umber responded as he turned and looked at the door. Another keycard reader. "If you don't mind?" Umber motioned toward the door and the empty post where a guard would have been stationed if not for the evacuation of the building. Emily swiped the badge and opened it up to the familiar room they were in a week prior. The smell of musty concrete and freshly cured paint filled the room as the fluorescents above flickered on. Rows and rows of weapons and ammunition. "Alright. Spread out and lets see what we can dig up." Emily, Ben, and Umber each went their own direction and spent a good amount of time rummaging through the boxes and lockers of the armory.

Sage croaked unexpectedly as Umber was looking at some rifles. "Hmm? What's that Sage?"

"She's a frog Umber." Emily's voice echoed in along the walls of the bunker.

"I know. Did you find anything yet?"

"Maybe. You?"

Umber looked up and the shelf adjacent and peered at the Kevlar vests. After rubbing his chest where a massive gaping wound would have been, he then pulled the smallest vest he could find. "I think so… though I'm not sure it will fit. Ok, everyone regroup." Ben and Emily reappeared back into the main aisle to show their swag:

a vest of bullet resistance

a gun

and a bomb

"….Ben where did you get a bomb?" Umber looked up at Ben who had the round metal ring looped around the top of it. Ben merely nodded in the direction of an aisle named 'ORDNANCE AND HIGH EXPLOSIVES'. "Oh…. alright then."

Emily piped up, "Umber, we can't carry all of this. Do we need any of it?"

"You're right, we don't. We aren't here to start a war." And with that, the gang then dropped their items on the nearest shelf. "We should really be more focused on getting past that big door." Umber led them all back into the hallway and towards the large bulkhead. Sage once again gave a very loud and pronounced croak.

CROAK

"What is with her?" Emily looked down at Umber's pocket.

"No idea, but we should keep moving." Ben was already at the door, floating along the seams of the metal slab and concrete walls to look for weaknesses. There was none. It was solid enough to take a direct hit from an energy blast, an acidic discharge, or some other destructive force. The locks on the bottom, which bolted it the bulkhead securely to the ground, looked just as tough, if not tougher. Even if Umber had a cutting torch, it'd take the better part of a night and day to cut into them. "Well… shadjar. Any ideas?"

Umber looked through his phone for those plans he pulled a while back. Going through the gallery he concentrated hard at one picture and then another. Emily looked over his shoulder to observe. Both of them stood in silent thought until Umber looked up at the ghostly woman. "Emily, can't you just… you know… go through it?" He pointed at the door with a stubby digit.

"I can. But how would I get everything else through there?"

"Fair point."

Sage then gave another croak, this time it rang loud and echoed against the walls of concrete.

CROAK!

"Sage, please be quiet." Umber bopped his pocket to get her attention. Sage wriggled a little but not much else. Ben started to float back down to the group, now convinced that there were no obvious points of entry like a vent or something but also interested in the sudden activity the toad was giving off.

"Maybe she's trying to tell us something?"

"Yeah? Like hurry up! Let's get this door open now." Umber said impatiently. "This our second time down here and it gives me the creeps."

"…is that because you died here?"

"Yes! Yes, Emily it's because I died here! Can you shut up about it!?!" Umber crossed his arms in a huff.

Emily didn't react much with her motions as she continued. "I understand. I would feel the same way." Umber sighed and rubbed his temples to try to shake off the strange vibes he was experiencing.

"Sorry. I don't mean to be snippy. I'm just- I'm frustrated. I feel like we're not making much progress and I'm not the most patient or used to working in teams."

"Neither am I. Actually it's rather nice." Her blank dead stare gave no indication as to her emotions, but the inflection in her voice certainly did. Umber nodded solemnly. "Yeah… it is." In reality, he had no idea what was going to happen to Emily after the mission was done with. It was not his place to bring others into the cult of new umbra, but at the same time, he did feel obligated to try and do right by her. Again, more things to shelve for after the mission. "OK. How about this door then?"

"Well it seems like all we have to do is turn this green wheel and the door should slide open." Umber noted as he put the phone away. Emily nodded and glided one step back as Ben floated on the otherside of its master. Umber rubbed his digits together and set Sage on the floor as he gripped the wheel. "Alright… 3… 2… 1… FNGNGH!"

The door creaked and groaned as the gears ground against one another. There was an unmistakable squeal of metal on metal as the metal slab started to roll along its bearings. It moved an impressive half an inch before there was a clang emanating from the floor.

Emily and Ben looked down to notice that the hydraulic locks along the bottom of the door where still engaged. Umber felt the resistance and doubled his efforts, rocking it back and forth. There was another metal on metal clang as the door was once again stopped by the immovable locks.

Emily winced as she watched Umber groan against the wheel.

"Al… Almost th-there!" His whole body shook as he put all he got into turning the wheel. To save him the embarrassment, Emily crouched down and put an arm around him. "Umber?"

"Not now! It's giving way… I can feel it."

"Umber, this isn't going to work."

"Yes it is! FNGH!"

The little homunculus's hand-sewn stitching started to pop as he strained even harder. Emily looked up at Ben, but Ben knew better than to interrupt the master. She then gave Umber an attention-getting pat on the back.

"Look. The locks. There are two of them." She pointed emphatically. "That door is not going anywhere unless those are disengaged." Umber opened his eye to look, and sure enough, half an inch was all he was going to muster with the locks there. "Ah… well then…" He let go of the wheel slowly. "How about we turn on the motors then?"

Emily nodded and stood back up. "Sure, but the locks will still be engaged." Umber rubbed his sore digits and located the breaker panel on the side of the bulkhead. Upon opening the panel he could see that there was in fact power running to the motors, locks, and lights. The gentle hum of the generators behind them confirmed that the whole circuit was powered by the generators now. "Somehow we need to disengage the locks if we want to get the door open."

Emily huffed, "That's what I've been trying to-"

Umber then threw up a hand to interrupt. "Quiet, I have to think."

Umber stroked his chin looking at the door and circuit breakers. He jiggled the breaker that was labeled 'B2' but did not notice anything other than a small set of green LED lights on each hydraulic piston flickering on and off. "Well that's not helping much." Walking back over to the wheels, Umber steadied his grip on the purple one and started to turn it. With almost instant results, the slow hiss of hydraulic fluid began to drain from the pistons and they both started to release and sink into the floor. With a heavy clunk, the solid metal locks eventually bottomed out into their respective cavities. It would take a herculean amount of effort to build the hydraulic pressure back up to relock them, or just simply turn on the pumps.

"Aha! Unlocked." Umber smiled broadly at another victory to scratch next to the longer list of failures and accidents that somehow got them back into the facility. Ben floated back to his master to bask in confidence and ego. Feeling rather triumphant then, Umber was about to take another crack at the green wheel when he had the brilliant thought. "Emily, why don't you peek through and see what's on the other side."

Emily turned to him and tilted her head. "I can't believe I never thought of that before." Emily placed both hands on the solid bulkhead, closed her eye, and stuck her head cleanly through. Phasing one's head through metal has a variety of interesting side effects that most would not think of. For one, a similar effect of brain freeze happens as head and object interact with one another trying to squeeze into the same space. Another is the unmistakable taste of whatever you are passing through saturating your mouth and nose. Although being dead has a great advantage to all this uncomfortable effects as you need to have senses to be uncomfortable.

It only took a brief three seconds to phase through the plated metal and concrete. Emily then opened her eye to observe the dark interior. Nothing was terribly surprising. It was dark, but not too terrible. She peered out ahead to try and catch a glimpse of anything out there.













































At first it looked like a whole lot of still air. The back wall could not even be made out. Suddenly there was the distinct croak of Sage from the other side of the bulkhead. CROAK Emily used her hand to hold a finger up to Umber in hopes that he is able to quiet the toad who has literally been croaking every other minute since being down in the sub-level. "That's better." She whispered to herself. The suddenly there was the unmistakable sound of patter coming out from the dark. Emily squinted to see if her vision could cut through the blackness as something started to emerge.









































































































Emily then retrieved her head, pausing only for a second or two before interrupting Umber's attempt at turning the green wheel. "Umber. We might have trouble."

"What do you mean?"

"There's about five guns behind this wall."

"G-guns?" Umber rubbed his sore chest.

CROAK!

Before Emily could explain further, the hum of electricity could be heard as the motors around the bulkhead started to whir into action. It was apparent that something has seized control of the bulkhead and it wasn't them. With a wailing grind, it started to slowly slide open. Suddenly the intercom chirped as a voice crackled through the loudspeaker. It was unmistakable as it was loud.

[NO HARD FEELINGS, CHAMP.] [BOSSMAN HAS ME RUNNING ERRANDS.] [IF YOU THREE WOULD JUST SURRENDER, WE COULD WORK SOMETHING OUT THAT DOESN'T INVOLVE KILLING.] [OK, BUCKAROO?]

"Shadjar! Double Shadjar!" Umber yelled. "Curse you, Virgil!"

His yelling did not impede the bulkhead door, which was still creaking open at a sloth's pace. Emily looked to Umber with urgency. "Let's not get you shot again."

"Agreed. Back to the armory!" Umber grabbed Emily's hand, but it was like grabbing air. "Oh… right. Just follow then. Ben, you too!"

"Don't forget Sage!" Emily reminded him as she phased into an adjacent wall to enter the armory. Umber was in mid-step when before he pivoted around and retrieved the green lump off the floor. Sage gave another loud croak as a gun barrel protruded through the ever-widening space and took a few scattered shots at Umber.

[CONTACT] BRAAAAP! "Oh Shadow! Don't let me die again!"

The assailant let off a quick three round burst, luckily missing Umber as he scampered off around the corner. The bullets ricocheted off the concrete walls and floor before falling silent. The bulkhead squeaked loudly as Special Task Force Zeta-5 started to file through the opening one at a time. By then however, Umber, Sage, Ben, and Emily were in the armory pushing a large cabinet in front of the door. There was no power still but they had a good look around beforehand to see what was there. Frankly, it was a treasure trove of everything a mobile task force would ever want or need to head off a full scale assault or at least put on one hell of a show before dying.

"Well, now we are back in here. Wish I would have taken one of those big guns now." Umber panted, still trying to catch his breath after running for his insignificant life. There were humans coming that wanted him dead… again. Ben floated away from the group back towards the 'ORDNANCE AND HIGH EXPLOSIVES' bin in the southeast corner of the room. Emily was rummaging through some bulletproof vests, something in Umber's size. She didn’t need one at least. Sage was… Sage. Seems like everyone was in action except Umber, but he had to reel in his team. Any second they were going to be looking down the barrels of guns. Guns in the hands of very well trained humans that had no qualms shooting first and asking later, if at all. All Umber had was an armory, his spellbook, and his friends. He formulated a plan.