DON'T PANIC: BL/ind are here to help

A misjudged escape

'Life' wasn't really something Atomic obliteration wanted to think about at that particular moment either.  It is an inevitable conclusion to draw, when stranded in a desert with no food, water or shelter and nothing but a manically depressed robot for company, that 'Life' isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Suffice to say that it had been just over a day since Atomic's dramatic escape from the Better Living Industries HQ, and she is now hot, hungry and unbelievably parched, and thoroughly wishing she hadn't rescued: Marvin the Paranoid Android.

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*Flashback*

Alarms blared throughout the complex.  White-clad draculoids ran through the corridors in rank, ray guns raised, masks down.  Atomic Obliteration pressed herself further against the wall, hardly breathing.  She kept her eyes closed until the sounds of the dracs had gone.  She poked her ray gun carefully around the corner, followed, when nothing shot it, by her head.  The gleaming white corridor was empty.  Atomic took off at a run down it, making as little noise as possible.

The alarms hadn't started until a good ten minutes after she had broken out of her cell, giving her plenty of time to slip away to less heavily guarded areas of the base.  It had been easy enough to ambush the drac who opened her cell to bring food, and steal his gun.  Too easy.  The weapons room had been unguarded too, so she had been able to regather all her old gear (her gun, mask and bandana) before attempting to escape the building.

It all felt too planned.  BL/ind's security would never be that lax.

The corridor ended in front of her and spanned out into a large, pristine foyer, also white.  Everything was white, from the staff's uniform to the signs, to the walls.  As much as she hated it, Atomic couldn't help but wish she'd stolen the drac's uniform, rather than staying in her own clothes.  In her bright blue jeans, black top and shoes and brown leather flying jacket she stuck out like the most painful thumb on the planet, and the 3D glasses and blue highlights certainly didn't help either.

Atomic dropped to the floor in a crouch and pressed against the wall, before peering into the foyer.  Atomic fought down the panic threatening to take over, as she stared into the gleaming white room, forcing herself to remain calm.  It was empty.  The reception to BL/ind's headquarters should not be empty.  And it most certainly should not have the front doors wide open to let her out.

Atomic crept to the door, keeping her body low and her gun raised.  The open doors were wide and inviting, but she restrained herself from running through.  None of this made sense, but she knew one thing: her escape from her cell certainly hadn't just been her own engineering.  BL/ind had walked her straight into a trap.

Atomic reached the doors and scanned the ground before her.  A large open area stood infront of the BL/ind complex.  A few white vans were parked in the corner, and a pristinely cut, artificially grown garden stood in the very centre.  The garden was shaped in an exact circle; only about five metres in diameter, and wasprobably the only green thing in the whole of Battery City.  The stone paving that covered the ground in the area was, of course, white.

But the only thing that concerned Atomic Obliteration at that moment was the figure standing between her and freedom.