Star Point

Ch.3 Chaos

Marcelo groaned, clutching the side of his pounding head as he lay on the ground. He scanned the common room- or what was left of it- for his friends. Flashing red sirens overtook his field of vision as the repetitive wail of the alarm rang in his ears . Broken cables across the room sent tiny sparked flying  around the fogged up window. Tiny puffs of black smoke threatened to ignite into an even bigger problem.  Damaged pipelines along the ceiling leaked white fumes into the area, giving the whole scene an eery scarlet haze. Shit, he panicked internally. Marcelo instinctively grabbed  the edge of a table and immediately recoiled as blinding pain shot through his left wrist and elbow.

"Ahhh," he hissed, inspecting his injured arm. His wrist was already beginning to swell and discolor with bruising. Suck it up, Marcelo. Desperately, he attempted to get to his feet once more. He quickly sank back down, failing for a second time.

"Rivera!" Aiona yelled as he emerged from the other end of the demolished space. A massive gash across his hairline resulted in streams of crimson blood to trickle down the right side of his face and neck. He knelt down beside his friend to judge his condition. 

Marcelo pointed towards the impending ignition. "Aiona, the cables..." he wheezed as he cradled his arm close to his torso.

Aiona whipped his head around and sprang into action, yanking the small fire extinguisher out from its wall mount. He tossed Marcelo a gas mask before returning his attention back to his problem. Marcelo struggled to fit  the device around his face as he saw Aiona prevent the impending fire. He quickly inflated the beige rubber material around his face, breathing in fresh oxygen like it was the first time he had ever been afforded the luxury. A white cloud of fire retardant material engulfed the sparking wires, quelling the immediate problem. 

Marcelo gasped as Aiona pulled him up onto his feet. "What happened?" He anxiously examined the room once more, trying to catch a glimpse of his other teammates. "We weren't the only ones in here before," he recalled, his voice shaking with fear. "Where is everyone? Where is Soler? How long were we unconscious?"

"Hell if I know," Aiona murmured, his response muffled by his own beige rubber mask. "But it's nice to know that if anything else happens we will be the first ones left behind."

The two men noticed  paperwork scattered on the floor beneath their bulky black boots. "That's strange..." Marcelo observed. He bent down to pick a sheet up and let it go, watching it fall quickly back to its original resting space. He turned to Aiona, who's perplexed expression matched his own sentiments. "Who messed with the gravity," Marcelo asked softly.

A distant howl suddenly filled the air.

"HELP!"

"Wait here," Aiona commanded as he sprinted towards the cry and out of view. "Rivera," he called back urgently. "It's Hahn." Marcelo hobbled his way to his friends, seeing Hahn pinned under a large metal  workbench. Her eyes were filled with tears and pain as she lay on the ground looking to her colleagues to become her saviors.

Aiona tried to lift the bench off of his friend to no avail as Marcelo stood there helplessly.
"I'll go get help," Marcelo exclaimed as he searched for a possible route to safety before feeling a shaky hand patting his leg. 

"N-no," Hahn exhaled, "Let Aiona go. You're hurt, too."

He looked at his friend nervously. "Aiona..." Marcelo began, ending the discussion as his friend ran off towards the Captain's quarters.

Marcelo slid down to the floor next to the pinned woman. Her head looks okay, he speculated. "Are you badly injured?" He asked tenderly, inspecting the rest of her visible form for any signs of obvious trauma.