The Deep

Walking Blind

4:53 AM, the outer lights shine on the haze of artificial oxygen in Marcus's room. The room has clothes and three and rotations worth of clutter scattered around. Marcus has remained on station, doing touch ups and maintenance on the facility. He's also been assisting Elena on the excavation project. Pretty much taking on every job he's offered. Marcus has found his happiness, away from the world above. Reconnecting with his friends again had finally brought back a large part of the old Marcus.
Most mornings only security, power station night crews, and one other person are awake.
Marcus's watch lights up, "Brody! You said you'd be down here!"
  "Mmmm, not again..." groaned a sleepy Kate as she buries her head under the pillows.
Marcus is already wide eyed staring holes into the ceiling "All it would take is one suit malfunction... and I could save my mornings..."
After a long winded sigh, Marcus sits up and walks to the wardrobe.
"At least I get to watch that ass" giggles Kate as he takes the wetsuit hanging on the side.
Marcus laughs, "Damn right" he says, slapping one of his cheeks before pulling up a pair of underwear and stepping into his wetsuit.
Marcus grabs the stack of folded clothes Kate set out that night. As he grabs his gun belt he gives Kate a kiss on the forehead and turns to the door.
"See you later hun... I'll try to talk Adam into letting me see you if Monika pushes me over the edge... or I push her."
"Make her suffer!" Kate jokingly shouts as Marcus walks out.
The water elevator was a bright white room behind a pressure sealed door. The majority of wall space had storage lockers. There's a little tool wall to the side. Next to that was a long row of Monika's drones. The center of the room was a large rectangular platform that lowers into the water and leads out. Hanging from the ceiling are 10 DSR high pressure dive suits. The suits are a slimmer, more flexible version of the bulky maintenance models. They don't need to carry heavy equipment or function Force Cannons, so they mostly work on the input of the user with a bit of hydraulic assistance. The only drawback is the need for NAIPS incase of any ruptures. There are two suits on the elevator are Marcus's and Monika's.
As Marcus walks in he's met with Monika's usual pissed off stare.
"Don't you look chipper this morning" Marcus says, setting his clothes and gun belt into a locker.
"Kiss my ass Brody" she says, as she tinkers with her dive suit.
Marcus quickly replies "You got a ladder?"
Monika looks back up at him, wrench in hand. She screams, "No, but maybe I could break your legs off so your girlfriend can add a foot or two, Fucking hobbit."
Marcus laughs as he grabs an injector off the wall.
"How long is this going to be?" asks Marcus, Placing his HK P11s and holsters on his dive suit.
Monika climbs into her suit, saying "As long as it takes."
Marcus rolls his eyes, "Fantastic"
He jumps up onto the crane over the suit and slips down into the cushiony interior.
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Monika asks as she engages her tank.
*Clack* Marcus closes the triple barrel and holsters it over his shoulder.
"-I don't know what that means?" She says confused.
"Just get into the damn water" says Marcus putting on his helmet.
Monika hits the big green button on her suit and the room begins flooding with water. Soon enough the entire room is full of water and the elevator begins lowering, eventually stopping at a long corridor. As the two walk to the end it opens up on the vast silt range next to the drop-off. Marcus stops at the guideline and scans the area the best he can. The range is covered in whale skeletons. There are a few scattered octopus and other scavenger fish around the bones and in the rocks. He eventually grabs the line and follows Monika over the ground.
As the two continue on the line Ryan's voice comes over the radio, "Morning dickheads! Okay the malfunctioning scanner is 60 feet ahead."
"Morning mate, any eyes on Daisy?" asks Marcus, still looking all around.
Ryan sends up a map in Marcus's display "Don't worry, I've been watching her tag like a hawk. She's in her cave on the east ridge. I'll let you know if she wakes and if she starts going anywhere near you two."
Marcus sighs a breath of relief "Cheers mate... we're almost there."
In the distance, a vaguely visible red light flashes.
"Alright I see it" says Marcus.
Ryan then yells "Wow really? Aren't you blind?"
Marcus turns to flip off the station as he begins laughing "I've got Myopia you dick!"
"Sounds like a country" says Jones.
"Its nearsightedness dipshit and my mask has my prescription... wait Jones what the fuck are you doing on this channel?" asks Marcus looking back at the control room window.
There's a silence over the coms until "Uhh, no reason"
Marcus and Monika finally reach the busted scanner. The slim white oval shaped drone had deep lashes in it and chips of metal ripped from the sides. One of the jets was on the ground.
Marcus begins inspecting the damages closer "Shit! Something really beat the hell out of this thing."
"Lets just secure it and get back to the lab." Monika says as she drops over the ground.
Marcus draws his shotgun "Wait! Stay on the line... something's not right."
Monika shakes her head and says, "Cut the paranoid shit" as she gets closer to the broken jet.
Monika grabs the jet, "Gotcha!"
She pulls on it but the jet barely budges. "Monika I'm serious!" Marcus starts looking around the area. All the fish are all in the distance, almost avoiding the scanner. "Marcus get down here and help me!" shouts Monika. "Ryan, I want you to power down and reboot all the scanners" Says Marcus as he frantically scans the area. "On it but we'll lose coms for a few seconds. Hang tight", right then their displays go dark. Only showing their basic suit readings. Monika continues pulling on the jet trying to pull it free from the rocks. Suddenly their screens light back up and the Scanners begin flashing green one by one around the station. "Almost... got it!" screams Monika. Marcus quickly checks the East ridge map, a beacon is still broadcasting from the cave. Then the damaged scanner turns on and begins flashing green. "Do you two hear me?" says Ryan. "Yep, are you picking up anything that we aren't? Whales, sharks... anything at all?" asks Marcus as he tries to skim through his maps. Suddenly as Monika is pulling on the jet the green light flashed on something moving in the rocks behind it. "No, there's nothing! You're getting paranoid, I'm ordering you two back to the elevator, NOW!" screams Ryan. *beep*, a small beep comes from the map. "Wait, there is something?" says Ryan. "What? Where is it?" asks Marcus pointing his gun in every direction around him. "I think the scanner took a bad scan because it's now saying that the rock formations to your left are different". Monika stops pulling on the jet and reaches for her shoulder light. Marcus looks down at the rock formation in front of Monika as she flicks on her shoulder light. "MONIKA NOO!" he screams, as her light shines a spot on a massive brown tentacle. Before she can even react something massive breaks through the rocks, knocking her back onto the silt. Marcus fires three harpoon-like spikes into the creature as it barrels into him and the scanner.

Monika continues rolling until she hits into something. "AHH!" Monika screams out in pain. Blood starts dripping from her head and there's a sharp pain in her back. A cold tingling feeling began shooting into her back. Fearing the worst she calls for help, "Marcus! I think I broke my back! Ryan, get Thompson!". But there was no response. "Marcus!... I need help!", but still no response. The display was only showing basic readings. Marcus's communication line read offline. Which meant he was either out of range, or not there. Monika finally decides to try to standing up. With a little help from her wrist jets, she gets to her feet. Thankfully she was still able to move her legs. But the cold tingling feeling kept filling her body. The realization then set in. Water was slowly leaking into her suit. She turned around to see a sperm whale skeleton on a patch of rocks. Her suit then started flashing the Oxygen low warning. Monika began panicking as she desperately looked for any sign of Marcus, the guideline, or anything that she could use to find her way back to the elevator.

She draws her dive knife and started walking. "Marcus?... Ryan?... Anyone?..." she pleaded. The silt seemed endless. All she could do was just keep walking across the silt range. Everything around her is pitch black, not that she could see anything through the cloud of silt. Her busted shoulder light was the only reason she could see. As she walked the silt had slowly started thinning and she could see a patch of rocks. She slowly climbed up as she began hearing something beep. She followed the beeping until she saw something metallic in the rocks. As she moved closer something big in the distance stirred up more silt. She looked back at the ground. It was a part of the scanner. "Fuck!" she screamed, kicking the scrap. The scrap began flashing red, and just under it was one of Marcus's P11s. Monika's eyes widened "Marcus?" she whispered, beginning to tear up. In the corner of her eye she saw the silt kick up again. She frantically grabbed the pistol and started pointing it around her. "Marcus please!" she screamed. She couldn't see anything. She began breaking down in tears as she screamed for help.

Whatever was circling her was getting closer. Before she knew it, the water around her was clouded with silt once again. "SOMEONE HELP ME!" she screamed as she used the small rock wall as a bit of cover to walk along. Suddenly she stood on something round that trips her and sends her into the wall. When she opens her eyes she's in near complete darkness. Her shoulder light snapped off on the rock. "FUUUCK!" she screams, her only sources of light are the few on her helmet display and the slow repetitive red flash. Monika looks down at her foot. At her feet is Marcus's shotgun gripped tightly in the sleeve of his suit, ripped off above the elbow. Monica could feel the water finally start rising faster. Having no choice, she stands up and walks into the silt. The water is completely silent apart from Monika's frantic breathing as she grips her knife and pistol tightly. After a few meters she sees the lights of the station.

From behind her she hears the scanner beep moving closer. She turns around and sees the red light moving fast in her direction. She fires three shots into the cloudy water. The red light drops to the ground. The sound of the beeping fills the water. Monika slowly begins walking backwards to the station. Unsure if she killed it she remains laser focused for any movement. "Mon.....wn! ..et...do...!" a choppy voice screams into her helmet. "I'm alive! I'm here!" she screamed in desperation. "...ka...dow.! .ow!" screamed the unrecognizable static. Suddenly a massive shape appears in front of the red flash.