[SpringsSong]

As the lizard-like creature whipped out of its hole to come after their scrap, the figure quickly reached for their belt and pulled out what very closely resembled a pistol of some sort. As it snapped towards their hand, they reached around with their hand holding the scrap, grabbed a hold of the creature, and brought the butt of their pistol towards the back of its head, taking care not to strike too hard that it would actually kill the creature - just to daze it long enough to get the phone back for Nines. As soon as their arm was around the creature's neck, it began to struggle, but they held fast and brought the pistol butt down, giving a firm thunk as it connected.

The lizard offered a surprised sound and went limp, the phone dropping from its tail as the shock reverberated through its body. She released it after that and tossed the scrap towards its nest, backing away from it quickly.

[Azura Rayume]

[Prompt 3 start, I guess?]

"Well, damn."  Nines stepped forward and snatched his phone off the ground, shoving it back into the safety of his pocket. The thing looked remarkably sad, lying limp in the dirt like that. Not that it made his companion's elimination of it any less impressive. "Did you kill it, then?"

As if on cue, the creature gave a distressed whine and started to shift, making him jump involuntarily. So they stunned it. As glad as he might be to have his phone back without bashing the creature's brains in, he had hoped it might wait a little longer before moving again. "We should, uh... We should go. Before it gets up and starts biting again."

[SpringsSong]

Before they could answer, the creature started moving, and their companion jumped slightly. At the statement that they should get moving before the creature could get up and start biting again, they nodded in agreement.

"I think where we need to go is just over there," they said, pointing past the last of the market stalls towards a door that definitely didn't look like it belonged. "Let's hope that the rest of this job goes smoother than the rest of it has so far. Kinda wanting to give this Nix a piece of my mind about what's gone on here so far..." they muttered, making their way towards the door and pulling out the key card that they'd stashed in a pocket on the inside of their coat.

[Azura Rayume]

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, shoving his hands deeper in his pockets and following along. He was fairly certain that was meant to be a dig at him as much as at Nix, but they did have a point. There could have been some kind of warning about the darkness, or the market, or any of this. More than just "head down this path, find the door" for instruction.

The market stalls were built in a way to specifically direct traffic away from the door, like the people who came here knew to stay as far from it as possible. They drew a few looks for specifically not doing that, but no one pursued them to stop them, clearly ready to allow them to tempt fate as long as it didn't interfere with business. Not any more than they already had, anyway. The closer they got, the more Nines could see of the door- more hatch than door actually, large and industrial and very heavy. Whatever was beyond, it clearly did not allow anyone in or out without authorization. Good thing they had been given a key.

Behind them, the lizard righted itself and shook its head, casting about mournfully before it managed to focus on the pair. It followed cautiously, its movements still wobbly, keeping its distance but clearly still curious.

[SpringsSong]

They swiped the key card through the slot that was meant for the card to go through, and after a moment, there was a chime indicating that the card had been accepted, and the hatch hissed as it unlatched to the point where it could be opened. They drew in a breath and pulled it open, motioning for Nines to go through as well.

Once that had happened, the figure went through the door and pulled it closed behind them. Had their face been uncovered, there would have been a visible recoil from the smell, but their mask disguised all but their red eyes - solid red, with no white sclera to be seen - which Nines would be able to see clearly now. However, the recoil reached their eyes as they muttered, shaking their head.

"Clearly this place hasn't been abandoned long," they said, looking to Nines before looking ahead of them. "Three rooms. Given everything that's happened, I think we should stick together rather than split up in an attempt to cover more ground. Never know what other shit might try and jump us."

[Azura Rayume]

Where his companion clearly disliked the smell, Nines finally felt some bit of tension relax within himself. Antiseptic might not have been one of his favorite scents in the world, but at least it smelled clean. Not must and dank and rot like the tunnels, actually clean. He breathed deep and murmured, "Thank the gods."

He immediately regretted that thought the moment he realized what his surrounding actually contained. One doorway was smeared with blood, and he immediately balked from it. If the vial they were after was down that way, they weren't going to get it. His head swiveled to the opposite side, and a small thrill ran through his chest. "Stick together. Yeah." He took a step toward the door, his attention focused on the blinking through the door panel. Servers, computers, technology. Something he could make use of. "This does look interesting."

[SpringsSong]

"Oh, no. Not happening," the figure said, quickly grabbing Nines' arm and dragging him towards the door that was straight ahead of them. "Tech has already gotten us in enough trouble on this job, and I'm not exactly interested in being in a whole room of it after wrangling whatever that lizard thing was and knocking it out," they said, shaking their head. "Frankly, whatever we were sent to grab, it's probably through these doors, here."

They hoped that they were right. The longer this job went on, the less certain they were that this was exactly worth the favor that they owed, and were beginning to think about claiming a favor owed back to them for this.

[Azura Rayume]

Nines whined in protest, but he could tell struggling would be no use. They were stronger than him, clearly, so trying to get his way would result in possible bruises, certainly only for him. Besides, they were right. He had gotten them into enough trouble already, no need to make it worse.

"Fine," he grunted, shaking off their arm. He eyed this door with more suspicion than he had the servers, but nothing about it seemed off. At least, it was what he expected of a laboratory like this, all polished chrome and clean surfaces. He could always try and sneak into the server room on the way out, provided they didn't get caught here. "We'll go your way. See if it turns out any better."

[We are going straight ahead to the Blurred Lines prompt]

[SpringsSong]

The figure rolled their eyes - not that anyone could tell that, given that their eyes were solid red. However, they were at least moderately pleased that he was going along with it. They slid the key card through the slot to open decontamination, and stepped inside.

The process couldn't have taken more than a minute or two, and once it was done, they walked through the door, barely waiting for Nines to follow along with them. Everything in here seemed to be standard for what you would see in a lab.

"All right, this must be the place. We should be clo--" they began to say, but then, they stopped. Somewhere in the corner of their vision, they saw... Something. They weren't sure what it was, and as soon as they turned to see it, it was gone.

[Azura Rayume]

Decontamination was something he could stand- if anything, it felt good to be clean on some level. The room beyond looked equally sterile, and he breathed deep, his eyes closing, as he took in the smell of sterile alcohol and faint ozone. When he blinked, though, he teetered slightly and had to shake his head to steady himself.

"You feel that?" He took a step forward, and something moved along the wall, but it disappeared when he tried to focus on it. Whatever that was, it couldn't be good. His head swam too much to really focus on anything, but there was a computer in here, too. Big screens of information. Something about moving shadows and ringing in his ears...