When Viper and Chandra step out of the Portal, they find themselves in a massive underground armory, about the size of two football pitches with rather tall ceilings, at least 40 or 50 feet tall. It's a wonder that this is still part of Nova Tower. Before you lies a series of differently sized prison cells, all with name tags above each one. All of them are locked with some sort of a translucent blue forcefield covering them. Past that, no windows, no doors, and nothing else of note is seen. Throughout this floor, you see 20 cells each with a forcefield, some much larger than others, and some very very small. There appears to be something in the very center of this room. Viper glares at the screen and at Spark then looks below it.
[On a large screen near the center of the armory, a live feed of Spark Estelle’s presentation is seen. Absolutely nobody in the crowd is reacting to anything happening. They’re just there. They’re forced to be there. No one is clapping, no one is cheering.]
Chandra sets down the Portal Bag containing the rest of The Gang and puts his hand through it, giving them all the signal to step out. Everyone steps out of the Portal Bag while Viper and Chandra are working together to proceed. She slowly approaches the terminal though taking extra care to not trigger any alarms or traps. That said, she doesn’t sense anything blocking access outside of a familiar card scanner
[You notice a computer terminal at the very center of the room. It something similar in design to the terminal outside of the Employee's Entrance back in Fairview. Nothing really pops out at Viper. She passes by a few locked cells before reaching the terminal. Much like the terminal outside of the Employee Entrance, this one also houses a card scanner and a screen and keyboard with Nova Heart's logo. It seems to be waiting for input.]
Luna and Hinata are both looking at the different cells. They've spotted ones belonging to Wish Giver, Shambling Heap, and Silence, though Silence's is open and empty. Chandra is over on the other end of the complex, noticing two much larger cells than the others. One is for "FIRESTARTER" and the other is for "DUST DEVIL" Phoebe is standing near the Portal Bag, unsure what she can do to help at the very moment. January is doing some internal chanting, as if preparing to cast his own magicks on the area. Rebecca is over at Shambling Heap's cell, muttering to herself as if trying to speak to the Creature housed inside.
Spider shudders as they glance around the cells before going over to join Chandra at the end of the complex keeping her voice low as she asks them, "I get we're here to rescue them but how safe is this going to be?" Patrice gravitates to the nearest cells to see the Creatures inside, in a mix of curiosity and wonder.
Chandra nods towards Spider while inspecting some of the doors, "Considering Spark is outside speaking to the entire city, every single ADMIN is out there as well providing him security, and that he hasn't caught onto me modifying the Portkey system to allow Viper and I access despite us being 'banished' from Nova Heart, I would say it's a rather safe operation for us. I've also taken the liberty of disabling all cameras in here. And on top of that, since we released Moon Mantle from his grasp, he even lost a lot of his Control Magic. In other words, this plan has a very low failure rate, but we still must be careful and quick."
[Despite the forcefields being rather translucent, Patrice is able to vaguely see into some of the cells. In one nearest to the Portal Bag, she sees what looks like a rather chubby white bearded male secured by some kind of mundane restraint to a bench and fast asleep. In another, she sees what appears to be a 2ft tall brown-furred rat just laying down and knocked out. It appears to be furred everywhere except for its head. A shining jeweled crown is off to the side a couple feet away from it. One other shows her a massive polar bear sleeping while the rest of the cell is absolutely covered in snow. The plaques above these doors call them "Wish Giver" for the first, "Squeaky Fiend" for the second, and "Freeze Ursa" for the third. The vague scent of sweetness fills the air. A scent that Viper is keenly aware of. For everyone else, it's just sweet. Luna and Hinata look a little tired despite not doing much of anything yet.]
Viper's face shifts from staring at the panel and being cautious and curious to sheer panic as she runs over to Luna and Hinata, calling out, "Stardust, fucking stardust" she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a vial of black soot looking powder with a label on it that reads "Antidote"
They both walk over eyeing the soot. "Yeah, what's up?" Luna asks. Hinata is quiet.
Viper pops the top off of the vial and extends it to Luna, "If you take a whiff of this it should counteract the effects, hopefully" she still looks panicked, her breathing is racing
"Uhm, okay. I trust you Viper." Luna smiles and takes a whiff of the powder. For the first time ever, as far as Viper is aware, Luna looks actually awake. Hinata notices the change and takes a whiff herself, feeling that same level of awake. It's odd, but for Viper, she can actually feel the mana on them. It's almost like this 'antidote' unlocked something in them.
Luna, who's now hopping and stretching, asks, "whoa. What is that? That smelled amazing!!"
"I feel so strong now!" Hinata giggles.
Viper puts the top back on and puts the vial in her pocket, "It's the opposite of Stardust, I can explain the details later" she breathes a sigh of relief as she starts to calm down
[The group now hears more talking from the livestream. It seems someone introduced Spark on stage and he's begun speaking to the crowd. "Hello! Welcome to the Nova Rebirth Festival! I'm your commander, Spark Estelle, and I am happy to see all of my citizens and family members here!" A loud applause is heard with lots of cheering.]
Chandra sighs and shakes his head, "Right, his speech started. We should start on our mission now. Patrice! I need you to break through the cells. Viper, come here, I'm working through the Terminal to turn off the Stardust. I could use your help. Jan, get your Portable Portals ready. When the first cell is open, we need to release them." Everyone else, keep an eye on the area in case of issues."
[20 CELLS REMAIN. 20 CREATURES ARE LOCKED AWAY. ZERO RELEASED. THE SPEECH JUST STARTED. GAME START!]