Round 68

Silra's fingers never stop moving across her interface as she processes the situation. You want me to plant a... I'm not planting anything—Screenshot this shit and send it to my contacts if you don't back off and let me work! The teal-eyed elf keeps her eyes glued to the screens floating before her, occasionally glancing at the entity looming through the floodwaters. This isn't about speed versus power, it's about not triggering every security protocol in this corporate hellhole. She mutters under her breath as lines of code scroll past too fast for any but a trained eye. Thirty seconds—give me thirty damn seconds or I swear by all the data gods that your next software update will be riddled with my little surprises.

Jeane stalks forward into the maintenance tunnel, her wings half-spread for balance in the narrow space. The air here is thick with the stench of decay and something metallic that sets her teeth on edge. "That entity isn't natural," she growls, more to herself than anyone else. Her crimson eyes scan every shadow, every pipe junction, looking for threats beyond what Silra's screens can detect.*

Halie follows closely behind, her shield magic faltering under the strain of maintaining the ice bridge, but still holding strong. "What do you mean 'target acquired'?" Her voice comes out more sharply than intended—fear mixing with barely suppressed anger at their precarious situation. She looks around quickly, scanning every shadow and watery surface for movement or threat.

Silra freezes, her eyes locked on a new screen display. "Wait," she says, voice tight with concentration. "I'm not sure what this means yet..."