[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Despite there being far superior equipment available in the Rocket headquarters' laboratories, Aurelie found herself wishing she'd stayed at home in her own cozy workshop at home this evening. Her cozy, familiar, and above all, warm workshop. While the redhead remembered the Rocket sub feeling cramped and clammy inside, she hadn't expected the laboratory to feel so cold, to the point where she sometimes saw her own breath steaming in the air.

But Aurelie had been determined to study and analyze the fragments of black metal she'd recovered from the battle before the Ancient Tomb. When some fragments had fallen off the Zamazenta's shield, she'd grabbed some and given them to Zev Harcourt, but also quietly pocketed the rest. After seeing how those fragments resembled the indestructible carapace that armored the Rocket Beast, she just had to learn more.

She clasped her hands together to still their shivering and blew on her fingers to warm them up, before approaching the mass spectrometer. This baby must have cost Rocket a pretty PD or two, Aurelie marveled, regarding the large, complex apparatus admiringly. Hopefully, the mass spectrometer would let her better identify the unknown substance of the black fragments, or at least study their molecular structure and chemical properties in more detail.

Though it would help if the lab didn't feel so unbelievably cold right now! Aurelie could see her breath again, and a chill that had nothing to do with the ambient temperature ran down her spine when she thought she saw the steam swirling in eerie, peculiar shapes before puffing away.

And what was that continual knocking noise outside the door? Was someone banging on the walls of the hallway? Could there be someone else running an experiment at 11:30 PM at night?

Or—Aurelie shuddered to think about it—was the submarine finally about to implode, overwhelmed by the pressures of the sea?

The tapping noise came again, louder and more insistent this time. I can't think like this! Aurelie thought furiously, clutching her head in her hands. Whirling around, she stalked toward the door to the laboratory, deciding to find out once and for all what was causing that frustrating noise.

Hugging her arms around herself, she reached out to jerk the door open. "Hello? Who the hell is..." Her voice petered out as she peered past the door into the hallway outside.

Darkness there, and nothing more.

"...out there?" Aurelie finished, her sharp tone sinking into a hesitant whisper.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT