Once Lizy reached the chemistry department, she proceeded to a door marked with the words, "SUB LEVEL LABS. EMPLOYEES ONLY. KEEP OUT!" She stared nervously at the wooden portal, chills running frantically throughout her entire body. To her, the bold red letters not only served as a warning, but also an omen. The kind of omen that usually involved someone dying a horrible, painful death. Perhaps due to dismemberment, immolation, or just a good old-fashioned decapitation.
She tried not to let it all get to her.
After taking a few moments to collect herself, she placed a key from her janitorial key ring into the lock, and then turned it. A light click echoed throughout the entire department. She then pulled the door open, thus making it release a soft, yet haunting, "creeeeeeeaaaak" as she did so.
She cautiously looked down the many steps leading into the sub level. It was dark and it looked very unwelcoming. She began to tremble nervously. She was hesitating but as far as she was concerned, her fear was well placed. After all, the Dungeon was considered by many to be nothing but a death trap, and not even the bravest of them was all too keen on going down there; if they could avoid it. However, despite her cowardice, she resolved to move forward. She had her orders, she was expected to follow them; and if she refused to follow them, then she obviously wouldn't have a job anymore. And since she practically lived from paycheck to paycheck, losing her current employ wasn't an option.
So down she went, into the cold, dark unknown. Hoping against hope that something wouldn't jump out and grab her, much like what you would see in a B-rated horror movie.
-----------------------
Upon reaching the end of what seemed like an endless stairwell, Lizy immediately felt along the wall for a light switch. A minute passed and she soon found what she needed to dispel the darkness. She threw the switch, making dozens, maybe even hundreds, of lights quickly flicker into life.
It looked horrible, but fortunately for her, not in the "OH GOD, I'M GONNA DIE!" kind of way. More like the "Oh fudge, I gotta clear out my dad's garage" kind of way. Various documents, manuals and other assorted papers were stacked into boxes as high up as the ceiling. Old experiment equipment just sat about rusting and taking up space. And lastly, there was an almost gag-inducing layer of dust over virtually every single surface imaginable. All of it obviously hadn't been used in quite some time. Probably years, maybe even decades.
A cloud of despair soon hung itself over Lizy's head. Much like the facility above, the Dungeon seemed to go on forever.
"Oh man," she groaned solemnly to herself. "Where do I even start?"
She then pondered for a minute and stated, "I guess I'll just start with all those boxes over there."
She moved towards a huge stack of cardboard crates and then began shifting them about; sorting them so they could be taken to the Lab Archives later. Hours passed, and even though she must have gone through dozens of boxes, there still must of have been hundreds left for her to move.
It was boring and tedious work to say the least. And when she was bored, she tended to daydream. You know, the kind of daydreams where one was something far more important than what they really were? In her case, something much cooler than just a measly old janitor.
The kinds of daydreams she had were pretty wide and varied. In some, she was a major political figure, like the president of the United States. In others, she'd be something a bit more mundane; but still really awesome. Like a hard-nosed private detective working a case, or an Indiana Jones style archeologist retrieving a priceless artifact. But, her all-time favorite daydream was the one where she was a superhero. Not just any superhero though. The kind of superhero that actually had really cool superpowers, like super strength or super speed. Or even telepathy and mind control. Yeah, those would be pretty awesome to have too! She also pictured getting all of her powers from something really cool, like a meteor or discovering that she was the last survivor of some long dead alien race.
And not only that, she'd also be freaking gorgeous! Because hey, if she's going to be a superhero, she might as well be built like a supermodel too, right? Why be thin and lanky, when she could be buxom and curvaceous? But the coolest part about being a superhero to her (other than the powers, the origin story, and the smoking hot body), would be the fact that she'd actually get to meet the coolest people on earth; the Honor Guard. And not only would she meet them, she'd be a member of the team! Because who wouldn't want a super-sexy supermodel fighting on their side?
"Oh! Don't worry Nightfox," Lizy dreamed out loud. "I'm certain my incredible sex appeal will save the day!"
Lizy continued her epic fantasy.
"Oh, it's no problem mister president! After all, saving the universe from complete and utter destruction is my job! There's no need to create an entire holiday in my honor because of that!"
Lizy soon got carried away with her fantasizing and never noticed that she was starting to remove boxes from the bottom of the stacks. That is, until several stacks came tumbling down upon her. She came down to earth real quick after that.
Lizy only noticed the raging tsunami of paper and cardboard crashing towards her for a brief moment, but it was a moment far too late. She didn't even have time to scream. She was quite literally washed away by the massive tide of instrument checklists, experimentation manuals, and various other scientific manuscripts that the boxes contained. She soon washed ashore on an empty space that she had cleared out merely hours before. She then just laid there on the linoleum beach, motionless, contemplating her life.
"Who am I kidding?" Lizy asked herself indignantly. "I'm a joke! There's no way I could ever be a superhero!"
Lizy then picked herself up and sat on her heels. She continued her rant.
"The chances of me ever becoming a superhero are practically a trillion to one! And even if I did get superpowers, I'd never be a part of the Honor Guard! They don't even exist anymore! They disbanded nearly thirty years ago, and most of them probably passed away by now!"
She soon became overcome with anguish and began to speak very softly as a result.
"And let's face it. I'd just screw that up too. I can barely even manage being a janitor, how am I supposed to deal with being a superhero?"
Droplets of water began to run down her cheeks, but she quickly dried them with her sleeve before they got too far.
"No, this isn't the time to cry," she declared to herself defiantly. "I gotta get this stuff done; otherwise, I'll lose my job."
So with tears still lingering in her eyes, she began picking up all the pieces of the paper tsunami. However, before she could get too far entrenched in her work, she saw something glistening in the corner of her eye.
"Huh?" she queried aloud as she turned to see what it was.
What she saw was a glass vial, filled with some kind of strange, green liquid. Lizy cautiously picked it up and then rose to her feet.
"What on earth is this?" she asked as she examined the small container.
She couldn't tell what it was. The vial was unmarked and the liquid it contained was something she'd never seen before.
"Why is this even down here?" she queried, genuinely intrigued by her new discovery.
It seemed odd that someone would just leave a chemical down in the Dungeon like this. Usually, chemicals were either broken-down on a molecular level or heavily diluted with water so as to prevent them from causing any damage; either to an individual or the environment. But whatever this stuff was, it was just left down there. Almost as if someone didn't want it to be destroyed.
"I wonder if someone hid this stuff here on purpose." she thought aloud, becoming even more entranced by the sudden mystery she now had in her very hand.
Which, upon closer inspection, had something in it other than just the vial. Lizy glimpsed something scuttling about the glass test tube and soon discovered a fat looking roach sitting proudly atop the vial (the insect must have been in the same box as the mystery liquid). Going purely on instinct, she did what a lot of people would do in her situation.
She screamed like a three year old girl.
Lizy immediately threw the roach-infested container in an attempt to extricate the creature as far away from her as physically possible. After hurling the test tube, the roach took flight, and shortly landed on another pile of paper; disappearing amongst the refuse soon after. But as for the vial, it landed on a space of empty linoleum; where it promptly shattered and spilled all of its contents across the floor.
Lizy stared at the broken vial. At first in a state of shock, and then in abject horror.
"Oh no!" she cried, realizing that not only did she make the mess worse, she also destroyed lab property.
Possibly very valuable lab property. An offense that she could easily be fired for. Lizy swiftly removed a handkerchief from her pocket and then began scrubbing the green liquid off the floor.
"I gotta get this cleaned up before..."
But as she frantically picked up the mess, a shard of broken glass deftly sliced her finger.
"OUCH!" she yelped, putting the injured digit to her lips so as not to bleed out on the semi-clean linoleum.
"That really smarts," she muttered as she continued to nurse the wound.
Minutes later, Lizy had the accident fully cleaned up. The broken glass was placed into its proper waste container (with a couple smaller cuts acquired while trying to throw it all away). The green liquid was wrung out from her handkerchief into another waste container, and then promptly destroyed via molecular break-down. She then incinerated the handkerchief just for good measure. And finally, she thoroughly washed her hands and dressed the wounds (mostly by using band-aids and antibacterial ointment, since the cuts weren't actually all that bad; they were just really painful).
After "disposing of the evidence" as it were, she went back to work and moved as much of the documentation to the Archives as she could. By the end of her shift, Lizy felt horrible. She was feeling sluggish and overall, just generally "icky". But she attributed that to working nearly seventeen hours without taking any breaks, as well as for possibly committing a Class A misdemeanor, as outlined in the Briar Labs Employee Handbook. In any case, it was all over now and it was time to go.
Back to the little, one-bedroom apartment that she called home.
