Ouch.

Toxic let out a muffled groan as he shook himself back to reality. The metal vent had collapsed. Stupid. He should have known it was too weakened to support him. To further complicate things, his helmet had bounced off, and was nowhere to be seen. On the bright side though, it looked like he had smashed through to the roof of the tenth level, so that solved one problem.

There was a small crawlspace between the ventilation ducts and the actual roof, all of which appeared to be a bit droopy. When everything was made of metal, 'droopy' was never a good term to describe it.

It was an easy task to poke through the half-dissolved roof and peer down into the corridors. Thankfully Toxic had landed on a metal support beam, otherwise he'd have fallen right through.

And directly into...that.

What it was, Toxic had no clue. It contrasted to the muted white-blue halls and floors, and the liquid fizzled and bubbled as though maintaining a consciousness of its own. It was a bright green, semi-solid goo, with purple and orange lines flowing this way and that. It obviously was a mixture of different substances. Ever so slowly, Toxic edged over, preparing to drop onto the few places of floor that weren't completely covered. Just as he slid over the edge, he realized the floor easily could collapse under his weight.

-THUNK-

Thankfully, that wasn't the case as his hooves hit the somewhat-solid floor. He made his way around the large pools of liquid, cringing as it seemed to climb up the lip surrounding a glass room, eating its way into the enclosure. Talk about nasty stuff. The grey floor was barely visible now, the mixture seeming to spread. How that was even possible, Toxic didn't know. What he DID know, was that a huge puddle of the stuff separated him from his target door, about thirty feet down the hallway.

He reached into his saddlebag, pulling out a testing rod-

and had it dissolve as soon as it left the cover of his light-armor.

Toxic bolstered the shield around him, looking down to see his legs trembling slightly. He was almost there...
Just need to focus.

The air was saturated with the stuff. It was a wonder that he could even breath. Even so, he could detect a faint taste in his mouth, partially spicy, and...minty?

A light tremor shook the building, and to Toxic's horror, more of the strange chemical began to boil up from farther down the hallway. Perhaps re-condensing over and over, and flowing upwards with the air?

Maybe, but there was time for that later.

Toxic narrowed his brow, fatigue starting to seep into his consciousness. He had never sustained his armor like this for so long, and at such a powerful level. It was a brief -pop-, and a loss of sight, but he appeared safely a short distance away. A strange sensation crept through his hoof, like ice was slowly encasing it.

Looking down, the unicorn's eyes widened as the strange green liquid-gel lapped at his hoof. That had NOT been there before. But, on the bright side, he wasn't dissolving.

Hahaha! Take that strange chemical experiments! Toxic Shield: One. Strange goop: Zero.

He was reminded of the severity of the situation when he tried to open the utility door, and his hoof promptly sped through the partially-dissolved metal as though it were paper.

Whoa...

About ten massive tanks, easily holding thousands of gallons of liquid loomed over him, a strange milky tan color. The door must have been fairly well sealed, because electronics still blinked on a few of the tanks. The loud pony at HQ had said to open the tanks no matter what. Somehow, Toxic had a feeling that was going to involve a bit of pain on his part.

Taking aim, Toxic fired off a lance of energy at the most distant tank.

-BANG!-

The tank blew into chunks, sending shrapnel flying every which way. A mixture of powder and liquid rushed everywhere, somewhere around the consistency of watered down mayonnaise. He barely had time to brush the goggle-portion of the respirator clear, than he heard a terrifying sound.

It sounded much like a teapot about to explode. In a room full of pressurized tanks, that meant only one thing.
Uh oh.

The last thing Toxic saw was the rupture of another tank, this one sending a large piece of metal flying straight at him. That's when everything went dark.
–

“Did you get him Luna?”

“Shame on you, dear sister. Of course we did! He is at the top floor. All I had to do was activate the device thou had cleverly designed for such things.”

“Hmm. Well I don't like to brag.”

“That 'tis a lie, and thou knowest it!”

“Fair enough. Will he be alright?”

“Probably. We knowest not what strange concoctions he was wading in, but most likely.”

“I'd say that's earned him lunch at least, what do you think?”

“Hmm. The sandwich vendor on yonder main street?”

“The very same.”

“Thou knows we cannot resist such delectable foods.”

Author's Note

Huzzah! The updates have been doubled!

I'm aiming for a certain princess-of-the-night's speech to be altering between her old habits and the newer speech pattern, because I'd imagine such things are pretty well ingrained.

A shorter chapter, but now things get interesting!