Ugh… Man, what was that? Feels like I took a tire iron to the head…
…Where are we, anyway? Outside? Last thing I remember, I was like a mile underground and… There was the cat, and the Director… He turned on that big fuckin’ thing, didn’t he? The “Inversion Protocol” or something. I don’t feel any different, at least - except for my fucking eyes. Jesus, who cranked up the floodlights?
Well, it's an "Inversion Protocol", no? Perhaps you need some kind of magical ability for it to affect you, like one of our Anomalies or someone who touched one of the Seals and "Synchronized", hm? Oh! How about you 23?
Nay, I feel no ill effect, beyond the cloying light. What the wastrel in blue speaks is correct, however. ‘Tis true, with his last desperate grasp, the sorcerer hath sent his Infernal Machine into motion. I can feel it in the air itself, magicks abound across the land… We must tread carefully should we proceed, there is no telling what awaits our valiant band of hunters.
For the nature of the esoteric is yet beyond our comprehension - woe behold the man who seeks to confront it unprepared.
Oh great, you’re here too. Look, I don’t understand a word you say man - and who are you callin' a "wastrel" anyway, bird brain? You're supposed to be invincible or something, why didn't you go beat the cat's ass or something and stop this, huh?
...Speaking of, where'd the rest of them go anyway? Old man Sinclair, his freaky sidekick... The asshole cat and the psycho scientist... It's just us, huh?
Guys… I… think there’s something more important to worry about right now.
Look… Up there...
…What the hell!? Is that the facility? No way... What IS this?
It's... almost beautiful, in a way, isn't it?. Except... something about it feels... wrong. This place... it's not right. I don't know why but... it doesn't feel like the place I called home - or even like... a physical place. It's like it's built - reassembled I guess - from...
How high up does that even go? Don't tell me... the Inversion Protocol just... flipped the fucking thing from some deep-ass House of 1000 Sub-Basements into... this thing? All that paranoia over what it would do to everybody... what a joke, huh?
That is not exactly correct.
My sensors detect high concentrations of Esotera in the surrounding area, however the data indicates that as opposed to the Occultic field previously surrounding the facility, it is currently of a strong Liturgic alignment. This must have required a significant supply of Chaotic Esotera, and it is likely that several of the Anomalies contained within have been affected, along with the Central Facility itself.
...Additionally, I am unable to triangulate the coordinates of our current position past a certain radius of proximity and my access to Global Position has been severed. It appears as though we are 98.2% more isolated from the outside world than during our previous confinement.
So... Dad's machine, the... "Azathoth Project"... It DID invert something... just not us. Spooks, you said that your GPS doesn't work and you... can't sense the outside world, right? What does that mean, exactly? What makes this different from before?
Nah, I think I get it. It's some kinda Esoteric... pocket dimension or something. If you're looking to protect some kind of artifact like that Codex or whatever... well, nothing goes in, and nothing comes out. Hard to get more secure than that.
If I had to guess... maybe the rest of those bastards are already inside, doing god knows what.
...A magicked gaol, sealing its prisoner in a world of suppressing light. Insidious yet brilliant.
The front door - that's one of our containment room doors, isn't it? BPI-0001...
...The Codex Nocturnum. Dad, he... wasn't kidding. Everything around the facility, all those security measures... It really was only half of it. This... is the real containment room. This entire place...
...Spooks, can you get us inside?
[CALCULATING...]
[CALCULATING...]
[!AFFIRMATIVE!]
It appears as though enough of the original facility's security measures remain intact to allow me to be able to bypass the existing Access Level functionality of the door. However I do not recommend proceeding - the nature of the building's interior is still unknown and is likely to pose a significant safety risk should the threshold be crossed. It is possible that we have been relocated to the exterior solely as a measure of protec-
Spooks... I appreciate you trying to keep me safe, even now, but...
I'm done being my dad's caged bird. All this to "save my life"? To keep me alive just to keep me locked up here, drip feeding me books and stories to compensate for the fact that I can't see any of it myself? Well... I was supposed to die anyway, right?
Heh... Well then I've got nothing to lose, right? Open that door - it's time to get dangerous!