| dialog | - You cannot win!
- Yeah. I'm certain it's the source of the lights everyone's seeing on the surface of the water above.
- Increased size? You mean the rip is getting bigger?!?
- I mean, we have to keep using the rings or the Animated will overwhelm us, but we'll get the science-types focused on the crater and the concept of a global 'biosphere' right away!
- But if Johnny Gambino has the intellect of kings, why should it surprise anyone that his *copy* shares that same capacity for intellect?
- Who am I? I'm the shadow of the man to whom you all bend your knee. I am progeny ex machina. Simply put, I'm death insurance.
- Maybe I should tag along for a while? I really do know a lot about this area.
- You'll see. Just keep doing what you're doing and you won't be able to help it.
- But...that's insane! The Animated hate us 'naturals'!
- Hey there, junior. It's about time you made it back to Barton Town.
- Well...lots of folks missed details like this, but the Grunnies, G-Virus and the Gambinos seem to be really tightly tied together.
- It had better! 'Cuz when we get our strategy figured out here, you can bet that we're going to come callin' to see if you'll help us with it.
- I'd be happy to, but for right now, I guess I'm gonna have to break down and congratulate ya instead.
- Well, this is as far as I can accompany you. The Lab is far too dangerous for my old bones.
- That fission event that attracted the Zurg detonated nearby...and when that occurred, it left a signature behind...a sort of *wound*...that's leaking energy into our world in way that has never before occurred.
- I've only been down here a few times, but it's pretty hostile.
- Hmmm...well, firstly, the Animated definitely originated here. Some of the oldest Animated inhabit these depths. And this is where Gino and Johnny fissioned with enough energy to draw the Zurg here from outer space.
- 'Unusual fauna'? You mean the Animated!
- Great. I'll stay out of the way, trust me. I haven't got any of those fancy rings you used on the sea spouts.
- More hostile Animated and some man-made sub-like constructs from which I've kept my distance. Also, the remnants of the Gambino Tower that fell when everyone thought Johnny Gambino was assassinated. And...something else you'll have to see to believe.
- You'll never know! And now there's been enough time for my reinforcements to ready their teleport mechanisms. Enjoy your battle! Ta ta for now!
- Even though stopping Labtech X from his plans doesn't actually get rid of the Animated, at least we know more about WHY they're appearing and that's a lot more than we knew previously.
- This is a deep-sea research laboratory, funded by the NeXuS Corp., investigating the unusual fauna in the area.
- Must...defeat...you all! This Sealab must not be destroyed!
- I was plunged over a cliff into the sea by the Gambino fission, falling to what seemed certain doom...utterly ignored by my own father, whose only thought was for Gino...with no thought for the fate of a *REPLACEABLE* clone.
- Bow before the might of SEALAB!
- But meanwhile, let destruction rain down!
- But to where? And for what?!?
- Come to me, my Grunnies!
- Copy? Of Johnny Gambino?
- Death from above!
- Death insurance?
- Do you know what you're seeing here?
- Don't just hide, you radioactive rabbits! Help me!
- Doomed! Doomed! DOOMED I SAY!
- I should. I've been studying Shallow Sea zoology for over a decade now, even more intensely since the Event.
- Gargantuan?
- Greetings once more, young ninja-to-be.
- Grunnies! Protect me!
- I am quite interested in how Labtech X was able to control the G'hi energy itself. The concept of a life aura surrounding and permeating everything in our world will be embraced by my Clan's mystics.
- He said 'army'. We can't fight an army!
- He teleported away!
- I wish you luck, you will need it. Farewell.
- I'll crush you ALL!
- Is the world wounded?
- Is this guy talking to *us* or *himself*?
- It will *all* be mine! At last!
- Yeah...no one but Labtech X anyway. Or at least that's what we were told..
- Look out! It's huge!
- Lookout! Another teleporter!
- Man...am I glad to see you!
- Mwu-ha-ha!
- NO! How is it possible?
- Nice one!
- Non-destructive? It sure made a heck of a hole!
- You just found the Recipe: Antique Diving Gear / Recipe: Harpoon Gun!
- Prepare to be torpedoed!! haHAhaHAha!
- Prototype?
- So we're going to need to find out a lot more about the nature of that energy, and that sort of research is almost certainly going to involve a lot of traveling beyond the Barton Town area.
- Hi, hun! It's so good to see you in one piece again!
- That's what she said.
- Well...there's no guarantee that she wasn't just mimicking behavior she had seen somewhere else, but I'll agree that it seemed like she had a purpose. And I'm afraid that it might have been something that is a serious departure for the Animated.
- More than studying, I'd say. 'Farming the area' is more like it.
- We may not have a choice!
- What does NeXuS have to do with G-Corp anyway?
- What sort of power?
- What the heck does *that* mean?
- What the heck's a biosphere?
- What's that coming out of the darkness above us?!?
- Who is it?
- Why here, so far under the water?
- The Gambino Event. As far as I can tell, it's the reason the Animated started to appear.
- No. Or at least, I don't *think* so. The Grunny Subs make me very, very suspicious that the Gambinos and G-Corp are behind all of this.
- You did it! You stopped the nefarious plan of Labtech X!
Congratulations!!!
Now to skip through all that mundane 'traveling home' stuff...
...and go straight to your triumphant return home at Barton's Bar!
- Yeah...but no one was killed, remember?
- You mean Ghi energy?
- You'll have to wait and see. Trust me.
- You'll kill us all!
- Ta, ta for now! Your doom awaits...so don't tarry too long!
- Mwu-ha-ha! This head unit is protected by invulnerable force fields. It will make short work of you!
- In many ways, it was the start of the entire mess that we're dealing with now.
- All ultimately futile, of course. Even if you make it past these defenders, our Sealab forces grossly outnumber you.
- Not so! I built slaving mechanisms into my prototype. When the Animated copy themselves, they will also copy those controls, and I shall be able to command these new Animated as my own private army!
- Yes...of course. Anyway, the rip wasn't leaking fast enough, so we built this complex to harvest the Animated that teemed across the sea floor close to the fissure. We extracted the rings and then distributed them as weapons to all of you so eager to protect your homes.
- So...the gibberish about intruders that the grunnies were gabbling about was true. You even made it past the robofish. Impressive!
- Too true. Of course, we still have our hands full with the Animated, and we still have to restore reliable communications with Durem, Aekea, and Gambino Island itself. It might take us a while to tie up all these loose ends.
- But this is just a setback. With the detached Head unit, I can still remake the Sealabs.
- The whole town is proud of you! Well done! Everything seems to make so much more sense now that we know about the Gambino event being the source of our troubles!
- Yes. You need the rings to protect your homes against the Animated, which are only affected by the Ghi energy focused through a ring, but in using the rings, you force the rift to widen further, loosing more Ghi energy upon the world which, in turn, creates more Animated!
- Your choices are over! The infusion is complete and I leave you now to control my Sealab. You shall be the first to feel its full might, but certainly not the last. I regret that you shall not survive the encounter.
- Never a problem. Listen, it stinks that everyone that's defending their homes is now officially 'part of the problem' as we keep pulling more G'hi energy out of this 'biosphere' you keep telling us about and making more Animated because of it.
- Oh, I think you'll see that I know what I'm talking about. I'm not the only one that thinks this way.
- Ha! I'm not telling you! Even if you tripped all three security checkstations at once and got into the main lab, you'd still be too late. The boss has already started the breeding program!
- My ultimate purpose is now nearly complete. This laboratory houses my gargantuan Sealab X prototype, and in mere moments, I will infuse it with Ghi energy and force it to fully Animate!
- Here...let me give you these blueprints as partial thanks for saving me from that Sea Witch, Lorelei!
- Now that you've revealed who's behind the NeXuS corporation, we've sent messengers to the Gambinos about the situation. No one knows where Johnny is at the moment, but we wanted him to know right away about his clone's escapades.
- Do you see now why I didn't try to explain it to you, wanting you to see it for yourself instead?
- I did not *sneak*. I investigated the energy that continued to resonate from the nearby fission crater, and built this complex of undersea laboratories from which to study it.
- Well...now we know. And although the clone may have stolen a lot more from Johnny than he revealed this time around, now that he's been destroyed, it's just a matter of time until G-Corp recovers all those hidden assets.
- Mock me not! For while the Gambinos were distracted by the Zurg invasion, and everyone else thought I had perished, I summoned to my side those Labtechs I had suborned over the years, solidifying my power base from assets I had hidden while I ran *his* businesses.
- Perhaps. There are a few more things I'd like to check out here first...but I wish you the best of luck. Whatever is down there is going to be challenging, I'm sure. Be careful.
- The name's Marshall. If you don't mind me asking...how the heck are you breathing right now?
- It means that I have pretended for years, working steadily for my 'father', managing his companies as if I *was* him already.
- The leak is massive, but even so, the world is gigantic in comparison. We didn't even know there was such a thing as a biosphere or Ghi energy before, but we know it's size now and this leak should bear no threat, even now at its increased dimensions.
- Nah. Nevermind. I can't do it. Let's just say you did 'passably well' and end all this complimenting once and for all.
- There are labtechs out there that will pay for this failure.
- Ha! You think yourselves victorious, but the loss of the tail unit is nothing!
- I'm not certain. But these sea spouts certainly seemed to be patterning themselves after traditional Sirens from mythology...and that doesn't bode well for any captives they might take.
- My Animated mines will keep you busy while I prepare the Head unit for your destruction!
- And yet...here you are. Well, I can't argue results. I'm glad to see you. These sea spout Animated are the most advanced specimens I've seen to date. They *spoke*!
- This Animated is entirely modular. As you will soon find out!
- Gotcha. You stole from your Dad and snuck around while everyone was busy defending the world.
- That is true. But if this G'hi energy surrounds and embraces us, then perhaps there is more to it than even Labtech X may have suspected.
- The energy released when the Gambinos separated was primordial, but surprisingly non-destructive in nature.
- You think all THIS is just about ruining G-Corp? Well...sure...we all have our grudges here, but the demise of that empire is a mere byproduct of our true purpose. This sealab is about much more than Gambino's paltry vision of financial domination! This is about POWER!
- It's a piece of the Gambino Tower that fell a few years ago.
- I don't know. I was in this area about a year ago, scouting the depths here for unusual wildlife, and I didn't see *any* of this here.
- I have no idea. In fact, this is as far as I go with you. If you keep moving down this ledge, there are grunny guards and other...things...that are too dangerous for me to get by.
- Heck, maybe now that we know a little bit, some way will be unveiled so we can know even more! This could be really exciting!
- Apparently, we're *all* part of the biosphere. The world seems to contain the biosphere's energy somehow, like a charged battery, and as near as we can tell, we all pull a charge constantly. We usually call it 'life', but that's messy nomenclature, so we call it Ghi energy instead. Same thing.
- When the towns were getting overrun by zombies a few years back, the news reported that it was experiments with a 'G-Virus', created by G-Corp, that somehow caused the zombies to be created.
- You just found the Recipe: Mechlab Bot / Recipe: Sinister Scarf / Recipe: Null Fluff Plushie / Recipe: Crystal Fluff Plushie!
- And it's almost certainly part of why everything seems centered here, in this area of the Shallow Sea.
- My plan can still succeed! But first...you all must die.
- I know y'are, bub. I know y'are. But don't call us, we'll call you. In the meantime, just get out there and help folks any way you can.
- Even so, I was loyal. It was I that saved my father *and* his birth son, Gino. It was I that released the pent up Ghi energy with a timely injection of a critical catalyst.
- *You* are going to Animate it? You can *do* that?!?
- Now you face the awesome might of the main battle structure of this prototype Animated!
- We shall look into it further as soon as I return to my Clan in the forest.
- That's right, I have learned much since that fateful day on the ocean cliffs. Soon, the unattached Ghi energy in the area will copy my prototype, as is the way of the Animated everywhere, and a whole host of them will come into existence!
- I'm not sure...but the number of times that Grunnies have been mentioned in the same articles as 'G-Virus' makes me think there's some sort of connection.
- Wait! I give up! I surrender! You weren't supposed to make it this far! I'll tell you everything...just don't hit me!
- Isn't it all just so symmetrical? And the boss man has captured and focused a lot of that extra Ghi you so unknowingly provided us.
- What? The force field compensators should be nullifying the damage!
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