Alice Barrett, & Quentin Taylor
(collaboration between @Nosuchthing and @Zombiedude101)
Hailey Boulevard, Silver Hills_Quentin forced himself to draw a hand away from his comms piece, numbed by what he'd just heard. She was gone.
Lihua Zhao was gone. The woman who'd been responsible for him joining RAVEN to begin with, perhaps one of the closest things he'd had to a 'mentor' of sorts. But more than that. For better or worse, Zhao had been a friend, one of the few people he'd trusted to know about his past. More than that, she had been a mother. Not just to Mei, but to Lijuan too. Both had lost the woman holding their family together, both rendered 'orphans', for what it counted. No child deserved that.
And he knew just how it felt as a familiar sense of loss crept up on him, reminded of how he'd found his own Mom slumped lifelessly on the couch.
For a few moments, he felt like the Hound was twisting another blade in his gut, those crimson eyes boring into his own. Only then, the assassin's form was replaced with Alice staring back at him, which was enough to drive him onwards. "Let's go. The sooner we plant those charges, the sooner we can deal with that thing."
"Shit..."
Alice had heard the same news. She'd not known Lihua Zhao well, she hadn't even liked her that much, but she'd respected her and her reputation at least. They had to keep going though, if Zhao was down, it meant that their firepower had just dropped drastically.
"I'm sorry man, I know she was a friend..."
They didn't have time to mourn however, and she turned back to the doorway. In theory this was where they needed to be, but she doubted very much whether the IU would have left the shield projector unprotected. It had taken them some time to get up here, Alice wasn't familiar with the base, which limited how far she could jump. That and it wouldn't have been pleasant for Quentin to go through over a dozen jumps in quick succession. They'd faced little opposition on the way up here and all that had done was put her on the edge. She double checked the charge strapped to her back, then raised the compact SMG. She nodded to Quentin, ready to rush through the door the moment he broke it open.
A firm boot against the locking mechanism seemed to do the trick, alerting to their presence a few stragglers from the Intimidation Unit who'd been split from their comrades in the confusion. Quentin quickly leveled his shotgun with the first figure he saw and squeezed back on the trigger, the slug punching straight into the man's midsection. It hadn't penetrated, but the sheer kinetic force of the projectile at this range was enough to knock the man down, leaving Alice open to push through.
Alice flashed into existence above the man, her gun swinging low to spray hard-core bullets through his face plate. Then she vanished again, reappearing with a boot outstretched, planting a kick into the next man's face. He stumbled back, but before he could recover Alice had rushed back into existence behind him. Sheltering from his comrades fire behind his form, she perforated him with a quick burst from the MAC11.
Then came another, near-defeaning crack which resonated across the passage as Quentin fired off another slug at one of the remaining paramilitaries from behind cover. Seconds later, Alice was on the move yet again as the veteran RAVEN provided the others with a distraction, leaving them blind to the rapidly moving silhouette in the dimly lit confines of the facility.
Quentin's distraction was all Alice needed. The IU couldn't possibly deal with him and keep track of the teleporting RAVEN at the same time. It only took her a matter of seconds to put down the rest with extreme prejudice.
"Clear?" Quentin barked at his colleague down the passageway.
There was a sharp scream from around the corner, then Alice appeared with a grimace. "Clear."
Nodding to himself, Quentin pushed up further, loading a couple more slugs into the magazine tube of his 870. They couldn't have been far now, especially with how deep they'd pushed into this wretched place and somehow he couldn't help but shake the feeling of deja vu. It evoked memories of the lab in Verthaven, of when he'd met Meifeng all those seven years ago and started on that path which led him here. He was a different man now, a better man, but none of it had been without loss.
Half a dozen faces he'd known had passed before him
Sonya. Cass. Trevor. Max. And now?
Zhao."Quent!" A voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
Alice called sharply back to him from around the corner, "Looks like we're here."
"You're sure?" He asked, before his colleague affirmed him with a nod. Glancing back over his shoulder, he took a moment to survey the area for any potential chokepoints that he could exploit, then took up cover in a position that gave him a good view of the doorway. "Good. Plant the charges, meanwhile I'll keep you covered."
At that point he was going to shut up and focus, but another few words of encouragement came to mind.
"Don't let anything get in your way."
Wendy Emily Lucker, Rowan Campbell, Haruka Takashiro, & Ellen Nile.
(collaboration between @Mr Allen J, @Zombiedude101, @tsukune and @Nosuchthing)
Hailey Boulevard, Silver Hills_It wasn't long before Kumiko lead Rowan, Wendy, and Haruka over to the very same entrance that they had used to get into this base. Wendy was disconcerted by the sounds of fighting in the distance, but she otherwise, paid it little mind as she focused on leaving the base than whatever the hell was going on. Standing at the door were the very people Wendy was looking for in the first place: Jess, Kai, and Ellen.
"Guys!" Wendy announced as she ran up. "Thanks for waiting for us!"
"Well..." Jessica said as she tipped her hat, "Even if we wanted to... we couldn't leave, anyway."
"W-why?"
"The tunnel's busted," Jessica answered, as she pushed the door down to reveal that the tunnel had collapsed. Tons of concrete, dirt, and more, were blocking the way. "Can't slip nothin' past that."
"S-shit..." Wendy said, as she put her hands up. "Maybe I can..."
Kumiko put a hand on her shoulder as she said, "Don't." She affirmed. "You'll only end up killing yourself if you try moving all of that... and you need all the energy you got if you're going to their headquarters."
"Headquarters?!" Wendy said.
"Well, that's the only place for your sister to be," Kumiko said. "If we're lucky, we can get there and back before the Blessed Bastards get back."
"If we can't leave through there, were do we try leavin'?" Jessica asked, raising an eyebrow at the mysterious woman. "Whoever you are."
"Kumiko, and trust me, I'm a friend..." Kumiko answered. "I have an idea... but,
trust me, you're not going to like it."
She looked up at the ceiling... which was still shaking due to all the chaos going on above them.
"Are ya' crazy?" Jessica asked. "...It's God damn World War Seven up there!"
"We don't even need to get involved... all we need to do is break a window and leave..." Kumiko rebuked... knowing that if this exit was closed, the other one would most likely be as well There's no point in trying to race to the other end of the base when they could use one of the many secret ladders and stairs in and out of the basement... Only thing was that she was hoping those weren't exploded either.
That would suck.
"Well, let's not haste." Kumiko said.
Ellen nodded, "That machine looked nasty, and I don't want to be even near the next fight if that's what they're like..."
She was swaying now, and clearly fighting to keep her eyes open. "I haven't got much juice left in me, I'll just... slow you guys down, you go... I'll find somewhere to sleep..."
"Hold up, baby girl," Jessica said as she grabbed onto Ellen's arm, propping her up. "If you stay here, you might as be dead."
"Yeah," Rowan agreed, recognising just how exhausted she looked, "This shithole might collapse whilst you're still here."
"Even if you fall asleep, I'll carry ya'," Jessica said with a grin. "Don't worry, I'm strong enough to carry everyone here, run a kilometer, and come back." She bragged.
"You don't have to fight
my battles, Ellen," Wendy said, as her hand hovered in front of her chest, clenching tightly into a fist. "But, I'm at least going to get you out of here, and finish this fight
myself."
"Ummm... hey?" Jessica said as she put a hand on her hips, whilst Rowan couldn't help but shoot either of the girls a glance.
"...And with friends." Wendy said.
Ellen nodded hesitantly, clearly not convinced, but not having the energy to argue.
"There's a ladder nearby, don't waste time," Kumiko said as she lead the group down the hallway with a mere gesture of her hands. It wasn't too far away, and that was because it was kept close to the secret entrance so goons could discreetly get in and out of the lab. In case they didn't want to be seen walking out of an ISD lab, or somewhere people would start questioning. To be frank... if Julia would blow up her own damn escape tunnels like that, then it wouldn't be that much of a stretch that Julia didn't want this base. Crazy bitch was probably going to blow up the base with everyone in it. That's why Kumiko (and company) needed to get the hell out of here fast as possible.
Quickly, they made it to the end of a hallway that had a metal ladder leading to a metal hatch above the group... it loudly rattled whenever there was an explosion, or crash above them. Before anyone could do anything, Kumiko threw her hand hand - gesturing for them to hold up,
and using her metal manipulation to throw the hatch open.
"Alright, ready up, children," Kumiko said as she sauntered over. "I'm going to see if the coast is clear...
then you're going to follow me."
"There's no one beyond the hatch," Haruka, who had been silent as he watched Wendy's reunion with her friends, finally spoke up. "Um... Sorry, I didn't get your name."
Kumiko was torn between winking and raising an eyebrow (she would try a weird combination of the two, but she wasn't going to try to visualize how that'd look). Thankfully, whoever this young man was, didn't recognize her Makoto Koda alias... and the less people know
that the better. So, Kumiko settled on winking at the boy.
"Kumiko," she said. "It's great to meet you... under such terrible circumstances, but it's still nice." She smiled.
Though, she was wondering how he just knew that. Was he a Metahuman? Probably packing some weird Cerebral ability. Kumiko was going to subtly find out!
"Say, young man, what's your power?"
Haruka nodded in response to the greeting, then introduced himself. "Haruka. Nice to meet you too, Ms. Kumiko." Pleasantries aside, even if the teens seemed comfortable with this lady and she had saved everyone here, he couldn't help being wary around her. "...Clairvoyance," the lie that came out from his lips sounded so natural that he would probably believe in his own words without much thought. Besides, what he could do with his power was pretty limited in such confined areas, so it didn't matter if he told her the truth or not.
"Alright, cool," Kumiko didn't really pay too much mind to the possibility that he could be lying. She's got more important things to deal with. Like escaping this hell-lab, and getting into the Family's Headquarters with a good four hormonal teenagers... Hey, maybe it'd go well. "Don't call me 'Ms. Kumiko'... makes me feel old," she said. "Just Kumiko."
...And she's getting off track here. Jesus, she felt like she had the attention span of a four-year-old. She looked up at the entrance, as she said, "I'm going to trust that you're not pulling my leg, Haruka. Let's go... stick close to me."
Kumiko threw one of her chains to the hatch, and it hooked on the edge. She pulled herself in, and ended up above the hatch, poking her head through the hatch to one again gesture for the kids to climb through the hatch. They all had one way of getting up there: climbing. Wendy was annoyed that she didn't have any paper to use to switch back to paper manipulation ability. Well... maybe she could use the exercise. She walked up to the ladder, grabbing onto the bars and putting her feet up it, quickly climbing to the top of the ladder. Jessica climbed up with ease, since she wasn't even
close to tired... while the slower Kiri had a bit more difficulty climbing up the ladder. Haruka, who brought up the rear, was last.
The first thing Wendy saw was... the inside of a janitor's closet. A mop, a shelf with cleaning supplies, and this was probably where the janitor would get high.
"...They're not that creative with their hiding spaces." Wendy muttered... before she immediately realized there were more important things going on. Like the warzone outside the door. Her heart dropped... She wasn't prepared to run head first and get killed by crossfire.
"Okay, I know this might be a little scary, but
trust me-" Kumiko tried to reassure them.
"...You keep saying that." Wendy near-hissed.
"Well, when you're dressed like a soldier, you
kind of have to," Kumiko was refraining from saying that she was an assassin in front of
so many people (because that'd have gone
really well so far as trust went). "But, that's not important right now; what we gotta worry about is getting through that. Like I said, it's
scary getting shot at, but the last thing we need is one of you spazzing out, and falling behind."
Kumiko first explained. "I know this base like the back of my hand... there's a nice little window I'm going to break that we can all climb through."
With a nod of her head, Kumiko tried to assess everyone's emotions that had to be running wild... but, then remembered they were seven people stuffed into a tiny ass janitors closet, that smelled like spilled chlorine and weed. The only emotion they would be feeling would be
vivid discomfort (if that was a thing).
"We're all going to follow behind me. Clear?" Kumiko first said, before repeating, "
Clear?"
"
Clear." Rowan echoed with a low voice, the first of them to do so.
"Yeah." Wendy followed behind him.
"Yeah, darlin'," Jessica said.
"...Y-Yes," Haruka replied, trying not to gaggle over the mixture of horrid smells in the closet.
Putting a thumbs up, Kumiko turned to Rowan. "Hey, Magneto," Kumiko was coming up with cute nick names with everyone as she spoke (and had even cuter ones in the works)! "Mind stopping any stray shots for us? If it isn't too much trouble for you."
"Huh?" Rowan asked with a somewhat dumbfounded look, before he realised what she'd meant, " Oh, I never, y'know... tried it before, but I'll do it."
"Don't worry, sweetheart," Kumiko said. "What's the worse that can
possibly go wrong?"
All the things that could go wrong began to vividly flash within Wendy's mind's eye. Almost as if it was a vision... Wendy just shook her head as she contributed, "I could help... but, I need electricity."
"Good, we're heading out in three... two..." Kumiko said as she slowly opened the door with her metal manipulation. Slowly turning the doorknob as tension built in everyone. "...
One."
The door was thrown open, and Kumiko was the first to come rushing out with her hooks in her hand. She stood in the hallway which was laced with dead bodies... She was hoping Wendy and the others wouldn't be too freaked out by it, but they all need to focus on the task at hand. But, it seemed that RAVEN and the IU were fighting elsewhere. "C'mon!" Kumiko shouted, beckoning for them to come out as well. "Don't focus on the bodies - Focus on me!"
Wendy was the first person to come charging out of the cramp-ass supply closet, turning around to make sure everything was alright with Rowan and the others. It was definitely scary hearing all these gunshots. Her scrawny friend was right behind her, eyes darting across the room as the bodies caught his eye. Haruka wasn't freaked out at the sight of corpses that lined the floor as someone of his demeanor would typically be, having experienced an incident just as bad in the past. He did as Kumiko had said, and stepped over the bodies with disgust to follow after the woman.
Like Kumiko said... there was a set of windows not too far away from the entrance. Looked like careful planning in case everything went wrong had paid off! Kumiko came to a skidding stop. For once, everything was going fine. The IU's attention was elsewhere... though, she was personally wondering why Lord Julia didn't send the IU after them. It was a gut feeling that something was cooking in that woman's head... and given that she was one of the most sinister and intelligent women on the planet, Kumiko couldn't take any chances. She pulled out her chain even further as she ripped metal off the dead members of the IU and RAVEN that were littering the floor. The guns and whatnot floated up into the air, until Kumiko compressed them all into an orb. It transformed into a wrecking ball at the end of her chain. Ooooh, Kumiko loved this part.
"Stand back, children!" Kumiko shouted with a look of devious glee on her face that worried Wendy. "This is gonna be messy."
At that point, Wendy had already taken a few steps back, and so did the others. The wrecking ball floated up into the air, and Kumiko spun it in a circle above her head. The chain rattled in an intimidating manner... which made Wendy wonder why she didn't just break the damn window already. Everything came together when Kumiko swung the wrecking ball in an incredibly wide arc, and slammed into the window so damn hard that the glass didn't even have a chance. It was reduced to shards... and Kumiko dropped the makeshift wrecking ball off her chain, which went right back to sitting on her hip.
"After you," Kumiko presented the new entrance to them.
Wendy didn't have any reaction other than nodding her head, and quickly hopping through the window. Followed by Rowan scrambling over, then Jessica barreling through it, and Kai carefully climbing through. Ellen followed, barely avoiding cutting herself on the remaining fragments of glass. Haruka didn't have much trouble clearing the window to the other side thanks to his small stature, ignoring a glass shard that had ripped a hole in his left sleeve. The last through was Kumiko, making sure the flank was clear.
Though, when she looked up... she saw the shield that was over the base that she didn't notice in her haste to make it outside.
"Oooooh?" Kumiko said, as she ran to the shield, followed by Wendy. "Oh, damn it."
Kumiko placed her hand on the shield... it was pretty damn hot, so she pulled her hand back.
"...I guess that explains why the
Mistress-" Kumiko said in a very sarcastic and bitter tone. "-didn't send her goons after us..."
"...Because we were already trapped from the beginning." Wendy said as she looked up at the shield.
"Well, that's bullshit." Rowan complained, with an exaggerated grunt.
"Oooookay, this presents a lot of problems," Kumiko said. "We can either hope the Family is nice enough to drop it, or..." Kumiko was about to add "or blow up with the rest of the base," but that wouldn't be helping.
"Know a way to drop it?" Jessica asked. "Wait, hold up, let me try..." Jessica said as she took a few steps back, and put her shoulder in front of her body. Making it pretty obvious what she was going to do next.
"Wait, Jess, no," Wendy tried to plea.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Kumiko also tried to stop her.
But, none of their words even reached the headstrong Jessica Rosefey as she charged the shield hard as she could, slamming into the shield... and doing absolutely nothing, but hurting the hell out of her shoulder. "Oh, lord!" Jessica said as she dropped to the ground. "...I should
not have done that."
"...Nope, I think you made it budge a little," Kumiko said, putting her hand on her chin. "Maybe you should try again." She dryly said.
"Can't we head under it?" Rowan suggested, well aware that it was via an underground tunnel that they'd broken into the base. Maybe they could've broken out the same way?
"...That's it!" Wendy excitedly said. It was probably going to fail miserably, but it would work better than standing here with a thumb up their ass. She stuck her hands up in the air, and tore apart a nearby pathway. Breaking it into brick-sized chunks, she willed them to float in the air. Her wounds were already oozing blood, but she'd worry about that later (or possibly when blood loss kicked in). The concrete formed into an improvised drill of sorts... that was hard to keep together, but still pointed at the end. "I'm gonna drill under it!" Wendy said, oddly energetically.
"Oh," Kumiko said, putting a hand on her hip. "Here I was thinking you were going to throw it."
Ignoring the comment, Wendy put the drill into the dirt, and made it turn. Awkwardly at that, but it was the best someone so inexperienced with this ability could do. Slowly, she dug the drill into the ground, making a tunnel large enough for them to get through. It was incredibly hard on Wendy... the shield was breaking apart, only being held together by Wendy's incredible focus and patience.
Slowly making them a path to freedom.
This was the first time Haruka had heard - and seen - Wendy being able to manipulate other elements than those he remembered from the market incident months back. He shrugged off his curiosity about where she had copied them from, and chose to concentrate on getting out of here in one piece instead. "I... will just keep a lookout, since that's pretty much all I can do now."
"Eh, don't worry," Kumiko flagged him off. "The IU are probably off picking fights with more important targets... that's their style, after all."
"Except... didn't one of their bosses try to kill us?"
Ellen had sat down against the wall, her head nodding gently as she fought to keep her eyes open, "I mean..."
"Pfft, that's just Ezekiel," Kumiko said with an idle shrug. "He tries to kill everybody."
"Not anymore," Rowan added, with a grunt.
Speaking of Blessed Three... "That Ezekiel man might be dead, but there's still another one alive and around," Haruka said, which made him thought of Jennifer again. "She knows that you have betrayed them, so what if she's going to come back for you?" He gave Kumiko a sideways glance.
With a sigh, Kumiko turned her head towards Haruka, and then said, "I knew what I was getting into the moment I chose to help Wendy," She started off. "Which means I have no choice
but to destroy the Family... or, preferably, help someone more important do it and let them take all the credit." Someone more important being RAVEN.
Above all else, she'd have to kill the rest of the Blessed Three at any cost. Even if the kids got Diana out of there, it wouldn't be a happy ending. Since the
Mistress knew the kids killed Ezekiel... well, it'd be no stretch that the Family would go after them. Probably just wipe the whole lot of them out. Kumiko looked at Wendy as the drill's tip appeared on the other side. The girl was already pushed to her very limits. After they get Diana out of there, Kumiko was going to finish the fight on her own.
These kids had bright futures ahead of them, and a future without the Founding Family was a perfect one to her.
At the last moment... the drill crumbled into pieces as Wendy's arms dropped. She panted... but, her labor paid off. There was a nice hole that went completely under the shield, and she smiled. "I... did it." Wendy said, weakly raising a finger at it. "Let's go!"
"That won't crumple down on us, right?" Jessica asked.
"No, just go!"
After a moment of hesitation, Rowan descended through, followed by the rather fearless Jessica, the stumbling Ellen, and Kai (turning into her ice form to grant herself a chance of surviving should Jess' fears come to light) tailing behind her.
Haruka could taste the bitter smell of exhaust fumes in the air from outside that rushed through the hole. He then recalled Shizuka's briefing before the misfit team came here. "...Those should be RAVEN's vehicles," he mused out loud, before he shrugged and followed the teens out of the crude tunnel.
Wendy looked at Kumiko for a moment, before the latter said, "Go on, I'll take point." Wendy nodded her head, before she hopped through.
Kumiko looked over her shoulder for a moment... she was surprised that everything went as smoothly as it did. But, the fight was not over yet. They still had to get to the Family's headquarters in Regal Square, and get Diana out of there.
Then... it'd be up to Kumiko.
Aislin Rose, Malik Jakane, Rhea Harlow, Holly Hope, & Ryu Koizumi.
(collaboration between @Mr Allen J, @Estylwen and @tsukune)
Hailey Boulevard, Silver Hills_What better way to get the lay of the land (or in this case, a drowning Fag base) than wearing the sheep’s clothing? When the opportunity presented itself, Aislin and Ryu found two individuals from the Intimidation Unit in similar stature. Two shots from a tranquilizer, and they were dragged into the women’s washroom. Aislin couldn’t help snickering as she donned the IU uniform, knowing there were two naked people hidden in the last stall.
Ryu’s collar wasn’t hidden by the armor and seemed out of place. “I’d say keep the scarf,” Aislin said. “Protocol is the last thing on the Fags mind right now.”
Ryu shook his head at Aislin's suggestion. "
The scarf is still mighty suspicious," he reasoned, while trying to get himself more accustomed to the IU suit - which was a little bigger than his actual build, and a trained soldier like him knew very well how an ill-fitting armor might cost one's own life in a gunfight, especially when they were still deep in the lion's den. Still, it felt so much easier to move around in than the coat he had been wearing all this while, and the suit was able to cover most of his skin without the need to put on extra layers of clothing (not to mention, stifling warm after running around for some time). "
...I have a better idea."
Tugging at the loose turtleneck of the suit, he pulled it up and tucked the hem into his suppressant collar. Unless someone paused to squint hard at his neck, the slight bulge of the collar should be able to go unnoticed to most passing glances. He flashed the CID agent a satisfied grin. "
Ta-da."
Aislin had adapted their comms to act as Pilots — the language barrier wouldn’t stop them. That meant Ryu understood every bit of ogling as they passed the lunch room. A massive bag of cheesies sat unopened on the counter, and Aislin had to wipe a bit of drool from her lips.
“The base is going up in smoke, they wouldn’t care if it went
missing... I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” Aislin said, giving the cheesies a last look before moving down the hall.
"
I wouldn't eat them if I were you," Ryu commented with a note of amusement. "
Who knows if the Family has drugged the food here with similar addictive substances like the one that got the Marcelle person in deep trouble. This is a research facility, after all."
Aislin gasped, “My God, you’re right. Shit, well. I hope they haven’t developed it to be airborne. I left my gas mask at home.”
Ryu was grateful to Aislin for loaning an extra Pilots piece to him - while it obviously wasn't as accurate as actual human translations, but good enough to still be able to understand each other. He couldn't rely on the Takashiro twins all the time, and weigh them down with his inconveniences.
Unfortunately, the brief lighthearted moment amidst the rumbling explosions that shook the whole base from somewhere above them was rudely interrupted by an abrupt neck choke as Ryu was walking around a corner. The Japanese agent instinctively crouched down to use a floating hip throw to shake off his assaulter. It worked - the sudden shift in his center of mass distracted the attacker momentarily, giving Ryu the chance to escape from the arm locked around his neck. He turned to face the person who tried to strangle him...
And he couldn't believe his eyes.
"
...Holly-san?"
Aislin lowered her tranquilizer gun, recognizing the assaulter. “Jesus Holly, is that really how you treat the goons around here?”
Holly was as surprised as Ryu was when she recognized their voices, but she continued to stare at the armor warily. "With all the explosions and fighting going on upstairs, I wouldn't be surprised if I start shooting first and leave the talking for later."
Malik and Rhea were behind the RAVEN agent, and they both seemed fine. Holly's suspicious glare prompted the Asian man to remove his mask, before he began to explain, "
This is just a disguise. Ai-chan's brilliant idea." He readjusted the turtleneck to make sure his suppressant collar was still nicely hidden before gesturing at Aislin to translate his words to the RAVEN officer, then he gave her a sheepish smile. "
We must be doing a great job to have you guys fooled like that."
“I wouldn’t say ‘brilliant’, but with Holly's stunt this get-up must be convincing,” Aislin said, then repeated what Ryu said to Holly before adding, “You wouldn’t believe how hot it gets in one of these things.”
Rhea held an uncertain grin on her lips. It was just like Aislin to think up a tactic like that. Her acting skills were good enough to pose as an IU, though a part of Rhea hated to see anything to do with the Unit. Unwillingly, the image of a blood-soaked festival resurfaced in her mind.
“I’m glad to see you two doing so well for yourselves.” Rhea said, sarcasm in her voice.
Holly let out a tired sigh - with her senses all strung up high after Malik's reckless charge at Julia, she was running low on patience watching out for the lightning duo not to do another crazy stunt and get themselves killed for their stupidity. "I apologize for attacking you just now, but I can't help being cautious, especially after what he did a moment ago." She tilted her head in Malik's direction.
Aislin chuckled at Holly’s dry remark. “You know how it is with storms,” she teased. “They can never sit still.”
Following Holly's instructions, Malik went through the halls of the base. He felt stupid for rushing off after her... but, he got the answers he was looking for. Though, he had a feeling that they wouldn't take "she gave it to me because she was feeling generous." What the real question was:
why she gave it to him so easily, and who were "those women" she mentioned? There was something wrong here, and Malik just could smell it. Either way, he was going have to regroup with the others. He kept moving down the hallway until he crossed the group... and raised an eyebrow up into the air as he noticed Ryu, and Aislin, wearing the Intimidation Unit uniform.
"Uh, hello friends." Malik said, waving at them.
Malik’s face had conflicted feelings written all over it. “Well, how did it go?” Aislin asked. “Was your contact right about Marcelle?”
Rhea frowned, speaking up first. “Mr. Morris… was wrong. Marcelle isn’t here. Malik bolted after one of the Blessed Three, surviving the encounter somehow.” She glanced at Malik, unsure. “And…”
He was unsure of how to put this... he wasn't sure if Julia was right. He wasn't sure if she was just locked away in a cage somewhere. Well, if all his answers are in this USB drive, he might as well tell them. He raised the USB drive in the air. "...I have the last of Marcelle's logs... maybe this will tell me where she is." He was glossing over his encounter with the Three for now.
Unfortunately, Holly wasn't going to let Malik's bizarre luck of fortune to walk away unscathed from a member of the Three slide so easily, not at the sight of the USB. She couldn't help frowning at how he was able to get that from the redhead without so much of a struggle. "Before that, isn't there something
more you need to tell us about? What exactly happened when you confronted that red-haired woman?" Ryu was also staring at the African man with a quizzical look.
"Well, I..." Malik said, before trying to deflect. "I asked her if she knew where Marcelle was... and she told me nothing useful so I attacked her. She had these weeeeird powers."
Holly obviously didn't buy what Malik was saying - the way he was trying to avoid the topic with a bad excuse only served to make her even more suspicious, that he was clearly trying to hide something. However, instead of outright dissing him for lying to them at this crucial time where any info might affect the outcome of their mission, she simply responded with, "Oh, really." The hint of disbelief in her tone was loud enough to spell that she was not one bit pleased with his antics.
"Look, we need to get a move on," Malik said, before he realized he earned an incredulous look from all of his friends. "Fine... I'll come clean... she made a deal with me."
It was hard saying that he was lying to them, but he might as well remove any and all doubts while he's here. What's the worse that could go wrong? Them turning against him? After everything they'd been through, that wasn't even an option at this point. "She was feeling
generous because her ego was stroked, or whatever. Told me to have this if I get out of her hair... but... she also told me that Marcelle was dead..." Malik said, unsure of whether or not she was lying... or he was just in denial.
Holly perked up when Malik mentioned a deal with the Blessed Three woman, but she highly doubted that he meant by selling them out. Not after they had come so far, and she wanted to believe that his emotions for his friend were real. That was confirmed when he went on with his story. As she had thought, something was really fishy about all this. "Sounds like she is a real hurry that she's got not time to deal with anyone in her way," Holly mused out loud. "Or that we're no more than mere flies to her, which works for us."
She had one more thing to add on - the most important one of all. "As for Marcelle's status, we're not going to strike her off until we've checked the other base in Regal Square." She gave Malik a small, but reassuring smile.
Ryu shared the same sentiment with the RAVEN - well, it wasn't hard to tell that the African guy didn't tell them the truth at first, but it was better for him to leave the talking to Holly, who could converse with the rest directly in English, than him troubling Aislin to translate his words to the rest. The conversation turned out well in the end, and he was more than happy to have everyone back on board. Besides, they would need to find a computer to access the log in the USB. Glancing around to make sure the coast was clear, he darted to the door of the nearest lab room. Peeking in and seeing that it was empty, he signaled for the others to follow in, before he locked the door shut behind them.
The room was no different from a standard, professional laboratory - tidy, and obviously well-maintained. Apparatus were cleaned and neatly kept away in the respective trays on the shelves, bottled chemicals were all clearly labeled with their chemical formula and arranged in the order of their pH value, and agar plates were stored in an incubator with a see-through door. A few heavy-duty fridge-like cabinets lined the far end of the lab, some with the hazard symbol pasted on the front. As the group walked through the mess of biotechnological machines, Ryu spotted a laptop next to a centrifudge, and waved at Malik to come over.
Well, time for the moment of truth. The day he would find out whether or not he came to America for nothing. He pressed the USB drive into the port, the files slowly loading with an odd intensity. When the files loaded, Malik looked at it, and noticed that it was no longer an audio file, but a video file. Two clicks from the mouse, and it was opened.
The video began with Marcelle adjusting the camera that was built into the monitor of her laptop, her hand obstructing the view of the room. When her hand moved, a clear view of a destroyed room (that had to be an abandoned building somewhere) she resided in was given to the viewer... along with a look at Marcelle's face. Her sharp and bulky facial features that Malik undoubtedly knew were Southern African... but, she looked...
bad. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face was bony, and the woman just looked horrible. Like a ghoul. His childhood friend being in such a sad state was something that made him clench his fist tightly.
"M-Marcelle's final log..." Marcelle started off. "This is... I... the Family is closing in on me as I s-s-speak, so I'll be quick. I have information on both the Family's mind... control, and the m-machine-"
That's when the video was roughly cut to darkness for a few seconds, making it more than obvious that Julia had altered the video.
"
Damn it!" Malik said as he pounded his fist against the computer table. To him, she might as well smash-cut to a still image of her middle finger.
"--This information
has to reach the governments of the world... I cannot...
will not let th... the Family's atrocities go unheard... " Marcelle finished the log with a sigh, her hands reached towards the computer to close it. "Now, I have to get out of here while I sti-still... have time..."
The door was kicked down, and Marcelle whipped around with her pistol in hand - but, wasn't quite quick enough to stop the immediate pistol shot that hit her square in the shoulder. She fell down out of sight of the camera, and a slender woman with a metal mask that Malik almost immediately recognized came into sight in between the door frame.
"V-Veronica?!" Marcelle said in a thick French accent.
The IU assassin didn't even reply, she merely walked over to Marcelle with the revolver in hand, aimed as Marcelle screamed, "
No!"
And fired the shot that splattered blood all over the floor.
"Hmph," Veronica groaned, narrowing her eyes... She then muttered
something to herself that was impossible to hear. Another group of footsteps came running up.
"Jesus, Vero," Makoto said, with her eyes shot wide open, making it clear what she thought of Veronica's brutality. "You were supposed to flush her out, not kill her."
"It's better this way," Veronica said, putting a hand on her hip. "With what Julia was going to do to her... she's better in a bag."
She offhandedly scoffed as she looked at her nails. "Mistress Julia will be a little pissed... but, such is life. Now grab her, grab her damn laptop, and let's get a move on. The cops are going to be here any minute, and I doubt they'd take too kindly to us." Veronica ordered as she pressed her earpiece and said, "Zenith."
A swirling blue portal opened behind Veronica, and she stuck her hand out, willing her telekinesis into Marcelle's body. The woman's body floated into the portal as Makoto grabbed the laptop, closing it. Thus ending the video.
For a moment... Malik didn't even move. He stood there frozen, with his eyes wide. Tears began running down his cheeks as he loudly began to choke. Even the more experienced agents were at loss for words - Holly cringed at the moment Marcelle was shot dead, then with regret as she watched Malik going emotional once more at the fate of his friend.
Ryu, on the other hand, was more reserved. He just couldn't help thinking that something didn't feel right about the video. The most obvious was the period of blackout right after Marcelle began to talk about the mind control and the Machine, and before she was about the end the recording when her attackers burst in. Knowing that this video was given to them by a Blessed Three member, he wouldn't be surprised if they had altered this to cut out the information disadvantageous to the Family's schemes. The other one, the less obvious clue... He reached out to the laptop and replayed the video from the beginning, then hit the pause button at the scene the figure whom Marcelle called 'Veronica' put her hands on her hips.
"
Don't you guys find the reason why this woman killed your friend somewhat... strange?" he asked. "
We know that Marcelle is still under the influence of Julia's addictive drug, which makes her a valuable test subject to the Blessed Three. It sounded like those two were sent to bring your friend back to Julia for further experiments, but what they were doing was pretty much defying her orders... to give Marcelle a less painful death. Why would they do that?" He turned to Aislin to help translating his words to the rest of the team.
Malik didn't even respond. He was so caught up on the footage that he just couldn't take it anymore. His quest to save Marcelle was all a waste - a God damn
waste. He just couldn't take it... the Founding Bastards took away his best friend. Slamming his fists on the computer table, a thunderous smash filled the room as Malik transformed into his storm form. Which was followed by a mighty burst of wind shooting outwards in all directions - strong enough to knock over the computer tables. Followed by rain... and thunder. Malik let out a loud yell as he fell to his knees.
The abrupt stunt from the African man's storm power to vent his emotions startled Ryu, so much so that he misunderstood Malik's rage and thought it was directed at him. "
H-Hey, wait, sorry I didn't mean--" The Japanese agent raised his hand in frantic defense, but Holly shook her head at him (even if she didn't understand a word he was saying without a Pilots device like Aislin, she could make an intelligent guess from his body language).
"I don't think he's angry at you, or has even heard whatever you were asking just now," Holly said, pulling Ryu away from Malik's localized thunderstorm. "But, you've got some good points there... Thanks to your prompt, something just feels
wrong about the whole video. Other than the head-shot part, there's also the blackout portion the Family had cut out." She narrowed her eyes. "It's possible that this entire footage has been heavily edited and given to Malik, to turn him against us like this..." Which meant the Blessed Three had been anticipating them coming to this base all along. Though there were a few hiccups here and there, everything was still within their calculations so far.
Once Malik reverted back to human form and was on the ground, she turned to him. "Until we see Marcelle's
physical body with our own eyes, it's too early to give up now," she began in a firm tone. "Also, we need to get a move on, in case someone has caught wind of your storm just now. Take the log with you, and let's go."
A sigh escaped Malik's lips, the rage within him dimmed. He turned back into his human form, and realized how foolish he acted. He could have gotten them all killed. "...I'm sorry." Malik said to his group. "But, you're right, this is Julia we're talking about, right?" Malik asked... rather rhetorically, before he walked over to the computer and grabbed Marcelle's 'final' log, putting it in his pocket and leaving the lab with the rest.
Mapping out the place was going surprisingly smooth. They came across more laboratories, conference rooms and whatnot. But their tour went for a spin when a room they passed spilled a yellow glow from the entrance. Aislin offered the rest of the team a shrug, her mask hiding the curious light in her eyes. Together, they entered the strangest laboratory yet, and possibly the most dangerous.
The laboratory was a pristine network of hallways that had clean white tiles. The entire place was silent, save for them. The rooms were labs that were dedicated to Mistress Julia's many projects... many of which have curious looking pods full of liquid and other materials. Though, the place was mostly cleared. Given that the location was meant to be destroyed, everything valuable was removed from the base. Anything that was left were expendable files, and biological materials that Julia could afford to lose. But, at the very end of the hall was a large metal door that lead into the parts of the lab that Julia reserved for her... special projects. Which included the room that had the Beast... and Blake Schmidt putting the finishing touches on it.
The quintet crept through the lab with utter caution and silence. To Holly, there was an odd familiarity about the strange yellowish glow that was getting brighter as the group moved closer to its source, but she couldn't quite understand why... She pushed the thought to the back of her mind to focus on their current situation as a huge metal door loomed before the team. She signaled them to stop and stay where they were, while she crouched towards the door alone. Then she rose to the window slowly... but what she saw almost made her knees gave way to the horrifying scene beyond the glass.
The Family's new Beast... It was finally a twelve-foot tall monster that looked almost identical to the one responsible for destroying Prague and enabling the spread of anti-Meta sentiment across Europe! It was a glowing yellow humanoid that Blake was just about finished with. He prided himself on the design since it was
him that set the framework (Ezekiel provided the technology, and Julia made sure the damn thing wouldn't fall apart,
again). The body of the Beast was incredible muscular with no eyes... but, a large mouth that curled upwards into a devilish grin. All Blake needed was a few more minutes, and what was left of RAVEN would be wiped out, along with a large chunk of Baybridge, and hopefully... anyone stupid enough to try to help them.
Blake pushed in the last needle, followed by a tube that pumped in the last bit of liquid from their reserves.
Without wasting any more time, Holly crouched down again and returned to the rest of the team. Not giving them a chance to question the grim look on her face, she simply gave them the hand sign to get out of the room as quickly and quietly as possible. Once they were far,
far enough from the dangerous laboratory, the RAVEN raised a hand to her comm-piece, "This is Holly here. We have located the Beast, currently with the third member of Blessed Three, Blake, in the largest lab on B1..."
"Okay, stay out of sight," Meifeng added in the comms, as she peeked around a corner to see two guards that were walking past her. She was in the labs with the rest of them. "I'm almost there."
"Charges are planted," Quentin's familiar voice announced to them over the comms, "Confirm when you're ready. And do whatever you can to make sure we put that
thing down."
Meifeng's hand lingered on the earpiece once she heard the last of Quentin's words. Since these fuckers killed Lihua, Meifeng was not going to pull any punches.
"...Affirmative."
Back in the lab, Blake was... oddly delighted to see his creation come
so close to completion. He put on a gleeful smile, and clapped his hands like a schoolgirl, oddly excited for someone of his status. Now, only thing left to do was
wait. Once all the chemicals were pumped into the Beast, the damn thing would finally begin its rampage through the base, then (hopefully) the rest of Baybridge. According to Julia, they had already succeeded in their main objective; buying time for the Machine to finish. At this point, it doesn't matter whether or not they kill the Beast. But, he'd truly hate it if his
art was destroyed without making a grand show just like in Prague. Speaking of which... Blake knew that the Blessed Three better get the hell out while there's still time! Being a member of such an illustrious group was already dangerous enough!
"Blake," The Foundation Woman directly contacted the man.
"Oh, Foundation Woman," Blake said, with a wide grin on his face as he leaned up against the nearest table. With his hand on his comm-piece, he replied, "What can I help you with?"
"I'll be brief," The Foundation Woman immediately piqued Blake's interest with one sentence. "Mistress Julia has been heavily injured by Project Lazarus... and we need to extract the remaining members of the Blessed Three."
"Oh, that Julia!" Blake exasperatedly said. "I told her that her little lab project is going to blow up in her face! Playing God tends to end that way..."
"Irrelevant." The Foundation Woman said with a bit of contempt that didn't go over Blake's head as much as he merely ignored it for the time being. "What is the progress on the Beast?"
"Almost finished!" Blake said, "All we need to do is wait..."
"...And we don't have time to wait," the Foundation Woman said. "Zenith can't teleport you out with that shield up, and the technique that lets her punch through the barrier takes so much effort, that I don't see us doing it again."
"Fine, my loyal Foundation Woman! I will leave one Secretary behind to monitor the Beast," Blake said, as he turned over his shoulder and pointed at a blonde-haired male with green eyes. "You, finish my work."
"Yes... Master Blake..." the man said with rather dead eyes.
Well, now that's over with...
Blake merely scrolled out the room with his Secretaries in tow... He wondered how Jennifer was able to wound Julia
so badly that it called for an immediate extraction. Then he thought...
I wonder where is Ezekiel, by the way?
Meifeng snuck through the halls of this lab... Part of her wondered just how many people had died here at the Hands of the FF, then another part of her realized that the answer was "far too damn many." She could smell the sterile cleaning solutions, but that was a familar smell that she would rather ignore in favor of getting to the damn Beast fast as possible so they can smash their machine before their "world domination" plan ever inches near fruition.
Her back was pressed up against the wall the very instant that she heard a group of hurried footsteps approach. Shit. At this rate, she was going to get spotted - and given that she didn't have a damn clue about what she's up against... not the best idea. Fortunately, there was a supply closet she could duck into. The RAVEN wasted zero time in opening up the closet, and hopping inside, leaving it slightly ajar to see who was coming by in such a hurry.
Then she saw the muscular frame of Blake Schmidt, surrounded by his legion of Secretaries, as they went
somewhere. They were in such an obvious hurry that they completely glossed over the slightly ajar door. That meant two things: the Beast was complete, and Blake was clearing, or the Beast was killed (unlikely, but the world's full of strange things). While Meifeng felt the urge to try to kill Blake... she knew that she didn't have any time to waste picking fights. This was something Meifeng
definitely should report. Creeping out of the closet, Meifeng said,
"I have visuals on Blake Schmidt... he's fleeing the scene," Meifeng started off as she hopped out. "How's it look on your end, Holly? I'm almost there with the charges." She asked as she quickly proceeded down the hallways, crouching.
With the shield up to trap everyone in this base with the Beast that would soon be unleashed, Holly knew they couldn't escape from ground level. It didn't help that Julia had some of the underground tunnels blocked, which forced the group to take a longer route (and time) to bail out. If only Shizuka was here... but rather than thinking about such useless things, they would just have to do whatever they could to get out of here as quickly as possible. "We're almost there - to regroup with the RAVENs outside," she breathed into the comms as she led her team towards that one tunnel out of the building that someone else had kindly informed her. Unlike the overprotective silver-head, Holly knew that Haruka could take care of himself.
Meifeng arrived, and just couldn't believe her eyes when she poked her head through the window. It was the splitting image of the same
creature that almost destroyed Prague earlier this year. If it wasn't for Meifeng and the others pulling through, then... it would have been way worse. She doesn't want what happened to Prague happen to Baybridge (or anywhere else for that matter). Meifeng had to get started. "I'm here... the room is empty... save for one lone person.
"I'm setting the charges now," Meifeng said in the comms as she attached the C4 device to the wall, and pressed a few buttons to arm it. Long as she did this right... the Beast would be disabled, or dead. Long as he wasn't rampaging through Baybridge, they would have the same result. "What's your status?" Meifeng whispered.
"Still in position," Quentin's voice advised, "Once your charges are set, we'll set the timer."
Meifeng nodded her head. "Affirmative."
It wasn't long before each of the charges that Meifeng brought along were set outside of the room with the Beast. The sheer explosive power would be enough... enough to kill the Beast. Meifeng planted the last charge, and nodded her head. "Charges set," Meifeng said over the comms. "Heading out now, meet all of you topside."
Meifeng quickly turned the other way and headed out the way she came fast as she could while keeping her head down. "Holly, suggest you and your team clears the area now. The charges are set, and in fifteen minutes... Well, I'm
not taking responsibility for anything after that point." She coldly said, as she cleared the blast radius.
"Likewise here," Quentin spoke up once again to warn them, "Timer's set. Keep people clear of those positions, topside too."
"Understood," was the curt reply. By then Holly and her little team were sprinting towards the makeshift tunnel that Wendy had drilled moments ago. Haruka was nowhere in sight - he had probably escaped with the group of teens he had encountered and witnessed Ezekiel's dead body. The ruckus going on in the base had dialed down, and the chloropathic agent thought she could hear a distant roar of helicopters. She wasn't sure if they were backups from RAVEN or from the Family, but anything would be better than being trapped in this lab of doom. Without wasting more time to ponder further, she ushered Malik and the rest out of the tunnel.
After that message, Meifeng didn't want to waste any time lingering around here. With all the thick concrete this base is made out of out... the blast radius wouldn't be traveling that far away. All Meifeng has to do was leave the laboratory. Well, with the security
and the Blessed Three clearing the base, she didn't have a whole lot of security to worry about. All she had to do was to
hope that the blast was able to kill the Beast. In the amount of time that has passed... Meifeng went back to Lihua's body. Kneeling down, Meifeng slipped two hands underneath her body, and used all of her strength to lift up her mother.
On cue... the bombs went off. Meifeng was keeping mental track of all the explosives in her head. The shockwaves rippled through the base. The Beast that was Blake's pride and joy was blown to pieces, it died with an inhuman, almost bestial, roar that echoed through the entirety of the base. Along with the shield generator going down in flames... It fell off the side of the base, and crashed into the ground as the blue shield that was keeping RAVEN contained faded away.
Footsteps pattered behind her, but when she turned she found an old comrade at her back. Quentin paced towards her, shotgun at the ready. "I told Al to head back topside and clear a path, we still need to-" Something caught in the veteran RAVEN's throat as the light reflected on the lifeless body that once belonged to Lihua Zhao. "...I'm sorry. I should've been there to back you up, but we need to get moving. Those bastards could have rigged this place."
"It's... okay," Meifeng said, in response to Quentin. "There's nothing any of us can do now but
remember her." She started walking forward, carrying Lihua all the way out of here. The mission was complete, which meant they had to focus their efforts on the F-F's main headquarters. Their machine. The only way they were going to save the world from their insane plan was to head there now.
"...Hello, can anybody read me?" A very familiar voice spoke through the comm-link, and made them both stop.
"Wait,
Maximilian?" Meifeng replied through the comms.
"Sorry I'm late," Maximilian said through the comms. "But, I came soon as I could... you're the one that put out the call for reinforcements right?"
Meifeng didn't reply.
A fleet of RAVEN vehicles quickly approached the base in Silver Hills - from the ground, and even a few commandeered helicopters of both RAVEN and other government agencies. All were reinforcements gathered by Maximilian, approaching the base in massive numbers. With Maximilian himself approaching via chopper. Wearing the standard RAVEN body armor, Maximilian opened the door and hopped out of it. He free-fell downwards towards the ground before he changed his momentum and direction upwards so he was flying towards the base.
On top of him... a glowing golden light appeared as an orb, before taking shape. A shape that mimicked Maximilian's form exactly before it expanded twice his size. With a confident grin on his face, Maximilian said,
"...Well, the cavalry's arrived."
Atrophy
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