CHAPTER ONE
(Narrator's POV)
"What's happening?" Major Timothy Cain's asked as soon as the phone made contact with his ear.
"The Hive has shut down, sir. The Red Queen has cut off all contact with us as of three hours ago." Hudgens informed. She was a valuable asset of the Alpha Umbrella Security Unit which was the best team of Umbrella Security Division, making them elites though most of them were barely in their twenties. Hudgens specialized in surveillance and security, her side job was maintaining contact with The Hive, hearing news from her was always troubling, something that Cain tried to avoid if he could which wasn't much of a choice at the moment.
"What do you mean by that exactly?" Came the dread filled response; Cain leaned forward in his comfortable leather chair, his body tense in the building anticipation and frustration.
"Just what I said. There are no heat signatures and we are completely cut off. The security cameras are also offline." Not having heat signatures was a sure way of saying that everyone was dead, approximately five-hundred people was located in the underground facility – this was disastrous. Cain pushed back a frustrated sigh, trying to keep his emotions in check while finding what was the best solution to go about this but first he had to be sure of two things.
"What about the operatives?"
"Abernathy and Parks have not contacted us since we lost contact."
Well, that wasn't good. Abernathy and Parks were two of the best security operatives; if Hudgens couldn't reach them then something was seriously wrong. Cain wanted to crawl under a rock and die, hopefully the Chairmen didn't find out about this or he was going to have an earful.
"Can you shut her down from here?" Cain asked his second question. There was a sound from Hudgen's end which suspiciously sounded like a groan of annoyance.
"Daniels and I have been trying for the past two hours. She's cut off all the externals. We can't get into her systems or processors. The only way is to manually shut her down." Hudgens informed, sounding bored to death but she stressed key words to get her point across.
"….is the Mansion still open?" Cain for the first time in his life prayed that it was.
"Affirmative." He mentally breathed a sigh of relief, that made his life easier.
"Send in Shade's team." Cain commanded. Shade was the leader of an Umbrella Sanitation Crew whose specialty was information gathering and "cleaning up messes". There were hushed voices for approximately two minutes before Hudgens replied back.
"Yes, sir. Shade's team has been notified. Anything else?"
"Send Rocket here too if she's free." He added. There was a pregnant pause.
"No disrespect, sir. But she's going to be pissed. She just got off from a mission two hours ago…" Hudgens actually sounded scared for the first time which Cain understood. Rocket embodied every meaning of her nickname.
"…I know but I know this mission will go smoothly with her assistance. Tell her, I'll give her a month off for vacation time." Cain reasoned. A small snort came from the other line before a reply.
"Roger that, sir…. Good luck." Then the phone went dead. Cain mentally sighed at Hudgens' hidden meaning in those words.
|30 minutes Later|
"Sir? Rocket said she's going to meet the team outside in ten minutes and to go head and brief the team. I've already told her what was going on." Hudgens called as soon as Shade and his team settled inside Cain's office. Rocket always had to do things her way but for the most part it always went well so Cain didn't comment on it.
"Very well." Cain replied, Hudgens hung up as he placed the phone back in its cradle.
"What's happening, sir?" James Shade questioned. He was a handsome but serious African-American man with ten years of Army experience and two years in the Airforce before Cain asked him to become a leader of the Theta Umbrella Sanitation Crew, he was also an old friend of Cain's. The term friend was loosely applied.
"…The Red Queen has gone homicidal. I need your team to enter the Arklay Mansion to infiltrate The Hive. Gather any information you can about what happened down there and shut The Queen down. You will only have three hours from the time you enter the Mansion and if you're not out by the time limit - you are not getting out." Cain briefed, looking between the members of Shade's team seriously.
"That's not going to be a problem, Sir." J.D Salinas commented, cockily.
"Perhaps but I am sending in one of my elite agents with you." Cain informed which perked up the team's ears.
"May I ask why?" One questioned, not even sounding offended by the extra assistance.
"Of course. This agent has been to The Hive on numerous occasions and has also helped Ashford design The Red Queen. A valuable irreplaceable asset." Cain commented, leaning back in his chair while tapping his desk with a pen.
"When can we meet this guy?" J.D asked. Cain raised an eyebrow at his statement.
"Who said it was a man? You may go. She will be waiting for you by the Darkwing." Cain dismissed, mentally smirking at J.D's stunned face. He could guess that the Hispanic man has heard of the woman that was going to be a part of their team for the day.
They were in for it…
|15 minutes Later|
(Rain's POV)
We were getting our equipment into the Darkwing when we heard several footsteps and a voice coming from behind us.
"Shade's team, right?" We all turned around.
Behind us was a beautiful exotic woman with light chocolate-colored skin and piercing green eyes. Her midnight black hair fell in loose waves and curls, framing her face and flowing down her back gently. She was dressed in a long-sleeved black shirt with a dark grey vest covered in pockets. She had two holsters the housed her Berettas and a holder for her Kukri Blades. She had on a pair of hip-hugging cargo pants that matched her vest and fitted her legs deliciously. She had two black compartment belts that criss-crossed over her hips and was wearing black combat boots with a pair of fingerless gloves.
"Yes, are you Ruelyn Rodriguez?" One questioned, the woman looked annoyed that her name was voiced.
"Just call me Rocket." She replied, making a face. I almost laughed. She seemed like a laid-back person. The kind of girl I could get along with. This might not be so bad after all.
"So, you're the famous spitfire of Umbrella. You're basically a celebrity." J.D complimented which earned him a sly smile in return.
"I guess you can call me that." She shrugged before firmly locking eyes with One.
"I'm only here for back-up, this is your team and your mission. So, I'm following your orders." Rocket said bluntly, One nodded almost in shock. She was a higher ranking than him but she allowed him command of the mission, that was unusual - very unusual.
"But if I have a feeling that something is going to happen, you have to listen to me, alright?" She finished. One nodded, she seemed pleased. She visibly relaxed.
"Alright let's get this over with. Cain owes me a month off and I want to go to Japan this time." She said, walking inside the helicopter. I couldn't help but to stare at her ass as she walked by but J.D nudged me. I looked up to see the smirk on his face and I couldn't help but to return the gesture.
Yes, this was going to be an interesting mission.
(Rocket's POV)
These people have no idea what they got themselves into. The Hive was responsible for the creation of the T-Virus and numerous failed experiments which my family was largely a part of is housed in The Hive. Of course, I had an idea of what happened down there and I was not looking forward to it. I was gagged, I could not go public about the Umbrella Corporation – Jill had already tried but that had failed horribly. I needed more evidence besides myself. The world needed to see what they created in secret, away from the public eye. I will try to protect these people with my life but I hope they are ready to fight for their lives…
Feedback is appreciated!
Rocket Rodriguez is portrayed by Lais Ribeiro.