Author's Note: After much delay, I present to you, the long-awaited Dead Echo chapter! Currently clocking in at over 12,000 words of story, it's my biggest chapter yet. I wanted to get this story arc wrapped up for the next one, and make it up to you, my readers, for missing last week's update. So here ya go! Oh, I only do this when something has given me major inspiration, but after the "big red button(you can guess what that is...)" is pressed, listen to A Giant Cloud of Impending Doom in the Bulletstorm soundtrack. That's the reason I came up with the ending I did. Thank you for waiting for this extra long chapter!
I rummaged around through the drawers in the Fury's galley. It took me a few minutes of searching before I finally found what I had been looking for.
"Ah, there you are," I exclaimed, pulling out a small bag of potato chips. I eagerly tore it open and grabbed a couple out of the bag before I set it down on the counter next to the refrigerator. I yanked the fridge door open and leaned inside, now looking for a soda. I poked around, knocking a few items to the side before locating a bottle of some weirdly named brand. It tasted pretty good though, that's all that mattered. I moved my head out of the way to close the door and was startled by Ricky leaning up against the wall, eating my potato chips.
"S' up?" he asked me nonchalantly.
"Just fine," I replied after I recovered from the slight scare. I pointed to the bag in Ricky's hand.
"You know, those are mine," I said pointedly. He glanced down at the bag, then looked back at me with a shrug. I shook my head in mock exasperation. Ever since we had met, he had been taking my food. Some things just never change.
"You talk to Alex yet?" he asked me. I popped the tab on my soda can while I shook my head.
"No, why? Did he get in touch with that new girlfriend of his?" Ricky smirked.
"Yup. And make sure you don't call her his girlfriend when he's around. Tillman's gonna have a big bruise later on." I laughed at that as Ricky continued. "Alex said the turian doesn't trust using an "open channel", so she'll meet us in Tokyo to give us the codes then."
"Huh," I said. "Well, the more the merrier, I guess. If we can get someone to replace Leng as the additional person on the team, I don't mind." Ricky bobbed his head while he shoveled my chips into his mouth. "You know how close we are to Earth?"
"Why would I know?" he mumbled around a mouthful of food. I sighed, then left the room with my soda. Let's go see what everyone else is doing...
"You promised we'd be paid once we were done and had your item!" The leader of the SIU forces that had easily infiltrated and taken over the Mt. Ishimura Alliance base stood facing a communications terminal, speaking with the hooded man on the screen. There were a few human hostages lined up against a nearby wall with SIU units guarding them. The leader thought it would be a good intimidation tactic.
"You will be," the man replied in his gravelly voice. "I'm just having trouble getting the funds from one of my contacts. I will have the money for you in less than 48 Earth hours."
"You better," the batarian growled. "Our government would rather we kill you, but you have supplied some interesting tech. That is the only reason this assault was permitted. If you don't pay up, we will-."
"You'll get it, commander," the man said politely. The batarian cut the link, leaving the man's screen shimmering with static. The man drew back his right sleeve, revealing a gloved hand, and underneath that, the hand and arm were encased in a type of cybernetic plating. The man tapped it once, immediately opening a door behind him. A second man entered the room, this one with a long black overcoat, his face obscured from the glaring light behind him.
"You've just put a time limit on Dead Echo," the second man stated. The first turned around to face the second.
"Yes. It matters not if Echo or the batarians recover the virus. It's a win-win scenario either way. The main objective has been completed. Status update?"
"I'll have one ready for you by the mission's completion." The first man nodded, his cue for the second to leave. The second man respectfully exited the room, leaving the first man alone with his thoughts.
I stood impatiently next to Alex on a Tokyo sidewalk in my armor, watching the crowds of people pass by. I was tapping my foot against the pavement as I leaned up against a wall, the high sun shining down on the city. Everything was so...white, it was like a futuristic version of the city in Mirror's Edge.
"When's she gonna get here?" I asked through our com system. We really needed a name for it...
"She'll get here when she gets here," he exclaimed, almost shouting in my ear. I winced from the noise.
"Sheesh, ask a simple question..." Alex glanced over at me.
"Sorry," he said. I was taken aback. Alex apologizing? "I've just been getting bugged by everyone about her."
"Well," I admitted. "It is the first girl you've met on your own."
"I don't care about that. What I do care about is that everyone won't shut up about it."
"Alright," I relented. "I won't say anything." Alex nodded his thanks, then pointed into the crowd.
"There she is," he muttered. I watched a helmeted female turian in red and blue armor quickly walk up to us. She nodded once at Ajax, acknowledging him before turning her attention to me.
"So," she began. "I've heard you wanted some access codes." I switched my external speakers on and activated the voice modifier.
"Yes. We need them for a job."
"Well, it's going to cost you." Everyone's face was obscured by our visors, making the conversation like a game of Texas hold'em poker.
"How much do you want?" I asked. "Money is no object." The turian shook her head.
"I don't want your money." I cocked my head quizzically to the side. "The batarians who hired me have yet to pay me the second half of my fee. If they haven't paid now, they aren't going to. I want in on this raid." I held up a finger while simultaneously switching to a private channel with Alex.
"You never told me she wanted to tag along," I said frantically.
"I didn't know," Alex exclaimed just as quickly. "Just go with it, we need those codes!" I switched back to talking with the turian.
"Whatever you want, ma'am," I said politely. "We just need access to that base."
"I'll meet you at your ship, Ajax," she said. "We can head out from there the moment you're ready."
"Got it," Alex said simply, and with that, the turian retreated into the crowd. I cleared my throat after she left.
"You never mentioned she would come with us," I mumbled into my microphone.
"Well, I'm sorry," Alex snapped. "I didn't know. She never told me about this." I sighed and contemplated our options. I finally settled on the only logical choice.
"We've gotta let her come with us," I said. "She has the codes to get into the base, not to mention she could be useful. Maybe she could even beat some sense into Leng, huh?" Alex forced a laugh out, a sure sign he was tense. However they had met, or whatever they had talked about had definitely made him uncomfortable. He told me countless times that love was a pointless emotion, so it's impossible for him to have feelings for someone. He'd figure it out for himself though in due time.
"Come on," I told him, motioning for him to follow me. "Let's head back and prepare." He turned and pursued me, eager to get some violence in his day.
Evon had his face covered with a rag as he spraypainted his armor in the cargo hold when I walked in the room. There were four more just like it lined up against the side of the room, except they were fully white. My jaw dropped when I saw them.
"What the hell is this?" I exclaimed. Evon stopped spraying the back of his armor and looked over at me.
"I thought it would be good if our armor was white," he explained. "Since we're going into Siberia and all."
"Oh," I said flatly. Evon nodded, then went back to covering his armor with white paint. I set to work on removing my armor, placing it on the floor piece by piece. When all the pieces were removed, I stood there in a simple plain t-shirt and light pants.
Evon glanced over at my armor and gave me a thumbs up, showing he'd get to work on it. I thanked him and left the room, off to keep myself busy. Along the way to the bridge, I passed by Kai Leng. We didn't even give each other the courtesy of looking in the other's direction. It had reached a point where unless Echo could finish what was started, he'd hate us. Not like that was much of a difference from his current mood...
I entered the bridge to find Timmy in the same attire as me, typing on one of the terminals.
"Hey, Timmy, what's up?" I asked.
"I'm working on a plan," he told me, not even looking up. "The base is most likely located inside the mountain itself, that's the only way I could see it being hidden for so long."
"Uh huh..."
"If it is inside the mountain, then there are mostly likely sensors tuned to detect aircraft, but most likely not people. We could fly in relatively close with Preytor, then go in on foot."
"Hmm...I don't know, Timmy. Siberia's not just cold, it's COLD. Even the Russians never really populated it because of that."
"It's the only completely safe way," Timmy argued, his muscles bulging under his skin as he barely moved his arms over the holographic keyboard. He and Alex had a similar build, except Alex was more of a punch down the wall guy while Timmy took down a room full of bad guys with nothing but his hands.
"Alright," I relented. "If you think it'll-" My omni-tool pinged with a message from Alex, informing me to get my armor back on. The turian had arrived apparently. I informed Timmy, then ran off to the cargo hold to retrieve my armor. We couldn't have this turian knowing we were kids now, could we?
"I didn't catch your name," Evon said to the turian as we all shuffled towards the Mantis gunship. On our approach to the Tokyo spaceport, Evon had secretly snuck down to the lower hold and flown Preytor out of the Fury, landing it in a different hangar.
"It's Solara," the turian said curtly.
"That's a nice name. I wonder, are you-"
"Not interested, flyboy." Evon hung his head in shame while everyone laughed around him. The expert pilot was shot down before he could even take off. He was always hitting on every girl we met, no matter their age as long as it was above 18. He saw himself as the ladies man ever since he got lucky that one time on Omega and got a girl to kiss him. Unfortunately, he never saw her again, but that didn't stop him from pursuing the nearest female when he could.
We all piled into the gunship's crew bay. Leng sat as far away from us as possible and kept to himself, but everyone else packed together in the small compartment. Evon sat in the pilot's seat and lifted Preytor off the ground, setting a course for the coordinates Solara had given him.
"So, Solara," Tillman began, trying to make conversation. "How'd you get wrapped up in all this?" Solara removed her helmet and put it in her lap as she tried to get more comfortable.
"I'm not sure I understand what you mean," she replied.
"I think what Necro here is trying to say," I interjected, "is that he's wondering why the batarians would hire you to do this job."
"Oh. Well, I don't quite know either. One day, they showed up on Tuchanka-"
"A turian on Tuchanka?" Ricky asked. "Isn't that a really bad idea?"
"Normally, yes," Solara agreed. "But there're a lot of people out there who don't like me, and Tuchanka is the last place they'd look for me. Besides, I get to kill krogan almost every day."
"Ha, I'm fine with that," Alex laughed.
"Anyway," Solara continued. "The batarians showed up asking me to recover the access codes to an Alliance base at a certain set of coordinates, which is where we're headed. So, I did-sorry to whoever I ran over on my way out-and gave them what they needed. They never paid me the second half of my fee though, and for that, they're the ones who'll pay."
"How much did they owe you?" Jake asked.
"Five million credits," Solara said quietly. The cabin fell silent while we contemplated that fact. I whistled to show my surprise.
"Those codes must have been really important," I mentioned. Solara shrugged.
"All I know is that they wanted them. I later heard from one of my contacts that this guy over here-" She motioned towards Alex before looking back at me. "-was looking for me. I was curious, so I checked it out and ended up saving his life in the process."
"That's pretty cool. You like the merc business?" Solara smiled in the way turians do.
"Every minute of it," she said. The conversation went on like that for a couple hours as the gunship drew closer and closer to its destination.
"Alright, we're coming up on the edge of the sensor range," Evon said to us. "I'm going to set her down here, you let me know if you need me." The gunship gently touched down and the hatch opened, the wind immediately spraying snow particles into the cabin. Leng was the first out the door in his combat armor. He dropped into the snow and sank up to his calves, but didn't say a word. The rest of Echo, along with Solara, filed out into the wilderness. Our turian companion instantly began complaining about the chill.
"This is freezing," she exclaimed. "How did you humans live like this?" I glanced back at her, already feeling the cold through my suit.
"It's simple," I said. "We didn't." The gunship sealed its hatch and lifted off, flying back the way we came. Evon wouldn't go far in this weather before setting her down to wait for us. The wind yanked at my limbs, blowing snow up onto my visor, obscuring my vision.
"God damn, it's cold," Tillman yelled over the sound of the wind. "We're in the middle of freaking nowhere freezing our asses off!"
"No," Timmy replied. "We're in the Verkhoyansk mountain range, close to the Leptev Sea freezing our asses off." Alex chuckled quietly at Timmy's use of wordplay. Timmy brought up his omni-tool and displayed a map of the area. He would have just placed it in our heads-up displays, but Leng and Solara didn't have the benefit of our "network", so to speak.
"We...are here," he said, pointing to a section of the map. "And Mt. Ishimura...is over here. About two miles out." I involuntarily shivered from the cold.
"That's a long way to walk in this weather," I said. Timmy nodded in agreement.
"Especially when the temperature doesn't rise above zero degrees Celcius," he muttered to everyone. Jake moaned in frustration.
"We don't need to know that," he shouted. I shook Timmy's shoulder to get his attention.
"We need to get moving! We can't stay here too long!" He agreed, and began forcing his way through the knee-deep snow in the direction of Mount Ishimura with us following him.
Two hours later, we were almost frozen stiff from the cold. It had reached a point where we were unable to walk any further, many of us resorting to crawling our way through the snow. Alex and myself were still standing, as was Leng, who was almost invisible in the snowstorm because of how far ahead he was. One would think Solara would be able to resist the cold, but it turns out that growing up on a very warm planet made you more susceptible to lower temperatures.
My hands and limbs were completely numb, had been almost since we got out of the gunship. Alex showed no signs of weakening, but I knew he was getting close to his limit. He felt pain, he just chose to push past it and never let it show. That was what made him such a tough guy, but nobody could survive like this. I had no idea how close we were to the mountain base, but I knew we were all close to collapsing in the snow and dying. Stupid sensors. I am never hiking through the snow again just to get to a base ever again.
Alex suddenly fell facefirst into the snow, no warning at all. He just ran out of energy to keep going. I glanced back at the rest of the team and saw them in similar positions, unmoving. I dropped to my knees in exhaustion. I was so tired of walking. I couldn't keep going anymore upon finding everyone else in the snow. I laid down and closed my eyes. I'd just take a little rest...
Kai Leng kicked me in the gut, jolting me awake.
"Damn it, kid," he yelled. "Get up!" My thoughts were scattered, I couldn't link anything together long enough to figure out what was going on. Leng reached down and roughly hauled me to my feet.
"You can't drop out on me now," he muttered as he did so. Once I was standing, he began trying to shake the others awake.
"Whass going on?" I mumbled. Leng replied as he tried to get the turian moving.
"We've been out here too long. Hypothermia's setting in. I've gotta get you inside."
"Wha...inside?" My mind was completely unable to think clearly. Leng turned his head towards me.
"Inside the base, damn it! Now get moving!" He pointed off in a direction leading towards the top of a ridge. The storm had died down luckily, the skies were clear. It was still windy, but at least snow wasn't blocking my view. I sluggishly began moving towards the summit, curious to see what Leng meant. I climbed to the top and was greeted with a beautiful view of an ocean in front of me, the waves cresting near the icey cliffside I was standing on.
I heard a quiet humming off to my left, so I turned in that direction. A jet-black Mantis gunship zoomed past me, its thrusters kicking up a large amount of snow into my faceplate. I shielded my face out of reflex and watched the ship fly towards a large mountain on my right that was much closer than it first appeared. Still extremely groggy, I activated the zoom function on my helmet and watched the Mantis fly straight into the side of the mountain. Or so it seemed.
As the vehicle approached, a large blast door revealed itself by moving a large slab of rock out of the way. The door then opened, allowing the gunship to fly inside. As quickly as it appeared, the huge metal door closed and disguised itself as part of the mountain again. If I hadn't seen it happen, I would never have known that it was even there.
I stumbled back down the slope to where I had left Leng, Solara, and the rest of Dead Echo. Leng had gotten everyone into a sitting position at least, but they were still pretty out of it. Leng was helping Evon get up when he saw me coming, and he he quickly stood up to come talk to me.
"I almost fell off that ridge when I first walked up to it," he began. "The storm began to die down, so I waited for it to, and that's when I saw a gunship flying out of the mountain. We've found the Ishimura base."
"How we gonna get in?" I asked with some difficulty.
"I did some exploring before I came back to find you," he replied. "There's a door at the edge of the mountain. It isn't locked, but the one after that is. I can help you guys in there and wait for you to warm up, then we keep moving." I nodded, too tired to say anymore.
Leng slipped an arm underneath my shoulder and began helping me towards the door he had talked about. A couple minutes later, we were at the base of the mountain in front of an industrial sized door. Kai released his hold on me and went over to it, opening it up to reveal an empty concrete room. He helped me inside and set me up against a wall so I could support myself, then left, closing the large door behind him.
I was still tired from the journey here, so I laid down on the floor. I watched Leng bring in Solara, but fell asleep before anyone else made it inside.
I awoke from my sleep, feeling well-rested and sore from lying on the ground. The room we were gathered in was warm, at least, compared to the snow, that was nice. Kai Leng was crouched in a corner, staring at the floor, and a couple others were awake and lying on their backs, staring at the ceiling. I set up and stretched, drawing attention from the others who were awake. They all merely glanced at me however before going back to staring off into space.
"What are we doing here?" I asked abrubtly, trying to start a conversation. Kai inhaled a deep breath before letting it out slowly, then he spoke.
"We're waiting for everyone to wake up," he said, then he fell silent.
"That's it? We aren't trying to infiltrate the base?" Leng shook his head.
"You almost died out there. By the time I dragged you in here, you were completely out of it. I checked everyone's extremities once we were here. Your hands were blue. Blue. Hypothermia was already damaging your systems. You were lucky I found this place."
"Well, we're fine now," I argued. Kai shook his head.
"You may feel fine, but you have to recover. We aren't going anywhere until I think you guys are ready. I'm not risking this job by rushing ahead." I sighed, knowing he was right. It wouldn't do any good to go get ourselves killed by being reckless. I laid back down to relax and wait for the others to wake up.
A little while later, Solara twitched her arm, drawing my attention. She then bolted to her feet in a combat stance before her mind registered who she was with. Lowering her combat stance, she looked at the members of Echo, who were unfortunately identical to each other due to the white armor. Unable to figure out who was who, she deferred to Kai Leng.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"As far as I can tell, it's some sort of antechamber, maybe for bringing supplies into the base or storing them," he told her. "Technically, it's part of the base, but you can't go any farther inside without the access codes." He pointed to a keypad next to a door marked with the Alliance symbol. Solara walked over to the pad and peered at it for a few seconds.
"Yeah, this is where I'm needed," she said. "We going in now, or..." Leng shook his head quietly. Solara sat down up against one of the walls to rest. Alex, being one of the few who was awake, turned his head to face her.
"Do you have any other information besides the access codes?" he asked her. She nodded.
"I downloaded the blueprints as well. They weren't part of the contract, but I figured it wouldn't hurt at the time." Leng immediately stood up upon hearing this news and walked over to her.
"Show me," he demanded. Solara obediently brought up the base schematics on her omni-tool. I gasped in surprise.
The base was absolutely massive. We were in the middle layer, or close to it at least. The complex rose a few stories higher into the mountain, but below us, it transformed into an absurd maze of hallways and rooms, descending deep into the mountain. If we didn't have this map of the complex, we would have gotten lost for sure.
"Sweet Jesus," I whispered. Solara heard me and gave me a quizzical look, most likely not understanding the phrase, but went back to the map.
"From what I remember on the Alliance database, the really big room at the bottom-" She highlighted it, showing its size and location. It was the biggest room in the complex, it looked like it could fit the Fury inside it comfortably. Hell, it looked like it could fit two. Solara continued with her explanation.
"That room houses the reactor. If it was ever overloaded for any reason, there's a fail-safe built in to eradicate all traces of the base."
"Why is that?" Leng asked in his professional demeanor.
"This is a secret base that probably does research the public isn't meant to know about. If someone discovered its location or infiltrated it like the batarians apparently did, then the reactor could be destroyed, which would self-destruct the base, eradicating all traces of its existence."
"Damn," Alex exclaimed. "That'd be one hell of an explosion!"
"I know, right?" Solara replied excitedly. "What I wouldn't give to see this place go skyhigh...it'd take either a really big bomb, or a ton of explosives."
"Hopefully both," Alex laughed. The human and turian began their own side conversation about the various ways to blow a top-secret miltary base up while I stood up and walked over to Leng, who had sat back down in his corner.
"Hi, Kai," I said, cautiously greeting him. He glanced up at me.
"Hey, kid." I stood there awkwardly, staring at him for a few moments before finally working up the courage to speak to him.
"Listen...thanks for saving our lives out there."
"Don't be. I needed you for the job."
"Yeah, I guess you did. I'm also sorry for not really respecting you." Leng shook his head.
"Kid, I don't really care." My line of sight dropped to the floor. "If we get it done, it's done, if we don't...it doesn't matter. Either way, I'm not looking for apologies."
"I understand," I said, nodding. "I'll just leave you alone."
"Good," came the gruff reply. I walked away from him and laid back down on the floor, letting Alex's conversation wash over me.
"There was this one time I killed a man by dropping a building on his head," he boasted.
"Get out!"
"It's true!"
"Ok, Solara. Let's do this." She bent down next to the keypad and checked her omni-tool for the access codes to the base. She quickly input them, and the door quietly slid open. Leng poked his head out into the hallway on the other side of the doorway and looked both ways before waving us forward. We hurried out of the small room, rifles drawn, ready for action.
After seven hours cooped up in a tiny little room, Leng finally decided it was time to move out. None of us were back to one hundred percent, but we couldn't wait any longer. Upon consulting with Solara, we had decided the best course of action was to head to the security control center. From there, we could see what was going on in the facility and figure out our next move.
The small hallways were lit by cool blue lights, making the atmosphere seem very relaxing. With luck, we'd be in and out without ruining the decor with red bloodstains. The security center was one level above us, and required us to make our way to the closest elevator. Timmy took point, poised to silently kill anybody we came across that wasn't meant to be here. Alex watched our rear flank and was prepared to take care of anybody who attempted to ambush us.
We moved through the hallways as a single unit, everyone making sure they had someone else's back covered. Solara was a natural at it, most likely her military training coming into play. Kai Leng was used to more lone wolf stuff though, so he was checking every missed corridor and alcove for potential threats. We ignored the multiple side rooms that lined the hallways since we didn't need to go inside them.
A few uneventful minutes passed by before we reached the elevator. We called it to our floor and piled inside the moment it arrived. The door closed quietly and we felt the lift move slowly up towards the next floor. Being squished into a close space with a human and turian we didn't know very well made everybody nervous, and the ride was spent in silence. Awkward, awkward silence.
The elevator stopped and the door opened to another empty hallway. We rushed out, checking the corners. Still nobody.
"Where the hell is everyone?" Ricky hissed. I shook my head, signifying my lack of knowledge about his question.
Several uneasy minutes passed as we hunted down the security center. The fact that the entire facility seemed to be abandoned was disturbing. I hope it's not called Mount Ishimura for a reason...
We found the security center and readied for what passed for a door breach in this day and age. Jake and Alex got ready to move in on opposite sides of the door frame. Tillman reached over and keyed the door panel, opening it. Accuracy and power jolted into action, rushing into the room only to find that, it too, was empty.
"I don't understand it," I said, walking into the room. "For such a gigantic facility, there is not a single soul here."
"It is very strange," Timmy agreed. "One would think that this place would be packed with soldiers and scientists." Leng raised his voice to be heard everyone's muttering and complaining.
"Check the cameras. We'll see if anyone's actually here." Tillman almost leaped over to the nearest terminal and began typing away.
"This encryption is so easy," he bragged. "Hacking really isn't all that hard." I opened a private conversation with all of Echo.
"Teenage hackers," I joked. "They'll end the world." Everyone chuckled at that. I switched back to speaking aloud when Tillman announced his completion. He pulled up the security videos from a couple dys ago.
Watching in triple the normal speed, we looked on as dozens of Alliance security patrols and scientists were knocked unconscious by an unseen force, collapsing to the floor. This strange epidemic began in two places, the way we had come in, and the main hangar after a shipment of supplies was offloaded a transport.
"It has to be the SIU," I told everyone. "They're the only ones who were pursuing Anderson, who had been here. It makes sense that they did this to get the virus." My team agreed with me, as did Solara. Kai stayed silent, but that was because he had already figured as much.
Tillman fast-forwarded to the current time. Checking through all the individual screens for motion took quite some time, upwards of half an hour, but we did eventually locate two things. The batarians were all clustered on the upper three levels of the facility, watching over the dozens upon dozens of Alliance men and women who worked here. Even Captain Anderson was here, though he was being pummeled into submission by two batarians in a small room filled with computer terminals.
The second thing we located was the main laboratory. In it, there were several vials and cases, but one thing managed to catch Leng's eye. He jabbed a finger at the screen, pointing at a small metal box about the size of a child's head.
"There," he exclaimed. "That's it. That's what we're here for. We grab that, then we get the hell out of here."
"What about all those hostages?" Jake asked.
"They aren't our problem."
"We can't just leave them," I shot back. "They haven't done anything!" Kai ground his teeth in frustration, making an audible sound.
"I did not come this far to screw it up now."
"We won't," I replied calmly. "We get the virus, rescue the hostages, then flee like we've got the hounds of hell chasing us." Solara leaned over to Alex.
"What're the hounds of hell?" she whispered.
"Tell you later," he told her. Leng sighed.
"I don't know, kid. This seems unnecessarily risky."
"Leng, I'm not going to leave this people at the mercy of the batarians." He pondered the request for a minute or two before deciding what to do.
"Alright," he said. "Here's the plan. There're eight of us. Four of you go investigate the hostage situation while the other three go attempt to retrieve the virus. I'll stay here and give orders. Hostage team, you do not, under any circumstances, engage the enemy or do anything until I tell you. Virus team, you go down there, get what we need, and come straight back." Echo nodded as a whole, accepting the plan. Leng stared at us for a few more seconds before speaking again.
"Well?" he asked. "What are you waiting for?" Echo saluted, then as one, turned and left the security center with Solara. Once we were out of the room, Echo defaulted to me for leadership.
"Are we really not going to do anything until the virus is ours?" Ricky asked. "That's a little harsh if the Alliance guys start to be executed." I shook my head.
"If that starts happening, I want you to start shooting. I want Echo 5 and Solara with me for virus retrieval. The rest of you, go topside and check out what's going on." I turned to leave, but remembered one last thing to tell the hostage team.
"Hey, get updates from Leng on the condition of Captain Anderson. He absolutely cannot die, even if we have to sacrifice the mission for it." The hostage team confirmed my orders, then ran off in the direction of the elevator. I turned back to face Alex and Solara.
"Alright, you two are with me." I followed after the rest of Echo towards the elevator. Solara quickened her walking pace to walk next to me. I glanced up at her when she came near. Compared to me, she was at least a foot taller. Very intimidating to say the least.
"Why does that man call you kid?" she asked. Oh yeah, she doesn't know we're kids...
"Well...we're younger than him."
"How much younger?"
"A bit."
"How much?" She is pushy about wanting to know, isn't she?
"Ok, I'm 19 years old," I said simply. Solara's mandibles drooped in shock.
"You're...19?"
"Yep," I confirmed. "And Ajax here is 17." She looked back at him, the same shocked expression on her face.
"Is your team the same age?" she asked, turning back towards me. I nodded. "The great Dead Echo I've heard rumors about...are just kids?" I nodded again. Solara was stunned by this news.
"Normally, we don't tell people," Alex piped up from behind.
"I can see why," she muttered. "Do you not tell people about your names too?" We approached the elevator, and I hit the call button.
"Heh, not our real names," I said. "Some anonymity is important. I could tell you about our nicknames while we wait.
"Alright. Shoot."
"Well, I'm Thunder. I took up the moniker because it sounds cool, and I've always used the term "thunderfury" for all my account usernames, no matter what the in...extranet site is. I've done that for years. Ajax over here, his name is an old nickname from school. Then you've got Ninja, who's like a ninja-"
"What's a ninja?"
"Oh, right...how to explain...it's an ancient type of warrior. They only wore a simple black outfit that covered their bodies head to toe. They were masters of stealth and expert hand to hand fighters. They could bury themselves in the ground to avoid detection, use smoke bombs, flashbangs, anything that helped distract or divert the enemies attention away from themselves. Ninja on our team does things like this, so we call him Ninja." The elevator arrived on our floor, so we got inside and sent it down to the floor the virus was on, at least 40 levels below.
"Ghost is named Ghost because of his sneaking abilities," I continued. "He's an expert sniper and stealth guy, able to take a person's life from a long way away. Then there's Ricardo, who's named after an old human television show character, Ricky Ricardo. Flynn is because he can fly well, and because of a little inside joke between Ajax and I." I turned to face him.
"In like Flynn, right?"
"Hah, yeah," he replied. Turning back to Solara, I continued explaining.
Last, but not least, is Necro. He likes...dead things." Wow, I finished that pathetically.
"That's very interesting," Solara said. "You humans have an odd way of naming things..." The lift stopped at its destination, cutting the conversation short. The door opened to another empty hallway. Ajax and I stepped out of the elevator, weapons drawn, when we realized Solara had yet to come out. We both turned around to face her.
"Aren't you coming?" Alex asked. She shook her head.
"Sorry, boys, you're on your own. I'm checking out that reactor. If I can get it rigged to blow..." She left the comment open for interpretation.
"Good idea," I told her. "The two of us'll work on the virus, and we'll meet up with you later." She reached forward and hit a button on the pad, causing the elevator to descend to the bottom floor of the Ishimura base. We stared after it for a few seconds before heading off to find the main lab where the virus was being kept.
"She's a funny character," I absently stated.
"I like her," Alex said. "She knows how to make stuff explode."
"Ah, the way to Alex's heart," I joked. "Teach him new ways to blow stuff up."
"Hey, I don't like her like that..."
"I know," I said, waving my hand at him. "I'm just teasing. Come on, we've got a virus to find."
"Ninja, up ahead." Necro's warning was a good one. There was a batarian with his back to the group patrolling the hallway. Ninja crept up behind him and readied himself for whatever move he was going to make. He settled for the quick and clean.
Ninja jumped forward, putting his arm around the batarian's neck and wrenched upwards. His neck made a nice popping sound, and the guard went limp instantly. Ninja quietly lowered the body to the ground and continued onward. The group had concluded, with help from Leng in the security center, that the Alliance personnel were being held in the central hangar, which was quite large according to the blueprints. It was the hostage team's mission to poke their head inside for a quick look, then wait for the go ahead.
Ricardo opened yet another random door along the corridor to find a room with a few computers inside.
"What is it with this place?" he asked. "Who could possibly need this many computers?" The rest of the team shrugged and moved on, heading for the hangar.
A few more minutes of quietly sneaking around the corridors of the base, and the team found an entrance to the hangar that was unguarded. The only ways in were on the ground floor, so the hostage team would have to hope there was no one waiting on the other side. Ninja stacked up with Ghost next to the door, ready for action. Necro hit the door panel, and the team rushed through the door.
Fortunately, the area was darkened, and the batarians were on the other side of the large open room guarding their captives. Ninja set out to find access to the walkways on the upper area of the hangar to do some recon from a safe position. He spotted a ladder leading to the walkways about ten meters to his left. He pointed the access route out to his teammates, who began to move through the shadows to get there.
Crouching behind a conviently placed box that protected all four of them from view, the team kneeled closer to each other, a reflex movement for speaking. They were about to begin discussing their plans when several batarians materialized from thin air around them, shutting off their cloaking fields. The elite soldiers had rifles aimed squarely at Echo.
No words were required, Echo dropped their weapons as fast as they could, and the batarians moved in. Within seconds, the hostage team was bound and on the floor, being dragged away.
"Is it possible for anything to go right on this mission?" Ghost asked sarcastically.
"There could be zombies," Necro joked. "Everything's better with zombies." Ninja rolled his eyes, wondering how it was possible for Necro to be so immature.
"A double button security door. What is this place, Umbrella headquarters? Who uses double button doors anymore?" Alex glanced over at me.
"Let's just hit the button."
"Heh. Right..." I placed my hand on one of the buttons located on the side of a door, and Alex put his hand on the other.
"Ready?" I asked him. "1...2...3!" We both hit our buttons at the same time, and the door to the lab slid open. I cautiously stepped inside, prepared to react to any darts fired from the wall or the release of poison gas. Alex just brushed past me. No death traps burst out of the vents, so I relaxed and followed him inside.
The laboratory was like a larger version of the tech lab on the SR-2. There were vials of liquid around the room, microscopes, computers, and other scientific machines I had never seen before.
"I wonder what all this was used for," I mused.
"Doesn't matter," Alex said. "All we came for was the thing over here." I stopped looking at the various objects around the room and turned to face him. He was standing in front of the box we had seen on the security camera. It seemed larger on the monitor, in real life, it looked to be about the size of a man's heart. I think.
"We did all this work for this?" I asked. "A tiny box? This is so anti-climactic..." Alex shrugged, but reached forward to grab the container. Suddenly, a batarian appeared out of nowhere on his left, the all too familar sound of a cloaking field being deactivated.
"The fu-" Alex began to say, but was cut off by the electricity now coursing through his body, courtesy of a shock baton. He collapsed to the floor an a heap, and the batarian stepped over his body, advancing towards me.
"Can't we talk this over?" I asked, knowing what was coming. The SIU member didn't even give me a response, just tapped me with the baton on the shoulder. I was out like a light before I even hit the floor.
A punch to the face snapped me out of my sleep. The gloved hand actually connected with my cheek, which took me a moment to realize the implications of that. The SIU had taken off my helmet. Oh God...they know what I look like. The guard in front of me decked me again, splitting my lip open and splattering a light amount of blood onto the floor. I briefly analyzed my surroundings while I winced in pain.
I was in what looked like the same room Anderson was being beaten in, but he was nowhere to be seen. The lighting in the room was a stark white contrast to the cool blue that had been used in the rest of the facility.
A third punch knocked my head to the side, where I caught a glimpse of two of my friends tied up in chairs like I was. Before I could get hit again, I looked to the left and saw two of the guys sent to investigate the hostage situation, meaning we were all captured. I took another blow to the side of my face, this one knocking spittle out of my mouth.
"Stop doing that," I screamed. I recieved yet another punch, this one in my stomach. I bent over wheezing. I looked up into the face of the batarian who had hit me, and he looked quite pleased with himself. He got me to shut up, that's for sure.
The batarian raised his hand again to strike me, and I tried in vain to move away. A deep voice suddenly rang out from behind the batarian.
"Leave him." The guard in front of me paused to glance behind him, then lowered his hand.
"As you wish, Aren," the guard said. He stepped to the side, revealing another SIU member. The second batarian was obviously a higher rank then whoever was knocking me around, but was dressed in the armor typically worn by SIU agents. The second slowly walked forward until he was right in front of me, forcing me to look upwards to see his face. He stared me down for a few seconds before speaking.
"Thunder of Dead Echo," he began. He began circling around the group of captive humans in front of him. "You've caused quite a bit of trouble for us over the past couple of years." I frowned in confusion.
"What are you talking about?" The batarian circled back to me quickly and visciously backhanded me across the face. As I was recovering from the sting of his armored glove, he grabbed my face and forced me to look at him.
"Your escape on Icarus station," he yelled. "That business on Cectraaft a year ago, those were our operations!"
"Wait, you guys were on Cectraaft?" I asked, bewildered. The batarian violently let go of me, taking a few steps back.
"We were," he replied. "At least before you interfered. You...children." He stared at me in contempt.
"If you never captured us and held us at this Icarus station, then you wouldn't have this problem on your hands," I defiantly told him.
"He told us you wouldn't be trouble," the batarian muttered. I tried to clearly make out what he was saying, but he must have caught on, for he suddenly motioned for the first batarian to come closer. The two whispered to each other for a moment while I struggled to be freed of my bonds. I imagined the others were trying to do so as well. The batarians abruptly broke apart, and the higher ranked one faced me once again.
"Now," he said. "The seven of you made a grave mistake by coming here." I sighed inwardly. Here we go, the monologuing. Always with the-wait, he said seven. I couldn't keep the dawning look of realization of my face. He said seven. They don't know about Kai or Solara. Phew, ok. All we have to do is sit tight and wait for them to come to the rescue.
"Since we have you captive, I've decided to take the simple route." I tuned the batarian out. I didn't need to know about his grand plans for the universe and how the batarians would get revenge, yadda, yadda, yadda. "I'm going to shoot you." That, I did hear.
"Uhh...I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly," I began to say. "I thought you said-"
"Gun." The batarian was handed a pistol by his cohort. My face paled. He wasn't going to shoot us now, was he? We hadn't been rescued yet! The batarian placed the barrel of the pistol against my forehead. The cool metal slid slightly due to the layer of perspiration that was quickly building. My heart was starting to beat faster then it ever had before. I honestly did not see a way out of this situation. I watched in terror as the batarian's finger began to squeeze on the trigger, and I closed my eyes tight.
"Aren!" A new voice rang out through the room, and the barrel of the weapon was lifted from my head. I immediately opened my eyes in relief, letting out a breath I never knew I was holding. I noticed a newcomer in the doorway, acting very agitated.
"What?" the lead batarian snarled. I suppose his name was Aren, so I'd call him that.
"Our men are under attack on the level below us," the newcomer announced.
"I thought you had cleared the complex thourghly!"
"We did! This is a turian!" Aren looked back at me, rage on his features. I stared right back at him, which wasn't the smartest thing to do. He raised his gun and pistol-whipped me across the face with blinding speed, then tossed his weapon to the first guard while I groaned in pain.
"Guard them well," Aren demanded as he stalked out of the room, "Or it is you I will eliminate!" Aren was gone before the guard could reply, the door to the rest of the base closed. I just kept my head down, unwilling to risk another physical blow to the face. I'd be covered in bruises in a couple hours, I could already feel my skin becoming tender.
There were some muffled gunshots from outside the room, but it was coming from the level below, not this one. I was just waiting for someone to rescue us now. The seconds ticked by, almost slowing down with each one that passed. After what felt like an eternity, the door finally opened.
The guard casually looked over to it, but didn't have time to do anything before Kai Leng but a bullet in his brain. I smiled weakly as Leng rushed forward and began to untie us.
"You do care," I joked, coughing a couple times. Leng roughly undid my restraints, then moved on the next Echo member in need of assistance.
"Don't kid yourself," he said. "I can't do this without you." I hobbled to my feet.
"Nor I, you," I told him. He paused to look at me, his expression unreadable for a few moments. He quickly went back to freeing the others, and I helped him out. In less than a minute, we were all free of our bonds.
"Alright, your gear's in the next room," Leng informed us. "Grab your helmets and guns, then we move forward with the plan." We ran out the door, Kai taking point of course, and went into the next room. Sure enough, all our things were spread out on a table. I started a conversation as we prepared for battle.
"What plan are you talking about?" I asked Leng.
"It's an improv I came up with," he replied. "The turian rigged a charge on the reactor, and it's ready to blow. We get a couple guys down to the virus while the rest fight off the batarians in the hangar long enough for the hostages to escape on the various transports. As soon as the virus team is near the objective, we detonate the reactor, blow up the base, and get your pilot buddy to fly us the hell outta here."
"Sounds like a good plan," Ricky remarked as he placed his shotgun on his back.
"Yeah, well, it would be if it wasn't for the fact that this mountain was formed by the Siberian Traps."
"What the hell's this mean?" Alex asked. "This doesn't matter."
"Shut up and listen, dammit! The Siberian Traps covers a large part of Siberia, it's made out of igneous rock."
"Is this really the time for a geology lesson?" I demanded.
"Shut up," Leng yelled. "I'm getting to it! To keep it simple, this mountain was made by a ton of magma. The reactor uses the ambient heat from the magma below it to power the base."
"This place is a volcano?"
"Technically, yes. If we blow the reactor, it'll destabilize the magma, causing it to start melting through the floor and build pressure. The moment the reactor goes, Mount Ishimura's going up in a huge ball of flames, so we have to work fast." I threw my hands up in the air.
"Could this day get any worse?"
"Zombies," Necro remarked. I whirled around to look at him, confused. Leng grabbed me by the shoulders and spun me around to face him.
"Kid, we gotta go. Now." We ran out the door into a random hallway. Kai began running down it towards an intersection.
"This way to the hangar," he called. Dead Echo followed him, entering the hangar the same way the hostage team did a short while ago.
We walked into the room to find Aren standing on the ramp of a shuttle, shouting orders to the few men gathered in the hangar. The moment we entered though, his head snapped towards us, and he rushed inside his shuttle. It quickly took off through the open hangar bay doors. Leng set to work quickly gunning down the three surprised SIU operatives, but I couldn't stop thinking Aren. Somehow, I had the feeling we'd meet him again someday...
Leng triple-checked the dead bodies in the room, then faced the many Alliance hostages lined up against the wall who were all staring in awe.
"Listen up," he yelled. "We are the mercenary team Dead Echo, and we have come to save your pathetic asses. We know there are transports you can use to escape if we free you located in the hangar bays. We will stay here long enough to hold off the batarians. Do you understand?" The scientists all nodded frantically, but the soldiers looked apprhensive about the idea. Fortunately, Leng picked up on it.
"I said, do you UNDERSTAND?" One of the soldiers spoke up.
"If you free us, we can help you fight them off," he said. "Take back the base." Kai shook his head emphatically.
"Negative. We have orders from Captain David Anderson himself to overload the reactor once you are all clear. The Alliance cannot allow the batarians access to the information in this base."
"I though Anderson was here with us," another soldier remarked.
"Then you must be mistaken," Leng continued. "Now, I WILL free you, and you WILL evacuate this base. Is that clear?" The marines spoke as one.
"SIR, YES, SIR!" Leng nodded, then motioned for Echo to go release the captives. I moved forward next to Ajax, but Leng stopped us both.
"I want you two to get the virus," he told us quietly.
"What if we get ambushed again?" I asked.
"Then this time, you'll be ready. But we need that virus, and we're getting these people out of here." He glanced behind him at the Alliance soldiers. "I'm not leaving anyone behind." I shared a quick understanding look with Ajax, then we set off towards the elevator.
The batarians must have been regrouping for a major attack because we didn't pass a single one of them in the hallways. When we arrived at the elevator, it coincidentally opened to reveal Solara standing there, weapon in hand.
"Oh," she said. "You two. Be careful down there, I'm blowing this place the moment I get. These batarians deserve to die for betraying me." She brushed past us and traveled down the path we had just come from, heading towards the hangar bay for the fight. Ajax and I stepped inside the lift and hit the button for the floor the main laboratory was on. The doors closed and we began our descent into the Ishimura base. A few minutes later and we were at the correct floor.
We jogged our way to the lab doors where we had the double button door greet us for the second time. I quickly contacted Leng through my internal headset.
"Leng," I informed him. "We are at the virus, it's just a few feet away."
"Get those last few people out of here," he said over the sound of gunfire. "Sorry, little busy. I'll have Solara blow the reactor now. SOLARA!" I cut the radio link, and Ajax and I both hit the security buttons at the same time. The door ascended into the ceiling, allowing access to the base. I had stepped in first when the reactor detonated. The entire complex vibrated wildly, it was never designed for blast of this magnitude.
The shaking dislodged the door, causing it to fall back down to its closed position. Ajax immediately began pounding on the door and trying to lift it while I quickly grabbed the virus container. I almost dropped it upon feeling its weight, it was much heavier than it appeared to be. With the objective in hand, I ran over to the door, and then it occured to me that the blast had inadvertently sealed me inside the lab. Oh shit, this isn't good.
I rammed my shoulder into it a couple times, but it didn't do a thing. The automatic sprinkler system suddenly activated, drenching me in water. I looked up at the ceiling.
"Oh, come on!"
Leng diverolled to the side, dodging incoming fire from an SIU member.
"Solara, right flank," he shouted. Solara stopped laying down suppressing fire on the main entryway the batarians were using and turned towards the alien coming through on the right. She gunned him down and went back to providing covering fire when she could. Leng crouched back down behind a crate he had moved into position.
So far, it was going exceedingly well. All of the Alliance hostages had managed to make it out of the base unharmed, besides a couple rifle-butts issued by the SIU. Echo had retrieved the virus and were on their way back upstairs, and the batarians had yet injure anybody.
Kai called over to one of the Echo members, requesting the evac gunship. Whoever it was did so, then informed Leng that it would be a two minute wait. Two minutes. We can hold out that long.
"Stand back," Ajax called. I moved to the side of the door frame and crouched down, protecting my head. Ajax blew up the explosive he had placed on the door, sending the metal slab hurtling across the room. It impacted on the other side, creating a very satisfying crunch sound. I hurried out of the room.
"Where'd you get that thing?" I asked.
"This base has everything..." We double-timed it back to the elevator. Along the way, one of the panels on the wall decided to explode just as we neared it. We shielded out faces from the blast in surprise.
"We gotta move," Ajax told me. "This whole place is coming down around our ears." We continued running back to the elevator.
"You know," I panted. "I never thought I'd be running through a secret volcano base with you."
"Yeah, likewise pal. Let's just move." We made it to the lift after dodging a collapsing ceiling, jumping inside in heading for the top floor. As the doors closed, I caught a glimpse of a fireball moving through the hall. The elevator sealed itself and began moving up just as we were almost cooked alive.
"Heh, we were almost in that," I said, relieved. Ajax merely grunted. After a couple minutes of the elevator moving upwards, it decided to halt its movements for no apparent reason. I looked over at Ajax.
"Uhh, what's-" The floor jolted beneath us, going down a couple inches. Ajax and I stared at each other, horror on each other's faces.
"Go go GO," he yelled, grabbing hold of the lift doors. I did the same on the other side of the doorway and we both slowly pried them open. A few seconds of hard work was rewarded by giving us a second set of doors to open. As we were ripping those open, the elevator sank again. Ajax managed to get the doors open and quickly crawled through the space. He reached back to grab my hand as I was wriggling through behind him, and he yanked me out just as the elevator finally gave out and zoomed down the shaft.
It impacted on the bottom, exploding, but it went unnoticed past all the fire creeping up the walls. I set off running down the hall. Ajax called out to me.
"Where are you going?"
"To find some stairs," I yelled back. "We aren't at the top yet!" Consulting Solara's map pinpointed the stairs, which I ran to with Ajax behind me. I opened the door and stepped into the stairwell. Looking up, I saw the stairs stretch up dozens of floors.
"Who the hell puts the hangar up fifty flights of goddamn stairs?" Ajax asked seriously. I let out a breath to ready myself, then started running up.
When I could see the top set of stairs, Leng contacted me over the radio.
"Evac's here," he shouted. "Get moving!" I didn't have the breath to reply, but I kept running. I made it out onto the upper level with Ajax and began running towards the main hangar when I remembered something important. I quickly called Leng.
"Kai, you there?"
"Now's not the time, kid. Get a move on!"
"Do you have Anderson?"
"Who?"
"Do you have Captain Anderson?" I persisted.
"Shit! We forgot him!" I cut the link and handed Ajax the virus container.
"Here, take this to the hangar, get on Preytor," I told him. I started jogging off away from the hangar entrance.
"Where ya going?" he called.
"To find Anderson," I shouted back over my shoulder. The temperature inside the base was really heating up. I was sweating, and not just from the exercise. The sprinklers weren't doing a thing about the small randomly created fires popping up here and there, and debris from the constant shaking was constantly getting in my way.
I frantically checked room after room, not finding Anderson. I remembered he was tied up in a room similar to ours, so I had to find that. After failing to find him in over twenty rooms, I opened the door of one and found a bloodied and beaten Anderson tied up to a chair, a captive of the SIU forces. I rushed inside and unbound him.
"Who are you?" he coughed weakly.
"I'm the guy who's here to save you," I answered. He didn't reply after that. I helped him to his feet where he promptly fell back down into his chair.
"Can you walk?" I asked. He shook his head slowly. Oh, just perfect. I picked him up again and placed his left arm around my shoulder. Together, we began moving towards the hangar.
I made it inside just as the heat in the small corridors was becoming absolutely unbearable. The hangar, open to the cold frigid outdoors, was at least surviveable. Echo was crowded around the rear of the gunship, shooting at any batarians stupid enough to try making a run for the ship. I took a few steps toward the gunship, and then the floor started erupting around me. Panels were flung into the air as bursts of pressurized lava soared into the air.
I had to run fast, if any of that touched Anderson or I, we were dead men. Bullets I can deal with, molten rock is another story.
"Move your ass," Leng shouted from across the room, then resumed firing. I was still fifty feet away at least, and the trip wasn't getting any easier. I hurried as fast as I could past the lava spouts and batarians. One of the SIU members actually tried to shoot me, but then a pillar of lava brust through the ground and melted him, I assume. It's not like I was going to check.
I was the first one in the gunship, followed by everyone else as they provided covering fire until the last second to make sure we were all safe and away. I strapped Anderson into one of the seats, and he coughed weakly a couple times. The man needed medical attention fast, otherwise he might die from his injuries. Ricardo leaned forward towards Flynn in the pilot seat.
"Punch it," he screamed.
"Already ahead of you," Flynn replied evenly. Preytor lifted off the ground, thrusters wildly attempting to find a balance for the ship as explosions went off it all around. Preytor slowly cleared the hangar doors, but the moment it did so, it accelerated to full speed and rocketed away.
A couple moments later, and I heard a massive blast go off. The dormant volcano and explosively become active again, vaporizing the Ishimura base. Anything not decimated in the blast would be melted by the resulting lava flows and fires. I leaned back in my seat to relax, finally done with this disaster of a mission. A few minutes later, I was fast asleep.
We all stood assembled in the cargo bay of the Fury, Solara and Leng included.
"So, where will you be off to, Solara?" Jake asked.
"I'm going back to Tuchanka," she replied. "It's my house and home."
"Well, Solara," I announced. "It was fun blowing up volcanoes with you. We should do it again sometime. Maybe you and Ajax here can blow up something even bigger." She smiled.
"Well, you never know." Solara said her farewells and left the Fury, heading off to her destination. Kai Leng was still here, virus container in hand, impatient to leave. I turned to face him.
"So, Leng," I began. "We finally did it."
"Heh, yeah," he replied. "I've finally got it." I shook his head with a light smile on his face. "You know, for kids, you aren't actually all that bad."
"See? I told you so."
"And I should have listened," he admitted. "I just couldn't believe that a bunch of kids would end up being better than I am on occasion. I have been at this a lot longer than you."
"And that's why we never tell anyone our identities," Alex said. "We avoid that problem if people think we're adults."
"That you do... Well, kids, I'm off. I've got to deliver this to the Illusive Man."
"Make sure he pays us," Tillman joked.
"Will do," Leng said with an honest smile. "If I need you again, I'll look you up on Omega. See ya around." Kai Leng waved once to us, and then left the cargo hold, and off the Fury altogether. The moment he was gone, we all began gossiping.
"Well, that was fun."
"Are you kidding? I'm never doing anything like that agin if I can avoid it!"
"Toughen up. That was nothing."
"Says the guy who had to have a female turian rescue him from a bug."
"Hey!" We laughed for a good, long while, finally able to relax.
"I trust you can resume your experiments immediately?" The hooded man nodded politely.
"Of course, Illusive Man," he said. "Now that I have the virus, work can continue." TIM blew smoke out of his mouth, snuffing out the cigarette he had been smoking.
"See to it that it does. This time, keep the location of the base a secret as well." The hooded man bowed slightly, then left the inner sanctum of Jack Harper. TIM sighed and looked at a report filed by Kai Leng. Along with the usual content, it also had a special item added to it. Seven special items. The DNA of each Dead Echo team member. Jack Harper smiled. This could be very useful...
The hooded man walked down a hallway on the Illusive Man's station, heading towards his ship. As he walked, he opened his omni-tool and made a call. The person on the other end answered immediately.
"I trust you have retrieved the virus?"
"Of course, Albert," the hooded man said as he walked. "I had no doubts about Dead Echo. Do you have that status update I requested a few days ago?"
"Yes sir. Payment to the batarians have been made, payment to the Alliance for the loss of the Ishimura base are in preparation, and all projects are on schedule."
"Can I get specifics on the top three priorities?"
"Project Malikov is awaiting your return, Project Kessler is ready for human testing, and Project Carnival is almost ready for a test subject."
"Good. I want Project Kessler in top priority when I get back. Also, you'll be pleased to know that I am aware many smaller projects have advanced past your projections, and that Project Redfield is nearing completion."
"...Yes."
"This is excellent news, Wesker. You should be happy for once." The hooded man closed the communications link and continued walking towards his ship. It was a simple matter for the man to wipe the cameras of their memory as walked past them. His conversation was a complete and total secret.
Author's Note: Chapters won't always be this long of course, this is just because it's the finale. I wanted this to be a very good chapter, and I'm hoping it turns out to be that. Thank you for reading this far, I know you might have goten bored...wait, what am I saying? Of course you haven't gotten bored, there's conspiracies and explosions!