Wade sat silently, staring straight ahead above Bunnie and Tifa's heads. They were locked inside a holding cell composed of galvanized iron bars inside one of the encampment buildings. From the ceiling hung two fluorescent lights that provided more than enough light to scope out every inch of the interior; unfortunately, every single item that could aid them with escape was out of reach. The silver aluminum walls provided little insulation to the noises outside which consisted of crickets chirping, mindless chatter between Lien-Da's subordinates, and screaming of agony.
Bunnie covered her face and wept with each wail of the young fox. Tifa put her arm around Bunnie and tried to console her. Even though Bunnie could tear the bars apart there was no guarantee a gun wouldn't be waiting to blow their heads off on the outside, plus they could kill Tails in response. Of course, they could already have decided to kill him, but not before Lien-Da had her demented fun on the child.
Time passed. The screaming eventually subdued.
Before long the door swung open. The large white wolf from before walked in; Tails was limp under his arm. The ferocious canine had changed from torn denim jeans to a full desert-camouflaged uniform. The patch shaped in the form of a triple-point shield on the right shoulder was a slender yellow "S" wrapped around a peach sphere set against a dark green background. The word "DRAGO" was sewn across the name tag.
Bunnie immediately ran to the door and grabbed it.
"Back the fuck up!" Drago screamed. "Or I'll break this little piece of shit's neck!"
The rabbit scowled fiercely and slowly stepped back from the door. Drago swiped a keycard against a magnetic reader attached to the door which disengaged the lock. After tossing the broken fox in, he slammed the cell shut. At the door to the building, he turned and sneered.
"Once I shut this door, it will activate the security system. If any of you get the bright idea of busting out, there's enough C4 rigged to this tent that will turn it into fucking dust. Lien-Da hasn't decided what she wants to do with you yet and probably won't until we get the rabbit. If it was me, personally, I would've fucked you bitches already and then tossed all your carcasses into a pit where it belongs."
"Fuck you," Tifa said coldly.
Drago smiled and shut the door, locking it. The faint sound of a keypad being pressed could be heard.
"You think he's bluffing?" Bunnie asked.
Wade looked up above the door: a silver box had multiple conduits running out of it to other boxes along the upper walls and lower baseboards of the shed.
"Doubtful," Wade said. "That box doesn't look like a fuse box to me; and they sure as hell wouldn't put C4 on the outside where the enemy could get to it. Let's wait until the coast is clear and then take a look. How's the boy?"
Bunnie was already on her knees cradling Tails in her arms. His eyes were barely open; dried blood stained the corners of his mouth and his nostrils. His eyes were bruised and bloodshot. Bunnie immediately noticed a steady stream of blood coming from Tails' backside.
"Oh, sugar," she said, once again on the verge of tears.
Wade got on his knees along with Tifa across from Bunnie. They gently rolled the vulpine onto his stomach. Wade gently lifted Tails' tails, causing the boy to wince. Bunnie quietly comforted him while Wade looked.
"They raped him," he said grimly.
Bunnie immediately looked up.
"W-what?!" she stammered.
Tifa wiped her eyes, saying, "Oh… my God…"
"And it looks like," Wade continued. "They ruptured his colon. I need to examine it further and see if he needs stitches. Goddammit… I'm going to…"
"No, I'm going to rip that motherfucking bitch echidna's uterus out and stuff it down her throat," Bunnie said, cutting Wade off. "Outta my way."
She marched up to the cell door and punched it off its hinges, forcing it to fall and slam into the ground. Wade managed to get to his feet and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Hang on, dear," he said calmly. "Even when we get out of here, and that's if we get out of here, we still have to find your aunt and get to her before anyone else does. You know that, right?"
"Of course I know that!" Bunnie shouted. "I'm not fucking stupid, Wade!"
"Okay, okay," he said softly. "Just let me see what we're up against concerning getting out of here, alright? Try to find something to put pressure on it and see if he's even conscious enough to know what's going on."
Bunnie stared at Wade for a moment, her brows narrowed, before letting out an exasperated sigh and starting the task asked of her. Wade walked over to the front door and pulled over a table to use as a makeshift scaffold. The box itself was secured with four screws; luckily, a screwdriver was found fairly quickly after searching through several of the available drawers and toolboxes. Wade gently lifted the cover off.
"Oh, fuck me," he said disheartened.
Tifa asked, "What is it?"
Wade pulled out his radio and put the receiver in his ear.
Immediately, he began to transmit: "Mad Dog to Overlord, this is an emergency..."
Sally sat by the radio. It wasn't her turn to have night watch duty but she insisted. It had been silent for quite some time; the last transmission was with Bunnie telling a story from her past. Little progress had been made in trying to concoct a vaccine of some sort; they did, however, manage to construct a serum that kept people from dying.
At least, for the time being—there was no telling how long their bodies would sustain before organ failure.
Sally had been sending broadcasts periodically anxiously awaiting a response. What she got was not what she wanted to hear.
Wade's voice crackled over the radio, "… this is an emergency …"
Sally grabbed the mike and immediately keyed it.
"Overlord copies," she said. "Wade, what's your emergency? What happened?"
"No time to explain, Princess. You have a computer?"
Sally blinked before responding: "Yes, why?"
"See if you can find any records on a security system model 'FH-6983C4'."
Sally queried NICOLE and was presented with a response.
She said, "It says it's a security system designed by FOXHOUND that involves C4 detonation upon breaching… what the hell is going on?!"
"I don't mean to sound trite with this, Sally," Wade said. "But this isn't the best time."
Bunnie was next to come over the air.
"Sugar," she pleaded. "We're trapped; we were kidnapped by some bunch of mercenary assholes. They've got us locked in this building and we're trying to get out! Tails is hurt badly!"
Sally stood up so fast it knocked over her chair.
"What about Tails?!" she shouted into the mike.
There were some sounds of shuffling over the air. Suddenly, a new voice that Sally didn't recognize came on.
"Sally?" the new female asked. "My name is Tifa—I'm a friend of Bunnie's. Tails is bleeding from his rectum; he's hemorrhaging in my hands right now as we speak. I'm trying to stop the bleeding but we can't get out of this building until we disarm this system."
Sally started to cry silently. The thought of Tails bleeding made her feel uncontrollable shame for failing to protect him. She wiped her eyes and started to read off what NICOLE reported. After going back and forth with Wade on clarification of different components, wire colors, and integrated circuit chips, Wade reported: "OK, I'm going to try and disarm this thing. Wish me luck."
"Good luck," she whispered. "Bunnie, what happened?"
Bunnie started to weep.
"Oh, sugar," she cried. "They… they violated him badly. They beat him to a bloody pulp."
"Who did?"
"An echidna… one of those goddamn echidnas… Lien-Da is her name. Her and her mercenaries are searching for Aunt Lulumae! She said that Dr. Lowery is alive and was trying to make a deal by swapping a Chaos Emerald for a Metal Gear!"
Sally didn't know what a Metal Gear was but it didn't sound promising. Did it have something to do with the nuclear warhead? She made a note to research it later.
"Good grief," she sighed. She keyed the mike again, asking, "Alright, alright… what's Lulumae's role in this, then? Did Dr. Lowery tell her to create the virus?"
"No," Tifa responded tersely. "Dad would… I mean…"
"Wait… he's your father?!"
"It just keeps getting better, doesn't it," Wade remarked. "OK, I've set the jumpers. I'm about to start cutting."
"What the hell is your father doing ordering viruses created that is wiping out a good portion of the population?!" Sally screamed into the microphone.
"Sally-girl, take it easy," Bunnie implored. "We need to get to Aunt Lulumae first. She can tell us the whole story and we can get the vaccine… wait, Wade, what are you doing?"
"Shut up and start helping. It'll be your only chance if this thing doesn't work," Wade snapped.
"What are you doing?" Sally asked. "Wade?"
No response; not from Wade, not from anybody.
Sally slowly sunk to the floor.
"Tails…" she whispered.