Chapter 25: New Chance
It wasn't long after Hugh Ward's message was sent out that the city started to descend into chaos; although a fair amount of people took the video as an empty threat given the recent news of Ward's death, there were also a fair amount of people that were straight up panicking and trying to leave the city. The Inkopolis airport had already been shut down due to being flooded with an unusually high amount of people, and traffic in the streets was high. Some people had even started rioting and looting stores. It was just what Ward wanted.
The IPD station where Johnson worked was particularly frenzied, with many officers working late and heading back and forth, and the building was filled with the sounds of phones ringing and people talking on them.
Captain Hertz speedily entered the building, looking around at the chaos. He had left the hospital an hour ago, and was supposed to meet back up with Johnson here. "…SOMEONE TELL ME SOME GOOD NEWS!" He shouted.
An officer turned to him. "Sir, we traced the broadcast to the Inkopolis Radio Tower, but we have no idea how it-"
"Did you ask them how it was possible!?"
"Y-Yes, sir… all they know is that they've been hacked, but it's physically impossible to trace-"
"Oh, for Christ's sake!" He rubbed his forehead. "Tell them to try again!"
"W-We've been in contact all night and they've gone over it several times-"
"DID I STUTTER!?"
He just nodded and turned back to the phone.
Hertz continued looking around, pretty desperate at this point. "…Has anyone seen Johnson!?"
"I'm here!" Johnson pushed his way past a group of officers as he ran up to him.
"Oh, good. The Sergeant." He said, sarcastically. "You mind telling me how this happened!? Hugh Ward was decapitated! And you better explain fast, before I have your promoted ass on my office wall!"
"I know, Captain. I'm sorry. I've been racking my brain. We don't know who sent out the video, we've been looking ever since it was sent out."
"Really? I'll give you three guesses."
He sighed, deciding to just ignore his threats and his sarcasm. He was used to it, anyway. "…I might have one lead. And it's crazy. I know it is. But it might be our best shot."
"What kind of crazy?"
He hesitated, half expecting to have his face blown off by screaming. "…I think we should make a deal with Agent 3."
He just fell into silence, staring at him in disbelief.
"She's been tracing the Underdogs better than any of us. She knows them. It's a personal case for her.
"You arrested her while she was standing in their very base. She went missing for months while the Underdogs unleashed hell on the city. She's not our ally!"
"Well, she's obviously not our enemy, either. Look at the big picture, Hertz! She massacred them! It wasn't anyone else, it was her! It was wrong, it was immoral, but I can tell she wanted to stop them just as much as we do. And I listened to her story. She went missing because the Underdogs attacked her. They firebombed her apartment."
"And you really think you can trust her?"
"...Yes. I trust her just as much now as you trusted me before. You haven't seen her in action. What she's really like."
"I don't think you have either."
"I've seen what she's like deep down. Sure, she's a murderer, but she's only killed bad people. And she confessed to it. She went out of her way to save my life even if it meant she could get arrested and she's been tracking the Underdogs the whole damn time. If there's anyone who can find them… it's her. And unlike Cuttlefish, she's actually been talking to me. I'm getting to her. We have an understanding."
Hertz didn't like the situation at all. In fact, he was on the verge of firing Johnson just out of pure anger. But on the other hand, he could tell he wasn't lying. Besides… desperate times, desperate measures.
Johnson just stared back at him, awaiting a response. Any response. When Hertz didn't say anything, he continued anyway. "…We'll just make a deal with her. One deal. Then she'll go away forever."
Hertz still didn't say anything. But what other choice did they have?
The Next Morning
'You're making a mistake.'
'You're making a big mistake.'
'Jessica won't ever love you this way.'
'Everyone will hate you.'
'Everyone will be dead, there wouldn't be anyone to hate you.'
'No one will love you.'
'Everyone will be dead.'
'You will be dead.'
'Don't do it, Daniel.'
'Reunite with Jessica.'
'She'll kill you.'
'She'll love you.'
'Kill her before she kills you.'
'Kill yourself before she kills you.'
'Finish what you started, Daniel.'
'KILL EVERYONE, DANIEL!'
Daniel opened his eyes as the voices continued on their seemingly endless attack in his own mind, and he sighed. He was now sitting in what used to be Deangelo's office, and had been working on his charger before he lost his focus to the voices.
"...You're making a big mistake." Vanessa suddenly spoke up, not making eye contact with him. She was currently tied up in the corner of the room, and wasn't really bothering to break herself free at this point.
Daniel looked at her. He honestly wasn't sure if Vanessa actually just said that or if one of the voices did. "…Am I?" He responded anyway.
"...Jessica's still out there… even if she's in custody…" She looked up at him. "…She'll come for you."
He sighed and picked up his charger, continuing to work on it. "I'll kill her if she does."
"No, I imagine at this point she may just kill you… she just showed the whole world that she's really just as violent as you… and she probably has a lot of pent up anger… knowing her…"
"So do I. An entire life's worth of it."
"And you think she doesn't? Don't forget that you killed her parents…"
"And my own…"
She scoffed slightly. "…I have no idea how you can such a… psychopath… it actually terrifies me that people like you even exist…"
He looked at her, getting frustrated. "…Who was it that let me go?"
"...I never said that I'm perfect myself…"
"Then shut up." He continued working. "You let me go. Then you betrayed me. Now here we are."
"You call that betrayal? You betrayed your sister, and the Splatoon. You betrayed Ward."
"No… I didn't… he… if anything, he betrayed me… he and Ayesha wanted me dead…"
"Not like you were there to protect him. Now his face is all over the news and he's missing his head."
He sighed angrily, hiding his face in his palms, before he angrily picked up a knife and started sharpening it.
At that moment, as she watched him, she got an idea. A potentially very bad idea, but an idea nonetheless. And at the moment, an idea might be all she needed. And just like that, she had her mind set. "…You know…" She lowered her voice to be a bit more… seductive. "If you… ever decide that you want to change your mind, I'm sure you'll be rewarded…"
"I'm not going to change my mind, I've already broadcasted Ward's message for everyone to see… there's no going back."
"Are you sure…?" She started innocently rubbing her foot against the ground. "You shut down this whole operation… you let me free, just like I let you free… I'll make it worth your while~"
"What the hell don't you-" He turned to look at her again, only to see that somehow, someway, she was naked and posing in the chair. Caught off guard, he jumped slightly, and quickly looked away. "Oh my god, I-I'm so sorry, I-I didn't know, I-I didn't know you were…" He turned back to glance at her again. In reality, Vanessa hadn't even moved, was still tied up, and was very much still dressed. "…clothed…"
Vanessa looked at him, confused for a moment, but she did remember his condition. Perhaps this would work for her. "…You want me~?"
"No… No, I do not want you…" He huffed, shakily getting back to his work. "Y-You're just like Ayesha, you're trying to get in my head…"
"Don't pretend like I'm not already in your head… I see the way you're looking at me…"
"I am not looking at you like-" He looked at her again, seeing that in his own twisted view of the world, Vanessa was once again naked and posing, legs spread wide this time. He gasped slightly. "-that!"
Vanessa gave him a sexy giggle. …Or did she? Even her voice at this point seemed unnaturally like Ayesha's, and everything felt… off. And it was actually pretty tempting. "I know you want me, babe~ so come take me~ I see how you're looking at me~ I see how hard you're getting~"
He tried his best to look away. "Shut up… shut up…"
"I bet you want my breasts on your cock~"
"I said shut up…"
"You see how wet you make me~?"
"SHUT UP!" He suddenly slammed his fist down on the table as he sat up, and the loud noise both broke him out of his schizophrenic mind-sex-prison, and made Vanessa jump. He panted slightly, his boner nice and large at this point. "…If I let you go… and you give me… just… a little bit… will you stop doing that…?"
Vanessa was confused, but kept her act regardless. "I'll let you do whatever you want with me, babe~ but only if you let me go~"
He sighed. He couldn't fight it. Even the voices were screaming at him to just let her go. Shakily, he reached for his knife, and the next thing he knew, as if everything was happening in an instant, Vanessa was free of her bonds, and had seductively pinned him against his own desk. He gasped again.
"...I-I didn't say to go that rough…"
"I'm making the rules here from now on~" She kissed him, making sure that she was keeping full control of the situation. And so far, it was working. Daniel had given up control to her. And that was exactly what she needed. Granted, she wasn't exactly strong enough to keep Daniel fully pinned, but perhaps he didn't need to be.
Daniel, getting more desperate and desperate by the moment, had reached around to grip her rear, and was rubbing her boner against her somewhat, light moans escaping his mouth. Vanessa, meanwhile, was trailing her hands around his desk, for some kind of weapon she could use, anything, while trying to not look and remain as seductive as possible. And, thankfully for her, her hand managed to locate and grip his knife. Jackpot.
Daniel was distracted by the feel and taste of her lips, but it didn't stop him from hearing the slight shing sound as Vanessa picked it up. He wasn't sure it was real, but he also had to make sure. He broke the kiss. "W-Wait…"
As he blinked and opened his eyes, however, he was met with the terrifying, psychopathic eyes of Ayesha instead of Vanessa's, and he gasped. 'Ayesha', noticing she had just been caught, desperately lifted the knife and was about to stab his throat with it, but wasn't fast enough, as Daniel desperately kicked her off before he sat up. She stepped back and crashed against the chair she had been tied to before, nearly falling down. Once again breaking free of the hallucination, Daniel now saw it wasn't Ayesha at all, but Vanessa was still holding a very real knife.
In fight-or-flight mode, she turned back to him and desperately swung the knife at him, but Daniel was simply too experienced and fast for her, and he easily grabbed her and took the knife back. Vanessa, however, wasn't giving up, and started desperately wrestling with him.
Barely even challenged, but eager to get her off, Daniel reached back and grabbed his charger from his desk, before speedily and somewhat randomly firing it at her. And just like that, by pure bad luck, Vanessa's knee was blown straight out. A horrifying, blood-curdling scream left her mouth as she collapsed, ink pouring out of her wound. She desperately grabbed and held it, still screaming bloody-murder for several seconds.
Multiple Octolings barged in as they heard this. "Sir!?" They looked over the situation.
Tears were streaming down Vanessa's face as she held her wound, still screaming in absolute pain. That was, until Daniel had enough of the sound.
"SHUT UP!" Daniel kicked her in the face, and she limply fell unconscious, before he took a moment to collect himself and his thoughts. They fell silent for a moment before he spoke again. "…I want you to treat her wound, make sure she doesn't bleed out… and then tie her back up…"
"...You want her to live, sir…?" An Octoling asked, somewhat confused.
"...Just do it…"
They nodded, and awkwardly dragged her out, creating a trail of ink as they dragged her to the medical room.
Daniel watched her leave, a disappointed expression on his face.
Meanwhile
Tenta-General Hospital
Jessica was still tied down to her hospital bed, as she woke back up for the day. She hadn't gotten much sleep, only a couple hours, as she had been up for a good amount of the night in deep thought. She had a horrible feeling that she knew exactly how the Underdogs were still active. And if she was right, it was another direct consequence of her own actions. She never should have left Daniel behind under Vanessa's watch. Especially with how… angry, Vanessa seemed lately.
She sat up to her best ability. Surprisingly, she was already feeling better. She didn't know if the sanitization inside her was once again healing her, but it'd make sense, given that the stomach wound Ward left was relatively minor compared to what she had been through previously. Wasn't too different from the time when she injured her leg in a mission but was back on her feet in just a couple hours. She didn't realize she still had partial sanitization at the time, but she supposed now she had an explanation.
She wasn't alone for long, however. After a few minutes of the usual silence, the door suddenly opened, and Johnson stepped in, holding a tray of food. She squinted a bit at him, confused. The door closed back up, leaving the two alone.
"...Breakfast." He told her, holding it up a bit to show.
"...You're my nurse now?"
"No. But I asked her to be the one to serve it to you." He went over and set it on the stand next to her, before he took a key out and uncuffed one of her hands.
"...Isn't there some rules against that?"
"Well, I'm a high ranking police officer. They can't say no to me."
"Whatever…" She grabbed the tray with her free hand and set it on her lap.
He pulled up a chair and sat down just like their previous meeting. "…You saw the broadcast, I'm guessing?"
"...Who didn't?"
"...You think it was your brother?"
"...I do. Again, everything that's happening is my fault."
"Don't be like that."
"Why not? I told you how I treated him."
"The fact that you told me as much as you did is part of the reason why I trust you. And I think I got Hertz to share some of that trust. But just for a bit."
She looked at him.
"We want to make a deal with you." He leaned in. "You're going to help us find your brother, and put a stop to the Underdogs. We'll let you come with us so that we can use your skills. You'll still be in our custody and we'll be keeping a very close eye on you, and if you attempt to escape or fight us, I have permission to put you down. And if you cooperate with us until this is over, you'll get your sentence reduced. That's all I could get out of Hertz, and it took me an hour to persuade him of that much. That's the best I can do."
"...You don't have to reduce my sentence."
"It's the deal, regardless. We don't make deals like this with criminals very often, Agent 3."
She thought about it. "...Here's my bargain."
"...What?"
"I'll help you. Not for you, but for me. I'll get to be the one who takes my brother in. And after we're done, instead of reducing my charges, you reduce the charges of all my friends. Especially Cuttlefish."
"...I already told you I got all I could get out of Hertz. I'm not sure he'll take kindly to-"
"Do you want my help, or not?"
"I do. I think we need it."
"Then take it or leave it."
He sighed. "…I can't promise that you get what you want. That would likely be more work than I can pull off. But, regardless, we need your help. Now, more than ever."
She sighed. Not like she had much of a choice, either. "…Just promise me then that you'll do what you can… they don't deserve what they got like I do…"
"...You have my word…"
"...Then it's a deal…"
"Well, then first thing's first…" He suddenly stood up, went over to the opposite side of the bed, and uncuffed her opposite hand. "Stand up."
She sat up a bit. "…Why?"
"I need to see how you're holding up in combat."
She sighed, and decided to just do it. She slid her feet over the edge of the bed, and slowly sat up as if she expected herself to get weak as soon as she was up. Surprisingly for both of them, however, she was standing up just fine, as if she was never injured.
"...Alright…" He was impressed, and held up his hand. "Hit me."
"...Excuse me?"
"I can take it. Hit me."
She took a deep breath, and steadied herself as if she was training. She felt like she was actually training with Cuttlefish again. Suddenly, she lunged her fist forward without warning, in one swift and powerful punch, enough to hurt his hand.
He winced a bit, but held up his other hand, wanting to test her. "Keep going."
She decided to keep the flow, walking forward as she punched both hands, with great speed and accuracy. Johnson backed up and let her do it, and after a few seconds, she finished off her flurry with a sudden roundhouse kick, just to help her release some of her pent up energy.
Johnson just about toppled over from the last kick, but stayed on his feet. Jessica wasn't even sweating. She did hurt her stomach a bit, and had her hand over it, but otherwise looked good.
"…I think you're good to go…" He nodded a bit. "…Where'd you get your training, anyway?"
"Cuttlefish. Years worth of it, and direct experience, too."
"I could tell…"
She was already feeling more confident. "...So… when do we start?"
"As soon as we know where we're going."
"...I may know a place…"
New Underdogs Hideout
Vanessa panted and groaned as she came back to, her leg still hurting like hell. Her knee was still straight up missing. She was lying on a table in the base's medical room, and an Octoling doctor was standing over her. She looked at her in fear.
Daniel walked in at that moment, having heard Vanessa's groans. "…How is she?"
"...She'll be missing her knee." The doctor replied. "May need a prosthetic. But she'll be fine otherwise."
"Don't touch me…" Vanessa responded. She was feeling pretty weak thanks to how much ink she had lost. "…I'd rather die than watch you destroy the city…"
"...It's not up to you." Daniel responded simply.
"...What do you want from me…?"
"...I just don't want to see you die. Maybe a part of me wants you to see Jessica die. Maybe I want you to die with the rest of the city. Honestly, my own mind is… hard to follow…"
"Now I need you to hold still." The doctor said, holding up a syringe with some kind of green goo in it.
Vanessa looked over at her, her eyes widening. "…What is that?"
Daniel looked at her, actually equally as confused. "…Is that…?"
"It's the sanitization formula, yes." She responded. "I'm giving her a very small dose, just enough to help her heal."
"I said… don't touch me…" Vanessa responded.
"You've had that this whole time?" Daniel asked. He reached forward to poke it, ensuring to himself that it was real.
"Only small amounts of it." The doctor responded, preparing it. "Deangelo wanted some in case he ever got injured."
"I hear it's some nasty stuff." He replied. "You sure you wanna give it to her?"
"It won't be enough to cause problems. It affects Inklings differently than it affects Octolings anyway."
"...Ok…" He sighed.
"Don't… touch me…" Vanessa hissed again when she saw she was preparing to inject it.
"Hold still." Despite what Vanessa wanted, she suddenly thrusted it into her leg, and carefully injected a small dosage. Vanessa grunted and groaned in pain, but it wasn't long before she pulled it back out and went to put it back in the bio-hazard box where it came from.
Vanessa was still panting from the pain, looking at Daniel. "…I'm going… to kill you…"
"...Kill me how?" Daniel replied.
"...I'll find a way…"
He scoffed slightly. "…We'll see." He then turned to head out.
"Jessica will find you if I can't!" She suddenly yelled. "You will suffer!"
He ignored her and walked out, heading back into the large main room of the warehouse. As he was expecting, multiple trucks had just drove in, and groups of Octolings stepped out. His new Octoling assistant went up to Daniel's side, and he turned to her. "…This is them?"
"All the remaining Underdogs we could round up. A lot of the organization fled the city after Ayesha and Ward perished, but everyone who remains are still loyal to our cause. Inkling leader or not." She explained.
She was right. The organization wasn't nearly as big as it was with Ward in command, but it still felt good, standing in front of what remained as their leader. He smiled slightly.
"We want to see the weapon." An Octoling in the group requested. "So that we may know we can trust you."
"We have it hidden uptown. It's already set up underground and set for detonation when we see fit." He responded.
"Then take us to it."
He nodded, and then raised his voice to announce the address to the whole warehouse. The Octolings replied with an Octarian chant, before they all got back into their trucks. Daniel grinned again, before he ushered to his assistant to follow him as he went to his own truck.
Unbeknownst to him, Vanessa had been listening in as best as she could, but was unable to do much as the doctor suddenly turned and put her under sedation.
Later
Tenta-General Hospital
Johnson cocked his gun as he grouped up with his team, forming a circle with them. They were all equipped in body armor. "Alright… let's go over the plan again."
They nodded to show that they were listening.
"We're infiltrating the Underdogs base that Murdock gave us. We'll all be going in pairs, and I will be paired with Murdock so that I can keep an eye on her. We'll all be on guard, and if need be, we'll take out anyone we can inside. Our main mission is to find clues on where to go next, and to ultimately find Daniel Murdock. You've all memorized his face?"
They nodded.
"This may turn out to be a series of missions. But I know that we can put a stop to this once and for all. We're the IPD, and we have Murdock on our side. So I want you all to keep the faith."
"Yes, sir." They all nodded once more.
"Good." He turned to the guards by Jessica's hospital room. "Let Murdock out."
They nodded and opened the door, letting Jessica out. She now had a change of clothes, but her hands were still cuffed together for the time being, and the guards were holding her. "Let's go."
He nodded and turned to lead them out. "We're heading out!"
They all headed out of the hospital, got past security and an army of reporters, before they all climbed into police cars and drove off.
Jessica was seated next to Johnson, while the still armed guards watched her closely from the back seat. In fact, they looked ready to blow her head off if she so much as raised her hands.
Johnson noticed and sighed, but didn't take his eyes off the road. "…At ease, guys."
"...You trust killer vigilantes often, Sergeant?" Jessica decided to ask.
"Nope. First time."
"...What are you gonna do if this goes south and you lose your job because of me?"
"...I suppose I'd figure it out. That's all any of us can do, anyway."
"...You sure I'm worth that?"
"...We'll have to see." They fell into silence for a moment before he spoke again. "…We can equip you with some of our armor, if you-"
"I told you I'm good." She cut him off.
"If this does go south, you're gonna want it."
"...And if it comes down to me and Daniel, I want a fair fight."
"...Not like he's given you a fair fight before, from what you've told me. Besides, you're willing to leave the fate of the city up to a 'fair fight'?"
"Well, if it's a fair fight, I might just be able to kick his ass… I'm better than him at close-quarters combat when I'm actually capable of fighting, I think our encounters so far have shown that much."
"...What if he's trained more? Or what if you get another seizure?"
She sighed. "…If I die, Sergeant, than boohoo, I'm sure someone else will take him down. Just make sure you finish it for me if that happens."
He sighed as well. "…Copy that…"
She looked forward at the road.
It wasn't too much longer before they were all pulling up to Deangelo's base, but they all stopped some distance away with the hope of not attracting much attention. Everyone in the team got out, including Jessica.
Johnson went around the car and uncuffed her, before handing her a spare weapon. "…I'll be keeping my eye on you."
"Understood." She replied simply. Honestly, to her, this wasn't even that different from her actual Agent 3 days, so her anxiety levels remained low. She held it at her side in a non-threatening manner.
"Alright, let's move!" Johnson then called out, before they all headed toward the warehouse.
They took a few minutes to actually arrive, as they remained stealthy, but as soon as they were inside the warehouse, they all took up their defensive position. Jessica stayed close to Johnson, just to stay obedient to their rules. The warehouse seemed pretty empty at first glance.
"...Split up." He loudly whispered to everyone, and each pair dispersed, as Johnson led Jessica.
All of the trucks that were there previously were gone, leaving no signs of life. A couple officers came across a dried up puddle of Deangelo's ink, that had been left there from when Daniel shot him.
A couple other officers entered what was now Daniel's office, and they saw some weapons that he had left behind, along with more dried up ink, this time belonging to Vanessa.
Yet another pair eventually came across the hidden vault that Daniel forced Deangelo to open, and another pair came across the now-destroyed computer servers.
"All clear."
"All clear."
"All clear." The same line could be heard over their radio as more and more pairs concluded their split up searches.
"Keep looking for clues. Anything we can use." Johnson responded as he continued his own search with Jessica.
"Copy that."
The pair was getting into their own unexplored territory of the warehouse, walking down their own hallway, as Jessica kicked down all the doors that they passed, before holding up her weapon in anticipation of an attack. As they got deeper into the hallway, they were actually getting more isolated from everyone else. It seemed more and more that they were alone. That is, until she kicked down the door to the medical room. Her eyes widened a bit when she saw inside.
Vanessa was unconscious and still strapped to the table, her knee where she got shot bandaged up to the doctor's best ability. The doctor herself, however, wasn't there.
"Vanessa…" Jessica lowered her gun and ran over to her, trying to shake her awake in vain.
Johnson examined her, also lowering his weapon. "…Looks like she's sedated."
"Shit…" She sighed. "…Well… this basically confirms that Daniel was here… I shouldn't have fucking left them alone…"
"...You did what you thought was right."
"...Did I?"
Meanwhile, the rest of the officers were still searching the rest of the warehouse, not realizing that a small group of Octolings, including the doctor, were stepping back inside, wearing masks. They snuck in, weapons raised, as they split up.
It took several seconds for the first officer to notice, but as soon as he turned around and saw one, he jumped. "WE HAVE COMP-"
The Octoling that was behind him fired at his head with great accuracy, and the rest of the officers were clued in. They started firing back at forth at each other, resulting in an entire shootout.
The shootout could be heard all the way where Jessica and Johnson were, and Johnson peeked his head out of the room.
"What?" Jessica turned to him.
"...We're under attack."
"Shit…"
He turned back to her. He would join the fighting, but they did currently have an injured woman on their hands. "We need to get her out of here."
She nodded in agreement and went to untie Vanessa from the table. "Keep me covered, I'm gonna have to carry her."
"I've got you." He kept his gun on the door just in case, as Jessica got Vanessa untied and then slung her over her shoulder. They stepped out of the room, Johnson protecting them, as they started searching for an exit.
Despite the Underdog's training, the Octolings that had reentered the warehouse were simply too outnumbered, and were losing the shootout with the police, more and more of them getting shot and collapsing. Unfortunately for everyone, however, it was just about to get worse.
Just as victory was looking certain for the police, a loud ringing sound suddenly filled the whole warehouse, and the surviving Octolings suddenly screamed in pain and collapsed, writhing in pain. The police looked at them in confusion, some of them covering their ears, as ink started to pour from the Octoling's mouths and their abdomens started to bulge a bit.
"...Something's happening!" An officer spoke into the radio as he watched.
Only a few more moments passed before the Octolings suddenly erupted, large metal spikes protruding from all of them at once, immediately turning them into gory messes as they quickly expanded and began to overtake the whole building.
"What the fuck!?" Someone screamed.
"Move, move, move, move!" The police all began fleeing to the nearest exit.
Johnson and Jessica turned as they heard the chaos, and Jessica definitely recognized the sound. "…The attackers are self-destructing." She quickly concluded.
"...What does that mean!?" Johnson asked.
"It means we need to move!" She sped up into a run, still carrying Vanessa, as Johnson followed her down the hall. There was no doors or exits down this path, but there was windows for them to smash, and Johnson quickly and desperately shot at the first one they saw, shattering it.
Jessica crawled through first, making sure to not hurt Vanessa, and Johnson leaped in after her, before they got clear of the building. The same metal spikes were growing into the hallway at that moment, still expanding and growing more spikes as it took over the entire building like a bad flood. Only when the entire building was basically destroyed, did the spikes slow down into a halt. Johnson watched silently, and Jessica put Vanessa down onto the grass, catching her breath.
"...My men were in there…" Johnson said.
"...Maybe they made it out…"
"I've gotta go look for them. Stay here." He started heading off with the intention of searching the building's perimeter.
"We won't be safe here and I'm not leaving Vanessa! There could be more people coming! We need to get her out of here!" She stopped him.
He turned to her, realizing that was true. But he wasn't gonna leave behind his team, either. They fell into a stressful silence, as Johnson thought about his next move. He didn't like it at all, but perhaps...
"...You go. Get her out of here." He told her.
"What?"
"Get her someplace safe. And if you can, find your brother and put a stop to this."
"...You'll lose your job if you do this."
That was probably true too. But he had other priorities at the moment. "…Just go!" With that, he took off running, disappearing around the corner of the building.
Jessica watched him leave, surprised, before she realized she had to turn her focus back on the mission. Once again alone, she picked Vanessa up, slung her over her shoulder, and ran off.