Chapter 122: Caught in the act.
When Zero returned to the tent, he saw that the other participants in the meeting were watching him anxiously, except Cornelia, who had collapsed to her knees upon hearing the shot, and Nonette, who had knelt next to her and looked at her sadly. The woman who had been nicknamed the goddess of victory, and who was famous for her iron temper, now had shining eyes filled with pain. He came up to her and said:
"I know what it feels like to lose a loved one. She happened to me too, years ago ... "
He looked away. As good as he was at speeches, he was not at all good at comforting people with broken hearts. Cornelia stood up, staring him straight in her eyes.
"I have not lost my sister… she was taken away from Me! The reptilians will pay for it!"
She clenched her left hand into a fist.
"I will not have peace until I have freed the Earth from the last of them left! I swear it on my family!" She said, trying to hold back the tears, barely managing it.
"I don't know if we'll live long enough to do that ..." He admitted.
"What the heck do you mean, Zero?" Darlton asked him.
"Euphemia has been infected with an airborne virus, probably released from Korea or the Japanese archipelago. After all, they know that we have our base here. "
"So?"
"Euphemia will not be the latest victim of that disease. Indeed, an epidemic could start at any moment. "
"Are you saying that ..." Ohgi tried to say, but was interrupted by Todoh.
"That some of us, perhaps all of us, have contracted the same virus. It means we will become zombies. "
An expression of pure terror formed on the faces of those present.
"It's a joke, right?" Guinevere asked him.
"I never joke." Was the answer.
"Mon Dieu…" Constance exclaimed, pale as death.
"Do you realize we're in shit? That we are all in shit up to our necks? " Tamaki asked, terrified.
"I don't want to be a zombie!" Kaguya exclaimed, frightened.
"Please keep calm. None of us have yet shown symptoms of the disease, except the late Princess Euphemia. " Bartley said, trying to calm tempers. However, he too was intimidated and noticed.
"I propose to postpone the meeting for tomorrow. Now we are all too tense. " Dietard stated.
Nobody dreamed of objecting.
We are doomed…
Thought Villetta, who along with Shirley and Milly had overheard the entire conversation.
At the same time, on a remote island in the Pacific, Orochimaru was on the beach and looked with a melancholy air at the night sky, carpeted with stars and with the full moon shining. His attention in particular was directed to the Crux Constellation, a constellation that could only be seen in the southern hemisphere.
"Doctor?" A familiar female voice called it.
"Can't sleep, Mei?" He asked her, without turning around.
"Neither do you, I see ..."
"Sometimes I have sleepless nights."
He turned, giving her a sad look.
"Especially since we've been here."
"We had no choice, we were running out of fuel ..."
"I know. Another consequence of my bravado. "
He looked down. Seven years ago he had lost everything he had: his family, his friends, his own homeland. Of all those he knew, only Mei, his secretary, and Kabuto, his loyal assistant, remained beside him. The others were dead, escaped or missing. Although he had found purpose by joining his Foundation, his thirst for revenge against Britannia, the empire that had invaded Japan, had progressively increased. There was no day when he did not think back to his old life, and how it had been irremediably destroyed by the British. Hate, anger and resentment had accumulated more and more, so much so that his main objective had become to annihilate Britannia, so as to avenge his loved ones and her nation, disappeared from political maps and reduced to yet another imperial area. This is why he had asked several times for access to SCP8, one of the deadliest viruses ever, but each time Tony had denied it, knowing full well what his intentions were. Even with the arrival of the aliens, his main enemy was still Britannia, who had wiped out her family. Now the virus was in his hands, but he was stranded on that island with his two followers, and probably his former employer had already unleashed the commandos on his trail with orders to kill him.
"I dragged you into big trouble." He said he, sincerely sorry.
"You didn't force us to do anything, it was our decision."
"The idea of stealing SCP8 was mine. It's a part of me already starting to regret it ... "
"For what reason?"
"We are trapped on this desert island, far from civilization. The Foundation hunt me. And this time I'm not going to get away with a wash of the head. I made it too big ... "
"They don't necessarily find us."
"Even if we managed to escape the soldiers of the Foundation, we would still be doomed to die of starvation. People like us, accustomed to the comforts of civilization, cannot survive in the wilderness. Or we will end up mauled by some fugitive SCP. "
"Are we doomed, then?"
The woman did not hide her discomfort.
"Not for now. But our hands are tied. "
The scientist shook his head, dejected.
"I should have died with them… I mean with my wife and son that day. Would have been better."
"Why are you saying this?"
"Because now I have nothing left, and I am wanted. Tony will want my head, for what I've done. Before the alien invasion, I could have asked Europia or the Chinese Federation for refuge, making SCP8 available to them. But now Europia is an ally of Britannia, and the Chinese Federation no longer exists. "
"And your country?"
"My homeland has ceased to exist now. Its representatives are all dead. "
"Maybe if the aliens are defeated it will regain independence. The black knights now cooperate with Britannia, and I am sure they will be able to agree with the empire for an independent Japan. "
"Don't fool yourself, it will go back to being Area 11 or be annexed by Euro-Britannia. And even if it returns independent it would still be a new Japan, different from what it was 7 years ago. There would be no room for me, a remnant of the past ... "
At that moment a light coming from above alarmed them. A reptilian transport aircraft appeared above their heads, illuminating them with powerful beacons.
How did I not notice this before?
The scientist wondered, amazed.
Wake up, you idiot. Their aircraft (or some of them) are silent, and being more advanced they have better stealth technology than Earth's!
He remembered, after a few moments.
At that moment Kabuto also arrived, coming from the nearby bush.
"Doctor Orochimaru! I've been looking for you… " He broke off, only now noticing what was happening.
The trio stood still, knowing that if any escape attempts would end with their killing by the reptilians. And anyway they were unarmed, apart from Orochimaru's gun, which could do little against the alien soldiers and their weapons.
"Stay where you are! If you try to escape you will be instantly disintegrated! " Ordered them a voice on the loudspeaker.