Chapter 11
"Why isn't anyone sending any message to Team Thunder!" Reus shouted.
He furiously got out from the Executive's Room towards the Command Centre. An officer followed beside him and tried to calm him down.
"Sir, we are trying out best but there's a problem…" The officer informed.
"What is it Officer?" He looked at the officer as if he wants to kill him.
"Maniac's Mine has a few things that just make our operation harder. The wavelengths, there are somewhat different thus radio contact is a problem." The officer explained.
"Your saying to me that we can receive a live radio and video feed but can't contact them even for a second?"
"Correct Sir. We have no problem on receiving signals but sending signals prove to be a problem."
"Then find a fucking way God damn it. We have a fucking space station at the sky with a freaking laser beam, sending a signal to a freaking mine is the last thing that Hyperion can't do." Reus arrived to the centre of the room and look at the many screens. All focus at the last surviving Hyperion Special, Captain Alex O'Riley.
It was devastating, depressing and infuriating for Reus to see. They were Hyperion Specials, some of them were personally trained by him, and yet they trembled dead like flies. Alesia was seen only two times during the whole operation and Reus himself could not believe what was happening. One stubborn woman who refuses to die despite the barely survivable living conditions, Reus was having regrets on not shooting her back then.
Reus looked at his Chairman and found him stressed and near the state of a heart attack. Reus shook his head and thought of the consequences of another dead chairman. Reus ordered the officer to give him an earpiece and so he was given. He put it on his right ear and touches the device to activate it. Three months in being a CEO, he returns to be the Acting Commander once again to settle unfinished business.
"Give me a sitrep on O'Riley."
"They decided to make a Divide and Conquer approach while bringing Special Package." An officer informed through the earpiece.
"Is Special Package requires local or network activation?"
"Local Sir, Team Thunder has set Special Package to their preferred setting." Another officer said.
"Okay." Reus nodded. "I want everything on O'Riley on screen. Her heart rate, blood pressure, hormones, heat temperature and everything that you all capable of telling me. If the operation turns south, I'll send the whole army to that mine. Got that?"
"Yes Sir!" All the officers said.
…..
Thunder 0, entered an empty room. Checked her left and right to confirm the place was empty. She nodded to herself that the place was safe. She had scouted all the room that she could find and no hostile was sited. Just trash and blood, nothing unique to be found. Her team hasn't been reporting, the radio silence has been worrying.
There was a big switch and she turned the switch on. The switch created a loud thump and the sound of buzzing electric started to appear. Small lights started to light up in the room and the whole room lit up later. She was in the generator room, power systems and cables were scattered here and there. The room was left untouched seeing the many cobwebs at the corners ceilings. With the mine being lit adequately, she can continue the operation with more precision. She turned off her flashlight and went outside. She wanted to see Maniac's Mine in full light coverage.
As he arrived to the hallway towards Centre Point, she attempted to contact her team.
"This is Thunder 0, any findings Team Thunder?" She said through the radio.
It was all static. She waited for a moment but it seems no one was answering.
"Team Thunder, respond." She said again but this time she hopes for an answer.
She quickens her pace and attempted to contact for the third time. "Team Thunder, respond immediately!"
She arrived at the end of the hallway and into the light she went. Only to discover something chilling to the bone, the whole place was like a battlefield. With Special Package at the centre of the spacious mine, surrounding it was corpses, guns and knives. Craters were scattered with dried blood leaving a mark at the centre, to show previously there were puddles of blood.
The shadow of the battlefield, the corpses resembled of what had happened. Brutal and bloody. All across the spacious hall, bodies scattered around the place. The corpses were in various states. Decapitated, a few limbs less, intestines spilled out from the stomach, wounds and scars all around the skins and others that was torturous for the eyes to see. Another thing that O'Riley couldn't dismiss was the hill of bodies being piled up. All the psychos, monsters and soldiers were stacked together. The insanity of the mine was truly the worst in Pandora. Even the surface dwellers were not as brutal as this.
Thunder 0 heard a radio transmission coming and so she gave a full attention to it. She was hoping that her team was still in the fight.
"Do you hear me Reus and Blake?" A foreign voice said.
…..
Command Centre was quiet, shocked hearing the eerie voice that seeped to the soul. Every office from the lowest to the highest halted their work and focused on the screen. Reus fisted his two hands and released a noticeable growl. Blake at the executive room had his mouth opened wide while showing his denial through the shock at his face. It was none other than Alesia, to hear that she was able to speak after three months was like a ghost appearing real in front of one eyes.
"I know you can hear me you snivelling cur… the foxes that you are, how pathetic…." Alesia said.
The officers in the room were informed that there was an imposter of Alesia. But hearing it right now, it seemed possible it was really Alesia, the chairman before.
"Where does that come from?" Reus looked at one officer. "You! Tell me where the source of the voice!"
An officer checked at a colleague screen and informed. "It's one of Team Thunders earpieces, she's communicating through it."
"Well if we can receive the voice, that means we can track it right?"
"Yes we can Sir."
"Then track it down right now and give the coordinates, local poles as reference, to Thunder 0."
"Sir, we can't send any message to Thund-"
"Send it anyhow!" Reus said.
The officer nodded then quickly rushed across the room to find a solution. The other officers on the other hand were occupied on hearing Alesia. Reus has to admit that he couldn't do anything but just listen.
"How long are we going to play this game?"Alesia said. "How long will you send my soldiers to kill me and only to die? Starting to get desperate I see."
…..
Thunder 0 scouts around the place, wanting to find where the voice was coming from. Eyes on the sight of the weapon yet still no hostiles to be seen. The only thing that she could do was act defensively and let Alesia come to her.
"I took you in Reus and raised you up, fed you with my hands but you show your true nature by biting it. With the hands gone, the dog will start to starve and desperate. Having regrets Reus? To manage people into the battlefield is different managing people for a profit."
"Where the hell is she?!?!" Thunder 0 still cannot find Alesia in her sights.
…..
Reus gritted his teeth; Alesia was shaming him in front of his employees. He wanted to mute her but if he does so, it would show how weak he was. He doesn't know what he should do.
"Oh Blake, for once I really missed you. I really want to meet you Blake, so I could kill you by myself and see those weak eyes shed tears while you die. Just like Reus, you certainly are unappreciative towards your Master. I realize your talent on managing and put you on the position that you deserve. I let you stood beside me on conquering Pandora but the only thing that you did was stabbing my back. There's nothing to worry on my part, in time, the major stockholders will decide to oust you. You're no Chairman material and you know it, the employees know it and as stupid as Handsome Jack was, he knew it.
Blake was sweating like a river, his suit started to soak and he started to bite his thumb to stay cool. But in reality, he was on the verge of a heart attack.
"I really pity, you weak old man. So that's why I'm giving my last advice to you. To work with betrayers is to risk being betrayed.
Reus looked at Blake and with just that, Reus could see doubt in the eyes Blake. Blake got up from his seat and closed the door: he didn't want to see his CEO.
"To the employees, I ask you one thing, has Hyperion become better without me? Hmm? Has your wage increased in the months of my so called death? Has the stock rise up just when I took position like the past? Have you all getting more benefits from the company?" All the officers in the room looked at each other. "Don't lie to yourself, the opposite has happened and all you have no guarantee of holding a job in the coming days. During my administration, I have achieved more than my late husband could achieve in ten years. Can you say the same for the current administration?
"You can send me to hell and I will rise to heaven. You can attempt to kill me but I will be hard to kill. Send an army and I will kill each and every one and built a mountain out of their corpses. In time, I will escape from this mine that you curse me to die Reus, I give you my word. In chess you can attempt to kill the Queen, but do not forget, the Queen has every move in the game!"