Rolling green fields stood ahead of them, lit by the great golden sun above. Vast stretches of land untraveled by man for years, where overgrowth was thick and plants poked out through the broken concrete of highways and where destroyed cars lined the roads, remained the only sight for many kilometers' distance. Shin regarded the views outside, his gaze calm as he swept the place ahead from the front of the formation for any possible hostiles.
Their target continued to evade them for the second day on. They'd slept in some old abandoned castle that once belonged to a Republic Noble before the war. Behind him and in the middle of the formation, Fido continued to follow faithfully with the train of cargo containers that connected to him. Like a convoy of trucks under escort during a military campaign, the Juggernauts, Cyclops and Barrett-class machine continued their pursuit, driven by the simple purpose of letting that one ODST that Shin could hear go to rest.
Hades, the former ODST that now acted as the hellfire artillery that had pounded them before, was moving again. Shin and his team pursued on, trying to find the damn thing before it transferred again, but it was reporting their positions. Shin could hear the distant screams of the many Legion in this occupied border territory, wandering without seeming purpose after Dullahan... Rei... Had been dealt with.
"I wonder if these roads are ever gonna be travelled again..." Mused Anju as she brought up the rear right flank of the formation, closest to the highway that was on their right. To the left of it was a raised chunk of land where train tracks leading to everywhere and nowhere sat. The cars had long-ago either rusted or were destroyed by the Legion as target practice, the sheer disdain shown by the machines evident in the amount of holes some of the former human-manned transports presented.
"Knowing the UNSC... They're gonna be running supply convoys through the area the moment they clear it out," Daiya replied to Anju's question. He was taking up the left flank, since his mech was the tallest. He could better see anything coming in from the left and over that mound where the tracks were. Theo's chuckle echoed over the Para-RAID, but the boy said nothing. He'd been uncharacteristically quiet for the past day. Haruto had picked up the slack, though.
"Y'all really think they're gonna be waiting for us out there? I mean... That's a lot of waiting for a bunch of kids whose tanks can barely break sixty KPH on a good day," Lecca, however, intervened this time. The girl had been far more talkative, too, considering the amount she spoke beforehand. Hell, she mostly talked with Myna and Haruto, interacting little with everyone else.
"Not a doubt in the world on that one," Laughed Raiden, "They're crazy, remember?"
"Hah. Fair enough," Lecca quipped, smiling, "Volkov mentioned something about a few old trucks in the Spirit's inventory, so I'm pretty sure we will be seeing supply caravans in the area, provided they manage to make it safe for travel. Still. That's a lot of Legion to kill. The heck could they even use that has a payload strong enough to wipe out that many, anyway?"
"You saw their EM bombs. Fried an entire swarm of Eintagsfliege with just two of'em. I wanna know what would happen if they hit ground troops of the Legion, though. Bet it's gonna be awesome!" Haruto said ecstatically. A few murmurs of agreement echoed from the other members of the squadron. Shin continued to listen to them talking, checking out a map of the local area they'd liberated from one of the pit stops along the way. An old gas station that had been closed down just before the war started. Surprisingly they still had these damn things in stock.
"They still have those things they called 'Nukes'," Shin finally added as he looked at the map to track their current position, then stowed it away in his pocket, beside the M6G Magnum he'd gotten as a gift. He then continued, "Major Volkov told me about what those can do. A tactical nuclear weapon can wipe out an entire settlement or army in one strike, with little risk to anyone that fired it..."
"Holy crap," Kurena voiced, "How?"
"Kilotons to outright megatons of TNT equivalence put onto the warhead of a missile," Shin replied thoughtfully, "The caveat with it is that the fallout of the blast would leave the area uninhabitable for decades, maybe centuries. And it, too, has an EMP effect. It's why they used short-range EM bombs instead of anything like a nuclear warhead detonated in high atmosphere, I imagine... Would fry every electronic device the EM Pulse would reach, including the Republic's energy grid."
"Oh..." Kurena murmured.
"Good thing they ain't using them en-masse, then..." Raiden replied, "Can't imagine what that'd do to us."
"Can our glorious allies keep getting scarier? Find out tomorrow, on the Legion War Reports," Haruto quipped, mimicking the voice of an old news presenter. A few laughs escaped the mouths of the Eighty-Sixes aboard the Juggernauts. Shin hummed as he saw the road ahead fork to the left and right. The signs up top told of a border crossing point to the left and straight and, to the right, there was a military base.
He blinked, listening again to the voice of the Legion Shepherd. He spoke, "Shepherd's stopped, sixty klicks south-east... We're going to that Military Base."
"Understood," Replied the entire group as the tension in the air grew thick enough you could cut it with a high-frequency blade. Veering to the right and up the embankment of the highway, the team slowly moved and tried to avoid some of the vehicles in the area, marching forth and past even a damaged armored fighting vehicle:A conventional tank that sat in a ditch off to the left, a burnt-out hulk that bore the old markings of the Republic Armed Forces.
One of his team members scoffed at the sight of the tank husk. Shin didn't inquire. He understood and hoped that the UNSC would be able to properly train the Republic's new military by the time they were needed. There were more vehicles of the military, still, all laying on the highway route to the base. Tanks, transports, trucks, cars, all burnt-out husks or shot to hell enough that one could see the light peeking out through the bullet holes.
That might've explained why the Legion had so thoroughly wiped the floor with much of the Republic's military. Many were concentrated in bases within the outer sectors of the country. Many of them probably met their end before they had even had a chance to pull out of their motor-pools or bases. Shin sighed, then listened in again, squelching the thoughts of the Republic's insurmountable defeat.
He heard a crunch beneath the front-left leg of his Juggernaut, but chose to ignore it. Whatever it'd been, it wasn't worth it. The machine had repositioned again, unsurprisingly enough, but it was still within proximity of the base, between it and what would probably have been the Old Border. He hummed. They could take a break in the old FOB if they were lucky.
As the midday sun rose into the center of the blue dome, the team had arrived at their destination. The clogged-up military checkpoint was chock-full of old tanks and transports, much like the highway exit, though these ones looked abandoned instead of outright destroyed. Several of them had rusted away, but others, including the tanks, had actually been blasted by Legion guns as the massive holes in their sides indicated. APFSDS ammo wasn't anything to scoff at, no matter what fired it.
The group stared at the relics of the old battlefield as they clambered through the massive hole in the base's outer concrete walls and over the destroyed inner fence. Inside, they found the base's inner area completely trashed. There were a couple of corpses from Legion armor and even five Ameise stacked neatly in a corner to the right, dead as doornails when Shin went to check on them. The courtyard where the Muster would be held was full of holes from artillery and heavy guns, several of the buildings had half-collapsed and the hangar made out of corrugated steel had outright been flattened.
In the wreckage, they found no corpses, courtesy of the Legion's nasty habits, presumably. They advanced toward a secondary vehicle hangar as clouds slowly began to gather in the sky, entering it and stopping just inside. Once Shin popped open the canopy of his vehicle, a standard-issue UNSC MA5 Assault Rifle in hand, he found nothing but debris in the place, too, as well as spent casings and destroyed machine gun nests.
He climbed out of the vehicle and squeezed the weapon's hand-guard. The flashlight mounted below the barrel lit the area ahead, piercing through a thick cloud of dust that floated around the old building. The rearmost concrete wall of the place was riddled with bullet holes, presumably from the Ameise that must've swept the place. Shin looked down and saw the corpse of a Homing Mine. He put two rounds into its head to make sure it was dead for good, then said, "Keep your eyes open... Legion AP Mines..."
"Oh, great..." Raiden commented, hefting one of the UNSC's Battle Rifles by the carry handle.
"Now, we can blow up together," Lecca quipped rather darkly, racking the pump of a shotgun and looking it over. She gave an approving nod, then looked back to see Daiya exiting the Cyclops mech, his own MA5 rifle in hand. That the UNSC's armorers had agreed to spare them the kit told Shin they trusted they'd get the weapons back. They hopefully weren't wrong.
Raiden approached, toting a simple Submachine Gun instead of any fancy rifle, as well as several mags' worth of ammo on his belt. He looked around, then murmured, "Really looks like the Republic didn't expect the first invasion force to hit as hard as it did..."
"If their burnt-out tanks aren't proof enough of that," Kurena remarked. She'd grabbed her M6 pistol instead of the Sniper Rifle she'd departed with. Sure, she was the team's best shot when it came to the Juggernaut's gun, but she still wasn't sure why she'd picked out the Sniper. At this point, though, it didn't really matter. She had it with her for longer-range engagements.
Haruto had also joined up with Lecca in carrying the standard-issue UNSC close-range weapon that was the shotgun. He spoke, "Barracks was FUBAR when we came in. Wonder if this place has any sort of side bunks or anything..." before stopping and noticing the spread of the damage. He whistled, then said, "Looks like the poor bastards got sideswiped, hard."
Anju brought up the rear with a second Battle Rifle, looking through the scope and trying to keep herself calm. Myna and the others, meanwhile, went out to secure the outer area, weapons at the ready. Anju marched up to the group, her rifle now slung over her shoulder, then said, "This place is an old research base, too... Just read that on one of the signs."
"Research base, huh?" Raiden noted. He looked to the left. There was an armored door stuck into the concrete wall, wearing several dings and dents from the heavy weaponry that'd probably been used to prop it open, as well as scorch marks from explosives. Seemed as though the mine below them had nearly been used to try and bust the place open. Still, it was open, if ever so slightly. To the left of it, there was a plunger of sorts, like a detonator for TNT from mining expeditions back in the old days.
The others all turned on the flashlights on their weapons, with Shin humming. He looked to Lecca and Haruto and said, "Take point. Eyes open..."
"Gotcha, boss," Lecca replied, then looked to Haruto, smirked and led the way. All of them trained their rifles on the door, with Haruto going to the right of Lecca. She leaned forward, pulling on the door. The horrid groan of rusting steel scratching against itself filled the concrete hangar as the girl gently pulled the door. Training his weapon on the door, flashlight on, Haruto found nothing but darkness and a descending staircase.
He looked to Shin, who readied his rifle and nodded.
Lecca and Haruto lead the way through into the concrete cage and down the ever-descending stairwell. Something irked Shin about the place all of a sudden. He didn't like it. The narrow stairwell that permitted only two people to move down or up it at any one time, the windowless area. Over half a dozen flashlights lit the place up, white light washing into every corner. Every bit of the place still felt too small, too tight, too cramped. Like one mistake would lead to all of them getting gunned down as they descended.
No, not even gunned down.
The Stairwell continued down for half-a-dozen more floors, each platform seemingly more broken than the last. There were wires strung out across the place, leading up. Shin kept his eyes locked onto the wires, tracing them and ensuring that there was no actual TNT connected to them. No, several wires were broken, cut, but there were scorch marks on the wall. Either the Republic troopers that must've tried to bury this place didn't use enough TNT to actually destroy the platforms, or something ripped them out.
They'd all gone quiet. Shin felt a bead of sweat running down his cheek as he scanned the area to the left, while Raiden kept the right clear. They'd reached the last floor, the area ahead of them opening out into a vast room, dark and deep enough that the flashlights couldn't penetrate the inky black ahead. The sound of running water rippled through the place, probably a burst pipe.
The light fixtures up above were mostly empty, the bulbs and rods within them shattered, the glass scattered across the concrete floor below. As the group descended, Lecca, who'd taken the right, leaned against the wall and poked her head out, shotgun pointed right. Haruto did the same on the left, scanning the area, while Shin and the others pretty much scattered and formed a loose perimeter around the staircase, trying to light up the darkness ahead.
Rows of concrete pillars sat on the left and right, disappearing into the darkness of the massive hall. Bullet holes and broken chunks lay on the floor, with some pillars' innards exposed, bent, rusted steel beams jutting out to the right. Shin hummed, looking straight ahead, then removed a flare from his belt. He slid the rifle onto his back, leaving it hanging by the strap, then ignited the flare. Scarlet light filtered into the area ahead as Shin threw it. It landed flat, revealing a small area ahead, full of caked dust and cobwebs.
The Hall must've been massive.
"I don't like this..." Murmured Haruto, eyes locked down the iron sights of the gun.
"Stay together for now," Shin ordered, "Myna and the others will keep our Juggernauts safe. We'll move deeper... Something about this place doesn't add up."
"You're telling me..." Theo remarked, looking around. He turned to the right, examining the wall that was the endpoint of the hall. His rifle's light panned over a series of letters that he read out-loud, "Archaeological Lab A-15, Republic of San Magnolia, Ministry of Defense..." and he panned a hint further up. An omega symbol lay in the middle of a shield bearing the crest of the Republic. He murmured, "The fuck...?"
"Didn't know Legion had a penchant for hitting archaeology labs. Heck, I didn't know the Republic had Archaeological labs in military bases..." Lecca commented as she moved up to one of the pillars, keeping her rifle trained to the right. The light revealed the faintest signs of another wall far, far ahead of her, though she said, "We got another wall up ahead... And if my eyes ain't deceiving me... A couple of doors, armor plated..."
"Take Anju, Daiya and Kurena and check it out. Be careful," Shin ordered, approaching the place where he'd thrown the flare. He stopped, taking a knee and retrieving it, before tossing it further ahead. Raiden followed him, while Haruto and the others took a left, opposite Lecca's group. The two men looked as the flare stopped dead in front of a wall just up ahead.
No. Not a wall.
Shin and Raiden approached the thing, rifle and SMG trained. It wasn't a Wall. Definitely not. Armor plating thicker than on most tanks, sixteen separate specialized mechanical locks, a highly-secure identification system that only opened with the right biometrics and even a layer of automated turrets. All of this lay in disrepair, with the bulkhead door taking the worst of the damage. Several high-yield explosives had been detonated, either in an effort to bury the door, or to open it. They were mediocrely successful at most. The door was a bent hulk of armor plating, six inches thick, but through which one could see, considering the gaping holes.
"The hell were they protecting under that much armor?" Murmured Raiden, poking his head through one of the holes and looking inside, "Can't see shit..."
"We need to find out if the place has auxiliary generators..." Shin noted, then put his hand over his ear and asked, "Lecca. We found an armored bulkhead that's been cracked open by explosives, but we need a light source beyond the flashlights and flares. Do you have anything?"
"We're just going down one of the two corridors, Shin..." The girl replied. He could hear her rapid heartbeats as she marched down with her team, "Place is huge. Looks like it spreads out across the entire FOB..."
"Right... Myna, you and your group alright up there?" He asked.
"Just fine here, Shin. Rain's started, though, so we closed the hangar doors manually," Myna replied, seemingly jovial.
"Roger. Haruto, what's your status?" He inquired next.
"All's green here, Shin. There's just storage rooms and a bunch of powerless terminals. Still, the door was sealed pretty tight. Not sure what the heck they were researching, but Theo's pulling the few physical files we can find here," The boy replied, "We'll rejoin you the moment we're done..." and Shin hummed. He let the kids do their thing, listening. The place seemed to groan for a moment. It was a faint, distant noise, full of pain, but Shin could hear it.
Something skittered off to the right in his peripheral vision. He spun about and snapped the rifle, trying to catch it in the flashlight's beam.
He scoffed.
"You okay?" Raiden asked, looking even more tense than Shin.
He nodded, lowering the rifle, "I saw something move... I think..." before he heard the hum of... Something. The lights flickered to life, the few of them still intact, revealing the area around them. The hall was, in fact, quite a large place. Several doors faced one-another across the place, two of which had been opened. The duo heard the footsteps of Lecca's team and the girl appeared, grinning.
"Found the auxiliary generators," She stated, "They surprisingly still had fuel cells that hadn't degraded."
"Good," Shin nodded, then looked toward the bulkhead door. He looked through one of the holes, but could barely make out what was on the other side. He didn't need to, however, as the sound of something crashing in the room where Haruto had gone with his team echoed over to them. The team gasped, all of them running over to see what'd happened.
Haruto stared, bug-eyed, at a corpse sat between him and a terminal. A skeletal figure clad in a Republic desert uniform similar to their own was hunched over one of the terminal keyboards. The screen was broken, splattered with old, dried blood. On the floor, next to the skeleton, a nine-millimeter pistol lay, its ammunition spent. It was rusting. Several spent casings also lay on the floor around the corpse, like he'd been fighting something.
Of course, chunks of his skull were missing and blood painted more than the terminal. The ceiling above the unidentified dead was caked in a layer of dry blood and brain matter. Shin blinked, approaching the skeleton. Looking it over, he saw that whoever this was, they were a high-ranking member of the Republic's military force. He checked the body, pulling a card out of their uniform's breast pocket. A magnetic card, labeled 'ALPHA-CLASS CLEARANCE'.
Shin hummed, then said, "Haruto, look over one of the Terminals... See what you and Theo can pull."
"You got it," The boy nodded, still a bit spooked as Theo helped him to his feet. Shin showed Lecca and the others to follow, turning off the flashlight on his rifle. He approached the biometrics scanner box next to the door and examined it thoroughly. Content when he found a slot to insert the card in, he did just that. The scanner system whirred, beeped and then whined, before a light flashed green.
Raising their firearms, the group watched as the door slid open, hearing its sickening metallic groan as the few still-intact locks disengaged. The door dislodged, slid to the left on rails, then got stuck. They had just enough space for one person to step through. Shin took the plunge this time, much to the surprise and chagrin of several of his team-mates. Sliding in, rifle trained forward, the man found himself in a second massive hall, this one filled to the brim with scientific equipment. No extra doors leading to different rooms around...
But the thing sat in the middle of the room was... Something else...
Silver alloys shined under the few still-intact LED lights in the room, flickering symbols flashing on and off on semi-translucent, glass-like material. Shaped like an hourglass that had been turned on its side and with a strip of light emanating from the middle, whatever the device ahead of Shin was, it probably wasn't something the Republic had simply developed.
Lowering his rifle as the rest of his team walked in, Shin stared with disbelief at the item ahead. He recognized certain patterns on it, but others completely eluded him. Approaching the item, he looked it over from up-close, noting to himself the familiar, yet so different architecture of whatever this device was. His head began to pound the closer he got to it, though, with the voices of the Legion somehow growing louder.
No. He wasn't sure if that was the Legion. They didn't speak any familiar language that Shin could make out. It could've been just the screams overlapping, but that meant that there'd be a horde of Legion just outside the base. He shut his eyes, feeling a sharp pain, then activated his Para-RAID, starting, "... Myna... Do we have any signs of Legion troops out th..."
"Shin!" Raiden called out as the boy collapsed. He shut off his Para-RAID Device and dragged him away, stating, "Nobody, and I mean this, nobody turn on their Para-RAID! Whatever that thing is... It's affecting it...!"
The man felt his own ear and looked to see blood seeping out from it. He swore to himself in a murmur, dragging Shin back. Anju ran up to them, her medical kit already in her hands. She looked over to the massive device sat in the middle of the room and asked, "Just what is that thing...?" as she pulled out cotton and stuffed it in their ears, to try and stop the bleeding.
Shin grabbed onto his head, then looked at the device. He grit his teeth and said, "That thing... Everyone who's still on the Para-RAID, disconnect, now..."
Raiden turned his off, then asked Shin, "What is it?"
"I don't know... But..." He clenched his teeth so hard he could feel them cracking, "It's screaming at us..."
It was like a thousand voices spoke to Shin at once, an overwhelming sensory load that would down even some of the more proficient Nouzens. He slowly staggered to his feet, then approached the device again. Raiden and Anju tried to stop him, but a wave of nausea suddenly hit both of them, forcing them to stand well back. Shin powered through, approaching the device despite the blurring vision and the thumping headache.
He set one hand on it and it flashed a burning orange, its entire body enveloped in what looked like a flame for but a moment. But in that flame, one could easily make out faces for that split second it'd been active, all screaming at once at the boy. Shin almost collapsed again, letting out a heavy breath. He shook his head, staring right at the device again, to see the dancing symbols on one of the glass-like surfaces had coalesced around his hand... On the opaque silver metal.
He took a step back, removing his hand from the device as his ringing ears began to calm down and his headache subsided. He ran a hand on his cheek as he felt something warm trickle down it, then looked at his fingers. That was still blood. He blinked, shaking away the nausea, then asking, "Is everyone else alright...?" his voice weak as he looked over his team. All of them nodded, eyes still wide as they watched the device.
"What... Was that...?" Theo murmured, marching up to Shin and looking at the device.
"I don't know..." He shook his head, then swallowed empty, his mouth dry, "I don't know."
"The symbols on it are... Off..." Raiden remarked, joining up with them as well. He ran a hand above the device, but Shin stopped him just before he went to touch it. The two looked at each-other for a moment, the tension once more weighing down heavily on all of them. Raiden pulled his hand back, narrowed his lips and said, "We should get the hell out of here..."
"I agree," Shin nodded, "Make a note of this base so we can give its location to UNSC exploration teams later on..."
Shin turned on his Para-RAID, finding that whatever he did when he touched the device must've turned it off. He listened in, then heard Myna say, "Uhh... Shin. Y-Y'all mind if we come downstairs, too? Something about the outside's... Kind of creeping me the hell out right now... Like, the clouds are thick enough that the sky's gone absolutely black, but there's still light... And the rain is really pounding on the corrugated steel roof of this thing."
"We're coming back up now," Shin replied, then said, "Nobody else touch this thing. Grab any files we can and let's head out... Maybe if we make it to the Federal Republic that the Admiral mentioned, we can hand the data over..."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Each of them kept an eye on the device as they left the room, with Shin being the last to depart. He stopped just before the door, staring straight at it for a few moments, his focus on it and it alone. He swallowed empty, approaching it once more despite Raiden's muffled, almost inaudible warnings. The Undertaker stopped in front of the device, rifle on his back. He extended one hand toward it and gently, slowly set it onto the shimmering glass.
Symbols formed around his fingers again, shining blue instead of orange-scarlet this time. The device flashed once, a small wave of azure energy washing over the room. Shin hummed, moving his hand slightly to the left. Another pulse, this one somewhat stronger. The ammunition counter on his rifle flickered for a moment before returning to normal. Shin hummed.
He pulled his hand back and saw a trail of holographic light following it. The Symbols appeared ahead of him, a dance of light from the alien machine. He closed his fist and watched as the items vanished. A third pulse, this one much stronger, shook the entire complex. The lights of the room crackled, popped and exploded, washing the room in darkness once more.
"God dammit! Power died!" Lecca called out, "The hell did you just do, boss!?"
"Shin, you alright!?" Raiden barked.
"I'm fine..." The boy remarked as he pushed shards of glass off the shoulder of his uniform. His heart rattled in his chest as he took a step back from the device, watching as its own lights were the only thing left illuminating the place. Wisps of light began to dance around it, floating, the whirr of some kind of engines filling the Captain's ears. He blinked, then murmured, "I have a bad feeling about this..."
He drew his rifle off his back, to see that the ammunition counter was dead. Narrowing his lips, he tried to power on the flashlight on the rifle, but found no purchase. He called out, "Light and ammo counter are dead..."
"Same here!" Several of his team replied.
"... Alright. we're bugging out from the underground. Let's move..." He stated, then pulled out a flare and lit it in one move. Drawing his pistol so he could more easily hold onto the flare, the boy exited the room from which even more lights, both orange and blue emanated, turning only to face the machine once more. It began to whisper things in his ears.
... Then, it said simply, "... Leave..."
Shin narrowed his eyes at it, then he nodded to his team. All of them lit up their flares, drawing sidearms, then began their march toward the stairwell. They scanned their surroundings as noises began to fill the room. Metallic clanging, combined with the squishy noises of something skittering toward them. Something else screamed in his psyche. It gnawed at him, calling out in a language forgotten. The man gasped, turned and fired off a round into the nothing.
A wet thunk filled the room... Followed by the scream of what sounded like monsters.
Shin, wide-eyed, cried, "RUN!" and his team didn't waste a moment. Shadows followed them in the darkness, deformed, screaming at them. The man fired his pistol into the night, unsure what he was hitting, but aware that he was still hitting something hard enough. He heard the collapsing creatures fall to the floor, whatever they were, with their comrades scrambling over them, all of them screaming in unison, terrified, pained, hungry.
He couldn't make out what they were in the dark. He'd dropped his flare midway through the fast-paced climb up. His comrades fired blindly past him and into whatever it was that was chasing them, with Kurena calling out, "Shin! SHIN! CATCH!" and throwing him her flare. He caught it mid flight and turned about to fire his pistol, only to catch a single glimpse of a sickly, pale creature with a bulging neck wound out of which something protruded. He didn't hesitate, putting two rounds into it and five more out of the magazine of his fifty-cal pistol into whatever else was behind them.
He seemed to stagger them, whatever they were, just enough for him to gain a headstart and rejoin the team. The group clambered up the stairs, bounding across them two or three steps at a time to more quickly get to the top. Raiden called out, "I have a couple of grenades! Shin, whatever the hell you do, don't stop running!" before he primed and threw the explosives.
The rumble of explosions shook the ground around them. As they finally caught a glimpse of the faint light of the top floors. As they reached the floor and the first people started coming through, Shin called out, "CLOSE THE DOOR! NOW!" and bolted as fast as his legs could hold him. The faint window of light ahead of him seemed to fade as the metal door was pushed in slowly. He jumped, leaned and rolled out of the place, turning about only to fire the entire mag of his M6 pistol into the advancing monstrosities.
He stood to his feet once the gun ran dry and helped push the broken steel door into place, forcing it shut just as whatever was chasing them slammed against them. The others came forward with their weapons drawn and aimed at it. Shin looked to the left and said, "Raiden! Theo! That box! MOVE IT!" as he held the door shut. The monsters screamed, clawing at the door, their voices echoing in Shin's ears. Pain, fear and hunger. All they talked about.
As the boys moved up with the box, which seemed full of some sort of metals, Shin took a step back, reloaded his pistol and put two more through the slit that had just opened and through which a broken human hand poked out, its bones protruding through the sickly skin. The door was shoved shut, with the box somehow holding in place whatever the fuck that had been. Shin stared at the door, the barrel of his new handgun still smoldering.
"What the FUCK WAS THAT?!" Lecca demanded, her breath hitching in her throat.
"... I don't know..." Shin murmured between gulps of air, sweat draping him from head to toe, "But we're leaving. Now. I don't care if it's raining... The UNSC needs the information about this place... Theo, what do you have?"
"A dozen files in a mishmashed pile on me..." The boy replied, swallowing his own spit, "Few I got to read told me the Republic was researching that device and a few vials of something-or-other biological material that came with it from an excavation site due South, near the former mountainous borders with the Alliance of Wald... They found some big dig site there..."
"Clearly, they messed up something along the way... What were those things...?" Kurena murmured to herself. She looked to Shin and asked, "We're getting outta here, right?"
"Yeah," He nodded, "We have to survive. Deal with the Shepherd... And deliver the location of this base to the UNSC. They may know what to do with it..."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Fido walked up to check on Shin and the man put a hand on the machine-friend's chassis to reassure him he was alright. He looked down at his foot afterward, then pulled a chunk of something sickeningly green off of it and tossed it aside. As the group clambered onto the machines, Shin could still hear the screaming monstrosities and whatever that device down there was. The device still spoke in his ear, loud, monotonous.
CONTAINMENT BREACH. DEPLOY DECONTAMINATION UNITS TO SURROUNDING FACILITY SUBROOMS. ATTEMPTED RECLAIMER ACCESS INTERRUPTED.
Reclaimer, huh? Whatever could that one mean...?
... The Legion's ODST Shepherd moved North-East now, trying to escape even deeper into their territories.
The research base was for the UNSC to figure out. The Shepherd was Spearhead's most pressing job.