The soldiers jogged about in several groups setting up a perimeter as the trucks have been placed a circular formation around the cave's entrance. Mikisugi and Tsumugu stood at the centre of the circle looking into the cave while several agents behind them were checking their gear, placing an ear piece in their ear while they attached a camera onto their outfits.
An agent walked up to Mikisugi before saluting, "Sir, we took out the needles from the two assistants of Doctor Xavier, they told us they had lost communications with the other members of their team for the past hour."
Mikisugi turned his head to the agent uttering a calm "Thank you." before looking back towards the cave as the agent walked back the way he came.
Tsumugu spoke up as the two continued to look at the cave, "Its big to have made marks like those, you sure going inside is the best idea? We could try smoking it out."
Mikisugi replied calm and collected, "There's not an anti life fiber weapon big enough in our possession to smoke something that big out since your thread spool grenades wouldn't do nearly enough damage and it would shrug off any conventional weapons. Not to mention we don't know if there's any more of the doctor's assistants in there..."
Tsumugu nodded subtly in response "hm yeah you got a point, well then you're gonna have to sit this one out, chain of command and all."
Mikisugi replied with his own subtle nod "yeah makes sense, and I'm guessing you're heading in?"
Tsumugu replied to the sound of him cocking his needle sub-machine gun "of course."
Mikisugi closed his eyes with an understanding smile, "heh I expect no less from you, just try not to die."
Tsumugu was dismissive in his response "Hm, as if I would let these parasites kill me."
He then turned around to the agents behind him, all of the agents bearing needle rifles.
"Alright!" Tsumugu began to shout to the agents, "Stick together and if you see anything move that ain't your fellow agent you call it out!"
The sound of rifles being cocked filled the air as Tsumugu turned around towards the cave, "Move out!" With these last words the agents moved towards the cave.
Back in the camp, the soldiers had set up a number of monitors on the table, each one displaying different feeds from the agent's camera's which seemed to glow with the incandescent green of night vision. The general and the doctor stood behind two soldiers that sat in front of the monitors. The soldiers spoke into head set mics that linked to the soldier's ear pieces. Back at the entrance of the cave they had a similar set up, this time the screens were set up on the side of one of the trucks displaying the same feeds from the agent's camera with Mikisugi speaking into his own head set mic into the ear pieces. Within the cave was pitch black, but this was no issue for the agents as the Sun glasses they wore appeared to have inbuilt night vision, including Tsumugu who was now wearing his own pair of sunglasses. Each of the agents peered carefully down the sights of their rifles. The tension climbed higher as the claw marks became more and more prolific as they edged further and further into the cave. The further they went in the heavier the air began to feel causing the agent's apprehensiveness to rise. And then... nothing, they reach the end of the cave.
The tension changed to confusion as one of the agents could audibly be heard talking through the communications "you sure we're in the right place?"
Tsumugu observed closely, taking in every detail of the cave's dead end and noticed the end of the cave was a spherical protrusion. He then looked down at the ground around the protrusion noticing markings on the ground that seem to show that the protrusion has been moved.
"This part of the cave has been blocked off..." he placed his finger against his ear piece as he appeared to communicate with those back at the entrance "yo, seems like this part of the cave has been blocked off, can you send in a DTR?"
In accordance with Tsumugu's message a DTR piloted by an agent starts rumbling it's way into the cave. The DTR's tracks screeched as it sped up pushing against the boulder blocking the cave. The boulder began to move unveiling the continued stretch of the cave. As the agents began carefully moving inside the rest of the cave. It didn't take long for for the red glow to emanate from the walls of the cave which bared crimson threads.
"Oh my..." The doctor's face showed a mix of excitement and worry as he saw the threads through the cameras of the agents.
Mikisugi chimed in through the communications to question the doctor, "hey Xavier, what is this?"
The doctor took a moment to collect himself as a bead of sweat dropped down his forehead, "I'm not entirely sure what exactly, but they shouldn't be imbued with a dominant mind and even if they were... at that mass they burn out their energy in a few hours. My guess is that they're removed parts of the life fiber entity's body."
Mikisugi continued to questioned the Doctor, "why would it remove parts of it's body?"
The doctor's voice had a shrug in his reply "No idea, although the way its structured tells me its some sort of restructuring agent to reform the area to be more habitable."
Tsumugu seemed frustrated as he spoke into his ear piece, "you know this is some real interesting posturing but can you just tell me if this shit is gonna jump out and eat my face or something."
The doctor replied with a slight chuckle "I understand your concerns as an avid film enjoyer, but no they shouldn't jump out at you."
After this explanation the squad inched their way through the cave, consistently looking at the walls carefully. The sounds of their footsteps echoed through the cave's winding tunnels, along with another sound that dragged up the tension. Scratching, incredibly loud scratching. the scratching sound Seemingly coming from deep within the cave. The fear in the agents climbed higher following Tsumugu, when suddenly, one of the agents jumped in their skin. They were looking at the wall as a person seemed to protrude out of a clump of life fibers attached to the wall.
"What the hell?!" The agent exclaimed upon seeing the individual attached to the wall.
Another asked "is that one of the doctor's assistants?!"
With another asking "Why the hell is he in the wall?!"
The doctor back in the camp seemed lost in thought before uttering his own hypothesis on what is happening, he appeared troubled about what he was witnessing, "I-it seems like they are being used as food for the life fibers on the walls..."
Tsumugu took a tailors dagger from a holster on the back of his waist, cutting into the clump of life fibers. The man soon fell out from the wall wearing a similar hazmat suit as the two individuals from before, two of the agents kneeling down to check on the man.
"These life fibers are in their incubation period, so he should be alright." Tsumugu pointed to two of the agents, "You two, Take him back to the entrance, the other seven? you're with me."
The two agents placed the man's arms over their shoulders and carried the man back the way the group came, while the others continued making their way into the cave.
Again and again the agents inched closer and closer towards the scratching noises. Every step and the tension climbed higher. Eventually they reached a large underground cavern. Looking about the cavern yielded little results until... They saw it. It's body was like a spider attached to another spider, while it stood on 6 legs, on it's back stuck out several large tendrils that swirled with every movement, it's body was purely crimson, glowing with energy. It's face seemed to be a single eye, glowing yellow and red, and seemed as if it was just a shape carved into it's body. It doesn't seem to have seen the squad yet who were hunkering low behind whatever cover they could find. The entity was huge standing easily at 5 meters tall, it wandered about the cavern it's tendrils touching the wall leaving behind a club of threads sticking onto the wall. from their position they saw more individuals stuck in the walls of the cavern, all seemingly unconscious. A single agent moved their foot, accidentally kicking a stone. The stone ricocheted across the ground. bouncing of the stone sent a sound reverberating through the cavern causing the entity to turn towards the sound's direction. The entity approached the squads position, each thud of the monster's steps was a ticking clock the squad listened out for.
"Wait for it..." Tsumugu whispered as the monster walked, "wait for it..." the monster got closer "wait for it..." and even closer "wait for it..." the monster was now right in front of them before, "NOW!" Tsumugu shouted as he threw a thread spool at the entity, the thread spool exploded seemingly disorientating the monster as it stumbled for a moment.
The nudist beach agents surrounded the entity firing needles at it. The entity screamed out a bellowing roar as the needles embedded themselves in the entity's body. A few of the agents reloaded their rifles while the others continued firing, the entity convulsing at their attacks. The tendrils on the entity's back starting wiggling and swiping at the agents who hid behind more rocks for cover while Tsumugu had planted more thread spools at the entity's feet. The thread spools exploded knocking the entity onto it's chest. Tsumugu ran around the entity, firing at the entity with his thread SMG. However the entity seemed to stand up, the needles seeming to be pushed out of the entity's body, dropping onto the ground.
Tsumugu jumped behind a barricade of rock, looking over his shoulder frustrated, "Damn, that thing is tough..." he growled before noticing a pole like object on the ground.
The doctor suddenly spoke up, "wait Tsumugu! could that be...?"
Tsumugu angrily responded, "You wanna hurry up, I'm kinda busy here!"
The doctor spoke clearly in return "That spear, that must belong to one of my assistants, its an anti life fiber tool I designed, implant it into the entity and it SHOULD send a signal to the entity's life fibers to cease all activity."
Tsumugu picked up the spear, the sounds of gunshots raging in the background, "This thing?"
The Doctor desperately commanded him through the ear piece, "jam that into the monster!"
Tsumugu grits his teeth in frustration "tch this better work!"
Tsumugu gestured to the agents with a hand signal.
The agent who saw the signal shouted to the others, "Tsumugu wants us to distract it! So lets go!" The agents began shouting while all collectively firing into the entity, "GET SOOOME!"
Tsumugu leapt over the barricade of rock, running towards the entity "Eat this you red thread ass hole!"
Tsumugu planted the spear into the entity although nothing seemed to happen.
"Hit the button!" the doctor screamed through the communications, causing Tsumugu to throw his hand at the end of the spear touching the button located at the top.
The spear began to send a shock of energy into the entity, with the shock the part the entity was struck with went a bright radiating blue. The entity convulsed for a moment, before collapsing onto the ground.
The caverns were filled with the echoes of laboured breathing from the agents in reprieve from the thrill of combat. The agents looked at the entity while Tsumugu stood in surprise next to the entity's body.
"IT WORKS!" Doctor Xavier shouted triumphantly throwing his arms into the air after witnessing the sudden end of the battle.
Suddenly the agents noticed the entity moving, the spear being pushed out of it's body as it seemed to burst back to life and the doctor's joy faded to disappointment, "...kinda."
The entity began furiously crawling its way out of the cavern, squeezing itself down the cave tunnel way.
"Mikisugi! It's coming your way!" Tsumugu shouted down the communications as he and the other agents started to run back through the cave.
Mikisugi turned his head yelling commands to the soldiers and agents forming the perimeter, "GET READY, ITS COMING OUR WAY!"
The entity pushed it's way out of the cave entrance, the soldiers and remaining agents, began firing at the entity. The needles embedded themselves within the entity who seemed to slink back like before, but also similar to the previous encounter it appeared to push the needles out of it's body before slinging it's large tentacles at the trucks flipping a few of them over, the sound of the vehicles crashing onto the ground rising over the orchestra of gunfire.
Mikisugi took cover behind a truck while grumbling in frustration, "damn it how much energy does this bastard have?!"
The three doctor's assistants approached Mikisugi also taking cover behind the truck, "Mr Mikisugi! please let us help!" the three assistants held more of the same spears Tsumugu found in the cave.
"Those didn't work before!"Mikisugi shouted above the hail of noise with desperation.
The one speaking for the three assistants replied desperately, "It's because they didn't follow it up with anything! they stop life fibers but only for a moment, but they should make the entity vulnerable!"
Mikisugi realised what they meant replying "alright!" Before shouting to the other agents and soldiers "Hold your fire!"
With this the firing ceased before the three assistants stood up pressing the buttons on their spears which began emanating with blue electricity pointing the spears at the entity. They charged at the entity while the soldiers began firing again directly at the entity's tendrils.
The assistants shouted "FOR HUMANITY!" like a war cry before planting the spears in the entity's body.
The entity fell limp again with the blue colour oozing from the area where it was stabbed.
The assistants dropped to the ground as Mikisugi shouted "focus your fire on the blue spot!" causing the soldiers and agents alike to fire all their rounds into the blue area on the entity.
After a few moments of continuous firing, the radiance seemed to drain away from the entity's body, the bright crimson changing to a dark cold red signifying nudist beach's and the US government's victory.
The soldiers and agents entered the cave to retrieve the remaining captive assistants still stuck on the walls of the cave. Back at the entrance, what remained of the agents and soldiers started securing the entity as a helicopter lowered a large glass tank down by the group. A military truck arrived at the perimeter as the doctor and the general stepped out from the back of the truck.
The general stepped towards Mikisugi who was overseeing the securing of the entity, "Excellent work! All of you did brilliantly."
Mikisugi shook the general's hand, "Thank you general we should be able to organise the movement of the specimen post haste."
The general gestured to his left as doctor Xavier approached them. "By the way, the good doctor wanted to have a word with you."
The doctor drew in a large breath before speaking, his head sunk low with shame "Sir Mikisugi I... I would like to apologise, I acted foolishly and arrogant to the point that I belittled you without proper reason, I sent my own assistants on their own into the line of fire and endangering their lives because of my arrogance... I'm sorry..."
Mikisugi closed his eyes with understanding, before extending his hand out to shake hands with the doctor's, "It mustn't of been easy to admit that, I accept your apology, and hey! Those spears of yours are incredible! Along with the bravery of your assistants, it would honour us if we could put our differences aside and work together, for humanity's future."
The doctor contemplated for a moment before answering, "my pride only happened to allow us to obtain victory in this circumstance because we got lucky, I'm sure if I continue to let my pride blind me, I would be going against everything I stand for... I accept! For humanity."
The two shook hands, looking towards a bright future for humanity.
The doctor jumped up in realisation, "OH I almost forgot! I was observing the signals carefully and I... I have a theory."
The doctor grabbed the attention of both the general, Mikisugi and even Tsumugu who was now standing close by Mikisugi.
The doctor went on to explain, "The second signal seems to be the entity saying something on the lines of "I am coming." while the first signal seems to be partially encrypted, with the only part I could translate reads around "Come here." A fairly simple conversation hm?"
Mikisugi replied in contemplation, "So the signal is beckoning life fibers? Perhaps the encrypted part is a location... worrying that life fibers are capable of encrypting their messages... but why would they be beckoning one another?"
The doctor nodded in agreement, "Exactly, that's why I looked into the signal's pattern, that's when I noticed the signal bouncing across the world is different from conventional life fiber signals! its far too formulaic with a clear pattern while usually life fiber signals are much more wild and sporadic."
Mikisugi placed his hand to his chin as he nodded in return, "I see... But then..."
The doctor continued in Mikisugi's stead "Well... my theory is... that the bouncing signal is being created by people, that someone is using this signal to beckon Life fibers to some unknown location."
The shock filled there air at the doctor's sudden hypothesis, before Mikisugi uttered, "If that's true... then we could be looking at another REVOCS..."
The conversation was left on this as Nudist beach began to make their way out of America, with a few staying behind to act as their liaisons in America, the life fiber entity being carried away in the glass chamber via a cable attached to the helicopter.