Ch. 20: We need information

A.N.:

Damn you, writer's block and college! Ugh…this has been ridiculous trying to write this chapter. Unfortunately, this is not an Amara heavy chapter. It is an attempt by me to bring in some more horror/survival stuff to the story.

Has anyone played any of the video games from the Forbidden Siren (or just Siren) franchise? Well, the enemies encountered in this chapter and following chapters were loosely inspired by the Shibito enemies from those games.

By the way, I mean this in all sincerity when I say that those games are the only ones that disturbed me when I was playing them. On top of that, the combat system is mostly for show and most of the enemies are vastly superior to your characters. You WILL die A LOT. It has an awesome story though.

Sorry about the wait…again -_- Thank you to everyone following my story. I hope that the waits are worth it. Lemons are coming ;)

Read and review if you want.

Oh,

Resident Evil and all related characters are owned by Capcom so I, of course, claim no ownership of anything.

Over the course of the next several weeks, I grew to love Amara. She was definitely not the same little girl that had melted my icy heart, but, as much as I missed and still do miss the little girl that I had pushed in her little swing in her mother's created world, I could not bring myself to compare the two. At first, I felt hollow despite the emotionless façade that I put up in the days following our liberation of France.

It had been a long time since I had felt so emotionally touched by the loss of someone that I was close to. Even with my mentor's death, I had been able to find solace in the fact that he had died a warrior's death. My first daughter's death continues to weigh heavily on my mind even all these years later. Even though she was not real, or what one would consider being "real", she was as real to me as Alpha 1 or Alma are.

I know that, in a way, she is living on in Amara and that I can find comfort in that fact. Amara was an interesting infant to say the least. Almost immediately, she started to manifest herself as a young girl around eight years old. Alma learned very quickly that, like her oldest son, Amara's mind was immune to her snooping. However, I think that overjoyed my companion because for once in her life, she could have a semi-normal relationship with one of her children.

Initially, I was depressed because of the loss of my first daughter. However, one day soon after we had returned to Sparta, it dawned on me that I was being incredibly selfish. Instead of finding joy in the fact that I, of all people, had been blessed with two wonderful children and a beautiful companion that loved me, more or less, with every ounce of her metaphorical heart, I had instead chosen to focus only on the negatives of my situation.

I realized that no amount of sulking or blaming was going to bring her back. So, I focused on making my unorthodox family as happy as a broken soldier like myself was able to. Meanwhile, Armacham was slowly being destroyed piece by piece in what had turned into a world war. While it was clear that the corporation would eventually crumble, we wanted to hasten its demise by hunting down the last remaining members of its Board of Directors.

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. The members had scattered across the globe and were very proficient at covering their tracks. I was certain however that like all creatures of habit, my human prey had sought shelter in familiar territory. "Never underestimate the predictability of a deer caught in a pair of headlights, kid." My mentor told me that.

All I had to do was systematically check all the safe houses that the members had used in the past in order to find them. The problem with that plan was that the data on Aristide's PDA did not contain enough information regarding the safe houses used by ATC personnel to be useful. My resolve would have to be complete and swift in order to eliminate the members once and for all. Even if just one managed to escape my grasp, they would rebuild Armacham with a new façade. We needed more information.

"Becket, you better have a good explanation for why we are flying through a fucking storm in the middle of the Bering Strait." Morales called out from the pilot seat of the armored Black Hawk named Reaper 1.

I replied, "What? We can't just have a nice stroll through a storm?"

After laughing briefly, I finally said, "Alright fine. We are headed to a research facility housed in a re-purposed drilling platform. According to the data that we got from Aristides's PDA, Armacham purchased the site a couple of years ago and converted it into a research facility."

Stokes asked from where she was in the cargo bay, "So what makes this facility worth the trouble in getting to it?"

I replied, "The facility houses extensive archives that cannot be remotely erased or accessed. So, there is a good chance that it contains information on Carson's whereabouts."

Alpha 1 questioned from where he was beside me, "Sir, isn't there a good chance that the facility has already been destroyed by Carson so he could cover his tracks?"

I nodded before I replied, "Yes, which is why we are the only ones going to check it out. If it is already destroyed, we turn around and head back; no big deal. However, if it is still standing, we might be able to get that bastard's home address."

Before my friend could reply, Morales called out, "Becket, we found it." I turned and looked through the windshield of the Black Hawk. Before us, towering out of the rolling sea was a mountain of steel that looked like a skyscraper emerging from the surface of the water. The power was out because I could not make out any running lights or emergency lights onboard the anchored facility.

I asked Morales, "Can you land with her like that?"

He replied, "No problem man." He flicked a switch on the control console and seconds later, a bright search light cut through the driving snow to illuminate the dark facility before us. Morales maneuvered the helicopter up to the top deck, making sure to keep Reaper 1's hull far enough away to not be swept into the steel structure by a sudden gust of wind.

The top deck was about the size of a football field. The helipad was a raised circular platform located in the center of the deck. Safety orange colored rails ran along the perimeter of the deck. A large orange crane was attached to the southern edge of the deck. The only other visible structure was the large security door at the northern end.

The entire deck was buried beneath a thick layer of sea and wind swept ice. I noticed the dormant heaters dotting the metal skin of the flat area. With the facility's generators seeming to be offline, I grimaced as I imagined the horrible state of the rest of the facility. The Bering Sea was Hell bent on claiming the facility and was now savagely assaulting the steel structure with everything in its arsenal. Luckily, the helipad was still usable and Morales managed to land the Black Hawk.

As we gathered our gear, I noticed Morales powering down the helicopter's engines. I gave him a questioning look and he explained, "In this weather, it would be safer for us to anchor the Black Hawk to the helipad until we leave." I nodded in response. The icy cold of the Bering Strait tore at our winter gear like a razor knife as we secured the mooring lines. After what seemed like an eternity of icy torture, we finished securing the Black Hawk to the helipad.

With frost-covered armor and weapons, we proceeded to the access door. The massive rectangular steel barrier was sealed with a pneumatic lock from the other side of the wall. Stokes looked at me from behind her ski mask and goggles as she said, "Becket, see if you can find a way inside. The door is too thick for the demolition charges that we brought."

I smirked before I replied, "I've got a better idea." I walked up to the door and placed my gloved left hand against it.

My hand began to glow with a red aura as my consciousness left my body. In my mind, I could see the other side of the door and I looked down to see the locking mechanism. After forcing my will into the mechanism, I unlocked the door. I returned to my body just in time to see the massive door slide open. After descending the short flight of stairs, we entered the welcome center of the facility that strongly resembled the waiting room of a doctor's office. Flat screen television monitors were mounted on the walls and the painted image of Armacham's logo decorated the grey tiled floor.

As we moved into the room, the ghostly recording of a woman addressed us with a low voice, "Welcome ATC employees to Armacham Technology Corporation Facility Titan. Whether you are a scientist or a maintenance worker, we at Titan believe that we are all family and extend our warmest greetings. We sincerely hope that you enjoy your stay. Armacham Technology Corporation: Working for the future and you."

I remarked, "Ten bucks says that by the end of our visit, that little welcome speech is going to have a whole different meaning because of some unforeseeable shit that is about to go down."

Alpha 1 said, "I'll take that bet sir."

A soft giggle filled the room. As if she had been there the entire time, Alma materialized before us in her child form. She gave me a slight smile before she remarked, "I have taught you well my love." The door behind us closed before she continued, "But don't forget to close the door." Even in the dark, dusty welcome room, she was still the most beautiful creature I had ever laid eyes on.

I walked forward and scooped her up in my arms before I kissed her deeply on her pale lips. When we retracted, she giggled before she said, "Well, aren't you happy to see me."

I lowered her back to the ground as I replied, "It is always comforting to know that the most dangerous being on the face of the planet is with me." She rolled her eyes in response to my comment. I laughed briefly before I asked, "How is she?"

My companion replied, "She is asleep…finally. She doesn't ever cry unless I try to bathe her or take her near water so at least she isn't noisy. She is so energetic though…today, she imprinted some random images in a viral video and whenever someone watches the video all the way through, they get a phone call that informs them that they are going to die in seven days. Needless to say, that is the last time that she gets to watch a scary movie that depicts a young girl doing things that Amara can imitate. Anyway, she finally tired herself out so I thought that I should play with you." She looked around before she remarked, "Wow…this place is a dump. I hope that the data here is worth the look." I nodded and looked over at Jin to see her finishing her scan of the facility with the laptop looking device that she carried around with her in addition to her camera.

She grimaced before she said, "That is not good."

Concerned, I asked, "What?"

Without looking up from the screen, she explained, "This facility is running on emergency power and whatever power is still left in the battery farm is being diverted to the deck containing the server farm that the archives are stored in. The lower decks are completely flooded and there is no power available for the pumps. Internal temperature is falling rapidly. I am not detecting any signs of life from the facility personnel. Nearly half the doors are locked down. Damn, this facility is in such a mess."

I thought for a moment before I asked, "If we can get the main generators back online, could you override the doors?"

She nodded hesitantly before she replied, "Well…yes and no. You see, the doors appear to be in a security lockdown so if the power was turned back on, I would still be locked out of some of them…including the ones that allow access to the server farm. Still…we are not going anywhere until the power is turned back on."

I asked, "Okay, so where are the generators?"

She interacted with her device for a minute before she answered, "According to ATC's files, the generators are on the Engineering Deck."

I nodded before I addressed everyone in the room, "Alright, you heard the lady. We need to get the generators back online. Juggernaut, Morales, Bravo 2, and Jin, stay here and guard the deck so we can at least have one deck secured at all times. Point Man, Holiday, and Passalaqua, stay here but stay ready because you will be the backup team. Stokes, Foxtrot 813, and Alpha 1, form up on me. We are going to get the generators back online. Questions?"

Except for Point Man and Juggernaut, they all replied, "No, sir."

I smiled before I said, "Alright then, move out." After retrieving my assault rifle from my back, I cautiously proceeded out of the welcome center. The steel lined passageway was eerily quiet as we made our way to the far end where we would find the bulkhead leading to the staircase. Only the occasional groan of the steel and the subtle background noise of the raging Bering Sea broke up the silence. Dust filled the air and the riveted walls were covered with frost. Jin was right: the internal temperature was indeed falling rapidly. If we did not get the power back on soon, the whole facility would likely freeze solid because of the invading water. If that happened, the servers would be ruined and the data would be lost forever.

A few doors down from the welcome center, we approached a "t" in the walkway. As we neared the "t", an aerosol can of what appeared to be cleaning spray rolled from the left path and stopped at the center of the cross. I crouched down and raised my left hand up in a fist. Everyone crouched down in response. I griped my rifle tighter as I anticipated an enemy to appear. After an agonizing minute of waiting, I cautiously inched forward to investigate.

Just as I had moved forward enough to peer around the corner, a black shape lunged at me as it hissed loudly. Activating my reflexes, I unloaded a three round burst into the assailant. A cloud of blood showered my person as the rounds tore into the soft flesh of my attacker. I deactivated my reflexes and stood before I investigated the mangled corpse.

The black fur and fleshy tail immediately revealed the creature's identity. I muttered, "Goddamn rats!"

Alpha 1 commented, "I think that they are called mice inside, sir."

I looked at him as I countered, "No…mice are small white furry pests that chew everything. When the bastards are the size of small dogs and smell like rotten meat, the fuckers are rats."

He shrugged before he said, "True…"

I remarked, "Either way, if vermin have eaten their way through the hull, this trip will have been for nothing."

Foxtrot 813 said, "Just keep thinking happy thoughts sir."

I shook my head before I motioned for us to continue. With the power out, there was no reason for us to explore the other passageways so we continued down the main path.

Something was very wrong with that place. I could not figure out what it was that was making me uneasy. After all, I had grown accustomed to casually exploring places that most people only visited in their nightmares. However, something about the subtle signs of trouble that I noticed as we proceeded down the hallway ate away at my nerves.

We passed an abandoned clipboard that appeared to have been thrown down as its master ran away from something. Past the clipboard, there was a lone white shoe lying on its side as if the individual was in such a maddened panic that the loss of one of his or her shoes had failed to register with them.

Alma quietly asked, "You notice it too…don't you?"

I nodded in response. We finally reached the watertight hatch that led to the staircase. Using my psionic abilities, I forced the hatch to open. I gagged as an overpowering sour smell assaulted my senses. The odor was so bad that I was forced to remove my skull ski mask and HUD glasses before replacing them with my full-face, black, gas mask that had red-lensed eyeholes and my black combat helmet.

Personally, I had always thought that the combination made the wearer look very similar to the U.S.S. Operative HUNK from the Resident Evil video game franchise. Given that I was wearing my cold weather gear along with my Dark Signal attire, I would imagine that my resemblance to the fictional HUNK character was uncanny. It was times like that when I wished that I could have had the time to play video games in my youth. I smiled as I thought to myself that I could kick his ass.

After safely storing my ski mask and glasses, I looked back to see that Stokes had also donned her own gas mask. I remarked to Alpha 1 and Foxtrot 813, "It must be nice to have a built in filtration system." They both shrugged in response. I turned back to the open hatch. I peered over the side of the railing and grimaced at the long drop.

At the very bottom, I could make out the slowly rising seawater. After a brief sigh, I began to descend the frost covered safety orange colored stairs. I knew that it was probably my imagination, but I could have sworn that I heard the sound of distant moaning over the hissing sound of our breaths being filtered through our masks as we descended the stairs.

The deck in question was, of course, located near the bottom of the facility. In fact, when we finally reached the right landing, indicated by the bold letters spelling out "Engineering Deck" on the metal grated floor, I noticed that it was only two decks away from the rising waterline. As if to further insult me, when I reached forward to open the watertight hatch that allowed access to the deck, it let off a loud, high-pitched squeaking sound as it slowly opened on its own.

Alma giggled before she commented, "Oooo….spooky. I have never seen this movie before. Darn, I forgot to bring the popcorn." I groaned in irritation as I proceeded through the opening. In contrast to the relatively clean smell of the welcome deck, the air of the Engineering Deck was thick with the smell of oil, grease, and used machinery.

The fact that I could smell it through my mask gave credit to the hard work and sweat that went into operating the facility. After a short trip, we located the main control room. The holographic projectors that would normally be emitting a 3-D display of the status of various parts of the facility sat patiently waiting for their new masters to arrive.

I spoke into my gas mask's built in com link, "Miss Kwon, I have reached the main control room on the Engineering Deck. What needs to be done to get the generators back online?"

She replied, "Listen very carefully Sergeant. The generators installed in this facility are powered by the geothermal energy of the Earth's Mantle. In order to get them back online, you will need to reactivate the components in a precise order manually or there is a very good chance that you will cause a catastrophic malfunction."

Unintimidated, I replied, "I'm listening."

She informed me, "Step One: Open the main water line to the boiler. Step Two: Pressurize the water. Step Three: Open the magma feed line to the boiler. Step Four: Once enough steam pressure has been built up, open the steam feed line to the turbines. Assuming that the system is still functional, the generators will return power to the facility."

I replied, "One: water. Two: pressure. Three: magma. Four: turbines."

Jin remarked, "Correct."

I said, "Copy that. Standby." I looked back at the people patiently waiting and addressed them with my distorted voice, "Stokes, Foxtrot 813, stay here. Alpha 1, come with me."

They all replied, "Roger that."

As I exited the control room and descended into the darkness of the heart of the deck, Stokes called out, "Becket, please be careful."

I smiled beneath my mask before I replied, "Don't worry Stokes, it takes more than ghosts and rats to kill me."

I slid down the sides of the wall-mounted ladder that was to the left of the control room. I landed on the grated metal floor beneath me with a loud thud that echoed throughout the cavern like space. Alpha 1 was close behind me. The red lenses on my mask functioned like a low-tech version of night vision goggles so I was able to see my surroundings despite the pitch-black darkness.

Alma walked beside me as we snaked our way through the narrow footpaths that navigated around the machines. Like the other deck, this one had the same feeling of uneasiness. I noticed a wrench that was still securely tightened around a large bolt head as if the owner had literally dropped everything she or he was doing and fled.

In a different section of the maze, I saw a work station with a dry erase board mounted behind it. On the left side of the board, I saw the warning, "Get out! It is not safe anywhere!" In the middle, I saw the warning written with shaky handwriting, "Resist...must...resist...don't let her into my mind...resist...so beautiful...I love her...what?...no...must...resist." Finally, on the right side of the board, "Give yourself unto her."

As I continued to find other signs of erratic, distressed behavior, I could not help but remember what my mentor had told me about survival fear. Fear like that was primal. The fear that one only feels when they are confronted by something that they cannot comprehend or understand. Their imaginations run wild as they blindly flee for their very lives. Logic and most conscious thought become lost on them as they single-mindedly focus on surviving. My mentor had warned me about the human fear response. He told me that, left to its own devices, the mind would create some kind of boogeyman type monster that was infinitely worse than the actual threat. He told me that it was cliché but true that the only thing one has to fear is fear itself.

We finally reached a metal structure that vaguely resembled an octopus with its steel tubes all converging on a central spherical tank. I located a giant circular valve head that was as big around as the length of one of my arms. Shouldering my rifle, I bent down to examine the valve closer. Using my gloved left hand, I brushed away some grim to discover that the valve was labeled, "Water Line". I stood and grasped the valve head with both hands. Grunting, I exerted myself and managed to open the water line.

I heard the sound of water splashing on the metal floor and located a leak in the main line. Without the right amount of water flow, the boiler would overheat. I closed the water valve before I located a surplus steel plate. Using my psionic abilities, I superheated the plate and fitted it over the leak. After waiting for the repair to cool, I reopened the water line. This time, the water reached the boiler without incident.

Alpha 1 called out, "Sir, I have located the valve for the magma feed."

I called back, "Excellent. Standby while I pressurize the tank."

He replied, "Roger that sir."

I navigated my way to the control panel on the large tank. After studying the panel, I discovered that the tank was actually two tanks with the water tank on top and the magma tank on the bottom. I reached up to where the air valve to pressurize the tank was supposed to be located but discovered, with shock, that the valve head was missing. I said aloud, "Okay…one is an anomaly; two is a trend. Someone sabotaged the boiler."

Beside me, Alma inquired, "Why?"

I replied, "Not sure…maybe it has something to do with the missing personnel."

Alma nodded in agreement. Undeterred, I raised my left hand up to the valve and started to use my psionic abilities to pressurize the water tank. However, I cried out in agony and quickly removed my hand from the valve. My right hand reached up and clutched my afflicted member. In the low light of the room, it looked like black smoke was emitting from my hand. I fought to stay calm as a sharp burning sensation continued to afflict my hand. Alma reached up and gently grasped my larger hand with her two pale tiny hands. After a moment, the sensation dissipated. Still shaking from the memory of the pain, I asked her, "Wh-what was tha-that?"

Her glowing eyes burned with concern as she explained, "That is why you have to be conservative with the usage of your abilities Michael. If you use them too much in a short amount of time, it begins to rot your body." She tenderly pressed my traumatized hand into her soft bosom for a moment. Eventually, the crippling memory of the pain left my mind and she released my hand as she said with a motherly voice, "There. All better. I pressurized the tank too."

I smiled before I said, "Thanks." She nodded once in response. Shaking off the incident, I called out to Alpha 1, "Alright, go ahead and open the magma line."

He called back through the darkness, "Roger that sir." Moments later, I saw the pressure gauge on the panel begin to rise. After waiting for the needle to reach the green section, I flipped the main switch on the control panel. With a loud humming sound, the generators rumbled to life. The lights turned back on and the thundering of machinery filled the Engineering Deck as the automated systems reactivated.

Stokes contacted me through my com link, "Becket, I am reading green across the board. Great job."

I replied, "Did you expect anything different?"

I could have sworn that I saw her blush in my mind as she answered, "No…of course not."

I laughed briefly before I said, "I am fucking with you Keira. Alpha 1 and I are headed back. Let's go get the data and then get the Hell out of this place."

She replied, "Copy that. Please hurry. I know I am just being paranoid, but I swear that I can feel something watching us."

I started to make my way over to Alpha 1 as I said, "Copy that. I feel it too. I am on my way."

After rendezvousing with Alpha 1, I navigated the claustrophobic footpaths back to the control room. Something was very wrong, and I could definitely sense it. Without realizing it, I had retrieved my assault rifle from my back and was tightly griping it with my hands. We were still a good distance away when I heard the first female scream. As if I had been struck by a bolt of lightning, my body reacted to the noise in a jerky manner. My rifle was raised up and at the ready and my stance had shifted into a combat stance.

Soon after the scream, I heard the sound of automatic gunfire. It was not until the second scream that I identified the individual. I suddenly felt very cold and the hair on my body rose as I realized that it was Stokes. The gunfire suddenly stopped in the middle of a burst and I completely lost it. I cried out, "Stokes! Foxtrot! Hang on!" My body was enveloped by a red aura as I charged through the pipes, literally bulldozing my way through them, as I ran towards the control room.

After nearly leaping up the ladder, I entered the control room. The walls were covered with bullet holes and blood splatter. I glanced down and saw the still smoking submachine gun that Stokes was carrying and the still smoking assault rifle that Foxtrot 813 was carrying. Causing me further alarm, the two weapons were lying on their side in a pool of blood that was littered with spent bullet casings. I rushed over to Stokes's SMG and cried out when I saw her cracked gas mask lying nearby.

Glancing up from the mask, I noticed that there appeared to be drag marks in the blood. I looked up in the direction that the drag marks pointed and saw several unidentifiable men clad in various tattered work uniforms dragging the unconscious body of Stokes into a large ventilation shaft. Yelling with a demonic growl, I ran towards them but by the time that I had reached the shaft opening, they were long gone.

I balled my right hand into a fist and angrily punched the steel wall beside the opening hard enough to leave a deep depression in the material. Alma gently touched my lower back with her right hand as she said softly, "Michael there was no way that you could have known. Come on, let's go get them back." I calmed myself as she gently rubbed my back. When my anger had subsided, I nodded and returned to the control room.

Alpha 1 was waiting for me and as I entered the room, he informed me, "Sir, it looks like they got one of them." He dragged the body of a man out of the shadows and into the light. At first glance, it looked like any other Caucasian maintenance worker in his thirties. However, when I examined the bullet-riddled corpse closer, I noticed that the skin was discolored.

In fact, it looked sickly and bloated as if the body had been submerged in water for a long period of time. Not only that, but I noticed that drops of blood were continuing to seep out of the tear ducts around the corpse's eyes. If I had been forced to venture a guess, I would have said that the sour smell filling the interior of the facility was coming from whatever the Hell those humanoids were.

I bent down and forced one of the eyes open with my left hand. I observed that the pupil appeared to be dilated and resembled how the human eye looks when it has adapted to low-light conditions. Furthermore, the blood vessels around the pupil were ruptured but, instead of blood, I saw that strange water like liquid had filled the cavity.

Retracting my hand from the creature's eye, I commented, "This is starting to make sense. These things are sensitive to the lights. I bet that they become enraged when exposed to the florescent lights of this facility. So, the personnel here tried to buy themselves some time by cutting the power and sabotaging the boiler. That would also explain why we have yet to find any bodies. The Armacham employees were dragged into the ventilation system because it is dark in there."

Alpha 1 asked, "What the fuck are they sir?"

I replied, "Not sure. This poor bastard looks like one of the Armacham employees though so I think those things have some way of turning regular people into them."

I stood as I continued, "Which means that if we don't get to Stokes and Foxtrot 813 soon, they will be turned into those things too."

I contacted Jin, "Miss Kwon, we have a problem."

She laughed and I heard the sound of gunfire in the background. After a moment, she replied, "Yeah, we noticed that."

I informed her, "The mission still stands. However, I need you to locate Stokes and Foxtrot 813."

After waiting for a minute, the ex-F.E.A.R. Operative said, "According to their locater beacons, they are on the Medical Deck. That is three decks above you. Their life signs indicate that they are probably unconscious, but they are definitely alive."

I replied, "Thank you, Miss Kwon." I then contacted Holiday, "Holiday, I want you to take Point Man and Passalaqua and retrieve the data from the servers."

He replied, "How do you expect us to gain access to the servers without authorization codes?"

I said sternly, "You are the demolition expert, Sergeant Holiday. Blast, weld, make hot sweet love to the doors, fucking chew a hole through the doors…I don't give two flying shits about how you get to the servers. Just get to them and retrieve whatever data that you can."

He replied, "Roger that, Becket."

Jin asked, "And what about you Becket?"

I replied, "Alpha 1 and I are going after Stokes and Foxtrot 813."