Deep Underground the Mongolian Steppe
Vras' Vandeltheam could smell it, the encroaching death that these filthy humans thought they could harness. Throughout his life he'd been taught of the fall of their gods, how parasite known as the flood wiped his people's precursors from existence. It had long been thought extinct, that the gods final measures had wiped out the flood, but among the sacred ring that those humans defiled with every step… they had risen once more. Locked away deep within the ground in a facility much like this one the parasite was kept, though not for the futility of study like these humans insist on but for containment. It was why his blood boiled despite his freezing surroundings; the stupidity of these pests knew no bounds.
After leaving the sacred ring, something had…happened. What exactly had transpired he could not be sure, but after a period lost to him, he awoke here in the land of the heretics. None of his kin survived, though he wasn't even sure if they were with him to begin with, it seems he might have been the only one to land on this planet but the truth continues to elude him. Like an animal they restrained him, incapacitating him before stuffing him in this hellish pod that chilled him to the core. His body immobile, the only control he had was over his thoughts, that and his keen sense of smell though now it seems more like a curse. To be able to smell the scent of one's inevitable doom is rather disheartening, though had he been free a solution might be available to him to prevent the spread of the flood. This facility was underground, deep underground where the warmth of a sun could never even hope to reach, he'd wager even deeper than the facility in which the flood we're unleashed. That said while the humans were foolish and they're technology primitive, it was with bitter acknowledgement that the humans could be proficient in certain things and if there was one conclusion he could make about this facility from what he saw…it was secure. Though there was something different about this place from the other humans, a difference he could not exactly place.
While containment was not an option, especially on this wretched human hive, he did believe that it would take a great amount of time for the flood to break free. With that time the idea of total eradication was within the realm of possibility. When he awoke after the crash, he noticed that the humans had taken with them his ships Borer jump-drive, perhaps attempting to utilize his people superior slipspace technology he does not know, only that it provides a possibility to halt the infection. The Borer drives are precise pieces of machinery but can be driven to instability if correctly sabotaged causing a catastrophic slipspace malfunction that would vaporize everything within its blast radius. This however was dependent on his freedom which he obviously lacked.
As if the gods themselves we're hearing his prayers, a loud blaring entered his mind as the facility became bathed in a reddish glow. He already knew what was happening, the vile flood had broken free setting the facility into a lockdown, but by the grace of gods he could feel the pressure latches on his cryo-cell unlock as air swooshed into the pod. With great effort he opened his eyes as a faint layer of ice cracked, it would take some time but he would break free, and Vras would eradicate the mistakes here no matter the cost.
Skies Above Mongolia
The stealth craft hummed quietly through the air, in the back a dozen armed Overwatch personnel sat checking their gear as Adrian sat in a daydream. Back in his ODST gear it felt like being welcomed back into his second skin. A light kick to the end of his foot set Adrian shooting up, like he woke up from a deep nap.
"Sleeping already spaceman? Or have your nerves frozen your lips?" The great German spoke, his massive frame pushing the boundaries of the smaller ship they were flying in. Unlike the aptly named Orca which could fit half a dozen squads into it and still have room to spare, this craft was better suited to quiet, rapid deployments though the 'quiet' part of this mission was practically non-existent. After the death of their prisoner, Winston had almost immediately organized a deployment to the Talon base in Mongolia. Hana and Oxten had stayed in Seoul hoping to see if they could find any leads on the elusive Mr. Kim, Lucio had opted to head straight for Gibraltar deciding that finishing out his concert tour at the chance of risking his fans wasn't worth the danger. As for Adrian, well he just went where he was told, so here he was with a few recognizable faces other than. Other than the German, McCree was on the ship as well as Vickers, other than that it was mostly soldiers he'd briefly seen around base but hadn't bothered to know.
"Just zoning out, I imagine you do that most of the day too, daydreaming about glory and big fights huh?" Adrian answered.
"Hah, of course not! Anytime spent sleeping is time I could be fighting!" He responded with jolly enthusiasm, "Can't earn glory if I'm too lazy. Though from what I see, you have no problems falling asleep whenever!"
"Yeah well where I'm from you come to enjoy what sleep you can get."
"No doubt my friend! I just find it funny how different we can be." He broke off the conversation when a call appeared on his wrist-pad, "Ah sorry my friend but I most take this, there's nothing worse than earning a woman's scorn because you didn't answer her calls." He said just as enthusiastic as before, waving as he moved to a more private part of the craft thought that many just consisted off a corner where there wasn't a soldier within two feet. Just as he thought he have the rest of the flight to himself another voice broke his brief rest.
"It's been a busy time at Overwatch ain't it." The voice of Vickers spoke up as the veteran took the free seat next to Adrian.
"Tell me about it. How you holdin up?" Adrian questioned, his mind turning back to their brief conversation when Vickers had gotten back from Africa.
"Fine, it was mostly just one hell of a revelation to learn about aliens, but I mean with everything else going on in the world I suppose it's not too far off." Vickers said as Adrian nodded along, it seemed he wasn't told everything, only the very basics and even then, it seems he was kept in the dark about most stuff regarding the Covenant. Probably for the best, brining it more people than necessary would only make things more complicated.
"You know my sister came out here once," Vickers reminisced steering the conversation in a completely different direction, figuring it'd be for the best Adrian didn't push the sudden change of heart. "Came out on some college trip to learn about the culture, though the school must've left out the part about Talon's lab."
Adrian chuckled to himself, "Probably isn't great for tourism, how old's your sister?"
"Don't get any ideas bud, she's married." Vickers jested, "She's going to be twenty-eight in a month."
"So what's that make her, like…half your age old man?"
"Piss off, you can't be much younger than me."
"I'm twenty-nine."
"Damn and here I thought I was rough looking for my age."
Adrian laughed something real, laughed harder than he had in what felt like years. It was just one of those moments where in hindsight it maybe wasn't as funny as he thought but the just he buildup of emotions finally being released made the dam of laughter break free.
"Try not to bust yourself a hernia kid, you've actually got looks so it'd be a shame to waste them on a fucking hernia riddled body."
"Yeah yeah, besides looks like tea party time is over." Adrian remarked wiping a stray tear from his eye as the aircraft came to a lurching halt. Almost at once every solider in the craft stood up, arming themselves and running through one final check of their gear. Stepping from the craft, Adrian shouldered the assault rifle he'd plundered from the weapons stash in Vladivostok, based on a brief bit of research it was German made though not seeing widescale development. The name – Adrian was rather sheepish to admit – was a mouthful, so he'd abbreviated it to the GK – 336.
"Target location is… in sight?" One of the Overwatch grunts on point said with uncertainty as they moved through the vast Mongolian plains.
"Don't sound too sure to me Hackett, what's the problem?" Vickers ordered as he moved his way up the chain of soldiers.
"Well we're supposed to be assaulting a lab right, but all I see is a small hamlet with only half a dozen standing buildings. I've rechecked the coordinates twice…this is where we're supposed to be."
As they crested a slight rise in the land everyone else saw the cluster of buildings was really…well just that. There was no sprawling megaplex of labs and buildings outlined by a massive wire fence with guards patrolling every conceivable inch, instead this looked more akin to an abandoned fishing village. Adrian's mind ran to the thought that he'd been duped, that the Talon merc had lied but no, he'd spent years practicing and honing his techniques for better or worse and he knew in his heart that the merc had been telling the truth. There was something more here, something they couldn't see, but if Adrian's brief experiences with ONI taught him anything, then you could never trust anything you saw.
Adrian walked up next to Vickers and the other soldier named Hackett, taking a knee by them both as Vickers turned to Adrian. "You're sure this is the place? No chance it's elsewhere."
"I'm positive."
"Alright, well- wait… movement coming out of the hut at three o'clock."
Adrian snapped his rifle to his eye, peering down the magnified scope, five-armed Talon guards walked out of the tiny building conversing amongst each other.
"Well something's not right." Adrian muttered himself.
"You don't say." McCree quipped as he came up next to Adrian with a grin, "I've seen plenty of setups similar to this back a ways in my life, the main compound is underground with an unassumin' surface to deter any suspecting eyes."
Vickers nodded, "Alright…well we could go in fast or-"
He didn't get to answers as Reinhardt bounded past them, boosted by rocket propellant on his armor sending him skimming down the rise in the land and towards the hamlet. No one chased after or called out for they realized it'd be a futile effort, if anything it just made their job easier because by the time they reached the buildings Reinhardt will have already cleared out the handful of Talon mercs. McCree sighed in resignment as he the sound of weapons fire cracked to life followed by the sound of Reinhardt's hammer causing untold destruction. To no one's surprise when they reached the hamlet, it was littered by the groaning bodies of the Talon soldiers with one bent in a way that shouldn't be possible.
Adrian looked around before turning towards the German, "So uh…this is honor and glory?"
The man shrugged, "Eh, I'll take what I can get."
As the group spread out with most forming a perimeter, Adrian and McCree went into the building that had previously been occupied by the Talon agents. It was small wand as bare as a house could be, a rotten wood table surrounded by three rickety chairs, there was no bed, no bookshelf, absolutely nothing save for the table. The walls were so thin he could see between the slits of the wooden boards leaving no room for anything to be hidden from view. Turning towards McCree, he saw the man crouched down investigating a corner of the shack.
"Find anything?"
"I think so." He responded as the cowboy stood up, lightly kicking a wooden panel at it's base where it bent back slightly. With a click a small hole in the ground opened up followed by a long metallic pole with a red scanner on the end, it raised to McCree's eyes before an automated voice rang out.
"Biometric Scan Required."
McCree called out for Reinhardt to bring one of the Talon mercs into the building, as the large man lumbered in with an unconscious goon in his hand, he pressed the man's face up against the scanner. After a slit second it spoke again, "Scan Accepted" at which point it sunk back into the ground. A rumbling underneath the floor shook the house, this time a much wider hole in the floor opened followed by two large cylindrical tubes encased in a metal rectangle, two elevators that presumably led to the lab.
Adrian whistled, "Nice thinking Jesse."
He shrugged, "I've seen a lot of the style, after a while it's becomes like second nature to look for hidden passages."
Vickers dashed into the room, "We've got a problem, Athena picked up a convoy of armored trucks heading this way. Either they picked up on our trail or we've just got some awful timing."
The trio looked at each other, before Adrian answered, "Well Reinhardt there's no way your fitting on that elevator, besides your hammer might cause more harm than good in such close quarters."
"Ja, I'll stay here to hold back the oncoming forces, you as well McCree we don't know what's coming so I'd appreciate the support." The cowboy nodded in affirmation.
Vickers waved over a handful of soldiers, "All right Adrian take half of my men, Hackett and Guin are my best men. Coetze, Milton, Pak, and Wolfe are fresh to Overwatch but are far from green." Adrian nodded his thanks before turning towards the elevator, splitting into two groups they crammed into the tight metal spaces with each squad occupying an elevator. Looking towards the panel on the elevator there was no myriad of buttons to press, no options for where to go, there existed two arrow shaped buttons, one pointing up and the other pointing down. With brief hesitation he slammed the bottom button, the metal cage made an odd whirring sound before lurching down with a screeching whine. As the elevators began their descent into the unknown, Adrian couldn't help but feel a tingling in his gut telling him something was off. He'd always trusted his instincts but when one was already on a trip down there wasn't much else he could do. Occasionally the elevator would rumble, sending a wave of uneasy laughter echoing in the tiny box, the unease growing with every second as they continued down deeper…and deeper…and deeper. Adrian began to wonder if three was actually a bottom to this ride or if they'd been sent on a trip straight to the bowels of hell; ODSTs had the motto of feet first into hell but he never thought it'd be taken so literally and so pathetically.
The voice of Winston crackled over the comms, "Is everything okay down there? You're position is getting fuzzy, I'm starting to lose the connec-". His voice died out in a burst of static.
"Hackett this is Kasporov, just checking our local comms."
"Got you boss, there's a bit of interference but nothing major. I expect we won't hear from base until we're own our way up."
He nodded that he knew Hackett couldn't see, "Looks like we're on our own down here."
A heavy shake ran throughout the elevator, it wasn't like the previous rumbles reminiscent of an old elevator but the feeling of the whole Earth shaking around them. The elevator slowed to a stop as a red light began flashing in the small room, a groan of annoyance rang as they realized it'd be a manual climb from here. Though under that exasperation was an uncertainty, the mission had already taken a turn for the unusual but what had caused such a stir? An explosion? But what could be felt so far down.
"You guys feel that rumble? Everything alright?" Hackett questioned.
"Must've disrupted something, our rides hit it's end here. You guys set up a perimeter at the base, we'll make our way down the old-fashioned way."
"Roger that."
As Adrian ended their communication the others were already thinking ahead, with someone cracking the emergency hatch above them and hoisting themselves out. A heavy rope was attached to the cables leading to the base which Adrian found with surprise wasn't too far down; had the ride lasted for only a few seconds longer they likely would've hit the base. Turning his gaze up he found he couldn't see the top, not even an ounce of light could be seen from the bowels of the hell they found themselves in. One by one the soldiers made their way down the rope, upon reaching the floor of the elevator shaft they found Hackett and his men had already cracked the elevator door. As Adrian shouldered his assault rifle, stepping out of the elevator shaft another deep rumble but this time more audibly heard as an explosion sent everyone stumbling. Silence reigned until a creaking from behind them started to echo followed by an ear-piercing screech of metal on metal as the previously stuck elevator plummeted to the ground at breakneck speed. With a grinding crunch it hit the ground with a heavy crash sending sparks flying everywhere and completely blocking off that shaft for any future use.
"Jesus have we got some lucky timing or what." The one known as Milton joked
"You just don't know when to shut your mouth do you?" Pak admonished the other, slapping him upside the back of his head.
Tuning out there banter Adrian focused on the mission at hand, looking ahead of them was a long stretch of hallway with a series of doors on each side, at the end of the hall it split into two separate paths with the words, "Research, Security, Crew Quarters" pointing right and "Restricted Storage, Cold Storage, Containment" pointing left. Motioning for the others to form up behind him, he started inching forward before the staggering realization hit him, the fact that'd he'd missed it stunned him dead in his tracks, it seemed the others picked up on it as well.
"Where is everyone…" Adrian questioned, the sense of unease he'd felt earlier now completely engulfing him. He'd been on a dozen life or death missions, been under pressure so heavy it'd turn coal to diamond in an instant but in this moment, this unexplainable feeling of…dread washed over him like a drowning wave. A loud blaring rang throughout the hallway, the familiar flashing red of the elevator now coated the entire hallway in a steady radiance giving the sterile lab an ethereal tone. Behind them the elevator doors were blocked by a second layer of impenetrable steel followed by a hallway sized metal plate at least a foot thick slamming down in front of the elevators before another series of blockades spurted from the walls creating an airtight seal.
Well there goes our exit, Adrian thought to himself, it seemed the only way out was to go on forward. If they wanted to unlock the security lockdowns, they'd need to find the security offices and find out what caused the lockdown in the first place. The rest of the squad kept a stunned silence, this mission had gone from weird to bad to fucking unbelievable.
"Alright, we find out what the hell Talon's got going on down here then we find a security console to reverse the lockdown and haul ass out of here. Got it?" Adrian ordered.
A series of firm nods greeted him in return, as they continued their trek down the hallway each passing room was checked and subsequently cleared. The rooms consisted of mostly offices which no one in any room, personal belongings littered the desks and walls but no sign of an actual person. As they reached the end of the hall, the path splitting into two directions, Adrian deiced to take the path to the left, they needed to find the security offices but crew quarters and research offered the possibility of finding people or finding whatever the hell was happening.
The sound of gunfire echoed from the hall to the left before it was quickly silenced, a look was shared between the group before they quickly made their way down the hall, the heavy clanging of their boots on metal reverberating through the tight corridors. Turning a corner to where the gunfire had came from they were met with a sealed door, not wasting anytime Adrian pulled out his TACPAD and walked up to the door controls. Ripping off the panel, he clamped a pair of odd looking hooks from his TACPAD to the wires running the door controls, after a few seconds of tinkering the door opened with a hiss, the distinct smell of blood wafting through the unsealed door.
"You smell that?" Coetze said.
"Yeah, but its strong…there's a lot of it." Someone responded.
The red light still glaring they made their way through now opened door into a four-split intersection with, a path leading towards security, research, and the crew quarters. Not needing to order the movement they made their way straight ahead towards security but stopped in the middle of the interaction as the metallic clinking of their boots became a sickening squelch. Stopping in their tracks, Adrian lifted up his boot to see a thick substance drip off his armored boot.
"Somebody shoot out that light, can't see what the hell we're stepping in with that damn red glow."
When the red glare died with a bang, Adrian turned on the flashlight attached to his helmet revealing his combat boots to be covered in dark red blood. Looking up it wasn't just the floor that was slicked with blood, but the walls as well, as if a tornado of gore has swept through the hallway splattering every surface with the crimson liquid.
"What the fuck…" Adrian swore in disbelief.
"The hell did we stumble into?" Hackett wondered, "Boss we gotta get the hell out of here. We're not prepared for this."
Adrian nodded as the squad rushed towards the security offices, blood splashing under every step as they wasted no time. The main security console was located inside a small room inside of the larger 'security' wing, which mostly consisted of an armory and surveillance. Pak walked up to the console, trying to find a way to reverse the lockdown only to slam the metal frame out of frustration.
"We need the security chief's ID for a complete override, otherwise best I can do is turn the lights to normal and kill the alarm." He said as he flicked a couple switches, killing the headache inducing red light that permeated every inch of the lab. "On the plus side – though I hardly consider it good news – I've got location access to all the crew of the lab. The security chief is in containment but huh…that's odd."
"What is it?"
"Well…it's also showing their vitals, most of it is offline and I can't get a reading but some of them…it just keeps flipping between alive and dead, and the location data for them is….hectic to say the least. And come look at this."
Adrian leaned down to look at the console screen, it showed a name marked Subject Delta, and unlike most of the other lab personnel, it was still alive in cold storage. Adrian didn't want to spend a second longer here than he had to, but if he was forced to go to containment anyway then it wouldn't hurt to check out cold storage and see who this mysterious item was. He turned away from the screen, groaning in frustration, there was something else down here and by a miracle they hadn't crossed paths with it yet – but he wasn't sure how long that luxury was going to last.
"Hackett and Guin come with me to containment, the rest of you bunker down here while Pak keeps his eyes open on what's happening. Get comms open, let the others topside know we've stumbled into a quarantine lockdown, take all the necessary precautions they have to and if a mouse so much as breathes down here, I want to know about it, we clear? Good."
Leaving the security room, the trio made their way back down the blood-soaked hallway, he knew that splitting up at a time like this was reckless, but they weren't left with much of a choice. Having someone monitoring the lab could mean the difference between life and death, and shit…they needed that ID otherwise they wouldn't be getting out of here. An inhuman screech tore through the hallway, like an abominable wailing that went down to your core, and for the first time in years Adrian could say with certainty…he was afraid.
After the hallway of blood they saw something new, a green-brown guck was littering the entrance hallway, it trailed down the corridor to the sealed exit where the shit was smeared all over the wall, as if it was trying to get out. He was going to ignore it, to move on, when once of the office doors hissed upon, everyone's eyes turning towards the room, weapons raised. For a second nothing came out, and Adrian almost believe that nothing would come out, hoped that nothing would come out.
Until it did.
Lumbering with heavy footfalls it walked out, a human…fucking…body. Barely recognizable as it'd been twisted beyond any semblance of humanity, its skin tearing apart at the seams as that same guck oozed out like puss. It's chest burst opened, ribs poking out around a bulbous tumor that had red tentacles stuck out like tendrils, shooting around, squirming like worms. The persons head was bent off to the left painted into a visage eternally screaming. The arms were more like claws of overgrown muscle fused into life, underneath the "claw", Adrian could spy a normal human hand faintly twitching with every step. His mind raced back to what Pak said in security, the fluctuation between life and death. Clothes still clung to the abomination like ancient robes, a name tag hung on by a single thread, the words "Doctor Clarice Richardson" etched upon the thin plastic card. The only sign that this thing had once been human, the last memory of Clarice Richardson.
Behind him Guin gagged at the sight, something he himself likely would've done had he not been paralyzed with fear. At the sound, the mutation turned towards them, it's red tentacles no longer aimlessly searching the air but focused dead ahead. The trio stood stock still with their weapons raised as the humans stared off with whatever the hell that thing was. It took a single step forward and Adrian opened fire, the others following suit as a barrage of weapons fire bore down on it. The same unholy screech they heard earlier was repeated as it charged them uncaring of the bullets tearing through its fleshly body. Questions ran through Adrian's head, mostly what kind of fucking abomination didn't die when shot, let alone seem to even register what a figurative hellfire was raining down upon it. A few stray shots hit the pulsating tumor causing it to pop like a zit, sending the revolting oozes spraying forwards onto Adrian, Hackett, and Guin. They took a few steps backwards as it let out one final roar before ceasing it's charge falling dead just more feet in front of them.
Covering in dripping ooze Guin did more than gag, letting out a torrent of bile behind them as Adrian repressed the same urge. Walking over to the creature with the others in tow, he rolled the beast over with his foot, the human hand still barely twitching giving Adrian an uncomfortable shiver. Looking at the abomination below them, the true realization settled in over them that this wasn't just one isolated monster, this unthinkable creation was stalking the halls of this lab. If hell existed, this is what Adrian imagined it would be.
A/N: Well I hope you'll enjoy this, a certain level of disbelief is needed sure but I'd also hope that in a story with a talking ape, interdimensional mutli-world travel, a nanobot grim reaper, and aliens, there is a certain level of leeway but I do understand the skepticism because well the flood are the flood. Anyway I'm hoping to keep it as grounded as possible with a relatively possible solution as to why the flood wouldn't spread, however if you're one who thinks that the story's gone off the deep end and this is completely ridiculous, I wouldn't blame you but I'd also just like to add that this is probably the most insane and ungrounded the story will become.
I was mostly inspired by Halloween coming up and figured a horror themed arc would be enjoyable, so if again you can't reconcile these next couple chapters with the rest of the story, well then just consider this a horror spin-off chapter and enjoy the rest of the story for what it is. Regardless I hope that no matter what these chapters still continue to entertain, and you'll stick with the story. Have a good day everyone and remember to review and leave your thoughts!