Far below Asheville, the collapse finally stopped. Dust was slowly starting to settle, but the main portion was already at the bottom. Or nearly, anyways, because a large slab of concrete was about four to five feet off the ground, creating a sort of pocket.

"Motherfuck-" Heller coughed. Then craned his head as far as he could with the unmoving weight bearing down his back. "Report!"

Coughing and swears were his first replies, then, an angry voice "The bloody Hell happened?"

A flare was lit up, forcing him to squeeze his eyes shut at the sudden light. It took a moment to get used to it, and when he did, the Wisemen's pilot, MacAlistair, was in front of him, carefully moving the flare like a torch along the ceiling and ground, before he swore. "Bloody Hell, man, are you holding this stuff up?"

"I am, and it is not pleasant", Heller grunted, shifting the weight on his back. "What about the others?" He smelled blood, and his ears were still ringing. Not really good to try and figure out who else is down here. The pilot eyed him, and the concrete slab, then pulled away with a shake of his head and a muttered 'Fucking Evolved, man.' He was back in a comfortable semi-darkness again, and it was silent for another beat safe for the hiss of the torch and the shuffle of the man on the ground.

"Shit, Ian, get that fucking flare outta my face!" That was...Estoban, right? Another one of Cross's guys. That were two accounted for. He turned his head, eyes narrow. He's seen it before, the soft blue glow surrounding the team, but it's always been a little muddied from how many have been around. Now, without anything to draw attention away, he could see more clearly.

So this was how the Bugs perceived the world, then? Interesting, and useful in near complete darkness.

"MacAlistair", he grunted, straining against the weight. "Two paces to your left. One figure. Two more further to the back, about three paces."

The pilot eyed him suspiciously. "How do you- Right. My bad. Super Infected. Forgot." He shuffled off, followed closely by the other Wiseman. Heller couldn't actually see them, but he heard them move bodies. "Wait", Estoban muttered, "Those are Marines."

"Yeah. Hey, Hades?"

"What?" The weight was starting to get heavy, so he got a little snappy.

"You seeing any more?"

He already checked, even managed to catch a glimpse of whatever was behind his back. "None that I can see. Maybe there are bodies?"

The Wisemen split up, the Pilot shuffling around to look for corpses, the other trying to rouse the Marines. At least there was some success on that front- he heard the breathing pattern change briefly. Not enough to indicate consciousness, but at any rate meant they weren't dead.

He grunted, and his knees started to give in. The whole rubble above them shifted dangerously, loud enough to make the others jerk. "A few good news would be appreciated", the Evolved grit out, "'Cuz I don't think I can hold this any longer."

"No dead bodies around here", MacAlistair declared. "But there is a tunnel, just two yards down there."

"Big tunnel?"

"Large enough. No idea where it goes-"

"Good enough. We can dig out from there." He exhaled sharply. "Get the Marines into that tunnel. Hurry."

They didn't question it, just grabbed the other soldiers and dragged them out of sight, and down into the passage. If it hadn't collapsed when the ceiling caved in, it wasn't going to collapse now.

"Got them!" Estoban declared. "Now what?"

"Now you stand back", Heller replied, forcing himself to shift his position a little. The concrete rumbled ominously when he tried to tip it a little into the opposite direction of the men. He grit his teeth, paused for a second, and pushed. Stones clattered deafening all over to the side, whirling up more dust in the process. The second the entire mess was in mid-air, Heller threw himself backwards and into the tunnels, only split seconds before everything came crashing down. More dust obstructed their view, and the noise canceled out any other sound. His ears were ringing again, and his body ached, but the Evolved still managed to clamber to his feet on his own.

The two Wisemen were casually wiping the dirt off their masks, shaking their heads while doing so. "Man. I'm sure glad you're on our side", MacAlistair muttered.

Estoban echoed that sentiment, but remained hunched over the Marines on the floor, who were finally stirring. Now that he was free to move around, Heller came over to look at them. He recognized them easily enough: Hall, Shugi, Decker. Frosty's team. (once upon a time, his own team, too)

He furrowed his brows as he looked down at them. Then glanced at the two Wisemen. Just as he figured, they too were beat up to Hell and back, but being Blackwatch, he suspected they had a way higher pain threshold than normal soldiers. Plus they probably got some really strong pain killers as part of their mandatory equipment.

But there were some things they couldn't hide. Like the piece of rebar that's been driven through MacAlistair's forearm, or the way Estoban was breathing shallow and constantly holding his side. Neither showed much signs of discomfort, however, and if they would get some help within the next time, they would be fine.

The Marines were arguably worse off, however. Decker's body was covered in blood and glass. Heller figured they must have passed at least one plate window on the way down for that amount of glass to end up where it did. Hall had a bloody gash across her forehead, and more blood stuck to the back of her skull. Shugi, at least, wasn't harmed that much, but his leg was at a very wrong angle.

Heller

He flinched, his vision instantly snapping into the muted browns of the Hive Mind. "Fuck, Mercer. What happened?"

The ceiling caved in, Mercer supplied. I got Cross here with me. What about you?

"Just managed to stop a few tons of concrete from squashing my guys. I got two of Cross's , and three Marines. All injured, Marines more than Wisemen. We need extraction."

Extraction won't happen. Yeah, well. What had he been expecting there? Where are you?

Heller exhaled through his nose. "Tunnels. Guess somewhere far below."

Good. If you dropped straight down, you should still be far away enough from the Queen's Chambers, so you won't get into trouble. Try and find a way up. Ah, that was Mercer speech for 'Get medical help, you giant idiot'.

"I will. But first, what about the others?"

No idea. The collapse must have destroyed the tunnels we walked along in, and the comms are down. I know how to get there, though. Other tunnels. Cross and I will circle back, try to find them if they are still alive.

"...Thanks" Heller sighed once. Turned back to the Wisemen "Mercer just confirmed Cross is alive. But he doesn't know shit about the other. Any of you got a working radio?"

Estoban muttered a 'Knew that bastard's too tough', while MacAlistair scrambled for his comm. There was only static. The pilot sighed. "Shit" Glanced over at his fellow Wiseman. "Gear?"

"Still got my MG. But I don't got a lot of ammo", Estoban claimed. "Same with the rifle."

"Take mine", MacAlistair decided, "Mine got a crooked muzzle."

"I still got the M2", Heller pointed out. "And the M4. Just enough ammo to get us to the surface, hopefully."

"St'll got my service gun", a voice below grunted, and all three actually had to turn to look to confirm that it was Shugi. He had managed to drag himself towards the tunnel walls to sit upright against it. He grinned, half-grimaced, and waved his hand. "Hey Sarge. What happened?"

Heller knelt down next to him. "Cave-in."

"Shit. Now I know why I feel like roadkill", Shugi inhaled once, and glanced over at Hall and Decker. "What about those two?"

"Alive, but they need medical attention better sooner than later." Heller inclined his head, then stood to turn to MacAlistair. "You said your rifle was crooked?"

"Yeah. No shootin' with that one."

"May I have it?"

The Wiseman shrugged and handed it over. Without hesitation, Heller simply ripped it apart to use the gun barrel as makeshift splint. Neither of the Wisemen said anything when he used bandages from their first-aid kit to secure Shugi's leg, but they did react when he pulled the Marine upright to assist him. Estoban grinned. "A little unorthodox, but it works."

"Whatever helps us getting out of here faster", the Evolved pointed out as he shoved the Marine towards him, and went to pick up Decker's limp body in a fireman's carry- he figured that maybe this wasn't the best position for the man to be in, injured as he was, but he didn't really have any choice in the matter- he would still need his arms and he couldn't grow tentacles to secure others against his back like Mercer did. (At least, he was certain he couldn't). MacAlistair mimicked him without asking by picking up Hall, and Estoban went on to serve as a crutch to Shugi.

Heller scrunched up his nose and started heading down the tunnels. "C'mon. Let's get out of here first. And if you're up to it, you can accompany me when I go back down to burn this fucking place to the ground."

"I lost my flamethrower", Cross grumbled. "Now I have to go back topside and get a new one to burn this whole fucking place to the ground."

Alex nodded along as he searched the ground. "Sorry. This caught me by surprise."

The Specialist hummed, apparently not all too worked up about the loss of his weapon. "We can still use some C4, I think. How did you know this was coming, though?"

"Heard it in their Hivemind. The Queen told them to split us up. And they had...ideas about how to do that."

Cross's eyes narrowed. "Ideas?"

The Runner snorted. "Wild, I know. Last Hivemind I was in didn't work with ideas." Blacklight and Redlight had been mostly desires and instincts. But this- the Bugs- they were smart. Smarter than Infected, at any rate. Smart enough to understand what actions had which consequences. It was surprising, and somewhat alarming. Because they knew how to separate them in order to weaken them.

Well, too bad for them that this only made them interesting targets in Alex's opinion, and hunting them down was going to be more fun than he expected.

While Cross checked over his gear, the Runner finally found what he had been looking for ever since the collapse ended: A piece of reinforced concrete that's broken off the main bulk, and that landed on the remains of the floor they've been on before the collapse.

There was acid damage on the piece, and he'd bet the other weight-bearing parts looked the same.

Cross glanced at the piece of rubble, and huffed out. "Clever girls."

Alex, caught off guard, snorted in surprise. "Jurassic Park, really?"

The Specialist shrugged. "Movie monsters are much more enjoyable than real monsters."

Well, he was right on that one. Alex inclined his head. "Weapons?"

"Still got my rifle. Hand Gun. Some C4. Stun Baton. Knife." He scoffed. "Latter two I'm not going to use against acid-spewing critters."

"Wasn't going to ask you to." The Runner threw one last glance towards the other side, which was cut off from them by an enormous amount of rubble. He could dig through it, no problem, but that would mean leaving Cross alone for some time in enemy territory. And while he didn't doubt his abilities to hold his own, he also didn't want to risk anything. He turned back around and started heading down the tunnel, to find the next egg pit.

Cross fell in step behind him, but not once easing up on his guard. Which was good, because he could hear their voices, their claws on the walls, their screeches in the ceiling above them. They didn't come close enough to be seen, but close enough to be heard.

The Specialist only huffed amused. "Animals doing psychological warfare. Thought I'd seen everything." Suddenly he spun on his heel, handgun cracking, and a pale spider thing dropped to the floor thoroughly ventilated. He smirked. "Too bad it won't work on me."

Alex whistled. "Not bad."

"Learned that one in Springfield. Place had mutated tigers. Assholes only attack if they think they're not spotted. Same goes for these things."

They continued onwards, following twisted tunnels. Once or twice they had to squeeze through a narrow passage that had very soft walls. Recent additions, Alex figured. So these things really tried to keep them out.

Well, too bad about that.

The second egg room was more circular than the last one, with all eggs in plain view.
There was also a large opening in the ceiling.

"They're going to send them down there", Cross noticed.

"They will", Alex agreed, and bared his claws. "Let's not disappoint them."

"You take the eggs. I take the hosts", the Colonel growled, already taking aim at the closest victim. When he pressed the trigger, Mercer flung out his Whipfist, spinning in a circle to slash through as many eggs as he could.

It triggered another surge of these things. This time they were more aggressive. Alex knew why- they believed that with reduced man power they would be easier to take out.
He peeled his lips away in a grin. Think again, you assholes.

His talons dug into the ground below, and a massive ring of ground spikes ripped from the floor around them to shred the first creatures. The rest fell back screeching, only for him to plant a second wall of spears several feet further away that caught the rest of the pack and turned them into bloody bits. Cross didn't stopped firing, taking down whatever he could see peeking out from between the spikes.

The Queen's pained shriek echoed inside his head, making him hum in excitement.

When he pulled back the Biomass, everything was shredded. The eggs got destroyed in the process, and the splattering blood took care of any viable hosts. The Bugs were all dead, and whatever tried to follow the main bulk quickly decided otherwise.

Alex didn't bother checking again as he turned and started to walk down another tunnel. "I hope you have enough ammo left."

Cross snorted. "What do I look like? An amateur? I got enough to take care of them."

"Just what I wanted to hear."

His ears were still ringing, and the dust that had been whirled up took his breath, despite the mask.
He couldn't yank it off though, it would only be more of a hazard. So he did the next best thing: Wiping it off as good as he could with his hands. Of course, they were dusty too, so in the end he probably made things worse.

"Frick, Frosty" Duke coughed next to him. "The Hell happened?"

"Ceiling collapsed, brain boy", a female voice deadpanned, and Harrison had to squint a little to make out the Blackwatch Captain standing near the collapse. Three more of the Wisemen were with her, one at least was trying to contact somebody with his radio.

"No good, Renee", the man muttered. Harrison furrowed his brows- he knew that one. Jackson? Or Redstone? No, Jackson was black, Redstone tan, and the fingers he could see where white, so Anders. "Comm's down."

"Fucking wonderful." She shifted her rifle into a more comfortable position on her back. "You think the Boss is still alive?"

"He's Cross"

"Good point. So yeah. Problem is, he's right through his pile of rubble."

"We could go back", Duke suggested, "Bring down your...D-Code, was it? Have him dig us out?"

Harrison glanced around, noticing another tunnel that split off from the one they were in- and one that didn't run back to the previous egg room. "We can't leave", he muttered, "We still have a mission to do." The others turned and glanced at him while he gestured to the new entrance. "We have to destroy the eggs before these things can make a new nursery, right?"

The Captain hummed. "Good call. You still got this motion detector?"

Frosty lifted it up. "Still in working condition, too."

"Good", she turned to the others. "Status?"

"Just dusty, Ma'am", one of them replied. Harrison had the feeling he was grinning under his gas mask. "Nothing to prevent us from finishing the job."

"What are we waiting for, then?"

Without question, the small group set into motion. The Captain went on to walk besides Harrison, Duke and the smaller of the Wisemen was in the middle, and the two large Wisemen brought up the rear. All of their flashlights were on and moving across the walls of the burrow they were passing through. A few times Harrison thought he'd seen shiny black armor, but that quickly proved to be a bit of tunnel lining that just jutted out at a weird angle.

"Now you know why this Hive stuff is so dark", Santos grumbled as she too fixed a piece of strange resin a thorough stare.

...Right. The walls look almost exactly like the Bugs do, giving them ample cover. He wondered whether that was the only purpose for the Hives, because these things sure looked like they could make do without constructing a nest first.
But the presence of the Wisemen soothed him- for the moment, that is- because he knew they have seen and survived worse shit already. Manhattan, the Beast, those were only the public known examples. He was pretty sure Blackwatch had had their fingers in even more nightmare-inducing pies, and as such, weren't going to lose their cool once things got hairy.

The events of the first egg room were fresh in his memories- The giant pack of the Bugs, the way all of them had been surging towards them without stopping- he was honest enough to admit that this had scared the living daylights out of him. Blackwatch, however, they just took the assault and turned it around, destroying nearly as many of these things as the Sarge and his partner had taken down. (he still didn't know who that guy was, but he seemed familiar?)

So yeah. He felt better knowing he was with guys who were known monster wranglers while walking through a nest of monsters.

He didn't like the bitter taste in his mouth these guys left when they downright murdered the victims, however. Logically he knew that Blackwatch was justified in their actions- they couldn't get the help the hosts needed in a timely matter, and allowing them to live would just mean to have to watch them die horribly while the parasite hatched.
Still didn't mean he liked how horribly casual they snuffed out human lives just as they did the Bugs. He had the sinking feeling they wouldn't hesitate to shoot their own guys. And if they had no real sense of loyalty to members of Blackwatch, then they probably wouldn't bother to be nice to members of the Marines. (he'd heard rumors of Manhattan, too)

But any port in a storm, right?

The tunnels got a bit wider, and curved to the side. There were ledges on the upper portion of the walls, large enough for a man to hide.
Or a Bug.

The motion detector remained silent, but they still slowed to a crawl as they carefully inched deeper. The 'Specialist' Cross introduced to them (Conduit, had to be, he's seen the claws) told them the scanners won't pick up anything behind the machine, nor would it notice whatever was moving slow.

So they had to remain vigilant, despite the technology.

He stopped then, head snapping to the side. The entire group froze, not saying anything. They knew better than to question his instincts, and he didn't need to wait too long to pick up the sound of claws against a solid surface.

"They know", Santos growled. Her hand went up to press the side of her mask, and the lenses flashed briefly. "Got you", she muttered, bringing her rifle into position. The other three Wisemen shifted their position to cover her.

Then a shot cracked, followed by a pained shriek and the thud of a body hitting the floor.

For a second, everything was silent, right up until they heard screeches from all around them, and the shadows started moving. Dots appeared on the motion detector, closing in rapidly.

Harrison counted maybe eight of them, a far cry from the giant pack that attacked them before, but it was still enough.
He swallowed once, steeled his nerves, and pressed the trigger.

It took only moments, but felt like hours until the scanner fell silent. Blackwatch sprayed another round of projectiles across the steaming corpses until the Captain was satisfied and motioned for them to continue their trek.
Technically, Harrison realized, he outranked her. But he also knew she had more experience, and he wasn't going to pull rank when she had a much better idea of what they were getting into. Duke seemed to notice this too, and only rolled his eyes behind his mask in a fond way.

They didn't chatter any when they continued their way deeper into the nest, to avoid overhearing any telling noises the Bugs would cause.

So far, they didn't encounter any others, but they found cadavers. Bullets had torn them apart, and since the acidity was long since gone, they had been shot quite a while ago.
Harrison frowned, glancing at Santos. "That Cross's work?"

"It seems that way", she replied, squinting, "But. It makes no sense."

"Too many shooters", Redstone pointed out suddenly. "Angle's wrong for just one. It were at least two."

"So he's with somebody else then."

"Yeah, but...I don't know." He looked at the carnage. "Too much spray here. Doesn't look like his shooting."

Jackson was crouching on the ground, picking up a bullet casing he found wedged in a corner. Then he stiffened. "I don't think it's the Boss", he growled, holding the golden tube for them to see. Or, more specifically, the letters on them. The Cyrillic letters.
"Russian bullets. The Boss doesn't use Russian ammo."

Harrison's back crawled. "The Bears", he hissed in realization. "The Iron Bears-"

A series of gunshots echoed down the halls. The six of them instantly snapped to attention, eyes narrowing. With only a nod of her head, Santos ordered her men to follow, leaving Harrison and Duke to scramble after them.

The Wisemen didn't get that much of a head start, but they were clearly better trained at sprinting with their whole gear, mask included, and the Marines were not, so they only caught up to them to find them already huddled outside a larger room. The motion detector was telling them that there were several things moving about beyond the doorway.

Santos jerked her shoulder, and Anders produced a small collapsible periscope to peer into the room. He set his jaw. "Iron Bears. Several of them. They're trying to remove some of the eggs. But..." He frowned, "They set charges, too. Looks like they want to blow this joint."

"Good", Jackson threw in, "Saves us from having to do that."

"Problem there. We need to get these guys out first", Harrison pointed out.

The only reply he got was the cocking of four machine guns. The Captain had an arch to her neck and shoulders that just screamed It is only going to be a problem if you make it one.

He understood immediately. The Iron Bears were using Weyland-Yutani to obtain technology they could use to sell further, and possibly fuel conflicts especially in the old Eastern Bloc.
The newer and way more devastating problem was that the Bears also removed the eggs and shipped them across the world. And whatever their reason was for doing so, they were playing dangerously loose with global security.

Which made them a threat. More even, they were on par with Bio-terrorists, doing exactly what Blackwatch was sworn to eradicate.

And if he had to bet on one side, he bet on Blackwatch. The Bears probably had connections that protected them. Blackwatch however, didn't care. Would likely eradicate those connections as well, no matter where and who they might be. (he had the feeling that was what this so-called 'Specialist' was there for)

He grit his teeth, and leaned to the Captain. "If you just storm in there, they will probably kill you."

"I am aware", she tilted her head. "That's why we won't be storming anything. Not without some serious distraction, at least." She shifted slightly, and pulled a round object from her pocket. A grenade?

Some type he hadn't seen before, though.

The Wisemen snickered. "So that's what you got planned. Nice."

"Planned what?" Duke demanded to know. Harrison wanted to know, too.

Jackson chuckled, but took pity on them. "The plan is to go in and shoot these assholes. But since they are outnumbering us, we need to play it smart."

"They got flood lights installed", Redstone added, and there was definitely a grin in his tone. "So that means?"

Harrison inhaled. "They got no way to see in the dark. Not like we do." They got infrared. The Bears probably only night vision. And night vision didn't go well with gunfire.

"And WY isn't the only company that produces nice toys", Santos continued. "You see, we were supposed to take care of these super-powered guys down in New Marais. The strongest one needs electricity to work. So we build something that would cut the energy, and render him weak, should we ever need to take him down. So" She held up the grenade.

"It's...an EMP grenade?!" Duke sounded almost reverend. "Shiiiiiit. Thought that was just theoretical until now."

"Until now", the Captain replied. "So I guess you'll understand the plan now."

Yeah. Lob the grenade, wait until the light's off, and then take down the Bears before they can react. Harrison nodded. Santos cocked her head, pulled the pin, and chucked the thing into the egg room.

So, the main cast at least survived.

And have been split up, and are right in the middle of enemy territory. Well, we'll see how it works out.