Chapter 2: Who let the Monsters out?
Ethos sighed from his co-pilot seat inside the XJZ-12, now renamed 'Lucy' by Steve. 'Like my ex-wife' he said, 'Cause she's hot, stealthy and quick, if you know what I mean.' Only regrets came as an answer.
He looked back to see a dozen agents from branches 1, 2 and 6, all geared up and armed for a fight, among them were Kirigiri, head of the 14th Branch and Naegi, of the Paranormal Branch.
Around the 'invisible' jet were two others choppers with at least six agents inside.
Ethos and Naegi did tell Kirigiri not to come since it's their jobs as members of the Paranormal Branch to take care of Monsters. But she reminded them that she was part of their first mission, and that the victory that just turned out a failure was also her responsibility.
The mission, that very first mission of the Paranormal Branch. A month ago, they had to infiltrate Tanaka Gundam's secret Despair Lab where he created chimeras he called 'Monsters of Despair'. There were 50 of them. And they destroyed the monsters. But last night, they found out that some monsters weren't in their cage. How many weren't in their cage that day, and somehow, avoided death? That's their mission of the day.
"Alright guys!" Ethos exclaimed as he stood up the moment he recognized the place outside, they weren't far from their land site and the ground mission , once he got everyone's attention he continued, "Quick briefing of the mission: we go inside the lab, no stealth, just force your way through. Capture and arrest any Remnants you see, lethal force is allowed-", Naegi looked away at that. Munakata said that there was no choice since they'd be on their guard this time. They would be ready for a second attack, "- while we: Makoto, Kyoko and I, find out how many monsters are out and find out which ones of them. If you guys see any creature that looks like an animal but isn't… Shoot it dead without hesitation. This is not a joke, they are dangerous." Ethos concluded in a dark tone.
The head of the Paranormal Branch smiled and stood up too.
"You heard him! This might be your first mission against monsters, the King of Monsters left a big scar in our minds but the ones inside this laboratory are way less dangerous than him! So be careful and good luck everyone!"
The majority cheered with those words of encouragement, and soon after Steve Woods informed them that they have arrived.
The planed turned visible and landed along with the two choppers next to it. A total of at least 25 agents walked out and were lead by the duo of the Paranormal Branch.
In a minute they'll reach the lab, they'll have to bomb the entrance and ambush the Despair scientists. Ethos just hoped that they would be too surprised and not many of them will escape through the back secret exit.
...except that the doors were already open.
That's not normal.
Slowly, 15 agents including the destroyer, the detective and the symbol of Hope entered the facility. There was blood everywhere. Corpses everywhere too.
The worst was they were all half eaten. Some were missing a leg, other the total of their lower body and some even their head! The black and red haired man looked away, holding the urge to throw up, he saw horrors during his time with Ultimate Despair but never half eaten persons in real life, some agents imitating him. Naegi just glared at the body as Kirigiri approached and examined one of the bodies, then another.
"These corpses are at least one week old." she noted.
"One week?... One of the monsters must have done that. Or maybe more than one…" Naegi whispered. They were now inside a secret lab with a monster or more, and they have to go deeper to collect informations.
With some luck, the creatures weren't in the lab anymore.
"Alright, guys, If you see anything that isn't human. You shoot." Ethos frowned, " Look for survivors or any documents that could help our missions. We need to know which monsters are out there."
The agents nodded and the trio separated themselves from their little army. Everyone had their guns ready for shooting, except Ethos who felt way more comfortable holding his sledgehammer, Jessie, tightly with his two hands.
It's been only one month since they left from this place once the creatures executed, and everything was way too different: first of all, the eaten corpses then the blood everywhere. Just what happened here? The monsters were 'tamed' not to hurt any workers, except if Tanaka ordered it. But the breeder was in a coma on Jabberwock Island! Who else could control the monsters to make such carnage?
The trio reached the control room of the cages. Ethos immediately jumped on the monitor, not caring that the cages were now clean and empty. He started typing the passwords and searched for the missing creatures. Hoping that there wasn't many, and that he didn't know any of them.
"Jesus, all these corpses give me the creeps. Are you finding anything, Jaun?" An armed agent asked his partner who was looking through some bloody papers on a desk.
"Maybe I got something here, Marta… Just some datas of Monokumas units that they wanted to add to their creations. But the idea got rejected as Tanaka said that he wanted his creatures to be 'pure'..." Jaun answered.
"This is ridiculous." The female agent sighed as she looked around.
None of them noticed the strange long and slimy object slowly coming down from the ceiling, right above Martha's head.
Jaun noticed something at the corner of the table, right under the hand of the half eaten torso of the Despair scientist, he moved the hand away and took the papers. He started reading them.
"Did you find something?" Martha asked.
Right after she said that, the slimy object wrapped itself around her neck, she didn't even have the time to scream as she was pulled up.
"Oh my God! We… we need to go get the other-"
Suddenly there was a ripping sound, splashes and something dropped to the floor.
Jaun slowly turned around eyes wide open in fright. The splashes were exactly what he thought it was: blood. The something dropped was his comrade's body. And the ripping was the fact that her head was missing.
He was about to scream, but something slimy wrapped itself around his neck before a sound could come out of his mouth. He looked up as he was pulled upwards towards the ceiling. He only had the time to take a glimpse of red eyes before his head got inside a moist, hot and stinky place. The sticky object let go of his neck. And again, he didn't have the time to scream as his head got pierced from multiples parts, then the blades started to spin, ripping his head into pieces.
"Finally!" Ethos exclaimed.
"You found out how many are out?" Kirigiri asked as she approached him.
"Yes. Six monsters are missing!"
"Only six?" Naegi asked.
"'Only six'? Makoto, it's already enough for bringing a city to shit."
"But do you recognize the numbers? Do you know which are they?" The detective asked.
"I don't know the numbers yet. Let me look for it."
The destroyer told his friends he'll look deeper in the computer to see if there was information about the other monsters that he didn't know.
The couple could only nod and look around to also find their share of important information within the documents, maybe they would find something that could help them with this mission.
What was that thing? It appeared out of the darkness and was bringing one agent after the other to Death's front door! They couldn't even aim well to shoot it without hurting a camarade!
But from the glimpses everyone could see, the creature was big, sliding and uses its long tongue and tail to attack them. It somehow managed to hide in the air ducts.
This was just like Alien!
One of the agents suddenly found his leg get pulled inside one of the duct entrance on the floor by the monster's tongue. There was a ripping sound and blood spurting everywhere. The agent screamed and rolled away, his left leg missing, this creature was some sadistic abomination: it grabbed his other leg and ate it too. The creature repeated this grotesque scenery: eating a member, the agent screamed but still got a solid grip on life as he still tried to escape, just to get dragged again and have another limb devoured.
And most agents could only stare in horror at this until finally someone shot inside the vent.
Blood splashed then a shriek and the creature ran away.
The half devoured agent got put out of his misery immediately after.
"The creature isn't immune to bullet! Shoot the vents!"
Everyone listened.
Ethos managed to separate the numbers of the missing creatures from the complete list. Number 1, 2, 3, 12, 25 and 30.
Ethos eyes widen when he read the three first numbers, he recognized them. He knew which monsters they were.
"You know some of them, don't you?" Kirigiri suddenly said behind him.
"Yes… And it's very bad. But I don't know the other creatures. We won't find anything else on this computer. Did you guys find anything?" the Destroyer asked.
The couple answered negatively.
"Nothing huh? Then we should go deeper in the lab. Maybe in Tanaka's old office… There should be a list of the chimeras." Ethos said.
"Alright then. Let's go." Naegi smiled as he turned around and walked towards the door, "Well, everything seems to be going pretty smoothly."
But when he opened the door, a myriad of gunshots were heard some even pointed at where he was as a bullet lodged itself a few inches from his face. He immediately closed the door.
"Something bad is happening!" He exclaimed.
"Shit! So there is a monster here! What now, what now, what now?" Ethos started to panic as he started to think of a solution depending of the monster in the lab.
"You two calm down!" Kirigiri demanded, "We must think of-"
Suddenly a noise was heard inside the vents, the three of them looked up. The noise could be described as something big, sliding and pulling itself through the vent. Ethos looked in horror as he could recognize this pattern of noise anywhere.
"Aby…"
And just on cue, the creature opened itself an entrance inside the vent and fell of, right behind Ethos who immediately turned back, just to meet face to face seven red eyes slowly rising from the ground, looking down on him.
The creature was completely green except for its long black and yellow tail. It also had a large and heavy looking belly and two fins for hind legs. But the creature's torso straightened up, like the torso of a centaur, but it had nothing human in it: the chest area had visible veins pulsing, and instead of two human arms, it had long iguana arms. It had a large neck with gills on each side of it, and finally it had a large head with seven red eyes. Two big on front, one on the forehead and a pairs on each cheek. The abomination's mouth was circular and didn't seem to close. The creature long slimy purple tongue slowly went back inside the mouth, only to reveal different layers of sharp teeth adorning the mouth's circular walls.
Ethos immediately recognized the creature:
TMoD #1: Abotox
He slowly stepped back.
"No one move…" he whispered to his friends behind him as he heard the clicking of their guns.
"It can't see us?"
"First of all, Abotox is a she. And… Yeah she definitely can, but she's one sadistic bitch and she wants you to run so she can have fun." he whispered back.
The creature now known as Abotox growled as she raised a clawed paw.
"Or maybe not anymore…?" Ethos paled.
She was going to attack! But out of the blue, an agent opened the door and came in the room, panting for his breath.
"Ma'am, sirs! We need to leave! Everyone's alr- Oh my God!" The agent exclaimed and immediately aimed his gun towards the monster's face.
But she was faster as she ducked and pulled out her long tongue and grabbed the agent's leg. Then she pulled, throwing the man on his back whom dropped his gun. She pulled again but with more force, not letting any other person in the room act to try and save the screaming man.
In a matter of seconds, the man's leg was inside the monster's mouth. And the teeth coming out of the mouth' walls, stabbing the limb and then everything started to spin inside the monster's mouth. Turning the abomination's mouth into a deadly blender.
Naegi looked away while Kirigiri quickly pulled him out of the room, yelling to Ethos that they needed to go. The brunette asked about the man, that they should help him. But after Abotox swallowed the fleshy mush in her mouth, she grabbed the man's screaming head with on hand and put it inside her mouth too. His screams for help were soon silenced with ripping sounds and blood.
Ethos quickly followed the couple; he was on the verge of throwing up.
"Something happened to the monsters! Something bad! Last time I saw her, she wasn't as big as a fist!" He exclaimed.
"Ethos, this is not the size of a fist!" Kirigiri and Naegi yelled in sync.
"Why Abotox? Is it toxic?" the ahoge man asked in worry.
"Nah, but she looks toxic, heh?"
A roar and loud quick impact and dragging noises told them that they didn't had the time to talk, but just run as the Monster of Despair was chasing them.
Ethos looked back and saw Abotox gaining on them. She rolled her head back, tongue out, he knew what she was about to do.
"Everyone, JUMP!" he ordered.
And the trio jumped, catching a glimpse of the purple tongue passing under them in a flash: trying to catch a leg. They didn't stop running. Ethos shouted that they'd have to close the fire doors separating the large corridor they were in sections.
Just as he said that, he felt something sticky wrapping around itself around his chest, he looked down to see something purple. He widen his eyes in shock, Naegi and Kirigiri imitating him when they saw what's about to happen.
Ethos quickly grabbed his hammer as he got pulled away from the couple. He tried to spin around and as he was a few meters from the monster's claws, he swung his hammer on the side of her head the claws slashed his armor and some part of his suit. Abotox let go of him and crashed on the wall.
"Jesus! This is useless!" the Destroyer grunted as he threw his top suit away.
"Ethos!"
"Keep going! Prepare to close the doors! I'll buy you some time!" he shouted to the couple.
He saw them nod as they turned around the corner.
He gripped Jessie's handle with his hands. He walked backwards, as he saw Abotox slowly coming out of the dent on the wall, the side of her face bleeding some reddish purple blood.
"If I turn my back to you, I'm dead meat." he stared at her, "I see, you're not the Abotox I used to take care of all those years ago. I'm sure it wasn't the same Magalon either. Tanaka must have completed you and did his 'final version' as he said."
Ethos started to sweat. What if she didn't have the same skills as her predecessor?
"I won't hold back."
