Part 5 – The Horrific Finding…
As the team arrived at the location, Sasuke was on the phone with Ino, "He believes that the packages he was carrying contained living humans." Sasuke said.
"You have U.N. Peacekeepers standing by?" Ino asked.
"Yes," Sasuke said, "They've been instructed to keep the public as far back as possible."
"Why's that?" Ino asked.
"We think they've been dismembering the bodies," Sasuke said, "If what he said is correct, then we're gonna have one hell of a smell, and we don't want people thinking their dead family members are down there."
Sasuke was preparing an HK416 with a side-mounted flashlight and laser, and he even managed to get a suppressor attached when Ino spoke up, "What about the Singapore government?"
"We've got them up to date," Sasuke said, "They've even loaned us a few riot cops to keep the peace incase things get heated."
"Ok," Ino said, "Good luck Major."
The team approached the entrance to the lab their contact told them about, two armed guards came out carrying M4 rifles.
Before they could raise their rifles to fire, Tenten had changed into a tigress, and charged.
The two couldn't get to their rifles fast enough, and in one swipe, Tenten had knocked one of them off his feet, and slashed deep into his arms, causing him to drop the rifle.
The second managed to get the rifle about to Tenten's mid-thigh before one of Shino's explosions took the rifle from his hands.
Once he turned, Naruto grabbed him around the throat, and as he saw his feet go higher than his head, he felt a sudden rush of pain as Naruto slammed him hard onto the ground.
Sasuke walked up to the man, and he was surprised if the man didn't have a broken back because he was in serious pain.
"Nice," Sasuke said as he slapped Naruto on the shoulder.
"Thanks." Naruto said.
Shino and Naruto put the two thugs together, and tied them up as Sasuke gathered up their rifles.
"You won't defeat the boss," the first said, "He knows your coming."
"I know he knows," Sasuke said, "Does it look like we're scared," he then held both rifles out to Naruto, "Smash them."
Normally, it would be impossible to smash such a weapon because they were built to take the punishment, but remember, Naruto can summon great feats of strength.
Naruto swung them simultaneously at the wall of the hut where the entrance was located, and the M4s shattered into pieces as they made contact with the wall.
As he threw them back into the men's faces, Sakura spoke, "I wouldn't worry about us."
The team walked up to the grate, Sasuke aimed the HK416 at the door, looked at Shino and Naruto, and nodded.
The two of them flung the doors to the door open, and when they did, all six of them knelt over, gagging.
The contact was right, Sasuke had smelled this time and time again during his years in the Navy, the smell of rotting and decaying flesh, along with the heavy smell of chemicals, and honestly, it never got easier for him to smell it, but the shit that he smelled right then and there was far worse.
Sasuke quickly grabbed the M40 gas mask he grabbed from the Singapore Police, and quickly put it on, the smell was gone so he slowly entered.
The team entered behind him, having put on their own masks, as Sasuke entered his flashlight revealed the light switch.
As Sasuke threw it, the light revealed two men who had to be at least eight feet tall, and had so many muscles they must have been put on steroids four years ago, and kept on them.
Standing between them was a man wearing a skull on his head, had a blood-stained surgical mask on, a red shirt, black pants, black boots, and a blood-stained white apron.
"Kill them." He said.
Naruto and Shino went after the first while Sakura and Tenten went after the second, and Sasuke and Hinata went after the man dressed like the murderous doctor.
The first came at Shino and Naruto with a heavy swing, Shino channeled an explosion where his fist would have landed, and threw the man's arm backwards.
Naruto was nowhere near as beefy as the man trying to crush him and Shino, but he could be just as, if not stronger.
The blow from Naruto's fist would have laid out an elephant, but all it managed to do with the beef-stick was knock a few teeth out of the man's head.
The hammer Sakura generated was big enough to flatten a mountain bike, and the bruises it left would have mean a broken bone to normal humans.
Tenten had altered her psychology to match that of a female leopard, the strongest of the big cats, and had the man in a vice-grip around the neck.
Sasuke tossed his HK416 aside, and went after him with the CQD system he learned in his years in the SEALs, the blow he landed on the doctor's face would have drawn blood, but Sasuke couldn't tell if he did being as there was already blood on the man's mask.
Hinata had used her powers to see the man swing the cleaver he was wearing high, Hinata dove underneath the swing, and landed a blow against the man's floating rib.
The big guy fighting Naruto and Shino swung downwards, causing the floor to splinter under the blow.
Shino caused a very flashy explosion in front of his eyes, blinding him.
As he stumbled backwards, Naruto took the man's legs out from underneath him, jumped onto his back, and using his strength, he yanked the man's head back, breaking his neck.
Tenten charged into the man she and Sakura were fighting, she slid between his legs, and using her leopard claws, slice the man's Achilles tendons.
As the man fell to his knees, Sakura generated a sword in her hand, and stabbed the man through the heart.
Hinata managed to knock the cleaver out of the man's hand, and as he did, Sasuke grabbed him around the waist, picked him up, and ran the doctor into a large wooden spike caused by his overly-buff bodyguard.
The doctor was skewered, but the floor couldn't hold them both, and it gave way underneath them, dropping Sasuke into the ground.
"Sasuke," Sakura exclaimed as she ran up to the hole, and looked down inside to see Sasuke pushing himself up, "Are you ok?"
"Yea," Sasuke said, "You might want to get down here, and would someone please toss me my rifle?"
As Sakura dropped the HK416 down into the room with Sasuke, Sasuke caught it, and looked around the room before find the light switch for that room.
That light switch was very Doctor-Frankenstein-Evil-Genius-like, and when Sakura threw it, the light revealed the horrific truth.
Sasuke had seen bodies that Russian mob bosses ordered filled with bullets, civilians the Drug Cartels had submerged in corrosive acid that hadn't fully dissolved, civilians and soldiers alike left to cook and bake in the deserts of the Middle East for days, that had been hacked to pieces with a machete, and had been through the most horrific torture a person could go through, but nothing he saw prepared him for this.
Human bodies that had been cut to pieces, and put back together, as if a surgeon had done it.
Sasuke walked up to one of the bodies, the person he was standing in front of was a male, whoever had made this sack of rotting meat had to have used up of at least four different bodies, and the face had to be made of at least three.
Hinata walked up to the one Sasuke was standing in front of, and put two fingers onto the body's forehead.
Sasuke could see she was struggling to keep up, when she drew back she would have fallen if Sasuke hadn't caught her, "You ok?" He asked.
"Yea," Hinata said as she rubbed her forehead, "I saw so many thoughts, and so much chaos. Whatever these things are, they're alive, somehow."
"What kind of inhuman monster would do this," Sakura asked as she walked up to a female corpse.
"A genius," a voice said over a P.A. system mounted all around the six of them before a light came on revealing a six-foot-two man wearing an Akatsuki robe with fiery red hair standing behind a small glass screen.
Sasuke covered the man as Sakura's pink aura was burning, you could tell she was mad.
"Allow me to introduce myself," he said, "My name is Sasori, but you may call me, the Puppet Master."
"Does butcher sound better?" Sakura asked.
"Call me whatever you want dear," Sasori said, "Tell me, as the first outsiders to see them, how do you enjoy my puppets?"
"You're a monster," Sakura said, "An abomination."
"Don't let them hear you say that," Sasori said as he raised his hand to a small console, and hit a few buttons.
The bodies in there with the six began to spasm before groaning, and standing up, "They're alive," Naruto said, "He must have found some way to reanimate them."
"They are alive," Sasori said, "And they do love to play, so please enjoy."
As Sasori left Sasuke spoke up, "Sakura, we're going to need a way out of here," he said as he opened fire on one of the puppets.
The body shots did nothing but slow them down, Sasuke then fired at the head, and the body dropped right then and there.
"Aim for the head," Sasuke said as he switched his HK416 to semi-auto, and fired at the creatures.
Shino joined in with Sasuke as Tenten and Hinata scrambled up the ladder Sakura had made while Naruto ran through the puppets, his strength was powerful enough to plow through all of them.
As Sasuke and Shino were dealing with the puppets, Shino noticed a few barrels behind the creatures, and focused an explosion at the barrel.
As the barrel exploded, a green gas which Sasuke identified as Fozburn Gas from the smell which had electricity running through it crept over the puppets which instantly killed them.
"That's their weakness," Sasuke said as he targeted the other barrels.
As they were shooting, Sasuke got an idea as one of them fell, he ran up to one of the puppets, picked it up, and handed it to Shino.
"What's this for?" Shino asked.
"We'll take it for examination," Sasuke said as he reloaded his HK416, and signaled for them to move, "Now go!"
As Shino carried the body up the stairs, Sasuke's arm brushed against the gas, and it dissolved the sleeve of his shirt, and left him with a second-degree burn on his arm.
"You ok," Sakura asked as she ran up to Sasuke to see the burn on his arm.
"It'll leave a mark," Sasuke said as he noticed she was stumbling, "Are you ok?"
"I feel a little dizzy," Sakura said, "I don't know what's going on."
Sasuke then saw that the ladder was fading, "It seems to be doing more than that," he said as he grabbed her by the arm, pulled her toward the ladder, and threw the HK416 aside, "Come on."
"I don't think I can climb that and concentrate at the same time," Sakura said as she reached up to her forehead, the air is causing me to lose focus.
"Then just focus on the ladder," Sasuke said as he threw Sakura onto his shoulder in a fireman's carry.
As Sakura focused on the ladder, Sasuke scrambled up the ladder as fast as he could, but before he could grab the edge, the ladder disappeared, and Sasuke could feel the two of them falling.
Before they could fall all the way through though, Sasuke felt an outstretched arm grab his, he looked up, and Naruto was pulling him and Sakura through the hole.
"Thanks," Sasuke said as he slapped Naruto on the shoulder.
The team ran out of the lab, and as they made it outside, they slammed the door shut.
"Shit," Tenten said, "That was intense."
Sasuke set Sakura down on the ground, and removed her gas mask to check on her vitals.
Sasuke knelt down, he couldn't get a breath, "Oh shit," he said as he quickly began CPR, "Come on Sakura, don't you die on me," after trying to get her heart beating, he leaned down, and gave her a breath of air, and then went back, "COME ON!"
"She'll live," Hinata said as she grabbed Naruto's hand as she went to help Sasuke.
As Sasuke was working Sakura suddenly gasped for air, "Sakura," Sasuke said as he helped her sit up, "Its ok, its ok. I got you."
"You saved my life," Sakura said as she looked up at Sasuke, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Sasuke said as the Singapore PD ran up to them, and saw the corpse in Shino's hands.
"What's going on?" One of the officers asked.
"Something bad," Sasuke said, "You might want to get in touch with your boss, get a HAZMAT team down here."
"Ok," the other officer said as he walked back to his car.
"And get a body bag," Sasuke said, "We need to get this thing back to our commander."
The Singapore Military completely quarantined the sight, and had started removing-the bodies from the lab, it seemed the gas that was released had a half-life of only thirty minutes.
By the time the lab was cleared, the team was already on their way back to the Konoha, and the entire team was pretty angry.
When they made it back to the Konoha, they stormed into the command center, "What has the United Nations gotten us into," Sasuke asked as they walked up to Ino.
"What do you mean?" Ino said.
Sasuke slammed his fist onto the table in front of Ino, "What the fuck do you think I mean Commander?" Sasuke asked.
"Watch your tone Major," Ino said, "I know you haven't had a rank for a while, but even you must know the difference between a Major and a Commander."
"Yes," Sasuke said, "And I also know the difference between a conspiracy and war crimes."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Ino asked.
Sasuke motioned Naruto who was holding the body bag, Naruto walked up, and dropped the body on the table.
Sasuke walked up to the side of the bag and spoke, "You've seen a few things in your years in the U.N., Commander," he said as he unzipped the bag, "Well stop me if you've seen something like this," he opened the bag to show the puppet, and Ino nearly gagged when she saw the body.
Ino ran over to the nearest trash can, and it was quite obvious she threw-up.
"You really knew nothing about this," Sasuke said as Ino walked back over to the table.
"How do you know?" Tenten asked.
"Hinata," Sasuke said as he pointed at Ino.
"Forgive me," Hinata said as she walked over to Ino, "It will be much easier," Hinata touched two fingers to Ino's forehead, and in an instant had an answer, "She didn't know, she's as clueless about this as we are."
"What are these things," Ino asked, "And where did they come from?"
"While in the lab our contact described, we met an Akatsuki member named 'Sasori' who called himself the 'Puppet Master'," Sasuke said, "He called them his 'puppets', he created them out of people he captured off the streets."
"Is it alive?" Ino asked.
"Not anymore," Sasuke said, "We found their weakness while they were down there. You can either shoot them in the head, or you can introduce them to Fozburn Gas infused with an electrical charge."
"How'd you find that out?" Ino asked.
"There were barrels of the stuff inside of the lab," Sasuke said, "While we were on the plane, we could only guess that this 'Puppet Master' needed some way to control these things, I guess he installed some kind of failsafe in these things."
"You think Fozburn gas is his answer?" Ino asked.
"Yes," Sasuke said, "Sort of a kill-switch."
"What's Fozburn gas?" Naruto asked.
"It's a highly corrosive green gas," Sasuke said, "Almost always when it's introduced to air it emits and electrical charge," he then showed his arm, "Hence the burns, anything with a higher strength than leather will block it, which is the main reason why most meta-human costumes are made out of it, aside from the fact they just look cool."
"I want an autopsy of this thing," Ino said as she turned to Sakura, "Sakura, your medically trained, can you do it?"
"Yea," Sakura said, "I bet I can, but I'll need an assistant."
"I'll help," Sasuke said as he raised his hand, "During my time in the SEALs I helped dozens of field medics."
"Ok," Sakura said, "Let's get this thing down to the infirmary, and get started."
So the Akatsuki is creating zombie-creatures, wonder what will be revealed next? Tune in next time for another exciting episode of: It's Not About the Money…