Resident Evil/Biohazard: Hostage Rescue
Rating: T
NOTE:
All characters of Resident Evil/Captain Commando/Street Fighter are under the copyright of Capcom. All characters of Martin Mystery are under the copyright of Marathon. All characters of Kara no Kyokai are under the copyright of TYPE-MOON. All characters of Spriggan are under the copyright of Hiroshi Takashige and Ryoji Minagawa. All characters of Jiraishin are under the copyright of Tsutomu Takahashi. The appearance of Kenneth "Kenny" Feng is under noctorro's jurisdiction. All others are under my jurisdiction.
Summary:
Leon and the party have approached the lake to where the creature "Del Lago" was said to be hiding in. Kevin and Hiryu volunteered to go out and engage the creature in order to clear the path for the rest of the group. While engaging Del Lago, it was able to knock the two into the waters. Will they be able to defeat the creature and help the others get to the other side of the lake? Stay tune to this chapter to find out.
Chapter 6: Struggle
On lake waters, somewhere in Spain
"Dammit!"
Kevin had emerged out of the lake waters, his head first.
"And it's a bit cold too! I can't stand it!"
The ex-SPF officer said, feeling his legs going cold as he swam for the motorboat. Luckily for him, he fell down a short distance from it. Likewise, Kevin had SPF training that included survival in waters such as swimming.
"Glad you made it!"
He found Hiryu already on the motoboat, ready to give Kevin a hand.
"Thanks!" Kevin said as he got on the motorboat. "Good thing you were around."
"Let's worry on that later." Hiryu told Kevin. "Del Lago could be anywhere ready to make us human food."
"Well I'd like to see it try." Kevin smirked as he got his hand on a harpoon. "Good thing these guys are still around." And good thing that the harpoons were on a case somehow bolted on the boat floor. Otherwise, we're doomed.
Everything was silent as Kevin began to focus in locating the giant salamander. So far, the waters were quiet. Too quiet. Del Lago might be trying to sneak around and catch the two of them off their guard.
"Over there!"
Kevin saw what was coming. A big splash of water from a distance, followed by the head of Del Lago before it opened its mouth ready to tear the motorboat Kevin and Hiryu were using.
"Take this, you overgrowned monster!" Kevin yelled as he began to throw harpoons at the open mouth in order to get it to bleed. Two harpoons were already hurled at the mouth with the beast's mouth bleeding in response. "Hah! Try escaping that!"
"YES!" Kevin shouted, hurling in another harpoon before Del Lago pulled the motorboat with it while trying to smash it onto debris. Thanks to Hiryu's fast reaction in handling the motorboat, it was not working for the beast. Even while ramming the motorboat with its own body was not working as well. Kevin continued to hurl harpoons at the beast's body and tail.
"ALRIGHT!" The brown-haired man yelled, as he and Hiryu continued to dodge and attack Del Lago one more time to deter it from attacking their allies before they can cross over the lake to the other side and find the key they can use to get in the church as it was the major lead that they had. "YEEHA! Best marksmanship ever!"
End of Right Dirt Path, away from main Dirt Path, somewhere in Spain
"They um..." Yu was confused as to what Kevin was doing. "seem to doing well."
"Relax." Leon tried to reassure the Japanese Spriggan agent. "Kevin's like that when the odds are into his advantage. Ever since I began to work together with him a few years ago. He's got the best marksmanship ever back with the Select Police Force."
"I just hope the odds are in his advantage." Diana replied to Leon's comment about Kevin, a bit worried.
On lake waters, somewhere in Spain
Kevin began to hurl harpoons again at Del Lago after it rose out of the lake waters, charging towards the stalled motorboat.
"HAH! HAH!" yelled Kevin out loud as he continued to hurl the harpoons towards Del Lago's open mouth until it roared out loud before it made a big splash onto the water after briefly surfacing.
"Whoa..." Hiryu groaned, who was still in his seat. "That was... interesting."
"I know." Kevin said before the two heard the sound of rope going down the water.
"Wonder where that sound's coming from... HEY!" Hiryu shouted as he was about to be dragged onto the waters.
"Hold on there!" Kevin shouted, grabbing the SHADOW agent's Fairbarn Sykes combat knife from the knife sheath strapped on his tactical vest before the man began to use it to cut the rope tangled on his left leg.
End of Right Dirt Path, away from main Dirt Path, somewhere in Spain
"Looks like he's tangled up." Yu told the party while peering through the binoculars. "And Kevin's hacking the ropes with my mate's knife."
"Is he alright?" Sho asked Yu, looking at the motorboat from a distance.
"He should be." Yu said, watching Kevin continue to chop down the rope some more.
"I just hope Hiryu doesn't go down with Del Lago."
"I am confident that he will not go down so easily."
Yu watched through his binoculars until he saw Kevin finally cut down the rope tangling Hiryu's leg, which meant that the anchor went down with Del Lago's corpse.
Kevin looked at the party, still waiting for the motorboat, before he grinned and gave the thumbs up to indicate that the lake was safe from Del Lago at last.
"All clear!" Yu shouted, giving the thumbs up back to Kevin. He then saw the motorboat making its way back to pick up the others.
Outskirts of Cabin, somewhere in Spain
Some time had greatly passed before Leon and Diana with Kevin and Hiryu used the motorboats to deposit the last of their allies onto the other side of the shore after defeating Del Lago.
However, one thing was wrong. Getting very wrong.
Leon and Kevin had coughed for a minute or so, covering their mouths with their hands. But when they looked at them, the two DSO agents realized that it was their own blood instead of phlegm.
"What the?" Leon muttered, seeing everyone else having the same thing. Even Tea was not immune to this problem as Kevin was able to get the door of the nearby cabin open, despite feeling weak.
"I... can't take it anymore." Kevin said weakly, coughing a bit more while leaning on the door frame.
"I know..." Leon said, also weak. What is this? I feel... weak and tired all of a sudden.
He did not have an answer to his own question as Leon collapsed on his knees before he hit the ground, face first on the floor. The blonde man had no idea if his allies were inside the cabin when he went down.
Inside Cabin, somewhere in Spain
It was already nighttime. Everyone from the party had been down and out cold from the sudden attack they all experienced. They were on the floor in various positions.
"It seems everyone's quiet."
Ada got inside the cabin, smirking once she got in. "Everyone from the DSO agents to our lovely Interpol officer is here."
Kenny followed close behind, seeing everyone out cold. "Even the lady officer from Japan, the Center agents and the ARCAM Spriggans are out cold." He took a look around with little light coming from the moon. "It seems Saddler's little virus is working on them already."
"That I already know of." The Asian-American told Kenny before she eyed the typewriter. "Watch my back will you?"
"Fine." Kenny sighed. While Ada was busy getting to the nearest typewriter, the young man began to covertly place a note into Kevin's pants pockets without doing anything that would erase the spy's suspicions of him.
I hope this can help...
It took Ada a few minutes to use the antiquated, rusty typewriter found on the dining table. It was a good thing that everyone was out cold that they couldn't hear the machine at work.
"I'll let you know once I'm done here."
"Understood." Kenny stood guard and watched the outside from the window. He hated doing stuff like this. But ever since Kenny was "forced" to work alongside Wesker and his organization, he had no choice but to do it to survive. But for once, Kenny found it to be in an advantage to slip in something helpful to Kevin without being detected. Aside from that, Wesker used this opportunity to monitor Ada and Krauser to make sure they were doing what they were suppose to be doing.
Not like I oughta help Wesker all the time anyway...
It was a few said minutes that Ada placed the typewritten note on the dirty, dusty bed before she gestured to Kenny that they need to leave at once.
It was quiet. Very quiet especially when the bodies looked stiff considering that the party had an attack that kept them down half a day until the morning.
"Ummm..." Leon was coming to, slowly opening his eyes.
I'm still alive... Wait! He saw that black veins were appearing all over his body.
"What is this?" The DSO agent yelled out, seeing the black veins appear all over his arms at a fast rate that he didn't know what was going on.
"NOOOO!" Leon shouted, the black veins already appearing all over his face.
"LEON! It's all right!"
Leon immediately opened his eyes and checked his arms, seeing that his arms were all right. None of the black veins showed up after all.
"Thanks Kevin." The blonde man groaned.
"Nightmare?" Kevin asked his partner.
Leon nodded. "You?"
"Same thing in some way." Kevin said before he shrugged. "Almost everyone else experienced it in some form. Regarding the veins that showed up in our bodies..."
"All right." Leon said before he massaged his temples. "This is going to be one hell of a headache after we explain this on a DSO report."
"I agree." Kevin said in agreement. "Right now, let's go and see if anyone else needs some help..."
Control Room, somewhere in Spain
Krauser and Ada were inside the control room when Kenny came in. Octavia, Geki and Kei had left the place as the two needed it for an "important" meeting that does not involve them in the first place.
"All right." Kenny told Ada and Krauser after locking the door behind him. "We have the place to ourselves for the time being. They'll be out to stretch for a little while since they want some action soon."
"I'm not surprised." Krauser raised an eyebrow before he spoke up. "I'm sure my boy's still out there trying to figure out a way to get here after all."
"Wesker contacted me." Ada told the ex-special forces soldier. "He said that we need to intensify our efforts to secure the researcher at any costs before Saddler realizes that he's going to get some backup."
"Dammit..." Krauser sighed, scratching the back of his head. "If we can only find out where that Luis guy is..." He then stared at Kenny.
"I'm in the dark like you Krauser!" Kenny shouted, waving his hands in front of him. "I got nothing too."
"Shit." The ex-special forces soldier muttered. "We'll need to find him ASAP. I'll take the lead anyway. Saddler trusts me ever since I caught the President's only kid as a bargaining chip to get into his little exclusive club."
"Indeed." Ada replied, hearing Krauser. "I'll continue to conduct reconnaissance to see if I can spot Luis and obtain the sample from him before it's too late."
"Don't get too soft with the hostage, kid." Krauser warned Kenny, glaring at him. "From what Wesker informed me about her, you were classmates with her at the university."
"Don't worry about that, Krauser." Kenny said, already placing a hand over his black hair. "Sheesh..."
"I'm goddamn serious." Krauser glared at Kenny even more. "You mess this mission up and I'll make it my personal duty to gut you up, even if Wesker recommended your participation because of your... implants and the Shadow Technology placed inside your body back when you were just a kid."
"Yeah..." Kenny sighed. "I got that part."
Inside Cabin, somewhere in Spain
"They look like they're in bad shape like I was."
Leon commented when he told Kevin, seeing a majority of the party either in pain or trying to get rid of the pain they felt in their bodies. He saw that some of them were starting to consume mixed herbs to ensure that they'll be fine.
"I know." Kevin told his partner. "Had to consume one of my mixed herbs after I felt some nagging pain on my chest. That was before I saw you waking up from your nightmare."
The blonde man sighed, nodding after hearing what Kevin mentioned. "Ah. I'm sure the mixed herbs aren't the permanent cure to this, but it'll do the job in easing the pain."
The two DSO agents suddenly noted that they were receiving radio transmissions.
"Must be Ingrid back in Washington." Kevin said, being the first to answer the transmission. "Kevin here. Is there a transmission that I missed?"
"More than that." Kevin, and later Leon, could hear a worried Hunnigan. "6 hours since out last transmission. I was starting to get worried."
Leon raised an eyebrow when he replied. "Don't you mean lonely?" Kevin could only grin. "We started to feel dizzy. And then I guess we must have lost consciousness from there."
"Lost consciousness?" Hunnigan replied, confused by what Leon said. "Maybe it has some connection to what the village chief was talking about...?" Leon said, offering a suggestion.
"Perhaps, Hunnigan." Kevin told Hunnigan. "Me and Leon are going to continue the mission alongside the others."
"Alright. Hunnigan out until the next transmission."
"Got it. Kevin Ryman out."
"Let's go help the others make sure they're fine." Leon told Kevin when he began to make his way towards Yu, who was feeling some chest pain before the ex-RPD SPF policeman offered to the Japanese Spriggan some of his spare mixed herbs.
"Right."
"Leon-san." Sho greeted Leon, the latter seeing tha the former looked okay.
"You alright?" Leon asked the ninja commando.
"Believe me, I've been through a lot worse than this predicament." Sho reassured the DSO agent. "I've found this letter on the dusty old dinner table. Appears to be typewritten."
"Typewritten huh?" Leon said after getting the letter from Sho. "That's... quite interesting."
Finally. Some language I can understand it in. English. Leon nodded as he began to read the letter. It appeared to be addressed to the team in particular.
There's an important item hidden in the falls. If you guys are able to get it, you might be able to get Ashley out of the church.
But I'll warn you, the route to the church isn't a walk in the park by any means. They've deployed what's called an "El Gigante", so God bless.
About what's going on in your bodies... I could help everyone if I would. But unfortunately, it's beyond my power.
"Something?" Martin asked Leon after he had taken a mixed herb mixture from Kevin.
"Yeah." Leon told the Canadian Center agent. "You alright?"
"Aside from the chest pains I felt a while ago..." Martin replied, feeling as if he was a bit tired. "A bit tired, but we can go on..."
"Okay then..."
"Hey Leon." Kevin showed Leon a piece of paper he was holding. "You got a letter?"
"I do. With a woman's lips on it."
"Really?" Kevin saw that the letter was signed with a pair of red lips on lipstick. "That's... quite the signature."
"I agree." Leon shook his head slightly until he asked. "I just wonder if this letter's the only we can use as a clue."
"I got this too. Somehow shoved in my hands while I was knocked out cold."
"What's it say?"
"Said there's something of interest in the lake. Particularly on a certain part of the area itself." Kevin showed Leon a drawing of the lake with a X marked on it. "Even had the place pointed out. Isn't that nice?"
Leon took a look at the map, which was drawn out by hand. "Yeah I'll say it's nice. I may even have a look here myself."
"But..." Kevin told him.
"The others aren't looking that good." Leon told his partner. "Besides, I'll be back in a few. This won't take long."
"How do you know that?"
Leon smirked. "Because I do."
Outside Cabin, somewhere in Spain
Leon went on board one of the two motorboats as he caught sight of two sources of light as a distance. Of the burning variety.
Must be the area Kevin mentioned from the piece of paper he got.
The blonde man then started the motorboat's engine before he got on and navigated it towards the light.
"Hopefully nothing's going to go bump in the night before I'm dead."
Leon sighed while he kept an eye on the light ahead of him.
Inside Cave, on lake waters, somewhere in Spain
"And here we are."
Leon murmured as he parked the motorboat when he arrived. It was a small house-type building built on top of a wooden harbor.
"Looks like he's here."
"Greetings, stranger." The Merchant greeted Leon when he got on the wooden harbor. "I see that you're all alone today."
"It's a long story." Leon told the Merchant.
"And what are you here for?" The Merchant asked him, seeing the DSO agent standing outside his shop.
"I had a lead here. Thought I might look around for some clues."
The Merchant nodded and waved him off. "As long as it doesn't interfere with my work."
"Sure, why not?" Leon shrugged as he bashed the wooden barrels with a sharp, strong kick. He only found pesetas, totaling around 1200. Finding a box blocking one of the paths around the shop, Leon began to push it until it was out of his way.
Seems to be a ladder up ahead. Leon thought as he saw two more barrels blocking his way. He took out his Mercworx Sniper combat knife and bashed them, earning him 2010 pesetas.
"More money." Leon said, picking up the pesetas and placed him in an empty vest pouch before he started to climb the ladder. After getting up, Leon groaned at teh sight of two more boxes.
"Boxes again?" Leon was furious to see them blocking his way. He began to press his right shoulder at it while pushing it just to get it out of the way. He did so with the second box again in order to give him enough legroom.
"All right." Leon took the sigh of barrels once again, smashing it open to get 1100 pesetas, a Green Gem and a Green Herb. Better take this.
He then saw a hole on the roof. Wondering why it's there, Leon decided to take his chances and jump down. He landed beside the Merchant, who was not surprised by Leon's presence inside his shop, but why he was standing right next to him behind the counter.
"What are you..." The Merchant began, questioning Leon's presence behind the counter.
"Apologies." Leon told the Merchant. "There's a hole up there..."
"I should have known that the hole above's a big liability." The Merchant sighed. "Anyway, I assume that you need to buy something from me, stranger?"
Leon nodded. "I just need a couple of First Aid Sprays..." He placed some pesetas on the table.
"Alright." The Merchant said. "I got some fresh ones with me." He showed Leon the spray cans with the Tricell insignia and label on them.
A few minutes later, Leon took the cans and boarded the motorboat once more after climbing back up and retracing his steps back to the wooden harbor entrance, heading back to the cabin where Kevin and the others are held up for the time being.
Inside Cabin, somewhere in Spain
"You made it, Leon." Kevin greeted Leon when he got back. The latter saw that most of the people in the party were okay.
"How's everyone?" Leon handed Kevin a First Aid Spray.
"Okay so far. Most of them took the mixed herb mixtures, so we'll be fine for now."
"So are we going?" Cammy asked when she approached Leon.
"If everyone's ready to go..." Leon told Cammy when he heard her question.
"Where are we going from here then?"
In front of metal gate, near Cabin, somewhere in Spain
Leon showed the party the metal gate that he spotted after he arrived back at the wooden harbor near the cabin a few minutes ago. Like all the gates they spotted, it has the seal of Los Illuminados on it.
"Java not like this gate." The caveman/Center agent commented after seeing the gate. For some reason, it gave Java the chills.
"Come on Java." Hiryu sighed. "The sooner we can go through past the gate, the sooner we can forget on seeing those gates ever again."
Yu and Jean shouldered their weapons as Java sighed and opened the gate to ensure that no hostile villager would bust in and take the party by surprise.
"Clear." Jill told the others after she drew out her sidearm, alongside every other pistol-wielding person including Kevin.
"Let's go." Leon told everyone as he had his Silver Ghost raised before he moved first, being the point man.
Dirt Path, somewhere in Spain
The party got pass the open metal gate, walking along the path before it started to rain hard.
"Among the worst things I don't want to see coming." Hien groaned.
"It is just mere rain." Tea told the balaclava-clad teen.
"She's right you know." Martin tried to cheer up the masked Spriggan agent. "What's the worst thing that can happen to us right now?"
As the party walked down the path, they were confronted by two villagers. Once of them with a rusted sickle.
"Is he going to intimidate us with his staring?"
The first villager suddenly began to convulse around, moving his body up, down, left and right before his head exploded.
"Oh my god!" Diana shouted, seeing what happened to the villager. "His... his head just got blown up!"
"No... wait Diana-san." Fujino told the Canadian Center agent as something began to emerge from the villager's neck, which consisted of a parasite-type creature with a blade mounted on a tentacle.
"What do we do?" Martin said, intrigued and scared when he saw the parasite with the blade on the tentacle.
"Get away from it!" Jill told the party as she began to take out a flashbang from her tac vest. "Let's try this!"
"Jill!" Kevin yelled for Jill's attention when she tossed Kevin the flashbang. He took out the safety pin and hurled it towards the villager's feet.
"Cover your eyes!" The ex-SPF officer yelled, using his right arm to cover his eyes when the flashbang exploded to prevent himself and the others from being blinded by the bright light. When it faded, Kevin was one of the first to remove his arm to see the plaga destroyed from the bright light.
"Looks like that worked." Eriko said after seeing the dead villager with the other one stunned.
"I guess the parasite comes out at night then." Yu commented before he fired the Heckler and Koch G3A4 after he got a clear shot. Firing the German-made battle rifle several times in single shot mode, the Japanese Spriggan agent saw several of the 7.62 NATO bullets strike the second villager before a couple of time hit him by the head.
"The same thing again." Sho saw the other villager's head explode from the headshots with another parasite emerging from the neck. "We must take it out at once before it can kill us."
"Not a problem." Jean answered after hearing Sho. He ported the Franchi SPAS-12 and charged towards the villager with the exposed villager. Jill and some of the others except for the Spriggans and the Center agent saw Jean's movement and how he was able to move fast.
"Interesting." Sho murmured before he moved in to join in with Jean taking the lead as he fired the shotgun to get the villager down. Sho was nearing the villager while drawing out his ninjato when he saw the villager was getting up slowly, taking the shotgun blast in the chest.
"EYAH!" Sho yelled out, slicing the villager's left leg to incapacitate him permanently. The bladed tentacle tried to make a slash for the ninja commando, but the villager received two more shotgun blasts to the chests once again.
I must subdue this villager at once. The ninja took the opportunity when Jean kept firing the SPAS-12 at the downed villager when it tried to crawl since he lost its left leg.
"Dammit..." Leon sighed as he primed another flashbang grenade before he shouted to Jean and Sho. "Cover your eyes!"
The two did as they asked, moving away from the downed villager before they covered their eyes. An explosion took place, which destroyed the exposed parasite and dissolved the villager's corpse.
"Be thankful that you didn't have to fire more of your shells, Jean." Yu told Jean after the French Spriggan agent lowered his SPAS-12.
"Nicely done." Hiryu told Leon, porting his Heckler and Koch G36C.
"Up ahead." Martin pointed out the path up ahead, which needed some jumping as there were some platforms built over water after some steps. Sho walked alongside the group while he sheathed his ninjato. "Looks like we have to jump to get ahead."
The group began to jump onto each platform, one by one, before they walked down another path for Leon to break a wooden barrel open to obtain a frag grenade. Once more, they went to hop over platforms to continue moving ahead. So far, they didn't fall down onto the water.
Until they approached a rappelling line that consisted of a rope tied on a 2x4 with a couple of posts planted onto the ground.
"Looks like our only way down..." Chun-Li began before Kevin motioned her to stop.
"Hold on a second, detective..." Kevin insisted, pointing to the work camp up ahead. "Could be some villagers. I'll clear the path up ahead." He began to shoulder the Steyr SSG P IV and crouch, taking aim at the guard tower with a villager just standing there.
"Gotcha..." Kevin murmured, pulling the trigger to watch the villager's head explode. Unlike the previous encounter, a parasite did not show up and the villager went down on his knees and collapsed before his entire body dissolved.
"All right." Kevin took everyone in the party. "Path's clear for now. But we need to hurry."
Without saying anything, Sho jumped down from the dirt path down to the ground, the distance being the near equivalent of at least 2 stories.
"Okay?" Leon said, seeing the ninja's commando skills before he tested the rope if it was not sabotaged. Once he was able to do so, the blonde man began to rappel down. Good thing his rappelling training in the DSO came in handy.
Outskirts of Work Camp, somewhere in Spain
Leon was the first to safely rappel down when Sho gestured to him that it was all clear of hostiles, his ninjato already drawn out once more.
"We should hurry." Sho told Leon. "There's no telling when those villagers will come."
Leon nodded to Sho, hearing his comment when Kevin began to rappel down. A few minutes later, he came down right next to Leon after the man ported his Remington 870 shotgun.
Minutes later, the Spriggans followed. Martin and the other Center agents followed, although Diana had a much harder time in rappelling down before Martin would reassure her that he'll help her in case Diana should let go of the rope by accident. The SHADOW agents came in next with Jill, Eriko, Cammy and Chun-Li being the last ones to rappel down the rope.
Without waiting for the others to regroup, Leon went to the guard tower where the lone villager had been killed a while ago, taking a box of shotgun shells with him. He smashed the wooden barrel with the butt of the 870, taking with him a box of 7.62 NATO subsonic bullets.
Kevin'll need this.
"Kevin!" Leon called for his partner, tossing the box to him.
"Thanks!" Kevin shouted as Leon climbed down the ladder, the 870 slinged on his back. Once they regrouped, the party continued on until they had to stop. The next path they had to go through involves jumping, but the gap is too big that all of them can't do it. Well maybe except for Sho, Cammy, Chun-Li and Jean.
"What do we do?" Hien muttered, seeing the big gap between platforms. "I'm sure some of us can do this, but not me. I'm just a normal person here."
The next area the party ventured had lots of machinery, especially cogs and cranes.
It must be for power or something. Leon thought, keeping a grip on his Silver Ghost in case hostiles would show up.
Fujino began to stare at the wooden boxes that were hoisted above water by chains.
"What are you looking at?" Diana asked Fujino.
"Those." Fujino pointed to Diana the boxes. "They can be of some use."
"Well there is a barrier to prevent large objects from drifting further into the water." Cammy pointed to the party the barrier, which resembled railings except that the hole is not big for large debris to get past it.
"Guess we'll have to try." Kevin took out his Glock 21 Mariner pistol and fired it at the chains holding the wooden box up.
The box fell down to the rapid waters. But as mentioned by Cammy, it did not drift into open waters as the barrier kept it in place, making it into an effective platform for the party to use in moving across.
"Looks like the little lady solved our problems!" Kevin shouted as he looked at the chains that were holding up two more wooden boxes from a distance. Thanks to his marksmanship, the DSO agent was able to shoot the boxes with the SSG P IV down to the water without any much of a problem.
"Now let's start jumping our way through." Leon said to the group as he took the lead, jumping on the wooden boxes as a makeshift platform. He then gestured to the group to wait as he spotted something sparkling on a wooden beam above him.
"What is that?" Leon murmured as he fired a shot from his Silver Ghost, going forward to check out the Amber Ring.
"Looks like this can get a lot of money." The blonde man said as he pocketed the ring before he eyed the raging waterfall that was blocking the way in front of him.
Can't do anything about that except to fall back and see the others for now.
He ran back to the ladder nearby, climbing up and smashing the barrel with a strong forward kick, revealing an untouched Green Herb. Securing the plant and placing it on his rear pouch, Leon jumped down and ran back onto the wooden platform to meet with Kevin and the others.
"Anything?" Kevin asked his DSO partner.
"Seems to be a path back there." Leon pointed out the waterfall behind him. "Current's too strong. There ought to be something that we can use to reduce the strength of the waterfall current."
"Best then if we go there."
As the party began to move out, Leon and Kevin sighted some of the villagers coming towards their positions. A few of them had a combination of torches and farming tools with them.
"Not this again."
It seemed that they didn't do anything yet. So Leon and Kevin gestured to them that they should stay put while Leon went to disable the current. Hopping over the boxes, he stopped by a wooden barrel and smashed it open with a kick to get 1000 pesetas before Leon climbed up the ladder and saw a lever.
"Good." Approaching the lever, Leon got a good grip on the end of the lever and pulled it from left to right.
What happened next was a chain reaction that occurred before his eyes.
Leon saw that a wooden sluice was moved aside, pouring water on the other sluices that made the gears and the cartwheel working. He heard the thud sound, which came from a gate nearby. It sealed off the flow of water, which was able to prevent any water from flowing. The party was able to see the opening passage of a cave.
"A cave." Leon whispered. "Looks like our way out."
The DSO agent made his way back to the party, who waited for him in the middle path. As Leon did this, the armed villagers advanced forward to get them.
"They're coming!" Yu shouted, who immediately shouldered his G3A4 and began to fire at the advancing villagers as they tried to hop onto the wooden box platforms. A few of them were hit by the 7.62 NATO bullets and in response, went down to the river. Jean assisted Yu by firing all of the available 12 gauge buckshot rounds from his SPAS-12. Thanks to the effort of the two Spriggans, they were able to wipe them out with no trouble at all.
"Let's move!" Kevin hollered out to the others, having his Glock 21 Mariner already drawn out as he went inside the cave before Leon went in last.
Inside Cave, Work Camp, somewhere in Spain
"Get the lights on."
Leon told the party.
"Anyone who's got a flashlight or something."
He started by turning on the prototype flashlight located on his belt, a prototype flashlight made by DSO R&D.
"I got one." Leon told the others as he turned on his flashlight. Martin used his U-Watch to summon the Alpha Goggles, which gave the group another source of light.
"All right. Lead the way guys." Yu told Leon and Martin since his G3A4 doesn't have any provision for a weaponlight. Same thing with Jean and the others who had firearms as well.
"Path looks clear."
The party advanced on, not stopping for anything until they were stopped by a wall at the end of the corridor that some kind of weird crest on. The passage had lots and lots of lit white candles on the side.
"It looks like we can take it." Kevin told Leon, pointing to the insignia on the door.
"Seems to be detachable too." Eriko commented, checking the insignia to make sure it was not booby trapped or anything.
"Cover me." Leon told the others while Kevin, Eriko and Jill aimed at the insignia. Once Leon was able to take it, loud rumbling was heard before the wall went up, revealing another passageway.
"Good news." Kevin went on to his radio to make contact with Hunnigan. "We got an object that seems to resemble the cult's insignia."
"Wonderful." Hunnigan told Kevin while nodding. "Make sure you get back to the church. Ashley's safety is our highest priority."
"Understood." Kevin gave Leon the thumbs up as he motioned to the others to run to the metal doors seen at the end of the "new" passageway.
Near small harbor, Cave, somewhere in Spain
The party had exited the cave passageway and found themselves in a small pathway that led to a wooden harbor with 2 to 3 motorboats moored with ropes.
"Least that can make our job a bit easier." Yu said while Jill and Leon conducted a sweep on the harbor to ensure that it was clear.
Aside from the bats that were bothering them by coming near them, forcing some of the others like Kevin, Eriko and Diana to swat them away with their hands.
"Clear!" Jill said out loud when she noted that the motorboats looked okay and were not a threat to the party.
"Just a second." Kevin said when he came to the two wooden barrels, kicking them hard to smash the barrels open. He then secured some pesetas and gave them to Tea to keep the money safe until they need to buy some things from the Merchant once more.
"Let's hit it!" Leon shouted after he removed the rope that secured the first motorboat. Dan jumped onto it and tested the engine by turning it on to see if it was working. A few seconds later, the motor was heard rumbling. The Malaysian SHADOW agent gave the thumbs up.
Jill and Cammy went to the other two motorboats to remove the ropes that moored them to the harbor.
The party went to divide themselves into the boats, which carried at least 4-5 people each to be on the safe side. The boats then left the harbor, following a light that was seen on the other side on the cave.
Seeing as they have no idea where to go, the party decided to go there to start.
Underground Store, somewhere in Spain
"Ah!" The Merchant said after hearing the motorboats moored near the harbor next to his shop. "I seem to have guests already."
The first motorboat was moored onto the harbor with Leon leaping onto the harbor. He drew out his Silver Ghost and approached the interior of the passageway before he noted that the area was just hollowed out to hold a shop.
"It's you again." Leon greeted the Merchant as he holstered his sidearm when he followed the familiar voice to see the Merchant's shop. "You're in a lot of the shops we've been to and I'm already beginning to think that you're just more than one person."
"Hey." Martin greeted the Merchant by saying hi. The Merchant grinned in reply.
"So are you lot here to buy some of my goods today?"
Some of the guys/gals in the party looked at each other, wondering if they need to get something from the Merchant right now.
"As a matter of fact," Tea said when she approached the Merchant's shop. "we do have some things to sell to you."
"Really?" The Merchant raised an eyebrow. "Well let's see the merchandise you're willing to sell to me then."
The British Spriggan agent presented to the Merchant the Amber Ring Leon had previously found back at the work camp.
"Ah..." The Merchant said with enthusiasm as he checked out the Amber Ring before he told Tea. "I'll buy it as a high price."
"For how much?"
"10,000 Pesetas."
"That sounds good to me." Hien said while he gave a whistle upon hearing the price for the Amber Ring.
"So what are we going to get this time?" Chun-Li asked after the party had unanimously agreed on the set price for how much the Merchant would agree to buy the Amber Ring.
"We're running out of ammo though..." Kevin replied when he and Leon pointed to their shoulder holsters. "That's a first."
"Then first aid sprays will be next. Just enough for us to have in case we get wounded on the way back to the church and after." Leon added next. Hopefully I stockpiled enough shotgun ammo for the 870...
Tea handed in the Amber Ring to the Merchant after hearing no disagreement from the party.
"Well then." The Merchant said after receiving the Amber Ring. "A deal's a deal then."
"Now what?" Hiryu sighed as he leaned onto the wall behind him.
"Do we continue on our independent objectives?" Fujino approached the armed SHADOW agent and asked him.
Hiryu nodded. "Ah. We still need to confirm if the cult does have some way of controlling the populace with some kind of biological weapon or something. After that... me and Dan will take care of destroying it. It's our specialty after all as part of black ops."
"And the American President's daughter?"
"Leave that to the Americans once we can secure her from the church we passed a few hours ago." Hiryu said before he added. "And to the INTERPOL and Delta Red with the Japanese detective. It's their job after all in the first place. We can do that, but MOM didn't order us to do it anyway."
Leon and the others began to purchase the Tricell First Aid Sprays from the Merchants while securing ammo for their weapons.
They have a chance for a small break and they would decide to use it in order to get ready for the inevitable.
"Understood." Fujino nodded after hearing the veteran agent's answer to her questions.
When everyone was done, the party was directed by the Merchant to go down the path up ahead, which formed the T-shaped path they were on a while ago, and then turn to the left. A metal ladder was waiting for them as the only means to leave the place.
Sho had merely jumped up, a feat he can perform thanks to his ninjitsu training.
As for the others, they took turns climbing it up before the ninja had opened a pair of double doors up ahead, which had the insignia of Los Illuminados.
Outside Underground Store, somewhere in Spain
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
Leon and Kevin had their sidearms drawn out the minute they were able to climb the ladder and get out of the underground store by climbing a small flight of stairs, ensuring that no villagers were waiting to pounce on them. Leon sighted a couple of barrels nearby, smashing them with the buttstock of his Remington 870. From the remains of the smashed barrels, the DSO agent was able to secure 900 pesetas and a Green Herb. He decided to give it to Kevin, who went to mix a Green Herb that he kept for a while with the Green Herb Leon gave him seconds ago, creating a much stronger Green Herb mixture that can come in handy.
"Let's head back." Jill suggested to the two DSO agents, her Beretta Px4 Type F pistol clutched tightly on her right hand. "Hopefully the enemy won't know that we got the seal."
Leon and Kevin nodded at Jill after hearing her comments. The two went to trace their paths, taking the lead when they checked the open area carefully. For some reason, the men felt a bit uneasy.
"You alright, Leon?" Kevin asked when he saw Leon shouldering the Remington 870.
"I am, Kevin." Leon replied before he added. "But for some reason, I got a bad feeling about this."
"What, you mean something bad's about to happen?"
"Don't you?"
Jill could only sigh at the two men talking like that to each other. She gestured to the others to stop for the meantime.
"I know what you mean..." Kevin tried to tell Leon that everything was fine. "But considering that we took care of the overgrown beast Del Lago in the lake..."
All of a sudden, the party saw that the stake-built gates had been closed.
"Dammit..." Jean snarled. "We're trapped." He eyed a villager on an elevated position responsible for closing the gates. Yu placed a hand on Jean's shoulder and went to fire a few rounds with his Heckler & Koch G3A4 at the villager, killing him.
A gate was heard being opened by two villagers before more of them were seen pulling ropes as hard as they could.
"What the hell?" Martin shouted after seeing what had transpired. "How do we get out of this place?"
Dan and Hiryu didn't reply and instead, raised their respective assault rifles and shouldered them before the SHADOW agents began to open fire at the villagers.
As soon as they dropped dead permanently, a giant, towering figure came busting through the gate. It didn't care whether the gate had been damaged in the process.
"Is that... human?" Diana squeaked in fear when she saw the figure. She and the others noted that it was naked except for a piece of loincloth that covered its waist and had a bald head.
"I pretty much doubt that now." Cammy answered Diana's question before the figure, known as El Gigante, took a step forward and got ready to swing its huge right fist at the party and clobber them good.
"EVERYONE! SCATTER NOW!"
Leon shouted before he did a backflip to get out of the way. Kevin, Jill and Chun-Li did so likewise while Cammy executed one that made her go to the left side. Sho simply executed a forward flip and landed just near El Gigante, ready to draw out his ninjato.
As for the others, they either ran away or dashed to the side to avoid being on the receiving end of the punch.
"So what now?" Diana asked after she got back on her feet.
Leon answered Diana's concern by shooting the 870 towards El Gigante's right arm while pumping the weapon. He then shouted to get the message across.
"ALL THOSE WHO DON'T HAVE A PHYSICAL WEAPON, STAY BACK IMMEDIATELY!" Leon told the party as he directed eyed Cammy and Chun-Li. While he admired them for being good professionals who can handle themselves by using martial arts, he doubted much that the two women can fight off against a huge giant. He then checked out Tea, who didn't seem to have any kind of weapon she can use.
"EVERYONE ELSE, SPREAD OUT AND DON'T GET CAUGHT BY THIS THING'S ATTACKS!"
Those in the party who had access to small arms either shouldered them and took aim at El Gigante or gripped them in their hands, in the case for pistols. Martin and Fujino drew out I-Cutters from their Center-issued watches, the former holding it with the blade pointed upward while the latter held hers in a reverse grip. Diana was later given the X-Rod by Martin after getting his I-Cutter to defend herself, which she gladly accepted. Java gritted his teeth at El Gigante and pounded his left clenched fist at the palm of his right hand before he went to the nearest boulder and prepared to lift it.
How do we attack it? Sho pondered as he evaded an attack from El Gigante when it tried to step on him. The ninja gladly responded to the attack by stabbing the tip of his ninjato below its foot. While the Ninja Commando is certain that his weapon can kill or severely wound any enemy, he was sure that whatever was controlling the populace is giving them a sort of resistance to weapons. Virus or otherwise.
MOM's Office, The Center
"Billy." MOM greeted the tiny alien as he flew into her office after he exited from the elevator. "Is there any progress on the problem from our Spanish base?"
Billy nodded from the seat of his hovercraft. "I got an immediate report from our Spanish investigators." He pressed some buttons on his armrest. "It's not official yet, as in the report had been submitted, but they suggest that intentional sabotage was most likely the reason why we couldn't transport our SHADOW agents in Spain."
MOM frowned at the news, leaning back on her chair.
"Does this mean that we have a traitor in our midst?"
Billy began to check on the electronic tablet that appeared in front of him, projected from the armrest. "I'm asking Security and Intelligence to check on all surveillance equipment on anything suspicious from within the last 24 hours." He then asked MOM. "Are you sure it's okay that we don't contact Martin or the other agents in Spain?"
"It's for the best." MOM nodded. "I'm sure they can do okay. Besides, we have no idea if any one of our agents could use the opportunity and use some of our equipment to tap into our communications and report back to his or her handler, even though the Watches I issue have high-grade encryption that it would take years for any hacker to break into."
The green alien sighed hard. Martin and the other agents were among his best friends ever since he decided to live on Earth and join the Center to protect his adopted home from alien or paranormal events from ever taking place. But he still worries if the traitor would really go all the way to place the Center agents in harm's way to ensure that their mission will not be a successful like all the other ones.
"Billy."
"Yes?"
MOM sighed as well before she spoke to him.
"Select a few agents who you can trust. And only the ones you can trust without any problems of them being on a potential payroll for another person."
Billy nodded. "Understood. But what's this for?"
"Have them act undercover in weeding out who the traitors are for the cult." MOM then frowned. "But tell them to act discreetly while they continue to act within the boundaries of their duties and responsibilities."
"I got it."
"This may be the only way to catch the traitor or traitors in the act. Hopefully this can produce something useful for us in the investigation."
Open Circular Area, somewhere in Spain
El Gigante roared out before he began to swing his fist towards the party. Immediately, Leon told everyone to scatter in order to avoid being clobbered and wounded.
"How do we deal with... that thing?" Cammy said in anger after she rolled onto the side, glaring at El Gigante.
"Anyone got grenades?" Yu asked as he got a frag grenade out from his tac vest. "One of my last ones..."
Leon got a flashbang and chucked it to Kevin. "Got an idea. Use this to stun the giant while we lob whatever frag grenades we got."
"And then we use the flashbang to give us the opportunity to strike back." Kevin nodded and grinned at his partner. "I like your idea, Leon."
The brown-haired man took off the safety pin of the flashbang and tossed it in front of El Gigante. "COVER YOUR EYES! NOW!"
Everyone obeyed Kevin's order and shielded their eyes. A few seconds after the primed flashbang landed in front of El Gigante, a bright flash of light appeared in front of the giant. As a result, he was caught unaware and was blinded by the light. He roared and placed his hands on his eyes so as to ensure normal vision stability once the pain in his eyes went away due to the light flash.
"DO IT!"
Anyone who had access to a frag grenade, ranging from Leon and Kevin to the ARCAM Spriggans and the armed SHADOW agents hurled whatever frag grenades they had after they surrounded El Gigante from a distance to make sure the shrapnels don't hurt them. Eriko stayed back to protect Chun-Li, Cammy and Tea as they don't have the means to fight against El Gigante aside from their fists and psi powers for the British Spriggan agent.
A series of explosion occurred near and around El Gigante, the shrapnel hurting the giant from his back all the way to his arms and legs even though he was protected by the parasite to ensure a lot of physical resistance. More than what an average person has.
Then, El Gigante began to crouch down while roaring out.
"What's happening?" Fujino asked no one in particular, lowering her I-Cutter.
"Look!" Martin pointed out that something was coming out of El Gigante. The party knows that something hideous was about to come out of the giant.
"Java." Diana told Java, the latter nodding in reply with the huge rock in his hands.
Something "came out" from the back of El Gigante. And it was something hideous all right. It looked like some kind of worm-like creature with some tentacles on the side. At best, it looked like some kind of germ that would only exist in the human body or something.
"Disgusting." Chun-Li frowned after seeing the parasite. Cammy and Eriko simply wanted to vomit in disgust.
"Let's weaken it first." Leon and Kevin drew out their sidearm and fired more than 3 shots each at the exposed parasite.
After the DSO agents had fired their shots, Sho began to dash towards the slightly weakened El Gigante, beginning to draw out his ninjato. By the time he was near El Gigante, Sho jumped from the ground and executed a forward flip that enabled him to land on El Gigante's back.
"GO MASTER!" Hiryu cheered on Sho as he now armed himself with the ninjato, using its "properties" to slash and hack the exposed parasite. But the more Sho did this, the more he noted that most of its wounds had quickly regenerated. He did not see even the bullet marks that had pierced it a few minutes ago before the Ninja Commando had charged in.
"What kind of vile creature has the parasite produced?" Sho murmured before he did a backflip; El Gigante had to stand up again and the exposed parasite was already starting to get back inside the giant's body.
Java covered Sho's escape by hurling the giant rock he had towards El Gigante's forehead. So far it worked. The giant took a few steps back and roared in pain while he covered his forehead to ease the pain.
"Attaboy, Java!" Martin gave a thumbs up to his caveman partner. But that triumph was for a short while as El Gigante roared in anger at Java when he began a slow march towards the party. He began to raise a fist before he began to make a punching motion towards the ground.
Chapter 6 END
PS - Once again, another chapter. Please feel free to let me know on the reviews how I did. Also feel free to let me know if I goofed something up or what in this chapter. I just need to put the word out that I'll be busy soon with writing two essays for my Political Sciences classes (Never mind one that I just have to submit essays x 2 based on the readings). This means that I may get a chapter or two out before 2011 ends if this goes on aside from this. If this is the case, then I'll probably have to put my writing on hiatus soon for a while.
Hopefully I can finish this (and my other project) in 2012 to determine if I can do another story since I'll be graduating from university with a Political Science BA. (Which means no Auxiliary Police volunteering, boo!)
Enjoy and happy reading. Happy Holidays and enjoy whatever remains of 2011.
