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Mission No. 2

Venom
Andross's Stronghold

Prologue Part II

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Riding the high of Corneria's Supreme Commander talking to him, Bill set about the new mission at once. He pulled his units away from the main battle, their numbers quickly replaced by fresh forces. Then, escorted by a screen of Cornerian fighters and cruisers, they skirted around the central Venomian headquarters to the laboratory on the north side.

Initially their enemy maintained some semblance of military organization, but with their emperor dead they were too shaken to hold formation. At the first sign of allied offense, their ranks crumbled, with Venomian Grand Admiral Dōnatsu struggling to inspire them to hold fast. When Bill resumed his attack, it felt like striking pillars of sand.

Soon the compound came within sight. The building was deceptively small, with only a couple floors standing above the cliffs. The deep trench it adjoined revealed a few more levels, but Bill knew the compound extended nearly a hundred floors underground, all of them much larger than the topmost hangar would lead one to believe.

As they neared the labs, Bill received a call request from one of the escorting cruisers and quickly accepted.

"Commander Grey, this is Dr. Makepeace," a woman's voice said. "I will be your guide through the labs."

"Ah, pleased to meet you ma'am."

"Mutual. Right, first things first. We're landing a team of operatives in the trench beside the lab. There's an air vent down there crucial to filtering Venom's atmosphere and providing the facility with clean air. Our agents will pump in a nerve agent to subdue the occupants. It's colorless and odorless, and won't take long to finish its work."

"But Doctor, a chemical attack—?"

"Don't worry, it's harmless—mostly. Our goal isn't to kill everyone inside; we need Andross's scientists alive. The gas will simply paralyze them, neutralizing their defenses and ensuring they do not initiate a scorched-earth policy. We can worry about any international repercussions after the attack."

"I take it we are to storm the hangar once the agent reaches a high-enough concentration?"

"Yes—but have your men seal their flight suits and wear oxygen masks. I'm having the readout of the labs transmitted to you and your men as we speak. Keep in mind many sections are still unmapped, so proceed with caution. Expect fierce resistance and booby traps inside. And remember: securing lab personnel is just as important as securing the facilities and experiments themselves. Do not kill anyone who might be a scientist unless it is strictly necessary to save one of the experiments."

"Understood. I'll inform my men to use stun charges."

"Head to the central control room and take it first. From there you are specifically to secure Section 009 at all costs. Remember: Section 009! The scientist in charge is one Wernher von Liebegute." Makepeace transmitted an old security scan of the exiled scientist, revealing a lanky, long-faced baboon with a cold stare.

"Take special pains to find and subdue him. If you do not stop Liebegute and his subordinates in time, all of Andross's work will be lost, setting Lylat's recovery back decades—perhaps centuries!"

She couldn't hide a hint of desperation in her voice, so Bill put on a confident tone for her. "We'll take care of it, Doctor."

Signing off, he switched to his unit's comms channel. "Lieutenant Casse, Lieutenant Lynx?"

Their two camera feeds appeared on his dashboard, revealing a ruddy-furred husky and a tan, spotted lynx.

"Yes, Commander?"

"Casse, you'll take Husky unit and destroy the surface hangar doors. I'll land with Lieutenant Lynx and Bulldog unit outside the hangar, then scale the rocks to the floor. We'll clear the anti-aircraft guns on foot so you can land inside. Then we can regroup in the hangar."

"Yes sir!" they answered.

Miyu's face winked out, but Russet's camera feed lingered a few more moments. In a quieter voice, she added, "Be careful down there, Bill…"

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Dr. Liebegute glanced up as the cave tunnel rumbled. Rocks rained down from the ceiling, thumping the roof of the tram like hail before shattering on the steel tracks ahead. The railway connecting Venom's military HQ to Andross's labs lay a dozen feet under the cracked surface, but that didn't stop the subterranean passage from shaking under the Cornerian onslaught. Though not a religious man, he prayed to any spirits still haunting Venom to support the tunnel till he made it through; if they really had helped the Exiles survive on this hellish planet, perhaps they would help him survive a little longer.

The light at the far end of the tunnel grew brighter, revealing the lab's receiving platform. His spirits lifted, but a thunderous blast sounded behind him. Turning, he saw the dying orange embers of an explosion before they were swallowed by collapsing rock. The echo of the blast died, but an earthquake-like rumble rose in its place, growing steadily louder. As fear gripped his heart he realized the Cornerians had intentionally severed the tram line from HQ to the labs—most likely to keep scientists from escaping to the arms of the military wing. Unless… did they know what he was up to?

The frightened baboon willed the tram to go faster, begging for it to close the last dozen yards of steel rails to the platform, but the cascade of stones finally caught up to him. Rocks and boulders rained all around the tram car, blocking its path and crushing the roof like a tin can. Everything went dark for a time, and Liebegute thought he had met his end—but eventually the rumbling stopped, and the residual cloud of dust left behind filled his lungs. He coughed and dragged himself forward, accidentally falling over the edge of the tram onto the steel tracks.

Struggling to his feet, he shone the flashlight on his wrist unit behind him.

The tram car lay hopelessly crushed by a wall of rocks, now resembling the final product of a trash-compactor. Both of his personal guards lay trapped inside the metal coffin: one unmoving as blood dripped down his limp wrist, the other still groaning and struggling as the roof pinned his lower half.

"Doctor… help me!" the lizard begged.

Liebegute brushed his lab coat off, then turned and walked towards the light of the platform, ignoring his pleas.

"Wait, where are you going?! Don't leave me!"

"Don't worry," Liebegute said, not caring if the guard could hear. "I'm sure the Cornerians will get you out. If not… your sacrifice for the good of the Empire will not be forgotten."

"Liebegute!"

But he raced ahead, sweeping his flashlight beam over the tracks and tripping over debris in his haste. He had more important things to attend to than the life of one soldier.

When Liebegute reached the central control room he found it in a state of utter chaos. For a second he assumed the Cornerians had already been through the center and had massacred half the occupants; there were so many bodies lying on the ground. Then a gas-masked Venomian commander stepped up to him, handing him a respirator.

"Please wear this, Doctor," his voice came out muffled through the rubber. "Gas attack."

Instinctively the baboon stopped breathing, not inhaling another breath before donning the mask.

"They're storming the lab through the surface entrance while pumping in a nerve agent through the trench-level vent," the lizard explained. He turned his back on Liebegute, studying a holographic readout of the lab's top levels.

"The hangar is theirs, Doctor. They landed a unit inside with another infiltrating on foot. These are CDF forces we're dealing with! We can't hold them off much longer; our numbers are insufficient. If we don't receive reinforcements from the military complex, I'll have to order a retreat through the access tunnel."

What access tunnel?

Liebegute glanced around at the remaining men standing. Their eyes were wide and frantic under their masks, and the fear in the control center was palpable.

"Do not worry; rest assured backup is on the way," he lied. "Continue holding off the Cornerians until it arrives."

The Venomians seemed re-energized by the news, standing taller as their fingers stopped shaking around their weapons. But Liebegute wasn't prepared to give a full morale-boosting speech; such rousing measures were the realm of Minister Gibbons, and he lay with a hole in the back of his head in the command center. No, he had to work fast before the damned Cornerians breached the control room…

Ignoring the commander's barked orders to his men, Liebegute approached the control console and logged in. He set to work, systematically triggering the extermination procedures for each-and-every experiment on the lower levels. Every one, that is, except the last level, which wasn't even mapped on the system.

A firm Cornerian voice suddenly came over the laboratory-wide intercom; he had such a commanding tone that even the soldiers stopped what they were doing to listen.

"To the Venomians in the laboratory, this is Commander Bill Grey of the CDF. We have you trapped in the compound. The hangar is under our control, the trench vents are guarded, and the tunnel to your military headquarters is severed. If you surrender now we can stop further needless bloodshed. Throw down your weapons and leave the control room with your hands up. You will be counted as prisoners of war and handled with much better treatment than you ever gave our men."

A second canine voice began repeating the surrender terms in Venomian—but Liebegute ignored them all, tuning the Cornerian out entirely as he worked.

The Venomian commander, however, was incensed. "You said reinforcements were coming from HQ!"

"They were, until the tunnel collapsed," Liebegute said absently, clicking away at the monitor.

Finally the commander noticed the red "TERMINATED" icons beginning to pepper the screen. "What are you doing?" The lizard grabbed Liebegute's shoulder, but he shrugged him off in annoyance. "You're… destroying the lower levels?!"

"Andross decreed it in the case of his death," he murmured, still working.

The commander scowled. "You don't think we'll survive, do you! Leadership has abandoned us! They all think the Empire will fall today!"

"Astounding deduction…"

The lizard slammed his weapon down. "Well I'm not going to die with it! I'm losing too many men in this futile fight. Let them take the labs for all I care; it's time to surrender!"

All of the soldier's previous hot air fell on deaf ears; it wasn't until Liebegute heard the clack of his weapon hitting the desk that his words registered.

"You'll do nothing of the sort!" He slid the blaster back across the desk to the commander. "You must hold out a few minutes longer."

The destruct system worked. All across the monitor he saw thousands of status readouts of Andross's bioweapons. Gradually their EKGs and other vital signs went flat, and experiment after experiment soon read "TERMINATED." There were nearly a thousand in all, but not even a trace of their genetic material could be left behind, necessitating cave-ins, acid baths, or incineration for each specimen. It pained even the doctor's cold heart to see them go; it felt like smothering his own children in the crib. Pity they'd never see the light of day, nor be set loose on those Cornerian dogs…

Liebegute's shoulders slumped, and he exhaled. Part of him feared the Cornerians would have overtaken him by now, capturing the bioweapons before he could destroy them, but now, watching the cascade of red slowly overtaking the monitor, he was confident he could take care of it in time. He turned to the commander, about to authorize the surrender, when his eye caught something on the screen.

Section 009 displayed the flashing orange text, "EXECUTION ERROR".

Failed to initiate termination procedure?

He tried triggering the destruct sequence again, ignoring the other experiments he hadn't gotten to yet. Angrily he mashed the enter key several times in a row, growling—but the results were the same.

A grenade went off outside the control room, causing plaster to rain down from the ceiling.

"You fool, we need to surrender now!" the lizard hissed at him.

"NO! Not yet!" Liebegute insisted. "You must hold the control room a little longer! I need to reach Section 9 and manually activate the destruct sequence!"

"Like I give a fuck! Let the Cornerians have it. Those things in Section 9 are their problem now…"

Venomian soldiers rushed into the room, some bleeding or sporting singe marks on their uniforms. They barricaded the door, piling desks, chairs—even the unconscious bodies of their brethren in front of it.

"I'll give you five seconds to respond," the enemy commander said. "Then we will take the control room by force. Five…"

Liebegute grabbed the soldier's uniform, clenching his shirt in his fists. "You idiot! You have no idea what's down there! If the Cornerians find it, Venom's fall is for nothing! All of Lylat will be lost—both to us Exiles, and even the dogs!"

"What the hell are you blathering about? Get off me you creep!"

The lizard shoved him off, causing Liebegute to sprawl on the desk.

"Four…"

"The Cornerians will kill you if you surrender! Don't you understand?! You are all implicated in the goings-on below! You all supported it! You are just as guilty as me!"

"Speak for yourself, freak! I was just following orders—your orders!"

"Three…"

The commander picked up a microphone, placing it to his reptilian snout. "Someone's got to put a stop to this madness…"

"Two…"

The surrender didn't leave his tongue, and Bill's countdown never reached one. While the Venomians were hunkered behind desks and cabinets facing the main entrance, Liebegute took advantage of their distraction. Calmly, with the stoic movements of a robot, he grabbed the commander's discarded blaster off the desk and shot him in the back. The lizard cried out, falling over while his fist let go of the microphone.

"He killed the commander!"

Some of them turned to face Liebegute, training their guns on him. "Get that backstabber!"

But before they could open fire, the Cornerians did.

Interpreting the gunshot as a sign of defiance, they detonated an explosive at the foot of the barricaded door, causing debris to fly inward. Smoke and flashes of laser filled the room, forcing the Venomians hell-bent on killing Liebegute to turn their attention back to the main entrance.

Liebegute cackled awkwardly, relieved his gambit had paid off. As the opposing sides exchanged fire in the room behind him, the scientist slinked out through the back, crawling deeper into the labs.

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The Cornerians fought their way into the control room, losing several men in the initial breaching. Once it was clear the room had fallen, the remaining Venomians either surrendered or slipped out the back, returning fire to cover their retreat into the lower levels.

Casse and Miyu followed Bill inside. The vanguard was already collecting guns and rounding the prisoners up against the wall.

"Where's Dr. Liebegute?!" Bill demanded.

"That maniac?" a captured sergeant asked. "He shot the commander and snuck out the back before the shooting started."

Bill stepped over to him, grabbing the neck of his shirt. "Where's he headed?!"

"Hell if I know! But there's only one place he can go: down."

The bulldog sighed, releasing the prisoner.

"Bill, take a look at this," Miyu said.

He joined her side, looking at the computer screen she indicated. His heart sank when he saw the swathes of terminated subjects he'd come too late to save. He'd failed Pepper…

Anxiously he scanned the list of terminated subjects, praying he wouldn't find Section 009 among them. He did, and for an instant his blood ran cold—till he noticed the text beside it wasn't red, but orange. The termination procedure had failed!

Bill waved his men after him. "We're not done yet. Liebegute left to finish the job. If we hurry, we can still catch him before he destroys the last of the subjects!"

They descended a musty stairwell to Section 9's level, encountering little resistance from troops. On the next floor, Bill, Russet, and Miyu found themselves stepping over the prostrated bodies of many an unconscious Venomian, while the ones that still stood and fought all wore gas masks. One pair of corpses they came across had shot each other, both fighting over the same mask.

Progress was grueling. While Venomian resistance thinned out, Bill kept losing men to Andross's booby traps. The closer they drew to Section 9, the more they ran into—but they'd all been tripped by witless Venomians during their retreat, their lives taken by the very lab they protected. Bill began to worry the doctor had done himself in the same way—unless he was the one activating the traps to cover his retreat.

Some rooms they passed held prisoners of war the Venomians had claimed throughout the system. To Bill's fury, many were outright massacred upon the Cornerians entering the building. Of those still alive, most had been subjected to chemical or biological weapons, kept apart in cells while their diseases were allowed to progress to fatal stages under close Venomian observation. The saddest part was, with their sicknesses, Bill couldn't release or tend to them yet.

The remaining rooms were freshly caved-in and dark, though foul stenches still wafted from within…

Another dark hall. They had to guide their way with the lights on their guns. Bill took point this time, accompanied by his two lieutenants. The ruddy-furred husky Russet Casse stuck closely to his side, her eyes scanning every corner and perpendicular hall they passed to protect Bill. The feline lieutenant Miyu walked further behind on Bill's left, much more anxious and hesitant than the two in front of her.

The red-furred husky suddenly slowed. "Commander Grey, I don't like this."

He wound his pace down as well. "What?"

"It's too quiet. No one's been down here yet, and we haven't passed any Venomians for several blocks. Do you think—?"

She gasped, looking down. Bill followed her gaze, noticing a thin glint of silver stretching the length of the hall.

Her boot had drawn it taught.

"Bill, WATCH OUT!"

The husky abruptly turned and shoved him backwards, just as a blinding fireball engulfed the hallway. As Bill fell over, he saw Casse's body turn to a black silhouette for an instant, before it was swallowed on all sides by brilliant flames. The heat washed over him, scalding his fur, and he covered his eyes with his arms.

When the initial explosion dissipated, strong hands hooked beneath his arms and helped him up. "Commander Grey!" Miyu's voice grunted in his ear. "Are you alright?!"

Bill shoved her away, racing back to the flame-speckled hallway. He dropped to his knees in front of Casse's remains; what was left of her was unrecognizable, charred and smoking black.

"R-Russet…"

Tears sprang to his eyes, and his stomach began to feel sick. It had happened so fast; she was gone in an instant. One moment there, the next—simply not. They'd come all this way, surviving a year of war and multiple operations across Lylat, even the very battle for Venom itself—only for her to die here, on the last page of their tale.

It was almost a joke.

Miyu's footsteps sounded behind him, as well as dozens of others. She lay a hand on his shoulder. "Commander…"

Bill sniffed back his tears before he could truly cry. He couldn't mourn now; everyone was depending on him.

The bulldog rose to his feet, tearing his eyes from Casse's body. "C-Come on, we're almost there."

He walked through the ruined hallway without another glance back. He didn't need to; his last memory of her was burned into his mind forever. He couldn't forget if he wanted to.

Finally they came upon the floor's control room; dark except for a single, lit monitor. Bill's men rushed inside while the commander flipped the light switch, illuminating the room.

The facility was completely empty save for one baboon. The simian cowered behind a control panel, lying face down over the arrays of buttons and switches there. The HUD on Bill's visor identified the scientist as Dr. Wernher von Liebegute.

He trained his blaster on the man's back. "Dr. Liebegute, you are under arrest. Step away from the console."

But the baboon made no effort to obey. He remained hunched over the control panel, his shoulders oddly trembling. The doctor was… whimpering?

Bill approached the scientist but froze when he noticed the broken safety glass and his clenched fist striking the large red button underneath.

The self-destruct switch! …But why wasn't it working?

Von Liebegute let out a despairing wail, only weakly pressing the button now. Bill's men likewise froze behind him, flinching whenever he clicked it again—but the explosives concealed in the walls never went off.

Bill sucked in a breath, cautiously approaching the doctor as if the room might blow to kingdom come at any second. The baboon hardly offered any resistance as he removed him from the panel and cuffed his hands behind him; he only sobbed freely now.

"Dr. Makepeace, this is Commander Grey. We've captured Liebegute alive."

"Excellent work, Commander. Did you apprehend him before he destroyed Andross's experiments?"

Bill's expression fell. "I'm sorry ma'am, we were too late to save most of them—but Section 9 appears to be intact. Oddly the doctor was unable to destroy it. He kept pressing the detonation button when we found him, but… for some reason it didn't go off. There must have been a malfunction somewhere."

He heard a gasp from Makepeace's end of the line, followed by a long silence.

"Doctor?"

"F… Forgive me, Commander Grey. You have no idea how fortunate we were today. Your next objective is to find the source of the malfunction, defuse the explosives, and ensure the safety of the subjects."

"Yes ma'am!"

Two bomb squad members joined Bill at the control panel. Using their instruments they traced the electrical current through the floor and walls—at least, where the path should have been.

Bill followed closely behind, anxiously looking over their shoulders. Their short pilgrimage took them out of the systems room and down another dark, grime-covered hallway. Eventually they stopped in front of a locked pair of doors.

"Sir, we found the explosives, but… there was no break in the wire."

"What? You better cut in there to make sure."

At his bidding, the two used energy saws to cut through the laboratory wall. Inside they located and removed a pack of explosives, carefully separating it from the trigger wires. One of the technicians whistled when he handled it.

"There's no explaining it, sir. By every known law of electronics, the first time the Venomian pressed that button, this lab should've blown sky-high."

"Are you saying…?"

"It's nothing short of a miracle, sir."

Bill let out a fractured, shaky sigh, reeling from how close he and his men had come to death. He scratched his chin and studied the door to the left of the explosives cache. Above it glowed the numbers "009."

"Hack the lock. Maybe our answer lies behind there…"

Once they unlocked the doors, Bill gestured for his men to wait outside. With his commando blaster raised to his cheek, he rounded the corner and slid into the eerie darkness.

"Status report, Commander," Makepeace asked. "Did you find Section 9?"

But Bill didn't answer. When he saw her floating there in the tank, his breath felt completely robbed from his lungs.

"…Commander? Grey!"

He dropped his gun carelessly, stumbling further into the room as if hypnotized.

After that day, many of the men asked why they didn't just demolish the rest of the labs and be done with them. They shared the general feeling that Andross's work was inherently evil and should be left alone. The higher-ups argued that all of Lylat was in ruins, and Venom owed them reparations: anything that would speed along the reconstruction process. Lylat was hurting from its war scars, in danger of bleeding to death. Even with Andross's defeat, they were desperately in need of a miracle: a healing savior: a person to lead Lylat out of the ashes of war.

A person who would make her death worth it.

Now, standing before a glass tank inhabited by an otherworldly blue vixen, Bill knew he had found that savior.

TRANSIT OF CERINIA

Act I: Lylat, From the Ashes

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