This place was wrong. Behind the beauty and wonder of the gigantic flowers and trees was a sinister truth, and Leonard had been trying to uncover it. He had been here for maybe ten days now and he had learned almost nothing. His daughter, Lisa, had been a big help, though she also didn't know much beyond what he did. To make matters worse, Naomi had gone missing. Sarah and Tasha had told him that the woman that ran this place came to her with a mission, and she had never returned, her or the four Fencers that went with her. Leonard was furious when he wasn't allowed to go out and search. How could they just leave soldiers out there? He now had the place keeping a constant eye on him, making sure he didn't leave. Sarah and Tasha also had shadows, soldiers watching their every move. They were essentially prisoners. He had tried talking to anyone and everyone here, trying to get his head around this place. The only person that would talk to him was Lisa. He was terrified of the thought that Naomi might be out there hurt or worse. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes. There had to be something he could do.
Leonard made his way to the cafeteria where Sarah and Tasha were waiting for him. He entered the small building and glanced around, spotting the two in a far corner table. The cafeteria was fairly empty this time in the morning, there only being a couple of Rangers spread through the large area. Leonard contemplated trying to speak with them, but decided against it. "No point anyways." He thought. The thought was accompanied by a tinge of anger. Lisa was also here, sitting next to Tasha. The two had grown close, and it was one of the only good things to come from this mess of a situation. The two of them were attempting to comfort Sarah, who's eyes were wet and face red. Given, Tasha looked like she had done her fair share of crying. These damn bastards wouldn't allow them to go out and find their leader, their best friend. It was an awful sight, and it just made Leonard angrier. He approached the table and took a seat next to Sarah, giving the three women a curt nod. "They took our plasma cores last night." Tasha started. Leonard reared in surprise. "They came while we slept and took our weapons and armor. They stole from us and they won't even tell us why!" She slammed her fists on the metal table, standing as she did so. She glared at the Rangers in the cafeteria. They didn't so much as look up from their meals. She started to move towards one of the Rangers close by, only for Lisa to grab her hand, stopping her. Tasha looked down at her new friend, tears welling. "I know you're angry. But we need to be careful about how we approach this." Lisa said, standing up next to Tasha. "I'm tired of being careful." The quiet voice came from beside Leonard. Sarah picked her head up out of her arms, revealing an angered and pained expression. "These motherFUCKERS have held us back for too long. Our sister is out there probably hurt or…" she stopped herself, staring forward and slowly rising to her feet. Everyone turned to stare at her with surprise on their faces. They'd never heard her be so angry, let alone curse. "We need to get out there and find her. I don't care what these assholes say. I'm going out there with or without my armor and weapons. Naomi would do the same for us." The moment she finished her sentence, the two Rangers in the room stood and made their way out of the building in perfect synchronization, down to their footsteps and arm movements. The sight brought a tingle of anxiety into Leonard's mind. It wasn't the first time he had seen the personnel here act in such unison. He had chalked it up to intense training or cohesion tactics but now… he wasn't so sure. "What the hell is up with that?" Tasha asked, echoing Leonard's thoughts. "Who cares? We should be working on a plan to get out of here." Sarah snarled. "She's right. You guys shouldn't have been here in the first place." Lisa said, looking in Leonard's direction. "What do you think dad?" She asked. Leonard took everything in, and responded, "Our first priority is finding Naomi. That's a given. Then we need to find long range communications and link up with any remaining EDF forces, and get the hell out of this place." There were nods all around. "Then how do we go about this?" Tasha asked. "I think I may know where they're storing your weapons and gear. We can start there." Lisa suggested. With that the group made their way outside.
They left the cafeteria, whispering to themselves about the plan. Lisa had said the divers gear was probably being held inside the big warehouse that stood in the center of the compound. None of them had ever been in the warehouse, it was always locked or had guards at the door. Leonard had suggested they stop by the shack he was living in to grab his own gear beforehand, but the group agreed that they didn't want to draw too much attention too fast. With the plan in mind, the group made for the warehouse. It was a short trek, and there were no soldiers or personnel whatsoever on the way. Good. It would be easier to get out. The four approached one of the side doors of the warehouse, wary of their surroundings. Leonard went first and tried the door. To his surprise, there was no lock, no resistance. The door swung open freely. Sarah wasted no time and barged in pushing Leonard out of the way. "Hey!" Leonard called out in a hushed voice, but she walked briskly, ignoring him. Tasha followed quickly behind. Leonard understood the need to hurry but they had to be careful. He stepped in behind them, not wanting to lose sight of the pair. Lisa followed behind him. The door from outside led directly into a long hallway spanning the entire length of the building, with no doors or windows along the way. The floor was concrete and the wall inside the warehouse almost looked reinforced. Leonard couldn't pay too much attention to it as he was trying to keep up with Sarah and Tasha. "Dad." Lisa whispered. He continued on, not hearing his daughter. He looked ahead watching as Sarah and Tasha were approaching the end of the hallway. "Dad!" Lisa said a bit louder. Leonard was so focused on the two in front of him with his mind racing that he still didn't hear her. He watched as the two of them finally made it to the end, rounding the corner. He took longer strides now, wanting to catch up. He made it to the corner when he finally heard his daughter, "Dad!" She practically yelled. He whirled around, confused on why she would be making so much noise. "There's something you should know." She said, tears starting to stream down her face. That moment he heard another voice behind him. "Hands in the air. Now." Leonard whirled once more to see the older woman that ran the compound pointing a handgun at him. She held a small device that looked like a remote in her other hand. Confusion hit him like a truck. "Lisa what is this?" He said, slowly raising his hands. "I had no choice dad, I-" the woman pushed a button on the remote and Lisa was cut off. Leonard turned to see his daughter standing there, arms at her side, an emotionless expression on her face, tears still running down her cheeks.
The woman holding the pistol walked around Leonard and approached Lisa. "You get away from her." Leonard growled. The woman just smirked, bringing a hand up and wiping the tears from Lisa's face. "Don't touch her!" Leonard launched himself at her. She pushed a button on the device once more and Lisa sprung into action, firing a fist out and catching Leonard square in the jaw. Surprise overtook him and he couldn't react as Lisa spun, bringing a foot up and slamming it into his chest sending him backwards onto the floor. He scrambled and flailed, but was stopped as Lisa's boot came down on his throat. She held it there firmly as Leonard struggled to breath. The beep of the device came again, and Lisa backed off, standing straight and expressionless once more. The older woman knelt down next to him, "you couldn't just leave it alone hmm? You had to have the truth. You'll get it now." She stood up, pointing her weapon at him. "Get up." She snarled. Leonard slowly stood, raising his hands once more. He looked at Lisa but she just stared forwards at nothing. "What the fuck did you do to my daughter." He didn't recognize his own voice. It was the voice of desperation mixed with rage. The woman leaned in close, "I made her better." She then pushed him towards the end of the hall.
Rounding the corner, he didn't see Sarah or Tasha. It was another hallway but significantly shorter, leading to a door. He felt the hard metal of the woman's gun jab into his back, ushering him forward. He tried turning around to see Lisa but was promptly backhanded. "Eyes forward." The woman said. He slowly made his way to the door with his hands in the air. Blood was flowing from his nose, and there was a metallic taste on his tongue. Fear crept in his mind, threatening to completely envelop him. He stopped at the door. "Open it." The woman said. Leonard slowly reached down and turned the knob, lightly pushing the door open. It opened into a wide room that looked like a control room. To the right was a large window with nothing but black behind it. Underneath the window was a long set of control panels, littered with buttons, lights, switches and all the sort. On the left the wall was lined with metal filing cabinets. There was another door on the other end. In the center of the room, Sarah and Tasha were on their knees, hands behind their heads. Four Rangers, including the one that had originally found them in the forest, stood around them with their rifles aimed at their heads. The two women stared forward, anger in their eyes. Leonard was led forward and put to his knees as well beside Tasha. Lisa walked forwards in front of them, approaching the control panels. "Lisa? Lisa you gotta-" Tasha started. One of the Rangers kicked her in the face, knocking her to the floor. "Hey!" Sarah screamed standing to her feet. Another Ranger brought the butt of his rifle around, slamming it into her stomach. She doubled over, vomiting. Leonard stared in horror as his new friends lay on the ground. Tasha had a nasty gash on her face, blood gushing, and Sarah was on her hands and knees struggling to catch a breath. "Behave yourselves or it will happen again." The older woman said, smiling. "Get them up. Bring them to the window." She said gesturing towards the large pane. The Rangers yanked the women to their feet, pulling them forward. A hand grabbed Leonard's arm and forcefully pulled him as well. "You know, I was going to let you live here, free from the horrors of the world. Live in peace with your daughter and friends." She tilted her head slightly, "But then you wanted to leave. Why would you want to leave paradise?" She leaned closer, "The other Diver, Naomi was it? I saw the fierceness in her eyes, her extreme will. She'd have fought the whole way. I had to get rid of her. Sent her to die in the forest." Leonard was paralyzed with rage. He heard a whimper from Sarah, and a growl from Tasha. "But I have plans for you three. Lisa? Would you do the honors?" She said with an evil grin.
Lisa flipped a switch on one of the control panels and pushed a few buttons. Bright light suddenly filled the room beyond the glass as huge lights hanging from the ceiling turned on one at a time. The room was absolutely massive. The walls were concrete, reinforced by steel beams. The ground had been dug out, the floor being about a hundred feet down. There were cages and pens lining the walls on either side, and more lined up down the middle of the room, with aisles separating them. Another switch was flipped and a loud alarm started blaring, accompanied by a flashing red light. The ceilings on the cages slowly slid open, revealing the insides. Inside the cages were… aliens. The green humanoid ones that resembled frogs. The EDF had dubbed them colonists. There were hundreds of them, corralled and packed inside the cages. They looked feeble, and malnourished. Their green skin had faded to a sickly yellow brown, and had tubes and wires connected to their heads and spines. Some of the wires were connected to the mangled metal contraptions on their backs. They looked to be in immense pain. Some of them looked up, shielding their eyes from the sudden brightness from the lights.
"Let me ask you something." The woman said, getting the attention from the three prisoners. "Do you know how these monsters controlled the insects?" Sarah, Tasha, and Leonard just glared at her. "They don't have the psychic abilities of the other aliens, you know, the ones that are currently ending the world, so they had these metal packs on their backs that concentrated their thoughts and focused it through electrical signals that are received by the insects. These insects have alien parasites that are capable of receiving the signals and controlling the host using the thoughts of the colonists." She continued, "We can't extract the parasites as they would parish the moment they were removed from the host. But we could still study the corpses. That led us to where we are now. We've kept these monsters alive, effectively creating a super computer capable of controlling the surrounding population of giant insects. But I wanted more. A way to expand. Another question for you. Do you know what Leucochloridium paradoxum is?" The three prisoners just stared. Leonard nudged Sarah with his foot, then ever so slightly nodded towards the door they were led through. The woman continued, "I didn't think so. Leucochloridium paradoxum is a parasite native to our planet, able to take control of snails and the such. After studying the remains of the alien parasites, I found a way to alter those native to our earth." She looked around at the Rangers and at Lisa. "And they work on so much more than snails and bugs." She said with a crooked smile, holding up the device still in her hand. She then raised both hands, approaching the window. "This is our future. This is our paradise." She turned around, facing Leonard, Sarah, and Tasha. "This. Is our Rebirth." She then nodded at the Ranger holding Tasha in place. He pulled out a syringe with something wriggling violently inside. Without a second thought he jabbed it into her neck. She screamed in pain and fell to her knees, slamming her fists on the ground. She flailed on the floor, convulsing. A moment later she just stopped, almost frozen in time. She then stood and walked over next to Lisa, an emotionless expression on her face. "NO!" Sarah screamed, still held in place by another Ranger. The older woman smiled at her new creation then looked at the Ranger holding Sarah, and nodded. He pulled a syringe out and brought it to Sarah's neck. Leonard took his chance.
He let out a roar of rage and tore from the grip of the man holding him in place, sprinting forward and diving at the man about to inject Sarah. He slammed into him, tackling him into the other two Rangers, sending all four men to the ground. The syringe went flying, breaking on the floor and spreading its contents across the floor. "GO!" He roared at Sarah. She wasted no time, running towards the door. The Ranger that had been holding Leonard stood in her way, but Sarah brought her foot up, catching the man under the chin and dropping him instantly. She jumped over him and made for the door. Leonard heard the beep of the older woman's device, then Lisa and Tasha started after Sarah. "Go." Leonard whispered. He then felt a small prick in his neck. "No" he thought. The pain was immense but he didn't care. He got Sarah out. Maybe she would escape. Maybe she would find a way back and help. He felt his mind slipping away. He felt whatever the bastards injected into him wriggling beneath his skin, taking control. Leonard closed his eyes, thinking of his daughter, and his wife. Watching as the images of the family he wished he could've had slowly faded away, until there was nothing.