"No offense rookie," Eagle began his face all red with tears in his eyes, "but this shit is terrible."
Grizzly sighed in response before turning around. He picked up Eagle's plate as some other soldiers in the room chuckled.
"Let's add it to the growing list," Grizzly replied tossing out his sixth attempt at a Texas Sheet Cake. It would be easy, he thought, after all, it's just a couple of eggs and chocolate. How hard could it be? The sentiment didn't last long as his baking attempts mounted. The first one had too many eggs… no sorry correction, it had too many eggshells. Grizzly was only glad it had been Eagle to eat it, and not him.
The second attempt ended in the cake being thoroughly burnt, with it being as hard as a rock. They elected not to eat it and instead moved on to his third attempt. This one drew the attention of the rest of the platoon, with several of them coming to watch. Then came the fourth, fifth, and now sixth try, where he mistook the salt for sugar.
"Out of all the hobbies you could have chosen, you picked cooking," Ape commented.
"I thought it would be fun," Grizzly replied, throwing out the remains of his sixth attempt.
"Oh, it's fun alright," Ape told him, taking a few pictures of Eagle's face. The sergeant noticed and tried his best to hide, but it was futile.
"I better not see that on a holiday card," Eagle stated, now trying to grab Ape's phone.
"You did the same to me last year," Ape countered, "Consider this karma."
"Karma, eh? Well, if I'm going to suffer from karma then I'm going all out!" Eagle replied, a smirk now plastered on his face. He stopped trying to take Ape's phone and instead grabbed his own.
"Gather round boys!" Eagle called out as the roles quickly switched, with Ape now trying to grab his phone. He was too late though, as Eagle pulled up the first photo. The room immediately busted out laughing as the picture loaded in. Grizzly who was busy taking his seventh attempt out of the oven almost dropped it when he saw the picture.
What was so funny? Well, it was of Ape dangling off the side of a FOB, with the only thing holding him up being his pants leg wrapped around his ankles.
"Alright! You've made your point," Ape muttered, though one could see he was also chuckling. The two put their phones away as Grizzly set down his seventh attempt at a Texas Sheet Cake. Somewhat cautiously, Eagle wafted the scent of it.
"Smells good," he commented, "Good sign."
With utmost caution, Eagle cut away a small piece of the cake. He examined it carefully, looking out for anything he might miss. A couple of soldiers sitting nearby talked as he did so.
"Twenty bucks says it gives him food poisoning."
"Please, have some hope. Forty for it tasting fine."
Hesitantly he brought it up and ate it. He chewed for a few seconds, waiting for the inevitable drop in quality that would make him gag. But nothing occurred.
"Hmm, not bad," he commented, quickly taking another bite. Grizzly silently cheered as he grabbed a clean fork, deciding to see for himself. Ape did the same as a few other soldiers joined in.
"Could use a bit more chocolate, otherwise it's pretty good," Ape stated while giving Grizzly a friendly pat on the back.
"What he said." Eagle agreed before looking around the room, "It's got nothing on Coyote's sheet cake, but it's a close second."
"Speaking of, where is Coyote?" Ape asked.
"Beats me. Flamingo said he wasn't feeling well, so maybe he's back in his quarters." Grizzly replied, moving back over to his small kitchen. Call it pushing his luck, but he wanted to make another cake. At least that's what he was going to do before Ape grabbed his shoulder. Turning over to look at the Lieutenant, he found the man's face laced with worry.
"When was this?"
"Couple hours ago, why?"
Ape didn't respond, instead booking it out of the room. Grizzly stood there confused before the others stood up and followed him. It was worrying to see but Ape had broken out into a full sprint, nearly shoving past other soldiers in the halls. It was surprisingly hard to keep up with him, but Grizzly managed. Eventually, they came to a stop outside of Coyote's quarters. Ape knocked on the door, pleading for any sort of response. He was met with silence, so he knocked again this time louder. Again, no response.
"Eagle, over here. We're busting this down." Ape commanded, with Eagle quickly doing so. The two rammed against the door, denting it slightly before it finally came down. The soldiers' eyes scanned the room, searching for anything inside.
"Coyote!" Ape called out, stepping inside the room. He didn't get very far, only having to look up to find Coyote.
"Ah hell," Eagle muttered, his eyes glued on Coyote's dangling corpse. The others outside remained silent, with only Grizzly entering the room. It was a gruesome sight to behold, one that made Grizzly gag. No one moved for a few minutes, too enwrapped in the sight in front of them. The lingering silence plagued their minds as Ape walked over to Coyote.
"Let's get him down," he said calmly, a hint of sadness clear in his voice. Grizzly walked over to him, catching Coyote before his body could fall onto the ground. Ape did the same, grabbing Coyote's legs. Eagle meanwhile searched the room, finding a lone piece of paper on a small coffee table.
"Found a note," he stated, carefully picking it up.
"What's it say?" Ape asked. Eagle didn't respond for a second.
"He… he killed a kid," Eagle replied. His face had gone pale as he read through the note. It detailed his events back in Nigeria to a tee, something no one had gotten Coyote to talk about.
"It was back in Nigeria, during the shit show with the heroes. He killed a sidekick thinking they were an adult." Eagle continued, with Ape already seeing where it was going.
"Damn it," Ape muttered, mentally berating himself for not seeing it sooner. He tried his best to take care of those under his command, and yet he missed Coyote. It made it hard to look into the deceased's lifeless eyes. So, with a sigh, he had Grizzly close them, before walking out to take Coyote to the morgue.
Nagant couldn't understand a word that was being said, but the message she was getting through the security tapes was clear. After an hour of randomly clicking files, she had managed to find a folder of videos documenting experiments. The results were gruesome. The first video displayed a young man strapped to a table, with a scientist injecting him with some unknown substance. The man would thrash about violently for a few seconds, before dying.
The second video started almost the same, only with a young woman instead of a man. She was strapped to the table, injected, and then died. Another three videos would document the same results. Which brought her to the sixth video, where it got more interesting. A man with a mutant quirk, that had a keyboard imbedded in their right arm, was injected and lived. The man was let off the table and moved to stand up. The scientists said something, and then the man's hand started sparking.
Electricity flew off the man's hand, hitting everyone in the room. It became a violent electric storm burning everything around before the man collapsed. The surviving scientists would check the man's body, only to find him dead. However, the video didn't end with the man's death. The scientists picked up his body and placed it in one of the vats next to Nagant. She looked up from the screen and turned over to the specific vat, finding the man's body still floating inside it.
Nagant couldn't tell how long ago these videos were, but it disturbed her to see the man was still here after all that. Focusing back on the videos, the next one was almost identical to the last. A man with flames for hair was injected, lived, and died as his body turned into water. This would go on for a dozen other experiments, each one more gruesome than the last. One man would be fine, then a leg would grow out of their spine. Another became surrounded by ice and suffocated. A third became paper thin and accidentally tore themselves in half.
It was horrifying, but Nagant was beginning to see a pattern. Every death involved a quirk. Why, she couldn't tell. But something about it seemed off. Then came the next video, where all the previous steps occurred except with a new one. In this video, they brought back the body of the first test subject. The body was placed on the table and injected. Then the scientists waited. Five minutes would pass before the unthinkable occurred.
Blood began to seep through his mouth, eyes, and ears. It pooled on the ground around him dripping off the table. Ten minutes would pass before the man's body had run out of blood. It didn't make sense. The experiments recorded were days sometimes months apart. Meaning by then most fluids from the body would have more than likely run dry. Cautiously a scientist would approach the man and gently poke it with a pencil. Almost robotically, the man began to stand back up. As it did so the scientists began to panic as guards began flooding into the room.
The doors were locked down as the guards held the now-standing body at gunpoint. The body didn't move though, only standing still. Soon a scientist would say something in Russian, with the body sitting down. The scientist would say a few more things, most likely orders, with the man following them all. It stood up, ran in a circle, jumped, and slammed its head against the floor. The last action left a red stain on the tile below. Then the video ended, with every video after showing the same display as the last.
A corpse was brought in, injected, and stood back up. Over and over and over again. Nagant ended up scrolling past hundreds of the files, her face growing pale as the number kept getting higher. Eventually, she found two pieces of information they told her just how terrifying this was. The first was a date. The day wasn't important, and neither was the month. All that mattered, was that all these experiments took place in 2110. Roughly a hundred and sixty-eight years ago.
A hundred and sixty-eight years and these corpses were still up and about. That thought alone was terrifying for Nagant and led to her looking out at the hundreds of vats surrounding her. Maybe they were what kept the bodies from falling apart. In truth, she didn't know. But then came the second piece of information, in the form of an audio log. This audio log was dated only a few days after the first test subject was brought back to life. Now, everything in this base was Russian.
The technology, the personnel, the guns, the uniforms, everything. So, when Nagant played the audio log, she was not expecting Japanese.
"Log 77-202. After last week's debacle, I had hoped I had gotten somewhere in my experiments. This does not seem to be the case, as even after the revitalization of subject number one, a second quirk still is not present. The gene modifier Dr. Matvei provided seems to be inadequate in its purpose. I am unsure if that is the case, or if something else is needed to give the test subjects a second quirk.
To make sure, tomorrow I will personally go over subject number one's genetic code to see if the quirk factor has been manipulated in any way. If yes, then we are missing some key components. If not, then we will need to redo Dr. Matvei's formula. Now there is one thing that still perplexes me, the reanimation of the corpse itself. Well, I say reanimation, but subject number one is still in fact deceased.
He bears no pulse, no blood in his veins, not even a thought going through his mind. By all definitions he is dead. Yet he can listen and follow basic commands as if he were still alive. It was Dr. Rodion's idea to inject the corpse, and none of us considered it a plausible idea. But he was the son of the base's commander, so we went through with it anyway. Boy was this a surprise. However, my colleagues view this as a lost cause, a side effect of the solution's administration. I beg to differ. We'll only know for sure tomorrow."
Nagant sat in silence as the log came to an end. All of this was to give someone a second quirk. For what reason she could only guess, but it wasn't exactly hard. This was a military experiment, and one could already see what the military would want with secondary quirks. But why was the log in Japanese? Maybe the scientist speaking was Japanese, but then why was he helping the Russian military?
Clicking around on the computer she brought up the next log, this one also in Japanese.
"Log 77-203. Dr. Matvei's formula has appeared to affect subject number one's quirk factor. This effect is that the quirk factor is destroyed, along with several other vital portions of human DNA. It explains why all the subjects would suddenly die after the explosion of quirk use. It was the last remnants of their quirk going haywire as it died out, like a wounded animal trapped in a corner. It's disappointing, to say the least.
Dr. Matvei's formula was marketed as what would bring forth the military's super soldier. Instead, it's the propaganda shill I always thought it was… maybe. I'm not entirely sure as it did bring subject number one back to life. So, it has some viable uses in the scientific community, but to give one a second quirk? That doesn't seem plausible. However, the very fact the serum had any effect on the corpse at all gives me some small idea.
Tampering with the quirk factor of an already living person seems to always end up with death, so why not test it on an already dead body? We might not be able to alter the DNA of a dead body, but there might be other ways of giving it a quirk. After all some colleagues of mine heard rumors about someone being able to give and take quirks back home. I think it's a load of horseshit, but some rumors carry a seed of truth."
The prisoners were right where the guard told Snake. What the guard left out, however, was the four of his buddies standing guard. Two were dressed as clowns, with AK-74Ms in hand. The other two wore more casual business attire and had AKS-74Us as their main weapons. All were smoking and standing about lazily, not even bothering to check their surroundings. Quietly Snake began thinking up his plan of attack. While the hallway was lit up, it wasn't the best.
It was leagues better than what Nagant had gone down but still shoddy. Better yet, none of the guards appeared to have night vision. So, as he listened to the guards talk, he aimed his silenced M4.
"Can't believe the big man's got me wearing this shit." one of the clowns muttered, slightly tugging at his clothes. It was all one outfit that didn't fit exactly right.
"Be grateful," one of the suits told him, "I heard some of the guys got suits ridden with diseases they'd never heard of before."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, poor bastards didn't realize they caught something until it was too late."
"Makes sense. This place is old as fuck, and you mean to tell me the head honchos did some spring cleaning."
"That's what I'm saying. I mean half the obstacle courses here haven't been cleaned in weeks!"
Snake fired then, breaking a bulb above one of the clown's head. It shattered instantly with bits of glass falling onto the man. The guards swore for a second as the clown tried to get the class of him.
"Shit! See what I mean! This place is a fucking hell hole."
With the area dark, Snake quietly approached the guards. It was hard to see, but he didn't want to use night vision yet. Not with all the guards so clumped together. Once he got close enough to the guards, he grabbed the first one he could reach. Snake wrapped his arms around the guard's throat and covered his mouth, before quietly dragging him away. The other guards didn't notice, instead still talking amongst each other.
"Hey, you good?"
"I think so. Can't feel any cuts but I don't want to risk ruining my hand."
"Anyone got a flashlight?"
"Nope."
"No."
The guards waited for a fourth response, unaware that Snake had slit his throat further down the hall. The guard was dead in seconds with Snake quickly sneaking back over to the group.
"Yo Pavel, this isn't the time for games. Do you have a flashlight?"
Snake remained quiet as the guards waited, quickly grabbing a second guard. He dragged him away as well before killing him quietly.
"Pavel stop fucking around, answer me."
With the second guard unconscious Snake snuck back over to the last two. This was where it could get risky. Grab the wrong guard, and the other immediately knows something's up. So carefully he puts on his night vision goggles and holds his knife ready. In one quick fashion, he stands up and slashes at one guard's throat. The knife tears through flesh effortlessly with Snake then quickly turning toward the final guard.
The last guard, seeing the faint glow of Snake's goggles, moved to aim his gun. Reacting fast Snake stabbed his knife into the trigger guard of the gun, locking the trigger into place. At the same time, his other hand grabbed the barrel of the rifle and yanked it out of the guard's hand. The guard stunned for a moment, began moving for his sidearm, only for Snake to twist him around quickly and put him in a chokehold. The last guard struggled fiercely but ultimately fell unconscious.
With the guards disposed of, Snake removed his knife from the rifle and moved over to the door. Taking a deep breath, Snake carefully cracked open the door and found a brightly lit room. The walls had a dull concrete hue with small chalk drawings on the bottom. The drawings would have been cute in any other context but here they were disturbing. They displayed homes, stick-figure families, a dog or cat, and playgrounds. It made Snake's blood boil as he looked at the rest of the room.
The only beds provided were the concrete floor with a couple of popped inflatable mattresses. The only bathroom was a pair of buckets off in the corner that was now stained after possibly years of use. And he could see the kids. Hundreds of them. Teary-eyed and afraid, wearing what must have been the clothes they had when they were taken. And then Snake heard a voice, speaking out in the room.
"This better be good, I was just about to call this episode's contestants." the Showmaster muttered, with a guard in a suit standing next to him. In the Showmaster's hands was a comically large list with a grim message for Snake. All of it was a list of names, names he suspected were the children's. But something felt off looking at the Showmaster. He could see he was there, but it felt like he was looking at nothing.
"W-well s-sir, you asked for a status report." the guard stuttered out, trying to stand as far away from the Showmaster as possible.
"Oh right, I did. Well tell me then, is our guest star ready?" the Showmaster asked.
"A-about that…"
"You still can't find him!?" the Showmaster interrupted. The man turned and walked up closer to the guard. The guard in turn stepped back as he stuttered out his response.
"W-we searched the upper levels, a-all that's left is the middle and lower levels s-sir!"
The answer didn't calm the Showmaster as he continued to get closer to the guard.
"The fuck am I paying you for!? I give you all this time, money, and equipment and you can't find him! This isn't rocket science you know. It's a glorified game of hide and seek! And… you know what, forget it."
A gunshot rang out across the room then with screams soon following after. It took every fiber in Snake's being not to jump in immediately and start firing immediately. It would have been suicide to do so as he peered out around the room again. Behind the Showmaster were a dozen other guards all with a lifeless look in their eyes. Looking back at the Showmaster he found an MP-443 in his hand, the barrel still smoking.
"Now then back on task," Showmaster muttered looking back over at the list in his hands.
"I'm sorry to say our lovely guest will not be accompanying you in this next game. I know, I know, and I'm sorry. I know how excited all of you were at the chance to meet him, but we are going to have to move on. So, the following people are to participate in this game," Showmaster stated before bringing the list closer to his face. He pretended to read it for a second before facepalming with a chuckle.
"Actually, why did I bother with a list? Egg on my face I spent an hour writing it, heh. Anyways all of you are to participate or be shot."
The guards moved as he said so, beginning to round up the kids to move. The children didn't resist as they did so. Seeing what little time Snake had, he prepared to throw out a flashbang. If he was fast, he could eliminate the guards and the Showmaster right here. Removing the pin from the flashbang, he cracked the door open a little more and tossed it inside. It bounced across the floor a little before erupting into a loud cacophony of light and sound.
Quickly Snake barged through the door, M4 at the ready as he fired at the first guard he could find. The others stumbled out clumsily as they tried to find Snake. Yet throughout it all, he could hear laughter. The loud boisterous laughter of the Showmaster.
"Ha ha! Seems I was wrong! Get them to the B Room quickly! And someone bring me a camera!"
Snake turned to face the Showmaster, seeing as the man tried his best to locate Snake. Without a hint of mercy, Snake shot him, the 5.56 rounds punching straight through the man's head. The Showmaster's body fell to the ground then, right as the guards began to regain their vision. Half of them followed the Showmaster's last command, that being to escort the children out. The other half focused on Snake, firing everything they had at the merc.
They were terrible shots luckily, but it forced Snake to run about the room to avoid getting shot. As he did so he set his M4 to full auto, holding down the trigger as he cut a swath into the opposing guards. The guards didn't die though. Bullets punctured their lungs, hearts, arms, and stomachs tearing up their torso, but they fought on. Seeing this Snake changed tactics and switched his M4 to a single shot. Aiming for one guard's head he fired, the round going through its skull like a knife through butter.
The guard fell over dead finally, allowing Snake to focus on the other five. It was tiring as he shot them, having to be slow enough to hit but fast enough to dodge. And it was taking too long, far too long. The other guards had already led a third of the kids out of the room and were dragging away the… Showmaster's… body… That left Snake confused, as he shot another guard dead. He hoped Nagant had found any information on these things because they didn't seem to realize their leader was dead. Snake couldn't let those thoughts distract him though, focusing back on the last four. He killed two more with precise shots but missed the last two guards.
At that time his M4 clicked empty, forcing him to reload. However, the guards had the same issue, as they were forced to stop firing. Noticing this, Snake changed tactics and charged forward. He drew his knife stabbing it into the throat of the closest guard as the other stood still. It barely reacted to Snake's actions before trying to hit Snake with his rifle's stock. Snake ducked under the attack swiftly, pulling his knife from the first guard's neck.
With his knife free he thrust it forward, stabbing through the guard's jaw and into his skull. But it was too late. The kids were gone, and Snake turned to look at the door they were escorted through. In what was a once empty hallway, came dozens of fresh guards ready to replace their brethren. Furious, Snake ran back out the door he entered. If he could loop around somewhere, he could catch up to the children. As he did so, he looked back to where he had killed the Showmaster and found not a trace of blood on the ground.