NOVEL WEB Chapter 60: Chapter 60
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***
Having landed near the base, we began to equip ourselves and make a plan of action. First, we decided to send the Owl drones out to survey the area and get an idea of the size of the problems we would encounter inside. After twenty minutes of surveying the area, Ethan's devices produced some pretty strange data. Not a single living creature was found outside, nor inside the base. Also those drones that were inside did not find anything hinting at the forced abandonment of their posts and offices. Rather, there was a feeling that all the people in the base had simply disappeared.
Brock said that according to the data sent by the headquarters, there was a bunker under the base, where all the research had been conducted. If they haven't left the base, they're probably there, and we'll have to go down and investigate the research complex. Walking between the empty offices of the seemingly extinct base, my gut began to scream louder and louder about the size of the arsehole we were getting into.
Having gained access to the computer of the head of the research complex, Sova copied the full plan of the base and now we realised more clearly that what was above was only the tip of the iceberg. Downstairs was a huge area, the bunker had five floors and thanks to the codes and the still on pc Ethan was able to copy the full access to all floors for each of the members of the Strike.
As we made our way down to the door leading to the staircase below, we witnessed a rather unhappy sight of a green haze drifting across the floor from under the door. At this point, everyone in the squad was extremely glad that they hadn't flouted safety precautions and, even with the drone sensors completely quiet, had donned gas masks. After letting the Council assess the level of threat from the gas we waited, but after a few minutes Dage gave us disappointing results. His devices detect only normal air, which is impossible with this colour of gas. So the only options left were either a failure of the device or some too ingenious gas that didn't register until it came into contact with some trigger.
Because of the impossibility of assessing the danger of the descent, the whole squad was extremely tense and going down was ready to repel an attack from any of the positions. Downstairs the situation was no better, empty corridors and the same fog drifting along the floor, only now it was denser. If upstairs it was only 1-2cm, in the bunker it was up to 4-5cm. The Reaper decided to head towards the descent to the second underground floor. As we passed one of the turns I thought for a moment I saw a female silhouette moving in the same direction as our squad. Stopping the captain, I hinted that we might not be alone and he ordered the Council to send drones down that corridor to check, but they returned a few minutes later with nothing. But Brock still didn't lessen his caution and told Ethan to leave a couple of drones in the neighbouring corridors to follow us in parallel. While Ethan was sending the drones out and adjusting their behaviour I noticed the fog getting denser and the lights above us somehow began to flicker in a bad way. But just as I was about to draw the team's attention to it the lights in the entire corridor went out abruptly.
***
-Reaper? Bulldog? Korshun? - Looking around, Ethan asked over the voice channel. Not getting any response from the team members standing next to him, he gripped the machine gun tighter and moved forward. Just a minute ago he had been with the team, but being too much immersed in the drone settings Ethan hadn't noticed his comrades were missing and only after switching off the lights did he notice their disappearance. Walking through the empty tunnels of the bunker for an hour Dage had the distinct feeling that he was wandering in circles. But it was impossible, because the map on his bracelet clearly recorded his location, and he was moving in the right direction.
After a while Ethan began to notice that the light from the lamps in the bunker was getting dimmer and dimmer. According to his calculations, in just 30-40 minutes, at this rate of power loss, the entire bunker would be completely dark. Although according to the downloaded information, the generators supporting the bunker should have been able to run for another 10-20 years without interruption. But that was the least of the guy's problems at the moment. According to his position on the map, he was back in the centre of the bunker and didn't know what to do.
Half an hour later the lights went out completely, and the guy heard a strange noise from the far corridor. In the distance was heard the sound of stomping of many feet and growls resembling some kind of animals. Cursing his superiors countless times in the last hour, the guy set one of the portable cameras on the wall and quietly tried to distance himself from the sounds. Finding one of the open offices and closing the door behind him, Ethan switched on his tablet and connected to the camera that had been left behind.
What he saw made the guy's hair stand on end and a waterfall of icy sweat ran down his back. The abominable creature, made up of many bodies of research workers and base security guards, was moving through the corridors of the research complex. From its huge carcass protruded different parts of the body from arms and legs, to heads, which made that animal roar heard by Dage. But the most terrifying moment, which probably added grey hairs to the guy's head, was the moment when his camera met the gaze of one of the heads sticking out of the creature's carcass. The face not showing any emotion smiled sharply and as if seeing Ethan at the other end of the connection licked its lips. Ethan's first impulse was to run as far away from the creature as he could to avoid seeing it again, but training and experience quickly quelled the rising panic and forced him to think about what was happening. And when he finally started to think about all the strange things that had happened to him in the last two hours, he was distracted by a sensor signal on his tablet. The thing was walking down the corridors towards Ethan's office, as if sensing his location.
***
On the top floor of the main headquarters of the Triskelione Shield, Brock Rumlow stood in the ruined office. He watched as before his eyes the most powerful weapon of the Heliker Shield engulfed in fire fell from the heavens. To his right lay the corpse of one of the most important men in the Shield. Looking into the dead eyes of Alexander Pierce, he couldn't understand when it all went wrong. Down below he could see the battle, though no it was more of an extermination of Hydra agents by the superior forces of the Shield. After standing like that for more than a dozen minutes, something inside Rumlow snapped. Then he stepped out into a corridor littered with the bodies of soldiers. Among those he passed were the faces of his fellow soldiers, his friends, his partners from the Strike, but Brock's faded gaze seemed to ignore them, and he continued walking towards the broken window.
***
There were two men standing in the middle of the lab room, talking about something. If Ryan had been in the room, he would have recognised the old man who had made his weekend fun, the one who had tried to brainwash Pierce, and his colleague Nick Bright.
-"Sir, give me another chance, I'll make it up to you. - Bright begged the old man excitedly.
-You have no idea what I've lost because of your failure! - The old man shouted.
-But I obeyed, I'm only asking for one more try. - Almost shouting, Nick pleaded.
-You're a spoilt tool, and broken things are thrown away. - Having lost any interest in the conversation, the old man said.
-Please...
-Okay, as you asked I'm giving you one last task that even you can't fail. - Said the Old Man with an acerbic grin.
-Thank you, thank you. - The man rejoiced, as if not noticing the smile of the man standing against him.
-Your new target is the murder of Nick Bright.
-But...
-What are you waiting for? -Do as you're told. Obey orders! - The old man went mad again.
After receiving the order and trying to comprehend it, Nick fell into prostration for a moment, unable to make any logical chains in his head. But then at the attempt to say something he was interrupted, and hearing the words he did not notice that his hand reached for his gun. With a trembling hand he drew the weapon from its holster and slowly began to point it at himself. His whole being tried to resist the order and in the end he even began to succeed, the muzzle of the gun shifted to the side and now Bright's life was no longer in danger. But noticing his subordinate's delay in carrying out such a simple order, the old man again became furious.
-Even now you're trying to ruin the fulfilment of such a simple task. Don't make me angry. Obey! Obedience will be rewarded, obey the order! - The old man said loudly, now concentrating all his attention on Nika.
The hand that had been shaking only a moment ago suddenly gained a steely hardness and immediately returned the weapon to its proper position. A second later, a gunshot rang out in the room.
***
In Japan, in an ordinary school classroom, one of the children suddenly opened his eyes and looked around in shock.
-What? - Hugh Paris asked into the void, not realising where he was or what was happening. Just now he was in the middle of a bunker on a mission and suddenly he finds himself in the middle of a school. But his already chaotic thoughts were completely destroyed by looking down and discovering he had a not at all small feminine distinguishing mark.
Peris sat through the next class with the look of a computer that had lost contact with the server. His brain was trying to make sense of the crap that was happening to him. After he got his thoughts together a bit and left his classroom, he began to assess the situation and try to decide what to do next. As he looked around at all the people he saw, he didn't notice the guy who had jumped out of the corner and crashed into Hugh. He was still able to regroup and in a second he was standing a metre away from where he had crashed. His back was covered with cold sweat as he decided to see who was running so inattentively through the corridors, and then, after his brain had reached a rather horrifying conclusion, he backed away from the rising guy. At first seeing the face without eyes Hugh was just briefly frightened, and even more frightened that the other children in the corridor had no reaction to such a creature. But then his brain jogged a memory of a couple of books he'd read with just such guys in them, and Hugh was horrified.
***
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