Necrotic Ascension System

Elias stood in front of the building, he had worn a face mask and gloves since "Disguise" had a lesser active time for this quest. He didn't hold anything in his hands. He breathed and knocked on the door.

Panicked footsteps echoed from within, just before the woman stepped out the balcony and aimed her gun towards him. 

"Drop your weapons, right fucking now! Or I'll shoot ya" Jane shouted, her voice was shaky and tense.

Elias looked at her and grabbed his rifle and threw it on the ground. The man opened the door and came out, he too was aiming his rifle towards him. Elias raised his hands in the air to show he was not there to harm them.

"Derek, I am not here to harm you both. If I was I wouldn't have dropped my gun like it was nothing." Elias explained with a calm voice.

"I'm not buying this bullshit, identify yourself right now before I blow your brains out. Who covers their face with a mask and say they won't harm someone." Derek doubled down aggressively.

Elias sighed, he had not accounted for this. He had made things difficult for himself. The only option left for him was to show his ZIA ID. But it was inside the inner pocket of the jacket he wore. He slowly lowered his hands but this agitated Derek and he shot. The bullet went through the space between his head and hand.

"Next one will be in your head, don't get any funny ideas ya hear me!" Derek said as he loaded the gun again.

"Okay, okay just calm down Derek. I'm an active ZIA agent. My ID is in my jackets inner pocket. I will slowly move my right hand to grab it. Okay!" Elias reaffirmed.

Derek thought for a few seconds before nodding. Elias slowly lowered his hand and took out his ID. Derek moved forward and inspected the card. It showed his name, age, position and his picture.

"Dr. Elias Grey, Team Alpha Leader of DZR. What are ya doing so far away from Nova Terra? And why are ya wearing that mask, ya some kind of freak?" Derek mocked. 

Elias ignored the comment and lowered his other hand since Derek had lowered his gun along side Jane. He picked up his gun and threw it on his back. He took back his ID from Derek and started walking towards the entrance of the building.

Elias' left ear perked up and he ducked, the bullet missed his head and hit the door. He turned around and pushed away the guns barrel before Derek could shoot. Derek used the stock and hit Elias's face but he was met with a nasty left hook.

Derek staggered as his nose started to bleed. Elias dropped the gun and took a stance. Both men punched each other, some missed while some hit. Elias despite being close to 40 was still younger than Derek who looked to be in his fifties. In no time he had the advantage. With a final punch to his gut, Elias stopped.

Derek was on his knees as he gasped for air. Elias ignored him and walked to the entrance of the building again.

"I could've killed you just now, but I did not. Is that enough of a reason to not be hostile towards me?" Elias added as he went inside. 

Jane ran outside and supported Derek and brought him inside.

*****

An hour passed, Elias slept in a makeshift room and took a shower. The water was cold and refreshing. After that he sat around a table with Derek and Jane. Derek was bandaged up after he got beaten by Elias. 

The building was much better on the inside, they both had managed to make it into a fully functional safehouse. They had power, clean water, food supplies and even an armory full of weapons from before the fall.

Derek was a mechanical engineer, but after the fall he joined ZIA and was in the security division. He was stationed at Redline Sector-31 when the tragic incident happened. Jane, was the daughter of a researcher at the Redline Sector-31, Derek saved her from dying and cares for her just like his daughter, whom he lost during the fall.

Elias took out the files from his bag and put them on the table. Derek quickly straightened up and started looking through them. 

"Derek, did you know Dr. Erikson?" Elias questioned.

Derek looked at him and nodded. "Yes, I knew Dr. Erikson. Actually, we were great friends." He answered, the last part turned into a mumble.

"That makes this slightly easier. Did you know that Dr. Erikson was experimenting on Tier 4 Huskbrutes in hopes of replicating their regeneration." Elias stated and continued.

"I went inside the outpost to gather supplies but I stumbled upon important files inside Dr. Erikson's locker. The armory located under his office had a research lab on the left side. Inside I found a mutated Tier 4 Huskbrute, it's appearance akin to a big mass of rotting flesh."

Elias stopped as he saw both Jane and Derek's faces turn pale. Jane looked at Derek as if she would cry any minute. He patted her head and turned his head towards Elias. 

"This is a mess." Derek bellowed.

"I knew Erikson was doing some experimenting but this...this is insane. What were ya even thinkin." He continued.

"I was directly under Erikson, his wife got bitten by a Shambler but she was a strong willed woman. She grabbed a knife and cut off her arm from the elbow blow." Derek paused and looked at Jane who had tears streaming down her face silently.

"Ever since that day, Erikson started doing research on regenerative medicine. He drowned himself in work and his health diminished day by day until he had enough. A special container was brought to the outpost a few months before the incident." Derek explained.

Elias had put two and two together, Dr. Erikson wanted to find a way to grow back his wife's arm. But the experiment went wrong and caused the incident. One thing he couldn't figure out was the origin of Jane. 

While Derek told the tale of what happened she had started to cry. Was she related to all this in some way? He decided to be straight forward and ask about it.

"I understand your involvement with Dr. Erikson, but where does Jane come in all this?" He inquired.

Derek looked at Jane who nodded slightly before answering. "Jane is the daughter of Erikson, before he head out and sacrificed himself, he tasked me to protect his daughter."

Elias looked towards Jane with pity, he knew what it felt like losing your parents. After all, he was also an orphan since he was ten. 

"Jane, your father was a great man. I know what he did was wrong and unethical but please don't put it against him. He tried to find a cure but his frustration made him take the wrong step." He comforted her as he knew the pain.

"Thank you, Dr. Elias. I always knew what he was doing but I never talked him out of it. I'm to be blamed as much as him since I was deluded and thought he'd succeed." Jane sniffled.

Elias nodded and then moved his attention back to Derek. With this out of the way they need a plan to kill the Huskbrute before it grows into a Tier 5 or Tier 6. He relied on Derek to formulate the plan, he was more experienced in field work than him.

Night approached as all three of them finished packing up the necessary things required. This would be a quick in and out mission according to Derek. They would get inside the basement, throw diesel on the Huskbrute and set it to fire.