『Command III』

"After you." I say with a smile.

We walk through the hallways and I motion for her to stop.

She stays silent as I scan the area. The two units are getting close to the body trail we left. We have around one minute before the alarms are raised and the difficulty of this place increases.

Looking back at it, we probably should have hidden the bodies and blood better. It's not like the bodies were out in the open. But it's also not like you need Sherlock Holmes level of deduction skills to find out there were intruders.

The best case scenario right now is to escape with the target without engaging the mutants. Unfortunately, I don't know where Alexander Grants is. He could be with one of the mutants for all I know. But he could also be with the scientists.

So the best thing I can do is go for the first little group of scientists. Even if Alexander isn't there, we would still be eliminating threats safely.

I look at the guard-less orange bodies.

They are two hallways away with one guard patrol in-between us. As of now, the only guards that are left are those led by the mutants. If this was a normal mission, I'd find out their patterns, when they switch guards, and the communication system that they had. But I don't. So I can only hope for the best.

"We'll go straight forward. Do you remember what our target looks like?" I ask her in a hush tone.

She nods her head.

Good, because I didn't memorize his facial features or common gestures he uses or his speech pattern. I only had one hour to prepare for the mission. I had to prioritize the information based on importance to me. I started researching the location of where the first team lost communication. After that I made a list of reasons why they could have lost communication. Then I re-made the scenarios and I thought about how to act on it.

By the time I was done, we were minutes away from the drop zone.

But that's how I was trained. To assess the information based on my protocols.

I only had two main protocols.

1. Protect the GRU

2. Survive

Now I only have one protocol.

Survival.

Seeing as how I'm not a real S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, survival was what I had in mind. Not completing the mission. Which is what I was programmed to do.

Normally I would use my phone to look at the briefings, to get myself familiar with it as I interact with the targets. But normally I'm on an espionage mission. Normally hundreds of people with their phones on will mask my presence. But this isn't normal. They could track me down using a GPS or track the electromagnetic waves coming from my cellular device.

So I'll have to rely on my teammate. My partner. My luggage.

"Where are we going?" She whispers, interrupting my train of thought.

"Somewhere. I'm following my intuition." I tell her.

She doesn't say anything back. Instincts are what keep us alive in this job. She's probably been on the field long enough to know this.

We make it to the first hallway. The patrol guard is 14 feet away. His body facing the other direction. Above him is a security camera.

I motioned for her to press her back against the wall.

I look back and the rest of the guards are closing in on our trails. They haven't found a body but they are acting cautious. Unfortunately, they aren't NPCs so they won't ignore the odd silence of their base.

"✣Bravo to Delta, what's the situation?✣" I heard the guard's radio call in.

Normally, I'd be suspicious as to why they were using such ancient communication devices. But then thinking about the secret lab in the mountain, a closed system works the best.

"✣Delta to Bravo, nothing suspicious here.✣" The patrol guard radios back.

He starts moving back, away from the security camera's feed.

"Can you loop the feed?" I ask her.

She shakes her head.

"If we were going to be a dynamic duo, one of us has to learn how to do that." I tell her.

"We are - we're not a team!" She argues.

I roll my eyes and reach for my knife.

We are most definitely a team.

I grab my knife and hold it up straight. I put my fore-finger on the knife's spine. If I can kill the guard and run straight to where the orange bodies are, I can increase our chances of survival. I don't have to be worried about being caught on camera because they're already suspicious.

It's safer in the long run to run through the security cameras.

"Hmph." I groan as I throw the knife.

The knife slams past the guard's throat and bounces of the wall. But not before slitting his trachea.

"GRrrgg." He gurgles as the blood in his throat filled his lungs. He reaches for his throat, trying to put pressure on the wound. Trying to stop the blood flow.

It's not that easy soldier.

I look at the panic in his eyes. The terror on his face. I look at the light in his eyes dimming.

Ten seconds. That's how long it took him to die.

"Let's go." I tell her.

I look at her face while running to my knife. She isn't scared. She doesn't like my brutal style of killing. But she knows why I had to kill him like that. Not a bad teammate. Fury has good eyes.

I flick the blade and wipe the remaining blood and flesh off it.

There was no way we were cleaning up this mess. We had too little time and the mess was too big.

*BLAAH* *BLAAAH*

The lights in the hallway turned red as the sirens wailed.

I look back at where the first unit was. One of the green bodies was near the first guard's body. Red lights flickered where he was. He most likely has powers that manipulate electromagnetic forces. That's too broad. But he has a clear connection towards electricity.

None the less, we have been found.

"On me." I order her.

Without wasting anytime looking for security cameras I ran to the room of the guard-less orange bodies.

I pass the second hallway and I was approaching their room. Using [Tactical Mode], I could clearly see that they were frantically gathering their research.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

『Condition | Nervous』

『Heartbeat | 128 bpm』

『Weapon| None | hand-to-hand』

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

『Condition | Calm - nervous』

『Heartbeat | 106 bpm』

『Weapon| None | hand-to-hand』

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

It looks like they were looking to get out of that room and re-group with one of the units.

Unfortunately for them, I got to them first.

The door opens slightly and I immediately slam the door back in using my feet. The door breaks and falls on the escaping scientists.

"AHH!" The white haired scientist screams.

"Ahhh, shit! Ahh, fuck." The brown haired scientists curses is English. "✣Hey, lets - lets work together. We need to push this off us.✣"

They start groaning and they manage to push the door off them. All they need to do is shove it aside.

But I won't let them.

I slam my feet on the door and it falls back on them. Their wails were loud enough to drown the sirens.

"✣Hello gentlemen. Take me to your leader.✣" I say with a laugh.

This stops their screeching.

"✣Who are you?✣" The white haired scientists asks.

Ignoring his question, I look at the agent. She shakes her head.

Our target isn't here. Of course it wouldn't be this easy.

I take out my gun.

*Bang*

The scientist's eyes roll back as his head hits the floor.

"✣That wasn't the answer I was looking for. Can you do me one better?✣" I ask as I aim my gun at the brown haired scientist.

"✣He's in the control room. I swear. Look jus-✣" Before he can finish, I fire a shot at his head.

We both watch as blood drips from his forehead.

"He's in the control room, let's go." I tell her.

It's a race against time. The faster they know how many of them are left, the faster they regroup. The faster they regroup, the harder they are to kill.

I use [Tactical Mode] again. The walls hollow showing the purple highlights gaining on us.

We aren't surrounded, but we do have to change the route.

"Follow me." I tell her before turning right.

I saw an isolated armed soldier in what I assume is a cafeteria. Why? I'll probably never know.

"Shoot at will. No more passiveness from you." I ordered.

I've killed more than 90% of them. If we were going to be the next dynamic duo, she's going to have to contribute a lot more than this.

We are a couple feet away from the door.

It's not like she was my only choice.

I look at the scan of the guard in there. The body shape shows the variable to be a female.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

『Condition | Calm』

『Heartbeat | 78 bpm』

『Weapon| Desert Eagle XIX | Assault Rifle』

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Calm?

I quickly stop my partner. She looks at me with a confused stare.

Why would she be calm?

I checked tactical mode one more time and I was sure she wasn't a mutant. Maybe she thinks this is a drill.

"Guns out." I tell my partner.

I breath in and slowly open the door.

The guard turns around and smiles.

The woman slowly takes off her helmet piece and brilliant golden locks droop out.

"Long time no see little bro." She says with a smile.