Chapter 22 - House Invasion

The soldier crept around the house. His gun pointed towards the front door as he scanned the perimeter. He wore a heavy-duty black jacket, black combat pants and black boots along with a helmet covering his entire face, hiding his identity. The moonlight cast eerie shadows through the trees, adding to the tense atmosphere that hung over the mansion. His footsteps were barely audible on the gravel path, a testament to his years of training in stealth.

His team moved in coordinated silence, each member a shadow in the night. They were professionals, trained to infiltrate and extract targets swiftly and discreetly. The mansion before them, known as the "Looking Glass House."

It was one of the cover facilities of the company they worked for. A few hours ago, they heard that the AI in the Underground Facility went rogue and massacred everyone that worked there. Knowing that, they could feel a foreboding air, as if it held secrets that were better left undisturbed.

The soldier signalled to his comrades, motioning them to spread out and secure the perimeter. His heart raced with caution. The mission was simple: locate and capture two employees of Umbrella Corp that were supposed to guard the Facility, Alice and Aurelius.

As he moved along the mansion's exterior, he couldn't shake off the feeling that they were being watched. Every creak of a branch, every rustle of leaves, seemed amplified in the stillness of the night. The soldier's grip tightened on his weapon. His senses heightened as he strained to detect any signs of movement.

They reached the front door, a massive wooden entrance that seemed to guard the secrets within. The soldier gestured for one of his teammates to breach and secure the doorway. With practiced precision, the door swung open, revealing the dimly lit foyer beyond.

As the soldier's team entered the mansion, separating to check the room, the soldier bringing the rear breathed a sigh of relief at finally entering the mansion. The tension in the air had put everyone on edge, and the soldier at the rear momentarily let down his guard. Just as he turned to enter, a figure emerged from the shadows behind him.

In the blink of an eye, the figure moved with a swift grace, silencing the soldier with a quick and calculated strike. The soldier's body crumpled to the floor, unconscious, before he even had a chance to react. His team remained unaware of his fate, continuing their advance through the mansion's labyrinthine passages.

Another member of the team turned to check a room. His attention momentarily diverted from the group. As he surveyed the surroundings, he felt a sudden pressure on the back of his head. Before he could react, a gloved hand clamped over his mouth and nose, cutting off his breath.

Alice emerged from the shadows, her movements fluid and silent. With a precision that spoke of years of training, she immobilised the soldier, using her expertise to subdue him without raising an alarm. The soldier struggled briefly, but the strength of her grip and the darkness that threatened his consciousness were overwhelming.

Within moments, the soldier's struggles ceased, and his body went limp in Alice's grasp. She gently lowered him to the ground.

The remaining members of the team continued their advance through the mansion's winding corridors without realising that two of their team got knocked out. The soldier called Vance moved cautiously down a dimly lit hallway, his eyes scanning the surroundings with trained precision. The flicker of a distant candle caught his attention, casting eerie shadows that danced along the walls.

Vance's senses were on high alert, his grip on his weapon unwavering. He turned a corner, entering a small chamber. As he swept his tactical light across the room, he caught a glimpse of movement—a silhouette against the darkness. Before he could react, a powerful blow struck him from behind.

The impact was swift and precise, a calculated strike that left Vance stumbling forward before collapsing to the ground. He fought to maintain consciousness, but the world around him faded into blackness as he succumbed to the darkness.

In another part of the mansion, the soldier known as Warner cautiously entered a room, his tactical light revealing an array of antique furniture and dust-covered surfaces. The air was heavy with an almost suffocating silence. Warner's eyes darted around the room, searching for any signs of danger.

Just as he began to let his guard down, a faint rustle of fabric reached his ears. He spun around, his weapon trained on the source of the sound. A shadow emerged from the darkness, and before Warner could react, a gloved hand closed around his throat. Warner struggled, his hands grasping at the woman's wrist in a desperate attempt to break free. But the strength of her grip was unyielding, and the world around Warner began to blur.

As Warner's vision dimmed and his struggles weakened, she slowly let him down, dragging his body to hide.

Alice and Aurums' coordinated efforts soon whittled two more members down. They had been working fast, and they could hear the sound of their leader asking on the walkie-talkie about their current status. Surely, they were going to become more alert and that meant sneaking up on them would be harder.

Aurum's eyes settled on the woman, following her every movement. He stepped closer, his presence a whisper on the edge of her awareness. With a sudden rush, he swiped away her gun and grabbed her by the neck before pulling her close and slamming his knee in her stomach. Despite the protective vest she wore, it didn't help her.

Against his superhuman strength, she lost consciousness from the shock of his knee ramming into her stomach. He slowly put her down, placing his palm on her stomach, 'geez, good thing she was wearing the vest. Or I could have killed her.'

"Stop right there!"

At the moment he hesitated, he heard the sound of the last member and the leader of the team pointing his gun at him. He flashed the tactical light on his face, narrowing his eyes, "Get away from her."

"If I don't. Will you kill me," Aurum didn't step away. He looked towards the Leader, "The lives of your team members are in my hand."

He picked the walkie from this woman's waist, contacting Alice, "Alice, if he shoots. Kill them all."

"Ok," her voice rang out from the other side, causing James to cautiously look at him.

"What do you want?"

"Isn't that what I should be asking? You are the one who invaded my house. But we can talk about that later. First, disarm. Right now," Aurum calmy ordered, removing every weapon from the woman's body before he got his hands on handcuff. He looked towards their leader, "So…which one is it?"

A Little While Later,

"The mansion feels so much better under these lights," Aurum held a canned beer, plopping down on the couch as he looked at the team, stripped of their gear, bound and sitting in the living room.

Alice looked up at the mansion, then towards the team, remember how nervous she was. She softly smiled, nodding, "that's true."

"Why are you doing this? Have you betrayed Umbrella Corp?" James watched the two of them chat without a care in the world, frowning.

"It's complicated. Do you know who we are?" Alice interrogatively asked.

James exchanged a look with his teammate, Rain Ocampo, before answering her question, "Alice Abernathy and Aurelius V. Aurum. We work for the same employer. Your Job was to guard the entrance to Umbrella's secret facility under this mansion, the Hive. A Few Hours ago, something went wrong, and we are here to find out what."

"Then why did you attack us? WE could have done this peacefully," Aurum curiously asked.

"Orders. Procedure Three."

"Oh," Aurum narrowed his crystal blue eyes, 'To secure asset. It should be me…considering the supernatural powers. But my gut says that this is about Alice from how he keeps looking towards her.'

"Alright, your turn. Anything you want to ask?"

"Yeah, like why did you attack us?!" Chad was trying to free himself. Rain glared at him for speaking out of turn and he shrunk where he sat.

"Well, one thing led to another and so I have decided to launch a war against Umbrella Corporation. I have someone digging the graves to put you six feet under, so don't worry about it."

"Is that why you killed everyone in the Hive Facility," James tried to free himself, glaring at him.

"No, you misunderstand," Aurum glanced towards Alice, who walked out of the room. She came back with a laptop that she put on the table in front of them, and she played a video.

They were barely looking towards the screen, though a word jumped out at them from the block of text in front of the graphics, "T-Virus."

The graphics, however, were of more immediate concern. One showed a white rabbit being injected with some kind of blue substance. As for the other one, it was more absurd. Some of them thought they were imagining things.

It had a human shape, two arms and legs, its spine bent so that it could move on all four, its skin was like rhinoceros plated, faceted, reddish brown in colour. And its claws could rend steel.

"What…is that," He grit his teeth. For the first time, there was a crack on his poker face. He had been calmly handling the situation till not but this had him shaken.

"T-Virus. It was made with immortality in mind. An Anti-Aging Drug. It revitalises the cells, stimulates them. The body still generates electrical impulses after it dies, and it increasing them exponentially. As a side-effect. The living loses their mind and die…and the dead…gets reanimated," Alice explained to them.

"Someone infiltrated the facility and spread the virus. Before we could react, the Red Queen closed off the facility and killed everyone inside to keep the virus from spreading to the outside world," she didn't know what disaster Aurum saw. A part of her still didn't believe he could see the future. But it did happen.

Once they knew what they were searching for, it was easy to find, "they were wearing a hazmat suit so we can't—"

"You are crazy! You want us to believe that Umbrella is creating zombies!" One of the members of the team shouted.

"Listen, mister abandoned," Aurum leaned forward, looking them all in the eye, "You weren't informed the nature of this mission. No doubt they know why Red Queen did what she did. Your job here is to make sure that facility is destroyed. None of them are expecting you to come out. Basically, you are here on a suicide mission."

"Do you have any proof?" James clenched his fist, his arms tied behind his back.

Alice leaned forward, changing from the video to footage Aurum and Lisa managed to hack from the inside. The multiple camera screens appeared in front of their eyes, "Observe them however long you like. They are dead and you are being sent to death. Worst of all…those idiots executives at Umbrella plan on playing God by making this is a biological weapon that they sell to different governments."

Aurum watched the fearful look in their eyes. He gave them a smile, leaning back on the couch, "I suppose I should welcome you. Welcome, to the Beginning of the End of the World."