Chapter 30: The Floating Island Incident (Conclusion)

Boom.

The retreat convoy had just set off when it was ambushed, not by biochemical weapons, but by human attackers. The casualties were heavy.

"Watch out," Jill warned as she led others to counterattack while ensuring the biochemical experts were evacuated. The BSAA's task force, battle-hardened from years of fighting bioterrorism, quickly eliminated the attackers.

"It's those Greyhound bastards," Jill and her team were filled with anger upon seeing the attackers' bodies. Greyhound was a bioterrorist organization and an old nemesis of the BSAA.

"Rebecca, are you okay?" Daniel Davis was on the phone with Rebecca. Unlike Daniel's lab, which was located far from the city on Terragrigia Island, Rebecca's lab was in the city.

This difference existed because Daniel's lab housed various bioweapons samples captured by the BSAA, making it too dangerous to be located in a city. In contrast, Rebecca's lab only analyzed viruses and had sufficient defensive measures to ensure safety even within the city.

"I'm fine, but we're evacuating," Rebecca said, just before gunshots were heard over the phone and the line went dead.

"Rebecca, Rebecca, someone's looking for trouble," Daniel muttered, immediately informing Jill of the situation.

"I'll notify Chris," Jill said, contacting Chris right away. In such chaos, Chris and his team's quarantine was inevitably cut short.

"I'll go check myself," Daniel said, about to pick up a weapon from one of the fallen Greyhound members, but Jill stopped him.

Jill advised Daniel against picking up terrorist weapons, similar to how one shouldn't pick up enemy weapons on a battlefield. Daniel finally understood why movie protagonists often didn't take their enemies' weapons—for safety.

Terrorists were desperate people who might grip a primed grenade or wear a bomb vest, even in death. Although such instances were rare, each occurrence led to additional casualties.

"Chris is on his way. Rebecca will be fine."

"Got it." Realizing Jill wouldn't let him act alone, Daniel pretended to comply. He knew that by the time Chris arrived, it might be too late, especially with the city's bioweapon-infested state, which would take considerable time to navigate.

But for Daniel, this wasn't a problem. While Jill was occupied, he grabbed his suitcase, got into a car, and drove off. Once he found a deserted spot, he used his suspended ring to open a mirrored space, parked the car inside, and retrieved a small cabinet from his suitcase. The cabinet expanded, revealing various weapons.

Pym Particles allowed enclosed spaces to shrink, so shrinking the cabinet meant he didn't need to shrink each weapon individually.

"Magic combined with modern technology is the way to go," Daniel mused, considering the Ant-Man suit and darts inside but decided against using them due to their sensitivity.

He packed up, reduced the suitcase to a trinket size, and clipped it to his waist. The car was stored in the mirrored space.

"This is grim," Daniel muttered, arriving near Rebecca's lab and hearing gunfire, roars, and cries in the distance. It reminded him of Raccoon City. Back then, he struggled to survive, but now he could observe detachedly.

Daniel had no intention of saving strangers; he wasn't like Iron Man or Spider-Man. If Rebecca weren't in trouble, he would have left with Jill and the others, watching events unfold from a safe distance.

"It looks like she's gone," Daniel noted, finding only fallen guards and researchers' corpses in Rebecca's lab.

"Such valuable equipment, S.H.I.E.L.D. really is lavish," he remarked, resisting the urge to take the lab's equipment.

Finding Rebecca was the priority. Equipment wasn't more important than her life.

"It seems the military has issues too, or they would've intervened by now," Daniel thought. The island housed a military garrison since its construction.

"Maybe I can get a few tanks later," he mused, remembering Hank Pym's tank keychain he always wanted. Tanks weren't easy to acquire, but this chaos might present an opportunity.

"Found her," Daniel spotted Rebecca on a rooftop with about fifty armed men escorting scientists to a helicopter. The mirrored space made it easier to locate Rebecca amidst the city's chaos.

"This is tricky," he muttered, noting the armed guards' positions. Rescuing Rebecca without revealing his abilities seemed impossible.

"No choice," he decided, entering the mirrored space beneath Rebecca's location and activating his surgical fruit ability.

"Room, Slaughterhouse," he created a hemispherical space encompassing Rebecca and her guards, swapped three grenades for Rebecca, and pulled her to safety as they exploded, creating a three-meter hole in the ceiling.

The explosions alerted the guards, who moved to intercept.

"We can't let them leave. They've taken a lot of viruses," Rebecca informed Daniel, who handed her another gun.

"Stay hidden," he instructed, charging out with his Desert Eagles. His enhanced physique made it possible to take down the fifty guards without using his abilities or magic.

Bang, bang, bang.

One precise shot after another took out the guards as they descended the stairs or jumped through the hole.

Bang, bang, bang.

However, as Daniel moved towards the rooftop, he was pinned down by heavy fire.

"Captain America's combat style makes sense now. I could use his shield right now," Daniel thought, realizing its bulletproof capabilities.

"Think I can't deal with you?" He hurled grenades upwards, reducing the gunfire. Climbing to the rooftop, he found many scientists already taken away in helicopters, the remaining ones executed, and the virus containers gone.

Standing by a familiar corpse, Rebecca was saddened but quickly composed herself, drawing from her experiences in the training facility, the mansion, and Raccoon City.

"Who are they?" Daniel asked.

"Not sure, but they were after the viruses and experts," Rebecca replied. The abundance of labs here made it likely all known viruses were present.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. can investigate later. Let's get out of here," Daniel said, calling Jill.

Following Jill's directions, they moved to rendezvous with Chris and the others.

"Bastards," the BSAA, FBC, and even a certain one-eyed black man at the Triskelion headquarters in Washington cursed in unison, watching the Greyhound leader claim responsibility for the incident on video.

Unlike the hidden truth of the Raccoon City incident, Greyhound openly declared their involvement this time. This sparked a debate on whether to nuke Terragrigia. The U.S. military strongly opposed this, not just to nukes but also to using the solar matrix satellite as suggested by a UN official, Morgan.

Terragrigia wasn't U.S. territory, but it housed U.S. troops. The military's strong opposition, coupled with their promise to eradicate the island's monsters and their swift action, quashed the idea of destroying the island.

However, the military's stance aroused suspicion in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s one-eyed director. The military's unusually large response suggested hidden motives.

"What the hell is this?" Daniel, having infiltrated a military base to acquire some items, was stunned by what he saw inside.

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