Date: [REDACTED]
Location: /
Red lights were slowly going on and off.
Each time they went off, everything would go completely dark, and each time they went back on, they shined so brightly that one would feel as if they were colorblind.
Everything would be dyed in a hue of red.
The smell of blood and corpses was so strong that it made one's nose go numb and stiff.
Surprisingly, as for the sound, it was dead silent.
This created an invisible pressure in the air since it should not be quiet at all right now.
A little girl stepped through one of the opened sliding doors. The only clothing on her was an oversized T-shirt and underwear.
She glanced left and right, but the corridors were empty.
Her hair appeared almost dark red, but it was actually dark purple, with various pink and light purple hair strands.
She had black eyes with huge, bloated circles.
In her hands was a white pillow, pressed against her body.
Nevertheless, this hug wasn't for comfort, as she fearlessly delved deeper into the unknown labyrinth.
"The Self-destruction protocol is suspended", a female robotic voice echoed.
The little girl paid no attention.
She didn't know on which floor she currently was, nor did she know that she was heading toward a dead end.
Her feet were bleeding from walking on shattered glass this whole time.
The labs left and right of her all had their doors wide open, and windows broken. Some of them contained a corpse or two, but she wasn't interested in going there anyway.
She had no idea where she was going or who she was searching for.
Stopping on a crossroad, she helplessly glanced left and right, hoping to see someone.
"Hello?", she was turning around, "is anyone there?", she asked, but nobody was alive to answer her.
At least not human.
A deep scratching sound against the floor appeared, heading towards her.
A giant snake-like creature emerged from behind a corner.
Its eyes were bleeding, and skin was missing around its mouth, revealing the big teeth. From this up close it actually looked more like a dragon, but it was crawling like a snake, leaving a trail of blood behind.
"Do not be afraid my child", it spoke without moving its mouth which made it look even more unsettling.
"A fraid? What's that?", the girl showed no signs of fear.
She put her hands down making the pillow touch the floor.
"What is your name little one?", the creature asked.
"I am SS49! What about you?", one could not see it on her face, but she grew more excited.
The robotic female voice echoed once again, "System malfunction. Rebooting in T-30 seconds".
"My name is Dearhope. Pleasure to meet you", it approached the girl making her look even more tiny.
The girl's expression didn't change much from the beginning, only slightly frowning "Dearhope? That's a weird name. Like those guys in white suits have".
The creature could not show facial expressions, however, it sighed to itself thinking of something.
"Gamma team leader addressing the remaining survivors. The Gate B21 is now lifted. Due to the shortage of personnel, no evacuation attempts will be made. Over"
Bodies of the dead people were scattered throughout the whole place, and even though the little girl noticed them, she never showed the tiniest drop of fear.
Nonetheless, the fact that she never approached them showed that she was well aware of their fate.
Dearhope waited for the broadcast to end.
"Follow me little one. I will get you through this".
* * *
Somewhere completely else
Two fully armed men separated themselves from the rest to unload a truck.
"First those mutants, now this shit", he complained, "what a start of the year, huh?"
The other soldier didn't comment.
"I don't understand why the higher-ups didn't simply execute her. There is no way I'm buying all of this as a coincidence", he continued.
"Nobody said it's a coincidence. We just do what we have to do", the other soldier finally spoke.
They both put the gas masks on their faces, turned around, and walked towards the others.
"Alright Beta squad. Rescue the personnel, contaminate, or kill other entities. The boys from the army are going to keep a watch on the outside, while we get the shit together on the inside", his voice was deep but clear despite wearing a thick bulletproof helmet, "Any questions?"
The man who was unloading the truck raised his hand.
"Yes".
"If I come across that bitch, may I shoot her?", a few of the others laughed.
"Negative. We are only to kill frenzy entities. Renai's contamination chamber is very distinct from the other ones. We won't see her until the time comes to drag her out", he explained with a serious tone.
"But I hope that you already emptied your bladder anyways. God knows what we'll see inside".
The whole unit laughed.
After this, there were no more questions.
The eleven of them separated into 2 smaller units.
One headed for the elevator, while the other passed through a huge sliding metal gate.
Inside this facility, red lights were also flickering.
The unit that went for the elevator headed straight for the intercom room. They were swift and knew the layout of the whole site by heart.
One of them lifted the microphone off its charger. A notification sound resounded through the speakers of the whole complex.
"Beta contamination squad has entered the facility. All staff members are advised to remain calm and within the evacuation shelters. The evacuation process will shortly begin. Please avoid reaching the exit gates by yourself as it poses a huge threat and risk. Over".
The rough rustle of the microphone getting placed into the charger accompanied his last words.
He withdrew from the intercom room into another one with smashed computers and fallen bookshelves. The others from his unit were waiting for him.
Each had his gun in his hands with turned flashlight.
"So, what are they keeping here anyways?", one of them asked while examining a corpse.
"You work for The Source but don't know that?", a female soldier asked jokingly.
"I do, but as far as I'm concerned there should not be any wild creatures located here".
"That's true, but the Source offered to store and examine mutants until a cure is found".
The unit continued to move through the labyrinth, reaching multiple shelters.
"What about other organizations? Aren't they also looking for a cure"
The female soldier pondered a little, "I don't know. Nobody can count on a right-wing organization with a terrorist history anyway".
The latter didn't comment but remained focused just like everyone else.
This was the Beta Contamination Squad after all, the most well-trained unit of them all. The team consisted of 11 people.
They had been working together for a very long time and had a record number of successful missions.
A record not even the alpha team was close to surpassing.
"There!", the female soldier illuminated a figure with her gun through a broken window.
It was a humanoid creature with no eyes and dozens of excrescences on its skin.
The team leader didn't even pay attention, rather stayed focused on the surroundings for any possible abrupt event.
"Prepare the stun gun, cuff him, and open the portal", he gave the orders.
As he was giving the order, others were already executing them.
Unfortunately, the creature was faster.
It lifted one of its arms and used telekinesis to pull one of the soldiers towards itself. He flew, unable to control his body.
The female soldier frowned and shot the mutant with some form of shock wave, which visibly didn't do any harm to it.
However, the shockwave froze it in space, and the flying soldier fell to the floor.
Another squad member jumped on the mutant, pushing it to its knees.
He rashly but meticulously pulled what looked like a napkin, tying it forcefully around the mutant's eyes.
A split second before he tied, its body flicked, but it was too late.
The effect of the artifact already engulfed the mutant, making it peaceful.
"Wo!", his heart skipped a beat, "a close one!"
Another squad member approached him slowly. Instead of a gun, he held a shiny weird-looking sword.
"Hadn't you used Velcro shoes until 8th grade, perhaps you would have tied the napkin faster", he commented.
Everyone laughed.
"Well you can't blame me, they were drippy".
The sword guy swung his weapon through the empty air and created a portal.
Another man unit appeared on the other side of the portal, taking the tamed mutant from them. The portal closed.
Compared to their other missions, this was nothing.
The team leader's walkie-talkie suddenly started buzzing, transmitting the affable voice of the other 6 men from their unit who didn't take the elevator.
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"Control to Beta Team. We ran into some security gate issues. Asking for permission to reboot the system. Over"
The team leader turned around looking at his colleagues.
"Control to Beta Squad. Permission granted. Over", he put the walkie-talkie away grabbing his gun with both hands, "let's keep moving forward".
A mere minute after that, the robotic voice echoed throughout the whole facility.
"System 1 malfunction. Rebooting now".
The red flickering lights went dark.
"That was fast", the team leader commented, "activate the night vision mode".
As they continued deeper into the well-known labyrinth, they met a couple of more such mutants.
Those started to appear randomly at some point during the very start of the year, so little to no training against them was undertaken.
Luckily, The Source was such a company that was on the same power level with the whole planet, which was one single country.
It started off as a research company, but soon gained its very own army.
Aside from the army, it also had its own special units, like the Beta squad unit.
Those were granted special missions and power.
Nevertheless, no soldiers meddled in politics but only assisted in these types of scenarios.
The Beta Squad visited several shelters, evacuating many scared staff members through the portal method.
Even though the Beta unit was usually working outside, this facility was their terrain, and they knew it better than any outsider.
"Control to Beta Squad. We checked the Scream Room for you. I know Michael is going to be grateful. Over", all 5 of them started laughing imagining the reaction of the other 6 unit members.
They were currently exiting a lift that led them to the lowest part of the facility.
Only 3 rooms were here but possessed great value. Most of the mutants were also neutralized by this point, so there was no substantial threat anymore.
"System operational", the robotic voice, and all the roles of System 1 had come back to life.
The red light got turned on once again.
Even some of the regular white light bulbs started working!
This completely blinded the whole unit who was using the night vision mode on their combat helmets.
"Deactivate the night vision mode", the team leader gave orders.
The corridor they were currently in looked the same as any other.
Nevertheless, they were close to the end of their mission.
To their surprise, the robotic voice echoed once again.
"A Demigod level threat detected".
The two separate Beta squad units didn't communicate through the walkie-talkie but had the same reaction.
They all froze and looked at each other, for they couldn't believe their ears.
Their heart rate rapidly rose, and some even shivered slightly as if they were swept by the cold mourning breeze.
"Cap?"
The captain frowned, "I don't know. This doesn't make any sense", his gaze swept across his soldiers.
He knew it. They all were sure that System 1 wasn't in control of the contamination chambers.
The various Systems and their functions were one of the first things one had to learn in order to get a job at The Source.
"Continue the mission and stay on alert", he ordered nervously.
Sadly, what would appear around the corner in just a few seconds wasn't something they could prepare themselves in such a short time.
They all froze once again, staring at the figure that entered the corridor with their guns pointed forward.
It was an average tall woman with white hair swinging to her waist.
She had red glowing eyes with slightly vertical pupils.
Her forehead was decorated with 2 thin but long symmetrical red horns, made out of an unknown artificial material.
She was wearing a scientist coat over her petite body, and it was very different from any other.
They couldn't see it from their point of view, but the back side of it was labeled "Alpha Team Leader".
"Cap!", a team member quickly exclaimed, but he didn't dare say more, nor did others dare to remove their eyes from the woman.
Nevertheless, due to the time spent working together, they knew what the soldier wanted to point out.
It was her hands.
In one she was holding a black keycard, while in the other, a thick book with a black cover decorated with golden stripes.
Her familiar relaxed poker face expression made them feel as if they were looked down at yet again.
It was simply something inevitable, no matter how strong or self-confident one was.
Everything went silent, but the pressure was just unbearable. A female squad member pulled the trigger, and a gunshot echoed past everyone's ears.
"No!", the team leader pushed the gun down, staring at the white-haired woman.
She was completely fine. The shockwave never even reached her.
"Who freed you?", he asked.
The woman had no hostile reaction, waiting several moments before answering.
"The door just opened. I went to get me stuff back", she waved with the book and keycard.
The leader wasn't having it, "cut the crap! Are you working with the Impedance?", he disappointingly frowned, but then realized.
"Cap, if that is true, we can just eliminate her", one team member aimed his gun at her.
"No...", he replied, "I know who did it".
The woman was staring back at him with no change in expression at all.
"You can't get away. Not after this. Just be a human being and surrender yourself to justice".
The woman smiled slightly after the last sentence, glancing away and then back at them.
"I never possessed any hatred towards you", she meant not only the whole squad but also everyone working for The Source.
After she said that, in the blink of an eye, a wall appeared in the middle of the corridor, separating them completely.
It had the same texture as the walls that were coating the entire facility from inside.
Only then did they notice a silent rustle coming from their belt, "Unit 1? Hello?", the communication device beeped, "do you copy?".
"She shifted...", the team leader muttered.
Everyone remained quiet, yet was very nervous, staring at their commander, hoping to get further instructions, however, he was deeply lost in thoughts.
The whole time, even outside work, he tried to keep his attitude professional in front of his colleagues, even though he considered them as close as his own family. But this was the time he had to break the 4th wall.
"I think it's really over this time", he turned around to look at them, "No. It always was".
His team members were still quiet, filled with shock, as this was the last thing, they expected him to say right now.
It was the last thing they wanted to hear from someone who was always their protector.
Meanwhile, in another part of the facility, the second unit gave up on reaching them, getting a really bad feeling yet not giving up on hope.
They continued to move through the underground labyrinth straight towards where their colleagues were pinged on the navigation device
Nonetheless, they also would experience an encounter with the Demigod.
She was standing at the end of the long corridor in front of an elevator, but that posed no problem to recognize her.
One of them gasped and quickly pointed their stun gun towards her, but another member pushed it towards the floor barely in time.
"No!", he screamed, "Come, come!", he pulled the soldier and also started to run himself.
The girl noticed their presence but didn't even glance at them, continuing to stare at elevator doors which opened, letting her to slowly walk through.
"Fuck!", doors closed on them, however, he wasn't giving up yet.
He quickly redirected everyone towards the fire exit staircase that were located right behind the corner.
They were rushing, accidentally bouncing against each other's shoulders and the wall, easily overtaking the elevator.
Unfortunately, things would not go as they planned, because a random fire exit door opened on the floor above, allowing for several heavily armed men to rush inside.
Their uniforms were different from the ones Beta Squad was wearing and surely didn't look like something the national army would wear.
Even their helmets were designed for a completely different type of combat.
They went straight down the staircase, meeting the Beta squad unit. Both sides were unprepared and caught off guard, screaming few short sentences and aiming with their weapons at each other.
During this exact moment, the white-haired girl was still located in the elevator with a faint smile on her face.
Everything went smoothly.
The doors of the elevator opened, leading her into a big room with one of its walls being a huge metal gate.
She slipped her black keycard against the small detector right next to the gate and then walked right in front of its middle.
A loud beep resounded, followed by a sound of friction. The thick metal gate was slowly opening, its left wing sliding to the woman’s left, and its right wing towards her right.
A cold midnight breeze rushed inside the room, replacing the stuffy air in an instant.
To her surprise, instead of the beautiful moonlight, her eyes were blinded by dozens of flashlights.
Around 40 fully armed men were all pointing their guns toward her from the moment the gate started opening.
Some hiding behind trucks and some kneeling or standing.
Nonetheless, even though they were all already pointing at the gate prepared to shoot, not a single one of them expected this woman to appear.
They of course knew who she was and were all stunned for a second.
Suddenly a scream gave orders.
"Fire!"
These were actual guns, with anti-bulletproof vest bullets, each as big as a thumb, and they were all pointed at the same petite target.
The gate wasn't even opened completely when they started to shoot.
Lights were flashing and racket reigned.
It became so bright and dusty that the girl could not even be seen anymore!
However, the bullets never reached her, but just vanished as soon as they exited the gun pipe.
The mags went empty, and the racket came to an end with everyone staring at her with completely terrified facial expressions behind the helmets.
"None of you was forced to join the Impedance", she said with despise, "it was your own choice".
Nobody was moving.
Some waited for her to continue, but that was everything she had to say.
This was it. They knew it.
One of the soldiers let his gun fall on the concrete, slowly loosened his belt, turned around, and went for a leave.
"Mike, what the fu-", the words were cut off with an indescribable pain in the chest. Everyone else experiencing the same.
The girl's stare followed Mike.
Everyone facing else had their helmets hit the concrete at nearly the same time.
Mike's entire body flicked, unwillingly turning around to see.
"Oh!", his voice cracked, and his eyes became wet.
He glanced at the girl knowing he should express anger and frustration, but only felt gratitude. He felt as if his sins were forgiven, and judgment was avoided, just because he chose to surrender.
* * *
"The complete lockdown will initiate in T-2 minutes".
The dragon-like creature and the girl were standing under the moonlight on a paved heliport.
All around them was a complete wilderness, as far as their gaze could reach, and even beyond.
In the meantime, another person joined them.
He wasn't muscular but seemed strong due to his bulky stature and was as joyful as the little girl was. On the floor next to him was a heavy mace. It had a white half-transparent color and was lying on the ground with its handle upwards.
"Are you sure that you don't want to check if there is any food or water inside?", Dearhope asked.
The bulky man straightened up, pausing his conversation with the girl, "Why? That won't pose a problem".
Dearhope straightened his front part of the body, reaching over 6 meters in height, "I don't require food, but think of the girl. Children aren't as tough as adult men are".
The man pondered for a few moments after which he lowered himself to the girl's height and spoke in a gentle tone, "Hey, do you want to go hunting with me? We will find something delicious to eat! Unlike those groats".
The little girl nodded with a faint smile on her face.
At that moment a sound came from within the facility, through the wide-open metal gate, but it was disturbed by an automatic system announcement.
"The complete lockdown initiated".
The exit gate started closing, and the sound coming from within grew only louder.
Something was approaching.
The bulky man stepped right in front of the girl, and Dearhope straightened himself towards the gate so that the other two found themselves underneath his neck.
The sound became so loud that the bulky man would need to scream for the girl and Dearhope to hear him, but they all went silent and watched at the everlasting darkness whose doors were gradually closing.
Little girl was yet again the only one showing no sign of fear on her face, but only a mild curiosity.
The noise was just behind the gate, and a fully armed man flew out, landing on his back, staring back at the now-closed gate.
The gate suddenly sunk in the middle but whatever was behind it, couldn't come out anymore.
The Gamma team leader sighed. He lay on his back and rested for a brief moment.
Nevertheless, he sensed something behind him, quickly standing up and turning around.
The first thing that occupied his whole field of view was a giant snake-dragon-like creature with no lips or cheeks, staring right at him with its leaked-out eyes.
It was actually worse than the thing that just chased him.
A deep voice came from the snake, but its mouth wasn't moving at all.
"Do not be afraid my child".
The team leader was bathing in a cold sweat, barely managing to respond.
"Sir, this is the scariest moment of my life".
The bulky man approached the man, lifting the team leader from the ground as if it were a joke.
He was stunned, sharing a glance with him, and then sizing up the remaining two survivors. The little girl seemed healthy, and the dragon-like creature wasn't acting hostile.
He then glanced at the bulky man again and noticed an octopus-shaped badge on his clothes.
"You are the...", he paused, not knowing how to address him at this moment. He knew very well who they all were from their files.
Several minutes later.
"So, what are you doing... now? What are you all going to do?"
"Well, the facility doesn't seem to be the safest place to stay at right now, so we are going to search for a new shelter and wait until The Source comes back to rescue us and clean this mess up".
The team leader was surprised, "really? So, you guys don't hate The Source?"
The bulky man lifted the mace off the ground "there is no reason to hate them. They took us in and helped us when no one else would", he threw a quick glance at Dearhope.
"Well, I'm speaking for myself at least..."
The team leader stepped forward, "well if you think finding a shelter out there is going to be an easy task, you are so wrong".
"You want us to stay here?", he pointed at the sunk-in gate with his mace.
The team leader shivered, "No. There is a habitable land in the basin behind those mountains", he pointed with his index finger and then continued.
"Reaching it will be difficult, but we will be much safer once we get there. There are other normal humans as well, they are also probably headed up there".
The bulky man frowned, "what do you mean normal?"
Team leader was caught off guard, not noticing that he said that, so he just put on an awkward smile on his face.
Despite their looks, the team leader was the only normal human present here at the moment.
"Whatever", the bulky man rolled his eyes, "How long do you think it will take for The Source to reach us?"
The team leader pondered for a second, "At least one year".
"A year?!", the bulky man was shocked, but the team leader just nodded.
"The same thing happened there as well, except there is an actual infrastructure to be rebuilt unlike here".
Everyone went silent.
What he told them was far too shocking, but they had no reason to not believe him. He was working for the company after all.
"Maybe even more. It all depends", he continued.
"Things are probably just starting to escalate. People here will have to welcome the basin as their new home, that's for sure. But sooner or later, we are all going to get back to our normal lives".
That wasn't the truth, however.
Nobody will try to rescue them from this wilderness for tens of years.