Aidan and his team advanced down a corridor reminiscent of the gnome’s winding entrance to Stalakmitzel. It even shared the same glowing moss to illuminate the way. The underground path reminded the commander to request night vision in their next iteration of helmets because their missions tended to lead them into underground locales.
They moved down the passageway unobstructed. When they reached the end, the space dramatically opened up into a vast cavern. It easily occupied a space equivalent in size to the Chinese base above it. Unlike the majesty of Stalakmitzil, the subterranean layer of the PRC base was entirely utilitarian. Dimly glowing lightbulbs were stringed across the ceiling, revealing a sprawling kobold prison beneath.
Wood and barbed wire fencing hemmed in hordes of filthy kobold prisoners. They despondently sat or lay in the mud created by their own waste. They shuffled around the camp fastened together with chains, manacles, collars, and muzzles. The creatures looked no better than animals despite their obvious sapience.
While the pens stretched for miles into the distance, there were no buildings to speak of besides a lone concrete structure in the center of the space. Aidan assumed his prey would be inside, and a second later, Astra confirmed his suspicion.
The records indicate that she’s within that central lab, Astra’s voice was strained. This is where they conduct the vilest hybridization experiments.
Worse than what we saw above? Aidan asked.
Far worse, Envoy. Astra confirmed.
The commander wasn’t sure how to proceed. The clock was ticking, but there wasn’t a clear way forward. He decided to go with his gut.
“The doctor is inside that central lab. However, Astra says this experimentation in this place is worse than what we saw above.”
“How?” Agerwal sounded genuinely curious.
“Not sure, but the doctor might not be in the best condition,” Aidan explained. “How many explosives do you have left, Agerwal?”
“Enough to make this cavern crumble, Commander.” Agerwals tone was deadly serious.
The envoy nodded before asking, “Are they remote?”
“They’re all networked to your AI.” The engineer confirmed. “She can blow the lab upstairs simultaneous with whatever you want down here.”
“Good,” the commander decided. “We’re going to get to Smith, extricate her if we can, send her to respawn if we can’t, and then wire this place to blow.”
He mentally shifted his comms to address Guzman’s team and the infiltrators above.
“Status report, Guzman.”
“We’re good, Commander,” Guzman reported. “Every now and then, we have a group of regular soldiers come down the lift, but we’re sending them to respawn as they arrive. We haven’t seen any more of the dragon warriors, so it’s been like shooting fish in a barrel.”
“What about you, Levitt?” Aidan asked.
“All primary and secondary targets have been wired up, Commander.” The infiltrator leader answered. “We’re en route to Yanovna to help cover your escape.”
“We’ve also brought the Ibis as close to the base perimeter as we could, Commander.” The pilot, Simon Munn, interrupted.
“Yanovna?” The commander checked in.
“Outside of the sirens, surprisingly quiet, Commander.” The shadow trooper answered. “I’ve allowed the Chinese regulars to enter the compound, so my position isn’t compromised. I’m holding out for any elites that might decide to crash your party.”
“Alright, we’ll grab Smith and then run the gauntlet. Keep me updated. We’ll let you know when we’re on the way out,” Aidan ordered.
A chorus of confirmations followed the commander as he descended the carved stone stairwell that led to the floor of the prison camp. Aidan led Faraj and Agerwal down the stairs two at a time. His suit automatically compensated for the treacherous foot and made him practically fly down the steps.
When they reached the bottom, Aidan broke out into a sprint. There was about a mile between the entrance and the concrete labs in the center. As he flew by the penned kobolds, he noticed something unusual. No matter the position or location of the small lizardlike creatures, they all faced toward the labs. Their dead-eyed gazes were fastened on the building as if they were waiting for something. Their focus was so intense that they didn’t notice or acknowledge the Spectres sprinting past them.
Up close, Aidan saw more signs of the kobold’s cruel treatment. To a man, the last digits of their fingers had been crudely removed. They had been declawed to prevent them from hurting their Chinese captors. Not only that, but missing limbs, cracked scales, and mangled flesh identified which of the monsters had been donors to the PRC experiments.
The commander merely shook his head as he passed them. They weren’t his mission or likely to assist him if the envoy tried to free them. They were as likely to turn on him as they were their captors. If it weren’t for their strange fixation on the lab, they may have even tried to attack him as the Spectres passed.
Within a few minutes, they arrived at the concrete labs. The doors were guarded by two hulking dragon warriors who were already waiting for them. The two hybridized monsters raised their cheaply manufactured weapons and fired upon the closing Spectres. Aidan and his companions didn’t bother to dodge the bullets. They pinged harmlessly off their shields with purple or blue sparks.
Aidan and his team returned fire with a fusillade of psionic projectiles. Their weapons were just as ineffective as the dragon warriors’. Seeing the futility in his actions, the commander stowed his rifle and drew his sword instead. His followers copied his actions, and they activated their psi blades together.
The dragons dropped their weapons and brandished their claws right as the two opposing forces crashed into one another in a frenzy of blood and bone. Although the hybrids were larger than the Spectres, it was still three against two. Aidan and Faraj took the brunt of the first exchange while Agerwal flickered between the two groups of combatants like an avenging ghost. His blade sliced scales as easily as a paring knife through a piece of fruit.
The engineer targeted the monster’s relatively weaker joints and underbelly. He drew red blood with every slash of his blade. The distraction served to weak and enrage the hybrids. Faraj capitalized on the distraction to deliver lethal wounds to their opponents. The two defenders dropped to the ground in less than a few seconds.
Panting slightly, Aidan stowed his sword on his back and advanced on the metal door to the lab. He used his prodigious strength to pry the top from a nearby access panel. With a flex of his wrist, Astra’s probe extended from his gauntlet and connected with the door’s security system. In a fraction of a second, the door unlocked and slid into the concrete on hidden tracks.
The lab looked similar to the experimentation chambers above. Bright overhead lights illuminated glass partitions that cleanly divided the space into functional areas. With a glance, Aidan saw technicians and scientists cowering behind the advanced equipment in their individual rooms. Aidan couldn’t identify the function of the medical and scientific equipment, but he didn’t care. He looked past it to the furthest edge of the lab and spotted Dr. Smith secured to a metal table. He didn’t look further and drew his rifle instead.
He didn’t need to pass orders. Accompanied by his teammates, the envoy killed every researcher in the lab. He didn’t care if they respawned or if their lives had been permanently ended. He slew each one with the same mechanical efficiency one would expect from a farmer cutting the heads off chickens. When every civilian had been executed, they turned their attention to the restrained Dr. Smith.
Aidan entered the room through a glass door and looked closely at Dr. Smith. He didn’t like what he saw. The woman had been stripped naked, and mottled green scales had replaced her caramel-colored skin. She retained her human appearance, but it had been subtly altered. Her mouth was filled with dozens of razor-sharp fangs and claws tipped each finger. He saw a reptilian tail strapped to the table next to her.
If those had been the only alterations, the commander wouldn’t have thought anything worse was happening down here than the labs above. However, he saw the doctor’s belly was distended, and writhing snake-like objects pushed her flesh from underneath. The System jamming collar around her throat only completed the horrific tableau. The shocking sight caused him to momentarily pause in his assessment of her.
Dr. Smith wasn’t cowering in fear. Instead, she looked up at Aidan with hope in her yellow eyes.
“Is that you, Steele?” She rasped.
The commander frowned behind the expressionless faceplate of his helmet. For once, he was happy at the anonymity it afforded him.
“Dr. Smith, what happened to you?” Aidan asked in repressed horror.
The doctor dreamily smiled while her oval pupils fixed onto something Aidan couldn’t see. “I can hear them all. My children are all around me, they’re waiting for me to be rescued.”
The woman’s eyes were fixed on Aidan’s helmet. “Are you here to rescue me?”
“I don’t know,” Aidan answered honestly. He looked back at Agerwal and Faraj.
“Agerwal, go plant your explosives while we have the time, and be quick.” Agerwal nodded before sprinting from the room. The envoy turned and gestured at the medical equipment connected to Smith. “Faraj, see if there’s anything useful in these machines.”
Faraj put away his rifle and went to inspect the equipment. Aidan turned his attention back to the restrained doctor. He had no intention of releasing her until he understood more about what was happening. Instead, he tried to debrief the doctor as best he could.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“Dr. Smith, who did you report to at your think tank?”
“I didn’t report to anyone,” the doctor slurred. “They’re my friends. Reporting is for the military.”
Aidan sighed but did his best not to get annoyed. “Okay, who did you speak to most often?”
“I told you, Steele. I talked to my friends.” The woman cocked her reptilian head. “Are you going to release me now?”
“Not yet, doctor. I need to know if there are any more spies in camp.” Aidan said guardedly.
“Commander,” Faraj interrupted. “The data on her physical attributes are fascinating, but the most important thing is that she’s had her class changed.”
“Why does that matter?” Aidan asked.
“Because she’s no longer human. She’s a Hybrid Broodmother,” Faraj said matter-of-factly.
The commander mentally recoiled at the new information, and Smith responded.
“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here. I said—release me!”
As she shouted, her voice shifted an octave, and it became a deep roar. Aidan instinctively pointed his rifle at the woman.
“You can’t hurt me with that, boy.” The doctor sneered. “I told you, my children are waiting for me. I must go to them, and you’re trying my patience.”
“How many times have you died, doctor?” Aidan asked. “If I kill you, will you respawn at our camp?”
“You will not take me back there, Steele.” The woman roared. “I refuse!”
The doctor began straining against her bonds.
“Commander, her vitals are spiking,” Faraj warned.
Aidan cursed and tried to calm the woman down. “Smith, we’re going to get you out of here, but I need you to calm down and answer my questions first.”
“No!” The woman gritted through clenched fangs. “You’re just like every other military dog. You talk about saving people, but you’re all killers underneath. You only care about blood and conquest. You’ve never cared about me or my research. You’ve never cared about progressing the human race. You’ve only wanted to damn it in fire and blood.”
She doctor continued to fight her restraints, and Aidan noticed that her flesh was beginning to shift and distort.
“Faraj, get back,” Aidan said as he followed his own orders.
The two men retreated as the doctor made one final push, and the binding around her wrists snapped. Upper limbs freed, the doctor turned her claws on the other straps. She sliced through them as her form started to grow taller and bulkier.
When she stepped on the floor, she had grown ten feet tall, and her head almost brushed the ceiling. Black hair started falling from her head as she turned a baleful gaze on the two Spectres. She growled menacingly and advanced on the pair. As she approached them, she continued to grow ever larger. Soon, she was hunched over and still ballooning in size. Her mouth lengthened into a reptilian snout, and horns started to sprout from the back of her head. The collar around her neck popped off from the increased bulk of the woman.
“Fall back,” Aidan ordered. He tried to convince the doctor to calm down one last time. “Smith, we’re trying to save you. Please stop resisting, or we’ll be forced to respond.”
“Respond? I’m going to kill you and all of your kind. You military animals have ruined everything.” The freakish woman growled back.
She swiped at the Spectres with a palm the size of a dinner table. The two Spectres hopped backward and sprinted from the lab. They crashed through the open door and then turned to fire their psi rifles at the doctor.
The shots pinged off the woman’s scales as her frame burst through the concrete ceiling. She grew even more rapidly as she escaped from the lab’s confines. Small wings sprouted from her back and jagged bone spurs burst from her spine one after the other until the end of her tail sported a nest of deadly spikes.
As she rose to her full height, she roared her rage into the underground chamber. The sound was loud enough that the entire chamber rattled, and looks dirt rained down on the denizens below. Around her, thousands of kobolds hissed and shouted their excitement. They stood up and turned toward her like flowers drinking in the sunlight.
“Draw your sword,” Aidan ordered Faraj. “Our rifles are ineffective.”
“Commander, what the fuck is that?” Guzman shouted over their comms.
“A little busy right now,” Aidan responded through gritted teeth.
The envoy pulled his sword and activated it just as a spiked tail from Smith caught him in the chest. His psi shield prevented his immediate death, but he was thrown into the air like he was shot from a cannon. He plowed through a wooden fence and landed into the mass of kobold flesh. The vicious lizards hissed and scrabbled at his armor with their mutilated fingers. Aidan kicked them away and used his sword to behead any who so much as looked in his direction.
He looked up in time to see a purple fireball hurtling in his direction. He reached out with his telekinesis and redirected the burning projectile into a crowd of nearby kobolds. Smith roared in rage as her children were bathed in amethyst flames. They screamed piteously as the powerful psionic flame melted them into puddles of organic material.
Aidan couldn’t see his companions, and he didn’t go looking as a giant palm tried to swat him like an annoying fly. He dodged the blow from Smith and used his sword to slice through a claw nearly as long as his blade. Crimson blood drenched his armor and sizzled against his psi shield before he was forced to dive aside to dodge another swing from the enraged broodmother.
Agerwal or Faraj must’ve attacked at the same time because he was relieved for a brief moment. He used the time to gather his feet underneath him and sprint toward the huge hybridized monster.
“It sounds like the Commander needs help!" Levitt shouted over the comms. “We’ll handle the compound entrance. You get in there to help, Guzman!”
“En route,” Guzman shouted his response.
Aidan didn’t have time to say anything to the two men. He was too focused on staying alive. Smith was splitting her focus between the three Spectres, but she had enough weapons for the three of them. She alternated between slashing with her claws, swiping with her spiked tail, or spitting trampoline-sized fireballs at the group.
The envoy used his telekinetic powers to divert the majority of the fireballs, but killing more of the kobolds only served to further enrage the broodmother. As Aidan, dodged yet another swipe of the tail, his assistance finally arrived.
Guzman and Weir sprinted up from behind him with their swords drawn. Meanwhile, Wang’s heavy weaponry spit burst after burst of psionic plasma rounds at Smith’s face. The rounds seemed to have an effect because the monster tried to shield her vulnerable eyes from the plasma’s touch.
While she was distracted, Aidan advanced on the tail that gave him so much trouble. It writhed back and forth like an angry snake, but it wasn’t faster than the Spectre’s reflexes. He sliced through the tip and caused the spiked tail to drop to the earth with a thud. The envoy tried to retreat after maiming the broodmother, but Smith had other plans. She snagged him with one of her clawed hands and brought him to her snout.
The extreme strength of her grip caused his psi field to fail, and warning indicators were flashed in Aidan’s helmet. He could feel as his bodysuit tried to account for the applied pressure, but it was no use. He could feel his ribs creaking as he was placed in front of golden eyes the size of dinner plates.
“Do you think you’ll get away, Steele?” Smith roared in his face before purple fire grew in the back of her throat. Aidan didn’t bother talking to the monstrous lizard. Instead, he reached over to his left shoulder pocket and drew a fragmentation grenade. He tossed it into her mouth and then scythed his sword into Smith’s scaled wrist.
She dropped him when the grenade detonated in her jaws. The blast mangled her mouth and turned it into a ruinous mess. The growing purple fire exploded outward and damaged the broodmother more than her intended target.
As Aidan fell, he lunged out with his sword and caught Smith in her clavicle. He slid down her body as his blade sliced through her flesh. He opened up a long vertical wound from the notch in her sternal down to the bottom of her distended stomach. As he landed on the ground, disgusting biological fluids poured out of the brood mother’s stomach and washed over him in a bloody wave. He was thrown from his feet by the developing bodies of half-human, half-kobold hybrids.
Smith’s roaring threatened to bring the entire chamber down. She clasped her hands against the grievous wound in her abdomen, but there was no hope. As Aidan rose to his feet, the other Spectres attacked the broodmother with everything they had. They sliced into her limbs, cut off her wings and tail, and targeted her less-protected elbows and knees.
Soon, she fell to literal pieces as the Spectres went about their grim butchery. When her body collapsed, the human warriors renewed their savage assault. They cut away at her shoulders and hips, while Aidan focused on her scaly neck.
It took minutes for Dr. Smith to finally die, but when she did, the Spectres were rewarded with a System message confirming their kill. After she died, the commander solemnly removed a small book from his inventory.
It was the journal she dropped when he killed her the first time. Astra had already extracted anything of value from the book, and at this point, it seemed like an ill-fated object. It was the distillation of all the doctor’s life work. It had been used up and taken advantage of, much like the woman who wrote it. He tiredly tossed the book at the foot of the corpse. It wasn’t much of a sendoff, but it was all he had time for.
MISSION: Debrief and then kill Dr. Smith, passed!
REWARD: Engram for human hybridization
Aidan took no time to celebrate or check the flood of notifications he received.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he shouted over the comms. “This place is about to be blown to hell!”
He sprinted from the doctor’s corpse and toward the lift to the surface. He glanced back to find that only Guzman and Agerwal followed him. The envoy figured the others had been sent to respawn. He didn’t want to look down at his own condition, but he figured he was close to dying himself.
Unfortunately, their escape didn’t go unnoticed. Berserk kobolds dogged their every step. With their psi-shields depleted, the Spectres weren’t comfortable allowing the small creatures to close. They drew their rifles and scythed down every kobold in their path. Wang laid down covering fire as they attempted to reach his position at the top of the stone stairs.
When they reached him, he continued to cover their retreat as they sprinted for the lift. The heavy trooper arrived shortly after them, panting hard. The remaining Spectres continued to kill kobolds as the lift slowly ground toward the basement level of the compound.
They exited the lift, and then tossed a couple of grenades to prevent it from being used by the hellish monsters below. Sabotage completed, they turned and sprinted for the exit. They hit the stairs and ascended them two steps at a time. In short order, they had returned to the surface and joined up with the infiltrators.
Aidan groaned as he saw the forces arrayed against them. The Chinese hadn’t been idle while the Spectres had been below. At least a hundred of the hybridized soldiers were spread in a semicircle in front of the compound. Levitt and his team had been keeping them at bay with their rifles, but their weapons weren’t as effective as the psi weapons the Spectres wielded. The only reason they hadn’t been overrun was the selective assistance of Yanovna. Anytime one of the PRC hybrids popped their head from cover, the skilled assassin had blown their brains across the blood-soaked mud.
“What now?” He asked over the comms.
“Fighting retreat to the Ibis, Commander,” Yanonva suggested. “I’ll cover you for as long as you can. The Ibis is just on the other side of the wall.”
Aidan nodded. “Alright, let’s do it.”
He led the way from the compound, firing all the while. The Spectres covered the infiltrators while they retreated toward the wall. The hybrids rushed from cover to attack the Spectres, but the advanced weapons kept them from getting too close. The Spectres slowly moved backward while killing a quarter of the Chinese forces. When they passed the wall, they turned and ran toward the Ibis.
Nikita was already there and slew any hybrid that followed them with impeccable aim. Guzman, Wang, and Agerwal filed in first, and then Yanovna and Aidan brought up the rear. They continued to fire down on the advancing enemy while the Ibis took off. When they were high enough, Aidan issued his last command for the evening.
Astra, blow the compound.
You got it, Envoy, the AI answered.
Explosions turned night into day and earth into the sky. The reversal of natural law was a sight to behold. Aircraft on the runway created flowers made from brilliant flame. The birds that had managed to make it into the air to pursue the Americans were transformed into raging fireworks. Naval vessels sank in the harbor, and storage facilities went up one by one. Even the motor pool became nothing more than a lake of fire. Yet none of those detonations could match those of the subterranean prison camp.
The entire earth shook as the gigantic cavern beneath the PRC base fell in on itself. Pieces of the base dropped into the chasm below, and sinkholes opened up on the surface. Roughly three-quarters of the base fell into a mass grave. Buildings toppled, personnel screamed, and most of the Chinese infrastructure simply ceased to be.
As the Ibis turned to head back to base. Aidan surveyed the destruction from the ramp of the aircraft with a grim smile. Despite the Spectres’ losses, the total devastation of their enemy had been a worthy trade.
The commander turned and sat down among his warriors. As the ramp closed behind him, he only wished that he’d been able to get more information from Doctor Smith. That was a problem that would need to wait for another time. For now, he just wanted a shower.