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Just four days before the wedding, the Hound Wolf Squad and Leon S. Kennedy were deployed on an emergency mission to retrieve the latest data on a new strain of the G-Virus and to clear out the old remnants of a brickyard straddling the border of Trafford and Monroeville, Pennsylvania that had been abandoned in the 1960’s. There had been more than sixty-five reports of unusual activity in the area; strange sounds at all hours of the day and night, and a bizarre level of light seen in the direction of the overgrown ruins.
West stretched his long legs as they arrived on site, already on alert and ghosting around the perimeter as Chris got everyone into position, returning just as silently as he’d disappeared in the grey pre-dawn morning.
“There’s nae a camera or tripwire here, Big Boy. Nae a motion detector, nothing.”
“While I get they are trying to keep the appearance of industrial ruins, they’re still failing horribly. Either overconfident or completely incompetent is my bet.” Leon threw his two cents in.
“Or they have something else guarding the inside and aren’t worried about anyone stumbling in and living to tell the tale.” Chris spoke quietly, nodding to the Wolves to stand by for full exploration. “Two teams, we clear the outer area, check for signs of B.O.W.S, and locate all points of egress below ground.”
Within an hour, the Wolves had found two hidden hatches that were points of entry on the east and west side of the property, and what appeared to be a huge garbage chute. It turned out to be a cargo elevator capable of carrying more than three tons of weight at a time. Leon looked at it, then looked at Chris.
“Should be strong enough to carry you.”
“Oh, fuck off Kennedy.”
“Seriously, what’s L feeding you at home? Your thigh holster is fighting for its life, don’t get me started on your compression shirt.”
“Mind the crack when you step in. Wouldn’t want to lose you there, string bean.” Sniped right back, the Squad trying not to snicker. “If you came to dinner once in a while, you’d know what she’s been serving to put me back up at fighting weight.”
“Fighting weight? Whose fighting weight, exactly? Because from what I see, it’s yours, Canine’s and Umber’s fighting weight combined, maybe even add Fenrir’s too. And your pants over that a-”
“Kennedy…” A warning growl.
“Ass, as I was sayi-”
Chris slung his rifle over his shoulder and stalked towards Leon, who chuckled and ducked into the cargo elevator, standing behind the Wolves with a smile when West dropped in.
“A question, Big Boy?” Redfield paused his pursuit of Leon to turn to the big Irishman. “Are we startin’ the friendly fire early, and do I get to join this time? Turnabout is fair play, ye ken?”
Canine and Night Howl both paled a little and shuffled towards Tundra.
“What? I can’t save you.” She hissed, “I’m not one of the Fang-mily yet.”
“Yeah, but she loves you and hugs you.” Night Howl whispered back.
“Fang-mily?” Leon raised an eyebrow and asked at normal level, struggling not to laugh.
“The what?” West snorted, eyes wide in disbelief.
“The Fang-mily. The ones you’ve… you know. Given the fangs and saved their lives.” Tundra sounded years younger, head tilted down with red cheeks of embarrassment as she refused to look at anyone.
“I’m not part of that group either, Tundra.” Redfield chuckled softly, shocking everyone but West.
“What?” Piers’ brows shot up.
“It’s true. I’ve nae bitten Big Boy to draw out infection, he’d already been given vaccines before I had the chance, ye ken?”
“Since he’s not part of the… Fang-mily, that makes him the designated Fang Banger of the clan." Kennedy nodded decisively, somehow managing to keep a straight face.
“Oh fuck.” Chris groaned and rested his forehead on West’s shoulder. “Factory Reset that one. Now. Something went drastically wrong in his healing.”
The Wolves were snickering at West’s soft patting of Redfield’s broad back.
“I’m inclined to agree with ye. He’s a wee bit cracked, aye. I’m nae sure another bite would help.”
“Alright, positions. Going down.” Chris pulled the lever, and the cargo elevator began to descend.
Shockingly enough, there were only two levels according to the facility map that they found on the wall of the corridor on the first floor. While it was nearly five miles of laboratory to explore, the layout was a simple horseshoe that contained mostly supplies and housing for the workers. The hallways were deserted, but every so often they came across a puddle of foul-smelling white fluid and smears of blood, indicating that something was running loose but not a clue as to what.
West crouched down over one such puddle, nose wrinkled and ran a finger through it. It was sticky, and somewhat textured, creating a bridge between a thumb and forefinger when rubbed between the digits. It solidified, making a fine string that was silky and bizarrely strong.
“I hope that’s not a B.O.W. booger.” Lobo muttered.
“Please don’t lick your fingers. I’ll barf.” Fenrir requested.
West snorted and played with the string a little before flicking it across the room. “It’s got a touch o’ Maxwell House. Too sticky though.”
As the teams continued clearing the level, they came across a corridor that wasn’t part of the facility map; a roughly hewn tunnel with sides and roof covered in the same fibrous white substance. The floor was clear, just the earth and rocks naturally occurring.
“What the hell made this?” Umber looked up, shining the light on his rifle to look at the roof.
“Whatever it is, it’s sprung a leak all over the place.” Tundra pointed to more puddles of the same stuff.
“We’ll finish clearing the floor and the next level. When our mission is done, we’ll call for back up to map the tunnels out and exterminate whatever made them if we don’t meet it downstairs already.” Redfield ordered.
Making their way to the next level, it was clear that there were more tunnels created in the sides of the facility, coated in the white strings that kept them from collapsing. The were greeted by a pair of armed guards at the entrance of the elevator, looking equal parts confused that they were being infiltrated, and terrified that they were still in the facility so close to an open tunnel.
“Who the hell are you guys?” The guards’ guns were still holstered, and they kept eyeing the tunnel closest to them with more caution than the armed group that exited the elevator.
“BSAA and DSO.” Redfield answered, rifle locked on the men.
“Oh good, because these fucking nutjobs don’t pay us enough to put up with the bullshit here. If we surrender, will you get us out of here? Alive?” The second guard spoke up.
“If you drop your guns on the floor, yeah.” Kennedy looked at them before staring down the tunnel. He blinked, swearing that a pair of eyes blinked back at him before there was nothing but blackness again.
“We won’t even run, I swear it. Running doesn’t do any good anyway.” The last part was mumbled as two holstered Sig Sauer P320s were placed on the ground and kicked over to Kennedy.
“Okay, get in the elevator. Stay there until we come back. If you aren’t here when we’re done, West will hunt you down and trust me when I say you’ll wish the B.O.W. got you if you make him chase you.” The Captain ordered, nodding towards West that grinned menacingly at the men.
“Not a problem, Sir.” The first gulped as they stepped in, door closing behind them.
“Canine and Umber, you’re on rearguard as we clear. I don’t like the number of tunnels here. Eyes up, everyone.”
West had already drawn a scimitar and walking along the right side, standing between the middle of the group and the tunnel openings as they went. More puddles of the white fluid decorated the corridors as they cleared rooms, and they began finding clusters of what looked like softball-sized orange grapes in corners everywhere.
Unlike the upper level, this floor had only two large corridors before an enormous central laboratory. Vats and tanks lined the walls filled with batches of incubating G-Virus, mutated creatures, and a bank of computer terminals were dedicated to monitoring the maturation progress of each monstrous concoction. At one end of the lab there was a huge pallet filled with crates containing vials of the enhanced G-Virus ready for distribution and a timer counted down on the wall. Tundra found a bill of lading that indicated the timer was counting down to a retrieval time for distribution to somebody called M.W. The facility was on a shift change; no other employees present besides the two guards until six pm, four hours from the time the Wolves had reached the lab.
“Secure the samples and the data before wiping it clean. Canine, call for support for the tunnels. Kennedy?”
“I’m already on it. Roost, we need boots on the ground for a sting operation, possibly the C factor we suspected. Time to engage is three hours, fifty-four minutes before facility will be breached for black market retrieval.”
“Roger that, Condor One. I’m sending a team to your co-ordinates. Please advise if Ghost is active?”
“Confirmed, Ghost is active on site.”
“Tell Ghost I said hello, and don’t traumatize this team, please?” Leon smiled at the gentle teasing and slight exasperation in Hunnigan’s voice.
“Hello Roost! How are yer New England Asters doing?” West smiled, speaking softly next to Leon’s comm.
“Fully blooming still, Ghost. Thank you for the tips. Roost out.”
“Ghost?” Lobo’s head tilted.
“Aye. Roost insisted I have a call sign with the DSO to avoid more… international incidents with them and to be able to be added into reports rather than them trying to explain certain things with no person to tie them to.” West shrugged. “I like Luna much better, makes me feel pretty.”
“You’re more than pretty, Luna.” Tundra laughed softly as she helped secure samples.
“Thank ye, wee Pup.”
“Alpha? Valentine and Oliveira’s teams are on the way, and our trackers have officially gone live if we want to start clearing anywhere else.”
“Thank you Canine. Data secured?”
“Yes, I’ve made three copies, and servers here are wiped of everything Alpha.” Night Howl called.
“Then our primary mission is complete. Let’s head back to the cargo lift first to get the two in custody topside before clearing any tunnels.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An hour later, the two guards were escorted onto one of the three Ospreys under strict guard by the three pilots while the squads headed back underground to the tunnels. The DSO was already beginning to arrive for the sting operation, speaking with Redfield and Kennedy before getting set up.
“Alright, no less than three people per team, per tunnel. Eyes up at all times; we need to map this system as quickly and safely as possible. Each team has a portable terminal that will generate the map in real time as we clear it. We have an unknown B.O.W. on the loose and for the love of all that’s holy, don’t shoot West. I know he’s a big fucker, but he’s on our side. If you see West running, the B.O.W. is close by. One team will be staying in the central lab underground to investigate the clusters found and destroy if necessary. If you locate the target, immediately relay that and all available teams in the vicinity will come to back you up. Any questions so far?” Redfield looked at the group of operatives.
“Why is West the only one not on a team, Captain Redfield?” One of Oliveira’s squad members piped up.
“West is bait and first responder.”
“Bait? Isn’t that against protocol?” Another inquired, a little sheepishly at the gaze Redfield leveled at him.
“Can you run a four-minute mile?”
“No, Sir.”
“West can and does regularly. When the B.O.W. is located, West will hit it with a tracker and luminescent spray that will prevent it from hiding easily. Any other questions?” Looking for any other raised hands, he found none. “Divide and move out.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two hours in, and three of the tunnels were almost finished when Leon spoke over the comms from the laboratory.
“If you come across any of the clusters, destroy them immediately. They are fertilized eggs, viable for hatching.” There was a wet crunch and squelch that echoed over the comms to punctuate his instructions.
“Oh, that’s not good.” Piers muttered as his team entered the end of a tunnel to a rounded cave that had dozens of clusters along the walls. “Well, you heard him; mow ‘em down.”
At the end of each branch, there was a room with more eggs to be destroyed, but no sign of the monster responsible for them. Canine was overjoyed, as he finally got to use the flamethrower for the first time. It proved to be very efficient at clearing the walls.
Another two hours later, the various teams had cleared a total of seventeen tunnels, with only six more left to go. The network spanned a total of twelve miles in diameter underground with no breaches to the surface. West had been spotted running through several times, with strange scrabbling noises heard but their maker never seen. The hunt continued, clusters being annihilated with brutal efficiency, and the B.O.W. still on the move.
Redfield was almost ready to call it a day when he heard a faint sound of scraping echoing from the tunnel that penetrated the main lab. He looked to Leon standing beside him, as his team had cleared that tunnel only minutes earlier. His portable map indicated that West was running from the end of the seventeenth tunnel that bisected the one that led to the lab.
“What came out of the eggs you destroyed in the lab?”
“Some kind of G-Spider, why?”
At precisely that time, a new enormous blob appeared on the mapping screen, and a scream of abject horror was heard that echoing into the lab.
“West is fucking terrified of spiders.” Redfield’s forehead and nose crinkled with concern.
“How did you find that out?”
“We were watching Return of the King when Sam was going through the tunnels to rescue Frodo. Shelob came on screen; suddenly the couch was flipped backwards on the floor and I wasn’t the only one wearing my shirt anymore.” Tapping his comm, he alerted everyone. “All units, B.O.W. is located and headed quickly towards the main lab. West is running bait. Fenrir, your team is to exfil to Lab immediately, Delta and Gamma Squads, continue clearing tunnels.”
“Roger that, Alpha. On our way.”
Chris looked to Kennedy, Lobo, Night Howl and Tundra, as Fenrir, Umber, and Canine came back through the tunnel just in time to hear the sounds of pounding footsteps coming their way accompanied by the sounds of sobbing breaths and the scrabbling of too many legs on the walls.
“Clear the way, they’re coming in hot.”
The two teams jumped clear just in time as a hysterical L came into the lab, running directly for the nearest wall and climbing the sheer surface out of desperation to get away from the dump truck-sized arachnid chasing her. It was hideous; bloated abdomen covered in orange eyes, more at every joint of each leg, and fangs that could cleave a car in half. It had an extra set of limbs that were shaped like shovels on the ends; easily explaining the way the tunnels had been created. Web fluid dripped freely from behind the G-Spider, creating a sticky trail as it pursued the one that had bombed it with the lime green dye that shone brilliantly.
Nobody asked questions, they started shooting the ten-legged monster, aiming for the eyes and legs to slow it down as it had started to climb with single-minded purpose after the panicked L, who was now crammed between a thick set of water pipes and the ceiling in as small a space as her petite frame could fit. A long leg was reaching to scratch at her when Canine aimed the flamethrower directly at the underside of the abdomen, getting a screech and barely dodging as the monster crashed to the floor.
Falling back, the Wolves and Kennedy surrounded the arachnid and kept it scrambling to pick a target, dodging globs of the sticky webbing as they aimed fire and bullets. It took them about eight minutes before the G-Spider died, having taken one too many grenades to the head.
“Target is neutralized. Finish mapping, destroy all remaining clusters, and then evacuate to the surface.” Redfield ordered, walking around the mostly blown-up remains of the beast as he located a maintenance ladder the led up close to L’s location.
“You gonna get her down?” Leon asked. “I can cover for us, so will Jill and Carlos with their teams.”
“I’m going to try my best.” Chris said grimly, heading up the steel ladder welded to the wall.
Lobo looked at the fingerprints embedded in same surface nearby, eyes widening as it registered how much force it would take to make the clawed dents during the panicked ascent.
“I never thought I’d see Luna afraid of anything.” He spoke softly.
“Shhh, he’s almost up to her. Let’s give them some space; if anybody can get her out of hiding it’s Alpha.” Umber spoke gently, ushering the rest of the Wolves and Kennedy out of the way of the B.O.W. carcass for some semblance of privacy.
At the top of the ladder Chris carefully braced himself, using one arm to hold onto the pipe after securing a climbing strap from his tac vest to the ladder to ensure a delayed fall if he lost balance. He reached out with his free hand, fingers softly brushing the pale arms that covered the face of the trembling form curled up on the piping.
“Shhh. It’s just me, Líle. The spider is dead. It can’t get you anymore.” His voice was a low rumble, barely above a whisper. He softly stroked calloused fingers over the skin of her hand in a silent ask for them to be removed. “Come on, it’s safe. Let me get you out of here, my love. Do you trust me?”
A tiny nod as her hands came away from her face, body still shuddering with the force of leftover terror and adrenaline as bloodshot eyes met his slowly.
“There’s my girl.”
His comm chirped suddenly, spooking her into a jolt backwards a few inches.
“Alpha, this is Delta Leader. Tunnels are fully mapped, objectives met. We are on our way with Gamma Leader and squad to the surface.”
“Roger that Delta. Alpha out.” Reaching out, he softly cupped her shoulder in one huge hand and gingerly tugged L towards him. “I’ll get us down. Don’t look, just close your eyes Gorgeous.”
Chris carefully scooped her with his free arm, relieved when hers wrapped over his shoulders and legs around his waist as her face buried itself in the right side of his neck. Satisfied she was clinging safely, he hummed a soft tune and moved his arms back into position on the ladder and unclipped them before starting the descent. Once on the floor, he raised a huge hand to the back of her head to keep her face hidden against him, his other arm supporting her weight as he walked towards the Squad and Kennedy.
“Okay, any word from the DSO sting?” He rumbled softly.
“Yes, they have everyone in custody and orders to bomb this place off the map with enough explosives to make it seem like an earthquake happened. We’ve got about fifteen minutes before a team comes in here to get the job done. I’ve ordered them to camp on the other side of the ruins while we exfil to the Osprey. DC is our pilot, as usual.”
“Thank you, that’s perfect. Okay, let’s go.” The Captain ordered, walking with L in his arms ahead of the Wolves to the cargo elevator once more.
L briefly lifted her head, shuddering at the sight of a spiderweb on the way. Canine noticed her line of sight and lifted the flamethrower, torching the web into oblivion in less than a second. He watched as her eyes popped wide before she looked at him with a watery gaze.
“It’s okay Luna, we’ve got your six.” He winked, getting a tremulous smile and a sniff in response.