In a shielded, bulletproof control room high above, Ingrid Hunnigan watched the chaotic scene below on a security monitor. Her composure was gone, replaced by a cold fury and a hint of unconcealed panic.
Kante, her biggest investment, had self-destructed. His "death squad" had disintegrated. And the two Hummingbird rats were still alive, standing right in the heart of her laboratory. Her plan had gone spectacularly off the rails.
"Major, what are our orders?" the remaining soldier beside her asked, his voice laced with anxiety. "The Plagas soldiers are going rogue!"
Hunnigan didn't answer immediately. She looked at a large red button on the control panel, protected under a clear plastic cover. The words beneath it read: "PROTOCOL: SCORCH." It was the last resort, a brutal reset button. It was designed to handle an uncontrollable outbreak by releasing the most efficient predators to eliminate everything that moved, before blowing the entire facility sky-high.
She had lost Kante. She had lost her army of super-soldiers. But she could not let these intruders survive and carry the secrets of this place outside. And most importantly, she could not lose Subject Zero.
"If I can't have my army," she hissed, "then no one can."
She flipped up the plastic cover and slammed her hand down on the red button.
"Activate Protocol: Scorch," she commanded. "Release 'the Children'. Kill them all. Leave no one."
In another section of the lab, an area Kael and Gryphon had never seen, a series of red alarm lights began to flash. The heavy steel doors of dozens of large containment cages groaned with the shriek of metal, then slowly slid open.
Inside, the shadows moved.
Low, menacing growls echoed. Then they stepped into the light.
They were Hunters. But not like any version the BSAA had ever recorded. They didn't have the green, reptilian skin. Their skin was a glossy, charcoal gray, reinforced with bony protrusions on their shoulders and back. They were taller, leaner, and moved with a feline agility instead of a reptile's heaviness. Their eyes were glowing orange slits, pupil-less and filled with savagery. Their claws were long and curved like sickles.
Hunter Gamma-II. The new generation.
They sniffed the air, then a pack leader let out a piercing shriek. The entire pack, some twenty strong, burst from the containment area, flooding the corridors.
The first target they encountered was the last Plagas soldier who had fled the confrontation with Kael. He was staggering down the hallway, still horrified by Kante's death.
He never stood a chance.
Three Hunters descended on him from three different directions. He only had time for a single scream before he was torn to shreds in a shower of blood and gore.
The Hunters didn't stop. They didn't feed. They just killed. They were perfect purging machines. And now they were heading towards the central lab, drawn by the scent of life and the sounds of battle.
"What the hell?" Gryphon yelled as the door Kante had destroyed shuddered, and three of the new Hunters burst into the room.
They didn't target Kael or Gryphon. Their targets were the Plagas soldiers still convulsing or rampaging after Kante's death.
A battle between monsters erupted right before their eyes.
The Plagas soldiers, with their immense strength, swung their clawed arms. But the Hunters were faster. They dodged, leaped onto the walls and ceiling, attacking from impossible angles.
One Hunter jumped onto the back of a Plagas soldier, its claws digging deep into his shoulders. It opened its mouth, revealing a maw of razor-sharp teeth, and bit the soldier's head clean off.
Another Plagas soldier managed to grab a Hunter, using its strength to throw it against a control panel, causing an explosion of electrical sparks. But immediately, two other Hunters swarmed in from the sides, their claws tearing open its flanks.
Kael and Gryphon could only press themselves into a corner, trying not to become a target for either side. The room had turned into a slaughterhouse, a whirlwind of claws, teeth, black blood, and red blood.
"This is Hunnigan's plan!" Kael realized. "She's trying to wipe the slate clean! 'Sanitize' all the evidence, including her own failed experiments!"
They were caught in the middle. Whoever won this fight would see them as the next target.
"Wraith! What's your status?" Gryphon yelled into his comm.
"I'm in the system! But it's chaotic! Hunnigan is trying to wipe the files! I need more time!"
"We don't have time!" Kael shot back.
He looked through the gunfire and chaos. Most of the Hunters and Plagas soldiers were focused in the center of the room, in a fight to the death. The path to the back corridors, where Hunnigan's server room might be, was temporarily clear.
It was a window of opportunity. A window that could slam shut at any moment.
"Gryphon, we have to move," Kael said, pointing toward another corridor. "We can't win by staying here. We have to complete the objectives."
Gryphon looked at the frantic battle, then back at Kael. "Download the data, neutralize the Queen. That's the only way we get out of this alive."
"So what do we do?"
"We walk through hell," Gryphon said, checking his magazine.
They had no other choice. They had to bet on the chaos, hoping the two monster packs would be too busy to notice two humans trying to slip through the middle of their battle.
"Follow me," Kael said, and broke from cover.
They ran, hugging the walls, moving past twitching bodies. A Hunter turned to look at them, but was immediately tackled from behind by a Plagas soldier.
They were almost to the corridor. Just a few more meters.
As they ran through the center of the room, Kael glanced toward the corner where Subject Zero still stood.
She wasn't scared. She wasn't amazed.
She was just observing. Her deep black eyes followed every movement, every pounce, every death, with the cold focus of a chess master studying the board.
Kael felt a chill. She wasn't an audience. She was learning.
They were almost at the corridor door. They were about to make it.
But then, Subject Zero moved.
It was a very small movement. She simply raised her tiny hand, her palm facing one of the Hunters.
That particular Hunter was in a fierce battle, having just sunk its claws into the chest of a Plagas soldier.
But as the girl's hand rose, the Hunter suddenly froze.
It pulled its claws out of the dying Plagas soldier. It turned its head. Its glowing orange eyes swept past the chaos, ignoring all other targets.
And they locked onto Kael.
It was no longer a mindless killing machine. It had received a new command. A direct order.
The Hunter let out a roar, and with a phenomenal leap, it flew over the battle, heading straight for Kael.
The childlike voice echoed in his head again, this time not with curiosity, but with an ice-cold command.
"My toy. You're not going anywhere."