"Status report."
Those two words broke the silence.
"I'm fine, boss. Just a little spooked."
"Same here."
"Fine."
"Minor scratch but I am healing it now."
"I'm good."
After everyone else gave me their status, I nodded and gave them the new plan. I knew I couldn't sugarcoat it. If the mission isn't done, we aren't getting out of here. As of right now, we are also K.I.A to the other two remaining squads. Unless something happens or we are by our objective, Overwatch won't respond to us at all. And to top it off, we have about one or two minutes before the Zenars outside realize they can just smash through another wall to get to us. Not to mention we have no idea how many Zenars are still inside and if they are alerted or not.
"Alright. Everyone hustle deeper into the facility. If you spot any Zenars, hide and radio in unless they are close. Find a place to set up a base and radio in once you do. Oh, if you a Zenar finds you..."
I closed my eyes, knowing exactly what will happen if a Zenar spots someone.
"...don't."
....
{Bluejay. Bluejay, this is Overwatch. Please respond.]
I sat up, awake, and grabbed my earpiece.
"This is Bluejay, still alive with sixteen soldiers. What is it, Overwatch?"
{Alpha and Delta Squad have been compromised. Only a few from Alpha Squad remain. You have two options. One is to stay and finish the mission and get a raise or leave while you still can. Scans show that the Zenars have once again entered their resting state, earlier than predicted. There are now twenty-four Zenars.}
I couldn't help but let out a tsk. I was happy that the higher-ups were allowing us a way out but twenty-four Zenars? Well, it shouldn't be too much of a problem if they are in a resting state. It just means we have to be more careful.
"Alright. I'll go over it with the others before radioing in what our plan is."
{Understood. Overwatch out.}
I got up and grabbed my guns and geared up. We set up in a private cafeteria, probably for the higher-ups. Of course, there was barely any food left and most was spoiled but I was honestly surprised by how clean the place was. Of course, there was a blood trail on the wall leading to a vent that was already sealed and a rotten body of a Terfonal, a large tentacle alien which was too far different for the Zenars to reanimate. He locked himself into the freezer but died from a slash across his chest. The slash mark gutted him and if he were a human, would have cut them right in half. Even then, as I mentioned before, the slash was fatal.
I pressed the button on my interface and called everyone together at the designated meeting spot. Once everyone was there, I stood up on a desk and got ready to tell them the news.
"Good news everyone. Overwatch has talked to us again. The bad news is that the other two squads have been compromised."
Murmuring broke out between the soldiers but it quickly stopped.
"Overwatch has given us a choice. We can leave and be picked up or we can stay and finish the mission and get a raise. Those who want to leave can and those who want to stay will stay with me. Henry, get up here."
Henry raised an eyebrow but followed my order and walked up to me.
"Henry, I need you to lead the people who want to leave out of here."
"Chang, I don't thi-"
I cut him off. I know he wants to fight with me and stay but I can't have any soldier who wants to go back mess up and get killed.
"That's Commander to you, Henry. And that is also an order! Don't make me repeat myself."
Henry's gaze darkened but he just shook his head.
"Yes, sir."
"Good."
I turned my attention to the soldiers. If all of them wanted to leave, or at least thirteen, then we shall all be leaving. If not then I am staying with the others.
"Those who want to leave go to Henry. He shall take you out."
I waited for a bit and soon people began to line up behind Henry. At the end of it, there were five soldiers left with me.
"Last chance," I called out. After no one moved I nodded at Henry. He gave me a concerned look but I didn't budge. Finally, he let out a sigh and nodded.
"Come on! Follow me."
He leads the soldiers back the way we came from, disappearing around a bend. Now it is just the ones who stayed behind.
"Alright, soldiers. We've got a mission to complete. I would be lying to say if we have a plan and by the time we make on, the mission could be compromised. So we move out in ten minutes. Get ready soldiers."
With that, I got off the desk. Everyone saluted before rushing to grab their things. I set the metal door which led deeper into the facility, or the center of it, on peek mode and looked outside. The doors here have a peek setting on them just in case Zenars ever got in. On the other side of the door was darkness. I could see nothing.
With a sigh I closed the door and took out my father's dog tag and held it close to me, praying to whatever God was out there. We were going to need it.
....
We met out first optical right away. We entered a storage room, a big one that looks like it belongs in one of those old warehouses, and perched on top of them were two Zenars. One of them was on watch and her eyes passed our group. She looked away before snapping her head back towards us when the door closed behind us. It was broken but the door opened silently so I thought it would close silently too. I can now see that it was my mistake. We all stayed still. If the Zenar moved towards us then we are dead. Luckily the Zenar was too lazy to actually go and investigate and she turned her head around, watching the shutters which lead to the underground part of this facility. She looks to have been a Teratite with her short blond hair and red horns coming out of the side of her head, pointing upwards. Most Teratites have those features, though they all have body plates and red to black skin. Since she is a Zenar, she now looks closer to a human than a Teratite.
I recognized the Zenar who was perched on a railing across from us. It was the soldier who was turned. Her eyes were looking our way but she wasn't watching us. She was just staring off into space. Luckily, she turned to her left and started barking at what had to be another Zenar. I signaled everybody to move down the incline into cover. They did and I was about to move when the soldier Zenar looked back and became alarmed. While she may have been staring into space, she still noticed the different background.
She rubbed her eyes, blinked a couple of times, and then jumped right on the railing that I was hiding behind. I held my breath even though I didn't need to as she looked around the area. She was still in uniform with hers being a grey, black, and white color with tan green body armor. Her name was Rachel if I remember right and she always liked the classic uniforms. That was why hers looked like that. Her brown and black short hair was dangerously close to my nose and I know that if it touches me or I move in the slightest then she will know where I am.
After looking around one more time, Rachel turned around with a satisfied humming sound which could easily be mistaken for a little girl, and jumped back to where she was before. Rachel was twenty-one but now she looks no older than nine.
After making sure that it was safe to go, I joined the others down the incline. We weren't out of the clear yet though as there are still two Zenars on top of the shelves with one of them close and on watch. After moving quietly and slowly through the room, stopping and staying still when a Zenar looks our way, we stumbled upon another obstacle.
"Commander, that Winged Zenar is sleeping right in front of the door."
"I know. I can see that."
Lying down right in front of two dented metal doors that lead to the center of the room we need to enter was the Winged Zenar from before. Its wings were folded on its back but still covered a lot of ground. Its wingspan, if I had to guess, would be twenty to twenty-eight feet at full size...which unfortunately they are at. So probably twenty-eight or twenty-six feet.
Now one of us could go over and try to dispatch it but the chances of that are highly unlikely since it is an evolved Zenar. Not to mention a male Zenar that was originally on top of the shelves had moved down and was close enough that if the Winged Zenar makes a struggle, he would hear it and turn around.
"What should we do?"
"I'm thinking!"
All of a sudden, the Winged Zenar stood up. In fact, all of the Zenars sat up, alerted. The Winged Zenar launched up into the air and flew out a hole in the ceiling while the other three dashed into holes in the walls, or tunnels, and disappeared.
"....Is there a Queen Zenar here?"
I shook my head. Queen Zenars lives in fortified fortress with millions of Zenars around them. They also release a unique energy that can easily be picked up on radar. There is no chance that one is here.
There is another possibility but they don't exist. Only just myths to scare the hell outta us.
"They probably detected some kind of energy or smell."
We walked towards the door, still on alert. It was surprisingly easy to open. Inside was a large room with a large shelf blocking our view of what looked to be a pile covered in sunlight. When everyone was in the room, a black figure jumped over us. We spun around and saw the door was closed, the emergency lock sliced by a Zenar's tail. Said Zenar was sitting right in front of the door, her eyes not clouded and her tail swaying back and forth behind her. The next second and the Winged Zenar flew down from a hole in the ceiling and landed on a shelf. The shelf leaned backward but just when it was about to fall it stopped and steadied, breaking the rules of physics as it did so. Two more Zenars came out on both sides and sat themselves down on two large piles of crates on both sides of us. Finally, Rachel jumped down from a ventilation shaft and landed right in front of us, her tail swaying back and forth behind her as well. All of their eyes weren't clouded and all of them were looking at us. It was clear that we have been led to a trap.
The large shelf in front of us split open, melting into a black liquid which then formed a red and black slope up to the hill. The hill was made of skeletons and tanned junk, most of them being large boulders. Sitting on top of that hill on a large boulder next to a complete skeleton was a girl holding a wine glass with tan liquid in it. Her hair was a greyish shade of blue and her skin was pale and slightly shaded blue. Her eyes glowed slightly, somehow glowing even with the sunlight on her, and she wore a dirty torn one-piece blue dress with no other clothes visible.
Her eyes looked at each and every one of us before showing her teeth, the smile on her face growing wider. Her teeth were all sharper than normal and her fingernails were long and curved like claws. She stood up and finished drinking. When she was done the cup instantly vanished, no trace of where it was. She jumped and landed right in front of us, the ground cracking despite it being reinforced with the Zenar Virus. She opened her mouth and,
"Well, you look like shit. Not your best of missions?"
I pissed myself.
"Oh! Your commander seems to know what I am."
The thing let out a giggle, which then turned into laughter when the others looked at me with confusion. The other Zenars joined in at that. The monster leaned forward, a black tail swinging into view. Unlike normal Zenar tails, the black spines on her tail were massive. When it finally stopped laughing, it got back up.
"You know, while I can't read minds, I still find it insulting being referred to as an 'it'."
Her expression went hard. I wanted to know how it-she knew but that was the least of my troubles.
Her expression went back to a happy one and she gave me a beaming smile.
"Good! Now, how about you tell them what I am."
"...."
"Commander?"
"...."
"...."
Finally, I whispered what I knew she was, my voice quivering.
"Alpha."
The Alpha let out a giggle, bouncing in excitement before putting her hand to her ear.
"I don't think they quite heard you. Speak up."
I was planning on interrupting her but I knew that if I angered her in the slightest that there would be blood.
"You're an Alpha."
The Alpha started twitching in excitement before turning around and putting a hand on her groan. After a bit of calming down, she turned back, the whites of her eyes black like a Zenars. Her eyes were cat-like and blue with a third pupil in the center of the pupil being the red color that Zenars have. Her teeth were all fangs now and her fingernails were a robin blue color.
"Y. E. P!"
She started twitching again but didn't stop it.
"I assume you wanted to know what happened here all those years ago? Well, I happened. A single Beta. When I evolved to an Alpha, I decided to stay here as I quite like it here. I mean, this place has kind of a stoic peaceful feel to it, don't you think?"
I shuddered. It's no wonder Station 13 fell. They wouldn't be able to do shit against a Beta! At least Henry and the others got out of here in time.
The Alpha's smile widened and her twitching increased.
"You know, the rescue team ain't coming."
I froze. What did she mean by that!?
All of a sudden, a black puddle appeared out of the round, and out came an exact clone of the Alpha. She had a radio in her hand and she put it up to her mouth with a crazy smile on her face and a knowing look in her eyes.
"This is Overwatch, coming in."
I dropped my gun. Some other people did too. The voice that she spoke was exactly the same as the person who was talking to us on this mission. The voice behind Overwatch.
"I hope they enjoy the game I have set up. It's a game of cat and mouse...or should I say mice. Mister Brute is going to have so much fun! So Are They! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The clone and the Alpha broke out laughing followed by the clone crushing the radio without meaning to. The clone melted into the ground and left the original Alpha standing there, rolling on the ground laughing. The other Zenars were too. After a solid two minutes of laughing, the Alpha stood up, wobbling. She swung her arm and it smashed a nearby pillar, crumbling to dust by accident. She didn't even blink at what she did and just wiped a tear away.
"Ahh. Now what to do about you guys."
Her smile widened.
"I think I have an idea."