Sequence 1
After his morning workout Michael asks DIVA for the whereabouts of Prophet and he's told to look for him at the shooting room.
Surprised, Michael makes his way there and sees him seated across the room with Dele training Moise on how to shoot a pistol.
He watches without entering, not wanting to disturb the session but he doesn't have to wait long before DIVA alerts everyone about a potential threat in the area of Ikorodu Lagos.
Quickly, Michael runs towards the elevator to suit up, Moise tries to follow but Dele prevents her from leaving, saying, "You stay here".
He puts the pistol in his side holster and runs after Michael to the upper levels.
Before he can enter his AVES, Dele tells him "Eagle, you won't be able to go airborne in broad daylight, put on your fatigues and wait for me at the upper deck".
Michael does as instructed and moves to the deck where he is joined by Segun wearing a scaled back version of the Phalanx without it's arms.
Dele directs them to enter one of several boats and they sail north towards the forests of Ikorodu.
On the way, Dele briefs them on the mission, saying;
"Alright everyone, listen up, we got some more information on the Dark Wizard's activities. Earlier today there were reports of several missing people being found in the Ogun area of Ikorodu, badly mutilated. Drone footage from this morning showed one of his 'children' along with several armed members of the Badoo cult gathering more victims to a small collection of shanties. I sent a squad to scout ahead of us at the landing point and they counted sixteen potential hostiles, four victims".
Our main objective is to get the victims out, hopefully alive, secondary objective is to capture one of his children alive for intel, you can terminate the rest. We go in, strike quick, and get out ASAP".
Michael mumbles, "Do I really need to be here?" and Dele responds, "Yes, you do need to be here. Every second of real combat is an investment into keeping you alive".
The boats reach the drop-off point and all men disembark on the shores of Baiyeku with Dele's team meeting with the squad just along the shoreline.
Dele tells Segun and another trooper to wait and guard the boats while the rest of the squad moves towards the objective, aiming to surround the huts on all sides.
Inside the shacks, one of The Dark Wizard's children is hard at work bringing out the anomalous abilities of one of the victims. Her ritual is interrupted by one of her brothers who barges in saying, "Intruders are around".
The girl spins several droplets of blood in the air as she looks back and replies, "Deal with them".
The boy says again, "I sense one of ours is amongst them, they come with harmful intentions" causing the girl to say, "This might complicate matters, prepare those we have converted, one will be sacrificed to aid our escape".
The boy bows and closes the door saying, "It will be done" as she stares at her insectiod human transformation with palpable satisfaction.
Sequence 2
Outside, one of the cult members places his pump action shotgun beside a tree as he sits down to relax and light a roll of skunk.
Another cult member walks up to him and takes the roll out of his mouth saying, "Wo Slasher wetin you dey do? No dey loose guard for here!".
Slasher flings his hand in the air protesting, "Tiger na smoke I smoke so, I no kill anybody".
Tiger takes a deep puff of the blunt saying, "One day igbo will kill you" as Slasher begrudgingly gets up to continue his watch duties.
After a couple minutes of idle smoking, Tiger feels a warm liquid splash on his shoulder and shouts, "Slasher shey na me you dey spit on, abi craze don dey worry you!?".
He turn at and sees his comrade choking on his own blood from a gaping bullet wound in his throat. Slasher points towards the bushes in a vain attempt to warn his friend but a bullet strikes tiger in the chest as soon as he turns his head. He falls to the floor, dead, as a flowing stream of blood extinguishes the weed roll still clasped between his fingers.
Three SDF men walk over their bodies and signal to the rest of the squad to proceed as planned. They take out two more cultists on the west side and at this point other members of the group hear the bangs from a distance and start firing sporadically into the bush.
Michael takes cover behind a tree and returns fire with two other members of his team closing slowly closing the distance between them and their target.
After five minutes of exchanging fire, the cultists realise they are out matched and start running away. Dele sends three men after them as Michael and six other SDF men take up strategic positions around the hut.
Dele shouts for the occupants of the shack to come out with their hands up. After a few moments of tension, Dele says again "Come out or we will destroy the building immediately!"
The door slowly creaks open and a small girl wearing a purple robe steps out with her hands in the air.
Upon sighting her, a torrent bad memories flood Michael's mind. He lies down silent in the bush, filled with rage but trying to compose himself while Dele asks the designated marksman, "Do you have a clear shot?".
He replies "I have it on scopes" causing Dele to say "Fire when ready".
The marksman takes his shot but instead of hitting the girl, he hits a strange object which gets in the line of fire.
The girl smiles saying, "Beautiful isn't it?... " as her newly created monster hisses and licks the oozing wound.
Dele shouts "All units open fire!" and they let loose a barrage of bullets at both targets but all are caught by her purple telekinetic aura.
She sends the bullets back at her attackers, shredding the greenery around them. Taking advantage of the chaos, she orders her monster to attack before opening a portal to escape.
Dele radios Segun, shouting, "Black Scorpion we need you at my location immediately!".
Surprised, Segun replies, "But you told me to guard the boats!".
With the monster inching closer, Dele shouts "We can't use the boats if we're dead, leave them and get here now!". After ending the conversation with Segun, he orders all units to fall back to an open area.
Frustrated, Michael gets up and runs along with the others, ignoring the screams of wounded men around him.
The remaining six men come to a clearing and form a defensive wedge, Dele looks back at everyone and tells them, "The bug is armoured, go for the knees".
After several seconds, they hear a rustling of leaves followed by the gutteral screech of the approaching monster.
It leaps from the branches and tries to carry one of the SDF men into the forest but Michael jumps after it and digs his left claw into it's abdomen, spilling green blood all over his face .
The monster screams out in pain, tossing Michael aside and letting the SDF trooper go as the rest of the squad fires at its direction.
As Segun finally meets up with the rest of the squad Dele tells him, "We need you to draw its attention".
He replies, "Right right, how do I do that?" and Dele tells him over the radio, "Just stay there, and don't move".
Segun shrugs saying "Okay" then looks back in surprise to see the entire squad has hidden within the bushes.
He doesn't fully turn his head when the monster leaps from the bushes and starts clawing at his chest.
Segun groans and struggles with the monster for a few seconds until Michael sets them both on fire.
In an attempt to douse the flame, the monster frantically flaps its wings, allowing the SDF men to put it down with small arms fire. It collapses into a charred and mangled mess on the floor as the rest of the squad swiftly leaves the bushes.
Michael steps forward with his rifle to finish it off but hesitates when he sees the vestiges of a human face. Memories of his own transformation flood his mind and he becomes numb to everything around him.
The sound of a gunshot and the monsters dying gasp snaps him back to reality.
Dele grabs Micheal's shoulder and tells him, "Come on we have to search for survivors".
Dele's squad meets up with the team he sent earlier and they fan out in search of victims or anomalous objects. They recover the bodies of three men but find no enemies or kidnapped victims so they burn the shacks and cultists bodies before heading back to base.
Sequence 3
A storm begins to form as the squad heads back to the Apapa wharf. Dele looks on at his disappointed men hanging their heads low and walks up to each of them saying, "Ease up men, you did what you could".
Michael turns to see the Lagos Marina on his way to as they disembark at the wharf and remembers how home is just on the other side.
The thought of escape briefly crosses his mind but he just shakes his head and follows everyone else to the lower levels of the facility.
Amina is waiting excitedly to greet them, she wastes no time in walking up to Dele and asks, "Soooo, how did the mission go?". He raises his hands in the air and replies, "I... I don't want to talk about it" before walking down to the elevators.
Amina shrugs then turns to see Michael and Segun covered in slime and char, disgusted and slightly intrigued, she takes a swab of the slime from Michael's shoulder and says, "I can see why he doesn't want to talk about it".
Michael's sad demeanour catches her attention and she tells him, "Get yourself cleaned up, I want you show you something".
He does as instructed and meets Amina in her room.
She greets Michael and invites him to her table for some tea.
She pours him a cup and says, "You're acting strange again".
Michael puts two scoops of sugar inside and replies, "I have no idea what you're talking about".
Amina does the same, saying, "Come on I don't need a mind reader to tell me that, although it does help" before taking a sip.
Michael stares blankly at his cup and replies "I've been here for five months now? And yet it feels like I'm going nowhere".
She says, "That's not true!" but he replies "Don't lie to me, please. I saw one of his children, not even the bastard himself but I couldn't stop them from turning others, I wasn't strong enough ".
Amina stirs her tea around and says, "If you're going into this with the mindset that you can save everyone you're going to be very disappointed".
She puts down her spoon and continues, "I saw what you did out there, you might not see it as much, but someday someone will".
Michael gets stands up and leaves, saying, "Thank you for the tea" but Amina whines, "You didn't even try it!".
Outside, an SDF guard is standing, waiting for Michael.
He glances at the guard and asks "Are you going to take me in?" but the guard simply pulls down his mask and responds, "I just wanted to say thanks for what you for saving me earlier".
Michael recognises his voice and responds, "Don't mention it" before to walking away to train.
Sequence 4
Later that day, as Dele is busy sorting paperwork, he gets an emergency transmission, saying, "Calling Overwatch, Calling Overwatch, emergency transmission code AX-4-1".
Dele responds, "Overwatch here, what's the situation?".
The operator on the other line says, "The Leonid is attempting to escape, it is currently armed with a pistol and holding agent Amina hostage".
Upon hearing this he cuts the transmission and begins sprinting to the lower levels. Michael, Segun, and four guards follow him down through to the inner corridors of the base to find Prophet and several SDF guards taking cover behind a wall.
Dele forces his way past the men to see Moise pointing a gun at them with her left claw held tight to Amina's neck.
Moise shouts, "Open the doors or I'll kill her!" and Dele replies, "Go ahead, you'll die too".
Amina struggles and protests screaming, "Please think about what you say next because I really really don't want to die!".
Dele turns to Prophet, angrily whispering, "How could you of all people not see this coming!?" but he responds, "Why blame me? You are the one who gave her the gun".
Dele takes a deep breath then turns around to shout, "DIVA, let them go", DIVA protests the order but Dele repeats it anyway until the doors behind Moise slide open for her to slowly back out.
Dele turns to Segun and asks, "How quickly can you get your suit back together?".
Segun nervously scratches his neck and replies, "Five minutes maybe".
A segment in the wall opens and Dele pushes him through saying, "Do it in two" then orders the rest of the men to follow him to the surface deck through another way.
At the deck dozens of guards have taken up strategic positions, using vehicles and equipment around for cover.
Moise slowly paces forward with Amina towards the door and shouts "Open the door". A side door opens but Dele and the previous squad come out through it, so Moise takes a shot at the roof and shouts, "I am not playing around!".
Dele steps forward with his hands in the air and pleads, "Come on, you won't survive out there on your own" but Moise shouts, "That is my problem, your problem is getting me out!".
Dele says, "Alright, just keep moving back and the doors will open for you".
Moise steps back inch by inch with Amina held tightly close, the doors slowly open, making an unusually loud rumbling noise.
Before she can realise it, Segun dives down from a vent in the ceiling and stabs her in the shoulder, paralysing her left arm and allowing Amina to escape.
She runs straight into Dele's arms as Moise struggles with Segun on the ground.
Moise uses all her strength to push the Phalanx off her body and dashes under the narrow passage of the closing facility doors into the lagoon.
Dele comforts a trembling Amina saying, "It's okay, it's okay you're safe now".
The End?