The Marine Contra sweeps the corner, maintaining his distance and focus near the opening. The Red Zetsu's bioluminescent eyes eliminate any element of surprise as it beelines after him; he throws the flesh-eating ghoul against the reception desk, leveraging its momentum. Jim stomps on the mutant's face, eliciting a distinct crunch, yet the Red Zetsu is back on its feet within seconds. He enhances his fist with chakra, driving it through the zombie-like creature's celiac plexus. He follows up with a left hook, then an abdominal strike and a solid punch into the abomination's nose, fracturing its skull.
The mass murderer roundhouse kicks the Red Zetsu's flank, then batters the mutant with another left hook and a back fist strike. He plunges a kunai armed with an explosive tag into its nape, doubling over the abomination before uprighting it again with a snap kick to the chin. Jim destroys its spine with a swift kick, catapulting the mutant behind a reception desk. The flesh-eating ghoul convulses and squirms on the ground, somewhat immobile. A group of groaning zombified soldiers reanimate behind the desk.
'At least they're the slow ones,' the paper bomb detonates. More Red Zetsus rush the gates after shattering the reinforced windows but are kept at bay by the metal barrier. He closes the hall using the rolling shutters in the doorway; a Red Zetsu from behind the stairs staggers toward him. He shoves its forehead, knocking the abomination off balance, then continues up the stairwell. Due to the wreckage and burning debris, the upper levels are inaccessible. The war criminal uncovers the telltale signs of fūinjutsu sealing off the entryway.
His PDI (Personal Data and Inventory) device scans the barrier, breaking the obstacle down to its essential components while downloading the sealing tag's schematics. He decodes the algorithms, discovers how the fūinjutsu seal works, and how to manufacture functional duplicates. However, his PDI detects a key card on the previous floor. He vaults over the handrail, avoiding the Red Zetsu shuffling up the stairs after him. He searches a corpse sitting against the stair wall and finds the key card; the mutant tumbles over the railing, flopping on the surface behind him. He turns around; the cannibalistic fiend tries grabbing him, but he drops into the splits.
"Huhoogh!!!" Jim launches his fist into the Red Zetsu's groin.
"Toasty~!!"
The mutant doubles over; its glowing eyes burst from their sockets. The fugitive's foot rockets into the abomination's chin, heaving its feet off the ground. He Roundhouse kicks the zombie-like creature's jaw before sending the Red Zetsu spinning through the air via a tornado kick. The mutants breach the rolling shutters; Jim dashes up the stairs, unseals the entrance, and collects the fūinjutsu tag. He enters a small lounge before propping a soda machine between the entryway and the wall. The Contra follows the arrows toward the double doors pointing to the medical and radio rooms.
A corpse lies in the infirmary with chunks of flesh missing from its body. An appreciable amount of blood is on each bed, yet one distinguishes itself from the rest. Jim creeps towards a desk, uncovering a skeleton near an overturned bed. The ribcage is in pieces. Its limbs hang over the sides from the bed straps, the skull is missing, and the blood appears fresh; clear signs of a struggle are evident.
There's little to scavenge; the cabinets and drawers, including the desk safe, are vacant. Moreover, the broken terminal's hard drive shows signs of corruption and damage, which renders its documents useless. Besides a red herb sitting on a windowsill, his search for medical supplies falls short. He reaches for the red plant, but a sound akin to a sharp air intake draws his attention. Beside the desk, droplets of blood trail behind a window curtain. The noise persists following a quick snap at irregular intervals. He pulls the cloth, expecting a small animal. Instead, a severed head greets him, chomping at the air.
The skeleton near the bed is moving; the hands open and close. The spine lay quivering on the ground as the rest of the bones twitch and squirm—each appearing to have minds of their own. The long-drawn-out groan of the reanimating corpse steals Jim's attention. Its glowing eyes lock on him the moment it turns around. The Red Zetsu's mouth unhinges from its decomposing face as it staggers toward Jim, reaching for him with outstretched arms. He Spartan-kicks the mutant, launching it into an open locker that slams shut on impact.
After harvesting the red herb, the mass murderer mutters a mental checklist of supplies to himself as the Red Zetsu beats on the locker door. 'let's see: weapons, wire strings, medical supplies, etc... yes—very good, very good; what else might I need more of?' He reaches under the locker, 'Hmm—oh yeah, now I remember…' lifts it out a broken window, 'Um—out the fucking window with that!' then seals the aperture with fūinjutsu before exiting the medical room.
Two Red Zetsus scraping and pounding on the radio room entrance redirect their attention to the neighboring corridor, then shamble after him. He focuses chakra on his feet, walking up the wall's surface around the abominations. He ensures his distance, buying himself time to deactivate the room's security apparatus before entering and slamming the reinforced door. He proceeds to the main desk and discovers the operational surveillance network, "status report."
"The Red Zetsus surround the administrative towers; millions are bearing down upon the gates of Fort Firestorm. The middle and lower levels are inaccessible due to a containment breach; however, the upper floors are relatively secure."
"Are the targets in position?"
"Affirmative, you'll have a clear vantage point from the rooftops."
"Excellent. Lower the exterior draw bridges and have all containment protocols within the facility ready for nullification on my command."
"We're well aware I'm only a shadow clone, which renders my PDI and complex equipment on my person inoperable, Vega Contra."
"Then use what's available to enable and encode a new frequency to maintain radio contact! I'll authorize the encryption for my jammer."
"I assume that—thing is also in position then?"
"Approximately thirty meters within the Substitution Jutsu's maximum range at sector fifteen. I've calculated the area's circumference and checked the diameter; the trajectory on both radiuses should coordinate with the enemy's position."
"A bait and bleed pincer ambush to encircle and eliminate the enemy?"
"More or less—once I neutralize the Hyūga, their line of sight will suffer considerably. They'll inevitably triangulate my relative position. Regardless, by flanking the enemy, they'll have no choice but to separate. Divide and conquer; it's as simple as that."
"I'll reroute power to the lounge elevator; it'll be a straight shot to the rooftops."
"Then I'll take my leave and bid you farewell… Oh, and by the by." Jim hands his shadow clone the fūinjutsu tag from the stairwell, "Seal the entrance and rig the room with explosives. I'd rather not get a taste of what the Anbu Black Ops has in store for me if they catch you."
The radio room's heavy sliding door opens; a metal pole impales the flesh-eating ghoul's torso out of the darkness, knocking the abomination off its feet. The war criminal's boots slam into the adjacent mutant's face, crushing its skull against the tile. He retracts the bo staff, seals it in his inventory, and bolts to the lounge. The double doors swing open; the Red Zetsus approach, but the elevator closes before they become nuisances.
As the rundown metal box ascends, the distinct moans of the wandering dead increase; hundreds crowd the administrative tower's interior. The ghost-like whales and groans drown out the whirring machinery and rusting steel, which does somewhere along the lines of *jack and diddly squat* to alleviate Jim's uneasiness over the potential death trap. He suppresses his chakra, remaining quieter than a mouse and still as a statue; the fugitive almost leaps out of his skin as a crash thunders behind him.
He sidesteps a Red Zetsu, swinging its sharp, bone-like arm at him. He slams his elbow into the mutant's ribs before maneuvering behind the abomination, then hammering it with a sidelong kick. The cannibalistic fiend lunges its arm forward; he redirects and traps the inhuman appendage under his shoulder. He seizes a revolver from the Red Zetsu's trench coat, then fires, severing its arm. Jim empties the cylinder into the mutant's torso before impaling the abomination's skull against the wall with the detached limb. The zombie-like creature flails around, bumping into the control panel; the elevator slows.
He leaps through a maintenance hatch before the mutants rush in; their numerical advantage turns against them as they bottleneck the opening. The Contra keeps his distance from the flailing extremities, "Lightning Release: Synergistic Sabre." He grabs the support cables before disconnecting them; the elevator plunges with the Red Zetsus inside. The lines yank him in the air; he releases the wires, allowing the momentum to alight him onto the roof access floor.
The red hue from the crimson moons glints from the storm clouds. He readies his rifle, resting its stand on the ledge. He locates his shadow clone several meters away, signaling him in the opposing skyscraper.
'In position; ready on your kill,' the duplicate gestures.
After surveying the area, he spots his prime target and another doppelganger on standby. He focuses the image, then locks onto his target's center mass, 'Target acquired,' he signals back. 'The number of survivors is an unfortunate surprise; nevertheless, they are where I need them to be. Given the angle, a one-shot three-kill scenario is plausible if the round rips through the juxtaposing enemy's skull before impacting the other's center mass in tandem.' Jim adjusts the rifle's telescopic sights; he zeros in on his mark (accounting for elevation, wind, parallax adjustment) and exhales.
The rest is history.