Chapter 38: Arena of Truth

The lock slowly turned to the side. A low sound told him and the rest of the team that he had successfully lockedpicked it. Removing his tools and tucking them back into his brasser on his left arm, he drew his trusty tomahawk from the holster at his lower back and his side arm from his hip.

Giving a look over his shoulder, he saw Sky, Liquid and Worm ready to act. The first two were carrying a P90 mounted with a sound suppressor, the last one was holding a regular M9.

Slowly he picked up a small oil can from one of his pouches and greased the hinges of the door. It wasn’t necessary, there wasn’t any rust on them but it was better safe than sorry. Once that was done and the can put away, he turned the handle and pushed the door ajar.

His eyes saw through the darkness without any difficulty and scanned the room from the gap. Not seeing anything wrong, he stepped inside ready to strike down any guards who may have been hiding in his blind spot. Signaling with his hand that the coast was clear, his teammates got inside.

Immediately, he went to check on another door on the right while Liquid went to check on the one on the left of the room. Worm checked on a terminal he had turned on and began doing what he knew best: hacking.

Sky turned on her radio. “This is Sky. Roach got us inside. No guards.”

“Crow, here. Nothing unusual with security rounds. Team Beta is on standby, ready to act if need be.”

“Roger that.” Sky cut the communication and took note of Liquid and Roach giving her an okay sign, meaning everything was clear. She walked out to Worm who was typing away on a keyboard. “What do you have?”

“E-mails. Nothing useful regarding what’s here. It’s just a run out of the mill terminal.”

“Can you have access to another one from here?”

Worm shook his head. “It’s on an outer network.” he pointed at a name on the screen then at another. “I’ll need access to a computer connected to this one.”

Sky pondered the situation for a moment. Finding another computer, one connected to the important network, meant going deeper into the complex. A risky if not outright dangerous move to do.

“We’ll go to the security room, deal with the guards and you will guide us from there. We’ll split. Liquid, Roach, you’ll stay together. I’ll go alone.”

Worm disconnected his equipment from the computer and put it away. Picking up his gun he followed behind Sky who was following Liquid and Roach through the right door.

They moved in silence, like shadows, through the corridors. When Roach stopped, they stopped. When he moved, they moved. Thrice they had to make a detour or simply go one after the other to avoid being caught by a camera.

Arriving at the doors of an elevator, Roach used his tomahawk to pry them open as silently as possible. His head went through them and he checked where the elevator was. After signaling it was down, He grabbed the cable holding it and began to climb it.

Up five floors, he stuck the back of his axe into the wall. So deep it didn’t move an inch when he put his whole weight on it. Using the knife in his boot, he separated the double door enough for him to grab one with his hand. Pulling strongly, he pulled them open a bit more. Once the gap was wide enough for his foot, he used it to push the other side further and completely open the access to the floor.

With a powerful tug, he removed his tomahawk from the wall and contacted Sky by radio to tell her he was moving to the security room. Without anyone to witness it, he used his enhanced physical ability to move so fast, the guards looking through the camera feed would have seen nothing.

Roach quickly found the correct room. It had been easy, it had ‘Security Room’ written on it. Straining his ear against the wood, he was able to determine that inside was only one person. Taking a moment to think about how to proceed, he decided fast.

Discarding a knock on the door to knock out the guard when he opened it, he had settled on just doing it himself, run inside and then knock the guard unconscious before it could understand anything.

It went smoothly.

Roach checked the cameras and contacted the rest of the team through the radio. Both to warn them of his success and to guide them up, making sure some cameras were looking away when necessary. It didn’t take long for his teammate to go up through the staircase and join him in the room. In the meantime he had tied up and gagged the guard.

Worm immediately sat behind the security console to work with it. He took a card reader from his backpack, put it down in front of him and connected it to the computer.

“It seems counter productive to have the system controlling the whole security not in the most secure place of the complex.” Liquid noticed aloud.

Roach agreed with her but understood why it was like this. “It’s an old complex. And maybe the security is buffed underground.”

“Roach’s right. I can give you access to the basic level of security from here but beyond that, I’d need access to another terminal.” Worm finished typing on the keyboard and waited for his device to code the three magnetic cards they would need.

Once they were done, each received one and most departed for the elevator. Sky contacted Crow and warned they may be out of contact soon. She swiped her new security access where it was needed and pushed the button for the basement.

“I feel like this is a trap.” Roach shared as they descended.

Liquid spared him a glance. “Why do you think so? Not that I think you’re wrong.”

“Because the last time I infiltrated an Umbrella complex was on Christmas and there was a helicopter shooting at me and four dozen mercenaries on standby.” Roach answered. “It’s not a special day today and the security is quite… minimal.”

Sky finished his train of thought. “Either there is nothing of import here or we’re walking into a trap. Stay vigilant. If you see an obstacle, eliminate it silently.” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am.” Liquid and Roach replied as one.

The door opened and they immediately sprung into action. They split up as Sky said previously. She went left and the others right. Checking room after room, nothing out of the ordinary was discovered. It felt even more fishy to Roach and Liquid. Especially when they hadn’t encountered any guard.

“Worm, do you copy?” Liquid contacted her teammate on the radio.

“Worm, here.”

“There is something wrong afoot. There are no guards and no security beyond our level of access.”

Sky spoke on the line. “It's the same on my side.”

“There is a secret access somewhere,” Roach chimed in. “I just know it.”

Roach and Liquid arrived in an open breakroom. Table neatly positioned to give as much space as possible. Pot plants at the corners, small shelves, a sink, a fridge and a coffee machine in a recess of the wall in the corner. It reminded him of that one communal space in Nest in the East Area even though the design was completely different. Most of all that one, lone, vending machine against the wall.

Following his intuition, Roach got closer and had a better look. You could insert coins into it but there was also another method of payment. A card reader. That made no sense and intrigued him. Looking down at the ground he saw scratched marks. The machine was clearly moved repeatedly to the side for them to be that deep.

Taking his access card he swiped it into the appropriate spot. One of the greyed selection buttons lit green and the vending machine slid to the side revealing an elevator.

“Roach, here. I found a secret access.” Liquid joined his side from the far end of the room. “An elevator, probably going down.”

Liquid was more detailed. “We’re in the East Breakroom. Two corners right, one corner left from her point of arrival.”

“I’m on my way.” The feminine but cold voice of Sky came through the comms.

The pair heard a camera pivoting on the wall above the vending machine.“I got you on the camera feed. There aren’t any elevators or further underground on the blueprints of the building. You’ll be without eyes.”

“Worm, pull back and regroup with Team Beta. No point in you going down. Clean the camera footage.”

“Yes, Ma’am. Good Luck.”

Sky arrived within minutes and they entered the elevator promptly. She pushed the only button going down. The next level was very deep underground they found out when after nearly thirty seconds of descent passed before the doors opened.

Roach took the lead and went out first. A curse escaped him when he saw the surroundings.

“Roach?” Sky called out to him.

“It’s the same architecture as the Nest, ma’am.”

In front of them was a relatively short white corridor. It looked pristine, clean and sterilized. Everything you would expect in a medical facility or laboratory dealing with anything biologic. Three familiar hydraulic doors wide opened and gave a view of a small reception area.

Much like the Nest.

Walking forward slowly, Roach stayed vigilant. “I think there is a third party present ma’am.”

With his enhanced sight he was able to smell the iron in the air. Arriving at the high reception desk he saw a dead woman in a pool of her own blood on the ground. He pointed at it with the hand holding his tomahawk then rolled over the table and severed the head from the dead body.

“Infected?” Liquid inquired, unphased by Roach’s actions.

The man straightened up from his crouching position. “It doesn’t seem like it but with everything related to Umbrella… Better be safe than sorry.”

Sky was already working on the computer behind the desk trying to find any kind of information that could help them with their mission. She found none. At least no direct ones. The only thing she got was a list of people coming and going and a map of the area.

“There are 23 people. Fifteen mercenaries. There is no other level to explore but this place is vast. A few labs on the left side beyond this door,” she pointed at the one at the end of the room. “A test area on the right.”

“Now that’s curious.” Roach wondered aloud.

Liquid had her own idea about the place. “You think it’s a test site for bio-weapons, first and foremost?”

“It’s possible.” Sky leaned back from the computer screen. “We’re visiting the labs, first. The data is probably there.”

The trio fell into formation immediately, Roach taking the lead. They went through the door and were met with a small hall. One access to the left, one access to the right. It would have been a pleasant place to be in if not for blood stains, bullet cartridges everywhere and the corpses of mercenaries around. Moving corpses.

“Congrats, Liquid. Your first meeting with a bio-weapon.” Roach’s voice was cold and tired.

Liquid didn’t appear to be destabilized by the sight in front of her. Disgust pooled in her stomach when she caught two undead feasting on the entrails of someone but her demeanor stayed professional and schooled.

She tightened her grip on her P90 and took aim, ready to pull the trigger. “It was bound to happen, sooner or later.”

Sky did the same and walked forward. “We put them down.”

The first shot ended up to the side of the head of a mercenary to the right, the second to the one right next to it. Liquid covered the other side of the room. Roach went straight in the middle and swung his tomahawk, severing the head or at the very least the spine, of zombies kneeling to eat or playing dead. In less than a minute the whole hall was purged.

“We have an outbreak,” Roach pointed out at the right corridor, where more blood covered the floor and walls.

“Shessh, what makes you think that? Corpses walking or zombies?” Liquid, checked on her ammo in her magazine and spoke sarcastically.

Sky stayed focused however. Roach was the most experienced in outbreaks and his words weighed a lot. She wanted an explanation. “Roach?”

“Mercenaries are easy to identify from their gear but the others? I have one scientist here, wearing a lab coat but also two B.O.W. dressed in dirty rags. Those two must have been experiments.”

“And they’re out of their containment units.” Sky understood what he meant. This complicated the mission a lot if bio-weapons were out and about. The Zombies alone were not that high of a threat but a hunter or a licker was something else. Especially the latter. She tried to contact Team Beta to have it assault the whole building and Blast rig the whole place for destruction but they were too far underground for communication to reach outside.

“We continue as planned. Be even more vigilant.”

Roach looted a keycard from the scientist’s body. One of a higher accreditation level than what they had. A lucky find that allowed them to go through the door leading to the lab area.

It was clean. There was no blood, no bodies, not littering of bullet casings. It seemed that the outbreak hadn’t reached this side of the complex yet and was mostly contained to the testing area.

The trio was able to peer into the multiple labs without going inside of them, thanks to the huge window allowing them to do so. At first glance, nothing seemed wrong. Plenty of machines, microscopes, freezer, computers, note pad, chemicals. It was what one would expect to see in a regular lab.

Were it not for the transparent pods, full of liquid and flesh inside of them.

Roach recognized the arm of a hunter in one of those. It was the only thing he could make out. Everything else was just… things, no one could tell what it was.

“Do you think the scientists are all…” Liquid started speaking about the lack of people in the area when she saw two bodies lying face down on the ground in the last lab. “Apparently not.”

Sky made a few hand signs to Roach, who slouched forward a bit. When he entered the lab, he silently went to check on the scientist. Without warning, his tomahawk went down and severed their neck.

“I don’t think they were infected.” He grabbed a head and showed the bullet wound right into their forehead.

Sky got a quick look. “The third party’s doing, perhaps.”

She ordered Roach to check the second terminal in the room while she did so with the first. Liquid searched for the pockets of the scientists and found two more magnetic cards of the same level as the one Roach acquired earlier.

He was the first to speak up. “I found data regarding their research but nothing battle related. It’s all technical talk about the modification to the T-virus.”

“Hm… From what I’m reading it’s the same thing here.” Sky typed on the keyboard in front of her. “Can you download everything?”

Roach searched one of his pouches and pulled out a huge and thick device. The latest and newest portable hard drive in existence. It had been released in the private market a few months ago and Worm had made a request to the Major to get a few. The price was exorbitant but their Team was well funded so it hadn’t been a problem. He found a nearby power outlet and connected the hard drive to the terminal.

“Should I just make a copy or erase the original data?” He asked his superior while he prepared for the operation.

“Erase the original.”

Roach typed a few commands, and let the transfer happen. The second terminal was then searched more thoroughly by him. To compare the data on it to the other computer. They were identical. He left the room to go to another and check others. All contained the same information, so the group wouldn’t have to spend more time in here, copying everything.

While the transfer was happening and taking its time. Roach leaned against a console next to Liquid who was sitting on a chair on wheels.

“Everything’s alright?” He asked her.

“Hm.” Was her answer but she added more to it. With words. “I was thinking about those things. At first I thought they were a joke and that you’ve been exaggerating things. A single bullet to the head and poof they were done. Then I thought of Raccoon City. Their numbers, the narrow alleys or wide space, then the chaos, the destruction… I can see how it could have been a nightmare. It’s… impressive you survived without training.”

“The worst wasn’t the zombies. It was the humans. Panicked, emotional, making stupid and rash decision or simply ready to fuck with you just so they could live. Between those that hid their bites or those that couldn’t hurt their former loved ones or acquaintances…” Roach didn’t go further and sighed instead.

Liquid understood better what he went through now. In part. Her own interaction with zombies had been one with perfect conditions for her. Wide space, distance, distracted undead and low numbers. Roach on the other hand had been in the worst situation possible. She didn’t doubt she would have survived but she knew it wouldn’t have been easy and it wouldn’t have been a sure thing.

Reading a report had been one thing but being confronted with what she read was a very different experience. Now more than ever, she re-evaluated the threat those bio-weapons were even from a second hand experience. Especially since zombies were the most basic and less dangerous threat recorded.

The silence between the two was broken by Roach. “When we get back to the base… I have something to talk with you about.”

Liquid turned her head to the side. The black mask she was wearing hid her facial expression but from her eyes he could see curiosity. From his tone, she knew it was about something serious. In normal time, Roach was very private with his life. Very factual when he was but right there, she knew it was about something different. Since they were on a mission she didn’t ask the questions that went through her mind and wanted to ask and kept quiet but once back on base, she’d be ready to hear what he had to say.

Sky was looking and listening from the side, her gaze fixed on Roach. He had noticed. Not only the staring but also the subtle nod of approval. In her opinion, which he knew well, the conversation Roach wanted to have with Liquid was eight months overdue.

A short but loud beep of alert came from the terminal. Roach went to check and confirmed the transfer of data was complete. Unplugging the hard drive, he handed it to Sky for safekeeping.

While the data could be useful it wasn’t what they were looking for. With only the Testing area to explore left, they left the labs, ready to deal with the probable outbreak beyond the locked door leading to the other side of the underground.

What they found behind it was within Roach’s expectations. A scene even worse than in the Main Hall. Blood, bodies, bullet casings. It didn’t surprise him one bit and if it did for Sky and liquid, they didn’t show it.

They went down a short corridor that split three ways. The path on the left led to the observation and command room. The one of the right, to the armory. Finally the one forward was descending stairs, probably giving access to the field area.

Considering her option and the time, Sky decided that each member of the team would go in a direction. She would go left and Liquid Right. Getting ammo or weapons to deal with the possible outbreak was a must. Roach would go down the field. Out of the three of them, he was the most dangerous fighter for his physical abilities alone. Furthermore, he was the only one who couldn’t get infected from the T-Virus.

After reminding them to be careful from the third party, Sky made her way left. It didn’t take long for her to arrive at the door to the command room. It was ajar and she could make out three different people talking. From the interaction between them, she could tell they weren’t on the same side. One was stuttering and sounded afraid and panicked. Another sounded cold and commanding while the third had an edge of sadism in its tone. Clearly, the latter enjoyed terrorizing the first.

“Do what you’re told or you— Who’s that?” Sky heard the leader speak.

The second void, which she was almost certain was a scientist replied. “I-I-I- don’t know!”

“Oh, you don’t know? How convenient.” The sadistic voice mocked.

“P-please! I don’t— I really have have no— NO, no, no, I swear—”

The leader put an end to the pleasing. “Enough. It doesn’t matter who that bitch is. He’s inside the arena so he’s going to be a test subject just like your colleagues. Close the exit and release the hunters.”

“Why just the hunters? We’re done here anyway and orders are to blow up the place once we’ve recovered the data.”

“Fair point.” Sky heard a smack followed by a shout of pain. “You heard him. Release everything.”

“B-but the Lickers…”

The sound of a gunshot and a heavy weight following to the ground told Sky that the scientist had been executed. Not wanting Roach to face a horde of bio-weapons on his own, she burst through the door and unloaded her P90 nearly at the same time. The two armed men, dressed in tactical gear without any distinctive signs to identify them, fell dead, bodies riddled with bullet holes.

Quickly she checked the consoles right below the wide window giving a perfect view of what looked like an arena. It was wide and circular. Plenty of bodies everywhere. Both human and not. From up on the ceiling, metal crates and coffins came through the wall and followed a rail. The different shapes told her it was different types of bio-weapons.

She tried and succeeded in finding the door’s command but they were locked and would stay so until the test was over. Roach must have entered right after the end of one. When the containment units dropped to the ground, they opened. Immediately hunters sprung from their own, while multiple dozen zombies came out stumbling from their own containers.

Roach had drawn his shotgun in one hand and his sidearm in the other. Grabbing the microphone on the console, she pushed the button on it.

“Roach! The door is locked and won’t open! I’ll be back with Liquid and weapons to assist you from here. Survive!”

Sky got no answer but she saw him dodged at inhuman speed, the claws of a hunter and blasted him in the head with his shotgun. She tried to break the window by firing at it but it was bullet proof. Not wasting time, she ran out of the room to reach Liquid and the armory.

Along the way she encountered freshly killed corpses and casings of P90 on the ground. Liquid’s work without a doubt. Turning at a corner she tried her radio.

“Liquid, this is Sky! We have a problem!”

“Liquid, here. Whatever it is, ma’am there is enough—”

“Roach is fighting a horde of bio-weapons on his own and can’t escape. Take everything explosive you can, I’m on my way.”

“I’m on my way.”

Liquid’s voice had turned serious in her last reply. As Sky moved further down a corridor, passing over locker rooms and showers, she saw her subordinate come out of a room, carrying a long case in her arms.

“Liquid!”

“Got a bag full of ammo, weapons and grenades, ma’am.” the woman answered and handed the case when Sky signaled her to do so. “Rocket launcher.” She explained the content of it.

That would be more than enough to break the bullet proof glass and support Roach. In a hurry they backtrack back to the intersection and Sky led the way to the command room. Instead of stepping in, she stayed outside and put the case down. From it she pulled and armed the rocket launcher, right under Liquid wide eyes. Through the door she aimed at the window and fired.

It did the job.

Going inside, P90 raised, she and Liquid aimed down to offer covering fire to Roach. Instead they froze from what they saw.

Roach was doing fine on his own. He had rushed amidst a group of zombies and was swinging his tomahawk wildly, never staying in position for more than a second once a head had rolled down. A hunter tried an ambush by jumping on him from behind but Roach turned too fast for them to completely understand he had done so.

To them, one moment, Roach was putting down a zombie, the next he deepthroated the hunter with the barrel of his shotgun and pulled the trigger. The skull and back of the bio-weapon exploded outward in a mess of gore and blood.

“What the fuck?” Liquid let out without noticing. She didn’t understand what had just happened.

Sky was watching intently, still ready to act if necessary. She wanted to see what Roach could do in a real situation against B.O.W. No matter how much she, the Major and the Doctor tested his abilities, they didn’t have the means to test them fully. They had no way to witness him going all out.

Roach had moved on already, bursting the last zombie’s head using his empty shotgun as a baseball bat. When he tried to reload, he tilted his head to the side and avoided the piercing tongue of a Licker. So far there had been so many sounds, so much noise, that the creatures had been confused and attacked everything. With Roach noticeably reducing the numbers of noise’ sources, it was only a matter of time before they focused on him.

Letting go of his shotgun, he grabbed the tongue and pulled. The licker to whom the appendage belonged too came flying towards him only to be caught by his free hand. At the same time a second one had jumped from his other side. It too was caught and both their brains were turned to mush when Roach made their head collide with so much strength that nothing was left.

“What the fuck?” Liquid repeated but this time she didn’t sound bewildered. Her tone was cautious and angry. “What is this?! That’s… No one can do that! No one can move so fast or have so much strength. What the fuck is he?”

“I believe, Liquid, that it is the talk he wanted to have with you at our return.”

Liquid’s head snapped in the direction of Sky who was still looking at Roach. It was obvious to her that the woman knew about this. She couldn’t believe that after nine months of partnership, after being the closest to each other, her partner had been hiding something like this from her.

As Roach was dealing with the rest of the bio-weapons and the new one that were dispatched from the ceiling, Liquid swore she was going to give him a piece of her mind whether she liked or not what he was going to tell her.