THE SHADOW OVER ARTEMIS
In the video, researchers are using a laser cutter on a girl tied to a operating bench.
The girl's deafening screams of pain shook the operators, prompting Jay to decrease the volume.
Sean, Frederica and Nanami are all clenching their fists in rage, while Xiao Tian and Xu Qing, the 2 most senior operators, is looking at the screen with a concerned frown.
The girl being tortured by the Archangel scientists is an identical copy of Artemis 14 "Freyja". Had it not been the number "23" tattooed on her forehead, it is very likely that they would have forgotten the fact that she is dead and thought she is the real deal.
The scientists stopped, and the clone of Freyja panted in pain and stress. The gaping hole in her torso slowly closed up, the cauterised wound have fully healed in a matter of minutes, and the clone's ragged breathing evened, though her face is still devoid of colour.
"Regenerative abilities..." muttered Ariel in shock.
To their horror, the clone started to spasm, as her body started to morph, growing into a monstrous form whilst screaming in agony.
"Her regenerative abilities!" exclaimed Phineas. "It's gone haywire! Her cells and tissues are rapidly growing like a cancer, just that it is super fast!"
"She is also collapsing into her "true form" as an Angel subspecies, but her intake of Cosmic Energy is erratic, she is stuck in a transitional phase between the 2 forms!" said Louis. "And—"
"SHUT THE F*** UP!" yelled Nanami, angry that they are discussing her late sibling like a worthless piece of experimental consumable.
She drew her FN 5-7 pistol and aimed it at Xiao Tian's forehead, in the same instant she drew her pistol both Jay and Santos raised their pistols at her. Santos cocked the hammer of his custom M1911 pistol. This gives him a crisper trigger pull, allowing him to make an instant shot if he needs to.
In response, Frederica drew both her FN 5-7 pistol and Glock 48 pistols, dual wielding them at Jay and Santos.
The rest of Team Zero are stunned, not daring to do anything else.
Xiao Tian remained calm, looking at Nanami, whose eyes are red from rage.
"WASN'T HER BODY RECOVERED AND CREMATED?!" she roared.
"Yes it was," replied Xiao Tian. "I carried her into the helicopter when we busted you all out."
"THEN?!" snapped Nanami accusingly. "WHERE THE F*** DID ARCHANGEL GET THE GENETIC MATERIALS TO PRODUCE A CLONE WITH HER MEMORIES INTACT?"
Xiao Tian sighed. "I have no idea either."
"Nanami," said Sean, walking up to her, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Calm down. Since we are here, we will find the answers."
Nanami nodded, still shivering, keeping her pistol back into her holster.
Jay and Santos did the same, and Frederica followed afterwards.
"Sorry," she apologised.
"It's alright," replied Xiao Tian with a smile.
Xiao Tian then ordered Xu Qing and Louis to get all of the intel they can from the monitors. As they did so, he gathered everyone for a talk.
"I believe all of you had seen that," he said.
"This is a disgrace to the honour of our fallen comrades!" he exclaimed. "Are we going to let them get away with it?"
"NEVER!" exclaimed the entirety of Team Zero in unison.
Xiao Tian nodded. He grabbed his QBZ-97 from his bag together with a chest rig, wearing it over his ground personnel uniform disguise, overlapping the uniform and the concealed body armour he is wearing underneath.
He removed the magazine of rubber bullets, swapping it with live ammunition.
"You have the right to shoot to kill," he said.
With that, everyone swapped their magazines.
"Now this is more like it!" exclaimed James as he, Santos and Jay pulled the chords on their black backpacks over their ground personnel uniform disguise, transforming them into body armour form, grabbing their MP7A2 and SIG MCX from the front plates, swapping the magazines and extending or unfolding the stocks.
Phineas opened his bag, taking out his MP5A5 submachine gun and a set of body armour, wearing it over his lab coat disguise.
The rest of Team Zero in Pegasus contractor disguises took the lead in their breaching attack.
"Are cameras and security systems offline?" asked Xiao Tian.
"Taken care of," replied Xu Qing, readying his QCQ-171 submachine gun.
"You take the lead," said Louis, gesturing the Nanami.
"With pleasure," she grinned with a crazed, sadistic smile.
Ariel inserted the access key she had swiped off earlier.
Nanami looked into the other side of the door with a small concealed camera, stunned to realise that they are barricaded off, the Pegasus contractors on the other side have gathered to the door, raising their guns alertly.
"We are blown?" she asked incredulously.
"How?" muttered Xu Qing in confusion, looking at this modem again.
"Uh, guys, what is Captain Aya doing here? And are those Mechas from Amethyst Detachment?!" he said, showing them the docking area.
"It's Team Phantom," said Jay.
In the camera feed, Aya and the rest of Team Phantom are busy coordinating with the Pegasus contractors to evacuate the research base.
"Oh sh*t, who exposed us?" asked Santos.
"Nah, Big Sis is simply smart," replied Sean. "She must have figured out where we were headed!"
"But they haven't found our location yet, otherwise we would have been rushed from both sides by now," analysed Sean.
(Docking area)
"Clara," ordered Aya as she readied her weapons. "You all stay here and keep guard."
"Roger that," replied Clara Park. She is leading a squad of Mechas, taking up sentry positions along the docking area.
She sat in the cockpit of her MS-1870C commando class Mecha, looking out at the Team Phantom operators and Pegasus contractors rushing inside. Underneath her and her comrades are 2 space shuttles manned by the other members of the 106th Special Regiment, the dedicated Mecha and aviation unit of Task Force Prime
She sighed, thinking of the contents of her mission.
"Please be ok, Sean...everyone..." she muttered internally.
Just then, a massive shudder shook the facility, causing it to start drifting in the air erratically.
(Labs)
The sudden jolt threw the Archangel staff in the other rooms off balance, flooring them.
In the exact same moment, the doors in front of them opened.
Nanami rushed out, firing her AK-19 rifle at one to her left, killing him. The rest of Team Zero followed in CQB formation. Louis placed a follow up shot on the contractor with his Noveske N4 rifle.
The operators spread out, moving through the rooms, gunning down the resistance they met.
Ariel and Phineas approached a door. Ariel kicked it down with a hard back kick.
Phineas shot the scientists inside with his MP5A5 before they could fire their pistols. The 2 then entered the room.
Meanwhile, Xu Qing is busy downloading data from the main server of the labs.
"Didn't expect messing around with the facility's hover engines to work so well," mused Jay, reloading his SIG MCX.
Just then, a loud explosion is heard from the room Phineas and Ariel were clearing. The rest of Team Zero immediately trained their guns there.
Sean nervously pointed his SCAR-SC at the door, radioing for Phineas and Ariel. The only thing he can hear are their screams and a beast like roar.
Phineas is then suddenly thrown out, landing on the floor with a loud thud, he coughed, groaning in pain.
"You alright Doctor?" asked Santos as he hurriedly pulled him back, only to stop midway when he saw something that almost made him go insane from the sheer monster he saw.
Ariel is being choked in a tentacle like appendage, held in the air.
The clone of Freyja screeched from pain, fear and anger. Her mutation has progressed to an extremely severe stage now, her entire body has melted down into a blob of gelatinous flesh, barely able to make out her humanoid form. She is not walking, instead literally dragging her body in pain as she toiled over.
"My god..." muttered Sean in horror.
They quickly opened fire, managing to free Ariel from the clutches. Nanami immediately used telekinesis to pull her back. Ariel coughed, gasping for air.
The clone screeched, lashing out at them with bursts of Cosmic Energy. The bodies of Squad Artemis are already very hard to damage to begin with, with the advanced regenerative capabilities made her almost impossible to kill. The bullets fired and the magic attacks did not hurt her one bit.
"AHH!" yelled Xu Qing in pain when a ceiling light fell on him after it was shaken lose from the impact of the clone's powers, trapping him.
"Hang on!" yelled Phineas, rushing over to him, only to be thrown away by a wind magic burst.
James charged forward, seeing an opening in her elaborate attack patterns, firing his MP7A2 while Santos and Frederica covered him, firing their SIG MCXs.
He jumped onto the clone's back, planting a grenade and pulling the pin, jumping off and rolling to safety.
"BOOM!" the grenade went off, and the clone remained unscathed.
"No way," muttered Xiao Tian, quickly reloading his QBZ-97. "KEEP SHOOTING! DON'T STOP! KEEP YOUR DISTANCE!"
Ariel stood back up, shooting her AUG A3SF, raining down bullets. Once it locked empty, she switched to her CZ P07 pistol, firing.
Sean slid over to a corner, firing his SCAR-SC.
The clone screeched, jumping at him, conjuring a few ice javelins.
"LOOK OUT!" yelled Nanami.
Sean braced himself for the impact.
The clone stopped before she reached him, her ice javelins shattering onto the floor, and she fell weakly onto the floor, coughing up blood.
"What the hell?" asked a stunned Xu Qing as he limped over, keeping his QCQ-171 raised alertly.
"She is succumbing to her cancer like healing factor," said Phineas. "It has taken up all of the nutrients in her body and it can no longer sustain itself, her external wounds aren't healing anymore."
"Sean..?" she muttered weakly, some sense coming back to her.
"Freyja..." muttered Sean.
"Nanami, Freddie..." she muttered, looking at them.
"I am so scared..." she sniffed. "It hurts..."
"I am here," said Sean, hugging her in his arms.
Nanami and Frederica sat down next to them, eyes swelled with tears. Even though they know she is merely a perverted copy of their deceased sibling and comrade, the fact that she has Freyja's memories and looks is enough to treat her like the real deal.
Nanami looked to Phineas with a pained expression.
"Can she make it?" she asked in Chinese, knowing that Freyja cannot understand it.
Phineas solemnly shook his head.
Sean's heart sank.
"It hurts..." she muttered. "Where's Big Sis and the others?"
"They are on another mission," replied Nanami, lying.
"Sir..." she groaned, looking at Xiao Tian. "Are you all...their...new...comrades?" Blood coming out of her mouth has formed a pool on the floor.
"Yes," smiled Xiao Tian, trying to make her feel better.
"And....dawns here quiet, so quiet...With a... bandage of mist they are covered....The...lakes...with crimson... burn" sang the clone weakly in Russian. Sean gasped. It's the lyrics of the Russian song "The dawns here are quiet" by Lyube, based on the novel of the same name. It's Freyja's favourite song, and she would sing it when she is in a difficult scenario to pump herself up.
"And dawns here are quiet, and peaceful, With nectar like apple-tree filled
And the Sun, like in tarsus of bumblebee." Sean, Frederica and Nanami sang along softly, while Sean slowly drew his pistol out of sight of the clone.
Nanami saw what he is doing and gave him a nod.
The rest of their comrades who knows the lyrics: Xiao Tian, Ariel and Phineas sang along as well.
"Did you know! It's not easy to walk through the mist; Slightly stumble,- and you can fall down. We need- to believe, to love, by the truth we must live, So that sweetheart would love, so she would wait for you,"
A gunshot rang out, the clone fell into Sean's arms, her body cold, with a faint smile on her face, for she is finally liberated from her suffering.