Infiltration And Trouble!

The rhythmic, mechanical beeping pierced through the haze in Kai's mind, drawing his attention. He felt his throat parched as consciousness slowly returned, revealing two figures before him.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" one figure murmured.

"Hard to say... He's been like this since the day he arrived. Sometimes I wonder if he'll ever wake up. Poor thing. Must be one of those monsters that brought him to this state..."

Though he couldn't hear them clearly, he could make out their conversation by watching their lips move.

Where am I?

Surveying his surroundings through blurred vision, he realized he was in a stark white room. Various machines were connected to his body, their surreal beeping surrounding him. An oxygen mask covered his face, delivering life-sustaining breaths.

What happened to me?

His head was swathed in bandages, and an unfamiliar ceiling loomed above, signaling the end of whatever pleasant dream he'd been having. It was time to confront reality.

"Hm?"

The man attending to him sensed a shift in the atmosphere and took a closer look at his patient.

Through half-lidded eyes, he saw the man in white approaching.

"You're finally awake," he said. "You should rest; recovery might take a while."

Kai's mind swirled with confusion.

"I should probably report this soon..." the doctor added, checking his watch.

[21:56]

With his shift ending, he decided to visit the manager's office before calling it a day.

"Wait here; someone else will come to keep you company," his voice faded as he left the room, urging Kai to rest a while longer.

The door clicked shut, leaving the room in echoing silence.

Left alone, Kai slowly removed the tubes piercing his body.

As soon as he got out of bed, he saw a mirror in front of him reflecting his image.

Right then, Memories came flooding back to him in an instant. "...! Argh!" the pain in his head increased with his ears ringing. The questions in his mind were answered immediately as his past self took over his body.

"sigh... haah..." his heartbeat calmed down, he calmed down.

He knew who he was. And he also remembered why he was here.

The first thing that came to his mind was: '...Are you in there, Pest?'

Weirdly enough, somewhere in the corner of his mind, a voice answered in a cynical tone.

[Don't call me a pest, Sh*tface! My patience has its limits.]

"..." Kai found Hearing such a voice in his head a hard pill to swallow. He was hoping to get rid of it during this whole ordeal, but luck wasn't on his side.

'The injury to my head was severe enough that I almost lost memories and lost myself, yet it's still not enough rid of him...' he thought.

But currently, there are more important things he needs to take care of.

"Alright, I somehow made it inside the MB- 35..."

Grimacing from the pain, he, no, Kai, scavenged nearby shelves for clothing to bind his wounds. The pain persisted, but he knew he couldn't stay in the bed, resting.

He drew back the curtain, revealing the outside.

"Good, it looks like I arrived before them. Maybe I can prevent this place from falling."

An unintentional sigh of relief escaped him, and instantly, the beeping intensified, a sound of buzzer came through the walls, the overhead lighting became red, casting the white room, crimson.

Kai took a step back as sweat dripped down his face, accompanied by a voice inside his head.

[I told you it was a bad idea.]

"Shut up! You don't know anything. Stop patronizing me."

[You should've listened to me. It would've been better if you just stayed away.]

"..."

The crimson floor beneath him shook from an impact on the ground above.

{Emergency! Monsters detected! This is not a drill! I repeat this is not a drill...}

"Dammit..."

***

"What is happening?"

Commander Leonard D'roben, a bald-faced man who appeared to be in his forties, questioned with a furrowed brow. Despite his age, his military uniform, adorned with numerous medals, hinted at his extraordinary background.

And the medal he was most proud to receive was etched in his face, a scar he got on the battlefield. It thorbs every time when a fight is about to start.

Seated in his spacious office, his two lieutenants reported the breach of the barriers by the monsters.

"It seems the barriers have been breached, Commander."

"Yes, sir. I request orders to deploy Squad 7."

Commander D'roben remained calm, despite the urgency, and closed his eyes, revealing a plan already set in motion.

"It's alright," he assured them. "We've anticipated a day like this. I've made some alterations to our forces..."

Both lieutenants fell momentarily silent before one found the courage to inquire further.

"Sir, by any chance are you talking about..."

"Yes, you're right. I'm talking about them. The Awakened Heroes."

"With all due respect, commander. I fear it would not be a wise decision. Their powers are untested. We don't know where their loyalty lies. And those gods they talk about, it is quite possible that they are the ones responsible for this apocalypse."

"Yes, we can't have them on the same battlefield as our men."

D'roben thought about it before giving a satisfactory answer to his subordinates.

"For one, I don't trust them any more than you do. But at the same time, I want to see what they're capable of."

"But still..."

"So I want them to be the first ones to face the wave of beasts, do you still have questions?"

The brazen declaration of their superior made the hearts of the lieutenants stumble back.

Immediately realizing their mistake, the lieutenants exchanged nods and hurriedly relayed the orders.

"No sir." they said in unison.

Protocol Omega was reserved for dire situations, and Squad 7, a specialized unit, was ready to respond.

***

Back in the crimson-lit room, Kai's mind raced. The voice inside his head grew more insistent. [you did well, getting us inside. Now, just give me the seat and we can get out of here after I complete what we came here to do.]

"No." Kai clenched his fists. "I can't just stand by. Not again."

[Damn, you're persistent. This is why I hate you.]

Ignoring the voice, he opened the door, tapping a button to his right furiously.

When he heard footsteps outside, he was at a loss for what to do next.

He couldn't afford to be found out. He just realized how much hard work was put into this plan, people's lives were at stake here. In his hurry, he chose the only way out.

The ventilation tubes above him. It wasn't the best choice. But he clearly was in lack of those things.

The door opened with a hiss when the doctor came inside swiping with his identity card. The green light shows he was verified and allowed inside.

"Huh?"

For a second the doctor wonders if come through the wrong door.

The room was a mess...

The tablets, chemicals, machines... It appears someone was searching through them furiously.

"What the hell happened here? Did monsters come onside?"

But it was impossible. There were only one window inside the white room, polycarbonated several layers, even missiles find hard to penetrate. Also, they were underground right now, the window showed no sign of being broken.

Then he remembered," The patient... yeah. Dr. Vick informed me he just woke up, right? But where is he?"

The bed was wrinkled with several tubes of life support hanging down. There were shades of blood at each of their tips. The patient must've pulled them out at the cost of bleeding himself.

He was nowhere to be seen. "I... I have to report this."

===