AN : Sorry, I fell asleep and forgot to set up the draft for the chapter.
Where's the power stone, guys?
...
Early in the morning, Karena saw Allen just coming out of his bedroom. But today, she looked a bit pouty, clearly unhappy about something.
Seeing her expression, Allen asked, "What's wrong, sweetheart?" as he leaned in and kissed the top of her head from behind.
"Huftt… it's because you're not taking me with you on that dangerous mission tonight. You know I'm your guard too, and I want to be by your side to protect you," Karena said, puffing her cheeks in a clear pout.
It made Allen want to laugh and pinch her cheeks—she looked adorable acting like a sulky little kid.
"Well, sorry about that, but I also need people I can trust to protect Alyssa, Cindy, and the others. And you know that," Allen replied as he sat down and leaned against Karena's shoulder in a slightly spoiled manner.
"Fine then. In that case, once your mission is over, I want you to take me out on a date—just the two of us," Karena said, clearly wanting some alone time with her handsome boyfriend.
"Hmmm, oke sure," Allen replied, kissing her hand gently.
Meanwhile, Svetlana, who overheard their conversation, naturally couldn't resist teasing them.
"Hmph… what a sly woman," she said mockingly.
"Ohhh? Are you jealous?" Karena shot back immediately.
"Why would I be jealous? I mean, I can ask Allen to take me out on a date or dinner anytime I want—without making up some weird excuse like you're doing right now, you know," Svetlana replied, sticking out her tongue.
And of course, that made Karena a bit annoyed, and the whole thing quickly turned into a small but heated argument early in the morning.
Seeing the two girls arguing over something trivial, Allen chose to leave them be and went off to check the equipment he would be using for tonight's mission. As long as they didn't hurt each other, he didn't really mind their little argument anyway.
....
Later that night, Allen arrived with Svetlana and Rebecca, while Ada had, of course, already gone ahead to the site. She wanted to infiltrate one of the labs to grab a few samples and the data she needed to sell to Simmons. Allen didn't stop her—naturally—but to make things safer, he gave her some of his advanced gear, like a nanosuit and Pym particles to make stealing whatever she wanted a lot easier. And of course, that made Ada extremely happy and excited; with that kind of equipment, she could steal anything she wanted without breaking a sweat.
"Hey, Allen. Looks like you came pretty loaded tonight," Leon said, greeting him as he arrived with Svetlana and Rebecca. The gear Allen brought for this mission was no joke—especially the small backpack completely stuffed with grenades and several explosives like C4. On top of that, it looked like Allen was also carrying a one-handed axe at his waist.
"Well yeah, we've gotta be prepared for emergencies. And look at you—you seem nervous, Leon. Didn't get enough sleep?" Allen teased, especially since he could clearly see the slightly tired look in Leon's eyes.
"Yeah… I'm a little nervous about this mission, so I didn't sleep much," Leon replied, scratching the back of his head.
Hearing that, Allen tossed something at him.
"You can drink that. It's a vitamin—might help you stay focused later," Allen said.
"Thanks," Leon replied, catching the bottle and taking a quick swig.
Not long after, they regrouped with the other officers who had already gathered around the site in the northern area near the Arklay Mountains. Around 400 police officers had assembled there, armed with pistols and rifles. A few helicopters circled overhead, each equipped with mounted miniguns.
"Well, I seriously didn't expect the Chief to go this far," Rebecca said.
'If only Chief Brian had acted like this from the start, maybe those earlier incidents could've been prevented', she thought.
The entire area had apparently been sealed off the day before, with residents evacuated and forbidden from entering to avoid causing panic.
The teams were quickly assigned—Allen, of course, stayed in the back as part of the medical team alongside Rebecca and Svetlana, while Leon was temporarily assigned to the first team under Kevin, which would move in first to clear the area.
But not long after, the lights across the entire zone suddenly went out, leaving the officers confused.
"What's going on here?!" Marvin shouted, demanding an explanation.
A moment later, an electrical technician rushed over to report an issue at the dam's power facility.
Marvin quickly gave out orders. "Alright, first team—you're going in. Stay sharp the moment you step inside. Second team, follow behind them, then split off toward the building that controls the dam's electrical system. I want you to stay there until the power is fully restored. Understood?"
Meanwhile, Leon was still a bit nervous since he had been assigned to the first team as additional backup—to assist Kevin's newly formed S.W.A.T. unit replacing S.T.A.R.S.
Before long, Kevin walked up to him. "Hey, rookie, relax. No need to be so tense. Just follow my lead and you'll be fine. Besides, you're just backup here," Kevin said.
Leon nodded. "Okay, sir."
Kevin then glanced around and spotted Allen, giving him a small nod.
Allen noticed it, nodded back, and began moving forward, following the first team from behind.
The moment they passed through the gate marking the boundary of the area, Allen finally got a clear look at what was happening inside.
The place was a mess. Several civilians had already turned into zombies, wandering aimlessly across the site.
The first team didn't waste any time—they had already begun firing.
Bang…! Bang…! Bang…!
Meanwhile, Leon was trembling slightly at the sight in front of him—especially when one of the zombies began slowly approaching him.
"S-sir, don't move… stop right there," Leon said, pointing his rifle at the figure, still trying to hold himself back from pulling the trigger.
But the leading officers immediately shouted at him, "What are you doing, rookie?! Shoot! They're cannibals!"
That snapped him out of it.
Leon finally pulled the trigger.
"Sorry…" he muttered under his breath as he fired.
"Well, looks like your friend's having a rough time," Svetlana commented casually.
"I'm not surprised. It's his first time actually having to kill zombies. Anyway, we should focus on backing them up if things get messy—don't let your guard down," Allen warned her.
"Hmmm, sure," Svetlana replied before turning her attention back to the battlefield and firing from the rear.
Gunshots kept echoing one after another, but even though the first team was pouring bullets into the zombies, only a few were actually going down. Most of them weren't aiming for the head, so many zombies were still moving even after losing limbs—mutating and becoming more aggressive and brutal.
"There are too many of them! And they won't die even when we keep shooting! We need backup!" one of the officers shouted.
But before he could say more, a zombie dog suddenly lunged at him from behind and clamped its jaws around his neck.
"AHHH!! HELP—AHH!!"
Bang! Bang!
Allen quickly fired two clean shots straight into the zombie dog's head, dropping it instantly.
However, when Allen saw the zombie dog trying to get back up again, he immediately stepped in and used his axe to crush its head.
Swing…!
Rebecca saw the injured officer and immediately ran toward him, with Allen and Svetlana right behind her to secure the area.
"How is he?" Allen asked.
Rebecca only shook her head. "He's gone," she said quietly, saddened that she couldn't save the officer.
"Alright, then we should leave him and focus on helping the others who are still alive," Allen told her.
Rebecca nodded, stood up, and immediately went back to assisting—either by helping put down zombies that were getting too close or by treating the wounded officers. As for the dead, they would have to leave the bodies for now and deal with them later… by burning them.
"Shoot them in the head!" Allen shouted while firing at several incoming zombies. "Human or not—if you shoot the head, they'll die!"
The other officers, who noticed that the zombies dropped instantly when Allen's team went for headshots, began aiming for the zombies' heads as well.
Bang!… Bang!… Bang!…
But most of the officers' shots still missed—their aim was terrible. Only a few, like Kevin and Leon, actually managed to land clean headshots. Allen, watching how bad the overall accuracy was, could only sigh.
"Why do I feel like I'm watching a live-action Star Wars movie?" Allen muttered as he tossed several grenades into a cluster of zombies.
BOOM!
The explosion echoed across the area, sending zombie bodies flying and scattering in pieces.
Marvin, seeing Allen—who was supposed to be part of the medical team—actively helping the front line, could only shake his head.
"Push those cannibals back and go for headshots!" Marvin ordered through the radio.
Everyone heard Marvin's instructions and finally started adjusting their aim, shooting the zombies in the head and dropping them one by one.
Marvin felt a sting of regret; several officers had already been lost during this mission, but there wasn't much he could do now.
"Kevin, Allen—can you two come with me for a moment? I think Team Two is running into trouble. Oh, and bring your people if you need to," Marvin said as he approached both men.
"Yes, sir," they answered in unison.
Not long after, they reached the area where Team Two was waiting for backup, huddled behind cover. Marvin asked, "What's going on? Why are you just standing here and not moving in?"
"Sorry, sir, but it's going to be tough to get inside," one of the officers replied, voice shaky. "There are a lot of giant spider-like monsters in there and some of their webs are blocking the entrance. We're afraid that if we disturb them, they'll attack."
Marvin shook his head at the report, then looked over at Allen and Rebecca — they had more experience with this sort of thing from the Arkley Mountain mission, so Marvin expected they might know how to handle it.
"Allen, Rebecca — do you have any ideas for how we can get in safely?" Marvin asked.
"I'd say burn the place down with flamethrowers or a rocket launcher, collapse the structure flat, then use helicopters to sweep the area with miniguns to finish off any monsters still alive," Allen answered immediately, without pausing to think.
Meanwhile, Rebecca simply said, "Yeah, I think that method works. It'll definitely reduce casualties on our side." To her, Allen's idea was far more efficient than trying to shoot those things one by one.
Marvin's eye twitched nonstop as he listened. He couldn't help thinking, 'Is using bombs or rockets really supposed to be the first option? Aren't we supposed to start with small arms and save the heavy stuff for last?'
"Hah… I guess we don't have much of a choice," Marvin finally said. "Kevin, Leon — can you bring the supply vehicle over here?"
"Yeah, sure," Kevin answered, glancing at Leon. "Come on, Leon."
Leon nodded and headed off to follow Kevin.
Marvin also radioed the helicopters, ordering them to fly lower and prepare to use their weapons to strafe the monsters inside.
Not long after, Kevin returned with the vehicle loaded with heavy-weapon supplies. Allen walked over to it with Svetlana, opened a crate filled with rocket launchers, and grabbed two rockets.
"Come on, you two should try using these. I'm sure you'll love them," Allen said to Kevin and Leon.
"Haha, sure. Come on, Leon — let's knock those things down with rockets," Kevin said, clearly excited to try them out.
Leon nodded, grabbed a launcher and ammo, then walked over to Allen, ready to fire at the infested building alongside Kevin.
"Alright, you guys ready?" Allen asked Svetlana, Kevin, and Leon.
They all nodded.
"Fire."
Whoosh…!
BOOM!… BOOM!… BOOM!… BOOM!
All four rockets exploded almost simultaneously, engulfing the building — and the monsters inside — in flames. The screams of the creatures echoed from within the burning structure.
But not long after, sudden screams and gunfire erupted from the officers on the front line.
"Ahhh!… Help!… Monster!"
The shouting, the gunfire, the panic—it all erupted at once.
"What the hell was that?" Leon muttered, confused by the sudden chaos.
Kevin and Marvin felt the same, but the moment they saw what was happening at the front, their legs nearly gave out.
Three Lickers had appeared, tearing through the frontline formation. Their movements were unbelievably fast—darting around, leaping off walls, and effortlessly dodging incoming bullets.
"Shoot those things! Don't let them get any closer!" Marvin shouted immediately.
But even with everyone firing desperately, their shots kept missing. The creatures were simply too fast, slipping past every bullet like ghosts.
Graaah!
Swish—!
One officer didn't even have time to react before he was sliced clean in half, his upper body separating from the rest under a single strike of those razor-sharp claws.
"Damn it! What kind of monster are we actually facing?" Kevin growled in frustration, still firing his rifle nonstop.
At the same time, Rebecca—standing beside Allen—was trembling slightly behind him. Even though this wasn't her first time seeing creatures like these, she knew she would never get used to this kind of horror.
She glanced up at Allen, gripping his arm tightly.
"Allen… is there anything we can do to help them?" she asked.