Battletech: Biohazard (Commissioned)

[Baldrick the Wise]

I guess rear facing lasers are not that bad idea when you are facing the Thing's ornery cousin.

 

[MarkWarrior]

Chapter 12

"We need to kill that thing!" Jill said as Leon dodged yet another attack while desperately trying to reach the waypoint that would render them out of range of the self-destruct sequence.

"It healed from a direct PPC shot," Leon retorted. "And some point blank lasers. Whatever it takes to kill this thing, I do not have the means," A tentacle narrowly missed the back of the cockpit, and Leon pushed the myomers of the Black Knight harder than they were ever designed for. Overriding safeties designed to prevent mechs from tearing themselves apart, he began to move faster than a Black Knight had moved for a long time. Pushing the 'mech ever faster until he eventually left the Nemesis in the dust, arriving at the waypoint just in time for the actuators and myomers in the leg to fail and send the 'mech crashing to the ground.

The trio woke up several minutes later, Claire had managed to hold onto Jill, but Leon had failed to secure one of the buckles on his harness, and had been thrown down onto the armored glass.

"Shit," Leon swore as he blinked and looked around. "Everyone alright?"

"Had better days," Claire muttered, easing Jill down to said glass next to Leon before hitting the emergency release on the hatch. "You think this thing can go any further?"

"No," Leon shook his head. "Not with the damage I took beforehand and the amount of wear I just forced the myomers through."

"Well, we might want to see if we can get it up one more time," Clair said after poking her head out of the hatch. "That thing is coming back for another attack."

"Is the door closing?" Jill asked, blinking the black out of her eyes.

"Yes," Claire replied. "But not fast enough to prevent it from getting here."

"Small arms might be able to force it back," Jill shrugged.

"Or," Leon looked at the 'mech. "We run, and leave behind a surprise for it."

"The 'mech is still salvageable," Claire looked surprised at the idea. "You sure destroying it is a good idea?"

"Better the 'mech than us," Leon nodded. "Now, both of you get clear. I am going to set things up for our little friend out there."

Claire helped pull Jill out of the 'mech and the two of them began moving further into the tunnels. The door slowly continued to shut behind them while Leon rigged the self-destruct and overload of the fusion reactor to a countdown.

As he was climbing out of the downed mech's cockpit, Leon heard the roar of Nemesis and shuddered. If this thing had survived mech-grade weapons, then it was likely going to be essentially impervious to any of the small arms he could bring to bear. Still, he didn't need to kill it with this, he only needed it to try and tear at the Black Knight. So, instead of tossing the grenade attached to his cooling vest, Leon dropped down to the ground and began to sprint away. So far, the creature hadn't shown too much heightened senses, and it was possible it would be intent on trying to get at the people it thought was within the 'mech.

If Leon had looked at the timer before climbing out, he'd have seen that there was only thirty seconds left on the timer for the full self-destruct of the HIVE facility. But he hadn't, and he sprinted to join Jill and Claire without looking back. Hope that they would go ignored carrying him through and pushing his muscles ever harder.

As he rounded the corner, he felt the ground rumble, and shake as if an earthquake had struck, and he heard the sound of the massive blast doors locking before he stumbled into the pocket that Claire and Jill had pulled themselves into. Crouching down and covering their ears, they waited as the shaking continued, followed by a burst of heat and light from the door area when the Black Knight's engine exploded, taking Nemesis with it.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, the ground stopped shaking, and Leon began leading the pair out of the tunnels towards the DOME complex that he'd found earlier.

They didn't look behind them, intent on getting off of Raccoon City. An AI was in their backpack with all of the intel they would need to bring back to Chris and the rest of the STARS of the 7th Kommando.

If they had looked behind them, they'd have seen the wreckage of a 'mech, and the organic matter of what had once been a Nemesis-modified Tyrant. The mutant mostly vaporised by the destruction.

What was left behind though, was something that wouldn't have been seen by the trio if they had returned until it was too late.

The parasite that had modified the Tyrant still lived. And even worse, it remembered. So, as it slowly began to crawl after them, it would eventually find a new host, it would track them down, and one day, when they had long thought this enemy dead and gone, it would kill them.

---

It took the trio the better part of three hours of blindly walking to reach the section that Leon had initially found and escaped from the Grim Reaper and his assistants. The door to the DOME facility remained open, and there were a handful of technicians documenting everything the facility had to offer.

None of the three bothered asking questions. Umbrella was the enemy, and everyone who was willing to work with them was the enemy as well.

So, they waited by the doors for an opportune moment. One second in which the guards were distracted by talking to each other before they stepped out and eliminated everyone alive.

The guards were the first to get bursts of automatic fire from Claire and Jill, while the techs received a handful of well-placed shots from Leon's handgun. Then they moved in and began clearing everything.

"Looks like they took two of the 'mechs," Leon commented, looking up at the pair of mediums that had been left behind. "I'll ride jump for one of you."

"Looks like they already fueled them up," Clair said, staring up at the factory-white Griffin.

"Leon, we need to see if they left our gear in the hotel room," Jill said, climbing up the gantry towards the Shadow Hawk. "Take one of their vehicles and see if you can recover any of it if it is still there. If not, we will meet you at the spaceport. A dropship will be taking us off of this rock, or we will be making them take us off this place."

"Yes, ma'am," Leon nodded, moving to the guard and stripping anything useful off him before loading himself and the gear into a small truck.

Claire and Jill finished prepping the 'mechs before climbing in and activating them, driving them out via the sewer tunnels and heading for the surface, leaving the bodies of Umbrella men and women in their wake.

One such body was the barely alive Matthew Addison. He lay in a pool of his own blood, waiting to die. Instead, something strange happened. Matt was not aware of this, but Nemesis had entered the hangar a scarce few minutes after the STARS members had left, and it had found the one person living to become a new host.

Slowly crawling over him, the parasite eventually entered into his body via the holes that had been opened by the bullets, using its advanced healing, it closed them up and began repairing its host. As it slowly took over, it began to analyze the mind of the guard, searching through for things that might lead to it tracking down and overcoming its prey.

Eventually, it stumbled across a conversation in which they identified themselves. Nemesis didn't yet understand all of the words, but it latched onto that one thing, and as the human that had once been Matthew Addison opened his eyes and mouth to scream before losing his identity. The only thing that came out was a mixture between a scream, a growl, and the roar of a tyrant.

"STAAAAAAARRRRRSSSS!!!!!" Nemesis roared. It now knew who it would be hunting.

Pulling back all of the obvious mutations into the form of the human, Nemesis stopped. It needed to learn. A predator who did not study its prey would soon find itself among them. And Nemesis was perfection.

 

[Baldrick the Wise]

Wouldn't want to be on the Dropship/Jumpship that this thing will board.