Parasite Eve: Threat Evolution

[Tharrick]

445 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles - 3:15pm, Tuesday, August 4th, 2009.
-------------------------------------

Sirens blared around the entrance to the Union Bank as the SWAT team moved in towards the doors. Regular police officers trained their sidearms at the building as the specialists barrelled in through the glass.

'Team one, team one. Hostages have been moved. Proceeding to vault.'
'Team two, team two. Confirm, no sign of hostages in lobby. Proceeding to offices'







445 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles - 3:18pm
-------------------------------------

Glass smashed on the 15th floor, and policemen scrambled as the body of one of the SWAT officers crashed down onto a car, armour torn and shredded. A moment of silence, then an onlooker opened her mouth and screamed.



Undisclosed Location, Los Angeles - 3:20
--------------------------------------

Rupert Broderick leaned back in his chair with a sigh. 'We'll be there ASAP' he said, and hung the phone up. Shaking his head, he stood up and walked out of his office into a busy room filled with people working at desks.
'We have a situation, people. As you already know, earlier today there was a hostage situation in the Union Bank. SWAT went in when negotiations went south, but contact was lost three minutes ago, and they can't get through to the teams. The one body to hand had been cut up by something capable of tearing through kevlar and ceramic plate like it was tissue paper, and we all know what this means. I want Blait and Heir kitted up and ready to move out, and I want them there five minutes ago. Take the new guy along - I think he's in the firing range right now. Get there, and clean the building out. There's a police perimeter keeping them inside, but we know they could get out if they wanted to. Don't let them. Rogers and Mcdowell will provide perimeter support and communications. Get going, people!'

[Genesis]

"Alright then." Drake answered with a nod grinning. "Well then Blait, time for us to get the new guy and go to work." He finished and turned around not even waiting for a response from his fellow. Walking out the door behind him he began to make his way toward the shooting range. Hands in his jacket pockets he looked bored and impatient wanting to get to the destination ASAP. Taking a few left then right turns making barely a sound as he made his way in the hallways he ended up looking at the door of the firing range. Gun shots from the people using it inside could be heard from behind the door but feint. Yawning he pushed the door open and stepped inside. The shooting range still looked the same as it had always. Long and narrow with booths were people stood in aiming at the targets. He walked in but wandered which booth the man was in. Instead feeling to impatient to actually think this rationally like he usually did Drake stood in the center of the range and looked at the booths before opening his mouth. "New guy! You there?" He called. There were not much people currently in the range and so it should not be so hard for the man to hear him.

[jaybee3]

Blait holstered his weapon from where it had been resting on the table and slung his badge around his neck. 'Same old same old.' He thought to himself as he marched after Drake down the labyrinthine corridors to the shooting range. The pops of gunfire echoed throughout the range as the various inhabitants honed their skills. Jason didn't know how anyone could think let alone here each other over the deafening noise, however he turned to Drake and muttered:

"You any idea what he....or she even looks like? You got any clue on a name? 'Coz we could just check the roster to see who's in what booth."

Jason turned to face the lanes once more and looked them up and down. There weren't many people in the booths, but with headphones on and their backs turned to them, it was hard to distinguish between them to whether or not they recognised anyone.

"In the mean time I'm gonna warm up in this lane."

He added pointing to the nearest lane and loading a clip into his Sig Sauer. He holstered the weapon once more, and, in true western style, quickly drew it, doubling tapping the trigger in quick succession. One of his bullets drilling square into the would-be heart of the paper target, the other hit a little higher in the shoulder. The disappointment was evident in his face. 'Meh it's been a while...'

[Tharrick]

A door at the end of the booth corridor slid open, and Abel walked out, holstering his revolver. He started when he saw the two agents.

'Oh..sorry. I didn't realise anyone else was here. I was in the other room, using the 360 range. You guys have got it much better here than we do in Washington - the chief up there's installed a virtual shooting range, and it's just not the same..'

He paused for breath. 'So, what's up?'

[jaybee3]

'Least he appeared quicker than I expected.' Thought Jason as he put his weapon away, before speaking to the unfamiliar face:

"Pffft, virtual ranges....they should train recruits to take a bullet. I don't see why we don't have ranges that fire back too."

His mind tried to remember if he had seen this person before, deciding that he hadn't he spoke again:

"Err... what's your name again? I'm terrible with names you see. I'm sure we've met someplace before...That aside, the boss has ordered us to go to downtown LA...got a siege situation that the cops can't handle by themselves.....so they're sending in us to take care of it."

[Tharrick]

'Ah.. Vaughan. Abel Vaughan is my name. I'm this department's new biological expert - Washington wants more information on the NMCs, so they're planning on adding a lab here. There's the problem that NMCs dissolve after death - some heavy-duty enzyme, I think, and if I could get a live one I could probably try to develop something that'd at least slow that down... sorry, I'm babbling.'

He drew his revolver again, and checked the load, before returning it to the holster.
'We'll have to swing by the armoury - I need to draw a longarm and some ammunition. Er. Where's the armoury here?'

[jaybee3]

"The name's Jason Blait, but that can you can call me Jay if you like." He said with a smile shaking Abel's hand, before his ears caught up with what had been said. "....you mean you want to capture one of these things? It's hard enough trying to kill these things at range let alone lasso it and tie it up. But then again our op is in a bank....."

Jason let his mind wonder for a few seconds: 'I wonder if a bank's vault is thick/strong enough to hold an NMC in it....'

There was an evident pause while he thought before he spoke again: "Ahh you were after the armoury weren't you? Follow me." With his next statement he waved his SIG Sauer as they once again snaked through the corridors heading towards the Armoury. "I suppose I'll need to pick up something a bit more penetrating that this."

[Tharrick]

'I would imagine that Washington will send us a dedicated capture unit at some point, because to be honest I really wouldn't fancy my chances going up against NMCs with non-lethals.'

He continued to make small talk until they reached the armoury, a small room divided in half by a heavy wire mesh. On the other side of the mesh from the door was a woman who was cleaning a stripped-down Heckler & Koch HK21. She looked up as the agents entered, and smiled.

'Afternoon, Jay. Come to stock up?'

[jaybee3]

"Indeed I have." He said peering over her shoulder at the various armaments. "Jodie, do you think I could have the UMP9, I'll need it if we come up against any soft targets. Oh can you also do a quick barrel and spring conversion on my P229 so that it can fit the .357 SIG rounds for that added punch?" He added handing over his sidearm.

'Hmmmmm what else? No point bringing a rifle if we are going to be fighting indoors....and I've no clue which tactical equipment to take...This will have to do.'

"So Jodie, anything new at your neck of the woods? New weapons....technology....men---" He ended with a cough, semi clearing his throat, before turning a pale shade of pink, still watching her busy away with his requests.

[Tharrick]

Jodie turned back with the UMP9, and slid it through the slot in the mesh.

'I gather that there's a pretty urgent situation downtown, so now probably isn't the best time to be altering your weapons. Bring it in when you get back. I'll deduct the cost of the UMP out of your bounty account. Don't forget your contact lens, or you'll miss out on the bounty for today'


'Hi.. Jodie, was it?' Vaughan said. 'Do you have a P90 and three clips for it back there? You'll have to charge it to my account back in Washington - I'm still waiting for them to set one up for me here'

[jaybee3]

"Ughhh reallly?" Jason sighed both at having to put his contact lens in and because he'd have to wait for his weapon upgrade. He casually swung the UMP over his back and checked his tactical vest's pouches, which were empty save a few clips for his pistol.

"Jo, can you pass me over some mags for the UMP please? You think you could manage a buy 3 but 2 free offer on them?" He asked cheekily as he awaited his ammo and the mandatory deduction from his account. 'Boy's toys.....all I ever seem to spend my money on. Computers.......Guns.......Ammo.......Cars......Su its......I seriously need to move up a few pay grades.'

[Tharrick]

'I would, but you know they'd fire me' Jodie laughed as she handed the ammunition over. 'And as for you, Agent Vaughan, your Washington account will be just fine. I'll have them transfer your balance over as quickly as possible - saves on the paperwork. Here's your P90 and some ammunition.'

Abel thanked her, then turned to Blait. 'So. Where's the outbreak?'

[jaybee3]

"Downtown, 445 S Figueroa St. to be precise." He said turning to Abel as they left the armoury, Jay giving a quick wave to Jodie. "It's a bank. Originally a hostage situation, SWAT and the police moved in and met resistance in the form of one of their team being flung out of the windows shredded to pieces.....happy days."

Jason broke off the conversation as they reached a checkpoint, his retina and finger prints were taken on the reader and shortly afterwards the door opened into the parking garage. "We'll take my car, it needs a run around." Reaching into his pocket and pressing the button on his key, the orange indicators of his car flashed twice some fifty feet away in the carpark. Promptly marching up to it he opened the boot and places the submachine gun in one of the weapon racks, before opening the door and buckling up in the driver's seat. It was a black Audi RS4, not the typical official car that most American agents use, but it had that 'Rapid Response' edge to it.

Tapping the accelerator twice, the car's engine rumbled as the revs shot up to the 5000 mark.

"God, I love the sound of this car."

[Tharrick]

'It does sound like NMC activity' Abel agreed as he stowed his weapon in the rack before climbing into the passenger seat.

'I like the underground HQ, by the way. We were in an office building in Washington, and it made keeping movements secret quite difficult. The armoury was in the basement, but apart from that we were pretending to be normal feds.'

[Genesis]

Drake stayed oddly quiet for the time. He never got any of his equipment from the armory while he was there. Most of the time all his ammo and precious U22 were kept on his person. Following Abel and Jay from behind he was the last person in the car and not until he got himself comfortably in his seat did he begin to talk. "Sorry for not introducing myself earlier Abel." Drake began. "The name is Drake Heir, nice to have you on the team."

[jaybee3]

"OOOOOooo silent Bob finally speaks, thought you had gone mute on us back there." Jay said leaning over his shoulder before pulling round a tight bend and exiting through some shutters onto a semi-busy road. The traffic worsened as they got closer to the scene up ahead.

"Time to switch on the sirens I guess." Jason flicked a switch near his armrest and immediately his headlights began to flash along with a small blue light behind his rear view mirror. The sea of traffic parted in a fairly haphazard motion as the car continued to course through. "Almost biblical....." Jason muttered before checking the satellite navigation.

"Not far off now, should see the police barricades in a few blocks." He tapped the touch sensitive screen of the sat-nav with his left had, his fingers almost blurred in motion and a few seconds later had brought up blueprints of the bank, which then cycled to various video surveillance points in the bank itself. "Don't ask....I just have a knack for 'insecure' things."

[Genesis]

"The usual I see." Drake said with a laugh as he leaned back on his chair putting his hands behind his head. Turning his head toward the window he looked out at the cars as they made their way to give them room. Some of the drivers turned their heads to stare at them as they flew by while the others just seemed annoyed at the thought of being late for where they were heading. A few minutes later Drake got a glimpse of the barricades not so far away. "Just in time I see." Drake said at the same time checking for the tenth time he still had his pistol on hand.

[Tharrick]

The car pulled up past the police cordon, a safe distance from the bank. As the agents climbed out, a police officer approached.

'You fellas must be MIST, right? We've evacuated the block - official story is that the robbers had a bomb, and are threatening to set it off. You'll have some privacy while you're in there.'

He paused, and leaned in towards the team. 'You guys really think that this is some kinda monster outbreak?'

[jaybee3]

"Monster? You've been watching too many of those horror movies. There aren't any monsters in this city. The only real monsters are terrorists!" Jason said untruthfully after the officer had spoken, having already secured his weapon from the trunk.

"Have you had any more updates on the situation since one of SWAT team was blown through the window?" Jay carefully checked his ammo on his weapons and unclicked the safeties on all of them.

[Tharrick]

'Nothing new. The place has gone silent. No contact with anybody inside the building - staff, customers, SWAT, nothing. HQ said this was your area of expertise, and that we should just let you get on with it.'

Abel nodded as he picked up his P90 from the rack. He also withdrew a long, flat case with straps that he shrugged onto his shoulders.
'I don't know how much you know about what's happening here, but I can tell you that it's absolutely vital that you don't let anyone or anything out of that building that isn't us. You've heard of the Blockade Incident twelve years ago? This is something very similar, and it has to be contained.'

[.//Satsugai Kaze]

Marcus Payne stood, blindfolded, gently touching the dissassembled parts of his Five-seven in front of him. It had taken them some persuading to get him to take the sunglasses off. And Marcus wasn't a very social person.
In front of him, a moving target oscillated left, right, left, right...
In a flash, Marcus was fumbling for the parts, fumbling, but fumbling fast. In what was a matter of seconds, he'd put it all together, loaded and fired.

The silence afterwards was almost deafening, as Marcus casually took off the blindfold, and placed his sunglasses back on.
He'd hit pretty much in the chest. Nothing fancy. Although in real life he'd probably have fired four shots.
Two in the chest, two in the head.

He left the dumbfounded onlooker to his own business as he walked off to ask Jodie for his full kit. The only time Marcus ever felt like talking was on the job. Which, at this point, was getting suited up for the operations.

"What'll it be, Special Agent... Payne? Been briefed already?" Jodie smiled up at the man, who stayed silent, as he handed her a slip of paper. To her, the man looked like he was hiding something; something hurted and scarred. The mirrorshades only gave her slight tremors down her spine. In some ways he looked creepy, in other ways he looked sadly alone.

She'd heard stories about this man. Hell, most people had heard at the very least rumours. But of course, almost everything was different being seen first-hand.
She briskly handed to him what he'd ordered - the P90 with three spare P90 and four spare Five-seven magazines, the Remington with two small boxes of shells, 5 assorted grenades and a satchel charge. He already had holstered his Five-seven and a Colt Single-Action Army. The amount of weight he was carrying on him almost surprised her.

"Best of luck in the MIST team, Marcus."
Marcus as he walked away, stopped for a moment and turned around at the sound of his first name, and gave her a shadow of a smile. "Thank you, Miss Jodie."
He then almost broke into a run to get to his car.
Marcus knew the situation, and he had seen many similar things with his eyes, some of them too horrific to let them happen again.

[Tharrick]

The Oval Office, 3.30pm, Tuesday, August 4th, 2009.
-------------------------------------

The President of the United States of America leaned forwards onto his desk, head in one hand. The other held the telephone that had rung one minute previously.

'So they're back. Unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected. If she was still around, it wouldn't be an issue. No, I know it's not your fault. In a way, it's my predecessors'. He didn't authorise the attempted retrieval, sure, but he sure didn't do enough to distance himself from it. So now she thinks we're after her, to do God-knows-what to her. And without her, we can't even get close to them! What do you mean, what do I want you to do? I want you to goddamn FIND her! I don't care if the only photos you have are a decade out of date, she doesn't age! Find her, or I'll replace you with someone who can actually do their job!'

[jaybee3]

"Well covering the exits should be fairly straightforward." Said Jason remembering the blueprints that had flashed up on the cars computer system. "Standard entry procedure should do for entering the main entrance hall, however it could get ugly when we start to weave our way towards the vault."

Jason headed towards the glass doors at the front of the bank, and pulling out his Sig Sauer, he pushed the door open and went inside, immediately checking all the corners as he headed to the centre of the hall.

[Genesis]

Drake nodded as he pulled out his U22 and followed Jason inside. Loading the gun as he did so he turned off the safety and looked around the room, eyes darting from every place that could be a hiding spot, including the large ceiling over head.

[.//Satsugai Kaze]

The car bucked like a bull as Marcus wrestled with the steering wheel, tearing down roads with a flashing light on, but no siren. He was a mediocre driver, and could hardly stay on the road.
But he knew what went fast, and how to make things go fast.

He skidded to a halt where the blockade was, and got out in a flash, slinging on all his weapons. A police officer was about to stop him when he realised who he was.
"Hey, this place ain't -" the man barely stopped short of "whoa" when he was met with a steel-cold gaze from mirrorshades.
"Have the MIST team entered the bank yet?"
"Uh... they went in a few minutes ago, sir, but -"
"Thank you, officer. Sit tight."

Marcus ran to the bank, but instead of going in through the front doors, he turned to a fire exit around the back of the building, switching the safety off the P90 and the Remington. He then thumbed in his radio.
"MIST team. This is Special Agent Marcus Payne. State your location within the complex." The timing from which he entered the back was crucial. In a way, it was almost like dealing with terrorists; sometimes it took a surprise from behind to do the job.

[Tharrick]

The entrance to the bank was massive, with huge urns overflowing with plants placed in strategic locations. The counters at which the tellers would normally serve were a beautiful polished rosewood, and works of art hung on the walls.
The fine carpet was now splashed with blood, though, and a section of the counter had been smashed in. An arm was handcuffed to one of the desks, but the rest of the body was nowhere to be seen.

Abel looked around, and shuddered. 'OK, give me a minute to set up - I'll take some readings and see what intel I can gather.'

His radio suddenly crackled, and Payne's voice came through. He reached up, clicked the button, and replied 'Vaughan here. We're in the main lobby. Signs of NMC activity, but no NMCs around. I'm setting up my equipment here to take some readings.'

He slid the metal case from his back, placed it on one of the counters and opened it up. Inside was a collection of strange-looking scientific equipment.

[jaybee3]

Blait had seen scenes like this before so his necessity to fight back any impending vomit quickly passed, instead he muttered something under his breath upon seeing the disembodied limb dangling from a desk, its red elixir still dripping onto the carpet below. His gaze then turned to the smashed rosewood counter, the anomaly in its line of beautifully crafted ones. It certainly wasn't a clean cut, the counter had been shattered, leaving splinters and shards of woods lying around it.

"Right. Abel, you ok setting up your equipment without me?" Blait called to his colleague a few counters along from him. "I want to see how deep this rabbit hole goes." Without waiting for a reply he had hopped over the counters, his pistol still in hand. "I'll see if I can dig out some security footage, get a better look of what we're dealing with here. There must be a surveillance hub somewhere."

[.//Satsugai Kaze]

Marcus silently pushed open the fire exit door, and walked through the corridor leading into the main sections of the bank. There was a whiff of rotting flesh in the overhead vents, and it spelt trouble if he didn't stay sharp. He kept pacing slowly, as silently as possible, as he brought the P90 to his shoulder height. Blood was splattered in various places, and Marcus caught the tell-tale blood trails of severing limbs and heads. In some parts of the corridor, he could make out blood on the ceiling.

As he made his way to the lobby, his ears picked up noises in the silence. Marcus' brow furrowed deeply, as he walked even slower. The noises were here, and there; sometimes above, behind, even in the walls. They were faint, hardly to be heard, but he could definitely pick them out.
And the ventilation shafts in the building were of an extremely high concern. By Marcus' experience, flushing out or blocking the shafts would usually be a first priority. But there was nothing the MIST team could do at such short notice.

Marcus Payne's thoughts were cut out by a sudden, louder noise up in the ceiling behind him, and he whirled around, while walking backwards a little faster.

[Tharrick]

The ceiling appeared completely devoid of anything that might cause a sound, but one of the fluorescent lighting strips had just blown out - fragments of plastic were dropping to the ground in the corridor.

A strange clicking sound came from behind Marcus, further down the corridor, from about head-height.

[.//Satsugai Kaze]

Marcus stopped, keeping his P90 in line towards the noise, continually listening for movement. One wrong step, one miss, and whatever was back there would be on him.
Two in the chest, two in the head. Two in the chest, two in the head.
And then blast the living crap out of it.

His mirrorshades gleamed dimly in the light as he thumbed the radio again. "Payne here. Spotted possible threat. Assistance required, stat." As the seconds ticked by, Marcus had an idea.
Blast them and run. The area was confined. Blast the hallway with the P90. Making sure it was quiet after the detonation. Lighting the flare. Scouring the hallway with buckshot. Then running. Fast.
He took out a concussion grenade, and rolled it towards the darkness, bracing himself for the explosion.

[Tharrick]

The grenade exploded, and a shockwave of physical force battered Payne, nearly overbalancing him. Something wet and heavy struck his chest, and dropped to the floor.

Fading into sight as though it had been chameleonically concealed, a severed leg appeared on the floor. The skin was a strange mottled yellow colour, and the limb was jointed almost like a spider's - as though the body of the creature it came from would hang suspended between six or eight such limbs. A wicked talon, almost as long as Payne's forearm, protruded from the heel.


Footsteps could be heard from the corridor, coming from the lobby. But they were almost drowned out by the sudden clicking, buzzing sound that filled the corridor.

[.//Satsugai Kaze]

Marcus wasted no time in raking the area with gunfire in sporadic bursts, running as fast as he could. The sight of the limb brought back bad memories, and confirmed fears. From his experience this was the point where the whole operation was going to go pear-shaped.
"NMC presence is confirmed! We need to move, we have to assume no-one in the building is still alive-"

His words were cut off as a vent grille nearby blew open, and Marcus fired a longer burst from his P90 over the smoke. He didn't look back as he turned to sprint again.
He was closing in on the door.
He thumbed his radio again. "We need someone to find schematics of the vent shafts in this building, and seal them up before this isolated pocket spills out more NMCs." The buzzing noise around him seemed to get louder, but Marcus only gritted his teeth. "We need to stop before they spread through the buildings again."

[jaybee3]

Jason heard Payne's voice crackle over the radio intermittent bursts of gunfire, and broke into a run. He burst through a set of ornate double doors in front of him and nearly slipped up in the long trail of blood leading down the corridor and around to the left at the end. The corridor, a fairly standard affair with strip lighting on the ceiling and various doors branching off into offices on either side, was lined with armour and remains of beings emblazoned with S.W.A.T. . Holstering his pistol, Jason quickly brought his UMP to his shoulder, flicking on the flashlight. Edging down the corridor, quickly checking the offices as he went along, he eventually came to the corridor end, and from there a T-junction - one path had the trail of blood, the other looked fairly battered.

Deciding not to follow the blood, Blait headed down the untainted path his eyes beginning to strain slightly as the lighting dimmed. After half a minute's searching, his flashlight illuminated a sign bearing the words he was looking for: SECURITY. 'Shit....it's keypad locked.' Jason said to himself examining the door closer, before sighing in dismay. '....and it's been smashed.' He battered the rest of the smashed keypad off the wall using his UMP's butt to reveal the wires behind the panel, before taking out his PDA to which was already attached a serial cable. Glancing over his shoulder once more to quickly check any presence, he began tapping his stylus on the screen to select the correct homebrew program. Ripping out where the key panel's cable attached into the wall, he replaced it with his PDA's and started the program. A long stream of numbers began to scroll down it's coloured screen, every so often resting on a single digit. 'Ugh this could be 5 minutes....' Jason said to himself, feeling more and more jittery as the seconds ticked by.