Eurus, Boreas and Astraeus are now bearing down on the 88<sup>th</sup> floor. They have cleared the rooms and there is now only a singular hallway standing in their way, a bottleneck. This is precisely what the doctor ordered for the defending Ultra operatives who had all their training pointing towards a successful defense. They are confident, even a Cell cannot overcome the odds these conditions present.
The hallway itself is 3 meters wide and around 2.75 meters high. It’s got pillars about half a meter wide every 3.5 meters and doorways between every two leading into various offices. These have been evacuated by now to spare the less insidious workers of Ultra from unnecessary suffering. It’s hard to tell however whether anyone working on the 88<sup>th</sup> floor could honestly say they are of a clean conscience. If they do, they are either insignificant, incompetent or a combination.
The Cells are fast, all the while methodical in their approach towards the hallway. They sneak as fast as a normal man runs a jog. Their senses elevated, recording every smell, every minute sound, queueing in the signs of ambient silence. A thud in the distance, a rush of panicking employees on the floors above and below them. Evacuation alarm slowly echoing somewhere in the distance above them. They slow down as they approach their bottleneck. With a keen look in his eyes Eurus makes it known to the others that he can hear an autocannon whirring on the other side of the hallway and quiet whispery chatter. It becomes clear that Ultra has anticipated their progress and setup an obvious ambush. Sometimes however there’s no way to avoid an ambush even if you know it is coming. Because of the long and intense fighting, the Cells are low on ammo. If possible, melee must be preferred.
The Ultra team on the other side were meanwhile watching the Cells arrive on their floor. They looked at the security footage show the trio meticulously advance. The coordination and fluidity of their motions are noteworthy to the soldiers observing them. There are no unnecessary glances, nothing without a direct value is being done, every movement is purposeful and meticulous. Even though this is the case, the platoon of Ultra operatives is feeling rather confident. Their autocannon will squash anything that moves and if need be they can pin down and overwhelm the Cells with their firepower.
Suddenly, at the end of the 105m hallway, a shape moves for a split second, the autocannon opens fire. On their fee, the cameras observing the Cells at the other end have gone dark. Again the auto cannon fires. Once, twice, three times. Still no sound of success at the other end.
“Hah! Just… What the hell are they doing?” laughs Captain Keyes, a linebacker of a man. Just a hulk of muscle and moustache.
“No clue? Maybe they’re baiting us to strike first?” guesses Sergeant Knox.
Unbeknownst to them, the Cells are measuring the response time, the bullet flight time and the time it takes them to jump across the hallway. They do this because even though the autocannon might be effective against a single Cell, the problem is that nobody alive has defeated two Cells, much less three.
Then, whizzing and crackling sounds above them as something almost simultaneously takes out the lights in the hallway and overcharges the ones out of direct reach in the offices and in the lobby like room where the Ultra operatives are. Pitched in complete darkness, Captain Keyes instructs his men to put on their night vision goggles. The men immediately comply. A green image of the hall is displayed on their retinas. Their pulses are increasing. This is it. The showdown – their training over all the years and the technological marvels/monstrosities across the hall.
The autocannon fires. The flash of light from the muzzle overexposes their surroundings, blinding the operatives for a second or two. As their eyes adjust they can’t see any bodies or injured fighters on the other side. Perhaps they are still testing the autocannon?
The autocannon fires. The flash of light from the muzzle overexposes their surroundings, blinding the operatives for a second or two. As their eyes adjust Sergeant Knox sees a faint figure at the end of the hallway barely peeking out from behind the pillar.
The autocannon fires. Again the operatives are blinded for a few seconds. The shadows now have moved one pillar ahead. They are using their own autocannon to blind them? They’re sure they were trained correctly, but this assuredness is faltering.
The autocannon fires. Blinded by the flash once more an uneasy feeling of inadequacy starts to creep in the backs of the operatives’ minds. Surely they can’t evade the fire forever?
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The autocannon fires. Their burning retinas now invite doubt in their minds about the efficacy of their training. Perhaps they underestimated the Cells? No, their training is good.
The autocannon fires. Their eyes are getting blinded a little more frequently now. The pace has increased. There are definitely shrouds or ghosts dancing at the opposite end of the hallway, closing in on them.
The autocannon fires. The Cells are using one of their teammates as a distraction for the autocannon, triggering it while the other two advance as its targeting system resets.
The autocannon fires. Their movements are almost like a dance. The super soldiers are dancing like strange, heavily armored ballerinas, unaffected by the whizzing bullets.
The autocannon fires. In the eyes of the Ultra operatives, Cell killers as they’re named, the hallway seems almost empty. Only glimpses of leaping shapes are caught by their eyes.
The autocannon fires. “Hold steady, they gotta go down soon,” says the Captain. There is an air of confidence to him still but also a subtle note of uncertainty.
The autocannon fires. The frequency has definitely increased. Should they fire too? The feeling of anxiety from indecision is palpable. Soldiers are itching to shoot at something. But at what? Nothing can be seen besides glimpses of an arm or a leg.
The autocannon fires. The fact that they’re being increasingly frequently blinded every few seconds while their doom approaches is not an easy truth to sit with.
The autocannon fires.
Nobody has fought three Cells and lived. Not a single soul. The shadows dance. Retreat is not an option.
The autocannon fires.
Is it speeding up? The shrouds are half way there. The shadows are definitely coming closer. Cold sweat soaks the backs of the Ultra operatives. Something must be done. Is there anything to be done?
A soldier jumps up from near the autocannon.
The autocannon fires.
He stumbles towards the autocannon. He hopes he can switch it off and regain control over the situation. He flicks the switch.
The autocannon fires for the last time.
He’s wrong.
The Captain and his Sergeant realize what just happened. But as the Captain scrambles to reactivate the autocannon, he ponders about the futility for the last time, thinks about his helplessness. He was so sure about his plan, certain of victory. His eyes adjusted to the sight before him.
The shadows now are upon them.
The screaming begins.
The other soldiers see their Captain get decapitated, the autocannon swiftly destroyed and try to open fire at their assailants. The room fills with screams and grunts of final gasps at life. There is no more time left for these soldiers. However some of them panic even more and try to shoot at the Cells on full auto. These bursts blind the others and themselves even further only to prove to miss. Arms get yanked off. Spines ripped out and heads caved in. Guts, limbs, heads and hands are flying around like coffee beans in a coffee commercial. The screams and gunshots are diminishing. It is now quiet.
The eyes of the Cell completely adjust to the darkness around them, and they move forwards through the lobby like room. Behind the administrator desk is a sturdy metal door. Its power has been cut off and there is no key. However, Boreas has his suit still at enough capacity to melt the door like Eurus did earlier.
In the chamber beyond, there is a laboratory. It has terminals, beakers and it’s clean and white. Its lights are still on due to need to preserve the various chemicals, pathogens, solutions and organisms in different containers suspended in their preservatives. No Kalopsia in sight though. No matter to the Cells, though, as they patch themselves to the terminals. However this time simple hacking algorithms don’t work and theyneed to take longer (at least 20 minutes) to gain access to the system. Eurus then tells his counterparts:
“I’m going to contact Commander Olman.”
He then uses the limited access he has from the terminal to link up directly with Commander Olman’s communication device. It pings him. It pings him twice.
Commander Olman sits at his table while this is happening. He is looking at the security feed that already told him what the super soldiers are up to. He knew that the call was coming and now he is contemplating on whether to pick up. However he decides to do it. Alone in his office he presses the green “Answer” button. Eurus appears on his screen:
“Commander Olman.”
“Yes,” says Olman.
“Give us the access we need,” says Eurus.
“Why should I do that?” Olman asks, “I have men bearing down on you as we speak. I know you’re low on ammo, your days are numbered.”
“These men don’t have to perish. Only one more, if you force us to act decisively,” says Eurus.
Eurus can see through the screen the cogs in Olman’s head turn and his temples wave in thought. He is considering sending more men?
“Okay,” says Olman through gritted teeth, “go ahead.”
The terminals chime and allow access to the Cells using them. They look through data and the information they need. They also discover notes about two police officers in captivity within Ultra. Upon closer examination it turns out that they are Anderson and Paskal. Eurus sends Boreas to them to get them out, and then shortly after finds that Kalopsia is a few rooms over under stasis in the medical wing. Looking at the procedures already done on her, luckily none of them are invasive enough to not permit transport. After copying the rest of Mendel’s discoveries to their storage devices and everything else done in the laboratories, Eurus and Astraeus then go to find her. There simply isn’t enough time to go through all of the work done there.