After crawling through the ventilation shaft for a few minutes, I came to a wide intersection that was tall enough for me to sit down without hitting my head. I flicked the light on my Glock and checking the other entrances, making sure they were clear before sitting down and dialing the right frequency on my headset. As I waited, I pulled the slide back on my pistol slightly to check and make sure there was a bullet in the chamber. After that, I pulled out the holographic map to study it some more. The base seemed to have a lot of security, and most of it was focused on the bottom floors, with all kinds of scanners in doorways as well as key card-locked doors. A short while later, my headset buzzed with someone picking up the signal.

"Hello?" It was a deep voice, but it was vaguely familiar, and sounded close to the distorted voice on the video.

"You contacted me via internet."

"Ah, it's you. All right, I'm almost done with my shift, but I'll give you the locations of the experiments that need to be stopped. You have the map, right?"

"Yeah, go ahead and tell me the locations."

"All right, there is one on the second floor, right wing, first room on the right..." As he described the experiment locations, I put down white dots on the map according to where he was describing. After he was done, there were quite a few dots, with at least one per floor. "You got them all?"

"Yeah, got 'em."

"I wish you luck, Drake. I'm kinda glad that my shift ends now, so I can leave this place forever. That is, if you succeed."

"I will, sir. I can assure you that."

The line closed, so I looked at the map again. Since the security seemed to be tighter on the lower floors, the upper levels would look like a good place to start. But, the lower levels would most likely house the most dangerous experiments, which means that any security alert at the top may carry down to the bottom. Therefore, it would be good if I were to start on the bottom floors. The choice was pretty tough, but then I looked at the second floor experiment, and the room next door was a locker room. Telling from the dot on the map marking my current position, I would have to find a way up. Checking the entrances again to make sure that nothing had appeared, I started crawling west towards the locker room, following the various fans until I found one that blew upward. Looking up, it was easily over 10 feet above me to the curve, and there was no ladder. As I prepared to jump, I felt power well up in my legs, and when I pushed off the ground, I went high into the air, grabbing onto the edge of the curve right as I reached it. I pulled myself up slightly but then dropped right back down as I saw a small orb floating in the vent.

"Damn, a security bot!" I pulled out my pistol and waited a moment for the laser to pass over where I was before pulling myself up and taking aim. Although I could have shot it now, the electronics in most security bots are able to let it send an alert the moment a bullet hits the outer shell, even though the bullet travels through the central processor a few milliseconds later. The flaw is the laser; the detection isn't nearly as fast because the technology to sense a bullet needs most of the space within the bot. This leaves it would very little room to process a laser detection, and a bullet directly down the laser will destroy it without even letting it send an alert. As I waited, time seemed to slow down as the laser approached. The pistol sights were aimed right where the laser would line up with the processor, and the wait was excruciating. I pushed all thoughts of failure out of my head as I focused on the bot and the gun. The moment the laser hit the gun, I pulled the trigger. As I waited that second, I prepared myself for any alarm to sound. The sound of the bot hitting the vent was at the same time as the bullet casing hit. Holstering the pistol, I went ahead and picked up the bot, certain that it was deactivated, and pocketed it. The parts in a bot like this were very valuable since only the most ludicrous corporations could afford them. After I was back on solid ground, I continued to crawl until I came upon a vent opening. Retreating a little to check the map, I saw that this room was the location of the second-floor experiment. I quietly crawled to the cover and looked through. I saw that there was a suit of high-tech armor in the middle of the room, with a holographic interface floating next to it. All I could gleam out of the interface was that only the boots were working, before it suddenly started sinking into the tube below it. I remember what the contact had said about it, and he had added a secondary dot in case this happened for this particular experiment. Since I couldn't do anything to stop it, I continued ahead until I got to another vent cover, this time on the bottom instead of the side. Looking down, I saw rows of lockers, but the room itself was otherwise empty. I carefully dislodged the vent cover, and right as I jumped down, I heard voices approaching down the hallway.

---

"Hey, man! Just getting off your shift, I see!"

"Yep! Pretty exciting today, too. Did you hear about that top-secret project they've been working on?" The blonde man replied, while I scanned my card on the locker.

"Yeah, in fact, I'm going to be there for my shift, alongside a recruit." My friend's face turned to one of disappointment.

"Aw, you lucky bastard! I'm getting that shoft after tomorrow."

"I'll have one hell of a story to tell you then."

"All right, I'll make sure to save you a spot. And a bottle or two." He turned to leave.

"I'm holding you to that. See ya!" As he walked out of the room, I heard some shuffling from the other side of the lockers. "Hello? Who's there?" The man that came out afterwards was the very recruit that was going to be accompanying me. "Hey, Cain! I see you had no problem getting that armor on." He was a little nervous, shaking ever so slightly to emphasize that fact.

"Y-yes, sir."

"All right Cain, if you're ready, I'll get you a weapon, and then we'll head down to the project. Okay?" He saluted me, which I found a little odd, but passed it off as his nervousness getting to him.

"Y-yes sir! Lead the way." As I left the locker room, I heard the bootsteps follow close behind as we headed to the armory. A few scientists were going between rooms, but the hallway was otherwise empty. The Armory was locked by a keycard, and when we arrived at it, I took out the card that was issued to me and scanned it in. The console beeped, and showed the text 'Access Granted'. We stepped inside, and since the recruit had never been inside before, he just stopped and looked at all the guns.

"Let's see what gun you would like to use..."

"Whoa... so many guns!"

"Steady, recruit. It wouldn't look good on your record if you passed out and I had to drag you to the project room."

"R-right, sorry."

"Looking at your shooting test, I'd say that you would probably like to have this rifle." I handed him an M-16 and three magazines of ammo.

"Wow, this is a cool rifle! I've wanted this ever since I was, like, nine years old!"

"Just remember that you have to return it once your shift is over."

"I never want my shift to end!" His enthusiasm was over-the-top for a recruit.

"Remember that enthusiasm, cause you're definitely going to need it." He followed me out of the armory, and once we reached the elevator in the back, it dinged and a group of scientists came out. We stepped out of the way and let them through, then afterwards went inside, with the recruit behind me. I pressed the Restricted Access button, then waited as the elevator started to move down. From the metallic sounds behind me, I could tell that he was checking out the gun.

"Wow... this is so cool!" He whispered, as he continued to check out the gun. The bell dinged as the elevator stopped, and when the doors opened, a long sterile-white hallway greeted us. At the end was the stairs that granted access to the rest of the sub-levels in the base, all housing at least two experiments except for Sub-level 10, which can hold up to 4 experiments at once. As we moved down the hallway, the recruit looked into the viewing glass of the experimentation rooms. Although there was nothing happening in them at the moment, there were a few scientists in each configuring the equipment inside. The experiments on these floors were quite successful, being able to augment human strength without many debilitating drawbacks or side effects. They still needed some improvements though, so they were not being used by our soldiers yet.

"Keep your eyes forward, Recruit. Some of these experiments involve things that you really don't want stuck in your head."

"Okay, sir." His nervousness was almost completely gone, most likely the result of having a favorite gun in his hands. We approached the stairs at the end. "How long are we going to be descending, sir?"

"Down to SUb-level 10."

"Holy... That long?!"

"Well, we are guards, so we don't get as much exercise as soldiers would." We started walking down the stairs, and every 3 levels we would stop to catch our breath before continuing on. The recruit breathed a sigh of relief as we reached Sub-level 10.

"Phew... Finally." The hallway was much longer down here, and the pressure from the air was also greater, so I had to pop my ears.

"All right, the room is all the way down there."

"More walking? I'm tired of doing that."

"Toughen up, son. You're gonna have to deal with it, whether you like it or not." Walking down the hallway, we passed by the General's room and the other experiments on the floor. They were empty, as the only experiment that warranted this much security and added depth was the one we were tasked to watch over. The door at the end was protected by two guards, whose shift was just ending. We approached them, and their voices were ripe with jealousy.

"All right, you two lucky bastards, have fun with your shift."

"Yeah, and take some souvenirs from the scientists! I'm sure they'll have some for ya!" The other guard said before sucking air through his clogged nose, which was a result of his constant allergies to, well, everything.

"Clogs, Rusty, you're relieved. Go get some rest."

"Yes sir!" They both said after saluting, and Clogs again made that same sound. They walked away, but not before looking back at us to try and get a glimpse of what was inside the room. I waited until they were far enough away before opening the Biohazard door. Inside, most of the scientists were working or typing away at a keyboard. The head scientist put down his clipboard and stood up.

"There you are. Since you're here, you'll both be getting a look at this magnificent creature."

"It would be my pleasure. But first things first... tell me a little more about it."

"It's a creature that was found inside a glacier, among other things. But they are different, they cannot grow to their adult stages without a host to reside in. To put it simply, they're a large parasite." Suddenly, I heard the buzzing of electricity next to me.

"AAAAAHH!" The recruit dropped to the floor, and the General was behind him holding the very taser that had put him down.

"And we've already found another potential host for it."

"Hold on, why the Recruit?" I was shocked at what the General was doing.

"Take a closer look." I looked at the Recruit, but his outfit faded away until I saw a man with a black trenchcoat laying on the floor. The General leaned down to grab him, but he suddenly spun on the ground, hitting the General's legs with a spinning kick before quickly standing up and aiming the rifle down at the General. However, the rifle was sent flying across the room from a sudden flip made by the General, and then they both engaged in a fist fight where it seemed that neither had an advantage or disadvantage, blocking and intercepting each other's punches while countering grabs. Eventually, the man grabbed the General's arm and threw him over his shoulder, hurling the General to the wall on the other side before the man pulled out a silenced pistol and fire three shots at the dazed General. Each one sounded like it hit metal, but before he could fire another shot, the General was already standing up with his own pistol aimed at the man in a standoff.

"Well well well, looks like the mercenary has a few tricks up his sleeve."

"How did you know that I was a mercenary?" The mercenary's voice sounded young, but still had a deep tone.

"Let's just say I knew that someone called you, so I set up a trap for you. Simple as that."

"Well, you're going to pay for those mercenaries that you killed!"

"'Killed' is such a bad word, ain't it? Let's just say I... 'repurposed' them for my experiments. Trust me, they're not dead. But for finding your way this far down into the base, I think you shouldn't get the same treatment."

"Well then, I'll have you know that I still have a few more tricks up my sleeve..." The mercenary slipped on a pair of sunglasses, after which he raised his right hand in the air, showing a regular watch. Something flew across the room from the General's direction, knocking the mercenary right onto his back, and a bright light erupted from his watch, almost blinding me if it hadn't been hidden slightly behind his body. The General acted quickly, grabbing the mercenary by the collar of his jacket and dragging him across the room towards the other door which slid open. He tossed the mercenary into the room before shutting the door behind him.

"All right, keep an eye on the security cameras. I want you to let me know if he tries anything." He indicated the monitors near the wall, which all had black-and-white images on them showing a particularly dark room with the mercenary inside.

"Yes, sir." The General headed out of the room, and as I watched the monitors closely, I could see that the mercenary's right eye seemed to have a slight bit more reflection than the other eye, but passed it off as the camera angle having more light on it. As time passed, I wondered if there was even a creature inside the room, but then something in the blackness moved.