More Than Human

Chapter 56: Okay Now

The first thing they needed to do upon arriving at the lab location was to find the breaker switches to cut the power to the holding cells. Then they had to disrupt the radio frequency to the shock clips. They had already done this at the last location in Manchester. It was important to start there, they didn't want a repeat of what had happened in Soap's lab location. Where they just terminated all of their assets and bounced.

Price, Ghost, and König slipped into the adjoining control room to handle those tasks first before giving the rest of their men the all clear to head inside and take out Makarov and his men. With both Ghost and König present, it was exceptionally easy. Ghost shadowed them both directly into the control room where König wrapped his tentacles around the men inside's throats to keep them quiet. With a nod from Ghost, he crushed all of their windpipes with a squeeze and a twist to finish them all off. He retracted the tentacle back into himself, leaving the fresh corpses to drop to the floor with a thud.

Ghost started working at the controls to get the signal scrambled and the power to the door locks shut down. Price moved to another computer to try and tap into the security cameras. He wanted to get some sort of confirmation on if the team was actually here. König stood nearby and waited patiently.

"How many of those do you have?" Ghost asked as he worked.

"Hm?" König hummed.

"Your arms, appendages, tentacles. Whatever you want to call them." Ghost clarified.

"As many as I need, Lieutenant."

A vague answer. But maybe it was less vague and more accurate. Either way, he couldn't focus on that right now. He got the shock clip signal successfully interrupted, and he was just finishing on the cell power when Price gave a little shout.

"They're here!"

Ghost spun around and hurried to his side. Price had one of the cell cams pulled up. In a tiled room the screen showed two individuals. One looked like a man, and the other was a siren in a small tub. The man was leaning against the tank, carding fingers through the siren's hair.

Rudy and Alejandro.

"What about the others?" Ghost asked.

Price flicked through some of the other cameras. He momentarily stopped on a room lit by the purple glow of a UV light. The camera was labeled as "Dryad". Although they couldn't see Gaz inside from this angle. Either he was out of frame, or simply not in the room. He continued flipping, landing on a more nondescript cell. There was a couple of what looked like metal dog bowls on the floor, chains on the wall, an IV pole set up, and a small mat on the ground. On the mat was a man, with a very distinct haircut. He looked far beyond haggard.

"Johnny." He breathed.

Price nodded, "Let's get down there and get 'em out. König, go get the other men and clear this lab of any of Makarov's goons. And if you see the man himself, try to keep him alive for us."

"Yes Sir!" König nodded, an excited lilt to voice, before running out of the room.

Price hoisted his gun and headed for the door, "On me, Simon."

Ghost lumbered after him. They picked their way farther into the building. When they made it to the stairwell they faced a bit of trouble. Clearly they had the most security for the basement levels. There was a loud alarm blaring, casting the whole building in a harsh red light. They were returning fire, but between the two of them they needed some of their back up.

Price unhooked some vials from his vest and tossed them directly down the center of the stairs. Between the sound of gunfire they could hear the sound of the glass shattering on the tile below. The smoke it produced was quite pleasant, it smelled of herbs and lavender, but it did its job well. Black smoke billowed up from below, filling the hall and obstructing the views of their enemies. Ghost took the opportunity to use the darkness and shadow directly to the bottom of the stairwell. Price must have called for König because he looked up at the sound of wild shrieking and screams.