A Parallel Investigation, Part II

Posted on Thu Sep 28th, 2023 @ 4:58pm by First Lieutenant Bethany Harrison & Level 10 Minamoto 源 Takashi 崇

Mission: HYDRA: Another Head Rises
Location: Cult Compound
Timeline: Present Day

Since his arrival from off world, Takashi had been quite busy since his return to the Peak after a two year hiatus. He was extensively debriefed, informing SHIELD Command about the deal he had struck with the Watcher and his subsequent transformation, and then explained to them, in detail about the Kree threat he had averted with the Watcher’s guidance.

Immediately thereafter, he was apprised of the current status of SHIELD and the loss of the former Director. After he was declared fit for duty, the World Council had convened and Takashi was advised of his promotion to Director, seeing as he was the only level 10 agent left in the organization. Finally he was unceremoniously ushered onto a Quinjet and given a quick briefing about the current situation en route to the compound.

She stepped up beside him, still at a distance, her eyes glowing slightly as the irises began swirling with a rainbow’s array of colors. Bethany went through her own scans of the area, continuing to speak to the agent. “The bulk of them are in a high security facility undergoing proper deprogramming procedures. Others decided to try to fight their way out, and it ended less peacefully for them. The only reported meta that was found, was rescued off site by Wyrmwood and her people. You’ll have to talk to her about that, though.”

The young light-bearer then turned to look at Tak, her eyes still swirling with multi-colored rays as she casually studied him in the vast array of the electromagnetic spectrum for a moment, before the light dimmed, and her normal emerald gaze settled into place. Continuing on, she said, “And if you didn’t find an underground facility, this was either a site that was slow to produce, but consistent, or it’s somewhere offsite. I’m betting on the hidden facility. It may look small to you, a quaint little community.”

The young woman motioned, glancing towards the tall, razor-wire topped fences, along with the hidden, innocuously plain platforms in each of the corners, all of them overlooking not only the perimeter, but the interior, as well. “But for what it is, this compound is too large, too old, and too well guarded to be unimportant. Even that silo is a reinforced emplacement. Wyrmwood reported that they had some recklessly advanced explosives set underground that would have leveled a pretty wide area. There’s something out there that they were willing to vaporize a good chunk of land to keep hidden.”

“Then I will have my men widen their search,” he said to her then quickly relayed his orders to the other agents via his earwig. “I wonder…” With that, Takashi started for the silo. As he approached, he reached up with his right hand once more and tapped at the frame of the right side of his sunglasses with his index finger, turning on the HUD. This time, he was doing a focused, detailed scan of the silo and he noted that it was not only reinforced, but also with scan dampening materials.

“Hmm,” he mumbled to himself as he walked around to the wide double doors, sliding his hands out of the *haori’s* sleeves and placing them on the handles. With a slight pull, they opened to the cooler confines of the grain storage within the silo. Looking about, he scanned all of the grain that was left, truly not a significant amount but just enough to cover the floor easily.

Turning his head to get the entire silo floor, he stepped over to a seemingly innocuous pile of grain, stopping before it. Turning off the HUD of his glasses, he knelt before the pile and just stared at it. There was… something about this particular pile that had his warrior’s sixth sense tingling.

“Clever,” he exclaimed, his tenor carrying easily outside the silo after brushing aside some of the grain, revealing a hatch handle, presumably to the underground complex the Marshal said should have been here. “Marshal Harrison, I have found an entrance.”

The young woman had slowly followed along with the SHIELD agent, and gave a slight chuckle when he studied the silo. She stayed outside when he entered, still looking over the upper site, sharp eyes studying the compound. When Tak called out to her, a slight grin touched her lips. At least he hadn’t blown her off because of some ill-conceived idea that her age meant that she was clueless.

As Bethany entered the silo, she shuddered slightly. Again, memories from her childhood tried to batter their way into her thoughts, but she forced that all away, stuffed back into that dark place where such things belonged, as was her way. Before saying anything, her eyes began that strange, colorful pattern, and she scanned the thick hatch that seemed insanely out of place with the rest of the relatively mundane surroundings.

“I have to say, I’m kind of disappointed that they missed this,” she half-muttered, rolling her colorful eyes. “I mean, most places have some kind of storm shelter at the very least. But this isn’t a typical storm-rated door, and the floor is well beyond the make of typical foundations. Most metas couldn’t get through this.”

“The walls of the silo are internally lined with an attenuating, scan resistant material,” Takashi said after a moment, looking up at her from where he crouched before the unopened hatch. My readout says it is a led/tungsten/titanium alloy. I had to cycle through several different resonating frequencies to even detect it. This is definitely not like the rest of the surface compound.”

Wyrmwood hadn’t laid eyes on the compound, so Bethany understood how her people wouldn’t have known about the silo. But Talon...he wasn’t exactly blind or stupid, and had far more experience with these types of facilities. She found herself questioning why he hadn’t found it. But that was a question she would have to ask him later.

“So, are you going to call in the troops, Agent Tak? Or do we check it out ourselves?” Bethany asked, not really knowing what to expect from whatever hidden chambers were waiting beneath them. Not that she cared. If it had only been her, she would have already taken the plunge. “It could range from some kind of damp, ill-kempt dungeon stocked with drugged-up, beaten-down metas and a handful of scruffy guards, to a full on, fully guarded lab facility. You’re in charge of the compound right now, so it’s your call.”

“Central, this is Agent Takashi,” he said as he stood, placing his right index finger on the earwig in his right ear as he continued. “We found a hatch on the silo floor. Marshal Harrison and I will be investigating further.” After a moment, Takashi nodded in the affirmative, presumably to the voice on the other end of the comms then bent over and pulled open the hatch.

He didn’t wait for her, only took the railing in both hands and climbed down a few rungs. At the last moment before his head disappeared he said “See you at the bottom.” And with that, he placed both soles of his *tabi* against the sides of the ladder and descended quickly into the darkness.

“That looks kind of fun,” Bethany said to no one in particular as she watched Tak slide down the ladder. She was able to see him go far deeper than he probably imagined, considering the fact that she could see just as well in the dark as she could by day. Once he got a ways down, she followed suit, her nano armor forming around her hands to protect them from the friction of the slide.

Once she hit the bottom, her nano pulled back, disappearing underneath the sleeves of her leather jacket, and she turned to see that they were in a circular room with three thick hatchways leading in different directions. “Why does this suddenly seem like a really bad game show?” Bethany muttered, even that slight sound amplified in the entryway.

“All of this is reinforced as well,” she said, then paused, her head tilting slightly to the side. “Do you hear that humming sound?” They had taken out the main power, and hit everything with a massive EM pulse before the raid. Anything electrical that survived had to have been well shielded. “Sounds like a generator, or something.”

Takashi closed his eyes and focused his attention on his hearing, as *Sōke* Hatsumi and his father before him had instructed so many times before. Denying himself the sense of sight slightly augmented his attention to his hearing, one of the many Togakure Ryu Ninjutsu abilities he possessed. After a moment, he turned his head toward the sound of what could possibly be a generator down one of the few branching tunnels within earshot. Most of the time, sight was not something to rely on underground.

Crouching slightly to stay silent, Tak moved with practiced ease down one of the side tunnels where the sound was originating from, his *tabi* covered feet moving with surprising speed and silence. He moved like death late for his next appointment, and stalked his intended target by sound and his sixth warrior’s sense, just as he was taught. Momentarily stopping to listen when they reached the first junction of dark tunnels, then after a moment of listening, moving down a second, the sound of the generator started getting louder as they closed into it.

After another triple tunnel junction, Takashi stalked down one of the tunnels, seemingly at random after once again stopping to listen. After about another minute of silently moving down its length, the sound of the generator could now easily be heard, a steady source of light could be seen coming around a small bend as they approached. Tak then leaned himself against the closest wall and stopped moving just before the bend opened up into a larger room, the sound of the generator now loud to his ears as they reached its location.

Looking behind him, he knew that Marshal Harrison had been behind him the entire time, then thrust his chin toward the room as he raised his right hand in a fist, instructing her to hold. His left hand instinctively dropped to the junction of where the *saya* (scabbard) and *tsuba* (guard) of his family katana rested at his left hip, his left thumb popping the *habaki* (metal collar holding the hilt of the katana within the sheath) out of the *saya* with a near imperceptible pop. He then held up three fingers on his right hand, counted down to two, then to one and finally pointed toward the opening.

The young light-bearer had followed along with Agent Tak, watching him curiously. She moved with a surprising grace and speed, her own boot-clad footsteps eerily silent in the enclosed corridors, though she didn’t diminish her profile as they went. Each door that they passed opened into lifeless rooms, with beds, tables, and a few amenities that seemed normal for a barracks setup. A couple of the corridors had collapsed inward, the heavy vault doors twisted and unmovable under the rubble.

When Takashi came to a stop, she did as well, watching the man as he signed to her. She nodded in understanding of his silent, tactical instruction, then followed him into the room that he had motioned towards, keeping an eye on his back as he entered. What they found was a large room, the walls lined with generators, but devoid of anything that resembled human life.

After walking around the room for a bit, she nodded. “This is meant to keep this underground area running, for some reason,” Bethany mentioned, her tone soft, just loud enough to be heard over the one running generator. They were set up to work in a series, one running until exhausting its fuel, then the next kicked on. “But it’s obviously been evacuated.”

Sighing a bit, the young woman stepped back into the corridor, and glanced at the two other doors. Shrugging, she opened one and found what looked like some kind of break room, complete with a couple of refrigerators, tables and some couches, the only sounds coming from the flow of electricity, and the hum of the appliances.

The next room she opened made her stop in her tracks, her eyes widening. “Agent Tak. I think I found something important,” she called, her voice echoing in the eerie emptiness, seemingly unconcerned with being heard all of a sudden.

The room was large, and consisted of two levels, the entire room filled with blinking and whirring computer servers. Stepping inside, Bethany noticed what seemed to be a control panel down a set of spiral stairs, against the back wall. “This is what they’re keeping alive,” she muttered, making her way down to the wall lined with monitors, the desk area having three keyboards. Resting her hand on the side of one of the keyboards, she mentioned to no one in particular, “I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to come back for this.”

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TBC
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Bethany Harrison
Fractal
Mutant Underground

Minamoto Takashi 源崇
Hypernova
Director of Shield