章 94: Paradise Wasteland

7.25 AM, MIST Headquarter, Los Angeles.

Aya Brea was walking at a fast pace toward his Boss's office. She received a call after getting her partner, Rupert, medical assistance for his broken ribs. She was summoned to report on the incident, the cause, and how it progressed. She was supposed to immediately report right after, but his boss had a guest and cannot be bothered.

She met with several of her colleagues, who were busy running around to fix or cover the aftermath of the Akropolis Tower incident, as to not cause mass panic among citizens.

She hadn't returned to the Akropolis Tower yet, so she didn't know what happened after she left. But the fluctuation of energies she felt when she first arrived at the tower earlier vanished one by one and completely gone a few hours later. She had an idea of who caused it.

With every step she made, she started constructing her analysis. Especially, the young man who could easily thwart her flame energy, and even countered with his own. Even when the target wasn't her, she could imagine how fatal it would be if she was in his crossfire.

However, his power was not the only thing that was bugging her mind. The action of that young man throughout the ordeal was too suspicious. He was very calm whenever they encountered the NMCs. The first time they met, Aya mistook him for an enemy after killing a civilian. But it turned out, the one he killed was actually an NMC.

'How could he knew about it if he wasn't involved with whoever that caused it?' thought Aya. Even she couldn't differentiate which was human, and which was not.

What made him even more suspicious-looking was that he seemed to be reluctant in killing the humanoid NMC, who was able to speak like a normal human. The more she thought about it, the more she questioned that young man's identity and aim.

Except for the trenchcoat he donned, his outer appearance completely made him look like a seasoned soldier. Did he worked for an organization or independently?

'So what is it that he wants?'

She stopped thinking about it when she realized that she had already arrived in front of his Boss's office. After taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door.

"Aya Brea, coming in to report," she announced.

The answer came immediately. The voice was solemn, "Come in."

She turned the handle of the office's door and pushed it. When she stepped inside, she was greeted with the frustrated face of Eric Baldwin, her boss. He had gray hair, but his face was still sharp just like when he was in his younger days.

His coat was draped over the chair, while he was sitting, deep in thought, staring at the telephone on his table.

"Is there something wrong, Sir?" asked Aya.

Baldwin waved her off and told her to take the seat in front of her. Aya proceeded to explain everything that happened in the tower, from the moment she arrived, until getting out using a helicopter. A look of interest could be seen whenever Aya mentioned the appearance of a mysterious young soldier that helped her and the other to escape. But then, his face turned gloomy which was not left unnoticed by Aya.

After she was done explaining, Baldwin then said, "Good work. Now, what I'm going to show you is the lead we found yesterday. It might interest you."

He gave her a newspaper, containing a lot of articles like a female celebrity having an affair with the famous Tony Stark, up to some random news related to the U.F.O. invasion.

"What is it about?" asked Aya.

"Check page 3," said Baldwin.

After turning to page 3, Aya was confused. There was news of Cattle Mutilation. But how was it related to the NMCs attack?

"So, I'm hunting U.F.O. now?" asked Aya sarcastically while smirking.

Seeing the impatient look on Aya's face, Baldwin immediately told her about his findings. "Autopsies of those cow carcasses showed cell degeneration... you know where I'm going with this, right?"

Even if he didn't say, Aya knew what he meant. After seeing Aya nodding in understanding, Baldwin then continued, "Neo-Mitochondrian Creatures. We know they had a vast appetite due to an unusually high metabolic rate..."

"And it's our job to teach them some table manners?" continued Aya.

"Exactly." Baldwin then took out something and gave it to her. "The necessary documents are in this folder."

The folder itself contained search warrants, the attack information, and MIST Manual. There was also a map of the Mojave desert, where the cow mutilation happened. A small town called Dryfield was marked with a red circle, pinpointing the location.

"Is that it?" Aya noticed that Baldwin was behaving oddly, his expression told her that there's something more to it.

"It's about your partner on this case," said Baldwin.

Aya nodded in understanding, "Don't worry. I know Rupert needs time to recover. I'll go alone."

"No, you're not. Someone was assigned to assist you..." Baldwin then paused for a moment before shaking his head, "No, after hearing about your experience with him, it might be the other way around."

Now she got even more confused, "Could you not buzz around, sir?"

"I'm sorry," said Baldwin. He pressed a button on the intercom and muttered, "You may come in."

However, the answer came from an unexpected place, "I'm already here."

A puff of smoke materialized, circling around the dark corner of the room, on Aya's left side. Edward appeared, still wearing his bulletproof uniform, black and white trenchcoat, and a gas mask.

A few hours ago, when Edward called Nick, he also mentioned Aya Brea, and how he needs her help to solve this case. That was why Nick had to make a call to Aya's office, to her boss.

The relationship between the FBI and SHIELD was so sour, that it even made a lemon tasted sweet after a single bite. Especially now, when the latter seemed to be interested in their case. It was a big No-No in this circle.

Edward noticed the look of contempt that Baldwin exuded ever since he appeared. It was annoyingly bothering him.

Edward reassured him, "Don't worry. The case is still yours. I'm not affiliated with SHIELD, yet. All I need is a ride."

Hearing the answer, Baldwin just sighed, but now he could be a bit more relaxed. He said, "Fine then. Aya now that everything is settled, I'll wait for your good news."

Without much of a choice, she saluted and answered, "Yes, sir."

======

15 Minutes later, MIST HQ Parking Lot.

I was sitting on the Aya's car's passenger seat while trying to recall all of the events of the game. It was a bit fuzzy, but I knew the general lines of the event. My memories might get better after I arrived at Dryfield.

Looking at the rear window, I could see Aya stuffing her luggage into the car's trunk. It was a bunch of weapons and supply kits for her needs. I closed my eyes, intending to sleep. It will be a long trip and I hadn't had any sleep since last night. I could've just took off alone, but I thought it was better to stay close to her to go through every step of the game's events properly.

After she closed the car's trunk, a scrawny long-haired blonde hipster came rushing in with something familiar in his hand. It was the small implant I took from the transformed NMC yesterday. If I was not mistaken, it was some kind of transmitter or tracking device. I wanted to ignore them, but that guy was being too loud.

"What is it now, Pierce?" asked Aya. Her tone was a bit grumpy.

"Whoa, upset about the new assignment?" teased Pierce.

Aya just shrugged her shoulder and nudged at her car's passenger seat. Pierce understood her gesture and just smiled sheepishly. It was not the assignment that became the problem, but the one she must cooperate with.

"Anyway... got some tasty news for you," said Pierce, raising the transmitter in his hand. Seeing Aya's growing interest, Pierce immediately explained, "Turns out, it was not a mere implant. It's a state-of-the-art Micro-transmitter. That shape-shifting creature... someone was controlling them!"

'Not bad.' I thought. Knowing it was the real world, I was impressed by his ability to investigate certain things. Maybe I could use his ability in the future.

As the conversation continued, Aya got even more shocked. The accident last night was not as simple as it turns out to be. She also recalled a small feature of them. Some of them were branded with some kind of unique logo. It might be a clue for the one responsible for the attack.

"Seriously though, why would someone tag them?" mumbled Pierce.

Aya just shrugged his shoulder, "Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is, I'm off for a drive in the desert."

Recalling something, Pierce then told her about his finding. "Speaking of which, I found sand in that implant."

"Huh!?"

'The fuck!?'

Both Aya and I were startled. It was just that absurd. I immediately lost my need for sleep as I turned over and tried to listen to what Pierce was going to say next.

"You see... when I analyzed it, it matches with a sample from Mojave," explained Pierce.

I wanted to yell, 'What kind of CSI shit is this!?', out loud. I don't even know how it works. Does sand even have some kind of distinctive features?

Aya was as baffled as I am, but for a completely different reason. Now that all clue was pointing to her destination, she should take this assignment properly.

After some small talks, Aya thanked him for the info and walked into her car. She looked at me, but my face was still hidden under the gas mask. She wanted to say something but she stopped. Starting the car, we then drove outside the city.

By now, the news about the attack last night was spread all over the city. There was a bit of fear and anxiety, but MIST's effort seemed to be useful in de-escalating the tension.

The journey to Mojave dessert would take a while. If it was normal people, they would've long died because of California's heat.

Using Reinforcement, my gas mask allowed me to breathe fresh air as if I was inside a lush forest. The Arceus's Trenchcoat still preserved the build-in air conditioner feature, maintaining my body temperature as comfortable as it could get.

But, even then, when we arrived on the highway, I still took off my gas mask, exposing my face for the first time in front of Aya Brea. Her eyes instantly locked at mine, almost causing the car to swerve sideways at my unexpected action.

"What? Didn't you already guess that I was a small kid?" I said while glancing at the moving clouds far away.

"I just didn't expect that you would uncover your secret identity," replied Aya, moving his eyes back to the road. There was less traffic than I had expected, almost non-existent.

"Sooner or later, you'll find out. I do it now so that you can stop putting up your guard around me. I'm not your enemy." I explained.

I knew she was being suspicious of me. Her gesture and facial expression couldn't escape my inspection.

"You have a lot of questions, I assume," I muttered.

"Too many to count."

"Fine, to celebrate our cooperation, I'll allow you to ask three questions."

"How generous of you. Then, I won't hold back," said Aya. After deciding what to ask, she calmly asked, "Who are you?"

"That's a broad question. But, fine, I'll say what you want to hear. I go with the name Killswitch, does it ring a bell?"

Aya shook her head. Of course, she wouldn't know. I was only famous inside the underworld ring in New York City. Besides, her work was only dealing with NMC's threat.

I then continued, "For my real name, you'll need to find it on your own. It won't be fun if I told you everything."

She knew I didn't intend to show all my secrets relating to my real identity. That was why she proceeded to ask the second question.

"How are you related to the NMC's attack?" asked Aya.

"Not much, really. I was called to deal with it by my client. Oh, by dealing with it, I meant that I was going to solve it and try to end it. But through a secret source, I know a lot of information about them." I explained. I then smiled before adding, "As a bonus, I'll let you know another thing. Almost all of the creatures you met yesterday were all Artificial, someone made them."

Artificial-Neo Mitochondria Creature. It was research established right after the event at Manhattan three years ago. It was to be expected, even Umbrella would've been interested in it. I wouldn't even be surprised if they had some involvement with it.

She then asked the last question, "How do I know that you're telling the truth?"

"Don't worry. I'll show you right away." I replied while turning my eyes to hers. Then, I reached deep inside my pocket, "But first..."

Aya was startled by my gesture, she felt a bit nervous. She wondered what I was going to do. But even if she did something, nothing was stopping me.

======

Four hours later...

Mojave desert.

A yellow classic muscle car drove through the highway, taking a turn at the only small road leading to Dryfield. There was a green board with the word, "Dryfield, 3 km" on it.

There were two people inside the car. One was a woman in her mid-twenties while the other was a small young boy. While the boy was energetically singing to the music blasting on the car, the woman seemed to be irritated by it. Who wouldn't? It had been four hours, and the same music has been played over and over again, nonstop. But the music was...

"And I would walk five hundred miles, and I would walk five hundred more! Just to be a man who walked a thousand miles, to fall down at your door..."

(A/N: The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles))

...too addicting.

The accompanying music then stopped, and then, five seconds later, the same intro started playing again while I bobbed my head alongside the rhythm.

'Fuck yeah! This song is really the best song for a road trip.' I thought to myself.

At the same time, Aya was having a mild crisis, trying to preserve her sanity. But, even if she couldn't stand the song anymore, whenever it reached the chorus...

""Ta-da-da-ta, Ta-da-da-ta! Ta-da-da-ta, Ta-da-da-ta!""

""Ta-da-da-dan-te-la-dan-te-la-dan-te-le-la-da-da!""

She sang along with me.

Meanwhile, on top of a stone hill, where there was not even a single grass on the ground, a pack of hairy hounds was observing the yellow car. However, they were not simple hungry hounds. Their four long limbs could help them travel at the maximum speed of 80km/hours, faster than the average car.

But that was not all, they were eerily chilling, especially their faces, that retained their former form when they were once a human.

"Hungry..."

"Food..."

"I see... human..."

"More food..."

"Flesh..."

"Human flesh..."

"Finally..."

Their voice was so cold and inanimated... They don't have the intelligent they had when they were still a human. Now, they were just a foul beast, craving for fresh meats.

Suddenly, one of them howled and formed a charging stance. Its huge claws dug into the stone pavement, preparing to launch itself forward. Driven by its hunger, its red eyes only focused on the moving car.

Wheeeng!

Vuookkh!

It was then, a ball of light pierced through the ugly face of the alpaca-like monster, blasting its head into smithereens. Its body plopped down, lifeless, as it started to dissolve into slime. The other monsters were shocked by the sudden death of their leader, however, it wasn't enough to deter them. Not that I wanted them to, anyway.

"Bingo," I muttered while reloading the semi-automatic anti-materiel rifle, a Barret M82a1.

Kacha!

A smile crept on my cheeks as I yelled, "This is really a Paradise Wasteland!"

[+7500 EXP]