章 13: Chapter:13
It was another day at L.A.B's Tracer Service Centre, It was a room situated on Stage-4 another safe Stage, at the L.A.B base Omega.
At the base
It was a 6*6 room, with 12 employees in it sitting in front of computers, with headphones.
Their chairs were slightly shifted, because of the employees who were chatting with each other.
The life of a L.A.B.T.C.S employee is pretty good, You have an 8-hour shift, get paid a decent amount here and even get regular snacks and coffee breaks, and talk to friends, And not much of a workload.
A type of life that almost every man will be excited to have.
"Haha yeah, that time I really drank more than I could take.." Jason Brady.
A white guy with a brown short beard and a slight buzz cut said while holding the cup of coffee to his friends.
"That explains why you took a leave for the next 2 days. haha!" Robert Wilson.
A blond with a clean shave and blue eyes said while laughing and pointing at his friend, both of them took a sip of their coffee.
Bzzz!!
They heard a slight buzzing from the speakers that were kept on the table at their row of computers.
"Gulp. I'll handle it!" he said loudly while raising his hand in the air informing his colleagues that he can handle the job.
Robert just gave him a thumbs up in return and continued to sip his coffee.
Click.
"Greetings, I am speaking from L.A.B.T.C.S, how can I help you?
Robert looked at his friend's tone change to the same formal tone he has heard countless times and a neutral expression appeared on his face, he could hear faint murmurs of the person on the other side.
Slurp.
He suddenly noticed that Jason's expression had changed to worried.
'Seems like another guy got lost?'
He brought the cup closer to his lips and took a sip but before he could have swallowed.
"A Nest on Stage-2?!"
"Pfff!!" he ended up spitting it back in the cup in surprise when he heard the words escape Jason's mouth.
Even the other employees who heard it turned in his direction with a shocked reaction.
"A Nest…?"
"On Stage 2!?"
Murmurs.Murmurs
They murmured among each other.
A Nest is a major issue for the Tracers throughout the Labyrinth, just one Nest alone can raise a Stage's SHR to 3 stars.
Moreover, a Nest on Stage 2 was an even bigger issue, since Stage 2 is considered a warm-up Stage for tracers so they can get an idea of the dangers of Labyrinth and have a chance to rethink before pledging to explore those accursed hallways.
SHR of 2 is more than enough for that job.
But with an appearance of a Nest, it might even be considered SHR of 5, no if they run into the Nest it can even be SHR: Fatal-Zone.
Robert was not a rookie in his job; he already knew what they were supposed to do on the appearance of a Nest.
He sat at his work table and started looking for the contact for 'Ravage Corps'.
It's another department of L.A.B. that intakes brave people and trains them to fight Quiddities; they are sent to destroy quiddities in cases of facility breaches, rescue missions on Stages with SHR:4 stars and above and destroy Nests.
"Sir, are you in a safer place right now?"
"...".
"What type of quiddities does the Nest consists of?"
"..."
"Hounds? Alright, sir, I need you to give me your Tracer's-I.D. number so we can locate you and send Ravage Corps to rescue you all and destroy them."
Robert was just waiting for the signal from his best friend to contact the Ravage Corps.
Jason's expressions were worried, but suddenly he furrowed his brows and his expression turned to surprise.
"Wha-? excuse me, sir, can you repeat what you just said?"
"..."
Robert looked at his friend's expression turn to utter shock, looking
***
"Oonh..oonh" Painful moans of the Hounds were audible throughout the hallways.
Half of them were dead, already broken parts from the machine penetrated through their bodies, a few of them were gravely injured and the rest of them were in a dazed state from the sudden loud explosion, after all, even improvised hearing had its cons.
An injured hound weekly stood up on its feet, a gear protruding from its waist.
It opened its eyes weakly trying to clear its view and look around it but then.
SHA-SHINK!
Its head was split in half.
Chad slowly withdrew his machete and walked forward.
"D*mn Chad, I wanted to have the first kill," Bella said with a smile.
PHISS! PHISS!
Two more hounds were shot down by her rifle.
Other hounds had already noticed their presence.
PHAT!
A hound's skull popped open and its brain splattered on the ground.
"Chill, Bella there are plenty of fishes in the ocean," Leo revealed himself with the shotgun.
Cluck-chick!
The hounds looked at the figures and growled even though they were injured their beastly instincts can't be stopped just like that.
They were enraged now, their brethren were destroyed in front of them, even though they didn't have feelings of grief but they still had anger,
And Now they have their target in their sights they can not let these humans go unscathed.
"Growwll!!" A hound who was in a better condition ran toward Bella who was looking the other way.
TA! TA!
Two air-cracking sounds of silenced gunshots were heard, and the hound fell to the ground like a rag doll.
"Bella, I think you shouldn't let your guard down."
Han Ji commented as smoke leaked out of his revolver's suppressor.
"Haha! don't be silly, bozo I was just waiting for you to fire, so I can check your aim," Bella said while bolting her rifle.
'Yeah Right..'
"Attack! Team!" Leo yelled.
Drawing everyone to the sense.
"GROWWLLL!!" one of the not-so-wounded hounds yelled as if it was signalling all the leftover hounds to charge.
"Grahh!"
"Rowl!!"
All of the hounds replied and charged at them.
"Take out the weak ones first! don't let them recover their numbers!"
"Yeah!!"
"Yes!"
Nods.
Leo jumped towards a hound with a missing leg. Used his shotgun as a staff and broke the skull of the Quiddity.
2 more hounds approached him.
PHAT!
One was shot in the chest and decapitated into many pieces.
"Raargh!!"
One lunged at Leo with an open Maw, it jumped in the air and was trying to bite Leo's face.
'Dumb one.'
Leo pushed the gunpoint deep into the creature's mouth.
"Gluck-cuck."
It made choking noises.
Cluck-chick!
'Au revoir..'
PHAT!
The entrails of the creature were splattered through the ground.
Chad rushed at three hounds, his pistol in his left and machete in his right.
TA!
One hound was shot dead.
"Groww--" One lunged at him but he stabbed the machete through its chest.
"Rowwll!"
Another one lunged at him, he tossed his pistol in the air and grabbed the hound by its neck and pinned it against the wall.
"Grargh!"
It growled.
clink.
He dropped the machete and caught the pistol in his hand.
TA!
The hound was shot right in the middle of its eyes.
But a Hound with a huge wound on its side that Chad assumed dead, somehow gained consciousness and stood right behind Chad.
"Gro--!" it was intended to bite his leg but.
PHISS!
It wasn't possible till the sharpshooter of the team was here.
Bella shot down the creature.
Chad looked behind him and saw Bella with a mischievous smirk.
Suddenly Chad's eyes went wide when he saw a hound sneak behind her.
It lunged at Bella but, she flipped her gun and jabbed the creature's face with the stock of her rifle.
"Arri!"
She flipped it again and bolted it within a second and shot the Hound dead.
TA! TA! TA! TA! TA! TA! TA! TA!
"YAAAAA!!" Han Ji screamed at the top of his lungs and shot every single hound that came into his view.
click. click.
'Empty?'
The chamber was emptied.
"Growll!!"
Another hound spotted Han Ji and ran towards him.
If it was the same old Han Ji he might have freaked out and started to hyperventilate but this, Han Ji wasn't the same guy.
flick.
The chamber was pushed out and shells were ejected.
clink.clink.clink
He pulled out a speed loader from his pouch and loaded the gun.
flick.
"Raww–"
TA!
The creature was killed.
Munch.Munch.
Meanwhile, in the room, DRC leaned against the door, his left hand holding the Almond water canteen and his right hand holding an energy bar.
Munch.Munch.Gulp.
TA! TA! TA!
"Yaaa!"
PHISS!
"Arri!"
PHAT!
TA! TA!
"Growwlll!!"
"Raagh!!"
'D*mn those guys are sure having fun out there.''
Munch.
He took another bite from the energy bar, enjoying the battle sounds and the sounds of battles sounded like music to his ears.
Munch.Munch.
'Maybe I should join them?'
With those thoughts, DRC tried to stand up but his legs didn't budge.
What was the reason was he injured?
Did he get a muscle sprain?
No, it was just he was feeling lazy right now.
He may be the fastest guy in the team and have high stamina but he had an issue that was that whenever he got a chance he'd just lay down to eat and drink.
'Never mind, it's pretty good here.'
***
"Sir, are you telling me that you and your squadron have cleared a whole Nest of Hounds by themselves?!"Jason said, not being able to trust what this tracer was saying.
"My Tracer ID is 956733326665, you can check footage recorded by my camera."
"huh? Alri–"
Beep.
Leo cut the transmission.
"The guys from The L.A.B will be here in no time." He said, turning toward Han Ji.
"Ah… so should we leave then?"Han Ji asked with a polite tone.
"Pffft! Leaving? Us? Don't be silly, You expect me to let anyone else take our bounty?"
"Huh? Bounty?"
"Yeah."
Leo replied bluntly and Han Ji stared at his face with a raised eyebrow.
It won't take a genius to tell he was confused right now.
"Oh… yeah, Well the thing is Han Ji, Nests are a big issue in the Labyrinth and the worst will be one forming in a Stage like Stage 2 since there is a rare chance for some really unfortunate soul to get no-clip out of reality here, which will make things worse for them then they already are, plus Stage 2 is considered a warm-up Stage, it might make things worse for a newbie take yourself an example..."
Han Ji looked away as a slight tint of red appeared on his cheeks.
He knew Leo was referring to the fact that he almost got killed and might have been a dead meet if it wasn't for Chad and others.
"So for destroying such a big threat we'll be getting a big reward from The L.A.B too!"
Leo said with excitement.
Now everything made sense.
"Oh ok…but what about other Quiddities?"
"Ah don't worry usually other Quiddities never enter the territory of Nest."
Leo replied but then suddenly static noise from his handheld radio drew his attention.
Bzzz!
"Hello?"
"Hello, sir..we have checked your video footage, and found that… you were indeed telling the truth.." Jason's voice was shaking as he looked at the screen that played the sped-up video in low quality but it was more than enough to tell that this guy, Leonard Cohen wasn't lying.
"We have sent a Squadron from the Ravage Corps to take care of the remains of the Nest.." he said softly.
"Thanks!" Leo exclaimed and hung up.
"Well they are coming to take care of the remains of the Nest," Leo said turning to the pile of dead bodies but then his eyes
Bella and DRC were wearing cyan surgical masks, he held the mouth of the creature open while Bella pulled its teeth with a pair of electric pliers.
"Yo?! What the hell are you guys doing!?"
DRC and Bella exchanged looks then DRC looked at him bluntly.
"I guess we're dancing," DRC commented in a cold tone.
"Pfft!" Han Ji cracked.
Leo stared back at him with a blank expression.
"Can't you see we're taking their fangs?"
Bella replied mimicking DRC's tone.
"But why?"
"Do you have any idea for how much can a necklace made from their fangs can go?"
It was DRC.
In this case, Leo lacked knowledge.
He slumped his shoulders.
"A single piece made from 3 fangs, can go up to 20,000"Bella replied.
"What the… no way!" Leo exclaimed.
"Yes way, now either you stop disturbing us or come here to give us a hand!" Bella said while pointing at him with the pliers.
"Ah sorry, Mademoiselle, Please keep up the good work."
Han Ji was totally flabbergasted with the prize, one of the things he learnt during his training was that Labkrones didn't work much different from Dollars, and now he was busy calculating their total gains.
'A single piece can go up to 20,000, and for making one we need 3 fangs, we have approximately 55 hounds so if we multiply them by 4 and divide them by 3, we'll have around 73 necklaces and if we sell them all for 20,000 then we'll have…'
"1,460,000.." He ended up saying it out.
He gulped down his saliva in nervousness.
They were just supposed to have a warm-up.
but they ended up making it a hardcore chase.
That resulted in them making almost 1.5 million.
Now Leo can say without any doubt,
"This raid was a success!"
***
"Breaking News! Breaking News!"
A newspaper seller at Stage 4 yelled.
"Yo? Did you hear that? A group of tracers 5 took out a whole Nest of Hounds?"
"What you gotta be kidding me!?"
"Yeah, they did?"
"How can that even be possible?"
"They probably took some Assault Rifles or grenades."
"Aren't they prohibited for non-L.A.B -officials?"
"Breaking News! Brave Tracers are rewarded by the Stage Administrator! Breaking news!"
Later on that Leo and his team were called to Stage 4 and received 100,000 as a token of appreciation.
And they sold their necklaces too the actual number of hounds they killed was 57.
Which got them 1,520,000.
Leo took a good amount of money out of their bank account.
Because there was one really important thing he needed to do.
"Hey, guys! Let's party!!"
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