Crumpling metal, bulging and compressing, like large tin cans being pinched and released. Mild clamoring and banging came from equipment brought along with. Guns, sheathed weapons, their own bodies. Elise moved to the head of the pack, Tony just ahead and to her right with a tablet in hand, a dark green screen displayed with different lines.

“Alright. If this is accurate, we should be right above one of the storage rooms. That or a hallway. So with that in mind, lets find an-”

“Hold on Tony, I’ve got this,” Elise murmured.

A metallic shing was heard, followed by a ploonk. Sephiroth had been quickly unsheathed and slammed into the bottom of the vent, a thin white glow around the blade.

“Wait- Elise, someone might hear and-”

RIP, REEEP, SKKRIIIEESH

KAKLANG

Down the panel dropped, a large section of vent right onto the floor of a dark room below. Visible in the darkish depths below the vent were crates, barely illuminated from a light in the room further away.

“Alright, lets go,” she whispered as she dove right out of the vent, landing on both feet upon the ground.

One by one the others followed, leaving just Tony with an exasperated sigh. All together they looked upon several tablets displaying the map of the facility.

“Alright. This is the map of the facility then. Fortunately we weren’t detected thanks to someone presenting a loud entrance that could’ve easily been heard.”

“Got us in didn’t it Tony?”

“Eh… whatever. Alright, we’re in Storage Closet 1-C. So out this door is-”

With the twist of a handle, two-seventy to one-eighty. It creaked open for the group of fourteen who began to pour out into the hall. Dark and empty, there was little around, not even security cameras to monitor the environment. All clustered once more around Tony and Elise, with Zoey and Caldori near.

“The plan is to plant explosives at the base of the foundation and in the warehouse section itself. Now according to the Echo-Translator, there appears to be a room nearby with a lot of electrical interference. Computers and communications. That should be near the end of this hall. The fact that they have no guards in here makes me concerned- but the echo didn’t pick up any life in these rooms so who knows. For now stick together and hopefully we find something of note. Understood?”

“Yes sir!”

“Alright, lets move-”

With twinkle toes so light like the fluff of a cloud, the proud leader lead the entire group forward down the dark halls, around a bend, passed several doors. The lot of them shuffled close behind, Elise taking his flank with Zoey, Sora, and Caldori kept close behind, followed by her brothers, then the rest in a mix. Weapons drawn from melee weaponry to long range guns and the like, some just unarmed but prepared.

Around another bend there were a final set of doors, only a short walk from the storage room in actuality. A normal wood door to the right and a set of metal doors ahead. As they pushed forward Tony stopped at the wood door, hand placed upon the nob in seconds, “Ready up.”

A twist and then a push. The door opened and they all barreled inside.

“This is-”

Another darkened room, glass to the left to the area the metal doors had gone. A large holo-table sat at the center of the room with chairs all around. Cabinets stood, filing cabinets, with some normal wood ones and counters. Another couple doors smaller than what they had just come through also lay towards the back.

“The conference room. Unguarded?”

“Why should they need security in a secret base they have armed to the teeth outside with ferocious undead soldiers,” Rusty muttered with a roll of his eyes, “Wake up you smelts.”

“Hey, fellow smelts, check out this outfit,” Dryden called from by the window.

Several approached now with wandering eyes, Elise and Tony among those that drew towards the glass. Outside was the warehouse, stacked with large crates. Several smaller trucks, along with trailers backed up to the loading docks. Undead stood everywhere, some in rags, others in uniform. Others walked around, Zaherian based on uniform, and others in lab coats with eyes similar to that of a Vampire- yet crossed with those of an Undead.

“Ghouls and Zaherian. Likely the Vampires are mixed in somewhere,” Sora murmured.

“Lab coats though? That- has to mean something, right guys?” Samantha questioned, a tad bit of Welsh in her tone.

Groups of Undead moved forward behind forklifts, after which forklifts would move behind them, all with crates. Crates were moved into the trailers, followed by lines of the Zombies, followed by more crates which were then placed behind. Constant beeping from the lifts backing up echoed throughout the warehouse section and into the conference room.

“Definitely what we anticipated then, isn’t it?” Britt retorted.

“This is definitely one of the hubs- but where are they making them?” Caldori questioned.

“There,” Zoey stated, holding her right arm and hand out, pointing out into the warehouse, “See that platform in the middle, risen over the ground of the rest? Ramps coming down- they probably come up from there. That means there are unmapped sections beneath the warehouse.”

“You’re sure that’s an elevator?”

“Without a doubt. Why else would that be there with a control panel box?”

“Or a Ghoul standing near it,” Elise murmured.

“Logic says there should be ways to get down below, right?” Chelsea asked.

“Zoey. You, Samantha, and the brothers- go down and see what you can figure out in the warehouse. Be careful when you go down there though, try not to be identified,” Tony stated, turning to look at her and those beside her.

“Is it wise to split up already in enemy territory?”

“A group like us will be hard to hide and hard to manage Callie. Speaking of, I want you and Sora to stick with Elise and her brothers. Domino Squadron can’t stick together on this one, and you three seem to get along with one another.”

“So we’re splitting here eh?” Elise mumbled, turning her head to look at Tony, “What’ll we do?”

“Zoey’s group will survey the warehouse and plant the explosives down there,” he replied as he placed a duffel bag down on the table, “I’ll go with the rest of my team to check out the other storage rooms, maybe break into some files. Your team will operate here and figure out what more that you can. Coordinate with the General.”

“Copy that,” Elise murmured.

“We’ll meet back in the room we entered in in approximately thirty minutes. That’s how we’ll get out of here when the time comes. Plus it honestly seems like the safest way to go. Best of luck to you all,” he concluded, breaking off with several of his group following.

Chelsea stayed near Sora and Caldori for a mere second before breaking off as well. Tony, Jimmy, Dryden, Anna, and lastly Chelsea exited the room heading down the hallway back from where the came from. This left Zoey’s team and Elise’s team, the two groups of which now began to break apart.

“Well- best of luck to you Elise, Britt,” Zoey sighed.

“Until we meet again,” Britt replied.

With exchanged nods the group of four walked, exiting the room heading towards the iron doors. This left only five in the conference room, all of whom had now begun to fan out towards the different cabinets. Elise followed suit right after, shutting the room’s door, “Alright, what exactly are we going to be looking for?”

“First things first,” Sora replied with a small thumb drive in hand as he approached the computer system, “We hook our little hacker drive up and transmit whatever data this thing has on it back outside.”

As he plugged the thumb drive in, Caldori walked across to the table with several folders in hand filled with papers, “Then we pool through their physical records in hopes of finding something about their activities here.”

“Ugh- what a lame ass job,” Rusty growled.

“It might be but it is what we have to do brother. We need to do our part to get these bastards out of Vulfax and off our planet.”

“Bleh- I’d rather just go out and punch the hell out of them.”

A sigh left Elise’s mouth as she took a few steps away, pulling out a small card-shaped device that was quickly activated. In seconds a small square near the top activated, glowing a bright blue, following which-

“Bakuuva?” the card sounded, the voice sounding much like Jorgenouf’s only more techy.

“Jarrajod, we’ve met with no resistance so far and have infiltrated successfully. Tony divided us up into groups of three. His group is checking out the back rooms while another is moving in on the warehouse. My group is in their conference room pooling over their files. Sora should be transmitting a link to their system any minute.”

“Copy that, we’re receiving now. There’s- no encryption. Actually there isn’t much data by the look of it.”

“These files are pretty useless too Elise-” Britt called out, “Some of these are so old looking, they’re probably unrelated to the activities here.”

“Some have records of shipment dates but nothing about what was shipped. Twenty-nine hauls on the… eighteenth of last July?” Caldori spoke.

“Neh- it’ll take time.”

“Can you confirm the exact number of what goes into a shipment though?”

“We just watched them load up groups of Undead and unmarked crates. Guessing weapons… maybe ninety to a hundred and fifty Undead per trailer? We’re pretty sure they’re making all this underground. There’s a newly installed lift in the center of the warehouse.”

“They’re good at hiding everything… plant the bombs and when the time comes we’ll-”

“Oi, oi oi oi! There are ghouls coming up the stairs outside- and some old guy?”

“Damn, that’s all we need. Everyone scatter!” she hissed, flipping off the sound on the transmitter card.

Calli and Sora quickly shot behind two cabinets as the brothers shot into one of the closets. Elise quickly turned and darted for a locker, shoving her way inside before closing it on herself. As she did the door opened, the Ghouls from the stairs moving in with the old man following.

The Ghouls themselves seem unremarkable but the old fellow was different. Relatively short, perhaps no more than a meter and a half. A right eye of golden amber, glowing much like a Lion’s, his left eye covered with cloth wrapped around- black bandages. His appearance was that of a plague doctor in attire, topped with a blackish purple lipstick. His hair, lengthy gray with some black left in it, a face covered in wrinklage.

One Ghoul moved over to the computer system, the thumb drive still sticking out. A cold sweat drew over Elise- passing only as the clacker of keys was heard.

“Hurry it up,” he muttered in a semi-raspy voice, “I have a schedule to keep.”

He barked this, snapping a cane down on the ground held in his right hand. The Ghoul typed only a few more things, the holo table activating. Soon a form was displayed, a figure that immediately sent Elise’s eyes wide and shaken. Purple eyes displayed themselves, a slightly spiked purple hair dangling out front of the face.

“It’s about time you answered my requested transmission, Vikram.”

“I apologize milord, I’ve just been- busy. Busy with production,” the old man replied, bowing his head slightly with his eye shut.

“Excuses as always.”

From the closet, both brothers stared out with cold sweats of their own, viewing the figure displayed from another angle.

“Britt- isn’t that guy?”

“Yeah, without a doubt.”

The old man rose his head, the glow of his golden amber returning, “Forgive me for being so late, Lord Arkaza.”