Read Monster Of Dracosilk :: Prologue III: The traitor amongst us [Part II]

Continued…

| Beta-squad Vice |

“300 meters!?”

The vice then turned to the medic.

| Beta-squad Vice |

“Must've been one hell of an earthquake!”

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“Wait! I've seen such injuries before.”

The medic said, realizing something.

| Beta-squad Vice |

“Injuries? Doctor, they're dead! I'd think these are a little more than some injuries.”

The vice rubbed both his temples in frustration. The vice then turned towards the rear guard.

| Beta-squad Vice |

“Go fetch the captain. Doc's got an explanation for it. He'll want to hear it.”

The soldier went back out to call the captain.

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“It's rare, but such cases have happened to engineers who've carelessly handled dark fluid.”

The medic checked for signs of the liquid. Yet, if there was any, it's long since dissipated.

| Beta-squad Vice |

“The Dark fluid!!! Hold on. The captain needs to hear this.”

| Beta-squad Captain |

“Hear what? Rookie told me you got an explanation for it, doc?”

The captain asked, coming up the staircase.

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“Captain, Dark fluid. Are you aware of it?”

The medic raised himself and crossed over his arms.

| Beta-squad Captain |

“The anti-gravity substance that gives our airships flight?”

| Beta-squad Vice |

“Isn't it everywhere these days? The monorail that goes to Veritas, which they recently opened, also works with it. Isn’t that why it can run on tracks without structural support?”

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“You're both right. They have plans to float an entire building on it down the road. The rumor is that the new Psycorps HQ that the ministry is building at the city's center will use this same material.”

| Beta-squad Vice |

“You sure know a lot about this, don’t you, doc? But, what's that got to do with these bodies?”

The vice asked with a cheeky grin, giving the medic a small pat on his back.

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“I believe the shells that these bodies have been riddled with contain trace amounts of dark fluid. Of course, I can't be completely sure unless we take them to a lab and do a thorough analysis. But, I've reason to believe that dark fluid was used in the massacre of these men.”

The medic spoke, examining a shell by raising it close to his eye.

| Beta-squad Vice |

“These shells are hollow, captain. There's a good chance he's right.”

The vice interjected after picking a shell up and looking closely at it.

| Beta-squad Captain |

“That's a major war crime, then. The recipe to produce dark fluid is a closely guarded secret. Not to mention that it’s a largely untested and highly inhumane weapon. Just look at the state of the bodies. How on earth did it end up here? That’s something Psycorp will want to know.”

The captain commented while pulling on his beard.

| Beta-squad Vice |

“You think the enemy came here with ammo lined with this stuff?”

The vice turned towards the captain.

This whole thing was quite frightening. Imagining an enemy having such a weapon, and witnessing its gruesome effects firsthand, put everyone into high tension.

| Beta-squad Captain |

“Our commander has assured me that no unit has set foot in this place. Not on our end, at least, and I trust him.”

The captain stared into the vice’s eyes with a serious look.

| Beta-squad Captain |

“At first, I thought there had to be a third group in play. But, our men found no signs that anyone else had been here. No signs of footprints or other signs. Isn’t that right, vice?”

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“How can tha—”

Just then, their comms flared to life.

| Commander Blackhound |

“Captain, the Zeta force has arrived to ferry us back to base. You can give your report once you get back. Our newly put-together investigation team will handle it once we assemble them in a few hours. They'll pitch in until we can properly reform the delta squad.”

| Beta-squad Captain |

“That'll be hard. We had some good men at Delta. Roger. Vice. Doc. Pack up. We're heading home.”

The captain said after hearing the commander's order. He then returned to the room to gather his supplies, with the vice following him.

Now that the medic was all alone, he could finally focus on the investigation, and his brain went into overdrive to devise a reasonable solution to satisfy his curiosity.

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“...we heard crazy explosions right before we came in. At the time, we assumed that it was some chain bombings. But now it all makes sense. It wasn’t an explosion that had occurred. There are no signs of burn marks, smoke, or flames. It was all due to the dark fluid being fired in live rounds. However, where did they—”

| Beta-squad Vice |

“Doc, get your ass here and grab your things”

The vice, along with the captain, got their bags packed and walked past the medic, still quite absorbed by the whole scene. Now angry due to the wait, the vice shouted back to the medic from down the hall.

But, if the vice knew this man, he would know better. When the medic got interested in anything, there was no stopping him, and so, like a mad beast, he ran down the stairs but not to go with the rest. Rather, he had a different reason in mind.

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“Yes, that must be it!”

| Beta-squad Vice |

“Good, don’t make us wait! The ship’s waiting, doc!”

But, the medic shot right past the vice, waiting for him by the building door. Instead of following the vice out of the building, the medic went down one more floor.

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“Oopsie, I left my bag downstairs. How clumsy of me!”

He's up to something, thought Vice.

Wait.

Is doc the traitor!?

Hold on! Let's not jump to conclusions.

Maybe he left his field rations down and really loves those tasteless bars!?

| Beta-squad Vice |

“Hurry, doc! Or else we’ll be leaving without you!”

In the distance, outside the building, the sound of the airship's engines firing could be heard as it prepared itself for take off.

The medic frantically searched the entire basement.

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“Where is it? Where is it!?”

The medic spoke to himself while searching all over the place for any fragments he could find. Seeing none, he threw away his first conclusion.

These were not the work killer drones! He assumed that if this were the work of drones, then he should see signs of some kind of struggle. Perhaps the men were able to take one of them down. But he really could not find anything.

Ruling out drones only left one possibility.

The killings were done from within the building by some unknown group.

Shivering at the thought, he ran into the storeroom and tapped against each floor plank with his scalpel.

*Thump*

*Ting*

*Thump*

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“Hold on! I heard a ting!”

The medic became ecstatic over the odd sound one of the floorboards made.

| Beta-squad Vice |

“And you'll be hearing plenty of other things if you don't get your ass on that ride!”

The vice said while forcefully dragging the medic away.

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“Nooooo! My discovery! I was so close! Hold on, vice! There's a floorboard that sounded—”

The medic said with a sad look after being dragged away before seeing what was under the board.

| Beta-squad Vice |

“Sounded strange? Why yes, there's an underground tunnel from where the intruders could easily massacre the men hiding here.”

Ah, that makes sense!

Wait.

How does he know!?

| Beta-squad Medic | B-011 |

“N-n-no way!!! Are you the traitor?”

The medic asked as his eyes popped. He tried to turn his head back to meet the eyes of his assailants. He was in terrible danger, so he hid his scalpel in the sleeve of his suit.

The vice stopped dragging him and let him go. The medic was laid flat on the ground, with the medic's head towards him. It was a compromising position if the vice wished he could stomp straight on the medic's head.

The boots of their squad were lined with metal, and one good stomp from the vice could crush the medic's head like a tin can.

Unfortunately, they had to forgo their exo-suits, or else the medic was confident that he would have the upper hand as he had better control of it than anyone else on his team.

He had trained himself with it to the point that it felt like second nature. However, in doing so, he had grown quite weak physically and wasn't prepared to have a death match with the vice.

Any sudden or clumsy movements from him and vice would do him in right there.

The air was heavy, and his life was flashing before his eyes. Amid the tension, he could only think about the element of surprise he hid within his sleeve.

But then again, the vice was smart. How the situation would turn out would be anyone’s guess.

Just when the medic was about to spring into action by slipping the scalpel into his hand from his sleeve and slitting vice's Achilles tendon, vice did something unexpected.

Vice sighed and crouched low, looking straight into the medic's eyes as he squatted, bringing his face close to the medic.

This is perfect!

The medic now had the advantage. He was confident in his ability to kill with his weapon of choice.

This little scalpel in his trained hands was like a jack knife or a machete. He could use it to completely sever the man’s Carotid artery, directly cutting off the blood supply to his brain and killing him.

Over the years, he had performed many surgeries, and this awkward angle would not stop him. The element of surprise was his, and he started calculating the best angle for his fatal kill.

| Beta-squad Vice |

“Traitor?”

The vice had a puzzled look on his face.

| Beta-squad Vice |

“Psycorps sure has a lot of enemies, huh!?”

The vice had a dangerous look on his face.

The medic grimaced in disgust.

This man is truly dangerous!

Why would he kill his own group just to throw us off?

Just how far is he planning to take his vendetta?

Does the captain know?

If vice is the mole responsible for leaking our intel, then doesn’t that make him responsible for everything?