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Unsung Heroes: Mission Two	By : RavenLadies Category: +G through L > G.I. Joe Views: 1326 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the cartoon(s) that this fanfiction is written for, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter Eleven

“They're getting closer,” Gung Ho said as he leveled his rifle on the approaching zombies, several of the shuffling figures with their arms outstretched, their fingers clawing at the empty air.

"Just keep moving," Rebecca said. "It'll be a waste of ammo if we try to take them all down."

“Whatever you say, Doc.” The bald man said as he moved up to Rebecca's side.

"I just hope the others don't have any trouble getting the other person out of there..."

“Let's hope there ain't none of those things in there.”

Rebecca nodded silently.

# # #

It was eerily quiet as Scarlett and the others crept towards the storage area, the only sound, the occasional faint moan from the two remaining zombies that where lying on the tiled floor.

"H-hello?" The woman's voice floated out from the specimen storage. "Is somebody there?"

“It's okay Miss, we're here to get you out.” Lifeline called out as he and the others neared the steel door. The sound of his voice however, also drew the attention of the zombies on the floor, causing the creatures to slowly turn in their direction, a fresh chorus of moans escaping from their decomposing lips as they caught sight of the trio.

Strong's eyes narrowed and as one of the zombies tried to drag itself forward. She pulled her pistol and put a single, neat bullethole in its temple. "Stay down, asshole."

Scarlett looked at the other woman but said nothing, instead turning her attention to opening the door. “Cover the door, “ she said before hitting the automatic opening mechanism and jumping back.

The first thing that hit them was the smell. The second thing was the mass amount of corpses. Each of the holding cages and tanks were still occupied, but most of those occupants had long since passed the point of caring about their visitors. A few of the tanks had little more than a black sludge across the bottom of it, with the occasional barely recognizable body part peeking up to tease at the imagination. The soft moan of a zombie could be heard, and the woman screamed again. "Get the fuck away from me!"

Dashing in ahead of the others, Lifeline gagged as he fought down the urge to vomit, clamping his hand over his nose and mouth. “Hello?” He called out, his voice muffled. As he moved past the row of cages and tanks, he tried not to look too closely, instead only giving them cursory glances, not wanting to linger on the horrors contained within.

“Lifeline!” Scarlett called out after the medic before following him with a frustrated sound.

"Hello?" The voice that came back was frantic. "Hello?!"

Following the voice, Edwin warily made his way towards it, stopping in his tracks when he encountered two zombies, the creatures reaching through the bars of one of the cages. A heavy boot lashed out at one of the zombies' arms, bashing it against the bar of the cage. Footsteps echoed behind Edwin and then Strong was suddenly beside him, doing her best to ignore the death all around them. The other zombie collapsed on the floor, as a blast from Scarlett's laser rifle blew away a sizable portion of it's skull, the redhead hot on Strong's heels.

# # #

“Weapons fire,” Gung Ho said as he and Rebecca continued to lead the trailing zombies away from where they had left the others.

"Just two shots, so far," Rebecca replied. "Maybe just the stragglers who couldn't keep up with the horde?"

“Maybe,” the big Marine grumbled. “Maybe we should be ditching these Night of the Living Dead rejects and be getting' back.”

Rebecca glanced past the hoard, and mentally judged the distance. "Yeah, I think you're right. We've led them pretty far off."

“So what's the plan, Doc?”

"Circle back around the conference room and head into the storage. If I remember the map right, the conference room's kind of an island. It's a short jog, and they'll try to keep following us all the way around. It'll buy the others some time."

Gung Ho nodded. “Lead on, little lady.”

Gung Ho and Rebecca trekked down the hallway, staying just far enough ahead of the following zombies to keep the creatures' attention. When they reached the conference room, the two paused momentarily to check inside, the big Cajun flicking the beam of his flashlight around the room to make sure it was clear before they entered. Pausing in the doorway, they made sure that the zombies saw them before ducking further inside.

# # #

“Miss?” Lifeline hurried over to the cage, gripping the bars as he looked inside.

"Hello?!" The woman shot forward, revealing a pale face.

Strong, from beside Lifeline, gasped. "Hutch?!"

“L-Lieutenant H-Hutchinson?” Edwin stared at the blonde woman on the other side of the bars.

Hutchinson looked at them, confused. "How...how do you know me?"

Scarlett moved next to Lifeline, her blue eyes settling on the woman in the cage. “What's going on?”

“I-I...I'm not sure,” the medic said in response, turning to look at Scarlett with a very puzzled look on his face. Strong, standing nearby, looked now less confused.

Scarlett turned her attention to the blonde woman. “Who are you?”

"My name's Nina Hutchinson. I'm a Second Lieutenant, USMC. You?"

It was the Edwin who answered. “I'm Lifeline, this is Scarlett and Sergent Kenya Strong.” The medic indicated each of them as he spoke their name. “We're with G.I. Joe.”

# # #

“Anything yet?”

“Nothing Duke,” Dial Tone replied as he turned around in his chair to face the blonde man. “I haven't been able to raise anyone.”

The Joe commander let out a frustrated sound. “They've had more than enough time to get back...”

“Do you think something has happened to them?”

Duke's blue eyes flicked to Dial Tone. “I hope to God not.” The big blonde rubbed his chin with his hand. “Make sure that chopper is ready,” he instructed. “and have Low Light and Lady Jaye meet there in fifteen minutes.”

“Will do,” Dial Tone said as he turned back around to the console in front of him.

“And get Devil Dog's second on the horn while you're at it.” Duke said as he stepped towards the door. “Tell her to suit up.” With a pensive look on his face, the blue-eyed man left the communications room.

# # #

At the mention of the Joe team, Hutchinson slumped back in her cage. "Thank god," she murmured, then said more loudly. "A-Are you guys with that team of Bio...bio-weapons specialists?"

“Not exactly,” Scarlett replied as she eyed on the lock on the cell.

“How do you know about that?” Lifeline asked.

"They were trying to recruit me for it, awhile back," Hutchinson replied. "I was in transit to where I was supposed to report in when we were intercepted and attacked."

The medic glanced up at Scarlett, the red-head nodding at his unanswered question. “Keep your head down,” the red-head instructed as she looked at Hutchinson. “I'm going to blow the lock.”

Hutchinson nodded, and tucked her head under her arms, curling so that her arms and legs would take any damage that might crop up. Strong, meanwhile, couldn't help but stare in complete confusion; the world really had gone stark raving mad, she thought.

Using her crossbow and one of the smaller explosives-tipped darts in the quiver on her back, Scarlett had the locking mechanism laying in pieces at her feet within a few minutes. Moving past the red-head, Lifeline opened the door and stepped inside, the medic immediately kneeling down next to Nina Hutchinson's side as he slipped his medkit from his back. "Are you all right?" Strong asked, remaining near the now-open door of Hutchinson's holding cell.

"You mean other than spending at least the last six months in the company of monsters, mutants and psychos?" Hutchinson asked blandly, slowly stretching her legs now that she wasn't having to contort herself to keep away from the hands of the attacking zombies. "Just fucking peachy."

As Scarlett and Kenya stood watch outside the cell, Edwin gave Hutchinson a quick exam, finding the blonde woman to be in much better shape than he would have expected given the circumstances. As the medic worked, he and the others questioned the lieutenant on her captivity, learning that the first of the zombies had appeared a little less then a month ago by Hutchinson's best guess. Things had then gone from bad to worse within the space of a few days, with the blonde woman apparently the only one left in the facility who had not been infected. As she spoke, Hutchinson paused every so often to eat and drink from the rations and canteen that Lifeline had given her.

Aside from being underfed and dehydrated, the woman was in relatively good shape, and clearly anxious to be out of the facility as quickly as possible. She tried to save most of her own questions, knowing there would be ample time later to have them answered. And if not, she figured, then it probably wouldn't matter anyway.

# # #

Crossing the conference room, Rebecca and Gung Ho glanced behind them to make sure that the band of zombies were still following them. Using his flashlight, Gung Ho would flicked it over the trailing creatures, making sure to hold their attention. The pair had just reached the open door on the other side when a pair of zombies rose up to block their path, their fingers clutching towards the Marine and the doctor. Rebecca shrieked and recoiled from the zombies, badly startled, even as she brought her gun up to fire.

Just as surprised by the sudden appearance, Gung Ho swung his flashlight up towards the creatures' faces, the strong beam illuminating the zombies' milky white eyes. Swearing, the Marine brought his weapon in his other hand up, firing without hesitation, the short precise laser blasts hitting the closest of the creatures full in its face. Rebecca's gun barked as soon as the flashlight illuminated the zombies, gore raining over the two as the zombies collapsed. "C'mon, hurry!" she said. "We can't get blocked in here!"

Reaching out, Gung Ho slipped his arm around Rebecca's waist, lifting the young woman from her feet before leaping over the bodies of the two zombies. The big Cajun bolted down the hall a bit before stopping long enough to set Rebecca back down on her feet. “Merde,” Gung Ho swore as he looked over his shoulder. “They were wearing Cobra uniforms.”

Rebecca was a little shaky as Gung Ho set her down, shaking her head. "I can't believe...don't they pay attention... this virus is dangerous!" She was almost mumbling to herself, her tone was so low.

“We gotta back to Scarlett and the others,” Gung Ho said as he caught sight of movement down the hall near the opened door of the conference room. “'Fore we got company again.”

Rebecca nodded, and took a moment to get her bearings before heading back for the Specimen Storage.

# # #

Lifeline and the others, the medic supporting a slightly shaky Nina Hutchinson, were just emerging from the storage area when Gung Ho and Rebecca jogged up.

Rebecca looked at the woman as they approached. "Did they send another team in?" she asked, blinking as she caught sight of the woman who acted as Billy's right hand.

“Who is that?” Gung Ho asked Scarlett, indicating the blonde woman with Lifeline with a flick of his chin.

“Lieutenant Nina Hutchinson, apparently.” The red-head replied as she glanced the the woman.

“Hutchinson?” A slightly puzzled look fell over the big Marine's face. “But... how'd she get here?”

“Good question.” Scarlett intoned. “Apparently she's been here for past six months or so.”

“Then who the hell has been on base all this time?”

“I'll give you one guess,” the blue-eyed woman said.

# # #

“What's going on?” The Baroness' accented voice came through the comm link on the raven-haired woman's wrist. “Why are you calling me?”

“Something has come up.” was the terse reply.

“What does that mean?”

“The Joes have sent a team to Lakeview.”

“Lakeview?”

“That's not the best part,” the woman who wore Nina Hutchinson's face replied. “I'm about to go there myself.”

“What?”

“Apparently they've lost contact with the first team and are sending a second -- me, or rather Lieutenant Hutchinson, included.”

Another frustrated sound burst from the comm link. “Damn it! You've got to stop them. If the Trojan Horse symbiont isn't completely activated within the proper time frame, then Coen will be of no use to us!”

“I've only got five minutes, Baroness.” the blonde woman said, trying to keep her voice down lest someone passing by might hear.

The link was silent for a few moments before the raven-haired woman's voice came through once more. “This is what I want you to do...”

Listening intently, the woman who was masquerading as Nina Hutchinson nodded her head.

# # #

Following the footprints in the dust, Duke and the others retraced the steps that Scarlett and the others had taken earlier. As they moved down the shadowed corridor toward, the big blonde couldn't shake the feeling of something being off since the four of them had entered the Lakeview Institution for the Criminally Insane.

It was Low Light who had found the other set of footprints, indicating that the previous team of Joes had left the main floor and ventured down into what appeared to be some kind of underground service corridor. As Duke and the others made their way down the corridor, they found signs of laser and gunfire, the walls and ceiling riddled with blast marks. The trail led down to what eventually amounted to a pile of rubble blocking the corridor. There didn't seem to be any sign that the team had been caught in the tunnel collapse, but it did require that Duke and the others find a different route. “It's almost claustrophobic,” Lady Jaye said as she and the others cautiously crept down the shadowed tunnel, the lights set in the walls flickering at random intervals.

“Like creeping around in a tomb,” Low Light tossed out, his head swinging back and forth as he brought up the rear.

The occasional sound of something skittering in the darkness could be heard, but nothing attacked them. Duke called the team to a halt as the tunnel they had been traveling down intersected with another. After dispatching Low Light and Lady Jaye to investigate each direction, the big blonde once again tried to raise Scarlett on his comm link, but with no success. It was a few minutes later when Lady Jaye returned, the brunette woman indicating that the tunnel she had reconnoitered had ended in a dead end several yards in.

Taking the corridor in the opposite direction, Low Light cautiously made his way down the tunnel, his near-legendary night vision leading him. He had gone perhaps two hundred yards when he began to notice a smell, a combination of dank mustiness and rot. Slowing, Low Light adjusted his grip on his laser rifle as the tunnel began to bend slightly. Pressing his back against the damp concrete of the tunnel wall, Low Light peeked around the bend in the corridor. “Holy fuck...” the expletive left his lips before he even realized that he had spoken.

The chamber Low Light had stumbled onto was covered almost completely in spiderwebs. Some were the standard, gossamer-fine webbing one might find in a neglected house or out in a garage, while other strands of it were as thick around as the man's wrist. And as if that wasn't enough, there was the suggestion of things caught within that pale maze, parts of limbs hanging out of tears in the webbing, and tightly wrapped cocoons scattered here and there. In the darkest corners, shapes the approximate size of small dogs began to move toward him, deceptively delicate legs bearing bloated, shining bodies into Low Light's field of vision. Without hesitation, the big man started firing at the forms moving towards him. Low Light was one of the few Joes who had actually seen first hand just what Umbrella Corporation and Cobra were capable of; and he would be damned if he would let their monstrosities get the jump on him.

At the first sounds of laser fire, Duke's blonde head snapped up in the direction that Low Light had taken, the big man moving almost immediately towards the corridor. “Low Light!” Lady Jaye was right on Duke's heels, one of her specially designed throwing javelins already in her hand as she left Hutchinson to bring up the rear.

The smallest of the forms coming at Low Light retreated, while the larger kept coming, moving nimbly out of the way of the shots. Pulling a pistol from the holster at his hip, Low Light brought it up, popping off short bursts of laser fire in conjunction with those from his rifle. Shots tore into a few of the larger figures, the spiders skittering off into the darkness again, leaving eventually only the largest of the bunch, which reared up on its hind legs and let out a sound that was something between a hiss and a screech.

At that moment, Duke and Lady Jaye skittered to a stop next to Low Light, shots from the big blonde's laser pistol ringing out to join the other man's. Her brown eyes widening at the sight of the creature, Lady Jaye nonetheless wasted no time in letting the armor-piercing javelin in her hand fly, flinging the weapon with all her might at the rearing spider. The javelin sank deep into the spider's abdomen, and the creature shrieked again, spitting a glob of acid toward the Joes before scuttling off in the darkness, leaving a trail of sickly green ooze behind it. Dodging to the side, Low Light grabbed Lady Jaye, the two of them rolling to the side just seconds before the milky glob splattered the concrete where the dark haired woman had been standing. Duke however, continued to fire off shots at the retreating creature. The spider, crippled by the javelin, collapsed under its own weight as Duke's shots tore fresh wounds in it, letting out a low keening sound before it began to curl up.

Untangling themselves, Low Light and Lady Jaye got to their feet, the two of them immediately turning to regard the injured and dying creature. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Duke asked angrily as he turned to look at Hutchinson, the blonde woman standing idly by while he and the others had been engaged in dealing with the creature. “This is no time to freeze up, soldier.”

“S-Sir," Hutchinson replied, reaching out and pointing with a hand that trembled slightly. "H-H-Hopper..."

She was pointing to a body laying nearby, covered from about mid-chest to ankle in thick, bloodstained webbing. Although the dark, for the moment, hid the body's face, the name patch sewn on the jacket was easy to read in the slowly dying emergency lights. A single word.

Hopper.

# # #

With the rescued Nina Hutchinson in tow, Scarlett's team made their way towards what they hoped would be the exit out of the maze of horrors that had once been an apparent joint Umbrella and Cobra laboratory. Thankfully, the small group had remained unmolested since leaving the floor that had contained the Specimen Storage. Even though they did not encounter any zombies or other creatures, they still found obvious signs that something had happened such as smears of blood, overturned furniture and broken glass.

Signaling the team to a halt, Scarlett called for a short rest period, with Lifeline distributing some of the rations from his med kit around. Rebecca sat down, taking the rations and taking the brief period to try and read through at least part of the file Strong had given her. She needed information, and she needed it fast. If there was still some kind of creature running around the facility, she wanted to know its weaknesses before she was wasting ammunition trying to find it. She wasn't stupid enough to think she would get as lucky as she and Edwin had during Billy's odd fit.

Strong, meanwhile, stayed within sight, but continued keeping her distance from the others. She was angry and hurt and confused, and didn't really feel like talking with much of anyone. She settled instead for watching Hutch as the woman found a seat wearily, and ran a hand through her short-cropped blonde hair. Scarlett and Gung Ho stayed off to the side, the two senior Joes talking in low tones, the big Cajun finally getting the opportunity to tell the redhead about the zombies that he and Rebecca had encountered that had been wearing Cobra uniforms.

Edwin took a few moments to check on Lieutenant Hutchinson, the former captive seeming to have regained some of her strength before moving to join Rebecca, quietly settling down next to the young woman. Rebecca looked up from her reading, and spared Edwin a tired smile. "How're you holding up?" she asked. The medic nodded his head slowly before taking a drink from his canteen. She nodded a little as well, and turned her eyes to the report again, but her brain just wouldn't grasp onto the words and she finally stuffed the file carefully away again. Glancing at Rebecca, Lifeline reached over and laid a hand on her arm. Looking up, Rebecca offered the man a weak smile, bringing a hand to rest over his. "We're going to get out of here," she said softly.

Edwin nodded his head. “I know we will,” he said, giving her a faint smile of his own. “There's too much riding on this not to.”

"At least we got what we came for. I think the file Strong found for us will be just what we need..."

The medic raised his eyebrow questioningly. Rebecca smiled faintly. "That's right. In all the confusion and hurry, I didn't really get to tell you. Strong found a file on one of the projects being worked on here. Something they were calling Trojan Horse."

“Trojan Horse?” Edwin repeated the words.

"Seems that's the name of the parasite that Bil... Devil Dog's carrying. Apparently the original idea behind it was to be able to trigger it instantaneously, but they never quite managed it."

The medic paled a bit. “Oh my god...”

Rebecca gave a shaky little nod, and glanced around, before dropping her tone until only Edwin could hear. "I haven't read much of the file yet, but what I have read may explain a few things about that incident in his room."

“What do you mean?” Lifeline asked, keeping his tone low as well.

"Remember how he wouldn't attack you? Even when the parasite kinda took over?" The medic nodded, his brows crooking together in puzzlement. "They have lists of what they consider 'abberant traits'... and apparently this thing is capable of imprinting when it's still developing."

Edwin's frown deepened. “I don't understand,” he said. “What does that mean?”

Rebecca hesitated for a moment, and dropped her voice down a little lower. "He didn't attack you because the two of you are lovers," she replied, blushing just faintly as she did so. "The parasite doesn't see you as a threat because of it."

Lifeline felt the heat from the blush that crept across his cheeks as well. The medic dropping his gaze, feeling a bit self conscious because of it. “What about... getting rid of it?” he asked softly.

"I haven't found anything yet, but I haven't gotten all the way through it yet, either," Rebecca said. "I'm sure there's something."

Edwin nodded his head, praying silently for all he was worth that there was.

# # #

The discovery of Raphael Hopper's body had left a disheartening pall over the members of Duke's team. While the others had kept an eye on the monstrous dying spider, the big blonde had managed to retrieve the corporal's body, hoping beyond hope that perhaps the man was not dead, but merely stunned or paralyzed. But as Duke and Low Light cut away the clinging gossamer webbing from Hopper's body, it was quickly clear that he was done, and the manner of his death had more than likely not been instantaneous. Even Lady Jaye had been unnerved, the brunette bringing her hand up to her mouth as a small gasp escaped from her lips. “Poor bastard,” Low Light said with a shake of his head.

There was a ragged wound at the juncture of the man's neck and shoulder, where jaws not powerful enough to break bone had torn into skin and muscle. Without all the webbing covering him, Hopper's corpse was grotesquely bony, almost mummified in appearance, his face trapped forever in an expression of surprise and terror. If it hadn't of been for the name patch on his uniform and the dog tags around his neck, it would have been impossible to tell just who they had found. “Scarlett... Lifeline... “ Lady Jaye's voice was soft as she spoke, her brown eyes wide as she looked up from Raphael Hopper's corpse.

Duke's jaw tightened. “They're alive,” he said resolutely.

“No offense, Sir, but how can you be so sure?” Hutchinson asked, the blonde-aired woman still apparently shaken by the discovery of Hopper's body.

“Because I am, Lieutenant.” came the gruff reply, Duke's ice blue eyes fastening on the young woman. “Until I find out otherwise.” Hutchinson shrank back a bit under that gaze.

Reaching down, Duke removed the dog tags from Hopper's corpse and slipped them in his pocket before giving the corporal's body a final salute. “Let's move out,” he said grimly as he stepped away.
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Unsung Heroes: Mission Two