Act I: The Captain

Chapter Ten: Cerberus rising

The sun was setting as the rebels approached the base.

The base itself was almost the size of the prison —concrete walls topped with barbed wire included. Guard towers were stationed at each corner, snipers gazing through binoculars across the horizon.

Jaune nearly cringed as he shifted his arm, hearing the rifle on his shoulder knock against his shield. It was a faint sound —and he was probably the only one that could hear it —but that didn't change the fact it was there. Unfortunately, when soldiers came to the base, they usually left the riot gear back in the prison.

The jeep came to a stop at the checkpoint, one of the soldiers walking up to each of them. Each of them showed him a small ID card —customary to carry at the prison. Jaune showed his before the man nodded, walking back and getting the bar up.

They came to a halt next to a few other jeeps, a few soldiers smoking nearby waving at them. Jaune was the one that waved back, a few of the rebels giving a half-wave.

The driver walked back to him, leaning over and whispering. "You remember the plan, right?"

Jaune nodded, "I get to the radio control room and take the radio offline. We get out of the base our own way, then meet back at the village, right?" Kura had been very clear in their briefing… though, he hadn't specified what everyone else's role was to him.

The driver nodded, turning back to the main group as they made their way toward the base itself. Jaune's eyes trailed up, narrowing slightly on the large tower looming over the base. He guessed if worse came to worse, he could always target the tower's frame and just knock it down.

The six walked in, the front rebels playing up the 'friendly soldiers' act rather well as they started walking down the hall. Jaune, meanwhile, kept a small smile on his face, giving a slight nod to every soldier he saw while subtly watching them for signs of aggression.

Though, it seemed like the soldiers were buying their disguises. Everyone he gave a nod to usually nodded back, a faint smile on their face. He guessed each one thought he was saying something along the lines of 'Better here than the front, right?'. At least, that's the vibe he got from most of them.

At least, except one.

This one looked to be a bit older than him —maybe twenty at most. His eyes held a sort of mistrust —though from what Jaune could tell he believed the disguise. Maybe the man had read his uniform and thought he was Sgt. Sustrai? Did he unknowingly get involved in some sort of feud?

He watched the man turn away, quickly walking toward a room at the end of the hallway… and of course, it was the one room Jaune had to go to. He sighed, "He would be going to the radio operators room, wouldn't he?" he muttered, making his way there.

He made his way across the hall, pushing open the door. Inside he saw a rather small room with radio equipment seemingly strewn about everywhere —most of it not in working order. At the far wall was the soldier from before, messing with a large console Jaune guessed was attached to the large radio antennae.

He took two steps towards him before the man froze, calmly turning to face him. The older gentleman coughed, "Sgt. Sustrai. What are you doing here?"

Jaune calmly walked to the table, the man blocking his view of the radio the whole time. "I was ordered to try and get the radio up and running again… let me guess, they told you to do the same thing?"

The man nodded. Jaune sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he tried to play up the 'so done with this' vibe he was going for, "I hate it when this happens. Well, guess we better get to work."

Internally, Jaune was panicking. How was he supposed to disable the radio with this guy who was ordered to make sure it worked? Ways to knock the man out ran through his mind as he approached, only for the man to lay a hand on his shoulder, "That won't be necessary. I'm more than capable of performing the repairs myself."

Jaune brushed his hand off, "So am I, but we've got orders. Now let me see it."

The man kept blocking him, even as Jaune tried to muscle past. Eventually, he just shoved him aside, glaring at the soldier while trying to stay in cover. He turned to look at the radio, raising an eyebrow when he noticed the small chip hidden in the crack. Pulling it out revealed…

"You were trying to-"

PING!

"GAH!" Jaune gripped his shoulder as he felt the bullet slam into it, knocking him back. He dove to the ground before the man could get off another shot, leg hooking on a table leg and flinging it toward him.

The man ducked beneath it, scrambling to get away from the now destroyed (and on fire) radio equipment as Jaune shot to his feet. He dashed forward, forcing the man's pistol to aim at the ceiling as he fired again. The man's eyes were wild as he opened his mouth, slamming his teeth together.

Jaune tossed him against the wall, kicking his pistol away before grabbing the man by the collar, pulling him to him, "Listen to me! We're not…"

Jaune trailed off, eyes widening as he saw the foam start spewing from the man's mouth, a few shards of glass following. His eyes focused on Jaune's, "Free… Haven…"

He went limp, dying in Jaune's grasp.

He let the corpse fall, water dowsing him as the fire finally set off the sprinklers. He heard the pounding on the door as he sunk to the ground, gripping his bleeding shoulder. When the door slammed open, he saw a soldier rush in, his eyes wide at the scene. He looked out the door, "MEDIC! WE NEED A MEDIC IN HERE!"

Jaune stood, still gripping his shoulder as the soldier walked back in. He stumbled slightly, playing up the injured role as the man rushed to his side, trying to support his weight, "Hold steady Sergeant! Let's get you to the infirmary."

The two made their way out as soldiers rushed past, a medic dashing toward Jaune before having the other soldier move him to the ground.

As the medic used his scalpel to slice through the bloody layer of the soldier's garb, he was suddenly glad he hadn't worn his uniform beneath it. Sure, he'd taken a bullet for it, but better one than one hundred if they figured out who he was.

He winced as he felt the medic probing his arm, extracting the bullet before rubbing alcohol over the wound, taping some gauze over it, "Minimal penetration and no broken bones. You got lucky, Sarg."

Jaune gave a faint smile at the darker-skinned medic, "If getting shot at by a spy's lucky, I better go break a few mirrors."

The three shared a laugh at that, both helping Jaune up as the two looked back to the radio room. The first soldier frowned, "What the hell happened in there? I heard the fighting from down the hall."

Jaune shrugged, wincing as he got a painful reminder of where his injury was. Callus's serum might've made him stronger, but it wasn't exactly helpful when dealing with pain. He took a breath, "I went in to try and get the radio fixed, then I see this spy putting something inside it. I tried to look and he shot me, then bit down on a glass tooth or something to kill himself."

The other soldier glared back at the room, "Fitting. Damn spies die like the cowards they are."

The medic gave him a faint glare before turning back to Jaune, "How-"

BOOM!

The building shook as a wall near the end of the hallway exploded, sending debris and body parts flying everywhere. The soldier's eyes widened, "There's more than-"

A bullet silenced him, an unseen assailant from somewhere in the smoke. Jaune pulled the medic down, dragging the two of them around the corner. He looked up, "What the hell's going on!?"

Jaune grit his teeth, gripping his shoulder, "We're under attack! Go deal with the wounded, I'll be fine! Go!"

The medic hesitated, looking between Jaune and the last explosion sight. It took another explosion —one that sounded even closer —before, at last, dashing off toward the wounded. Jaune, meanwhile, decided now would be a great time to make his getaway.

He dashed through the hallway, holding his shoulder the entire time as soldiers dashed past him. Gunfire sounded from outside, along with more explosions. Jaune wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew something had to have gone seriously wrong. Had Kura ordered them to destroy the base? Had his men planted bombs?

Jaune turned the corner, only to freeze. It wasn't by his own free will, but rather by a sudden, inescapable pressure on his body. His mind ground to a halt as he looked up, watching the familiar woman walk toward him.

She was keeping a tighter grip on him this time, not allowing him to move even an inch. She'd learned… she recognized him. The warden frowned, "For Maria, you won't die… but I can't let you leave, either."

Jaune fought through it for a moment, reaching a hand toward her until the woman flicked her hand to the right, slamming him against the wall. He took a shaky breath, "Why… are you… doing this?" Jaune could barely breathe.

Elizabeth smiled, "Company, of course."

With the snap of her fingers, Jaune was unconscious.

"Wake up."

Jaune slowly opened his eyes, sucking air through his teeth. He hurt all over, his muscles aching as he tried to stand. He was laying over… concrete? The cold beneath his hands felt like concrete anyway.

Everything was dark, but he could still feel… well, nothing but the air and floor. The only exception was a faint weight around his neck —something he felt jabbing into his flesh each time he'd turn. He'd just started to get his bearings when the voice spoke again.

"Subject C-17 is awake. Begin testing procedure."

The voice seemed to come from both everywhere and nowhere —likely an intercom. As if its words were a switch, every light in the room suddenly came on, blinding Jaune. When his eyes at last adjusted, he saw the room had a large mirror on one side, concrete on the other. At either end were metal gates —one of which he was in front of.

At the other? Something he really didn't want to see.

The beast slowly walking out of the other side was something Jaune had only seen in the realm of fairy tales and horror movies. The large, black figure walked on all fours, bones covering most of its face. Burning red eyes gazed at him as a faded gray tongue licked its black lips.

It stood on its hind legs, seemingly almost a foot taller than Jaune. When it howled at the ceiling, Jaune felt it shake him to his very core. The beast slammed its claws on the ground, growling as it prowled towards him.

"Sure, now they wake it up."

Jaune turned, eyes widening as he saw none other than the warden behind him. Though… that wasn't really what got his attention. What caught his eye was the fact that she was wearing about as much as him.

While his face burned bright red, hers showed no reaction, casually walking forward and holding a hand toward the creature. She looked up at him, "You can stare at me later, right now we have to kill this thing."

The creature didn't seem to like her tone, growling as it charged toward them. The warden, on the other hand, didn't seem phased. She just flexed her hand up, concrete breaking off from the ground and flying at the creature.

It broke off its skin, the beast shaking it off before charging again. Jaune gulped, a thousand thoughts running through his head as he got into a combat stance. His mind worked overtime, calculating distances and strengths, weaknesses of the creature.

He had four seconds before the beast neared them, the warden sending a pillar of concrete toward it —only for the beast to dodge. Jaune dashed in front of her, grabbing the beast's upper arm and using its momentum to throw it toward the cage.

It clanged against it, standing up and shaking itself off. The warden smiled, "Not bad for a new blood. Think you can kill it?"

Jaune nodded, wondering how she was so seemingly calm about this presumably life-or-death fight. Though, he didn't get much time to think about it. The beowolf was up and charging in seconds, fangs glistening with its saliva as Jaune stood ready.

The second it got within range, he aimed for its throat. A punch to it stunned it while he grabbed its arm, using his leg to slam the beast into the ground. His heart raced as he gripped it by the shoulder, yanking back on the arm with all his strength.

The beast howled in agony as Jaune fell back, beowolf arm in hand. Its other arm flailed around, scratching into the walls and gate —nearly hitting the warden if she hadn't jumped back in time.

Jaune jumped to his feet, wielding the arm like a spear as he charged, slamming its claws into its chest. He didn't stop, slamming them down over and over again, not stopping until the beast stopped moving.

For good measure, he slammed the claws through its throat as well —just in case. He looked around for a moment, finally able to breathe. Then he looked back to his naked companion/possible enemy, "Why am I here? Where is here anyway?"

He saw the gate opening, a green light shining above the entrance. The warden walked in without hesitation, motioning Jaune to follow. The man did so reluctantly, eyes never stopping on the warden as they trailed along the…Jaune guessed it was an elevator.

He felt a hand on his arm, and turned to see the warden gripping his wrist, "If you want to know, look at my collar." She turned around, holding her hair up so Jaune could see.

The thin strip of metal around the woman's neck looked to have some kind of latch on the back, nearly completely smooth. Walking in front of her revealed a bright red light that suddenly started glowing as they reached the bottom.

Her eyes met his, "Compliance collars. To ensure no experiment goes rogue. Considering Callus made you, they consider you one of us now. As for your second question," the elevator stopped, opening to reveal a group of armed guards.

"Welcome to Cerberus."