"YOU TOTALLY JINXED IT," Benji told Brandt.
"God, don't make me feel more guilty. I'm already worried enough," Brandt answered.
"Have you located the cure?" Ethan asked as he walked in the base.
"Hey," He greeted Ilsa immediately after asking his question. Ilsa nodded back.
Benji answered, typing on his computer, "We've barely begun, Ethan. Remember, the cure could be as rare as the substance itself."
Ethan looked down at the USB flash drive he was given and grabbed one of the computers.
"What do you need it for?" Brandt asked.
"A mission, I guess," Ethan walked towards a room, set the computer on the table and inserted the USB flash drive.
The screen lit up and Ethan pressed his thumb against the screen for fingerprint recognition. The computer then displayed his name: Hᴜɴᴛ, Eᴛʜᴀɴ.
"Good afternoon, Mister Hunt," A recorded voice said. "IMF has recently discovered yet another shadow organisation currently operated by the surviving Apostles and their leaders. This organisation could have been behind the actions of the Syndicate and the Apostles, but we are currently unsure of its name and their goals. We only know that it was formed by Solomon Lane, August Walker, Atlee and an unknown person. We know nothing about this last person except for his alias, Bruce Walter" —The screen showed his fact file with everything unknown except for his alias— "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to infiltrate this organisation as you have done with the Syndicate and stop them from achieving their goal. You can choose to do this with your team, or choose to do this alone.
"This location, as shown, could be one of the possible bases of this organisation" —The screen showed a map with a pin marked somewhere in California— "for we are not sure of this organisation's existence, we want you to check out this base first before commencing the mission. And remember: should you or any members of your team be caught or killed, the IMF will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This USB flash drive will delete every single file in five seconds."
Ethan waited for five seconds and ejected the USB flash drive to throw it away.
"What is it?" Brandt asked.
"I need to check something out. It's nothing, really," Ethan replied. He wanted to confirm this organisation's existence before telling the team.
Brandt and Ilsa glanced at each other. It was obvious that they were hiding something that neither Ethan nor Benji knew about.
"How could it be nothing? You just said that it was a mission earlier," Benji said with a tone of confusion.
"I gotta go," Ethan announced, ignoring Benji as he grabbed a few weapons and gear.
"Okay then, I'll just... locate the cure," Benji mumbled as Ethan went out of the base. Brandt and Ilsa glanced at each other once again.
* * *
California, USA
Ethan drove to the destination according to the map that he had memorised. It was an unpopular road right next to an entire forest. Ethan geared up and loaded his gun with bullets, just in case he needed them.
He got out of the car and shut the door. Cautiously, he began to walk into the forest, where he assumed where the base might be.
After brushing through the rough leaves of trees while running as silently as possible, deeper into the forest, he finally reached his destination.
To find nothing but the same forest and bugs.
Eyebrows furrowed, Ethan looked around the area once more to try and find something camouflaged or hidden, but he still found nothing.
About to leave the forest thinking that the organisation didn't exist, Ethan heard a door creak out of the blue. Due to his instincts, he instantly dove behind a tree just as a shut of the door was heard.
"I just hate this shift the most," A voice grumbled. He was probably a soldier or a security guard changing his shift to guard the perimeter.
"Why is that?" Another slightly deeper voice asked. He probably has the same occupation as the first voice.
"Well, you definitely have a bigger chance of getting killed," The first voice answered.
Yeah, about that... Ethan thought.
He silently tried to sneak a peak. Both voices did belong to guards. Both with black hair and brown eyes with one of them slightly shorter than the other. Brothers. They were both protecting a trapdoor that Ethan could now see, but barely because of its camouflage.
Maybe he didn't need to kill them. He could easily sneak into the base from them. But the question was: How would he get to the door? Ethan really regretted not bringing his team now. If his team had come along, they could easily use the "Distract and Go" technique. Now, Ethan had to find a way in himself. Maybe he did need to kill them, unfortunately.
As quietly as he could, Ethan prepared his pistol to shoot. He aimed a shot at one of the guard's head and killed him. Luckily, Ethan remembered to use his silencer on the gun. This helps him minimise the normally loud ear-ringing sound guns make when he shoots.
The bullet hit the taller brother directly in the head, taking his life. Sometimes, Ethan would feel guilty about the lives he had to take. This was exactly how he felt.
Quickly, Ethan rushed to another tree where he could hide. The shorter brother was too busy mourning over his dead brother before he went to search for the killer.
Not wanting to take another life, Ethan took this opportunity as a chance to sneak inside the trapdoor. To his luck, the trapdoor had no lock of any kind. So all he had to do was open it, close the door as silently as he could after jump inside clinging onto a ladder that led down into the base.
Of course, it was useless as one guard knew an intruder was around.
"Security breach! Security breach! There's an intruder, code red!" Ethan heard from outside.
He's in big trouble.
Ethan quickly slid down the ladder and leant against the metal wall. Right now, he was in a hallway in a perfectly normal-looking base. He made sure no soldiers were near him and continued deeper into the base.
After many twists and turns and a few close calls, he leaned against another wall and decided to rest.
"Hey, you! We've got you surrounded!" Ethan heard someone call.
He jumped in surprise and peaked around the corner of the wall again. This time, he saw someone being surrounded by soldiers. He had brown hair and hazel green eyes who stood around six feet and two inches tall. It seemed that the sight of Ethan made the man put his hands up in surrender. A soldier looked at the direction the man was looking at and saw Ethan.
Ethan's eyes widened and ran away.
"There's another intruder!" The soldier shouted into his comm as the others in his group led the man even deeper into the base. "Section Seventeen-A!"
Ethan ran, making many left and right turns so that he would not be caught easily.
He then heard a gun click.
Ethan slowly turned around to see him. Solomon Lane.
"You've got some nerves coming here, Ethan," Solomon said as a group of soldiers started to surround Ethan.
Even if he knew he had no chance of escape as he was outnumbered by ten to one, he still stubbornly tried to escape by fighting as many troops as he could.
Alas, Solomon managed to hit him hard in the head with a kick in the stomach, making him pass out.
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(Sighs) Ethan, what did I tell you about getting your team to help you?
Who do you think the man was? How does he know Ethan and do you think if he is a protagonist or an antagonist?
As we get deeper into the story, let's see if you're right.
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