Mutagen

Day 54 – 3:42 PM – General's Office, North District, Bay City Settlement, Pasay City, Metro Manila

Inside the office, General Miguel Perez were together with his children, Raphael, Gabriel and Angeline, future daughter-in-law, Teresa Cruz, and the two females entitled as the female devils in the settlement, the mother and daughter Alicea Mae and Paula Mae Clarence.

Normally, the statements of the members of the alliance led by Senator Estrada would be questionable. Both fortunately and unfortunately however, the presence of Alicea and Paula during their statements had proven that they were not lying. Because of that, the military had to take their statements with all seriousness.

This time, General Perez took everyone here in his office for a serious discussion.

"I want all of you to be cautious for the next few days."

General Miguel Perez spoke.

"Dad, is it because of Senator Estrada?"

First Lieutenant Rafael asked.

"That is right." The general sighed. "We had just confirmed that the ones backing him came from Auraboros."

Auraboros, it was an underground organization that had activities around the world though most of these activities were crime related. There were even instances that their organization was confirmed to be funding terrorist groups and criminal syndicates.

There was not much known about this organization aside from a story where the organization was eradicated before. Unfortunately, like one of the words that made up the name of their organization, Ourboros, their end was just another beginning. The next time their organization appeared after the fall, they already had influence in different parts of the world.

The worst thing however, there were rumors that a lot of members of this organization were not human at all. There was no confirmation to this as their organization was too slippery for the authorities of different countries but this rumor was still being believed by a lot of people that knew about their organization or had dealings with them.

Now, that very same organization was standing behind Senator Estrada and that was a total bad news for the military in Bay City.

Also before they lost communication with the Port of Real Settlement in Real Quezon, they received the report of a crime settlement called Death Valley. The worst thing about that report was that the so called crime settlement was led by and founded by the international drug lord, Adrik Volkov. From the international secret reports the General knew, there was an assumption that Adrik Volkov had connections with Auraboros.

Auraboros being active in the Philippines this time was not a good sign. Starting with the plan to kill Mei Xiao while thinning their manpower and to how Senator Estrada tried to raise his influence in Bay City after that, it was safe to assume that Auraboros would want to take control of Bay City while staying in the dark.

Normally, the military had high chance to thwart Senator Estrada's plans but with the performance of the robed people that abducted Mei Xiao, the chance for the military to fail was raised.

"We are currently preparing to confront Senator Estrada and it will be finished by tomorrow. During that time, Angeline, Paula, Gabriel and also you Alicea, all of you will be put in the maximum security area in the laboratory. Rafael, you and your squad will be tasked of guarding everyone. There will be other elite squad that will be present there but their duty is to protect our scientist and their families."

"Dad, for you to arrange all that, would something huge happen?"

Gabriel asked.

"The possibility is high." General Perez nodded. "Although their camp made it as discreet as possible, they seemed to be gathering their forces into a single area. Senator Estrada also left his residence and stayed in a rented warehouse yesterday. The very same place where their forces are gathered."

"Dad, can't we help you? Especially me, I'm a Mutator now."

Angeline chimed in.

"Angeline, I appreciate the offer but no. Our enemies this time were not the mindless infected but actual intelligent people. Since I, the General led this whole settlement, it will be likely for them to target you instead to get hold of me. In the first place, the reason you became a Mutator is still questionable."

"You kids shouldn't give the General more headaches and just follow his instructions." Alicea spoke. "He is doing his best for everyone. Don't try to hold him back."

Hearing that, the three children of General Perez went silent. Although it as true, they found it hard to accept.

"What about you dad?"

Angeline asked.

"Don't worry. I won't be put in danger just because of this. I'm the leader of the settlement so my soldiers won't try to put me in front."

While they were discussing inside the room, the door was knocked.

"Enter."

General Perez allowed the person knocking to enter and it was a soldier.

The soldier saluted and spoke.

"Sir, sorry for the intrusion in your meeting with your family but we have an urgent matter."

"What is it?"

General Perez frowned. He hoped that it was not bad news.

"We have reestablished connection with the military settlement in Quezon. We had General Faustino on the other line and he is requesting for you."

"Is that so?"

The General sighed in relief. He panned his eyes to everyone inside the room.

"Just go Dad, we can continue this later."

Angeline pushed her father out of the room with a bitter smile.

***

Day 54 – 4:02 PM – Military Communications Head Quarters, North District, Bay City Settlement, Pasay City, Metro Manila

General Perez hurriedly made his way towards the communications room which was quite a distance from his office.

"This is Bay City Officer-In-Charge General Miguel Perez."

"Miguel, it's been a while."

"Yes, it's been a while General Faustino. Is what you had just told my men true?"

"All of it is true."

The two generals spoke about the recent events in both settlements. Since the two was close being a mentor and student before, the two spoke casually rather than using military communication protocols. General Perez was surprised to hear that Death Valley Settlement was no more.

"By the way Miguel. Have you already received the reports we sent?"

This question from General Faustino made General Perez totally confused,

"What reports?"

"About the [Berserk Liquid] and [Regeneration Medicine]. We asked someone to deliver that there."

"Wait, wait. General Faustino, no one arrived here to deliver such things. Who did you ask to send the reports to us?"

General Perez was totally bewildered. Not because he did not receive such reports but there was actually someone that General Faustino trusted that could deliver the reports from Quezon to Bay City. Not only the distance was too far but the cities that were needed to be traversed were brimming with infected.

His question was immediately answered and his eyes had gone wide. Not only was he surprised about the person tasked with the delivery but with this information, the General managed to deduce the possibilities and missing links in the current situation in Bay City at the moment.

Since the start, not only him but many noticed the inconsistencies in the current events. But if someone else was here pulling the strings, the inconsistencies was finally answered and the holes were filled.

Hearing the information made General Perez cut the communication short.

"We need to get to the bottom of this fast!"

***

Day 54 – 4:23 PM –North District, Bay City Settlement, Pasay City, Metro Manila

"This is troublesome…"

Mark rubbed his temples.

The communication with the settlement in Quezon being fixed came in unnecessarily and in a bad timing. Now, the military is acting rather strange. There were even soldiers sent to look for him.

"What a blunder. I just wish, my plans won't get disrupted with this mess. I will ask for an additional payment from that old man once we get back."

"They won't find us though. It's just wasted effort."

Mei spoke beside him.

Right now, the two were hidden using [Optical Camouflage] while flying above the settlement. The two held hands while a pair of bat like wings was present of both of their backs. They were currently practicing to fly using their wings. Mark had no problem getting used to it because of this body's adaptability but Mei had to practice longer before being able to take flight.

"Well, if they did not find us, they will still be forced to confront Estrada by tomorrow. The populace is already pressuring them."

Mark turned to Mei.

"It's kind of amazing how you managed to get the hearts of too many people."

Being complimented like that made Mei blush. She did not care about the other people's feelings about her but a single compliment from Mark could make her a bit fidgety.

"I didn't do anything aside from work."

"Well, that is the privilege of someone beautiful and talented."

Mei blushed even further.

"Let's return to Odel first." Mark decided to change the topic or Mei might overheat. "We still need to cure Laelaps and help Fein."

"Okay."

With that, the two flapped their wings and flew back to the residence where Odelina was together with the three girls.

It was still a secret to his friends that he was here and thus, he was relying on Odelina for many things. He asked her to move Laelaps and Fein to be moved into her room so Mark could work on them when he and Mei returned. This way, the others would still not notice the existence of Mark and Mei.

Mark had no plans to involve his daughters or even Odelina in the upcoming battle. That was why he did not work on increasing their strength for now. Instead, he planned to cure Laelaps and Fein to increase the security of the residence. In the worst case, he would make Chaflar pick them up and send them to the church where they would be safe.

While flying around the settlement, Mark and Mei also observed the movements of the people under Senator Estrada and he already confirmed that the senator and the people of Auraboros were planning to take over Bay City by force.

Letting these guys conquer Bay City however would be a very bad thing.

***

Day 54 – 8:42 PM – South China Sea

Normally, the sky would be clear of any aircraft after the outbreak started. This time however, a V-22 Osprey could be seen traversing the sky over the sea.

An American multi-mission, tiltrotor military aircraft was quite a sight even before the apocalypse but it was amazing that it was able to traverse the sky right now over the sea without getting into an encounter with flying evolved animals and infected capable of flight.

Strange enough, the aircraft was flying towards Metro Manila and would arrive in a few hours at most. It was unknown where it came from but it was obvious that even though the model of the aircraft was of American military origins, the people on board the aircraft were nothing like soldiers. There was not even a single sign that they belonged to the U.S. military at all.

The common trait among the majority of the people inside was that they were wearing strange looking robes.

While on flight, the people aboard were spending their time talking in order to not get bored.

"Dopp, we are going to such small country. I doubt that what the superiors said is true."

A young man who seemed to be just fifteen spoke with a carefree attitude.

"Flam, what are you taking about? I'm one of those superiors that you are trying to badmouth."

Dopp glared at Flam. His expression was rather sinister. As for the others, they were keeping their mouths shut. Unlike Flam that was close to Dopp who was their superior and the currently leader of this mission, they were just insignificant ants.

"We received a signal from Devon asking for assistance. Luckily, it also coincides with our other missions."

Dopp spoke nonechalantly.

"I'm quite surprised though." Flam spoke with great interest. "Too many things happened in this country that the headquarters had to dispatch us personally. I just wish that whoever our target right now can entertain us."