There was no time to think. No time to run. The word "Checkmate" echoed in the small room as the world turned white.
The C4 exploded.
The force of the blast was immense in the enclosed space. It picked me up and threw me across the corridor like a doll. I slammed into the opposite wall with a sickening crunch. My vision was a wash of pure, painful white light. My HUD screamed with a dozen overlapping warnings. My ears rang with a deafening, high-pitched tone.
I survived. But only just.
I slid down the wall, my body a single, throbbing ache. My health bar was a tiny sliver of angry red. [HP: 25/100]. My brand new legendary chest piece had saved my life, absorbing most of the blast. But it had paid the price. A new status icon appeared on my HUD. [OUROBOROS ALPHA CHESTPIECE (DAMAGED)]. Cracks spiderwebbed across the armor's icon. It was weakened.
From a grate in the ceiling, Kain dropped down into the corridor. He landed softly, like a cat. There was a smug, triumphant look on his face. He had outsmarted me. He raised his rifle, aiming it at my head to deliver the final, killing blow.
"Too easy," he sneered.
Before he could pull the trigger, a burst of gunfire erupted from down the corridor. Bullets sparked against the wall next to Kain's head, forcing him to dive for cover.
It was Anya. She had finished off the other enemies at the breach point and had come looking for me. "Get up, Leo!" she yelled.
Her covering fire gave me the opening I needed. My hands were shaking, but my training took over. I fumbled for my Med-Syringe. I jammed it into my leg. My Fast Heal skill kicked in. The warm, soothing energy flooded my body, the effect noticeably quicker than before. My health bar climbed rapidly, from critical red to a much safer yellow.
Anya's rifle went quiet. She was reloading. It was my turn.
Kain rose from his cover, his rifle swinging back towards me. But he was expecting me to still be a wounded, easy target. He was not expecting me to be back in the fight.
My rage was a cold, clear fire. He had betrayed his team. He had almost killed me. I pushed myself off the wall. The Adrenaline Rush from my last kill was still active, a faint shimmer on my HUD. I was still fast.
I charged him.
He was surprised by my sudden aggression. He fired a burst from his rifle, but my speed threw off his aim. The bullets went wide. Before he could correct, I was on him.
This was not a duel of skill or tactics anymore. This was a brawl. He tried to bring his rifle up to block me, but I was too close. I slammed my shotgun into his chest, knocking the wind out of him. He stumbled back. I did not give him a chance to recover.
BOOM.
The shotgun roared, its blast echoing like thunder in the narrow hallway. At point-blank range, it was devastating. The fight was over.
Kain collapsed to the ground, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief. The smugness was gone, replaced by a pathetic confusion. "But..." he gasped, his voice a wet rattle. "I'm... Ouroboros..."
The life faded from his eyes. He was just another body on the floor.
I stood over him, my chest heaving, the smell of gunpowder thick in the air. Anya ran up to me, her rifle at the ready. "You okay?" she asked, her eyes scanning me for injuries.
"I'm alive," I said. It was the only thing that mattered.
With Kain dead, the traitor was gone. But the match was not over. There was only one objective left. Hydra. The Red Team's VIP. Their new leader.
We were both hurt. Our armor was damaged. We were low on ammunition. But we were the only two members of Blue Team left alive. We had to finish this.
We used our HUDs to track Hydra's position. A golden crown symbol, just like mine, pulsed on the map. He was not running. He was not hiding in some dark corner of the labyrinth. He was waiting for us. His position was in the largest, most open room in the entire facility: a massive, circular bio-engineering lab at the very center of the map. He was inviting us to a final confrontation.
"He's confident," Anya muttered, looking at the map.
"He's arrogant," I corrected. "Let's use that."
We moved through the corridors, our footsteps quiet and cautious. We finally reached the entrance to the lab. It was a huge, circular room with a high ceiling. In the center of the room, dozens of large glass vats stood in neat rows. They were filled with a strange, glowing green liquid, and bizarre, alien-looking plants floated inside them. The light from the vats cast an eerie green glow over everything.
In the very center of the room, standing as if on a stage, was Hydra.
He was a giant. A mountain of a man, clad in a different type of Ouroboros armor. It was not sleek and tactical like Viper's or Kain's. It was heavy, bulky, and covered in cruel-looking metal spikes. He looked less like a soldier and more like a medieval executioner from a nightmare.
And he was not holding a rifle. In his hands, he held a massive, brutal-looking weapon. It was a chainsword. Its serrated metal teeth were already whirring, hungry for a fight.
He saw us enter the lab. He smiled. It was not a smile of amusement. It was a terrifying, bloodthirsty grin that promised only pain and violence. He revved the chainsword, and the sound was a deafening, mechanical roar that drowned out the hum of the lab.
"So," his voice boomed across the room, deep and resonant. "The Marked Man. You finally come to me." He took a heavy step forward. "I am Hydra. And I am pleased to meet the man who made me leader."
He saw Viper's death not as a tragedy, but as an opportunity. A promotion. This man was pure ambition and brutality.
He was not alone.
From behind the large glass vats, the remaining members of the Red Team emerged. There were three of them. They moved to flank Hydra, their rifles raised and pointed at us. We were completely outmatched. It was two of us against five of them. A trap within a trap.
Hydra pointed his roaring chainsword directly at me. The tip of the weapon vibrated, eager to tear through my damaged armor.
"Let's see if the MVP can survive a proper welcome from the new Ouroboros," he roared, his voice echoing in the huge, green-lit lab.
Anya moved to my side, raising her rifle. Her face was grim. She was low on ammo. I was low on health. We were surrounded. The odds were impossible.
"Any more crazy plans, Leo?" she asked, her voice tight.
I looked at the giant man with the roaring chainsword. I looked at the three soldiers aiming their rifles at my head. I looked down at the shotgun in my hands. I had no sniper rifle advantage here. No clever environmental tricks. No escape route.
This was just a raw, brutal fight for survival.
And I was the main target.