Once the joy of the reunion faded, urgency took over again.
"All right." Calista clapped her hands, her voice returning to its usual calm. "Leah, give me a detailed rundown of everything you've learned so far. The laboratory layout, any clues about possible exits, and the situation in the sealed-off areas.
"Bossie!" she suddenly called.
Bossie immediately turned away from his conversation with Mike. "Calista?"
"What about our anti-electromagnetic interference core?" Calista spoke faster, her eyes brightening. "It's been maintaining our team's communications link this whole time. Now that both teams are together, could we extend its signal coverage and connect it to the task force's electronic equipment?"
The monitoring room instantly fell silent.
The task force members stared at her in disbelief.
They had been cut off from the rear command center for far too long. Since entering the upper levels, all their detection and communications equipment had become useless, leaving them practically blind and deaf.
Bossie and Shane exchanged a glance, then lunged for their equipment bags at the same time.
"In theory, it should work!" Bossie said as he quickly pulled out the old black metal box. "Its main strengths are resisting complex electromagnetic interference and maintaining a basic analog signal link.
"The task force's equipment is more advanced, but it's also highly sensitive. The abnormal field here overwhelms it. If we use this as a relay and filtering front end..."
"Let's see whether we can connect our communications and detection equipment," Shane said, already pulling out his portable terminal with its dead screen.
The two crouched together in a corner, their heads nearly touching as cables, interface adapters, and spare batteries spread across the floor.
A few minutes later...
"Connection attempt in progress. Output stable..." Sweat beaded on Bossie's forehead. "Identification code received. Synchronizing..."
Suddenly, the long-dead indicator bar on Shane's portable communications terminal flickered faintly.
"We have a signal! It's weak, but we're connected!" Shane exclaimed, slapping his thigh.
"Great!" Turner heard a burst of static through his headset and realized he had also picked up the team's communications channel.
Building on their success, Shane activated the task force's multi-parameter environmental detector, which had previously been completely useless.
The device emitted a soft hum as it powered on, its indicator lights illuminating one after another.
Data began scrolling across the screen as the instrument automatically analyzed air samples from inside and outside the room.
A few seconds later, Shane's eyes widened.
"Calista! Leah! Look at the air composition readings.
"The concentrations of the nerve agent and abnormal pheromones are continuing to fall. They're already close to the safety threshold we established earlier. In theory, brief exposure is no longer harmful!"
He turned the screen toward everyone. The graphs clearly showed the concentrations of the various hazardous substances steadily declining.
"It's the neutralizing agent!" Bossie immediately realized. "The large detonator we activated, along with the others we triggered on the way here, are still working. They're purifying the air throughout this area.
"As long as the concentrations keep falling, the Predators that rely on chemical signals to hunt and coordinate will become even weaker. Their senses and behavior patterns are bound to deteriorate further."
"So everything we fought for and set up earlier wasn't wasted," Calista said, excitement entering her voice.
"Not only did we break through, but we're also steadily cleansing the environment inside the Singularity Polymers Plant.
"We've already completed half the mission."
The discovery energized everyone like a powerful stimulant.
The situation had appeared hopeless, but they were slowly turning the tide.
"As long as we deploy the remaining chemical neutralizers effectively and use every last one," Leah added, "then concentrate our forces on eliminating the remaining Black Fire mutants...
"We might actually be able to clear out this damn Singularity Polymers Plant."
After the brief surge of excitement, Calista told everyone to rest while they still had time and divide what little food and water remained.
She and Leah moved to a quieter corner of the room and sat with their backs against the wall.
The sisters sat shoulder to shoulder. Calista handed Leah her canteen. Leah accepted it without hesitation, removed her mask, took a small sip to wet her cracked lips, then quickly put the mask back on.
"Leah," Calista said quietly as they began exchanging the most important intelligence, "what have you learned about the Predators outside?"
Leah drew a deep breath and forced herself to focus before answering in the same low voice.
"Based on our observations and the few times we fought them...
"The more numerous creatures with asymmetrical arms, the Claw mutants, seem to be ordinary walkers that underwent further mutation after severe chemical contamination and exposure to some kind of field.
"They're extremely aggressive, but they haven't shown any signs of coordination or higher intelligence. They're more like enhanced walkers. The same type of creatures we encountered at Sentinel Station."
She paused, a chill entering her eyes.
"But the stronger, quadrupedal Predators that feed on the Claw mutants are different.
"They're far more cunning. They set ambushes, work together to herd prey, and retreat or call for others when injured. We suspect they didn't evolve from walkers at all. They may have mutated directly from humans."
Calista's heart sank. She thought for a moment.
"Honeywell."
She turned and called over the former security advisor, who had been taking small bites from a compressed biscuit.
Honeywell hurried over. The slap mark was still visible on his face, but his gaze was much steadier now.
"You saw some of their data," Calista said. "As far as you know, how many people were on duty in the D-7 laboratory and the connected control areas when the leak occurred?"
Honeywell searched his memory.
"Based on the duty logs and access records I managed to find, along with what I personally saw during the leak... there couldn't have been more than fifteen researchers and security personnel on duty."
"Fifteen..." Leah murmured, considering the number.
"What about the Claw mutants?" Calista pressed. "How many walkers had they originally captured?"
Honeywell's face paled slightly as he shook his head.
"There are no exact figures. The laboratory's containment numbers and its inventory of 'raw materials' were top secret. The logs didn't mention them. There may have been a lot, or the experiments may already have consumed most of them."
That meant the number of walkers involved was unknown, but the maximum number of Predators was probably around fifteen.
Calista quickly calculated.
The two teams had killed two while fighting their way through the zigzag corridor. Leah's team had killed another three near the broken bridge on the platform.
Five in total.
"Fifteen minus five..." Calista murmured.
"At most, ten remain," Leah said gravely. "There were already seven on the upper platform of the reactor workshop. The rest may be scattered throughout other parts of the factory we haven't cleared."
Ten Predators with a degree of intelligence and the ability to coordinate.
Calista and Leah exchanged a look, each seeing the same determination in the other's eyes.
They now had a rough estimate of the enemy's strength. The environment was steadily shifting in their favor, and their two teams had finally reunited.
Their next step was to deploy the remaining neutralizing agents, devise a plan to hunt down the surviving Black Fire mutants, and clear a path out of the facility once and for all.
...
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