Jack crawled forward through the bushes in a prone position. He had found the enemy base.

Jack: I'm at the base.

Gamma: All right, you know what to do. Retrieve the prisoner, but stay hidden and be careful. First, take out those guards at the side entrance; they're the only ones monitoring the surveillance system.

By the time he said this Jack was already attatching the silencer on his MP7A1, a German submachine gun. He looked down the iron sights and fired. with just two shots both guards were down, the armor-piercing rounds had punched straight through their helmets. After waiting for thirty seconds to make sure no one knew, he snuck up to the door. The guards left it unlocked and it was easy to get into. Jack used the system's controls to take a snapshot on every screen and freeze them to that image, instead of shutting the system down completely to avoid tipping off the enemy. Gamma's voice crackled again over the comm channel.

Gamma: You've compromised the surveillance system. Good. Now, you can look for the prisoner.

Jack: What about communications? This facility definitely has transmittors, radios, etc... if they find out I'm here, they can just alert other bases nearby.

Gamma: Yes, but the communications equipment and the surveillance system are linked; Since you disabled the surveillance, the comm is offline now as well. You can safely look for the prisoner.

Jack: That.... that makes no sense....

but there's one problem. His comm, tracking device and other equipment are all disabled. You'll have to search every room for him, so be on your guard.

Jack: Copy that, I'm looking for him now.

Jack left the surveillance control room and glanced around the hallway before entering it. There were two ways to go so he decided to go left, and there were no personnel around, no footsteps, no signs of Derbaran personnel anywhere.

Jack: Strange... this place is deserted. I guess no one's home?

He found a door, so he stopped beside the door and listened. There was no noise, so he tried the doorknob. It was unlocked, so he slowly opened it and walked in to find to his surprise 3 assault troopers . Before they could react, Jack whipped out his knife with lightning speed and slashed open all of their throats, and they fell to the floor, their blood slowly pooling around them. The prisoner was not in here, however.

Jack: Damn, the walls must be soundproof...

He quickly wiped the blood from his knife and checked the hallway agian before leaving the room. He walked through the hallway more cautiously now, wondering what could be behind each door, and which room held the prisoner. He also began to wonder who the prisoner actually was. Jack quickly regained his composure and focused back on rescuing the unknown captive. He came to another corner and listened around, looked for shadows, and finally, he slowly looked around the corner. This hallway was just as deserted as the one before had been, so he continued on. He had neglected to look behind him, however. Two shadows crept along the floor silently a corner behind him, shadows of two men that had been following him since he left the control room, waiting to strike. They quickly snuck up, sorrounded and grabbed him, reaching for their guns. Jack's mind froze for a second, but he thought quickly and bit down on the right arm of the man in front of him with over 1500 pounds of pressure. In a split second, his razor sharp, pearly white canine teeth 3 times stronger than diamonds pierced the skin, the bite force crushing the bones, Jack's pupils as pinpricks. The guard screamed in pain, and at the same time Jack delivered a powerful dropkick to the chest of the guard behind him, knocking the wind out of him and breaking nearly all of his ribs, with such force that the fragments of the guard's shattered ribcage nearly pierced his lungs. The one behind Jack quickly fell, and while the other was still screaming wildly from his mutilated forearm he karate kicked him in the back of the head, knocking him out. Jack looked at the guards, licked the blood from his chops and continued on. Eventually he came to a strange-looking door, one that looked like it had been broken down and quickly reaffixed. He examined it closer and there were seams as well, as if it had been welded back together after being cut to pieces. The door also had a flimsy-looking deadbolt, and the hinges were well-attatched in sharp contrast to the rest of the door. He listened carefully in an attempt to hear anything that might be inside, but there was no noise again. Jack was sure there were no hostiles in there but prepared himself in case there were. He kicked the deadbolt and it broke in half, and twisted the doorknob. It was locked, but he cranked it and the tumblers shattered, allowing him to open the door. He slowly opened the door and found that he had accomplished his mission; he had found the prisoner.

Jack(Comm channel): I found him...

The Derbaran's captive was none other than Ymir, a relatively new hunter of unit 16. He was slumped in a chair, handcuffed and tied in a rope that glowed bright blue which looked like elastic plasma, his three-toned grey fur stained with blood. When Jack first saw Ymir, slumped down and bloody in the chair, he thought he was dead or close to it, but now he could hear soft, nearly silent breathing, and his chest heaved in and out beneath the rope.Jack took out his knife and carefully started to cut the rope, taking caution so as not to accidentally cut Ymir. As soon as his knife cut a piece of the rope all of the energy in that segment of rope was released, giving Jack a painful shock. He gritted his teeth to stifle a yell, and painstakingly cut the rest of the rope, getting shocked 12 more times before Ymir was finally untied. Jack then took a minute to recover from the excruciating pain of the rope's shocks, and went to work on the handcuffs. In a glaring contrast to the rope, the handcuffs were quick and painless to remove; they were simply two metal rings held together by a strong and thick rubber band. He quickly and effortlessly sliced the band with his knife, and to cut the rings he used a small laser he had in one of his pouches. He then proceeded to try to wake Ymir up.

Jack: Ymir... Ymir..

Ymir barely opened his eyes for a few seconds before drifting back into unconsciousness. Jack took out a small pill and gave it to Ymir. He swallowed it, and within ten seconds he stood up, fully awake and refreshed.

Ymir: ....Jack? Thanks.... I owe you one....

Jack: Let's get out of here.

Ymir nodded and went to a table to get his equipment. This consisted of his plasma generator, belt and plasma pistols. He strapped the generator to his back and put the small pistols in the belt. Once he had everything on they left the room, looking caultiously for any guards or other antagonists that might be after them. The entire facility was just as deserted as before though, save for the five troops and two guards Jack ran into. They walked past the two guards Jack encountered just ten minutes earlier. Ymir chuckled as he saw them.

"You know how I do," Jack replied with a sadistic grin on his face. After about twenty minutes of wandering through the base they were finally outside. The Sky was clouded grey, and hills and mountains sorrounded them.

Ymir: where are we?

Jack: The Santa Ana mountains.