ʟᴀᴅʏ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ʟʏᴄᴀɴs : ᴋᴀʀʟ ʜᴇɪꜱᴇɴʙᴇʀɢ

ᴏɴᴇ ꜱᴛᴇᴘ ᴄʟᴏꜱᴇʀ

"We need to take care of tough guy over here!" Chris shouts, and Sophia could hear the exhaustion in his voice. The cogs in her head began to turn as she tried to think of a way to get past Urias. Her gaze veered down to the marker in her palm then back up to the creature who had it out for Chris. 

A remorseful breath brushed passed her lips at the thought, but there was no time to dwell on it. 

"Chris!" Sophia called out to him and he directed his head toward her for a split moment. It was long enough for her to raise the marker up and point her finger to the beast. 

He nodded, an expression of determination settling over him and he talked into his radio, "Lobo! Sophia is gonna get you some more coordinates! You ready?" He aimed his weapon on Urias, continuing to fire at him. She waited for the captains approval, and when it came in the form of a firm nod, she pointed the laser in its direction. 

For the most part, she was doing a good job staying out of the way, but it was as if Urias had this second sense that was telling him she was about to betray him in every way and he whipped around to face her. Her eyes went wide and her jaw slacked slightly, "Oh shit." The creature growled as her stomped toward her, swinging his hammer up over his head. 

She acted quickly, diving to avoid being crushed by the large object, rolling a couple of times and landing on her stomach. She gasps for air as she slowly clambers up to her feet, all the while  Urias stalks toward her, "Shit, shit, shit...get up, Sophia." 

"Hey, asshole!" The monster turns over his shoulder at the sound of Chris' voice receiving a face full of bullets, "Sophia, do it now!" She wasted no time, and raised the laser up for the third time aiming it at the center of his back where tentacles wiggled about. 

"Come on, come on," she muttered to herself impatiently, waiting for Chris to tell her that Lobo had got the coordinates. 

"He's got them, Sophia!" The man started to sprint toward her, simultaneously dodging the swings of Urias' hammer just as the air strike came down from above. Sophia ducked down and put her arm over her head to protect herself from the blast. 

She stayed like that for a moment, then slowly raised her eyes up, witnessing the fall of the creature. She swallowed thickly, unable to prevent the ache she felt in her chest. 

"Hostile Bioweapon eliminated," Chris informed his team as the young woman slowly walked toward him. Bit by bit, his body turned to dust and she watched him wither away. "Sophia," she jumped at the sudden hand on her shoulder and her head snapped in the direction of the voice. There was some sympathy behind the mans eyes as he spoke to her, "We gotta keep moving." 

She nodded, "Right." Her index finger pointed to where the large roots used to be, "Should be this way." Together, they pushed forward until they came to the now giant hole in the ground. 

"We found a way down," Chris informed over the channel, "We're going in. The rest of you stay back." His weapon fell to his side and he jumped down first then turned around reaching up to Sophia. He gestured his head for her to follow him, "C'mon. I got you." She took a quick breath and leaped off the edge. His hands went to her waist and hers went to his shoulders, helping her land safely on her feet. 

"Thank you," she said through a small smile and he said a silent you're welcome by nodding his head. After observing her surroundings for a quick moment, Sophia was able to pin point where they were, "It's this way." 

Sophia carefully dropped down deeper into the cave, and Chris, who decided took advantage of the quiet, asked her a question, "So...what do you know about the mold?"

She sighed and answered his question with another one, "What do you know about the mold?" 

"You're gonna be difficult, huh?" She could tell he had a smirk on his lips. 

The young woman shrugged, "No point in telling you something you might already know." 

He chuckled, and couldn't argue with her, "Alright. We know it's the same mold from an incident three years ago in the States." 

"The Bakers?" Sophia confidently guessed as they walked through the cavern into the tunnel that was once blocked off by the pulsating tentacles she had seen earlier with Miranda. 

"Yeah," he confirmed, "How do you know about that?" 

She shrugged once again, this time a small smile on her face, "I was forced to do a little research of my own...and, it actually isn't the same mold." Chris picked his pace up to a jog that he was walking alongside the white-haired girl and looked down at her with furrowed brows, "The mold originated here. Miranda discovered it back in the early nineteenth-century."

"No shit," the man says in surprise. 

"Yep," Sophia replies, emphasis on the 'p,' "Where do you think your doctor friend Oswell Spencer got his ideas from?" 

"No shit," Chris repeated a little louder this time, completely bewildered and nodded. 

They walked up onto the Megamycete, both pairs of eyes traveling upward to it, "Miranda is the mastermind behind all of it." 

"Alpha to squad. We've located the Megamycete," he took out the explosive and attached the detonator to the outside, "And about damn time." Pulling back his arm, he threw the bomb and it landed perfectly on the organism, "N2 explosives armed. There's enough there to blow the village sky high." 

Sophia, who was getting antsy just thinking about finally leaving this place tilted her head up to Chris, "Now what?" He held up his finger and that told her he was still talking to his team, "What's the status on Ethan and Heisenberg?" His expression hardened and the crimson-eyed girl didn't take that as a good sign. 

"What is it, Chris?" She immediately started to fear the worst, that something had happened to Karl. That Miranda had kept her promise. 

He turned his head to her, "I think they could use some help." 

A wave of relief washed over her, "He's okay...for now." Determination settled over her, "Let's go give it to them."