5. P R E D A T O R S : Nightmares

Part II: CHAPTER II

Xirxine Northwest.

"Talk to me, Bari," Renee ordered as they walked briskly down the empty halls of Xirxine Labs Northwest. "What's the deal?"

"On what? The crash or everything else?"

"Crash first."

"I couldn't find anything wrong with the plane," Snake replied before Bari could. "No evidence of equipment failure, sabotage—nothin'."

"So a freak accident?" Abidan guessed.

"Or it was one of the creatures," Latika suggested.

"There've been reports of some creep showin' up in random places around the world," Snake explained. "I looked 'im up after the crash. Everyone's got the same description: wherever he goes, there's some kinda accident. And get this: his face is upside-down," she added.

"Sounds like plastic surgery gone wrong," Renee muttered. "Anything else?"

"Nah, that's it for me."

"Alright. Bari—go."

"Very well." Bari cleared his throat as they entered the conference room and turned on the lights. "As it stands, we are in quite the unseemly situation," he announced, sitting down and crossing his legs. "My father is being held hostage, the world is overrun with monsters, Xirxine is under intense scrutiny—"

"And Addison's apparently joined forces with Cthylla," Renee finished.

"...I'm sorry, what?" Snake asked, stunned.

Bari paused, his eyes widening. "I... was not aware of that."

"We didn't want to tell you until you were here," Abidan told him.

"I see." Bari rubbed his chin. "That throws a wrench into things."

"Do you have a strategy?" Renee asked. "Or at least the beginning of a strategy?"

"I have... bits and pieces," Bari admitted hesitantly. "They involve the Celestion Strike Force and the Northwest Worthy who are currently available." He shifted in his seat and continued, "Seeing as how we only have one day left to turn you and Addison over to Dr. Woods, we must act swiftly. If we follow my plan, we'll first launch an attack on Cthylla—hopefully shutting down the arrival of Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth in the process—and then venture to Berlin, using stealth tactics to incapacitate Dr. Woods and free my father."

"But if Addison's connected to Cthylla, won't we need to attack him, too?" Snake asked uncertainly.

"We'll do our best to avoid that," Bari said quickly before the chairpersons could respond. "We don't want him getting caught in the crossfire."

"First thing first, though: we have to find Cthylla," Abidan pointed out. "And if Addison's evaded detection this long, you can bet any money that it'll be even harder to locate the Old One."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Snake wondered.

"We'll figure it out," Renee assured her. "For now, we have to—"

A small red light on the conference table started to flash, cutting off whatever Renee had been about to say.

Renee frowned. "What...?"

Bari raised an eyebrow. "You're being contacted by another base?" he asked, surprised.

"It... it appears so," Abidan replied, confused. "Hold on." He reached under the table and pressed a button. The hologram projector in the center of the table lit up, projecting a familiar image into the air.