Resident Evil: Operation CLEAN-UP

[Cyprus Alpenglow]

Peeking over the wall to check the coast was clear, Cyprus then vaulted over the small wall, adjusting his vest. Slinging his rifle to his back, he called out the rest of his squad before approaching the platoon commander's vehicle. Standing just beside it, he spoke to the commander with relief.
"Thanks for saving our hides. Our last encounter with that thing didn't go in our favor."
Smirking as he observed his relieved soldiers admire the tank platoon, he took a quick headcount and was relieved to find that everyone who should be there, was there. Besides the few agents that they lost in the first BOW encounter, everyone was accounted for.

[Rayleonarde]

Ray, after watching the pile of mush bubble and dissolve, sighed and sat on a nearby bench, holding his head.

[Cyprus Alpenglow]

Catching sight of the somewhat distressed recruit, Cyprus patted on the side of the tank before moving over to him. He hesitated for a second before sitting down next to him.
He watched the soldiers load up equipment for evacuation, and observed as they finally looked relieved. He was silent for a long time before he spoke.
"Not the best first mission for you, huh?" he spoke, frowning almost unnoticeably. "Sorry. We were all surprised, for better for worse. But this wasn't all too unusual."
He watched as several soldiers lifted the intelligence they had secured into one of the vehicles.
"If, uh..." he cleared his throat, looking towards the tiles. "If you don't feel like the BSAA is for you, there's still a chance for you to walk away. Try and at least have some sort of life."

(Away until Monday, but chances are I might be able to respond. Hopefully it won't even affect this.)

[Rayleonarde]

Ray shook his head. "I-I've got nothing else. Been a pretty rough go around." He sighed. "I think it'll get better."

[Cyprus Alpenglow]

Giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder, Cyprus smiled.
"It should. It did for all of us." he gestured to the other agents. "Most of us had nothing, but now we've got each other."
He paused for a second, before snorting at how cheesy his last phrase was. Standing, he held out a hand to help his recruit up.

[Rayleonarde]

Ray took Cyprus's paw, and hauled himself up. "So, we're headed back to base?"

[Cyprus Alpenglow]

"Yeah. Chances are we're going to have a few days to recuperate and bury the agents we lost." Cyprus inhaled deeply. "But then it's almost certain we're going to be deployed again."
Agents had started loading into a personnel carrier that had rolled up behind the tank squadron. One small squad had left to recover the dead.
"Regardless, let's get ready to head back." he spoke again. "We've got a few more rough hours of travel ahead of us."

[Rayleonarde]

Ray nodded, and noticed that the APC was packed full (or more full than what he would've liked) and climbed atop one of the Abrams, his legs dangling from the side of the turret. The commander of said tank shrugged, and climbed back into the tank.


The retrieval squad returned a few minutes later, disheartened and sad. The leader of the squad walked up to Cyprus, and spoke, his breath panging sharply of bile. "There's nothing to retrieve sir, the bodies dissolved right in front of us."


Unknown to the BSAA division, someone was watching, obscured by shadow and dust. He spoke into the radio inlaid in his coat. "They're leaving now, sir. I counted forty when they arrived, thirty-five left. Add four tanks. These guys were clean-up and evac, they've no idea." He turned, the sunlight briefly catching the 'USS' patch on his arm, the silvery-dark material flashing briefly in the sun. "What're your orders?"
They've no idea what they were above, it's not of consequence. How did subject Exaark fare?
"Eliminated, sir. The creature's flesh was no match to depleted uranium shells. Observed: Exaark variant creatures suffer from vulnerable knees, light anti-armor weapons penetrate the strained flesh."
Very astute, Number 4, regroup with the others, and return to the blacksight, prepare cleansing.
The agent nodded, and slipped out the window, and up the side of the building as if he were crawling along the ground, and faded into nothingness, his active camouflage obscuring him.

[Cyprus Alpenglow]

Frowning, Cyprus shook his head in dismay. "Nothing? Not even tags?"
Despite his upset, he gave a gesture to order his team to prepare to move out as the last few stragglers found their way onto transport.

[Rayleonarde]

As the last soldier entered the APC, a few zombies stumbled into view. They groaned, and shuffled towards the APC, but were crushed by one of the tanks. The APC closed it's doors, and started back towards base, followed slowly by the tank platoon. One of the tanks, with Ray sitting atop, waited for Cyprus to mount.

[Cyprus Alpenglow]

Grabbing the first secure protrusion on the tank's turret he could find, Cyprus hefted himself onto the tank and seated himself at the front of the turret, resting his feet on the top of the tank base. He gave two sharp kicks to the roof of the driver compartment, and within a few seconds the tank had begun to move behind the rest of the platoon.

[Rayleonarde]

The drive was long and boring, the town was in the middle of nowhere. Each vehicle kicked up a plume of dust, as they rolled across the plains. The commander of each tank kept their heads poked up out of the copula (is it still a copula, or do they call it something else?).

[Cyprus Alpenglow]

(Yep, still a copula.)
Holding a loose grip on the machine gun atop the tank's turret to stabilize himself, Cyprus looked out over the empty, uninteresting plains. Turning to the commander, he shifted his position a little bit.
"What were HQ's orders for when we return?" he asked, taking a quick glance at the convoy ahead of them. "Have we got something else to do, or do we have a couple days downtime?"

[Rayleonarde]

Ray was about to speak, when a tactical nuclear device evaporated a small part of the town, where the Umbrella black-site was. The explosion, albeit impressive, had little to no effect on the agents. HQ, however, was going nuts. "Nuclear detonation! Southwest part of town, a hundred feet underground, what was that!? Lieutenant, respond! Respond dammit!"


The concussion from the explosion rattled the squad, but it didn't have any lasting effect. Ray had turned away just as the nuke detonated, and nearly toppled from the tank.


A few miles opposite the detonation location, the Umbrella Security Service, Group 9, sat in a blacked-out SUV, as Number 6 reported in. "Confirmed, command, the black-site is gone. We're headed back to Phi-77, for debrief and reassignment."


((We'll assume the others, if they return, were not caught in the blast, and escaped (hopefully) without harm.))

[Cyprus Alpenglow]

Snapping himself out of his awe at the cloud of dust and smoke that the detonation had thrown into the air, Cyprus scrambled to grab his radio.
"HQ, half of the town's gone. I think-" he hesitated. "I think we missed something. I'm certain they've just blown a black-site."
Watching for a second as the dust tossed and turned in the sky, he sighed heavily.
"They've covered their tracks. There was absolutely no sign of any opposing presence beside the infected." he continued. "How do you want us to proceed, HQ?"