Leave The Monster Alone

And if the other knew how to play this game then so did Mark. And he felt as if between the two of them Mark was the more experienced one in this field. After all, he had handled more than one base's negotiation at a time.

"I'm sure our base leader would pass this information on to your base leader when the time comes. Now please help us out" 

They were wasting precious time in negotiation which could be better used to find Rika. the professor just needed to think objectively and he could see that he could have this favour returned in the future. 

But he was being short-sighted and greedy, wasting both of their time. It was irritating to Mark, enough to make him snap. And he decided to let the other know just how exactly he felt.

"Either you help us now or keep yourself out of it. You still owe us a favour for the communicator and the set-up equipment you are using" the professor looked a little taken aback at his biting tone and so did Alan for some reason.

Just what had they taken him as? A soft-hearted fool who was easy to convince and then dump once you were done? Mark could be cold and viscous when he wanted to be. His eyes glared across the screen and he could see the professor's confidence waver.

There was a female at his side who glared back at him with equal poison but Mark had no beef with her. She was not involved with her in any shape or form. His beef was with the professor and that was whom he was going to target.

In the end, the professor let out a tired sigh which told Mark that he had won this fight at least.

"Alright, I'll get it so you don't need to look at me with those death looks. I'll help you crack that password for your earlier help" the female at his side hissed a 'professor' at the male who ignored her happily. He looked at Mark when he spoke and the irritation receded.

Although Mark's mind was already clear, he suddenly felt it clear away even more which made him winch.

"Alan, I'll hand it over to you" Mark gave the other two some space to work. He went in the corner to take a seat as he watched the other work through pages of the screen. The soothing voice of the professor came from the other side and Mark decided to record it for future use.

As Alan got deeper and deeper into the system, more and more operations came online to help them out. The GPS system was not that deep but it was hidden well. While Alan was breaking in, Mark decided to look around on the computer.

_____________________

Warning:  Hidden data files found. Asking permission to decode them and unlock them to read. Can cause harm to the system.

_____________________

The message scared him and he licked at it without being aware of the message till it was too late. The download had already begun and whatever could harm his system was likely already in.

Mark could only pray now, pray that his system would not contact any virus or other such problem.

_____________________

Decoding started: Time left - 3 days.

The system might malfunction in the meantime so the user is advised to not rely on it for the time being. Normal mission functions would resume now and the update will be pushed to the background.

_____________________

Mark wanted to know more but his system did not allow him this luxury. It closed the dialogue box and left him at the mission screen. There was no longer any folders on the PC screen he had been viewing.

While Mark had been busy in his thought, Alan was hacking away at the password file on the PC. It was not difficult but time consuming to do with the professor leading him through the appropriate steps.

The muttering of the female behind the professor was a distraction to Alan and his work but he did not allow him to get distracted by her. He had a mission to accomplish right now and Alan dedicated his entire focus to that task in his hand. 

He could even see Mark a little stunned about something but he had no time to ask. The next section of the code sequence was a time gate and also the last one he had to get through.

Professor corrected his mistake before he could make it and all of a sudden Alam found himself inside the security gate. There were folders upon folders of secret information even the government ones.

There was one titled 'Project X' which was too heavily guarded for him to be able to even approach. Every time he tried to click on it nothing happened and that was not the only one either.

"There is more security here but I can't tell you how to access deeper without physically being there. Should I make this trip?" Professor asked and Alan did not answer at first. He wanted the other here but something told him that it was not a good idea.

Thankfully, Mark came to his rescue as always.

"Thanks but it would not be needed for the time being. The GPS function should be in the starting pages itself and Rika knows how to get past this security. Once we secure her, we will open this as well" the other quieted down all of a sudden.

The female at his side just sighed in irritation but she finally got the message that she was not going to get her way.

"Well sir, please finish your business here because we have a lot of work to do. Gentleman, have a good day ahead" the female bowed and left them alone. However, it was not difficult for Mark to tell that a lot of people still had an ear out on their conversation and were ready to draw conclusions.

"So, any other help I can provide you three with? Professor asked and Mark was satisfied to note that the answer was a solid 'no', "Then I'll talk to you later perhaps"

The other did sound hopeful so Mark ended the talk with a 'maybe'. Alan made himself useful in the meantime by opening the GPS program. It was fairly simple but could get complicated with bigger things to do.

Thankfully for them, all they had to do was to enter Rika's name before she appeared on the screen. Much to their surprise, her dot was blinking very near to them which was a worrying sign.

"Kuro, can you sniff her out?" Mark asked but Alan frowned at the command.

"I can't smell her either. If she's here then she hid very well. But she did not have a reason to" Alan was right. Rika had no reason to hide if she wanted to hide. 

Mark followed the beeping but there was nothing where the dot was blinking. Could it be that her tracker fell off and all this had been for nothing in the end? If so then Mark was about to lose it all right this second.

"I think there is a door there. I can barely see a fracture between both the planks and there is air coming outside of it" Alan neared the space and his claws entered the small gap he had seen. 

He pulled the wall and it expanded in a square shape. It really was a door that led somewhere. Mark opened it just a little and his face was assaulted by a blast of cold wind.

"Alan, Kuro, stay here and do not move. Let me scout out the perimeter first before you guys enter" the other two were curious as well but they listened to Mark when he asked them to stay back.

Perhaps their senses also told them to listen to Mark's words or it was their own common sense that served them well. Anyway, they did listen and stayed behind. 

Mark quietly opened the final door and felt his heart pound inside his chest. It was wet around him, almost like cold storage and he knew where this door had led to, the frozen sample chamber. 

This was where Rika had stored the remains of her samples and the spider monster eggs he had retrieved. Why was she back here now? 

Did she forget something back and had to come back to collect it? Or did she want to delete the rest of the evidence? Suddenly the kidnapping did not look like a kidnapping at all. 

Mark went further inside, his eyes looking around for a familiar face till it fell on something right in the middle finger of the room and he felt bile rise up in his throat. 

The figure in front of him looked barely alive and almost frozen to death, inhuman eyes looking back at him from a face that was more insect than human. 

But he recognized that bracelet on her wrist and his heart sank.