Mutagen

Day 202 - 8:51 PM - Northwest Military Compound, Safezone, Corregidor Military Settlement, Island of Corregidor, Province of Cavite

Slumped on his chair at the building's meeting area on the third floor, General Perez was at a loss. It was not only him. All the people present were in a similar state. 

Nonetheless, General Perez and his family were in the worst state of mind, along with two more people. One was Cielo, and the other was Pauline.

What happened?

Last night, when everyone less expected it, three people disappeared from the compound they were in.

One who was missing was Angeline, the only daughter of General Perez. She went missing with her childhood friend, Paula, Pauline's daughter, and Elsa, Cielo's eldest sister.

No one knew how or when it exactly happened. It was only put to everyone's attention after Cielo started freaking out last night.

The rooms of the building General Perez rented were limited. Because of this, everyone was obligated to share rooms. In the case of the three missing women, they were sharing the same room together with Cielo.

Last night, however...

Cielo went out a bit to go to the toilet before midnight. It took her a little while since there were no proper water facilities installed in this place and the outhouses were outside the building.

Once Cielo returned to the room, the other three were already gone. At first, she thought they went out for a bit since they were still chatting when she left. It was not new since they would sometimes gaze at the stars to try and forget how chaotic the current world was, even for a moment.

Cielo could not make herself fall asleep and waited. However, the three never returned. It made Cielo extremely suspicious. She began knocking from room to room and asking anyone she came across if they saw her sister or the other two.

But none, no one saw them.

With no result to her search, Cielo went straight to General Perez. Her heart was filled with nervousness.

Knowing that his daughter was suspiciously missing, General Perez immediately conducted a search within the compound. The search continued until the following day. However, not a single clue was found.

Nonetheless, they knew they were very likely to be kidnapped. It was shameful to admit. Three women vanished without a trace from their compound. A place where soldiers lived and somewhere supposedly secure.

General Perez wanted to conduct a search outside the compound and around the [Safezone]. Even the tiniest clue of where the three were brought to or who could possibly be the mastermind would help.

Unfortunately, the emergency lockdown from yesterday was yet to be lifted. No one was allowed outside their homes or out of the gates without official business. General Perez tried to lead a group of his men to personally lead the search, but they were blocked by other soldiers under the direct command of the government.

Although it was not wrong to say that General Perez and his soldiers were also under the government, they were currently on the opposition's side. That was why the security of the [Safezone] was handled by another branch of the Philippine Armed Forces. And they were receiving direct orders from the government.

And due to these circumstances, General Perez was not as free to roam the [Safezone] as he pleased, not to mention other people he was allied with.

It was a clear ploy against him and his allies. And probably, a way to stop him from searching for his daughter.

If this was the case, it was very likely that the one that took his daughter and her friends was someone high up the top brass.

General Perez was on edge...

Of course, General Perez could consider rebelling against the current government. However, no matter how his daughter could be in danger, he could not push himself to start a rebellion.

Doing so would cause a bloodbath. A civil war within the fortress walls of the [Safezone]. General Perez would not mind the deaths of the enemies as much. However, he could not lead his men to their deaths on an uncertain endeavor.

The decisions General Perez would take would not only affect his or his family's lives. It would include the lives of everyone following him and their loved ones.

Moreover, while they could not take direct action, the current government's forces were far superior in comparison to General Perez and his allies.

The stakes were higher for General Perez and his allies to lose if a direct confrontation was to happen.

And because everyone understood this fact, no one knew what to do.

Furthermore, without any claims or messages, no one knew why the three girls were kidnapped all of a sudden. In the worst case, they could be used to put a collar on General Perez.

Everyone stormed their brains and proposed ideas. However, none were plausible at the current state of things.

General Perez and his faction were backed into a corner because of this incident.

In the first place, if they wanted to save the three girls, they needed to find where they were being held at. But they could not do any searching, making everything else dangerous to do.

And during the time they were backed into a wall of despair, a rather familiar voice echoed in the room.

"General, what happened?"

Everyone's attention was immediately thrown towards the windows of the meeting area. It was not surprising that their first action was to take their weapons out of their holsters and aim at the sudden intruders.

Many of them were rather surprised, however. Two people appeared out of nowhere as if they went in from outside the window. However, there was no sound or any hint that they entered. They just appeared out of thin air.

However, even though the room was only lighted by a few oil lamps, General Perez gazed at the intruders and immediately recognized the male one.

"Put down your weapons."

General Perez ordered everyone as he stood up from his chair.

"But, General!"

A soldier hesitated, which was reasonable due to the sudden appearance of the intruders.

"I won't repeat what I said."

General Perez warned his men before turning to the intruders, approaching them.

Of course, General Perez would recognize the intruders. In the first place, there were only a group of people that General Perez knew to possibly have the ability to just appear like this.

Seeing the General's reaction, Mark nodded to Mei, and the two removed the masks they were wearing. Having their appearance seen now did not matter anymore. Besides, Mark understood that everyone in this room was, without a doubt, a loyal ally of General Perez.

And to say, most of the people here recognized the two. It was impossible not to recognize Mei, who was well known during her stay in Bay City. There was also her partner, Mark, who just appeared one day, saving Bay City from the threats several times.

In this dimly lit room, it was as if everyone suddenly saw the light.

If they could not do something, these two possibly could.

"B-Bro!"

Cielo saw hope at Mark's sudden arrival. She could not help but rush to him, holding his hands.

"My sister! S-she's missing! W-we don't know what to do!"

Cielo began to cry. She seemed to be holding it until now, keeping a tough front and searching for answers. She could not cry if she wanted to find a way to find her sister.

But now, her effort to hide it crumbled. Cielo was really worried. Well, who would not?

Mark could not help but flinch a little. Cielo called him Bro because both her older sisters did. Nonetheless, he was not that close to Cielo, and they were just more or less acquaintances. Getting his hand being held like this by Cielo while crying was kind of uncomfortable. However, he understood her worries, so he did not show any negative reactions.

Instead, Mark turned to General Perez.

"I'm sorry." The General apologized, despite being in front of everyone. "We should be protecting your friends here, and yet, Elsa was kidnapped under our noses."

Mark stared at General Perez silently. This General still apologized, even though he was similarly a victim in this event.

From the General, Mark's eyes fell on Pauline. Mark met this woman a few times in Bay City since she was Paula's mother. However, Mark did not proactively interact with her. After all, this woman had the same ability as her daughter, the ability to see lies. That mother and daughter sure were tricky people to deal with.

Pauline also stared at Mark. She was not saying anything but her eyes were particularly begging.

And lastly, Mark's eyes fell on Angelise, the wife of General Perez. Seeing her appearance, Mark's mood became a bit lighter. After waking up from her coma, it seemed that she was recovered steadily. She looked healthy now. Well, physically, at least. She was definitely mentally exhausted due to the kidnapping of her daughter.

From here, Mark decided to hear the details of everything that happened. Not only about the kidnapping but also some topics that Mark wanted to hear during his meeting with General Perez at the base of the White Snake Gang.

It included the current structure of the so-called government and the enemies of General Perez.

And after hearing enough, Mark posed a question towards General Perez. It was a question that made the room deadly still and filled with silence.

"General... Do you want to lead this settlement?"

It was a question that no one expected. No, rather than a question, it was a proposition.

Mark was proposing for General Perez to become the leader of the Corregidor Military Settlement.

The General could not help but stare at Mark. Unfortunately, Mark did not seem to be joking. However, General Perez could not answer such a question all of a sudden.

Yes, he had been the leader of Bay City Military Settlement. However, that and this were completely different things. In Bay City, he was the leader since the apocalypse started. Everyone already saw him as the leader as they arrived, and it continued until its collapse.

Here, it was different.

If the current leadership of the settlement was suddenly handed unto someone else, loyalty and support would be a major issue. After all, not everyone here came from Bay City. Most of the population in this settlement either the original survivors or came from a different military settlement. There would likely be a lot of opposition and power struggle.

Everyone around could not blame the General's silence. It was too much of responsibility even for him to lead this settlement.

But to the General's silence, Mark pushed on.

"I can possibly save your daughter and without shedding too much blood. But what after that? This could happen again. And at that time, I will not be here. Things like this will happen again and again. Not only to your loved ones but also to those people connected to me. I left their protection to you because I know you can be trusted. And you won't be able to protect all if the root of the problem isn't cut."

And the root of the problem was the remnants of the government leading this settlement.

Once Mark cut off the root, it was likely for this settlement to become leaderless.

Unfortunately, General Perez was still hesitating. And here, Mark spoke his true intentions.

"Well, you didn't have to think deeply. Whether you answer yes or no, I already planned to cut the roots, anyway."

"!"

General Perez sure was speechless. It meant that his answer did not really matter at all. But that was the problem. If he said no, Mark would leave the settlement leaderless. If no one was to claim it immediately, various powers would try to take it, even by force.

At that time, even if General Perez wanted it or not, a war for leadership would happen, causing an unreasonable number of lives to be sacrificed in order to gain control of this place.

And no matter what his answer was, General Perez and his faction would likely get dragged into this.

Considering that while General Perez and his faction could not contend with the government, they would likely win against other factions here in Corregidor Military Settlement. He had Mark's friends and people with him, who were all [Evolvers] and [Mutators].

In the end, while more blood was shed, General Perez would end up its leader.

"You..." General Perez sighed. "You're not really giving me a choice in this matter, are you? You're just warning me of what's going to happen."

And to that, Mark smirked.

"Yep. Well, it's not absolute. Mishaps can happen here and there, like right now. In any case, you don't have a choice. The only choice you have is whether you are going to take the easy route or the hard route."

At this point, there was no point in thinking. The only option was to accept it.

Finally, the "weeding" of the Corregidor Military Settlement began, instigated by the embodiment of chaos.