Ivan signed and walked out first. Xia and Jean followed. The two recruits exchanged a hesitant look with each other. The recruit that spoke first sighed deeply and walked out. The recruit that was quiet the whole time was the last to leave.

A man was standing before the five people. The suit on him and the umbrella badge attached to the suit showed the voyagers who he was.

“The Hound mercenary squad. I hope you are as good as legends say.” The man said with an arrogant tone.

It took a second for Jean to realize this random mercenary team was the cover story the Hub gave them. Before she could say or do anything, Ivan walked up as if he was the leader of the team.

“You will find out soon. What is our mission?” Ivan was already getting pretty experienced in things like this. The memory he received told him the Hound mercenary squad wasn’t exactly under Umbrella command. They were more of a guns for hire team, which meant they had more freedom and had to show less respect toward the Umbrella officials.

“We have lost contact with one of our top secret research facilities, the Hive. We don’t know what happened, so your mission is to go down there, investigate the threat, neutralize it, and report back. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir. You can count on us to get the job done.” Ivan blindly promised. “Just don’t forget our payment.” He didn’t give a damn about the money, but voyagers that lived as long as he did were good actors, and he knew a normal mercenary should have his eyes on the riches.

“You will get the money.” Jean noticed a look of disdain and a slight smirk on the man’s face. “Meanwhile, the Sanitation Team will work with you on this mission.”

A squad of seven men and women in black walked up. They had gas masks on their belts and weapons by their side. The cold look on their face showed the world they weren’t afraid of killing. They were the Umbrella Sanitation team, a military squad loyal to the Umbrella Corporation. Unlike the Hound mercenary squad, they were absolutely loyal to Umbrella.

Inside Racoon City, twelve men and women arrived at a luxurious mansion. It looked normal, but everyone present knew this building had one purpose, and that was not as a house. It was built to hide the entrance to the Hive.

“I am captain James Shade. I will be leading this mission. Any questions.” The captain of the Umbrella Sanitation Team, a bold man with dark skin and sharp nose, nodded at Ivan, who he perceived as the team leader. As he was doing that, Jean noticed he was slightly eyeing Ivan’s giant weapon. Normal people, even normal mercenaries, don’t carry giant Gatling guns around. The firepower was impressive, but so was the weight. Usually carrying these types of machine guns would slow the entire team down, but Shade’s questions soon went quiet when he saw Ivan casually walking around with the weapon in his arms and showing no sign of burden.

“No, sir.” Ivan replied, not really paying much respect to the captain. Voyagers jump from world to world, which meant most of them treated the native people like NPCs. The superhuman strength these voyagers received meant they could, in most cases, easily kill the natives. When the difference in power scale was high, basic respects disappear. Just like human beings wouldn’t be sorry if they accidentally stepped on an ant, experienced voyagers didn’t really care if they harmed natives in the process. Plus, there weren’t really any law in the Hub in regard to crime committed in missions. When crimes could go unpunished, people tend to turn into animals. In the best cases, voyagers didn’t care if they hurt the natives. In the worst cases, voyagers take pleasure in hurting the innocent.

Thankfully this was not the case here. As pissed off and depressed as Ivan was, he knew better than to lash out on the mercenaries. Opening fire on a group of armed forces in their field was a quick way to die.

“As far as we know the Hive might be infiltrated by enemy forces. We need to approach with extreme caution.” Shade and his men put their gas masks on and made sure every inch of their skin was covered. “Get ready, we approach in one minute.” He and his men went to the side to get ready.

Ivan and Xia put their masks on and started examining their weapons. They knew the Hive would be safe until the Red Queen was turned off, except for the laser trap, but that didn’t really mean they could let their guards down. Jean took out a gas mask and was about to put it on when she heard someone talking to her.

“Eh...excuse me?” It was the recruit that questioned Ivan.

“Yes?”

“We don’t have gas masks.”

The recruit didn’t really want to make contact with voyagers who obviously didn’t care about him, but he didn’t need to think much to realize not wearing a gas mask when everyone else wore one might be a bad thing. He had no choice but to approach the voyagers, and comparing to a giant man with the combination of anger issues and a Gatling machine gun and a cold Asian girl with a giant sniper rifle and a look that can send anyone that tried to talk to her fleeing, Jean was much more approachable.

“Yes you do. Have you checked your bag?” Jean knew the Hub wouldn’t bother voyagers like her with small problems like these. When she was first in Starcraft universe she had everything she needed to be a lieutenant in the Raiders. This time wouldn’t be any different. If standard mercenary gadgets like firearms were given, then why wouldn’t gadgets like gas masks be provided as well? This theory was proven when she found a gas mask in her bag.

The recruit reached into his bag, and an embarrassed look appeared on his face when he found what he was looking for. “Ah...yes...sorry about that.” He held his hand out. “I’m Carl, by the way. He’s Aidan.” He pointed at the other recruit, who was quiet the entire time. He smiled slightly as Jean looked over.

“Jean. Jean Turner.” Jean held her hand out, and the two shook hands.

Carl seemed to have relaxed a bit after seeing Jean was much nicer than the other two. “Is this really happening...I mean,” He blushed slightly have realizing how stupid his question was. The memory in her mind answered that question. “I mean, I know this is really happening, but…”

“But you can’t accept it.” Jean stated with an understanding look. “The truth is too painful to accept. The knowledge that you might die scares you.”

“Yes.” Carl wasn’t afraid of admitting his fear. “A few minutes ago I was just a college student. My biggest enemy was my math project.” He looked at the automatic rifle in his grip. “Now....” He suddenly glanced around to make sure no one was listening. If someone was curious about what he was saying and got close enough to hear what he said, they would realize what he said was completely different from what a mercenary should be saying.

“Now you are about to go into a top secret research facility filled with undead armed with nothing but an automatic rifle and some hope for surviving.” Jean joked.

Carl grinned as well, slightly relieved at the small joke the blonde told him. “Thanks. Speaking of, how was your first time? I mean the your first time in a mission, not...”

Jean shrugged and didn’t respond. Telling him the truth was not an option. She was about to come up with a sad story when an order from Shade saved her the trouble.

“Let’s move.”