Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 252 – Interlude V – Catalina

Chapter 252 – Interlude V – Catalina

As soon as she rode into Base Ryder, one of the guards approached her. 

“Boss wants to see you,” he said. 

“What’s this about?” she asked as she dismounted her bike. 

“I dunno. He said to get you as soon as you’re back.”

This made her a little nervous. Had Ryder figured her out? Had he somehow learned of her intention to rebel against Los Demonios? It seemed highly unlikely. After all, while she planned to fight the gang eventually, she hadn’t taken any actual steps toward that goal yet. Her plans remained just plans, and she hadn’t done a single thing to start realizing them.

Still, as she crossed the base, she couldn’t shake the unpleasant feeling that she might have been made. As she continued toward HQ, a plan to fight her way back to her bike and escape began to form in her mind. While she was fairly certain she had nothing to worry about, it was better to be prepared for the worst.

A minute later, she approached the door leading to HQ’s security room. The guard stepped aside to let her in. As she got into the small room, she heard the soft hiss of the door sliding shut behind her. She paused to quickly assess the situation and determine if she was in any kind of trouble.

Ryder stood on the opposite side of the room, a bank of monitors behind him. On one screen was the tattooed visage of Skullface. Both men stared grimly at her. She didn’t like their expressions. Something was definitely wrong.

“Took you long enough,” Ryder grumbled.

“I just got back and came as soon as I heard you wanted to see me,” she replied, barely able to keep her anger out of her voice.

“Sure, whatever,” he replied, waving her nearer. “Boss has something to tell you.”

Still not quite sure what this was all about and whether she should be worried, Catalina approached the bank of monitors. She focused on the screen displaying Skullface, staring back at her.

“Something’s gone down,” he said without preamble. “At Base Miller.”

She was finally able to relax. She wasn’t in trouble after all. 

“What happened?” she asked.

From Skullface’s expression alone, it was clear that something really bad and unexpected had happened at Base Miller, something they obviously hadn’t been prepared for. Had it been attacked? Of course, she couldn’t care less about it. If anything, it would make her day. Few things make her happier than hearing news of gang members getting killed.

However, she knew they saw her as one of them, so she kept a concerned look on her face.

Instead of answering her question directly, Skullface did something different. He adjusted the angle of his PDA, which he used for the video call. Catalina hadn’t noticed his surroundings earlier, but now saw he was in a basement. He turned the PDA, held in one hand, away from his face to reveal something on the other side of the room.

Catalina gasped as she saw what Skullface pointed the PDA’s camera at. There were two male bodies. Both were naked. Both were dead. The dreadful state of the bodies made it clear they had been killed slowly and brutally.

She had seen these two men a couple of times. Their names were Patrick and Dominic. Patrick’s body was tied to a metal chair, and what was left of Dominic lay on the floor. To her horror, she then noticed that Dominic moved ever so slightly. He had been cut into five separate pieces, but he was still clinging to life. Catalina doubted he would be able to hold on much longer, though.

She turned her head to look at Ryder and realized he had turned away from the monitor, clearly unwilling to witness the horror again. He had seen it before and didn’t want to set his eyes on the horrifying scene again. Skullface turned the PDA’s camera at his face once more, so she shifted her attention back to the monitor.

“Why did you kill them?” she asked. “What did they do?”

“Actually, they did nothing wrong,” Skullface replied. “And by the way, I wasn’t the one who did this to them.”

“Who did, then? Miller?”

“Yep.”

“But why?”

In response to her question, Skullface recounted the events that had recently taken place at Base Miller. He told her that Miller initiated a mission to obtain a Skeleton Key. Once the mission was successfully completed, Miller ordered Dominic to secure the key before leaving the base.

After he returned, he discovered that all the guards within HQ were dead and the Skeleton Key was missing. His main suspects were his three closest subordinates, so he commanded that they be captured. Minh was able to escape before anyone realized what was going on.

Thus, Miller concluded that Minh was the one who killed all the guards within HQ and stole the Skeleton Key. He also concluded that Minh had an accomplice, one of HQ’s guards, since it would have been impossible to eliminate all the guards alone. After they were all dead, Minh killed his accomplice to leave no witnesses.

Miller tortured Dominic and Patric to death but learned nothing new. They clearly had nothing to do with it. Afterward, he called Skullface to inform him about the situation, and Skullface immediately arrived at Base Miller.

Minh was still at large. This situation arose right after the mission to acquire the Skeleton Key, where Miller lost several men. Thus, he couldn’t assign many of his remaining people to search for Minh, fearing it would leave his base vulnerable.

“However, I ordered him to cease the search for Minh,” Skullface added.

“Why?”  

“Because I don’t think it was him,” he replied.  

“What makes you think so?”  

Skullface told her that while at first glance, it did seem like Minh was the one who killed all the guards at HQ and stole the Skeleton Key, it wasn’t actually him who did all that.

After reviewing the recorded footage from the turrets, Skullface discovered that after Miller left the base, Dominic, Patric, and Minh entered HQ to secure the Skeleton Key in the safe and initiate the repair procedures for the structures that sustained damage during the attack on the base.

Right after that, a guard named Klaus stepped onto the roof for a short smoke before coming back inside. Afterward, no one entered or exited HQ until Miller returned. So Minh couldn’t be the culprit, since the guards at HQ were still alive after Minh left the building.

“Nobody could’ve entered HQ without being detected by the turrets,” Skullface said. “Unless the culprit was completely invisible. When the trio entered HQ, Klaus was on the roof, smoking. He really smokes too much—well, smoked. Anyway, he left the door to the roof wide open behind him, so that’s how I believe the invisible intruder managed to slip in—right under Klaus’s nose!”

Catalina wasn’t sure where Skullface was going with it. She had never come across any spells that could render you invisible. Then it struck her. 

“You think a mutant did that?” she asked.

“Not just any mutant,” Skullface replied. “It was the morphus.”

Catalina struggled to keep her emotions from showing on her face. If Skullface was right, it meant the morphus had already declared war on Los Demonios! If that was the case, siding with it—him—wouldn’t be difficult. 

“Let me explain why I believe that,” Skullface continued. “The morphus is far more intelligent than other ex-humans. Some even believe it was a human survivor once, which I tend to agree with. That would account for his sharp intellect. He went to great lengths to make the situation look like a human intruder had taken out the guards, killing them with a bladed weapon, like a knife, instead of tearing them apart as he usually does with his victims.”

Catalina couldn’t help but wonder why the morphus decided to kill only the guards at HQ. Why didn’t it eliminate all of them? Why not completely destroy Base Miller? Perhaps it simply couldn’t. Maybe it wasn’t as powerful as she had believed. If that were the case, it—he—might consider teaming up with her. Together, they would have a much better chance against Los Demonios.

“Each city has only one dungeon,” Skullface continued, his voice pulling her back from her musings. “After learning what happened here at Base Miller, I quickly checked the dungeon. It was open. Whoever stole the key used it to gain access to the dungeon. This means it wasn’t Minh. He wouldn’t be stupid enough to enter the dungeon, especially right after stealing the Skeleton Key, knowing it would be the first place we’d check for him.”

Skullface fell silent as his device chimed with a notification. After reading it, he turned his attention back to her.

“I just got a message—my men have apprehended Minh,” he said.  

“I thought you told Miller to stop searching for him,” Catalina replied.

“I did. Partly because he didn’t have many men left. But more importantly, my men are far better suited for such a task. So I sent some of my own to find him. They already located him and searched him, but he didn’t have the Skeleton Key on him. This confirms he didn’t steal it. Someone else must have entered the dungeon, and I believe it was the morphus. He could still be inside!”

Catalina felt a hint of worry. If Skullface knew the morphus’s whereabouts, it could pose serious problems for her possible ally.

“Do you want me to go after the morphus then?” she asked, hoping this was why Skullface wanted to see her in the first place. This way, she could help the morphus eliminate the other men Skullface sent with her and make contact with him at last.

“No,” Skullface said. “Sending you after the morphus would almost certainly lead to your death. You’re too valuable an asset to our organization to just let you die like that. No, the real reason I summoned you is that I demoted Miller. He really messed up. He mishandled the mission to acquire the Skeleton Key, resulting in the deaths of many of his men. He allowed the morphus to infiltrate his base. While that creature possesses some impressive abilities, it doesn’t excuse Miller’s failures. He also tortured his two most loyal men to death. If he’d looked into the matter more closely, he would have discovered they had nothing to do with what happened. So Miller is no longer in charge of his base.”

Skullface made a pause. Catalina kept silently looking at him, not sure where this was going.

“So I want to put you in charge of Miller’s base,” Skullface said.

Catalina couldn’t believe what she had just heard. She hated the gang with every fiber of her being, always dreaming of burning it to the ground. And now Skullface wanted to put her in charge of the whole base? On the other hand, he remained blissfully unaware of her true intentions. To him, she was merely a devoted member of the gang.

While she had secret plans to destroy Los Demonios from within, Skullface didn’t know that. If he had the slightest suspicions of her, he would likely have killed her a long time ago. So yeah, from his point of view, she had shifted from the angry woman who lost all her friends at the hands of the gang to a loyal member of the gang.

She had secured her spot in Los Demonios quite some time ago. She received a fantastic bike that gave her the freedom to travel wherever she wanted. So it seemed reasonable to think that even Skullface, the gang leader, had let go of any mistrust he once had toward her.

Skullface flashed a grin on the screen. “Surprised, are you? Didn’t anticipate such a quick rise in ranks, did you? But you’ve earned it. You’ve shown your value to Los Demonios, and I’m confident you’ll lead the base better than Miller ever did.”

Catalina stared into his eyes, trying to read him. Unfortunately, she couldn’t discern anything, which was why she was still uncertain if Skullface was serious or if it was just a ploy. Was this a loyalty test? Was his decision to put her in charge of a base a way to validate her loyalty? Did he hope to see if she’d use this chance to betray the gang? One thing was certain: she had to remain on high alert.

She wasn’t going to turn down such an offer, though. Being placed in charge of an entire base would surely open a world of opportunities for her in her quest to destroy Los Demonios.

She knew that legitimate members of the gang, those who wore red to indicate their affiliation, had to prove their loyalty before being accepted. This usually involved brutally killing other survivors or even members of a potential recruit’s former team.

So anyone wearing red—a scarf, bandana, or a piece of fabric prominently sticking out of a pocket—was her enemy. She wouldn’t try to recruit someone who had killed their previous teammates or friends, as she could never trust such a person. All she could feel for them was anger.

As for those forced to labor for the gang, they were an entirely different matter. Even though they were captured by Los Demonios, they were brave and noble enough to refuse to kill someone close to them for gang membership. Such individuals were definitely worth recruiting.

After taking charge of the base previously run by Miller, she could easily eliminate all the guards and free the captured survivors. Then, she could recruit those willing to join her fight against Los Demonios. Sure enough, she would allow anyone not interested to leave.

However, she wouldn’t act right away. Caution was essential.  

“I appreciate your trust in me,” she finally replied.

“Like I said, you deserve this position,” Skullface said. “By the way, I informed the leaders of all the other bases about what happened at Base Miller. I ordered them to upgrade their bases immediately to prevent any silent infiltrations. Since the city has recently upgraded, various rare resources are now more common, so gathering the necessary materials for our upgrades shouldn’t take long. You’ll need to do the same as soon as you arrive at Base Catalina, as we’ll be calling it from now on. Once at your base, instruct your team to start gathering resources right away to upgrade HQ and beef up the defenses.”

Things looked grim. If the morphus tried to silently infiltrate another base, it would now be impossible for him to do so without being detected. A direct attack on any of the bases would likely be quite challenging as well. However, if he joined forces with her, they would be much more prepared to launch a full-scale war on Los Demonios. 

“What about Miller, though?” Catalina asked. “What is going to happen to him?”

“I’ve already instructed him to deal with the morphus,” Skullface declared. “He’s equipped with his power suit and brought some of his men. They’re already at the dungeon entrance. As soon as the morphus leaves, a nasty surprise will be waiting for the freak just outside.”

Catalina didn’t like what she was hearing. She didn’t like it at all. If Miller managed to kill the morphus, she would be left without a powerful ally. The fact that Miller was allowed to wear his power suit made her worry even more. She was well aware of how powerful those suits were.

Despite her concern, Catalina forced herself to maintain a neutral expression, hiding her thoughts deep within.

“If Miller kills the morphus, the entire issue with that freak will finally be put to rest,” Skullface concluded. “If the morphus kills Miller, I’ll view that as a fitting punishment for all the mistakes he’s made. Ultimately, either outcome suits me just fine.”

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