Loki's intrusion caused immediate panic...
Umbrella Corporation's stringent security system was triggered the moment the Asgardian prince knocked out two guards and stormed into the lobby, prompting the Red Queen to activate the emergency alarm without delay.
As a research institution with close ties to the military, it was only natural for Umbrella to maintain its own private armed forces. Fully equipped elite soldiers swarmed in, attempting to subdue the dangerous individual who had dared to break into Umbrella and assault its personnel.
A sharp whistle cut through the air as arrows tore through the atmosphere with precision, embedding themselves in the necks of the soldiers, silently claiming their lives.
Simultaneously, a modified and reinforced Paramount Marauder crashed through the lobby's glass walls, shattering them into flying shards. A team of fierce mercenaries leaped out of the vehicle, quickly taking control of the chaotic situation.
Researchers in white uniforms crouched on the ground, their hands clasped behind their heads, while Loki, like a noble prince, stood tall with his golden scepter, surveying the trembling insects beneath him with an air of superiority.
"This is your natural state, an unspoken truth of humanity. The illusion of freedom has robbed you of life's joys. You crave subjugation, you madly pursue power and status, yet in your bones, you are slaves. Sooner or later, you will kneel before the strong." Loki delivered his speech with dramatic flair, his voice rising and falling.
It was in his nature. He loved theatrics, deception, vanity, and praise, a stark contrast to his brother Thor who revered strength and valor.
"Would anyone care to point out Mr. Benjamin, the warehouse manager?" Loki glanced around, inquiring.
Meanwhile, the elite HYDRA operatives who were dispatched for this mission had already ascended via the elevator into the heart of Umbrella's Babel Tower.
Their assistance to the Asgardian prince was hardly born of goodwill. As a clandestine organization long embedded within S.H.I.E.L.D... HYDRA, much like Nick Fury, had taken keen interest in this rapidly rising scientific star.
The difference was that while the one-eyed director regarded Sean Cyphers with wariness, these remnants coveted Umbrella's cutting-edge technology.
Led by Brock Rumlow, the HYDRA team took a senior executive hostage, using his credentials and dual iris-fingerprint authentication to infiltrate the inner sanctum of Babel Tower.
Perhaps due to the Red Queen's alert, the corridors were eerily empty. The executive was knocked unconscious by Rumlow and unceremoniously discarded.
Following the same path Emil Blonsky had once taken, they breached the massive botanical garden privately referred to as Eden...
The artificial sun suspended overhead simulated ideal temperatures, while humid air rushed at them. Towering plants blotted out the sky, and serpentine vines coiled around trees, hosting rare creatures like sloths and koalas.
In the marshes, corpulent rhinos lumbered, and crocodiles lurked like rotting logs in murky waters.
A complete ecosystem lay defenseless before the HYDRA team.
The sealed zone had inexplicably opened, putting Rumlow on high alert. He couldn't fathom why such an expansive botanical garden existed inside a corporate building.
The hyper-realistic walls obscured the team's line of sight as they trekked through the dense rainforest-like foliage. Rumlow couldn't help but marvel inwardly... Umbrella's ecological simulation technology was staggeringly advanced. For a moment, he felt as though he'd been transported to the Amazon.
"Stokes... sir, Stokes is missing!" a panicked voice called from behind.
As the team crossed a stretch of marshland, one of their members vanished without a trace. The only sounds were the whisper of wind and the skittering of insects.
Aquatic plants swayed beneath the murky water, and their military boots sank into the mire as if the ground might swallow them whole.
A sudden oppressive atmosphere descended upon the team. These were HYDRA's elite operatives, veterans of perilous missions across Africa, South America, and the Middle East. Rumlow himself, leader of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Counter-Terrorism Squad, boasted a decorated career and unparalleled combat experience.
"Stay quiet. Keep moving." Rumlow listened intently but detected nothing amiss.
He signaled for the team to press forward. The botanical garden couldn't possibly span the entire building. They would reach its boundaries soon.
Unbeknownst to them, Babel Tower's fifteen floors were interconnected. From the moment they stepped inside, their sense of direction had been compromised, as if they were traversing an endless, horizontal tunnel.
"Help–"
The marshland's predator struck without warning.
A massive brown-skinned crocodile lunged, its jagged teeth clamping down. In the span of a single breath, the fully armed soldier was severed at the waist, blood gushing like a fountain, staining the fetid mud.
"Open fire!"
At Rumlow's command, a barrage of bullets peppered the crocodile's armored hide, sparking harmlessly against its scales. The beast flicked its tail, hurling clods of dirt, then charged. Its bulk sent two unprepared operatives flying.
With four team members already lost, Rumlow fired his MP5 while retreating, cursing Umbrella's CEO inwardly, 'Who in their right mind keeps a giant crocodile inside a building?'
Suddenly, a vast shadow loomed overhead...
Acting on instinct, Rumlow ducked and rolled, narrowly avoiding a razor-sharp gust of wind. His companion wasn't as lucky. A claw bristling with dark needle-like fur tore him in half.
"Was that... a flying wolf?" Rumlow scrambled away in terror, abandoning his remaining teammates without a second thought.
At that moment, he was convinced there was no place on Earth more dangerous than Umbrella.
Dashing into a low-lying hill, the HYDRA captain shuddered with residual fear. A swamp-dwelling behemoth, and a winged wolf... at this point, even a talking gorilla wouldn't surprise him.
As a high-ranking HYDRA mole embedded within S.H.I.E.L.D., Rumlow was privy to the organization's more hazardous experiments; super-soldier replication, cybernetic enhancements, and the like.
But compared to what he had witnessed in this botanical garden, those projects seemed trivial. If unleashed, those two monstrous creatures would wreak unimaginable havoc.
"I need to report this–" The ground trembled beneath Rumlow's feet as if struck by an earthquake.
A gale-force wind kicked up a storm of dust.
"George." A deafening bellow followed.
Slowly, Rumlow turned his head...
A mountainous white gorilla loomed over him, its brutish face twisted with something eerily human.
"F*ck!" All his thoughts condensed into that single word. Never in his life had Rumlow felt such despair.
"GEORGE!" The bellow shook the air, sending vibrations through the sound-absorbing walls.
The gorilla pounded its chest, then plucked the petrified Rumlow up with two fingers.
Its bestial eyes flickered with primitive contemplation: To eat, or not to eat? That is the question...