Rats (Open to 2)

Somewhere in the Jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo...

In the deepest jungles a convoy of U.N. humvees and trucks were travelling through treacherous, muddy roads. Days of rain had made the paths impassable, but the convoy pressed on, on relatively firm ground much to the driver’s relief. They eventually arrived at a small clearing, at what was originally a research camp that saw an influx of refugees displaced by regional conflict.

It was a story familiar to Shauna Masters, a not so young woman who stepped out of the lead vehicle. She had been here before, many parts of Africa like this in her youth, as a mercenary fighting for money, but today she had come as a research associate. She was dressed in safari attire, wearing a UN arm badge, as were her German and Belgian associates. The climate was extremely humid, and most people who simply stood out in the open started to sweat... were it not for the massive mosquitoes keeping everyone moving and clapping their hands midair.

She ignored the weary, huddled African masses as they rushed the trucks for relief goods, most of her associates wanting to help the camp, and instead heading straight for the camp’s restricted area. She passed by prefabricated concrete fences which served as pens for something... vicious... inside them. She could hear hisses, growls and scratches, and given that the woman possessed unique abilities, saw behind the barriers to see giant mutant rats fighting each other for food. Most of their food was their own wounded, sick or dead. They viciously attacked one another the moment anyone displayed weakness.

Shauna covered her mouth to avoid retching. Sometimes it really did not pay to have x-ray vision.

“Monsieur, one of the fences is getting chewed through.” She patted a French Foreign Legionary on the shoulder to inform him of the rats trying to get out, speaking in fluent French. She headed into the tents, meeting with the scientists there, to deal with this growing rat problem. She highly suspected it had something to do with the region's deep jungles being where the rumored metahuman drug grew and was bitterly fought over by warlords.

Colossal stepped out of the jeep following Ms. Masters up to the tent. He had been brought on this weird African safari for his strength, and combat knowledge. He walked up behind Ms. Masters looking around the camp for anything suspicious. She walked in first and viewed the Rat fights, giant mutated hairy rodents... disgusting he thought to himself. Back in his own reality his people would have never let their toxins get out of control and disturb the delicate balance of the ecosystem. He walked up next to the cage and kept watching the rats. In order to fight his enemy he had to learn about them as well.

Colossal let the Masters woman walk into the next tent room by herself to talk to the lab rats who had been studying these things. After a few minutes he walked in and over heard an argument between two scientists over their growth rate.

"Listen... you may not like to think it... but these things are growing out of control. before they break out I would suggest you upgrade your defensive capabilities and containment procedures."

Colossal then leaned back against a table and waited for Ms. Masters to finish looking around.