36 The Raccoon City Outbreak, Part 5

Word count 10,489

"Delta Team, the corporation has used the outbreak in Raccoon City as an opportunity to deploy a prototype of our most powerful and responsive B.O.W. to date: the T02, codenamed Nemesis. It's on a mission to kill the remaining members of S.T.A.R.S. However, it has been damaged and is no longer responding to commands. We need you to relocate and repair it."

"Copy that, Command. Repairing a prototype B.O.W.? This should be interesting…" replied Four Eyes.

"First you'll need to secure a working NE-aparasite. We've identified one inside of an Umbrella facility nearby."

"Understood. We'll take care of it." declared Lupo.

"Why does the dead factory still have power? We just shut down the power grid!" remarked Lupo as her team came closer to the facility they were required to infiltrate.

"You don't think Umbrella relies on city power, do ya?" Beltway sarcastically replied.

"That, and I heard that ISIS managed to keep a portion of the city powered somehow. Figures they knew this was coming."

"Command must have been overjoyed to discover that." snarked Vector.

"Cut the chatter, hostiles ahead." firmly declared Lupo, seconds before her team gunned down a group of infected and killed a number of Spec Ops US soldiers.

Once they killed the last soldier, they turned towards the path ahead… and stopped.

"Are we seriously going through the cemetery to get to that facility?" remarked Beltway.

"Yes we are. Now quit complaining and move." grimly replied Lupo.

They stepped forward through the gates showing "Raccoon City Cemetery," only to find themselves stuck fighting a three-way battle between themselves, US soldiers, and infected monsters coming out of every corner once they passed through.

"Never a boring day in this job!" commented Vector, hiding behind cover while bullets flew over his head and zombies charged at them.

"Welcome to the USS!" snarked Lupo, shooting another US soldier in the head.

"It's too bad we aren't paid by the kill count, or I could retire filthy rich after this!" replied Beltway, gunning down a group of running zombies.

Lupo killed the last soldier, took one look at the number of zombies around her, and grimaced.

"US soldiers eliminated! Now let's run out of here if you want to live!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" replied Vector who immediately ran for the doors out of the cemetery.

She followed, her team on her heels, and they crashed through the doors of the warehouse leading to the hidden facility, before blocking the doors behind them.

As they looked around the warehouse, Vector frowned.

"This is the warehouse. Sounds like someone got here first…" he pointed out grimly as gunfired echoed close by.

They opened the doors of the facility… only to be immediately attacked by waves of zombies.

"They're everywhere!" complained Beltway while shooting.

Lupo lead them through the waves, until finally they were able to move onward-

*Bang!*

Lupo threw herself behind cover, the bullet whistling by her right ear.

"Blackwatch!" yelled Four Eyes, already returning fire.

"Fucking hell! How did they find out about this place?!" complained Vector.

"Don't know, don't care! Just keep shooting!" ordered Lupo, putting actions to words herself.

When the last Blackwatch soldiers died, they caught their breath for a moment, before Vector grumbled.

"Secret facility, my ass..."

"Doesn't matter. We cross paths with anyone, we shoot to kill and let Command worry about the rest. Now come on, let's keep going." declared Lupo.

Soon after, they reached the facility itself, and Vector called Command.

"Command, we're in the facility."

"Good. There should be a computer terminal inside. Use it to gain access to the B.O.W. programming facility."

"... Alright. I've overridden the lockdown."

An elevator nearby opened itself for them to take, and they filled in inside of it.

"This is the facility where we program the highest-grade B.O.W.'s with the NE-a parasite before sending them into the field. The T-103 you're heading to is a failed experiment. You'll be extracting the parasites from its brain to implement in the Nemesis. Collect the necessary components."

The elevator came to a stop, its doors opening to reveal a zombie staring at them.

Lupo blew its brains out, before stepping out of the elevator.

"We're in the programming lab. What's in there?" Vector asked to command.

And then they stopped, staring at a zombie further ahead who suddenly got jumped on by some kind of weird insect, which bit its head off, and then began to puppet the headless corpse around like a meat suit.

"This is one of our most secret facilities. And it contains some of our most dangerous experiments. Exercise caution."

"You don't say…" whispered Beltway, staring at the parasite puppeting around its new host.

Still, they were professionals, so they moved on and went to get a syringe first.

Four Eyes found one nearby, thankfully, so they made their way quickly to the unconscious Mister X Tyrant laying on a nearby table.

"Carefully extract the parasite from the T-103's neural cortex."

Four Eyes deactivated the defenses around the unconscious Tyrant and then carefully did as Command ordered, eventually holding the syringe out for Lupo and her team to see the parasite inside.

Lupo nodded at Four Eyes before contacting Command.

"Command, we've successfully extracted the parasite." she reported.

"Good. Now locate the rogue Nemesis and repair it."

"Copy that."

They made their way towards the exit, before they all froze.

*STOMP* *STOMP* *STOMP*

"Shit! The Tyrant is reactivating!" Vector cursed loudly.

"Without its control parasite, that T-103 will be attacking everything!" yelled Lupo.

"The security doors are in lockdown mode! We need to deactivate it!" declared Beltway.

"Then run and get to it!" ordered Lupo, and they split up in three smaller groups, two to go for the nearby consoles to open the doors and one to hold back the rogue Tyrant.

At least it's just a Mister X variant… noted Lupo while firing at the approaching Tyrant.

Sure, they were tough, but they also were thankfully slow. It shouldn't be a problem to-

"Incoming zombies and parasites!" yelled Vector, and Lupo cursed as dozens of both suddenly charged forth as much as they began fighting one another.

And in the middle of it, the Mr. X kept on bulldozing anything on its path.

The entire area dissolved into a bloody battlefield in seconds, where the Wolfpack fought parasites, zombies, and the Tyrant alike while everything else fought one another.

Lupo could honestly say that everything turned into utter chaos in no time, with parasites jumping around everywhere, zombies moaning filling the area and the angry STOMP of the rogue Mr. X in the middle of it all making things even worse.

Lupo could only focus on giving orders to those still near her and keep on firing, killing one hostile at a time-

"Got it!"

"Copy that!" suddenly came across her comms, and she sighed in relief as her team regrouped and went through the now open doors as if all of hell was at their back.

Which considering the increasing sounds of fighting behind them, certainly couldn't be discounted.

"There! The elevator!" shouted Lupo, seeing salvation in front of them, and they all but jumped inside, turning around just in time for a parasite to crash on the closing doors of the elevator.

For a time, they all just rested to catch their breath, before Vector spoke in-between pants.

"Do you think… we can… renegotiate our contracts? Because I'm not paid enough for this…"

Lupo snorted.

"Keep on dreaming. We're USS, we don't get to renegotiate our contracts."

"Then maybe that should change…" she heard him whispering, but she didn't react.

She wasn't exactly happy to remain in this damn city for longer, after all.

Still, she was USS. Her life was bound to Umbrella… whether she liked it or not.

One simply does not betray Umbrella, after all. That doesn't end well for anyone.

As the late Dr. Birkin can attest to.

The elevator opened, and they blinked in shock at the fighting going on outside between what looked like Blackwatch and the rogue Nemesis Tyrant.

How- no, doesn't matter. Just do your job.

"Command, we've located the Nemesis. Proceeding with the objective." she radioed in.

"In its damaged state, the Nemesis will attack anything. You'll need to disable it first."

And that's how Wolfpack ended fighting what is now a four-way battle between Blackwatch, the Nemesis, zombies flooding the place, and the Wolfpack themselves.

Somehow, Lupo thought with dark irony, this day just keeps getting better and better.

At least they didn't focus on Nemesis immediately. It looked more than happy to fight Blackwatch and kill any infected close to it, so she ordered her team to focus on the regular zombies first.

They couldn't exactly leave the place if it was flooded with infected, so securing their extraction point came first.

When the zombies were finally eliminated, Nemesis had by then killed the majority of the Blackwatch soldiers, if not without taking a number of injuries in return.

Lupo couldn't help but notice just how burnt the Tyrant seemed to be, to say nothing of the scar on its head…

"Clear out!" Screamed Beltway, a second before he fired a grenade launcher he looted from a Blackwatch corpse.

The grenade made Nemesis stumble back, though it growled and recovered its footing a second later.

"Do that again!" yelled Four Eyes.

Beltway complied, and Nemesis stumbled again… only this time Four Eyes was ready.

She ran forward, dodged a wild swipe from Nemesis, and then stabbed him in the head with the syringe with the parasite.

Nemesis froze… and then fell backward, its body shuddering unnaturally.

"Kill the remaining Blackwatch soldiers!" Lupo ordered, her team immediately obeying.

Finally after a few more minutes of fighting, the only ones left were her team and Nemesis, who was seemingly unconscious.

"Nemesis is down and under control again. I repeat, Nemesis is down and under control again." reported Lupo.

"Good. Wait for now, a second team is coming with a new weapon for Nemesis. Once the weapon has been delivered, you can leave the area."

"Copy that."

Lupo cut off her comms, waiting with her team for the second USS team to arrive.

"Hey, Lupo?"

"What?"

"You don't think it was a bit too… easy?"

Lupo frowned, turning to stare at Vector.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I'm saying. We took down that Nemesis Tyrant pretty easily. Sure, Blackwatch weakened it, but still… where did those burns and wounds come from? They weren't caused by lasguns."

Lupo frowned harder, glancing down at Nemesis for a moment, before looking away.

"Doesn't matter. It's not our job to worry about Command's new pet B.O.W. We did our job, end of story."

"... As you say, Lupo." replied Vector after a few seconds of silence.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for the other team to arrive, and Wolfpack was thus free of leaving the area.

Still, Lupo could admit also privately to being curious.

Vector was right, Nemesis' wounds certainly didn't look conventional.

There was something inherently… wrong, about the wounds.

For some reason, her mind kept trying to tell her something about a meteor hitting the Tyrant, but that made absolutely no sense.

Though considering who he had been sent after… Maybe it was due to some new weapon from ISIS?

But it still left the question…

How, exactly, had Umbrella's greatest B.O.W. been wounded so badly that it looked like it went through a meat grinder, and then it was spat out from the deepest pits of Hell?

What had happened to make it go rogue in the first place?

Lupo had no idea…

But one thing was for sure: she really didn't want to find out the hard way.

One more reason to leave this damn city as soon as possible… she mentally grumbled.

This whole place was insane, even by USS standards.

And Lupo could tell it wasn't just her who was getting tired of this city. Her whole team was tense, a storm of emotions brewing in their eyes the longer they stayed in this hell.

They were all tired, the bullshit from Command blaming them for the outbreak was something none of them were happy about, all of them were on a hair trigger at all times, tempers were flaring harder than she had ever seen...

Though worst of all were the words of Vector complaining about renegotiating their contracts. That just wasn't done, not by anyone in the USS, not even by HUNK himself.

And she had no idea what was going to happen if, or perhaps rather when, this growing storm of malcontent would go off.

All she knew… is that things wouldn't remain the same once that happened.

Whether for good or not, now that was the true question…

Meanwhile, back in the warehouse.

Slowly, Nemesis woke up and got to its feet, its one good eye looking around at its surroundings.

It eventually settled on the weapon case laying nearby, already open and showing-

If Nemesis could feel satisfaction and anticipation, it would have smiled.

Instead, he quickly claimed the rocket launcher, took the ammo for it, and then walked off.

"SSSSSTTTTTAAAAAARRRRRSSSSS…" he growled, hatred in his voice.

The hunt was on once again.

Jill Valentine left the abandoned house she just finished clearing, eager to finally make her way back to the train controlled by the UBCS.

It had taken her quite some time to return here, but at least now she was close to-

*CRASH*

Jill flinched, before turning back to look at-

She froze.

Nemesis, its horrific rictus grinning down at her, pointed the rocket launcher towards her with a glint of cruel anticipation in its one good eye.

She Quickened out of the way of the rocket sent her way, before running into a nearby alley.

She killed any zombies in her way, dodging the occasional rocket launched at her by Nemesis with the skill and grace only a Huntress could have.

There was nothing quite like being told to dodge a few dozen fireballs thrown at you at the same time to learn just how valuable being good at dodging was.

Aeon cackling all the while hadn't helped her concentration, either…

Which, knowing him as she did, was probably exactly why he did it, too.

She sped through a corner, barely dodging a car sent flying by another rocket when her radio crackled.

"Jill, you OK?"

"Just fine! That monster is on my ass again!" she replied, instinctively ducking under yet another rocket sent at her.

"Are you shitting me? I thought you killed it!"

"Me too!" she declared, head snapping towards where Nemesis had somehow managed to cut off her path.

So that's what Aeon meant when he said the only way to be sure an enemy is dead is to see the corpse with your own eyes. Lesson fucking learnt, Aeon.

Nemesis kept on sending rockets her way, forcing her to do increasingly more crazy stunts to dodge them all.

She found herself thankful for how agile she was nowadays as a Huntress, because no way in hell she would have managed to evade them all otherwise.

Still, her priority right now was to get to the train, because the longer they waited for her, the more the risk that something might go wrong.

So as much as she wanted to go try and kill this bastard for good this time, reaching the train station quickly took priority.

She managed to go up the building, using the scaffolding on it to reach the roof, only for her radio to crackle to life again.

"Jill, you there? I think I know how to slow that fucker down. Head back to the station!"

She pursed her lips. Yes, she wanted to get there fast, but first…

"And lead him right to you?" she replied.

She needed to lose the Tyrant first, then she could go watch over the civilians (and make sure that Umbrella wouldn't try anything with them).

"It's ok. Trust me!"

The radio cut off.

She cursed.

"Damn it, Carlos… Fine! But I swear you better not fuck this up…" she grumbled.

Her, trusting an Umbrella goon… what was the world coming to?

Oh, right, it was currently facing a potential zombie apocalypse.

Never mind then.

Well, worst comes to worst, she could just kill Nemesis the hard way if Carlos does fuck this up.

She ran up the stairs before her-

And then a rocket impacted the massive head of the mascot of the shop in front of her.

Which promptly began to roll her way.

Her eyes widened.

"Seriously?!"

She ran back, Quickening to reach safety a second before the massive head would have crushed her, before she ran back up the stairs.

After dodging a few more rockets from Nemesis who looked pissed its plan hadn't worked, she rushed through the alley leading towards-

"Jill! This way!" shouted Carlos at the end of the alley, before he ran towards the train station.

She followed, Quickening out of the way of yet another rocket sent her way before she reached the corner and then-

*BOOM!*

She flinched in reflex, the explosion going off behind her making her stumble to a stop before she glanced backward.

Claymore? She thought.

"Hey, you ok?" asked Carlos, standing beside her.

She glanced at him then at Nemesis, who had fallen to a crouching position after the explosion…

And then its head snapped up, eyes narrowing in hatred at her.

"Go… GO!" shouted Carlos, pushing her towards the nearby entrance to the station.

She frowned, hitting the button to bring the reinforced panels down the entrance, before drawing her laspistol, stepping forward to get Carlos and pull him back, before firing at the fuel tank of a nearby fuel truck.

The explosion blew backward both Carlos and her, the last thing she saw before the panels closed down was Nemesis flying in the air thrown like a ragdoll by the explosion.

She let out a long breath, knowing that Nemesis wasn't dead but at least wounded by this.

Hopefully long enough that they could take the metro in peace.

A part of her wanted to go back, kill the damn thing once and for all…

But the civilians came first.

"C'mon. Let's get out of here." declared Carlos.

She sent one last glare in the general direction of Nemesis before following.

As she did, she glanced at Carlos with a frown for a moment, before sighing.

She supposed that she had been… a bit too harsh on him.

Even if he was an Umbrella goon… he was still not involved in causing all this mess.

He was just a victim of Umbrella, like so many others in Raccoon City nowadays.

"Carlos…" she began slowly, making him glance at her.

"I know we didn't get off to a great start, but… thanks for the help."

He smiled.

"Hey, you helped out a lot. You're a lot braver than me."

She smirked. If he thought that Nemesis or a few zombies were the worst thing she fought in her life, he was dead wrong.

A city of madness flashed in her mind, the howls of beasts accompanying her every step, the scent of Blood, thick and filled with power, suffusing the street and pushing men and beasts alike towards a greater display of bloodshed.

Her smirk faded, a grim look replacing it for a split second before she shook off the memory.

"Well, what matters is that we can get everyone out of the city now."

"Yeah. They'll be safe." agreed Carlos.

"What about you?" she wondered.

Considering the UBCS losses…

"From the sound of it, I won't be catching the train." he replied.

She frowned.

"Why not?"

"There'll be new orders." he answered. "If it means I can help save the city, that's fine by me."

Her frown deepened. Considering who he was working for, she highly doubted that whatever orders he was going to get will in any way, shape or form 'help save the city.'

Most likely it'll do the exact opposite.

She glanced at him.

"Even after everything? Must be pretty important."

He shrugged. "Don't know yet. I just heard we had new marching orders."

She nodded. She didn't think he was lying, so there was no point questioning him about it.

She saw the train waiting up ahead, and decided to let him know one last thing.

"By the way, Carlos? Look, I'm flattered and all that you're interested in me, but I've got a boyfriend already. So please cut down the flirting?" she asked, more politely than she originally expected.

Had he been more like Nicholai she would have been a lot more brutal about it, but Carlos seems like a nice guy, just one who really fell into the wrong crowd.

Carlos blinked, before shaking his head with a wry smile.

"Ah, figures. Can't say I'm that surprised. Well, my best wishes to whatever lucky guy got that honor, he's one lucky bastard."

She grinned. "Oh, you probably heard of him before. Maybe even saw him back during the battle of Main Street."

Carlos raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"His name's Aeon, leader of ISIS." she replied, grinning widely as Carlos stumbled and almost fell on his face at her words.

"That glorious bastard who held the line in Main Street pretty much by himself? God, I really had no hope, didn't I? I know I'm good, but that was the stuff of legends right there." he replied a moment later, a measure of awe in his voice.

She chuckled. "A fan?" she teased.

Carlos shrugged. "Anyone who can face down a horde of zombies and cause it to break before they do deserve some fucking respect. And what he dealt with wasn't a regular horde by any means. And let me tell you, after the days I spent in this hell, knowing that there are people like him out there to deal with this mess is a relief. Because as I said, I'm good, but what's out there? I'm not good enough to fight that off on my own."

Jill mused on that. To Huntresses like her and Rebecca, anything short of a Tyrant nowadays may as well not even exist.

They just weren't on the level of a Cleric Beast… or worse, that thing that Vicar Amelia turned into.

A beast so big it towered over both women with ease… its roars strong enough to send stones the size of humans flying about, its strength enough to easily rip apart tanks if any had been there, its jaws big enough to swallow Jill whole in one gulp… Fighting it had been a battle of attrition, where each wound slowly took their toll until finally, a desperate attack brought victory…

She shook her head, banishing the memory back where it came from.

The point was, she wasn't "just" a S.T.A.R.S. member now. She was something more, being blessed by a literal god and all that.

After experiencing even the small part of Yharnam that she and Rebecca went through, it was hard to see even Nemesis as a credible threat.

She had seen bigger things. Fought bigger. Killed bigger, in fact.

Jill wondered about that. Aeon was always calm and in control, but what did she look like, to those around her?

Carlos certainly seemed to have put her on a pedestal, seeing her as something greater than a common soldier could ever be.

She was somewhat used to it by being a member of S.T.A.R.S., but this felt bigger somehow...

No matter. For now, she had civilians to protect. The consequences of her status as a Huntress wasn't something she could think deeply about right now.

She finally stopped in front of Captain Victor, who smiled at her.

"Good Work. Your reputation is well-deserved. Get inside, the subway is about to leave."

She nodded, turning around toward the entrance of the train.

She paused however, when her Huntress-level hearing heard Mikhail speak softly to Carlos and another UBCS survivor.

"Carlos, Tyrell, you have your orders. You need to go back into the city and find Nathaniel Bard."

Nathaniel Bard, huh? Maybe she should send a message to ISIS, see what they can find…

"This isn't the last ride out of town, right?" she asked.

They turned to look at her, Mikhail shaking his head.

"Do not worry. Once the civilians are safe, the train will be back."

Carlos smiled.

"It's alright, you go on ahead. I'm not gonna die yet, I can't let this planet become a Carlos-less world, too many disappointed ladies you know?" he joked.

She held back from rolling her eyes, though a slight smile quirked her lips.

She didn't miss the fact he had not pointed her out.

Apparently, he got the point. She couldn't argue he was pretty handsome, and certainly brave, but she wasn't interested.

Well, whatever. He probably would find someone else to flirt with eventually, she was sure of it.

If he lives, a treacherous part of her mind pointed out.

She got on the train, trying not to think about that.

Thankfully, or unfortunately depending on the point of view, she got distracted very quickly.

Because of course Nicholai was here, clapping mockingly.

"See? You're learning." he snarked.

"The only life that matters is your own." he finished, and she looked away from him, trying not to let her disgust for the man show… too much.

"Alright, let's get going." declared Captain Mikhail, going up the train.

Jill took a deep breath, and then exhaled.

Now, all that was left to do was bring these civilians to safety, and then she could go back to ISIS and get a proper sitrep of things.

Easy enough.

September 29, 1998.

"You don't think a pencil-pusher like Bard is still alive, do you?"

Jill glanced at Nicholai, who just asked that question to his Captain.

"Maybe, maybe not." Victor replied, sitting on one of the seats of the near empty train car.

"Why? Are you worried about teammates? Or something else?"

She frowned, while Captain Mikhail narrowed his eyes up towards Nicholai.

"Funny how brainless zombies can ambush a platoon like that. Funny the gate was locked." he said slowly, voice deceptively light.

"Don't you think?" he softly said, staring at Nicholai.

Nicholai stared back, smiling and chuckling.

Jill looked down with a blink as a messenger rose up at her feet.

A look around showed that neither man noticed, and she took the piece of paper handed to her.

Beware of giant worms underground.

Jill blinked-

And then the entire train shook.

"What was that?" she questioned, getting on her feet in a flash, the messenger disappearing.

The train shook again, though this time it came from… the opposite side?

The door of the subway car they were in opened, showing Nemesis on fire, its one good eye staring hatefully at Jill while corpses surrounded him-

And then Jill's eyes went wide when a bunch of giant worms shot out from the walls and slammed into the Tyrant.

"What the fuck-"

There was the sound of an explosion.

And then the whole train derailed.

Her last thought before everything went dark was, of all things-

Huh, Nemesis looks ridiculous with a giant worm on his head.

I frowned, turning my head to glare into the distance.

Then I let out a sigh.

I had told Jill and the others I wouldn't save everyone, and it looked like Jill was about to find that out the hard way.

I'd like to say something could have been done, but short of me outright going full Divine, that train was never not going to be derailed.

Either Nemesis or the worms could do it… in this case the worms caused it.

My frown deepened when I looked at what was going on. Jill, Nikholai and Mikhail all survived the crash… but then Nicholai ran like hell, and-

I grimaced.

So long, Captain Mikhail. You died as you lived: as a proud soldier to the bitter end.

Fucking worms… at least he blew off enough in that suicide explosion that the rest was retreating.

It figures the only survivors were Nicholai and Jill… and the former only because he got lucky and crashed into Jill, which saved him from being impaled by a steel pipe.

I swear, that bastard has some crazy luck…

Bah! He'll die eventually. Even if it takes me doing it to make it happen.

"Sir?"

I looked at Sergeant White, currently staring at me curiously.

"How far along are the preparations?" I asked.

"Almost done, sir!" she replied.

I grunted, taking in the sight of the small park we were in.

That giant worm behind all of our recent troubles was still around, but not for long if things went as planned.

As it is, Rebecca had to go back to the lines holding back the worms charging at us because of how hard they were pressing down on ISIS.

Still, I had prepared the ground for this battle as well as I could make it.

The tank was ready to fire for when that damn worm will show up, a few helicopters will provide air support, and we had brought rocket launchers and a whole lot of explosives.

"Sir! We're all in position!" announced the sergeant by my side.

"Good."

I put a hand on the ground, and-

Pulse

-there we go.

The ground shook.

I smiled. Taunting spell FTW!

And then the Grave Digger burst forth from the ground in front of us, its dark brown flesh rising up into the sky, looming over the entire park, its shadow casting the whole place in darkness, rising higher than the trees and the gate at the entrance of the park, and even then, I could tell a good chunk of its bulk was still safely within the earth, out of sight of everyone watching.

Its twin rows of mutated legs were fully visible, reminding me more of scythes than actual legs, thick, powerful stubs lined along the underside of its body. Its immense bulk was coated with numerous fading scars, healed over time but nonetheless showing off the many battles it had survived in order to thrive in the undergrounds of Raccoon City.

For a time, it remained there, hanging in the sky above our heads, squirming back and forth in the air… seemingly like a headless abomination of nature, until the top of it moved down slightly in our direction. Then, its head retracted, revealing four massive tendril-like mandibles, parting like some sort of macabre flower and revealing an enormous maw hidden within, the jagged rows of hundreds of teeth gnashing together, as saliva began to fall down like streams into the ground below, great amounts of smoke rising into the air as the incredibly potent acidic properties of the liquid was displayed for all to see.

"Mother of God…" softly cursed Sergeant White, staring at the gigantic monster in front of us with horrified awe.

Then, a scream so loud it could be hard across the entire city was unleashed from the beast, a shriek of such blinding rage and hatred that it drowned out the rain, the moans of the dead, the distant sounds of gunfire and explosions, so strong that the earth rumbled in response across the entire park and even beyond that.

Finally, the scream stopped, leaving the ears of everyone around the park ringing painfully, only for the beast to look down, staring straight at my position, and I knew that it recognized me and my group as the one who burnt down its home, probably by the scent we left off in the nest.

That was what the scream was for, a call for revenge, of hatred for the death of its spawn, an oath that here and now, it would see justice done or die trying.

I stared back, even as Sergeant White tried not to betray her fear or the step back in terror she had taken as the beast screamed, even as squads stationed around the park shook off the fear brought by the beast's shriek, even as my radio began to crackle due to incoming comms, I merely stared back at the mutated monster in front of me without a blink.

And then I grunted.

"Meh. Killed bigger than you in the past, you overgrown beast."

A flash of memory passed through me, of a SMUG Great One whose size could only be matched by its SMUGNESS, and I brought the radio to my lips, uncaring of the way I could feel Sergeant White boggle at my words.

"All units: Open fire."

And then the park turned into hell, appropriately filled with the screams of the damned and fires as far as the eye could see.

Because really, allowing a Hunter the freedom to dictate the time and place of an engagement was utter folly.

Too bad for that giant monster, I didn't leave it a choice.

"Report! What the hell was that?!" shouted General Randall of Blackwatch.

"It's coming from the south! It's- Oh, God…"

General Randal frowned, coming closer to the monitor the soldier who had just spoken was staring at in awe to look at whatever the hell was-

…

That's a damn big worm… and that's a lot of fire, he thought, staring at the screen of the monitor where the battle currently raging south was shown from afar by Blackwatch teams and surveillance equipment.

The place the fighting was currently happening at used to be a park. "Used to" being the important words, because Randall didn't think anything of the vegetation there had survived the opening salvo.

Dozens of ISIS soldiers with heavy weapons, a super-heavy tank, a few helicopters and what had to have been a shit-load of prepared explosives had unleashed their fury at the same time, and the results spoke for themselves.

The center of the park was now a smoking crater, and the massive beast caught up in this spectacular representation of humanity's capacity for overwhelming firepower was decidedly the worse off from it, as great chunks of it had either been blasted off or outright melted off the beast.

As he watched, he could see many lesser worms coming out of the earth and trying to fight off ISIS, with no more results to show for it than their progenitor had managed.

Kill-teams everywhere with overlapping fields of fire doubled by a staggering amount of explosives, more of which were still going off, had turned the whole area into a giant death trap that nothing could hope to survive in.

The only reason most of the soldiers in there probably hadn't been cooked by the high amount of heat was due to their armor, which were proving their worth as ISIS soldiers stood tall and kept on fighting even as the entire area became so hot that the ground was a bright, glowing red.

General Randall kept observing the battle, which frankly looked more like a slaughterhouse, as waves after waves of worms tried desperately to break the ISIS soldiers only to fail utterly as more and more traps were revealed and the corpses of dead worms began creating small hills everywhere.

His eyes settled back on the giant worm at the origin of it all, the codenamed Grave Digger looking more and more like it had charged straight into its own grave as it was pummeled into submission through overwhelming firepower ensured by both the tank and the air support available.

It took several more minutes of fighting, but eventually the Grave Digger finally fell, its immense bulk heavily reduced from the sheer number of bloody chunks that had been torn off from it by one explosion or another.

Not that the lesser worms seemed to care, attacking with even more bestial rage than ever before, which would have been concerning if not for the fact that they were all foolishly charging in straight into their doom.

Seeing this, General Randall confirmed what he already knew about ISIS. An elite group of soldiers who were lead by an even more deadly individual who saw challenges where others would see only certain death, before proving to all that the "impossible" was a word used only by those incapable of imagining a world where no amount of obstacles or opposition would manage to slow a man determined enough to see the world as he dreamed of becoming reality.

As an American charged to fight off monsters for the sake of his people, seeing such an example of human potential made manifest was incredibly inspiring.

As a general charged with removing all threats to his homeland, however, the sight before him only made him frown.

Sooner or later, ISIS and Insight Corp. would need to be, at the very least, humbled so as to remind them of who was the true power in this world.

And the more powerful they became, the greater the resources needed to do so when the time came.

General Randall stared at the battlefield shown before him, the fighting eventually seeming to die down as less of the smaller worms were left to foolishly charge to their death, before he turned and walked away.

The enemy of my enemy was by no means my friend, but simply another enemy to crush eventually.

Today, that enemy was Umbrella.

Tomorrow? Well.

Sooner or later, something will cause Insight Corp. to slip up…

And when that time comes, General Randall and Blackwatch would be ready to do their duty.

It was, in the end, all a matter of time.

Jill Valentine woke up with a gasp, before letting out a low groan as her injuries finished to heal.

Slowly getting up on her feet, she looked around, taking in her surroundings.

She grimaced at seeing the train on fire, and after a few minutes of shouting for any survivor, slumped in defeat.

She should have known that travelling underground would be dangerous, but since the UBCS seemed confident, she hadn't bothered asking.

Though considering they had been attacked by both Nemesis and giant worms, there was little even she could have done…

She looked down at the note in her hand, still there after anything, before sighing.

Aeon's words about not saving everyone came to mind, and she looked at the broken train grimly.

Even Huntresses could fail, it appeared. Just because they were immortal didn't mean everyone around them were.

She let out a breath, and then made her way towards a nearby door hopefully leading up towards the surface.

At least Carlos should still be alive, she thought, which was admittedly cold comfort right now.

It wasn't the first time she failed a mission, not by far, but damn it, it always weighed on her.

At least nowadays, she knew the souls of the dead would find comfort in the afterlife.

After opening the door, she took her radio, a quick check confirming it still was functional.

"Carlos, come in. Carlos?"

Nothing.

"... Damn it. Guess I'm out of range."

She put her radio away, going through the subway corridors and killing a few zombies before going up a ladder and finding herself close to the circular river cutting through the east side of Raccoon City.

Taking a look around, she scowled and walked forward.

"That fucker's still alive. I can't stay here." she grumbled.

Coming closer to the river, she went on a small bridge over the river, leading towards the St. Michael Clock Tower.

She whirled towards her right when an explosion there went off, staring at what she recognized as the tall form of Nemesis currently stumbling forward while on fire, the last shred of his black outfit burning away.

She blinked when he fell face first into the river, before scoffing with a smirk.

"Bitch can't swim." she whispered with cold satisfaction, before looking away and back toward her new objective, the nearby clock tower, where she would try to send a message to Rebecca.

She took out her radio for now, walking up the bridge as she did.

"Carlos! Respond!" she called, since he deserved and needed to hear what happened.

"Yeah! What's up?" he replied at last.

She let out a long breath, before speaking.

"We didn't make it. The train derailed."

"Derailed?! Was anyone hurt?"

She grimaced.

"I think everyone's dead. Mikhail… hell, everybody."

There was a moment of silence.

"Shit."

She held back a snort.

Yeah, that was pretty much all that could be said, wasn't it?

"Yeah. I'm… sorry."

"Don't be. You couldn't-"

Her instincts screamed at her, and she glanced to her right, a frown appearing on her face as something bubbled under the surface of the river.

"What the FUCK?!" she shouted, her eyes going wide when a heavily mutated version of Nemesis reminding her somewhat of the Cleric Beast jumped at her from the river and onto the bridge.

"He's back!" she shouted through the radio, throwing herself to the side to avoid being crushed.

"Jill? Jill, what happened?! Jill, come in!" Carlos shouted on the radio, but she was far too busy running to answer.

Fighting on the bridge was a bad idea, she needed to get on hard ground fast.

Behind her, the mutated Nemesis ran at her pursuit on all four limbs, his maw dripping with saliva as his one good eye narrowed on his target with burning rage.

Without her Huntress-level strength, he would have catched up quickly, but with it, she easily reached the end of the bridge and jumped down into the courtyard close to the clock tower.

Nemesis jumped in front of her, turning around to stare at her with hatred before roaring loudly enough that everything a few miles around the place probably heard him.

She snarled back at him, eager to avenge the dead of the train.

"Come on then! Let's finish this, once and for all!" she growled, taking her grenade launcher in hand.

Nemesis seemed to approve, as he jumped toward her, claws seeking to cut her down into bloody pieces.

She Quickened out of the way, her experiences with the Cleric Beast and the monster Vicar Amelia turned into allowing her to react instantly.

Because at this point, the facts couldn't be argued with. No longer was Nemesis in any way resembling a human, now what stood in front of her was a true, bloodthirsty beast in all of its horror.

And Hunters were trained to kill beasts more than anything else.

Thus it was that Jill and Nemesis fought in the courtyard before the clock tower, Jill dodging and weaving under the jumps and claw attacks used by Nemesis, at times mixed with him trying to bite her in half with his mutated maw, while she kept on shooting grenades at him.

For a time, it worked rather well-

Until it didn't.

Nemesis suddenly paused, Jill using that moment to lob another grenade…

Only for Nemesis to roar, the shockwave deflecting the grenade back at her.

Cursing, Jill Quickened to the side, then did it again when Nemesis jumped at her.

And then, again and again, Nemesis would use his roar to send back the grenades she lobbed his way back at her.

Eventually, she had enough, and growled hatefully at him.

"Fine then! The hard way it is!"

She lobbed a grenade again to distract Nemesis for a few seconds, and then snapped her fingers.

A group of messengers appeared, and she quickly took the Blades of Mercy.

And then she went to work.

Nemesis jumped at her, and she ran at him, sliding under him at the last second and leaving deep cuts through his underbelly.

Nemesis growled at her as his blood fell down from his wounds to the ground, and for a moment, both sides cautiously waited for the other to move first.

And then Nemesis charged, Jill charged back, and this time she jumped on top of his head, the action obviously surprising him, but Jill didn't waste any time and stabbed her swords deep in his back.

Nemesis arched back, a pained and offended roar escaping him-

Eat this! Jill thought with grim satisfaction.

- And then he roared in agony when Jill infused her swords with fire which began to eat away at his insides.

He began thrashing desperately, trying to get her off his back, but her strength easily allowed her to stay where she was, pouring more of her fire magic into Nemesis.

And then she took out one of her swords… and stabbed it deep into Nemesis' brain, fire and smoke coming out of the monster's mouth before he slumped on the ground, defeated.

For a long moment, Jill stayed where she was, panting for breath, before she cautiously took out her swords from the body underneath her.

Then, once she was satisfied he wasn't going to get up, she jumped off his back, and then let out a long sigh.

"Carlos, are you still there?" she asked through the radio, at last free to speak to him.

Only static answered her.

She glanced at her radio with a scowl, before putting it away.

"Oh come on, you're going to crap out on me now?! Gods damn it." she grumbled.

"Oh don't worry, your new friend is alright."

She turned, her eyes widening at the sight of Aeon, casually leaning on a nearby wall and looking in approval towards the downed Nemesis.

She smiled. After the night she had, it was good to see him!

"Aeon! How are you doing? Everything fine with ISIS?"

He nodded. "We're doing alright, don't worry. We finally purged the giant worm's nest and killed their mother, so once the current swarms of giant worms remaining all die from charging our defensive lines like a bunch of lemmings running off a cliff, we'll be able to make some serious progress in taking the underground of the city. About time, to say the least."

"Good. But what are you doing here? I'm happy to see you, especially after the night I had, but if the worms are attacking our lines-"

"Clones." He replied, waving at himself with a smirk.

She nodded in comprehension, before taking her boyfriend by his coat and bringing forward, her lips smashing on his.

Maybe it was the post-battle relief and excitement speaking, but damn was it satisfying to kiss him after hours of near-constant fighting pretty much on her own.

And as always, Aeon's skills shone through, making her melt in his arms as hours of accumulated tension disappeared like smoke.

She moaned softly, though eventually she broke the kiss, hugging him tight instead, a hug fiercely returned.

"Damn bastard attacked me in my own bedroom." she grumbled.

Aeon hummed in amusement.

"Don't tell me he literally caught you with your pants down?"

She jerked back, blushing and slapping his chest. "No! Thankfully, I was clothed then." And thank goodness I was, because I never would have lived it down otherwise. She thought but did not say.

Aeon still looked amused, the bastard!

"Good, I would have been forced to up your training about CONSTANT VIGILANCE! otherwise."

She held back a shudder at the very thought.

That part of their training gave both Jill and Rebecca enough nightmare fuel for a few lifetimes.

Aeon got creative in order to make sure they took their lessons to heart.

The kind of things he threw at them out of nowhere while beginning to cackle just a second after they hit them would haunt their nightmares for many years.

Apparently, they were all from "Yharnamite Ritual Materials" he gathered while fighting throughout Yharnam, and the only things Jill and Rebecca had to say on the matter was they really didn't want anything to do with those.

Jill held back another shuddered at the memory (and the feelings) of eyeballs falling down her face or, in one memorable occasion, down her shirt.

His only remark when questioned about why he would throw such things at them was "to get them used to blood and gore, as any Hunter should."

Needless to say, neither Jill nor Rebecca had the will to say anything about it afterwards, especially with the grim undertone under the false cheerfulness he answered their question with, or the dark, far-away look in his eyes as he said the words.

They remembered well enough some of the memories he had shown them of Yharnam and his time in it to understand he had seen and experienced far worse than just having a few human organs thrown at him.

And speaking of dark and depressing things…

"You know about the train, since you seem to know about Carlos?" she asked.

Aeon let out a deep sigh, his smile finally falling away.

"Yeah, I know what happened. I've been keeping an eye out for you whenever I could."

He shook his head. "There was nothing to be done. I did send you a note, but between Nemesis and the worms, that train was most likely never going to make it."

Jill grimaced, before sighing.

"Unless you went 'divine' on the problem, huh?"

Aeon pursed his lips, but nodded.

"Yes. And you know why I don't."

Jill stayed silent for a moment.

"Did you… are they…"

Aeon sighed. "Yes, they've moved on. My true self made sure of it. The only survivor of the crash is Nicholai, that damn traitorous snake who decided to work with Wesker."

She flinched back.

"What?!"

Aeon grimaced. "Yeah, that cold-blooded murderer is working both for and against Umbrella right now, trying to make as much money out of this mess as he can. If you see him, don't hesitate to just kill the bastard. Trust me, the world would become a better place for it."

Jill scowled, remembering Nicholai and their every interaction.

Yes, he definitely sounded like someone who would do exactly as Aeon said without a shred of guilt.

Combining his actions with the last words she heard from Captain Mikhail…

"Fuck." she cursed. Of all the people to make it out of the crash, why him?!

She shook her head, before sighing.

"Alright, so what now?"

"First-" Aeon extended his right hand, and her eyes widened when he summoned the same weapon that put an end to Lisa Trevor's suffering. "-you need to use this against Nemesis."

She blinked. "Why?"

"Because it isn't dead."

She blinked, and in that split second Aeon disappeared and reappeared behind her, two fingers around a short spike sent at her from the previously thought dead Nemesis, who collapsed a second later, its remaining energy spent for now.

"On second thought, maybe I should up your training about CONSTANT VIGILANCE! and making sure your enemies are dead…" Aeon mused, while she stared at the spike he held between his fingers.

Jill let out a sigh, then smiled.

"Thanks. This bastard just refuses to die." she growled, annoyed that yet again the damn thing couldn't stay dead.

Aeon held the scythe for her to take.

"And that's why you need to kill it with this. Cut his head off with this blade, and I can assure you, it will stay dead."

Jill took the offered weapon, frowning in confusion.

"Why this weapon, specifically? I mean, I recognize who it belonged to, but…"

"Exactly. It belonged to my mentor… and it was so drenched in blood and death during his life that it gained powers of its own. As is, the Burial Blade can cause death on a conceptual level on anything it touches. There are ways to resist it, but the number of beings who can are… quite rare. And I've got some ideas on how to make it even stronger in time, though that won't be necessary for a while."

He shook his head and took a step back, waving at Nemesis.

"Here you go. Finish him!"

Jill tightened her hold on the weapon, before walking closer to Nemesis.

She held up the Burial Blade, sneering at the heavily wounded monster in front of her.

"And this time, stay dead asshole!"

The blade went down.

Tweed, proud soldier of Echo Six, paused alongside her team when she heard a ground-shaking roar further ahead, close to the clock tower.

"Shit, what the hell was that?"

"First there was that whole battle with the giant worm and ISIS we heard from across the city, now this? What the hell is up with this city?" complained Harley.

The sounds of explosions followed that roar, and Tweed saw Dee-ay's eyes narrow.

"It's pretty close to where we are. Let's check it out."

There were a few grumbles, but no disagreement in the team, so they double-timed it towards the sounds of battle.

Unfortunately, that required them to kill off any zombies on their path, whose numbers grew as the distant explosions caused them to be attracted to the sounds like a moth to a flame.

Three-quarters of the way there, the sounds of battle settled down, and Dee-Ay cursed softly.

"Damn, looks like we'll arrive late. Fuck it, at least we might be able to find out what this was all about."

They kept running, until finally they arrived at the courtyard in front of the clock tower.

"- asshole!"

The sound of steel cutting flesh echoed in their ears as they stopped, taking in the sight of Jill Valentine holding a massive scythe, having just cut off the head of a giant mutated monster of some kind, and a familiar, incredibly tall man close by her side looking on in approval.

Both people quickly glanced at them, Valentine's eyes narrowing in recognition while they did the same back.

"Hey team leader, isn't that-"

"ISIS's leader and Valentine? Yes. Come on, let's find out what's going on."

They walked forward, eyes glancing a few times at the decapitated monster at Valentine's feet.

"What the hell is that?" Tweed asked bluntly when they were a few feet away from the two.

"That was Nemesis. Or at least what he became when his mutation went out of control." replied Valentine, a look of satisfaction on her face as she answered.

Tweed glanced at the dead monster, blinked, and then grunted.

"No shit? Damn good work, then. That thing doesn't look easy to put down."

Valentine scoffed, a dark look on her face.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it." she shook her head, before looking curiously at them all.

Dee-ay stepped forward, nodding at Aeon. "Thanks for the help back there. Since you're here, what can you tell us about that battle with the giant worm we heard news about?"

ISIS's leader shrugged. "Pretty routine extermination of a low Kaiju-level threat, really. Honestly, once the damn thing was stuck in the middle of the prepared kill zone, it was more of an execution than anything else. No, the real problems we are currently dealing with are the lesser worms. They've been pushing our lines hard down underground. We're holding, but you'll have to excuse me from not staying around here for long, I just wanted to catch up with Jill and help her a bit with killing that thing." he replied, pointing at the dead Nemesis.

Dee-ay nodded, accepting the answer. They did hear from Command that ISIS was pretty busy fighting down in the underground for a while, and Tweed understood that the death of the giant worm would have consequences.

"What are you all doing here, by the way?" asked Jill, still looking curiously at them.

Dee-ay pointed towards the east. "There is an entrance to a hidden Umbrella facility that requires us to go take the sewer from nearby to reach it. At least, that's what the plans he-" he waved at Aeon "-gave us."

Valentine glanced at Aeon, who merely looked thoughtfully at Echo Six for a moment before turning towards Valentine.

"Why don't you follow them?"

"Hey?"

"Hah?"

Came the exclamations from both sides.

The man shrugged.

"The way I see it, while we could use Jill at the frontlines, we'll end up winning the battle against the worms anyway even without her. On the other hand, securing more proof against Umbrella will be very important once this mess in Raccoon City is done and over with. That, and to be entirely honest? I'd prefer to make sure the evidence in question doesn't 'mysteriously disappear', if you catch my meaning…" he declared dryly.

Tweed scowled.

"You think we'd protect Umbrella?" she asked darkly, rather offended.

"You? Definitely not. The ones behind your team being here? If it protects the USA from sharing the blame, absolutely."

Tweed pursed her lips, and she could see several from Echo Six shifting slightly at the accusation.

The worst part was… Tweed could potentially see it. If indeed they found proof implicating the US government alongside Umbrella for this mess, what would Command do?

Of course…

"And you think such proof exists?" Questioned Dee-ay, pointing out the obvious flaw in this reasoning.

The leader of ISIS stayed silent, simply giving them all a look that made his feelings on the matter clear.

Tweed held back a grimace. If ISIS had already found such evidence…

"You gave us the plans. But now you're not trusting us?" questioned Party Girl, frowning in confusion.

Aeon gave them a long look.

"As I said. I trust you to want the best for the people. Your bosses? Not so much. Let's just say that there are a number of reasons why certain… parties with influence in the US government want to just send a thermobaric bomb to Raccoon City and call it good."

Tweed stiffened, and the rest of her team did the same.

"What?! Here in the US? That's…" Dee-Ay trailed off, looking horrified.

To be honest, so was she.

The sheer idea that an American city of 100,000 people would be bombed to ash, by its own government no less, that was just… incredibly shocking and horrifying in equal measures.

Aeon smirked. "Command didn't say anything about that, did they? Yeah, that's a thing certain groups are pushing for. Needless to say, Insight Corp. doesn't agree. For now, it's a stalemate, but who knows how long it'll last? Point is, I currently have an available agent to send with you, and that means I can take certain precautions I otherwise could not."

Tweed glanced at Valentine. The woman didn't seem surprised by anything she heard, though Tweed had noticed the way she had perked up slightly at the idea of finding proof of Umbrella's crimes.

Considering her history with the group, Tweed wasn't surprised.

Dee-ay frowned deeply, before putting a hand to his ear.

"Command, you got all of that?"

"We did. Unfortunately, this is not a mission where outsiders are allowed. So while we appreciate the help, we'll have to deny their wish."

"Is that so? Can you pass me that radio for a second?" replied Aeon, looking utterly unfazed by Command's answer.

In fact, Tweed couldn't help but think he had known this was what they would say…

Dee-ay hesitated, but gave the comms to Aeon, who took a few steps away from them for privacy.

What he said to Command, no one from Echo Six knew, but a few minutes later he came back, looking satisfied.

"Here." he said, giving the comms back to Dee-Ay.

Her team leader blinked, took the comms back and then paused as Command obviously talked to him and him alone.

By the end of it, Dee-ay looked slightly bewildered, but declared that Valentine was cleared by Command to follow them.

And thus, a confused but accepting Echo Six was joined by a satisfied looking Jill Valentine, who exchanged a few last words with her boss before following them into the sewers.

I looked at the retreating backs of Echo Six and Jill, satisfied that, if all went to plan, they and Carlos were probably going to meet up while investigating Umbrella.

Doctor Bard was dead, killed by Nicholai some days past, but I made sure that the UBCS did not know that. Thus, Carlos and the surviving UBCS soldier with him would go to the hospital, discover that there was a lot more to Umbrella and said hospital than they had thought, and investigate… which will lead them straight to Echo Six.

Still, the work to save this city was far from done. With the Grave Digger dead, they still had to deal with its offspring, followed by taking the sewers of the city at last.

As it was, I had a few hours to fight off the invading worms before I needed to get in position to get involved in the events of RE2.

That wouldn't be too hard. The continuous tides of worms had been successfully fought back in the north, east, and west, but the southern forces holding the outskirts of the city were in shambles.

ISIS's retreat from the RPD building, followed by the worms overwhelming the southern lines, had broken them, and now the US Army was desperately trying to contain things.

And with Blackwatch dealing with their own problems up north (not only giant worms of their own, zombies, but also their increasingly all-out war with the USS forces around the area), they simply didn't have the numbers to spare to retake the south quickly.

Not to say General Randall didn't send anyone, just not enough to tighten the lines before Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy went through.

Glancing around, I waved my hand and put the corpse of Nemesis in Inventory. No reason to let something like that laying around, and I was sure that Oedon could spend a few hours studying the damn thing.

I looked one last time towards where Echo Six and Jill went, smirking slightly.

It was too bad that Echo Six's leaders were in the pocket of The Family, but oh well.

I had enough dirt on them to force their hands if needed… like here.

I shook my head, walking away before disappearing. My work here was done.

I didn't envy Oedon and Lucy, though. Having to deal with the politics and stopping The Family from blowing up the city had to be a pain in the ass from all the politicians they were being forced to deal with.

Though I fully expected that they would enjoy the outcome, considering the number of politicians that are going to have their dirty secrets revealed to all in the wake of Umbrella's fall.

I wonder how shaken American politics will be once the full depth of corruption that plagued politicians is fully exposed to the global stage?

I certainly looked forward to finding out!