38 The Raccoon City Outbreak, Part 7

Word count 9,842

"What the hell is that noise?" asked Vector.

Lupo frowned, tilting her head.

"Sounds like a chopper. Extraction, maybe?" she replied, a bit of hope in her voice, even if she knew it most likely wasn't their extraction. She really doubted Umbrella was going to be so kind to them, after all.

Not long after a number of Umbrella helicopters passed overhead, most of them not stopping and the one that did-

"Aw, shit." cursed Vector, and Lupo thoroughly agreed.

"Fuck, they're dropping MA-121's! Those things will come after all of us!" she snarled, staring at the reptilian "Hunter" B.O.W.'s that came out of the now open metal cylinders that were dropped by the chopper.

"Umbrella does not care if we die." grimly declared Specter, who was already shooting at the B.O.W's and falling back.

"Well fuck them! We need to retreat, find a safe house to hole up in!" replied Vector.

"Agreed! Let's move!" said Lupo, taking her team and leading them through various streets crawling with infected to try and find a good place to use as a defensive position.

Fucking Umbrella, Lupo thought darkly as she ran, barking orders and shooting anything hostile along the way. Years of good and loyal service all over the world and this is what we get? Guess we should have taken the fate of the old Delta Team as a warning...

"That's as good a place as any!" shouted Vector while pointing at a building up ahead. "What do you think, Lupo?"

She saw the barber shop at the corner of the street and nodded. "That'll do! Get inside, double time!"

"On it." replied Four-Eyes, and the entire team rushed in.

Or they would have, if a fucking Mr.X Tyrant didn't jump down the building right in front of them, and immediately tried to take Lupo's head off.

"Fuck!" she cursed, barely dodging out of the closed fist which could have liquified her head with ease.

"Fucking Tyrants too?!" Shouted Bertha.

"There's another one!" warned Vector, shouting at another coming up the street towards them.

"Damn it! Beltway, Four Eyes and Bertha, take care of the incoming Mr. X! Spectre, Vector, with me! We'll kill this one!" Lupo ordered, and despite cursing loudly everyone immediately obeyed.

Lupo dodged another punch from the Mr. X seemingly determined to kill her, shooting at it the second she was far enough from it that she could do so safely.

At least they aren't one of the stronger versions of Tyrants, she mentally noted with relief.

Even so, the battle wasn't easy. Weaker Tyrants or not, a Tyrant was still inhumanly tough, and could seemingly absorb bullets like a sponge could with water. Worst, while Mr. X's were slow, they could throw objects at deadly speed, and could act like a battering ram by running and using their sheer size and weight to crush anything on their path.

In the end, it took Lupo putting a grenade in the Tyrant's mouth trying to kill her to finally put down the bastard by blowing his head off, and the other was literally brought to submission by her team unleashing everything they had in order to give her the opening needed to repeat the process of sticking a grenade down the Tyrant's throat to kill it too.

It was then, a thoroughly exhausted, incredibly furious, and worst of all, a badly ammo-depleted Wolfpack finally managed to enter the damn building they had chosen as a safe house. Vector almost immediately collapsed on one knee, panting hard for breath, and Lupo's eyes softened in concern.

"Hey, you're alright?" she asked, putting a hand on his right shoulder.

Vector jerked back, a snarl on his lips. "Get your hands off me."

She rolled her eyes but stepped back, while Vector slowly got on his feet.

"Those Tyrants and the others B.O.W's, they were brought here by those choppers."

"Yeah. Guess we know what plan B was after all."

Lupo glanced at Four-Eyes and Bertha talking on the side, voices grim.

"Colonel Vladimir's orders, no doubt." said Four-Eyes.

"Yeah. Figures the cold bastard would send more of his 'children' in Raccoon City to try and kill as many survivors as he can while Umbrella still has some access to the airspace of the city."

"Or they were sent specifically to remove us, too." darkly pointed out Four-Eyes, and the group fell silent at that thought. It was disturbingly probable at this point.

"Command? Command, this is Wolfpack... Respond!" tried Lupo over her radio, but she heard nothing in response.

"No answer?" said Vector, not a shred of surprise in his voice, only grim finality.

"No. We're on our own." an equally grim Lupo answered.

Vector turned away and went to the nearest window, searching for hostiles and finding a number of infected coming their way. Only regular ones for now, but how long will it take for mutations to arrive?

"Then we've got a long night ahead of us…" he said darkly, staring with grim determination at the incoming infected, the rest of Wolfpack doing the same as they joined him to look outside at the gathering horde headed their way.

Elsewhere, somewhere under Raccoon City.

"How many does that make?"

"125. You?"

"Aha! 126!"

"Like hell it does! You know that one with the huge rock didn't count!"

"Hell yeah it fucking does! It was my shot that caused its death, even if not directly!"

A third voice spoke up. "205. You bastards got it easy in sector A-22."

There were two flinches. "Fuck, sector A-22? Hell, I heard some things about that place. Rumors say it's still on fire?"

"Oh, you better believe it is. The Boss-man himself showed up to burn the whole place to the fucking ground." The sound of someone spitting on the ground was heard. "It was damn satisfying to see. Especially after one of the damn worms in there took my right leg off."

"... err, what?"

"Boss-man fixed me up. Turned back time or some shit, don't know, don't care. Either way, I'm still up and killing giant fucking worms, and that's all I care about. Boss-man may have blown up that big nest, but I had to go deal with a smaller one with my team."

There was a moment of silence.

"Some things can't be unseen." was all the man said.

There was a longer moment of silence, before a worm popped up from the ground, launching itself at the group. It didn't even make it two feet before its face was blown off by laser fire.

"206. Heh."

"Damn-"

The whole cavern they were in shook. Seconds later, a giant worm bigger than anything short of the Grave Digger himself appeared, its body covered in countless wounds leaking green, acidic blood, while the much smaller form of the one they all recognized as Rebecca Chambers clung to its back, axe deep in its flesh.

The giant worm screeched as its upper body was suddenly engulfed in fire, before plunging back into the earth, the Huntress still clinging to its back and refusing to let it escape. For several long seconds, all ISIS soldiers in the cavern stared at the hole the massive giant worm had disappeared into. Then the man who had claimed his 206th giant worm kill spoke up.

"It still only counts as one!"

Jill Valentine paused as the ground shook, Echo Six doing the same.

"What the hell was that?"

Jill frowned, before shaking her head.

"Probably Rebecca hunting down the remaining giant worms… the bigger ones, I mean. Don't worry about it. For now, we need to focus on our problems."

"And you got any ideas on how to go about that?" sarcastically replied Party Girl.

Jill glanced away. "Well... no."

Party Girl snorted. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Jill sighed. The path they had taken was supposed to lead them to the secret Umbrella facility…

Dee-Ay cursed once more further ahead.

… except that the damn giant worms collapsed a lot of the underground tunnels and made many new ones! Because of that, all the maps were useless! This was going to take hours to find a new path to the damn facility!

Aeon, a little help here? She mentally pleaded.

The sudden sensation of amusement mixed with encouragement in the back of her mind made her grumble. On one hand, if Aeon's godly self was reacting with amusement at her plight, that should mean they could afford the delay. On the other hand-

"Fuck! Another collapsed tunnel!"

-It was really fucking annoying to be lost like this!

Claire went down the stairs, the secret passage closing behind her, following after Aeon and finding… an office?

Huh.

"This passage goes both into the sewers and the parking area under the police station." explained Aeon at her surprised look.

"It was done to allow people like the former chief of police to have a hidden way in and out of the station in order to, for example, have secret meetings with Umbrella."

She blinked and nodded. "The guy you helped arrest who was…" she trailed off, feeling disgusted as she remembered what Aeon had told her and Leon about the former chief of police back when they were driving towards the city.

"Yes. Him. It was also a convenient way to hide his… hobby." finished Aeon with a sneer.

Claire swallowed. To think the chief of police of Raccoon City could be such a crazy killer on top of everything else…

She shook the thought off when they went down an elevator, and then came out in an underground room.

"The passage to the right is currently locked and goes into the sewers, so no need to go there. We need to go left." Aeon said, pointing at the open door in question.

She followed after him, but when they walked down the corridor after taking the door they both stopped, hearing footsteps from above their heads and the harsh breathing of… a young girl?

It sounded like it, at least.

"Hello? Hello?!" Claire shouted, running forward.

Aeon followed, though she paused when they left the corridor and came across a wide generator room below the walkway they were on. Then she shook her head and turned, noticing the walkway they were on leading to a door currently blocked by fallen shelves. She tried to move the shelves, but sadly she wasn't strong enough to move them and open the blocked way.

"Won't budge…" she muttered.

So instead she took her flashlight and knelt, trying to see if anyone was hiding beyond. Her eyes widened when someone passed by in front of the flashlight, going to hide behind a few boxes piled up on top of each other. Finally, fearful blue eyes met her own, and Claire saw a young blonde girl, around 12 years old, panting softly from fear staring back at her.

"Hey, it's okay." she said gently, slowly leaning forward.

"I won't hurt you, I promise." she continued, giving the blonde girl a smile she hoped was reassuring.

She looks so terrified… Claire thought sadly, promising to herself that she'd try to help the girl out of this hell. Claire herself was horrified at what was going on in this city, so for a child to be stuck here from the beginning…

Claire wasn't sure how this girl had managed to find her way here, but either way, she wasn't going to leave her there. The police station was not safe, and who knows how long it will take for any zombies to somehow make their way down here?

"Do you need help? Here, take my hand." she continued, extending her hand and waiting hopefully for the girl to come forward.

The young girl gulped, before stammering a few words all the while shivering badly.

"You… need… help." she choked out.

Claire frowned. "I'm sorry, I can't understand you."

The girl took a deep breath, before rushing the words out.

"You need help." she whispered.

Claire blinked. "Why?"

The girl pointed at something behind Claire, before quickly leaning back.

"He's right behind you." she whispered fearfully.

"What?"

"Err, Claire? Sorry to bother you while you're talking to whoever it is you've met in there, but we've got company back here, too." Aeon suddenly said, his voice mixed with both amusement and a slight amount of urgency. She frowned and looked back, her eyes going wide at the sight of the… heavily mutated man walking closer to them.

"Oh my God..." she whispered.

Claire quickly got up and took her gun, but the monster acted first, smashing a steel bar on top of the walkway they were all standing on, breaking it and causing her, Aeon, and the monster to fall down into the generator room below.

"Come on, get up Claire!" shouted Aeon. "No time to waste!"

And with that Aeon began shooting at the monster in its giant eye, pale blue bolts slamming one after the other into it. Claire immediately did as he asked, pointing her gun at the monster too.

"You've got to be kidding me…" she shook her head. "Words ain't gonna cut it with this freak." she said grimly, before starting to shoot it in the head. Not so easy when the mutated man put his other arm in the way, the lasers failing to cut the arm off despite how human-like the arm looked.

Claire slowly began to fall back, leading the battle away from the center of the room full of generators and into the outskirts of it, hoping to use the greater mobility offered to dodge any sudden attacks from the monster and-

"Hey, Claire!"

"What is it, Aeon? I'm already shooting this freak!" she replied, while being careful to not hit Aeon who for some reason was staying way too close for her comfort of the monstrous man.

"I'm gonna do something really stupid and awesome to get him off our backs! So please stop shooting for a moment!"

Claire hesitated, before growling when a swing of the steel bar in the monster's mutated hand almost managed to hit Aeon who dodged at the last moment. "Fine! But if you get killed, I'm going to be really fucking pissed at you!"

Aeon laughed. "Truly a threat worthy of my worst nightmares!"

And then before Claire's disbelieving eyes, Aeon put his guns away, quickly took hold of the mutated man, and then somehow twisted both of their body-

"So you can evolve quickly? Then let's see how fast you can learn to fly!"

-And suddenly the mutated man was sent flying in the air, going up and above the safety railing around a hole in the ground that had to be pretty deep, as the monster's wrathful howls faded off in the distance.

Claire blinked slowly.

Then she gaped in shock.

"Did you seriously judo-throw that fucker into oblivion?!"

Aeon laughed. "Remind me to tell you of that time I suplexed a giant dog on fire!"

Claire stared at the insane, glorious madman in front of her. He was totally the kind of man to give her grey hairs of out sheer stress, wasn't he? She groaned, being reminded of far too many stories from her brother about the kind of insane stunts the best soldiers pulled to achieve victory sometimes.

God give her strength, her (potential) boyfriend was a suicidal madman who used judo on mutated monsters…

After making sure that Aeon knew that no, charging at monsters like this was not in any way, shape or form "a sane strategy", and no "It ain't stupid if it works" is not an excuse, she dragged her sadly still far too cheerful protector towards where she remembered seeing a ladder they could use to go back up on the walkway.

"Hey! Little girl?" she shouted, hoping the battle hadn't scared her away from here.

"It's safe now… It's over!"

"She's right. The monster's gone, and won't be back for a while." declared Aeon.

The young girl finally appeared, looking down from the walkway towards them.

"Are you sure?" she asked, hope clear in her voice.

"Yeah, I promise. Everything's fine." Claire replied.

"Could you lower the ladder for us, please?" gently asked Aeon.

The girl's eyes lingered on Aeon for a moment, before she bit her lip.

"Will you help me find my mom?" she asked, her desperate and pleading voice trembling.

Claire blinked, staring in surprise at the girl. "Your mom's down here?"

"I think so." The girl swallowed, looking away. "I hope so." She finished softly.

"Then I will, yes. I promise you, you'll meet your mother again."

Claire glanced at Aeon, surprised at the sheer determination in the man's voice. There was none of his previous post-battle cheerfulness to be found, instead he looked downright grim, his dark eyes staring at the girl with… something that Claire couldn't place.

Recognition? Sadness? Regret? She wasn't sure, but either way it was clear that Aeon was entirely truthful when he said that he would help the girl. The man glanced at Claire, the look in his eyes making it clear that he wasn't going to be convinced otherwise. Not that Claire would want to. Instead, she looked at the girl and smiled, nodding in agreement herself.

"Of course I'll help you."

True, Claire wanted to leave this city, but her parents, and then her brother, raised her better than to turn her back on people who needed help.

Especially when the person in question was a child.

So whatever dangers this city held, she wasn't going to leave it until the young girl currently staring at them both with grateful blue eyes had found her mother again.

I just hope her mom's still alive, she thought but did not say.

With that done, the girl lowered the ladder and Aeon and Claire rejoined the girl up on the walkway, who smiled at them both.

"This way!" she shouted, before running off towards their left.

They made their way toward a control room, where the lever that would connect parts of the separated walkway could be found.

"It won't move." said the girl, and Claire smiled as she took the lever and lowered it, opening the path up ahead.

"You got it!" happily exclaimed the girl, Aeon smiling in amusement at the sight.

Apparently, the girl had bounced back from her terror pretty quickly. Claire was pretty happy about that, because it could have easily been the opposite. As they walked up the walkway, Claire turned towards the girl.

"So, what's your mom like?" she asked.

"Maybe you should ask her name, first? Because simply calling her 'the girl' all night is going to be tiring fast." Aeon interrupted, and Claire blushed in embarrassment at her mistake.

"I'm Aeon, and this beautiful lady here is-"

"Claire. Claire Redfield. And I'm sorry I forgot to ask your name." finished Claire, smiling apologetically at the girl at her side. Thankfully, she didn't seem bothered, merely smiling cheerfully at them.

"I'm Sherry! Sherry Birkin. It's a pleasure to meet you both!"

"Birkin, eh?" said Aeon, pursing his lips. "Your parents work at Umbrella, right?"

"Yes!" happily shouted Sherry. "They are making an important new medicine. You know them?"

Aeon smiled, though Claire noted the lack of anything bright in said smile. It was good enough to fool Sherry, probably, but his eyes were… sad as he looked at Sherry.

"I know of them, yes. They are quite famous for their work, after all."

Their work?

And that's when it hit her.

Sherry Birkin, daughter of parents who worked at Umbrella to create "an important new medicine."

Who secretly worked on the G-Virus, and the T-Virus before that.

The very viruses that caused the outbreak in the city. Her eyes met Aeon's, the horror in her own only met by sadness in return before he looked back at Sherry.

"I heard that they were often at work lately?"

"They are always at work. I don't get to see them much." said Sherry, with sadness in her voice.

"Well, hopefully you'll get to see your mother again soon." replied Aeon with a kind smile, though to Claire his eyes didn't meet his smile. Claire gulped, finding herself without words.

What could she say in a situation like this?

The daughter of the people responsible for dozens of thousands of deaths was right here, innocently wanting only to be with her parents again while ignorant of the horrible truth of the crimes committed by said parents.

And speaking of parents…

"So… where's your dad?" she asked, trying not to show how horrified she was on Sherry's behalf of the truth the young girl was not aware of. The look Aeon sent her at her words made it clear, to her despair, that she had somehow managed to step on another landmine.

"We've just met him." Aeon replied grimly, the smile on Sherry's face fading away like smoke at his words, glancing away in grief for a few seconds.

"My dad is… he's gone." she said softly.

Claire thought back on the mutated man in his bloodied lab coat and more importantly…

With his human blue eyes and blond hair.

"Sherry…" she whispered, before taking a deep breath.

Might as well share some of her own past too, since Sherry's past was apparently filled with hidden landmines.

"Both of my parents are gone. It's just me and my brother." she revealed.

"Oh… I'm sorry…" said Sherry, and she looked genuinely sad for her sake, too.

How the hell could people capable of creating the outbreak have a child so… kind? Claire wondered.

Sherry turned towards Aeon, looking up at him.

"And you, Mister Aeon?"

Claire saw him stiffen, almost freezing in place for a second, before smiling, shaking his head.

"My parents left my own life many years ago, now. But don't worry, I've found people to love who stand by my side. My wife Oedon, for one, but also the…" he glanced at Sherry, a small, amused smirk on his lips. "various people we've gotten along with after our marriage."

Sherry blinked before blushing brightly.

Claire hesitated, before whispering to him. "Are you sure you should talk to her about that?"

Aeon glanced at her, raising an eyebrow.

"You speak of it like it's something I should be ashamed of."

Before she could reply to that, he shrugged slightly and whispered back.

"That, and she needs something to think about besides the fate of her father and the possible death of her mother or worse. I'd rather distract her with something harmless like that than to let her focus and worry about the fate of her parents, don't you think?"

His eyes darkened, and he whispered something so softly she almost didn't catch it.

"This whole mess reminds me of Violetta far too much as is, I'd rather not have to once again bury father and mother while having to comfort the daughter of a man I mercy-killed as she stands before their graves…"

Claire fell silent.

Because again, what was there to say to something like that? She knew the world could be cruel at times, which is why she tried to be kind to other people. But what kindness could she offer to people who have suffered so much? She had no idea. She could only hope to find an answer eventually.

Claire finished going up the ladder, before helping Sherry to do the same. Then she turned around, looking quickly at the parking lot that they were now in.

"Over there!" shouted Sherry, rushing towards the closed steel grid barring the way out.

"It's closed." muttered Sherry, staring at the grid.

Claire glanced at the key card machine by the grid before looking at Aeon, who shook his head before pointing at a nearby door.

"This passage opens to an elevator for the Chief of Police to go to his office. If there is a key card left to open this grid, we'll find it there."

Claire nodded, before they all took the passage. Unfortunately, they needed a key to open the room that would allow them to use the elevator. Aeon grumbled something about fetch quests before looking at Claire and Sherry with a concerned frown.

"You two stay here, I just need to go get the key from one of the rooms nearby. This shouldn't take long."

Claire opened her mouth before pausing, glancing at Sherry and grimacing. Just because the grid was down didn't mean that zombies weren't down there after all.

So she reluctantly nodded, not happy that Aeon would go into danger on his own, but also aware that someone needed to stay with Sherry and that, between Aeon and her, Aeon was by far the better fighter.

So, she took Sherry's hand and saw Aeon smile at them, before going to search for the key that they needed.

"I hope that he'll be alright." whispered Sherry.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine." she replied, trying to convince herself as much as Sherry is. "I saw him deal with zombies and worst without issues, I doubt that anything here can-"

*FWOOSH* *FWOOSH* *SKKKKRRRREEEE-* *KA-BOOM!*

"- be a threat…" she trailed off, hearing the sounds of explosions and inhuman screams cut short in the distance.

There was a long moment of silence, before both girls jumped when the door of the corridor they were in opened again, a cheerfully grinning Aeon holding a key high for them to see.

"Success!"

"What was that?" blurted out Claire.

Aeon blinked. "The screams, you mean? Yeah, there were a couple of Lickers in there. Don't worry, they're dead now."

Claire pinched the bridge of her nose. "Right, of course there were... " She glanced at him, making sure he wasn't injured, before shaking her head.

"Let's just keep going."

Aeon shrugged and opened the door, then opened the elevator before they all went inside. The personal office of the former Chief of Police had to have been a pretty opulent place once upon a time, but a single look at it now made it clear that, after his arrest, the place had been stripped bare.

Unfortunately for the group, the key card was behind an electronically locked door… and the lock was missing needed parts.

"Damn it." cursed Claire.

"There's a message about where the parts we need are located." said Aeon, holding a piece of paper. "But that'll require us to go around the police station again."

Claire glanced at Sherry and pursed her lips.

"Thankfully, one of the parts is pretty close, so why don't you take Sherry and go take it, while I go get the other?"

Claire sighed, but nodded. The sooner they had the parts, the better...

Claire and Sherry cautiously made their way through a storage room, both of them tense and ready to fight or flee at any moment. The problem was that the room was full of boxes stacked up high, making it hard to see anything-

"Raaagh…"

Claire and Sherry tensed as an undead police officer turned around the corner, its lifeless gaze settling on the two girls before shambling towards them with undead hunger.

Claire made sure to target the zombie's head and-

*Pzzt*

-released a sigh of relief when the now headless corpse fell dead on the ground.

If she had been alone, a single zombie wouldn't have been a concern, but with Sherry here, it put a lot of pressure on her. And she could hardly leave her behind in a room on her own. Who knew if a zombie couldn't make it inside?

"Well done, Claire!" exclaimed Sherry at the sight.

Claire smiled, half proud of herself and half sad that Sherry had to see such death at such a young age.

"Thanks. My brother trained me well." she replied.

Sherry glanced at her, and Claire smiled. "He was with the S.T.A.R.S. before the group was disbanded. I came to Raccoon City to find him after not getting any news of him in a while, only to find out he left for Europe a few months ago now."

She shook her head. "I'm happy he isn't here, though tracking him down after this isn't going to be easy."

Sherry frowned. "Did he really not tell you why he left for Europe or where he is now?"

Claired sighed. "He's apparently secretly investigating a corrupt company, that's why he didn't tell me anything… or why he can't contact me now. So I'll have to track him down myself… but that's for later. For now, let's get that power panel part, shall we?"

"You got it!" happily declared Sherry.

Then another zombie appeared, and it was back to fighting.

I stared at the Mr. X Tyrant that just moved the crashed helicopter out of the way, while the Tyrant stared right back at me.

I grunted. "Sorry buddy, but I've got work to do, no time to dance."

And then I Quickened up to him, took him by the front of his coat… and threw him through the hole in the wall caused by the crash of the chopper.

The sounds of a great *CRASH* echoed behind me as I walked away.

Too bad he was needed for future events, otherwise I would have enjoyed killing it. Ah well, Leon would hopefully take care of it eventually…

Claire and Sherry went back to the Chief's office, putting the part they had found inside the device that would be used to open the door where the key card was.

They still needed to wait for Aeon to put in the other part, and then-

*CRASH!*

"What was that?" wondered Sherry.

Claire frowned, before shrugging.

"Probably Aeon doing… Aeon things."

"Aeon things?" repeated Sherry with amusement.

"In case you haven't noticed, he seemed to take the existence of deadly monsters as an opportunity to enjoy kicking their butts. Especially if it involves doing it as flashy as he can."

Claired shook her head. "I'd be more concerned about it if he didn't make it work."

"But you're still annoyed." pointed out Sherry.

Claire grunted. "I just don't want to see him hurt."Far too many people have died in this city already.

Sherry fell silent, before nodding. "Me too." she said softly.

Claire glanced at Sherry and grimaced. How many people had she seen die in the last few days alone? Far too many, was the obvious answer.

And it's all her parents' fault, a sad part of her mind pointed out. That was something that Claire was still struggling with. For someone as kind as Sherry, to have parents responsible for the current state of Raccoon City…

She could only hope that once the truth was out, it wouldn't shatter the young girl.

I opened a portal under the box containing the part we needed to get the key card, the box falling into my right hand, where I then opened it to get the part required.

Nodding in satisfaction, I put it in one of my coat pockets and left the room, going to the walkway overlooking the main hall of the police station-

And stopping when I noticed the Mr. X standing right in front of me. I let out a sigh.

"How many times do I have to teach you this lesson? I'M BUSY!"

And then I Sparta-kicked him down through the safety railing, and down into the main hall. I swear, these things may be strong by regular human standards, but they really weren't all that smart…

Kind of like most things involved with Umbrella, now that I thought about it.

Then again, what else could I expect from a bunch of scientists who thought focusing on the physical aspects of an individual rather than mental was a smart idea?

At least the Healing Church sought to Ascend their minds above all, not their bodies! Fucking Umbrella couldn't even get their mad science right!

Claire and Sherry blinked in bewilderment when Aeon came back not long after a massive crashing sound echoed throughout the police station, grumbling up a storm about "stupid, evil, mad scientists and their stupid, mad, science projects."

Which apparently involved a massive humanoid monster called Mr. X (for some reason beyond Claire's understanding. Seriously, what kind of name was that?) that Aeon kicked down the main hall of the police station. Because of course he did.

Sometimes, Claire wondered if she was the only sane woman left in this mad world, but thankfully she now had Sherry to confirm it was just the world that was insane. Nonetheless, they were able to open the electric lock, which means that they were free to backtrack to the parking lot and finally open the grid using the keycard.

From there, they were able to make it into the street, before taking a side-passage that led them to an orphanage. Thankfully, dealing with the zombies on the way had been pretty easy, though Aeon's reactions to coming across zombified dogs had been surprising.

"Dogs. Of course there had to be dogs." Aeon grumbled darkly, after they all heard distant barks coming from up ahead.

"You don't like dogs?" innocently asked Sherry.

Aeon actually gave her a dry look at this.

"My entire life experience with dogs involves them trying to kill me." he replied bluntly.

Claire and Sherry blinked. "Oh." whispered Sherry.

He shrugged. "Lots of bad experiences… some good ones, though."

Claire frowned. Didn't he say that-

"Suplexing that giant dog on fire to death has been so very satisfying…" he whispered, sounding nostalgic and smiling slightly with a far-away look in his eyes, and Claire deadpanned.

… Never mind.

She was starting to think Aeon got some… baggage from whatever happened to him in the past.

Just a hunch.

That aside, they did make it to the orphanage.

For some reason though, Aeon was looking at it with a scowl, almost glaring at the building.

"Aeon?" Claire asked, confused.

Aeon glanced at her, then at Sherry, his scowl growing for a second before he let out a long sigh.

"Sorry about that. It's just… The orphanage has a rather troubling history, and the RPD was thinking of investigating it… before the outbreak happened."

"What kind of history?" she asked, and Aeon glanced at Sherry again for a second before looking back at her.

"A huge number of kids seemingly just… vanished here. Officially, they were adopted or transferred somewhere, but some investigations showed only dead ends and no kids in sight."

Claire scowled at the news, before stiffening. The fact that Aeon kept glancing at Sherry… either it meant that he actually knew what happened to the kids and didn't want to say anything where Sherry could hear it, or…

She swallowed.

Or this orphanage was a front for getting disposable test subjects for Birkin's research.

She gave Aeon a look, but did not dare ask the question of whether her horrifying theory could be true.

Instead, the group of three merely entered the orphanage in silence, finding the place empty.

Sadly for Claire, while exploring the place, she found a pretty incriminating letter heavily implying that the kids of the orphanage had been killed months ago, after one of them manage to escape a secret Umbrella facility where he had been turned into a test subject and then successfully made his way back to the orphanage where he was then re-captured, and every child involved was then purged to hide the whole ugly affair from leaking out.

All of it done under the ultimate authority of William Birkin, head of research of the hidden facility in question. Needless to say, she had been horrified at the discovery, though Aeon himself merely turned grim when she showed him the letter, showing no surprise at the horrific crimes committed so ruthlessly by Umbrella. After that, they found a hidden passage leading underground the building, though not long after, they heard the sounds of heavy footsteps behind them.

Claire's eyes widened at the sight of the mutated form of Sherry's father coming from behind, his tall form barely able to fit through the underground tunnel, and she turned towards Sherry and shouted.

"Go go go!"

They all ran, Aeon taking potshots at the mutated Birkin while they fled.

"He's right behind us!" screamed Sherry fearfully after taking a look behind her.

"Don't stop!" ordered Claire.

They went down some stairs, loud thumping sounds coming from behind.

"Shhheeerrryyyyy…" growled the mutated William Birkin.

"Hurry!" screamed Sherry.

"Here, take this!" shouted Aeon, taking out the grenade launcher on his back and lobbing one right at the monster, who could hardly dodge it in the middle of the corridor.

The G-monster stumbled backwards as the grenade exploded in his face, though it quickly recovered and began running once more after the group. Claire and Sherry found themselves in front of an elevator, quickly rushing into it with Claire slamming the button to close the doors.

"Aeon, get in here! Quickly!" she screamed.

Aeon rushed in, passing through the doors a fraction of a second before they closed, though the mutated Birkin almost immediately slammed into the doors afterwards, Claire's eyes going wide as a second head of all things quickly grew from Birkin's right shoulder, its yellow eyes immediately staring straight at Sherry.

And then the monster took a step back, roared… and charged towards them.

"Daddy, no!" screamed Sherry, a second before the humanoid monster hit the elevator hard enough to break the cable holding it, and they all plunged straight down into the darkness below.

The last thing Claire remembered was her and Sherry screaming while Aeon took firm hold of Sherry… and then they hit the ground, and everything went dark.

"Claire? Are you alright?"

Two fearful blue eyes under bright golden strands of hair stared down at her, begging her to wake up. Claire blinked slowly, mind blank and oh-so very tired…

"Can you hear me? Claire?"

*Growl-* *PWOOSH* *PWOOSH* "-RAGGGHH!"

The girl above looked up, face tightening in terror, before looking back down at her.

"Claire, you have to get up! Aeon's fighting daddy, but we need to move!"

*KA-BOOM!* *KA-BOOM!*

"ROOOOOAAAAARRRR-"

"Wake up! Wake up!" shouted the girl, before looking up at something in the distance and grimacing, looking back down with guilt and regret twisting her features before she got up and ran.

Loud footsteps echoed around Claire, before another explosion, bigger than anything before, deafened her and made her pass out in blissful darkness again…

Leon S. Kennedy let out a deep breath, staring at where the tall, humanoid monster clothed in a dark coat fell over the safety railings.

That thing, a "Mr. X" Tyrant, if Aeon's words were to be believed, had been walking around the police station when Leon had finally managed to get inside.

The first indication that it had been here was the sight of it walking around through the security network of the police station… and the rather impressive crater in the main hall that indicated that something big had crashed there. Leon suspected that there was quite the story behind it, because there had also been a rather impressive imprint of an incredibly tall man slammed straight into hard ground, but whatever it may be was beyond Leon's concern right now.

No, what mattered was that after checking out the police station for resources, and then making his way into the underground passage beneath the main hall, Leon ended up being attacked by the Mr. X.

It was a good thing that Leon found a shotgun outside the police station, because otherwise, he really wasn't sure how he would have survived this fight.

Shaking his head, Leon turned-

And blinked in surprise at a ladder that had been previously beyond his reach now casually lowered to his height. His eyes narrowed.

"Someone's watching me…" he muttered, but nonetheless he took the ladder and kept going, eventually finding himself in the underground parking lot.

He smiled in relief when he saw that the entrance was opened, and he eagerly walked towards the exit-

*Growl…*

He froze, before turning to stared at a zombified dog-

And then he fell back on his ass when the dog jumped on him, teeth snapping hungrily towards his throat, barely held back by Leon's hands around the dog's neck.

"Get off me!" Leon snarled, tilting his head to avoid the snarling jaws of the beast-

*Bang!*

Both dog and man froze, before the dog, a bullet hole on its neck, slumped to the side.

"Hey!"

Leon's head snapped towards the voice, and he got on his arms to better see.

"Who are you?"

"Stay sharp."

Leon blinked, before turning to look at the undead dog that was slowly getting up.

He immediately took his laspistol, dropped to the side, and blew the head of the dog, whose corpse slumped on the ground, dead for good.

The sound of footsteps made him raise his gun, before pausing when he stared at the woman currently walking to him.

"Lower it." ordered the woman in the red dress, her own gun pointed at him.

She took out something at her side, before showing him her badge.

"FBI."

Leon hesitated for a second, before sighing and letting his arm holding the gun fall to the ground.

"Sorry. Thank you for your help."

The Asian woman finally lowered her gun, an unimpressed look on her face.

"Surprised you made it this far." she said coldly, before walking away.

"FBI, heh?" said Leon, finally getting up. "What are you doing here?"

"Sorry, that information's classified."

"Where are you going?" he asked, and the woman finally paused and turned towards him.

"Do yourself a favor." she coldly declared. "Stop asking questions and get the hell out of here."

And then she kept walking, opening a door at the back of the parking garage.

"Hey! I just want to talk to you."

She closed the door. Leon sighed, and then followed after her anyway. He blinked when he ended up in the prisons, frowning in confusion.

Why would she go there in the middle of a zombie outbreak?

Especially considering the sounds coming from the cells, the ones inside had obviously long turned into zombies themselves…

For a moment, he hesitated, before he grimly set out to kill every zombie in the prison.

The people they once were deserved to rest in peace… and he didn't feel comfortable leaving them here for someone else to find. If the doors of the prison were to open… Well, it wasn't paranoia when there were literal monsters out to get you.

He paused however as the prison cell at the end of the hall revealed not a zombie, but a man, very much alive and well.

"Hello?"

The man blinked, before smiling.

"Well I'll be damned! There's still someone alive in the station? I thought everyone in the city had died already." The man glanced at the RPD uniform Leon had found in a changing room outside the police station, his eyes narrowing for a second before his smile returned.

"You've been here long?" wondered Leon.

"Long enough." replied the man. "I thought the station had been lost days ago now. Are you here to take it back?"

Leon shook his head. "No. At least, not yet, I think. It's… complicated."

"Well, could you let me out, then? Because I really don't have much food and water left."

The man turned, waving at some bottles of drinking water still full… and the many others that were empty.

"Can't trust anything but bottled water, you understand."

"And why were you locked in there in the first place?"

The man paused, searching for something in Leon's face before smiling.

"It's all just a misunderstanding! For some reason, Lieutenant Branagh seems to think I had illegal dealings with Umbrella! It was all BS! Umbrella is the heart of this city! If it weren't for them, countless people wouldn't have jobs! It's truly crazy that anyone thinks that Umbrella is anything else but a generous company seeking to create a brighter future for everyone."

Leon blinked at that.

He opened his mouth to answer, but both of them turned when the sound of a door opening echoed in the distance. The man turned back towards Leon, expression pleading.

"Hey, c'mon! I'll make you a deal. I know a few things about the police station that no one else does! Let me out, and I'll tell you everything. Want more ammo and guns? I can tell you where to find them!"

"Sorry, I can't do that." replied Leon, apologetic.

There was something about the man that made his instincts scream, but then again, that could just be how on edge he was since coming to this damned city. Either way, it probably was safer to leave him there, where no zombies would get him.

Besides, Aeon told him the RPD and ISIS would try and retake the station sooner than later, so he should be safe until then.

And, yes, he just didn't trust the guy. That too.

"I have to talk to the Lieutenant first."

Again, the sounds of more doors opening echoed, and the man became outright pleading, though there was a dark look in his eyes that Leon really didn't like.

"Look, we all could use some help in these trying times, okay? So you get me out of here, we help each other out, and…"

The sounds became louder, and the man frowned suspiciously.

"Damn. They're coming for me."

The man walked back towards the wall of his cell, and Leon frowned, stepping forward.

"Who is coming?"

"Fuck… of course they're coming, I'm no longer useful… fucking Umbrella-"

*CRASH!*

Leon's eyes went wide when an arm broke through the wall of the cell to take hold of the man's face, instinctively raising his gun but unable to fire without risking the kill the man.

"Ah… Aaaagh… AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH-"

*Squelch*

Leon flinched when the man's screams brutally ended when his skull popped like a balloon, the gloved hand squeezing his skull until it broke.

"Oh my God…" he whispered, as the dead man fell on the ground.

*THUMP THUMP thump…*

Leon grimaced at the sounds. "Damn it, it's already back?"

Softer footsteps echoed in the room, and Leon raised his gun, thoroughly on edge.

"Who's that?" he questioned.

The Asian woman gave him a dry look, not even bothering to slow down.

"It's just me." she replied, and Leon lowered his gun with a sigh of relief.

"So you can put that thing away…"

She stopped by the cell, looking inside with a frown.

"That thing just… Happened so quick…"

She scowled at his words, turning to glare at him.

"I told you to get out of here…"

She waved at the dead man. "Wouldn't want to end up like Brian, would you?"

"You know him?" he asked.

"He was the former chief of police. Knew a lot about what was going on in this city. He had information of use for my investigation."

"So what I've heard about this whole mess is true?"

The woman turned and walked away, and Leon scowled. This city was in chaos, and he needed answers, dammit!

He ran forward, taking the woman by the arm, though she quickly jerked back.

"Hey! You can't continue to walk away from me."

"I don't even know your name!" he complained. He sighed slightly.

"I'm Leon Kennedy." he said.

The woman stared at him for a long moment, before leaning forward.

"Get out of here, Leon." she waved at the dead man in his cell. "For him, it's too late. Then we'll talk."

And then she walked away.

"Name's Ada."

He sighed, then did as ordered and left the prison area.

Going back to the parking lot, he made sure that he didn't hear any dogs or zombies around before heading towards the entrance-

*CRASH!*

"Grk!"

-And then the Tyrant broke through the wall on his left, taking Leon by the throat.

"Grk! Argh!" Leon tried to fight him off, but the Tyrant's grip refused to budge-

He flinched then looked to the side as an armored police truck suddenly roared to life, his eyes going wide went it rushed straight at the Tyrant who turned towards it at the last second-

*CRASH!*

Leon fell on the ground coughing, staring at the still form of the Tyrant embedded into the wall by the truck which crashed into it.

Ada got out of the truck, glaring at him.

"This is getting old." she said coldly while walking away. "Saving your ass, twice!"

Leon got up, snorting at her words.

"I didn't realize we were keeping score."

She turned, scowling.

"Look, this isn't a game-"

The police truck began to move, the Tyrant obviously still alive despite the crash. Ada turned to scowl at the truck.

"Nothing dies down here."

The truck suddenly went off in flames, a gas leak catching fire causing it to explode. Then Ada turned and walked towards the entrance.

"Look, I just want to confirm a few things. Is it true that Umbrella is behind all of this? With the T-Virus and G-Virus?"

She paused, turning to look at him with a frown.

"You've heard of the G-Virus?"

Leon blinked, but nodded. "Yeah. Created by someone called Wiliam Birkin alongside his wife, right? I heard they have a facility down under the city. Should be accessed by the sewers nearby, if I remember right."

She stared at him, and frowned in confusion.

"And where did you hear that? I know that the RPD is aware of the t-Virus, sure, but I didn't know that they were aware of the G-Virus too."

Leon shrugged. "I met a guy who knew some things about what was going on here." he replied, not sure whether he wanted to name Aeon or not.

Ada gave him a long look, but nodded.

"Yes. I'm trying to find an entrance to the facility, to see if I can find incriminating evidence of Umbrella's guilt in this whole mess."

She turned, walking away. He rolled his eyes and followed, and they went into the street outside, cut in half by a massive hole in the ground where that part of the road was apparently still in construction.

"So, you're aware that Umbrella creates the viruses for its Bio-Organic Weapons?"

"Yeah. I've been told about that. I also heard that Insight Corp. has been fighting against those things and that they are the ones who create the vaccine?"

Ada nodded. "Yeah. As far as I know, Insight Corp. and ISIS, their armed branch, are heavily anti-B.O.W. They've been fighting a sort of shadow war for quite some time against Umbrella as a result. I'm not that surprised that they were able to create a vaccine for the t-Virus, all things considered. And even now, ISIS has been fighting for this city from the very beginning. They've been doing well too. Last I heard, they are making good progress in cleaning out the underground areas."

She shook her head, opening the doors of the gun shop nearby to then keep going around the hole in the street.

"But that's not why I am here. I'm here to help take down Umbrella's entire operations, and for that, I need to get my hands on evidence of their guilt."

"And that's why you want to get to that secret facility." he said, understanding.

"Yes. Though I'm trying to track down Annette Birkin. Along with her husband, she's the one who knows the most about Umbrella and their research."

They came up to a wide entrance in the sewers, and Ada smiled.

"This is how we're going to get Annette."

"Then I'll help you. I became a cop to help people, to protect them. What's going on in this city… I can't let this go. I'll do anything to see justice done for all of this." Leon said firmly.

Ada chuckled, waving at the entrance into the sewers.

"Then after you."

"Gee, thanks." he replied sarcastically, though he didn't hesitate to go in. As they went in, Leon couldn't help but comment.

"I can't imagine a real scientist working down here."

"Well if what you heard is correct, this will lead right to Umbrella's secret facility. And this certainly explains why all this work in the street happened, if they were trying to create and hide those entrances."

"C'mon. Something this big… I know that the… former chief of police was corrupt." and then some, he couldn't help but think darkly, remembering the full story of why the man was sent to prison from Aeon "But still. The authorities had to know something like this was happening."

"Welcome to America. Umbrella controlled Raccoon City for years."

Leon grimaced. Aeon had told him the same, but it was another thing entirely to hear it said straight from the mouth of an FBI agent…

And then the ground shook, and Leon had far more pressing concerns.

"Is that an earthquake?!"

"Let's hope so." grimly said Ada.

They turned a corner… and Leon saw something massive move out of sight.

"What the hell?!"

"Stay sharp! God only knows what's down here…"

They continued in tense silence, ready to fight or flee at any moment, when the ground shook again.

"Again?" exclaimed Leon, concerned.

"It's not too late to turn back, Leon." said Ada, a note of amusement in her voice.

Leon let out a breath and shook his head. "Not a chance. I'm in this to the end." he replied.

This was a city of 100,000 people who needed to see justice be done. At this point, the only way to stop Leon from seeing the guilty punished for this is if he was to die.

And Leon had no intention of dying, giant monsters and concerning earthquakes or not. He paused, staring down at the sewers below, then with a grimace jumped down.

"Ew." he complained once he fell down, before looking up towards Ada.

"Are you sure there isn't a different way?"

"Unfortunately." she replied, before the ground shook again.

He turned, frowning. "Wait there." he said, staring hard at the waters beyond.

"RRRRAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!"

Leon flinched, stumbling back when a massive alligator suddenly burst out of the water and roared loudly.

"Leon!" screamed Ada. "Get out of there!"

Leon took one look at the monster staring back and promptly broke into a run, trying to get away as fast as he could.

"RRRAAAAGGGGHHHH!" roared the monster, its jaws snapping far too close for comfort to Leon's head.

"Holy shit!" he cursed, blood pumping in his veins like never before as he kept running as fast as he could.

Again and again, the monster's jaws barely missed him, until he found a path going downwards and Leon jumped. The jaws tried to come down on him again, but they caught a gas pipe instead.

Leon got on his feet, took his laspistol-

And fired straight into the gas pipe.

*KA-BOOM!*

Leon flinched, putting a hand over his head, before cautiously looking back, staring at the mess of burnt blood and gore that the monster's head had turned into.

"Chew on that, you overgrown son of a bitch." he declared spitefully in between pants for breath.

He turned around, trying to see what to do now, when Ada's voice caught his attention.

"Leon, up here."

He glanced up, seeing her unlock a ladder for him to reach her level.

"What the hell was that?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Just get up here."

He sighed but did as ordered, Ada welcoming him with a dryly amused "Can't say I didn't warn you."

"Yeah. Guess I just got confirmation that the virus turns animals into monsters as well. I could've done without that."

"True. I'm just impressed you made it in one piece."

"Not for lack of trying on its part…" he muttered, before following her to an elevator.

"So, to repeat: Umbrella sells monsters like that... to who? Our military? Some other country?"

Aeon told him it was both, but the idea still horrified him, especially after almost dying from that giant monster.

"They don't sell the monsters. They sell the viruses that make them. And Annette is who makes the viruses. Scary as that alligator was, Annette is far more dangerous."

The elevator came to a stop, leaving Leon to scowl grimly at everything he was being told. The idea of more monsters like this one existing out there in the world… or perhaps even worse…

It horrified and disgusted him. What kind of madmen would willingly create things like these? Or even be proud about it, too? He shook his head. These were concerns for later, for now he needed to focus on the mission.

Opening the door to the next corridor, he paused, seeing a blonde woman in a lab coat kneeling by the side of a dead zombie.

His eyes narrowed. A scientist, here in a place like this? The only ones who should be here…

He raised his gun. "Identify yourself." he ordered.

The woman looked up at him.

Ada pointed her gun at her. "Annette Birkin."

He glanced at Ada.

"She's who we're looking for?"

The woman Annette? got up, muttering "Not much time… need to dispose of it..."

"We're here for the G-Virus." declared Ada, stepping forward.

Annette scoffed, disdain in her eyes. "That's not going to happen."

Ada's eyes narrowed. "I'm warning you, doctor."

"Oh yeah?" Annette replied, contempt clear in her voice. She took out a lighter, and then threw it towards the corpse at her feet, which immediately caught on fire. Ada and Leon hesitated for a second, while Annette turned around and ran.

"Hey!" he shouted.

Ada ran forward. "Stop!"

*Bang!*

"Ah!"

Leon's eyes widened when the bullets almost hit Ada, who had frozen under the gunfire, and he ran towards her.

"Ada, no!" he shouted, jumping towards her and tackling her to the ground, a gasp of pain leaving his lips as a bullet struck him at the shoulder.

Ada got on her feet and returned fire, and Leon heard Annette scream "You'll never get the G-Virus!" before the sounds of a heavy door closing reached him.

Ada scowled darkly towards the door. "Didn't expect that from a scientist."

"Raagh…" he gasped, holding his shoulder with a pained expression on his face.

Ada turned to look at him, kneeling by his side. "Leon!" she exclaimed, concern shining in her eyes.

He grimaced, then looked back at her. "Forget about me." he said. "Just go. Stop her before she gets away." he finished, before laying back with a pained sigh, his eyes closing.

The last thing he saw before everything turned dark was Ada looking up towards the door Annette took to flee, a storm of emotions twisting her features, before she looked back at him, and her expression softened.