Conflicts and Fireworks

Although the massive crocodile was a bit bigger than the two Grave Diggers, it couldn't fight properly in this cramped tunnel. It could only trash about, hoping that its attack could do something to them. However, it was useless. The mutated crocodile could only watch as its life fade out.

Claire and Sherry were slowly backing out, without making any sound. The two Grave Diggers were too busy digging their teeth through the plumpy crocodile. They didn't bother to even bat an eye on the two thin humans. Once they were further away, they ran toward the ventilation connecting to the mansion. Although there was another threat on the surface, staying underground, especially with those goliaths around, would just digging their own grave.

15 minutes later, they arrived at the ventilation, it wasn't that steep, so they didn't have any problem climbing back up. Claire looked around while holding the FAMAS. She was on the last magazine, so she prayed that it would be enough. She loved this AR, somehow it had the best performance among other firearms she tried on shooting grounds. It must be tuned beforehand.

Looking around, she couldn't find nor hear anything. The battle must have been finished. The only thing she could hear was the fast beating of her heart. She hoped that the monster was defeated by that mysterious person. Once she was sure that there was nothing here, Claire took Sherry's hand to bring her out. Once they reach the gate, they saw that the gate was torn apart. Cold sweat drenched her back as she panicked and instinctively called out Edward's name while running.

"Edward!"

Sherry also realized what had happened as she followed her. But then, Claire stood still as she saw the car which she and Edward rode before. Edward was inside, sticking out his head with a confused expression.

"What took you so long, Aunt Claire?" he asked.

Claire just smiled in relief and walked to him. Tak! And hit his head. "You should've stayed in hiding. Do you know how much I've been worrying about you?"

"But inside the car's too hot, you should have turned on the AC before going out," I complained while frowning.

"What are you? A puppy?" retorted, Claire.

"The cutest one," I answered. Two seconds later, I shuddered because of how cringe my answer was.

Claire and Sherry chuckled before they get inside. Now was the time they went home. Sherry couldn't help but glance at the mansion. The butler she grew up with had died protecting her. And that face on the monster chest. Why her father's face was on that monster? What happened to her parents? Are they fine? She keeps asking those questions inside her head. The mansion started getting smaller and smaller until it couldn't be seen anymore.

======

The Continental, Raccoon City Branch.

A bunch of secretive groups arrived in the Hotel's lobby. The concierge, Marlo, tidied his suit and walked to greet them.

"Welcome to our Hotel. Madam Farlene has been waiting for you on the top floor," said Marlo, greeting an Asian man that seemed to be the leader. The man just nodded and followed along while his subordinate went to their prepared rooms.

Most of them were the trained forces of The Hand while the others were Wilson Fisk's mercenary. He could just use his men, but he couldn't do so as New York City's underground's side was currently unstable, and he needed most of the resources to hold them off.

Their mission was, of course, to break into Umbrella's facility to take whatever was left inside. But first, they need to bet the local Continental's mercenary to work together with them. That was why the group's leader was meeting with Emma Farlene.

Emma couldn't refuse either, as it was a direct order from the High Table. If she didn't comply, it would be regarded as treason. And the punishment would only be death by execution.

At the Continental's Bar, Sammy and Dean were watching The Hand's group. They stick like a sore thumb. The normal guest might have been blessed with their ignorance, not knowing that a bunch of professional assassins were sitting just by their side, staring daggers at each other.

Soon the meeting was over, and Emma announced the result on the mission board at the training center. They were also notified through the pagers. The general gist of the announcement was only asking them to comply whenever The Hand's group told them to assist their mission. They were not allowed to talk or ask about what they were doing. They would, of course, be compensated for their effort or loss during the mission.

The result of the meeting was something that the Hotel's mercenary didn't expect. They thought they would be enslaved during The Hand's stay, and their work would be lessened. However, thanks to Emma's persistence, The Hand was forced to change its approach. With this, the local mercenary would be involved in the upcoming bout that would take place in the city.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, the Army National Guard which was sent by the State Governor and the U.S. Army that was sent by the President were setting up their base around the City's art museum, Raccoon Clock Tower. The Mayor already greeted them before, and now they were preparing to move out to handle the crisis. However, most of them didn't know what exactly was going on. They were deployed so suddenly, with so little information on the current crisis. The Commander of the Army was currently in a meeting with the local Police Force and an FBI Agent, called Nick Fury.

"Motherfucker!" and that was his first word at the meeting.

The officers that attended the meeting were baffled by the eye-patched Agent's sudden eruption. He never said anything since the beginning of the meeting.

"Mr. Fury, I beg your pardon, but we are currently in an official meeting. Please refrain to use the word." said the army's leader for this mission, Colonel William Stryker.

"Fuck you and fuck your meeting," Nick Fury couldn't hold his rage anymore and let it out. "We are having casualties every minute, every hour. People are dying here and you refused to evacuate them? You are the U.S. Army, your job is to protect them, not abandoning them."

"I have to protect the Nation as a whole. I couldn't risk even a single one of them to leave this city." retorted Colonel Stryker.

Although it made sense that there might be one or two infected civilians among the rescued groups, there was another way to handle it. Colonel Stryker's decision to lock down the city was too absurd.

"Sir, is there any way to change the plan? We can make a temporary shelter outside of the city, to keep them safe." asked a young man, representing the Raccoon Police Department. It was from Chris Redfield. Because of the disappearance of Chief Irons, he had to take the mantle of leading the Police Department in confronting this crisis. Among his peers, he was the most experienced in handling this problem.

"if you want to do it, do it yourself. But mark my words, we won't involve ourselves in your little shenanigans. " Colonel Stryker then walked out of the tent along with his sergeants. His decision was absolute. He wouldn't evacuate the citizens however much it would risk their safety. There was only one thing in his mind, and it was to suppress the crisis in his own way.

Nick, Chris, and the police officers were left dumbfounded. The Colonel was too arrogant and couldn't be talked out of his way. Nick was also angry, among all the high ranked officers the government could deploy, they chose William Stryker. Nick knew how cold-hearted and uncompromising that man was. His only choice now was to cooperate with the RPD, but their number was just too small to plan anything big.

"Fuck this shit, I'm outta here," said Nick, frustrated.

Feeling responsible, Chris couldn't help but ask, "What are you going to do now?"

"Taking a dump, a big load of it," he answered while walking out of the tent.

Chris and the rest were baffled once again. This FBI Agent's behavior was too snarky, unlike the one they saw on TV Shows.

======

September 26th, Raccoon City.

Two days had passed since the last time we went to save Sherry in her home. By now, the crisis could be controlled completely, although the whole Northside was still blocked with barricades. The army would send some cleaning forces occasionally, but none would return afterward.

Nick was still evacuating the residents using SHIELD's air transportation. They then would be brought out near the Arklay County's border, where a temporary shelter was made. By now, the number of evacuated residents only limited to less than a thousand everyday, both using the Railway Station and the Choppers.

When I heard the update from Nick about the meetings with William Stryker two days ago, I was also dumbfounded. That man was too self-centered and egotistical. Although I could relate a little bit to why he took that decision. But it was still too inhumane.

In the past two days, I leveled up three times, reaching level 23.

<Edward Kavka>

<Level 23 - Mercenary>

<Mental Power (MP) - 430/430

<Experience Points (EXP) - 10400/213000>

<Strength (STR) - 27>

<Dexterity (DEX) - 27>

<Constitution (CON) - 27>

<Intelligent (INT) - 43>

<Unused stat points - 0>

Seven points to go. I wondered what it would give me, but at least I knew it was related to mental power or brain works. I could level up that fast mainly because I took a mission from Nick Fury and The Hand. Nick would assign me a mission to help with the evacuation, and The Hand would employ me as their guards when they were looking around the city, especially the Northside. I could have undertaken the mission to find out Umbrella's hidden facility, but I wouldn't do it at least until the real Outbreak fully started.

By now, there were only some small clashes between the UBCS and The Hands. Also, I got information from Emma about a mysterious man roaming the Northside late at night. The only thing she knew was that the man used a mask to cover the bottom half of his face and a long I trimmed hair. I couldn't be bothered with it. At least G2 had never shown himself for the past two days to find Sherry. He seemed to be stuck looking for her in the mansion, evident from the destruction marks I saw occasionally when I went back there last night.

"Edward, come out, dinner's read," said Sherry, knocking on the door and breaking my train of thoughts.

"Okay!" I replied generically. Sherry has been living with us since we picked her up. She would sleep with Claire in her room and spent the day playing with me, although I would occasionally sneak out. But I only did it when there was an emergency or when she and Claire were occupied. Chris hadn't go home either as he basically lived inside the Police Station for now. But we would visit him sometimes, delivering clean clothing.

And also, I finally meet that woman when I visited the Police Department yesterday. Jill Valentine. When I saw her writing reports on her desk, my jaw wouldn't close itself. She was an angel, sent to this dry land called earth. Chris then chuckled when he saw my expression.

[Sir, you need to control yourself.]

Regina then suddenly woke me up from my daydream. My face turned red when I found out that I have been staring at her for a whole ten minutes while holding a bag of shirts and pants. I pathetically ran outside, fled, and waited at the car. Recalling that event, I couldn't help but sigh.

Noticing my downed expression, Sherry asked, "What's wrong? You don't like the vegetable?"

"Ah? No... I mean... Yes..." I answered, flustering. She then wordlessly took the vegetables and put it on her plate.

'Ahh... at least there's another angel in here.' I said, smiling like a dumb kid.

"You need to stop spoiling him. Edward, eat your vegetable or you would grow up into a muscle head like your Uncle," said Claire while pouring vegetable soup on my plate.

"Hey!" I wanted to retort, but then Sherry took the spear.

"It's okay. Edward was a cute little brother."

'Kuhakk!!' an imaginary sword stabbed my heart. I forgot that I was still bro-zoned.

======

Somewhere in the city. The residents were still confused about what was happening in the city and many continued with their ordinary routine despite the increasing violence, with local media reporting instead of violence among spectators at the Raccoon Sharks football game, rather than the city subtly falling under martial law.

Some said that the water pollution was making people crazy, leading to random attacks every day. And roadblocks were placed around the city, preventing anyone to leave or getting into the city.

A helicopter took off from the city, taking the evacuated residents to the shelter wherein they would be thoroughly examined before released.

Inside Jack's Bar, one of the many bars in the city. A lot of people were spending their time watching the football game while drinking. When suddenly a drunk man collapsed on the floor. The waiter noticed him and notified the bartender who then would walk to him and shook his body.

"Sir? Are you okay?" he asked, there was no response except for a low moan. The bartender thought that the man was too drunk and wanted to move him to one of the empty sofas. He holds him around his shoulder, but then, it happened. The drunk man retaliated and bit his throat, but no one noticed because the Raccoon Shark just scored a touchdown, sending the team to the Grand Final.

The same also could be seen in any bar around the city. They would celebrate, they would drink, they would hug each other, but they didn't know that the one they hugged wasn't human anymore.

BOOM!!

An explosion was heard somewhere in the city, they thought it was a firework, but they didn't know how wrong they were. It was just a start of a mad chain reactions.

<Infected Civilians Total Count: 20%>