Unstoppable Force

Fuck! The sequence of events of this damn Quest has just undergone a major change, I guess.

First, the existence of the secret cave underground was still unknown to anyone but me, which was odd knowing how much ruckus we got down there. Moreover, I only had some limited knowledge about the matter and some baseless conjecture. Not enough to begin an investigation.

Second, the role of Kyle Madigan, one of the supporting characters from the game, who should've appeared in this town seemed to be 7ole.

And the last one, the interruption of another third party. This one was both expected and unexpected at the same time. I was expecting that they would get involved sooner or later, but what I didn't expect was the scale of the seriousness of the situation.

An old man, holding a staff which I was very much familiar with, was standing in front of the heavily wounded me, lying on the floor. Behind him was a line of bulky Genma soldiers, standing shoulder to shoulder, each holding their own weapon.

He crouched on his knee and held my chin up, trying to unmask me. I used every energy I had left to prevent him from doing that. He wasn't strong enough to take the mask off, and I wasn't recovered yet from all the damage I had after the last boss fight. So we were stuck in this situation for quite a few seconds before the old man spouted some words.

"So it is you that Alex placed her interest in." muttered the old man, while staring at the reflection on the glass of my mask. However, soon enough, his eyes wandered to the girl who was hiding behind me. He then added, "I admit, she does have a pair of good eyes. Ahh... Don't worry. I'm not the type of a father who would interfere with his daughter's hobby."

'Alex? Daughter? What the fuck he's talking about?'

I couldn't register any of his words. How could I? Everything happened too fast. Right after defeating the last boss, this old man and his entourage suddenly ambushed us out of nowhere, catching me off guard.

"Who the fuck... are you?" I asked. I could taste the iron in my mouth.

Hearing my question, he stood up after removing the hand holding my chin. My head fell on the cold metal floor, but I couldn't feel any pain from it. My other injuries and wounds were more than painful enough compared to that small bump.

"Ohh, where's my manner?" muttered the old man, fixing his clothes. He then continued, introducing himself, "I am Ozwell E. Spencer. You might not know me, but why would it matter for a dead boy?"

"I thought... you won't interfere with your daughter's... hobby...?" I answered, stammering

"A toy doesn't need to be alive. Am I wrong?" replied the old man. I could glimpse a tiny smile that appeared for a moment on his face. The old bastard was having a blast, it seemed.

'Shit! Forget that. Now, what the fuck is Spencer doing with Guildenstern's staff!?' I thought to myself, cursing this ill-fated meeting. As a huge fan of the Resident Evil franchise, I immediately recognize the name. Once again, the butterfly effect started fucking with my life.

Behind me was a blond little girl, a few years younger than me. It seemed his objective was the girl, instead of me. I was trying to protect her from this pedophile wannabe, but my heavily wounded body prevented me from moving too much. What made it even worse was that both Aya and Chris were nowhere to be seen. I hoped they were fine.

He walked, approaching the girl, step by step. Meanwhile, my left hand that was partially broken was digging into the pocket inside the small bag on my waist, looking for a certain tube.

The tapping of the staff felt like a countdown to doomsday. What would happen once the staff stopped counting?

"Come, girl. No need to hide anymore." said old man Spencer, ignoring the pitiful me. Reaching out his hand, Spencer then said, "Nothing can protect you... from me."

======

-A few hours ago. Dryfield.-

"So? How did you get here?" I asked while laying the sleeping Aya on the bed inside one of the rooms in the town's motel near the entrance.

There were a few traces of wounds on her body, but there was nothing fatal or needing immediate treatment. The shadow butterfly I sent to her seemed to have done a proper job in protecting her.

<Limbo's Shadow Butterfly>

<A mythical creature found in the border of the living and the dead. Its main ability is Pathfinder. Just like the name, the ability allowed it to lead people to or through certain places. It also has various Barrier abilities that can be used to protect itself and those around it.>

Too bad I couldn't cast Reinforce on a living organism. Imagine how awesome the extra abilities and improvement it would get.

Now, back to the matter in hand. It was surprising that out of all people, uncle Chris was the one to be sent to investigate this case. But why him?

Those who have played the game, Parasite Eve 2, would've been familiar with or at least know about the character, Kyle Madigan. A double agent that should've shown up and helped Aya, but right now, he was nowhere to be seen.

Would he show up later? Or uncle Chris going to take his role completely? I had too many questions inside my mind.

"It's complicated. The mission is heavily classified." answered uncle Chris, shrugging his shoulders at my question.

"Oh, boo hoo... Are you going to be like this to your own nephew?" I grumbled while pouting my mouth.

"First, this is strictly work etiquette. And two, stop using the family card, Ed. It's not going to happen." teased uncle Chris while chuckling.

But seeing that I was really being curious about the reason why he came, he said, "I can't tell you that the Government was specifically requesting our help, because we are quite familiar with Bio-Organic Weapons or anything that have any connection to it. I also can't tell you that I was the only one to be sent here for now and I have some information on what or who caused this incident."

My face brightened after hearing it. Though nothing much changed for now, at least my curiosity was satiated quite a bit.

I then asked, "Why the government use outsiders' help? Don't they have their own private investigator?"

"Well, yes. But apparently..." Chris looked around and then whispered close to my ear, "There's a power struggle inside the government right now. Did SHIELD not told you?"

'What? This is the first time I heard that.' I thought to myself, 'and how did uncle Chris know about it?'

Understanding the expression on my face, uncle Chris, as if reading my thought, said, "Not now. We'll talk later when everything was a bit more settled."

I nodded in understanding. It was a quite delicate topic. The only perpetrator I could think about was The Family. But, why did it take too long for The Family's new leader to solidify his power and take control of the Government?

"So, aren't you going to introduce me?" asked uncle Chris, seeing that I was drowned in thought.

'Introduce?' I tilted my head, wondering what he meant by that. It was then that I heard a creaking sound behind me. Aya was waking up from her deep slumber.

"What... happened?" muttered the confused Aya, looking around while rubbing her temple.

She felt a slight headache invading her head. I used my radar sense and my advanced observation ability to check her condition. Although her body temperature was too warm, hot even, there was nothing wrong inside her body. It seemed the rising body temperature was caused by her neo-mitochondria cells were regenerating at a fast pace to recover her wounds and injuries.

"We found you unconscious on the floor. What was that about? Do you remember what happened before you passed out?" I asked. Chris was also curious about her, but he just stood still and listen to our conversation without interrupting.

Aya glanced at him for a moment at Chris, feeling a bit suspicious at the appearance of another person, before moving her eyes to me. I understood what she was trying to say, I assured her, "don't worry. He's on our side, a colleague of mine."

Uncle Chris raised his eyebrows, but he didn't oppose my words. Instead, he just introduced himself while taking out his official badge, "Chris Redfield, B.S.S.A."

Although it wasn't enough to convince her, she trusted my judgment. After taking a deep breath, she started to explain everything that happened to her after we separate, "That... weird guy from the tower, I met him again. He called himself, number 9..."

The moment she arrived to investigate the chilling screams, she found a middle-aged woman crawling on the floor with blood dripping out of her back and stomach. It was her who have been screaming nonstop and in pain. And the one who had been torturing her was none other than Number 9, the humanoid NMC.

The two fought inside the dilapidated house. From her story, I could imply that Number 9 almost defeated her, even when the butterfly supported her while hiding.

And finally, before Number 9 could deliver his finishing attack, something happened. Something out of Aya's control. The Mitochondria cells inside her started to go berserk mode for the first time after the end of the first tragedy a few years ago.

Right after, Number 9's body was blown to the wall behind him. His body started igniting, bursting with flame covering every nook and cranny of his body, causing him to flee before Aya fell on the floor, unconscious. And six hours later, we found her.

However, I knew that was not everything. She was trying to hide a few things from me. She skipped the part where Number 9 mentioned something about the existence of Eve, the center of the first tragedy in Manhattan. She also skipped the part when she dreamed about seeing her when she was unconscious.

I didn't rush her to spill everything. She might have some reasons as to why she didn't mention anything.

I turned toward uncle Chris and asked him, "Do you have some leads?"

He nodded and answered, "An old man, Douglas, he lived in the junkyard. He knows where to go."

Douglas, that old man we met back in the garage. I thought he already escaped. It seemed he was bound to this town.

"What did he said?" I asked again.

Chris took out a map of the town with the surroundings, he pointed at the edge of the map, at the hilly region up north.

He said, "He said that the monsters first came from that direction. He believed that their nest was there."

'Good. It's still followed the game route.'

Aya then commented on Chris's word. "Then, what are we waiting for? Let's go now."

"We can't. Not without Douglas's help. No ordinary car could traverse the rough road ahead. We'll need his car." said Chris.

"Then, all we have to do is take his car and go, right?" replied Aya while looking for her missing jacket.

Chris sighed a little bit before answering, "That's the problem, it still needs to be fixed. Some parts were broken from the monsters attack We can't go any—"

Chris noticed the look on my face. I was trying to convey 'really, dude? that's all? He immediately face-palmed himself. "Ahh! I forgot about you!"

Aya was confused at the small banter, "What is it? What's wrong?"

Chris turned toward her and replied, "You said you want to go now. So, let's go now."

Confused, Aya asked again, "What about the car?"

"We have him," replied Chris, while pointing at me with his thumb.

Not understanding his gesture, Aya said, "Aaand... what reaction you want me to show you?"

Suddenly, Chris was very surprised to hear her answer. He looked at me and said, "Wait... she didn't know yet?"

"We barely met yesterday, why would that even matter?" I replied.

"Awwh... You finally know how to hide your power and not blatantly showing it to everyone you meet," said Uncle Chris.

"Hey... That's rude." I complained, with both hands on my waist. I silently muttered, "I just haven't shown her how I can repair things yet..."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry." chuckled Uncle Chris, not hearing the last few words I said. He then looked at the still confused Aya, pointing at me with his thumb, and then said, "With this guy over here, we don't need to worry about the car. Follow me."

Although she still couldn't understand what we've been talking about in front of her, she quietly followed us toward the garage, where Douglas was repairing his truck.

Upon entering the vicinity, his dog barked toward us, alerting Douglas who immediately took cover on the wall with a shotgun in his hands.

Seeing that it wasn't NMCs attacking, Douglas put the shotgun away and said, "One of these days, you kids will be the death of me, you know that?"

Chris just smiled and said, "What about the car? Can you fix her?"

"Naah... The radiator and engine all busted, and there's a leak in the fuel tank. It's not your lucky day, kids." explained Douglas.

He then moved toward the car and tried to start it up to show us. However, he was suddenly shocked to find that the car could actually run just fine.

"Wha... what happened?" muttered Douglas.

He immediately opened the hoods and check the engine only to find everything worked just fine. All the car needed now was just some fuel and it would be ready to go.

Leaving the bewildered Douglas alone, I told Chris that we need some fuels which Aya and he volunteered to find. Because the gas station was right in front of the town's entrance, it wouldn't be a problem for them.

"Hey, before you come back. Can you also bring me that thing?" I asked while spreading my arms to show the length of the thing I want her to bring.

======

15 minutes later.

The truck was speeding on the dirt road toward the hilly mountains up north. Chris was driving. Aya took the front seat which upset me because I already yelled 'SHOTGUN!' but she ignored it and now I was stuck at the cargo bed, sulking.

Suddenly, Chris yelled, "Enemy!"

Aya was startled and took out her weapons only to find that there was only one enemy. However, Aya's face suddenly contorted in fear, because of how big it is.

I remembered it was called Burner,  an artificial NMC, an immense, bloated organism that had a wide mouth extremity as well as large arms for crushing its prey. Its mouth also contained an immense flamethrower for expelling fire hence its name.

"We need to turn around! And find some covers!" yelled Aya.

We were in an open space, all the while moving toward it. It would be suicide if we faced it head-on. Looking at the fire emitting through the long pipe in its mouth, Aya thought that they need to evade the monster or find some places to take cover if we wanted to fight it.

BHAAAM!!

Suddenly, a thundering noise pierced Aya's ear, stunning her and the car shook a little bit. It was as if lighting suddenly struck us. But it wasn't a bolt of lightning, it was the sniper rifle.

<Barret M82a1 (Reinforced)>

<Durability: 40/20>

<Grants Moderate improvement on the rifle's recoil, reload speed, bullet travel speed, and trajectory.>

<Grants Item Abilities: Optical Scope (Passive), Impact Shock (Active).>

Upon hit, a part of the burner's leg suddenly expanded and before shrinking again. It suddenly toppled to the side, howling in pain. Everything inside was crushed into smithereens, and it was just the start.

BHAAM!

Kacha.

BHAAMM!

Kacha.

And finally, BHAAMM!! the final bullet struck its head after I succeeded in paralyzing it to completely stop him from moving. But it seemed I underestimated it too much as it could still moving just fine after that relentless attack. But I wasn't done yet. To finish it off...

<Pendant of the Weakened Heart - Grade C>

<Passive: Grants Moderate Resistance to any Curse-Type debuff or magic.>

<Item Ability: Mental Break>

<Mental Break: Lower enemies magic defense for 15 seconds.>

"Reinforce! Mental Break! Reinforce! Firaga!"

I cast the Reinforced Mental Break on it before spawning five Reinforced fireballs around me.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOOM!!

<+1.000.450 EXP>

"Huh!?" I was startled.

It wasn't because of how much EXP I just got, but because of how much damage I actually caused.

Chris hit the break immediately, stopping the truck. Both Aya and Chris couldn't see through the dust and smoke, but I could. Once the smoke and dust dispersed completely, they finally realized the horrors before them.

Nothing was left, not even the ground where it stood earlier. A huge hole was carved in the ground as if a meteor just strike the place multiple times.

I had a hunch on what caused it and immediately read the description for Pendant of the Weakened Heart.

<Pendant of the Weakened Heart - Grade C>

<Passive: Grants High Resistance to any Curse-Type debuff or magic.>

<Item Ability: Mental Break>

<Mental Break: Significantly lower the magic defenses of a target and everything around it within 100 meters area for 15 seconds.>

"Oh, fuck me," I muttered.