Chapter 21

Morgan and Claire quickly headed to the break room and found the door to the lab with the cryogenic machines, luckily Claire's experiment with Morgan's Transfer ability with a flame grenade launcher shell and Morgan's ice spell used to prevent further damage in the aftermath of Claire's experiment, had weakened the door leading to the lab.

All Claire had to do was kick it for it to shatter like cheap glass allowing the girls access to the labs, they quickly went to use the cryogenic machine to finish the preparation of the herbicide.

Claire inserted the dispersal cartridge into the cryogenic machine and Morgan went to the controls to use it, it didn't take long for the machine to do its work and Claire quickly went to get the now fully ready herbicide.

Both girls high-fived each other for a job well done and together they both left the Lab to head towards where they had found the instruments to disperse the herbicide, it didn't take them long to reach the control room since by now they were very familiar with this entire wing of the Research facility.

Once there Claire wasted no time inserting the herbicide into the machine that would disperse it, as soon as she did the machine began to beep and flash a few times as an automated voice suddenly spoke up "Dispensing solution now".

Both Morgan and Claire watched through the monitors as the out-of-control plant life began to wither and die, soon enough they saw what was some kind of pod drop to the ground and drop an electronic chip.

Morgan tilted her head in curiosity "Huh?... if I didn't know any better I'd say that all of this was made like this on purpose... but what is the chance of that being true?".

Claire nodded "Yeah... even back in the police station everything sort of seemed like it was left like it is on purpose but I don't think that's really the case... I mean this entire disaster caught everyone by surprise, so how could they have prepared all of that before on purpose?".

Morgan scratched her head and nodded "Yeah your right but I do wonder how all of this ended up the way it did. Uncle Harry once told me that the world sometimes ends up doing weird things as a way to lend someone a hand... though he also said that your luck also had a lot to do with it, it's really intriguing to think about though".

Claire crossed her arms and looked up lost in thought, now that she had time to think about it a lot of the things that she and the girls had found were things they really needed.

Things that helped her fight and survive so in a way it makes sense to think about how all of this was possible, she didn't believe much in luck but she rather liked the idea of the world helping a few survive or giving them a chance to do so in any case.

It was like humanity was given a chance to survive anything as long as they were willing to stand up and fight "I kinda like the idea of the world helping some of us in some way or the other... Morgan is the planet alive?" Claire turned her head towards Morgan who looked at her and nodded.

Morgan then smiled "Of course, it is a live and sentient thought there are times where the world isn't very nice to humans, but Uncle Harry had once told me that it was because humanity had done something the world didn't like, in a world me and Hope visited once the planet unleashed these massive creatures known as Kaiju to protect itself from threats and unfortunately that sometimes meant humans, Godzilla -a Kaiju by the way- sort of likes humans and finds them amusing with how they try to fight the Kaiju".

Morgan giggle at the fact that Godzilla never really took humans seriously, even when he was blasted by the Oxygen Killer and barely survived he wasn't that worried since he would have healed over time.

Claire raised an eyebrow "Massive monsters? Isn't that a little extreme?".

Morgan nodded "It is but humanity has been pretty extreme too, the planet doesn't appreciate things like contamination nor nuclear weapons... all the death and destruction humans have caused only tend to aggravate the consciousness of the world and at times it acts to both punish and stop whatever is hurting it though... most of the time through things like diseases or natural disasters".

Claire sighed but nodded, all of this information was a little too advance for her but she understood the gist of it all.

The world is alive and will defend itself from whatever is hurting it whether that be humanity or something else, it really is enough to make you think of the consequences of one's actions "This is a bit too much to take in... anyways thank you for telling me all of this and answering my questions Morgan, all of this is certainly interesting to learn".

Morgan smiled and nodded "No problem Claire and besides I'm just repeating everything Uncle Harry has explained to me, I'm not that good at explaining things like these, but I am happy to have helped!".

Claire gave Morgan a head pat which the Red Dragon Empress seemed to really enjoy, after that both Morgan and Claire decided to go and get the electronic chip that dropped from the strange plant-like pod that died because of the herbicide.

Both girls immediately went out of the now cleared area of plant life, Claire smiled as she saw how the Plant life seemed to have become much more less dense thanks to the herbicide "So much for the weed infestation".

Morgan grinned but before she could say anything an automated voice spoke up once again "Warning! You have dispersed a dangerous solution without authorization, your actions have been logged and you may be subject to disciplinary measures...".

Claire raised an eyebrow and began to walk where they saw the plant pod dropped "Disciplinary measures? Looks like we did something a little to extreme".

Morgan nodded as she walked beside Claire "Yeah but it was necessary, I can't keep using ice magic to move around... it might seriously damage the structure of this place or break something we might need".

Claire nodded as they quickly arrived at the place they saw in the monitor and found the plant pod, Morgan walked up to it and bent down to pick up the electronic chip.

The little Stark smiled as she saw that it was the electronic chip they needed and immediately got up to give it to Claire, once Morgan walked up to Claire and gave the electronic chip to her, Claire didn't waste any time in swapping the Electronic chip with the one in Sherry's Electronic wristband.

The electronic wristband suddenly changed color from blue to purple showing the girls that they can now open Purple colored automated doors, Claire happily smiled while Morgan cheered and fist pump.

Both girls decided to now go back and leave this area by going back towards the control room they found before reaching this plant-infested lab, it didn't take them long to run back, and now that the place was free of plantlife they could actually reach a few computers that they ignored or couldn't reach.

Morgan being curious about the computers walked up to them and decided to see if there was anything useful in them, Claire decided to let Morgan do so and followed her to see what she might find.

Once on the computer, Morgan found an open file and frowned as she began to read its title at loud for Claire "Byton Cartwright's inbox... look like we now know who the electronic chip we found belongs to, should we check it out?".

Claire hummed as she thought about what to do for a few moments "We might as well and see what we can find out".

Morgan nodded and then continued to read out loud "Sender... William Birkin and the subject is a High Priority request? It seems like William wanted to increase security, let's see why... When did NEST become a nest for spies? Three last month and a fourth this month and those are just the ones we caught, step up security Cartwright or do you want to end up like your predecessor?

Also, I'll be restricting access to the West Area from today, ignore all requests from headquarters for information on 'G', those suits contribute nothing to this project anyways... wow Sherry's dad sounds very arrogant don't you think so Claire?".

Claire nodded "Yeah but it seems that this research facility had a very big problem with spies, that means they were working on something very big, and given that William mentioned 'G' that means that they were working on it here".

Morgan nodded and read the rest of the mail in the inbox "Hm? Looks like our use of the herbicide was registered and sent here... this Cartwright must be the head of security or something".

Claire nodded and then sighed "I'm almost afraid of what we'll find in the west area but we have to keep moving, let's go Morgan!".

Morgan nodded and then both she and Claire took off towards the central area to head towards the west area and investigate, it didn't take long for them to reach the central area and Claire immediately walked towards the electronic mechanism on the side.

Once she approached it lit up purple and Claire activated it, turning the bridge on and causing it to extend out from the central area towards the end of the west area, this gave access to it and both Morgan and Claire immediately headed that way.

As soon as they reached the end of the bridge they instantly walked over to the door which flashed purple and then opened, the girls cautiously walked inside and took a look.

They found a dark hallway and Claire took out her flashlight to take a better look, at the end of the hallway they found a ruined automated door, Morgan stared at it for a few seconds.

She then turned her gaze towards the floor and saw a dead body sitting against a wall in the hallway, this dead body seemed to be another one of those special forces soldiers they have found all over the place but what really caught Morgan's attention was the weird object it was holding.

Morgan walked up to the dead body and to make sure it wouldn't jump up and attack her, she stomped on the dead body's head popping it like a grape, and then took the object it was holding and began to inspect it.

Claire nervously laughed a bit, it wasn't the first time she had seen Morgan do this but it never got any less disturbing still Claire chose to ignore Morgan double-tapping dead bodies to make sure they weren't zombies and instead walked up to her.

Morgan hummed as she inspected the object she found "... This is a signal modulator, I think I've seen daddy use it before to maintain some of the equipment we have in the basement".

Claire raised an eyebrow "You think was can used in this lab?" Morgan nodded and then responded, "I think so, not on everything of course but for some things it should be possible".

Morgan then looked up and took a look around for a few seconds before she seemed to notice something towards the end of the hallway where a small sitting room is located, she then silently walked up to the sitting room with a curious Claire following her close behind.

As soon as she reached the sitting room, she then walked over to one of the walls where some sort of electronic mechanism lay on it, Morgan walked up to it and used the signal modulator on it.

Claire watched as Morgan worked her magic and used the odd machine for a little bit until she stopped and then push it inside the electronic mechanism, immediately the lights turned on and everything from computers and other electronic devices began to on.

Morgan grinned and then fist pumped, Claire giggled and gave her a head pat, and soon both girls began to look around for anything useful until Claire found a VCR with a video cassette already inside.

Curious about it Claire pushed on the play button and the video began to play on a TV hooked to the VCR to its side, she saw some kind of scientist putting something in a briefcase but the video was too dark and blurry so she couldn't see what the scientists were putting away inside the briefcase.

Suddenly the image got clearer and Claire could see that it was the Special Forces guys who were looking at the scientist from somewhere above him, Morgan heard the noise from the TV and walked over to Claire to see what she was watching.

Both girls then watched as the special forces guys confronted the scientists, one of the spoke up "Doctor Birkin, you'll come one with us quietly".

But the now-revealed scientist as William Birkin was having none of that and slowly stood up "You thought I didn't know you were coming? This is my life's work! I'm not handing over anything!".

The special forces guys didn't care and just continued on "We have our orders Doctor Birkin... I'll ask you one more time-".

But before the special forces guy could finish what he was going to say, William suddenly made an abrupt movement and someone shot him multiple times with their weapon.

The one who was speaking suddenly yelled out to his team "Stop! Hold your fire!".

The person who shot at William stopped and the doctor fell to the ground seemingly dead, one of the special forces guys walked up to William and checked his vitals but after a few moments he clicked his tongue and shook his head in frustration letting everyone know that he was dead.

The one who was speaking to William growled and then turned his head towards the one who fired his weapon at him "What the fuck were you thinking!? Our orders were to bring him in alive!".

The one who shot William stayed quiet while the one who spoke to William used his communicator to give out a report to someone "Were in sir... but we had a snafu, target resisted, we had to take him out..." there was silence for a few seconds which let the girls know that whoever was in the other line was talking, suddenly the special forces guy spoke up again "That's correct sir...".

There was silence again until the special forces guy spoke up again "Roger that, just the sample then.." the special forces guy bent down and grabbed the briefcase William had with him and then stood up again "Let's move!".

The special forces guys immediately moved out and left the dead body of William Birkin on the floor, the camera took a long look at William before being turned off.

Claire frowned and then turned her head towards Morgan who had her eyes narrowed "You were right... those special forces guys really did have something to do with what happened here but this just makes things more complicated than anything though...".

Morgan nodded but seemed rather annoyed by something "Yeah... but the thing that really worries me about this, is the fact that these special forces were sent by William's employer... Sherry and you said that Umbrella is a pharmaceutical company so why does it have a unit of highly trained and geared-up soldiers? and why was William so angry and paranoid?".

Claire rubbed her chin while she thought about what Morgan just told her, it is strange that Umbrella had a special forces unit but she couldn't imagine why a pharmaceutical company would need one, to begin with, "... It seems like they wanted to take William and the G-Virus to their boss, so perhaps he did something he wasn't authorized?".

Morgan shook her head "No I don't think that's it, daddy once mentioned how some people would sometimes use researchers and their creations for their own agendas and would take everything that was used in the creation of those inventions leaving the creators with nothing... no recognition, no money, no anything, it seems that was the case here and William saw it coming so he tried to save his life's work but well... you saw how that worked out".

Claire looked down and nodded, Umbrella was beginning to sound downright evil with everything they were finding out, just why were they creating all of these monsters? What was their goal with all of this, and just how far are they willing to go for those goals?

With what she just saw in the video it's very possible that there was nothing they weren't willing to do "I see why Chris went to Europe to investigate, Umbrella... all of this is not painting a good picture, I just hope he's okay...".

Morgan nodded "I'm sure he's fine Claire, with the way you fight and act I can tell he trained you well and that tells me that Chris is skilled and strong enough to handle himself... but what worries me the most out of all this is, just how did William get infected with the G-Virus? We just saw him die right now but he already attacked us plenty of times".

Claire's eyes were wide in realization "You're right! I completely forgot that Annette clearly called that creature William... do you think she had something to do with this?".

Morgan shook her head "I'm not sure, maybe Annette did something but without any proof, I can't really say that she did..." Morgan looked around and saw a computer nearby, curious she walked up to it and looked for any information in the computer " William Birkin's inbox? Hmm... let's see what we find here".

Claire nodded and Morgan then began to read aloud the recent emails in William's Inbox " a message from Jane Doyle... the subject is suspending research on G? Looks like this is why William began to suspect that something was going on".

Claire nodded while Morgan continued to read out loud "The Umbrella Corporation has decided to cease all research on 'G', which was ongoing in NEST underground laboratory, all funding for this project has been cut and laboratory director William Birkin has been removed from his post".

Both Claire and Morgan were even more confused now, why go after William if they decided to cancel the project? while they both thought about this Morgan continued to read out loud "Thank you for your mail, Dr. Birkin, top brass has expressed an interest in this evolving bioweapon you mentioned, do not worry about costs, our company is well-funded in the whole of the United States".

Claire narrowed her eyes "Bioweapon? That thing that William has become is a weapon!? What are these people thinking about making something like this?! In what sort of situation someone would need a monster like William has become?!".

Morgan nodded in agreement to Claire's statement but unfortunately as a Stark she knew exactly what was going on here "I agree with you Claire but you have to realize that something like an evolving creature would make for the perfect weapon if not for the military but in the black market as well... something like William and even the zombies would be a clean and controllable way to attack a whole country and wipe it out... this top brass is only thinking with their pockets and nothing else".

Claire frowned, what Morgan said made sense and she knew it but that didn't mean she liked it.

She had seen firsthand just how horrible these sorts of bioweapons are and it's not something she wished to see being used on anyone, Morgan continued to read "Looks like William completed the G-virus but was keeping Umbrella in the dark about the progress... which made William nervous because they obviously had been keeping an eye on everything he did and the fact that he was trying to sell it to government behind Umbrella's back was exposed".

Claire looked up and stared at the computer screen "This is why he panicked and tried to take the G-Virus, Umbrella found out what he was planning to do and sent the special forces unit to go get him and the G-Virus but this escalated from there on".

Morgan nodded and turn off the computer "Yes I think now we're clear on just what happened here but we still don't know how William became a monster and how the city became infested with bioweapons".

Claire and Morgan then stayed in silence for a bit while they thought about everything they just learned and ponder a few guesses of what they thought had happened here but they still lacked important information and they both knew it.

Without that information, whatever they could think about the situation was a pure guess, and right now for both of them, that was a waste of time.

Claire sighed and shook her head before addressing Morgan "Well let's keep going, I'm sure Sherry will wake up soon and I don't want to keep her waiting plus we don't know all the details yet so there's no need to think about all this right now".

Morgan nodded "Yeah your right but let's keep all of this in mind, I'm sure we'll find out more about what happened here".

Claire nodded and then both she and Morgan decided to keep going, so they walked over to the actual lab where research on the G-Virus was being performed before everything became chaos.

-----

After walking through various hallways and straightforward rooms the girls eventually reached the labs, luckily for both of them they didn't encounter any bioweapons so they didn't have to waste any time on their way to said labs.

Still, they were very cautious since they now knew that these labs were where everything started and they could end up finding some sort of other creature or who knows what else.

After going through the labs and looking for anything useful like ammo and other things Claire can use they also found a computer on and logged in, Morgan got curious and decided to read what she could to see if she can find anything useful.

So the little Stark walked over to the computer and began to go through whatever was on the screen "Research Diary? Let's see what we find here" Claire nodded while Morgan began to read out loud "Embryo Growth Observation... Subject 449, after the G-Embryo was implanted in the subject we made a 50cm incision from the chest to the abdomen and began our observation.

With the help of the medical team, the subject's consciousness level deteriorated and further observation was deemed unnecessary... the subject was then disposed of".

Claire frowned "G-Embryo?... So that's what attacked us in the sewers but it also sounds like they were doing human testing with the G-Virus as well".

Morgan nodded "Well the email we found in William's said that they had succeeded with their research so it's not surprising that they did human testing... let me keep reading and see what else we find out" Claire nodded while Morgan proceeded to read again "Breeding Rate Observation... Subject 501, the G-Virus was administered to subject 501.

501 mutated into G-form and was introduced into a group of 30 test subjects, after 2 hours and 36 minutes, it was observed that all but one of the test subjects had been implanted with an embryo... all subjects were disposed of.

It also seems that one of the subjects broke down and then kill itself... jeez how can people work in stuff like this?".

Claire shook her "I don't know Morgan, some people are just heartless I supposed...".

Morgan frowned but nodded in agreement and began to read again "T-Virus Resistance Experimentation... Subjects, 628, 639.

We administered the G-Virus to subject 628 who had shown slight resistance to the T-Virus, the virus was then introduced to subject 639, with whom 628 had a close relationship.

628 showed some signs of resistance but had been implanted with an embryo after 24 minutes, T-Virus resistance does nothing to stop the mental deterioration caused by the G-virus... T-Virus? There's another one of those viruses and they brought here to experiment with?".

Claire sighed and then tiredly rubbed her eyes "What the hell were these people thinking? Just what were they hoping to accomplish?".

Morgan shook her head "I don't know... at first I thought all of this was about money but now? I think there's something else going on here".

Morgan tiredly sighed "Let's go, Claire, there's nothing else useful in this computer and I think we should have a conversation with everyone about all of this when Sherry wakes up".

Claire nodded and both girls continued to investigate the rest of the labs, eventually, they found some sort of electronic safe, and being curious about it they decided to investigate.

However they couldn't open it no matter what they tried so after talking about it a bit Morgan decided to pry open the electronic safe, so Morgan walked up to it, and then as carefully as she could she opened it.

Both girls widen their eyes when they found out an antiviral agent inside for the G-Virus, Morgan even confirmed it by reading the labels on the flasks "An antiviral agent?... There's three in here too, Claire I'm going to take them all and have Granny Tsunade do some research on these, maybe we'll be able to create something to help this world with it someday".

Claire nodded and watched as Morgan put the antiviral agents into her Boosted Gear Inventory, she then smiled "I think we should go back to Sherry and the others now, I'm sure she should be awaking soon".

Morgan nodded with a smile "Yeah! Plus we have the electronic chip that should let us have access to most of the research lab" Claire smiled happily they were able to make headway with their little investigation plus the fact that they now knew more of what happened in this place made the trip worthwhile.

So both girls immediately left and headed back to their friends, however before they could even leave the door of the main lab they were in was locked which stopped them from leaving the lab.

Morgan narrowed her eyes in both annoyance and caution while Claire sighed and looked around confused as to what was going on, Morgan not wanting to waste any more time decided to just open the automated door her way.

So she pulled her arm back and then punched the door open sending it flying forward, Claire just giggled finding Morgan's impatience funny, Morgan however just grinned at her.

With the door now open both girls began to walk through the metal corridor towards the door that leads to the central area but as soon as they reached it something suddenly burst out from the ceiling and drop onto the metal corridor.

Both Claire and Morgan immediately turned around and glared as they watched William stoop up straight and growl at them.

Morgan couldn't help but frown at the evident changes he had gone through, he was large and bulkier plus his skin had grown some sort of biological armor no doubt that these changes were caused by their attacks against him a while ago and she bets everything in her treasure chest that his healing factor must be even faster than before now.

But before the girls could even do or say anything the door leading to the central area opened up and to their surprise, Annette stepped inside the labs limping, she saw William and moved towards him "William! This ends now!".

Annette was holding some kind of weapon both Claire and Morgan haven't seen before and then suddenly shot at William, whatever was shot from the weapon hit William and splashed him with some sort of white liquid.

Whatever Annette had shot it with seemed to have been very effective against him because William roared in pain and drop on his limbs, after groaning in pain it then fully dropped on the floor and stopped moving.

Both Annette and Claire approached it while Claire still pointed her weapon at William while Annette just stared at him in silence, Morgan however slowly approached William carefully and cautiously.

Claire bent down and even though she knew that it was Sherry's father she still decided to ask "Just what exactly is this thing? Is it really William Birkin?".

It was a good question because both Morgan and Claire had clearly seen William die, Annette nervously pointed her weapon at William and answered Claire's question "That was my husband...".

Annette suddenly looked away and seemed to be lost in thought as Morgan approached Claire and stood beside her to keep an eye on her, Annette then began to explain how she had found William on the floor seemingly dead only for him to suddenly get up and begin to walk away from her while screaming how 'G' was his.

It seems like William had infected himself with the G-Virus before he was attacked and his death triggered the virus, Annette shook her head and sighed "I should have killed him when I had the chance... I don't know why but I... I just couldn't do it".

Morgan sighed, she didn't like Annette much but she could understand her reluctance to kill her husband, Claire looked up at Annette "He was your husband...".

Annette turned her head towards Claire "Honestly... we were more married to our work than each other" after saying that Annette sadly shook her head.

Morgan frowned since to her it seemed rather stupid to be so obsessed with work, especially work that was doing something as horrid as the G-Virus, Claire sighed "But what about Sherry? How could you leave her all alone? and while Raccon City burned to hell".

Morgan nodded and actually looked rather angry "That's right!? We found Sherry all by herself and scared out of her mind looking for you!".

Annette flinched a bit from Morgan's tone of voice but recovered quickly "I couldn't let my daughter grow up in a world with G-Virus in i-".

Claire however cut her off while Morgan glared at Annette not liking her answer "But that's no excuse to leave her-" Claire was caught off guard when William suddenly lashed out.

Morgan quickly grabbed hold of Claire and jumped back with her however she couldn't help but growl in anger at the fact that her anger towards Annette had distracted her, Annette however was too slow to react and was grabbed by William's heavily mutated arm and got squeezed.

Morgan landed away from William only to have to dodge when William threw Annette towards them, having Claire in her arms prevented Morgan from being able to catch Annette who ended up violently crashing against the wall behind Morgan and Claire.

Claire immediately ran towards Annette as soon as Morgan let go of her "Annette!" Annette shakily began to load her weapon again while Morgan took a defensive position nearby to make sure to keep both of them safe.

Annette loaded her weapon and said "I got this!" both Morgan and Claire watched as Annette stood up as quickly as her injured body allowed her and began to limp toward William.

But then William began to mutate and evolved before their very eyes, Morgan's eyes widen in surprise as William's power shot rocketed it so suddenly while Annette gasped and pointed her weapon at William "I'm sorry William...".

She then shot William again and once he was splashed by whatever liquid was on the bullet he growled and dropped to his knees, Annette suddenly dropped to her knees as well and began to grunt in pain.

Claire turned her head toward Morgan who nodded at her "No we got this!" Claire walked up to Annette Annette weakly stood up as Morgan activated some control by the door leading to the central area and the whole metal platform began to lower itself while sirens began to wail loudly all around the chamber.

Claire walked over to the platform as it began to go down while Morgan jumped down and join her, Annette suddenly yelled at them "You don't know what you're dealing with!".

Morgan just scoffed while Claire suddenly yelled back "I have a pretty damn good idea!" Annette frowned but then decided to speak up "Whatever you do, don't stop until it's finished!".

Claire looked up towards Annette and nodded "Trust me! This ends now!" Morgan then spoke up to Claire "I just sent a telepathic communication to Hope! Sherry is awake and the girls are on their way here to help!".

Claire smiled "Great!... So how tough is this going to be?" Morgan frowned "Not going to lie but William's power shot up at least to high-end ultimate class, almost hit Super Devil Class actually and I bet his healing factor and endurance shot up to the roof too".

Claire sighed and nodded "So super tough then" Morgan nodded but grinned at Claire "I'll be the Tank, you stay away from William and shot him from afar, as soon as the girls get here we can finish this together once and for all".

Claire nodded while William got up and roared as an automated voice suddenly spoke up "Class A breach detected lab quarantine until the target is neutralized".

Morgan grinned "Looks like we're stuck down here until William is gone! Let's end this Claire! Our friends will be here soon!".

Claire nodded and got ready for what was possibly the toughest fight she ever had but she wasn't afraid, not when she had Morgan at her side and soon enough the rest of her friends will join the fight as well.