Chapter 5: Raccoon City's Upheaval (Part 3)
"Doctor, hand over the G-virus." In the depths of Umbrella Corporation's underground laboratory, five heavily armed soldiers surrounded William Birkin, who was originally the master of this lab.
"Never." Despite being held at gunpoint, William's first instinct upon hearing someone demand his life's work was to protect it.
Rat-a-tat-tat.
Before William could touch the container holding the G-virus, the surrounding soldiers opened fire. William could only let out a scream before falling backward onto the lab table, shattering the test tubes and equipment on it.
"Sorry, Doctor." The leading soldier said this to the fallen William before checking the silver alloy case on the lab table. Confirming the contents were their target, he locked the case and picked it up.
"Objective secured, retreat." The five soldiers quickly moved towards the lab door.
"I won't let you succeed." Just as they left, the supposedly dead William woke up. Despite being shot dozens of times, he was still alive, an incredible feat.
William grabbed a syringe containing the G-virus. After a moment of hesitation, his eyes filled with determination, and he injected himself with it.
Roar.
As the G-virus entered his body, William let out a roar, his body beginning to swell.
"William, no!" Annette, who had rushed over after hearing the gunfire, cried out when she saw what was happening.
"William!" After a brief hesitation, Annette ran to another lab to get the G-virus antidote.
"Head to the control room immediately, activate the self-destruct system, and then evacuate." The team carrying the G-virus received new orders from their superiors.
"Understood." The team leader nodded.
Bang, bang, bang.
At that moment, the ground started shaking. The team turned to see a monstrous creature charging at them.
"Open fire!" The leader barely finished his command before being thrown against the wall by the creature, knocking him out and sending the case flying.
Rat-a-tat-tat.
The other soldiers fired at the creature, but the bullets seemed to have no effect. Though these were elite mercenaries, they panicked in the face of a monster impervious to bullets and were quickly taken down.
After dealing with the soldiers, the creature ignored the G-virus case on the ground and walked towards another part of the lab.
"Damn it, William. Deploy the UBCS. I want that G-virus back," shouted an Umbrella executive, watching the scene through the mercenaries' body cameras. He angrily slammed his fist on the table and issued orders.
Through the cameras, it was clear that the creature was William Birkin.
"Yes, sir."
"William, it looks like you failed. But this works out perfectly." In a secret room, Wesker watched the scene on a screen and smirked.
"You can act now. The G-virus is at..." Wesker made a call and gave the virus's approximate location to the person on the other end.
"Understood," came a woman's deep voice.
"Be quick. The UBCS is being deployed en masse, and Sergei has messed up everything. This city is no longer safe," Wesker warned.
"Spencer, it seems even God wants your end this time. I don't need to lift a finger. Now I just need to wait patiently," Wesker mused, his sunglasses reflecting a red glow in the dark.
"Requesting backup! Requesting backup!" Despite their advanced equipment, the USS unit suffered heavy casualties upon entering the underground lab. They underestimated William's mutated strength.
Moreover, the lab's automatic defense systems, along with Lickers and Hunters released by William's rampage, wreaked havoc.
Annette activated the defense system and sealed the lab, giving the mercenaries no chance to escape.
To prevent the mutated William from escaping and seeking Sherry, Annette used her authority to trap William in the lab, sacrificing many researchers and guards.
Annette's actions also temporarily thwarted Umbrella's higher-ups from accessing the lab doors, despite their higher clearance.
Umbrella had taken precautions to prevent bioweapon leaks. Each lab was equipped with a self-destruct system to eliminate evidence and ensure bioweapons didn't escape.
Umbrella's executives weren't fools or madmen intent on destroying the world. They researched bioweapons for profit and personal agendas, not to annihilate humanity.
Even when attempting to seize William's G-virus, they planned to activate the self-destruct system afterward, eradicating all traces. What they didn't foresee was William's mutation.
The executives had envisioned killing the traitor William, retrieving the G-virus, destroying the lab, and eliminating any survivors at the mansion. This would have contained the virus outbreak, allowing Umbrella to recover elsewhere.
This whole situation stemmed from the Ecliptic Express incident, initiated by Marcus. If not for his leech virus attack on the train and training facility, Umbrella's actions might have remained secret, and Raccoon City would still be the happy place it once was.
The zombie and Cerberus attacks around Raccoon City were also Marcus's doing, dragging the city into chaos.
James Marcus was one of Umbrella's founders, betrayed and assassinated by Spencer, Wesker, and William Birkin years ago.
The reason was simple: Marcus conducted virus experiments on Umbrella employees, a line Spencer, Wesker, and Birkin weren't willing to cross. They still performed human experiments but didn't target their own staff, a dangerous practice given the employees' families and connections.
Umbrella had always conducted human experiments since its inception, targeting overlooked groups like vagrants, illegal immigrants, and orphans. Partnering with the government provided a steady supply of prisoners for testing, negating the need to risk using their staff.
Billy, a death row inmate, was sent to Raccoon City as a test subject, though Marcus's attack inadvertently saved his life, leading to his demise at Billy and Rebecca's hands.
Now, it was William's turn to face Umbrella's betrayal, dragging Raccoon City down with him.
"Damn it, those bastards. Cough, cough." In a remote castle, Spencer, sitting in a wheelchair and connected to an IV, almost spat blood upon hearing the latest report from his subordinates.
Umbrella had grown into a global enterprise with numerous branches and secret bases. Now, just as their plan neared completion, this disaster struck. Spencer was furious, especially since his time was running out.
In this world, Umbrella's story differed significantly. Spencer and his two partners had brought the Progenitor Virus to Dr. Abraham Erskine, a renowned scientist of their time.
Dr. Erskine's genius led to the creation of the Super Soldier Serum, resulting in Red Skull and Captain America. The plan was to mass-produce super soldiers to fight the fascists' advanced weaponry.
Unfortunately, Dr. Erskine was assassinated after Captain America's transformation, leaving no formula behind, just one vial of serum.
Scientists failed to reverse-engineer the serum from this vial, wasting it in the process.
However, they did create a weaker version, far inferior to the original but the best they could achieve, though it posed significant risks.
While many focused on Dr. Erskine's serum, Spencer and his partners turned to the Progenitor Virus, knowing it was key to the serum's creation.
Umbrella was founded with this knowledge, but despite enormous resources and efforts, Spencer never replicated the serum's side effects-free benefits.
Spencer's true goal was immortality, hoping to become a god ruling humanity through virus research.
As time passed with little progress, Spencer grew increasingly desperate, relying on Umbrella's advanced science to sustain his life, a temporary fix at best.
In this context, Umbrella's potential collapse was less concerning than the halt of their research.
Spencer's rage was compounded by Dr. Erskine's secrecy with the serum formula. After Red Skull's transformation, Spencer sought Dr. Erskine, who rebuffed him.
Spencer, however, was a resourceful man. After his initial anger, he quickly devised a plan to mitigate the crisis and minimize Umbrella's downfall.
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