26 Resident Evil 1 Part 3

Word count 10,610

With introductions made and everyone now brought up to speed on everything that had been discovered thus far, the group moved on, killing zombies and Hunters, as well as avoiding traps with relative ease.

Chris even found a flamethrower along the way, which would no doubt be useful later on.

And then a giant black spider showed up.

"Spiders." grumbled Rebecca. "Why is it always spiders?"

Jill grunted in agreement.

And then everyone unleashed all of their firepower on the giant spider.

Followed by all the other giant spiders who showed up.

When they finally finished killing everything crawling their way, Aeon nodded. "Behold, the power of friendship! And superior firepower, that too."

Jill snorted. "You couldn't avoid the one-liner, could you?" she asked with amusement.

Aeon huffed. "Of course not! If we are going to kill giant monsters, we might as well do it with style."

Jill and Rebecca shook their heads at the same time, before glancing at one another.

A moment of shared fond exasperation was exchanged, born from shared experiences, before the group kept moving.

Their eyes widened however, when a stationary giant boulder at the end of the path suddenly rolled down towards them.

"Quickly! To the passage on the left!" shouted Aeon, running for it and being swiftly followed by everyone.

Chris had to jump to get to safety in time, and he got up from the ground with a curse.

"What the hell is up with this place? Did Umbrella watch Indiana Jones and thought 'Giant rolling boulder! Best security system ever!'?"

Aeon snorted. "It's Umbrella. Honestly, it probably went exactly like that."

Chris grunted. "The worst part is, I can't help but agree with you..."

"Boys, please curse Umbrella's name later. We first need to get out of this damn mansion before we can think about getting back on Umbrella for everything we went through." Interrupted Jill.

The two men nodded, and they all returned to carefully moving deeper into the cave system.

They soon found a room where, after moving a specific statue to a specific point in the room, they were able to unlock a secret safe with an item that allowed them to activate an underground elevator.

Just as they were about to take it, they heard a nearby shout.

"Jill! And… wow, you found yourself a full team, Jill!" Barry declared with a smile, looking at all the people gathered in the room.

Everyone welcomed Barry with smiles, though Chris's was a little strained.

Barry noticed, and winced.

"Chris… I'm sorry. I just-"

Chris held up his right hand. "We'll talk about what you did later, after we leave this death trap of a mansion. For now…"

He hesitated, before closing his eyes and sighing deeply.

"For now, let's just focus on getting out of here."

Barry nodded, still looking remorseful. "Thanks, Chris."

Chris grunted. "Make no mistake, Barry. We will have a long talk about everything you know. But not here, and not now."

Barry smiled nonetheless. "You got it. So, with that being said, any idea about what we will find down there?" he questioned, looking at the elevator.

"Only one way to find out." declared Jill, and she activated the elevator and they all went deeper underground.

Once the elevator had stopped however, they all heard a distant, inhuman moan.

"What the hell was that?" shouted Barry, frowning hard.

Chris however, blanched.

"Shit." he cursed.

Everyone turned to look at him, and he grimaced, before explaining that there was this human/monster thing he had come across in the cabin in the woods a while back that isn't affected at all by bullets.

Jill and Aeon threw one another a meaningful glance, and Jill shivered slightly at how lucky they had been that said monster hadn't been around when they were in the cabin themselves.

"Right." declared Aeon. "I vote that we all should make our way quickly through whatever we have to deal with down there. All in agreement?"

There was, to Jill's absolute lack of surprise, no complaint to be found.

Thankfully, they were able to quickly cross the cave tunnels, even if Chris had to give up his Flamethrower to unlock a mechanism which itself unlocked a door, to come across-

"What the fuck?" Jill shouted, stopping dead in her tracks at the sight of the room before them.

Similar curses came from everyone as they took in the room, which looked half like a child's room due to the dolls spread all over the place and half like a torture chamber, with candles everywhere lighting up the place.

Aeon took a long look around, before grunting. "I've seen creepier, but it is certainly up there on the list."

Rebecca glanced at him. "Remember when I mentioned wanting to know where you come from so that I would know where not to go? Yeah, I'm going to repeat that question, please."

Aeon chuckled darkly. "Oh don't worry, that… nightmarish place isn't accessible… usually. And besides… I already dealt with the worst horrors found there."

And then he kept going, investigating a jewelry box nearby for a moment before continuing on his way without another word.

The S.T.A.R.S. members exchanged long looks, before Rebecca shrugged.

"Don't think too hard about what he said. He does that sometimes. Honestly, I prefer not to worry about it. After all, if he's already done with whatever he went through there, then how bad can it still be right now?"

With that said, she followed after Aeon, the others doing the same not long after.

After finding a ladder going upwards, they found themselves back in the woods in a part of the cabin that was previously closed.

Chris looked around, then looked at Aeon.

"Alright, so we should probably not stay here for too long, so where to next?"

Aeon took out an hexagonal emblem, and showed it to them.

"Back to the entrance of the mansion. There is a door there that I believe I can now open with this."

Chris nodded, but he still sighed.

"I hope that this time it's the last door we need to open to find our way out of there. I'm getting tired of this place…"

There was a chorus of agreement from every S.T.A.R.S. member, and Aeon took point with a chuckle.

"Don't worry, I believe that it is the last door we need to worry about. Hopefully..." he replied, murmuring that last word at the end.

Good news: the door opened, as hoped.

Bad news: the inhuman moans could be heard again, this time unquestionably right where they were headed.

Even Aeon frowned at the sound, and Jill caught a moment of hesitation in his eyes before it turned into determination.

"Chris. You said that thing was immune to bullets, right?" he asked.

Chris nodded. "I used up a whole clip on its head. It barely seemed bothered."

Aeon kept staring forward, into the darkness where the moans could be heard, before he nodded to himself.

"Right. If needed… then I guess I'll have to bring out the big guns to grant that thing mercy."

Rebecca blinked, before her eyes went wide.

"You mean-!"

She stopped, glancing at the other S.T.A.R.S. members.

Jill frowned. It was obvious that she was about to say something, but then held herself back for some reason.

Did Aeon reveal to Rebecca something she wasn't sure they were allowed to know?

Then again, with all the betrayal and death tonight, Rebecca being cautious made sense...

Aeon nodded. "Yes. If it comes down to it, I'll do whatever is required to put it down."

Then he began to walk down the stairs before them.

"Now come on. We need to keep going."

Jill threw a glance at Aeon, before following him.

She hadn't known him for too long, but it was obvious that something was bothering him, and that yet another one of his secrets was about to be revealed.

And if the looks Rebecca kept sending Aeon were anything to go by, at least one of their group knew what it was…

And she was concerned about what was going to happen.

Rebecca Chambers glanced at Aeon with concern as they made their way through the narrow cave they were in.

There was a grimness in his eyes, a tension in his posture that usually wasn't present.

Not even the Tyrant or the Queen Leech they had fought had caused him to be so grim, and that worried her.

But then again if he was about to use his powers when all surviving S.T.A.R.S. members were going to be watching, maybe he was just worried about their reactions?

She didn't think that it was that humanoid monster that truly made him concerned. Sure, it could take a lot of bullets apparently, but he had a grenade launcher, and she knew first-hand how capable he was with it in his hands...

Those thoughts stayed on her mind all the way until they arrived at an underground chamber, with a stone coffin in the middle of the room chained to the four different corners of the stone platform they were on.

Just as Barry finished coming into the new room, the humanoid monster arrived from the other side, the door closing behind her.

The monster screamed, several tentacles coming out of her body, and they all stared in shocked horror at the abomination before them.

She noticed that Aeon was actually just as badly affected, as he kept staring at the monster with…

Wait, were his eyes glowing?

"Open fire!" shouted Chris, and they all started firing on the monster at once, who began screaming loudly… but yet seemed utterly unbothered by the weapons firing at it.

"Aeon! Some help would be nice!" yelled Jill, and Rebecca blinked, finally noticing that Aeon was still staring at the monster before them, this time with an expression of… Sadness? Pity?

Or was it hatred?

Whatever it was, it disappeared when Jill shouted his name, determination taking place instead.

"Cease fire!" he shouted back.

They all jerked, looking at him in shock.

"Aeon, what the fu-"

"Cease. Fire." he repeated firmly. "I'll handle it. Your weapons did nothing, anyway."

Rebecca frowned, but turned grim when she noticed the same. All of their firepower did nothing, whether they used Magnums, shotguns, or even grenades.

Before her eyes, she could see a bullet wound heal and disappear in seconds, not even a scar left to show for it.

Aeon stepped forward, putting his guns back into his coat.

Rebecca noticed Jill looking at him with concern.

"Aeon, are you sure-"

She stopped speaking, and the reason why was obvious: Aeon had extended his right hand, and a massive scythe had appeared in it.

"Lisa Trevor." he said softly. "Umbrella has taken everything from you. Your parents, your bright future, even your very humanity. All that is left now is the half-remembered dream of a happy childhood, turned into endless nightmarish reality where you were turned into a monster, constantly seeking the family that was taken from you. Even now, your madness has brought you to wear your own mother's face as a mask, so that you may never be separated from her… but a shred of your humanity yet remains, letting you know that is not how you will find the distant joy that you once knew. Your family is long dead, yet you remain, neither truly dead nor alive, kept in constant suffering both physical and emotional. But no more. I am Aeon, the Good Hunter, and it is my duty to grant mercy to those who can only find it in death. As my mentor Gehrman once did to the lost souls of Yharnam, may his blade grant you peace and free you from this terrible nightmare you were condemned to, child."

And with that Aeon moved, his body going so fast that one moment he was walking, the next he was in front of the monster, his scythe cutting through the monster's neck in less time than a blink of an eye.

For a moment, all was silent beside the dull, meaty "thud" sound from the decapitated head hitting the floor, the body following suit a second later.

Then Aeon let out a deep sigh, took a step back, and extended his left hand towards the corpse before him, his right hand still holding the scythe high.

The world darkened for a moment, as what looked like a black hole suddenly appeared over the corpse of the monster, and a second later it disappeared, decapitated head and body gone, not even a drop of blood left to show the monster was ever there at all.

Aeon nodded in grim satisfaction, the scythe disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.

Then he waved his right hand, the closed door on the other side of the room breaking and flying off with a loud sound of broken metal, and he took out his guns once more.

He finally turned, staring back at the shocked faces of all the other S.T.A.R.S. members.

He smiled sadly.

"My apologies, but I needed to do my duty, and I felt that she deserved at least one speech before her death."

Then his smile widened, the grimness in his eyes disappearing slightly to be replaced by a flicker of humour.

"I assume you all have questions?"

It was at that point that all S.T.A.R.S. members finally broke free of the shock they had fallen under.

Non-stop shouting and requests for answers promptly followed.

Despite the utter chaos around her, Rebecca couldn't help but feel a bit of amusement.

She didn't know if he learnt it from his mentor, but Aeon truly had a gift for being overly dramatic…

It took some time, but eventually, everyone returned to some semblance of calm.

Naturally, Aeon didn't answer the questions about him first, but instead those about the monster he had killed.

"Her name was Lisa Trevor." he explained. "She was the daughter of the man who built this place. However, her family was considered a liability, and they were captured by Umbrella and used as test subjects. Her father managed to escape that fate, but died trying to leave the mansion. Lisa and her mother, on the other hand, were given experimental strains of the Progenitor Virus, which the t-Virus was derived from. Her mother died, but Lisa survived, and was experimented further, though they eventually decided to discard her. She survived that too however, and became… that thing you saw. The coffin in this room belongs to her mother, and what little humanity that was left in her craved her parents, which led her to haunt this place, seeking a warmth that had died with her mother. Thus, she was left to live in a cursed state, barely sane and worthy of being called living, but incapable of dying because of all the viruses that had been injected into her."

He sighed. "As for what just happened and how I did it…"

He looked at Rebecca, who smiled encouragingly at him.

With a nod, he began retelling the same story he had told her.

About the great city of Yharnam, and the discovery its people made about the "Blood of the Gods."

Of the Healing Church, the research into the Arcane, and their desire to become greater than humans… and the resulting Plague of Beasts.

He told of them of the Hunters, of how he became one at a time where the city had essentially fallen to the beasts, of how he fought countless monsters greater and more terrifying than those created by Umbrella to try and save those who could still be saved.

He told them of the rivers of blood and hills of corpses he walked through, and how the more he saw, the more he learnt, the more beasts he killed, the more one thing became clear to him: Humanity needed protectors to save it from the greed and folly of the worst of their kind, and how, once he finally found a way of stopping the plague of Beasts, he decided to keep fighting, to keep Hunting, for the sake of the innocents and the defenceless in the world who could never hope to fight and win against nightmares born from the worst recesses of human imagination.

But he could, he had, and so here he was, still fighting the good fight against all who would threaten mankind, whether out of greed, megalomania, or any other reason that someone would help see the world be drowned under endless tides of monsters.

Needless to say, no one spoke a word during his speech, and even when he was done her fellow S.T.A.R.S. members kept staring at him in shock.

It was Jill who finally recovered first, blinking once before shaking her head with a sigh.

"That's just… Damn, Aeon. Just… damn."

Chris snorted. "Yeah, what she said. That's a hell of a backstory you got there. If it had been even a day ago, I wouldn't have believed you, but…"

"The literal walking dead all over the place convinced you to keep an open mind about just how crazy the world secretly is?" replied Aeon with amusement.

Chris huffed a laugh. "That's one way to put it, yes."

Aeon nodded. "There was a time where I was no different… and then I ended up in Yharnam. Needless to say, I reconsidered a lot of what I thought reality was like pretty quickly at that point."

"No different than us now, is it?" Jill mused, looking thoughtful.

Aeon shrugged. "Pretty much, but at least you are all trained professionals. I was a civilian who never so much as held a gun in my life when I arrived in Yharnam. Hell, I was literally given a gun, an axe, and then told to, and I quote here: 'Go out and kill a few beasts, it's for your own good!'"

They blinked in shock.

"Wait, seriously? You had to go fight monsters deadlier than anything we met so far on your own, with no training, and no orders beyond 'Go kill stuff!'?!" Jill exclaimed.

Aeon nodded. "Yup. My mentor Gehrman was many things, but he certainly was a firm believer that experience was the best teacher. To be fair, there were some extenuating circumstances, but that was exactly what happened."

Jill whistled, and everyone seemed to agree.

Here they were, professionals in their own fields, and they were all struggling to survive this place.

And here Aeon was, telling them he went through an even worse situation as his first combat experience, on his own, and actually managed to not only survive, but also successfully save a number of people all by himself?

"And no one helped you out?" asked Chris.

Aeon hummed. "I can count the number of times someone fought by my side in those days with the fingers of only one hand."

He paused. "Probably with some spare fingers left, too."

"Damn." Chris cursed softly.

Aeon shrugged. "It was really horrible, but humans are pretty good at adapting to their environment, so… well, I adapted. Besides, it wasn't all that bad."

He smiled brightly. "I met the woman who would become my wife there, after all. So in the end, it was well worth it!"

Barry huffed a laugh, having stayed silent until now.

"Family's important, huh?" he said, and Aeon nodded.

Barry grunted. "Well, I'll be honest. All this Arcane stuff, Old Blood, and people turning into monsters? That's way beyond me. But I can respect someone going through hell because it's the right thing to do, and even more when someone you love is waiting for you at the end. So I don't care what you are, or what you can do. As far as I can tell, you're a good man who ended up in an absolutely shitty situation, and managed to thrive despite that, and then decided if you saved the day once, you might be able to do it again if the world needed it. And considering where we are and what we are surrounded by, you were entirely right to be worried. So you're good in my book."

Aeon smiled gratefully. "I appreciate that, though you can be certain I still have a lot more secrets than what I just told you."

Jill scoffed, smirking.

"By now, I can't say I'm surprised by that. But Barry's right. You went through hell, and came back stronger. So what if you are a bit more than human? Personally, I think that it's great that the one who actually ends up a superhuman is the one with an actual conscience, instead of anyone like those at Umbrella. It goes to show that the universe might have a sense of fairness after all. There's just one question I feel I need to ask: that plague of beasts, it's caused by this… Old Blood, right? Since you have it, does that mean…"

"Nope. I found a way to remove that particular risk entirely, so no worries. I'm not going to turn into a beast, no matter what." he replied, and there was clear triumph in his voice at his words.

Jill nodded, relieved, and honestly so was Rebecca.

The idea of Aeon turning into a bloodthirsty beast was… horrifying.

And immensely terrifying, for that matter.

Actually…

"Say, Aeon, you mentioned that you would be willing to train me as a Hunter. Does that mean you would give me the Old Blood, too?"

The rest of S.T.A.R.S. blinked at her question, but Aeon smiled. "Correct. I'll give you some of mine though, so no worries about beasthood. You'll get all the benefits and none of the drawbacks. So super strength, speed, agility, etc. There are also other benefits, such as, yes, magic." he finished, smirking.

"I could use magic." Rebecca said flatly.

"Yup."

She nodded slowly.

"Yeah, okay. Where can I sign? Because I feel like I should owe you my soul for all of this or something."

"Don't worry, I'll write the contract for that later." he replied calmly.

"... I was joking."

"So was I! … Mostly."

"Mostly?" questioned Jill.

Aeon shrugged. "Well I can actually grant immortality to anyone who becomes a Hunter, so… In any case, we should keep going!" he finished cheerfully, before turning around and walking onwards.

There was a long moment of silence in the room.

"Did I hear wrong, or did he actually say 'immortality'?" slowly questioned Chris.

"I heard the same." replied Jill.

They all looked at one another.

"We are totally going to question him at length once we are out of here, right?" ask Chris.

"Oh, absolutely." replied Jill.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to read the fine print before signing away my soul." deadpanned Rebecca.

That earned her a few snorts, though they nonetheless soon followed Aeon.

They did need to keep going to find an escape route, after all.

Jill Valentine tried to stay focused on her surroundings, but she knew it was a futile effort at best.

Even as they all took another elevator that brought them back up above ground, she kept throwing glances at Aeon.

And how could she not? The latest revelations were…

Shocking would be putting it mildly.

First zombies, then giant monsters, now magic too?

At this point, she supposed the world really was a much bigger and stranger place than she ever thought it to be.

At least, the magic user in question is on our side… she thought.

Well, she certainly hoped he was.

The idea of fighting Aeon for any reason did not sit well with her.

And not only because she was attracted to him, but also because he had saved her life several times tonight.

She quite literally owed him her life several times over, and it would really feel wrong to fight him after that.

But the problem was that Aeon was just full of secrets.

Maybe it was natural, since it was looking more and more like he was fighting a shadow war for the sake of the world against corporations like Umbrella, but it did make her wonder about what else he was hiding from them.

Still, overall she trusted him to be a good person, much like Barry did, and that was what mattered most.

Especially while they were still trapped inside this place.

Speaking of, Aeon was inspecting a wide circular pool of water and-

Oh.

The water just drained out, revealing a secret stairway.

Going down the stairs, they then took the elevator at the end, finding themselves into what appeared to be yet another underground facility.

As they killed the zombies there, Aeon showed them a MO disk that he had found, hopefully holding useful information on it.

They then kept going, finding a room with several x-rays of the insides of a person, and a computer with a message from one of the researchers there informing his girlfriend named Ada that he had hidden the code of the doors on said x-rays and that if she was still there in the facility, she could use that code to find a way out.

"Well, this 'Ada' person is probably dead by now." remarked Jill.

Aeon shook his head.

"I doubt that. If I'm right, this is referring to Ada Wong, who's currently one of the best spies in the world. I had heard that she was investigating this place for her employers, a group only known as The Organization who seeks to become the next Umbrella, so that poor bastard probably got seduced and then got used as an information leak on Umbrella's research."

They all looked at him, then at the computer.

"Well, damn. Sounds like a charming woman." Barry said sarcastically.

Aeon chuckled. "As beautiful as she is deadly. Now, let's stop wasting time, shall we?"

Despite his words, they still took the time to investigate nearby rooms before going for the way out, finding some papers on the research of a type of zombie known as the "Crimson Heads," like the one Jill and Aeon killed in the cemetery.

A nearby computer also allowed them to open the previously locked doors, and investigation in those rooms revealed a fax where Umbrella's leadership talked about the fact that they had underestimated the sheer size of the outbreak of the t-Virus, and that they now needed to do damage control.

They then went on at length about the various measures that they would take, most of which heavily implied that Umbrella had an impressive amount of pull in the local authorities.

Needless to say, no one was surprised by that by now.

From the room they were now in, they were able to unlock one of the previously locked doors, revealing a small conference room.

Chris went to the projector, and inserted something in it that activated-

"Umbrella's Official Bio-Organic Weapons Reports." read Aeon. "Damn Chris, you found a gold mine here."

He nodded. "True, but I have a feeling we already know first-hand about everything this can tell us…"

"Only one way to find out." Aeon replied, and they all watched the various projected slides in silence.

The first was about project "Cerberus," talking about dogs infected by the t-Virus.

The second was "Neptune," regarding a shark that's infected by the t-Virus.

The third was about the Hunters, and the fourth about the Tyrants.

Rebecca and Aeon gave a bit more data on that one, as they both had experience with those.

The fifth slide, however, was a picture of the Bio-Organic Weapons Research Group's Development Staff, and the man on the rightmost corner was unquestionably Albert Wesker.

"Well, as if we needed any more proof…" commented Jill dryly.

Chris scowled. "We will make him pay for this."

"Then let's keep going. We are done here." declared Aeon, and he messed with a nearby device which caused a nearby wall to slide up.

"Umbrella really loves their secret rooms, don't they?" muttered Rebecca, earning a smirk from Aeon.

Investigating the newly-revealed room, they found a key to the labs, and a device that allowed Jill to finally see the film from Kenneth's camera.

The team watched in grim silence as Kenneth was attacked by a zombie, his shots doing nothing as he kept firing towards the zombie's heart.

Eventually, his gun ran out of ammo, and the zombie caught him.

The result was as predictable as it was gruesome.

"Fuck." Cursed Chris softly once the film was over, rubbing his forehead with his right hand.

"Yeah." agreed Jill, because what was there left to say?

"Come on, let's leave. For now, we should focus on escaping this place, before thinking of avenging the dead." Aeon said, and the team silently left the room.

As they continued, killing any zombies and monsters they came across, including some insect-looking ones that Aeon and Rebecca mentioned having to fight in the now destroyed Umbrella training center, and after reactivating the main elevator of the facility they were in, they all went inside, a feeling of anticipation coursing through them all.

"Wesker should be somewhere close by once we leave this elevator. From the maps we found, we have almost reached the roof of this place which has a helipad. All we have to do is signal Brad, and we'll be out of here." Chris said, checking his weapons, looking forward to the confrontation to come.

"Be careful." warned Aeon. "Wesker is dangerous, and I believe he will be in the Tyrant lab. It's one of the rooms on the way to the roof. If he is, he might be stupid enough to try and use it against us, believing that it can be controlled. Needless to say, he is wrong."

"Great. More Tyrants…" grumbled Rebecca, shotgun held tight.

Aeon chuckled. "Hey, you kicked the ass of one by yourself before, so with all of us here? It'll be a breeze!"

Rebecca smiled.

"Are you going to walk up to it and shoot it point-blank in the face again?"

He shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I admit, I'd like to fight something with a bit of a challenge, but honestly, not even Umbrella's Tyrants can really put up a good fight compared to what I dealt with in the past. Not until they become Super-Tyrant, at least. Then all bets are off once they begin to mutate into utterly massive, out of control, rampaging monsters."

"As fascinating and mildly terrifying as this conversation is, we have arrived." pointed Jill, noticing the elevator slowing down.

"Right. One last weapons check, everyone, and then unto the breach we go!" Aeon ordered, beginning to check his weapons, and the others followed suit.

Once they were all ready, they left the elevator, entering a nearby room where they finally found Albert Wesker at a terminal with a tank containing a Tyrant inside.

"Wesker!" called Chris, weapon at the ready.

Wesker didn't even turn, still typing away at the terminal.

"So you've come. Chris, you make me proud. But of course, you are one of my men."

Chris scoffed. "Thanks." he replied with heavy sarcasm.

Wesker finally moved, aiming his gun at him with one hand while the other still remained on the terminal.

"Why, Wesker? Why eliminate S.T.A.R.S.?" questioned Jill, her own weapon aimed at him.

"Believe it or not, that has always been Umbrella's intention. S.T.A.R.S. were Umbrella's… no, rather my little piggies. The tyrant virus leaked, polluting this whole place, and unfortunately, I had to give up my lovely members of S.T.A.R.S." he calmly answered, seemingly unbothered by the number of guns pointed at him.

Chris scowled, baring his teeth in rage at his words.

Jill sneered at Wesker. "So what? You're just a slave of Umbrella?"

"Smart girl, but I think you misunderstand me. The things you mentioned are nothing. I'll burn all of them along with this entire laboratory."

Then he glanced at Barry. "Interesting. I thought that you loved your family? Why the change of heart, all of a sudden?"

Barry sneered. "I found out that you were lying. You aren't actually acting on Umbrella's orders, are you?"

Wesker chuckled. "Guess I slightly underestimated you all, both your determination to survive and your resourcefulness. Or perhaps... that has to do with our unexpected guest?" he wondered, looking at Aeon.

Aeon smiled. "I helped them out a bit, told them a few important truths you didn't bother telling them. I suppose Umbrella has never been all that loyal to their employees once they ran out of usefulness… But then again, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it? You truly are like your creators, Mister W."

Wesker tensed at the last letter, visibly frowning for the first time since they began confronting him.

Jill glanced at Aeon. More secrets, huh?

"... Well now. Seems that you truly know more than these clueless fools, Aeon of Insight Corp. Then again, Umbrella has been suspecting you and your company of knowing too much for quite some time now, so I suppose that I shouldn't be too surprised. I'll make sure to keep that in mind in the future."

He smirked slightly. "But for now, how about a show and tell?"

Wesker hit one last button on the terminal with his free hand, and a hiss came from the tank holding the Tyrant.

"The ultimate lifeform. Tyrant." declared Wesker, staring up at the monster.

"All of this, for the sake of this… thing?" sneered Jill, not seeing anything remarkable about the giant humanoid monster at all.

Chris laughed. "Wesker, you've become senile!"

Wesker walked up to the tank, all water now drained from it leaving only the monster inside.

"Chris, you'll never understand." he raised his arms up, as if beholding something incredible.

"It's magnificent!"

Aeon scoffed quietly. "The Great Ones would point and laugh at this thing, you mean…" he muttered.

And then the tyrant moved, breaking through the glass and impaling Wesker straight through on its massive clawed arm.

Wesker screamed in agony, hanging from the limb in his chest, blood flowing like water onto the ground.

A moment later, the Tyrant sent Wesker flying across the room, the man coming to a brutal stop on a terminal before falling limp on the ground.

And then it turned towards them.

"Alright, that's our cue! Open fire, everyone!" Aeon yelled, and a second later, the room exploded into chaos as they all began firing as one unit on the giant monster, taller than even Aeon himself.

Unfortunately, the room was too small for grenades to be safely used, so they had to take this thing down through good old fashioned gunfire.

Of course, with Aeon, Jill, Rebecca, Chris and Barry firing as one, that was still an impressive amount of firepower, enough that the Tyrant put its massive clawed hand in front of its body as a shield of sorts.

Jill cursed when their shots did little damage to that clawed limb.

"Aeon! You've got a plan?"

The man pursed his lips, before smiling.

Jill and Rebecca immediately blanched.

"Cease fire!" he shouted.

This time, no one argued, not after what happened last time.

"Aeon, what are you going to-" Jill began, but Aeon answered that question quicker than she finished asking it.

That is to say, he put his guns back in his coat and then ran towards the Tyrant, a wild laugh escaping him as he shouted "Fist fight!" loudly.

Rebecca promptly facepalmed.

"God dammit Aeon!"

Jill's shout did not even slow down the madman, who ducked under a swing of the Tyrant's claw and then punched him in the face.

The Tyrant actually stumbled back, and Aeon pressed the advantage, taking the monster's still human-looking arm and-

"Did you just judo-throw that monster?!" shouted Jill, staring at the monster now crashing on the ground after having landed face first on the nearest wall.

"It works surprisingly well!" came Aeon's cheerful reply, as he began manhandling the monster until he had successfully put it into a strange choke-hold which prevented the Tyrant from escaping or hitting Aeon with its clawed arm.

"Alright! Now you can shoot freely! He's all yours!" he yelled, grinning madly.

The S.T.A.R.S. members shared a look, before Rebecca sighed and began shooting the monster in the organ that was visibly pulsating in its chest, grumbling about "being so done with this shit."

The rest of the S.T.A.R.S. survivors followed suit, and after over a dozen high-caliber shots were fired, the Tyrant finally went limp.

For a long moment, everything was silent, before Aeon let the monster fall on the ground, dusting himself off with a smile.

"That went well!" he declared brightly.

Jill snorted. "Only because you went and did something crazy. Again." she deadpanned.

"Agreed." declared Rebecca, frowning at him.

Aeon shrugged. "Hey, if it works…"

Jill sighed. "Let's just get out of here… I need to go take a long shower. Then sleep for a dozen hours at least."

There were no disagreements to be found, though Aeon took a journal laying nearby on the way out.

"Anything interesting?" questioned Jill.

Aeon grunted. "Sadly, nothing I didn't already know. There are more strains of the virus out in the world, and one known as the G-virus is being studied by William Birkin in Raccoon City."

She grimaced. "Great. Fucking Umbrella..." she grumbled.

Aeon nodded, before glancing at Chris who was lagging behind.

"Chris, get moving! It's about time we get out of here!"

Chris glanced at Aeon, before glaring one last time at Wesker's body and then finally followed after them.

As they made their way back out, Rebecca glanced at Aeon. "Aeon, I found a file about the situation in this place. There's still a lot infected by the virus here. We should blow this whole place up, or the entire Arklay Mountains might turn into a death trap!"

He nodded. "Alright. Anyone disagree?"

There was no disagreement to be found. Yes, leaving this place standing might allow a proper investigation into this place to happen eventually, but it would be more likely that Umbrella would clean it up of any evidence remaining before the investigations even start.

Especially with the authorities of Raccoon City being as corrupt as they were.

So they might as well blow this place up and prevent the virus from leaking out further than it already had.

"Rebecca, Chris. You go activate the self-destruct system. We'll be waiting on the roof." ordered Aeon, and both nodded and began running towards where Rebecca remembered seeing the activation device for it.

"Right. As for us, let's secure our escape route." he finished.

As they made their way to the roof, the sirens suddenly started ringing, an automated voice declaring that the self-destruct system had been activated.

"Seems they were successful." noted Barry. "Good. I'm getting really tired of this place."

"Agreed." Jill replied, feeling an immense amount of relief at leaving this place and seeing it burn.

"Celebrate when we are out of here. For now, keep running." Aeon ordered.

They thankfully soon made it to the doors leading to the roof, and not long after, Chris and Rebecca arrived.

"Brad just called us! If we don't give him a sign that we are still alive, he'll be forced to leave!" declared Chris, panting slightly for breath from running.

Rebecca nodded. "The self-destruct system has been activated. We can leave this place now without worrying that these monsters will spread out into the nearby forest and mountains."

Aeon nodded. "Great work-"

More inhuman screams cut him off, and they all turned towards the corridor they just came from.

"More of those things are coming!" Rebecca shouted over the sounds of the alarms and the monstrous screams.

"Dammit! We're almost there!" growled Barry.

He turned around.

"Jill! You go and get into contact with Brad! The rest of us will hold these things back!"

Her eyes widened.

"No!" She didn't want to leave them to fight these monsters without her!

"We'll handle it." calmly said Aeon, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You go and call your pilot."

She pursed her lips looking at him then at everyone else, before sighing.

There wasn't time to waste for arguing, not with the self-destruct system counting down.

"Alright. We'll meet on the helipad."

She then turned around and took the elevator to the rooftop, holding her shotgun tightly as she began cursing at how slow the elevator seemingly moved.

Finally, it opened, and she bursted forward, her heart soaring as she saw that signal rockets were laying nearby.

She took a moment to appreciate the fact that it was daytime again, because after the night she had, the fact that she was capable of seeing the sun again felt like a miracle, before she pushed the button on the metal case holding the rockets to fire them.

She then stepped back, smiling slightly as she saw the rockets flare brightly in the sky.

"We're going to make it." she whispered, almost shocked at the fact that yes, they did it!

They survived!

The elevator rumbled, and she turned, her smile growing as she saw everyone coming out of it, Rebecca grumbling about yet another insane stunt Aeon had apparently performed down there, while Barry smiled at Jill and Chris shook his head, looking amused by whatever Rebecca and Aeon were arguing about.

And then the ground exploded, the Tyrant that they thought they killed a while ago coming out, jumping onto the rooftop with no visible wounds at all despite their previous battle happening only minutes ago.

Jill's eyes went wide when it tried to take a swing of its clawed arm towards Chris, who got tackled to the ground by Aeon at the last second.

"Shoot it!" Aeon screamed, and Jill, Rebecca, and Barry immediately did so, while Aeon and Chris quickly got on their feet again.

The rooftop quickly dissolved into a battleground, Aeon yelling orders to surround it from all sides and to not stop shooting.

That chaos kept going for a while, until a rocket launcher was suddenly dropped from above.

"Chris! Use this!" shouted Brad though the man's radio, as his helicopter waited nearby for the all-clear signal to land. "Kill it! Whatever the hell it is!"

Chris didn't hesitate, running for it and swiftly putting it on one of his shoulders, targeting the Tyrant, but he soon grimaced.

"I can't shoot! There's too much risk of friendly fire with it staying so close to you!" Chris yelled.

"On it!" shouted Aeon, who ran towards it, jumped on top of the clawed arm trying to skewer him, and then kicked the Tyrant in the face hard enough to send it falling back on its ass, the man himself hitting the ground with a roll and a jump.

"Now!" he shouted.

Chris didn't wait a single second more, pulling the trigger and aiming straight towards the Tyrant's heart.

A second later, the missile hit, and the Tyrant's body exploded into a mist of blood and small chunks of gore.

Brad immediately brought down the helicopter, and they all went inside, Rebecca and Aeon taking the seats that their now dead teammates of Alpha team would have occupied.

The moment they were all inside, Barry told Brad to take off and leave this place immediately as it was about to blow up, and not long after, they all watched the entire Spencer Mansion explode until only a massive crater was left.

Barry whistled slightly at how thorough the destruction of the Mansion was, and how large and deep the crater from the explosion turned out to be. Nothing down there could have survived that, not even the Tyrant they fought.

"At least Umbrella didn't spare any money in making sure the self-destruct system would be topnotch." commented Barry.

Jill scoffed. "It's probably to better hide any evidence of their crimes more than anything else."

"Either way, all the zombies inside the place are gone. That's good news." pointed out Aeon.

Jill nodded. "True."

There was a moment of silence, as they all finally took in the fact that yes, they were all alive, and yes, they had survived that horrible night.

Then all at once, the exhaustion of the last several hours caught up, and Jill felt her eyes become heavy, the call for sleep no longer held back by adrenaline and the fear of death.

A quick glance around showed her that they were all more or less the same, except for Aeon who seemed completely unaffected.

How shocking, she thought sarcastically.

She saw that Rebecca, who was sitting on the left side of Aeon, with Jill on the right side of the man, was already asleep, her head resting on Aeon's left shoulder, a peaceful expression on her face as she softly snored.

Aeon was looking fondly at the sleeping woman, a soft smile on his face, before he glanced at her.

"You should sleep too. It's been a long night."

Despite her exhaustion, she still grinned at him. "I thought you said you would wait before getting me to sleep with you?"

Aeon snorted. "Get to sleep, supercop. You can show me the extent of your wise-cracking sass when you don't look like you are about to drop from exhaustion at any second now."

Jill grunted, before putting her own head on his right shoulder. He was right, after the night she just had she really could use a nap right now...

"It's… a date..." she muttered, before sleep finally claimed her.

The last thing she heard was Aeon's chuckling agreement, followed by "Sweet dreams, Jill."

And to both her relief and surprise, she had no nightmares during the trip back to Raccoon City.

Though she could have sworn she heard some kind of calm melody…

With a smile, I walked through the portal I created in a hidden corner of Raccoon City, where no cameras would be there to see me use magic.

With a satisfied sigh, I sat in the nearest chair of the conference room I was now in, Oedon and Lucy watching me with amusement.

"Was your latest hunt enjoyable, Good Hunter?" asked my wife, smiling at me.

"Meh, it was alright I guess. Nothing on Yharnam's level, but then again I would have been surprised if that had been the case. Honestly, most of the work was just me making sure our future heroes and protectors of this world kept on living. Beyond that-" I took out the viral collector briefcase from the RE jumpdoc, now filled with samples of the t-Virus.

"- I took more than enough samples so that we can improve our t-Virus vaccine to be up-to-date with Umbrella's latest version of it. With the facilities we have, we won't have enough by the end of September to immunize the entirety of the 100,000 people of Raccoon City once the outbreak begins, but we should have enough for the army and many of the civilians."

Lucy nodded. "Unfortunately, there are only so many facilities we can use without revealing what we are doing to Umbrella. Still, we'll do our best. The important part is that we will have a vaccine ready, so hopefully we will be able to convince the U.S government to not raze the city to the ground."

I nodded. "That's going to be messy, considering that the head of The Family is going to try and push for exactly that. Ironically, Umbrella is going to be our ally there, as they won't want to abandon all of their investment in RC, and more importantly they'll want to try and keep their research facility, and the data within, in one piece."

I paused. "And of course, there is the matter of Gentek and Blackwatch. Again, they might be our allies or they might want to burn the whole place down. Their general is the one who was there during the Redlight Outbreak, so it could go either way. We'll have to give him enough resources to convince him that taking the city back is the best thing to do. Thankfully, he is a firm believer that the U.S. should take active measures to be ready for a war with bio-weapons usage, and we can give him Raccoon City as a perfect test ground for his troops. We all know that the t-Virus is not anywhere near as bad as Redlight, so that will help. Speaking of, how is Project 'Flashlight' going?"

Lucy smiled, then took out a nearby suitcase and passed it to me.

Opening it, I whistled.

Taking the two guns in hand, I admired them with a sharp smile.

"Plasma Guns, looking exactly like they came straight out of the Warhammer 40K universe. Very nice. Very, very nice."

Lucy grinned. "I thought you'd like them. You did complain that you felt that even Magnums weren't good enough, so those should really help."

"Oh, it will. But what about the rest of the project?" I asked.

Lucy's smile widened. "We'll have several thousand Lasguns by the end of September, alongside Laspistols, Long-Lases, and Shotlases. Considering that a single shot of a Lasgun can dismember or decapitate an infected with the t-Virus due to how devastating laser weapons are against unarmored targets, we are going to ensure that the Armed Forces around the world will have the perfect weapons to handle B.O.W.'s. We are also working on more powerful versions for Special Forces, such as the Plasma Guns you're holding. I'm hoping to sell these weapons to Blackwatch when the Raccoon City outbreaks hit, not only to better ensure that their leaders will be willing to fight for the city, but also to increase the usage of Lasguns throughout the U.S. Military afterwards. And from there, the rest of the world. It'll change human warfare greatly, but Umbrella and their likes leave us no choice. Humanity needs better weapons to handle the monsters of tomorrow, and we will be there to produce them."

I nodded. "I know. The fall of Umbrella will lead to the rise of bio-terrorism across the world, as former researchers of it will start selling their knowledge to everyone for money. Umbrella's researchers have never really been bothered by morality, after all."

I sighed, before looking at Oedon. "Speaking of waging war, how are our forces doing? Umbrella will send theirs to Raccoon City, and I'm hopeful we will get the rights to join in the military efforts in there too once the outbreak is in full swing."

Oedon gave me some papers, detailing the status of our own private military.

"We've been training our men with the new weapons, and needless to say, they are enjoying themselves greatly. We have around 150 men and women right now, either mercenaries or former military who we carefully recruited based on both skills and personality. We've been giving them the best of the best, and that includes the AMG-78 Exo-cybernetic arms, hazmat suits with built-in body armor, Thermobaric Rocket Launchers… we will also give them the new vaccine once it is ready, and we've got a few helicopters and even a few tanks with added armor capable of handling large Redlight infected ready for deployment. Finally, the viral detectors are ready, so that'll help ensure anyone we rescue won't unexpectedly turn into a zombie once they are in a safe zone. All in all, we are as ready for Raccoon City as we can be from a military standpoint."

I smiled. "Good. Then I suppose I'll have to go see our troops and train with them a bit before all hell breaks loose."

Lucy snorted. "Oh boy, that's going to be something to behold. I'm pretty sure that those who were here the last time this happened still have nightmares from the sheer ass-kicking you gave them all."

I scoffed. "It's not my fault they underestimated me. And hey, I still needed a full week to take down all of them during that 1 vs. 100 war game we did!"

"And how much did you hold back, exactly?"

I stayed silent.

Lucy chuckled. "I rest my case."

"In any case," I declared, seeking to change the subject. "we talked about the military situation. But what about the political one? What's the situation with the various groups of interest we've been keeping an eye on?"

Lucy grunted. "Besides some politicians being so sleazy that I want to set them on fire?"

"Beside that, yes." I replied dryly, sadly well aware of several such individuals she might be speaking of.

She sighed. "Same old, same old. The Family keeps seeking to push the world towards the universal use of bio-organic weapons, Umbrella is creating more abominations, the Federation of Pharmaceutical Companies are still as corrupt as ever, the Organization is still trying to become the next Umbrella, Gentek is still studying the Redlight virus, Blackwatch stands ready to act at any news of an outbreak, and to summarize, it's a powder keg of conflicting agendas ready to explode in everybody's faces."

I nodded. "So nothing new."

"Nope."

"Alright." I looked at Oedon. "Anything else that I missed these last few days?"

"The medi-gel project is coming along nicely, but it won't be ready in time for Raccoon City, sadly." she replied after a moment of thought.

I grimaced, but wasn't really surprised. The medi-gel, an idea taken from Mass Effect, is an all-purpose medicinal salve combining an anaesthetic and clotting agent. It heals various wounds and ailments, instantly sealing exposed injuries against infection and allowing for rapid healing by having the gel grip tight to flesh until subjected to a frequency of ultrasound. It is sealable against liquids - most notably blood - as well as contaminants and gases.

It couldn't regrow limbs, and a zombie bite would still turn the person if they weren't vaccinated, but it would most likely prove extremely useful when dealing with lasgun wounds and other injuries when viruses weren't a concern.

But the medi-gel was still work in progress, because they needed to mass-produce it, yet make it hard to twist the underlying principles into a possible bio-weapon.

Some of the science behind the medi-gel could probably enhance Umbrella's viruses, so that was a concern.

"Understood. We'll make do without it then, for now at least..."

I paused, then narrowed my eyes at Oedon.

"And tell me, what were you two doing when I wasn't around?"

She smiled brightly.

"Oh, we went to see movies, walked around parks, played golf, and then went to a private beach to enjoy the sun, followed by dinner at various restaurants! Why do you ask?"

"Because I can see what are most definitely several fading love bites all over Lucy's neck, and her wrists have slight red marks indicating she was bound by rope." I deadpanned.

Lucy promptly started choking on her own spit, blushing brightly, while Oedon's cheerful smile now turned definitively wicked.

"Well, you were having fun hunting, so I just thought that Lucy and I could have two days of, what's the term again? 'A girl's night out'? Something like that so we could enjoy our time together!"

I stared flatly at my lovely wife, currently grinning widely at me.

Then I sighed.

Poor Jill and Rebecca, I almost felt bad for introducing them to Oedon and Lucy in two days' time, when the surviving S.T.A.R.S. members and I had agreed to a meeting concerning everything that had happened in the Arklay Mountains, and everything that would follow from there...

Bonus scene: The Hunter's Dream, two nights ago:

"Oedon? I think I need an adult!" Lucy whimpered, currently bound to her lovers' bed and staring fearfully at a widely grinning Oedon.

A widely grinning Oedon who, it needed to be mentioned, was currently wearing what was nothing short of a full blown black leather dominatrix outfit who was admittedly doing wonderful things to her shapely figure.

It certainly made Lucy's mouth suddenly turn very dry, and her heart beat very, very fast.

Whether more out of fear or anticipation however, she definitely wasn't sure.

"Oh, don't worry. I am an adult." purred Oedon, the sound sending shiver down Lucy's spine.

Lucy opened her mouth, trying to say something that would save her from what she knew was coming, from the incredibly pleasurable hell that was heading her way, but a red ball gag suddenly appeared in her mouth, held firmly around her head in such a way that she could not say a word, and she swallowed hard as even her voice was taken from her.

Oedon's green eyes shone with lustful mischief, and her smile was definitely worthy of a succubus, rather than a goddess.

"Now, now dear Lucy, just relax and let me do the work. The only words you should be focusing on are… 'yes, mistress'." she whispered, slowly coming closer, and Lucy gulped hard.

Oedon slowly let her right hand trail down Lucy's right leg, her fingernails pressing just enough to leave faint red marks on the pale, soft flesh beneath.

Then her middle finger slowly went up and down the entrance of Lucy's sex, the wicked grin on Oedon's face growing as she noted how wet Lucy was.

Said woman could do nothing but stare with wide, lust-filled blue eyes as Oedon eventually kept going upward, a single finger leaving a wet trail up her toned stomach and up her right breast, where suddenly Oedon took hold of the hard nipple there between two fingers and twisted.

Lucy convulsed in her bounds, a muffled scream of both pain and pleasure leaving her, before Oedon released her nipple, leaving a panting Lucy to stare with both greater fear and lust at the woman standing above her.

Oedon chuckled softly, her right hand once more going down towards Lucy's sex.

This time, a finger actually parted the folds of her lower lips, slowly rubbing the sensitive flesh and causing Lucy's hips to buckle as much as they could in their bounds, soft muffled moans beginning to escape Lucy's gagged mouth.

Then Oedon's other hand took Lucy's left breast, squeezing and enjoying the feeling of the large but soft mound in her hand, Lucy's muffled moans rising in fervor…

Until Oedon took the hard nipple left alone until now and twisted again.

Lucy's back arched, yet another muffled scream escaping her, before she crashed back on the bed, panting and sweating.

Oedon smiled. "Truly, the act of making love is deserving of being called an art form. Much like the Arcane Arts, the Blood Arts, or even the Hunter Arts. It is all about imagination, creativity, and-"

She inserted another finger in Lucy's sex, striking right at her g-spot, making Lucy shudder in bliss.

"- experience."

Oedon took out her fingers out of Lucy's sex, slowly sucking on them to get the juice down her throat.

Then she smiled.

"Vanilla! my favorite. Good girl, you remembered."

Lucy blushed, refusing to admit that she actually had kept the sex spell that would turn the taste of her sexual release to vanilla active every day since she learnt it.

The one time she had turned it off, Oedon somehow had to have found out, because she had been bound to the bed and had Oedon in between her legs before she could even blink.

The ensuing "punishment" still made her shiver… in all the best and worst of ways.

"Well, I wanted to play with you a bit more, but I suppose a reward is in order."

And then Oedon put her hand back over Lucy's sex, her fingers quickly working on her wet pussy and drawing a strong orgasm out of her in seemingly no time, leaving Lucy to stare blankly at the ceiling for a while as she panted hard for breath, her whole body by now covered in sweat.

"But I'm feeling playful tonight, so I'm afraid that we are far from done."

And then Oedon brought out the sex toys.

Lucy's eyes went wide at the sight of the number of summoned sex toys, several of which made her swallow hard at the mere sight of them, a whimper escaping her despite all attempts to hold it back.

If anything, her reaction made Oedon's grin grow.

"Ah, I thought you would appreciate the result of all the research I made into the complex world of human reproduction methods. I have to admit, humans are seemingly fascinated by the act of making love, and they truly went to great lengths to be creative about it. It would be such a shame to not put that creativity to good use, don't you think?"

Lucy said nothing, still staring wide eyed at what now stood before her.

Oedon grinned brightly. "Ah, I see that you too are fascinated by all of this! Good, good, then let's start our discovery of this new world of wonders together. Let's see, why not start with the nipple clamps? That sounds like a good starting point!"

Lucy whimpered loudly.

"So happy to hear you agree! And with such passion, too! Alright, let's begin!"

It was at that moment that Lucy couldn't help but note that having Oedon become the head researcher of a large corporation might have furthered encouraged Oedon's fascination with discovering new things and always going above and beyond in her efforts to learn and discover all that the world could teach her.

And that apparently, this yearning for knowledge and experimentation currently included human sexual habits, with Lucy being her test subject on the matter.

Staring into Oedon's bright, excited green eyes, Lucy came to the obvious conclusion.

I'm so screwed.

And I love it.

"Well, that was interesting! Shall we see what this vibrator thing will do to you next?"

"Mmmph!"

"Alright! How about this anal plug now?"

"Mmmph..."

"A leather collar… Oh my, you look fantastic with it on!"

"Mmph…"

"Next is… a paddle?"

"Mph…"

"What about this flogger next?"

Lucy stared blankly at the ceiling.

Despite her hyper-intelligence, her mind was blank.

Only white noise remained.

"Well, that was fascinating! So many reactions! A single session is never enough for proper scientific research though… Well, there's always tomorrow night!"

Oedon's cheerful voice broke through the white noise.

As the words reached her mind, the full implications hit.

She considered how sore her body was.

She considered all that had been done to her in the last… she didn't even know.

She considered her future, if this wasn't just a one-off event.

And there was only one thing she could say to that.

"Yes, Mistress."

Give me more, Mistress.

"Oh, by the way Aeon, did you know I recently decided to do in-depth study in a new field of research? It's really exciting!"

"Truly?"

"Indeed! Lucy even helped me with said research! It'll no doubt prove very useful in the future! In fact, I'm hopeful that I will be able to put the results of my research to good use with some new volunteers in the not so distant future… In the meantime, I require a male to complete the research with Lucy as the volunteer once more, if you are interested?"

"Sure!"

Unnoticed by both, Lucy gulped hard.

I'm so, so screwed…