35 The Raccoon City Outbreak, Part 4

Word count 10,220

Jill Valentine went up the stairs towards the streets above, ready to fight anything standing in her way, including that Nemesis Tyrant if needed.

There were innocent lives at stake, and she wasn't going to let them be hurt or worse, if she could help it.

"Jill, it's me. You topside yet?"

She blinked, before taking her radio.

"Working on it. So, what's the plan?"

"The old tank's got me clearing the tracks. You mind getting the subway infrastructure back online?"

She frowned. "And how do I do that?" she asked.

"Let's start by restoring the power. I'll navigate you to the substation once you hit the main road."

"Copy that. Let's do this fast." I've got no idea when Nemesis will be back after all, she thought.

She noticed a nearby mechanism that probably could open if she found the appropriate parts, but put it out of her mind for now.

Instead, she made her way out into the street, killing a nearby zombie that came out of a side passage.

Taking that side passage, she was able to reach the main avenue, though it was currently blocked off with a barricade because of the zombies that were able to get in there after ISIS fell back.

Taking her radio, she called Carlos.

"Carlos, I've reached the main avenue. Which way do I go?"

"See a big transmission tower? That's the substation. You'll have to circle around through an alley to your right to get there."

"You mean the alley that's on fire?" she snarked back, glancing at the flame-filled alley in question.

"... Maybe? Surely a tall drink of water like yourself can put out a few flames."

She scoffed. "Fuck you."

She cut the radio, before frowning when a few zombies broke through a barricade behind her.

A few shots later, she walked over their corpses, looking at the street before her now open, before glancing back at the street on fire.

Truth was, a water spell could put out the fire easily enough… but she was concerned about creating a passage straight towards the train that any zombie in the area could use.

On the other hand, there could be survivors hiding somewhere in there…

With a sigh, she went through the newly cleared street, killing some more zombies along the way.

At least her mood brightened a little when she found one of the parts required to open the mechanism she had noticed before.

The street she went through next allowed her to get access to the railway operating room, though the lack of electricity sadly stopped her from using it.

She did find a fire hose however, which while not necessary, it would allow her to put out the fire without using magic.

There was a shotgun in a nearby room, but sadly it was under lock and key…

She frowned, pursed her lips… and then took hold of the wire cage in front of the shotgun.

She heaved, and the wire netting broke instantly.

With a smirk, she took the shotgun, checked it for ammo, and once satisfied, gave it to the messengers.

She didn't need it right now, but there was no such thing as having too many weapons during a zombie outbreak.

Then she made her way back, putting out the fire in the street.

She found a bolt cutter in the next room and gave that to the messengers next, before going in the next room-

She blinked, opened her mouth-

*BANG!*

"What the fuck?!" she yelled.

The UBCS soldier in front of her turned around, his cold grey eyes staring at her in surprise for a split second before he smiled.

"He was too wounded to help. Better a quick, painless death than a drawn out, painful one, yes?" he said, waving at the corpse with a bullet hole oozing with blood and brains behind him.

"You don't look like a doctor to me! How are you so sure he was beyond saving?" she growled, looking at the corpse behind the Russian (if his accent was anything to go by) UBCS soldier who just killed his teammate.

He scoffed, turning and walking away.

"Are all S.T.A.R.S. this soft? No wonder so many of you are dead." he coldly replied.

"And what are you? UBCS? Killing your own people?" she snarled, faced with the exact kind of men she expected of someone working for Umbrella.

Cold, ruthless, and all too eager to kill their fellow human at the slightest excuse.

He stopped, turning back to look at her coldly.

"He was a dead man walking… or close. Where's your sense of self-preservation?"

She stared back with disdain, her right hand twitching at the thought of holding her sword and stabbing this bastard.

He sneered, turning away.

"Go back to the subway station. We don't need a bleeding heart like you getting in the way."

He left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Her eyes narrowed, however, when she thought back on the bandages covering the wounds on his right arm.

From what she had seen… it looked like burns, rather than a bite wound.

Her mind flashed back to what she had heard of the attempted murder on Aeon during the battle of Main Street, and the way he had managed to successfully fire back at the shooter.

Despite trying to find the shooter's corpse, they had found nothing…

But his wound could be from a plasma bolt grazing him…

She shook her head. She had only suspicions so far.

But she was definitely going to keep an eye out for this Russian UBCS soldier.

Just in case.

Jill opened the door to the power generators, rather happy at having found the second part required to use the mechanism near the subway.

That good mood evaporated the moment the smell hit her, and she flinched back, before making sure to close her coat to above her nose.

"Ugh, it smells like… I don't even want to think about it."

She shook her head, picking up a few green herbs and a note talking about some kind of maggots crawling inside one of the employees' mouths.

Though the note mentioned they came out when he ate a green herb, which she was thankful to have on her now.

She shuddered at the thought of whatever monsters were in this place getting inside of her. She's watched Alien in the past, she knew how that would end, and she wanted none of it!

It was thus with quite a bit of caution, and no less amount of trepidation, that she made her way forward, taking a box which was laying at the feet of a man with a rather huge belly.

Then she flinched backwards, almost falling on her ass when the man's belly exploded, a number of small creatures the size of her fist rushing out of the man's corpse and disappearing inside the power generators.

"Gods…" she commented softly, looking toward where the monsters escaped to with numb horror.

She looked inside the box, and despite what happened she couldn't help the small smile on her lips at the sight of the lock pick within.

"The master of unlocking is back in business!" she joked, trying to get the memory of the man's belly exploding out of her mind.

Then she took a deep breath, unlocked the door towards the power generators-

And turned on her heels, weapon at the ready, as she heard a noise behind her.

Her eyes narrowed when she saw nothing, and she took a few cautious steps forward-

Her eyes jumped towards the monster suddenly appearing above her, the sudden scream it let out making her flinch.

Two insectoid limbs snapped out and took her by the throat, her eyes widening as she choked slightly.

A long, twin-shaped, tongue-like appendage dropped out of it, and Jill felt her blood turn to ice in her veins at the sight of it.

Nope! She thought, throwing her right hand towards the monster and letting out a wall of flame which made the monster shriek in agony before falling to the ground.

Jill coughed, her hand massaging her throat as she coughed, her wide eyes staring at the burnt monster dying in front of her.

"Fuck!" she cursed, shooting the twitching monster until she was certain it was dead.

"The only one I want inside me is my boyfriend, asshole. Not a reject from the mind of an Umbrella scientist!" she spat.

Taking a few deep breaths for calm, she threw one last disgusted look at what was left of the monster before looking at the place where the power generators were.

The place which had obviously been turned into a nest for those things.

"Fucking Umbrella." she cursed. "Alien was a horror movie you bastard, not a damn inspiration for real life monsters!"

With a harsh scowl on her face, she went in.

If nothing else, once the power was back on, it would burn most of the damn things inside to death.

"Get! Off! Me!" she snarled, shooting the monster that jumped on her back when she was too focused on those before her.

It's green blood fell down on her coat, but she didn't care, already shooting one monster after another as they charged at her.

"You want me? Come and get me if you dare!"

Jill ran like hell, while throwing a continuous stream of fire behind her as the dying hiss of those monsters filled her ears.

"Fuck yoooooou!" she swore, hearing yet more trying to attack her.

"For the last time, I don't want your fucking babies!" she shouted, shooting her laspitol with one hand and throwing fireballs with the other at the charging monsters.

"Fucking take a damn hint already you bastards! The only one who get to fuck me is my boyfriend! Not a damn Umbrella goon, and certainly not some Umbrella-approved abominations!"

Another of the monsters jumped at her, and she put the barrel of her laspitol inside its maw and fired over and over again.

"The only ones who'll get anything inside their bodies today is you! Now eat your damn laser bolts!"

"You get a fireball! And you get a fireball! EVERYONE GETS A FIREBALL! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Jill stood before the main power station, looking out at the window at the place with the power generators.

"Enjoy that." she sneered, pulling the lever and activating the power plant.

The whole nest promptly got electrocuted, and she smiled viciously at the sight.

"Sorry boys, but this woman is too much for you to handle. As expected of anything coming from Umbrella."

Then she turned away, feeling like she needed a really long shower.

And Aeon fucking her for a few hours.

Unfortunately, she could get neither for the time being.

That just meant it was time for plan B.

Fuck Umbrella over instead.

And speaking of Umbrella…

She took her radio.

"Carlos, it's Jill. I've restored power to the subway."

"Nice going!" he exclaimed. "Next up is the traffic control system. It should be in the subway company's offices."

"Right, I think I know the building."

"Really? Way to go, partner. One step ahead!"

"Not your partner." she coldly replied, before putting away the radio.

She really ought to point out that she already had a boyfriend, but honestly she really wanted to see the look on his face when she revealed just who her boyfriend was.

Petty, perhaps, but dammit after dealing with this latest bunch of monsters and her encounter with that Russian UBCS soldier, she really just wanted to get back at Umbrella in any way she could.

Also, she was proud of being Aeon's girlfriend, and while she wasn't the bragging type, she wanted to shut down Carlos hard.

So fuck it, she-

*BOOM!*

Jill flinched back, before staring at the Tyrant who just broke through a wall in front of her.

Slowly, she took her grenade launcher from her back.

And then she smiled.

"And here I was, just thinking of ways to get back at Umbrella for the second-rate Alien-expy monsters I had to deal with. Aeon, if this is your doing… I'm so going to reward you once this is all over."

She pointed her grenade launcher at Nemesis.

"For now… I'm going to teach you Umbrella assholes how things work in this relationship.

You don't fuck me. I fuck you up instead!"

And then she pulled the trigger at the same time Nemesis rushed forward.

Carlos Oliviera blinked when his radio activated.

"Hey Carlos! Sorry, but I'm-" Carlos flinched as an explosion echoed from the radio, followed by an inhuman roar which sent a shiver down his back. "- going to be a bit delayed!"

"Jill! You're alright? What's going on?!" he shouted in the radio.

"Oh, you know! Just- eat this!" *Ka-BOOM!* "Umbrella sending a monster specifically after me and the others from S.T.A.R.S. to try and get us killed! Needless to say, it's-"

"SSSSTTTTTAAAAAARRRRSSS-"

*Ka-BOOM!*

"-not working so well for them so far!" she exclaimed, sounding surprisingly cheerful despite the gravity of her words.

He shook his head, concerned despite her words. Sure, she was apparently some big shot cop turned elite mercenary, and a damn good one at that if she was working with ISIS, but he really didn't like the sound of those growls coming from the radio.

"Then you should run back to the station!" he exclaimed.

"Not until I get traffic control online!" she replied. "Oh, tentacles now? Bitch, I have swords!"

The communication cut.

Carlos was left staring at his radio, a myriad of expressions flashing across his face.

Finally, he sighed, passed a hand through his hair, and got up.

"I'm not paid enough for this shit…" he grumbled, before walking out of the train.

He'd rather not have Jill get killed, thank you very much.

And not just because he was rather taken by the incredibly sexy cop, either, but also because he had a train full of civilians who can't go anywhere without her help.

Far too many good people had died already, and far too many before Carlos' eyes.

He'd rather not add another name to that list.

It was far too long as it was already.

Jill Quickened through the door of the building where the traffic control room was, rushing towards the section where she remembered the controls were.

She had hurt Nemesis enough to distract it for a while, but she had no doubt she only had minutes at best.

Better make them count.

"Carlos, I'm in the control room. Now what?"

"First off, you alright? That sounded bad over the radio."

She rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine." she assured him, because she was a Huntress. She had literally died before, and frankly Aeon had been right.

Tyrants really weren't on the same level as Yharnamite Beasts.

That, and she didn't fear death. What was the saying again? "In the shadows of the valley of Death, I fear no evil, for God is with me?"

Something like that.

Yeah, in her case it was pretty much literal. Dying sucked, sure, but death was more of a temporary annoyance than anything important to a Hunter of the Dream.

But Carlos couldn't understand. No one except Aeon and Rebecca truly could, since they were the only Hunters in the world.

"Don't worry. I hurt it enough to get him off my back for at least a little while. So, what do I need to do?"

"... Alright, then now you gotta plot a route."

She looked at the computer in front of her and nodded.

"Ok, gimme me a sec."

She looked at the computer for a moment, before calling Carlos again.

"Alright, where is the train headed?"

"The train is currently at Redstone Street. We need to reach Fox Park Station. Can you get it done?"

She smirked. "Hey, I'm supercop. Consider it done."

She changed the configuration of the route one more time, before stepping back with a satisfied grin as a green route flashed on-screen.

"Carlos, I've finished inputting the subway route."

She heard Carlos laugh. "Jill, you're amazing."

She could almost hear the grin in his voice. "Tough as nails, too. Hurry back to the station, we'll make sure the subway is ready to depart."

"Copy that."

She cut off the radio with a smirk, walking out of the room… before stopping, staring in shock at the zombie that had some kind of… glowing parasite with a tentacle for its head.

"What the fuck?!"

The tentacle was sent her way like a spear, but she dodged out of the way and shot the new monster in the face… or what was now its face.

The lasbolt blew off the thing who was now the zombie's head, and the body fell backwards, dead for good.

Jill stared at it for a moment, before scowling.

"Great, more mutations. Just what we needed in this city." she growled.

She walked out of the building, coming across two more parasite zombies that she killed quickly.

"Where are these things coming from?" she said softly, confused.

The answer did not escape her for long, since not far beyond, she came across Nemesis removing his left hand from the head of a zombie, and her eyes widened as the zombie jerked for a moment before its head popped like a balloon made of flesh and blood, and the same parasite she saw in the others sprang to life, using its host as a meat puppet.

"Oh, come on… you can put parasites in people and zombies, now? Wait, it's Umbrella, of course they would if they can…" she grumbled.

She took her grenade launcher and scowled.

"Alright, you want more? I'll give you more!"

And then she lobbed a grenade in between Nemesis and the parasite zombie, blowing up the latter and making the former stumble back.

"I don't have time for you, I've got a train to catch!" she said, walking forward and throwing another grenade at him.

Nemesis jumped to the side, a tentacle sent flying her way like a whip.

Her training with Aeon when he used the Threaded Cane kicked in, and she ducked underneath it, shooting more grenades a moment later.

And then Nemesis proceeded to swat the grenades mid-air, sending them flying away from him before using his tentacle as a whip again.

She Quickened out of the way, shooting at his feet again, though he had obviously learnt from the previous fight as he kept moving and dodging the explosions as best as he could.

Which, given his size and strength, was actually pretty good.

Jill scowled as the tentacle almost got her, and she growled.

"First, an Alien-expy, and now tentacles putting parasites into people. Dammit, just how perverted are the scientists at Umbrella? And how many times do I have to tell you I'm not interested?!"

Nemesis roared, and she sent a grenade straight at his face.

This time, he didn't have the time to dodge, so he put his right arm in front of his face and got blown back by the explosion of the grenade.

His whole body smoking, he growled and lowered his arm-

Only for a lightning bolt coming from Jill to send him flying through the wall behind him and into the building, which promptly collapsed on top of the Tyrant.

"There, that should keep him down for at least a bit. Now, I need to get moving."

She walked away, reloading her grenade launcher.

Then she snorted as a thought occurred to her.

"Wait, isn't Aeon an Eldritch God? I wonder if Aeon could sue Umbrella for stealing his shtick… I'm pretty sure anything involving tentacles usually involves the Eldritch Mythos, right?"

She hummed.

"When we finish freeing Raccoon City, I'll have to ask Rebecca to share her books on the Cthulhu Mythos. I need them for… research purposes."

She giggled… before freezing.

"... Am I turning into an even bigger pervert?"

She stared blankly ahead for a moment.

"Oh, by the gods- wait… the gods are perverts…"

She slumped… and then she shrugged.

"Fuck it. I already sold my soul, it's kinda too late for regrets."

She kept walking forward.

"Now, if the universe could stop throwing my newly discovered kinks at me in the worst, most twisted forms possible, that'd be great. Yet another thing I need to blow up Umbrella for: trying to convince me tentacles are disgusting. Tentacle sex is great, and no amount of undead tentacle monsters will change my mind!"

Jill Valentine, proud Huntress of the Hunter's Dream and former member of S.T.A.R.S., proceeded to walk all the way to the train station grumbling about tentacle sex and Umbrella.

She blamed Aeon for it. He was the glorious divine bastard who introduced her to it in the first place, after all!

He could damn well take responsibility!

Jill stepped away from the device whose parts she had found, happy with the grenade, tactical stock for her shotgun, and hip pouch that she had scavenged.

She went down the stairs, stopping when Carlos met up with her mid-way from the substation.

"Nice job, supercop. I'm impressed." he said with a grin.

"Are we back in business?" she asked.

"Yeah, mostly. But we need 30 to 40 minutes to finish maintenance."

Sounds from nearby made them tense, but Carlos relaxed at the sight of two fellow UBCS soldiers coming up towards them.

Jill however remained tense at the sight of the Russian soldier whose cold grey eyes immediately zeroed on her.

"Nicholai! How are we doing?" Carlos asked, rather cheerful at the sight of his living teammates.

"The nearest ways out of town are crawling with those freaks. No chance of fighting our way out of the city." the Russian, Nicholai apparently, replied.

Then his eyes settled on her again, and he pointed her way.

"Why is she here?" he demanded, voice accusing.

"She's helping in getting the train running again." answered Carlos, frowning slightly at the coldness of his fellow soldier's voice.

Nicholai scoffed.

"Bad time to start carrying dead weight, friend." replied Nicholai, coming closer to Jill, a slight sneer on his face.

"She's unreliable. Can't pull the trigger when it counts."

"Hey, take it easy." said Carlos, outright frowning now.

Jill stared back at Nicholai without fear, her own face showing only disdain and contempt for the Russian standing before her.

Nicholai stared at her for a second, before scoffing and turning away.

"She'll get you killed." he declared to Carlos, before walking away.

The other UBCS soldier sent an apologetic look her way before following his superior.

"Sorry about that. Everyone's a little worked up." said Carlos, trying to play peacemaker.

Jill opened her mouth to say something, but a crashing noise coming from upstairs leading to the street made her flinch and turn to look, same with Carlos whose gun was now ready to fire up the stairs.

"What the hell is that?" he said softly.

Jill looked around, before slamming her hand on the button that would let the nearest iron curtain to fall, hopefully holding back any infected from reaching the train.

Jill and Carlos began to make their way towards the train, before Jill stopped, turning back towards the stairs.

"It's me he's after. I'll buy you some time." she said, before rolling underneath the iron curtain just before it reached the ground.

"Hey, wait! Jill, wait! No, God dammit!" exclaimed Carlos, stuck behind the iron curtain, while Nemesis appeared upstairs.

She shot him once in the head, making him growl, and she grinned at him before running away.

She eventually found an air duct, using it to escape her pursuer for a time.

She'd rather not fight him in the cramped space of the train station corridors, after all.

She found herself in the sewers, closing a heavy door behind her and locking it just in case.

"Carlos, do you copy? Carlos! … Dammit, I should have expected this."

She put away the radio, looking around for a moment.

"I need to find another way out."

She sighed. That meant going through the sewers… great, just great.

Maybe she should have just fought Nemesis after all…

Jill made her way down a literal river of shit and other things she really didn't want to think about, grumbling all the way.

"I thought Aeon was joking whenever he complained about all the trips a Hunter ends up doing in the sewers… Ugh, I'm definitely burning those clothes after this…"

Then she froze, the sound of movement coming closer-

And then a giant mutated gray toad suddenly showed up, trying to eat her, its mouth opening like a flower in four different parts with a great many teeth.

She promptly lobbed a grenade in its open maw, the monster screaming in agony before falling to the side, dead.

Jill stared at the monster.

"... Well at least it's not a giant rat, like in Aeon's stories?"

She shook her head and walked forward.

"GIANT COCKROACHES ARE NOT BETTER, GODS DAMMIT!" she screamed, even as she burned down the entire section of the sewer she was in while having to deal with the dying hisses of dozens of giant cockroaches and the absolutely horrendous smell of burning insects and sewer water in general.

"Fuck you! Fuck you! And fuck you, too! I'm not food, you overgrown pests!" she raged, the sewer filled with the echoes of her shotgun firing as more and more giant spiders showed up to try and eat her.

Yet another spider jumped at her, screeching all the while, and she jabbed her shotgun in its face and fired at point-blank range, the corridor of the sewer she was in turning green with spider innards and gore.

"Damn, the rest of ISIS deserve a massive pay raise for having to deal with shit like this everyday since the outbreak began…" she grumbled, glaring coldly at the corridor full of dead monsters in front of her.

Reloading her shotgun, she moved on forward. Surely she had to be close to an exit-

Another giant toad showed up.

"Where are you all coming from?!" she raged.

"Carlos, can you hear me now?" asked Jill over the radio, while she tried to not think about how utterly disgusting she currently felt after having to deal with all the monsters down in the sewers.

As it turns out, a former employee of Umbrella had been fired and ended up claiming the sewers as his new hidden lab to create more of the giant toad monsters she had kept coming across.

Not that the man was still alive, since he apparently got eaten by one thing or another that now lived down there, but at least it explained why there were giant monster toads around here.

"Jill! Oh, thank God! Everything ok?"

"Yeah, I'm alive. I lost him pretty fast."

Honestly, the creatures in the sewers were more of a problem, if only by their sheer numbers…

To say nothing of some of the nasty surprises they had for her. Seriously, that one giant spider she came across at one point almost got her with its webbing, and she really didn't want to know how long it would have taken her to be eaten by giant spiders.

Just because she wouldn't stay dead didn't mean she wanted to experience dying!

"Great! The subway's ready to go. We'll leave as soon as you make it back."

"Got it."

She put away the radio, going up the ladder leading to the street above-

And then Nemesis bent down, took her by the head, and sent her flying away.

She rolled with the blow, landing on her feet, ready to bring her grenade launcher to bear-

And then Nemesis showed off the new addition to his arsenal.

A flamethrower.

Her eyes noticed an open door nearby and jumped out of a sea of flame, running towards the entrance of the building and then closing the door.

And then she ran as she heard Nemesis raged at the door.

She needed to find a good place for a battle with a Tyrant, and fast.

So she ran up the stairs of the building she was in, noticing it was still in construction, though the majority of her mind was focused on the fact that Nemesis could use weapons.

That was a nasty surprise, to say the least.

It didn't take long for her to notice the building was suddenly burning up, and she suspected Nemesis to be burning the foundation of the building down in an attempt to get her out of it.

Or at least, that was what she thought until Nemesis jumped at the level she currently was in.

"SSSSTTTAAAARRRSSS!" it growled at her with malice.

She dodged the sea of flames sent her way, continuing to go higher in the building in the hope of finding a good place where she could fight Nemesis properly.

Finally, she reached the roof, the entire building seemingly on fire by now.

Not that it seemed to bother Nemesis, who jumped up the rooftop with her, sending a stream of fire around him while screaming "SSSTTTAAAAAARRRRSSS!"

"Alright, you fucker. You want S.T.A.R.S.? I'll give you S.T.A.R.S.!" she snarled back.

Nemesis replied by sending a stream of fire towards her and she dodged, lobbing a grenade his way.

He sidestepped it, his horrific grin somehow appearing smug, and she sneered before switching to her laspistol and shooting at the fuel tank on his back.

Nemesis twisted his body such that the shot hit his shoulder instead, the flesh sizzling and cooking at the heat of the blasts, but healing in seconds.

Her eyes narrowed, and she decided to use something that Aeon had taught her and Rebecca.

She put her hand forward, a portal appearing and a small meteor-shaped Arcane spell impacting Nemesis in the chest.

Despite the comparatively small attack, Nemesis flew backward, a smoking hole in his torso, and he fell to a knee, growling in pain and staring hatefully at her.

That was one difference the Tyrant had with the rest of Umbrella's monsters: they had intelligence. Enough to learn how to hate.

Too bad for Nemesis, she trained in Yharnam. Everything hated her in that damn city, whether for being human or for being an outsider.

So she merely stared back just as hatefully, while putting shot after shot at the fuel tank on its back.

Unfortunately, he recovered before she could blow it up, and she had to dodge a tentacle coming out of his right hand before Quickening out of the way of another stream of fire.

For a time, the fight turned into a dance where she had to dodge streams of fire and the tentacle coming out of Nemesis' right hand, until she finally got him.

One final laspistol shot caught the edge of the battered fuel tank, and it suddenly exploded, sending Nemesis face first into the floor while his entire back began burning from the fire.

For a second, she relaxed… and then he began moving again, slowly, painfully getting up on one knee.

Jill however was done with this thing, and she called upon the Blades of Mercy, charged Nemesis-

And stabbed both blades straight into his skull.

Nemesis froze, and she grinned in triumph, but then an explosion sent her flying back, though her training with Aeon allowed her to keep the swords in hands, a wet squelch sound coming from Nemesis as the blades went out of his head.

Jill flew over the railing, gliding down the windows and then crashing into a mobile work platform, which itself crashed to the ground a moment later.

For a time she laid there, panting for breath and feeling her heartbeat slowly slow down, before she got onto her feet and let out a long breath.

"Right, that should hopefully keep him down, maybe for good… though I don't hold my breath."

She shook her head, throwing one last glance at the burning building she came from before walking away.

"Carlos? It's Jill. Do you read me?"

"Loud and clear. You alright?"

"Yeah. Bastard's dead… hopefully."

"Good. Fuck' im." he replied, before his voice became louder. "But what were you thinking, turning yourself into bait? You could have been killed!"

She rolled her eyes.

"Don't start. I did what I had to do." she replied firmly.

For a second, she contemplated if she would have done the same if she wasn't a Huntress… and the answer was obvious.

There were innocent lives at stake. So yes, yes she would have.

Becoming a Huntress just meant it turned a potentially suicidal tactic into a fully logical one.

She was the only one here who wouldn't die when killed, after all.

Honestly, she was actually pretty proud. Doing these kinds of crazy stunts and making them work beyond all expectations sounded like the kind of things Aeon would do…

She held back a snort. They really were far too alike…

Carlos sighed. "I know. And, uh… thanks."

He paused, before finishing.

"The subway's ready to go. Hurry back."

"You got it."

She put away the radio.

After making her way through a few barricades, she ended up in front of a shop she recognized well, having gone there many times before.

The Kendo Gun Shop, owned by a man who had become a good friend of S.T.A.R.S.

She pursed her lips, hoping that he and his family were alright…

She cautiously entered, listening for any sound.

But it quickly became clear that there was no one in the shop.

"I guess Kendo left when ISIS evacuated the RPD building. Considering it's just across the street, that makes sense."

She sighed in relief.

"So they are safe. Good. In that case, I better get moving."

She had a train to catch, after all.

I looked around the room, taking in the sight of the dozen or so people gathered here for what was going to be a very important mission in the war for Raccoon City.

Not that all these people would actually be part of it, but they all needed to be briefed about what was about to go down.

I caught Rebecca's eyes, the young medic (though she wasn't officially one yet, no one here cared considering the number of lives she saved in both ISIS and the RPD) looking both grim yet determined.

I let a hint of a smile spread across my lips, Rebecca's green eyes softening for a second and a shadow of a smile appearing on her own lips, before she turned her head away, focusing once again on the incoming meeting.

There were several soldiers of ISIS and the highest-ranking RPD officers currently in the room, and the only one missing was-

Captain Geary entered, taking in the room in a second before going to the desk.

"My apologies, a sudden push by the undead on Park Street required my presence. Now, I believe everyone here knows why we are gathered?"

"It's about those damn worms, correct?" said Marvin.

The dark-skinned man looked much the same as ever, if with a few more scars and a grim look on his face.

Despite his status as the highest-ranked officer in the RPD, he still tried to get involved in the battlefield, as the long scar on his right jaw can attest.

He had wanted to see for himself why most of ISIS was down in the underground of the city rather than up in the streets.

Needless to say, the man got his wish and more when he ended up smack-dab in the middle of a huge coordinated charge by the giant worms, and that scar was a result of the ensuing chaos as he and the other ISIS and RPD officers with him tried their best to hold the line.

In the end, it took Rebecca going there and acting first as a Huntress, then as healer for the line to hold.

Over 6 ISIS soldiers would have died without her, and 4 more would have (and in 2 cases, did) lost limbs.

A few of the officers with Marvin got injured too, but ISIS had tried their best to protect the more vulnerable people stuck in the fighting, with thankfully a good amount of success… even if it nearly came at great cost.

Thankfully, magical healing on the level I taught her, combined with all the experience she got recently, helped her save lives and limbs alike.

All the Blood Echoes she was gathering from all her kills really helped, too.

And while that attack had been amongst the most ferocious, it honestly hadn't been the worst.

Not by far.

There have been quite a few times where I had to hold the line by myself simply because even ISIS soldiers had limits, and when your entire frontline gets attacked, you can't afford to send reinforcements anywhere else.

Not to say that street level fighting was a walk in the park, but with the help of air and tank support, it certainly made things easier.

Which explains why Captain Geary was the one dealing with the challenge of fighting the war for Raccoon City up top, with less troops but better support, while I was the one commanding ISIS down in the underground parts of the city.

Where we had to cleanse tunnel after tunnel the old-fashioned way: by going inside and killing anything that moved.

It honestly reminded me a bit of fighting in the Chalice Dungeons… just with a lot more mutated monsters from the animal kingdom and less insane Hunters.

And a lot less gods.

Thankfully for Raccoon City.

The collateral damage if Eldritch gods had gotten involved would have been… bad to say the least.

"Yes, it's about those worms. More specifically, the fact that while we are holding, we won't be able to do so forever."

"I can't be everywhere." I explained, though it was more than I didn't want the fact that I could to become known.

You never know when the ability to be at several places at the same time can be useful.

I certainly enjoyed it in the past several times to prank Umbrella and others.

"And if the hordes coming at us keep growing, I will need to be all around the affected areas or we will lose ground. We can't afford that, too much risk of the worms making it topside if we do end up falling back."

"So what's the plan?" asked Marvin.

Captain Geary smiled grimly.

"There are two parts of the plan, potentially one part, depending on how things go.

First, ISIS will send a team into the nest of the worms. We've managed to locate it, and we are going to burn it down thoroughly. Best case scenario, the original worm, codename: Grave Digger, will appear and we'll kill two birds with one stone. If not? Then we'll track it down before killing it. It won't be hard to locate it, we can detect its movements across the city. It's literally too big to be able to hide itself from us."

Marvin nodded. "And our part in all of this?"

Captain Geary smiled grimly.

"When Operation: Nest Wrecker is a go, we can expect the worms to not react kindly to it. Even if Grave Digger lives, we expect the remaining worms to charge at our lines with a level of ferocity that will by far surpass anything we've seen from them."

Marvin blanched at the thought, something replicated by many in the room.

The worms were hardly peaceful at the best of times, them becoming even more ferocious was not good news.

"The good news of that, is that if we hold the line, they'll have spent too much of their strength to recover. We can then counter-attack and we hope to easily cleanse the remaining underground parts of the city south of Raccoon Street. Doing the same for the North will be Blackwatch's job."

Marvin frowned, but nodded slowly.

"I see. We can either wait to be overwhelmed through sheer numbers, or strike at the center of it all, and hope we can handle the consequences well enough to claim victory from that. An all-or-nothing strategy, then."

Captain Geary nodded, face still grim.

"I'm afraid so. Either way, it's the best chance we've got."

"And the team in question?"

Captain Geary nodded at Sergeant White.

"A few ISIS soldiers led by-" he waved at me and Rebecca. "-Rebecca and Aeon. Sadly, Jill Valentine is currently already occupied dealing with that Nemesis Tyrant Umbrella sent our way, so she's unavailable for this mission."

Marvin pursed his lips. "That means neither Aeon nor Rebecca will be available to hold the line while they go take care of the nest."

I nodded. "True. We toyed with the idea of beginning the mission against the nest by a full attack across the line to draw out the worms, but ultimately decided against it. With the team we have, we should be able to handle anything on our path, and we believe it is… wiser to let our troops stay at our current, fortified lines than to push forward. Once Operation: Nest Wrecker is a success, our troops will definitely need those fortifications to hold the line, after all."

"Alright. When does it begin?" asked Marvin.

"In an hour. The faster we take care of that nest, the less worms we have to worry about." replied the Captain.

Marvin looked at those of us about to go inside what was arguably the most dangerous part of Raccoon City to try and save it from destruction, and he gave us a proud, determined salute.

"In the name of Raccoon City and its people, let me thank you all for doing this. If it hadn't been for you… I'm not sure Raccoon City would have survived long on its own."

We smiled at him.

"We are ISIS, Lieutenant Branagh." replied Captain Geary softly, but with firm pride in his voice.

"We do not fear the monsters of this world.It is them who will fear us!"

Sergeant Miranda White tried not to show her nerves by moving too much, though it was admittedly rather hard.

She was about to go straight into what was most likely the most dangerous part of this city, in order to blow up a nest of giant, bloodthirsty worms, with a team only big enough to be counted on the fingers of both her hands.

Even by the standards of ISIS, this was pretty suicidal.

The only reason it was only "somewhat" suicidal, and not outright, was the presence of both Rebecca Chambers and Aeon.

Even with their presence, she still couldn't help but be worried. The troops regularly switched between fighting topside and underground simply because of how stressful fighting in the underground was.

Being able to fight topside was very swiftly seen amongst ISIS as a vacation of sorts compared to the hell that was fighting in the sewers.

At least up in the streets, you were less likely to be attacked from literally any direction...

"Alright. It's go time, people. Let's do this." declared Aeon, and she held her lasgun tightly.

Aeon waved his hand, and a new tunnel appeared in front of them.

The hope was that by creating their own tunnel thanks to Aeon's powers, they wouldn't attract the attention of the worms until they were on target: right at the center of the nest.

Naturally, they all expected things to get far more complicated.

For a time, the group moved on silently, interrupted only by the occasional sounds of distant fighting and tremors.

Miranda preferred not to think too hard about whether those tremors came from explosions… or simply something huge moving around.

Still, they made good time, and Miranda was even beginning to hope that everything would go smoothly-

Which is when Aeon stopped, signaling with his right fist.

Miranda tensed-

And a second later flinched as a worm burst out of the ground to her right, its wide maw open and its four massive mandibles seeking to close in on her body.

Miranda barely dodged the attack, hearing the sounds of fighting around her as more of the things bursted out of the walls towards the team, but she was too busy firing her lasgun at the giant worm trying to eat her whole to check on her teammates.

The tunnel devolved into a cacophony of shouts, firing lasguns, and the dying hisses of the worms, before suddenly everything stopped so fast Miranda was left stunned by the deafening silence.

Turning around, she saw Rebecca healed a few of her teammates, while Aeon stood immobile, as if listening for something.

"They're gone for now. We need to go at them, fast and hard. No point going slow and steady anymore now that they know we're here. Expect near constant attacks the closer we get to the nest." Aeon eventually said, turning to look in the distance towards where the nest was.

Meanwhile, Rebecca finished healing everyone injured in the surprise attack and looked at him.

"How many?"

Aeon chuckled darkly.

"Enough."

Rebecca nodded grimly, before looking back at Miranda and her team.

"You're all alright?"

Miranda smiled.

"We're fine. It's not the first time the damn worms tried something like this…"

And it wasn't. It was a good thing Aeon could tell when the worms were digging around, because more than a few times the damn things ended up attacking behind the front lines thanks to creating new tunnels.

But even he couldn't be everywhere, and more than one team ended up learning that there was no such thing as a safe area down beneath the city.

There was nothing quite like trying to relax after hours of fighting until the walls of the room you were in suddenly caved in, and you were up to your neck in carnivorous giant worms to teach you that lesson the hard way.

Fucking bastards couldn't even let them eat and sleep in peace…

Thankfully the zombies up above couldn't break through the damn walls!

… For the most part.

At least she wasn't present during Gamma Team's time off. Being caught with your literal pants down in the toilets was something that the team was going to be teased about for a long time…

Even if the team's ensuing enraged slaughter of the worms helped push the entire frontline forward by quite a lot.

Point was, anyone who took some time fighting in the undergrounds of the city knew to be wary of ambushes.

No matter when or where they were.

And so, they kept going. A handful of ISIS soldiers and two Hunters, slowly making their way forwards, every step taken tense with the expectation of a sudden attack from any angle, for the worms cared little about up and down here in the bowels of the city…

With the only visibility offered by their flashlights and the faint sounds of the team's footsteps as background noise, everyone striving to hear the slightest sound that wasn't made from a human being, since even a second of inattention meant death in this hell…

They eventually came into a sewer tunnel, the group cautiously going forward… until they stopped, their flashlights illuminating on a USS soldier.

Miranda almost opened fire at the sight, but Aeon held up a hand, and as she looked more closely, she noticed that the USS soldier was already dead… or undead, rather.

It moaned at the sight of them, hands rising as it slowly shuffled in their direction.

She glanced at her superior, who was frowning heavily toward the infected soldier.

"Sergeant White, one lasbolt to the head of that soldier."

She didn't hesitate, the zombie falling back with most of its head turned into a steaming pile of flesh.

She almost moved forward, but again Aeon stopped her.

Glancing curiously at him, she noticed him never taking his eyes off the corpse.

"Look closely at him and be ready to fire."

She blinked, noticing Rebecca doing the same, before they all looked at the corpse on the ground for a few seconds.

"Err… Aeon? I'm pretty sure he's dead-"

The corpse twitched.

Rebecca fell silent, staring at the corpse with bewilderment.

"I don't get it. Its brain is gone, and it's not regenerating-"

The corpse spasmed and twitched widely, as if to make a liar out of the medic, and by now the entire ISIS team had their guns firmly targeting the "dead" body in front of them.

The only ones who didn't were Aeon, who merely stared grimly at the spasming corpse, and Rebecca, who was now frowning in confusion and a hint of concern.

And then the midsection of the dead soldier rose up-

And exploded into blood and gore flying everywhere.

The vest and undersuit were shredded in half, and a great torrent of blood and innards came rushing out of either side of the bloated abdomen. And from there were the insides revealed, and Miranda at first mistook what she was seeing for intestines alone… but then the things within started squirming, uncoiling and writhing, dozen of such things within the corpse, and Miranda stared with numb shock as one by one, they spilled out of the dead man, the corpse finally ceasing to move, the things falling over and out of the body into the water around the USS soldier, a vomit-inducing wet sound audible as they moved sluggishly, leaving behind their former host.

Sliding through the puddle of blood and entrails, the things she finally recognized as worms, each about a foot long and wriggling everywhere… their mouths opening, each with four clearly visible mandibles already formed.

The monsters let out hungry hiss, and almost as one turned either towards the corpse nearby or the team numbly watching the bloody spectacle before them.

The moment some of them jumped toward the corpse, intent on feasting upon its flesh, while the others did the same but towards the team, Aeon finally moved, a white-blue fireball appearing before his right hand, her boss sending it flying at the worms and the corpse, burning everything to ashes.

Miranda knew the dying hisses of the monsters wasn't something she was ever going to be able to forget. Not after seeing… this.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what we are here to stop. So let's get on with it, yes?" said Aeon, his voice deceptively cheerful if not for the sheer disgust and outright hatred clearly noticeable in his voice.

"... Aeon?" softly said Rebecca, green eyes frozen on the spot where the corpse and the worms were.

"Yes, Rebecca?"

"I thought I knew what horror and hatred felt like after the mansion and the last few days. I was wrong. I was so, so very wrong... "

Aeon glanced at the young woman, a sad and understanding look in his eyes.

"For what it's worth… I'm sorry, Rebecca. If it wasn't for me, you would have never seen things like this."

Rebecca shook her head, quickly wiping a few tears from her eyes.

"Don't be. You warmed me up to what being a Hunter was like… what it would mean. I just…"

She trailed off.

"I just didn't truly understand the depths of horror that evil could bring. Now I do."

Rebecca took a deep breath, her green eyes flashing with rage for a second before settling on determination.

"Let's keep going. I can't burn Umbrella to the ground right now, but I can do it to that nest we are headed towards, so let's do that. Then we'll kill that giant worm, finish to take back the city…"

She smiled darkly.

"And then we can properly turn our efforts to deal with Umbrella once and for all." she declared, a cruel edge to her voice.

Aeon gave her a long look.

"Alright. But we'll talk about this later. I don't think that to rage against evil is bad, but hatred is a double-edged sword at best if you do not control it. So I'll make sure that it is ever something you control, rather than something that controls you."

Rebecca pursed her lips, before the look in her eyes softened and she glanced at him.

"I guess that you would know a thing or two about hatred yourself, huh?"

Aeon smiled, and Miranda saw something flash in his eyes that sent a shiver down her spine.

And then he turned away and began walking forward.

"Come on. We've wasted enough time. Let's finish this."

The group followed after him without a word.

As they made their way forward, occasionally fighting off sudden attacks, they noticed that the walls on their path became covered in thick, fleshy growths.

And they seemed almost alive, pulsating, moving, as though breathing. Miranda pursed her lips behind her mask, as she contemplated the biomass that filled the tunnels the closer to the nest that they were heading towards.

Soon enough, it wasn't just the walls, but also the ground and ceiling, and their footsteps made slight wet noises as they walked on the organic, fleshy growth spreading everywhere.

The conclusion was obvious: they were coming closer to the nest.

A fact further proven as more frequent attacks happened, so often now that it almost seemed that they were walking more often than not on the burnt corpses of the dead worms that they had killed than on the biomass covering everything.

The worms, too, were different, bigger and deadlier than the ones they were used to, spitting acid or that fleshy biomass to try to either kill or trap them where they were.

Miranda noticed that Rebecca was killing the worms with greater brutality than at the start of the mission, a slowly growing frown having turned into an outright scowl at some point.

Still, credit where it was due, the young Huntress had yet to lose sight of her surroundings despite her growing anger, and while Miranda was concerned for her, they really didn't have the time to stop and talk right now.

So they kept going, killing more worms, each one seemingly bigger than the last… until they arrived at their target destination.

Miranda took one look at the chamber they had broken their way through and flinched, a soft gasp leaving her at the sight of dozens, if not hundreds of pod-like growths… surrounded by as many human bodies.

Corpses, some of them cocooned on the ground, the ceiling, or the walls, as far as her eyes could see, some of them squirming and moaning with the mindless hunger of the undead, others unmoving and silent.

Their flashlights illuminating the chamber of horrors, Miranda saw bodies of civilians, RPD officers, US Army soldiers, and even Blackwatch troops everywhere she looked, even some UBCS and USS soldiers were present.

The worst part however was the civilians, as men, women, and even children were revealed, each of their forms bloated with the monsters using them as hosts, their milky white eyes staring at the newcomers blankly, forever frozen in silent suffering.

Miranda let out a soft curse, horror numbing her emotions as she took in the sights in front of her, and she faintly heard her teammates doing the same.

The only ones remaining silent were Rebecca, who had seemingly frozen in stunned shock at the entrance of the chamber at the sight awaiting her, and Aeon, who silently stared at the horrors in front of him with a dark look on his face.

Rebecca slowly walked forward, her head turning to look at the entire chamber and its contents, before she stopped at the side of Aeon, her green eyes shining with horrified shock.

"This is… I can't…"

She bent over, vomiting on the ground.

Aeon put a comforting hand on her right shoulder, squeezing gently and glancing down at her with sympathy for a moment before looking back up at the sights before him.

"This, Rebecca, is an example of the evils born from the cruelty of humanity, beasts in human skin who create monsters with smiles on their faces, uncaring of the pain they cause as long as they personally don't get to pay the price of their selfish ambitions. Take a good long look, and learn what it is that we as Hunters are meant to be fighting against."

Rebecca did as asked, taking in the sight of the bloated corpses in front of her, while beside her, Miranda and the rest of ISIS began arming the bombs they had brought to cleanse this place out of existence.

"This is the world that Umbrella wishes to create? This is the future its leaders desire for humanity? This is…" Rebecca trailed off, looking sick.

"Yes. This is what awaits the world if good men and women don't stand up and fight against the evils of Umbrella and their likes. People like you, Rebecca, and the rest of ISIS. If it wasn't for us all, no one would stand there right now, ready to burn this place out of existence. It may be cruel of me to ask this of you, Rebecca, but… remember this place. Remember the horrors of it. So that, if ever someone questions why Hunters exist, why evil needs to be fought… You will forever remember the reason why."

Aeon turned to look at the entire chamber, before looking at Rebecca in the eyes.

"We exist to stop such things from ever happening again. Or, if we cannot stop such horrors from existing… then at least, we can grant mercy to those who can find peace only in death, and judgement upon those whose evil has brought such horrors to exist in the first place."

Rebecca stayed silent for a long time, saying nothing as her eyes jumped to each bloated corpse, her face seemingly carved from stone from the sheer lack of emotions that can be found on it.

Then Miranda came up to Aeon, saluting when he glanced at her.

"The bombs are armed and ready, sir. Would you like to do the honors?" she asked, presenting the trigger.

Her boss looked down at it, gently taking it in hand for a moment, before turning and making his way to the entrance they came from.

"Alright everyone, we're done here. Let's leave before more worms show up."

They all followed him, Miranda taking note that Rebecca had seemingly lost all of her anger, as she instead looked around the room with sadness at the number of lives lost.

Then, as they walked away from the chamber, Aeon came closer to Rebecca and held the trigger towards her.

"Do you want to do it?" he asked softly.

The young Huntress stared at the detonator for a few seconds, before gently taking it and holding it.

Then she looked up at Aeon, a storm of emotions visible in her green eyes, before she looked down at the detonator… and activated it.

The tunnel they were in shook as the ground rumbled from the explosions going off in the chamber they just left, before slowly setting down again.

Miranda greatly doubted anything in that place had survived, not with all the explosives they had brought with them.

Another sound broke her satisfaction at wiping this place out of existence however, starting as a low rumbling that slowly but surely grew into a shrieking squeal coming from somewhere around the circular river, around north-east from their current position.

It sounded almost like a death wail, a scream of pure agony and rage that was unquestionably inhuman, echoing across the entire section of the sewers that they were in, soon followed by hundreds, if not thousands of echoing screams of rage coming from all the living offspring of the giant worm that first inhuman squeal must have originated from.

Despite what the sounds heralded, Miranda felt no fear, only pure satisfaction and a feeling of anticipation, and a look around her showed that everyone present felt the same.

The first part of their mission was a success. The horrifying chamber where the worms made more of themselves was gone, and now their objective was simple.

Kill the giant worm at the center of it all… and then slaughter its offspring to the last.

And after that? Save Raccoon City.

For once the battle of Raccoon City was over, ISIS and Insight Corp. could finally turn towards what they all longed to do.

Bring about the complete and utter destruction of Umbrella.

Because even if Miranda and her team hadn't said anything, they thoroughly agreed with Aeon's words.

The world needed protectors to fight against evils like Umbrella.

And everyone in ISIS currently fighting in Raccoon City knew without a shadow of a doubt that they were fighting for a good cause.

And that they would know no rest until all the people ruling Umbrella were finally brought to justice.

There would be no second Raccoon City. What happened in this city would never happen again.

Not if they had anything to say about it.