Can You Cheer Me Up?

The chain of explosions sent a shockwave with a radius of 500m from the center of the blast. The narrow tunnel worked as an amplifier, strengthening the shockwave even more. Thankfully, the underground tunnel was built like a labyrinth, with twists and turns every 20 meters or so, preventing any further destruction.

When BERTHA, who was tasked to lead Chris, Claire, and Leon, saw the entrance into the NEST facility, the shockwave hit their group, halting their advance. They leaned on the wall to help them stay on their feet.

"'Shit!" cursed BERTHA, praying that her team would be fine. "Keep going, I can see the entrance."

BERTHA kept questioning the reason they helped this group. After defending the Police Station, they went back to their hiding spot only to get another mission from the HQ. It was to take care of Sherry Birkin and take the G-Virus sample out of her pendant. However, three of her teammate had a change of heart after they met their target, mainly because of the news that the city would be decimated the next morning, from HUNK.

BERTHA, SPECTRE, and FOUR EYES were intent on completing the task, believing that the HQ would pick them up before tomorrow. But LUPO, along with VECTOR and BELTWAY stood in their way with guns aiming for their head. The three knew that the HQ planned to abandon them. Taking the pendant was just to make sure that it didn't fell in the wrong hand. The standoff would've been escalated into a fight if not for the sudden appearance of that damn monster.

"Shouldn't we stay here and wait for them?" asked Claire, who was piggybacking Sherry on her back. Although tired, she didn't want to show it to the others.

"And risking our lives to that monster?" replied BERTHA while still running without turning her back. "My team decided to stay back there so that the girl could be healed. Stop insulting their effort by doubting them, young girl."

Chris who heard her words, couldn't help but ask. "Can I ask you something?"

"Would you shut up if I answer it?" replied BERTHA with another question.

Chris nodded and then asked, "Why are you helping us? You have the pendant now, there's no reason to risk your—"

"Do you think I want to do this? That damn LUPO was the only one that wanted to help you. Fuck! This is why I hate working with her, she got so overly emotional over some random children." complained BERTHA. From her words and the way she tells it, Chris could imply that it wasn't the first time they did it. It seems this LUPO had a special attachment to children, he thought.

"We're here," said BERTHA, interrupting Chris's chain of thought. Chris then glanced at Leon, and the latter nodded. With guns in hands, both of them approached the door. Leon kicked it open and went in first, followed by Chris a moment later. It seems the place was completely abandoned, there was no reaction, only silence permeating the corridors. Claire and BERTHA followed after the two, the role of the guide ended here, not even BERTHA knew the exact location for the antidote.

They keep walking, following the winding corridors when they met another same door. Since there was no threat from zombies or other things along the way, they got lax and carelessly approached the door. It was then that the door was opened from the other side, catching the group off guard.

======

Because of how close they were to the C4s, the explosion threw VECTOR, FOUR EYES, and BELTWAY to the wall. Cloud of dust covered their vision inside the dark tunnel, limiting their view even more. Both Edward and LUPO was in the range of the blast, so when the explosion caused the ceiling to collapse, they were either trapped on the other side or stuck beneath the stones and debris. VECTOR, who was the first one to gain control of his body, slowly standing up with the help of the wall and berated BELTWAY.

"You idiot! Mother Wolf is still in there!"

"But she told me to punch the button no matter what!" argued BELTWAY.

"That was when the situation grew grim! Someone arrived and helped us at the last minute, you should have pay more attention!" scolded, VECTOR.

SPECTRE and FOUREYES also got on their feet and approach them. They watched the pile of stones and debris before them.

"What now? We lost Motherwolf, do we keep on with helping the girl, or abandon it?" asked SPECTRE. What he meant by that was ignoring the dying girl and just go back and wait for Umbrella to pick them up.

"Let's regroup with BERTHA, first. We'll discuss it with her, she's the second in command," replied VECTOR.

"Uggh, we shouldn't have agreed with LUPO's proposal. Now she's dead just because a random girl was infected," muttered SPECTRE.

"Either way, we had the same destination, so why not take them with us?" replied, BELTWAY.

"The thing is, William's daughter was being targeted by that ugly shit! We could have escaped smoothly if we just kill them all," argued SPECTRE.

"Enough, stop making any useless conflict in this group. There's no use in looking for faults in the past. Let's move now!" reprimanded VECTOR once again. Throughout the conversation, FOUREYES was the only one that kept her mouth shut. Instead, she was observing the debris that cut off their way in.

No one said anything, the only sound in the narrow tunnel that could be heard was the sound of flowing and the dripping water from a broken pipeline. One by one, they started turning their back, with FOUREYES still looking at the pile of stones and debris. But then, she noticed something moving.

"Guys, you might want to see this," muttered FOUREYES.

"Stop wasting our time and just move," grumbled VECTOR.

"Something's moving under the debris!" yelled FOUREYES while taking out his shotgun.

Realizing that BELTWAY wasn't trying to goof off like the usual, the other started pulling out their weapon as well while approaching him. Now they could see the thing that BELTWAY mentioned. One of the huge rock at the outer edge was slowly being pushed from the other side.

"Everyone form a line and fall back!" ordered VECTOR.

With weapon in hand, they slowly walk backward while aiming at the moving rock. No one but the monster would have that kind of strength to push the rock away. The tension kept rising with every passing second, but the Wolfpack were heavily trained to face this kind of situation at any moment. With their finger ready on the trigger, they watch as the rock was lifted and thrown aside. However, it was not the figure of the monster that stood behind it. It was Edward.

"Who did you say that got infected?" asked Edward, who seemed to be completely unharmed. Behind him was the unconscious LUPO, who was being dragged by her arms.

======

"I can't believe to meet you here Mr. Chris." said a man in a black suit while watching Sherry being tended by her mother from the corner of the room.

"So do I, Agent Coulson. What were you doing in these past weeks? I haven't met you since the arrival of the Armies." said Chris.

"Well, a lot happened, and I was tasked to watch over this place, ensuring her safety," replied Agent Coulson while nudging toward Annette Birkin, Sherry's mother. "When we found her, she was at the edge of breaking down, almost losing her mind. We found out that her husband used the virus he developed on himself, turning him into a mindless monster with only one desire, to procreate."

"Procreate?" asked Chris, confused.

"The thing inside the girl isn't a parasite or virus, but a seed," whispered Agent Coulson. "It will cause the same mutation just like his father's and once it's born, it will control the host's mind."

Chris was rendered speechless, he didn't what to say or how to react to it. Everything just seemed too absurd to be true. Thankfully, they arrived faster with the help of Umbrella's team Delta. He didn't dare to imagine the consequences if they were a little bit late.

With the end of Coulson's word, both he and Chris left the room, giving the space for mother and daughter to interact. However, Sherry hadn't woken up yet from his slumber, even after the antidote was injected into her.

"I'm sorry," apologized, her mother, before leaving the room as well.

Silence permeated the room, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of the beeping from the vital signs monitor attached to her.

Suddenly, inside the cold and silent room, a voice spoke, "In the end, I couldn't even protect you."

Black smokes emerged along with a small figure in a white coat. Edward removed his helmet and sat beside her, watching the sleeping Sherry. He didn't know how the G-Tyrant could infect her and he didn't even dare to imagine what she had been through. Sherry's face was pale and thick red veins appeared around her left eye.

"Regina..." whispered Edward.

[Her lifeforce have grown stable, there's no sign of further mutation or necrosis from the virus anymore. For now, she'll be fine.]

However, something in her word was bugging his mind. "What do you mean by 'for now'?"

[Don't you remember, Sir, that I couldn't detect the lifeforce of normal living beings?]

As if a gear was put inside his mind, rotating the clogged machine, he got a bad premonition, "Do you mean..."

[Yes, Sir. She's developing the Genma strains.] continued, Regina.

"But... how?"

[Apparently, the Genma Core from inside Nemesis's body was unharmed. When the G-Tyrant fused itself with Nemesis's empty body, it also absorbed the Core which allowed the G3 to evolve into a Genma as well. If it was from a normal mean, she might have not been infected, because the parasite lost the power to infect others. However, it didn't disable the power for him to reproduce.]

Edward felt this world hated him so much. Not only that he couldn't protect her, now he was put on another cliff. There was no cure to stop her from turning into a Genma.

"Do I... have to..." he felt like shit. Choosing between the life or death of someone he loved. No matter what he chose, nothing good would come out of it. He glanced at an empty corner of the room, there was a chair sitting right before a table, facing him. He asked toward it, "What should I do now?"

Edward shut his eyes before turning his head away, looking down at Sherry's little hand. Although she was older and taller, his hand was a little bit bigger than her hand. He held it and move his forehead to it, closing his eyes tightly, praying to the God that never even spoke to him. "What should I do to save her...?"

The bracelet, which was the sleeping form of Limbo suddenly lighten up with a warm color. Edward was still closing his eyes, feeling dismayed and sorrowful, so he didn't see the light. The red veins around Sherry's left eye were slowly healing and fading until it was gone. Life returns to her body, as she slowly opened her eyes. She looked at her left hand, which was oddly warm but wet. However, no one was there. Edward had already gone.

======

[Where are you going, Sir?] asked Regina.

"Ending everything, once and for all." Edward moved inside the labyrinth-like NEST, looking for a way out. He had been here once, looking for a way out wouldn't be a problem either since Regina would tell him right away. However, he wasn't thinking about that.

"Find that G-Tyrant." ordered, Edward.

[Yes, Sir.] answered Regina. A moment later, she picked up the life force of the G-Tyrant. [He's currently 10Km southwest, Sir. And it seemed he was still underground.]

"Good. Let's move now."

Edward started running at full speed. With all stat points already exceeded 50, he could run up to 70Km/h unobstructed. However, the winding corridors keep getting in his way, preventing him to reach his max speed.

It was then when he almost reached the exit that all of the light suddenly flickered and turned red, along with an announcement.

{Warning: Self-Destruct program have been activated, all personnel is suggested to cease any activity and exit the facility as fast as possible. The facility will Self-Destruct in 5 minutes.}

The announcement keep repeating by itself every 10 seconds. Edward silently cursed, 'Fuck, who is it this time!?'

He traced back his way toward the place where they put Sherry in. There was still 4 minute left when he arrived.

"Edward? Is that you?" The first one to find him was Claire, who was piggybacking the weakened Sherry on her back. Although she looked fine, she didn't seem to be fully conscious as her eyes looked a bit dreamy. Claire wanted to hold him, but it was not a good time.

"What happened?" asked Edward. Coulson and Chris part ways, showing the blood-covered Annette. She was already dead.

"A white-haired UBCS mercenary came in, and snatched a key to activate the self-destruct procedure," explained Leon, who witnessed the scene. He was also wounded, but BERTHA already wrapped it with clean bandages.

'Shit! It's him again!' cursed, Edward, inside his mind. With his 51 points in stats, he could think faster by accelerating his brain. 'It hasn't been long since he activated the program, he must on his way to escape. But there are three separate exits. One was already destroyed by the bomb, leaving the emergency on the east and the railways on the west.'

It was then, a SHIELD agent arrived. "All's clear, Sir. We can board the train now."

'The train? Then, if Nikolai didn't take it, it means there's only one place left.'

As if knowing what he was thinking, Chris held Edward by his arm. "Whatever you're going to do, stop it now."

Although Edward was a bit startled by his sudden approach, he still answered calmly while sneering at himself "Stop? It's already too late."

However, Chris was being stubborn, he didn't let go even after Edward forced his arm to move away. "Ed, it's enough. You've done more than you could, let's just go and get out of this city."

"This city? You mean, you're going to abandon them? The people who you've been painstakingly protecting?" asked Edward, feeling bewildered.

The Wolfpack moved toward the train, Claire wanted to stay, but Agent Coulson grabbed her, asking her to leave them alone. One of the Agents brought the lifeless body of Annette with him. There were 4 minutes left.

"This city couldn't be saved anymore, in six hours, a nuclear missile would arrive in this city, completely decimating it." Chris also felt helpless, but there was no choice. And with the facility counting down to its destruction using Umbrella's train to escape was a much better choice.

"You are a policeman! Don't tell me that your actual job was to abandon the citizen!" yelled, Edward.

"My status meant nothing in this city anymore. My job is to fight crime and apprehend criminals, not fighting monsters or undead just to stay alive. I have a family to protect, and you're one of them!" retorted Chris.

However, Edward was irritated, he felt like his uncle was too irresponsible. But who could blame him? The whole city was on fire, with no chance to get out anymore. Every single life was being put out like a candle in a dark room. And no matter how many you light up, it would eventually fades into darkness once again. But Edward didn't see him from this perspective. He couldn't. He just... couldn't anymore.

"I'm leaving, you can go as far as you can. I'll stay."

"Edward! You're killing yourself!" shouted Chris.

"I'm already dead!" yelled Edward. Chris was frozen and startled by his answer. "This is the first time we meet after a few days. Instead of stopping me, can you just ask how am I doing? For fuck sake, I just killed the first friend that I ever had yesterday, with my own hands. Do you know how that feels? It's fucking disgusting!"

Edward didn't stop, "I saw people dying in front of me, people that I know, people that I spent my days with. When I watched Sherry lying down on that bed, I felt helpless. At any moment now, she might turn into one of them, the thing that you didn't want to fight just because it wasn't your job anymore! So please, I'm begging you, instead of reprimanding me for my choice, just cheer me up... I need it, uncle."

Edward's voice was trembling, sadness and pain could be felt in his voice. Even though Chris couldn't see it, he knew that behind that helmet was the face of a crying boy who couldn't do anything against the world. The boy who fought the hardest, and the one that always stood in the front line. Chris was pained by it. Among all others that the world could choose, why it has to be him. He couldn't mutter any words as his nephew, his dearest nephew, vanish into smoke in front of him, returning to the surface of that cursed world.