The Shelter

All three of us were completely baffled and speechless. None of us would think that something like this would happen. Well, I did, but not this early. Or probably I just hadn't realized how strong I had become.

"Ed... Edward? What did you do?" mumbled Chris. His eyes were locked at the glaring maw in front of us.

"Uhh... I went pew pew and boom boom... I guess." I replied, not knowing how to explain.

"Uhh... okay then. Let's move again," said Chris.

Aya turned her head to him and asked, "Why... are you agreeing to that sloppy explanation?"

"Just thinking about it hurt my head. I'd rather turn a blind eye to it," replied Chris.

Eventually, Aya also agreed with Chris's viewpoint. Chris turned the car and we circled the pit that I just made by accident. By circling it, we realized how bad the scale of the destruction was. I swore to myself not to use the Reinforced version of the pendant recklessly unless it was required for me to do so.

======

Unlike the blazing noon in the midday, scorching the land of Mojave dessert, the piercing cold night was much worse than anyone could think. However, it still couldn't affect the thick flesh of any of the monsters that roamed this land.

A long-limbed humanoid NMC, resembling a naked slenderman, was pacing back and forth in front of an abandoned mining site. There were some traces of people living in it. Just from that, anyone could guess that it hadn't been a week since the last time someone was in there. What happened? No one knows.

Suddenly, the slenderman noticed a pair of lights in the far distance, coming closer. It walked to the blinding light, slowly. Its long hand tried to reach out, trying to grasp the blinding lights. Like a deer in the headlight, the slenderman just stood still, eyes wide open.

BAM!!

The poor thing was slammed by the oncoming truck, dragging it. Chris didn't even hit the brake to slow down. With the slenderman still hanging on the front side of the truck, Chris drove the truck past the wooden gate, breaking it. Only then did he hit the brake.

As the truck abruptly stop, the slenderman was thrown a few meters away. It slowly stood, only to be hit by a barrage of bullets from an M4A1. My M4A1.

"Is this the place?" I asked while checking on the EXP I just got from the slenderman.

"Yeah, it fits Douglas's description," replied Aya, putting away the map on her hands and jumped off the truck. She then added, "What do we do now?"

"Hold on," I said, jumping down the truck. A small butterfly fluttered over my shoulder. No one knew where it came from. I silently whispered a command to it. Understanding what I was saying, the small butterfly flew into the mine.

"Let's go," I said. Both Chris and Aya nodded at my instructions, following right behind me. They knew about the butterfly's ability. Finding the Shelter wouldn't take too long now.

I then muttered, "Firaga."

With the light from the five fireballs, circling us, we kept advancing inside the abandoned mine. Stranded trolleys, broken railways, rotting wooden pillars. The mine kept branching into somewhere unknown. I couldn't even choose where to start to describe how miserable the place was. And of course, there would always be a hiccup along the way as well.

We kept getting swarmed by mutated bloodsucking bats, mutated insects, and other weird-looking NMCs. They didn't do much though, because I could round them up effectively, but the number was far too many to handle alone without trying to destroy everything around me.

The labyrinth-like tunnel was also very annoying. My Radar Sense was very useless inside this place. Too many echoing noises. I couldn't use it without having my brain being struck with an unbelievable amount of excessive information. I even almost puke once.

Not long after, the butterfly led us to a wooden bridge over a gap of a fissure, brandishing a single railway. At the other end of the cave wall, a small light was being emitted. The butterfly kept flying towards it.

I used the fireballs to illuminate our surrounding, especially the bridge and the deep fissure. Looking at the shabby wooden bridge, I tried to warn both Aya and Uncle Chris. "Careful, I don't think that bridge could..."

But it was too late. Before I could finish my words, Aya's foothold suddenly cracked, leading into a chain reaction that shattered half of the bridge apart.

"...handle our weight."

Chris, who was closer to her, leaped forward, successfully catching her arm, barely saving her from falling into the bottomless abyss underneath.

Hanging by the edge of the fissure, Chris was being dragged slowly into it as well. But, I pulled his leg at the last minute and dragged both of them to safety.

Almost losing her life for a stupid reason, Aya laid down on the floor, calming herself. She felt thankful that Chris was around. If not for him, who would've known what would happen to her.

I could've saved her without him taking action, but I was too busy admiring Uncle Chris's growth. The moment I was trying to do so, Uncle Chris moved. Although his reflex was a bit slower compared to mine, that was something that couldn't be scoffed at.

"Thanks, I owe you one," said Aya, finally calming down.

'Bitch... What about me?' I complained inside my heart.

"It's fine, even if I didn't do anything, he would. In fact, he already did," replied Chris, pointing his thumb at me.

'Thanks for confirming my existence.'

Noticing something odd in the atmosphere between the two, I just shook my head and replied while smiling, "No way. I can't even see shit with this mask covering my face."

As if noticing my playful tone, Uncle Chris whispered, "What are you doing?"

I purposely rose my voice higher so that the two of them could hear it. I replied, "What? Am I wrong? When she fell, it was only you that saw her falling. See that broad chest, it would be a shame if no one took that place sooner or later. It just screams, 'Depend on me!'"

"E— I mean... Killswitch! Stop it." ordered Chris, almost blowing my identity.

Us, bickering seemed to lighten her tensed mood from earlier. Aya giggled and said, "Still... thank you, Chris. I'll go check the bridge. See if we can pass through it."

Seeing her moving further, I immediately gave Uncle Chris a silent thumbs up and said, "Nice. We're on a first-name basis right now. It will be easier from now on."

Confused, Chris then replied, "What are trying to do? And what's with that first name thingy? Isn't it normal for people to call each other by name?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Ohh my sweet muscular Uncle of mine. She didn't just call you Chris, but... Chris'HH." I said, channeling the feminine energy on that last word. I added, "You see what I just did?"

Crossing his arms on his chest, Chris replied, "Still, she was just being thankful. It doesn't mean anything."

"It dOeSn't MeaN ANytHinG," I said, with a mocking voice. I smirked before adding, "People who say that usually are the ones hoping the opposite."

"Stop it, Ed. Just focus on finding a way inside." complained

I couldn't help but follow up, "Inside her pants?"

Flustered, he immediately covered my mouth and said, "Who taught you these things? I'll tell Claire on you."

Releasing his hand, I replied, "Hey! That's cheap. Alright, alright, I'll stop."

Regrettably, Romance 101 had to be halted. Not because I was afraid that Claire would lecture me on how to behave 24/7 nonstop all the while seeing her disappointed face, but because Aya, who was oblivious to our chatting, coincidentally returned at the perfect time. It's not... I swear...

"The entirety of the middle section just collapsed. Unless we could find something to connect the two sides to walk on, we won't be able to cross it," explained Aya. "Any ideas?"

I didn't even have to think about it. The answer was very simple, "You see, someone taught me this trick two years ago. Unpleasant, but effective."

"Hmm... What is—"

Without waiting for Chris to finish his words or for, I sprang immediately and grabbed the collar on Chris's uniform. Using the momentum, I tossed him to the other side of the cliff.

He let out an inaudible scream, zooming in the air, before rolling a few times on landing. I silently cheered, 'That's what you get for using Aunt Claire to threaten me!'

Aya gulped watching the Chris airline, she turned his head to me, wanting to refuse my suggestion and offer a different solution. In fact, she recalled a wide steel board that could be used to connect the bridge. But it was too late, I was already floating next to her.

The next thing she saw was just a blur, as she flew just like Chris to the other side. But this time, Chris was there to catch her.

'Good Job!' I thought silently, giving him a thumbs-up before I took a stance and gently leaped to their side as well.

As I landed, Uncle Chris who was still holding Aya in his arms complained, "You could have just asked."

"Will you say yes?" I responded with another question.

"Well..." Uncle Chris couldn't retort to my question and just gave up on reprimanding me.

"See? We got here anyway. So, what's the problem?" I said.

"Ahh fine... but next time you better told us your plan, before going through with it," said Uncle Chris.

"Umm..." A small voice tried to say something, but we didn't hear it as we were still talking

Our eyes moved toward her, who was still being carried like a princess by Uncle Chris. They made awkward exchanges before the two realized that they were still looking at each other.

'Man... I think he didn't need me to be his wingman. This man is a natural. He'll be fine on his own.' I noted to myself.

"I get it already, so can you put me down?" asked Aya.

There was a small tinge of reddish blush on her face, but it was hidden under her blond puffy short hair.

"Ah... I'm sorry." apologized Chris, wanting to die because of the embarrassment.

"Oh...ho... what's with this weird atmosphere...?" I teased, which was ignored by the two who were still a bit flustered.

After she stood on her feet, she tried to look around to distract herself and walked away. Chris also went to the other side, to look at the source of the light I the butterfly went to.

'Hmm... It seems I don't have to worry about the Redfield's future bloodline.' I thought to myself, before approaching Chris. It was then that I noticed a Harley Davidson, parked at the corner of the dark wall, a bit suspicious.

"What did you find?" I asked, standing next to Uncle Chris while observing the motorcycle.

The tire marks on the ground confirmed that it was not too long before the owner arrived here. I had an idea of the owner. For now, I was glad that the story didn't change that much from what I remembered.

"Nothing much. I think there's a room behind this stone wall. Your butterfly just went through the small gap," said Chris. He knocked on the stone wall a few times at different sides before adding, "It's thick and heavy, forcing our way inside is impossible unless we have some type of heavy machinery."

Gurrururururururu!

Just as I was going to use Blackbeard to dismantle the wall, suddenly, the wall moved by itself, exposing a long hallway of some sort. The butterfly was hanging on the pipe that was protruding on one side of the wall, waiting for the next order.

While the wall was still moving, Aya approached us with a delighted expression after noticing the opening wall in front of us.

She explained, "There's a small room to the right, filled with generators and control panels. Gate 1 and Gate 2 are written in it. I seemed to have activated it."

"Good job," complimented Chris, which was returned by a small smile.

Glank!

The stone wall then stopped moving, drawing our attention. And then, as I took the first step inside...

<Congratulations upon reaching the town of the secret laboratory, The Shelter!>

<Quest Updated!>

<Third Task: Artificial Neo-Mitochondria Creature.>

<You have found the secret research facility, The Shelter, a Cold War-era fortification built by the U.S. government, which was then sold to a fanatical militia group. The group later converted the Shelter to be used as a research facility for various scientists and militia members, with the goal of artificially evolving humans into ANMC creatures that stuck to a strict caste system.>

<Gather all of the research documents and every single data inside the facility and destroy all of them, before it falls into the wrong hand.>

"Wait... Everything!?" I yelled, unconsciously, looking at the tiring task before me.

======

Somewhere inside the Shelter, a blonde little girl was hiding with both hands squeezing her mouth, as to not let out a single breath. Her short hair would've reminded Edward of agent Aya Brea. However, it wasn't her sister or a long-lost family member. But instead, a clone of her.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Her pulsating iris was glued toward the exposed A sound of a metallic object hitting the wall was coming closer and closer to her hiding spot. Soon, the figure of Number 9, holding his Gunblade appeared under the blinding lights of the hallway, snickering.

However, that was not all. More and more GOLEM-Type ANMC, which resembled him, followed right behind him. The only difference between them was that those "followers" didn't have a mind of their own, and just blindly obeying his orders, like a squad of well-trained puppets.

As more time passed, Number 9 gave an order, "Find her!"

His puppets immediately started looking at the nook and cranny of these huge Hallways. There was a lot of ANMCs sleeping inside hundreds of capsules.

Suddenly, one of the GOLEMs' gazes was drawned to her hiding spot. Raising the Assault Rifle in its hand, the GOLEM was ready to pull the trigger.

Bang!