Here we were, stuck in an abandoned factory facing the most horrible creature we had ever faced in our lives. Collectively we had faced giant snakes, mammoth alligators, huge worms, killer plants, and other monstrosities to numerous to mention. Those things, however, couldn't hold a flame to this Tyrant. And soon we would find out just how powerful this Tyrant would be. We would also learn that this was the beginning of a countdown. A countdown to the final battle.
"Great." Chris said, raising his rifle.
"We're in a shit load of trouble." Barry said. "How in the world are we going to stop that thing?"
"I suggest we hoof it." Rick said.
James looked at Chris. "Rick's right. We have no chance if we fight in this narrow hall. We have to find a larger room."
Chris nodded. "Fall back, now." The team began to retreat. Several turned and fired on the Nemesis II to slow it down. The bullets did nothing as the monster continued its steady pursuit.
Wesker watched the S.T.A.R.S. retreat. He looked down at his wound. It bleeding had stopped and had begun to heal. If he were normal, he would have already bled to death. Chris knew what he was doing. "Dealing with me is one thing, facing my new pet will be a different matter." He reached for his radio. "Nicholai, keep me informed as to where our enemies are heading. I want to be there when my Nemesis kills Redfield."
"I have them already." Nicholai's voice said. "They're heading towards the middle of the factory. When will you be coming down here?"
"Soon." Wesker replied. "Just don't loose them." Wesker smiled as he started to follow. This was something he had to see.
Max fired his Custom Western at the Nemesis II. It took the shot in the right shoulder and didn't even stop. "Man, it didn't even flinch. This thing is tough."
"Maybe this will stop it." Rick ran over to a fire extinguisher that was fired to the wall. He grabbed it and pointed the nozzle at the Nemesis II. A pull of the pin and a white cloud of CO2 rushed at the monster's face. It bellowed as it was blinded. When the cloud cleared, the Nemesis II stood with its eyes fixed on Rick.
"Good job bonehead." Janet said. "You just pissed it off."
"Then this will really get it mad." Claire said. She, Rebecca, and Eliza aimed their M100Ps and fired. The rain of bullets rocked the Nemesis II. It staggered back a step or two. "All we have to do it shoot till it drops."
"There's just one problem with your logic Claire." Chris said. "Whenever you knock a Tyrant down, it gets right back up." Chris aimed his M16A2 at the Tyrant's leg and fired. It looked down at its bleeding leg, then back at Chris.
"S.T.A.R.S." It growled. It charged and lunged at Chris with its claw. Chris dodged as the claw crashed into the floor, penetrating the tiles.
"TAKE THIS!" Kelly yelled. She fired her M100Ps at the Nemesis II. It responded by backhanding her into the far wall. She crashed into it and crumpled to the floor. "Owe." She muttered, struggling to her feet. In her blurred vision she could see the Nemesis II rip its claw from the floor and turn to her.
"FUCK, KELLY!" Max yelled. He saw the Nemesis II draw back its claw it impale his girlfriend. He ran towards her and grabbed her right arm. He pulled her out of the way seconds before the Tyrant's claw plowed into the wall.
"I don't believe it." Carlos saw stunned. "Its claw went through concrete like it was paper."
Leon nodded. "It must have the strength of a Mr. X. The one I fought in Raccoon City broke through walls like they weren't even there." Leon pumped his Custom Western. "This is going to be tough."
The Nemesis II roared and yanked back its claw. The claw exploded from the wall, creating a huge hole and sending concrete raining over the S.T.A.R.S. Its eyes rested on Max, who was holding the still dazed Kelly. "S.T.A.R.S."
"Pick on someone who can fight back." Barry rushed to Max's side with Ark. Barry pointed his Python while Ark drew his Cougar. They fired simultaneously. One round hit it in the right hip. The other round slammed into its left shoulder. The Nemesis II roared and fell to one knee. "Finally." Barry said.
"Get Kelly out of here." James ordered.
"Right." Max said. He motioned for Jeff. The two men helped Kelly as they retreated.
"We have to slow it down." Chris said. "James, Jill, Jess, use your flame rounds to make a firewall. That way it'll have to take another route to catch us." The others nodded and loaded flame rounds into their grenade launchers. On Chris' signal, he and the other three fired at the floor in front of the Nemesis II. The rounds exploded, creating a sea of fire. "That should do it." Chris said. They left to catch up to the others, leaving the Nemesis II trapped behind a wall of flame.
"That was impressive." Nicholai mused. He had watched the battle unfold. From what he saw, the Nemesis II had fought well. Even when hurt, it still fought back. What really impressed him was how the beast had so easily knocked Kelly aside as if she were nothing. This also meant that the group would be slowed down. No doubt Chris would stop to check on his teammate's condition. This would be an advantage. "Maybe this will work after all." Nicholai picked up his radio. "Wesker, I have some good news. The Tyrant injured one of the S.T.A.R.S. However, they cut off the Tyrant with several flame rounds. I'm following them now."
"This should be interesting." Wesker replied. "As soon as they stop give me their location. I'll send my Nemesis there."
"I will." Nicholai set down his radio and watched the monitors. "You won't get away this time."
"Stop here." Chris brought the team to a halt. "Becky, check out Kelly. See if anything's wrong with her."
Rebecca walked over to Kelly. "Look at me." Kelly looked at Rebecca. She seemed disoriented and her eyes appeared glazed over. "How many fingers am I holding up?" Rebecca held up her index finger.
"Two." Kelly replied. "I feel like I'm going to throw up."
"She has a concussion." Rebecca told Max.
"Will she be all right?" He was gravely concerned for Kelly.
Rebecca scratched her head. "Normally I'd say yes, but with things as they are I'm not sure."
"Especially with that thing following us." Ada said. "We need a place where we can make a plan."
Chris had a map of the building against the wall. He was trying to find out where the team was. "I need someone to find a door and read the name on it. I know where we can go, the trick is knowing where it is with respect to us."
Carlos spotted a door. "I got one. It says Supply Room 024."
Chris found the room on the map. "We were heading right for it."
"Were are we going?" Barry asked.
"A large room where we can hide." Chris replied. "I doubt Wesker has the whole room covered with cameras. If there are any, we'll get rid of them. We go down this hall and make the first right. It should be the first door on the right. Let's move."
The group moved on. Following Chris' directions they arrived at the room. Barry pushed open the door and stepped inside. He found the light switch and flipped it up. He stood in awe at the side of the room. Large machines lined the outer walls. In the middle of the room was something that looked like an assembly line at an auto plant.
"Just what kind of factory was this Chris?" Barry asked.
"An auto factory." Chris replied. "Umbrella produced jeeps and other vehicles here. Umbrella also stored the T-virus here. No one would think of looking for a biological weapon in a car factory."
Carlos looked at Chris. "That's why we found a room full of tires."
"And that explains the room with all the glass." Ark added.
"There's an employees bathroom in the back. Take Kelly there." James said. "The rest of you, clear the cameras." As Max and Rebecca helped Kelly to the bathroom the rest of the team destroyed any cameras in the room.
"Damn." Nicholai watched as monitors went to static. Soon all monitors covering the Assembly Room had gone out. "You are smart, but not fast enough. Wesker will be pleased."
Wesker stood next to the Tyrant. "Very clever Redfield. You knew my Nemesis II wouldn't walk through these flames" He held up a fire extinguisher. A few short bursts and a path was cut through the fire. He and the Nemesis II walked through. "Now where did you go?" He was answered by a voice from the radio.
"The S.T.A.R.S. are in the Assembly Room. They cut off the cameras but from what I know there is only one way in. There is no way that they can open the doors to the warehouse. They are trapped."
"Thank you Nicholai." Wesker said. "It won't be long now." He turned to the Nemesis II. "Go and get them. You know the way."
The Nemesis II growled "S.T.A.R.S." and began to plod towards the Assembly Room.
Max held Kelly's hair back as she vomited into the dingy toilet. She vomited a second time, then a third. Tears were running down her face. "Here." Rebecca gave Kelly some toilet paper.
"Thanks." Kelly said as she wiped her mouth. "That was stupid, what I did. I shouldn't of gotten so close. Now because of me we're screwed."
Max patted her on the shoulder. "It could have been any one of us. And we're not screwed. Chris and James are coming up with a plan."
"Are you sure you don't have a concussion?" Claire asked. "You want to bobby-trap this place."
"Exactly." Chris said. "We set traps down this aisle. When the Nemesis comes through the door, we lure him to our traps. While it's occupied, we get Kelly out first, and then we leave. We make a right and wait. When that freak comes out the door, the last things it'll see are a bunch of guns and a lot of bullets."
"You want to shoot that thing." Jeff said. "Our bullets did shit."
"Yeah, when only one person is firing at it." Chris replied. "Every creature has a weakness. This Nemesis' weakness is it can't handle multiple rounds hitting it at once. I saw this when Claire, Rebecca, and Eliza concentrated their fire on that monster. Now I say we don't just fire on it together, we fire on it together with our big guns. Let's see that thing get up when it gets hit with a couple .50 cal. rounds and slag shells."
A smile spread on Barry's face. "Don't just kill it, obliterate it. Right?"
"Once we kill that Nemesis off we get outside and signal for our backup." Chris turned to Leon. "What did you find in the storage room?"
"Some cans of paint, some tools, and a few CO2 tanks." Leon reported. "And the good kind too. Break their necks and instant torpedo."
"And just how are we going to set up traps." Jess asked.
Chris smiled. "Ever watch the A-team. Improvise." He winked walked towards the bathroom to fill in Max and the others.
"It took us forty minutes to get here." James said. "From how fast that Tyrant moves, we have thirty minutes, maybe more, maybe less. Rick, keep a watch at the door. When you see that thing, yell."
"Got it." Rick ran towards the door as the others set up the traps.
"And that's it. As soon as the fighting starts, get out." Chris finished briefing Max.
"Don't worry, we'll be out in no time." Max said. "I just hope this plan of yours works."
"So do I." Chris left the bathroom and was met by his sister and Jill. "What is it?"
"There's one thing you forgot to mention." Claire said. "You need bait. Someone has to stay here and keep that thing occupied while the rest of us set up outside. We talked it over, we'll stay."
"I can't allow that. I'm not going to let you commit suicide." Chris said.
Jill sighed. "Then you lied to me. A while back you said that we couldn't put our personal feelings before the mission. Now you are doing just that. Face it, we're both fast and we don't have the heavy weapons the other guys do. Max and Rebecca have to take Kelly out of here. We need Eliza because she's needed to make the T-virus cure. The others have the weapons you need." Jill touched Chris face. "You know we're the only ones you have left to do this."
Chris looked into her eyes. "OK, but as soon as you see the others in position you run fast, run long, run hard. Get out of here." He took her hand and unclipped a grenade from his belt. "This is a stun grenade." He placed it into her hand. "It should give you some extra time."
"We'll be on the catwalk." Claire said. "We won't have time to use the stairs so we'll need something to jump on."
"I'll see to it. Good luck." Chris walked over to James. "What's the status?"
James pointed out the traps. "We set some trip-wire bombs. Those should bring down whatever they're attached to. There are electrical cords with outlets at the ends hanging from the ceiling. We believe power tools were plugged into these. We tied them to paint cans so they could be dropped from the catwalk. We propped up some glass panes and put remote bombs behind them." He pointed to Leon and Carlos, who were building a ramp out of pieces of metal. "Those two plan on launching those CO2 tanks like rockets. I doubt it'll work."
"Good job. I need you guys to make something that Jill and Claire can jump into from the catwalk. Build it next to the bathroom." Chris pointed to the two women above. "They volunteered to be bait."
"We will." James said. "We found some empty cardboard boxes. I'm sure we can make something out of them."
"GET READY, HERE IT COMES!" Rick yelled.
Everyone got into position. Soon the Nemesis II stepped into the room. It saw its prey and roared. It stomped towards the S.T.A.R.S. and hit the first trip-wire. The bomb destroyer the bottom of a rack, causing metal pipes to rain down. The monster swiped at the pipes. Jill and Claire threw down the first two paint cans. They swung out and hit the Nemesis II in the chest. While this was going on, Max, Rebecca, and Kelly made their escape. The Nemesis II hit the second trip-wire. This sent parts of a machine slamming into the creatures left side. It stumbled towards one of the glass panes. Jess hit the detonator for the bomb. The blast sent glass shards into the monster's right side. Jill and Claire dropped the next two paint cans. The creature took these cans in the abdomen. Ark, Eliza, Janet, and Rick made their escape. Another remote bomb was set off and the Nemesis II was hit by more glass. Jess, Jeff, Ada, James, and Barry made their break. Jill and Claire sent down more cans. These almost knocked the monster over.
"Fire one." Leon broke the neck on the first CO2 tank. The tack hit the ramp and took off. It slammed into the Tyrant's midsection. This made the monster furious. Carlos rolled another tank into place. "Fire two." The second tank took off. It missed the creature and careened down the room, slamming into the wall. The Nemesis II was getting closer. "Fire three." Leon broke the third tank's neck. It shot up and caught the monster right in the sternum.
"Let's go." Chris ordered. "It's up to them now." Chris, Barry, Leon, and Carlos ran. The Nemesis II began to follow. Suddenly two cans slammed into its face. It looked up to see Jill and Claire on the catwalk above.
"S.T.A.R.S." It roared.
"Let's go." Jill ran for the jump-down point. Claire followed close behind. The two women made it to the spot. They jumped the railing and landed on the cardboard boxes. No wasting a second they took off towards the door. They were halfway there when there was a load crash behind them. They turned to see the Nemesis II had smashed through the machinery and was heading towards them. "Claire, cover your eyes." Jill threw the stun grenade and turned her head.
The bright flash blinded the Tyrant. It roared in pain and swung wildly. When its vision returned, it saw Jill and Claire run through the door and turn right. "S.T.A.R.S." It roared. It charged ahead at an alarming speed. It exited the door and turned right to see most of the S.T.A.R.S. team aiming either a shotgun or Desert Eagle .50 cal. at it.
Chris yelled. "FIRE!" The sound was deafening as the guns fired at once. The heavy magnum rounds and slag shells hit the Nemesis II at once. The impact lifted the creature off its feet and sent it flying backwards. Black blood spurted from the wounds. It hit the floor hard, creating a crater were it landed. Its arms twitched spasmodically before stopping. Chris looked over the life-less body. Blood seeped from the wounds. "Let's go. It's over." Exhausted, the S.T.A.R.S. left the Nemesis II's still body and started for the front entrance.
Wesker waited until the coast was clear. He approached the monster and looked it over. Several large holes covered the chest and stomach. Smaller holds dotted the body and head. The left eye was a bloody mess. "They hurt you bad, but you'll be fine. Get up." The Nemesis II slowly sat up. It turned to Wesker. "Come on, you've had enough excitement for today. Your siblings will handle the rest." Wesker walked away as the Tyrant got to its feet. It then followed Wesker like a puppy towards the elevator.