Evanescence: No More Dreams: Interpretation
"From what I gathered, until recently Umbrella was still using the Nemesis Parasite to control their BOW. They've had Fusion awhile by this point, but it was only when a doctor named Augustine Millington uncovered the.. My... Original proposal on using the DNA of the subject to combat infection... He devised a way to use the RNA nano-machine to not only rebuild the DNA molecule, but reconstruct the last ten percent of the strand..."
Trudie is a little confused, so Dusty explains, "The soul..."
"Yes," the redhead sighs and continues reading the email she got from her cohorts in the UA, "but there's more, someone who obviously knows you gave Augustine your DNA to replicate."
"Alexia Ashford..." Dusty doesn't want to relive the events of Tokyo, how normal a life he led for a while, until he encountered those two men outside the airport...
Tokyo, Japan: Late Afternoon, Nineteen Years Ago
Dusty is on his way to the airport to begin his shift as security guard when one man walks out of the lobby, a strange expression on his face. This is the look of a man bent on revenge, a look he knows all too well. Dusty approaches the man, introducing himself as a higher-up in the airport management, even though the man obviously doesn't buy it. A waste of a favor when he calls his buddy to pick up a limo and meet him there. Even before the first man knew what was happening, Dusty already has his gun aimed at the other inside; right as the second places the laser target on his chest.
"Look, we don't have time for this, get in the ca-"
"Oh my god, GUN!"
Screams, frantic screams... Dusty ushers them into the car, then finally realizes where he's seen them before. Hours earlier, he received a package from Aya, his grenade launcher, and a note with a CD. On the CD were photos of random people and names, none of which he can really remember now. But the faces, always etched into his mind. She told him that Umbrella is planning something big in Tokyo and these people will help him stop it. When Dusty gets the men back to his house, he shows them everything he has on Umbrella and HCF, all the viruses and deaths. Apparently his actions at the airport got Umbrella's attention, after all these years, they finally found him. With the two men in tow, Dusty evaded capture, but something clicks inside his mind and when he next sees Umbrella scum loading into a train, he follows them. In order to save the other two, he blows the train in half, allowing himself to be captured..
"Ah, there you are..." the face in front of him is literally death incarnate, he knows her well from the data on Rockfort Island that Claire and Chris gave him long ago.
"Alexia Ashford... Thought you were just a fading stain on Umbrella's evening dress.."
The idle banter and jokes continue for a few tense minutes, Dusty trying to learn everything he can, just in case someone manages to rescue him, "I've had enough of this, Jack, bring him forward.."
Aya... her hand flies through his face and all is black.
11
"Dusty?" Aya waves her hand in front of his face.
Her love snaps too and stares into her eyes, his own wavering and barely focused, "Yes, Shortcake. Sorry, just reliving some bad times in my life."
"Oh, which ones?"
He smiles and winks at her, "The ones without you..."
"Oh please!" Trudie stands up and walks out of the room, falling in line with his plan.
"So, Alexia did keep your brain..."
Dusty sighs and paces to the far end of the room, "Apparently... Studied it and my DNA to find out what makes me tick.. How I've been able to fight them for so long... Apparently my bouts with Isis and my split personality syndrome caused them to make nine of me, and also must be why we are all reverting into our base personalities. She was very thorough. Glad Wesker finally took her out."
"It does raise a question, given her personal fights with Chris and Claire, why did she not clone them?"
"I can only assume two reasons for that, one: I was on hand and 'willing'... Two: Do you really think people wouldn't notice clones of the Face of Justice?"
Aya nods in acceptance as Trudie walks back in, backwards, her gun pointed at something hidden by the wall, "Guys, we need to move."
"Wha-?" Dusty doesn't need to ask, as he can hear it, the soft chuckle through the static of the Genome Communication Link.
"Come on, Dusty... Come face everything you've tried so hard to not become..."
Confused looks as both Trudie and Aya turn to look at the clone, "Did we just hear that?"
The brunette raises his gun, then drowns the entire clip into the wall, a snarl on his face as the weapon clicks empty, "I have striven to be what I need to be! You are the one who made the wrong choices!"
A sick, rolling chuckle that slowly rises to a roarous laugh as Five walks around the corner, his clothing torn and bloodied from already sealed bullet wounds, "Interpretations, that's all life is.. One meaning, limitless interpretations... Where you saw a choice for good, I saw a choice to be something more... The thing this world truly needs."
"And what is that?"
"Terminus of Panton, Etiamnunc exordium."
"Cute... The End of Everything, Yet the Beginning... That was the title for my college thesis on what real impact daily decisions make on the world around us, if I ever went to college that is."
Five smiles and bows, "I am every bad decision you should'v-"
"Couldn't," Dusty corrects him.
A snarl from the clone, "SHOULD have made. Just imagine where we'd be if you embraced the first infection instead of fighting it? You would be running Umbrella. With Wesker either dead or working under you.."
"WESKER!" Dusty cannot believe he forgot.
11
"We are approaching Umbrella Air-Space Sector Four-Four-Seven-Three. Shall I prepare initial bombing run preparations?"
The blonde weapon presses a sequence on the keyboard and grabs the controls, steering the stealth plane toward the landing strip in the rear of the facility, "No, I have a better plan now."
Deploying P-EpsilonX is no longer a viable solution to this particular problem. This unique situation with the knowledge that Zero-One was the first to gain a personality now requires a personal touch. During the trip to the facility, Wesker managed to dig through all the running project files for this base. In such, he found one that is already active, but apparently needs a push. Genesis Project number 2.112: Genesis-Twins. With the way they were made, the two are focused more on surviving than fighting. But with the proper encouragement, and hopefully a little added Fusion-Tweaking, they can become the weapons that the Genome-Soldiers were supposed to be.
"Override all access codes; I need no interruptions to my target."
Wesker checks his person for all the appropriate items and finds them all in place: a .50 caliber Desert Eagle with a handful of spare clips, his Umbrella ID Card to bypass the retinal scans, and finally, a single syringe filled with P-EpsilonX in case of something he has not planned for. When all items are accounted for, the bio-weapon opens the access hatch and in a flash of black smoke he is on the ground. His ears pick up an unusual sound, one of thundering footsteps and snapping bone.
"What in the hell?" he turns and peers through dark sunglasses as a Hulk-Creature appears through the trees, having ripped its already broken arm off and is in the process of launching it at the blonde man.
Time slows down as Wesker easily flips over it, his hand already drawing the magnum and draining seven precise shots into the mouth of the monster. Each round finds the perfect mark, finally severing through the tough flesh of its throat and snapping the brain stem in half, dropping the beast instantly. As soon as it slides to a stop at his feet, Wesker injects the body with a single drop of P-Epsilon, his mind recalling the secondary mutation they do when the head is destroyed.
"Must document the creativity of this one," the words are meaningless, especially as the body begins to sizzle and dissolve, the T-DNA breaking down almost as soon as it was injected.
Wesker himself had a taste of P-Epsilon, back in Antarctica when he was slowly following Claire through the facility. She had just killed several Hunters with the special grenades, and the smoke was heavy in the air. It made his nostrils burn and gave him a nasty headache, which led him to avoid further contact with the poison. To see what it can really do only further solidifies his decision to not use the barrels of it in his plane. Another noise to his left, but this is just the doors being unlocked, allowing him access to the Freight Elevator that bottoms out in the Genesis-Twin Containment Cells. With a press of a button and a scan of his ID Card, the bio-weapon is rocketed down to the depths of the facility.
"The very souls of Dusty and Aya Stracener, their love fortified by Fusion and Genetic-Conditioning. Too bad it's not Chris and Jill, how I miss the fun times of the past."
11
"Anything less climactic and hard to say I can call you?"
The clone smirks and holds up a hand, all five fingers extended, "You already know."
It hits Dusty like a Tyrant at full-sprint, "You weren't Dusty's Apathy.."
"Correct, I was the middle ground between you and Isis: Your Mental Walls. The psychotic side managed to break a few of them down."
"So exactly what does that make you?" Aya speaks for the first time.
"Ah, Aya, almost forgot you were there. I would be Dusty, if he gave in to the machinations of Isis from within his subconscious," he catches Dusty's glance at Aya, then coughs to interrupt the look.
"Don't get any ideas, in my mind I killed her on Isle Eras, immediately, without a thought. HCF-scum she was. Yes, that means no Sean, no Andy, and absolutely no Amii."
"So what drives you then?"
Five cracks his knuckles and clenches his fists, "Thirst for power of course, the ability to know I am the strongest being in the known world."
"Figures, no wonder I never became you," Dusty leaps at his clone, his hands already wrapping around Five's body, placing themselves for optimum leverage to snap his neck.
Five counters by twisting slightly to the left, his right arm snapping out of place, but still finding the strength to grab Dusty in a head-lock. Dusty slides his left leg through both of Five's, bending at the knee and using the momentum they both have to take his attacker off balance. They slam into the ground and exchange blows, exactly the same, perfectly in tune with each other.
"Ok, so it's a stalemate," chuckles Dusty as he slides back from a punch from his counterpart.
"Blow for blow, we are one and the same," Five stands up and cracks his neck, the sound dead and hollow.
"So, um, what now?"
Five walks up to Dusty and sighs, "I don't know."
11
Amii pulls the last of her crew up onto the ladder, still not sure exactly how she managed to jump almost ten feet in the air. Something is pulsing through her blood, making her work harder, run faster, and attack smarter. She noticed it earlier, when she killed the Rhyno, how easy it was, how her body just knew what to do. Now she's getting the side-effects she asked for earlier, and is instantly regretting it.
"Amii?" she looks up to see Tawny extending a hand toward her.
She takes it gladly and climbs the ladder under her team, her mind still running over the changes in her body, "It's trying to survive."
"What?" Ayla glances down to her, interested that Amii spoke of an 'it'.
"My body, the medicine Elena gave me; it's causing my body to want to survive. What I need to do, it makes my body do. The increased strength from earlier, this jump, my ability to react faster than I normally would, it's all thanks to Regenerate. You guys know what Methanine is right? My mother bought some and tore it apart; it's a basic and weak version of Fusion... Know what the basic function is?"
Ayla steps up, "It repairs damaged tissue by rewriting the repair sequence of your DNA."
"Right, I think it does more than that... We can use this, if it works right..."
Salem arrives at the doors first, "Amii, the door is melted shut."
Amii quickly pans around for another way onto that floor, finding a vent just big enough for Tawny on the other side of the elevator shaft, "Follow me guys.."
The redhead drops down to the top of the elevator and makes her way over the debris, standing in front of the grate for the vent apprehensively. One-by-one her team joins her and each one adds their own dislike of the idea. No one wants to really truly say it, but the vents are always the worst place to go, as there is little to no room for movement of weapon-fire.
"Guys, we don't have a choice.." Amii pries the cover off the vent and crawls in first, followed by Salem, Ayla, Caryn, then Tawny in the rear.
"Amii, how are you feeling?"
Ayla's question catches her off-guard, but now that she is thinking about it, Regenerate seems to be constantly adjusting her body to the situation. Instead of extra power in her muscles for jumping, running, and fighting, her senses are becoming sharper. Off farther into the ventilation system, she picks up the sound of the fans kicking on to blow more cold air into the facility. Her nose twitches at the smell of rotting flesh and decaying meat. Her eyes are adapting to the darkness, what was once black outlines are slowly turning into crystal-clear views of the shafts ahead of her. But of all this, the increased sensitivity in her hands takes her the most by surprise. Each press of her palms to the bottom of the ventilation shaft sends shocks of cold and sensations of motion below and all around her. Something heavy is walking around above them, followed by lighter footsteps and the tapping of something made of plastic against metal.
Amii sighs at all this, "I'm feeling ok, kinda nauseous."
"When we get a chance I'd like to do a quick examination, both physical and mental," Ayla then keeps quiet.
Is all this permanent? Did Elena know it would do this?
11
"There has to be some good in you, some part of your personality that wasn't twisted by Isis," so many wasted minutes, but Dusty has to find a way to either beat Five or turn him to their side.
"No, nothing that made you into who you are remains. We completely diverted into different paths on Isle Eras."
"So you still remember being a cop in Riley?" this is the moment he has been looking for.
"Of course, Isis never really spoke up until we were dropped on that island..."
"So you remember watching Drew split in half? Thomas laughing as he killed more of your friends?"
The color in Five's face pales then darkens in rage as his fists are clenched, "Thomas... Oh how I enjoyed pulling him apart, joint-by-joint once I cured his infection..."
"Oh, you never cured yours? Interesting... If that's the case, how is Fusion reacting to Isis? Did it just absorb the older infection?"
"What's your point?" the sharp reply almost has a physical bite to it.
Dusty stands up and looks at the clone before him, "Isis was truly born of the infection from Isis... If you never cured it, and then became infected with Fusion, how are they coexisting?"
"You should know the answer to that. We aren't really these people..." Five steps slowly toward Dusty, who just backs up.
"Are you sure? If the virus can make my vision become worse to fit the person I am based off of... Then why can't it create a virus inside you?" Dusty hides the smirk, if this truly is the person he would've become, that means he has an uncontrollable anger inside...
Now to push it forth...
"Aya, is it possible?"
The redhead quickly glares at her love, but replies exactly as he hopes she would, "It is highly probable, to complete the transformation, Fusion has the ability to create anything, from vision loss, to creating infected tissue and blood."
Five throws a punch at Dusty, which connects, sending the fourth clone flying back into the wall of the room they have been in for a while now. Before Dusty can regain a secure footing, Five has launched his shoulder into his gut, then proceeds to lift him through the wall, destroying the material and snapping the steel support beam. Pain shoots through Dusty's body as Five continues the motion until Dusty is poised above his counterpart's head, and Five begins to bend his body backwards.
"If that is the case I must be stronger than you!" purple tears begin to pour from Five's eyes as something deep inside snaps.
Dusty grits his teeth together to fight the pain, his eyes locking with Aya's, hoping she catches what is happening to Five, "I.. See that.. Now... But what... MUST you have... Given up for... That.. PoWER!" the pain is becoming too much now.
Come on, baby... SEE IT!
11
Aya watches in horror, drawing her handgun to open fire on the evil clone, but as her eyes aim down the sight, the purple glow around Five's eyes draws her attention. Fusion has only one flaw, it's combustible... Aya spins toward Trudie, pointing to her own eyes, then at the two clones battling it out in a one-sided battle. The blonde follows her fingers then frowns as she sees the object of their silent conversation.
"Five! Look at me," no reaction from the clone who is breaking her love.
"DUSTY!" Aya fires a round at the clone, who dodges it, then appears right in front of her face.
"Do you know what went through my mind when I killed you that day on the island?" his face is slowly covered in the purple liquid as Aya brings the lighter up to his face.
"Fire?" her eyes are burning just as intently as the flame in her hand.
The heat is intense as Trudie pulls her friend away from the fireball that has engulfed the two clones of Dusty Stracener.
11
Great, more fire, but I've felt this before, he hasn't. I can use that to my advantage.
Five releases his grip on Dusty as he tries to battle the flames. Dusty rolls on the floor toward the bag of weapons he was carrying, pulling out the M78 and aiming the barrel at his foe. Through the smoke and the flames, the cross-hair is rested on the burning form of his clone. The trigger is squeezed, the firing pin is struck, and the explosive round is fired directly into the screaming face of his evil personality. The explosion is only magnified by the burning Fusion seeping through the skin of the clone, which has forced Dusty back into the wall, the flames licking the walls and ceiling, turning the entire room black. As he comes to rest on the floor, two hands grab him and the bag, dragging them both to safety.
Dusty pushes Aya away and scrambles to his feet, "Sorry love, will be back in a bit."
The burnt clone has to move away from her before the healing process kicks in, it is imperative that she not be infected.
END