"Annette, Sherry and I need to get to the lab immediately, so we'll be going first."

"I'll go with," Dante insisted to her, but Lady shook her head.

"You need to stay with Leon and Claire. I'd like Nero and Kyrie to come with us."

"What?! Why not me?"

"Because we're going to a lab," she said patiently. "And even you have to admit that combat is more your field."

"But…"

"And," she continued determinedly, "we're going to have a lot of firepower with us on the first trip, so I want to make sure there's enough for the second trip; I don't want all our heavy-hitters on one team. Not to mention, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can whip up a cure."

He wanted to argue, but the seconds were ticking away. "Alright. Get goin', then, and we won't be far behind."

She gave him and the other two a nod, and then motioned for her group to follow her.

"Hey, Lady." She turned to look at Dante, a look of mild frustration on her face. "…Take care of yourself."

Lady's face softened slightly, and she gave him a small smile. "Of course." The five of them packed into the tram, and as the doors latched shut, they were on their way.

The trip was both extended and tense; Nero had drawn his revolver while looking around warily, and Lady was examining her own new revolver. "Nice find," Nero said to her.

"It was in a locker in the station. Claire was the one who found it, but she gave it to me."

"Never figured you for a revolver type. Tryin' something new, or just a fan of the classics?"

Lady chuckled. "You're sounding like Ken-" She paused and took a deep, steadying breath. "…Never mind. I've wanted to try one out for a while, but a certain someone kept sponging money off of me."

Nero gave her a wry smile. "I'll bet. Looks like it's had some work done on it; someone modded the cylinder to swing out and gave it new grips. How does it handle?"

"I wouldn't know; I haven't had a chance to fire it."

He frowned. "That's too bad; it's a good gun."

…Neither of them could think of much else to say.

Annette, meanwhile, was contemplating several things at the same time. Chief among them was the antigen that needed to be made for Sherry. Once the first few components were prepared, the process became extremely simple, though they'd never had a chance to test it very thoroughly. Would it work? What would the side-effects be? What would happen if she got the dosage wrong?

Even putting that aside, this other antivirus made her suspicious. A vaccine made from just blood, venom, and a base chemical? It sounded far too good to be true. It had, after all, come from a man who could appear and disappear at will. How did he do that? And how did he show us those images? Some sort of localized electromagnetic field manipulation, or maybe some sort of trick done with preplanned smoke, projectors, and static generators?

And who were these people who rescued her daughter, anyway? There were the three that could almost pass for normal; one with a crossbow, the cop she'd shot (accidentally!) and the other with a grenade launcher slung around her. But then there was the woman with the rocket launcher, and the young men with white hair and swords strapped to their backs (somehow). There had been mutterings about people of similar descriptions to four of them, but Umbrella's watchdogs had clamped down hard on the rumors, and she doubted anyone other than security knew anything besides the whispers: that they'd been behind the mansion's destruction, and that they were somehow more than human. Were they test subjects gone wrong? …Or right, perhaps?

"Mom?"

Annette looked down to see her daughter's worried face. "What's wrong?"

She pushed away the unanswered questions and forced herself to smile. "I'm just bored. What about you?"

"Happy you're okay."

Mrs. Birkin smiled at Sherry. "And I am very happy you're safe."

"Is Dad at the lab?"

She winced, but covered it up immediately. "I haven't found your father yet. But he's definitely still…alive. I'm sure of it."

The young girl smiled. "Good. I hope we find him soon!"

"Sherry," Kyrie said quickly, "why don't you help me do a count of my items so that we know how many we can use?"

As soon as her daughter had walked over to the woman in white, she let out a heavy sigh. There would be time for the truth, but only after she stopped the G-Virus from taking hold in her girl.

It felt like far too much time had passed when the cable car finally shuddered to a stop and the doors slid open.

"Finally," Nero muttered, stretching his arms out as they exited, "it was way too tedious going through that."

It spoke to the truth of his statement that not even Kyrie refuted it. Annette began to lead them to a door, but Lady and Nero noticed something as they walked past it; what looked like a giant mortar. "What's this for, blowing up uninvited guests?" Nero asked Annette.

"It's a flare launcher, actually. We use it to signal for the operator at the other station to recall the cable car."

"You guys really need to invest in more phones."

Taking that as her cue, Lady drew her radio.

"Ada!"

Both Dante and Claire jumped. "Where?" the Devil Hunter asked.

"No, not like that. We can't leave without her!"

"You're just remembering this now?!"

The R.P.D. officer fidgeted guiltily. "Well…a lot went on in the last few minutes…"

"Much as I hate to admit it, he's right," said Claire. "We shouldn't leave anyone behind. Even if she is an untrustworthy, trigger-happy, headstrong, anti-social…" She paused, trying to think of other appropriate descriptions.

"Oh, do go on," came a drawling voice from the doorway.

Claire froze, not daring to turn around as footsteps approached. "…How long have you been here?"

"Long enough." Ada strolled in front of her, a smirk dancing on her face. "No, don't let me stop you. I'm sure you had more."

"Where have you been?!" Leon exclaimed. "We caught up to that woman a while ago, and this place keeps getting more dangerous! We can't keep splitting up all the time or-"

"I managed to find information on John. After all my searching, it turns out he's dead."

Dante stared at the woman. There were no tears, no tremors, not even clenched teeth. Is she like Lady, where she bottles everything up? Or… That thought was pushed aside as more pressing matters needed his attention. "I'm sorry to hear that, but you're still alive and you're here now. Let's get outta this place; we'll watch out for you."

"Agreed."

Leon's radio hissed. "…eon, this….Lady, come in."

He pulled it from his belt. "We read you, but just barely. You're cutting out."

"Figures. We're prob…lmost at the edge…ignal range. We- hey, what are you-?!" There was the sound of something sliding, and then a bunch of rustling and hissing.

"…Lady? Lady!"

For a few seconds, there was no response. Then…

"Okay, how's this?" Lady's voice returned in a rush, and for a moment also sounded slightly nervous.

Leon blinked. "Better. How did you-?"

"I don't know how long this will work, so let's keep this brief. We made it across and we're headed to the lab. Annette says that it's deep underground and will take a while for the elevator to travel, so we might not be able to stay in contact for a while. Tell Dante that if I don't make it, he can have my jobs but he's sure as hell not getting my motorcycle."

"Uh…copy that. We've found Ada as well, so we'll head over the second the cable car returns."

"Good. See you on the other side. Over."

Leon returned the radio, looking over the assembled group. "Well, you heard her. Let's get that thing back here; and I for one hope I never have to set foot in another sewer EVER again."

Nero retracted the Devil Bringer (now a transparent crimson color) and set Lady down, who glared at him in a mixture of exasperation and admiration. "Haven't we been over this before with explaining first? That was quick thinking and all, but-"

"Sorry, but we don't have much time to spare," he said, his eyes flicking towards her leg. "You can chew me out over a cold one once we get home."

She rolled her eyes, fighting a grin. "Okay. Then let's move out."

Annette gaped at them. "How on earth…what are…?" She pointed at his arms.

Nero blinked, looking down at them, before looking back up and shrugging nervously. "It's…uh…sort of a long story…"

"Experimental technology, government project, top secret," Lady rattled off. "There, I just saved us two hours. Shall we?" The scientist looked as if she wanted to argue, but gave up and led them to the door; though she edged herself between Nero and Sherry, glancing at him warily.

The door for this station took them into a corridor that split into two directions. The direction Annette instructed them had several zombies (which were promptly dealt with), but just to be thorough, Nero took Lady and Kyrie to examine the other path to see if they could find anything on their list of anti-virus ingredients.

They had no such luck. But there was a rather fortunate find even so; right next to a corpse that looked as if it had been there for weeks was something resembling a gun, the likes of which none of them had ever seen before.

"What have we here?" Nero asked aloud, picking up the oddly-shaped gun. "Hmm… 'Spark Shot Mark.1 - Anti-B.O.W. weapon.'" He looked up. "Anti-Bio Organic Weapon weapon?" Made sense. " 'Property of Umbrella R&D. Use with extreme caution.' Yeah, figured as much. Let's see…ratings… 'Range: 10 feet.' Niiice! 'Power Ratings: 2.5 to 6.8 kilovolts…amperage from 2 to…40 amps?!" he yelled. "Holy SHIT! They weren't kidding around with this thing!"

"Bit of a kick to it?" Lady asked dryly.

"Yeah, if 'a bit' means frying a person four times over and having their hearts explode…" He frowned, holding the weapon much more gingerly. "…Whatever you do, don't touch the ends."

"No kidding."

He studied the odd weapon. "This design, though…they weren't joking about the 'experimental' part, either."

"What do you mean, Nero?" Kyrie asked.

"Well, it's bulky and inefficient. I mean, we could take it with, but it's just…no, sorry, I can't stand this. Gimme a sec." And with that, he abruptly began taking bits of it apart. "Just look at this…half of the equipment here is overly redundant or damaging to the gun itself. I mean, look at this!" He held up a small piece that he'd detached. "They looped the feed from the capacitor to the launching mechanism twice; wasting double the energy to get half the output! You'd burn the damn thing out completely if you fired it dry. Toss this…" he threw the piece over his shoulder, "rework this…"

They heard clicking and scraping as he moved several pieces around. "Move this piece here…and that piece there…and rewire this…here…" He tied the wire, and then smiled, holding the gun aloft; it was now the size of a pistol. An overly-large pistol, but a one-handed weapon nonetheless. "There we go! If we had more time, I could re-forge a few new pieces and give the whole thing a full overhaul, but this'll do for now. Just have to be careful not to use any more than one-fourth the total energy if I can help it; the capacitor'll risk warping from the heat, and I dunno how to recreate it. Still, this should work!" He beamed at the two, but frowned at the looks they were giving him. Kyrie was giving him a proud smile, but Lady was looking at him oddly. "What? What is it?"

"Did…you just make a lightning pistol?" she said breathlessly.

"Umm…no, I didn't make anything…" he said, feeling wrong-footed. "I just gave it a quick and dirty fix to make it more useful. And it's more like a shotgun, anyway."

"Okay, then. You turned a lightning shotgun into a pistol-sized lightning shotgun."

"Well, I guess…"

She looked him up and down several times, and then sighed. "Kyrie, you are a very lucky woman…"

Kyrie nodded. "I know."

Nero swallowed nervously. "Um, yeah…so, uh…maybe we can get back to the others?"

After rejoining with the other two, they went through the door at the end of the path, immediately coming upon another split in the path. This time there were three routes to choose from; left, right, or straight ahead.

"Which way do we go now?" Lady asked, looking at the Umbrella researcher.

Just as she opened her mouth to answer, they heard a familiar THUMP, THUMP, THUMP as Mr. X approached them from the left corridor. Immediately after, several groans echoed from the right corridor.

"Please, please tell me it's straight ahead…"

"It is. Let's go!" She surged forward with Sherry as the others zipped through the intersection. Mr. X was close enough that Nero actually had to duck under a swipe from one of his oversized fists.

The groans became louder as something rounded the corner of the other corridor. Lady's eyes widened in surprise; it was almost identical to the thing that Wesker had called "Tyrant" back at the mansion. It bore a few slight differences; this one was still wearing pants, for one, and it was only about six feet tall. But the heart on the outside of its chest and the veins bulging from its skin were impossible to mistake; this thing was definitely a Tyrant (though no doubt Wesker would have considered it "inferior" to his version).

It was at the head of a group of zombies that were approaching, and it found its path blocked by Mr. X, who had continued to pursue the survivors. It glared furiously at the giant impeding its path, and just past the bulking form of the approaching trench-coated man, Lady saw several sharp bones jut out of its skin. It raised a hand (now with four-inch claws) and slashed at the green coat of the giant.

Mr. X stopped dead in his tracks, turning slowly around. The pseudo-Tyrant raised its clawed hand again, but the giant's fist shot out with surprising speed and clenched the undead creature's throat, raising it effortlessly into the air.

As much as Lady wanted to watch further, they had higher priorities than chasing after the man-like monster that refused to die. She retreated with the others to a ladder at the far end of the passage, climbing up after them hurriedly; as she did, she just managed to catch a glimpse of the miniature Tyrant being used as a bludgeon against its fellow zombies.

At the top of a ladder was a control room with an all-too-familiar red box, assorted ammunition, and a hatch to close over the ladder. As Lady finished climbing into the room, Annette kicked the hatch closed behind her. "What are you doing?! The others will be-"

"It won't hold him for long," the scientist said, her face pale. "We can't allow that monster to catch up with us, and this should buy us a few precious minutes. Once he's done with those t-vectors, he'll have that hatch broken far too quickly. Trust me; I know what it's capable of."

Her mind flashed back to the massive being crashing straight through walls. "We need to warn the others."

"How? You're beyond the effective range of the radios; you said it yourself."

It didn't feel right, but she did have a point. Dante can protect them; whatever that bald giant is, he's no match for that walking white-haired bloodbath. I just hope he actually pays attention to the people he's supposed to be helping…

With nothing else to do, they ransacked the room for supplies. There were a few cases of grenades that Lady set aside for Claire, a clip of .50 caliber ammo that none of their weapons used (besides Nero, who didn't seem to need them), two speedloaders with .45 ammo (which Nero handed Lady with a grin), and a box of shotgun shells (half of which Lady took, leaving the other half for Leon). After reloading, Annette took a key hanging from a hook near one of the control panels and led them outside. They could see the moon hanging over them and what looked like a train car several yards away. The night breeze carried the distant sound of undead groans to their ears, making them-

"Wait, what the-?!"

Lady and Annette drew their guns, the latter taking a protective stance in front of Sherry. "What's wrong, Nero?"

"We're at the factory again!"

She lowered her gun hesitantly. "…And?"

"Kyrie and I were here earlier; that means I led us in a circle…"

"You must have been at the other factory," commented Annette. "The exterior of this one hasn't been in use for some time, and we're some distance outside town. Besides, Umbrella only owns this one; as far as the town knows, this factory has been abandoned for years and still is."

"Oh."

Lady holstered her pistol, staring at him disapprovingly. "I don't think the shouting was really-"

"Hey! That reminds me!"

Her hands were halfway to drawing her gun again before she stopped them. "Dammit, stop that!"

He ignored her, turning to Annette. "What were you making the cages for?"

She flinched at his intense glare, but recovered quickly. "I don't know the details; just that the factory shifted production some time ago. You probably know more than I-"

"Don't play dumb! What was Umbrella doing?"

"I'm a virologist; they don't trust me with anything outside my field."

"And our friend in green? Is he in your field?"

She stared determinedly back, speaking in an even tone that was clearly taking a lot of concentration. "I'd be happy to answer any questions you have, but only once we're on our way down to the lab. The clock is ticking."

Sherry looked up at her nervously. "Mom? Is Lady going to be okay?"

Annette swallowed nervously, her eyes flickering between her daughter and the woman. "We're all going to be just fine, Sherry. But we need to get to the lab soon, all right?"

The girl nodded. She winced slightly, but quickly schooled her expression into a calm one. "Okay."

They all walked to the train car. Annette inserted the key, turned it, and tapped her foot impatiently as a row of red lights flicked on sequentially. Once the last one in line had been lit, she pressed a large red button, causing a new row of green lights to switch on in sequence as well. A loud airhorn sounded around them, and they all began climbing into the train car.

It had a very simplistic interior; two bench seats, a workbench, and what looked like another case of grenades sitting next to a small sliding door. Once they'd entered, there were several loud hisses from outside, a few thunks that jolted the car slightly, and then they felt themselves descending. "There. We're on our way," Annette informed them. "We've got some time, so go ahead. Ask what you wanted to."

Nero held a hand out in Lady's direction. "You first. I've got something to work on." He took a few things out of his pockets that looked like parts to a gun and began assembling them at the workbench, filling the cabin with soft clicking and scraping noises.

"Mom, my stomach…" Sherry said through clenched teeth. "My stomach hurts."

Annette kept her face impassive as she turned to her daughter. "Why don't you lie down and rest? We'll be there in a little while; we can get something for your stomach then."

She nodded, laying across one of the benches. "I hope Claire's…okay…" And then she drifted off into unconsciousness.

Annette touched Sherry's forehead, not bothering to hide the look of dread on her face. "She's running a high fever; the infection must be under way now. We need to complete the antigen before the embryos fully mature."

"What happens if they do?"

"I don't know, nor do I wish to."

"How much time does she have?"

"Hours at best, give or take several minutes depending on her level of activity." She brushed a strand of hair out of the sleeping girl's face. "Sleeping is the best thing for her right now."

"How much time do I have?" Lady asked the scientist.

The noise from the workbench came to a sudden halt.

"Given that it was from a single bite, and that your body is exhausted already…less than twenty four hours. Should you continue fighting, it would increase blood flow, and that would likely speed up the rate of infection further."

The clicks and scrapings resumed, and she frowned, thinking. "What about this miracle cure we're making? How fast does that work?"

Her eyes narrowed. "I've never even heard of it, so I wouldn't know. Why don't you ask your mysterious friend?"

"He's no friend of ours," Nero muttered, examining his now fully-assembled weapon. It was a four-barreled pistol that seemed to fire special needles rather than bullets; the majority of the weapon was made of steel polished to a mirror sheen, but the grips were blood-red. I'll need a name for you.

"Who is that man?"

"We'd like to know too," Lady said, absentmindedly toying with the end of one of her belt straps. "He's been causing us just about as many headaches as Umbrella's messes have."

CRASH

A red light near the door flickered to life.

"…Case in point, I suppose." She stood up immediately. "Does that door have a lock?"

Annette looked between Lady and the door. "That red light means an emergency; the door will only open from the inside until the light goes off. One of us needs to stay behind and guard Sherry."

"Thanks for volunteering. Nero, let's go; Kyrie, you're going to have to be our last line of defense."

"Understood," the woman in white said, nodding determinedly as Nero stuffed the new gun into his coat.

"Wait, you can't go in your condition! Too much activity could-"

"I know," the Devil Hunter said, cutting Annette's warning off. "But in case you hadn't noticed, we're the ones with enough firepower to make an eighties movie cry jealous tears. We're trusting you to keep her safe."

"But…"

"Don't worry, I'll make Nero do the running and jumping."

"You can be like a turret, but with more personality," Nero said, grinning. "Enough stalling, though, or whatever it is'll try bustin' in here."

"See you soon." She and Nero stepped out of the door; sure enough, as it closed behind them, they heard the lock click. "Ready to test out that lightning-thrower?"

He shook his head. "I left it in the car in case they need it."

"What about that other gun you were working on?"

"It's weird, but…I think it's meant to be used underwater. Still, Blue Rose hasn't let me down yet." They stepped down onto the descending turntable, looking around at the elevator shaft for something amiss. A hiss echoed around them, but they couldn't see where it was coming from…

There was the sound of something large being swung through the air, and Lady quickly sidestepped as Nero made a turning grab with his right hand while the Devil Bringers appeared over his arms. His fingers closed around a large pipe, stopping it in midair inches away from his nose. Looking up in the direction it had come from, they saw a humanoid form standing atop the train car. It had a large right arm (extended from its throw) with an eyeball set into the shoulder, a blonde head streaked with blood, and blackened tissue crisscrossing a chest that a tattered lab coat dangled from. "Doctor Birkin, I presume?"

"Sherrryyyy…" it groaned.

"You've hurt her enough already!" Lady yelled, un-strapping the shotgun from Kalina Ann, leveling it at the mutant. "I'll make you wish you never met me," she growled.

The mutant growled in return, and then it began to shudder. As the two watched it, the blonde head sank down until it became merely a face on the creature's chest; a second appendage grew from the neck area, an eye popping out of the right side to stare at them. Its right arm spasmed violently, and large claws erupted from the hand. It took a menacing step forward with its left foot, which also suddenly sprouted sharp talons. Its bared chest shuddered, and it looked like two additional arms were trying but failing to burst out of the skin. The mutated Birkin hissed (somehow), and then jumped down at them, swiping with its new claws.

They both dived to the sides, Nero tossing away the pipe and rolling easily to his feet. Lady rose to her feet half a second later, her breathing slightly labored. "You gonna make it there?" he asked her over his shoulder.

"Just shut up and hit the damn thing!" Lady snapped at him.

And this is why I hate teams, Nero thought irritably as he raised his revolver at the monster. It reminded him so much of the Tyrant they'd fought at the mansion; could it maybe have the same weakness? "Try aiming for the head!"

She nodded, firing a blast at the second head that had just come out of the neck. There was a spray of blood, but all the attack really seemed to do was get the monster's attention and anger directed at her.

"No, the other head! The one on the chest!"

"Give-" She ducked under a swipe of the monster's claws. "Better-" Lady fired a shot at the eyeball growing from the creature's shoulder, and then narrowly jumped out of the way of an angry slash. "Directions!"

Nero scoffed, firing two shots into the forehead of the face on Birkin's chest. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have any large effect. "Okay, new plan! Let's switch up!" Lady retreated, and he ran forward, batting the monster's claws aside with his left arm and using his right to catch the mutant in the gut. Even though the attack had enough force to suspend it in midair for a moment, Birkin was only slightly winded, and reached his claws back for a thrusting stab. "Not so fast!" His Devil Bringer reared back and punched forwards; the enemy had barely dropped an inch when the ghostly red arm sent it into the shaft wall with enough force to make a crater. He retracted the arm, and the elevator continued its descent, the impact site retreating upwards into the shadows.

A few seconds later, they heard a strangled hiss, and the G-monster dropped back down onto the platform again.

"Stubborn bastard, aren't you?" Nero muttered.

Birkin jumped up, slashing downwards at the Holy Knight; he jumped backwards as the beast impacted the metal with its claws, which seemed to become stuck. Lady ran forwards, blasting it several times with the shotgun as it pulled with all its might in an attempt to free itself.

"Let's see if you can learn fireproofing too," Nero said, channeling power into his gun. "Lady, get clear!" She hastily retreated, and he fired the empowered bullets straight into the creature's new head. A second later, the charged bullets exploded, and the monster gave a burbling hiss.

"Haven't had…enough?!" Lady panted, dropping her shotgun. She unlimbered Kalina Ann and slammed it down over the monster's head. A loud crack echoed from the metal walls around them, and she raised it up again. I have HAD it… She brought it down a second time. …with you! She raised it and brought the heavy weapon down a third time. Call yourself a "parent"?!

"Lady, look out!"

It had finally freed itself, and it brought its unrestrained claws up as Lady hurled herself backwards. She was a half-second late; the edge of the monster's claws swiped across her left arm as she tumbled away.

"You'll regret that," Nero snarled as Karkinos appeared in his hands. One of the scythes deflected another slash from the G-creature while the other promptly sent it into the air. He leapt up after it, slicing in wide arcs with each scythe as he twisted back and forth. "Get…" He slashed both downwards, flipping forward in a full circle. "LOST!" Nero spun with both scythes extended, rotating in midair like an angry top. The strength of the strikes sent Birkin careening into the wall, bouncing off of it and then impacting the elevator. He landed beside the monster, the scythes disappearing in a flash of red light. Even with all the punishment he'd inflicted on the creature, it was still stirring, trying to get to its feet once more. "Haven't had enough yet?"

Bang! Bang!

Lady was limping towards the monster, her bloodied left arm dangling to her side as she fired repeatedly at the mutant with her pistol. "Stay down," she ordered as she dragged herself forwards. "We've faced worse than you; you think we'll give up?" She fired twice more, and then the pistol locked open. Empty. "Just…just stay down."

Nero doubted that Birkin could understand them anymore, but its movements came to a halt regardless. It lay flat on its face, a pool of blood spreading under it. His body relaxed. "Well, that's that. We'd better get back in-" He never managed to finish his sentence as his ally crumpled. "Lady!" Nero raced towards her, barely managing to catch her before she'd fallen to her knees. "C'mon, don't quit on me now!"

"Lost too much blood…" she muttered, her head drooping. "Need…more of the…"

"Save your breath, would ya?!" Dammit, she's going to need some heals. Hope Kyrie still has some herbs… He set her down gently. "You can hate me if you want, but I need to hang onto these for you." He walked over to the rocket launcher and laid his right hand on it. The Devil Bringer glowed, and the weapon disappeared in a flash of light. He did the same with the discarded shotgun. "The instant you're back to normal, I'll give these back. I promise." He picked her up, carrying her back to the train car door, which he tapped…less than lightly with his foot. "Open up! We took the thing out, but Lady needs healing!"

The door opened immediately, and he hurried inside, laying her down on the seat opposite Sherry. To their fortune, Kyrie did have three herbs left. She took a sheet of paper from Nero and began mixing a red and green plant as Nero glared at Annette. "Something tells me you haven't given us the full story yet."

"You met William, didn't you?"

"'William'? Weird codename for one of your experiments."

"Husband," Lady said tiredly from her spot. "Annette…husband…injected himself…" Kyrie shushed her, sharing a look with Nero as the Devil Hunter's eyelids flickered closed.

"Your…?!"

The scientist nodded. "Yes. My husband and Sherry's father. I…I presume you killed him?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"Well…"

"It had to be done." Her voice was flat, and she looked back at him without a trace of hesitation. "All that matters now is getting to the lab and synthesizing a cure."

"He changed before fighting us."

She nodded. "The primary function of the G-Virus is to revitalize cellular function, but William was adamant about giving it a secondary function as well; self-evolution."

"'Evolution'? But that takes place over several generations and in different individuals!" They all turned to stare at Kyrie. "One person or animal can't 'self-evolve'!"

Annette raised an eyebrow. "…My apologies. A better term might be 'self-adaptation'. In theory, after every defeat experienced by the G-vector, it would gain a new edge that would help it in the next conflict. William was insistent that, with the subject losing its sense of reason, it was still invaluable to 'learn' from its environment. What was the adaptation he displayed?"

"He…umm…grew claws and a new head," Nero said, watching her warily. "The old one got sucked into the chest."

"I see…it does make sense; the head is most vulnerable, so no doubt he grew one with a thicker skull to resist gunfire. Perhaps the body absorbed the old head to decentralize the brain matter or-"

"It doesn't bother you doing that?" he interrupted. "You're sitting there, talking about your own husband. You know; the person you had a kid with?"

"We need to know what we're dealing with," she hissed at him. "These are the kinds of things we spent our careers studying and developing; it's…" Her voice cracked. "It's the only thing I can do for him now."

"Yeah, well, just don't get too carried away. Sherry's been through enough; she doesn't need to lose you too."

"I…" She blinked. "…Thank you."

Rather than responding, he walked over to the workbench, grabbing the "Spark Shot" and absorbing it into the Devil Bringer. Kyrie gave her impromptu bandage a final tie, and smiled reassuringly at Annette.

A few minutes later, the train car came to a stop. Nero and Kyrie picked up Lady and Sherry respectively, and followed Mrs. Birkin out of the train. Several zombies were shuffling around two doors some distance away, but their guide held a finger to her lips and led them towards a close door that was clear of hostiles. They entered, shutting the door softly behind them.

"This is the security room," she informed them as they set their unconscious charges down onto a large cot. "They should be safe here for the time being, but we'll need to hurry."

"'We'?! We can't all go and just leave them here!" the Holy Knight insisted.

"Of the three of us, who has a degree and training in biochemistry?" she asked, staring at him. There was silence. "I thought as much. If we want those cures made in time you'll need my help, and I'll need your protection while I work." She ran a hand over Sherry's hair, and then sighed. "Let's hurry."

"But…"

"The more we sit here talking, the less time they'll have! Now come on!"

They followed her out, Nero drawing his revolver in anticipation of the undead they'd need to clear out. Dante, you and the others better get your asses in gear, or we might not make the deadline.

CHAPTER END

Author's Note: Twenty chapters and over 300 pages for this story, and we're only now getting to the lab. Which is especially weird, because I can usually do the game start to finish in under an hour and a half...

Er, anyway, hope that you're enjoying it so far! If there are any errors (be they typos, plot holes, or anything in-between), let me know and I'll fix them up right away.

The current goal is finishing this by Halloween, and we're at the endgame now, so this should get interesting. See you all next time!