Code Veronica: Resident Evil IIIS
Chapter Twenty One: Face in the Mirror
It was still really hard for Claire to wrap her mind around the fact that Sir Alfred was also the sister that he had claimed was reclusive, which meant that Steve had actually been forced to be with him this whole time, and… oh God, gross. The base Commander was getting to his feet now, looking absolutely ridiculous in that dress and heels now that his identity had been uncovered, but fortunately Elza hadn't been too dumbstruck by the revelation to act.
As soon as the blonde woman had kicked him down, she squirmed around so that she was bringing her bound wrists up under her feet so that her arms were in front instead of behind her, and then she put both feet on the zip-tie and pulled. Snap! In a burst of effort that made her red in the face and took about as long as Sir Alfred did to recover from the kicks, Elza jumped to her feet and ducked down under the Commander's attempt to grab her, coming back up with a punch that caught him in the ear.
"Ugh… you unwashed peasant… filth!" He squeaked, holding his reddened ear. "You're going to pay for this, do you hear me?! You're going to pay!"
Instead of responding with words, the blonde woman brought up her fists, crouching down slightly and keeping her elbows tucked in, as if she were a trained boxer preparing for a fight. And why not? After all, Elza had learned everything she knew from Tobias Liquid, and he was the RPD boxing champion for like six years… but on the other hand, the Commander had been able to restrain Steve pretty easily, so it was anyone's guess how this situation was going to unfold.
Another good thing about all this was that Sir Alfred was so distracted by the blonde woman, that he didn't notice Steve trying to free himself the same way that she had done. However, the young man was having a much harder time even getting his feet onto the zip-tie, let alone possessing the strength required to snap it… Claire wished that she could have helped either one of them, but her body just wasn't responding. It was like every inch of her was weighted down, and feeling like a knife was stabbing into her each time she tried to breathe.
The Commander threw a wild punch at Elza, and she responded by ducking down and punching him in the hip, putting Sir Alfred off balance enough so that he was sent reeling backwards when she came back up with an uppercut to his jaw. He fell against a wooden dresser, catching himself before falling, but then taking a moment to remove his high heels before coming at her again… a sight that the blonde woman couldn't help but laugh at, while the Commander just became more angry.
Elza's last punch had smeared his lipstick a little, with the stress of their fight causing Sir Alfred's mascara to start running as well. If Claire hadn't been in such poor condition, she probably would have found the sight of him pretty funny… but at least Steve had finally been able to get his feet onto the plastic zip-tie that bound his wrists. While the young man struggled to find the strength needed to free himself, Claire's cellmate had to move out of the way when Sir Alfred picked up the chair from in front of the vanity and tossed it at her.
Instead of hitting the blonde woman, the chair crashed into the Super 8 projector, bringing the endlessly looping film to an end as both objects fell to the floor. The Commander was enraged by the film suddenly cutting off, even more so it seemed than everything else going on around him, so he grabbed one of the larger glass bottles of perfume off the vanity and tossed it at Elza. He missed once again, only to pick up another for a third attempt… but this time the blonde woman caught the glass container in her hands and tossed it back, hitting him in the shoulder.
The container must have already been cracked or something, because it shattered into pieces on contact, forcing Sir Alfred to stumble sideways into the vanity to avoid the exposed liquid splashing into his face. Rubbing his eyes with the sleeve of his dress, the Commander reached for another container, only to suddenly stop moving when he found himself staring into his own reflection in the vanity's small mirror.
"What… but… no." He said in disbelief, his eyes wide and jaw trembling as his reflection looked back at him. "No… no, No, NO!"
Now screaming and yelling incoherently, Claire thought that Sir Alfred was going to attack the blonde woman again, but instead he just kept screaming as he ran from the room, leaving the three of them to their own devices. This was great since Elza was able to worry about helping the young woman now… just in time for Steve to finally break free of the zip-tie. The blonde woman grabbed a small pair of scissors from the vanity and used them to free Claire's wrists before trying to help her up… but the young woman was in even worse condition than she thought.
"Get over here and help me!" Elza ordered, putting one of the young woman's arms around her shoulders. "We have to get Claire out of here before your boyfriend gets back."
"Shut up, Elza!" Steve snapped while taking the young woman's other arm. "Just… just shut up!"
With both of them supporting the young woman's weight, it was fairly easy for the group to leave through the door, leading them into a hallway that was just as dimly lit as the bedroom. It was clean and organized, but the walls and carpet had faded with time and there was a heavy layer of dust on everything, as if no one had been there to give the place a good scrubbing in a very long time. The first door they came to led into another bedroom that was almost identical to the first one, aside from the men's clothes hanging in the closet, and the second door led into a bathroom, where the blonde woman had them stop for a moment so that Claire could rest.
"Just hang on, Claire, we'll be out of here soon, okay?" Elza said, using a nearby hand towel to dab the blood that was still dripping from her cellmate's mouth. "All right, lover boy, I don't suppose you know where we are or how to get out of here, do you?"
"I do, actually." He replied sharply. "In fact, I was on my way here to rescue you girls, when Alfred ambushed me."
"Don't fight." Claire said weakly, her head rolling to one side while a wave of nausea passed through her stomach. "Have to… have to go… Elza, help."
The young woman's pleas seemed to reach the others, stopping the argument when Claire reached her shaking hand out for her cellmate. There was no time to rest; her skin was starting to become pale, and her words beginning to slur together a little bit, so Elza and Steve picked her up again, leaving the bathroom and then following the young man's directions down turn after turn of the hallway. He must have spent a lot of time in this place during the last few months if this was where Sir Alfred and Alexia… er, just Sir Alfred lived, and… even with as poorly as she felt, Claire felt awful for Steve as she imagined what his treatment had been like at the hands of the Commander.
Eventually the hallway entered a vast open chamber where a set of wooden stairs led down to the first floor of this place, an area that sort of resembled a large living room from several decades past. Like everything else in this big house, it was dimly lit just enough to make out the features of the room, this time illuminated by a large old fashioned chandelier that hung at the same level as the top of the staircase. There were more family portraits on the walls, as well as old furniture and even a small TV sitting in the corner, but right now all the group cared about was the front door.
"Come on, that door goes outside." Steve said once they reached the bottom of the shaky wooden stairs. "But we gotta be careful because of the security system, and… hey, wait a second."
Suddenly the young man let go of Claire so that Elza was supporting all her weight, in order to walk across the living room where his machine pistol was lying on the coffee table. The young woman figured that it must have fallen there when Sir Alfred attacked him, and since her and her cellmate's weapons were nowhere to be found, it was a good idea to at least be able to defend themselves in case…
Claire's thoughts were interrupted when a high pitch alarm started going off as soon as Steve picked up the weapon, and then two things happened as a result. First, a series of spinning yellow lights activated from their hidden locations on the walls, filling the building with a bright strobe light effect… allowing all three of them to see the second thing that happened. Some dust was kicked up while a section of the wall in the corner began to move, sliding around as if revealing some kind of secret passage… only it wasn't a passage that was being revealed.
As soon as the section of wall had spun completely around, it was shown that this was actually a hiding place for a large statue… no, wait, statues didn't move, but this thing was starting to. Nude but genderless, this thing had the bald head and skin coloring of the giant that had chased Leon around the RPD in Raccoon City, but she was more concerned with the set of long, frightening claws that made up one of its hands. In the dim light, its white eyes almost seemed to glow… and then it took that first step down from where it had been positioned.
Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! The group's paralysis broken when the monster started to move, Steve once again had to let go of Claire in order to ready his reclaimed machine pistol, and thankfully the giant was so stocky that almost every bullet fired stuck it in the torso. Grunting with discomfort as it took a step backwards from the assault… and then another, the monster managed to stay on its feet until the young man's clip ran out. Once the firing stopped, he struggled to reload while the giant stood up straight as if no damage had been inflicted.
"Forget shooting it, we gotta go!" Elza yelled, trying to move Claire on her own. "God damn it, kid, come on!"
Once the new clip, which was also the last one, was inserted into the weapon, it looked like Steve was going to continue the fight, but then rushed back over to help the two women. Now that both of them were holding Claire up again, it was easy for them to rush out the front door, where the bright lights of the air field could be seen a short distance away… while the monster continued to slowly stomp its way after them.