Las Plagas: Resident Evil IV

Chapter Fifty Two: Hombre Martillo

There wasn't nearly as much dust in this place as there had been in the abandoned parts of the village and the castle, but it was clear that this mostly metal building didn't receive as much usage as it once had. Reaching the top of the stairs, Leon didn't dare use his flashlight while in disguise as one of the guards, so he relied on the few wall mounted light fixtures that were still working, since there were no more windows after the first hallway junction. This hallway went left and right, with both options looking ominous as hell, so he decided to go right first.

More directory signs that he couldn't read were on the walls, and for a moment the Agent considered learning Spanish when this was all over, but then again after what happened during this mission and also on the last one he had done before Krauser was killed, maybe it was just better to avoid these parts of the world. I mean, seriously, as bad as viruses and zombies were, at least that stuff made sense, while this… this whole ancient parasite thing seemed more like an alien invasion.

"Quedate callado ahi dentro." A deep and stern voice said from around the next corner. "Podras salir en menos de un dia."

"No quiero ser parte de tu culto!" A familiar sounding female voice responded. "Por favor solo dejame ir a casa!"

No, Leon thought as he put his back up against the corner to listen in on the conversation, there was no way it could be that easy. Even though he couldn't understand what the girl was saying, her whiney, high-pitch tones could have only belonged to Ashley Graham, and when the Agent peeked around the corner, he almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was her all right, holding onto the bars of a small window on the door she was trapped behind, while talking to a rather large man who was apparently guarding her… the only one guarding her.

This guy was a beast, though; looking like he was wearing an almost completely metal suit of armor that only left his bald head exposed, while also holding not a rifle in his hands… but a big metal sledgehammer. Okay, so he was alone, armed only with a melee weapon, and facing away from Leon with his only vulnerable point exposed. All right, now was probably his best chance to take this guy by surprise, so the Agent took a deep breath in order to relax a little so his disguise would still work.

Instead of sneaking, he walked right around the corner as if he belonged there, keeping his finger on the trigger of his stolen rifle so that the guard could be neutralized quickly once he was close enough. Since he wasn't sneaking, the hammer man heard his footsteps and turned to see who it was… apparently satisfied that Leon was just another guard, and then returning to the conversation with Ashley while the Agent got closer… and closer…

"Oh entonces hombres grandes, necesitan mas guardias para una nina?" The young woman said, now looking at him as he approached. "Todos ustedes van a lamantar esto y… Leon?"

Oh no, the Agent thought as he stopped in his tracks… no, no, no, she had not just done that. Unable to understand most of what Ashley was saying, as soon as his name came from her lips, the hammer man growled as he turned around to face him. Raising their weapons at the same time, Leon had to be careful of his aim with the rifle since the young woman's face was right next to his target, so he was only able to get off one shot before his enemy surprised him by tossing the hammer.

Wham! It was a good thing Leon had taken the bullet proof vest from that guard down by the coast, because the next thing he knew the blunt weapon was slamming into his chest, knocking him from his feet. While the bullet he had fired ricocheted harmlessly off the big man's shoulder armor, the force of the hammer sent the Agent sliding across the floor where he stopped against the wall a good distance back down the hallway. Even though the vest had stopped him from getting killed, the Agent was sore to the point of having trouble moving, now groaning and rolling onto his stomach while the guard slowly approached.

Reaching for his rifle, but realizing that it was lying on the floor back where he had been hit, Leon started to grab for his revolver, only to be stopped when a pair of powerful hands grabbed him by the shoulders. Whack! Balling up a large fist and slugging him in the stomach at the edge of the vest, the Agent's feet briefly left the ground for a second, but the big man held him in place so that he could rip the vest right of him. As soon as the hammer man discarded the now useless vest, he removed the helmet from Leon's head, laughing a little while dropping it on the floor, and then pushing him back in order to pick up the hammer once again.

Moving and breathing were still difficult, but the Agent managed to duck underneath the sideways swing of the hammer, causing it to dent part of the metal wall instead of his head. While the hammer man finished this attack, Leon picked up the metal helmet and slammed it into the side of the big man's head, but this didn't do much more than annoy him for a second, before the Agent had to dive out of the way once again to avoid the next blow that dented the floor. Scrambling his way down the corridor toward Ashley's cell, Leon managed to grab his rifle again, rolling over and pulling the trigger just as the hammer man was raising up his weapon for the killing blow.

Kakka-kakka-kakka! The Thompson SMG filled the hallway with light and noise as a rapid stream of bullets assaulted the big man like an angry hornet's nest, and although most of them sparked while denting the guard's armor, several of them were able to hit the vulnerable part. This time the hammer man was driven backwards as each high caliber bullet destroyed a small part of his face, allowing the Agent to believe he had won when the rest of his skull collapsed completely… but then he realized that there were no strong light sources in this place to keep the parasite from coming out.

Just like what had happened at the village and inside the castle, there was a splash of foul-smelling liquid as the twitching and pulsating Plagas exposed itself on top of the big man's neck. With this exposure, the hammer man dropped his hammer, now moving toward Leon as if it were a poorly controlled zombie… no longer really in control of more than the most basic functions of the body it occupied, but unfortunately still able to lash out at the Agent with its bladed tendrils.

This time when he pulled the trigger the weapon clicked empty, so the Agent had to drop it and quickly scoot backwards to avoid the blade as it struck the floor. Suddenly his back was up against the door of Ashley's cell, and the parasite was still slowly marching its way toward him, so Leon took out his revolver and aimed at the discolored mass. Bang! Bang! It was pretty easy to hit, and each time the parasite made a kind of high-pitch shrieking noise as it briefly retreated back into the body, but then it just came back out again a couple seconds later.

Maybe if he had a shotgun or something it would have been easier, but all the revolver's bullets did was stun it for a second, so he had to figure out something else… and then he saw the hammer lying on the floor behind the monster. He wasn't sure if it would work as well as the chainsaw had done against Salvador back at the village, but it was all he had, so after shooting the growth one more time, Leon got up and dove past it while it was stunned.

The bladed tendril cut across the sleeve of his shirt as he went past, but the Agent was able to reach the hammer, which was a bit heavier than he imagined… lifting the weapon and swinging it upward just as the parasite was turning around. Whack! Another high-pitch shrieking sound when the growth was struck, but this time it didn't recover nearly as quickly from having the whole thing hit at once. It stumbled more than when it was shot, but Leon wasn't about to give it the chance to recover again, so he followed it, raising the hammer up and then bringing it down just as the parasite was coming back out.

A squishing sound echoed throughout the corridor as a spray of foul-smelling liquid was released in all directions, but the good news was that the hammer man didn't recover this time. It's large, metal armored body simply stood there for a few seconds, before slowly falling to its knees, and then finally collapsing to the floor. Letting go of the hammer so that it dropped as well, the Agent leaned against the wall for a second to catch his breath, before recovering the rifle and walking up to the door of Ashley's cell.

"I knew you'd come for me." She said, putting her hand on top of his when he used the bars to rest again. "Are you okay, Leon?"

"Let's just… let's just get you out of there." He replied, still trying to catch his breath while trying the door. "Hey… there's no keyhole… how does this thing open?"

He tried it a couple more times, looking for some kind of release lever or a card reader, or anything, but there just wasn't any way to unlock the door, at least none that he could see. When questioned about how they put her inside, Ashley mentioned that the door just seemed to lock itself a few seconds after the man who brought her there closed it. Okay, the Agent thought, that could have meant that the lock was electronic and that it was controlled from somewhere else in the building, like… maybe a guard station or a security office, or even just a circuit panel on the wall somewhere… yeah, probably would have found it if he had gone left instead of right at that first junction.

"All right, I'm gonna go find the switch." He said, groaning from the pain in his torso. "Just try to… just try to stay quiet, and whatever you do, don't… don't open the door until I get back, don't… don't let them know its unlocked if anyone shows up."

"Leon be careful." The young woman said before he stepped away from the door. "It kills me every time I see them hurt you."

Well, Leon thought, then maybe she shouldn't yell out his name while he was trying to sneak up on the guards… but instead of saying that, he just nodded before reloading his weapons, and then starting back down the hallway toward that first junction. Now that he had made so much noise, if anyone heard the commotion then it was only a matter of time before more guards showed up.