With this chapter now up, only two more remain, although technically only one chapter remains, as chapter fifteen is just a short Epilogue, and as such it won't really take me long to write it. In fact, I dare say this chapter was the most difficult to write as it's obviously the most action filled chapter in the story. And I think I've made it clear before how often difficult those types of chapters are annoying to write sometimes.
And again, I apologise that it's taken me so long to make progress on this story, it's obviously a running gag at this point that in every story I write, when I only have a handful of chapters left, progress really starts to slow down. And the reasons always vary, which is why I'm hoping to avoid that when I do get around to rewriting Enduring the Evil in the future.
That said, let's just get right to it.
Disclaimer: Resident Evil and its characters belong to Capcom obviously, any Original characters in this story belong to me.
Chapter 13:
'Showdown'
Treatment Plant
'Rebecca, Billy, Bryan, Danny'
Silence had followed the four survivors for quite a bit following their encounter with the Proto Tyrant.
As they walked across the dam outside, Rebecca's eyes had remained on Bryan the entire time, feeling a mix of emotions as she continued to play the events in her head over and over.
Billy was more surprised and shocked if anything. And he was very concerned.
To say Rebecca herself was very concerned would be an understatement. She just could not stop thinking about what she saw.
Danny, who had Rebecca bandage up his ribs, was the only one who wasn't shocked or surprised by the sudden change in his friend. And his lack of a reaction didn't escape Billy and Rebecca's notice.
When Billy called out for everyone to stop and rest, Bryan, unsurprisingly, seated himself at the other end of the dam, far away from the three.
Of course, they were fine with this, for the moment, as it allowed the former marine and the STARS medic to drag Danny to the other side of the dam, out of earshot.
"I know what you're gonna ask." Danny said, beating them to the punch.
Billy raised a brow, gesturing towards Bryan as he replied, "You don't say?"
Danny shrugged, prompting Rebecca to ask, "Why don't we start with what the heck happened back there? What was that all about?"
A sigh was Danny's response, earning a frown from the two.
"You know what happened Danny. It'll be a lot easier for all of us if we knew too." Billy reasoned.
Rebecca then added, "We're just worried. What happened back there was...it was just...just scary. That wasn't the Bryan I've been surviving with since the train. What happened? Please tell me."
Danny sighed and tightened his grip around his guitar case, looked the two of them in the eye, and said, "Bryan's suffering from Dissociative identity disorder."
A gasp was Rebecca's response, while Billy's eyes merely widened in shock.
The young Rockstar looked back over at his friend, who was sitting in silence, head resting on his knees.
"After the last time, I was really hoping it wouldn't happen again. Then again, considering the circumstances, I really should have seen it coming." Danny added, looking upset now.
Rebecca tilted her head a little, confused, and asked, "What do you mean by last time?"
Danny looked back at her and replied, "Besides the minor incidents we've had, there was one time back in high school years ago. There were these two punks who liked to pick on and bully all of the younger students. Just the usual school bullies except these guys were some of the more senior students at the place, so naturally, they got away with a lot of shit. Eventually, they just started targeting us, and it was mostly just intimidation at first for a few weeks. Then one day, well..."
When Danny stopped for a moment, Billy gestured for him to continue, "Then one day, what...?"
"Then one day they got physical." Danny replied, adding, "They got really aggressive, started making threats. I think it was a week or two after that, that they eventually crossed the line and threatened us with a knife. That was when Bryan finally snapped."
Rebecca recoiled in surprise and was about to ask what happened, but stopped, afraid she would hear something she didn't want to hear.
"What happened?" Billy asked for her.
Danny glanced at him, and answered. "Bryan tackled the guy with the knife to the ground before either of them could blink and beat the holy hell out of him. I was too busy trying to keep the other guy from going for the knife." He sighed, and shrugged, adding, "Our friends were nearby at the time and came running. They chased off the guy, and then had to restrain Bryan and call an ambulance cuz the other guy was so fucked up. We found out the next day he was in a coma."
Billy was silent, processing what the young Rockstar told him.
Rebecca, meanwhile, nervously asked, "What happened after that?"
"The police got involved, obviously. But because they already had the guys fingerprints on the knife, and our statement that we fought back in self-defense, and the fact that both guys were known offenders, they let us go." Danny explained. He then looked at Rebecca, curiously, and asked, "You're a cop, Rebecca. Don't they have a record or file of this somewhere in the police department?"
The STARS medic shrugged. "Not that I know of, but it sounds like something they would keep a record of."
Billy looked over at Bryan, who hadn't moved from his spot, then glanced back at Danny, and asked, "Has he been receiving any treatment for his condition?"
At the mention of treatment, Danny looked away with a sombre expression, and slowly replied, "Therapists just cost too much money. We...did have one therapist though, or rather someone who was good at it and was more than happy to help out for free."
Rebecca tilted her head a little, looking concerned as she asked, "And where is he? Or she?"
"He died back on the train."
Raccoon City
At the same time...
It felt like forever since Matt went silent.
Alex, for just a moment, tried to comprehend Matt's mindset and understand things from his perspective.
Most of it, he could understand.
But he hit a dead end when he reached the part where Matt confessed to killing his dad.
Granted, the man was responsible for raping Matt's mother when she was still young, so he certainly deserved a beating.
Alex was convinced however that killing the man was a step too far.
Or maybe he was just fed up with his friends or former associates from high school showing up in the middle of the night claiming to have killed people.
Finally, he decided to break the silence, and said, "Matt, I'm not gonna say he didn't deserve to get his ass kicked, but don't you think just outright killing him is taking it too far? Even for you, there has to be a line."
Matt glanced over at him, and smirked, much to Alex's annoyance. "I will cross any and every line necessary if it conflicts with my personal interests. Besides, you should've seen the bastard. His entire place with littered with drugs and booze. He was scum, and I did the world a favour getting rid of him."
Alex frowned, clenching his fists.
"The look on his face when I told him who I was." Matt chuckled, and said, "Priceless."
With his anger finally taking hold, Alex pointed a finger at Matt, and shouted, "Shut up!"
This caught Matt by surprise, getting his full attention as Alex continued.
"No matter what the crime, NO ONE deserves to have their life taken away against their will!" Alex said, adding, "It's true that there are many bad people out there, and those same people have committed serious crimes, but they get locked up! They're forced to spend a piece of their lives behind bars to contemplate what they've done, to realise how wrong it was, and look back on it with regret. Those same people can change, and they deserve a chance to do so! They deserve a shot at redemption!"
Matt just gave him a mixed look of surprise and confusion, then, eventually, anger, and replied, "Wow, do you even hear yourself? You have any idea how stupid you sound?"
Alex frowned again, mentally kicking himself as he thought back to when he picked up Scott by that alley with the dead marine.
The dead marine that Scott killed.
It was only because they were friends, that Alex was willing to accept Scott's reasoning and look the other way. As long as those responsible faced justice for their crimes, as long as the truth behind the Billy Coen incident came to light, Alex was willing to keep silent if it meant exposing the real criminals and seeing them put behind bars to live out their sentence.
He was not, however, going to stand for mindless killing, not when there's always another option.
"Besides, it's not like you're any better." Matt said.
Alex raised a brow at him, and asked, "What are you talking about?"
Matt pointed at him, replying, "I know fine well that you often get yourself caught up in fights, because you're always busy patrolling the streets and the alleys, making sure people are safe. Always rushing in and stopping a bunch of assholes from mugging an innocent woman, or putting yourself between some punk and a bunch of school kids, the list goes on and on and on. Really, you just love a good fight like I do. You can't get enough of it."
"I try to defend those that can't defend themselves!" Alex said, adding, "I do that because I value life, something my parents taught me. And I'll be damned if I betray that principle."
Scoffing at Alex's statement, Matt replied, "Give me a break. You think that kind of mindset is going to make a difference? Wake up you fucking idiot, we're living in reality, and in reality, you gotta be willing to cross the line." He pointed at Alex again, adding, "I've already crossed it a number of times these past few months, that pathetic excuse of an old man was just another on a long list that won't be ending any time soon."
Alex's eyes widened, looking shocked at the response. "You've...killed other people?"
"Only the bad ones, if it makes you feel any better." Matt grinned.
Clenching his fists, Alex grit his teeth and tried to keep his anger from taking over. It took just about all of his willpower to stop himself from charging at Matt, willpower that was on the verge of breaking. He just couldn't believe
how far his old high school associate had fallen, and honestly, it hurt to see.
"Matt...you need to stop, now." Alex said quietly. "You need to stop now or, soon enough, you'll have done so much damage that there'll be no coming back for you."
A chuckle was Matt's response. "I could care less Alex."
With a heavy sigh, Alex slowly looked him in the eye and his determined expression said it all.
Matt noticed this too, which was why he slowly started removing his sunglasses, trench coat and holsters, smirking the entire time.
After all, this is what he hoped it would come to.
Elsewhere...
"S-Scott...j-just let me expl-"
Not another word.
Scott silenced Palmer with a powerful right hook that sent him crashing into the wall.
When the marine slumped down against it, Scott lowered his fist, and said, "Last time Palmer, and this time, no excuses. No bullshit attempts at justification. I wanna know what really happened that day."
Kneeling down, Scott leaned in close to the terrified marine, and quietly told him, "I wanna know what really happened at that village. You got three seconds before I really get angry, and trust me, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry."
Palmer was shocked, trying to figure out what Scott was right now if not angry.
"One."
He quickly gave in however, "Ok! Ok ok ok!"
Scott pulled away and stood up, looking down at the marine in silence as he waited for an explanation.
Palmer sighed, wiping his mouth and spitting out blood before explaining, "The village, you're right, Billy didn't shoot the place up. It was your old man. He gave the order. He, myself and one other guy shot the place up, Billy, he didn't do anything, except try and stop us."
There was a brief flicker of disbelief on Scott's face, but it disappeared as quickly as it first appeared.
When Scott gestured for him to continue, Palmer added, "From what I understand, your dad was working with some shady business types on some drug that was being developed for soldiers on the field. You need to understand, this was classified shit that those business types did not want anyone but him and a select few knowing about."
"You're one of them I take it?" Scott asked.
Palmer nodded, replying, "Kinda. I was one of the few guys who knew about it, yeah, I don't know anything specific about it or its effects though. I just...I don't know all the details Scott, all I do know is that this drug was going to change the battlefield, and those guys developing it needed it to be kept a secret at all costs."
"And how does this relate to Billy?" Scott asked.
A sigh, and Palmer replied, "One of those suits ordered your old man to deal with Billy."
Scott's eyes widened a little. "The fuck? Why?"
Palmer shrugged, shaking his head as he genuinely seemed confused himself. "I dunno...something, something about being suspicious of him. That's the only thing I heard, I swear. You're gonna have to get the answers you want from your old man himself."
Eyes shut as he contemplated his options, Scott made the decision and took a deep breath.
"I guess I'm gonna have to. But first..." He looked down at Palmer, who just looked miserable at this point. "It was with your help that got Billy put in cuffs, and on death row, I ain't just lettin' that slide. I can't."
Palmer nodded slowly. "I know..." He sighed, adding, "Go ahead, I'm ready. I've been ready since that village, Scott."
When the broken marine looked up at him, Scott felt a brief moment of hesitation, seeing the genuine regret in the man's eyes. "Just...make it quick, give me that at least."
Seeing that look, made Scott start to doubt himself.
Owen just stared in silence as Scott briefly explained the events in the alley, and it was obvious he wasn't happy.
"So, pop, what's this drug I'm hearing about? And for what bullshit reason did you obey some asshole in a suit like some lapdog?" Scott asked, frowning at his old man.
A long silence followed.
Both were clearly trying to figure out what was going through the others head.
One thing was for sure, Scott was far too calm for someone who had a gun pointed at his head.
And Owen knew why.
Finally, he answered his son, and told him the truth.
"It's called Project Limbo." Was Owen's response. "It's a Combat Stimulant designed for use on the field. It was developed to help boost combat performance for every soldier on the field and in doing so, decrease the casualty rate." Owen explained. "The suits in charge of the project were very determined to see the project completed, so much so that they decided to use marines as test subjects."
Scott's eyes widened a little. "Human experimentation? On marines no less?"
Owen shook his head, replying, "I was against it at first, but when they explained that trained soldiers were more likely to adapt and successfully bond with the drug, along with the fact that I wanted to see more men out there survive and live to see another day, I couldn't refuse. It was an opportunity I just couldn't afford to throw away."
"What do you mean by successfully bond?" Scott asked, singling out that part his dad's explanation.
Unsurprised that his son pointed that out, Owen replied, "They originally tested the drug on normal people. There were, side effects, that made the project a bit of a gamble."
"Such as?" Scott asked again.
Owen raised his hand and listed the side effects with his fingers. "For one, fatigue. Second, the drug was capable of sending people into induced comatose states. And third, addiction."
Scott narrowed his eyes at his dad. "Addiction?"
"The nasty kind." Owen said with a frown, adding, "The kind of addiction that makes one crazy for more, that they're willing to kill for it."
There was a clear look of shock in Scott's eyes now.
Owen then explained, "The marines that were taken in to be tested were a part of my unit, so it was easy to arrange. I made sure only a few were taken, so as to avoid suspicion from my superiors, and for a while, things looked hopeful when those marines successfully adapted and bonded with the drug. The drug effects enhanced physical strength, stamina and reflexes, and enhanced the subjects' sense of sight and hearing. It was the perfect tool we needed on the field. If the marines going through the tests were just able to beat the two lethal side effects, it would be a success."
Again, there was one part of the explanation Scott singled out, and asked, "Yeah, but you said for a while. Something obviously went wrong."
"Yeah..." Owen sighed, replying, "Unfortunately, one of the marines I sent to be tested was just a rookie. He wasn't a hardened veteran like the others I sent with him, so, naturally, it really shouldn't have surprised me that he didn't have the willpower to keep on going with the drug."
Scott remembered, back at the base one day, a rookie marine named Randy Waller.
Just a young guy, younger than him that was always positive and friendly. Always willing and ready to follow his superiors orders down to the last letter.
He was also one of the few guys at the base he hung around with. Billy being another. One of the few marines that he could call a friend.
Then one day, he heard that Randy, in a crazed state, attacked Billy and tried to kill him.
And before he could get there in time to help, his dad and several others in his unit had already gotten there first.
Randy was gunned down and no one ever found out what happened to him.
All Billy ever told Scott that day, was something Randy shouted over and over as he tried to kill him.
"Limbo! Limbo! LIMBO!"
Despite their best efforts, neither of them were ever able to find out anything.
Until now.
"...Waller. That drug was what made him go crazy?" Scott muttered out.
Owen nodded. "When the drug was deemed a success, we returned to the base, ready to field test it. However, we failed to notice Waller using the supply when we weren't looking, the addiction had already set in and by the time we realised it, it was already too late. He wasn't able to successfully adapt and bond with the drug like the others did, and he had to be put down to avoid knowledge of the project leaking out."
Scott balled his hand up into a fist, doing his best to keep his anger from showing on his face.
"Waller's body was taken away and his relatives were informed that he died defending his fellow marines." Owen said, taking a deep breath before adding, "Despite the incident, the drug had proven to be a success as the other marines they tested it on were able to use it without suffering from the two lethal side effects, the induced coma's and the addiction. The side effect regarding fatigue was common in most drugs, and the suits ultimately decided there was no need to worry about that one, and declared Project Limbo a success."
Things were starting to make sense the more he thought about it, but there was still the main issue Scott had yet to receive an explanation for.
"And what about Billy? Why did he have to take the fall for that village? What does he have to do with this?" Scott asked.
Owen just looked him in the eye as he replied, "...The suits in charge of Project Limbo found out that Billy was aware of the name, not the project itself mind you, just the name. Because we knew Waller was shouting 'Limbo' the entire time he tried to kill Billy, Coen informed me himself when he asked me about it."
The marine sighed now as he looked to be struggling to continue the explanation. "And, because Coen asked about 'Limbo', the suits in charge were afraid that he was aware of the project. They were afraid that he was investigating it and planning to expose it...so they ordered me to deal with him."
Scott's eyes widened a little, his anger building up inside as all pieces of the puzzle started coming together.
Owen kept a straight face as he explained. "Coen was the best guy on my unit, and I could never kill him. So instead, the suits devised a strategy to deal with him that wouldn't require me to pull the trigger on him."
Anger building, fists tightening, yet Scott was doing his damndest to hold himself back.
"We were intentionally sent into hostile territory in Africa in the guise that we were to attack a village being used as a guerrilla training ground. The air drop was intentionally off-target, which meant we had to march across miles of hostile terrain to the objective. It was all now just a simple matter of getting there, and letting Billy get shot by the enemy along the way, and if they didn't manage to kill him, then surely the heat would have." Owen explained.
The marine chuckled, failing to hold back a grin as he added, "Atleast, that's what the suits believed. But oh boy, they didn't know Billy like I did. I knew fully well, that none of that shit was going to take him down."
He looked back at Scott, frowning a little now. "And before I knew it, we'd made it to the objective. And Billy was still alive."
It was almost clear to him now, yet there was still a part of Scott that didn't want to believe the conclusion he was slowly coming to.
There was a slight look of regret in his eyes as Owen seemed to struggle to finish his explanation. "The suits...would not tolerate Billy coming back to the base alive. And we'd made it to the objective which was eventually the extraction point."
"Before that extraction arrived, I had to make a decision, and the decision I made is one that continues to haunt me to this day."
Billy watched as Owen fired his weapon in the air, while Palmer and the other marine rounded up all of the terrified villagers, the other shoving a villager onto the ground and kicking him towards the rest of the villagers.
"Get rid of them! Kill them all!" Owen shouted.
Unable to stand by and watch, Billy called out and pleaded, "Please, sir! Cease fire immediately!" He said as he quickly approached the leader of his unit.
"Shut up!" Was Owen's response before smacking Billy in the head with his weapon.
Billy fell over in response to the unexpected strike.
Dazed, he took a moment to shake off the pain, before the sound of his leader's voice caught his attention again.
"Do it!"
In the blink of an eye, all of the villagers quickly fell down one by one in response to the rain of bullets being sprayed at them from Billy's Commanding Officer, Palmer and the other marine.
"No! Don't! Stop!" Billy shouted as he got to his feet and rushed towards Owen, the latter simply giving him a cold glare.
Silence filled the room as Owen finished, and there was a wave of emotions flowing through both him and Scott.
Despite the overwhelming anger, Scott could feel a hint of sorrow.
Sorrow that his own father would do such a thing.
"...What happened after?" He asked.
Owen kept a neutral expression as he replied, "I informed the superiors that Coen panicked under the extreme conditions and unintentionally killed the civilians. Upon returning to the base, Commander Regan had Billy court martialled. He was taken away, and you know the rest."
"I dropped out a few days later." Scott said.
Owen nodded.
Silence followed for a long moment as Scott processed everything he heard.
It was the same for Owen, who had been doing his best to try and forget any of those events had ever happened.
"You did all of that to keep some stupid combat drug a secret. What the fuck pop?" Scott said, glaring daggers at his father.
Owen sighed, replying, "It's complicated son. That drug can help save dozens of soldiers' lives. I couldn't just throw that opportunity away."
Scott continued to glare at him, and said, "...No wonder mom left you. It's just like she said, you only care about your damn job. And it's only now that I see just how right she really is."
"Don't you dare drag your mom into this conversation. Project Limbo is a fucking good thing for the Marines Scott! It will SAVE lives! What don't you get about that?!" Owen shouted.
His son wasn't inclined to listen to him however. "Oh yeah, Project fucking Limbo! Yeah that totally sounds like a good fucking thing doesn't it!"
"Shut up!" Owen shouted, keeping the magnum aimed at his son. "You should have left this alone Scott."
Scott shook his head, replying, "It's a good thing I didn't. Now I know the truth."
Owen raised a brow at him, and asked, "And? What do you plan on doing now?"
"Simple..." Scott said before proceeding to crack his knuckles. "I'm gonna beat the ever loving shit out of you."
The marine chuckled a little at the comment. "Really? Scott, you're obviously forgetting who's holding the gun here."
Smirking, Scott looked his dad in the eye and said, "Not really. But you see pop, the gun ain't gonna do you much good without bullets."
The grin on Owen's face was gone in an instant.
After processing the comment for a few seconds, he asked, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"It's actually quite simple." Scott replied. "Because you see, pop, I knew you had a magnum stored away in your room, and when you went off to make that hot coco, I went upstairs and dug around. I found your magnum, took out the loaded magazine and replaced it with an empty one."
Silence followed for a long moment as Owen processed this information.
Finally, after a long minute, he started to laugh. "Hahaha! You crack me up Scott! Really, you're a regular comedian!"
Scott frowned a little, and asked, "What's so funny?"
Owen wiggled the magnum in his hand, and replied, "You really think I'd be so stupid, that I wouldn't consider every possible scenario?"
"The hell are you talking about?" Scott asked, curious.
His father chuckled now, and added, "You see Scott, I knew that you knew that I had a magnum stored away so I came prepared. And in this case, I made sure that I had a spare magazine hidden away. So when I retrieved the magnum, I made sure to check and make sure it was loaded, then I went and retrieved the spare magazine. And now, you've only ended up making yourself look stupid. It was a very nice try though, I'll give you that."
Scott sighed, slowly shaking his head as he replied, "I'm afraid you're the one who looks stupid right now, pop."
Owen stopped laughing, and narrowed his eyes at his son. "What? What are you talking?"
"It's actually quite simple." Scott started, adding, "Because you see pop, I knew that you knew that I knew that you knew that I knew you would have a magnum stored away. So I made sure to double-check and make sure you didn't have any spare magazines hidden away, and when I found your spare one, I emptied the entire thing and replaced all of the bullets with blanks."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Again, silence followed as Owen tried to process the information, taking a long moment before deciding that it had to be a trick.
"You're lying." He said.
Scott smirked a little at him. "Try me."
Owen pondered it for a long, long moment.
He knew Scott had a tendency to bullshit his way out of situations sometimes, but what made it really difficult to figure out whether he was being honest or not was the poker face he'd always put on when he was doing it.
And in this case, he was having a hard time trying to figure out if he was being honest or not about the blanks.
In the end, Owen decided with a low "Fuck it." before tossing the gun aside.
He cracked his knuckles and glared daggers at his son. "Alright, let's do this your way Scott."
Treatment Plant
'Rebecca, Billy, Bryan, Danny'
The four survivors spent a short while resting up, mostly in silence other than a few brief exchange of words here and there.
Rebecca had made sure to check on each of them to make sure everyone was okay before they moved on, having to bandage up Danny and give him what medical assistance he needed, just enough for him to move on with little difficulty.
Billy needed no medical attention, and Bryan, well, he may not have needed physical medical attention, but he certainly needed it mentally, and the situation they were in right now was not helping his condition at all.
Despite wanting to rest up a little longer, for Bryan and Danny's sake anyway, Rebecca also knew that they were close to finally making it out of the facility, and reluctantly agreed with Billy that they needed to move on immediately.
Thankfully, Danny agreed, albeit he was just as reluctant as Rebecca, whereas Bryan silently got up and moved on without a word, much to the STARS medic's concern.
When the four survivors made their way to the engine room, they encountered a small group of zombies, much to their chagrin.
Billy, as expected, took the lead and gunned down each zombie with perfectly aimed headshots as he led the way through the engine room, while Rebecca followed behind him with the others to provide support.
As they neared the door at the end, Rebecca noticed a lack of reaction from Bryan as they watched Billy gun the zombies down, and again, she couldn't help but feel concerned. Whereas before, he always seemed to cringe or flinch at the sight zombies being shot, now, he didn't even react, he was either keeping his head down the entire time or he just looked on with a very blank stare.
Once the zombies were dealt with, Billy moved on, leading the way into a fenced area and towards the door just up ahead that led to the incinerator.
If the map Danny was talking about was accurate, the cargo lift was just past the incinerator.
They were almost there, just a little further.
Letting Billy continue to take the lead, Rebecca waited until he opened the door and entered, she then gestured for the two civilians to enter next before she followed them through.
As they expected, the room was quite hot, though they sort of welcomed the heat given how cold they were earlier.
What they didn't expect however was to see the room completely crawling with leeches.
"Welcome, young ones."
On the balcony above, the cloaked young man slowly emerged into their view.
"So glad you have joined the party."
Danny balled his hand into a fist at the sight of the man, shouting, "You!"
The cloaked man turned and smirked at them, and said, "You are the guests of honour. After all, it's your wake." He chuckled.
"Who are you?" Billy asked.
Rather than answer, the cloaked man's appearance slowly changed, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone, replaced by a familiar old man.
Billy was the first to speak upon identifying the old man. "Dr. Marcus?"
"No, you can't be. What's going on?" Rebecca asked in disbelief.
Dr. Marcus chuckled, and replied, "Ten years ago, Spencer had me assassinated."
The images of those days flashed through the old man's mind in the blink of an eye.
The image of him examining one of his leeches, before a pair of soldiers barge in, spraying the lab and his equipment with gunfire, and Dr. Marcus himself, who fell to the floor in a bloody mess, followed by one of his leeches.
The unforgettable image of William Birkin and Albert Wesker entering the lab, approaching him, standing over him as they mocked him.
"Time to die, Doctor." Wesker said.
"I will take over your research." Birkin added, before laughing.
His supposed last words that he weakly uttered out before he died. "Wesker...Birkin..."
The image of him being thrown into the water, sinking below as the water is stained red with his blood, obscuring his vision before darkness takes him.
But most importantly, the image of his queen leech, entering his corpse, and giving him life again.
"However, something wondrous happened. It took the T-Virus inside of my queen years to procreate my new life."
Dr. Marcus' appearance slowly changed, the cloaked young man replacing his older self.
"I live." He said with an insane grin. "Now I will have my revenge on Umbrella, and the world will burn in an inferno of hate!" He added before laughing maniacally.
Shaking his fist, Billy then pointed at the young Dr. Marcus and said, "You'll pay for what you've done!"
Bryan then took a step forward, glaring at the cloaked man as he said, "You were the one who attacked the train...you were the one who killed all of those people..."
He tightened his grip around the gun in his hand, a cold and murderous look in his eyes as he added, "And you were the one who killed Kyle. You're dead, you hear me? DEAD!"
"We'll see which one of us is gonna die!" Dr. Marcus laughed in response, until his laughter was cut short when he started to vomit up slime.
He then started vomit up leeches, much to the disgust of the survivors.
"Oh come on man, that ain't right." Danny said, cringing at the sight.
As if vomiting up leeches wasn't bad enough, the young Dr. Marcus' body began to ripple and mutate.
His entire body changed, mutating until there was no longer a human being left, replaced by a giant leech-like monster.
The mutated Dr. Marcus jumped into the air, clinging to the ceiling before leaping down in front of the four survivors.
All of them backed away, guns raised as they prepared to take this monster down once and for all.
A determined Bryan remained in place however, filled with a desire for vengeance as he raised his weapon on the monster leech.
"TIME TO PAY YOU BACK FOR KYLE YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
Raccoon City
At the same time...
Alex cast aside his thin leather jacket, not wanting it to get ruined in the middle of the fight.
He knew it wasn't going to be easy, it never was with Matt.
But tonight, he had to make it quick. Scott was out there right now about to kill his dad, and he wanted to make sure he was there to bail him out in case everything went
south.
"Just so you know Alex..."
The voice of Matt caught his attention.
"I've been spending the whole fucking year toughening myself up in my own personal underground fight club." Matt said, before entering a boxing stance, punching the air a few times, adding "So if you were hoping to get through this quick and easy, you can keep hoping. Cuz it ain't gonna go down that way."
Of course, Alex shouldn't have expected anything less from quite arguably the most determined bastard he'd ever met.
"Wow, you're really committed to this, aren't you?" Alex said with a roll of his eyes.
(Yakuza 0 OST - Pledge of Demon Full Version)
Matt just smirked as he slowly started towards Alex. "Committed eh? Nah. I just love a good fight, and I know that any time I fight you, it's gonna be a great one."
His smirk then disappeared, replaced by a frown as he added, "What I hate, is how every time we fight, you don't have the guts to go all out. You don't have it in you to take whatever opportunity that presents itself, to win no matter what. This is real life bro, and in real life, you only get one, and you gotta put yourself before everything and everyone, nothing else matters, nothing but you. You don't do that however, and that pisses me off, cuz I can only imagine the amazing things you'd be capable of if you stopped being such a selfless tool and put yourself before everyone else. You'd be capable of great things Alex, I know you would."
Fists clenched, Matt stopped a short distance away, adding, "Unfortunately, you'd rather stick to your soft-hearted beliefs of redemption, and refuse to do what needs to be done when the time comes. And it's because of that..." He started towards Alex again, faster this time. "That you won't last long in this fucking corrupted world!"
With that, he rushed towards Alex, closing the distance in the blink of an eye.
He lunged forward with his fist, and shouted, "NOW SHUT THE FUCK UP AND FIGHT ME BITCH!"
Alex reacted quick, landing his fist right across Matt's face, just as Matt's landed across his own.
Both stumbled back in response to the exchange of punches, Alex entering a Muay Thai stance as Matt rushed towards him again.
He used his arms to shield himself from Matt's punches, and he could feel the aching pain his arms were suffering due to those punches. Matt wasn't kidding when he said he toughened himself up, he hit even harder than the last time they fought each other.
Matt continued to throw punch after punch, putting his boxing training to good use.
It wasn't until Matt stopped his barrage briefly to catch a breath, that Alex took the opportunity to strike back.
He grabbed Matt by the head, closing the gap between them before swiftly lifting his knee up into Matt's gut.
Matt tried to throw a punch in response but Alex kneed him in the gut again, then again, then again.
On the fifth knee strike, Matt brought his elbow down, colliding it with Alex's knee.
Both of them growled in pained and backed away from each other, rubbing their respective sore spots.
Matt was quick to move first, and swung a fast kick, but Alex reacted just in time, bringing his leg up and blocking the kick with his knee.
The more aggressive of the two then attempted to go in for another punch, but Alex skilfully sidestepped him, and landed a clean kick across his chest.
Backing away, Matt panted a little, taking just a brief second before moving in to throw another barrage of punches.
Left hook, right hook, uppercut, left hook, right hook, uppercut.
As he blocked what punches he could, Alex had made sure to also observe the pattern in Matt's fighting style.
It made it a little more easier to predict what Matt's next move would be, and when he went for it, Alex ducked under the left hook, and hammered a hard punch across Matt's head, just enough to daze him.
Or rather, that was the plan until Alex noticed Matt continued his assault, surprisingly unfazed by the hit.
He went on the defensive again as he blocked every hook from his opponent, wondering why the hell that punch didn't at least daze him.
Then he remembered who he was fighting, and he felt stupid.
Suddenly, Matt broke off from his attack pattern, lowering himself, and threw a hard punch right into Alex's gut.
Alex coughed in response to this punch, forced to bring his arms down to his stomach.
This was a mistake though, as he left himself open and unguarded, allowing Matt to land a clean left hook across his face.
Stumbling back, Alex supported himself by grabbing onto the fence, coughing again, but Matt didn't give him any time to recuperate.
He grabbed Alex by the shoulder and forcefully turned him around, only for Alex to knock him back with a swift right hook.
Matt recovered quick, and was about to counterattack, but Alex was on him in an instant, grabbing hold of him before bringing his knees up into Matt's gut again.
Alex got in as many strikes as possible before backing off, barely avoiding the elbow that previously caused his knee to ache.
But Matt was quick to go after him, throwing several right hooks that Alex was forced to guard against, before trying to counterattack with a kick to Matt's gut.
This forced Matt to back away, only for a second though, before he went in to attack yet again.
"Dammit Matt! I don't have fucking time for this!" Alex shouted as he tried to block Matt's punches as best as he could.
Matt continued to throw punch after punch, not letting up even as he replied, "Well you're just gonna have to make time Alex cuz neither of us is leaving here until only one of us is standing and the other is on their ass admitting defeat!"
It wasn't long until an idea came to Alex's mind after he heard that.
He knew Matt was prideful especially when it came to throwing fists, and if there was one good thing Alex could admit about him, he was a man of his word.
If this was any other day, or any other night, Alex would humour him, but tonight, he had far more important things to take care of.
As Matt continued to throw right and left hooks at him, Alex slowly began to lower his guard, little by little, still blocking each strike.
It was only after his arms reached his gut that he went for a slow and very predictable right hook.
Matt dodged the right hook easily, before landing one across Alex's face, sending the latter crashing to the ground.
He stopped, a bit surprised, whether by how easy that was or his own strength, he wasn't really sure.
Alex rubbed his face and spat on the ground, panting lightly for a brief moment as he looked up at Matt, the latter clearly eager for him to get up so they could continue.
"...You win."
"..."
"..."
"...What?"
The look of disbelief slowly starting to show on Matt's face said it all.
Alex shrugged, rubbing his face again as he repeated himself. "You win."
Matt was frozen still as he continued to play those words through his mind.
Even as Alex slowly got back to his feet, he was still trying to comprehend what he had heard.
It was only after Alex fetched his leather jacket that Matt finally broke free from his frozen state and shouted, "HEY!"
When Alex turned to face him, Matt said, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?! I know you're not even close to being done yet!"
"You said it yourself Matt." Alex said, much to Matt's confusion, before adding, "I was down on my ass, you were still standing, and I admitted defeat. You win, I lost, easy enough to understand, right?"
Matt clenched his fists and took a large step forward, ready to hit Alex, but stopped, and seemingly, hesitated.
Alex sighed, putting his leather jacket back on before turning his back to him. "As anticlimactic as this may seem, a win is a win, and a loss is a loss. Next time we see each other again Matt, I hope we'll be sharing a drink or something instead of throwing fists." He started to walk away. "So long."
"Get back here!" Matt shouted, remaining where he stood as he watched his opponent walk away. "We're not done yet! You think you can just throw a fight and walk away?!"
No answer.
Matt grit his teeth and shouted again, "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! STAINING MY WIN LIKE THAT?!"
Again, no answer.
"You can keep looking for creative ways to avoid the fight all you want! But sooner or later you WILL have to fight me with everything you've got! YOU HEAR ME ALEX?!"
Once again, no answer.
And as Alex started to disappear into the shadows of the streets, Matt growled and left him with one last statement.
"You...You better not hold back next time. Cuz I sure as hell won't."
Despite him having quieted down, Alex still heard him, and simply walked on.
He let silence be his answer.
Elsewhere...
Scott and Owen stared each other down for what seemed like minutes.
Both knew the other was tough in their own way, but it had been a good long while since they last saw each other.
And in that time, Scott had done nothing but work out and make sure he was as fit as he could possibly be, to make sure he was as strong as he could be possibly be.
Of course, that didn't mean he could just underestimate his dad, as the latter always had his own training routine that he always stuck to.
Either way, Scott didn't care.
Right now, he needed to punch someone, he needed to punch his dad, and put him in his place.
Cracking his knuckles, Scott said, "...Your lies and abuse of your position in the marines got Randy killed, and got Billy sent to his death. You're not gonna get away with that."
Owen just shrugged, smirking a little as he replied, "I already have Scott."
"Not for long." Scott responded, getting into a stance. "I'll make sure of it."
The older marine balled his hands up into fists and mirrored him, going into a stance, and replied, "Come on then son, show me if you've still got some bite behind that bark."
"I will..." Scott grit his teeth, his calm look finally breaking, replaced by an intense look of rage.
"THIS IS FOR RANDY AND BILLY YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"
(Yakuza 0 OST - With Vengeance)
Scott was already running towards his dad, grabbing onto him upon reaching him and managing to take him down to the floor with ease.
He wasted no time hammering his fists down onto his dad, who shielded himself with his arms in an attempt to block every punch being thrown at him.
Owen finally stopped the flurry of attacks when he grabbed Scott's wrist, stopping the next punch before pushing him off and jumping back to his feet.
Scott quickly recovered and was back on the attack, throwing another flurry of left and right rooks.
But Owen was ready this time, dodging, ducking or blocking every punch thrown at him.
When Scott finally pulled back to catch his breath, Owen retaliated, and threw his own flurry of punches at his son.
Of course, Scott was just as ready as he was, and dodged each of them with ease. When Owen went for the next left hook, Scott ducked, and delivered a strong punch to his gut.
Owen felt it, but wasn't as fazed as Scott expected him to be, much to the latter's surprise.
He ducked under another hook, and landed another clean punch on Owen's side.
The older marine backed off a step, but was still barely fazed by the strike, again, to Scott's surprise.
Noticing this, Owen threw another hook, only for Scott to duck under it again.
This time however, Owen blocked Scott's next punch, catching his fist with his hand before pulling him in to deliver a strong knee to his gut.
Scott coughed, backing away as he held a hand against his stomach, surprised by just how much that one hurt.
Owen grinned and threw another punch, but Scott dodged, circling around him and getting a little distance between them.
Despite the few successful exchanges, Scott already had a pretty good idea to what was going on, and it made him doubt himself for a moment.
When Owen closed in to continue the fight, Scott dodged his next punch, circling behind him but keeping himself close this time.
Just as the older marine turned to face him, his son landed a clean left hook across his face.
It fazed him for just a quick second.
Then he recovered just like that and returned the favour, hammering a left hook across Scott's face, dazing the ever loving hell out of him.
So dazed in fact, that Scott staggered away and had to lean against the wall for support just to keep himself on his feet.
"COME ON SCOTT!"
Hearing his dad shouting his name, Scott eventually recovered.
Just in time to see Owen's next punch coming.
He tilted his head to the side, just barely dodging, causing Owen's fist to strike the wall instead.
Scott looked, and was frozen for just a few brief seconds as he looked upon the large crack on the wall left by his old man's punch, confirming his earlier suspicion.
With the older marine wide open, Scott pushed him away and threw the quickest strikes that he could manage.
He connected, thankfully, and as he continued to hammer away, Scott started to notice his old man panting, and quickly realised the side effect was kicking in.
This was the opportunity he needed.
Spreading his arms, he goaded his dad into attacking him. "COME ON POP! GIMME YOUR BEST SHOT!"
Owen grit his teeth and roared furiously as he rushed at Scott, arm raised, fist clenched, unwilling to hold back.
He threw his fist forward.
Scott sidestepped it, grabbed his dad by the shoulder, forcefully turned him around, and delivered a powerful uppercut that sent him slightly into the air.
When he watched his old man land flat on the floor, he relaxed a little and backed away.
For just a moment though, Owen tried to get back up, tried, and failed.
And when it was clear he wasn't getting back up, Scott fell to his knees, and heaved a sigh of relief.
Treatment Plant
'Rebecca, Billy, Bryan, Danny'
The Queen Leech was furious when Bryan fired a clean shot at its head, and the four survivors were forced to scatter around the incinerator as it pursued them.
Despite him wanting to help, Rebecca and Billy firmly told Danny to hide away while they dealt with the monster responsible for the nightmarish situation they were in. That, and Danny was really in no condition to be fighting at this point.
As soon as he hid away, the two more experienced survivors chased after the Queen Leech, who was too distracted by Bryan's gunshots to pay attention to them.
"Hey! Ugly!" Billy shouted, catching the monster's attention.
Bryan used the distraction to bail out of the corner he was trapped in.
The monster caught him however and reached out, smacking him aside and into the wall.
Despite the aching pain coursing through his body, Bryan fought through it and fired the handgun, unloading every bullet he could into the monster.
For a moment, the Queen Leech was about to go after him, until the combined firepower of Billy and Rebecca's weapons caught its full attention.
It screeched, and lunged at them, but the two split off and circled around it, Billy continuing to shoot it while Rebecca ran to Bryan's side.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
Bryan rubbed his side and nodded, "I'm fine. We need to kill that thing."
Rebecca was taken aback by his words for a moment, but she knew he was right, there was no time to waste. She got back to her feet and ran over to help Billy, while Bryan took the magazine that she gave him and reloaded the handgun, or at least tried to.
The Queen Leech grabbed Billy's shotgun as he attempted to reload, and yanked it from his hands, then attempted to grab hold of him.
Fortunately, the marine was quick enough to roll out of the way.
"Billy!" Rebecca called out, firing a few bullets into the monster.
When the Queen Leech turned to her, Billy used the distraction to retrieve his shotgun and reloaded it as fast as he could.
The STARS medic backed away from the monster as it closed in on her, firing all the bullets she had, until her gun was empty.
Again, the Queen Leech stretched out one of its limbs and attempted to smack her aside, but Rebecca ducked, avoiding the hit, her experience fighting the leech monsters had helped her get used to those attacks.
After several attempts, Bryan finally managed to reload his handgun and ran to Rebecca's side, as did Billy, who aimed at the Queen Leech with his loaded shotgun.
The two fired off a few shots into the monster, forcing it back a few steps, giving Rebecca just enough time to reload her weapon too.
The Queen Leech screeched in response to the shots, and was about to attack them again, until...
"HEY!"
It turned around and looked over at Danny, who was currently holding a Molotov cocktail in his hand.
"Burn in hell motherfucker."
Danny threw the Molotov at the Queen Leech.
The bottle shattered against it and the monster was engulfed in flames, screeching loudly as it flailed about.
"NOW! FINISH IT!" Danny shouted.
He didn't have to tell them twice.
Rebecca, Billy and Bryan fired their weapons at the Queen Leech, unloading every bullet, every shell, making sure every single one of them hit their mark.
The monster continued to screech in pain, flailing about everywhere as it seemingly attempted to put out the flames that burned away its body, only to fail.
Finally, when the weapons were empty and the Queen Leech ceased to move, the survivors lowered their weapons.
The four survivors looked on in silence as the remains of the monster continued to burn away.
And once they were finally convinced that it was finally dead, they moved on.
"Is it...is it over?" Danny asked.
Rebecca nodded, "I...I think so. I hope so."
"Good. Cuz that was the last bottle I had in the bag." Danny said, relieved.
Billy looked over at Bryan, who continued to look at the burning remains of the monster with a cold stare.
Placing a hand on his shoulder, he waited until the young teen looked at him slightly, before telling him, "Come on Bryan, let's get out of here."
Bryan stared at him for a second, then back at the burning monster.
After taking in its burning remains one last time, he turned and walked on.
Looking around, the four survivors made their way to the large metal doors on the other side of the incinerator and opened them.
When they entered, they finally found what they were looking for.
"This is the cargo lift, right?" Danny asked as he stared at the large cargo lift.
Billy nodded. "Yep."
Danny looked up at him, and asked, "So, we're about to make it out of here, right?"
The marine smiled now. "Yep."
With the cargo lift right in front of them, the way out was just up ahead.
Their luck would have to be terrible for things to go wrong now.
Authors Notes: Yes I know, I know, fights were brief and rushed, as was this chapter, you don't need to point that out to me, I'm still mentally kicking myself for letting this chapter drag on this long, it was supposed to be way shorter than this. And yeah I'm using some music from the Yakuza games, but those games have some really great fight music, and I just couldn't resist. Plus, I just wanted to finish this chapter and HOPEFULLY finish the next one and get the Epilogue finished before the end of the year. It's really just been stressing me out now and I want to get it done as soon as possible so I can finally move on and take a nice long break. As for the Limbo side-story, I'm sure I don't need to point out who's behind those drugs, I imagine it would be pretty obvious.
Anyway, that's that, I'll try and get the next chapter up and posted soon hopefully, and I imagine the Epilogue won't be far behind.
Now normally this is the part where I ask for Reviews and feedback, but I've been getting spammed with a lot of guest reviews lately so I'll just say this, I would really appreciate it if people stopped spamming me with guest reviews. Writing these stories is stressful enough, spam only adds to that stress, so I would really appreciate it if people stopped spamming the guest reviews. If you have concerns or questions about the REwrites or future ETE stories then just make an account and private message me and I'll answer those questions no problem.