Lord Reyne: Thank you. Metal Gear Solid was indeed one of the story's and characters many inspirations.
117: You'll just have to wait and see.
Rock992: Much appreciated. 80's action movies were certainly a big influence on this story, the final showdown. Die Hard isn't far off. I did want that variety and difference in final boss fights, a human vs a monster and a human vs a human. A world of difference to play with between the two, hopefully people find at least one satisfying, though I aim to make both fitting. Plus I figured it was time to see HUNK in action against a human. Show what he can do, even in his weakened condition. One of the important factors of this story was that HUNK, for a change in his career, was not going up against other humans, but all monsters. All the victims and creations of Umbrella.
Magd305TLC: MGS 3 of the Metal Gear games certainly was in my mind with this story and the characters. Elements of the characters similar and relating. Naked Snake = Younger HUNK (He's closer to Solid Snake in the present of the story, 1998, though even more bitter and disillusioned) The Boss = Lady Spencer, Colonel Volgin = Colonel Vladimir, and Revolver Ocelot = Commander Ashford. There are many other inspirations of course, that will be mentioned in my final notes chapter at the end, but yes, those characters factored in.
The Succubus of Loire = Christine Henri. Just Nikolai being his derogatory self, mocking her.
For my idea of RE 4 I don't think HUNK will be in contact with Jill yet, given he'll be a wanted criminal in hiding, and not wanting to get her in trouble through association with him. I rather think another of the four remaining members of S.T.A.R.S. will be with him though, helped hide him from the world after his defection from Umbrella. For complicated reasons that would have to be explained in a story involving HUNK finally leaving Umbrella. Set before RE 4 and before Umbrella's downfall. This other member of S.T.A.R.S. would get in trouble once HUNK is caught, and have to play ball with the government and help the rescue mission to save Ashley, in order to also earn a pardon with HUNK for aiding and abetting a wanted criminal. But I'm getting ahead of myself, as ever. Just like throwing ideas out there, I don't mind spoilers much, I'm not about writing plot twists just for the sake of it. Not much replayability for plot twists, they only work once. Like 'whodunnit' stories. I prefer to write a story you can come back to and enjoy for what it is, instead of hinging on one big twist, and I like things foreshadowed well in advance, try to do that.
And yes, Chris of the four S.T.A.R.S. would be the most antagonistic towards HUNK, suspicious, and rightly so. If they ever had to work together it would be like pulling teeth. Suffice it to say, it wouldn't be him who helps HUNK, he'd be the first to haul him off to jail, given a chance.
Merry Christmas to you as well, friend, hope you enjoy what's coming up.
Guest: Thank you, and as said above MGS was an inspiration.
Akira-Hayama: That son of a bitch Mayor Warren... if I can think of something poignant and fitting for him, a poetic justice, I intend to pull the trigger on it. Very irritating that for all we know he got away with it all... but that is also life, some assholes just get away with the worst of crimes. So in a sad way it works, not everyone receives justice. I can see Jill searching for him though, if she finds him it'll take a good long while. Maybe with the resources of the B.S.A.A. eventually. As of now, I think he's somewhere tropical, living up the high life and enjoying his 'victory'... alas. Not every villain gets any comeuppance... but a good number of them shall ;).
Takes the right kind of person to figure HUNK out, even with all that armor and mask. That's a big factor for why she hasn't seen his entire face, she knows and understands him more than all the numerous people who have seen him without it. Even more than Lady Spencer. It just doesn't strike me as very important that Jill see his face, at this time. He knows she understands, and he can trust her not to pressure him. The mask is a bit of a symbolic necessary professional barrier between them... but one that is weakening, in the form of the damage his mask is taking. As you can tell by now, I'm very weird about little details and symbolism xD but it all adds up in a story, and the little details often form something bigger, when you have enough of them.
Yes lol the classic weapons and ammo before facing the final boss cliche, always liked that one. I had it make logical sense though, the generator room and passageway was where the Delta Force team set up shop before Colonel Vladimir crashed the party, so it would have lockers and weapons there. In the game you find the rocket launcher in a locker elsewhere in the facility, which doesn't make sense to me. Why would normal Umbrella facility personnel and conventional security at the Dead Factory have a rocket launcher? Preposterous. There were no on site U.S.S. Agents who would have access to such weaponry. Delta Force on the other hand, equipped to battle B.O.W.'s, it makes perfect sense.
They haven't faced off in canon indeed, nor in this universe have they fought before. I will say the battle isn't going to play out the same way Jill's battle with the Nemesis does, of course, many different factors like location, strategy, opponent, weapons (or lack there of) and whatnot. I hope it doesn't disappoint, or strike any as anti climactic... still a work in progress, so we'll see how it comes together soon. You all can enjoy (hopefully) the Nemesis battle in the meantime. And yes, HUNK is obviously more vocally reserved with an enemy when the time comes. Compared to those he cares about, or those he has no choice but to speak more to. Basically if it were an RPG he would be skipping the dialogue before the boss fight. "Let's get this over with." Lol. He obviously despises Nikolai for what he has done, him threatening Jill, and has had a long enmity... but he is much less petty than Nikolai. He'd just rather not be bothered with even thinking about him, while Nikolai is the asshole foolishly provoking him on purpose through the story. Nikolai by contrast, it's much more personal to him, his hatred for HUNK, he has something to prove to himself in beating HUNK, and he's a villain, so he'll run his mouth alright. Far more than he wisely should. His cruelty will come back to bite him, often. Glad to have you hyped, and hope you are satisfied with the result ;).
RainbowBoxer: Glad to hear I won you over to a character who had a good deal of untapped potential ;). Hope I means I have him properly living up to that potential Capcom never appreciated. And I'm glad you appreciate the gradual development, that was a big factor to this story for more, revelations and character growth for HUNK, and others of course.
evolution-500: Get your popcorn ready, friend, here it comes ;).
Arkham Knight: Thank you kindly ;) glad you've enjoyed the journey, we still have the climax to go and the fallout of Raccoon City, though at least. Glad you liked the Colonel revelation, helps explain the reasoning behind his attempt to sabotage HUNK, a petty villainous factor to it, among others. Alas, while the Colonel and HUNK have an enemy/rivalry dichotomy in my universe, like the games ultimately the Colonel and Wesker are arch enemies, not HUNK and him. Besides, I don't think HUNK will still be with Umbrella anymore in 2003 when Wesker kills the Colonel and the company collapses. Though the news will be welcome when he finds out. I see the Colonel as more a shadow archetype of HUNK. Both adopted by Umbrella, both personally loyal to a Spencer, seeking the approval of said respective Spencer, feeling at home at Umbrella, both having high hopes for what they were getting into, but HUNK's hopes were crushed and he is becoming steadily embittered and disillusioned with Umbrella and Lady Spencer and eventually leaves Umbrella, while the Colonel stays and goes down with the ship for Lord Spencer without regret or second thoughts, blindly loyal to the end. The Colonel is who HUNK will be if he doesn't learn the lesson he needs to. I like playing with the differences and similarities of two enemies. Although the truth is, I don't think HUNK has anyone he considers an Arch Nemesis. Not even Nikolai (who considers HUNK his) and the Colonel. Rivalries, certainly, cold contempt and dislike... but not as passionate and personal a hatred. HUNK is too cold and distant that way... he has many enemies to be sure, but he's not up at night all the time thinking about how to destroy them. If anything I believe he'll only have someone he considers his Arch Nemesis come the Resident Evil 5 era, when he believes that Wesker has murdered Jill.
Echo Five: Wesker would see it for the only thing it means to him. A shared weakness between HUNK and Jill for him to exploit. Just like Nikolai.
Not well, of course. Across the board.
Of course Ashley would vomit, but her options would be adapt and start shooting Ganado, or die. She's choosing the former. Would be nice to flesh her out, make her grow as a character, which RE 4 failed to do. I think she'd do better than the two older sisters I see her having in my version of the story, though. HUNK would gradually teach her well, as they come to an understanding. I don't think she would be as intimidated by him as you think though... she likely would have a sassy, spirited streak to her and would give back as well as she got. Something of a Princess type initially, spoiled. Defiant somewhat, attracted to him though, and acquiescing to his authority gradually. A man who could handle her, isn't impressed by her or her daddy's power, and that she would come to respect. Leon would be especially grateful for HUNK's presence in that matter at least. "Thanks. Couldn't imagine having to rescue her on my own." Lol.
Spartan: All of them would pity her, naturally. Want her put out of her misery. Sherry would be especially revolted by her father's work.
Vong: Jill would want Simmons killed. But then most people do or will. He has good villain potential, that wasn't quite tapped in RE 6. Maybe I'll do it one day.
Santa Claus: Much appreciated Santa, Merry Christmas to you as well. Having been relatively good in this story, by his standards, HUNK would like an HK G36 Assault Rifle with an attached grenade launcher, laser sight, infrared scope, silencer and hundred round drum magazine in his stocking. Personal favorite of his when he goes heavy duty. Thank you kindly, old man.
Thank you all for the reviews as ever. And now the moment you've been waiting for. One of them, anyways. You may wish to play the Nemesis Final Metamorphosis theme on YouTube from the original RE 3 for this one, crank it up, just my recommendation. Either way, here you go:
October 1st, 1998, 5:02 AM
Generator Room, Incineration Disposal Plant P-12A, Northern Raccoon City
"My God..."
The moment the great automated doors closed behind her... sealed her within, Jill's eyes carefully looked over the interior of the sizable chamber that was the generator room. Her eyes first swept to the eastern side of the room... and remained there a time, eyes widening at what greeted her. A war zone, like the one just outside the doors of the generator room, where numerous explosions had taken place. Flames continuing to lick up certain spots. Worse, with less space to be spread out over like the devastation outside the doors. A second of the five dispatched Tyrants lay among twisted metal wreckage against the wall, staring back at her unblinkingly. But unlike the one outside, this one had been damaged enough to mutate... its power limiting device torn off it of, revealing the inhuman bulk of it. It had grown even bigger and more hideous, all its armored uniform shredded off... with a pair of giant gore stained claws at either massive hand propped up among the rubble. One of the operators was impaled through one of its claws, while several others lay at its giant feet, littered among the wreckage as well, impaled by rebar and broken metal... bloodstains and torn limbs and entrails everywhere, along with shell casings and bullet holes, broken concrete and other debris. Even in death the mutated Tyrant looked enraged... like it would stand up at any moment and swing its claws her way.
She gripped the rocket launcher tighter at the horrific scene... and it wasn't the only one in the generator room. It had been a blood bath, plain and simple. To the degree that none of the many fallen operators strewn around here had been infected from the look of it... she heard no moans, even from the areas she couldn't see from her position. She resisted the desire to vomit, at the scene... not having much or anything left to throw up. It never really got easier... but she was afraid it would start to. Where better than a place like this for something like her Nemesis to be hiding? There was another object off to the side of that corner... what appeared to be an open drop pod, with T-03 boldly printed on it. It looked tall and big enough to hold a Tyrant within... most likely the mutated one close by it. She hadn't seen any of the other pods back out in the passageway... but they were probably somewhere out there, or down in the scrapyard, among all the metal. There was a hole in the ceiling high above the drop pod where it had crashed through, where the rain poured in a stream into the generator room, pattering against the concrete floor. Soaking over the dark metal of the pod, leaving a great puddle around it. She forced herself to look to the north... most of the area was blocked off by massive barrier wall of machinery, equipment and generators that rose halfway to the ceiling of the room... she couldn't see what was beyond it from where she was, but knew the railgun was down there beyond it. She also saw more operator corpses up there, tangled up and impaled among the machinery and rusted metalworks there.
A large powered down generator was not far in front of her position at the doors. The power core was exposed at its side, not secured into place. A light indicator on it was turned off... and there was a sizable 1 painted on it in black. She looked upwards to the ceiling, to all the carious interlocking pipes and ventilation shafts and ducts. A dozen of them at least... she strained to listen, but could hear no movement in any of them just yet. She had beaten it to the room... and would know when it was coming... stealth, especially in the form it was in now, wasn't an option for it. At least she prayed as much. The only sound she heard was the rain outside through the hole in the ceiling, pattering against the roof and floor of the generator room. She also spotted a number of security cameras at various fixed points of the ceiling and among the vents. She imagined Nikolai's twisted face smiling as he watched her... probably recording the footage to his laptop... and it took all she had not to waste her rockets firing up at them. All she would do was get herself killed... just as he wanted. The more she thought about it... the more she realized it wasn't worth shooting them with her bullets either. He wanted a show? She would give the sick bastard and his employers one. Let them watch. And then she would march back up there, shatter his nose with the butt of her rifle and slap the cuffs on him. Carry out what he had coming to him... what he deserved.
As much as she wished she had been able to stab him back at that cabin... she knew it wouldn't be as satisfying as hauling his ass in front of a court, with a mountain of evidence against him. Letting the justice system he scorned decide his fate. Seeing the look on his face when it prevailed. It was a warm thought... even as the idea of justice existing had been thoroughly eroded for her in the past months... she still wanted to believe it existed. That those like him would face the consequences. Yet a cold thought overtook it... the sight of him down there on the rooftop, with his laptop. The attack helicopter at the far end of it... waiting for him to simply climb in and leave them to their fate. And then there were the explosives... where had they been planted? They could have been anywhere, with all the time and the head start he'd had on them. One might have even been in the generator room for all she knew. After what he had done to the hospital and university... he wouldn't think twice about detonating them... bringing the Dead Factory down on top of them. Even with the missile launch drawing closer. He was petty and sadistic enough to do it. Maybe he would detonate it no matter the outcome of what happened here.
She had to force the concern aside... HUNK and Carlos could handle him... she was sure of it. As much as she wished to be up there helping them. They would protect her up there... while she was protecting them down here. They were a team. And for all Nikolai's cruelty, it wasn't him she was afraid of. Wasn't him who would give her nightmares. He was just another opportunistic, cruel thug. Still... she feared for them... especially for HUNK, in his battered, worn down condition. And hated that she wasn't up there at his side, where she belonged. Regretted the necessity of coming down here to conquer her fear. A necessity Umbrella... the Sixth Laboratory... and Colonel Vladimir had imposed. Spencer. It all led back to him... watching on his satellites, she was certain, even now. Enjoying himself. Nikolai had time to plan everything out here as well... to come up with something worthy of him. It was only a matter of what form his madness and cruelty would take, at this point. HUNK knew him better than she did... but she knew him well enough. As well as she wanted to... more than she did. Her gaze moved on away from the northern side of the generator room, away from all the equipment, and down to the eastern side... towards the path that would weave around to the north, through the area. On the far eastern wall not far from the doorway, a section had been smashed apart... and the giant dead hulk of the third of the five dropped Tyrants occupied it, among some more operator corpses. More intact than the burning or mutated Tyrant had been... but covered in blood with armor piercing bullet wounds tearing all through it, lying in a thick puddle of gore... its deathly pale, giant head staring back at her blankly like a store mannequin. Its coat was mostly intact... and between it and the clawed Tyrant, she wondered if the coat had been truly constricting its mutations... and if that had been the case for the Nemesis. Or if it was the damage alone that forced the mutations its body had undertaken.
Surely the Tyrants would come with a fail safe from Umbrella... that the coat was armor and a power limiter in one. But then she couldn't be sure. It was Umbrella... and she wasn't a scientist with a fucked up imagination. Their incompetence had caused this outbreak... fail safes didn't seem the highest on their list of priorities, compared to their research and products. With a low breath, gripping the rocket launcher tighter, she moved down towards it, not taking her eyes off it in case it stirred. Most fortunately, it didn't, and she passed it and the corpses around it by, moving around to the pathway down to the northern side of the generator room. From her position on the pathway, boots tapping on the grating as she passed equipment, pipes and corpses, she caught sight of the glowing screens and buttons of a great computer system at the far end of the northern side. A number of thick power cables ran off the mainframe and were plugged into the side of another great, familiar machine. Another generator like the first sat off to the side of the computer system... its power core exposed, and shut down. Yellow and black warning stripes painted around it, with a large sign with a 3 above it. Moving down closer to the north, stepping around the machinery, she paused in her tracks to take in the northern section of the room. Off to the side of the wall in the corner behind the machinery was the second generator for the railgun, like the first and third, but with a giant 2 painted on the wall above it.
There were more corpses along that wall... and further down it in the north west corner of the room was the fourth dead Tyrant... but her eyes didn't linger on it for long. There was a locked mechanical door just beside the Tyrant's corpse... and from the signs and indicators on it, it led to the elevator down to the surface level scrapyard. And then there was the railgun itself, looking as it did in the photograph, taking up much of the northern wall. The Demon Sword of Paracelsus. She hoped its function lived up to its formidable name... its appearance certainly did. She understood then why Colonel Franklin had been so intent on not wasting the device. How much work he must have put into it... like something out of a sci fi movie. A colossal, towering bulk of metal, power cables and advanced machinery, some of the most advanced weapons technology the world had to offer, she was certain. Millions or billions of dollars poured into it. The last of the five Tyrants lay mutilated and dead on the floor in front of it, among the corpses of more Delta Force operators who had been torn apart taking it down with them. At least all the Tyrants were accounted for, she noted with some relief. And thoroughly dead. One Tyrant had been one too many. The railgun's end was aimed to the western side of the room, towards its corner, straight through all the machinery... and she sure as hell didn't have to means or knowledge to move or realign it. It didn't seem to be automated that it could move back and forth automatically... likely Colonel Hart had been planning to add that feature later... or she was simply far outside her field of expertise. She finally looked from it and over to the computer system beside it... breathing again she ran down to it, stepping over the cables bunched up in front of it and looking at the screen. There were three light devoid buttons representing the generators... and the activation switch close by to them. Reaching out and flipping it, a voice emerged from the computer system... masculine and monotone, echoing throughout the generator room.
"Checking... system."
There were three rapid beeps, then, as the three inert lights flashed on, glowing red. It was followed by three more sounds louder than the first trio, as the three generators around the room activated with a beep and mechanical noise. Jill looked down to the second generator, to find a yellow light had flashed on... and down to the third to see the same thing had happened there.
"Checking... battery. Warning. There is not enough power to... activate... the system."
Remembering the instructions she had read, she knew the cores had to be pushed into each generator and reactivated in sequential order. Three batteries for three shots. If that wasn't enough... nothing would be. There was no sense wasting any time... she had to prepare the cannon and a strategy with it. It was a stroke of good fortune alone to have gotten here first... and to have found the file on the railgun, the instructions. And even with all that, she had no desire to try to calculate her odds... especially with the unpredictable opponent she waited for. Nodding to herself, she turned on the spot from the computer, railgun and generator, hefting the rocket launcher, and moving quickly back the path to the southern section of the generator room. Limping as rapidly as she could, she still kept her eyes on every corpse... force of habit... especially the Tyrant immobile in the wall. All of them were silent and still... not a twitch... had all probably been dead for days. Nevertheless, she watched them... and wasn't about to lower her guard anytime soon. Especially not with their kind. In a sorry state or not, she had made it this far... and intended to make it further. And if she had to die... she would not have it be due to a stupid, easily avoidable mistake on her part. Not after everything... and not after what HUNK and Carlos had struggled through to ensure she survived the virus in her veins that should have killed her. Should have turned her into a monster. The idea that it was still lurking inside her was an ever present, dreadful feeling... but she was still alive. Still fighting. Still herself.
Or whatever was left of her after all this, of course.
Passing around the corner of all the machinery... the first generator came into view again, and the mutated Tyrant laying on its back in the far western corner. Boots echoing through the generator room, she went down to the generator, looking it over. The yellow light had been activated on it as well... all that it would take was reconnecting the power core. The core was fairly sizable... would take some doing to reinsert. Jill slung the rocket launcher by its strap over her shoulder, freeing up her hands. The weight of all the weapons and ammunition was something else... the sweat already running down her back... it took a good deal of effort from her, but remained manageable. The pain and exhaustion a bit less manageable... but she concentrated all the same. Didn't have the luxury to be weak... not now. With all this counting on her. Moving closer, she took either side of the core and began to push it forward. It was even heavier than it looked... and she grunted, breathing deeply as she pushed it forward a little at a time. Finally, it slid into the generator and locked into place, powering back up steadily. The generator beeped and the yellow light on it turned blue instead. Again the computer's monotone voice echoed through the chamber... its words of confirmation reassuring to hear.
"Battery... connected."
A satisfied smile touched her lips at her progress... but then she heard a sound behind her that quickly took it away. Dripping. The patter of liquid falling on the floor... a liquid that wasn't the rain. There was a hissing where it landed. Slowly she turned around and looked to the floor... where a constant patter of green droplets fell... more and more. Acid, scorching the floor it landed on, sending up smoke around it. Gradually, her gaze rose upward to its source... a shadow enveloped ventilation shaft. Her heart all but seized in her chest as she silently understood, slowly, calmly taking up the assault rifle in both hands and aiming it upwards at the ventilation shaft. She heard the movement up there, then, that she hadn't before... the rumbling and groaning of metal... and answered it in turn. The rifle roared through the generator room, shell casings and sparks flying as the rounds struck the metal, embedding through it, opening up a number of holes in it. She sprayed an entire magazine up there all along their length of the duct... spraying and praying. The magazine ran out, and she was already reloading before the rapport's echo went silent, the clatter of the dropping spent magazine echoing as well. She rose the rifle to her shoulder again... but held her fire and waited for a response. She waited an entire minute... not even breathing... waiting for any more acid or familiar putrid purple fluids to drop down... but they didn't. There was no more movement up there... no bumping or rumbling... and the generator room was silent once more. Save her heavy breaths that escaped at last, that she struggled to regain control of.
At last, when she had, she slowly began to lower the assault rifle, but kept her grip tight on it. Kept her eyes tracking along the numerous ventilation shafts around the generator room. Not knowing which one she should be afraid of. Which direction it would be coming from next. It must have moved on by now... was looking for another opening... one of several vent lids. Or was it even the thing... or a more common mutation with acid? She didn't know... the dread coiling in her stomach like a snake. Her eyes swiveled between all the ones she could see, heart still racing away. It was the not knowing that frightened her the most. Gave her paranoia. She drew another breath... attempting to regain her calm. Fighting her threatening fear. One breath at a time, slowly. Before she could do much more than draw in a few of them, a great bulk within the vents strained and tore apart the metal and burst through the one she had just lit up with the rifle... the vent's lid snapping off as it fell towards her. She cursed and stepped backwards quickly on the spot away from the raining metal just in time, jolting back really, as her eyes adjusted to the flailing tendrils and malformed bulk of biomass that broke through the vent and dropped down through the air eagerly to join her in the generator room.
The thing the Nemesis had become fell to the ground, landing heavily in front of the mutated T-103 Tyrant and torn up corpses of the operators... an acid burnt, headless, legless abomination. Tendrils bursting from the back of the torso and whipping around it, coated in the purple fluids. Ignoring her, it extended its remaining, powerful arm and dug its massive claw into the floor as she was frozen by the generator. Tendrils erupting and whipping more, it slid over the floor like a slug, leaving a trail of purple slime in its wake... sliding upon it. Tendrils seizing and casting aside the remains of the operators in its way, its destination clear... as it settled over the powerful legs of the Tyrant. Grasping each, claws and tendrils tearing into its muscled flesh, the grotesque, pulsating blob pulled itself up on top of the Tyrant, settling down over it. She watched the head of the Nemesis Parasite within the remains of the body burst out of the torso, and its gnashing maw begin to feast on the Tyrant's chest... burrowing as deeply within as it could... joined by a hideous suckling and slurping sound, as the Tyrant's blood and flesh flew around it. Spilled from the Alpha Parasite's elongated, prehensile tongue and razor maw. Burrowing its head inside the Tyrant and feasting, with all the strength it had left. Clawed hand and tendrils gripping and enveloping the Tyrant with the desperation of a lover's embrace as it twitched and shook... made inhuman sounds she hadn't heard it make before. The sight would have made her retch, if it wasn't busy already filling her with silent horror. It occurred to her to shoot the thing with her rocket launcher... but it was too close to her position... and she was frozen stiff by the generator at the repugnant sight of what it was doing, unable to look away. And then there was the almost immediate transformation that overtook it... its body rippling and trembling... twitching. Rope-like veins growing, pulsating and bulging. The sickening snapping of bone and muscle... as though something that lie beneath its flesh was trying to escape.
As it turned out, it wasn't far from the truth.
Before her eyes, the fresh DNA of the dead mutated Tyrant began to alter the Nemesis, in a way none of its many other feedings on the infected had. Growing and healing... and changing into something even more insidious than what it had been. Something she had never imagined possible... that rendered the T-002 at the Spencer Mansion comparatively insignificant in a heartbeat. Its broken, stump legs began to regrow, lengthening and forming massively... though twisting, like a frog's legs, instead of going back to the way they had been. Its missing arm began to regrow... unnaturally long, the bone-like claw on it reforming, along with a multitude of jagged bone growths bursting from its muscle tissue, jutting out like spikes. Thick tendrils coiled around much of it, elongating. More tendrils began to uncurl from all over its burnt form, tearing free from flesh and growing like snakes... swelling... but these thick purple, wet tendrils had changed. Like the head of the Alpha Parasite, they grew a grotesque face and set of jagged, snapping razor teeth and prehensile tongues on the end of each tendril, heads becoming like that of a cobra. Salivating acid from their maws, running down the massive body and the floor like rain. Yellow, slit-like, inhuman eyes turning around, opening and looking to her, as the rest of its acid burnt, diminished body grew and healed. Knitting itself into the new visage it took.
Where the Tyrant's head had once been, a giant organic mouthpiece grew in its place, like a slime coated, jagged beak, growing around the Parasite's true head, enveloping it like an exoskeleton, the two twisting and fusing together. Two great tendrils even longer and thicker than any of the others grew from either side of its inhuman, growing body, shifting about with a life of their own, seizing on to objects around it and bracing the rest of it as it continued to mutate. It became a true giant in the wake of the sudden mutation... a forced, unnatural evolutionary process that took place over little more than a minute or two. It grew to be at least twelve feet in height and wider than a truck... still in a partial blob form of pulsating flesh and grotesque muscle tissue... incapable of standing or walking, even with its legs regrown. Maybe it had forgotten... lost parts of its knowledge and memory... or maybe they were too malformed to support the rest of its size... but it had its tendrils to continue helping support it. And as each tendril turned, the giant bulk turned around with them to face her... all the eyes of the Nemesis Parasite looked to her. Its unnatural strength returned to it in full and then some more. Every set of eyes on the tendrils recognized her... and burned... hating her. Every set of jaws parted and from them came a hissing chorus that overtook the entire generator room... and she felt it in her soul.
"S.T.A.R.S.!"
"Yeah. I know the drill. Come on... Nemesis. One last dance, then. Let's go."
Jill's bitter, tired voice returned as she snapped up the assault rifle on instinct, rose it to her shoulder, leveling it at the leviathan-like abomination of swollen biomass and tendrils that owed more to the Cthulhu Mythos than to Umbrella's Tyrant program. Gritting her teeth, she fired the grenade shell within down at the thing... the shell slamming into its side and exploding. Several of the tendrils were blown off as the impact knocked the Nemesis back only slightly... but within moments new tendrils began to uncoil and grow from its side. Its bulk endured the explosion, what damage she had done to it healing over before her very eyes, and it continued its deadly pursuit. Unperturbed. The thing pulled itself along a trail of slime towards her, jagged claws digging into the floor, sending concrete and sparks flying. Its size and incapability of using its legs slowed it greatly, but it made up for that in its healing and durability... to say nothing of its relentlessness. It was in no hurry, she was certain... all it knew was that it would kill her. That she had nowhere left to run to... that this was it. One last stand... for both of them. If it was... she wouldn't go quietly. She opened up on it with the assault rifle, the roar of the shots carrying through the generator room and striking it, fresh purple fluid oozing from its body. Shell casings flying around her, streaming audibly all over the floor. But its beak-like head twitched then... began to quiver... acid pouring from its gullet and on to the floor. Jill flew backwards and around the corner of all the machinery separating the two halves of the generator room, just as it spit a massive glob of the acid down after her. It slammed into the floor, on the bodies of a couple dead operators and the Tyrant in the wall. At once the bile-like acid burned and seared away the clothing and tissue of the operators, their bodies smoking as muscle and bone beneath were rapidly exposed, smoke rising. She couldn't smell it through her broken nose, mercifully, but knew it must have been putrid.
The spit even ate away at the Tyrant's protective coat, exposing parts of its broad chest underneath and burning away at it. Jill ejected the spent magazine and popped in a new one, aiming out of cover down to it and opening fire again. Its inexorable advance had continued, past the first generator and closer down to her at the corner. The rounds slowed it a little further... but it wasn't enough... it healed almost as quickly as the impacts formed... and it was too close quarters for the rocket launcher yet. She needed to get the damn railgun charged, or all this would be an exercise in futility. Loading another shell into the grenade launcher, a napalm one, she aimed and shot it down at the thing... the explosion rocking it and coating much of it in flames. It issued a pained screech from each of the tendrils at last, flailing as it burned... but those arms kept dragging it along... albeit slower than before. Its giant form still working to knit together the burning tissue, to offset the fire. So... it could still feel pain, she smiled faintly. It was something. Something she intended to work with. Seizing that chance she ran back down the path to the northern section of the generator room, past the third generator, computer and railgun and down to the second generator. Its screeches of anger and pain following her, even at its distance. Reaching the exposed core, she pressed into it with all she had, digging her boots into the floor and pushing into it, grunting and cursing, pushing it forward a little at a time, knowing how exposed she was to another acid spit if it made it around the corner. Finally, the first power core locked into place and fired up... generator beeping and yellow light turning a calming blue. And the computer's artificial voice reassuring her further of her progress.
"Battery... connected."
She turned at once from the second generator and ran down to the monolithic rail cannon, glancing at the computer to find two of the three glowing lights on it were blue as well. Reaching the corner of the pathway south, close to the third generator, taking cover among the machinery, she leaned out again to find the gargantuan mutated Nemesis pulling itself up along the path. She opened fire on it again, expending the rest of the magazine before taking cover when it drew its beak-head back to spit again. The acid blanketed the floor of the path, melting metal and grating and burning any corpse in its path, reducing them to charred skeletons. She stayed as far out of its way as possible, heart racing, as her fingers fumbled with another grenade shell. This time, a green tinted one... an acid round acid. A much deserved taste of its own foul medicine... just as Carlos had done to the Grave Digger. The acid had been potent on it, and she was certain if they'd had enough of them they could have melted the worm to death, instead of the far more dangerous gambit HUNK had been forced to come up with. Locking and loading the shell into place, she took aim and fired low... slamming into its side and coating it with the green, thick, spreading acid. She expected it to scream again, its flesh and muscle to melt and smoke, to burn a sizable hole in its side... but none of her expectations were met.
The acid ran uselessly along its pulsating flesh, joining the rest of the slime coating it. As though it had been showered in nothing more than water. She cursed her stupidity as the realization came at once... of course the acid wouldn't harm it. It had adapted to acid... why the hell else was it spitting it up at her like this? All over itself? It had mutated in a way even the Grave Digger hadn't, mutated much quicker thanks to the direct access to the mutated Tyrant. Had become more resistant... even if fire still hurt it. She fumbled with another napalm shell instead, nearly dropping the shell in her panic, but managing to reload the grenade launcher and aim again. As she did one of the two anaconda-like tendrils snarled, maw bearing, and raced down towards her, closing the distance rapidly... and she blew it to pieces just in time with a few roaring burst of rounds. The severed, thick, bleeding tendril flopped to the grating of the path, yellow, slit eyes fixed on her even as it died, spraying purple fluids everywhere. The moment it was torn off, the severed stump down on the Nemesis's bulk began to gradually regrow the lost primary offensive tendril. While it did so, she let up on the stream of bullets and instead fired the napalm shell where the Nemesis's head had been before her acid trap and double barrel surprise. The grenade launcher thumped and again the explosion rocked it, made it scream and burn... and slow down... but did not halt its advance altogether. Its flesh still defiantly resisting the blackening burns rolling over its form, replenishing it while it burned away. Her jaw tightened as she looked between the inferno covered, inching forward hulk and the deactivated third generator. She had to stop its advance... she couldn't take the time to insert the third battery... not with it this close. The moment she turned her back to it, she knew she would feel those tendrils snap out at her, envelop and tear her apart, feast on her. Or it would cover her in acid and let her burn. Or scoop her up to its new beak-like maw and swallow her whole.
She didn't know which prospect was worse... but all of them were equally unacceptable.
She had to damage it... find a way to lure it back down to the cannon's field of fire. Force it into a retreat. Give up ground. The shells were doing little more to it than pissing it off, and the bullets were accomplishing even less. She knew the risk of operating the rocket launcher... especially with it gaining ground... she stood to blow herself up with it. But if she didn't use it, she was dead anyways. And at least it would be instantaneous if she blew herself up. She wouldn't even feel it. The same could not be said of the alternatives. Slinging the assault rifle, she unslung the rocket launcher at last and took it up in both arms, muscles in them and in her back taut, straining... stepping backwards out of cover among the machinery, and over down to the third generator and computer. She needed as much distance from it as possible now. Moving over to the side of the railgun, she rose the four barreled rocket launcher, breathing deeply and taking aim down the pathway at its burning, bullet ridden bulk. Digging her boots into the floor and bracing herself for the back blast. Remembering from her training. Hearing her terse, concerted voice escape her lips again, speaking as much to the thing as to herself.
"Let's see how well... you adapt to this..."
Jill's gloved finger squeezed down on the trigger, the back blast nearly knocking her off her feet, even with her bracing for it. She stumbled with a grunt, but managed to remain on her feet though, and watched as the first rocket nevertheless flew straight and true, down the pathway and towards the great biomass that was the Nemesis. It struck the abomination dead on with a boom that rang in Jill's ears, rattled her jaw, the force of the blast blowing it backwards with a screech, and a good deal of fire overtaking it and the area around it. A number of tendrils flying off and burning with it, all of them screaming. The momentum of the blast blew flaming metal about, broke steam pipes... a ventilation shaft weakening and falling down atop the abomination... but looking through all the smoke and dust, Jill saw it rising again already. Its tendrils pulling off all the debris that had landed on it, setting it off to the side as it emerged again, pulling itself loose. The charred hole in its side the rocket launcher had left behind clearly visibly... its healing slowly starting... much slower than with the other wounds. She prepared to fire another rocket... but paused... when she saw the direction of its movements shift.
It didn't advance back down towards her... rather it began to shuffle around the corner down there... sliding on its slime out of sight beyond the machinery cutting off her view and escaping her field of fire. In her mind's eye, after a moment's confusion, realization flashed. It must have been dragging itself down to the mutated Tyrant for another feeding. It would heal itself... probably mutate itself further... into yet another stage. Something even worse... somehow. Something the rocket launcher and railgun might not even work on. She didn't want to imagine what it could be... how it would look if it got its way. This was her chance... probably her only chance left. Now or never. The route down to the mutated body led directly in the path of the railgun. Jill slung the rocket launcher to free up both hands, turned and ran down to the third generator, heart pounding in her ears, terror swelling throughout, sweat running down her face, all over her injured. Reaching it, Jill immediately pushed against the power core of the third generator with all she had, grunting and straining, muscles in her arms rising. Pressing her shoulder into it and digging her boots into the floor. At last, it slid forward under her momentum, into the generator, and was accepted and automatically locked into place. There was a loud beep of recognition from the generator, the yellow light flashing over to blue... and the last red light over on the computer system beeping as well, and turning blue. Recognizing all the reactivated generators. The familiar, relieving voice issued from the system, confirming how far she had come.
"Battery... connected. Rail Cannon is... activated. Commencing... charging protocol. Preparing to fire."
The colossal railgun came to life, then... beginning to hum and rumble as all the electricity in the room was funneled to it. Great arcs of blue electricity rolling off parts of it like a pylon... the end starting to spin, rotating and whirring. Alive with hypnotic light. She felt the hair on her arms standing up on end, goosebumps forming in the proximity of its power. The electronic automated doors she had come from and the one down to the scrapyard were sealed, the power diverted from them, the light above each door flashing off. Remembering how much time she had between charging the blasts from the file she had recovered, Jill knew what she had to do in the meantime. To distract the thing... before it got a chance to mutate again. To keep it within the field of fire. She took up the rocket launcher in both hands again and turned from the computer and generator, dashing down the floor towards the pathway the Nemesis had gone... avoiding the severed, twitching tendril, fires and puddles of acid along the way. As well as the sections of grating that had been blown off by the rocket. She raced around the corner just in time to glimpse the Nemesis approaching the mutated T-103 in the corner of that side of the generator room... her eyes tracking the trail of thick slime it had left in its wake. Jill remained as far from it as possible, down in the east corner of the room.
She rose the rocket launcher to her shoulder a second time and aimed down after it, adjusting the sights. The moment she was confident, she pulled the trigger again, firing the second missile at it, driven backwards by the force of it and bumping into a wall painfully with a grunt. Nevertheless, the rocket flew straight and true again... flying over the first generator and down to the Nemesis, just as it began to pull itself on top of the T-103. The rocket slammed into its back and the force drove it against the Tyrant, the floor and amid the rubble down there. The explosion sending more metal and concrete flying... and interrupting its attempt at feeding again, destroying a few more of its tendrils in the process. Opening another sizable hole in its putrid biomass that its healing worked to contend with. Slowing it long enough for the whining and humming of the charging railgun to grow louder and louder, echoing with life. As the Nemesis gradually recovered from the second rocket, preparing again to burrow its beak into the corpse and feast... more focused on it than on her... she was ready to fire a third rocket... but paused, looking to her bandolier, to the unused six proximity grenades and mines in one. She drew one from the bandolier, looking to the concealed button on it she had found while examining it in the break room... and pressing it. The blue light on it began to glow and flash, and looking down to the damaged, smoking Nemesis, she took aim and threw it with all she had, with a grunt of exertion. It rushed through the air in a blinking of blue light, flashing becoming faster as the fuse ran out. The sharp end of the dart slammed into the smoking, soaked biomass that comprised the mutated Tyrant, sticking in the side, and the blue light on it turning red. A second later, it activated, another explosion tearing through the generator room, gore flying with the smoke and fire... its tendrils screaming again, heartening her. Encouraging her to keep up the pressure on it.
"That's it... show me exactly how much it takes... to break you..."
Jill primed and threw another proximity grenade at it for good measure, watching the blinking blue light streak closer through the smoke towards the abomination... but this one didn't stick to its biomass, it fell a bit short, instead rolling over the damaged floor and towards it. Close enough for the next detonation to still harm and disrupt it, at least. It remained stunned in front of the Tyrant's corpse, still unable to feast, though some of its tendrils began to wrap around the corpse, pulling its great weight closer instead of crawling on top of it like before. She was already hurriedly reaching for a third grenade... when she was beaten to it, by something that dwarfed the grenades by far and even the power of the rocket launcher.
The welcome, artificial voice spoke some of the most beautiful words she had ever heard in her life, and likely ever would. A genuine smile creeping on to her bloody, sweat stained, bruised and battered features. Her heart beating with life... replacing the dread... the fear.
"3... 2... 1... firing."
The Demon Sword of Paracelsus erupted, then... and a great, blinding blue arc of light of such intensity it forced her arm over her eyes slashed across the generator room like the wrath of God, destroying and melting through all the machinery and metal between it and the Nemesis. Blowing through it and leaving molten metal and fire in its wake. Clearing a sizable pathway between the north and southern sides of the room. The railgun round slammed through the Nemesis and out the other side of it, leaving a massive burnt, fused hole in its wake, blew through the Tyrant drop pod off to its side, and took out a great section of the concrete wall down there. Pipes melted, groaned, burst and toppled along the walls and a ventilation shaft overhead collapsed and fell on the Nemesis. The pipes sprayed steam, adding to the fog of war with the thick smoke from the fires. So much of the wall was destroyed that the cold morning air poured through it... along with the rain and the moans from outside. The rain droplets fell over that corner... but could do nothing to diminish the roaring fires. The Nemesis was thrown into the wall like a ragdoll by the momentum of the blast, and Jill could see it writhing amid the fires. The one two punch of the rocket and the railgun had critically injured it... or at least appeared to have... at long last. The tendrils remaining along its body that had survived both blasts whipped about in a mad frenzy, lashing out at everything around it... knowing true pain at last. Unable to hide it. As it and all its remaining tendrils squealed in agony, she met its high pitched cries with a roar of genuine, spiteful laughter that burst out from her lungs. Unable and unwilling to help it. Savoring the high of satisfaction over all the pain, looking to the multitude of cameras around the chamber of the generator room, pointing in the direction of the railgun's blast. To any and all that were watching her. A rage and grief taking her then, from the plethora of enemies she had made... born of the looming Umbrella that cast shadows over all. A rage she didn't repress in the slightest, her shouts echoing through the generator room at the cameras. If she didn't rage, she knew she would cry, if she had any tears left.
"This good enough combat data for your masters, Nikolai?! Can you hear me?! How about you, Colonel Vladimir?! Sixth Laboratory?! And Spencer you demented old bastard! Is this what all you sick fucks wanted to see?! You murdered my city and friends for monsters like this?! I'm just getting started! When I'm through with this thing we'll take your precious fucking company apart a piece at a time like we did your freak show mansion! How do you like that you dirty sons of bitches?!"
Not very much... she was certain. She hoped. No more than the Nemesis did the blast of the railgun. It wasn't the only monster in the picture, and probably not even the worse. What she would give for all of them to be down here, on the receiving end of the railgun like their creations. The Demon's Sword was powerful, just as she'd hoped. Something even the Nemesis had never been designed to resist... to withstand. Even with its unforeseen mutations. Looking back to it through the smoke and fire, she knew it was time to implement the next part of the plan she had worked out. Still, the great bulk of the Nemesis managed to recover itself from the first barrage, body working overtime trying to heal it... flipping back over on its front, and crawling again desperately towards the mutated Tyrant corpse. Intent upon feeding and restoring itself. If it succeeded... there was no telling what would happen, if the railgun would be enough, three shots or otherwise. She couldn't let that happen. Still, it was slowed considerably... and the railgun continued to charge to its second blast, while Jill rose the rocket launcher to her shoulder again. This time it was to the T-103 corpse she aimed, adjusting her sights, digging her boots into the floor and lowering herself to one knee this time, leaning forward. The Nemesis draped itself over part of the Tyrant's body, and was just preparing to feed when the heartening, artificial voice carried through the generator again at last, over the hum of the Demon's Sword and revolting noises of the Nemesis.
"3... 2... 1... firing."
On the 1, Jill squeezed the trigger again, the back blast shifting her but less so than before in her position. The third rocket screamed out its barrel and down towards both the Nemesis and mutated T-103 corpse. The moment it struck the Tyrant's body, the explosion blowing it apart and engulfing the Nemesis in flames, the rail cannon loosed its second blinding shot of brilliant cleansing blue light. The combined detonation of the rocket and rail cannon pulverized the remains of the dead mutated Tyrant, took out more wall, burst more pipes and left a crater in the floor over there. Both of them impacted the Nemesis, making it scream and drop to the floor amid the crater and debris of concrete and metal raining on it. Another great section of wall collapsed over there, the railgun round passing through it like butter and slamming outside somewhere. The cold air rushed in, but the inferno clashed with it. After the blast, Jill was already implementing the next part of her strategy, slinging the rocket launcher, rising to her feet and taking up the assault rifle in both hands. Loading in a napalm shell, she fired it through the smoke and dust at the writhing, giant Nemesis, adding another explosion of fire... then squeezing down on the trigger and unleashing a hail of rounds, striking it all over.
She charged at it as she shot it up, but gave it as wide a berth as possible out of its way while the railgun began to charge up for the third and final time. She sidestepped away from the Nemesis and ran down through the pathway of destruction the cannon had left. She ran towards the far northern side of the room, out of the railgun's field of fire, and towards the sealed doorway to the elevator down to the scrapyard. Turning around she took aim with the M4 again, targeted the Nemesis down there and continued firing, gritting her teeth and going through magazine after magazine. Some of the rounds missed wildly, striking concrete or ricocheting off metal in a shower of sparks through the smoke... but must of them rittled along its side, spraying purple fluid. But the thing didn't come down after her... it managed to roll off its back and turn around... starting to slide down towards the eastern wall, out of the reach of the charging rail cannon. A sudden horror overtook Jill, heart racing in her ears... she needed the last shot to strike it dead on, down its fucking throat if possible. She couldn't let it recover, or reach one of the other Tyrant corpses in the room to feed on instead. She ran a bit forward, aimed again and continued to fire, striking it in the back. Shouting at it between bursts of bullets, her heart pounding in her chest and head.
"Come on! Down here! I'm over here! Do it! Come on! Kill me! Do it now!"
It paused where it was at her panicked shouts and gunshots... hesitating... and she helped it make up whatever was left of its mind. Rapidly, she drew a third proximity grenade from her bandolier, activated it, and threw the beeping and blinking blue light down towards it. It impacted against the side of the abomination and the light turned red once more, another explosion slamming through it, sending metal, fire and concrete flying, and making it scream again... but it was already recovering somewhat. Whatever intelligence was left in it... it rose higher and turned back around, remaining tendrils snaring nearby sections of the devastated machinery, looking through the path of destruction and down to her. It saw her, standing off to the side of the charging, spinning railgun... and she was all it saw. Resuming firing at it with her rifle. It had been programmed too well for its own good. Ignoring certain death... just to get to her. Its intelligence diminished from too many mutations... had it been the Tyrant she had crossed paths with in the R.P.D. courtyard... it would have avoided the railgun altogether. Would have destroyed it from afar... or taken out the generators, rendering it a giant, inert piece of useless metal. But this thing... what it had become... couldn't out think her any longer. Couldn't surprise her. She knew and understood it better than it ever could her. It acted on instinct, and its one overwhelming command to kill her. Or desire to, perhaps. Nothing else. It began its relentless pursuit again, turning its entire bulk around, what was left of it, and crawling and oozing into the rubble of the pathway the railgun had cut through like a scythe. Giant, clawed arms pulling it along, its few remaining tendrils still doing the same. Taking the bullets and grenades Jill threw at it unrelentingly, purple ooze spraying from its twitching, burning, blob-like form.
She burned through all her ammunition and grenade launcher shells with ease, the heated casings flying around her in a stream and landing at her feet, rolling about on the concrete floor. The roar of the rifle a roar from the bottom of her soul. When she ran dry, she swore and threw the spent rifle off to the side and took up her rocket launcher with one final round once more. At the same time, the railgun was reaching its final charging sequence... the high pitched familiar whine nearing its completion. Jill took aim at it with the rocket launcher, gripping it tighter, her jaw tightening instinctively. Waiting for the artificial voice to speak... as the monstrosity crawled inexorably closer... reaching midway through the rubble path. It rose up higher, acid starting to bubble and ooze from its mouth... mouths... but before it could unleash on her, she and railgun unleashed on it. Every drop of the cold rage inside her igniting into a firestorm again, screaming at it.
"3... 2... 1... firing."
"DIE! BURN! JUST ROLL OVER AND DIE ALREADY!"
This time, the final railgun charge struck it first... dead on... the arc of blue lightning blowing through it. Straight down the middle of the shrieking monster. Blowing it through the air back down the path and into the corner again, overtaking it with fire, while Jill squeezed down on the trigger. The force of the blast nearly made her fall backwards... but as before, she managed to keep upright. The fourth and final rocket flew after the Nemesis and slammed into the far corner it had landed in, detonating and sending more concrete, metal, and pieces of the Nemesis' biomass flying. What was left of its bulk landed out of Jill's view, between the remaining metal obscuring the corner, all the fallen debris... the smoke, steam and the dust down there...and she waited for it to rise and advance again. But nothing stirred... or crawled out of the rubble or fog of war. Maybe... it had finally obeyed her. Maybe. She didn't know... but she dared to breath at least... and to lower the spent rocket launcher back down to her side. The artificial voice came to life and spoke from the computer system again, echoing through the room, and she looked to the machine as it did.
"Warning... weapon overheated. Entering cool down mode."
A great hissing emanated from the over exerted Demon's Sword as it entered cool down mode... clouds of constant steam pouring off the device like a rising mist... the curtain of blue electricity dying away from it. The end gradually stopped spinning as well... the humming and gradually fading into silence. All around the room she heard three shuffling, mechanical noises as the three generators automatically ejected the drained power cores, exposing them again. She looked over to the closest one, the second power core, to find the blue light above it had gone back to yellow. There was a loud beep behind her, and she turned to face it... as the room's power was rerouted back to the electronic door to the elevator to the scrapyard below. The red light over the door flashing green. The same was the case for the automated doors to the passageway she had first come through to the south. Jill looked down to the empty rocket launcher in her hands, and dropped it the heavy piece of metal to the floor not far in front of herself. Released the weight of it. It landed with a great clattering noise, echoing through the generator room.
Turning away from it... turning her back on it all, she moved over to the door... she leaned her head against it... and tried to catch her breath. To come to terms with what had happened... make some sense of it all. She felt the sweat pouring and dripping down her shoulders and back, soaking her face... even as she had goosebumps. She drew her canteen in a trembling, gloved hand and took a deep drink from it, savoring the cool liquid, drinking most of it, before wiping her mouth and tucking it away again. She rubbed her face with her hand... ran it through her hair... and felt herself still trembling involuntarily. Hands shaking... her mind racing a mile a minute... even as it was exhausted. Something was wrong... something wasn't right. It wasn't that it had been too easy... it never had been. This had been the most difficult of it all, even with the railgun. That wasn't it at all. But... somehow, she knew. A minute that felt an eternity passed... and she heard it, then... over the hissing of the cooling railgun... over the sound of the rain and the moans drifting up from the broken sections of the generator room's walls.
Shuffling... a heavy object dragging itself down towards her. Pulling free of the fires and debris. Scraping noises. She looked up and turned around on the spot, away from the door, to spot it pulling itself around the corner it had been lying in. Through the rubble. Full of great holes burned through it, oozing a trail of acid and putrid purple substance. Flames still licking up along the remains of its form. All of its regrown limbs had been blown off, except for that one arm with its massive claw... all it had left to move with besides squirming on its own fluids. And all of its tendrils had been melted and burned away... none of them growing back. It couldn't heal itself any longer. She watched it weakly drag itself through the path of destruction the railgun had created... amid the rubble of concrete and metal... and drag itself in front of the railgun... before finally stopping. This time... its coming back did not anger her, or frustrate her... perhaps for the first time. Looking at it... she was filled with a cold clarity. Understanding. She only had to take one look at it to know it was almost over. That this was what she had been waiting for.
One final formality was all that remained.
With the last of its strength it rose its broken, hole riddled, mutated, blob form up as high up as it could, and began to twitch and tremble... more acid pouring from its broken, beak-like head. The moment it prepared to spit at her, Jill jumped and rolled off to the side with a grunt of exertion and pain, out of its trajectory. Just in time. She heard and saw the globule of acid slam into the floor where she had been, and the door to the scrapyard elevator, hissing and melting parts of each. Coating the empty rocket launcher and melting through it with ease. Landing next to the corpse of a fallen Delta Force operator with a magnum at his side, dog tags on her necklace jangling, Jill ignored the weapon, and in one machine-like motion ignored the pain as well and rose up to her feet again She turned, drew Matilda instead, and aimed her down at the Nemesis's leaking side. She fired two bursts into it, squeezing the trigger twice... the heavy caliber specialized rounds QUARTERMASTER had designed slammed into the monstrosity, tearing through it and out the other end, breaking concrete and sparking metal. It screamed and screeched, made all manner of terrible sounds it never had before. Trying weakly and in vain to wriggle and crawl away from her and the gunshots rippling through it with ease.
The former S.T.A.R.S. Officer began to pace forward towards it inexorably... pursuing it... a deadly calm settling over her like ice water... firing the third burst... a fourth... a fifth. Steadily tearing into it, blowing apart the jagged, beak-like head and exoskeleton it had grown. It tried to lift its giant arm to either strike at her or block the oncoming bullets... but it was too heavy for its body to support anymore, collapsing to the floor. Its inhuman strength leeched of it. By now she stood over it, staring down the heavily modified machine pistol without blinking. Its true head emerged then after the beak was separated, ripping free from deep within the dying remains of its blob-like, Tyrant form... rising up slightly on one last purple, pulsating tendril. Its inhuman yellow eyes turned up to her... and for the first time, she didn't see hatred and malevolence on its stained, vile face she knew she would never forget. She saw pain... and fear... or she hoped she did, at least. That she had taught it that much, just before the end. As it had hurt and frightened her. The fear was gone from her now, though. It had died in this room... as the thing itself surely would. The Nemesis Parasite looked down Matilda's long barrel... to her eyes again, and from its jagged, parted, bleeding maw it croaked out a single, final, pathetic word. All the menace of the past, agonizing days gone from it. Rendered weak, and small, helpless as Brad had been to it in the courtyard.
Broken.
"...S.T.A.R.S..."
"You want S.T.A.R.S?", She heard her deadened voice ask the thing coldly, grip tightening on the handle. Willing her hand to shake no more. Steeling herself for the moment. "I'll give you S.T.A.R.S.!"
Squeezing the trigger once more, she released the last burst of armor piercing rounds from the customized machine pistol directly into the Nemesis Parasite's diseased, malformed, brain-like head... blowing it apart into messy chunks of biomass all over the floor around it. The roar of the rounds echoed through the generator room and in her already ringing ears and pounding temple. The primary tendril that had supported its central nervous system went slack and collapsed unceremoniously to the floor. The rest of its burnt, decayed husk of a mutated body squirmed and writhed, rolling over and over on the spot in its death throes... twitching... all the purple, pus-like fluid of its body oozing like a river from every round she had put in it. Acid pouring freely and hissing and smoking as it made contact with the floor. Unable to knit itself back together any longer. Finally... the shriveled, pathetic, writhing biomass that had been her Nemesis gradually deflated a good deal and died... save the occasional twitching. A hissing of the fire still burning away on its remains from the napalm. Smoke rising above it in a cloud.
A voice in her head told her to step back, to catch her breath and come to terms with what had happened... process it. What she had survived. What she had just done. To collect herself and her senses again. To calmly breath and relax herself.
She didn't listen to it.
Without hesitation, ejecting the spent magazine, she slammed in another extended one, locking and loading it into place. And to be sure, she flipped the switch to full auto... then unslung the double barrel shotgun in the opposite hand and took aim with both weapons... and fired the entire magazine into its festering carcass, unblinking. The stream of brass shell casings flew by her head and fell at her feet like rain as the twitching thing was torn to further pieces, rounds tearing through it and into the concrete below... and the rage, hatred and sorrow coursed through her veins with the adrenaline. She shot it for Brad... for Captain Viktor... for the operator... for what it had done to HUNK and Carlos, what it had put them through. And for what it had done to her. For what it would have done to the other S.T.A.R.S. if it had gotten the chance. She shot it for its creators sins... Umbrella for producing something like it. Something that had no right to exist beyond someone's sick fantasies... fantasies the company continued to bring to a hideous form of life. As long as she lived she would always carry a part of it with her, after it had infected her.
Violated her.
And while she knew she would be able to sleep peacefully with it dead... she would never forget it. And she would always hate it. Always. Would scour the world to destroy any others if need be, if Umbrella had produced more like it. Never again. When the smoking machine pistol clicked empty, she still pointed it at the thing... breathing hard... heart pounding in her chest. Then she aimed the shotgun and pressed it down point blank against the muscle tissue of its arm, pulling the trigger and giving it both barrels. The force of the deafening boom forced he back a couple steps as its flesh, muscle and blood sprayed, the two 12 gauge shells severing its final limb from the rest of what remained. It bled out further, the massive clawed hand slackened... but it still wasn't good enough for her. Reloading the shotgun as rapidly as she could, she took aim at those claws, bracing herself and squeezing the trigger again, blowing them all apart, along with most of the hand they were attached to. They flew every which way, jagged, bone-like talons rolling on the floor and gradually coming to a stop. Ears ringing, she stared hard at all that was left... still seeing the occasional twitching, in the severed limb and body... but it didn't rise again. At last she lowered the shotgun and Matilda again very slowly, with reluctance. The thing was dead. She knew that. Saw it with her own eyes. She couldn't cry... she couldn't even feel relief or triumph. She suddenly felt cold and empty... numb, and couldn't believe it was dead... even seeing it in front of her. She gathered what saliva was left in her mouth and spat upon its remains spitefully.
Jill felt all the pain returning from the past days... all it had done to her... the exhaustion... but somehow she was able to force herself not to collapse to the floor next to it. Somehow she held on... closing her eyes, and trying to clear her head. Trying to recognize that she had won. That it was dead. A great part of her didn't want to believe it... didn't want to be made a fool of as she had been... but as the seconds passed, moment by moment... not seeing it rise again... the hesitation began to fade away. The doubt. She thought of him... of HUNK... his lips covering hers in the courtyard... his taste and protective grip around her... and she thought of Carlos smiling, joking and laughing again. Both alive. Both safe now... from the Nemesis.
She held on to those images like anchors... keeping her where she was... not letting her drift away into despair. Jill ejected the spent magazine and reloaded it without opening her eyes... tucking Matilda away into her holster again. Then promptly doing the same of the shotgun, reloading it quickly without needing to see, slinging it over her shoulder again. Only then did she open her eyes to study the broken, twitching remains of the defeated Nemesis. The ringing in her ears slowly began to mellow out a bit... but not entirely. It was a wonder she hadn't gone deaf, yet. Raising her hand, she activated her radio... and somehow, with monumental effort, found her hollow voice. Reaching out to them... those she had left. The ones she had done this for. Fought for.
The ones still in danger now... even with the Nemesis brought low.
"HUNK... Carlos... it's Jill. I did it... it's dead. Gone. I... really did it..."
There was a silence on the radio that greeted her... the only sounds coming from outside. She looked up, over to the destroyed sections of wall. Looking to the side of the factory out there... the rain... and the near early morning sky. It was drawing closer to the end. The missile would be flying to incinerate the city, within this final hour. It was out of her hands now, however it went... but whatever the outcome... she had won here, in this room. If they were unable to secure the escape helicopter... even if she never got her chance to return the favor to Umbrella... they would know what she had done. Had accomplished. Defeating what must have been their greatest creation. She would meet her death content in that knowledge without fear... if need be. She had been freed from it... at long last. Not everyone in the world got the chance to confront and conquer their fears. Dying free. It would be a good death.
Good enough, at least. If necessary. If she had to die.
A familiar accented voice picked up her call, then... instead of the muffled one she was expecting.
"Jill... you... did it? How... you... oh thank fucking God...", Carlos breathed over the radio deeply... relief breaking through his shock and disbelief. He took a moment to recover himself, before his voice returned on the line. "You're alive... you made it. You really did it. You killed the bastard. But... it's not over yet..."
"I know it isn't. Never is. What's happened now?"
"It's HUNK. And Nikolai. You better hurry back up here, Supercop. I think you'll want to see this for yourself..."
The radio went silent... but the troubling tone of his voice was more than enough. Another thing required of her... something more important... life, instead of death. Escape. Survival. HUNK... somewhere up there, in danger. Still fighting for her. She looked up and over to the recording cameras of the facility for one more moment, and then to the desiccated, scattered remains of Umbrella's failed experiment only a second longer. Then, drawing Matilda swiftly, she turned on the spot, on her boot... limping away from the cooling railgun and through the path of twisted metal and fire to the automated doors back to the passageway to the Control and Communications Tower. Boots echoing around her. She gladly left all the carnage behind her without a single look backwards or another thought of what had transpired in the generator room... seeing only her remaining duty standing out in her mind's eye.
The man she silently swore to save... from his enemy. From himself. And from Umbrella.
Demon's Sword, baby. Had a blast (pun intended) doing it justice. One of the remake's many blunders, replacing it with the ridiculous 'FINgER'... stupid name, and a hand held railgun is asinine, they just wanted to rip off the Doomguy and his BFG, sticking it down Nemesis's throat. No way Jill could carry something that big, much less even fire it by hand given the recoil of railguns. Glad to set that right again.
Anyways, Rest In Pieces, Nemesis, you've been with us awhile now, and there was never quite a monster villain like you again in the Resident Evil franchise. Though for our story, there certainly remains at least one other villain less hideous but no less monstrous to contend with ;). I wanted it to be a climactic showdown, especially given the hell it put our heroes through in this story. Hopefully I did that right. I also of course added to the horrific design of the Nemesis's final mutated form, wanted to be vivid about how I saw it in my head. It can be difficult for a writer to paint a vivid canvas with words, try to make you see what I do. Also, Jill Maximus Decimus: "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!" Couldn't resist, just seemed to fit. She knows the Nemesis in the end is the least of her problems, the ones who created and sent it are. And Spencer deserved a shot across the bow, sick old bastard has been watching it all play out. Part of my desire to make the universe seem bigger, as I have been doing. Raising the stakes and such. I chose to have her end the Nemesis Parasite with HUNK's pistol instead of the random operator's magnum, for more of a poignant impact (pun also intended). Seemed right for numerous reasons that the weapon HUNK gave to her, personal to him for Lady Spencer reasons, should land the final kill shot on Colonel Vladimir's most powerful son. But more importantly, the trust between HUNK and Jill in that weapon swap, their bond, he couldn't be there to help her battle her monster, but was in spirit... and pistol lol. Besides, Robocop Supercop Jill with a machine pistol is just plain awesome. No explanation required.
The title of the chapter comes from the save room theme for 3, seemed appropriate. Jill faces her final demon in Raccoon City, her fears, and conquers them. Now she's ready to go to war against Umbrella. Or nearly ready, at least.
Stick around. It's not over until it's over.
