Italicized: POV/Flashbacks/Thoughts/Spell
Bold: Monster
POV: James Potter
James had felt awful in the immediate aftermath of his incident at the gas station. He had suffered from major head trauma slamming into that car, and his brain had taken a few moments to heal and recalibrate. In that short time, he had become a bit delusional, and thought that Claire Redfield was actually Jill Valentine. He had tried to get her help in getting to his feet, but she had mistook his actions as violent, and began to shoot him in the head. This only made his condition worse as his magic expanded past its normal limits. He apparated himself, Claire, and Leon into the lobby of the Racoon Police Department, the three being scattered after multiple immediate apparitions. Leon landed on the spiked fence, Claire landed on the stairs, and James landed onto the front counter right in front of Officer Marvin Branagh.
After an explanation and healing, Marvin agreed to help James find a way into the underground of the police department through the statue, which would lead them out of the city. James had healed Claire's broken ribs, as well as Leon's more serious injuries, and was in the middle of healing his puncture wound when Claire had woken up. While they spoke, he took a peek into her mind using Legilimency, finding a few interesting details. Her parents had died when she was eleven, forcing her brother Chris to step up and take care of her. They lived paying half-rent in an apartment within the city, with Claire going to the Racoon City Middle School while Chris went to the High School. Once Chris graduated at sixteen, he went into the Air Force with a bit of inside help knowing that he would be able to take care of Claire easier within the military.
Claire went to high school, and met her best friend Elza Walker. Elza was clear in Claire's mind after reading the letter, letting James see her. Elza was an attractive blonde with brown eyes, a slim figure, and she tended to wear her racing suit when she wasn't going to classes or when she was just lounging around. It seemed she lived in racing, and James felt he could relate. He didn't know why, but he felt that he loved doing something that related to travel. Driving? Maybe, he didn't know. When Claire graduated from high school, she was accepted into Racoon City University alongside Elza, with her spending her time studying, learning, training with Chris, building motorcycles with Elza, or juggling multiple boyfriends at one time. James wasn't sure if that was normal, but he didn't judge Claire given that she was only nineteen. Though he was eighteen, he had no room to talk.
When she brought up the topic of relationships herself, James had grown uncomfortable, remembering a girl he only remembered as 'Cho'. He didn't remember much about her, but he remembered that he and her had been an item for a short time, and it had been a terrible experience that didn't end well. That was the only girl he remembered he had dated, though he wouldn't be surprised if he had been in other relationships and didn't remember. It also didn't help that, like Elza, Claire was an attractive woman, which made the fact that she had multiple guys falling for her at one time believable. James was saved from having to remember his own relationships when Leon arrived wearing a new RPD uniform. They discussed the Medallions, when his biggest 'secret' was let out.
He had been saved the confrontation between himself, Claire, and Leon when they arrived. Nemesis and Mr. X. Mr. X was on the roof and didn't seem like he would be leaving so soon, but Nemesis was a war-monger and was on a mission to kill James, and was moving fast. His new anxiety and panic concerning his true identity as a monster as well as the fact that Nemesis was back pushed James over the edge, causing the monster inside him to rise once more and try to get out. He was once again forced to push magic into it, forcing it down as he fell to his knees. He was using up his magical energy trying to force the beast down to the point that he was finding trouble casting a simple levitation charm, making James question whether suppressing the monster was a good idea.
'Of course it is' He thought to himself. The last time that monster came out of him, he leveled an entire street. Leon had run off into the hallway to the west in search for the medallion codes, while Claire went upstairs to the Library to no doubt clear the way to the Lounge. Knowing the door was locked from the other side, James pulled in power from the ley lines and sent an 'Alohomora' at the door, unlocking it as he collapsed once more. He pulled in more magic, suppressing the monster further as he fell to his knees, leaning back as a roar poured out of him. His skin was visibly orange and his eyes were slowly turning black as the darkness within him rose. He growled, slowly getting to his feet as he tried to remember. Remember.
Green light...Rubeus Hagrid...July 31st...Hogwarts...Ron...Hermione and Trevor...the Stone...Quirrell...Mirror of Desire...the Diary...Basilisk...Voldemort...Ginny...Sirius. His eyes widened. Sirius. Sirius Black. His godfather. He had fallen through the Veil of Death within the Department of Mysteries...as had James. That meant Sirius was here...alive. This realization gave James a boost as he got to his feet, clenching his fists as he eyes returned to dark green and his skin returned to its normal tanned color. James reached down, grabbing his gun as he aimed it at the origin of what sounded like crashing. It was coming from the closed shutter with the blood markings over it. Nemesis was coming.
Pulling a giant grenade from his bag, loading it into the grenade launcher attachment on the bottom of his assault rifle, switching to launcher mode as he waited. The crashing got closer and closer, before it sounded as if it was next to him. After a single moment, Nemesis came crashing through the shutters, letting out a roar at the sight of James, who fired as the grenade shot forward. The explosion sent a surprised Nemesis flying back through the wall outside. James ran after the beast, fixing the wall behind him with the wave of his hand as he began to open fire. He just hoped Leon could find the codes in time. He didn't know how long he could hold off Nemesis' second form. Especially because the second form was always more powerful than the first.
POV: Leon S. Kennedy
Leon cautiously moved through the hallway, coming to a sudden stop as he saw a terrible sight. The entire hallway was a disaster, with broken windows, blood over the walls and floor, and there were bodies everywhere. It made him a bit sick, but his mood slightly increased when he noticed what looked like a notebook sticking out of the pocket of an officer dangling from the ceiling, an odd looking tentacle having pierced through the man's mouth. Leon grabbed the notebook, skimming through it before finding what he was looking for. Two pages, both having drawings of the three statues. Two statues on the left page and one statue on the right page. The lion, unicorn, and the maiden. and on the bottom of each statue were three drawings or images. These were the codes.
Grabbing his radio, he hoped Claire had picked one up from the rear counter as he spoke. "This is Leon. Anyone there? I repeat, this is Leon, can anyone respond?"
"This is Marvin. Did you find the codes?" Marvin asked over the radio from the lobby.
"I did. Did Claire get a radio?" Leon asked.
"No, but if she comes back through the lobby I'll remind her to get one," Marvin replied. "We've got three spares, come back to the lobby and I'll give you an extra in case you run into her. And you'll need a map to the place in order to find the other statues," Leon nodded in agreement. He moved back into the lobby, moving up the steps to where Marvin was hiding in a group of curtains. Leon moved through the curtains, and found that Marvin had his gun drawn. Upon seeing him, Marvin lowered it with a sigh. "Sorry 'bout that. Can never be too careful," He said. He grabbed one of the spare radios and a small brochure and handed them to Leon, who took them. "The radio's for Redfield if you run into her, and the brochure has the map to the first and second floor. Past that is up to you. I'm positive you'll find a map or two up on the third floor if you go looking around," Marvin explained.
"You got it. Where'd Claire and James go?" Leon asked.
"Redfield ran off up there -" Marvin motioned to the door on the balcony overlooking them. "- after Potter had some sort of breakdown. I didn't want to leave my bubble to see, but it sounded like he was changing into something and told Redfield to get away. Then that 'Nemesis' freak showed up and the two got into a fight. Pretty sure they're still outside somewhere," Leon nodded. James had lost control again somehow, and was turning into one of those Tyrant freaks. Another reason not to trust him after what happened at the station and after discovering who he was. Claire on the other hand...Leon worried that Claire seemed to trust James, and was worried of what might happen if James suddenly snapped.
Shaking it off, Leon thanked Marvin for the spare radio and map, and ran up the steps, approaching the Lion Statue as he pulled out the codes. Lion head...thistle...bird. He turned the images on the statue to those three, and smiled as the metal plate keeping the medallion in place suddenly retracted and the medallion fell out into his waiting hand. Moving to the Goddess Statue, he put the Lion Medallion in the right slot after trying the left in the middle, watching as it sank in with ease. The curved wooden surface beneath the slots suddenly lowered to reveal a line of metal bars, all protecting a door. So it was true, there was a path leading out of the police department. He hadn't doubted it, but it was refreshing to see it there plain as day.
With the first medallion down, Leon moved up the stairs. He intended to find Claire and help her with the Unicorn Medallion. After all, James had told them it was packed with zombies and she might need help. Stepping into the library, Leon grinned. The entire room was empty, with bodies littering the floor, all having suffered from headshots or having been eaten by the zombies Claire killed. He spotted the room labeled 'Lounge' and moved forward. He was just outside the door when the wall at his side suddenly blew, cement, brick, and dust flying as Leon was sent to the floor. The notebook with the codes fell from his belt, sliding under a table as he drew his pistol. His aim steadied on the hole in the wall, his eyes narrowing to get a look at the figure stepping through.
It was a man standing at roughly seven feet tall, wearing pitch black boots, black gloves, a black trench coat, and a black fedora. The man's skin was wrinkly and grey, and his eyes were black with white iris'. It was freaky. This was Mr. X. Leon didn't know what told him that, but he just knew. "CLAIRE, HE'S HERE!" Leon shouted, shooting Mr. X in the face as the mutant moved forward, the shots slowing him down a small bit but not a lot. He now stood over Leon, raising his leg before stomping. Leon rolled out of the way, taking off at a sprint as he slammed through the library doors. He ran down the balcony and down the stairs. He tried to go through the curtain to warn Marvin, but found himself unable to grab hold of the curtains, his hand hitting an invisible barrier.
Looking back, he found Mr. X slowly descending the stairs, taking his sweet time as he watched Leon. Not wasting time, Leon took of towards the bloodied shutters, only to find they had been completely destroyed, as did every wall behind it. Something big had run straight through the building to get to the lobby. Nemesis? Shrugging it off, Leon rushed down the hallway, careful not to run into zombies as he shot one after the other in the skull. He moved through the office and press room, grabbing ammunition and gunpowder to keep for later as he moved towards the fire escape. He moved up the steps, before coming to a stop. No sound. Mr. X was gone. Sparing a moment to pull out the map Marvin had given him, Leon cursed to himself. The east side of the second floor was a dead end if you didn't want to go through the roof. And the only way back to the library was to either walk straight into Mr. X, or go through the waiting room back into the balcony. He would do that, and loop around, grab the book, get the Unicorn medallion, and get the hell out of there before Mr. X returned.
"Leon, you there?" Marvin called out over the radio.
"I am. I tried to warn you about the Tyrant, but I couldn't go through your curtains," Leon replied.
"Thank Potter for that. He did something that made it so that if danger headed my way I would be protected. I don't blame him, in my state I can barely stand, let alone fight off something like that," Marvin replied. Leon didn't quite understand how that worked, but he ignored it and spoke. "Marvin, I'm upstairs at the fire escape, and am going to need some radio silence in case one of those Licker's shows up. I lost the Officer's notebook with the codes back in the library and have to loop around to get it again. Any word from Claire?"
"Nope. Last I saw she was running around the balcony above me, but went around through the other side. Haven't seen her since then," Marvin replied. Leon nodded, shutting off his radio as he silently moved out of the fire escape. He entered the hallway, his pistol drawn as he silently stepped over dead bodies and deceased zombies. After a bit of walking and silently examining the doors, he found the waiting room. Leon opened the door, and growled in annoyance as the door shot open to reveal Mr. X. He ducked his head, stepping through the door before standing straight. Time to run. Leon did just that, sprinting back the way he came only to be stopped by a creature spitting in his face. It was a four-legged skinny creature hanging upside down on the ceiling. It had no eyes, and a large brain where its face should be. It was one of those Licker things.
Leon aimed up at it, unloading an entire clip into the thing's brain before barely managing to duck a swipe from the Tyrant, who was trying to grab him. Leon dashed forward, sliding through the legs of a zombie that had gotten up before moving towards the fire-escape once more. All he had to do was go down, go through the shutters again, and go up through the other side back to the library. The reverse of the original plan. It would have been a good plan, if Leon wasn't suddenly grabbed as he tried to jump through the window. He was grabbed by the ankle, being pulled out of the windowsill until he was upside down staring down/up at the Tyrant, who wore no expression as it looked down at Leon.
At this point Leon was down to try anything, and proceeded to fire his last clip into the Tyrant's eyes. One bullet seemed to do the trick, lodging itself into the Tyrant's eye as the creature growled, dropping Leon onto his head as the Tyrant tried to claw the bullet out. "Leon!" His head hurt, but Leon had the strength to turn his head towards the fire-escape, where he saw Claire poking her head through the window. She had the Officer's book in her hand, and was watching him with a concerned expression. "Watch out!" She screamed. Leon spun around and found that the Tyrant's fist was rushing towards his fist, enough power behind the swing to nearly kill Leon if it landed. He was saved when the wall to their left suddenly imploded, a giant creature slamming into the Tyrant as they both flew into the room to their right.
James stepped into the room, now a giant standing at 9' 7". He was holding a giant metal pipe, which he tossed to the side as he turned to Leon. James had cuts and bruises all over his face and hands. He smiled nonetheless, and nodded to Leon, who returned it. "The last medallion is upstairs. I'll try to hold them both off, but I'm having a hard enough time with Nemesis," James spoke, motioning to the dog-like creature with no gums, sharp teeth, and only one eye. It had gotten back up, and was growling at James as the Tyrant too got to its feet. James waved his hand, chains shooting out of the ground as they wrapped around the Tyrant, who fell to his knees. James grabbed the creature Nemesis, throwing him through the hole they had made to Leon's left before the two holes suddenly repaired themselves. What the hell was that?
"Come on, Leon!" Claire yelled, drawing him from his thoughts as he sprinted for the fire-escape. He crawled through the fire-escape, coming face to face with Claire as she handed him the notebook. "I got the Unicorn Medallion and put it into the Goddess Statue. That means all we have left is the Maiden's Medallion," Claire explained as they moved down the fire-escape. They could hear Nemesis growling in the distance as well as James' grunting and the occasional yelling. They moved through the hallway and back into the lobby, where they moved past the Goddess Statue. Claire had indeed gotten the Unicorn Medallion and had indeed placed it within the statue. The ring around the statue had retreated, revealing a pattern that matched a small set of stairs. They were close.
They moved up the steps of the lobby, stepping through the library. Leon spotted a door labeled - W.S.R - and smiled. West Storage Room. He moved to go up the stairs, but Claire grabbed his arm. "The door's locked," She said. "I tried to use it with no luck. I had to go through here," Claire motioned to the door in front of them. "There are Lickers everywhere, and it took me a while to get to you at the fire-escape. If we're going to go through here, we're going to have to be very quiet, especially with the two of us, because I don't know if anymore showed up," Leon gave her a nod in agreement, slowly opening the door to find a dark hallway. Leon stepped into it, and prepared himself for the worst.