The metal horse's legs splashed mud on Ethan's clothes and face, as the rain washed everything down at once - but he didn't care - all he wanted at the moment was to get his daughter back in his arms, to keep her out of harm's way, to have a normal childhood. Of course it wouldn't be all flowers - Chris would surely want to involve her or even himself in some other suicide mission - but at the moment his thoughts were only of keeping Rose safe. He didn't know exactly what he would face there, but he felt a certain comfort in remembering that he wasn't alone there, however unreliable this company might be - Heisenberg wasn't exactly easy to read, he was very ambiguous and sneaky in the short time he had talked to him in the factory; but the truth was that there weren't many options, so he just had to watch out for any surprises he might find during the fight.
Heisenberg on the other hand felt a little unbalanced with every inch he got closer to the big ceremony, one side said not to do that - while the other side said it was the right thing to do. "Do I still have a chance to have a normal life? Ah, fuck it, I just want to get rid of the damn thing," he thought. "I said I trusted him, but deep down I'm a little skeptical...what if he has a power greater than the girl? After all, he is her father." he thought immediately afterwards, taking a deep breath and focusing his energies on moving the metal horse. Ultimately all he needed was to drive a piece of stake through the middle of Miranda's chest and end it all - with or without normal life again.
They got closer to the spot, but an arm of the megamycete came off the ground and threw them both to the ground, tearing the horse to pieces; Ethan slammed his back against a tree, while Heisenberg stood up quickly, raising his hands and throwing the scraps toward its arm, slicing in half and returning the pieces like a boomerang. He turned around and saw the army approaching, turning on the walkie-talkie.
"Karl Heisenberg. Command 100." the soldats stopped moving and stood in a line. He looked at Ethan, running over to him to help him stand up. "It won't be easy to get in, she's sure to bring more of those disgusting things!"
"Can't you use some soldats to kill them?" Ethan replied, still feeling his back aching from the blow.
"No - Fuck, they're not bodyguards, Ethan, they're for Miranda!" Heisenberg rolled his eyes, as an arm formed in front of the two, grabbing him.
"KARL!" Ethan pulled his gun from his pocket and fired at the creature, in an attempt to get it to let go of the man.
"IT'S ALL UNDER CONTROL, GET IN THERE! JUST GIVE ME FIVE MINUTES!" Heisenberg shouted, trying to free his arms so he could use his powers to cut off its arms.
Ethan wanted to stay and help, but Rose was more important now; he holstered his gun, rushing toward the ceremony - a perfect little entrance to get through. He looked around, megamycete everywhere, dripping like water and crawling across the floor - but no sign of Miranda. He turned around, Heisenberg still hadn't entered, so he walked forward to check if the walkie-talkie was in his pants pocket.
"Where are you, you bitch..." Ethan whispered, his heart began to beat rapidly.
Suddenly, like magic, the woman descended from the sky with her graceful wings, landing near a pedestal, staring at the man with a look of superiority.
"Shouldn't you be dead?" she questioned in a serene voice.
"Yeah, I'm impressed!" Ethan replied, sarcastically. "Where's Rose?"
Miranda walked over quietly, sliding her hand over the concrete of the pedestal and megamycete formed around it; The girl's cry came up just as she did, without a scratch or any sign that she had been assaulted. The woman held her in her arms, caressing her face.
"Finally, we are reunited my sweet Eve... After all this time." She whispered, lifting her gaze to Ethan and smiling.
"L-Let her go...you..." Ethan pulled the gun from his pocket, pointing it at her.
"Oh, so brave...all that adventure to save your daughter? You've always been such a caring father...how did you feel about kissing and hugging me next to her?"
"Shut your mouth! SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Ethan's hands were shaky, tears forming in his eyes. "I don't know how long you've been pretending to be my wife but you're not going to use my daughter for your craziness!"
Miranda smiled, but soon her smile evaporated as she felt dark tears spill over her face - she was growing weak for no apparent reason. Ethan took advantage of the distraction and fired a shot at her shoulder, which looked straight at him with a blank stare - the hole made quickly closing like magic. The man's eyes widened in surprise, but he kept the gun pointed in her direction.
"No more games, Ethan Winters," she said in a threatening tone. "Now you're going to die, and this time for good."
"HOLD ON THERE FOR A MOMENT!" a shout came from far away, Heisenberg stepped inside the dome with his hands on his waist and a smile on his face. Ethan sighed, relieved. "Wow, what's that awful smell?" he asked, twitching his nostrils and feigning a fright as he looked at Miranda. "Oh, that's right - A BITCH SMELL!" He said, laughing, as drill noises increased and soon the wall of megamycete disappeared behind them both, the army appeared.
Miranda growled with hatred, still holding the girl in her arms.
"Heisenberg?! Betraying your own mother?! How dare you!" she shouted, fury in her eyes.
"I thought it was kind of obvious, but I didn't know you were so dumb! I'm full of surprises today!"
"You - You were my favorite! I always gave you everything you wanted! Your - "
"Really? While I knelt down to kiss your filthy feet and kill people who hadn't even done anything bad? Look, I don't seem to be the bad guy here, do I?" Heisenberg held the walkie-talkie behind his back as he spoke, looking at Ethan.
"...you...TRAITOR! SNAKE! INSOLENT!" she closed her wings covering herself and in the blink of an eye Rose was gone - and Miranda took a self-centered and horrible, yet graceful form. She looked like a fallen angel.
"The command is all yours, whenever you want it." Karl said, putting on his glasses.
"...Fine." Ethan replied, turning on the walkie-talkie. "Ethan Winters...command-"
Ethan took a blow from the woman, falling on the floor and losing the object amidst the megamycete - Heisenberg quickly dodged the next attack, cursing Miranda mentally as he used the scraps to attack her, running around him and making sure Ethan had already gotten up; The man was still unconscious.
"Looks like the matter is going to be just between you and me...son." Miranda said, spinning gracefully and creating fireballs in the air, hurling them towards him. Karl jumped up and spun around on the ground, throwing an iron bar towards her face - which the woman dodged gracefully and created spider legs, jumping up and striking him in the face.
Ethan opened his eyes, his vision blurred; he didn't expect to be knocked out in the first attack, but he recovered quickly when he realized he was without the most fundamental object of battle and decided to use his gun, shooting Miranda in the back and drawing her attention away from Heisenberg; she jumped on top of the man, sinking one of the spider legs over his left shoulder, making him scream. She laughed sadistically while leaving everything dark around them - lighting the place only with white candles. Ethan stood up, panting, searching for her, unsure if it was some kind of hallucination. Karl on the other hand took the walkie-talkie and gave the command for the army to advance, surprising her to see them once again breaking through the newly renovated barrier, entering one by one fiercely.
"You think you can stop me with that?" she raised her arms, launching more fireballs, defeating one by one without the slightest effort as the two men used everything they had to try to take her down.
Miranda moved gracefully around the arena, using the powers of the megamycete - nothing seemed to hurt her and that is what Heisenberg feared so much, of not being enough. He knew how strong she was, but not to that extent. He rallied with Ethan who was already running out of bullets and proceeded to use a small pocket knife - extremely tired.
"I can't keep my powers up much longer!" he admitted, with an angry expression.
"What?!" Ethan shouted, focusing his eyes on Miranda. "You never told me they were limited!"
"Of course they are! As much as I have the Cadou, I'm still human! Well, as far as I know." they both dodged a fireball, hiding in each pillar.
"You should have told me!" The man held the knife with both hands, the urge to kill Heisenberg became greater than killing the woman at that time. "You should have told me at the factory! You didn't even bring some bullet stock!"
"Are you going to point your finger at me now?!" He threw another iron bar in her direction. "Look - we're going to use your daughter!"
Ethan couldn't believe what he said.
"WHAT?! I'LL KILL YOU BEFORE YOU EVEN TOUCH HER!" He replied, furious, not even wanting to imagine what might happen to Rose.
"It's our only alternative!"
"NO! NEVER! YOU BETTER THINK OF SOMETHING ELSE, GENIUS!" Ethan jumped up on the other side, without a second thought, and hurled the knife in Miranda's direction, who laughed at the man's attempt.
"...What the fuck." Karl said to himself, waiting for the moment to get out of there - his army was almost zeroed out - what a joke.
"I've had enough of your jokes!" Miranda stretched out her arms, annihilating the rest of the soldats, pulling Rose out of her belly region and lifting her up high.
"ROSE!" Ethan ducked and tried to attack her with a piece of scrap metal but no longer had the strength to lift anything.
"It's time for us to unite! Blood with blood, mother and daughter - together forever!" the woman slowly lowered her head as the little baby began to cry and scream, as if in extreme pain - that boiled Ethan's blood and tore at his ears, causing him to lift that piece of scrap metal with superhuman strength and hit Miranda, stopping the process for a few seconds.
Karl was still behind the pillar, listening to everything and not moving a muscle - again wondering if this was meant to be or he could for once do something good - for himself, or for someone else; he didn't want to die being someone bad. His eyes analyzing each soldier he had lost, years and years have gone like dust. Gone like nothing, his hope thrown in the trash - just like him. No, he was not a piece in Miranda's chess, he was someone. A human being, not a monster. The Cadou in his chest pulsing in place of his heart. But with a human brain, and if his math was right he was 90% someone.
Rose began to suffer again, the almost deafening crying as Miranda recited the ritual, and Ethan screaming in desperation - throwing everything he saw in front of him - to no avail.
Karl squeezed his eyes shut, after years of feeling no emotion other than sadness and anger, he felt something he thought he had lost – empathy.
Empathy for the child, empathy for the father - desperate to save his daughter.
It couldn't end like this.
In the blink of an eye, Karl stepped out from behind the pillar, using his arms and legs to create a ladder out of scrap metal and reach Miranda, each step wider and wider as his hat flew through the air and he removed his coat - jumping on Rose and removing it from Miranda's hands, wrapping her in the garment quickly and tossing her to her father. Ethan dropped everything and raised his arms, catching her in one leap and landing on the ground - keeping her safe in his arms, panting. The woman screamed in rage, turning her full attention to Ethan, but before she could defer any attack Karl threw everything he had at her, finally knocking her to the ground.
"ETHAN! GET OUT OF HERE!" Karl shouted still trying to stand on the platform.
"I'M NOT GOING AS LONG AS YOU'RE OKAY!" Ethan retorted, keeping Rose protected.
Heisen's hands shook and his eyes filled with tears again.
What the hell, Ethan. That's what I was trying to warn you about.
He moved his left hand, an iron bar slammed gently against the man and forced him out of the ceremony; Ethan looked at him confused and tried to get free but it was too late;