Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon. Nor do I own the Resident Evil franchise, it belongs to Capcom.

For the Future

Chapter 15

The underground Ares facility was collapsing. Every other second, a tremor shook its passageways hard enough to send anyone not on a solid footing tumbling to the ground, with a new tremor starting before the previous one had even started fading away. Dust constantly sprayed down from cracks in the ceilings, while torn electricals exploded sparks. All the sounds of breaking stone, crumbling concrete, and straining metal punctuated the rumbling roar of Messiah tearing itself apart.

Through it all, Celenike and her homunculi ran, heedless of appearance or decorum, survival the only thing mattering to them now. That said, as they turned a corner, they found a pair of Ares mercenaries running ahead, Celenike casually taking the time to fry their brains and letting their brain-dead bodies fall to the ground as she and her men ran past. Then they were rushing down a short flight of stairs, barely avoiding getting blown off their feet as a gas leak behind them ignited into a jet of flame.

Hearing the sound of fighting even through the din of the collapsing facility, Celenike turned her head, opposite from the emergency elevator, and saw Juvia brutally dispatching a pair of Ares mercenaries. "Edelfelt!" Celenike shouted.

Juvia didn't respond with words, she and her homunculi rushing past and even jumping as an explosion behind them let out a bloom of hot air. They rode it to get just that smallest additional amount of speed, rushing together with Celenike into the emergency elevator. The other homunculi were already inside, and as soon as their superiors were inside sealed the doors and started up the elevator.

As the doors closed, Celenike spotted at least three more Ares mercenaries desperately running for the elevator, and shouting at them to wait. Their calls went ignored, Celenike's last sight of the doomed men watching them get buried as the tunnel collapsed.

Then the elevator was rising, slowly but steadily, but still shaking with every tremor. The lights flickered ominously, as did the elevator controls. Juvia hissed, and then pushing through everyone else, knelt down next to one wall. She pressed a hand against the wall, while holding gemstones between the fingers of her other hand.

Celenike stayed quiet, unwilling to disrupt Juvia's concentration to keep them all alive, and just as importantly, to keep the elevator moving. Even more so after a particularly powerful tremor knocked the lights out for good, and the elevator's movement grew more sluggish, almost…strained.

Juvia was quiet but for the soft murmur of arias under her breath, Celenike knowing without anything being said that Juvia was the only reason their elevator wasn't falling to the depths. As it was, the only light left in their metal coffin was those of Juvia's circuits, an eerie and even ghastly pale green witch-light that resembled corposant dancing over the lines of her body.

Then with a particularly violent shake, they were stopping, and Juvia slumped only to be caught by a pair of homunculi. "Go…" she breathed weakly. "…break the doors…get us…out of here…before the whole place…caves in…go…hurry…now…"

"…you heard her!" Celenike barked to her subordinates. "Move!"

The doors were torn apart by halberds, and then Celenike and the homunculi were rushing out, one of the latter carrying Juvia on his back. All around them, the Ares facility's surface level was heaving and shaking, parts here and there beginning to collapse underground. In the end, even with Celenike reinforcing her body and the homunculi's Trans-Human physiques, they barely managed to get to safety, looking from a cliff over a hundred meters distant as the Ares facility collapsed into a crater over a hundred meters across.

"…we're clear…" Celenike breathed before collapsing to her knees and sighing in relief. "…we made it…Gordes…do you read?"

"I read you, my lady." Gordes replied.

"We made it…somehow, we made it…" Celenike said.

"Wait…" Juvia gasped. "…where's Sakura…?"

Celenike started at that, but Gordes cut in just then. "We've spotted her on long-distance scopes." He said. "She's clear, but on the opposite side of the facility as you."

Juvia sighed in relief before slumping against the homunculus holding her, Celenike letting out a deep breath. "Alright then…very good…mission accomplished…" she said. "…saving the world is hard work…"

"…it sure is." Juvia agreed before looking into the distance, and the approaching sight of US military helicopters. "Looks like the cavalry's here…finally…late as usual…"

"They can clean up afterwards." Celenike snapped in a good-natured way. "After everything we've been through, we deserve a nice long break. Somewhere sunny, perhaps."

"No argument there."

The afternoon Sun shone golden through the clouds, and casting long shadows from the trees across the ruins. US Marines gathered up the surviving Ares mercenaries, who were all forcibly disarmed and zip-tied as illegal combatants on US soil.

Granted, most of them were US citizens…

…which actually made things worse, as they could then be tried for insurrection, conspiracy, and even treason charges. Given the scale of the damage done to New York and Washington D.C. by their employers, to say nothing of the irradiated ruins of Los Angeles, they were all looking at either the electric chair or lethal injection.

Sakura sat back with a sigh on a fallen log, after being debriefed by NSA and FBI agents. Officially, she and the rest of the kill-team were part of an ad hoc international force formed and mobilized in response to the recent crisis. At first glance, it seemed fairly transparent, convenient, even, but on further thought…

…it fit the reality of the world like a glove.

"What was it Kirei once told me?" she wondered. "The Masquerade isn't a clean-cut divide between the supernatural and the ordinary. For your average corporate salaryman or magus, it is, but for the Machiavellian agents of statecraft or magi of a certain rank, it's more a pendulum that can swing one way or another. A good lesson, you fake priest, as much as I hate to admit it."

Sakura sighed again, and then looked up as Juvia approached. "How are you holding up?" the Finnish woman asked while handing Sakura a burger sandwich and a can of cola.

"…tired and dirty." Sakura replied, although she did give a grateful nod while taking the offered food and drink. "Stinky too, all this blood is starting to rot."

"True." Juvia said, biting into her own burger sandwich, and looking on as a Chinook arrived, bringing in more US Marines and specialist units, the latter encased in hazmat suits. "We could all use a hot shower, plus a couple of hours in a sauna."

Sakura grunted in agreement, tearing into her burger sandwich like she hadn't eaten in weeks, and practically guzzling down the cola. Predictably, it wasn't long before she started to choke, prompting Juvia to laugh while patting her on the back.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you to chew your food properly?" she asked.

"Really, Juvia?" Sakura asked back.

"Oh…right…sorry about that…"

Sakura just grunted, and finished the rest of her meal in silence. Juvia did likewise, and then kept on watching as the American soldiers and agents busied themselves. Then they turned at the sound of approaching footsteps, and saw Celenike approaching. "So," Juvia began. "What now?"

"We head back to London." Celenike said. "We'll rendezvous with Gordes at Mineta-San Jose International Airport, with the bulk of our forces heading back to Novosibirsk. The rest of us, though, will head straight to London, where we'll report back to Lady Barthomeloi."

"Hopefully we can get something out of this." Juvia said with a sigh.

Sakura snorted. "We're alive," she said. "And managed to avoid getting…turned, by either the T or the G-Virus. That's enough reward for me."

"Well, yeah, but I was hoping for more…"

Juvia trailed off as shouts of alarm could be heard in the distance, at the very heart of the ruins. The magi turned in its direction, the two Edelfelts rising to their feet, looking on as soldiers rushed to where CDC personnel had setup a quarantine area. It only took a few moments before gunfire could be heard, followed by a loud and inhuman roar.

"Oh, you've got to be shitting me." Sakura breathed.

As the magi watched, the tent blew apart, corpses and body parts mixed with torn synthetic fabrics and ruined machines. At the heart of it all was a colossal mutant, at least eight feet tall with a monstrously-muscular and heavily-armored body. Curving plates of hardened chitin rose up from its shoulders to flank and protect its hairless head, but even then, the magi recognized the mutant's facial features through reinforced sight.

"…Angelica Ainsworth." Sakura breathed.

"What is it going to take to kill that bitch?" Juvia angrily swore.

The US Marines opened fire, but neither 5.56x45 mm NATO or 7.62x51 mm NATO could penetrate Angelica's armor plating. Then Angelica roared, the sound visibly distorting the air and blowing the closest marines away. Before they could recover, she punched the ground, and here and there it broke, allowing small-limbed, tadpole-like things to crawl and out swarm the marines.

"G-Embryos!" Sakura shouted in recognition.

"We have to get down there!" Juvia said as the marines turned their fire on the G-Embryos.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Celenike demanded. "I'll deal with the NSA and FBI suits, you two get down there, now!"

The Edelfelts didn't hesitate. They rushed down towards the ruins along with other US Marines, while Celenike hurried back to the command tent.

"Hurry it up, you pansy-ass ladies!" a sergeant shouted. "We got ourselves something mean and ugly that needs killing!"

A pair of US Marines ran up, both carrying an M72 LAW anti-tank weapon, comparable in role to the classic Soviet/Russian RPG. "Ready!" the marines shouted as they sank to one knee, and aimed their weapons at the monster in front of them.

"Clear!" Another marine shouted after making sure no one was standing behind his fellow marines.

"Fire!" the sergeant barked.

The LAWs roared to life, shaped charges flying in Angelica's direction. To the marines' shock, Angelica batted the rockets aside, causing them to fly and explode harmlessly against the ground nearby.

"Motherfucker!" the sergeant shouted as he and his squad opened up with rifles and machine guns.

"Javelin, ready!" another marine shouted from further behind them.

"Clear!" another marine shouted.

"Fire!" the sergeant of the Javelin squad ordered, and the Javelin roared as it launched a guided missile at Angelica. Unlike the LAW, which flew straight at its target, the Javelin flew up to hit the target from above. And while Angelica was able to raise an arm in time, the explosion still blew the arm apart and badly burned Angelica's head and upper torso.

"Reload the Javelin!" the order went out, but then Angelica roared, those closer to her feeling themselves getting buffeted back, while those further behind were still sent reeling by a ringing and piercing pain in their ears.

Eyes opened up on Angelica's shoulders and forehead, each with red sclera and a black, slit-like iris. The air around her shimmered as a shield formed against which bullets and rockets just pounded ineffectively, before the eye on her forehead fired off a beam that she swept across the battlefield, burning flesh down to the bone and causing metal to run like water.

Angelica roared in triumph…

…only to be cut off mid-roar and staggered back as Sakura and Juvia charged in, and forcing their way through her shield, delivered solid hooks to Angelica's torso. "We see how your shield works." Juvia spat. "It only works against something small moving very fast. People, though?"

"If guns don't work," Sakura added while rolling away from an upward punch, and getting behind Angelica landed a solid blow to the back of a knee that had her roaring in pain before collapsing to one knee. "Then we just take it up close and personal."

Juvia didn't say anything more, instead wordlessly kicking up with a cry at Angelica's chin. The monstrous mutant staggered back up and away a few steps, Juvia and Sakura dodging away as the marines opened fire. Bullets struck sparks against Angelica's armor plating before more rockets forced her down on all fours, ichor spilling from deep and smoking wounds on her body.

"Reload! Reload!" the marines shouted, hurrying to fire their Javelins as soon as possible.

Then they were running and cursing, Angelica looking up and sweeping out with her laser eye yet again. Sakura and Juvia charged in, only for Angelica to get up, and punting Sakura away in midair, sent Juvia flying with a backhand. Rumbling laughter echoed across the battlefield, before Angelica's laser eye lashed out again.

"Damn it…" Sakura cursed as a marine helped her up. In the distance, she could see the wounds on Angelica's body sealing up, thickly-bundled muscle knitting itself back together before chitinous plating regrew in seconds. "…she's healing too quickly…we need to take her down in one go…"

A Javelin fired, only for Angelica to catch the rocket in midair and then throw it back.

"LT!" a marine with a radio transceiver on his back shouted. "Incoming airstrike, ETA one minute and forty seconds!"

"Then we need to pin that thing down until just before the planes come in!" Juvia shouted.

"…I got an idea." The lieutenant said with a small smile.

A few moments later, and Angelica looked up as mortar bombs came whistling down. Explosions exploded all around her, roars of pain filling the air as thermite from the incendiary rounds mixed with the standard HE rounds set her on fire. Angelica lumbered around, struggling to put herself out, and failed to notice Sakura and Juvia charging in again, zigzagging on approach before running interference for each other to get in close.

Hooks slammed into Angelica's torso, knocking her back a few steps. Then with a roar, she punched back, Sakura evading but also getting in position to boost Juvia as she jumped up, flipping through the air and kicking down at Angelica's head.

Angelica howled in pain as her third eye burst under Juvia's heel, the Finnish magus flipping back and narrowly avoiding getting caught by Angelica's flailing fists. Then Sakura dashed behind Angelica, and once again striking the back of a knee, forced her down.

Marines then arrived, some carrying massive ballistic shields which they used to hammer at Angelica, while others opened fire at point-blank range. A few marines, though, secured steel cables around Angelica's limbs, and pulled them tight.

"Cables secured, disengage!" a marine shouted, causing Juvia, Sakura, and the other marines to turn and run.

Then the cables pulled hard, other marines using pure Human force to pin Angelica in place, as yet more marines drove steel spikes into the ground and secured the cables – and thus Angelica – in place. "Incoming!" a marine shouted, even as the distant roar of jets could be heard. "Take cover!"

At the same time, a pair of F-16s dropped off a pair of JDAMs each, the four guided bombs delivering a total of 1000 kg of high explosive right at Angelica. At the last second, Angelica desperately raised her shield, but it was too late, and given the weight of the bombs and their relatively low speed, it wouldn't have done her much good.

The resulting explosion shook the ground and the air alike, and showering the marines and magi with debris. Then across the battlefield, people slowly looked up and got to their feet, seeing only a smoking patch of rubble where Angelica once stood.

"…we got the bastard." A marine said.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" a sergeant shouted. "We came, we saw, and we kicked monster butt!"

Cheers went up as everyone present realized they'd won, Juvia and Sakura looking at each other before shrugging and joining in.

"I'm so tired." Sakura complained, as she and the rest of the kill-team were airlifted via helicopter to San Jose.

"Yeah, me too." Juvia agreed next to her cousin. "We got kicked around so badly this time around."

"Well, in your case you got cut open and had your insides played around with by a bunch of corporate sickos."

"And you got stabbed in the heart…okay, yeah, nothing beats what I've been through…"

"Well, look on the bright side." Celenike chimed in. "Things should be calming down going forward from here. We managed to kill Angelica Ainsworth, took out their doomsday weapon, their bioweapons research and production facility, and the militaries of the nations involved have all but completely managed to secure their infected cities. The last update from London also mentioned that the vaccines for the T and G-Viruses are already undergoing testing along with studies for mass production, with distribution to begin as soon as possible."

"Sounds great…" Sakura said with a sigh. "…now, if we could only catch a break…maybe a vacation too…"

"Didn't you just recently have a vacation?" Juvia asked.

"…fucking damn it." Sakura grumbled. "Oh, well…at the very least, I'm taking a few days off, before getting back to my agenda in London. After we deal with the whole aftermath of this crisis."

"Who knows?" Juvia cheerfully thought. "We might just get a medal out of this. Maybe two."

"Unlikely." Sakura quickly said. "A lot of the details behind this is probably going to get buried away."

"True," Juvia admitted. "But even if we or our superiors can't share the details, we could still be recognized for our role in this crisis."

"…maybe…" Sakura said before giving a sigh and pinching her nose. "…damn, I wish I could sleep but helicopters are so noisy."

"You can sleep on the long flight back to London." Celenike said. "Though, how about a bath first? The Yggdmillennia flagship – plane (?) – has a fully-outfitted toilet. As for clothes…sorry to say, but I think your clothes are a goner, and I can only offer Yggdmillennia uniforms."

"Do we get honorary ranks if we accept the uniforms?" Sakura asked, and Juvia laughed at such a brazen question.

"Bold, aren't we?" Celenike answered with a smile. "Well, I suppose you've proven your worth…I'll see what I can do."

Sakura laughed in her turn. "Guess I am getting something out of this." She said, and Celenike beamed.

"That you are." She said.

A/N

Is it over? It is over, right? Right?

Who knows?

Resident Evil bosses have a tendency of getting back up before turning into even nastier pieces of work, after all. Granted, Angelica did get a quartet of JDAMs dropped on top of her – say hello to AMERICA, bitch! – but you never know.

It'll be revealed soon enough.