My great thanks to HighFlyingWings, who kindly chose to use some of his free time to be my beta reader!
24th December 2012, Edonia, Eastern Europe.
Chris Redfield walked into the room full of BSAA soldiers, all gathered around the body of one of their own.
He glanced at their leader, Piers Nivans, in charge of the Alpha Team of the BSAA North American Branch. A good man, if a little too prone at letting his emotions get the better of him sometimes.
"He was doing recon." Piers softly explained, nodding towards the dead soldier. "Alone."
Chris held back a sigh. Overzealous soldiers, or overconfident ones, all too often resulted in death. Their own or that of others.
He glanced around. As a soldier of ISIS, he technically had no authority over them, but he had been working with Alpha Team for some time, and he was not blind to the immense respect he possessed among them as a Hunter of ISIS who fought in Manhattan.
So, he decided to speak up, and try to make sure something like this wouldn't happen again.
"Listen up!" he declared, the authority in his voice causing everyone to turn towards him. "In the BSAA like in ISIS, our job is to rid the world of Bio-Terrorism, and the only way we're gonna do that is by sticking together."
He made sure to meet the eyes of everyone, while by his side, Piers nodded at his words.
"Nobody's expendable." he declared in agreement.
"Exactly." Chris said firmly, nodding at him, before turning back to the others, his voice softening slightly. "Now, each and everyone of you may be willing to die for our cause, but it's mine and Piers' job to make sure we all get out of this alive."
He glanced towards the latest recruit of Alpha team, who had been the most affected by the death of his teammate.
"Suck it up, Finn!" Piers ordered, though not without some kindness in his eyes.
"Sorry, sir!" the young man replied, nodding at Piers then at Chris to try and show that he was okay.
Chris gave him a slight smile, before glancing at the others. "No one get left behind, not on my, or Piers', watch. Understood?" he said firmly.
"Yes, sir!" shouted the combined soldiers of Alpha Team.
Piers glanced at the recruit. "Finn, give us the update." he commanded.
Chris mentally nodded in approval. It'll give something for the younger man to focus on.
"Yes sir!" Finn replied, before taking out a holographic flashlight. Activating it, a hologram flashed into existence on the ground, showing off the details of the mission.
Chris knelt, carefully looking at the images being shown of their enemies.
"The guerillas are using a new species of B.O.W. Command is calling them J'avo. They are extremely intelligent, incredibly strong, and have the ability to mutate in response to physical trauma."
Finn glanced around then, once everyone indicated that they were done looking at the report, turned off the flashlight.
Chris got up, and looked at Piers.
Said man took a step forward. "Alright, you know the drill." he said firmly. "We split into three teams. Move out!" he ordered.
"You got it!"
"Yes sir!" came the response from the leader of each team.
They all moved out, except for Chris, Piers and the recruit.
"So, you're the rookie, huh?" mused Chris.
"Yes, sir. Finn Macauley, sir." he replied, shifting slightly at the attention of both Piers and Chris falling squarely on him.
Chris studied him for a moment, before smiling. "I know that you're nervous, but the team's got your back, ok?" he said gently, putting a comforting hand on the rookie's right shoulder.
Finn swallowed, but looked at him with determination in his eyes. "Yes, sir! I'll give everything I've got!"
Chris's smile widened, and he nodded approvingly, before glancing at Piers and walking away.
As he left, his superhuman hearing allowed him to hear Finnwhisper to Piers "Is he always this awesome?"
Chris held himself back from reacting. Finn was still young and in need of experience, he would lose that hero worship eventually.
Though he did take a moment to imagine the rookie's reaction to meeting Aeon.
Then again, it was probably for the best that he didn't. Poor kid would be teased to hell and back by his boss.
-
Chris stood on the open hatch of an APC, going through the streets of the city the rebels were trying to defend. For now, things were going well, but they could always-
His instincts flared.
"Get down! Enemy contact!" he shouted in his radio.
Alpha team had barely the time to get out and search for hostiles before a rocket hit the leading APC, and everything devolved in barely chaos as rebels came out of seemingly every building in the street.
So much for this being a secured area! He mentally growled, quickly headshotting several rebels, prioritizing the ones with heavy weapons.
"Come in HQ! We're taking fire at the Two of Hearts! Engaging the enemy!" he informed to ISIS Command, while Piers no doubt did the same with the BSAA, who obviously dropped the ball on this one.
"Copy that. Good hunting."
Chris pushed onwards, killing as many as he could as he advanced through the street, before his radio crackled to life.
"Chris, the BSAA can't give us reinforcements, so we'll have to push forward on our own!" came Piers' voice.
Chris' eyes narrowed. Most likely, they weren't the only ones under attack. "Copy that. We'll handle this."
He switched weapons, a sword in one hand and a plasma gun in the other, and charged straight at the enemy.
With his Aura up and the Old Blood in his veins, he all but flew from enemy to enemy, body parts flying off as he cut through waves after waves of rebels without a second of hesitation.
Yes, these B.O.W's were human-like in intelligence. Yes, they were strong, and capable of mutating themselves.
But they were not anywhere near as bad as the horrors of Manhattan, which meant that to him, they were naught but prey.
He danced in between laser fire, avoided rockets launched at him with ease, kicked back grenades and dodged the strike of mutated limbs with complete ease.
The ambush had been a good one… But it meant nothing to a Hunter of the Dream.
Around him, laser fire filled the air, VTOL flew in the sky, the sounds of tanks firing echoed along with the near deafening sounds of explosions, and house after house was becoming covered in craters, as soldiers fought B.O.W's armed with weapons of their own.
Chris would give the J'avo this much: B.O.W's usually didn't utilize guns. Still, BSAA soldiers were some of the best in the world, and backed up with a Hunter their enemies could only scream as they kept on dying.
"Lasers don't work as well against these bastards!" shouted Piers through the radio.
Chris grunted, having noticed the same while looking around the battlefield. "They still get the job done, you just need to hit more than once."
Not that Chris was surprised that lasers weren't working as well as they did back in the day. Pretty much every military in the world had lasguns by now, it would be incredibly stupid of the creators of this latest virus to not give their creation increased resistance to damage by heat.
Of course, there was a difference between resistance and immunity, and that meant lasguns and plasma guns still worked quite well.
They just couldn't kill a regular B.O.W in one shot anymore, sadly. Well, plasma guns could.
Then again, plasma guns were a lot more destructive, so that wasn't a surprise.
Chris killed another rebel, got up on a small bridge over the street, and paused.
He turned, just in time to see a massive hand grasp the side of a house, before the rest of the body turned the corner and entered the street where all the fighting was taking place.
Hmm. Big, he thought dryly.
He activated his radio, staring at the beast before him. "I didn't know they came in extra-large! How many new species are there?" he asked Piers, hoping he knew more. He doubted it, but he could always ask.
Before he could get an answer, the beast took hold of a discarded car, and threw it at Chris.
His eyes narrowed, the world slowed down, and he jumped off the bridge towards the car, then jumped on top of the car mid-air and then slammed his sword straight into the throat of the beast… before letting gravity do the rest.
The beast roared in agony as he fell down, his sword cutting through flesh and bone with the ease of a supernaturally sharp blade, before he planted his feet against the creature's belly and jumped backward a second before the now disemboweled monster's inner organs could fall off on the ground.
The creature fell to its knees, and Chris took out a Fire Dust crystal from one of his pockets, activated it, and then threw it in the open maw of the monster.
A second later, the Dust crystal went off, an explosion engulfed the upper body of the creature…
And then the creature literally melted as it died, as the virus inside of it could no longer hold the monster's body together.
Chris grimaced at the waves of melted, infected goop which spread across the street.
Cleansing all of this was not going to be fun for the teams charged with the job, that was for sure.
"That thing was enormous! I didn't know that B.O.W's could get that big! But, huh… great job killing it, sir!" exclaimed Finn through the radio.
"They're giving the rebels new stuff." replied Piers. "They can make any kind of freak show they want." he finished grimly.
"And yes, Finn, they can get that big. Or bigger. Certainly, we fought some bigger stuff in Manhattan. Don't worry, they die all the same." firmly said Chris, already moving onwards.
When you've killed as many B.O.W's as he did in life, what was one more or less giant monster?
"More importantly, what's the status of the APC, Finn?"
"Still in one piece, sir! I'm bringing it forward!"
"Good. We've wasted enough time with this ambush."
As they crossed more streets, fighting at every step, Finn eventually spoke up again.
"They're everywhere! They're coming from every house!"
"Then take cover behind the APC and support it. If you can't, find some good cover." he replied, understanding the young man needed the calm of a familiar order to focus.
Chris gave the APC a quick look when it passed by, but otherwise kept on jumping all over the street they were in. Every balcony, window, and hole in the walls could, and most often did, hold a rebel ready to open fire on the BSAA. As it is, this situation would be a nightmare to fight through… If it wasn't for him cutting down so many rebels before they could fire on the BSAA soldiers.
Urban combat. Truly, a nightmare, even when they had the kind of equipment that BSAA soldiers possessed.
Sure, their armor wasn't ISIS-levels of quality, but it still was pretty damn good.
And of course, the APC they were protecting had so many guns on it that it was more of a tank than anything.
A result of fighting B.O.W's. Sheer weight of firepower was arguably more important that the force of impact of that, with the exceptions being armored B.O.W's, because of the fact that sheer numbers was the greatest asset of most B.O.W's. So obviously, a good APC or tank was one bristling with guns everywhere.
And the BSAA was certainly not blind to that fact by now.
Which readily explained the way that almost anything in the line of fire of said APC were quickly turned into steaming piles of gore.
Sure, it wasn't an ISIS APC, but still, Chris approved of the BSAA's efforts.
It certainly made things easier here and now.
Then, because the world couldn't allow too many good things, the APC hit a mine.
True, it didn't blow up the whole thing, but it did mean they couldn't just smash through the fences barricading the way forward anymore, since the APC could no longer move.
"Finn! I need you to blow open this fence! You've got the explosives, right?" ordered Piers.
"Yes, sir! On it! Setting up charges now!"
They secured the area, while in the distance the sounds of battle echoed along with the flashes of explosions, before Finn finished and the fence was blown open.
They went down into some train tracks, but unfortunately, the train itself blocked the passage forward, no doubt as the rebels intended.
Well, except for the fact that they had an ISIS Hunter.
"I'll take care of it." he declared, in order to ot waste time.
Finn gave him a confused look, but the others, more experienced soldiers merely made sure to stay well away from the train.
Chris came to face it, took a deep breath-
And then with a violent kick, slammed his right foot against it.
*SSSSSKKKKKKKRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEE!*
The train nearly flew several feet away from the blocked entrance before coming to a stop, the sounds of it overtaking the sounds of the battles being waged across the entire city for a moment.
Then, the passage now wide open, Chris turned to a gobsmacked Finn, and very impressed BSAA soldiers.
"Come on, let's go." he declared, and held back a smirk when Finn quickly turned his head from him, the passage now open, and the train resting a few feet away.
He instead turned and calmly walked onward. They still had a rebel army full of B.O.W's to eliminate, after all.
-
"HQ to Alpha Team. City Hall's on the other side of the bridge. Pick up Bravo Team and move in."
Chris took a good long look at the long bridge linking both sides of the city together over a long chasm.
On the one hand, it certainly looked pretty sturdy.
On the other, fighting a battle on a bridge over a chasm sounded like a very dumb idea.
But of course, this was war, so there was little choice in the matter.
The rest of ISIS had other parts of the city to take, this one just so happened to be the one he had to deal with personally.
"Status? Any casualties?" questioned Piers.
"Bravo's got a man down on the bridge. There's also a tank on the other side. The whole thing's pretty heavily reinforced."
Piers grimaced. "Ok, people, getting to that wounded man is priority one. Then, we can focus on crossing the damn bridge."
Chris nodded grimly. He had a feeling that this wasn't going to be a quick walk in the park.
They moved forward, setting up foot on the bridge. The good news was that a number of cars and trucks created natural cover for them.
The bad news came when they all had set foot on the bridge, and a whole bunch of explosives went off.
"Shit." Chris cursed as the ground underneath his feet shuddered and twisted at a rather concerning angle, and they all suddenly had to run, or outright crawl, for their lives as behind them, the bridge began breaking off, leaving them stuck between either falling to their death or charging straight at the enemy… who had a tank waiting for them.
Thankfully, sheer desperation saw them quickly reach a safer part of the bridge, Finn helping Piers get on safely while Chris simply used his superhuman strength and agility to quickly get up to safety.
Thankfully, the man they were trying to reach was still safe, as the rebels obviously hadn't intended to blow up the entire bridge, just a part of it.
"How's our injured friend?" asked Piers once he was on stable ground.
"Still with us! The medi-gel is doing its work!" happily announced Finn.
Their radio crackled to life.
"Alpha Team, there's an old tank coming on your position! Looks like it has some mods."
"Yeah, I noticed." grumbled Chris, as he quickly peaked around the corner of a truck fallen to its side to look at the enemy positions on the other side of the bridge.
Piers sent him a look, and Chris sighed but nodded.
Time to act like a Hunter and charge straight into the jaws of death.
At least he had a god firmly on his side…
Chris took a quick breath, exhaled, and then came out of cover and began to run like hell towards his enemies.
Laser fire, explosives, and more filled the air, and the only reason he wasn't hit by any of it was the sheer speed and agility he possessed.
He ducked, rolled, slid and ran as every enemy tried to kill him, while behind him Alpha and Bravo Teams used their focus on him to pick them off at long range.
Chris's true focus remained the tank however, as he kept a close eye on the barrel of its main gun-
Move.
Chris moved.
Without thinking, running on pure instinct, as the result of countless hours training with Aeon kicked in, Chris almost blurred in speed as the world slowed down and he saw the tank fire, the tank shell cutting through the air, the way that the light of the laser fire reflected upon it-
And then Chris hit the ground a fraction of a second before the tank shell hit the ground behind him.
The shockwave picked him up and sent him flying, just as planned. He flew forward, over the defenses of the rebels, before literally using the face of a B.O.W. as a jumping platform.
He jumped forward, avoiding the laser fires of increasingly desperate rebels trying to stop him, but in the end he still reached his target.
Coming to a stop, he took hold of the top of the tank barring his way inside, used his inhuman strength to tear it and send it in the path of a laser shot which would have hit him, and then let a Fire Dust crystal fall into the depths of the tank.
Then he jumped away, dodging every laser shot, and barely got behind the nearest bit of cover before the entire tank blew up in a very spectacular fashion.
"The tank is gone! Move out!" came Piers' voice on the radio, and Chris wasted no time in striking at the now distracted rebels who were caught between him and the rest of the BSAA Teams.
The ensuing fight was more of a one-sided slaughter than a true battle, and once again Chris couldn't help but be very appreciative of how incredible being a Hunter was. Assaulting a position like he had just done would have gotten him killed if he had tried that before joining ISIS. Now, it only pushed him to his limits because he couldn't just use any of his more supernatural abilities.
As they finally secured the bridge, his radio crackled to life once more.
"Enemy reinforcements are being held back by ISIS for the time being. You've got a window to push forward deeper inside the city, but you cannot waste time or you'll be bogged down by the enemy." came the report from Command.
"Copy that. We'll keep pushing forward." he replied, before looking at the BSAA soldiers coming to a stop near him.
He looked at Finn, nodded at him, then glanced at the wounded soldier he had rescued.
"You alright, soldier?"
"I'll be fine, sir. The medi-gel is doing its work." the man replied firmly, with determination in his voice clear.
Chris narrowed his eyes, and focused.
A moment later he smiled, satisfied.
"Copy that."
He looked at Piers. "The rest of ISIS are holding back the reinforcements from the rebels. We've got a clear shot at hitting City Hall, but we can't waste time."
Piers smiled grimly. "Understood. You heard him, men! Double time it! Move, move, move!"
They all began running onwards, while Chris took a moment to glance at the city behind them.
His vision flickered, and he saw every allied soldier in the city, along with every hostile still remaining.
Then his vision returned to what it normally is.
Insight was a useful thing, even if using it too much gave every Hunter a raging headache and nosebleed.
And, different from their other supernatural abilities, there were no obvious signs of its use.
Either way, Chris was satisfied that the situation was well in hand. The battle would no doubt rage for a while more, especially with the new wave of reinforcements he could see coming from enemy aircraft dropping paratroopers, but at this point, the rebels were just throwing their soldiers into their deaths.
Still, they needed to secure City Hall. From there, once the area was secured and fortified, they would be able to spread out and crush the remaining enemy forces more easily.
He turned away.
Time to get on with it.
-
As they moved onwards, resistance proved surprisingly light. They still had to fight, but the rebels were barely putting up at this point.
The reason was obvious: they were gathering their forces and were about to throw a wide number of soldiers at them in one brutal strike meant to crush them through sheer numbers.
And potentially, throw a few more high-level B.O.W's at them too.
As a result, while they all moved quickly through the streets, they were always on edge for an ambush.
However, the first surprise they had was not, in fact, one trying to kill them all.
Instead, Chris' eyes widened when he saw Sherry and what had to be Jake Muller coming out of a nearby building, and running towards them while the BSAA soldiers pointed their guns at them.
"Stand down! They're friendly!" he ordered, his sharp voice causing every soldier to immediately point their guns down.
"Chris!" Sherry smiled at him, and Chris warmly smiled back. "Hey, Sherry." he glanced at Muller standing not far behind her. "So, it's him?" he asked, and while all those listening might think he was asking about the one whose blood could save the world, they both knew he was speaking about Muller as the son of Albert Wesker.
"Yeah. It's him." she confirmed.
Chris stared at Jake Muller, or Jake Wesker in truth, while the man in question simply leaned against a nearby building and looked away in feigned disinterest as they talked.
Piers came to rest at the side of Chris, scowling darkly while looking at Muller.
"Chris, this man is a wanted insurgent." he declared, staring at the uniform the man still wore.
Sherry raised a hand towards him. "Yes, he's a mercenary. But right now, he's under the protection of the UN, and he needs to be safely extracted from this place. I can assure you, he's no threat to the BSAA."
"Unless someone pays me to be." Muller muttered just loud enough to be heard, and the Piers' eyes flashed with anger.
"What did you just say?" he demanded, stepping forward with an angry scowl on his face.
Chris raised an arm to hold him back, while Sherry turned and gave Muller a look.
To his credit, he lasted 5 seconds before looking away, and only his superhuman senses caught the flash of unease bordering on fear from Muller as she stared him down.
Quite obviously, something she did had left an impression. Not that Chris was surprised. Considering how much Aeon had trained Sherry, Chris was under no delusion of who between them both was the most deadly in a fight. It could have felt strange to be less deadly than someone so much younger than him, but Chris was no fool. Sherry, with how she was raised, couldn't be anything else that a true terror on a battlefield.
Chris and the other Hunters were trained to kill monsters. Sherry was trained to break reality on her knees.
Though, she had less training in actual leadership than any of the Hunters, simply because she was trained to be something else than a soldier.
He was about to ask more questions, but his radio sprung to life first.
"HQ to Alpha Team. Reinforcements are unable to land due to anti-air artillery. Take them out… What the- We're picking up a large bogey. It's heading right for you!"
Chris and Piers stiffened as they received the message from BSAA and ISIS HQs, and they all turned towards a VTOL carrying a very, very large B.O.W.
They all immediately prepared themselves for a fight, as the B.O.W. was released and roared loudly as it hit the ground right in front of them all.
"We'll talk later!" shouted Chris. "Right now, we need to take this thing down! Also, we've got AA guns to take out if you want an extraction!"
"Got it!" she replied, visibly preparing herself for a fight, while Muller did the same at her side.
For a second, her eyes met Chris's... and then they grinned, took out their swords, and charged forward.
And the beast before them roared in challenge as it met their charge.
Behind them, his team opened fire on massive B.O.W's, trying to distract it, while they both came closer to the beast.
It brought its right hand forward, trying to swat at them like bugs, but they both slid under the giant hand before continuing to run forward.
The creature raised its right foot and tried to bring it down on Sherry, only for her to jump to the side at the last second, before lunging forward and bringing her sword straight through the creature's ankle.
It roared in agony, but it only gave time for Chris to reach its other ankle, and bring down his sword in a two-handed grip on its other ankle.
His sword cut through skin, flesh, tendon and bones, and a second later came out of the other side, having cut off its foot entirely.
The beast outright shrieked in agony, the force of it almost enough to stun them from how loud it was, but instead Chris' eyes met those of Sherry, and a moment later, as the monster fell down on the ground, they both jumped on its back and ran up towards its head.
Chris took note of the massive fleshy protuberance on the monster's back, but ignored it. There was no need to strike at it when instead they could kill it with ease through striking at its brain.
And so, they did. One step, two, then three saw them jump on the back end of the creature's head, and a moment later-
They brought their swords down.
Once again, the supernatural sharp blade cut through skin, bones and this time brain matter, at which point Chris infused his blade with Fire, while on her side of things Sherry did the same with the Void.
Chris instinctively shuddered as he felt through his senses the sudden hole in the world around Sherry's sword. While Chris had learnt many forms of magic, Void magic was something he had no desire to learn, no matter how useful it was.
It just felt wrong to his senses, and he knew the others felt the same. The Void was the complete absence of all things, the antithesis of Reality as he knew it, and his very soul shuddered at the feeling of it.
It felt hungry, not out of malice but by sheer nature, like it would naturally seek to devour him just as happily as it would devour his enemies.
It was damn unsettling to feel magic capable of hunger, and yet Void magic was always like that.
Only Aeon had ever felt like he could control it, as the Void felt… passive and calm in his hands. Even in Sherry's hands, Chris could feel a measure of that never-ending hunger, though not at the level anyone not named Aeon had.
Either way though, the results couldn't be denied, as the creature died near instantly, its body quickly melting into a puddle of organic material.
Chris grimaced. Oh, he was definitely going to need a long shower after this…
Putting the thought away for now, he glanced at Sherry, their eyes meeting once more before they both nodded.
They jumped out in different directions, both of them running towards where they heard the anti-air artillery firing.
"Alpha Team, cover me!" he ordered, while he ran through stairs in order to get to the level where the guns were hiding.
Lasers and plasma fire along with explosions filled his ears, a few even passing by him as he ran through corridors and stairs alike before he found his first target.
Sliding underneath the shots of those awaiting him in the moment he walked into the room, his gun spewed forth death and destruction as shot after shot decapitated each and every rebel in the area.
Then he jumped to his feet, ran towards the anti-air gun holding a decapitated rebel's corpse slumped against its control, and then brought his sword down horizontally on the gun.
Once more, supernatural sharpness won the day, and the steel of the gun was cut in half like it was mere butter before a knife.
Satisfied, he turned around, noticed his team already using the windows of the room to shoot at the rebels in the streets and other buildings, and looked at Piers.
The man nodded, and turned towards his soldiers.
"Come on, we've got one of the guns, there's another we need to take care of! Move out!"
As they all scrambled to keep going, Chris paused near Piers.
"The second gun is gone, Sherry took care of it." he informed, having felt her presence flash to his senses in a way that indicated an objective accomplished.
Having supernatural abilities really helped in a number of ways.
Being able to send messages to one another in ways no one else could notice was certainly very useful in a battlefield.
"Then we'll rejoin on the third. Come on."
Chris nodded at Piers' words, and moved on.
Time to finish this part of the battle.
-
"Good work out there Alpha! Echo Team will be down there shortly."
"Copy that."
Chris turned away from the last, wrecked anti-air gun, before looking up in the sky.
Not long after, a VTOL of the BSAA landed, with Echo Team coming out.
Chris went inside, quickly talking with the pilot, before coming out and walking towards where Sherry and Muller were waiting.
"I gave the pilot the coordinates for where your dad and the others will be waiting for you." he informed Sherry.
"Thanks for the help." she warmly replied.
He glanced at Muller, giving him a long look.
"What?" he asked briskly.
Chris hesitated… then shook his head.
"Nothing. We'll have to talk later, but we've got other things to worry about right now."
Muller frowned in confusion, but Chris already looked away and back to Sherry. "Be careful, alright? I can't imagine that Neo-Umbrella will simply accept that you will get Muller to Insight Corp.'s HQ."
"Don't worry, we've got this." she said firmly.
Chris gave her a look, but nodded after a moment. If she said she had this, then she had this.
"Have a safe flight." he declared, and Sherry smiled before turning away, getting in the aircraft, same with Muller.
Chris kept looking at him until he was out of view…
Then looked back at Piers.
The younger man was scowling in Muller's direction, and Chris couldn't help but be amused at the fact that he had a stronger reaction to the son of Albert Wesker than Chris himself did.
Though of course, there still remained the matters of him learning of his father, and of Chris' actions against the man…
But that was a problem for another day.
"Come on, Piers. Let's get back to work."
Piers nodded, and quickly looked away from the VTOL, visibly eager to forget all about the last few minutes.
Chris focused back on the mission at hand as well. There would be time to confront phantoms of his past later.
For now, he needed to worry about the present, in order to secure the future…
Especially when Aeon had told them all that in less than a year, they might be able to properly break the back of bio-terrorism once an for all.
Chris had been fighting horrors created by monstrous men and women for a long time, and while there would always be more evil to fight against, he was glad to know his war might finally be won.
In comparison to that, what were a few more battles against an organization that was, so very fittingly, named after the one who started everything?
If he didn't know better, he'd have said that Aeon had something to do with it, but apparently no, evil masterminds just thought alike.
Go figure.
-
A few hours later, Edonia, Eastern Europe.
"Aeon, do you copy?"
"Hard copy, Chris. Status?"
"Mission accomplished. City Hall secured and cleansed."
"Secondary objectives?"
"Sherry and Jake Muller successfully made it out of the city. After that, you'd know better than me."
"We received an SOS not long after they took flight while they were above the mountains. Since then, nothing."
"... Should we be concerned?"
"No need. Tell me, did you meet the other secondary objective?"
"Negative. The false Ada Wong was nowhere to be seen, despite the fact that she was definitely in the area."
"Then, it's as I thought. With her pet B.O.W. killed by Sherry, not that she knew that, but at least that he was AWOL, she most likely tried to more personally handle trying to capture Jake Muller."
"Isn't that a concern?"
"You think that Sherry will allow herself to fail a mission like this one?"
"..."
"Exactly. Honestly, you should feel bad for whatever dumb idiot got in her way, because they're most likely already down in the worst parts of the afterlife right now."
"Understood. So, what do you want me to do?"
"For now, just keep aiding Alpha Team. I'll be tracking down and meeting with Sherry myself. That should be enough to guarantee that Muller gets to HQ."
"Copy that. I'll keep you updated if anything changes on my side of things."
"It should be a fairly straightforward cleansing operation from now on, but no reason to take chances. Keep an eye out for our lady in blue, just in case. Aeon, over and out."
"Agreed. Chris, over and out."
-
A few minutes after the VTOL took off…
"Yes… But there's something I need to run by you. Muller is requesting compensation for his cooperation… 50 million dollars. Yes. Yes, I understand. I'll let him know."
Sherry cut off the communication, put her PDA back in her pocket, and looked at Muller, who was sitting in front of her in the VTOL with his arms crossed.
"So, we got a deal?" he asked.
"Yes, we have a deal." she replied. As she had expected, Lucy had no problem paying a mere 50 million dollars for the sake of saving the world.
"Hahaha! Well that was easy!" Exclaimed Muller, grinning brightly.
He glanced at his shoulder, and tore the shoulder patch marking him as a soldier of the local rebels and threw it on the floor with a satisfied smirk.
For a moment, they both remained silent, before Muller glanced at her curiously.
"By the way… That guy you were all chummy with back there…"
"You mean Chris?" she asked.
"That's the one." He nodded, pointing at her.
"What about him?" she inquired.
He frowned, eyes narrowed in deep thoughts, before he suddenly shook his head.
"Forget it."
She hesitated, wondering if she should breach the matter of his father-
*VLAM!*
-only for the VTOL to suddenly jerk violently, while alarms began to blare everywhere.
They quickly got up, wondering what was going on, and Sherry ran towards the nearby cockpit.
"What was that?" she asked.
"My guts goin' with something bad, and it's coming our way." dryly remarked Muller.
"We got enemy birds!" shouted the pilot. "Helis, a dozen of them at least!"
"Open the rear entrance! We'll shoot them from there!" she ordered.
The pilot shot her a look, but the one she sent at him quickly cowed him into doing as she had ordered.
"Come on, we need to get these guys off us!" she told Muller, who shrugged and nodded.
"I'm getting 50 million, I can afford to work for it a little." he simply replied, before coming with her towards the rear of the VTOL.
"These bastards are after you, aren't they kid?" shouted the pilot.
"I'm sorry, but we really need to ensure they don't get us!" she shouted back.
"Don't worry, that's why I'm paid the big bucks!" laughed the pilot.
Sherry and Muller both took one of the laser miniguns at the now open rear end of the VTOL, and aimed towards the helicopters chasing after them.
"Shit, this is crazier than my usual work!" cursed Muller as they unleashed as much laser fire on their enemies as they could, while laser fire and missiles were sent back at them.
Sherry focused on blowing up every missile coming their way before they reached their transport, while Muller shot down aircraft after aircraft.
Sherry winced at every hit of laser fire that dug into their transport, as even with the skill of the pilot, there were too many enemies to avoid everything fired at them.
A warning flashed through her, and her eyes flew towards one of the helicopters at the back of the enemy formation attacking them.
Her eyes widened as she peered into it to find the false Ada Wong staring darkly straight at them-
And then a storm of laser fire from her helicopter hit the engines of their transport.
Both Sherry and Muller stumbled back as the VTOL violently shook, and she heard Muller scream about him needing to read the fine print of any future deal he made before accepting them.
Then they fell towards the open rear entrance, Muller barely managed to take hold of a parachute, and suddenly they were falling down the sky, with Muller tightly holding her pressed against him while he quickly put the parachute on his shoulder and opened it.
And then, because sometimes you couldn't have nice things, the VTOL blew up, and some debris pierced the parachute and hit her head hard enough that it knocked her out despite her passive Aura resistance.
Oh, and they were falling far too quickly for it to be safe, too, she couldn't help but note before blacking out.
-
Sherry groaned when she woke up, before wincing in pain.
Apparently, the hit to her head and the brutal landing caused her Aura to take a hit… one bad enough that she somehow had a large piece of metal piercing her back.
Honestly if she wasn't who she was, she would be dead right now.
Good news at least, was that Muller was just fine. Apparently, she took all the damage between them both.
She opened her eyes and painfully ordered Muller to take the damn thing in her back out. She could hardly heal herself if that thing remained stuck there.
She considered using magic, but as it was, her healing being seen was bad enough when it comes to secrets revealed.
"No! You'll bleed to death!" replied Muller, and she groaned. Of course he decided to grow a conscience when it would be the worst moment for it!
"Please… Trust me." she gasped. Sure, her dad trained her well, but she wasn't him, and having a large piece of metal in her body really, really fucking hurt.
Why was she waiting for him to help, again? Oh, right, magic was a secret.
Hurgh, if he didn't start moving she was going to say fuck secrecy and pull that damn thing-
"Well, don't say I didn't warn you." he grumbled, before taking hold of the piece of metal.
Finally! She breathed in relief, before gritting her teeth in pain when he slowly pulled the damn thing out.
"Aaah… Aaaah!" she cried out when the damn piece of metal finally got out, before collapsing back on the cold, snowy ground of the mountain they were stuck in.
She panted for breath, but sighed in relief when her healing finally kicked in.
If only the pain-blocking spell wasn't visible when cast… Right, when she saw her dad next, she was going to ask him for ways to better hide spellcasting, because fuck going through this again.
Muller was lucky her dad taught her to not use mind-altering spells without damn good reasons, or she'd have just healed herself and changed his memories otherwise.
And then Muller pointed at her with a dumbfounded look and a stunned "What the hell."
Oh, right, super-healing wasn't normally a thing.
"You wanna tell me what the hell just happened?" he asked, leaning forward.
She gave him a look while catching her breath.
"Long story." she replied, before sighing deeply in satisfaction at the lack of pain.
He grunted, before looking at her healed wound.
"Yeah? Well, maybe it's your blood that they should be testing for vaccines." he wryly declared.
She scowled. "They already did." At least before her dad could tell Simmons and those he controlled in the US government to go fuck themselves. "I'm done being the lab-rat of some heartless politicians."
Why yes, she held a grudge against Simmons, why do you ask?
It was one thing to do tests to ensure she was healthy after Raccoon City, it was another to demand as many as Simmons did to be "satisfied" that she wasn't a menace to Humanity.
And even then, her parents had to put their foot down several times.
Thankfully, he had long since lost the power required to demand anything of her, but she still remembered those days.
At least she took some satisfaction in the fact that her parents hid a number of things from him. It felt very satisfying to know that all the data he got was actually carefully screened first by several gods to ensure he got the bare minimum required to satisfy him.
She shook her head, before her eyes found something in the snow.
She stiffened.
She lunged for it, before glancing around for her PDA, but a moment later she grimaced when she activated it.
"Shit, the data's gone!"
"What data?"
She glared at him. "Your data! Your blood analysis, your genome, everything we need to make the vaccine."
"No, you mean everything I need to get my 50 million." he scowled.
She pursed her lips, while he scoffed.
"Well, come on supergirl, let's start looking." he grumbled.
She raised an eyebrow. At night, in the mountains, with snow everywhere?
He was lucky that they had ways of actually tracking the data chips down.
Even more luckily, they found a cabin where they could rest nearby.
Honestly, if it wasn't for her vision telling her that it was meant to happen like this, she'd have thought her parents were looking out for her.
"Ok, first we find the data, then we take shelter here."
Sure, she could survive the cold without issue, but Muller sure as hell couldn't.
"And you've got an idea on how to find them?"
"I've got locators in them. We just need to get to them."
"Ah, good. Then we find your gear, and then I brew us a nice, hot pot of coffee." he said dryly.
She nodded. Her parents drank tea more often, but when it came to long days of work, coffee was used as well.
Especially for Lucy. She had an enchanted, never-ending pot for the stuff, all of it with divine quality and taste.
Needless to say, Lucy had been… very pleased with her dad for the offering.
Very, very pleased.
Either way, she and Muller went through the mountains, at night, with a snowstorm slowly but surely gaining strength around them to worry about.
Again, mostly for Muller, rather than her, but it still could have been better.
And then, because obviously things had to get worse, they encountered more J'avos.
Ones encased in some sort of green cocoons.
Ones who hatched the moment they came closer.
As for the things inside them, well, they were B.O.W's alright.
They were as putrid to look at with her eyes as they were with her eyes.
She and Muller quickly killed them, but by the end of it Muller looked at their disintegrating corpses with disgust.
"I'm so glad that I'm immune to the shit they gave us." he grumbled.
"Yeah, and the people behind this want to spread this to the whole world. I don't think that's what you want." she remarked.
He fell silent, before scowling.
"No. It's not."
She glanced at him. It seemed like being faced with this kind of evil, despite his mercenary beliefs, did not sit well with him.
Hopefully, he would reach some of the same conclusions his other selves across the multiverse did.
Still, Sherry had to admit that she hadn't expected the attack on their transport. With Ustanak dead, she had hoped that they would have been free to reach her dad without issues, but for Carla to personally interfere…
Well. It was good to remember that changing things worked for the enemy as well.
She supposed it was a lesson her parents just made sure to teach her through all of this.
Still, those were thoughts for later. For now, she and Muller scoured the nearby landscape for the data chips, killing everything on their path that was infected.
They met a number of infected rebels, and Sherry had no doubt who was ordering them around. Whoever they may have been once, they were now nothing more than pawns of Neo-Umbrella.
When she found the last missing data chip, she smiled, and held it up to Muller, who was doing his best to not turn into a snowman despite the cold and the snow all around them.
"That's the last. We can go take shelter now."
"Finally!" he exclaimed with deep relief. "We're getting into that cabin before I turn into a snowman!"
She chuckled, before they both ran towards the cabin, eagerly getting inside and closing the doors.
Her vision told her that most likely they would be attacked eventually… But that was a concern for later.
For now, she merely appreciated being out of the cold.
They were even able to light a fireplace!
Of course, the next problem was the lack of conversation. There was only Muller and her in the cabin, and there were… a great many secrets she had on her mind right now.
First of them being everything to do with Albert Wesker.
With a sigh, she sat down near the fireplace, and glanced up at him.
He visibly hesitated, but after a moment sat down by her right.
"So…" he began hesitantly, before taking a quick deep breath. "You've always been like that? The whole 'healing' thing?"
Well, that's as good a place to start as any, and I don't feel like ignoring him, so…
She sighed, before looking at him and explaining.
"My father, my birth father I mean, was a scientist. He was working on B.O.W's when I was exposed. It was during the whole mess at Raccoon City back in '98."
He inhaled sharply, as while not everything was fully known about that mess, a great deal had been declassified over the years, and none of it was good. Well, besides the fact that the city survived, but otherwise…
She smiled without joy.
"Yeah. Luckily, I was treated with the vaccine before it was too late… But the virus adjusted and adapted. It's been a part of me ever since."
Of course, she was not mentioning the fact that she had been adopted by two Eldritch Gods, given their Blood, and made into an existence beyond humanity and taught secrets that most could scarcely imagine.
If it wasn't for the need to keep magic hidden, she would have just opened a portal, or teleported, and this mission wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes.
Still, there was value in doing things like this. Her father always told her about the dangers of relying on power as a crutch. It was important to master a variety of skills, train oneself without end, and push ever onwards towards perfection, because to do otherwise will inevitably see you pay the price of that arrogance.
And coming from a multiple-time Godslayer, that meant a great deal.
Also, by doing things like this, Muller could see for himself the need to fight against B.O.W's. Considering his father and how he could create monsters through his blood, it was pretty important for him to understand the evil of mutagenic viruses.
So in the end, this was both a lesson for her, as it was for Muller too.
"What happened to your father?" he asked.
"His research killed him." she replied bluntly. She had years to get over what happened to him, but the lessons to be taken from it were never going to be forgotten.
The tale of the fall of Yharnam only further hammered those same lessons into her.
It truly was some grand cosmic irony that her birth father was the kind of man her adopted father held in the utmost contempt and hatred after Yharnam, and that he had fought so hard against in not one, but two versions of Earth now.
And here she was, her life as defined by those horrors as both her father were.
At least, she had chosen to walk the better path, rather than the one that would end in herself becoming a monster worthy only of fear.
And her birth mother was still alive, if by the kindness of her new father, and now working hard to make a better world, rather than a worse one.
There was… so much she owed to her new family. She doubted that she could ever repay them both for everything that they had given her.
The fact that they had welcomed her with open arms and immense love even despite what her parents did, by itself, was incredible.
Of course, she knew that they didn't see it that way. That both of them would chastise her if she said that she owed them anything. They just loved her, unconditionally, and that was that.
Truly, she was glad to have such wonderful parents, even if living in their shadows sometimes made her feel so very small.
"By the time he died, his body had mutated so much… he wasn't even recognizable." she finished, old memories rising at the thought.
They were bittersweet ones, considering all that she had lost, but overall more sweet than bitter for all that she had gained.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"
She shook her head with a smile. "That's alright. I didn't walk out of there empty-handed."
"Yeah, you got super-powers." he remarked.
"That's not what I meant." she said with a smile. "The people who saved me, the man who adopted me, his wife who welcomed me… Claire, Aeon, Oedon, Leon and everyone else who were there for me after everything… Even my birth mother, who survived Raccoon City and worked hard to make up for her crimes… All of them changed me for the better. I wouldn't be who I was without all of them."
"Claire's is Chris' sister, right?" he asked.
She nodded. "She's the one in charge of TerraSave these days. She, Leon and Aeon, they all fought for me back in Raccoon City. I guess I'm still just trying to live up to their example, never giving up no matter the odds."
And really, that last phrase so perfectly fit her dad that there were few better, considering his time in Yharnam.
It was hard to live up to the standards of a man who challenged and killed gods, only to become one himself, and yet still wasn't satisfied and continuously sought ever greater level of greatness to reach.
And her mom was born a goddess, so that hardly made things better.
In comparison to that, having blood capable of healing her was nothing… especially when they had an even better version.
In a way, that helped. It didn't matter that she was different, because those she loved were far more different than anything she could ever become.
And of course the sheer love, understanding and acceptance that she was all but smothered by made sure that she would embrace being different, rather than hate it.
Still, she wanted to prove herself. To show that she was worthy of their love, even if she knew that they would chastise her for thinking like this.
And, in time, she would succeed. She knew that there would come a time when her parents would need all the help they could get, considering what she knew lied at the center of reality.
When the time comes, she would be gladly do everything in her power to help them both.
Not just because she owed it to them, but because she wanted to.
Perhaps, just perhaps, one day it would be her name that would be whispered with awe and respect across worlds and dimensions.
She could only hope… and prepare for the day her chance would come.
For a moment, both of them stared at each other.
As she looked at him, she hesitated, but knew it was important that she brought up the matter of his father, and everything to do with him, along with Chris' actions against him.
She took a deep breath.
"Jake, there's something I need to tell you-"
Jake jerked his head towards the door, before tackling her to the ground.
She blinked.
Huh, usually she was the one described as bold when it comes to romance… It felt weird to have someone take charge-
*RATATATATA!*
Laser shots pierced through the walls of the cabin, creating smoking holes everywhere.
-oh right, there were J'avos outside, she had somehow forgotten…
"Later, Sherry, alright? I'm afraid we're going to be a bit too busy for a heart-to-heart."
Jake got up, and she quickly did the same.
They took cover by the corners of the windows, Sherry's eyes narrowing at the dozen of infected soldiers surrounding the entrance of the cabin.
"Looks like we have some party crashers!" Jake joked, though his eyes were cold as he looked at them.
He held up his gun. "But this cabin is invitation only."
Sherry and Jake broke the windows and opened fire, laser bolts flying with deadly precision and cutting down scores of attackers.
Unfortunately, more quickly arrived, and Sherry could tell that there were a lot of reinforcements headed their way.
She wasn't worried about herself, but a single stray shot could kill Jake, and that was not acceptable.
Then again, she was hardly a normal person…
Maybe it's time to be less subtle, she thought.
Her eyes flashed red.
Unseen by all, reality trembled… and was rewritten.
The incoming laser bolts were subtly, but unquestionably affected.
Against her dad, this spell would never work. If anything, he'd punish her in some way in a spar for using a spell that she would know would never work, unless there was a greater strategy at play behind it.
Against a Hunter? Most likely, they would notice it quickly and break it through flexing their Arcane might.
Against these guys?
The probability of their guns hitting her or Jake suddenly fell to zero.
Even as more J'avos blew up the rear end of the cabin and then quickly charged in, she still didn't have to worry, as every shot continuously failed to come close to them.
She almost felt bad for them, if she hadn't been trained by her dad to show no mercy in battle. No matter how hard they tried, there was no chance of them hitting anything. She could stand in the middle of the road, in broad daylight, while screaming for them to hit her, and they would fail.
There was a reason her dad wanted her and the others to not rely on such magic.
It made things too easy, and dulled one's instincts.
Still, this was an escort mission, and it was easy enough to hide the spell, so she felt like it was acceptable.
She and Jake quickly got out of the cabin through the now destroyed back wall… and her eyes widened as she looked up at the mountain.
"It's an avalanche! Let's get out of here!" she screamed, with Jake taking one look at the storm of snow headed their way and viciously cursing.
The good news was that the J'avos came here with snow mobiles… and neither she nor Jake were going to hesitate in stealing them.
"Punch it, before we're buried alive!" Jake shouted, and she wasted no time doing exactly that.
With an avalanche at their backs, they fled down the mountain side at full speed, Sherry calling on her instincts and superhuman reflexes to constantly evade sharp rocks or trees that stood in her way.
Her mind flashed to a few years ago, when her dad taught her to use snow mobiles, telling her with a wink that it might one day come in handy.
As expected of her dad, his advice, even when he was enjoying being cryptic and mysterious, turned out to be immensely useful eventually.
"The whole mountain's coming down! God must really hate us today!" Jake screamed.
She opened her mouth-
A vision flashed through her mind, of hundreds upon hundreds of J'avos heavily armed in the mountains all rushing towards the cabin, a tide of infected that only Sherry going at full power could break… instead being swiped away by a storm of snow killing them all without fail, and allowing her and Jake to escape.
-and shouted at him back.
"That, or God is covering our retreat!" she replied.
"Yeah, well if that's him helping us, I'd hate to see him angry at us!"
She laughed.
If her dad ever wanted someone dead badly enough to be angry over it, they would die, no ifs or buts about it.
And if everyone was lucky, a mountain would be all that would be broken in his wrath.
Considering that the last time her dad was angry, gods died, and an entire city was drowned in blood, divine and bestial alike, she really wasn't joking.
"Trust me, neither he nor I hate you!" she said cheerfully.
Whatever reply he gave was lost in the winds, as they went full speed down the mountain with an avalanche at their back, their snow mobiles bouncing from snow hills to snow hills.
Avoiding rocks, trees, and holes alike, she and Jake did their best to outrun the storm of deadly snow at their back, while sharp, cold air slapped their faces from the sheer speed they were forced to keep in order to survive the coming doom at their back.
And then, because apparently her dad was having fun making Jake sweat, the very ground began breaking apart.
"This was not a good idea!" he screamed, while Sherry grinned widely.
She could feel the amusement of her dad and mom flowing around them, mixed with an ethereal feeling of encouragement and praises as they kept on outrunning the avalanche, while their snow mobiles bounced from cliff side to cliff side as the very ground of the mountain seemingly broke apart around them.
"Too late now!" she cheerfully replied, going as fast as she could down the shattering slopes of the mountain.
Then her eyes widened when Jake suddenly screamed "Jump!" a few seconds before they found themselves in mid-air, and both she and Jake abandoned their trusty snow mobiles to throw themselves on a nearby mound of fresh snow and then sliding down a nearby cave.
The entrance of it quickly filled up with more snow, but both of them slid downward until they arrived in a corridor of ice.
She grinned when she felt her parents cheer her on for outrunning an avalanche until she could find safety in the depths of a cave system, one which apparently lead towards the nearby town where the human incarnation of her dad was waiting from what he could tell.
Well, if nothing else, she had quite a story to tell everyone back in the Hunter's Dream after this.
She glanced at Jake, seeing him shake his head free of the snow that had fallen on top of him.
"You okay?" she asked.
He gave her a thumbs up. "Don't worry about me, I'm built like a tank."
She chuckled. If he thought that, just wait until he met her father…
"Fine, I won't. Come on then, let's go. There should be a way out somewhere."
They both stood up, dusted off the snow on their clothes, and nodded to each other.
Time to finally finish this escort mission! She thought cheerfully. And without Ustanak to worry about!
They stepped forward, both eager to get back to civilization.
-
A.N: Alright! Here is the next chapter in which we continue the events of Resident Evil 6!
So, some changes to canon. Piers is the man in charge of the BSAA teams we see in the game, since Chris is with ISIS, but the great relation between both groups, and Chris' fame with the BSAA, means he still gets to work with, and can give orders to said soldiers.
I also skipped the City Hall events, since the false Ada Wong, because of the death of Ustanak, decided to investigate in person what the fuck just happened, and when she found no answers, decided to just personally try and capture Jake Muller. So no traumatic events for Chris. Though to be fair, if "Ada" had tried anything with Hunter!Chris around and fully knowing who she truly was, she would have had her shit kicked in so fast that she'd have woken up in the afterlife wondering what the hell just happened.
Also, not too much ISIS showing up so far, but they'll be more present in the later part of the game. At least, we get to see more of Sherry's inner thoughts on things. And yes, the way she called Jake Muller by his last name, then his first after their talk, is obviously meant to show that they are growing a bit closer. I'd love to show off more of her powers too, but this setting isn't the best for that. Once we hit Love Azathoth, though…
Still, with all that being said, I hope you all enjoyed this update! Next time, we continue RE6 with the end of Sherry's escort mission, and everything that follows…