Author's Note: Yeah, I'm attempting to make the "author's note" part of each chapter relatively small, so that you the fans get to have more nice material to read and then review about, to either flame or praise the chapter. Hopefully it'll be the second one...
Also, I decided to take off the author's note as a chapter and add it back again when I'm done with this ficcy. Until then, I thank all my reviewers personally in each chapter! Yay!
So, thanks goes to (In Order of Appearance): Random Echo, Claire Burnside267, a reader, Diddly Day, Zil, Tasha Burnside, Umbrella-Experiment, Parasite Lin, Biohazard 101, Cand, Queen Kristina, Apokruphos, Redfield 99, Yumi Konoe, Chandler01, Lyger, Chicky Tifa, D-2Artemis, Shin, Simon552, Jimbo Jones, claire3407, and Squall Leonhart!
Any new reviewers automatically will be added to the list whenever a new chapter comes out for this story!
Hooray for constantly changing summaries. Oh yeah, the quality level is going to rise up in every chapter starting now, because I thought the last chapter was kind of rushed and felt awkward. Gah, I promise that won't happen again.
On with yet another chapter...
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -
-By Brian Marcelo-
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-
Rated R for violence.
-The Fall of Umbrella-
-Chapter Eighteen-
-Umbrella Pharmaceutical Headquarters, Lab Facility-
"What is the repulsive thing over there?" asked Alexia Ashford, as she pointed towards a huge screen showing a trench-coated figure with tentacles on his shoulders.
"That, my dear, is the Nemesis, one of our most powerful bio organic weapons." answered President Hanson, as he gestured for them to both walk towards the computer terminal and the young man behind it.
"Oh?" she replied with a small yawn, "What's so great about it?"
Overhearing what was being said behind him, the young man got out of his chair rather angrily and looked at the young woman dead in the eye.
"The Nemesis is our ultimate bio organic weapon, little miss princess." muttered Greg rather loudly, "It would be in your best interests not to talk so lightly about it."
"Mr. Jones! That is no way to treat-"
"Alexia...Alexia Ashford, Mr. Jones." said Alexia coldly, as she moved closer to Greg, "And it would be in your best interests not to talk back to me again."
Greg backed away slowly, shocked and scared of what stood before him.
"Alexia Ashford..." he whispered in fear, "How...? I thought you had died fifteen years ago..."
"The glory of the Ashford family can never die, Mr. Jones." she said proudly, as she gripped his neck with her hand with surprising strength, "Now, apologize to your Queen, or..."
"What do you mean by Queen...? Or what...?" he said, gasping for air as he tried desperately to pry her hand off his throat
Alexia chuckled as she increased her hold on his neck. "Or die."
"That's enough, Alexia." Mr. Hanson said quietly, as he put his hand on her shoulder, "I think Mr. Jones has learnt has lesson, hasn't he?"
Greg nodded vigorously in agreement as face began to turn a shade of red from lack of air.
"Fine." she said with a simple smile, she threw Greg against the computer terminal and started to walk away towards another part of the lab, "I was getting bored with him anyways."
-Outside The Hospital-
Steve Burnside sat on the hood of one of the cars in the area, absently glancing at the now dead Nemesis that Barry was inspecting...
Jill and Chris were still tightly embracing, while Rebecca was tending to Carlos' wounds sustained from the Nemesis...
Leon was standing a few feet away from Steve, holding his shotgun tightly, looking lost in thought, much like him...
Steve hadn't talked very much after Claire had died...he stayed quiet mostly, only showing his sly side when helping them fight off the Nemesis...it was a defense mechanism of his to show off to anyone close by whenever he was hiding something...something painful inside...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
Those words that Steve had once said to her after she was forced to fight with Nosferatu alone was now tearing into him...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
The very thing he had said to Claire was turned backwards when Alexia had taken him and had infected him with her spores that had contained the T-Veronica virus...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
Alexia had twisted his words, because he was forced to fight Claire...the love of his life...he had almost killed her when he transformed into that T-Veronica monster...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
After he had saved her from Alexia's grasp, he was mortally wounded....he had died telling her that he loved her...she had to get out by herself...she had promised they would escape together...but...he had made her break her promise by dying...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
He was brought back to life by the T-Veronica virus inside of him...taken hostage by Wesker, who was working for H.C.F...used as bait to lure Claire and Chris in Paris...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
She had been Wesker's target all along...he had stabbed her brutally...she had died in the hospital shortly after...and he could do nothing but watch her suffer...because of him...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
Now he was forced to be with people he didn't even know...never met them personally, not even Chris, who Claire had mentioned previous times during their adventure...he was stuck with people he didn't know...all he could was put on a mask to hide his pain and agony he was feeling over Claire's death...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
Those words that he had once said to her was now an example of cruel irony at it's best...forever going to torment him until he too suffered the same fate as his beloved...
"Hey Steve...?" said a voice next to him, a touch of guilt in it's tone.
"Yeah Leon?" he replied monotonously, not bothering to look in the general direction of who he was talking to.
"I'm sorry for the way I acted back in the waiting room. I wasn't thinking..." he said apologetically, feeling truly sorry for being so stupid and irrational.
"You needed someone to blame...it's alright Leon," Steve said as he turned his head towards Leon, "Between you and me, I blame myself too..."
Leon frowned.
"It's Wesker's fault." he said plainly.
"No, Leon..." Steve said with a sad smile, "It's all mine...it's all mine...I broke my promise to Claire..."
While Leon and Steve were talking, Rebecca was busily tending to Carlos using some materials that Barry had got from the hospital.
"Ow! That stings!" Carlos cried out, as she poured a few drops of alcohol on his wounds.
"Haven't you ever heard of the phrase 'what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger'?" she said irritatingly as she struggled to keep Carlos from escaping treatment.
"And have you ever heard the phrase 'get that the hell away from me'?" he retorted, as he struggled to get away from the stinging liquid that was being applied liberally.
"It's kind of sad how Steve, Leon, and Chris are all blaming themselves, huh Carlos...?" Rebecca said suddenly, her expression softening as she looked towards Leon and Steve, who both were talking like friends would talk.
"All three of them are different, yet all of them cared deeply for Claire...and now she's gone..." she said quietly, as she absently used her First Aid Spray on some of his less serious cuts and bruises.
"I think we should really stop wasting time saying sorry....and instead of just going on and on about blaming Wesker, we should hunt that bastard down..." replied Carlos, who quickly closed his eyes in sudden pain at the spray being applied to his cuts and bruises.
"Did you know her personally by the way?" he abruptly asked, "I didn't get the chance to...how about you? Any idea on what she was like?"
"Well, I only met her once...she had come during her spring break to Raccoon City to visit her brother, and one night she got Chris to invite me and Jill over to his apartment, saying something about her cooking dinner. It turns her she had managed to set fire to half his kitchen...needless to say, Chris was mortified."
"Ouch...what happened after that?" he asked, amused at the image of a mortified Chris overlooking his kitchen, half of burnt beyond recognition by his well-meaning sister Claire.
"We all went out for fast food instead, with Chris and Claire trading insults back and forth." Rebecca remembered fondly as she started to bandage up Carlos' arm, "They were clearly inseparable...you could really tell they cared a lot about each other just by the way they argued, you know?"
Carlos chuckled softly. "Makes me wish I had a little sister."
Rebecca finished bandaging up Carlos and smiled gently at him. "Makes me wish I had a big brother."
As Rebecca and Carlos mused about wanting a sibling of their own, Chris and Jill were still embracing for what seemed like an eternity to the both of them.
"Are you sure you're okay Jill?" Chris whispered, as he put his hand on her neck to check for any wounds.
"I'm fine Chris...thanks to you..." she whispered back gently, as she pulled away from the embrace a little bit to look into his eyes, "I don't know what I would've done without you..."
"Wasn't Carlos with you though...?" he asked, looking a bit crestfallen.
"There's a big difference, because you're my only partner, Chris..." she replied back with a soft smile on her beautiful face, "We're partners, you and me...we'll look after each other...always..."
He gently smiled at her, the first real smile she had seen after the tragic event that had transpired earlier. He held her tenderly, making her heart flutter with a sort of selfish joy.
She was in love with Chris as much as he was in love with her, and she was going to do anything she could to ease his pain after losing his sister Claire.
Barry meanwhile inspected the Nemesis, surprised at the amount of bullets that were in its body.
He chuckled slightly. "Looks like you won't be getting up any time soon."
He was quite surprised that it hadn't gotten up, especially after hearing all the horror stories that Jill had told him about the first Nemesis and how it constantly chased her through Raccoon City...round after round of bullets and shells only stopping it temporarily, heavier weaponry such as grenades and other explosives only making it transform into stronger forms...it had taken two shots from a heavy rail cannon before it was finally reduced to a small parasite that was easily dispatched with a magnum.
Barry was almost disappointed, because he was expecting to make good use of his Desert Eagle magnum on the creature, but instead it lay there in it's own blood, empty bullet and shotgun shell casings littering the ground around it, holes of all sizes in it's tattered and torn bloody trench coat.
It just lay there, dead, without much of a fight.
"The ultimate bio weapon turned out to be the ultimate failure." Barry mused to himself, as he unloaded one last shot into the Nemesis' head for good measure, just incase. You could never be too sure what the hell each new B.O.W. could do, so it was always better to play it safe then be sorry.
-Umbrella Pharmaceutical Headquarters, Lab Facility-
"How goes the development of the G-virus?" asked Alexia casually, as she entered another lab area with President Hanson.
"It's going quite well...in fact, we're hoping that it's in the period of it's usefulness cycle where it can compare to your T-Veronica virus..." answered the President.
"Oh really now? And how long has it been taking for it to become perfect, like the pride of the Ashford family, my T-Veronica virus?" she asked, sounding as if she was a real queen talking to a simple peasant or servant.
"It's not quite perfect, yet...but we have our top researchers working on it." the President hastily answered, as he eyed Alexia strangely.
"Where are we going next?" she asked, not really caring about what he had just said.
"We're going to meet a few doctors..." he said, rather suspiciously to Alexia, "Come this way, Ms. Ashford."
She followed behind him as he led them through a number of gray, mechanical corridors, until they stopped in what appeared to be an operating room, with "doctors" already there to greet them. As well as heavily armed troops.
To Alexia, however, they didn't really look like doctors, because in her mind wearing biohazard protection suits weren't exactly the same as white lab coats. Also, the troops didn't exactly make her feel any more comfortable.
"What do they plan on doing?" she asked with a concerned tone as she started to back away from the President.
"Why Alexia, you don't mind if we *extract* some samples of the T-Veronica virus from your body, would you?" President Hanson asked, as if he were talking to a child, "H.C.F, our rival company of many years, has managed to snag a sample of the T-Veronica virus. Since you're technically still an employee of Umbrella, you're legally inclined to let us take a few samples from you."
Alexia eye's flared up as she backed away, becoming rather pissed off at the situation that was unfolding. She did not want to be poked and prodded, and she most certainly did not want any needles going through her perfect skin. The Ashford family practically founded Umbrella, and she would be damned if she would be merely a test subject to the company.
"What if I refuse to participate in your tests? What if I would rather keep my virus to myself?" she said angrily, as the temperature around her body started to become increasingly warmer.
"You don't have much of a choice, Ms. Ashford." said President Hanson coldly, as he gestured for the heavily armed troops to advance towards her, "Now, are you going to cooperate with us or not?"
She chuckled as fire appeared in her pupils. "After double crossing me, I don't think so, Mr. President."
President Hanson's face twisted with anger at her response. "Guards! Seize her!"
Each of the heavily armed guards advanced towards her, threateningly holding their shotguns at her with twisted smiles. To their surprise however, she didn't even flinch; in fact, she just stayed there, with a twisted smile of her own. They cautiously came closer to her until they were just a few feet away, ready to grab her by force.
That was, until she started to bleed all over her body, as if her blood was flowing out of her pores. The guards backed away a few feet, startled by the freakish sight before them.
"Afraid of a little blood?" she said with a haughty laugh as she casually walked over to the group of troops, looking extremely odd considering the fact she was bleeding all over, "Maybe I should turn up the heat..?"
The guards looked at her with puzzled expressions on their faces as they wondered what she meant, until they quickly realized that the blood on her body was on fire, which burned off her clothes that were quickly replaced by what looked like gray bioorganic armor. Startled even more so then before, some of the soldiers quickly resorted to shouting in confusion and fear, rather then firing their shotguns.
"What the hell?!"
"She's on fire! Her blood! It turned into fire!"
"She looks like a Tyrant!"
"My god, what is she?!"
Alexia smiled with glee as she walked into the hysterical group of frightened guards, absently shrugging off bullets fired by the more competent guards who were in the back.
To the horror of the freaked out troops, she gleefully threw some of her blood on them, resulting in them immediately catching on fire, screaming horribly as they ran around in circles, the intense heat too much for them to bear.
She smiled as she watched in content as the sound of those soldiers dying horrible deaths. She tilted her head towards the President and the "doctors", who were behind the remaining troops, who were vainly firing their shotguns at her.
"This is what happens when you mess with me, Mr. President." she said with a smile, as she shrugged off another round of fire thanks to her ultra tough bioorganic skin.
"Keep on firing you idiots!" bellowed President Hanson, as he hid like a coward behind the "doctors".
"I am perfection, Mr. Hanson." she said proudly, as she started to walk over to the group of soldiers, researchers, and the President, "Do you really honestly think your puny weapons can hurt me? I am the embodiment of all that is perfect!"
"You're crazy..." muttered the President angrily, despite the fact that he was cowering in fear, "You're just like Birkin, obsessed with your work to the point where you think you're invincible...heh...we proved him wrong though..."
"William Birkin was a crazed man who was betrayed by Umbrella and destroyed..." she said, as she smacked the remaining soldiers and researchers away with a sickening crack, "I much different, for I am Alexia Ashford...the perfect Queen...who shall destroy Umbrella for betraying me..."
The President cowered as he tried to back away, but was caught by Alexia's powerful grasp.
"What...what are you going to do to me...?" he whimpered as he looked into her inhuman eyes, struggling to be released from her grasp.
"I'll allow you to be killed by the perfect being..." she said with a child like smile, as she put both her hands on his face and engulfed his entire body in intense flames. She dropped the body to the floor as he writhed in agony and blinding pain, his vision getting hazy as he struggled to look up to her face.
"Goodbye, Mr. Hanson." she said as she spun around and started walking towards the door, "and thank you for the tour of Umbrella. I've always wanted to see it, after all..."
He screamed loudly in fiery pain once more as he slowly died, his insides turning into what looked like charcoal as he lay there, convulsing and shivering at the same time, wishing he hadn't crossed Alexia's path.
She casually walked out of the room, deciding that she might as well destroy the entire facility as well.
"This is the end of Umbrella...and the beginning of the Queen's reign..." she said aloud with a sadistic smile, as she began to set fire to everything around her, still casually walking around each corridor, retracing her steps so that she could burn everything to the ground...
-End Of Chapter Eighteen-
Well, Alexia's going to destroy the headquarters of Umbrella...big surprise, huh?
Next episode we'll see the Nemesis come back, except it has a new target...
And we'll see more personality development between the whole cast of heroes...including someone you would never expect.
Oh yes, and please read Mayaku's story "Unscathed", especially since it's so great!
As usual with every chapter, please rate and review! New reviewers will get their names in the credits at the top of each new chapter!
Also, I decided to take off the author's note as a chapter and add it back again when I'm done with this ficcy. Until then, I thank all my reviewers personally in each chapter! Yay!
So, thanks goes to (In Order of Appearance): Random Echo, Claire Burnside267, a reader, Diddly Day, Zil, Tasha Burnside, Umbrella-Experiment, Parasite Lin, Biohazard 101, Cand, Queen Kristina, Apokruphos, Redfield 99, Yumi Konoe, Chandler01, Lyger, Chicky Tifa, D-2Artemis, Shin, Simon552, Jimbo Jones, claire3407, and Squall Leonhart!
Any new reviewers automatically will be added to the list whenever a new chapter comes out for this story!
Hooray for constantly changing summaries. Oh yeah, the quality level is going to rise up in every chapter starting now, because I thought the last chapter was kind of rushed and felt awkward. Gah, I promise that won't happen again.
On with yet another chapter...
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -
-By Brian Marcelo-
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-
Rated R for violence.
-The Fall of Umbrella-
-Chapter Eighteen-
-Umbrella Pharmaceutical Headquarters, Lab Facility-
"What is the repulsive thing over there?" asked Alexia Ashford, as she pointed towards a huge screen showing a trench-coated figure with tentacles on his shoulders.
"That, my dear, is the Nemesis, one of our most powerful bio organic weapons." answered President Hanson, as he gestured for them to both walk towards the computer terminal and the young man behind it.
"Oh?" she replied with a small yawn, "What's so great about it?"
Overhearing what was being said behind him, the young man got out of his chair rather angrily and looked at the young woman dead in the eye.
"The Nemesis is our ultimate bio organic weapon, little miss princess." muttered Greg rather loudly, "It would be in your best interests not to talk so lightly about it."
"Mr. Jones! That is no way to treat-"
"Alexia...Alexia Ashford, Mr. Jones." said Alexia coldly, as she moved closer to Greg, "And it would be in your best interests not to talk back to me again."
Greg backed away slowly, shocked and scared of what stood before him.
"Alexia Ashford..." he whispered in fear, "How...? I thought you had died fifteen years ago..."
"The glory of the Ashford family can never die, Mr. Jones." she said proudly, as she gripped his neck with her hand with surprising strength, "Now, apologize to your Queen, or..."
"What do you mean by Queen...? Or what...?" he said, gasping for air as he tried desperately to pry her hand off his throat
Alexia chuckled as she increased her hold on his neck. "Or die."
"That's enough, Alexia." Mr. Hanson said quietly, as he put his hand on her shoulder, "I think Mr. Jones has learnt has lesson, hasn't he?"
Greg nodded vigorously in agreement as face began to turn a shade of red from lack of air.
"Fine." she said with a simple smile, she threw Greg against the computer terminal and started to walk away towards another part of the lab, "I was getting bored with him anyways."
-Outside The Hospital-
Steve Burnside sat on the hood of one of the cars in the area, absently glancing at the now dead Nemesis that Barry was inspecting...
Jill and Chris were still tightly embracing, while Rebecca was tending to Carlos' wounds sustained from the Nemesis...
Leon was standing a few feet away from Steve, holding his shotgun tightly, looking lost in thought, much like him...
Steve hadn't talked very much after Claire had died...he stayed quiet mostly, only showing his sly side when helping them fight off the Nemesis...it was a defense mechanism of his to show off to anyone close by whenever he was hiding something...something painful inside...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
Those words that Steve had once said to her after she was forced to fight with Nosferatu alone was now tearing into him...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
The very thing he had said to Claire was turned backwards when Alexia had taken him and had infected him with her spores that had contained the T-Veronica virus...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
Alexia had twisted his words, because he was forced to fight Claire...the love of his life...he had almost killed her when he transformed into that T-Veronica monster...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
After he had saved her from Alexia's grasp, he was mortally wounded....he had died telling her that he loved her...she had to get out by herself...she had promised they would escape together...but...he had made her break her promise by dying...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
He was brought back to life by the T-Veronica virus inside of him...taken hostage by Wesker, who was working for H.C.F...used as bait to lure Claire and Chris in Paris...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
She had been Wesker's target all along...he had stabbed her brutally...she had died in the hospital shortly after...and he could do nothing but watch her suffer...because of him...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
Now he was forced to be with people he didn't even know...never met them personally, not even Chris, who Claire had mentioned previous times during their adventure...he was stuck with people he didn't know...all he could was put on a mask to hide his pain and agony he was feeling over Claire's death...
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."
Those words that he had once said to her was now an example of cruel irony at it's best...forever going to torment him until he too suffered the same fate as his beloved...
"Hey Steve...?" said a voice next to him, a touch of guilt in it's tone.
"Yeah Leon?" he replied monotonously, not bothering to look in the general direction of who he was talking to.
"I'm sorry for the way I acted back in the waiting room. I wasn't thinking..." he said apologetically, feeling truly sorry for being so stupid and irrational.
"You needed someone to blame...it's alright Leon," Steve said as he turned his head towards Leon, "Between you and me, I blame myself too..."
Leon frowned.
"It's Wesker's fault." he said plainly.
"No, Leon..." Steve said with a sad smile, "It's all mine...it's all mine...I broke my promise to Claire..."
While Leon and Steve were talking, Rebecca was busily tending to Carlos using some materials that Barry had got from the hospital.
"Ow! That stings!" Carlos cried out, as she poured a few drops of alcohol on his wounds.
"Haven't you ever heard of the phrase 'what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger'?" she said irritatingly as she struggled to keep Carlos from escaping treatment.
"And have you ever heard the phrase 'get that the hell away from me'?" he retorted, as he struggled to get away from the stinging liquid that was being applied liberally.
"It's kind of sad how Steve, Leon, and Chris are all blaming themselves, huh Carlos...?" Rebecca said suddenly, her expression softening as she looked towards Leon and Steve, who both were talking like friends would talk.
"All three of them are different, yet all of them cared deeply for Claire...and now she's gone..." she said quietly, as she absently used her First Aid Spray on some of his less serious cuts and bruises.
"I think we should really stop wasting time saying sorry....and instead of just going on and on about blaming Wesker, we should hunt that bastard down..." replied Carlos, who quickly closed his eyes in sudden pain at the spray being applied to his cuts and bruises.
"Did you know her personally by the way?" he abruptly asked, "I didn't get the chance to...how about you? Any idea on what she was like?"
"Well, I only met her once...she had come during her spring break to Raccoon City to visit her brother, and one night she got Chris to invite me and Jill over to his apartment, saying something about her cooking dinner. It turns her she had managed to set fire to half his kitchen...needless to say, Chris was mortified."
"Ouch...what happened after that?" he asked, amused at the image of a mortified Chris overlooking his kitchen, half of burnt beyond recognition by his well-meaning sister Claire.
"We all went out for fast food instead, with Chris and Claire trading insults back and forth." Rebecca remembered fondly as she started to bandage up Carlos' arm, "They were clearly inseparable...you could really tell they cared a lot about each other just by the way they argued, you know?"
Carlos chuckled softly. "Makes me wish I had a little sister."
Rebecca finished bandaging up Carlos and smiled gently at him. "Makes me wish I had a big brother."
As Rebecca and Carlos mused about wanting a sibling of their own, Chris and Jill were still embracing for what seemed like an eternity to the both of them.
"Are you sure you're okay Jill?" Chris whispered, as he put his hand on her neck to check for any wounds.
"I'm fine Chris...thanks to you..." she whispered back gently, as she pulled away from the embrace a little bit to look into his eyes, "I don't know what I would've done without you..."
"Wasn't Carlos with you though...?" he asked, looking a bit crestfallen.
"There's a big difference, because you're my only partner, Chris..." she replied back with a soft smile on her beautiful face, "We're partners, you and me...we'll look after each other...always..."
He gently smiled at her, the first real smile she had seen after the tragic event that had transpired earlier. He held her tenderly, making her heart flutter with a sort of selfish joy.
She was in love with Chris as much as he was in love with her, and she was going to do anything she could to ease his pain after losing his sister Claire.
Barry meanwhile inspected the Nemesis, surprised at the amount of bullets that were in its body.
He chuckled slightly. "Looks like you won't be getting up any time soon."
He was quite surprised that it hadn't gotten up, especially after hearing all the horror stories that Jill had told him about the first Nemesis and how it constantly chased her through Raccoon City...round after round of bullets and shells only stopping it temporarily, heavier weaponry such as grenades and other explosives only making it transform into stronger forms...it had taken two shots from a heavy rail cannon before it was finally reduced to a small parasite that was easily dispatched with a magnum.
Barry was almost disappointed, because he was expecting to make good use of his Desert Eagle magnum on the creature, but instead it lay there in it's own blood, empty bullet and shotgun shell casings littering the ground around it, holes of all sizes in it's tattered and torn bloody trench coat.
It just lay there, dead, without much of a fight.
"The ultimate bio weapon turned out to be the ultimate failure." Barry mused to himself, as he unloaded one last shot into the Nemesis' head for good measure, just incase. You could never be too sure what the hell each new B.O.W. could do, so it was always better to play it safe then be sorry.
-Umbrella Pharmaceutical Headquarters, Lab Facility-
"How goes the development of the G-virus?" asked Alexia casually, as she entered another lab area with President Hanson.
"It's going quite well...in fact, we're hoping that it's in the period of it's usefulness cycle where it can compare to your T-Veronica virus..." answered the President.
"Oh really now? And how long has it been taking for it to become perfect, like the pride of the Ashford family, my T-Veronica virus?" she asked, sounding as if she was a real queen talking to a simple peasant or servant.
"It's not quite perfect, yet...but we have our top researchers working on it." the President hastily answered, as he eyed Alexia strangely.
"Where are we going next?" she asked, not really caring about what he had just said.
"We're going to meet a few doctors..." he said, rather suspiciously to Alexia, "Come this way, Ms. Ashford."
She followed behind him as he led them through a number of gray, mechanical corridors, until they stopped in what appeared to be an operating room, with "doctors" already there to greet them. As well as heavily armed troops.
To Alexia, however, they didn't really look like doctors, because in her mind wearing biohazard protection suits weren't exactly the same as white lab coats. Also, the troops didn't exactly make her feel any more comfortable.
"What do they plan on doing?" she asked with a concerned tone as she started to back away from the President.
"Why Alexia, you don't mind if we *extract* some samples of the T-Veronica virus from your body, would you?" President Hanson asked, as if he were talking to a child, "H.C.F, our rival company of many years, has managed to snag a sample of the T-Veronica virus. Since you're technically still an employee of Umbrella, you're legally inclined to let us take a few samples from you."
Alexia eye's flared up as she backed away, becoming rather pissed off at the situation that was unfolding. She did not want to be poked and prodded, and she most certainly did not want any needles going through her perfect skin. The Ashford family practically founded Umbrella, and she would be damned if she would be merely a test subject to the company.
"What if I refuse to participate in your tests? What if I would rather keep my virus to myself?" she said angrily, as the temperature around her body started to become increasingly warmer.
"You don't have much of a choice, Ms. Ashford." said President Hanson coldly, as he gestured for the heavily armed troops to advance towards her, "Now, are you going to cooperate with us or not?"
She chuckled as fire appeared in her pupils. "After double crossing me, I don't think so, Mr. President."
President Hanson's face twisted with anger at her response. "Guards! Seize her!"
Each of the heavily armed guards advanced towards her, threateningly holding their shotguns at her with twisted smiles. To their surprise however, she didn't even flinch; in fact, she just stayed there, with a twisted smile of her own. They cautiously came closer to her until they were just a few feet away, ready to grab her by force.
That was, until she started to bleed all over her body, as if her blood was flowing out of her pores. The guards backed away a few feet, startled by the freakish sight before them.
"Afraid of a little blood?" she said with a haughty laugh as she casually walked over to the group of troops, looking extremely odd considering the fact she was bleeding all over, "Maybe I should turn up the heat..?"
The guards looked at her with puzzled expressions on their faces as they wondered what she meant, until they quickly realized that the blood on her body was on fire, which burned off her clothes that were quickly replaced by what looked like gray bioorganic armor. Startled even more so then before, some of the soldiers quickly resorted to shouting in confusion and fear, rather then firing their shotguns.
"What the hell?!"
"She's on fire! Her blood! It turned into fire!"
"She looks like a Tyrant!"
"My god, what is she?!"
Alexia smiled with glee as she walked into the hysterical group of frightened guards, absently shrugging off bullets fired by the more competent guards who were in the back.
To the horror of the freaked out troops, she gleefully threw some of her blood on them, resulting in them immediately catching on fire, screaming horribly as they ran around in circles, the intense heat too much for them to bear.
She smiled as she watched in content as the sound of those soldiers dying horrible deaths. She tilted her head towards the President and the "doctors", who were behind the remaining troops, who were vainly firing their shotguns at her.
"This is what happens when you mess with me, Mr. President." she said with a smile, as she shrugged off another round of fire thanks to her ultra tough bioorganic skin.
"Keep on firing you idiots!" bellowed President Hanson, as he hid like a coward behind the "doctors".
"I am perfection, Mr. Hanson." she said proudly, as she started to walk over to the group of soldiers, researchers, and the President, "Do you really honestly think your puny weapons can hurt me? I am the embodiment of all that is perfect!"
"You're crazy..." muttered the President angrily, despite the fact that he was cowering in fear, "You're just like Birkin, obsessed with your work to the point where you think you're invincible...heh...we proved him wrong though..."
"William Birkin was a crazed man who was betrayed by Umbrella and destroyed..." she said, as she smacked the remaining soldiers and researchers away with a sickening crack, "I much different, for I am Alexia Ashford...the perfect Queen...who shall destroy Umbrella for betraying me..."
The President cowered as he tried to back away, but was caught by Alexia's powerful grasp.
"What...what are you going to do to me...?" he whimpered as he looked into her inhuman eyes, struggling to be released from her grasp.
"I'll allow you to be killed by the perfect being..." she said with a child like smile, as she put both her hands on his face and engulfed his entire body in intense flames. She dropped the body to the floor as he writhed in agony and blinding pain, his vision getting hazy as he struggled to look up to her face.
"Goodbye, Mr. Hanson." she said as she spun around and started walking towards the door, "and thank you for the tour of Umbrella. I've always wanted to see it, after all..."
He screamed loudly in fiery pain once more as he slowly died, his insides turning into what looked like charcoal as he lay there, convulsing and shivering at the same time, wishing he hadn't crossed Alexia's path.
She casually walked out of the room, deciding that she might as well destroy the entire facility as well.
"This is the end of Umbrella...and the beginning of the Queen's reign..." she said aloud with a sadistic smile, as she began to set fire to everything around her, still casually walking around each corridor, retracing her steps so that she could burn everything to the ground...
-End Of Chapter Eighteen-
Well, Alexia's going to destroy the headquarters of Umbrella...big surprise, huh?
Next episode we'll see the Nemesis come back, except it has a new target...
And we'll see more personality development between the whole cast of heroes...including someone you would never expect.
Oh yes, and please read Mayaku's story "Unscathed", especially since it's so great!
As usual with every chapter, please rate and review! New reviewers will get their names in the credits at the top of each new chapter!