Batman/Resident Evil: The Gotham Protocol
Chapter 8
By: Christopher W. Blaine
e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com
DISCLAIMER: Resident Evil™ is a registered product of Capcom Inc./Batman™ is a registered product of DC Comics Inc. Neither of these properties is used here with permission. This original story idea is ©2003 by Christopher W. Blaine.
"I take it the Riddler is an expert on security systems?" Chris asked as Batman knelt before the large steel door that barred their entrance into the sub-basement. They had to travel down a flight of stairs so that they were now below ground level and out of sight of potential patrols.
"The Riddler is a genius who has wasted his talents because he has obsessions beyond his ability to control, " the Dark Knight said as he traced the power lines from the locks to the control pad.
"Kind of like wearing leather and swinging from rooftops?"
Batman ignored him and stood up to read the sign over the keypad. It said in large red letters PRESS ENTER FOR ENTRANCE. There was a standard keypad with water-resistant keys. "There is no slot for an ID card," Batman murmured.
"That's odd for Umbrella. Every facility we've infiltrated had elaborate security." He stepped up and examined the keypad. All of the numbers seemed to have the same amount of wear. "There's no Enter button," he said.
"I know; that's the riddle."
"Could it be like on a telephone? Maybe we have to spell out the word 'enter'." Batman nodded and Chris continued to explain. "Umbrella has bought up a lot of old facilities and each one is under the control of different people trying to get promoted in the company. Each one has a different idea of what security is."
Batman rubbed his chin. "I take it they've been at this for awhile."
"You don't know the half of it. We've discovered that they've had accidents several times over the years, but Raccoon City was the first one that became a public relations nightmare. They had paid off some of the higher ups in the S.T.A.R.s, but those people were incompetent." Chris shook his head. "We lost a lot of good people because of that incompetence."
Batman admired the younger man's dedication to professionalism. It was too bad he still insisted on using something as mundane as a gun. The brain was a much more powerful weapon. Batman put his thoughts aside and started pressing numbers on the keypad that corresponded to spelling out "enter" on a regular telephone.
Chris continued his narrative. "We were called in to the Spencer Estate just outside the city after several weeks of gruesome murders. A tip led the local police to the estate, which actually turned out to be a secret Umbrella testing lab. It was the first lab to show true progress in developing intelligent biological weapons." The door opened with a slight swish. "They passed on that knowledge to the other labs."
"If they were working with Man-Bat, then they must be branching out from creating weapons out of humans," Batman said as he pushed the door further open, one hand on the batarang at the small of his back.
Chris silently drew on of his pistols and flipped the safety off. "Oh, they've worked with animals plenty. I'd just say this Man-Bat thing was an opportunity they couldn't pass up."
Batman nodded and the two men fell into silence as the stepped inside. It was relatively quiet, but they could hear the hum of a generator somewhere. That made sense because they had noted that there were several upper stories to the lab. They had decided together to forego going from the top down which was normal search procedure. Instead, they were more interested in trying to run into the remaining employees trying to get out of Dodge.
Approximately fifteen feet inside, under the illumination of several soft-white bulbs, they saw tow doors on either side. The style of the doors indicated that they had not been changed since the place had been built. "According to my sources," Batman whispered, "Oliver Queen bought this plant originally from the government. This particular area was designed to survive a near-strike from a nuclear weapon."
Chris was impressed. He knew that Gotham had suffered a major earthquake in the past and had been more than a little surprised to find this section of the facility undamaged. He pointed ahead of them where another large metal door was, some fifty feet down away. "That looks fairly new," he said.
Batman nodded. "We'll check the closest doors first, at least to ensure we don't have some sneaking up behind us."
They stepped up to the first door on the right and Batman put his head to it. Hearing nothing, he tried the knob. The door came open easily and creaked as it swung. Chris winced as the sound seemed to echo through the hallway, but there was nothing they could do about it now.
It was a lab, but it didn't look like there was anything useful in it. Several file cabinets were empty inside and the drawers had been pulled out of the desks and workbenches. Still, they entered and looked around. "This might be one of their legitimate research labs," Chris said after their searches turned up nothing.
"I had Oracle do a little research on that subject. Apparently, Umbrella has this company making various hygienic lubricants."
"Well, they're going to need those when I put a foot in their ass," Chris said.
"The chief operating officer of this facility is reported to be a man named Felix Turner," Batman said. "What do you know of him?"
"Never heard of him, but like I said, Umbrella seems to give almost autonomous control to their people. It inspires cut throat competition between the different companies." Chris took in a deep breath. "I don't like this," he said.
"Neither do I," Batman replied and they exited the room and crossed the hallway. This time they didn't bother with subtlety. Batman simply opened the door and strode in. Again this room was empty and cleared out, though Chris did find a pistol on top of a desk.
He examined it. "It's a standard Beretta. Could belong to the security teams."
"What security?" Batman asked. This was getting to be simply too eerie for him and he was willing to bet they were too late. Umbrella had already gotten all of their evidence out of here and he doubted they were stupid enough to leave anything he might be able to use.
Chris sniffed the gun. "This has been fired recently."
That caught Batman's attention and he went to the wall and changed the light setting from low to high. They immediately saw the bloodstains on the concrete floor. A quick scan and Chris saw small telltale splatters on the walls and ceiling. "Looks like a gunfight happened here."
Batman pointed to another door in the room that indicated it led to the restroom. "I'm going to check that, you see if there are any other clues. Chris holstered his weapon and moved to rummage through the cabinets. Batman opened the door to the restroom and Chris heard the moan of a zombie.
Batman saw the figure shuffling towards him; it had gray-green flesh that had long since lost its moisture. Judging by the condition of the pathetic creature, Batman guessed it had been inside that bathroom for a long time without any sort of nourishment.
A part of the Batman was totally disgusted by what he saw as it represented, but at the same time he felt the cold edge of fear cutting into his resolve. As the Batman, he had learned through experience what a useful weapon fear was and how it could affect even the strongest willed person. Hal Jordan, the former Green Lantern of Earth and once a friend of the Batman, had been rumored to be a man without fear. Batman always found that hard to believe.
However, Batman had trained himself to overcome his fears with resolve, to push them back into his mind until he had some quiet time to deal with them.
"Get back!" Chris called out drawing down on the form as it entered into the light.
"No! Don't kill it!" Batman ordered as he pulled back and brought out his batarang. Chris was cursing him and telling him to step out of the way. Batman ignored him and tossed the weapon at the zombie. It struck the creature in the thigh, but it ignored it. With his weapon stuck in the zombie's thigh, Batman resorted to his fists.
Three quick punches that would take down a much larger man did nothing but push the zombie back. It groaned and Batman smelled breath made up of decaying bacteria and rotted organs. He nearly gagged and whirled quickly. His weighted cape struck the zombie but again did no real damage.
"Get the hell out of my way!" Chris ordered again, frustrated that Batman would not get out of the line of fire.
"No!" Batman responded, giving his adversary a back-kick that cracked ribs. "We might be able to help them!"
"Are you insane?" Chris asked as the zombie stumbled just far enough way from Batman for him to get a shot off. The bullet slammed into the chest of the zombie and exploded out the back, spraying the inside of the restroom with flaking fragments of dead flash.
Batman roared in anger even as Chris shot again. Before he could fire a third time, Batman got in the way and smacked the pistol out of Chris's hand. Chris cursed and shoved the Batman. The Caped Crusader grabbed the other man's arm and twisted him into a hold. "No guns!" Batman barked.
"You stupid idiot! You can't save these people! We told you that!" Chris said through gritted teeth. He moved to get out of the hold, but Batman countered every move. "They are dead already!"
Batman got nose to nose with Chris. "There is always hope."
"Your cowl is on too tight, hero," Chris said. He had just enough tolerance for the pain to finally wrench free of the hold. He then went to knee the Batman in the groin and struck a reinforced Kevlar lined cup. His kneecap popped and he went down.
Batman turned to face the zombie, but it was down. Chris's second shot had been true, right between the eyes. Green brain matter was slowly leaking through the bullet hole and an awful stench began to fill the room.
Chris was already getting up when the Batman confronted him. "Have you even tried to save these people, or do just shoot first and ask questions later?"
Chris rubbed his sore knee. "Don't lecture me! It's been my friends that have died, not yours! You're just mad because this has been going on in your city without your knowledge! I'm in this to avenge some good cops!"
"These are human beings!"
"No they aren't! The human part of them is dead! Don't you understand? My god, you hang around with aliens and goddesses and you can't believe in the living dead?" Chris moved over to a desk and sat down to examine his knee. "Did you not understand what we were telling you back in your Cave?"
Batman went over to retrieve his batarang and took a good look at the creature. It was so far gone that there was only the slightest hint that it once had been human. He noted there was an old bullet wound in its shoulder. He reasoned that this was whom the owner of the pistol they had found had been shooting at. "It is my opinion that you don't have the resources available to you to properly find a cure," Batman said.
"Screw your opinion!"
"I'm offering you an alternative…"
"No," Chris barked back, suppressing the urge to throttle Batman. "What you are doing is refusing to face reality, but I suppose you wanna-be cops face that all of the time. Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think the rest of the S.T.A.R.s are stupid? Don't you think we tried to find a cure?" Chris spit on the floor. "Jesus Christ!"
"The Justice League can help," Batman offered.
"No, they can't. Under the United Nations charter and Interpol agreement that the League gains its police powers from, me and my partners are to be arrested on the spot. You're breaking the law by working with us! Once we're turned over, we disappear! That's why we need proof!"
Batman pointed to the corpse. "Then why not take a body; you seem so inclined to create so many corpses, maybe you might consider cleaning them up."
"Screw you!" Chris said, flipping the middle finger to the Batman. "If you get in my line of fire again, you better duck. I won't hesitate. I'm not getting infected or eaten because you have an obsession with protecting non-life!"
The argument was put on hold for the moment and Batman looked down at the corpse. This madness had to end, he knew, but he had to admit that Chris had at least gotten one point correct. He was angry that this had been going on in his city over the years. How many innocent people had been taken off of the streets over the course of his career.
Oliver Queen had lost this company not so long after Bruce Wayne had started being the Batman, but he had never even suspected. Every day someone disappeared in Gotham City. Runaways. People just wanting to not be found. "Victimless" crimes because you never found the victim to know there had been a crime committed.
Securing his batarang back on his utility belt, he knelt down to get a skin sample from the zombie. In a way, he understood Chris's frustration, but Batman had not been kidding when he said he had access to resources the S.T.A.R.s didn't. He had his own degree in chemical engineering and he would take a look. That was fine for the future, but what about now?
How could he enforce his ban on killing when they were shooting those who were already dead? Did that make any difference? Law enforcement officers were allowed to defend themselves with firearms and while it irritated Batman, he would never deny those brave men and women the opportunity to maintain a proper defense.
He realized then, staring down at the already dissolving corpse that he was now fighting a war and he was facing the decisions every soldier, from the top general to the lowliest grunt, had to make. How many young men, from the trenches in France in 1917 to Desert Storm, had to ask themselves if they were willing to do what they had been taught from birth not to do. To kill.
"But you were already dead, weren't you?" Batman asked the zombie. He closed his eyes and said a silent prayer, a habit he had picked up watching Alfred pay his respects at the graves of Thomas and Martha Wayne every Sunday.
He got up and by the time he got to the door where Chris was, still rubbing his knee, he still didn't have any new answers.
"Guards," Green Arrow whispered, pointing to some shadows that were moving in a far office. He and Jill were crouched down behind an older copier, which was the only thing not ransacked on the whole floor. From the time they entered through the front door, which wasn't alarmed, they had feared they were too late.
Many of the offices were empty, some completely devoid of furniture. There were no files or computers so far for them to examine which was bad; all of the security systems were turned off, which was good. Jill had pointed out that the security cameras were not working as soon as they entered.
"We've caught them at the tail-end of the clean-up," Jill whispered. Green Arrow was busy rummaging through his quiver for a proper arrow. "You know what that means, don't you?"
Green Arrow shrugged. She smiled and gave him a wink. "You don't know a whole lot about business, do you?"
The Emerald Archer suppressed a chuckle and selected a boxing glove arrow. "I've been told more than once I belong in the bedroom, not the board room."
"Oh, I'm sure you have, grandpa," she chided and then she peeked over the copier again, keeping her pistol down at her side. Satisfied they hadn't been discovered, she slid back down to face the hero. "The farthest officer is usually the CEO's."
"Aha," Green Arrow said, catching on. "The Fat Cat in charge has the back office. Probably where he sexually assault his female employees." He saw the wry look Jill was giving him. "It's a terrible thing," Green Arrow said, his voice in a mocking tone.
The time for comedy was over, though, and Green Arrow explained that it might be best of he handled the guards himself. "Face it, sweetcheeks," he said with a killer smile. "I'm the one who's best at non-lethal take down."
"Oh, I can take any man down without firing a shot, honey," she said as she snuck over to a far corner. She would provide cover in case he couldn't handle the situation. Green Arrow shook his head and stepped out from behind the copier. He got halfway down the passageway of cubicle walls before he was spotted.
The guard was dressed in black fatigues and sported an M-16 style military rifle. There was a twang of the bowstring and the boxing glove arrow took the man down before he realized what was happening. His fall, however, alerted his companions and two armed men came rushing out, bringing their rifles up.
A thin-shafted arrow, specially designed for plugging gun barrels, handled the first weapon, but the second guard got a shot off. Green Arrow jumped into a cubicle being trailed by a line of shots as the guard went to full automatic. "Ah, the distinct sound of conservative negotiating techniques!" he shouted over the sound of the weapon.
Then there were two quick shots from what Green Arrow knew was not a rifle, but a pistol. There was some cursing from one of the guards and he heard something hit the floor. He came up with a regular arrow notched, only to see Jill coming from the side, her weapon in front of her. The barrel was smoking and he noted that there was a bullet-ridden rifle on the ground and both guards had their hands up.
"That's it boys," Jill said in an authoritive tone. "Keep them in the air."
Green Arrow joined her and within sixty seconds, they had found some duct tape to bind the guards up. Green Arrow immediately noticed that they were nervous and suspected it had to do with what they had been doing. As Jill kept them covered and searched their pockets.
The office was not bare, but was outfitted in furniture that appealed to the millionaire side of Green Arrow. It made him uncomfortable because he wondered how many human souls had been sold in order to outfit this space. He pushed it out of his mind and wandered over to the boxes that were being packed and examined them.
They were full of various pornographic magazines and videotapes, many of them on subjects that made Green Arrow queasy. Disgusted, he stepped out of the office and questioned the prisoners. Their answers did not make him feel warm and fuzzy.
"All of the computers and stuff were taken out earlier in the week; the only thing left is the security mainframe," one of them said.
"Yeah, but its manned 24-7," the other said. The third one was still out cold.
"Where is it?" Jill asked.
The guards were both examining her legs and Green Arrow coughed. "Oh! On the next floor up," the first guard said. "Now let us go! We're just rent-a-cops…"
"You mean Lease-A-Pig?" Green Arrow asked. "You girls just sit tight."
"If you're lucky, we'll remember to come back and get you," Jill said and she led Green Arrow away. When they were out of hearing range she explained what she had found out. "These aren't the normal security. They cleaned out the elite teams two weeks back."
"Makes sense," Green Arrow said, rubbing his beard. "Do you think we'll find anything in security control."
She shrugged. "Chances are we'll run into one of the real security people, somebody in the know. Would you trust your security system to them?"
Green Arrow looked back and shook his head. "Beauty and brains. Where have you been all of my life?'
She checked pistol and slid it back into her holster. "Hell, for most of your life I wasn't even born!"