Eternal Animosity
CHAPTER 3: UNVIELED SECRETS
By: Ben Soulstone & Tamara Fernandez
Disclaimer: Please note that all these works are original creations (unless otherwise stated) and are not to be distributed publicly or privately without full consent and knowledge of the creator(s). Original character profiles, images, and names are copyrighted by the creator and cannot be used without prior consent. Please refrain from leaving rude comments if you dislike the genre/film or anything else specified. Constructive critisism only. Characters are copyrighted to Capcom, for the exception of Dennise Fern who is original creation of T.D.F.
Tam's Note: Well, well. In this chapter we discover we discover many secrets. I had a lot of fun writing this. Kinda went nuts and wrote the whole thing on my own, staying up to ungodly hours of the night. Most of my inspiration is at night. Fancy that... Anyway, enjoy this chapter and please review! Thanks to those who have been commenting.
Ben: Yet another great chapter in our great co-writing story. w00tness. I didn't do much of anything in this chapter, so you guys give most of the props to my home girl Tam. Or I'll tie and gag you and throw you in the Amityville house from Amityville Horror..>> Anyway, enjoy!
Apparently the T-Veronica virus had side effects beside the uncontrolled agression. The spontaneous mutation was the cause for his instability. They had not gained the complete efficiency of the virus. There were components and data they did not have, that only the original creator of the virus knew about – and that was Alexia Ashford. Luckily Dennise had been able to extract most of its potentional, without doing what Alexia did. Alexia had experimented on herself and went into a 15-year sleep so her body would accept the virus. Dennise had proven that Steve's body was not rejecting the viru, but merely that he had no control over it yet. Unfortunately, she was not able to remove the side effects like William Birkin had done with the G-Virus for Wesker. She had always admired Birkin for his dedication to his work. When she discovered he had been killed, she was saddened. Wesker, knowing what a genius Birkin was, wasn't going to let him die that easily…
Wesker sped down the empty halls, making his way to where Steve was causing havoc. When he arrived, he could not believe what he saw. Blood was splattered everywhere, a few mutilated bodies on the ground. The soldiers that were still alive were frantically shooting at the rampaging monster. The gargantuan beast was none other than Steve Burnside. The soldiers continued their barrage, but their shots were in vain as their bullets ricochet off his armor-like skin. Steve grabbed another soldier and slammed him against the wall, his head bursting open like a watermelon. Suddenly, Steve's attention fell on Krauser who was taunting him.
"This has gone far enough!" Krauser spat angrily holding his knife tightly in his right hand. The large masculin man ran towards the grotesque creature, stabbing his knife hard into its thigh. Steve grunted, for the knife had barely scratched him. He grabbed Krauser by the arm and lifted him up, grinning wickedly. "You…" Steve's voice was deep and scratchy, "…thought I wasn't worth your time. Think again!" Steve growled, slamming Krauser onto the ground and dislocating his arm. Krauser held in a painful scream as Steve tossed him half-across the metallic hallway. Krauser couldn't believe he'd been defeated so easily. He hadn't even had a chance to put up a fight. Before he knew it, he'd landed on the cold steel floor and passed out.
Dennise had left the laboratory and sprinted as fast as her legs could go to her dormitory. After entering her level 10-authorization card into the small slot by the door handle, she hurried into her room and grabbed something off her bookshelf. "If this doesn't stop him…nothing will," she thought to herself as she opened up the book with a special key and grabbed something from inside it. She then began to make her way to Steve and the others.
Wesker was all to pleased to see Steve's obvious power, but he'd let the youngster play long enough. Wesker calmly walked towards the mutated boy and looked up into those horrific bloodshot eyes. "Well, well. I seen you've grown quite nicely, Steve…" he said removing his shades and putting them into his pocket. Steve looked down at him, grunting and panting from killing and reflecting off bullets. Wesker ran towards him, jumped and sent a sharp right hook into his cheek. Wesker was powerful, that was an undeniable fact, but he'd finally met his match. Steve's head cocked to one side, as that devilish grin grew wider. An array of powerful punches, kicks and combos showered on Steve as he absorbed every single one of them. Wesker jumped back amazed at Steve's resistance, "Impressive! I believe I have greatly underestimated you!" he yelled. Steve hadn't fought back, letting Wesker have his fun. Out of the blue, Steve's left fist slammed into Wesker's side sending him flying into the wall. Wesker's breath was knocked out for a moment before Steve's right hand grabbed him and held him up, just as he'd done with Krauser. "You…too…" Steve groaned incoherently as he tossed Wesker like a bowling ball into a crowd of soldiers, knocking them all down. Steve began to laugh his voice echoing throughout the empty hallways. Wesker wasn't done yet as he shot up and kicked Steve cleanly under the chin. Steve stumbled backwards, losing his balance and landing hard on his back. This caused Steve to become infuriated and begin a second form of mutation. Large uneven thorns shot out of his upper back and knuckles. He stood up with speed that something his size doesn't usually have and began charging towards Wesker and the soldiers.
Just as Steve inched closer and closer to the group, Dennise pushed herself in front of Wesker and stood her ground. Wesker, who was a bit unaware of what she was doing, instinctively tried to pull her away. "Sir! Step back, please!" she said with a demanding tone. The soldiers didn't give a second thought as they all retreated like cowards. Wesker glared at her hesitantly for a moment before stepping back, keeping close enough to take action if her plans didn't work. Dennise glared at Steve who towered before her tiny figure, "Denn…ise…" Steve said, losing his speech. "Mr. Burnside! I will have to ask you to restrain yourself!" she said loudly as she frowned. Suddenly Steve sent his right knuckle slamming into Dennise's left shoulder, the thorns ripping through her flesh like paper. Dennise yelled in agony as her tiny fist punched into Steve's enourmous hand. In her fist she held a small needle that contained unknown transparent liquid. Steve started to convulse and foam at the mouth. His thorns retracted from Dennise's shoulder as she fell on her knees holding her wound. Wesker watched in complete awe as Steve began to shrink in size and gain his human characteristics back. He was clearly demutating back to normal. This came as an utter shock to Wesker. He'd never seen any sort of anti-virus or serum cause demutation. Steve was now fully human as he twitched on the ground, drool running down his chin.
"Restrain him and take him into observation immediately!" Wesker commanded the soldiers who stood at the sidelines. "Yes Sir!" they said in unision as they hogtied Steve and took off. He shifted his attention to Dennise who had stood up to her feet, "Dennise, what did you do?" he asked, walking towards her. "It…was…n-nothing, Sir…" she said through her teeth, holding in the pain from her shoulder. He stood before her and scooped her into his arms just as she fell unconsious. Krauser, who had been laying in a heap down the hall, had regained consciousness and was running towards them. "Krauser, take her to the infirmary. I have some investigating to do." He stated, handing Dennise over to Krauser. "As you wish…" Krauser replied, running off with the unconscious woman in his arms.
H.C.F. employees in large white suits had already begun decontamination in the hall, as well as cleaning up the bodies and the mess that Steve had left. Dennise was under intensive care and had been administered with an anti-virus to prevent her from infection. Krauser had headed off to do some training while Wesker made his way to Dennise's room. He was easily able to enter, since he also had a level 10-access card. Her room was very clean and everything was well organized except for her desk. Papers, books, pens, and data CDs were scattered all over along with a laptop. He turned on her desk lamp and rummaged through the papers, looking for anything regarding the 'serum' she had used on Steve. Suddenly he came across a small journal that had no lock or anything protecting it. Out of curiosity, he picked it up and scanned through the pages.
Nov. 14th, 1998: The body that was recovered at the Antarctic base a few months ago has not been reanimated. We haven't even been able to extract the T-Veronica virus in his body either. This project is new, but I'm positive I'll be able to fulfil Wesker's orders...
Nov. 26th, 1998: We still haven't had any advancement with Project Burnside. This is becoming very frustrating for me. If I cannot fulfill Wesker's orders, I truly am a failure. I'll keep working on this, even if I don't sleep. I won't stop until I get some sort of advancement. Beside Project Burnside, I have been conducting my own personal experimenations on S.B. and a failed T-001…
Dec. 2nd, 1998: Through extensive experimentations on S.B. and a rejected T-001 that was obtained from one of Umbrella's facilities, I have been able to create a serum that returns them to the state before mutation. Even though the effect only lasts momentarily, I have created something no one else has! I'm proud of myself because of this achievement. I haven't mastered its true potential, thought. I don't want to share this with anyone yet. Just a few more tests...
Dec. 23rd, 1998: I haven't perfected my serum, yet. The demutation still only lasts a few minutes, especially the larger the subjet is. On S.B. it lasted one hour, since she is small. On T-001, it lasted a mere 15 minutes because of his colossal size. One thing I discovered today though is that they manage to retain intelligence and memory. This serum is becoming more powerful than I imagined...
Jan. 5th, 1999: T-001 spoke today. I was amazed! He asked my name. He was a very kind man, something you wouldn't expect from a creature such as a tyrant. I asked him if he remembered how and why he became a tyrant. He said he had previously worked for Umbrella as a janitor. One day they told him to give blood samples as a work requirement. Later he discovered reports about his blood while he was cleaning and how he was one of the very few with the specifications needed to create a tyrant. He was later captured. What a pity…
Jan. 14th, 1999: The specimen brought in last year by Wesker has been improving. We were finally able to extract the T-Veronica virus from his body. When I told him about our advancement, Wesker was very happy with me. I always feel so proud when I make him happy. He's very important to me and I'll do whatever I can to keep him satisfied. Unfortunately, we have not been able to reanimate him. If only Dr. Birkin were alive...he'd know…
Wesker took a moment to analyze what he had just read. This information was proving to be very useful, even though he was prying into Dennise's private writings. He was a bit dissapointed that she would keep her creation a secret, then again it could have caused severe problems since Umbrella was still around and sought to obtain all sorts of new samples. He flipped through a few more pages until he came across a certain entry written in red ink.
Aug. 25th, 2000: T-001 -- whom I'd became rather fond of after speaking with him so much -- died unexpectedly three days ago. His reports showed that he was doing just fine and his DNA hadn't changed in the least. The last time I spoke to him he told me he didn't want to continue living. After surviving what he'd been through and after obtaining the gift to mutate and demutate at will (because of my serum), he no longer wished to live. He said that I had been his only friend since he'd been turned into a tyrant and that he was grateful for my experimentation on him. I was sad when I heard of his death, but I knew deep inside that he longed for it. I'm most definite that he killed himself. As for my serum, I have perfected it. S.B. can now mutate and demutate herself at will. Because of the secrecy of my project, I have asked her to remain in her mutated form until further notice. She complied, of course and for that I am truly grateful To keep my creation concealed I have made Wesker's gift into a special key that opens a specific book in my bookcase. The book title is quite obvious, as is the book itself. I feel terrible for keeping this to myself, but many reasons have led me to keep this hidden…
Wesker closed the journal and put it back on the desk. He pondered what she ment when she wrote "Wesker's gift". He hadn't gifted many people with anything and he was having a hard time remembering what he had given her. Perhaps he'd given her something when they worked together at Spencer's Masion? He leaned back in the chair, rubbing his chin. He stood up and walked over to her bookcase, looking through the books to see if anything looked different. His eyes fell upon a book named "Biological Warfare". For some reason this caught his attention. He pulled it out and noticed it was tightly secured with a lock. He tried to break the lock open with his hands, but it was very durable. Suddenly a flashback came to him, taking him twenty years back…
"I want you to have this. I won't have any use for it soon, but I want you to keep it," Wesker said, with a smile on his face. His eyes were pale blue, almost gray, in colour. This was long before he'd gained his abilities. "Are you sure? I know you're leaving to go and lead S.T.A.R.S., but don't you need this?" the young girl asked, her hair dancing freely around her face. The girl's name was noneother than Dennise. "Positive. I have to leave soon…be very careful and don't ever let your guard down." He said as he embraced her and left without another word Dennise stood there as he left, holding tightly what she had been gifted.
"Wesker's gift…" he whispered to himself, realizing what she had ment. He returned the book to its place on the shelf and quickly left the room. He ran to the infirmary and was quickly directed to where Dennise was currently situated. She was asleep, bandages wrapped around her shoulder. He quietly walked to the side of her bed and looked down at her. Her hand was on her chest, holding something tightly in her fist. He gingerly opened her hand and exposed what she so tightly clenched. It was a pair of dogtags with the R.P.D. S.T.A.R.S. logo and Wesker's full name and rank. He couldn't help but smile at the fact that she'd kept his gift with her for so long.
"…Sir?" asked a soft voice. Wesker was startled as he looked at Dennise who'd awaken. She suddenly noticed her dogtags were exposed as she quickly wrapped her hand around them again. "Feeling better…?" he asked, clearing his throat. "Yes Sir, I'm fine." She said, smiling up at him, "I'll be back on my feet by toni—" she began before Wesker interrupted her, "You need your rest. Stay here until tomorrow, understood?" he said, arching a brow. "Understood, Sir." She replied gently. Wesker pulled up a chair and sat next to her bed as he looked at her for a moment before speaking.
"Tell me more about what you injected into Steve…" he asked in a deep and forceful tone. "Sir? I…don't know what you're talking about," she said timidly. She was horrible at lying, especially to Wesker. He smirked as he stood up again. He knew exactly how stubborn she was when it came to telling secrets. That's just the way she was. "Alright. Sleep well, Dennise. I'll come to check on you in the morning," with that he nodded at her and walked out the door. Dennise gave a heavy sigh as she released the dogtags from her grip, "…Whew." She sighed, closing her eyes and once again falling asleep. She'd had a very long day.
Steve sat in silence in the small room. It was dark all around him, except for the lamp that hoovered above his head. He had been placed under heavy survalence and restrains to prevent anymore spontaneous mutations. He'd killed almost ten men in the hall and had seriously injured Dennise. Krauser was hurt as well, but he'd managed to relocate his shoulder on his own. Wesker, on the other hand, was quite proud at the kind of power Steve possessed. Steve's mind was swarmed in thoughts as he sat there, staring at the floor. It smelled like rotten food and old blood in that room, making him nauseous. Suddenly a voice echoed throughout the room as Steve raised his head and looked into the mirror in front of him. He knew on the other side there were people watching him.
"That was an excellent display of power, Steve. I must say, you make me proud." Wesker said coolly, looking at the boy through the mirror. "Did I…" Steve started, but coughed. His throat was very dry and for some reason he wasn't producing enough saliva, "…Did I hurt anyone?" he asked before he heard Wesker chuckle. "Steve, you killed many of my men! Not to mention you defeated Krauser and myself and nearly killed Dennise. You're going to tell me you don't remem—" Wesker paused when he noticed Steve sniffling and begin to cry. "Give me a break…" Wesker thought, watching as Steve bawled like a little girl. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do what I did! I couldn't control myself…!" Steve cried, unable to wipe his own tears away. "Stop crying, Steve. Now!" Wesker growled irritation in his voice. Unfortunately he needed the boy to find Claire and get to Chris, but his patience was growing thin. Steve gulped hard as he fought back tears of frustration and sadness. He wanted to die, but at the same time didn't because he wanted to see Claire again. That's what motivated him. His chance to see Claire and hold her in his arm, even for a little while. He didn't know how to control his abilities and didn't know how powerful he really was. Physically he was very strong, but his mind and his spirit were weak.
"Listen to me. You will learn to control yourself, otherwise you'll never see Claire again. Is that understood? You will be kept here until you believe you can manage your power," Wesker barked as his voice echoed into the small room. "Yes, sir…" Steve sniffled his face dirty and tear-stained.
