The emergency train was only a short right turn from the cargo elevator. It was a long orange train with three carriages, almost like a locomotive, though it was on real railway tracks. The area was long as it was wide with a walkway in the back, and another set of tracks were seen parallel to the cart. A short platform split between them.
The floor was merely a vast ground level with thick concrete walls around, shaped like a standard square. Lights, of course, ran from the ceiling and walls, spaced accordingly. The way the single available train ran under the catwalk ensured an easy escape.
Parker and Leon were seen outside the train, looking like they were waiting for Scott and Claire. Parker was sweet enough to make the first move when they came running over. "Fucking hell, you wouldn't believe how glad I am to see you guys."
"Is Sherry inside?" Claire asked.
Parker nodded. "She's still stable."
"I'm no engineer, but we should be good to go," said Leon.
Scott breathed in blissfully. "Thank goodness." He passed through the gate and boarded the cart using the open space between the carriages.
"Now we can cure Sherry and-"
"Get the hell outta here," Claire said, finishing Leon's sentence. "Best suggestion I heard all day."
Leon smiled. "Same."
Claire saw a looming shadow moving across the floor between her and Leon; she darted forward and pulled him down. Unfortunately, the shadow had a shape. It was the Tyrant. Parker backed into the cart, feeling uncomfortable seeing another Tyrant face-to-face; somehow a lot more intimidating than the last one…
Claire picked up Leon, both noticing the Tyrant they dropped into the blast furnace was still alive. All that time burning into a crisp seemed to have stimulated a mutation of sorts as it was a lot more imposing than before…
With an added several inches in height, the Tyrant had lost its trench coat and exposed its grey, muscular body. Its veins bulged against the grey skin from the legs and up to the chest; from there, things only got worse as muscle and height wasn't the only things the Tyrant inherited…
The skin seemed to have merged with the molten iron, packing it tightly akin to an armoured hide, almost a fresh armoured layer that left more than enough gaps and heavy scars. The charred body looked like scorched oak.
The new talons rivalled G-Birkin's length and thickness, and the warped heart on its chest looked to be exposed. Now the Tyrant was less of a bodybuilder and more of a living, breathing tank…
"Wait, you're…!"
The Tyrant flourished its arms, growling even lower than before.
"I thought he fell into the blast furnace!"
"God-damn it! He's supposed to be dead!"
Leon and Claire pulled out their handguns while Parker took the opportunity to open the cart's door. "We'll get the cart running!"
Claire nodded. "We'll take care of this bitch!"
The Tyrant carried on its relentless pursuit, pushing Claire and Leon back towards the metal barrier separating the platforms. They passed through the single gate and looked back, hoping to start shooting at it while it stopped to break down the barrier.
It was only a few seconds until the barrier was shattered in a single swing. Claire and Leon's combined gunfire went for centre mass, grouping around the chest, neck and face. Despite the sustained damage and focused fire, the tiny 9mms barely slowed the Tyrant down; it's like their handguns were entirely useless.
Claire sighed. "I don't think we're even scratching him…"
Leon turned around and ran. "The stairs!"
They both ran up the stairs for their dear lives, only looking back to get a brief idea of how much of a distance they can put off. As the Tyrant was about to touch the stairs, Claire and Leon were already halfway across the catwalk.
"This ends, right here, right now!" Leon called, hoping to draw inspiration.
As they kept on moving, the Tyrant dropped in front of them as if it had jumped several feet into the air. Claire and Leon stopped dead in their tracks as the Tyrant quickly stood back up to its towering height.
Claire exclaimed. "He can jump?!"
In the heat of the surprise, Claire and Leon stood their ground to fire at the Tyrant again. Despite their bullets not even drawing much blood, the Tyrant eventually staggered, allowing them to have a few seconds to reload and make their next move.
Leon clutched the railing on his left. "Jump!"
They both vaulted over the left railing and continued to run atop the train, only jumping between carriages. The Tyrant had also jumped onto the train, following them relentlessly.
"This thing will never die!" Claire yelled.
Leon and Claire reached the rear of the train and jumped back down, losing sight of the Tyrant. "Where'd he go?" As Leon noticed the Tyrant walking towards them from the middle platform, he grabbed Claire and ran towards the stairs. "This way!"
The Tyrant jumped onto the train as Leon and Claire ran. With all the running and lack of damage output, Leon decided to switch to his magnum. "There he is! Shoot him!"
They adjusted their aim and fired at the Tyrant. While Claire's revolved barely made it flinch, it was Leon's magnum that seemed to deal considerable damage; the Tyrant gradually started to walk faster into a short run. Then it leapt into the air, reaching out with its talons.
Leon knew he only had one magazine left; there wasn't any situation to use his magnum prior, not when he had time and space to think.
Leon got a feel for the weapon and fired a quick volley of focused fire; the larger rounds disturb the Tyrant enough to remove its momentum. After enough resistance, the Tyrant dropped down before Leon, failing in what could be a lethal counterattack. The two went back up the stairs behind them.
"Good!" Leon called, "This way!"
As they ran, the Tyrant had only just recuperated, following them at its usual pace. Then, halfway across the catwalk, they felt the vibrations in the ground; the Tyrant was already hot on their trails, making contact very quickly.
It lunged forward, leading with its talons, but Claire and Leon had already vaulted over the railing to their right. They both landed on the metal rails below, the landing was not soft, but their recovery was swift as they wasted no time running along the tracks.
They made for the middle platform quickly, only then to get as far away as possible. Leon and Claire had ample time to reload until they saw the Tyrant had dropped down quite a way behind them. You could hear its deep grunts and growls while it flexed its various muscles, getting ready to charge onwards.
"Here he comes!" Claire yelled.
The Tyrant made a short sprint and threw its body into a lunging attack; its talons were reaching out again. Claire and Leon quickly separated while the Tyrant overshot its lunge; its talons dug into the ground.
"Shoot him!" Claire called.
While Claire's revolver was powerful for a 9mm, Leon's magnum drew most of the Tyrant's blood. Shots on the Tyrant's head and muscular neck and shoulders didn't disturb it, but the blood spewed everywhere. When the Tyrant ripped its hand from the concrete, it gave Leon a better view of its twisted heart.
Leon had staggered the Tyrant with his last round, usual, but there was little time to dish out the hurt as it already leapt further down the platform. Every jump left a small crater of smoke and debris on the ground; its weight had increased immensely.
Rather than attacking, the Tyrant curled its hands, which followed into a flexing of its muscles. Its body rippled, the skin tightening. It roared.
"No way…" Leon dropped the empty magnum." Is it regenerating!?"
Claire's tone was overcome with despair as she just had to ask, "How the hell are we supposed to kill this freak?"
The Tyrant raised its arms and flexed again, the body looking a little fresher… Then, something heavy crashed to the ground behind Claire and Leon, not loud enough to shift their focus. They heard a woman's voice that convinced Leon to turn around to see a rocket launcher on the ground.
"Use this!"
"Ada?! Is that you?!"
"Leon, we need to take it out first!"
Leon scooped up the launcher into his hands; it was a heavy weapon that contained four 66mm rockets in the rear, with four individual barrels for ejection. The boxy destructive device was a bit old, but it was better than a handgun or a magnum.
He wasn't sure it was Ada's voice he just heard as he eagerly stared at the catwalks far above, stretching all around the walls of the level. Other than the usual lights and stony pillars, a single open door on the next floor dead ahead.
The Tyrant hopped to the platform to their right and again further down, much closer to them. The Tyrant's mass was heavy, thudding its weight with every landing, and that's when it lunged again at the in the usual manner, talons jutting out to rip and tear.
Leon and Claire shifted down the middle platform, narrowly avoiding the Tyrant's attack aimed at their head and neck. Once they regained their footing, Leon fired the rocket launcher; only the Tyrant quickly reacted and swatted the warhead away. The explosion that struck the wall behind it was insanely fast, almost instant.
"What the…"
"He can deflect the rockets?!"
Leon growled. "I don't believe this!"
The Tyrant paused to leap upwards, soaring above Leon and Claire's heads, only to land a short sprint away behind them. It sprinted at them like a rhino, throwing an arcing right hook, its talons scraped against the concrete. They did back away from the screeching talons; it was the left uppercut that gave them enough time to run back behind it.
"Just shoot it!"
"I can't, not while it's this focused."
Thy Tyrant hunched and started chasing them down, wavering left to the right into another straight stab. While Leon and Claire were split apart by the talons, a fierce backhand struck Claire, her tired body flying onto the tracks to the left. Her yell was silenced upon hitting the thick metal below.
"Claire!" Leon, being slightly enraged, stopped to face the Tyrant. "Son of a bitch!" He fired his launcher, his aim fixed on the Tyrant's dumb, ugly face.
The same reaction happened; the Tyrant swatted the warhead away with its hand, doing nothing to stop its momentum as the explosion struck the ceiling. It reached out to grab Leon, but he ducked low and ran around the Tyrant, moving quickly to get Claire back onto her feet.
"You alright?"
Claire rubbed her back while Leon helped her onto her feet. "Barely…" He pulled Claire onto the other platform away from the train; she started to tire out from all the cardio. Then, a shadow loomed over her and Leon. "Look out!"
Claire pushed Leon and dived in the opposite direction; the Tyrant had just crashed down between them, the impact left a slight ring in the ear for each of them. Claire was a lot slower to rise to her feet than Leon; however, the Tyrant was the unlucky one; its talons were stuck into the ground.
Claire breathed. "Now…!"
Leon fired away at centre mass, the third rocket landing on target. In a glorious explosion full of fire and brimstone, the Tyrant was engulfed in flames, its flesh split apart all over its chest and limbs. It dropped to its knees while its right arm was still stuck in the concrete.
"Again!" Claire called.
The final rocket blew the Tyrant off its feet, narrowly missing Claire as its body slammed against the ground hard, its left leg peeling off mid-air. The force of the warhead separated the Tyrant from its arm, twisted bits of flesh dangled from the limb.
In was looked like a final act to get back to its feet; the Tyrant sat up and rolled onto its side, trying hard to get back up with its remaining arm. Blood trickled lazily from its chest and heart while its backside was burning out of control; it gave up and collapsed once it noticed its leg was also missing.
While it was almost saddening, the monster was a weapon that would kill without any emotion or guilt; Leon and Claire lost the sense of pity once the Tyrant's body laid still. It was finally dead…
Claire breathed. "We got him…"
"Yeah." Leon turned around and stared at the catwalk above, his eyes focused on the open door. "That voice we heard…"
Hearing the self-destruct alarm still blaring left Claire anxious to move on, that, and there was a timer before everything goes boom. She didn't want to be rude, but she felt like she had to if it meant getting out of the facility alive.
The P.A. system came online. "Five minutes until detonation!" it said in that woman's voice.
"Leon, come on!"
"Yeah..."
