Chapter 6: An Untimely Casualty

Pikette sighed. It had been almost three hours since the operation and there she was, still sitting in the control room, staring straight at the monitor in front of her. Nothing too exciting had really happened since the entire operation began: troops were making there way slowly, but surely, through Sunyshore. Still, it seemed a lot more fun out there than in here, drinking coffee and typing in keys. "I think I'm starting to regret accepting this position," she thought.

"Someone looks like they need a break," a voice then said. She then turned around to see someone she least expected to see.

"Sadie!?" Pikette then said loudly. Getting some looks from the other people in the building, she then said more quietly, "What are you doing here? I thought you were in Hoenn?"

"I was," Sadie said. "However, my superior believed it was best I come here to help aid in the fight. Hows that going by the way?"

"Alright I guess," Pikette said. "Once we get the majority of the city back under control, we'll be moving our base of operations."

"I'm guessing Chris is out there now?" Sadie asked.

"Of course," Pikette said. "Where else would he be right now?"

"True, that's the Chris I know," Sadie said, smiling a bit.

"If you don't mind me asking, how long have you known Chris?" Pikette asked.

Sadie just laughed. "I think for maybe too long," she said. "We met back in high school when we were both sixteen. The first day we met, some guy was flirting with me obnoxiously and eventually Chris got into his face. Soon after that, we ended up dating, but it wouldn't last too long."

"Because of your mission?" Pikette asked.

"Yeah," Sadie said. "I had no idea Chris would be involved as well. I told him I was moving, which I know really made him sad and depressed. What was worse was the fact I had to fake my death to fool the government, so they wouldn't know about this world. Even to this day, I still feel bad about just leaving him like that." She then looked outside, to the blue sky filled with clouds. "But you know, even though he has changed on the outside a bit, he's still the Chris I had known for a long time, even if he doesn't want to admit it."

"No, I don't think so either," Pikette said, laughing. "I just wish this whole conflict never came up, and then none of us would've been affected by anything, and we would've lived normal lives."

"Yeah," Sadie said. "Say Pikette, how about I take over for a little bit. You look exhausted."

"I don't know," Pikette said. "I'm not really supposed to leave this spot."

"Don't worry about it, I got it covered," Sadie said with a wink. "You can take a nap in the lounge. Trust me, no one will say anything because if they do, they're talking to a high-ranked official of Hoenn International Police, and the last thing SIP needs is a problem with us."

"Very true," Pikette with a grin. "Alright, I'll take you up on that offer. I'll make sure to come back in an hour so that you can get back to whatever you were doing."

"Deal," Sadie said, putting on the headset while Pikette went to take a much-needed nap in the lounging area. Sadie then looked at the computer, showing an outlining of Sunyshore City. "So Chris, what's the mission now?"

Chris, meanwhile, found himself in a slightly cramped vent. It could've been worse in so many ways, but he wasn't complaining. He crawled through the vent slowly and quietly so that he wouldn't attract any unnecessary attention. After about another twenty yards straight of crawling, he then found the others, huddled around an open grate. "Look what we found," Dex said quietly.

Chris looked down through the grate. There, he saw two men engaging in conversation, one of them who appeared to be in military dress rather than combat uniform. "There's no doubt about it," Rick said. "That has to be the target."

"Okay, we'll wait until he's alone," Chris said. He then looked into the room as best as he could. There appeared to only be one door and no windows, only walls. "Hey Rick," he then said. "You think the room might be soundproof?"

"Possibly," Rick said. "You have an idea?"

"Yeah, but we'll have to be quick about it," Chris said. "With one flashbang, the general will be blind and stunned for maybe five to seven seconds at best. If we plan this right, we can sneak in, surprise and capture him before he knows it."

"Will we be able to break through this grate?" Emily asked.

"Should be able to," Dex said. "Okay, the one guy seems to be leaving." And indeed, the man shook hands with the general and left, closing the door behind.

"Give it a couple seconds, I'll do the honors," Chris said, who had a flashbang in his hand, taken before he changed form. "On my mark, the second it goes off, we go in there and secure the target. Alright, three... two... one..." He then dropped the flashbang through one of the holes and the second it hit the ground, the room was filled with a flash of light.

The second the explosion of light went off, each of them went through, changing form mid-air and it was Dex who got to Neville first before the general could do anything. Pointing a gun to his head while Rick and Chris held him, Dex then said, "Alright Neville, unless you want to die quickly, you better answer our questions fully and completely."

"I will do no such thing," Neville hissed, struggling in both Rick's and Chris' grips.

"Fine then," Dex said, finding something large to stuff into Neville's mouth before shooting him right in the knee, causing Neville to wince painfully. Dex then took the object out of his mouth. "If you don't start talking, it'll be your other knee next, and then your head. Now, who's calling the operations here?"

"I don't know," Neville said. He then panicked as Dex aimed his gun. "No wait! I really don't know! He doesn't make his presence known. Whenever any of us have talked to him, it has only been through phone or recording, I swear on it!"

"I see," Dex said.

"I don't think he knows much, Dex," Chris said.

"You're right," Dex said. He then pointed the gun at Neville's head. "Then he's no good to us anymore." He then pulled the trigger and Neville fell to the ground, dead.

"Alright, mission accomplished," Rick said. "Now we just have to find a way out of here."

(A/N: Okay, now it's time for something brand new. A song, I mean. Now, surprisingly enough, while some people wouldn't really think about it, but Resident Evil 5 has a really good soundtrack. No lie. As such, I've decided to use a couple tracks from this soundtrack, including this one here. The name of it is "Majini II.")

"Uh guys?" Emily then said. "I don't think that'll be too much of an issue now." *They then heard the sound of footsteps.

"Son of a bitch," Dex said. "How the fuck did they know we were here?"

"Must've heard us somehow," Chris said. "Alright everyone, get ready, because it looks like we're blasting our way out of here." Creeping up to the door, he then pulled out another flashbang. Quickly opening the door, he threw it out, causing the entire hallway to light up. "Move, move, move!"

They then moved quickly, taking out any soldiers who were near the door. Once the area was cleared, they headed towards the nearest exit. Keeping an eye on their twelve, three, nine and six, they went down the hallway, blasting any soldiers they encountered. They soon got into the grocery part of the market, where more soldiers were waiting for them. They each then took a defensive position behind one of the large food counters. "There's an emergency exit over to our right," Rick said. "I don't know what's out there, but we're better off there, then here."

"Got it," Chris said. "Alright everyone, we're going to make a break for that door. On my mark. One, two, three!" They then started running, shooting aimlessly at any soldiers shooting back at them. Dex, who was in the back, was running until he felt a bullet hit right through his knee, causing him to trip and fall.

Chris, noticing his fallen comrade, went back for him along with Rick. "Dex!" he said, crouching down next to him.

"Don't worry about me!" Dex said. "Just get out of here before reinforcements show up!"

"No way, I'm not leaving you behind!" Chris said. "We'll get you out of here!"

"If you do that, I'll slow you guys down and we'll all be dead then," Dex said. "Just leave me behind, I'll hold them up!"

"Dex, no!" Rick said, turning around and shooting another soldier before turning back. "I can't leave you behind..."

"Sorry Rick," Dex said with a smile. He then fired at another soldier with his pistol. "Sorry we got to part so quickly, but we'll see each other on the other side someday, I promise! Now go, both of you!"

"Damn it!" Chris said. He then looked to Dex. "You're right, we will see each other again on the other side. Come on Rick!" He then grabbed Rick and had to drag him towards the emergency exit.

"Damn, is it already my time to go?" Dex asked himself as he took out two more soldiers. "Oh well, guess it's time to go out with a bang!" However, the gunfire ceased immediately. "Huh?"

Some of the soldiers surrounded him, but they did not fire, or rather they were told not to. Then, he heard the sound of footsteps and saw another man approach him, dressed similar to what he was wearing. "Well, well, well," the man said, looking at Dex. "What do we have here? Dex? From the facility?"

"Kraus," Dex said angrily. "I should've figured you were involved in this somehow."

"Oh yes, Zena has given me quite the job, along with others, to have you and your friends eliminated," Kraus said with a smirk. "I was hoping to take care of Johnson, but you will do fine, since you're just like him."

"You can do whatever you like, Kraus," Dex said, fondling with something in his pocket. "All I have to say is that I wish you would've been against Zena instead of with them for what they did to you."

"Well, if that's all you have to say, then let's end our meeting," Kraus said, taking a pistol and shooting Dex right through the head, killing him instantly. "Dispose of his body," he then said. "Let Johnson and the rest of them know that being hybrids won't guarantee them victory."

"Sir," a soldier then said, crouching over Dex's body. "There's something in his hand."

"What?" Kraus said, kneeling down next to him. He took whatever was in his hand and looked at it. It was some sort of device and it appeared to have a timer which read: :05, :04, :03. He then looked at Dex's lifeless eyes. "You bastard!"

Chris and Rick made their way out of the market and into safe cover, where Emily was. "Wait, where's Dex?" Emily asked.

Chris and Rick both had a sullen look on their faces. "He got hit and told us to leave him behind," Chris said softly.

Emily put both hands to her mouth in shock. "No..." she said. "Not Dex...."

Suddenly, there was a large explosion, covering where they had just escaped. "No Dex!" Rick said, running out of cover towards the market.

"Rick no!" Chris yelled, pulling him back. "There's no point. Dex wouldn't have survived the blast."

"God damn it, Dex!" Rick said with tears in his eyes. "Why'd you have to be the hero?"

It was quiet for a couple of moments. "Look, Rick, Emily," Chris said. "I'm sorry. I wanted to help him too, but he was right with what he said."

"I know," Rick said, sighing. "It's just that... that made us what we are and now they're killing us off! Ugh, it makes me so mad! I'll get every one of those bastards if it's the last thing I do."

"We'll do it together," Emily said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "But for right now, we need to finish what we started."

"That's right," Chris said. He then gave Peterson a call. "Captain, we were able to reach General Neville but he wasn't much of help."

"I managed to hear part of the conversation," Peterson said. "Sounds like we got a mystery guy on our hands."

"Sir, I'm also afraid to report that Dex was KIA during the escape," Chris replied.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Peterson said. "Dex was a good kid. We'll make sure to have a memorial for him and the others who gave their lives once this is over. Speaking of which, I have a new objective for you all. You think you can handle it?"

"Of course, sir," Chris replied.

"Very well then," Peterson said. "As you already know, Sunyshore thrives off of solar energy. The place is covered with solar panels, providing energy for this city. In this case, it's providing energy for the enemy. I hate to do this, but the only way we'll have a chance of winning this war is to take out as many solar panels as possible, cutting off their energy supply."

"We can do that sir," Chris said. "Where should we start?"

"There's a huge set of them at a building about two klicks northeast of your position," Peterson said. "I'll have a squad meet up with you on the way to provide demolitions. We're gonna be taking out a lot of solar panels."

"Understood, we're on our way now," Chris said, cutting off the signal. He then looked to the others. "Looks like we're going to be doing some demolition work. You guys ready?"

"Always," Emily said.

"Let's kick some Zena ass," Rick said.

(A/N: I couldn't have said that better myself. It was tough killing off Dex, but it had to be done. At least he got the final laugh, sort of. Anyway, today I came up with this crazy idea for a new story. Okay, it's not crazy but if you'd like to know, you'll have to PM me because I don't want to spoil it completely. So in that case, hope you enjoyed the story, and Dex, Rest in Peace buddy.)

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