Residential Area of Wickedness
The passageway led to a Residence area with plain decor made of wood, nothing fancy like the mansion. Still there would be a few secret contraptions in here as well, thank deranged minds for that. Well the scenery might be plain but it did not lack action or foul air. Jill avoided being poisoned by hairy giant spiders; they stared at her with their multiple eyes as if they hadn't eaten for days, which was probably the case. Their abdomen would burst open once they died, releasing flows of green venom plus white offspring that she easily crushed under her boots. She neared the counter of a bar and picked up a book titled 'Bondage with Blood', reading it again she realized she misread the first word 'Bandage', «Creepy still….», she left it there and lit her hands on fire to rid them of filth before continuing to explore the other quarters.
The Alpha was preoccupied with luscious thoughts regarding a certain blond person when she turned a corner and was assaulted by a green tentacle; she immediately took her knife out and started to savagely puncture many holes in it. The violent motions also stabbed right through to her skin but nothing medicinal plants couldn't fix. The attacker soon loosened its grip and disappeared through the hole it came from making her almost lose balance. Looking back at what surrounded her, she realized this could have been easily avoided. Three boxes rested near the wall at her left, there was also a hole in the wooden floor and the crates had been placed as if to provide passage. Plus there were signs on the opposite wall which read 'Mutated plant tentacle here and it sucks blood. Use crates.' all pointing to the hole. She coughed and replaced her hat before crossing the door, reminding herself to stay focus in such a treacherous environment rather than let her mind wander on even more dangerous territories. Detaching three leaves from a green plant she then shoved one through each triple cuts in her left leg.
There was a long corridor giving on two other doors, the first was locked but before she could force it open, a woman yelled behind the other. Jill ran to it and slammed it open, revealing Barry that was now pointing his gun at her, again. Well at least he didn't fire…she frowned, «Button? Where's the damsel in distress? »
His face flushed red and he turned around, «Oh, you heard that, huh…»
She moved closer, «What's going on, Burry? »
«Talking to myself. »
«…you mean, you have an imaginary friend? »
He faced her again «Look I don't have to justify myself to anyone, least to someone like you who carries a dead man around with her. »
«ButtOn-»
He abruptly leveled his hands, palms up with arched fingers, «I have a family, for fuck's sakes! », on that he pushed her aside into a desk and left. Valentine could only stare again, now realizing she had forgot one of her rule concerning the man. Oh well, not like he could do her any harm, «That's Belly Button we're talking about, not like he'd shoot me or something. » Satisfied with her theory, she visited the bathroom finding yet another useless key therefore she squatted and aggressively rammed it down into the corpse that way lying there. She stood up while cursing then heard the sound of a door opening. For an instant she thought that maybe moody-Burton had come back to apologies, because he clearly did so all the other fucked up times that he lost it; but she immediately rectified that if it had been him then the floor would be complaining under his massive body.
Her handgun ready, she went back to the other side and aimed at the pallid hairless head, Jill didn't wait for the man to turn his anxiously hungry bony hands toward her before she rushed his meeting with death. The body fell to the floor yet making that particular wet sound like all the others, sadly it was becoming routine-like and Valentine had stopped paying him attention as soon as the bullet had attained the target. Maybe if she did she wouldn't have stepped on his leg thus ripping the weakened flesh off making her slip and hit her face on the nearby desk.
Same small table Barry had pushed her in, clearly it hated her.
She rubbed a paste of green plant over her visage and got up, saw that newspapers were scattered across the bed and someone seemed to have puked blood all over them. The woman deciphered Brainless Irons' face on the front page of one, «That explains it. » He always looked like some hairy, gross sweaty pig smoking a cigar and-, she felt the vomit come up her esophagus so she looked elsewhere. To her left stood two shelves full of books, a poster hung on the wall read 'secret ladder behind, over there'. She pushed the shelves only aided by the tip of her strong index, fortunately she was able to since apparently women are never strong enough in RE games to shove anything; hell Rebecca couldn't even push a goddamn small bookshelf in RE Zero! That's just fucking illogical and very stupid. Shit I know it's little scrawny Chambers we're talking about but enough with the goddamn stereotyped pattern for everyone. Next Valentine went down into some underground cement passage way, she turned another corner which gave on a hole filled with water. «Again, how did the employee crossed this? »
She did as before and swam to the other side; the adjacent room was entirely filled with water. It was actually an underground Aqua Ring filled with new sociable friends, code name Neptune FI-03, and famished beyond belief. From where she stood on the catwalk, the liquid went from her waist down but she could see the lower level had been transformed into one giant fish tank. Except that the kind of marine specimen that were roaming in here were great white sharks, and evil hungry ones for real this time; seeing that these are always viewed as malevolent only for being sharks alone. Ignorant scared people doing what they do best, spreading lies on species so everyone believes their crap without facts; well these sharks were really looking to eat even humans for once.
It was hard to run in this much water but she did her best knowing that it would be that much harder if she lost her legs. The sharks easily maneuvered in the liquid, two fins rapidly converging on her position also triggered a song that recommended hurrying up. «Perfect timing. » Fortunately she got up some stairs and wouldn't be eaten alive just yet. If sharks could convey how pissed they were they'd level their fins out of the water to mirror humans giving the fingers.
Then she descended a ladder that gave into a control room and when she tried to activate the emergency system draining mechanism, a much bigger Neptune violently rammed in the protective glass. Despite the thickness of the window it slit in many places like snakes coursing through the material. It stared at her with its black eye and it was smiling, too. During the time this occurred, and among the emergency alarm being triggered no less, she vaguely recalled that most zombies seemed to have that happy air about them as well, just like the giant snake. Perhaps this was another side effect of whatever had happened here, they all seemed so cheerful.
The severity of the situation was once again recalled to her as an announcement was made in German, 'Dringlichkeit. Dringlichkeit.' Jill looked around, «…what? » Then the voice switched to some Asian woman with an accent, ''Unknown source of pressure detected. Activate emergency draining system immediately.'' Some pacing around was required to deactivate this or pull that and in between she was forced to reestablish the oil pressure then repeat the previous steps. All while the shark rammed another time against the glass, accelerating the process of augmenting the pressure. After having successfully achieved not dying once more, the protective shield slowly covered the weakening glass, eventually, and then she pulled the lever allowing the water to be drained. «Well this has been quite fun. »
When she got to the lower level one of the remaining fish was vainly moving on the floor, and although dying it was still healthy enough to jump on the spot from amazing height. Jill wondered if they could still harm her if she got too close but didn't test it since she needed all of her limbs to finish this mission. She put it out of its misery though, no need to be an ass and stand there while shaking a glass of water in front of it as it died; slowly, very slowly it seems as they could just panic there for all eternity without dying.
She walked to the rear of the room, now realizing how big the Aqua Ring is, making sure not to step too close to the bigger, really great white shark that was resting on its side, seemingly taking a nap in the small pool of water there. Valentine stepped onto the platform and something shun in her face so she had to protect herself with her arm, until she saw that it came from another key. Now the pressure arose within her quickly, «Damn it all to hell you've got to befucking kidding me, another one of thosefucking piece of shit uselessdamn shitty-», all the commotion made the FI-03 restless so it tried to bite her head off, fortunately it only managed to destroy the handrail.
Now it was staring at her, still smiling, «Adorable. », unfortunately she had no decoy to feed it with, now that's when Chris would have come in handy but too bad. Still, rather insensitive…. feeding this beautiful Neptune such a nasty meal. Well she kicked the control panel down into the water then flipped the switch on, frying both the creature and the machine. It stiffened and shook violently for a good seventeen seconds until its spasms became mild, she then stepped down and poked it. She removed her glove to run her palm across the cold soft skin in amazement, now she could also claim to have touched a giant mutated evil shark.
Valentine got back to the Residence and inspected another room; she was welcomed by a body hanging from the ceiling, softly balancing with the rhythm of the cord producing a sound you could never get enough of. Somehow.
Or it's just me.
After making sure he was really dead, and pushing the man for him to swing faster just for the laugh, she investigated the small area. She found a self-defense handgun and under it a suicidal note; she picked it up fast already looking forward to its content.
''June 22, 1998
I had to do it. We ran, helping each other to survive, pushing others in the hands of those things so we could escape. Naturally I wouldn't feel proud about such an act of cowardice but they were people that had been asses to me, so that justifies it. Then Robert started to show the symptoms, and they're not pretty. I had to do it, took his head and bashed it against the wall, somewhat repeatedly. He might not have done it the same way but that's my method and he couldn't argue anyway.
After violently killing him- rather, putting him out of his misery; I had to leave him in the bathroom. Now I realize it was a bad idea for I need to piss. I have to kill myself before I turn so might as well do it without having my bladder empty on me afterwards. Anyway, the wastebasket will have to do….
I prepared the noose and all I need is a little courage to get it done. I could always use the handgun on my desk to do it quick and painless, but to hell with it. I'll just vainly wiggle up there, neck hurting, veins protruding; thinking about how the gun was a better idea, until much later, I will finally pass out.
Linda, I'm sorry I'll miss your birthday, but I assume you can forgive my absence for the simple fact that dead people don't show up at parties.
…Not usually.''
Staring at the corpse made her wonder where their Captain could be, perhaps he was dead somewhere too, in a dark corner. She figured he'd pass out in a shadowy corner, that's where he always liked to be, he liked dark things. Jill spaced out for thirty seconds, which made for an amusing view seeing she was looking retarded while standing beside a cadaver that was swinging from the ceiling peacefully. Drool slowly formed at the corner of her mouth then down her chin before she snapped out of it, wiping her lips and chin.
Well now it was time to go cross that door she had skipped thanks to Barry screaming, but doing so she got assaulted by large mutated bees, their sting were huge and it kept coming out trying to puncture her face. Being so mercilessly chased made her throw a Molotov at the nest and watched it burn, shaking her head, «They really fucked up everything. When is it that I'm going to meet mutated water or trees? Why not mutated cats? Would have absolutely loved to shoot those. », but too bad since Aya Brea is the one who got that chance.
Valentine heard one last bee and turned around, noticed a dead man resting in the corner but also the insect that was attacking his face. «Persistent, aren't we. » She shot it, the insect blew into a cloud of yellow liquid and bits, it also dropped a honeycomb cereal. The man had been dead for a while, painfully crooked hands stuck mid-air near his face which was swollen in many places. No doubt he'd been pricked to death, and the stabbing had kept happening afterward as well. What a shitty way to die. The soldier unlocked another door then crossed another secret entry, «Probably leading into an additional secret room into a hidden trap-», when suddenly the air that blew in her face was hot and rancid, chemically floral. A tentacle passed over her head, leading her eyes to the ceiling where a giant bulb was hanged.
No one had to be a specialist in flora to know this was not your typical vegetation, and she recalled the green limb that had tried to tear her leg off earlier right when another surprised her from behind. It coiled around her waist quickly lifting her from the floor, now she had a better view and saw how many there were; all as thick and equipped with tiny spikes. It was moving its new pray around in all directions, making her dizzy and already sucking on her blood plus the force of its grip made it hard to breathe. The humid air and many spores burned her lungs and eyes, this was certainly not good, Jill had to formulate a plan else she'd be dead under two minutes. The thickness of the appendage and the strength applied on her back made it impossible for her to bend accordingly, the knife on her right leg was out of reach and biting into that chemically toxic member was not an option.
Welcome to Plant 42's chamber and domain; please stay and be its little snack as it literally sucks life out of you.
That's when a tornado blasted into the room, one with a red vest and a beard. «What is this?!», well Jill hoped he wasn't getting into one of his fits in which he remains motionless while repeating the same damn thing over, else they were both fucked.
The tentacle whooshed her around violently, «Burry-! »
That giant mutant and now Valentine, Burton saw two good reasons not to stick around but the plant was quicker than his decision. He got lifted off the floor as easily, though he was equipped with a flamethrower therefore the odds were now against the foe. A stream of orange spat its way, burning the tentacles and petals in relentless succession, making it squirm even more and shriek in its own style.
Barry got slammed into the handrail subsequently smashing it then hurled on the floor knocking his head, before the limb returned mid-air panicking thus dizzying him some more and almost making him set himself on fire. The smell became sourer until the bulb finally started to shrink on itself, losing its petals and soon the appendages followed. The S.T.A.R.S. dropped to the floor; Burton landed on a dead tentacle thus received tiny spikes in his left butt cheek.
Valentine hold her ribs while she got up, staring at the ceiling where the receding vegetal now stood silent and looking like a small dried fruit. «Too bad that's not edible. I thought I was finished. »
«Me too…. I thought you were finished…. »
Something was heard snapping so she looked Barry's way, he was holding his back groaning. Jill made a step forward, «Wait, let me help. ».
His eyes got wider and he suddenly spoke very fast, «No don't you come any closer don't touch anything don't even stare at it. » he grunted, « I'm fine, just some minor, extremely painful, predicament. »
«You don't seem that convinced. I know how to fix a sprained back-»
«And I know what I'm doing! Just, leave me here; I'll investigate this room for a couple more minutes…. or hours. Something just bothers me about it, for some reason- so I'll just stay here, at least until I figure out what troubles me. We should split up again; that always prove to be the safest course of action and bear superior results. Proof, you almost died a minute ago; that would have saved me a lot of pain later, like right now…. »
«Alright, and Burry; thanks. »
Knowing how he truly felt towards her, seeing her smile in gratitude was painful to him….. I mean being forced to look up in that way was really agonizing on his back. Before she left though she saw something shun from an old fireplace at the far end of the room. Jill walked to it but Burton stared her way in complete wonder and somewhat panicked when she started firing at the floor, wasting an entire magazine in that fashion before pacing back to the door with heavy steps. «Fucking keys, I swear they only exist to infuriate me. » and left under the puzzled gaze of the man.
The door closed, leaving Barry with the carbonized stench in this awkward position, «…why….this hurts….», he couldn't even reach his Magnum now, «Don't you just stand in your casing like that, do something…!»
The woman was making her way back to the exit when she heard an atrocious desperate scream; she figured she was better leaving Burton to his own method. Crossing the door leading back to the corridor she heard gunshots, she ran to it because it was obviously safe to surprise someone who was firing, more so to just run into their line of fire at that time. The first thing she noticed were two spherical attributes she couldn't have mistaken with others, «Wesker! »
The Captain only turned his face half around, keeping aim at some invisible enemy he only could see; strange since they weren't into 'Invisible Enemy Mode'. Valentine's eyes moved upward on his face once he finally turned around completely, «Jill… So you're safe. So far. »
She did a weird and rapid movement with her fists clenched and exclaimed, «That's what I was going to say! Except, of course, I wouldn't have called you Jill…», she stepped closer.
«I thought I would find your horribly-mutilated corpse in some dark corner. »
«That's also what I was going to say! »
«Well, looks like we're both disappointed…» Seeing her being abnormally passionate, he felt like putting some distance between them so he walked past her before stopping near the farthest window. That's when he noticed that something was wrong in the reflection, «…why do you have plant leaves poking out of your left leg…..? »
«No medic calls for improvisation. So, where did you disappear to? ButtOn and I searched for you, well I mainly did while he fondly caressed his firearm and stood around being useless—I even looked under the smelly carpet but you weren't there. »
He very briefly grinned before turning her way, «I guess I should apologies, but I'm not feeling like it. »
Her eyes thinned, «You have feelings? »
«I had to leave in a hurry, my hair was undone; a most important matter you'll understand. »
She kept silent.
«I required a mirror in order to replace my hair carefully, the floor was not a sufficiently reflective surface; there was nothing else I could have done. »
She remained completely still and quiet, they stared at each other for a minute until Wesker opened his mouth again, «Right, that's definitely getting a bit troubling now, even from you Valentine. And frankly I won't allow anyone to surpass me in that domain so unless you speak I'll be compelled to hurl my knife into your toe to force you out of that stupor. »
The woman blinked, «Right your hair needed fixing. It was without doubt a matter that overshadowed every other, exponentially more significant, factor. I agree. », she coughed. «Anyway, it's good that you're still in one piece, some of us didn't have that chance; but more importantly you're safe… and alive. Might have switched the order of some of these words, because being safe and in one piece isn't that much imperative if you happen to be dead. »
He didn't reciprocate but looked to the right, saying, «Did you noti-»
«Oh yes. »
His face remained to the side except his eyes moved on her, «No, have you notice-»
«Absolutely, yes. »
The white face turned her way now, «Valentine, is there any problem I should be aware of regarding your cognitive abilities? Because I'm positive I can fix it with a well-placed backhand slap. »
«Apologies, Sir. »
He eyed her some more before continuing, «Barry, he sounded a little… extremely fucked up? »
«No. He's always like that. »
«Maybe it's quite natural under these circumstances. »
«What 'circumstances'? »
«I mean, it's not really our standard operation. »
«That doesn't explain it. I'm doing just fine, why wouldn't he? Because he's got a family and a dog that none of us know about? Again, that's no excuse. »
His brows slightly narrowed, «Never mind. Our first priority is to get out of here. », he said that while turning towards the wall.
Jill frowned, «I'm, standing right here. »
He faced her again, «There are still rooms in that mansion we can't get into because they're locked up. »
«Well everyone seemed to be doing just fine earlier, crossing them as if they were mere ghosts while I had to use my lock pick. So what changed? »
«Would you mind making sense? Anyway, I've, been looking for ways, to…»
«Charming, that sounds mysteriously inviting, what have you got in mind? »
He promptly neared and slapped her, «Get a grip Valentine; have you been overdosing on them so-called medicinal plants? »
«Alright perhaps putting them in direct contact with my hemoglobin via syringe wasn't such a good idea, orrr maybe it was. Anyway I was just looking forward to some Close Quarter 'Contact' with a certain Captain to embellish this get-together, but since you insist on visiting every corner of that mansion then so be it; I'll scrutinize the hell out of it. »
«I'm counting on you. »
«Of course you are, everyone else is utterly fucking useless or dead. »
On that she left as the Captain tried his best not to shoot the woman in the back, seeing he's such a secretly evil sociopath and stuff. He then went to the far end of the hallway noticing a hole in the wall, hearing some strange buzzing he neared his face, until he got savagely assaulted by angry bees that had survived the purge. Albert vigorously moved his arms about trying to shield his face as his skin was relentlessly punctured over, running to the closest door while cursing quite loud.
I'm afraid his sunglasses were of no help here.