Back upstairs in the residence, Richard was seen taking a deep breath and letting it out. From what Jill could see, it must've felt great being out there and not breathing the salty, slightly musty air of the Aqua Ring. She gave a comforting smile and patted him on the shoulder gently before turning to Chris. "Should we go ahead and take him to the safe room back in the mansion? Or what do you have in mind?" She asked her partner.
"He looks like he could use the rest. Take him back to the safe room, while I go back down into the Aqua Ring. I'm not done exploring that place yet. When you're done, meet me down there." Chris instructed.
"Got it," She nodded before pecking him on the cheek and leading Richard out of the room. "You'll love the room we found back in the manor. Are you feeling hungry?" She asked him as they headed down the hall.
"No, not really. Kinda too hyped up on adrenaline from trying not to die. You kinda lose your appetite when you're convinced every moment is about to be your last…" Richard shrugged.
"That's fair. But I think a good warm meal will help calm you down," Jill says with a nod of understanding as they enter the safe room. Once they closed the door, the rune shined for a moment before fading. "You can rest here for now. The other safe room is back in the manor. In the meantime, Jill would look into the large chest and see what could be used and what was needed to be replenished.
Due to the unusual enchantment on the item box, whatever materials they had placed into it in the mansion, were also accessible from here. To her relief, she saw that Wesker had placed a burner, fuel and some food into it, perhaps anticipating they might be needed elsewhere. Good thing too, as the residence safe room was quite cold due to the open connection to the outside.
"Thank you, Wesker…" She sighed with relief before taking out the items and setting them on the table. She fired up the burner and let it heat up, allowing warmth to travel through the room before setting the small pot on top. She grabbed a bottle of water and poured it inside before grabbing a packet of ramen and dumping it in. "It'll be ready in a few minutes, Richard."
"I wasn't really hungry, but thanks. If I do end up dying here, at least I'll have a full stomach." He only half joked.
Jill nodded, stirring the ramen to break it up when it began to soften. She even added pinches of chives and chicken pieces to it, just like how Wesker did theirs when they were in the manor safe room. Should she tell Richard about Rebecca being Sailor Mercury?
No, let Rebecca tell him herself. I sense a brother-sister bond between these two, judging from how he spoke of her back in the Aqua Ring. Michiru replied.
'I guess you're right, Michiru. I'll let her do the talking. He took to us being Soldiers a lot easier than I expected but I guess after what he saw, there was not much room for argument about it,' Jill nodded mentally. "So Richard… do you have any questions about… you know, Chris and I?"
"Not really. I'm familiar with the legends. Some of the female officers back at the precinct used to talk about them during breaks. I never joined in but I listened. I have a fairly wide spectrum of knowledge about the Soldiers. Now that I think about it, those officers seemed awfully knowledgeable themselves… wonder where they learned it…" He paused, rubbed his chin in thought, then added "Hey, now that we're above ground, you should try contacting Rebecca."
"Oh right!" Jill nodded before closing her eyes. She also made sure to include Richard in on the call. 'Rebecca, it's Jill. Change of plans. Can you come to the residence? There's something I need you to see.'
'I'm on it. I'll be right there. Lemme grab some medical supplies just in case,' Rebecca responded.
A few minutes later, the ramen was ready and the two were about to eat when they heard knocking at the door. "Jill? It's Rebecca," Called the medic.
Jill grinned before getting up, set her bowl down, and then went to open the door. "You may want to put your bowl down for now," She whispered to Richard, wanting to surprise Rebecca. Something told her this was going to be one hell of a reunion. She then opened the door for her. "Hey, glad you made it safe."
"Thanks. Thankfully, the courtyard was clear so–" Then her eyes caught Richard as he stood up. "RICHARD!" She cried happily before running and the two embraced tightly. "You're alive!"
"You should thank Chris and Jill for that, otherwise I'd have been fish food… literally. They saved my ass earlier, when I was almost eaten by a giant shark in a flooded research lab… It's good to see you're still okay. I would have been very upset if these monsters got to you."
"Thanks," She nodded before turning to Jill, who perked an eyebrow at her. Getting the hidden meaning, she nodded subtly before turning back to Richard. "Richard… there's something I need to tell you. I didn't really survive alone out there when we got separated," She said.
"Let me guess… you're also one of those magic flying women. Another Sailor Soldier?" He smirked, having already figured out what she was going to say. It seemed obvious, after Chris and Jill had revealed themselves as two of them.
Rebecca's eyes widened at this, whipping her head towards Jill, who smirked back and gave a half shrug. Relaxing her face, she stood back and took her stick. "... Ami, my friend wants to meet you."
Very well then. I can accept that. Ami smiled before taking over in a bright flash of aqua blue light. As the light faded, there stood Rebecca now as Sailor Mercury. "... Hi," She said, waving at him a little.
"The transformation wasn't necessary. I didn't particularly need to see you. But since you are here, I should probably thank you for keeping Rebecca safe after we got separated. She's quite important to me. I know she's not much more than a kid, but I like her. I like to think of her as a little sister~"
"I can see it in the way you speak of her. I'm happy to have assisted. I wasn't going to sit there and watch her get hurt. As a Soldier, it's our sworn duty to protect those who cannot do it themselves. We made this vow when we took up our mantles," Mercury replied with a nod.
"Nonetheless, you didn't have to protect her. I'm grateful that you did, though." He smiled.
Mercury nodded to him before de-morphing back to Rebecca. "Ami was known as the team's medic. Fitting, right?" She giggled. Then she sat down with Jill, grabbed a bowl of ramen and the three began eating together.
Meanwhile, back down in the Aqua Ring, Chris had opened the control room and climbed down the ladder into the research lab's main control area. From here, he was able to reactivate the drainage system to empty the flooded lab, allowing access to the rest of it. Moving through what reminded him of a submarine door, he entered a large area that seemed to be for storage. There were piles of soaked boxes everywhere, some labeled 'Dynamite'.
"What the fuck were they planning to do with this?" He asked himself. "Not that it matters, it's all soaked beyond use now." He spotted a couple boxes of shells, which were still sealed, so he took those. Also a pack of grenade shells for Jill. He guessed that most of these boxes were weapons or ammo. What the hell was Umbrella planning? There was enough soaked equipment here to start a small war…
Ignoring the thought for now, he walked into the main research area after pushing open the large, heavy metal doors. Though the water was drained, everywhere was swamped, and following around the big tank in the middle led to a small area where water had pooled. The corpse of the giant shark was in it. Something glinted in the light from a platform above the dead shark. He went to investigate, pushing through the waist high water and climbing up onto the raised platform. There was a key in a box attached to the railing, but when he reached for it, the 'dead' shark suddenly attacked, shearing the railing off with its razor sharp fangs. Chris was trapped.
Then, as he examined the machinery on the platform, he noticed one of them had a control lever that still worked, despite the water damage. Flipping it down caused a small machine to begin sparking violently. That gave him an idea… he switched the machine off, pushed it into the water, then turned it back on.
The result was devastating. The electric current running through the broken machine electrified the pool and literally cooked the giant shark. The machinery finally gave out, steam hissing from its toasted cables. The now barbequed shark twitched, while Chris tested the water with his finger to see if it was still electrified. Since he wasn't shocked, he assumed it was safe. Jumping down into the pool, he retrieved the key from the water and examined it.
It was a weird shape and had an orange fob that had the word 'Gallery' printed on both sides. "Great. Since that plant wasn't down here, it must be somewhere beyond the gallery. The roots are upstairs in the guard room, but without someway to kill them, going there is pointless. Maybe I can find some kind of chemical room beyond the gallery…" With that, he left the research area and made his way back to the surface, picking up some more magnum rounds and climbing the ladder up to the locked door, which he opened. From there, he made his way along the winding passage back up to the residence.
Hmm… where was Jill? Hadn't he told her to meet him back here? Maybe she'd decided to stay with Richard and rest. He'd probably find her in the safe room, near the entrance.
'Chris; Richard, Rebecca and I are back in the safe room. Did you find anything down there?' came the mental call from his partner.
'Yeah. I found the key to the Gallery, some more ammo and the roots of Plant 42. Also, it turned out that the giant shark wasn't quite dead… but don't worry. I turned it into sushi.' Jill could almost hear him smirking as he said that.
'Good. A good shark is a dead shark. A mutant one at least. Come on back to the safe room. Wesker left some food for us from the manor safe room. I think these chests have some kind of enchantment on them that allows people to access items from across the mansion. I just made some ramen,' Jill replied.
'Alright. I just left the Aqua Ring and I am now back in the dormitory. I'll see you three shortly.'
A bit later, the door was heard opening and in came Chris, shotgun strapped to his back. Jill got up and the two embraced for a moment before sharing a short, yet soft kiss. "Welcome back, stranger. Come join us," She said as she sat down again, passing a piping hot bowl of ramen to Chris, who took it eagerly. "Also, Richard now knows Sailor Mercury."
"So?" Chris said plainly, as if this was old news to him. What did he care if Richard knew about Rebecca? He already knew about Jill and himself. Why should the medic be any different?
"Ami wanted to meet him," Rebecca replied back before quietly slurping some noodles. "But… I don't understand. How are we bonded to them… if the leader is possibly not awake yet?" She wondered aloud. "But if she is… where is she?"
"I don't know, and don't really care. None of us have a reason at this point. Our first and ONLY concern should be leaving this damned mansion alive. THEN we can worry about whatever else." Chris said after taking a big bite of noodle.
"Fair enough. Once we get out of here, we can start looking for answers then," Jill nodded in agreement. "Speaking of answers… I wonder where Wesker is right now? And Barry, too."
"Given how massive this place is, they could be anywhere." Richard noted, recalling how he and Rebecca had explored much of it already, at least the areas that were already open at the time.
It feels odd to be in his presence… that man died in many of the timelines I saw. Perhaps my previous actions somehow led to his fate changing. Curious. Setsuna thought to herself in Chris' head.
But it is our duty to save lives, Setsuna. This is fortunate that we were able to save this one. I just hope our luck continues and we can save Captain Enrico. Michiru replied.
I think you're missing my point, Michiru. Everyone in Bravo, with the exception of Rebecca, is supposed to die. In every timeline I have seen, none except her survived. That means that my actions in saving Jill previously, altered the future. Now Richard is alive, when he should be dead.
So if Richard is alive… does that mean someone else will die? What if it's Enrico? Ami asked fearfully.
Not necessarily. It might mean that Captain Marini will survive, just as Officer Aiken has. Though you are right to be concerned, as it might mean someone else will die in their place. Maybe not here, maybe not now, but Death doesn't like to be cheated. Someone will pay the price of life, for the survival of those who were not meant to live.
I just hope it won't happen until MUCH later… Ami says with trepidation, to which Michiru nodded, sharing her feelings.
I am not worried. I do not believe anyone here will be affected by the altered future. However, someone in the future will pay for this. Unfortunate, but fate has turned the knife on this one. Setsuna said softly. She didn't seem immediately concerned. The same could not be said for her companions, however.
After a bit of comfortable silence and quiet noodle slurping, all four bowls were empty and sighs of content were heard. "Much better~" Jill smiled, feeling her hunger being satisfied. Rebecca nodded from beside her. "Wait until you see the safe room in the manor, Richard."
"So I've already been told. Apparently it's some kind of heavenly abode with everything the human mind could think of…" He deliberately exaggerated, much to Chris' amusement and Jill's utter irritance. She was heard audibly groaning.
"So Chris, Jill, what are you guys going to do?" Rebecca asked. "I was planning on taking Richard back with me to the manor's safe room, where he'd be safest."
"Sounds like a good plan. We're going to stay here. We still need to get into the Gallery and kill the mutated plant that's taken over this place. Maybe we'll also find something that'll help us finish exploring the main mansion." Chris replied.
"Sounds good to me," Rebecca nodded before remembering what she originally came over for. "Oh right! Here!" She then dug into her bag and pulled out two small watch-like devices. One was sea green and the other was maroon. "Ami and I made these when I found out you two were Sailor Scouts. These are communicators. So in case the mind link can't reach you for some reason, these are the next best thing," she explained as Chris and Jill took their respective ones. "With our radios also being busted, this is a good substitute in my opinion."
"Do they work underground? Cause if not, they aren't going to be useful for long."
"Yes. I made them to be useful anywhere, thanks to Ami's know-how. She was not just the team's medic, but also a tech girl as well. She was pretty smart at what she did," Rebecca nodded as she showed her own one, which was aqua blue and had the symbol for Mercury on it. "It'll light up if one of us is trying to call."
"Smart thinking, Rebecca. Nice work," Jill nodded in approval. "These will definitely come in handy."
"Richard and I will stay together, so if you need to talk to one of us, we'll be close by," Rebecca says. "Now we better get going. We'll meet up later. Let's go Richard."
"After you, Rebecca~" Richard courteously said, allowing her to go ahead as they left. Chris and Jill both smiled as their compatriots returned to the mansion. "You know, if those two actually were family, I doubt anyone would bat an eyelash."
"I highly agree. The way those two act around each other, it wouldn't surprise me if those two were actually siblings," Jill nodded with a smile.
"Anyway, we should get back to our search for Plant 42 and Enrico. I hope that thing didn't eat him…" Chris said as they too left the safe room. Back in the corridor, they clambered over the box and through the door towards the Gallery. Unlocking it and entering, they found themselves in a large room with several models on a display in the middle of the room.
Two corridors branched off, one directly in front that ended at a set of double doors, and the other off to the left, bending around to the left again. There was a door off to the side of the corridor ahead with a plate above it that read '003'. Another door just off to the left of them had a keypad next to it. This interested Chris so he took a look at it. Pushing the power button on the keypad made three symbols appear on the display; the eye symbols from the recreation room! They had three colors: red, orange and green.
"Jill, those weird candles we saw, they're a clue to the code for this door. I suspect this is the Chemical Room, where the researchers store the materials for their experiments." He said. "Remember how those pool balls had numbers on them? What were the numbers again?"
"The numbers, if I recall, are 635," Jill replied as she rubbed her chin in thought. "Let's hope that's the correct code. Otherwise, we'll have to look elsewhere."
"K." He punched in the numbers. The lock refused to open. "Damn… lemme swapping the positions…" He punched in '653'. Again, the door refused to open. "Ahhh… come on. Open, you punk machine." He insulted it as he tried another combination: 536. It didn't work. "Open, dammit." He grumbled. One last time, he tried the keypad. Inputting the numbers '563', the keypad lit up and beeped three times, then the door unlocked. "Finally."
Pushing the door open, they entered a small room with a sink, several empty bottles scattered around and two large shelves full of chemicals. Some were labeled, others were not. "Bingo. We might be able to find something in here to kill that plant… now if only we knew what to use…"
Jill looked around before spotting something on the wall near the door. "Hey, look at this. This looks like some kind of solution on making the stuff," She said.
"Not quite… look, this scratching in the wall is just a bunch of numbers. Looks like combining certain chemicals creates another. And this scratching over here by the sink says what colors certain chemicals should be. It also warns that failing to mix the chemicals correctly will create a noxious gas. Trouble is, we don't actually know what chemicals we need. There must be something somewhere with instructions. We can either look for it or try to wing it."
"I can do it. Chemistry was my strongest subject back in high school. Lemme see if I can mix this solution," Jill said with a small smile before walking over to the shelves and began to glance between the equation on the wall and back to the shelves.
"You're smart Jill, but I wouldn't recommend touching those until we know what they are. Remember that note on the wall says this stuff can kill if mixed incorrectly." Chris warned her.
"Fair point. But where can we find something that can tell us what to grab and what to mix? It's gotta be in this room somewhere," Jill replies.
Chris pulled out the blank, red book. "Perhaps we can use this somewhere to figure that out. Maybe the information is in Room 003. Let's check it out first."
"Right," Jill nodded before the two left the room and made their way back out into the hallway.
Predictably, Room 003 was locked. However, glancing down the other hall, they spotted a corpse huddled in the corner holding something. Its face was contorted in an expression of extreme pain, and there were lumps all over its body.
"That's disgusting." Chris commented, before kneeling down to examine the object the corpse was holding. "Hmm… bug spray. Why would he… oh." He stopped himself in mid sentence as a buzzing noise caught his ear. He turned to see a giant beehive in the corner at the end of the corridor. A desk was below it with something glinting on the surface. "Look at the size of that thing… these fuckers are as big as the one that attacked you in the small lab in the mansion." He said to Jill.
"Jesus…" Jill muttered in disgust, tapping the communicator watch on her wrist. "Jill to Rebecca, do you read?"
On the small screen, Rebecca's face popped. "I read you, Jill. Nice to see that my invention works. What's up?"
"Remember that bee that you scanned earlier back in the mansion?" Jill said before Chris cut in. "We found the source." He added. "We got a hive here in the residence… and there's more of them in here."
"Oh dear… lemme think. Is there a smoker nearby? Beekeepers use them to sedate them whenever they are collecting honey," Rebecca said after a moment of thinking.
"No, but we did find a corpse with a large can of bug spray. This insecticide will kill the hive without damaging the honey, not that it matters. I think these bees are infected with the virus, otherwise they wouldn't be so big." Chris replied.
"That'll do as well. Be careful when getting close, however. Most species of bees are VERY territorial when it comes to their hive," Rebecca warned as Jill carefully picked up the insecticide can.
"Already way ahead of you on that. We found a hole in the wall outside Room 002. Based on its position on the map, it's directed behind the hive. We'll pump the spray into it from there. Should kill the hive in seconds."
"Good. Still, be careful. Rebecca out." With that, the call ceased and Jill nodded to Chris.
"Let's kill these things so we don't have to worry about being stung," She said, getting to her feet and heading back towards the gallery. In the corridor outside Room 002, Chris took the insecticide and carefully approached the hole so as not to disturb the hive. Slowly he inched the barrel of the spray through the hole, and then began to furiously pump it to kill the bees. It only took him a few seconds to empty the spray. Listening carefully, he could hear the bees dropping to the ground as the poison worked its magic.
"It's working. The poison is killing them. We can investigate the hive now." He said to Jill, a satisfied smirk on his lips.
"Good. Let's check it out," Jill nodded. Then she turned and headed back towards the hive beyond the Gallery door, to which she now saw the dead bee corpses littering the ground.
"I almost feel sorry for them… if it weren't for the virus, I'd have left them alone…" Chris sighed. He hated killing things unnecessarily, but it had to be done. They were also able to find out what the bees were guarding: a small gold-plated key with the numbers '003' printed on the back. "I guess that guy was trying to get the key when the hive attacked. Poor bastard…"
"Yeah…" Jill frowned sadly, leaning over and closing the guy's eyes. "I can't imagine what the state of this place must've been when the virus broke out."
"We're already seeing it. Everyone's dead…" Chris stated, walking away from the unfortunate scene and using the key to unlock Room 003. The room was once again a carbon copy in design of Rooms 002 and 001. A door on their left led into a bathroom and the bedroom was at the end. Chris went to investigate, leaving Jill to check out the bathroom yet again.
Inside the bathroom, Jill looked around to see what she could find. Hopefully, she won't find another zombie inside, like she did in the last room. The room was, however, devoid of zombies. Actually, most of the room was being crushed inwards by the roots of something enormous. Most of the room had been completely destroyed. The only thing of note was a box containing three red-tipped grenade shells. The label read 'Incendiary'. Flame rounds, Jill thought.
Outside, Chris was examining a shelf containing books with red covers, just like the one he was carrying. A single white colored book was among them. When he pulled it out and had a read through, his eyes lit up. "Jill! Come here! I found the chemical notes!"
Organic Chemistry Lab Experiment Notes
The similarities in the cellular characteristics of the rapidly growing plant infected by the Tyrant Virus have been reported in previous papers. However, while repeating these experiments, an interesting new fact became clear. We learned that a chemical in the UMB family, UMB No. 20, contains a compound that is toxic to the cells of the plant.
We have given UMB No. 20 a new name; V-JOLT. If calculations prove correct, when V-JOLT is applied directly to the root of the plant, the entire plant should be dead within 5 seconds.
The V-JOLT can be made by simply mixing the VP and UMB chemicals in a specific ratio. However, extra care must be taken when handling these UMB chemicals. They have been known to generate toxic gasses if mishandled.
The characteristics of each UMB chemical are as follows:
UMB #3 - Red
Yellow-6 - Yellow
UMB #7 - Green
UMB #10 - Orange
VP-17 - Blue
V-JOLT - Dark brown
"Now we have the information we need to create a chemical that will destroy Plant 42's roots." Chris said excitedly as Jill came out.
"Nice find, Chris. Let's get back to the Gallery and mix the V-Jolt. The sooner we can kill this thing, the better," Jill says while patting him on the shoulder.
"That's your thing, Jill. I'm not really that adept with medicine. My level of skill doesn't really go much further beyond basic mixing of herbs…" He replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
Nodding, the two made their way back into the gallery and entered the small lab once again. Now armed with the knowledge needed to mix the solution, Jill set right to work, pulling down the needed chemicals and grabbing some empty jars. This would give Chris a moment to relax as she was working. She would glance from time to time at the notes, making sure she was doing this right.
The scratch marks on the wall helped too which read as followed:
1. UMB no.3 + Water = NP-004
2. NP-004 + Yellow-6 = UMB #10
3. Yellow-6 + Water = UMB #7
4. UMB #7 + UMB #10 = VP-17
5. VP-17 + UMB #3 = V-Jolt
After a while, Jill grinned and held up the bottle. "I got it!" she said with triumph. The distinctively brown liquid swirled around inside the bottle.
"Excellent work, Jill~" Chris praised, tapping his partner on the shoulder. "So, which one of us is going back to the Aqua Ring to use it? No sense in us both going… actually, I'll go. You stay here and see if you can use this stuff to make anything else useful."
"Got it," Jill nodded and started to look around some more. After Chris left, Jill would notice something; the shelf near the wall seemed a bit… off. Furrowing her brow, she took out her mirror and held it up, reflection side facing it. It shined for a moment before it suddenly slid open before her eyes. "Whoa…"
As she entered inside, lights suddenly came on… and it turned out to be a larger lab. Not just any lab… this was a potions lab! "No… Way..." She slowly walked inside, looking around in awe. On the right side, there was a large bookcase, filled with thick tomes, half rolled up scrolls, loose notes and other various books. Ahead of her was a large table with a burner beneath a large pot. On the left side was a holder, which had several empty beakers. "Wow..! This is like something out of a fairy tale book," She said lowly to herself in awe, placing away her mirror and rifling through the book shelf.
She opened the first book she got her hands on and slowly flipped the pages. But as she read it, she noticed something else: Most of this was handwritten. Upon closer inspection… she recognized the handwriting; this was Wesker's! She looked up towards the lab again, shock registering in her eyes as the realization slammed into her: She found Wesker's secret potions lab! "Holy shit… so this was one of his hidey-holes. Pretty clever, Wesker," She softly praised, knowing how much he detested the despicable man that was Spencer. Enough to hide his secret from him for this long.
Well, no time like the present. She took the book over to the pot and got set to work, firing up the burner and turning to the wall on the right, which had another bookshelf, but this one was filled with potion bottles of varying capacities. She smiled as she set to work. This was like being back in Chemistry class, experimenting with different formulas and other solutions, but for magic. "Chris is going to be surprised when he comes back," She said as she dumped a blue liquid and a light red liquid into the pot. Looking at the page she was on, she then looked around and spotted a small vase of daffodils which somehow hadn't died yet, and began to pluck off the petals and drop them into the now simmering liquid. Perhaps she had found her other calling, besides being a Sailor Soldier.
"Heh… maybe I could run my own apothecary someday," She snickered.
Chris meanwhile had re-entered Room 002 and climbed back down the ladder into the drained Aqua Ring. He climbed down the long ladder into the storage area and walked back into the control room. From there, he climbed back up the ladder and out onto the catwalks. He walked around them towards the Guard Room and entered it. At the end of the wet meeting room was a bunch of moving, tentacle-like roots that seemed very annoyed to have lost their water source, thrashing about trying to find something to latch onto.
He'd have to think about how to do this. If he got too close, he'd possibly run the risk of being grabbed and suckered. But how would he apply the chemical to the tendrils then? After a few moments of thinking, he decided to just throw the bottle at them, which smashed and dispersed the brown liquid all over them. They unleashed a surprising screech (Or perhaps it was merely the echo from the plant through the vents?) and began to shrivel up, disappearing back into the vent.
"Sure hope that worked… I wouldn't want Jill to have to make another one, if there are even enough chemicals to do that…" He said to himself. With his task complete, he made his way back to the surface and towards the Chemical Room, where he'd left his partner.
Jill would hear the door open and smile, sensing it was her partner. "Chris, come on in! You gotta see this!" she called from the room behind the bookcase.
"Huh? A secret room? Didn't sense that earlier…" He said as he walked over and through the gap. "The fuck is all this? Some secret witch's hideaway?" He humorously joked to himself. "What the hell are you doing?"
"You're right about it being a hideaway. But it's not just anyone's… it's Wesker's," she says while beckoning him over. "Read this and tell me it's not his handwriting. I'm also making us some potions to help us out if we ever get hurt. These are supposed to be stronger than the herbs and first aid sprays."
"Aaaaand you thought that randomly picking up a book and throwing shit together was a good idea..? You're no alchemist. You're probably going to blow yourself up."
"Relax, I'm following this recipe for the potion. I'm not going into this half cocked. I made sure to find something that could help before I started this. I'm guessing Wesker made this when he gained his magic, because I'm reading this and it tells of the lessons he learned from Lady Oceania and what potions are best for different situations," Jill explained. "Again, I never thought of him as someone who would believe in this type of stuff."
"Just because you found one of his books here, doesn't mean this place is his. You're assuming shit, and that's dangerous. Only a fool picks up a book and decides to try something in it on a whim. You could kill someone with your assumptions." He chastised, not very impressed by Jill's rather terrible lack of tact.
"Well, I figured while I was in here, I could possibly try this out and see what can help out–" POOF! A minor explosion followed as a small mushroom cloud of smoke plumed from the pot. "Hold up! What did I add? I thought it was… ohhhh, I'm an idiot. I meant to add the quills before stirring. Ugh… dammit…"
"I warned you… idiot." Chris shook his head and facepalmed. I quite agree with you, Chris. Deciding to try something she knew nothing of, from a book she assumes belongs to someone she knows is both reckless and foolish… Setsuna agreed, the spirit also facepalming in tandem with her vessel.
'Yeah well, that's Jill for you. She's a bit… adventurous. I'd have thought she'd have more sense, but I guess her curiosity got the better of her.' He replied within their link. Curiosity is both a blessing and a curse. It can lead down some very dark paths… Setsuna added. 'Yeah. I know.'
"You done fucking around? I destroyed the roots. We can finish investigating the other rooms now." Chris said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms as he waited for Jill to respond.
"Good. I'll come back to this later," (No, you won't. Setsuna mumbled to herself) Jill nodded and turned off the burner and took the pot off, setting it aside. "There's a lot in here I still want to check out later." With the station now cleaned up, the two left the lab.
Returning to Room 003, Chris once again examined the bookshelf. It was missing a book now, so he replaced it with the blank one he had. The spines seemed to form some kind of picture. He rearranged the spines so the image was in order, revealing a woman sunbathing on a rock surrounded by water. A mermaid perhaps? No, the woman had legs. Well, whatever. Once he'd stepped back from the shelf, a wardrobe next to it shifted aside, revealing a hidden door behind it.
"I have a bad feeling about what's behind that…" He stated bluntly.
"I know… are you ready?" Jill asked, fingering the stick on her belt.
"As ready as I'll ever be." He said, pumping his shotgun to load a shell.
Opening the door, they entered the main hall of the dormitory. It was completely empty and overgrown with vines. From the middle of the ceiling hung an enormously mutated plant. This had to be Plant 42. As they approached, the plant began to shrivel and shrink. Seemed like the V-Jolt did the trick… or had it? When they began to explore, the plant suddenly grew back to its large size and attacked them, swinging its vines and spraying poison mist from others. It was extremely aggressive, and barely gave them time to breathe.
"I think we pissed it off!" Chris called to Jill from the other side of the room.
"It's weakened, though! We can take it! Ready, Michiru?!" Jill called back to him as she whipped out her stick.
Yes! Let's do this! Setsuna, let's cut this plant down for good! Michiru agreed. NEPTUNE PLANET POWER! In a flash of sea green, Jill was ready to fight.
Rather than transform, Setsuna merely applied some of her power to his weapon, strengthening the damage of the shells, and when he fired the shotgun, it spat dragonfire shells!
"My turn! SUBMARINE… REFLECTION!" Neptune called out, blasting it with a ray of sea green light, causing it to shriek out in agony. "Chris, I see a weakness when it opens its petals! When it does, let 'em have it!"
"Kinda busy dodging right now! Gimme some cover!" He said, rolling out of the way as a large vine nearly smacked him off his feet.
Jill would fire off another Submarine Reflection spell near its core, dealing more big damage and keeping it distracted from Chris, who was running to get into a better position. As another tentacle swung down on her, she vaulted off the second floor, making the tentacle smash into the floor where she once stood.
With the plant distracted and its petals open, Chris slid under an attacking vine and directly under the plant. Shoving the barrel of his powered up shotgun into the bulb, he taunted "Eat this!" And let off a shell. The round exploded, blowing the bulb to pieces and finally killing the plant. The petals fell off as the rest of the plant shriveled up into nothingness.
Chris was showered in plant juices, but fortunately the liquid was not poisonous. It did make him itch a bit though. As he got back to his feet and wiped the bits of plant from his uniform, something clattered and dropped out of the fireplace at the back of the room.
Neptune went to go check it out and it turned out, it was a key. "Hey Chris, look at this. It's some kind of key. I think this is the last key we need," she says as she turned it over and examined it. There was an engraving of a knight's helmet on the back.
{Key Item Acquired: Helmet Key}
"Sweet. The last mansion key. Now we can get into the last of the locked rooms and maybe find a safe way out of this fucking nightmare…" Chris sighed with relief, only to grimace afterwards. He smelled absolutely foul… "Fucking mutant plant…"
"Tell me about it. I could use a hot shower after this," Neptune nodded and they left the room, leaving behind the decaying carcass of Plant 42.
As they left the Gallery and re-entered the hallway… they were met with the sounds of gunfire. Neptune rushed ahead and rounding the corner, she spotted Wesker trying to fight off a swarm of those large bees. "Captain, out of the way!" He caught her in the corner of his eye and rolled off to the side, giving her space to shoot off one more "Submarine Reflection!", reducing the viral infected bugs into nothing but melted viscera. "Are you alright, Wesker?"
"Nice timing. I see you two are still alive." Then he noticed Jill and her new power. Hmm; the second awakened Soldier. "And flaunting your powers, I see."
"We just came from the Gallery. We just killed Plant 42. We managed to give it a dose of the V-Jolt and weaken it before Chris finished it off," Neptune explained as she placed away her mirror.
"What are you doing here, Captain? Shouldn't you be back at the mansion?" Chris questioned.
"I was, then I decided to do a little exploring with Barry. We got separated, however, after a strange creature in chains attacked us…"
"We know what it is. We encountered it earlier. Does the name Lisa Trevor ring a bell?" Neptune asked and watched as Wesker paused at the mention of the name. "We found part of her diary outside in the cabin. Or we think it's part of her diary. Those Umbrella bastards used her and her mother like lab rats…"
"I am aware of the Trevor family, as you are aware. I told you about her father who built the mansion and the surrounding infrastructure. The name Lisa however… that bothers me. She's supposed to be dead. The entire Trevor family died in 1967, the same year the mansion was complete…"
Wesker shuffled a little down the corridor and changed the subject rather abruptly. "By the way… Barry… have either of you noticed how he seems a little distant? He doesn't appear to be around much and I can't reach him on the radio, or via mind link. I think he's intentionally ignoring me…"
"Now that you mention it, yeah. That does seem a bit odd…" Chris agreed, rubbing his chin with a perplexed expression on his face.
"Perhaps it's quite natural under these circumstances for him to be a bit off. This isn't exactly our standard assignment." Wesker added. "Chris, Jill. Our first priority should be to get out of here. There are still some rooms in the main mansion that we can't get into because they're locked up. I've been looking for ways to bypass them…" He said in explanation for his presence.
"I'm going to stay here and investigate a bit more. I want the two of you to go back and make your way into those rooms. I expect one of you can figure it out." He finalized.
"You can count on us." Chris stated. Wesker nodded and walked off down the hall and around the corner, disappearing from sight.
