A/N: Alright folks, the time has come to start putting this arc to bed. Many of you have probably been waiting for this moment, and I will not disappoint. That's right, the confrontation between Ethan and Wesker is here! It's time to put the traitorous bastard down, but the question is, can he put the evil mastermind down for good...or will things play out like they would normally?
You be the judge.
Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil.
Chapter 21:
"If there is true evil in this world, it lies in the heart of mankind." - Edward Morrison
Stone corridors deep beneath the Spencer Estate reverberated from the various machines that functioned within the walls. Nothing stirred in the dismal emptiness that filled the halls while shadows danced with the fading lights that lit up each sector.
A new sound soon made an appearance, the sound of an elevator coming to a stop on the lower level.
The gates of the lift slowly opened, Ethan, Chris and Barry stormed out with weapons ready as they scanned where the descent had taken them. "All clear." Chris said over his shoulder as Rebecca, Jill and Richard piled out.
"So this is the entrance to the labs." said the comm specialist as they rounded a small corner and found themselves facing a large steel door that was sealed tight.
Jill pulled out the hand-held computer given to her by Trent and pulled up the maps file it contained. "No. We're currently on Basement Level 1, the lab is still under us. There should be an access way close to that door."
Ethan approached said access way, a steel ladder that led down to the next level. "Over here." he called out, grabbing the rungs and sliding down to the floor below, taking out his Samurai Edge and giving the new room a once over before giving the signal to the others to come down. "The lab's through here." he said pointing at the double doors before them. "Ammo check." he added as they checked their supplies.
Each of them had a decent stockpile of ammo, but couldn't afford to waste any of it should they encounter something overly dangerous. After a bit of swapping to make sure that everyone had a good load out, they stacked up by the door and pushed through, finding themselves in a corridor made entirely of concrete. Pipes lining the ceiling and dark, mold covered walls dripping water on to the floor and making the place look more like it was a part of the sewer system instead of a valuable laboratory.
The STARS got into formation. Ethan and Chris at the front, Richard and Rebecca in the middle with Barry and Jill bringing up the rear. This way nothing could get behind or around them and they had all directions covered as they moved forward.
At the corner ahead of them, a lone zombie shuffled into the open. An old, dirty and blood stained lab coat covering his frame as he emitted a hungered groan. Chris' Beretta registered once and the undead hit the floor with a hole through its eye socket.
Stepping over the body, Richard aimed for a second zombie that stood at the top of a flight of stairs on their right. A single round through the left temple splattered blood across the wall and dropped him to the ground without a fight.
A third undead stumbled around the corner close to the stairs, but was taken out by Ethan as they continued. "How many do you think died down here?" asked Rebecca as they followed the metal railing around the stairs before going down the steps themselves.
"Too many." replied the traveler as they rounded the corner the last zombie had come from, finding the only door in that section locked they went down the stairs and approached the double gated door at the bottom. Stepping through into a corridor that formed a square with a handful of doors on different walls.
The first door on their right took them into a sealed off corridor that had the X-Ray room. Solving the little puzzle that would help with one of the other doors, but Ethan already had the solution in mind so it didn't really matter to him in the end.
Going back into the corridor, and dealing with a couple of zombies that had been waiting for them. They entered a set of double doors down the hall that was right in front of the first door they entered. Now standing in an autopsy room, they spread out and began searching for anything of interest.
Richard and Jill began looking through the various pieces of equipment, Chris and Barry headed into the freeze unit while the two rookies went to a large desk in the far corner.
While Rebecca started rifling through various lab reports spread out on the desk, Ethan sat in the chair in front of a still active computer screen. Typing a few kets, the display asking for a login and a password appeared. Smirking, he typed in 'John', then 'Ada' and was granted access. "Here we go." he said getting his girlfriend's attention.
"What do you have?" she asked as he began checking through things.
"A way to unlock all the doors on levels B2 and B3." he replied bringing up the screen that asked for a second password. He punched in 'Cell' and was granted control of all the door locks within the labs. Making quick work of all the locks, Ethan started going through the files contained within the computer itself.
Autopsy reports and research data on various BOWs that had come through the labs came on screen. Each one very detailed in how each creature functioned and their weaknesses, the reports were in regards on how to improve them so that they were much more combat effective.
The other STARS gathered around after a while and read the information as well. "This is sick..." Jill muttered at some of the images displayed.
"It's also evidence. Someone find me a blank disk." said Ethan. Richard opened a couple of drawers and found a small stack of MO disks and handed one to him. He waisted no time slipping it into the drive and began copying all of the data he had pulled up. When it was complete he took the disk and stored it into his vest where the other pieces of evidence they had managed to gather was being kept.
That done, he pulled up the maps that covered the three floors of the labs. "This place is too big for us to go through one room at a time." said Chris, "We'll have to split up if we want to cover the most ground in the least amount of time."
"Agreed." said Ethan getting out of the chair. "Becs and I will check the room we found locked on the floor above us. You guys check the remaining rooms down here. Everyone still have a radio?"
"Still have Kenneth's." Jill said holding it up.
"I have mine...and Enricos." said Rebecca holding up both remembering when she had taken the still working device off her deceased Captain.
"Alright then, we'll cover everything we can and meet up back here before planning our next move. Don't let your guard down for even a second, who knows what's lurking down in this goddamn hole." said the profiler. Even though he knew what they would encounter, he also knew that everyone present could handle it with no trouble at all.
They divided up the teams. Barry and Chris were one, Jill and Richard the other, each one given a radio and was told to stay in contact as they exited the autopsy room and headed off in different directions.
The two rookies went back up the stairs and headed toward the first locked door they encountered when they all had first arrived. Entering the 'viewing room', the younger STARS began moving about trying to find something that could have been important.
"This must be where they held their meetings, to show their work and compare notes." said Rebecca as they looked through the shelves and going through the cabinets along the walls.
Ethan approached the front where the large viewing screen had been set up with the projector shining a bright light over it. Looking into the machine, he found film already loaded and pressed the button next to it, the medic coming up next to him as the machine started up.
The images within the projector started scrolling across the large screen was that of the Bio-Weapons report the Umbrella scientists here had put together. First was of the undead canines dubbed 'Cerberus', then there was the overgrown great white 'Neptune', followed by 'Hunters', and then finally the data regarding the 'T-002 Tyrant'.
"That looks familiar." Rebecca commented, remembering the Proto-Tyrant that they had went up against back at the training facility with a shiver that went up her back. "Were they attempting to mass-produce these things?"
"I would think so," said the profiler looking over the information closely. "Think about it, what would be better than living tanks that can do what they do?"
The last two slides showed Wesker standing with the rest of the research staff, the older teen's eyes narrow dangerously seeing the man before the next slide appeared with a bar code and number displayed. Shutting the projector off, he removed the film and slipped it into the safe pocket in his vest before turning around and heading to the security panel on the wall.
Remembering the code by heart, Ethan punched in the proper sequence and was awarded with access to the door on the far side of the room where the video playing equipment was being kept. "How did you know that was the code?" asked the medic beyond impressed.
"With everything we've had to do up to this point, I just took a shot in the dark and got lucky." the traveler lied smoothly while giving her a wide grin that she rolled her eyes at.
They crossed the room and stepped inside the now open room, looking things over briefly and finding the lab key Ethan had been hoping to find before turning around and heading back out the door into the main corridor.
X
Wesker looked over the different screens before him and smirked, watching as the teams entered separate rooms within the labs. Following their movements closely before making his move.
"I think it's time for us to have a conversation, Ethan." he said to the silent room as he typed something into the console before him.
X
Alarms blared throughout the labs, echoing along the stone walls as a female voice resonated from old speakers in the corners of each corridor. "ATTENTION! INTRUDERS DETECTED IN BASEMENT LEVEL 3! EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN INITIATED! ALL SECURITY PERSONNEL REPORT TO BASEMENT LEVEL-3!"
Ethan and Rebecca spun around as the door they came through leading into the same level as the others slammed shut and a lock engaged. The traveler grabbed the handle and found it sealed tight. "Fuck," he scooped up their radio, "Teams, check in." he said as the alarms stopped blaring.
"We're okay, but the door we came through is locked and we can't get it open." said Chris. "Barry and I are in some kind of prison block area, there was a couple of freaky looking bug-things down here but we managed to deal with them."
"Richard and I are in one of the medical rooms and are having the same problem, and there's only one way in or out of here." added Jill. "How did a lockdown get engaged? Did someone press something they weren't suppose to?"
The traveler set his jaw, the only way that a lab-wide lockdown like this could be initiated would have been from the central terminal in the primary lab. And he knew that there was only one person that would be sitting there waiting for them.
And it was apparent that he wanted everyone else out of the way so that he would be alone.
"I think I have an idea on the who, and there's only one way to disengage all the locks." he said making Rebecca look up at him oddly.
"What are you thinking, Ethan?" asked Chris sounding unsure of what the rookie was thinking.
He looked down the corridor and steeled himself. "Something insane, and very wreckless, but it's the only way to get everyone out of here." he said slipping the radio on his belt and moving forward, Rebecca right behind him with a bad feeling forming in her stomach at what he could be planning.
Turning the corner, a pair of Crimson Heads came running their way with their claws poised. Ethan took aim and fired a couple of three-round bursts into them, making one drop dead to the floor and blowing the knee cap out of the other allowing Rebecca to finish it off. "Ethan what exactly are you planning?" she asked wanting to know what was going on inside his head.
"It's Wesker." he said with a deadly calm in his voice. "This place is only filled with undead and a handful of BOWs, meaning that he's the only one able to initiate the lockdown. And I'd bet anything that the controls for the self-destruct is where he is at as well. The only way to deactivate the lockdown would be to activate the auto-destruct sequence, all the doors will open and we can escape."
They approached the door at the far end, Ethan pulled out the lab key and slipped it into the lock. The red light on the panel next to it changed from red to green and the door slid open allowing them passage.
"What about Wesker?" asked the medic with heated tension in her voice. "I doubt he's just going to stand aside and let us help the others, especially after everything he's put us through." they turned a corner and found themselves facing an elevator.
"I'll take care of that." said the profiler flipping the switch on the wall and opening the gates. They stepped on to the lift and pressed the button for the lowest level. Riding in silence until the platform stopped and the doors opened again, Ethan turned to Rebecca. "Becs, I want you to stay here."
"What?!" she exclaimed, looking at him as though he was out of his mind. "No! No way! I'm not letting you face that traitor alone, you need backup!"
"He's herding us, made sure that we were isolated from the others. It's obviously some kind of trap, I care about you too damn much to let you walk into it with me." he tried to reason, holding her shoulders and looking into her eyes. "I can't lose you, not after everything we've been through."
Rebecca held his face in her hands, "If you care about me as much as I know you do, then you know how I feel as well. You're not going in there alone," she said with finality before kissing him. "We've been through a lot, and we'll stick together...until the end."
Ethan knew that he wasn't going to win this argument no matter how hard he tried. Rebecca was as stubborn as she was smart, one of the many things he loved about her. "Alright." he said finally caving. "Stick close and finger on the trigger, after what we've seen he's capable of anything." Guns ready, the rookies traveled down the small corridor, passing through clouds of billowing steam coming from nearby vents and around the corner ahead.
Facing an automated door with the bio-hazard sign imprinted on the front, the couple shared one last glance before opening the door and stepping inside.
The main lab was much larger in person, lines of human sized specimen tubes stood in lines in the center of the large room. Some of them were broken or cracked but was still in one piece. Equipment, computer monitors and various locks cabinets lined all four walls, but the only light illuminating the lab were coming from the specimen tanks.
Ethan and Rebecca moved slowly inward, guns raised as they approached the front where a lone figure stood before an active terminal. Busily typing away even though he knew full well of the ones that had entered. A large specimen tube stood against the wall housing the T-002.
It looks almost exactly like the one they had fought before only more refined. The skin just as ghostly white but had more muscle packed within it. It's exposed heart beat slowly meaning that it was in a state of suspended animation, the wicked long, sharp claws on it's left hand were well over a meter long and looked far more dangerous than the previous generation did.
"So you've finally come...you make me proud, Ethan." Wesker said while going about his work. "And you've brought Ms. Chambers, figured she wouldn't be far behind no matter where you go."
"Cut the bullshit Wesker. I know everything," Ethan said narrowing his gaze and keeping his weapon aimed at the back of the traitor's head. "You've been working with Umbrella this whole fucking time, putting yourself in a position of power within the police station and covering their tracks whenever something proved to be a threat to your bosses."
"You tried to keep the incident with the virus escaping the labs under wraps, and when things got to be too much you sent us in when we got closer to the truth. You sabotaged the chopper so it would crash, but didn't expect us to survive and find the training facility. And you sure as hell didn't expect us to connect the dots and find this place either." he continued.
Wesker paused, body still as he slowly raised his head. "So you've figured it all out. I underestimated you, Ethan." he spun around, drawing his own weapon and aiming at the traveler. "So, it's all out in the open now. You've solved the big mystery."
"Sacrificing all of us so that you can play with Umbrella's sick pets wasn't very subtle." Ethan growled while slowly moving in front of Rebecca so that the Captain's attention was all on him. "That's straight up depravity."
"I would call it...opprotunity." Wesker said casually. "When the Tyrant-Virus was leaked I had to give up my lovely members of STARS. I had high hopes for some of you, and you didn't disappoint. I've been watching your progress since you stumbled upon the training complex, for someone that is suppose to be a new recruit, you are incredibly hard to kill."
The traveler tilted his head, "Gee, that means a lot coming from a megalomania - psychopath. It does make me wonder, what did Umbrella give you for assassinating the man that took you under his wing?"
"Progression. Marcus was too wrapped up in his own research to see the big picture of what he was helping to create. His paranoia led to his downfall and he outlived his usefulness, a wise man had once said; 'A man must be his own master'."
"Funny, because another wise man had said, 'Be weary while in the presence of monsters, lest you become one yourself'. And at this point, you and Umbrella are the biggest monsters in existence. You took innocent people and turned them into weapons, stripped them of their humanity and even in some cases their very soul!" Ethan growled.
Silence filled the lab, but was quickly broken from a deep chuckle from Wesker. "Poetic. You're idealism is quiet amusing, Ethan. But you also miss the bigger picture. What Umbrella has done is open a world never thought possible, but even they fail to realize the gravity of what they have achieved. All they care for is money and power, never knowing the strides that they have made."
Rebecca gritted her teeth, "You're a sick, twisted excuse for a human being. Did the lives of those people, the lives of our friends mean nothing?"
Wesker turned his head to her briefly, "Their lives were expendable, my dear. All for the sake of a higher purpose. Evolution can't continue without a few...dead ends."
"I'll tell you the same thing I told Marcus' corpse; what you assholes are doing isn't science or progression to humanity, it's the rape of the natural world. The only thing that will come from all of this is death and chaos!" the profiler raged.
The blonde man's eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses, "So misguided, I actually expected someone of your intellect to understand the wonders of what was happening around you. I was even going to offer you a place within the organization, you would have been a valuable asset."
Ethan growled, he could feel Rebecca tensing behind him at the man's audacity to offer such a thing. "I'd rather donkey-punch Satan in the nuts than be a part of Umbrella's madness."
"Such a shame. Regardless, this gives me the opportunity to test Umbrella's greatest creation. The two of you, despite being as young as you are, will prove to be perfect test subjects given your achievements thus far." drolled Wesker as he reached back to type something into the terminal.
Everything happened so fast that Rebecca didn't even know how it occurred. Ethan closed the distance in the span of half a second and kicked Wesker's gun from his hand, following up with a right-cross straight to his face that knocked his glasses off.
"If you think for a second that I'm letting you let that fucker out, you're even more senile than I first thought." the traveler said keeping his weapon trained on the traitor.
Wesker slowly picked up his sunglasses, standing to his full height with his back to the rookie. "Then, I will just have to deal with you myself." He spun around throwing the glasses Ethan's way. The teen swatted the projectile aside and opened fire, rounds tearing through computer monitors and specimen tubes as the blonde man dove out of the way.
Scanning the room, the profiler didn't see any sign of the traitor, the lab falling uneasily silent. "Becs, did you see where he went?" he whispered as she came to stand by him with her weapon also up and sweeping.
"No, but the room isn't that big, he can't have gone far." she replied as they began moving about, walking down the line of specimen tubes for any sign of Wesker.
"I find myself being a bit curious myself." the man's voice echoed through the lab. "Is it courage that drives you to survive? Or Fear?", the rookies stood back to back as they walked down an isle of specimen tanks, covering both directions so they weren't ambushed. " Or, is it something else entirely? Perhaps something...closer to the heart?"
Rebecca turned when she thought she saw something moving behind the tanks on her left. Her mind working hard to figure out where he could be coming from while they moved slowly.
"It's a shame that you won't listen to reason, Ethan. You and I a lot alike." Wesker continued, his voice sounding like it was coming from everywhere. "We're both ambitious, intellect surpassing that of our peers, and we both know what it takes to achieve what we desire."
"You and I are nothing alike, asshole." the traveler said to the whole room. "Unlike you, I won't throw away my humanity for the sake of a science project. But beyond that, at least I have the balls to stand and fight instead of hiding like a coward!"
A dark chuckle echoed through the lab, "I suppose we aren't completely alike-" one of the broken specimen tubes shattered as Wesker went through it. Knocking Rebecca's gun from her hands, grabbing her arm and twisting it behind her back with his forearm wrapped around her neck holding her in place.
Ethan spun around when he heard the crash and aimed directly at Wesker's head, the man's cobalt colored orbs leering into his. "I don't possess such an obvious weakness." he said tightening his grip on the young medic, making her grunt from the strain he was putting on her.
"Let her go." the profiler hissed through clenched teeth.
"It's almost sad, letting one's emotions cloud them from something so dire." the blonde went on. "Risking one's self for that of another, it's a horrible cliché." He didn't take notice of the medic subtly reaching into her medical bag.
The teen flicked the fire selector to semi-auto, "I said, let. Her. Go." he demanded. The opening he was aiming at was very small and making him hesitate, not wanting to shoot his girlfriend by mistake
Wesker sent him a dark smirk, "Or what, Ethan? Would you risk the well being of your precious Rebecca just to put me down?" he asked stroking his other hand over Rebecca's hair, "Can you really live with yourself should something happen to her?"
Rebecca grabbed what she was looking for and pulled it out, in the same movement she stabbed the scalpel she kept in her pack directly into his leg making the older man shout in pain. On reflex, he threw the girl forward into Ethan and knocking them both to the floor, the medic's head connecting with a desk that was against the wall on the way down.
"Becs?" he asked worried when she didn't move, checking her pulse he was thankful that she was just unconscious and only had a bruise forming on the back of her head.
Wesker pulled the small, blood covered blade free and threw it aside just as the traveler finished getting back to his feet, raising his Beretta only to have it kicked from his hands and was forced to block a left hook aimed for his head. Following up with his own punch and front kick that was deflected by the traitor.
The two exchanged blows back and forth, dodging and blocking as they tried to gain an advantage over one another. The teen blocked an uppercut with his left forearm before attempting a round house that Wesker stopped by grabbing his foot, throwing the limb aside and connecting a right-cross to the younger man's jaw.
Jumping apart, Ethan wiped the trickle of blood from his busted lip while grabbing his knife and holding it out reverse-blade style. The Captain already had a big advantage over him, after fighting, running and straining himself for two days straight his energy reserves were at a pretty low point. He had no hope at overpowering the older, more experienced operative; his only chance at beating him would have been to out smart him.
"Do you honestly believe that you can beat me?" asked Wesker condescendingly while pulling out his own blade.
"Not sure, but I'm more than willing to find out." replied the teen with a sharp edge to his tone. What followed would have been considered a bizarre dance of death. The two combatants slashed, dodged, stabbed, parried, and spun around one another as they tried to find purchase with their respected blades.
Wesker flipped his knife around and stabbed downward, Ethan stepped back, raising his own weapon to block the strike. Small sparks flying when the sharpened metal scraped together. He came back with a straight forward stab but his arm was grabbed by the older man's available hand, his knife coming back around. Stopped by the younger man's forearm against his wrist with the tip of the weapon inches away from his throat.
They stood facing one another, straining to have their knives hit home but locked in a stalemate. Sweat dripped down from Ethan's brow, the muscles in his left arm burned as he kept the traitor from stabbing his throat while is right arm was held in the man's grasp.
Making a split second decision, the profiler fell back. Bringing his legs up and double-kicking Wesker in the chest sending him slamming into the side of one of the many specimen tanks. Cracks splintering along the surface with a bit of the fluid contained within seeping out. Ethan rolled back to his feet and charged, ducking under a wide slash that would have parted the flesh of his neck before slicing upward.
The blonde man ducked back, the tip of the teen's knife cutting into his cheek slightly as it passed and allowing him to drive his elbow into Ethan's gut. Grabbing the younger man's neck before he could recover and slamming him into the specimen tank across from them, grip tightening and cutting off his air supply.
Having dropped his knife on impact, Ethan brought his elbow down hard on Wesker's forearm breaking his hold before throwing his other elbow into his solar plexus putting distance between them. The traitor spun the knife around and held it by the blade, cocking his arm back and throwing the weapon across the room.
Seeing the danger, the traveler threw himself aside just as the knife sank into the specimen tank where his heart would have been. Rolling back to his feet, Wesker barreled into him with a shoulder tackle, knocking him into a desk and shattering several beakers and old monitors. He didn't have time to register what had happened when a fist slammed into his temple knocking him to the floor.
"Pathetic." Wesker growled driving his foot into Ethan's stomach, knocking the wind out of him and laying him flat. "To even think that you stood a chance." A second kick had the teen coughing, his gut burning from the repeated hits. "People like you, those who believe in ridiculous ideals and morality, have no chance at saving the world." He reached down and yanked Ethan to his feet, wrapping his arms around his throat as he began choking him from behind.
The profiler gaged, hands gripping Wesker's forearms as he felt the strain on his throat increase. Unable to get air into his lungs, he saw his vision start to swim and darken around the edges. Too weak to even fight back effectively. "The strong will live, and the weak shall perish." Wesker hissed into his ear. "And sadly, one you will never see the sunrise again. This mansion will be your grave, and the rest of your friends will join you soon enough."
Hearing this, something inside of Ethan broke. His vision snapped back into focus as he gritted his teeth, strength suddenly flowing through him as though someone were pumping it in through his very heart.
'Need to focus on a strategic level," he thought robotically. Time around him slowed to a crawl as he let go of his emotions and allowed his mind to take full control. 'First, distract and disorient target,' he snapped his head back and connected with Wesker's face, the man rearing back with a cry of surprise from the sudden attack.
'Thrown off, his grip will slaken. Break hold.' Ethan brought both his elbows back knocking the wind out of his attacker and using the momentum to break out of the grapple he had been trapped in. 'Once free, target will attempt wide haymaker. Use elbow block." Spinning around, the teen brought up his arm and stopped a wide right-cross.
'Discombobulate." The traveler brought both his hands up and slammed his palms over both of Wesker's ears. His eyes widening feeling them pop on impact effectively making him lose focus. 'Heel kick to diaphragm.' Ethan snapped his right foot up and kicked the man hard at the base of his chest sending him crashing into the desk behind him with air launched from his lungs.
'Capitalize, right-cross to left temple.' his fist connected against Wesker's head. 'Left uppercut to lower jaw.' the second strike hit home snapping the man's teeth together hard and knocking his head back.
Despite the onslaught he didn't see coming, Wesker grabbed an old microscope from the table he landed against and swung outward. 'Desperate attack, blunt object, dodge.' Ethan dropped to the floor as the object flew through the air above his head. Hand clasping around the handle of his knife that was laying at his feet when he had dropped it. 'Target has left himself open, drive weapon home!'
He flipped the knife around holding it reverse-grip, spinning on the balls of his feet while crouched and stabbed backwards. The blade pierced Wesker's gut, driving right up through his stomach, coughing blood from his lips as he dropped the microscope and clutched at the wound.
'Hip throw into specimen tank.' Ethan grabbed the traitor's arm, planting his foot behind his opponent's leg before throwing him the short distance into the glass container he had hit before. Shattering it on impact and laying him out amongst the broken glass and the unknown substance contained within it.
Moving forward, the traveler scooped up Rebecca's dropped pistol and stood over the Wesker's downed form. 'Summary; ears ringing, jaw fractured, torso region hemorrhaging due to knife wound, multiple lacerations due to glass shards. Threat to myself and the others...neutralized.'
Wesker coughed up another glob of blood as he leered up at the profiler. He couldn't believe how quickly the tables had turned on him, the teen moved so quickly that he was almost a blur. His strikes were precise and dealt maximum damage with little effort that left him beaten and now bleeding out on the lab floor.
His gaze reached Ethan's eyes and widen a fraction, swearing that he saw a slight tint of red in the rookie's iris' as he glared down at him. But it vanished almost as quickly as he had seen it. "Game over, Wesker." the teen said emotionless as he raised the weapon and opened fire.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Small fountains of red mist exploded from the blonde man's chest, round piercing through his vest and puncturing vital organs. The traveler counted off each bullet in his head as he watched Wesker's form jerk when each one hit its target, focusing on his center of mass where the madman's heart was located.
When his count reached 13, he stopped shooting and observed Wesker's beaten form. Blood bubbled from his lips and dripped down his chin, eyes wide in shock and pain as his chest area gushed the crimson liquid that now began to pool and mix with the containment fluid on the floor under him.
A gurgle came from the man's throat as he tried to breathe with badly punctured lungs while Ethan aimed at his head. Without a word, he squeezed the trigger two more times. Bam! Bam! Wesker fell back with two holes punched through the center of his forehead, eyes still open as he slumped to the floor completely motionless.
There was a still silence that filled the entire lab, the barrel of the pistol smoked lightly, slide locked back signifying a spent magazine as Ethan slowly lowered it. The rush of adrenaline wearing off as everything around him came back to normal as his shoulder's sagged from exertion. "Try coming back from that...asshole." he muttered, bending down and going through the dead man's pocket and taking out the master key, slipping it into his own pocket before making his way over to Rebecca, gathering his knife and handgun along the way.
"Becs?" he asked rolling her over and cradling her in his arms. "Becs? Wake up darlin." he said gently stroking her face.
The medic groaned, rubbing her head before opening her green eyes slowly. "E-Ethan?" she asked looking around a bit as he helped her sit up."What happened?"
"You hit your head when you fell." he said checking the bump on the back of her head "You should be okay though." Rebecca nodded slowly, wincing when she felt a slight headache lance through her skull.
"Wesker?" she asked. Ethan motioned with his thumb over his shoulder where the traitor was still laid out on the floor. "No longer a problem." he replied while helping her stand, holding her close a moment in relief that she was okay. Rebecca fell into his warmth, wrapping her arms around him glad that he was alright and Wesker hadn't killed him.
Neither of them saying a word as they stood there in the abandoned lab holding on to one another for a few brief moments.
The radio on his belt started going off bringing them back to the present. "Ethan? Rebecca? Respond." Chris' voice filtered in through the speaker.
"We're here, Chris." Ethan said into the device while handing Rebecca her weapon and heading back to the front of the lab and the terminal. "Sorry it took so long, we ran into a bit of a snag when Wesker tried to slow us down."
"Wesker?! Are you guys okay? What happened?" Jill asked sounding frantic at the thought of the two rookies taking on the traitor alone.
"Relax, Jill. He's done. We're going to activate the self-destruct sequence from the main terminal here in the lab, the process should unlock all the doors in the facility and according to the map there's a heliport behind those large doors we passed on the way down here. As soon as the locks disengage head that way and we'll meet you there." said the traveler as he began typing away at the terminal. "If Brad's still circling the area, then we can find a way to signal him from the heliport."
"Alright, Ethan. But nothing too wreckless, you hear me?" Chris said strictly. The rookie rolled his eyes at the man's protective nature as he brought up the window to activate the labs self-destruct. Punching in the proper sequence and causing a timer to appear on screen, "I'm setting the explosion at fifteen minutes, plenty of time to get to the helipad and get Brad in to evac us." he said to the woman at his side.
"Do it." Rebecca said with conviction, ready to watch this place and everything within it burn.
Turning back to the terminal, Ethan narrowed his eyes when he saw a blinking bar at the top of the screen. Bringing it up, a new window appeared showing a loading screen of some kind that was currently at '98%'. "What the hell is-" the bar completed itself as a woman's synthesised voice came over the computer's speakers.
"Time Delay, Complete. Beginning Reanimation Process." A few small lights around the T-002's tank kicked on and the fluid surrounding it began to drain out.
"FUCK! That bastard set this things activation on a timer!" Ethan shouted before canceling out the screen and bringing up the self-destruct window. Using the master key to confirm the program as alarms blared throughout the facility.
"WARNING! SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE HAS BEEN INITIATED! ALL LOCKS HAVE BEEN DISENGAGED, ALL PERSONNEL MUST EVACUATE TO MINIMUM SAFE DISTANCE!"
The door they had come through unlocked just as the specimen tank finished draining, the Tyrant's white eyes snapped open as it raised its massive hand and slammed it against the glass. Cracks spread across the reinforced container as it pulled back and slammed it again.
"Rebecca MOVE!" the traveler exclaimed, taking out the grenade launcher and retreating back toward the exit. A second later the tank was smashed open and the Tyrant dropped down to the floor, raising to its full height as it observed the retreating rookies, lip-less grin seeming to widen seeing prey within its grasp.
"SELF DESTRUCTION WILL COMMENCE IN...FIFTEEN MINUTES. ALL PERSONNEL MUST EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY! The computer bellowed through the labs before it was swallowed up by the deafening roar of the massive BOW before it charged after Ethan and Rebecca.
Gritting his teeth, Ethan raised the launcher and fired.
A/N: I know you all hate cliffhangers, but this seemed like the best place to stop for now. The last part of the fight against Wesker was based off of the fighting done by Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes, I thought it would add more substance to the brawl and make things interesting. As well as give another glimpse into what Ethan is capable of with his unknown abilities.
But is Wesker really dead? Or will he come back? Find this out along with the fight against the T-002 Tyrant in the next installment, along with the conclusion to the mansion incident. Till then, see you guys next time!
