Chapter 15: A Storm Approaches
It came quickly and without warning, a mere month after the first one had been shut down thanks to the government. A second zombie invasion flooded New York City. The midnight hour marking the end of the thirtieth day was also the summons for the hordes of undead that sprang out of the shadows from the ether. The casualties were staggeringly high, the first one had been quite destructive as well but the sheer magnitude of lives lost easily eclipsed the first by several thousand. Anyone who found themselves accosted by the rotting corpses amid the glow of the streetlights were immediately devoured with sharpened teeth and slavering fang. Each of these victims arose again but instead of a healthy pallor their skin had decayed into mush, a symbol of their new found alliances. Bolstered by the reinforcements the horde managed to go unnoticed by the general populace until the first vestiges of sunlight broke weakly over the tops of the skyscrapers. Without the government to muzzle their horror the mass took to the Internet and, in lieu of the news being shut down because none of the reporters would brave the streets to attend to their posts, the word got out to everyone from Brooklyn to Beijing. Panic overcame everyone as the scope of the damage that had been done began to be uncovered with many more beginning to assume that this would be the end of civilization, one could hear George Romero laughing from his grave.
For Chris and his gang they weren't made aware of the situation until late the following morning. Much to her chagrin Malice found the majority of that morning under the steady instruction of who was having all three of them practice drills up on the roof. After that disastrous battle with the mystery assassin the CIA agent had decided that they were in dire need of learning how to fight like a team. Amused by her proposition Rocket Raccoon asked, innocently enough, if the redhead had experience in battling as a team which silenced her immediately. Pursing her lips had admitted she typically did her work solo, such a confession made Malice give a bitter little laughing bark. It was clear to her the rest of the "team" thought she had been the reason they had lost against the ninja, a preposterous claim but one they sullenly believed. glared at her and it seemed like there would be another argument on the horizon but Chris, ever the mediator, had interposed himself between the two women. Calmly he said that he agreed with , they needed to work better as a team if they were going to get to the bottom of this multi-dimensional high jacking.
Hence here the angel was, Skadi twirling about the air around her as she went through some basic ax katas. Conscious not to convert her energy into frost Malice swept the head through the air as it went in for a slash before gracefully changing the attack into a two handed guard which ended her kata. "Slow" commented critically "There were a ton of openings for a speedy opponent to take advantage of. Do it again and do it faster." Growling Malice bit back a venomous response, she wanted to wring the Sprite's neck like a piece of Slumber Ivy but previous spars against the redhead made her hesitant to lash out. When she was outvoted in regards to early morning drills Malice had refused to participate in anything, drills, chores or even food procurement. Chris had tried to reason with her again but she merely proffered him a cold shoulder, a barrier even the experienced B.S.A.A captain found impossible to overcome. Annoyed at the man's ineffective attempts to change her opinion had thrown down the gauntlet and challenged Malice to a battle, if she won then Malice had to do drills with the rest of the team and clean up her attitude but if the angel won she didn't have to do anything she didn't want to. Eager to put the arrogant Sprite in her place Malice accepted, believing the redhead would be no match for her diviner. The match had lasted a humiliating twenty seconds; had put Malice down after ducking under a swipe from Skadi with a well-placed kick to the face. Furious, Malice demanded a rematch believing that the Sprite had cheated and had complied, ten rounds later Malice was sporting a collection of bruises without having so much as bumped the CIA agent with her weapon.
Grinding her teeth so hard that Malice wouldn't have been surprised if she had bitten off her own tongue she redid the kata with a reluctant increase in speed she ended once again in a block. Shaking her head sighed "Still too slow, repeat that kata thirty more times and notch up the speed with each rotation." Huffing Malice blew the hair out of her eyes "This isn't working" she grumbled hefting the ax onto her shoulders "I'm going to get some water." Without being dismissed the angel stomped down the stairs leaving a disapproving in her wake "You get fifteen minutes for a water break then you do fifty rotations of that kata." Her voice dared Malice to defy her, a fact that rankled the angel especially since Malice knew that she would obey despite how much she hated the redhead. Turning her attention from the angel surveyed the progress Chris and Rocket Raccoon were making. They already had some experience with watching each other's back so had them get familiar with each other's weapons. Since both were marksman it would behoove them to be able to swap weapons on the fly if some situation came up, like a damaged weapon or an opponent who could resist either conventional or space weaponry, they could use their partner's weapon without a hitch.
Chris had been enthusiastic about learning the ins and outs of alien weaponry, Rocket Raccoon…not so much. "Bloody Earthlings" the anthropomorphic animal swore as he weighed the M16 in his paw "This balance is absolute shit, the recoil is ridiculous, and the metal is unbelievably hard to keep polished. I feel like a fucking primate here." Ignoring his gripes reached into her back pocket and withdrew several rubber balls "Ready for some target practice" she asked as she began to juggle them in the air. Both of them nodded and took aim as ten balls flew into the air with differing speeds and heights. All of them either exploded into strips of rubber or were melted into piles of bubbling goo, the marksmen were ten for ten even though they were using alien weaponry. Satisfied with the results, crossed her arms "You two seemed to have taken to this with an impressive display of adaption." Rocket Raccoon shrugged as he and Chris swapped firearms "Ain't that big a deal, lass. While I hope to the stars I'll never have to use the bleeding thing knowing the ins and outs is better than sitting in a fire fight with my trousers down because I don't know how to shoot the blooming thing." Chris nodded pensively "Same here. How did the drills with Malice go?" he looked about the roof noting that the angel was nowhere in sight "That badly, huh?"
"It's not that she's completely inexperienced but it's clear that all these 'demons' she claims to have hunted must have all been crippled or blind" said "I can stand her not having the technique to overpower people like you or me but her absolute refusal to entertain so much as a thought that she might not be as great a warrior that she believes is really beginning to grate on my nerves. This attitude is undermining any attempt I'm trying to make in improving her fighting style. She's constantly belligerent about everything. To be honest I would support kicking her out of the apartment." waited for a tic before resuming her argument, she knew this would be a tough sell to the guys who weren't feed up enough yet with Malice to seriously consider cutting her from the team but it was better to air this now than when emotions were beginning to run high. "There's more at stake here than just hunting down Wesker, we also have to pump him for information on what he knows about our predicament. If what you say about him is true, Chris, then no doubt we'll have to fight him at some point and I cannot get into a situation like that knowing that one of my allies shares the same amount of concern about my wellbeing with a runaway bullet train." Chris frowned "I understand your concerns but I am against kicking her out of the apartment. She's an alien in this world and aggressive in most social situations. I couldn't bear to have it on my conscience if we abandoned her. However, I would be open to leaving her at the apartment while we go and look for Wesker, it'll be less dangerous for all of us that way."
"She ain't going to like that mate" Rocket Raccoon pointed out as he checked his weapon nonchalantly "That lass is ornery about everything and keeping her locked up just might get yer neck hacked off while you kip." Before they could continue the debate Malice reappeared on the roof looking both angry and surprised "Do demons routinely wander into your buildings any time they damn please or are you all that helpless" she snarled at them which garnered some odd looks from the rest of the group. "The hell you jabbering on about" Rocket Raccoon asked which prompted Malice to gesture them into stairwell and down onto the floor they were currently inhabiting. Lying there in a pile of melting ice shards lay a body, Malice had clearly stabbed in the chest before freezing it solid and smashing it with the blunt of her weapon. At first was positive that the angel had just committed homicide and was about to accost her but then she noticed the decayed face that stared back at her from within its freezing confines. "Courtesy of Wesker" she asked aloud to Chris who nodded sagely "There's no mistaking the features, it's a B.O.W." A low moan caught their attention; the first zombie had not been alone. Shuffling out from one of their neighbor's apartments came a second zombie who seemed intent on avenging the fall of its comrades. The undead's feet suddenly gain explosive speed as it lurched forward and tried to grab Malice.
With a dismissive humph she spun her weapon and froze the second one in place before dissecting it right down the middle leaving a trail of frozen skin flakes in its wake. "See, I don't need your training" Malice crowed but rolled her eyes "Now is not the time for your incessant whining. We need to figure out what's going on." "All over that lass" Rocket Raccoon piped up from his place standing on a nearby window sill "Might want to take a shifty at this, mates." Crowding around him the group watched dourly as a horde of undead uneasily trooped down the street. "It's just like the last zombie apocalypse" the CIA agent noted "I'm guessing you recognize the majority of these?" "I know all of them" Chris replied "Put more than a few shotgun rounds into the heads of each species present." He went on to give them a brief lecture on the crowd below them pointing out the different types and how best to deal with them. "These are the same types we dealt with in the first wave" noted which prompted Chris to stroke his stubbly chin "Odd, considering that the majority of the species present are mostly made up of the T-virus variant. There are Ganado present so why is Wesker limiting himself to the most primitive form of B.O.W?" The question clawed away in the back of his mind but the former S.T.A.R.S member pushed it away "We need to secure the building and its residents."
Mentally pivoting to the new task at hand began to arrange their formation "Malice, you take the lead. That weapon of yours will be the perfect spearhead." The angel merely brushed a few locks of hair from her forehead "Why bother with a formation? These things are laughably weak, only a child would be threatened by them." "They might be pathetic but they're still infectious" Chris warned her "it doesn't matter if it's a tyrant or the cannon fodder, one bite and you're a goner." "You either work with us or you sit in the apartment while we deal with this" followed up "I don't have time to hold your hand and deal with this." Gawking with rage Malice pointed the head of Skadi at the redhead "I'll be the one who'll be babysitting you Sprite, you best not forget that." The tension subsided somewhat as Malice stepped forward to the front of the corridor signaling that she would behave for now and listen to . "Rocket Raccoon, I need you to cover Malice and keep the heat off of her, she can zone well with that ax of hers but if any zombie manages to break through her guard I'll need to be able to neutralize it." Smirking, the Guardian of the Galaxy patted his weapon "Don't you worry love, these undead buggers won't even be proper targets for a pro like me." "Chris, I need you to be the second string. The minute we hit a large group I want you right next to Malice to increase our offensive power." The B.S.A.A agent nodded "I guess that means you're guarding our rear?" She nodded "My fighting style is ill suited for both our opponents as well as these tight spaces. I'm more liable to set something on fire than help out."
It began with quick sweeps of each apartment building on their floor in order to en sure there would be no zombies harassing their backs. The residents of each room were warned to lock their doors and not to come out until Chris gave the all clear. Most of them shook their heads dumbly as they stared at the sight of Malice and Rocket Raccoon "Bugger, haven't these blokes ever seen a raccoon before" the animal griped as they left a particularly awestruck family. "Focus people" snapped "Malice, keep your guard up or else you're going to get bit." "Can it you-" the angel shouted back but a quick flash of something brown and low to the ground caught her attention. Nearly caught flatfoot by the Cerberus' attack Malice shrieked as the animal slammed against her weapon using the shaft to give it just enough equilibrium to come within inches of her face. Its slavering fangs were prepared to gouge her throat out but a bullet to the head turned it into chunky salsa. Lowering his weapon Chris walked up to Malice and helped steady her
"You ok?" he asked. Her pride severely wounded Malice twisted out of his grip "Let's go" she hissed making sure her weapon was in front of her. Since they were on the top floor the rest of it was all downhill with barring the door to the stairwell each time they cleared a floor. They managed to root out a few more zombies, not many had managed to enter the building in the first place but whatever little damage they had managed to do hit everyone hard. Case in point: on the tenth floor Chris was forced to put someone down after they had been bitten. He was a young father of a three year old boy, the mother had left earlier in the day to head to work and the father had decided to chase after her with his child in tow. and Chris exchanged painful looks before they split up. The redhead grabbed the young boy and escorted him into the apartment room while Chris was forced to give the father the really bad news. "I'm…sorry" Chris said as he bent down to be eye level with the man "You've been infected." Clutching his bloody red arm the man looked imploringly at Chris. "There has to be some way" he reasoned as the tears began to flow from his eyes "Please, please tell me there's some way to cure this." Chris didn't look away, he couldn't but the words refused to organize themselves into a coherent sentence. His silence was damning "No, no, please" the man begged hysterically "I can't leave Benji alone, I want to live, please don't tell me…you can't…do…"
The man curled up into a ball "Sorry but there's nothing I can do except make this as painless as possible" Chris replied taking the safety off his Red9. The click of the gun sent the man into a frenzy, he jumped up using the power of adrenaline to push Chris away allowing him to sprint down the corridor. "No" the B.S.A.A member cried extending his hand in a futile gesture to stop the man; it nicked something soft and fleshy. With an amazing speed Malice shot down the hallway with Skadi in front of her spearing the man through the torso with one go. The man dangled a bit at the end of the ax before going limp, unnoticed by either Chris or Rocket Raccoon Skadi glowed a light sky blue as it absorbed the man's soul. 'Just in time' Malice thought smugly as the man's body disintegrated into the air 'A second longer and his soul would have been corrupted by that virus.' "What the hell do you think you're doing" Chris yelled at her "Do you realize what you just did?" Turning around Malice surveyed him coolly "What's wrong, weren't you just going to kill him anyway?" "Yeah but…" the man struggled to find the words to explain why he was making a fuss. The way she had nonchalantly killed the guy had frozen him to the core, she hadn't hesitated at all to pursue him. "Its, it's just that you…you killed him" he said stupidly which made Malice smirk "And, it had to be done and he got the better of you. You should have kept your guard up."
Chris and Rocket Raccoon gaped at her words, this wasn't about claiming a human life at all, it was some form of one-upmanship. "You're one cold bitch" Rocket Raccoon spat out "I ain't particularly fond of Earthlings either bit I'd never grass one without blinking an eye." "It was one pitiful Sprite" Malice said "In case you haven't noticed there are tons of you guys running about down below. One dying isn't going to be noticed." "It was a life you sodder, it's bloody sacred" the Guardian of the Galaxy barked at her but before they could get into a proper row forced herself between them "What the hell is going on?" she snapped "I just got the tyke to bed, you'll wake him if you keep this up." "Malice friggin murdered the dad in cold blood and she ain't even the least bit remorseful, the cheeky bitch" the animal said crossing his arms. "And?" said "If I recall correctly the man had been bitten and there was no way to stop him from turning. I thought Chris was going to finish the job anyway." "Finally, a voice of reason" the angel said brushing her bangs back "Are we going to keep moving forward or do you want to bitch and whine some more?" Turning about she continued to trek down the hall leaving to follow in her wake "Get in gear guys, we can wax sentimental once the building is secure." Fuming Rocket Raccoon turned to a sullen Chris "Can you friggin believe that, we're surrounded by bloodthirsty nutters." Clenching his fists Chris walked forward "Let's get the job done Rocket."
Even with emotions running high the team continued to do a fantastic job in destroying the rest of the zombies on floors nine through two before heading down into the lobby of the first floor. While they were pushing their way through the door the quick whiff of ozone was Chris' only warning "Get down" he shouted sprinting over Rocket Raccoon. He tackled the angel to the ground as the blade of a chainsaw ripped through the plaster door frame where Malice's head had previously been near. The Garrador roared at missing its prey bringing the lesser zombies rushing towards the group ready to feast. Jumping over Chris and Malice, began to assault the chainsaw wielding zombie while Rocket Raccoon began to plaster the zombies with death rays. Scooping the Grim angel into his arms Chris rolled away from the fighting before helping her to her feet. "Are you ok" he asked bluntly as he clicked the safety off his weapon. Bending down Malice grabbed her ax off the floor "Peachy" she remarked swinging the weapon in front of her in preparation for what was about to go down "Try and keep up with me." With a grunt she swung her weapon in a huge arc sending the lesser zombies and Hunters away from her while chilling the room with a light frost. Her second attack sliced three zombies apart as she turned to bat away a Cerberus who had used his brethren as a shield to dodge her initial attack. Before it could draw close it was knocked down by a magnum to the chest allowing the angel to impale its chest cavity with the handle of her weapon.
"I've got your back" Chris shouted as he pumped another round into a Ganado wielding a rifle "Sweep them towards the middle." Working as pairs Malice and began to corral the zombies into the middle of the lobby with Chris and Rocket Raccoon picking off the ones who were able to wiggle through the whorls of fire and frost that encompassed the area. Once the mass was contained as tightly as they could be Malice whirled her weapon around her head, the streaks of blue were barely visible thanks to the speed at which the weapon was twirled, and with a yell she slammed the head onto the ground. Ice quickly formed into a mighty glacier that encompassed the undead horde and with a laugh she struck it again making it shatter into a million shards of ice and frozen limbs. Satisfied that all the threats had been exterminated Chris began to reload his weapon "I can't believe how fast they were able to saturate the city." "There are too many of them for only one factory to reproduce and distribute." commented as she adjusted her sleeves, Rocket Raccoon had managed to give them a rough patch job after her fight with the mystery ninja "Wesker probably has multiple factories churning these guys out. The question is, what should we focus on? We could go after Wesker and cut off the head of the snake or we could go about shutting down wherever these things are spawning from." "Neither of those sound too keen to me lass" Rocket Raccoon piped up "This Wesker chap could be anywhere, these blasted zombies reek awful fierce. Me nose couldn't even find a bottle of perfume in the midst of these blighters. On the other hand, we ain't a clue where the hell the source is. We could be kipping around for weeks if our only goal is to do a quick check of the city itself."
Chris mulled over both options "We don't have enough firepower for either of those options. We're limited in resources and options." "So what do you suppose we do?" asked glancing out the window at the shambling horde outside. "I hate to say this but it might be best to hunker down and wait to see what happens" there was serious defeat lacing Chris' voice but the B.S.A.A member was not about to go off on a suicide run with his companions in tow "Let's board up the doors and get everyone in the building organized." A sudden shriek caught their attention, it was muffled by the floors and walls but the pitch was high enough for everyone to hear it clearly. "Crap, did we miss some" asked "Let's go." Before they could take a step there was a pounding on the double glass doors, the zombies had realized that there was food in reach and had begun to try and gain access to the building. "Damn" Chris breathed as his mind raced for a plan " and Rocket, you guys stay here and fend them off, whenever you're finished start barricading us in. Malice, you're with me." The pair dashed off up the stairs while eyed the doors critically "Do you think they'll hold?" "Against them? Maybe for a bit, but if any of the stronger ones decide to join the party we'll be buggered." Rocket replied before changing the setting on his blaster "Go and find summat to board up these windows, I'll keep them busy."
The CIA agent nodded before disappearing down an adjoining hallway. Logically some material might be found in the janitor's closet but if the building super attendant kept some materials on hand to do maintenance work that would be even better. Her eyes quickly scanning the doors she found one marked 'cleaning supplies' and busted it down with a kick. Several shelves of cleaning chemicals lay lined up against the walls with a bucket of rags on either side of the door. There was a vacuum cleaner in one corner and bucket with wheels for mopping on the other. Beside a small shelf filled with light bulbs was a ladder which grabbed. She also noted some mopes with metal handles in another part of the room and resolved to grab them on her return trip. When she reentered the hall she found Rocket Raccoon firing furiously into the crowd of zombies who had managed to shatter the glass doors. They groaned as they entered the foyer, their feet slimy with the molten goops some of their comrades had been reduced to thanks to the Guardian of the Galaxy. "Switch off" called out as she placed the ladder down onto the ground with one hand and aimed a kick with another. A quick volley of flame cleared the crowd long enough for the creature to scurry through. "Is this all ya got" he exclaimed looking at the ladder "Ain't there some sort of shield for these things? I was under the impression you Earthling lot had a contingency plan for this sort of zombie apocalypse event right here?" his words fell on deaf ears; was too busy trying to keep the zombies back to listen to his lamentations. "Bloody humans" he swore under his breath before examining the ladder, it was by no means perfect but with a little ingenuity he might be able to come up with a temporary buffer or something.
Readjusting the laser he began to manipulate the metal as gently as he could by softening up the joints. Once its shape had been eliminated Rocket focused on widening as far as it could go without losing most of the metal's sturdiness before ducking into the back. A laser to the door gained him excess into one of the first floor apartments where a couple lay huddled in the living room. Hysterical at the sight of him they began to wail about how they were too young and in love to die. "For the love of the stars" Rocket swore before ignoring them and heading into their kitchen. Grabbing a bucket from underneath the sink he filled it up with cold water then lugged it back to the foyer. The metal hissed as the cold water hardened its shape and it took a few more before the brace could be touched without burning one's hands off. "Good on ya lass, the door brace is ready" he called out to his redheaded companion. With a grunt gave a massive kick which spurted a jet of flames into the crowd of zombies "When I give the signal place the brace up against the door and hold it there." With alternating kicks she drove the horde back across the threshold using her flames to control their retreat before giving one final push that sent them a few feet away from the door. Gesturing wildly to Rocket
Raccoon the pair pushed the newly formed door brace up against the doorway before melting it to the wall with lasers and flames.
Once it was secure they stepped back in order to test its resilience. The metal held as a swell of cannon fodder leaned against the restraint trying to get a hold of some tasty flesh with grasping hands stuck between gaps. "We need to reinforce it" Rocket Raccoon commented as he eyed them "I'm on it" replied as she returned to the janitor's room for those mops she had seen. While their metal wasn't as pure and sturdy as the ladder they could be welded to the brace as well as the door to give it some more endurance. Once they were done Rocket Raccoon mopped his brow "Thank the stars, looks like that'll do it for now." "I wouldn't be too sure" his partner warned him as a flask of something scaly caught her attention. It was one of the zombie mutants, a Hunter, pushing its way forward in front of the pack using its incredible strength to force its lesser brethren out of the way. With a halfhearted tap it made the brace shudder madly while a small dent appeared on the back of it. "Oh no you don't" Rocket Raccoon exclaimed as he jumped up to the top of the brace. Aiming down he caught the Hunter mid swing with a laser to the head which disintegrated it entirely. "More on the way" called out as she watched a pack of them rush around the corridor as they followed the moans of excitement from the cannon fodder. "We need to get something stronger if we're going to keep these buggers out" Rocket Raccoon said as he fired more lasers into the crowd "Hurry up and find some more materials."
The janitor's closet had been cleared out of anything that could have helped prop the door shut so continued to hunt around the building. Unfortunately for her it seemed that the entire ground floor was devoid of anything that could constitute for a material that could help the brace withstand the punches of the hunters. By talking to the residents the CIA agent managed to gather up so more steel items that might be able to reinforce the brace even more. With a small gaggle of residents behind her returned to the lobby. Rocket had successfully repelled the hunters but not without them leaving their door brace considerably less secure than before. A frantic zombie manage to press its way inside the building thanks to one of the gaps on the side of brace, it had to sheer off most of its rotting skin to do so but it managed to get through just the same. More bony than corpse-like the zombie rushed towards the horrified residents but a punch from the redhead turned its brain into mush. Without a word the group fixed the brace, making it better in the process, but it was still vulnerable to hunters and their ilk. "Ain't there anything else" Rocket Raccoon asked as he finished welding the upper corners of the brace "I'm open to suggestions here." Frowning shrugged "That's your department; you seem to be handy with patch jobs." Frustrated, the creature ran a claw through his short hair "Ok, ok, ok, give me a bit to peruse the old noggin."
Pouting Rocket Raccoon approached the problem; there was no way to procure a metal hard enough to withstand the Hunters' punches, even if there were the loss of purity thanks to being hastily melted into shape by his laser could compromise the sturdiness. Did they need a metal at all? Something clicked into place and an idea began to form in Rocket Raccoon' mind "Be back before you can say hooroo" he assured them before scampering over to the janitor's closet. Grabbing a nearby bucket he began to pour an assortment of chemicals into it until a acidic smell began to coat the air around them. "A few more drops of these, a cup of this and, God save the queen, we done it." He said to himself as he stirred the liquid with a broken shaft from a wooden broom. "Alright, this part's done, now for the gamble." Running back into the lobby he instructed the residents "Go grab whatever rubber trinket you own, shoes, toys, bands, hell even some rubbers themselves if you have some in your bedside table." The group dutifully fulfilled his request and soon a sizeable amount of rubber paraphernalia lay strewn around the Guardian of the Galaxy. Grabbing handfuls at a time he dumped them into his bucket of chemicals as fast as they could so the mess wouldn't coagulate too quickly. Once he was done he had a near solid mass of beige goo in his bucket which he kept from solidifying with his laser which was set to its lowest temperature level.
"Alright Red, give me a boost up there and careful not to touch the merchandise if you know what I mean" he said with a wink. Ignoring his perverted remark propped him up on the highest ledge of brace along with the bucket. With sweeping arcs Rocket covered the entire brace with his chemical mixture allowing the substance to seep into every crevice. Using the last few drops to form a gooey ball on the poles holding it up he hopped off and admired his handy work. "What the hell is that supposed to do" his companion asked critically "what was that you made anyway, some sort of alien serum?" "I believe you Earthlings call it glue" he replied pointing out the door "Here comes the field test." Lumbering forward a huge Hunter sidled up to the door; clearly the mutation in this one had been erratic. With a gargled yell it lifted one fist and smashed the brace into bits with one blow. Instead of giving way, however, the brace sank back a few inches and held firm. The glue Rocket Raccoon had whipped up had become a thick, gooey, film that kept the door in place. A few more blows merely proved it was going to be impossible to muscle through with just strength alone. Relieved at their impeding salvation the residents whooped with joy but the pair had no time to spare to join in the celebration. Together they dashed upstairs hoping that whoever had been screaming had not done so out of mortal terror.
Unfortunately for Chris and Malice the person had been screaming out of mortal terror, the higher they climbed the louder and more frantic it sounded. On the eighth floor they found several of the doors had been torn off their hinges and several corpses were bleeding to death thanks to the large bite marks that had ripped the flesh off their bodies. Conscious of the infection Chris was forced to blow a hole into each of their heads to insure that none of them would rise again. They progressed slowly down the hall, Chris out front with Malice bringing up the rear. 'What kinda B.O.W is this' Chris asked himself as he stepped around a corpse whose head had been bitten off like a head of asparagus 'This doesn't look like the wounds of any that I've fought before.' This thought made a small blossom of panic awaken in his heart, fighting B. was heavily dependent on the information that others had collected. Attacks, defenses, what sort of ammo worked best, all these tidbits was what kept a B.S.A.A member like him alive every time he stepped into a situation like this. As they approached the stairs to the ninth floor the scream came again, whoever it was had taken shelter inside the recesses of the stairwell. Dutifully Malice stepped forward only to be brushed back behind Chris making her quirk an eyebrow. "I thought I was on point" she whispered to him. "I don't know what kinda of B.O.W this is" Chris replied "I'm taking the lead from here on out, I've got more experience fighting against them."
Taking a deep breath Chris readied himself mentally before straightening up and sending the door crashing against the wall with a mighty kick. His hand swiveled back and forth as he tried to get a bead on whoever was screaming, he didn't have to look hard. They had been mistaken when they thought a resident of the apartments had been screaming, perhaps this thing used that empathy to draw would be rescuers to their doom. It stood stagger stepped on the stairs with a corpse in its hand, it turned its face to them causing Malice to grimace and Chris to swear. The beast was easily nine feet high, its head nearly smacking up against the underbelly of the stairs that lead up to a higher floor. It had the head of a horse, the body of a man devoid of genitals, with powerful looking legs, one of which ended in a cloven foot. The skin was a mottled grey with networks of veins visible to an onlooker; it was hairless save the mane which was made up of squirming leeches that covered its head in a mohawk. Its eyes were milky white but from the way it looked at them it was able to see them several feet away. The nostrils flared with each bite as its sharp teeth, the size of nine inch nails, tore into the flesh of its newly deceased victim whose neck had been snapped by its powerful hands.
Discarding its meal it gave a gargled neigh before it began to approach them with one hand outstretched. The moment of sick fascination left with a snap giving Chris the sense of mind to fire his weapon into the chest cavity. The bullets punctured through the skin like tissue paper before exiting the other side and ricocheting off the wall but no blood seeped out of the wound. The impact made it pause for a split second before it resumed its pace towards them, unflinching even as more tore through it. Malice stepped forward to engage it in melee but Chris stopped her with his arm "We need to retreat for now" he instructed her as he ducked out of the door. The pair dashed through the halls but the beast was hot on their tails, along with having a horse head this breed of B.O.W was capable of reaching the speed of a racing stallion. With one swoop it grabbed Chris and hoisted the man into the air without breaking stride. His free hand tried to grab Malice's wings but with a pivot the angel turned and chopped the appendage off. As it bounced away, the fingers still wiggling in anticipation, Malice cut the hand holding her companion off as well leaving the B.O.W standing there groaning at the pain. She lifted the grip of her weapon ready to behead it when the horse creature hunkered forward and charged her. Blasted back a few feet Malice used her wings to regain her footing but before she could move the creature had tackled her again.
Skadi's heft proved to be detrimental as it prevented her from striking back, every time she tried to swing her weapon the beast would merely rush inside her attack and force her back. Eventually the pair drew very close to the wall of the corridor and with a grimace Malice realized the beast was going to try and pin her against the wall. As she tried to knock it off its guard the horse B.O.W's teeth began to rub against each other in preparation to devour yet again producing the worst grating sound Malice had ever heard. Right before it was about to pin her shots broke out in the corridor, Chris had finally caught up with them and turned the B.O.W's head into bloody stump. With a crash the creature fell down giving Malice a chance to relax her guard "I was under the impression these zombies were considerably less dangerous then you gave them credit for." "This one's new, if it is a B.O.W" Chris conceded "Let's hope there aren't too many of these roaming about." Malice brushed the bangs from her eyes "I would hardly call that a challenge." She jinxed them both, the body of the fallen bio weapon began to heave wildly and with a demonic neigh another creature appeared from its swollen abdomen followed by an identical second one. These creatures were miniature replicas of the horse B.O.W standing a mere four feet in height instead of nine. Clothed in the guts of their progenitor they chose Chris as their target. With a leap one jumped into the air while the other kept low on all fours, their subsequent charges knocked Chris onto the ground.
The impact jarred his weapon loose and while one of the twins kept Malice busy the other ran over and grabbed the gun with its hands. In perfect sync they swapped targets, the one distracting Malice jumped back to stomp Chris while he was rising off the ground while the other took aim at the angel. Quickly Malice tapped the ground with Skadi and brought up a small ice wall which kept the bullets from reaching her for a few seconds. Eyeing Chris' situation with a glance Malice gave a few swings sending the temperature plummeting down several degrees Fahrenheit before giving one gigantic arc that solidified the air in front of her right as her frosty cover shattered under the barrage of bullets. With a yell she sent the projectile hurtling towards the mini B.O.W, the bullets it fired in her direction bounced off of it, protecting the angel from harm, while also killing her attacker. The gun flew away from its shattered grip spinning on the ground towards Chris who was fighting desperately to keep the zombie from sinking its knife like teeth into his head. Giving it a quick jab to the middle Chris used the small window of recovery to grab his weapon and shoot the horse B.O.W in the head. Throwing the corpse off of him he gestured to Malice "Freeze them." She complied and not a moment too soon, the corpses of both were beginning to twitch as more of their kind began to gnaw through the stomach lining.
With a flourish Malice caged them within blocks of ice effectively trapping them within the corpses "It's like one of those damn Russian dolls, there are more with each layer you pull off." Chris commented. "Do you think there's more?" Malice asked gesturing to the ice prisons "I sure as hell hope not, my ass would be grass if it wasn't for you" he said "Let's get back to the lobby, hopefully and Rocket Raccoon haven't encountered these bastards yet." The group reconvened inside their apartment to discuss what the plan was. " Hate to say this mates but this place is done for" Rocket Raccoon said as he checked his laser pistol for mechanical problems "Ain't no way that brace of mine can hold up forever and we'll be sitting here defenseless when the dam does break. Let' cut on out of here." "To where exactly" asked "The whole city look like it's been overrun with zombies." "Right now it would be best to follow our previous plan and stay put." Chris said "We've got enough provisions for the time being and we can take turns guarding the doorway." Inaction was very unpopular with everyone present but unable to come up with a plan that had no glaring flaws the others acquiesced.
The next few hours were spent organizing supplies and informing the residents of what was going down. They were too terrified of the monsters circling their block to argue, most of them returned to their rooms, pulled the blinds shut and tried to drown out the terror by watching T.V. Taking stock of his situation Chris found himself anxious over the number of bullets he had left. Without a chance to buy more he was quickly going to run out leaving him at a fraction of his fighting strength. As he went about cleaning his assortment of guns he noted Malice heading upstairs, probably to escape the gaping entourage of awestruck residents who were in disbelief that there was an angel living in their building. "Be careful" he called out to her as she began to climb the stairwell, she didn't reply. At the top of the stairs she opened the roof top door letting the stiff and slightly rotted wind escape into the concrete enclave. Skadi was in her hands, not at the ready but her knuckles were white as she gripped it. Stopping at the middle of the rooftop she craned her neck upwards, the sky was a cheerful blue despite the atrocities being committed underneath it. The small ruffle of robes caught her attention and she whipped around to scream at whoever had come to interrupt her peace. Her scowl turned into a gasp as she realized who was standing before her, it was Master Hector!
"How fare thee my servant" he asked her in a low and solemn voice "Why hast thou strayed from Asgard into this godsforsaken world?" "I-I, uh...um, that is" she stammered before realizing she was still standing upright on her feet in front of one of the Magi. Sinking to her knees she repressed a shudder of terror, he had caught her completely unaware and with no souls to proffer. "Why hast thou abandon thine duties to me" it reprimanded her "Malice, why art thou here?" "I-I-I don't know m-milord" she replied in a shaky voice "Please understand, I am not her of my will. Some malevolent force has stolen me from you side and kept me from my duties." "Thou expects me to believe the forces of Utgard have pilfered thee away from thine duties via the means of some cosmic magic that can slip through the omnipotence of the Magi?" "I would not lie to you milord, please believe my story, insane as it sounds." She pleaded with him; she fully expected to be punished for her negligence. The Magi opened his mouth once more, it was here that Malice realized that he was not actually with her physically but using a projector spell as he typically did to contact her when she was in the Promised Land.
With his mouth brimming with static he suddenly looked around "Fascinating, why dost I sense such a large quantity of Sprites in the area where I hath contacted you?" Malice's head jerked upward "While my person was snatched away from the hall of the gods whoever the thief was found it fit to dump me here in this world. This place is filled with Sprites, more so than the Promised Land. They must crawl over one another to travel because of the vast populace that lives upon this earth." He regarded her sharply "The gods themselves must recognize my worthiness as their successor if thou speaks the truth. Show me the souls that thou hast gathered so I might test their potency." At this Malice blushed "F-forgive me my lord but I had not the time to harvest. I was too busy trying to return to your side so that I might serve you once again." Hector was not pleased, his face didn't reveal it, but he was not pleased at all. "Foolish servant, thou hast been dropped into the horn of plenty and thou chooses to bandy about like wastrel instead of doing thy divinely appointed duties? A farmer is a fool if he sits upon his thumbs and le the fine wheat weaken and wither before his eyes. Take up thy ax and fulfill the duty your master has set thine hand to." Nodding her head wildly Malice lifted her voice in supplication "Do not be angered with me Master Hector, I shall do thy will and before the stars illumine the night sky I will return to this place with a windfall."
"So be it" Hector said "Recall, Malice, that thou hast no future, no hope save for me. I am thine future and to me you will heed all commandments that flow from my lips. So spake Hector of the Seven Magi." With a small "blip" the projection faded into the ether leaving Malice kneeling there drenched in a cold sweat. She had deserved the dressing down, in all honesty she had gotten off rather easily, but did he have to remind her of the price she paid for her diviner so tersely? Taking a moment to recollect herself Malice stood back up and looked at the door that would lead her back down to the apartment below. The weight of Master Hector's words weighed upon her like a boulder and she gave a small, tentative step towards the door. The easiest way to exonerate herself in front of her master would be to claim as many souls as she could, an amount so large that it would boggle his mind. The residents of the apartment numbered within one hundred, give or take a score, easily comparable to a large enclave of Sprites. It would give her a great head start, one she so desperately needed if she was going to gain her master's forgiveness but… Malice balked slightly, Chris Redfield and the other two would no doubt take umbrage with her soul collection. If spearing a man who was already condemned to a life of un-death upset Chris Redfield then surely harvesting the rest of the tenants would provoke some sort of extreme reaction, most likely one of violence.
When they raised their weapons to face her she would have no choice to cut them down and harvest them as well. This thought both confused and irked her; surely they would understand the necessity of fulfilling her divine duties? Something in her gut told her they wouldn't, she would have to reap them all or come away with not a soul more to her name. Malice grew angry, why was she excluding them from the Sprites below? All of them were worms to her, cattle whose destiny was to refuel the light of divinity. Even if they had fed and sheltered her Chris Redfield and the others did not deserve to be spared, and yet Malice found herself frozen to the spot. Curiously she could not picture herself killing them, no matter how she tried to imagine their deaths they would not come to her leaving her mind blank. In the midst of this internal turmoil a ribbon of reasoning divided her thoughts into an organized pattern. While she was trapped in this world she would need lodging and by killing them she would hinder her ability to collect souls. Clearly long term benefits outweighed the meager reward of a short harvest. Naturally she couldn't reap anyone who lived in the apartment below or else she would arouse suspicion, all this should be carried out in secret.
Satisfied with the solution that had presented itself to her Malice opened her wings to their zenith and caught the dead breeze that staggered its way through the air. Circling around the building for a while she glanced down at the streets below, she imagined that this was what Utgard looked like. Some of the smarter zombies had overturned the vehicles lining the streets and set fire to them to prevent anyone from accessing a quick means out of the city. From her position far above the ground the streets looked like a polluted river, a stream of brownish green undulating up and down the banks, as the sheer density of zombies combed the streets for anyone left to eat. Grimacing as an updraft sent a puff of rotting stench into her face Malice climbed higher and took off to the north. She flew for quite a while; the farther she was from Chris Redfield and the others the easier it would be to hide her activities from them. After an hour she alighted upon a building that looked similar to the one she had left, Sprites had no sense for creativity, and smashed her ax into the door to the stair well. That familiar feeling of ice flowed up her veins, frigid but pulse pounding. A small smile slashed its way onto her face; it felt like it had been years since she had done this when in reality it had been three months at the most. Within the next two hours all the occupants inside the apartment were picked off one by one, hunted down by an angel of vengeance with frost for eyes.
While this massacre was going on one of the residents had managed to flag the attention of the people living in the apartment next door. Confused by their exaggerated hand gestures the neighbors tried to call the lobby to understand what the hell the guy was trying to tell them, had a zombie broken into their apartment? To their horror the man was cut down right before their very eyes by something blue, his face contorted into a mask of pain before the entire body went gray and dispersed into the wind like ash. By sheer luck those who were witnessing this atrocity managed to duck away from the window instead of standing there in awe of what just happened. Malice swept by without sparing any more than a glance outside, she assumed her prey was going to try and jump to his death thirteen stories up to deprive her of souls. As she retreated further inside to continue her harvesting activities one of the neighbors peeked out the window and managed to get see her black wings.
The residents called a meeting where they discussed what actions they should take, it was unanimously decided that trying to contact the Avengers would be prudent. In a stroke of ignorant luck they had the number on speed dial but it was not Stark's number, the resident had entered Captain America's number which had been given to him by the hero during a bomb scare he had walked in on. It took a while to get a hold of the star spangled hero; no doubt countless other New Yorkers were furiously pounding away at the number in order to summon Captain America to save them. After a breathless hour and a half the voicemail message failed to come on and instead the courage inspiring baritone of Cap surged through the receiver. "What's the emergency" the hero asked, cutting through the pleasantries. "There's something in the apartment next door" the man replied with an edge of terror lacing his voice "It killed all one of the residents right before our eyes, it might have slaughtered everyone inside the building as well. You got to help us, please, please." "Calm down" Cap said "Are all the residents safely out of sight?" "Yes, we've locked ourselves in the apartment's basement" the resident replied looking around the room, it was a sizeable laundry room but it wasn't big enough to comfortably fit everyone who was taking shelter from the demon next door.
"Stay put and barricade the door as best as you can, we're on our way" Cap instructed them before clicking off his phone "Hurry and clean the trash up, we've got a psycho on the loose taking advantage of the situation." As he pressed a button on his phone to zero in on where the call had originated from Hulk used pieces of the sidewalk to pen the mass of zombies they were fighting close enough for Thor to fry them with lightning. The stragglers we're dealt with before Captain America had managed to look up to measure their progress. "By the souls of Niflheim these beasts are mere flies to I but so numerous in quantity." Thor commented wiping the sweat from his brow "How fare thee Hulk, hast thou succumbed to such toothy maws?" "Not-dead men try bite Hulk" the rage monster grumbled back "Tickled Hulk little but then Hulk smash not-dead heads. They stop." "Try to keep them from nibbling too much" Cap warned "We've seen what happens to those that get bit and I'd hate to try and take down a zombie version of you." The pair nodded before Thor grabbed Cap's arm with one hand then spun Mjollinir in the air for a sec before tossing it and holding onto the strap. They were followed in their flight to the north by the Hulk who quickly gained enough momentum to make the earth shattering hops he needed to keep up with them.
They arrived at the apartment complex which was crawling with zombies; hopefully the distressed residents had not succumbed to undeath. Quickly clearing them out Cap found the stairs down to the basement and rapped on the door as hard as he can "It's the Avengers" he called out in the loudest, most authoritative voice he had. After a few nerve wracking minutes the door squeaked open and a thin young man gave a sigh of relief "Oh thank Broadway you're here." Cap disappeared down below with the man so he could gather witness testimony leaving his two superhero buds outside to their own devices. With the streets bereft of undead menace Thor took the liberty of sitting down on the sidewalk. They had been fighting since early dawn with no discernible end in sight, so far this had been nothing to the god of thunder but a seasoned warrior knew the value of a quick break in the midst of battle. His breath passed through partially dried airways, he was thirsty. Picking himself back up he wandered over to the neighboring apartment complex, he could see the neon sheen of one of those automata the mortals used to sell sugared beverages. Thor never carried money on him; a god had no need of currency. While it was not the grog he so loved back within Valhalla's halls the unhealthy brew was both cold and quaffable and he had drunk worse things before. As he was considering how wrecking the automata would look on his superhero resume he sensed it, the presence of Asgard. Looking around he half expected to see his half-brother Loki with that damned smile etched onto his features as he taunted his elder brother but the horned trickster did not show.
Stepping backwards he noted how sharply the aura declined to the point where several feet back he could not sense it anymore. Walking back to where he had been before he took several more steps forward, with each the aura seemed to intensify greatly until it ebbed around him like a silk curtain. A person's aura was unmistakable, as unique as a fingerprint. Within seconds Thor crossed out everyone in Asgard he knew, he had lived among them for centuries and knew their auras better than the etchings in Mjollinir. That made no sense, how could someone from Asgard be here and yet be a total unknown to the thunder god? Wracking his brain the blond looked up at the sky with a frown on his face, if the Bifrost were open he could easily have returned to Asgard post haste and made an official inquiry with his father. Sadly that option was not open to him, the prince was on his own if he were going to figure this out and thinking had never been one of his strong suits. As he pondered over the possibility of it being Loki disguising his presence in some way Cap returned to the street with a grimace on his face. "The residents saw something with wings moving about the apartment killing people" he explained "They can't even say it was a person but whatever it is it had something shiny and blue that it used to strike people down." This information did nothing to help Thor's pondering, there was nothing overtly shiny and blue that popped out at him as he thought about Asgard but it was conceivable that this Asgardian had a dwarf forged weapon that could match the description.
"You seem troubled" Cap said noting the look of deep concentration of the thunder god's face "Have any idea who this might be?" "I sense the presence of Asgard within that building" he replied stroking his chin "Yet the god in general eludes my knowledge for their aura is alien to my ken. If it is indeed an Asgardian who purged the mortals within this building then I command you to proceed with utmost caution." Spearheading their assault the thunder god charged in first making as much noise as he could to draw the intruder out while his companions followed at a safe distance behind. Their caution proved to be unnecessary; the floors were devoid of any intruders. In fact they were devoid of anything, there was not one corpse to be seen nor any zombies needing to be purged which would clue them in on the fate of the demised. Standing in one of the rooms on a high floor Thor looked around quizzically, the aura had been fading over time but the Asgardian could not have been left long ago. "Hulk no like here" the green giant complained "Dust makes Hulk sneeze." Dust? Thor looked down; in his rush he had not noticed the large amount of dust that was coating the floor sending up small whorls of gray grit with each step they took. Frowning he knelt down and palmed the dust in his hand noting the size of the grains and the color. "A pox on whoever did this foul deed" he growled as he stood back up.
"Their vacuum might have been broken" Cap joked. "Nay, tis not the source of human negligence but one of a dark power" Thor replied "These mortals souls were ripped from their bodies leaving only the helpless flesh to degenerate. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Blanching Captain America looked about the dust coated room "What do we do now? You said you sensed an Asgardian, did they do this?" Thor nodded "Most likely, but fortune smiles grimly upon us, their aura hangs in the air like crumbs on a snow covered path. We shall hunt down this marauder post haste before they can strike again." With a whirl of Mjollinir he broke through the side of the building before jetting off into the sky leaving Cap and Hulk rushing after his back. As he flew Thor could hear the vows he had made a decade and a half back when he had sworn to his father to protect Midgard from those who would take advantage of its beauty and people for selfish gain. Aside from the blood pounding in his ears and the rush of wind that jostled the long strands of golden locks Thor was able to meditate on the upcoming battle ahead. He pitied the god who thought to drop into the world that was under his ward and deprive the humans he had come to love of their souls. They should begin to pray, pray to whatever god, force or hellspawn they worshipped for mercy for the god of thunder would show them none.
