Chapter 15

-Departed Enemies-

Chris's eyes nearly popped out of his head when the creature hoisted the rocket launcher onto its shoulder and took aim at him. "Oh shit!"

The agent dove to the side, landing on the stairs as a shell from the launcher smashed into one of the columns supporting the second floor landing. Marble exploded into millions of fragments and several large chunks collapsed onto the floor below, on the right side of the staircase. The entire right landing of the second floor was completely destroyed. Chris pulled himself to his feet and already Nemesis was shifting, searching to find its target. It began to bring the rocket up onto its shoulder again but suddenly the rocket launcher was no longer in its grasp. Momentarily confused, it stood there blankly. The creature obviously couldn't fathom the idea of someone being able to take the weapon from it with powers of telekinesis.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Claire's voice yelled out in refusal to belief her eyes.

Claire Redfield was staring behind her at the double doors leading into the foyer. What she was actually looking at wasn't the doors though, but what had come through them. A bald man with a dark, gaunt face, wearing a black coat, boots, and gloves was standing in front of the doors. He was completely void of expression and he stood soundlessly by the doors, surveying the room. When his eyes passed over Claire, they stayed there and she stared back at him in muted horror.

"Looks like Mr. X came crawling out of Raccoon City too!" she declared, starting to sound more irritated. She had dealt with this monster of Umbrella's before and she could do it again.

Danko quickly drew his gun on the strangely silent man and Sheva did the same since she was standing near the younger Redfield at the moment. Matt was across from Claire also right by the doors and he looked up at the broad shouldered man incredulously.

"That's one tall man." Matt commented as he stared.

Claire shook her head rapidly, wishing very much that she had a gun even though it wouldn't do much against this thing. "That isn't a man. That's a tyrant."

Danko and Matt met each others' puzzled gazes before both of them looked at Claire. The blue-eyed girl noted their confusion. "Trust me, if that coat comes off, he is one ugly freak."

"So you've encountered him before?" Sheva questioned, still watching Mr. X cautiously.

"Yeah, and he is tough to kill. We're gonna need something like..." She trailed off when she caught sight of Nemesis' rocket launcher lying against the far wall.

Claire never got the chance to do much more than look though because Mr. X was moving. The large man rammed his shoulder into her body with all its might and Claire went flying back into the opposite wall with a resounding crash. Sliding down the wall, she crumpled to the marble floor and lied still. Immediately Danko and Sheva opened fire on the black coated man.

Mr. X turned slowly around to face them and suddenly broke into another run, dashing towards the pair of shooters. When they saw their bullets were doing nothing to halt his progress towards them, they quickly jumped out of the way in opposite directions. Matt's eyes grew round and big when Mr. X brought his dash to an abrupt halt, right in front of him. The mind reader barely had time to register the larger being's presence before a thick arm slammed into his chest, throwing him against the doors. His head hit one of the wood doors with an audible smack and he sank limply to the floor. Sheva and Danko began to shoot at Mr. X again and the tyrant slowly started to turn to face them without so much as wincing at the numerous bullets hammering its body. Sheva and Danko glanced at each other. This was going to be a lot harder than they would have liked it to be.

Meanwhile, Nathan and Peter were keeping Nemesis occupied. Bennet had brought out his gun which had caused the giant tyrant to immediately turn its attention onto him as he was now a threat. Realizing he had just put himself in over his head, Bennet had backed away from the creature as it began a slow lumber towards him. It was then Chris shot it a few times with his magnum which only produced the result of returning the tyrant's attention back to him. Chris's eyes sought out the Nemesis' discarded rocket launcher knowing it was their only useful weapon against the powerful creature as Nathan and Peter flew up the stairs quite literally. Its beady black eye followed them, waiting to see if they would become a threat. When Nathan launched an end table at Nemesis from where he was hovering on the balcony, the creature roared in anger after it cracked him upside the head. It hadn't done even a fraction of damage but the tyrant didn't seem to enjoy having things flung at its head.

With the flying brothers proving to be a successful distraction to the creature, Chris made his run for the rocket launcher. Only a few feet away he spotted his sister lying unconscious and he also noticed Sheva and Danko were having a tough time against some big guy in a black coat, but he didn't have time to help them. Once Nemesis was destroyed he could turn his attention to this newfound enemy in the black.

Lifting the weapon into his arms, he got down on one knee and aimed. Chris gave a warning shout to the Bennets and Petrellis. Nemesis reached a hand to grab Bennet and Wesker suddenly appeared, taking hold of Bennet's arm and yanking him out of the creature's path. Mohinder helped Claire get out of the way and when everyone was clear, Chris fired. A howl of misery tore from the Nemesis' throat as the missile rammed into his chest and sent him into the already caved in area of the room. A gigantic explosion followed and more chunks of marbled debris rained down on the creature's fallen form. Chris noticed Mohinder and Claire had accidentally got caught in the explosion. Claire was already standing and healing but Mohinder looked down for the count. He cursed under his breath for not waiting longer for them to get clear.

"Chris! I need your help!"

The BSAA soldier's mind cleared of any previous thoughts and his eyes sought out the source of the plea for help and found Sheva. Her and Danko stood against the wall right beside the front doors and the broad shouldered man in the black coat was steadily coming towards them. Right when he seemed about to break into a running attack, the wall to his left exploded in a shower of debris. A particularly large chunk hit the man with such force that he sailed through the air and into the other wall. Only Wesker appeared aware of what had just caused it because he was running towards it now with his incredible speed. A huge vine of some sort burst through the wall and sped at Wesker with just as much speed. Wesker jumped over the vine and dodged a second one that appeared, but then a third burst through the wall and this one managed to spear right through his chest.

"Dad!" Eva shrieked in horror.

The thick vine swung itself, throwing Wesker against the railing which broke upon impact with the tyrant's body. The man laid on the staircase in a pool of growing blood, unmoving, and Eva dashed over to him in tears. The vines were moving again and the group spread out as they each tried to avoid the sweeping attacks. Chris's sister was right by the wall that was breaking apart because of the vines and worried for her safety, he shouted for Nathan or Peter to get her out of harm's way as he himself backed into a more safe location. Nathan and Peter both heard him simultaneously and flew to aide the fallen Redfield.

Danko and Sheva dragged Matt's unconscious body further from the wall where the vines were exploding through but stopped short when something began to move behind them. From under a piece of rubble, Mr. X pushed himself back onto his feet. He no longer resembled a man though. His coat had been lost somewhere in the clash with the rock and now his true form could be seen. Instead of hands he had huge claws, easily a foot or two in length. On the right side of his chest was a huge beating mound of red muscle which was probably his beating heart. Sheva and Danko braced themselves for an attack but instead the tyrant was focused on the gigantic vines currently creating havoc in the manor's foyer. Still eerily silent, it charged at the vines, poised to do damage to it and the vines quickly interceded its plans. All three thick vines turned their attention to the creature and began to pound the tyrant into the floor until there was nothing but a gory mess left behind.

Nathan had retrieved the unconscious Claire from the floor and was flying Chris's sister to safety with Peter beside him when one of the vines suddenly swung in their direction. Quick to protect his older brother, Peter shoved them out of the way and the vine slammed into him instead. Peter fell onto the stairs near Wesker and Eva with a groan of pain. He clutched his ankle with one hand knowing he had at least fractured something. Sheva and Danko were firing at the vines, desperate to do some kind of damage. Bennet did the same, brandishing his own weapon. Sylar electrocuted one of the thick vines and it didn't seem to like that at all. Lashing out in retaliation, Sylar was flung towards the wall behind him with a sickening crunch which had most likely been his spine breaking and he fell still. Apparently satisfied with their work, the vines retracted and disappeared through the gapes they had created in the wall.

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha..."

A familiar cruel laugh echoed throughout the room. Alexia jumped down from the second floor balcony and stood before them in her transformed state, her skin stone-like and her eyes a gold-yellow color. Chris stood near the stairs and he knew Alexia would kill them all unless he thought quickly. As he remembered the last time he had encountered her, a plan formulated in his mind. She wasn't real. She wasn't real. He kept telling himself. Chris had defeated the real Alexia ten years ago back in Antarctica so this wasn't really her now. Filled with renewed determination, the BSAA soldier turned to Eva to share his plan.

"Alexia!" Chris shouted, stepping away from the stairs and grabbing her attention. "Looks like your precious vines missed me!"

The prideful woman's eyes fixed on him and a smile crept across her stone face. "So eager to die... Then I will grant your request and end your meaningless life."

She started to walk closer to Chris, beginning to lift her arm so she could hit him with her fire attack but then Alexia halted her procession when she felt a gun press against the side of her head. Shifting her eyes, she found the young blonde girl with the wounded arm had come up behind her without Alexia even noticing. Hot anger began to boil in the proud Ashford's blood at such a novice mistake. She never got the chance to show her fury though because darkness was clouding her vision and she collapsed onto the carpet.

While Chris kept Alexia's attention fixed on him, Eva had crept around behind the mutated woman with Chris's magnum clutched tightly in her usable hand. When Alexia had moved to approach Chris, Eva had gotten her chance and placed the gun against the side of the woman's head. Firing all six rounds into the T-Veronica virus infected woman, she had fallen. Looking down at the rapidly disappearing form of the defeated Ashford, Eva said two words to Alexia.

"Mistake, yours."

Alexia's body disappeared completely from sight and then the Ashford manor was fading as well. Soon they were all in an open field with flat grass and peering around, Eva realized where they were.

She voiced this realization. "It must be over. We're back in Africa."