Familiar Evil

by trestwho

Louise's summoning of her familiar was supposed to be the ultimate, final proof that she was truly a mage. But, instead she somehow found herself in a place called Raccoon City on an entirely different world. A world where magic didn't exist, and when that world falls apart, she and the boy who was supposed to be her familiar must fight for their lives against the evil around them.

20. Dark Waters

Familiar Evil (ZnT/Resident Evil)
Chapter 20: Dark Waters

[~][~]

Professor Jean Colbert furrowed his brow as he stared at the large, multi-storied and expansive building in front of him. Next to him, crouching behind one of the many abandoned cars that surrounded the complex, was Kirche. She was breathing heavily, trying to keep herself calm while aiming her wand at the entrance. But judging by how much her hand was shaking, it was proving to be difficult. Taking in a deep breath of his own, Colbert gently touched her shoulder, which made her jump slightly. But after glancing into his soft eyes, Kirche took another breath then managed to regain much of her composure. Her arm was still shaking as she laid it across the hood of the bright red sedan, but it was better than before.

Nodding to himself, Colbert returned his attention to the building, watching as Agnès, Suero, Marion and Wardes finished laying the preparations of their trap. Covering them from all angles were the rest of the party, aiming their wands or firearms towards the entrance from behind other abandoned vehicles for cover. He took a moment to glance at the nearby sign which read 'Raccoon City Mall', with another sign on top of the section they were near reading 'Sears.'

They had followed Louise's trail to this mall, using Derflinger as a compass. He hadn't quite understood what a mall was at first, but after their initial foray into the building they figured, from all the stores that lined the interior, it was an entire marketplace stuffed into one concentrated area. It was quite ingenious, in Colbert's opinion, not to mention more efficient than a normal sprawl. But far more important than the mall's apparent purpose was who was inside. They hadn't gotten far before they began to notice the bodies, both inert and animated. Before long, they realized that the mall was filled with hundreds of zombies at least which, if this was indeed a marketplace before the outbreak, more than made sense. Had Louise not gone through here before, the rescue party would've just turned around and left. But Louise had gone through here, and they needed to know where she went next.

It was as they were trying to figure out how to handle the situation that Marion came up with their current plan of action. As she put it, when someone is on a hunt, sometimes the best course of action was to bring their prey to them rather than the other way around. One of the things they had learned thus far about the undead plaguing Raccoon City was that they were attracted to sound. If they created a sufficiently large enough distraction, they could lure at least the majority of the zombies outside where they could put them down safely. Karin had agreed with the plan, and after Baron Valluy and Chevalier Cazenave conjured up and reinforced walls to protect their rears and flanks, they started carefully moving several nearby cars with flashing lights in front of the Sears entrance. After what happened the last time one of those car alarms went off, they figured multiple would be enough to attract their attention.

Once the final car was put into position, all but Agnès quickly ran back to rejoin the others. Agnès, meanwhile, pulled out her sword and, once her compatriots were ready, began striking the glass windows. The magically reinforced blade was able to crack and shatter the material, setting off the alarms and filling the air with a blaring siren. As each car was struck, more noise was generated, not just from the vehicles but also coming from inside the building as the undead hordes stirred within. Once the final vehicle's alarm was activated, Agnès ran back at full tilt. She jumped and slid across the hood of a sedan, pulling out her lever-action rifle as she landed on the other side and aiming it towards the entrance.

"Wait for my signal," Karin ordered, her voice magically carried across the parking lot as a wall of undead began to press against the glass doors, their voices muffled but still eerily audible.

Soon the mass grew too great and the glass shattered, allowing the zombies to press forward. The first few stumbled to the ground, but the others behind them didn't care and trampled them. Colbert quickly lost count after the first few dozen emerged, all sporting various wounds and in disparate stages of decay. His nostrils burned at the stench of death carried by the wind, and the sounds of their moans made his skin crawl. But still he kept his composure, aiming his staff forward and with a spell ready to pass through his lips.

One moment, then another. It felt like an eternity as they waited for Karin to give the signal. As each second passed, more and more zombies emerged, making a beeline towards the car alarms. Behind him, he could hear swarms of undead trying to break through the magical walls they had previously erected, but thankfully they were thus far holding. They wouldn't last forever, but by the time the zombies would finally be able to break them down the rescue party should be long gone if everything went to plan.

Eventually, when the number of zombies had reached over at least a hundred, Karin finally said, "Allemand, fire."

Colbert glanced over towards the axeman who was pressing his grenade launcher as tightly against his shoulder as he possibly could. The man was visibly nervous while aiming his weapon, knowing it was powerful based off the video they had watched previously. This would be the first time he would actually fire it, and no one knew exactly what would happen. Still, Eugene steeled and braced himself, planting his feet as firmly as he could against the ground, then pulled the trigger. A loud thunk could be heard as the grenade was launched, and although there appeared to be a fair amount of recoil, Eugune was openly surprised at how it wasn't nearly like the cannon he'd been thinking it would be.

Then the grenade made contact with the mass of vehicles, and a loud explosion ensued. The gasoline inside the cars ignited, consuming everything nearby in a massive fireball. Without anyone having to say a word, the others opened fire. A cacophony of gunfire filled the air, the commoners firing their weapons in short, controlled bursts like they were advised. The mages, however, were doing the bulk of the work. Kirche, Colbert, and Chevalier Favre were shooting hot, wide streams of fire that set ablaze anything they touched. Wardes was electrocuting individual targets with lightning bolts, and Tabitha was freezing more from her vantage point high above on Sylphid. Baron Valluy was conjuring golems from the concrete which ran in and bashed the zombies into a meaty, red mulch, while Chevalier Favre hastily conjured small walls to trip the zombies and prevent them from spreading out. Duchess Vallière, meanwhile, sent powerful air hammers into the undead, breaking their bodies apart and scattering limbs in all four cardinal directions.

In a matter of moments, a horde ranging in the hundreds was reduced to nothing. Karin gave the order to cease fire, and although it took Kirche a moment to comply, soon the entire parking lot was silent. All they could hear was the crackling of fire, and the zombies trying to break through the walls behind them.

"I think we're good for now," Viscount Wardes decided, and Karin nodded in agreement.

"Form up and head inside," Karin ordered as she led the way alongside Julio, with Agnès and Wardes flanking her. Sylphid descended to the ground, dropping off Tabitha before taking off again.

At the same time, Julio added, "Keep your eyes peeled. There could still be more inside."

Colbert briefly frowned before nodding in understanding. As much as he would love to believe that they'd managed to attract and kill every single zombie that was in the mall, with how big it was there was no guarantee that would actually happen. There had been undead abominations around every corner, every street, and building they'd come across in Raccoon City. Not just humans, but dogs, cats, even a flock of crows that nearly attacked Tabitha and Sylphid had Karin not reacted in time to blow them away. Raccoon City truly was a necropolis, one they were stuck in until they found Louise or enough time had passed for the Pope to bring them back.

Until they were safe back in Tristain, it was clear that they needed to be as observant and cautious as possible. Anything less would lead to certain death, or worse.

With that in mind, the rescue party followed Agnès and Julio inside, both of whom had their firearms raised and pressed against their shoulders. They swept the immediate area, and once they gave the all clear signal, the others joined them. Slowly and quietly, they crept through the abandoned store, the only source of light coming from small cantrips cast by the mages.

"I'm seeing a lot of bullet holes in here," Suero noted as they passed by a broken glass counter filled with useless jewelry. "And bodies. Someone had fun."

"Yeah, no kidding," Laurette de Peltier replied as she carefully stepped over and around the dozens of bodies that littered the bloodstained tile floor. "We saw that military outpost outside. Maybe it was related to that before they got overrun?"

"Perhaps, or it could've been someone else. Either way, I get the sense that most of the zombies calling this place home were already dead by the time we got here."

"Talk about a lucky break."

Part of Colbert didn't want to think about that, but the rest knew it was a logical deduction. After all, by all accounts this outbreak had been going on for around a week. This mall was bound to have seen combat during that time.

"Do you…do you think Louise came through here before or after that?" Kirche quietly asked.

"Had to be after. There is no way Louise would try going through here with all these zombies around," Baron Valluy insisted.

"Either that or she came through before it got so bad," Tabitha pointed out. "Or, if someone is actually chasing her, she got desperate and didn't have a choice. There's a lot we don't know, so it's best not to fall into assumptions."

Tabitha was right, Colbert knew, and that hurt the most. Perhaps more than the zombies themselves, it was their general ignorance of the situation and the environment they found themselves in that was the most dangerous. They needed to know more, but with time of the essence they couldn't just sit down and wait. The longer they dallied, the likelier it was that they or Louise would be killed. Assuming Louise wasn't dead already, which Colbert tried not to think about.

As they left the Sears building and entered the main interior of the mall, with half of the party taking the first floor and the other half the second, they could see dozens of stores lining each wall. It was definitely clear that this was a self-contained market selling a variety of products. Some of them he readily understood, like cosmetics, toys, or clothing. Others he had little to no frame of reference for, such as stores advertising electronics. One store in particular, named RadioShack, had bullet holes puncturing the glass windows. But, aside from the hundreds of bodies lining the floors, the mall was completely empty.

"Tabitha, look at all these clothes. I've never seen this many," Kirche pointed out as they passed by a store labeled Gap. With her curiosity getting the best of her, Kirche tentatively stepped inside, then began to run her fingers across the women's apparel that was offered. "This material…it feels so soft but I don't think it's wool or silk. Cotton, maybe? I don't know…."

"I don't think now is the time for shopping, Kirche," Tabitha lightly chastised her friend, but Kirche shook her head.

"I'm not, I'm not! It's just…again, I've never seen this many in one place before, and in so many colors, too," Kirche reiterated, then pointed at a price tag. "Also, while I don't know how much one of these 'dollars' are worth, but based on the prices for different items I've been seeing, I don't think $20 is a lot. I'm kind of getting the sense that people here can afford as many clothes as they want."

Colbert pursed his lips in thought, then realized his student had a point. It wasn't unheard of for nobility to have entire wardrobes of clothes, but that was because they were wealthy enough to afford it. For commoners, however, it was a different story. They had neither the space nor money to spend on more than what they needed. That meant most had one or two, maybe three sets of clothes they could wear depending on the time of year. But here in the United States, things were clearly different. Not just in the Gap, but from all the other clothing stores they had passed by, it appeared that the manufacturing and selling of clothing had turned into a veritable industry. If his thoughts were correct, it was yet more proof of just how advanced this world was compared to their own.

"Be that as it may, my point still stands. We shouldn't get distracted by this," Tabitha insisted, even though she herself was staring at a clean jacket that stood in stark contrast to the blood-covered clothes and armor they came there with.

That actually caused Colbert's mind to race, then he said, "Actually…I think it might be a good idea for us to find something to change into."

"Really? Why?" Kirche asked, clearly not minding but also not understanding the reasoning.

"All of our clothes are filthy, covered in blood and Gods know what else," Colbert pointed out. "We may not know much about what caused this plague, but if it is truly a disease…it's probably best to not wear contaminated clothes."

Tabitha and Kirche's eyes widened at the revelation, clearly not considering it before. As they glanced down at their tunics and trousers, they winced before Kirche immediately turned around, started grabbing anything nearby and announced, "I think that's a changing room. I'm going to head over there."

"I'll join you," Tabitha replied, similarly sifting through the offerings before joining her friend.

Colbert waited patiently in the store, sitting tight until his students confirmed that no one else was there. Nodding to himself, he briefly went outside then called out to Duchess Vallière, magically amplifying his voice to explain the situation. The Duchess immediately understood and agreed with his assessment, then ordered the rest of the team to scavenge what they could from any nearby stores. Part of Colbert laughed at the irony. Their original plan was to change into local attire to better blend in. In a way, they were still doing that, just for a completely different reason now.

Heading back inside, Colbert began looking through the men's section of the Gap, grabbing multiple sets of trousers made of a tough yet durable blue fabric, that appeared to be called denim based off the label. There were plenty of short trousers that went up to his thighs, but he figured keeping his skin as covered as possible would be for the best. After finding the pair that fit his size, which itself was further proof of just how mass-produced these things were, he found a white shirt that had the word Gap written on its face, alongside a long-sleeved navy-blue turtleneck sweater, a pair of white tube socks, and some boots that fit his feet rather well. Satisfied with what he found, he moved into a nearby changing room, and took off his gore-covered apparel, and laid it off to the side.

Keeping only the chainmail and makeshift armor they had previously scavenged, he changed into his new, clean clothes, then magically picked up the old set to properly dispose of. As he deposited the contaminated apparel outside the store, Tabitha and Kirche both stepped out of their changing room as well. Both were wearing denim trousers and thick boots, as well as thick jackets with hoods and pockets on the bellies that read Gap along their chests. Tabitha's was a royal blue whereas Kirche's was a bright yellow.

Quickly glancing them over, Colbert nodded in approval then beckoned them to follow him outside. As he did, he watched the others emerge from nearby stores, all wearing new attire. Most were relatively simple, with everyone wearing denim trousers and jackets. Agnès' and Marion's had a forest pattern on them, almost as though it was meant to help the wearer blend into their environment, whereas Karin was wearing a dark-brown leather jacket over a red shirt. Suero was wearing a similar attire, only his shirt was brown and his jacket was a forest green. Wardes was wearing a dark-blue jacket made of denim over a black shirt, and the rest were wearing various hoodies of different colors and brands.

"Here, take these," Agnès called out as she tossed over some backpacks for Kirche and Tabitha to put on. Understanding the intent, the pair of students slipped the straps over their shoulders, feeling the weight from all the supplies that the veteran musketeer had already put inside.

As they did, however, everyone stopped as they heard yet another round of violent coughing coming from Alphonse de Hauet. Everyone shot their heads over, with Colbert noticing that the commoners' hands were inching towards their sidearms as Gabrielle attempted to help her twin however she could. A few of the other mages were doing the same with their wands.

"It's okay, Alphonse," Gabrielle insisted as she cast a healing spell against his throat, but unlike before he continued to cough and itch. "Brother, you need to stop scratching it. You're only making it worse."

"I can't…help it. It itches so much," Alphonse insisted through heavy coughs. After a few moments, the coughing finally abated. Breathing heavily, he was about to thank his sister when he noticed all the looks he was getting from the others.

A flash of anger crossed through his eyes, then he firmly pushed his sister away and yelled, "Stop looking at me like that! I'm not turning into one of them!"

Alphonse briefly coughed again into his fist, sounding like his throat was tearing itself apart with each one. But he quickly shrugged it off, then walked away from the others as fast as he could. Gabrielle followed him, briefly shooting angry glares at the others for daring to threaten him, intentionally or not.

"He's…he's going to be fine, right?" Kirche asked in a hopeful tone. "I mean…Alphonse isn't dying. He can't turn into one of those things."

Colbert narrowed his eyes, thinking back to when Ernesto nearly shot Alphonse in a panic. At the time, they figured it was simply paranoia that they could and did easily dismiss. But now that the thought had entered their minds, and Alphonse's condition was clearly getting worse, it wasn't leaving. He hoped and prayed he was wrong, but he was no longer certain.

"I want you two to keep your distance from Alphonse, just in case," Colbert gently ordered as Karin quickly gathered everyone around her to head off again. Kirche and Tabitha looked up at him, the former more surprised than the latter, but both nodded in agreement. Then, before they finally moved on, Colbert set fire to the contaminated clothes, leaving a tall pyre in their wake.

[~]

After leaving the mall behind them, Kirche von Zerbst and the rest of the rescue party continued traversing the streets of Raccoon City. Julio, with Derflinger in hand, was leading the way as they went east-bound towards a large river that cut through the heart of the city, north to south. Based off some signs she'd been reading, it was called the Circular River. She didn't know why as it certainly wasn't round, but she wasn't about to critique these people's naming schemes. Not when she had far more important matters to deal with.

"Looks like she went in there," Julio called out as they stopped in front of a small, abandoned, and partially ransacked clinic.

"Louise must've been looking for medical supplies. Smart," Agnès noted with a firm nod, then pressed her lever-action rifle to her shoulder and said, "Suero, Vivian, with me."

With nods of their own, Suero brought up his shotgun while Vivian did the same for her submachinegun, then together the trio slowly pressed into the building. Their weapons swayed back and forth as they searched for any sign of their quarry, or any dangers that lay within. Once the first room was cleared, the others followed them inside, their weapons lowered but ready to be raised at a moment's notice. Kirche had opted to switch from her wand to her handgun much as Professor Colbert did. If there were zombies inside, the last thing Kirche wanted to do was accidentally set the building they were in on fire again. Something told her that the others wouldn't be as forgiving the second time around.

Breathing heavily, Kirche slowly traversed the halls, a small floating light cantrip she had cast earlier the only source of illumination. Her handgun was shaking in her hands, and it was taking everything she had to keep herself relatively in check. But as she slowly opened another door into a dark, cramped room, she couldn't help but feel her heart thunder in her chest. That only increased when she saw a pool of blood on the ground, followed by wet rips. There, slumped against the far wall, was the body of a young man, his face warped into a final visage of pain and terror. Kneeling over him was a zombie ripping chunks of flesh out of his neck, so focused on its task that it didn't even notice Kirche's presence.

Gulping, Kirche was tempted to pull out her wand and set the monstrosity ablaze. But instead she took a deep breath and extended her arms outward, aiming her pistol towards the back of the zombie's head. After a moment, she fired a single shot, but her aim was off as the round impacted against the back of the undead woman's shoulder. Roused out of her feast, the zombie slowly turned around and snarled at Kirche, her mouth covered in blood and jaw barely connected to the rest of her skull by only thin strands of sinew.

As the zombie stood up, Kirche fired again, this time hitting the zombie's left breast to little effect. Beginning to panic, Kirche started backing up while firing her pistol at a much higher rate. Most missed, but the bullets that did strike her target hit its shoulders and chest. Despite the damage it was taking, the zombie was still shambling towards her. Behind her, Kirche could hear the others rushing over as she finally managed to hit the zombie in the face, blowing part of it off. For a moment she thought that would be it, but the zombie merely stumbled back slightly before continuing its course. Biting back a scream, Kirche emptied the rest of her magazine, most of her bullets missing the mark completely. Finally, as her weapon clicked empty, a bullet went straight between the zombie's eyes, and it fell lifelessly to the ground at Kirche's feet.

Breathing heavily and with her pupils dilated, Kirche continued to aim her weapon towards her fallen enemy, her finger pressing the trigger. But with no rounds left to fire, all that followed was a series of empty clicks. The outside world didn't seem to exist as all she could focus on was the room she was in and the dead zombie before her.

That was when she felt a hand touch her shoulder, and she jumped and yelped in fright. To her surprise and relief, she saw that it was Professor Colbert, giving her a soft look while saying, "Kirche, it's okay. You got it."

Clarity began to return to the young student, and only now could she notice that the others were all nearby. Some were keeping up their guard for any nearby zombies attracted by the commotion, while others were focusing their attention on her. Duchess Karin de la Vallière's face was nearly impossible to read, as was Tabitha's, and Agnès just looked irritated. Others, including Wardes and surprisingly Suero were giving Kirche softer, more understanding looks as though they recognized what she was going through.

Feeling embarrassment begin to creep up from inside her, Kirche lowered her weapon and said, "I'm…I'm sorry. I just… It was right there, eating that…man's body. It didn't even notice me, and I figured I could take it out. Didn't think it would take that much, though."

"Yeah, well…next time give us a head's up," Suero advised before shaking his head and walking away. "It might also be a good idea to just leave the damn thing alone sometimes."

"What? Why?" Kirche asked, not understanding the veteran monster hunter's thought process at all. "I get avoiding them out in the streets, but I'd rather not be in the same building as one of these things."

"I concur," Baron Valluy spoke up. "While Zerbst probably should've just set the damn abomination on fire, her action was correct. Leaving that thing alive is dangerous."

"Even if you waste all your ammo and willpower to do it?" Suero rhetorically asked while giving Kirche a pointed look. "We went over this before, Baron. If we kill every single zombie we come across, we're not going to have anything left to defend ourselves with when we actually need it. Zerbst wasted an entire magazine killing that thing when all she had to do was close the door and lock it inside. Either way, it can't get to us anymore."

Kirche bit back a curse at the now obvious in retrospect tactic she could've used. Before she could apologize, Duchess Vallière spoke up and said, "What's done is done. More importantly, the clinic appears to be devoid of danger for the moment. We should use that. Zerbst, check the room for any supplies we could use. The same goes for the rest of you. When you're done, meet back in the front lobby."

"Yes, Duchess," the others responded, then broke off to follow her instruction.

Releasing a sigh of her own, Kirche looked back at her handgun, pulled out the empty magazine, and inserted a full one. Sliding the empty magazine into her pocket for the moment, Kirche entered the room and began to search the various shelves and cupboards lining the walls. Most of it was completely empty, likely from all the other survivors who had come here before seeking aid. There were only a few items left, all stored in small, white bottles made of a material she was unfamiliar with.

Grabbing one of them, it felt light and smooth in her hand. There was a label on its face, which consisted of a blue rectangle with yellow letters spelling "Adravil" over it, with another small set of letters spelling "ibuprofen" underneath it. The ever-present Umbrella Corporation logo could be seen over the Adravil logo, telling Kirche that the apothecary guild must've been the one to manufacture these products. She didn't know what ibuprofen was, though. Turning the bottle over, she read the instructions and saw that the drug was some kind of painkiller. There were warnings not to take too many pills too quickly or bodily harm could ensue. The list of side-effects gave Kirche plenty of worry and pause. But she figured that, if these pills truly did help relieve pain, it was better than nothing.

Placing her backpack on a nearby table and opening it up, Kirche started putting the medicine bottles she found inside. There weren't a whole lot, just the bottle of Adravil she had found along with a large metal canister labeled Aqua Cure and a dark bottle labeled Safsprin. As much as it disgusted her, she also searched the body of the zombie's victim, but didn't find anything aside from a large kitchen knife the man had clearly been using to defend himself with, to little success. She thought about taking it for herself, but a quick look at the blade told her not to. The edge was dull from overuse, and cracks could be seen on the steel. Another few hits and the entire thing would break. There was no point in trying to hold onto it.

Opening up the next overhanging cupboard, Kirche found another of those green herbs she kept seeing all over the place. Alongside it was a red herb, also held in a small, red clay pot.

"Why do people grow you?" Kirche wondered, then her eyes spotted a paper note next to it. Intrigued, Kirche grabbed the note and began to read. The note was titled "Arklay Mountain Herbs" and was written by Dr. Kenner. It took her a moment, but then she remembered that name from the other secret lab they had found before. Was this perhaps his clinic?

Deciding that was a question for later, she began to read aloud, "'The Arklay Mountain herbs are extraordinary. I know that the Umbrella Corporation has been instrumental in studying their effects over the past several years, but most of their findings have been locked by proprietary patents and trade secrets. Luckily, given how you can't copyright or trademark a natural resource, they can't stop me from conducting my own research. Thus far, the results have been promising, and perplexing.

"There are three distinct subspecies of Arklay herb, each one with a different and distinct color and medicinal property. The first, and most abundant, are the green herbs. By grinding up and ingesting these herbs orally, one begins to recover far more quickly from pain and fatigue. In addition, the body's natural healing process accelerates dramatically. There was a patient of mine with cuts and bruises on his body following a minor motorcycle crash. I had him eat some herbs and, before my very eyes, I saw them heal in a matter of minutes. The only side-effect was dehydration, which given what it's doing is only to be expected. When increasing the dosage to two or three ground-up herbs, the effect is magnified, capable of healing all but the most grievous wounds.

"In addition to the green herbs, there are also red and blue. Red herbs, by themselves, are completely useless. But when combined with a green herb, it somehow magnifies the latter's effect. One green herb combined with one red herb is as powerful as three green. Blue herbs, in contrast, can be used to treat a variety of poisons and toxins, cleansing them from the body. These effects are magnified when mixed with red herbs, which somehow offers limited poison immunity for a short duration of time as well as making the body sturdier. When all three colors are combined into a single drug, the effects are tremendous.

"I have also discovered something interesting regarding the green herbs through my experiments and treatments. It appears that they may possess anti-viral properties. Not enough to cure one already suffering from infection, but by regularly taking green herbal supplements, one's body may be better positioned to resist getting infected in the first place. Results are inconclusive at the moment, but if I'm right, the benefits could be immeasurable.

"Below are a list of various herbal combinations I've discovered thus far. Due to the herbs' aforementioned dehydration side-effect, I've limited it to three herbs at a time. I fear doing more may cause harm to the patient. Besides, I've found that three is enough and doing more is just excessive.'"

Kirche's eyes widened as she finished reading the note and the mentioned list Dr. Kenner had written down. Once she finished, she folded the piece of paper in her pocket, slipped her backpack over her shoulders, grabbed the potted plants, then ran back as fast as she could towards the clinic's lobby.

"Professor Colbert, I found something!" Kirche revealed as she hastily placed the plants on the front desk.

"What, more plants?" Agnès asked. "Why do you keep-?"

"No, not that! This!" Kirche interrupted as she pulled out the note and handed it to Professor Colbert. "I was right! These herbs aren't just decorations or spices, they're medicine!"

Professor Colbert's eyes narrowed as he started quickly reading the note. His lips were pressed together, and once he was done he looked at the two herbs Kirche had found with far more interest than before. As he focused his attention on them, he handed the note to Duchess Vallière, who calmly began to read it as Wardes and Baron Valluy attempted to read over her shoulder.

"Is this accurate?" Karin calmly asked when she was finished, handing the note to Agnès and the other commoners to read over as well.

Kirche wanted to say yes, but thought better of it and replied, "I think so. I haven't exactly tested it myself."

"Hmm," Karin hummed as she eyed the plants heavily.

Although Kirche couldn't pretend to be able to read the Duchess' mind, she had an idea as to the dilemma that must be swirling within it. On the one hand, if the note was genuine, these herbs would represent a potentially massive boon for their odds of survival. But on the other hand, it could prove to be a sham, harmless at best or life-threatening at worst. Tristain was no stranger to conmen selling quack cure-alls, which this note seemed to suggest the herbs were. The only way to verify that would be for someone to test it, which was a tremendous risk.

Realizing that Karin was unlikely to order anyone to risk their life in such a way, Kirche gulped, stood up straight, and offered, "I'll test them."

"What?" Tabitha asked in mild shock. "Kirche, no. For all you know, you could end up poisoning yourself. It's too risky."

"I agree with your friend," Agnès replied. "Absolutely not."

"Yes, yes, I understand that," Kirche acknowledged. "Or, and just hear me out, Dr. Kenner could be telling the truth and these herbs are as helpful as he claims. It's worth a shot at least, and it's not like things could get any worse around here. Besides, at least this way I can help and not be a burden."

Colbert's face fell slightly at the admission, but the others simply stared at her. Kirche's attention was focused mostly on Karin, locking her eyes with the Duchess'. It was no secret that Karin de la Vallière was barely tolerating Kirche's presence, not that she blamed her. Call her cynical, but Kirche got the sense that Karin would rather sacrifice her than one of the actual rescue party members.

Which was why Kirche' jaw dropped in surprise when Karin responded, "No, I won't let you do that. I will."

"What?! Karin!" Baron Valluy cried out as Karin pulled out a knife, took off her jacket, and rolled up her sleeve.

"Gabrielle, grind up the green herb. Alphonse, prepare to heal me just in case something goes wrong," Karin ordered, ignoring the Baron's and the others' protest.

"Duchess Vallière, while this is noble, I must advise against this course of action," Julio pleaded. "We don't know what this does, and as the leader of this entire expedition it is too risky for you to offer yourself up as a test subject. Let me do it."

"Hey, I was the one who offered first!" Kirche pointed out.

Before anyone else could offer themselves up in her place, Karin interrupted with a harsh, "Silence. Chesaré, Zerbst, while I appreciate your offers, they are unnecessary. As the leader of this expedition, it is my responsibility to ensure your safety, and I will not offer someone else to take the risk in my stead. My decision is final."

Gripping the knife in her hand, Karin pressed the blade against the side of her arm and stared at the Hauet twins. Both looked at her for a moment, then reluctantly nodded. While Gabrielle pulled out a mortar and pestle and began to grind the leaves of the green herb into a fine powder, Alphonse raised his sword wand towards the Duchess. With his free hand he was scratching furiously at his neck, leaving long red marks from his fingernails. Worryingly, Kirche thought that she saw his skin beginning to turn grey, but convinced herself it was simply due to the lighting. A couple others were looking at him, but for the most part their attention was on Duchess Vallière.

After a few moments, Gabrielle de Hauet returned with the ground-up herb and held it up to Karin. The Duchess nodded, then in one smooth motion sliced her knife against her arm. She briefly flinched in pain, but stood resolute as blood began pouring from the wound. In a matter of moments, blood covered her arm and began to drip against the floor, but Karin ignored it as she sheathed the knife and took the powdered herb in her now free hand. Without an ounce of hesitation, Karin brought her hand up to her mouth, poured the contents inside, and swallowed.

The act done, everyone watched with bated breath for what it would do to her. At first, all Karin did was smack her lips a few times, but then Julio muttered, "By the Gods…."

At his muttering, the others shifted their attention down to her arm, and to their amazement, saw the cut began to seal itself shut before their very eyes. Kirche couldn't help but smile and pump her fist slightly in vindication, happy that her instincts had proven correct.

"I knew it! I knew those herbs were useful!" Kirche proclaimed as Karin took an offered cloth rag and cleaned up her bloodied arm, exposing a faint scar but otherwise no sign of the self-inflicted wound.

"Duchess, how do you feel?" Gabrielle asked.

"Thirsty," Duchess Vallière responded to which Julio immediately pulled out a clear water bottle and handed it to her. She thanked him, then unscrewed the cap and drank half of it in one fell swoop.

"How is that possible? No medicinal plant in Halkegenia is that potent, especially without undergoing any alchemical enhancement," Laurette de Peltier pondered. "Magic? But this world doesn't have magic, so how could it be that powerful?"

"I don't know, but I'm pretty certain any alchemist would kill to have one of these things," Suero pointed out, driving Kirche's thoughts immediately to Montmorency. She was the best alchemist in their class, and she absolutely would kill to have access to these herbs. Or at least just kill Kirche when they got back, assuming she lived through this. Kirche knew there would be no apology good enough for Montmorency to forgive Kirche for using her like that, but that was a problem she'd worry about later.

"That doesn't matter," Duchess Vallière interrupted. "What does is that we know, now, that they're useful and safe. Consider this a standing order. Grab any herbs you come across, and try to keep samples to bring back to Tristain."

"Yeah… I'm thinking we might just have a new cash crop," Agnès noted with barely disguised glee.

"Indeed. Now then, let's move. Chesaré, lead the way," Karin ordered.

"Of course, your Grace," Julio replied as he unsheathed Derflinger. "Which way did she go?"

"Hmm, hard to say," Derflinger replied. "It feels strongest towards the west, but that's the part of her trail we just came from."

"Then we'll continue in the direction we've been following, east, until the sword's sense of direction changes," Karin ordered. "She might've been trying to find transport out of the city via the river that way, and a boat would be useful."

"As good a path as any, I suppose," Derflinger admitted, and the others nodded before heading off again.

As they did, though, Kirche paused as she thought she heard a small buzzing noise coming from overhead. Looking around to try and find the source in the darkness, it was hard to see anything. After a few moments, she shrugged and moved on, not noticing a small red dot peering from the shadows.

[~]

"Command, targets sighted. Moving east towards the river."

"Continue following. Do not engage until Bravo and Charlie team are in position. Remember, no fatalities; corporate wants them alive."

"Understood."

[~]

With her wand gripped tightly in her hand, Kirche's eyes darted back and forth as they walked through the alley, avoiding the large swarms of zombies that Tabitha was spotting for them. Briefly pausing at the exit, they waited for Tabitha to give the signal, then they pressed forward into the adjacent street. They were about a block away from the river itself, according to Tabitha's report. Aside from the ever-present carnage and devastation, the most striking feature was a large complex with numerous tanks built into it and large pipes leading into the river itself. Without getting closer, it was impossible to determine what the building was for, but Colbert hypothesized it might help in transferring clean water across Raccoon City.

"There's a four-way intersection coming up ahead," Tabitha reported from above, her voice magically amplified to be heard. "Keep going straight; there're hordes in the other directions. They're held back by barricades, but best not to test their strength."

"Thank you, Tabitha," Karin sincerely replied, her gaze momentarily drifting upward to stare at a large, three-story building that was now set on fire, roaring flames breaching through broken windows.

Kirche, meanwhile, focused on Tabitha and Sylphid. The other members of the rescue party had long since accepted her friend's presence. Although a dragon would've made infiltration impossible, there was no denying the benefits of aerial reconnaissance in this zombie-infested hellscape. Kirche was still just barely being tolerated, but she did get the sense that her instincts regarding the Arklay herbs had won her some favor.

But that wasn't important. What was important was that they were within sight of the Circular River but there was no sign of Louise. In fact, Derflinger couldn't sense a single hint that she was ever there at all.

"What do you mean, you lost the trail?" Wardes asked in a frustrated tone when they came to a brief stop just before the intersection.

"No, you misunderstood me," Derflinger sarcastically replied. "I can't lose a trail if there never was one to begin with. She was never here."

"So, what? She just turned around and went back the way she came?" Agnès suggested. "Why would she do that?"

"I don't know, I can't understand the mind of a teenage girl," Derflinger said. "That was as true today as it was six-thousand years ago."

Kirche pressed her lips together, then she pointed out, "We found Dr. Kenner's body at that lab. Maybe that had something to do with it?"

Given the horrors they found in that place, it didn't paint a good picture. Either of the now-dead doctor, or the situation they found themselves in. Julio, frowning slightly and sheathing Derflinger, began to pace back and forth, tapping his finger against his chin.

"Okay, let's go over everything again," Julio softly spoke. "We know for certain that, before the outbreak, Louise stayed with the Hiraga family in their apartment. That fact is indisputable. Once the outbreak began, she at least fled into the city where she arrived at that underground lab, the market, and Kenner's clinic. We thought it was in that order…but now I have reason to believe that lab may have been last."

"That makes sense," Colbert added. "The lab was noticeably farther away from the other two, and in the complete opposite direction. She must've went to the mall first, then the clinic. But why did she go to the lab at all?"

"Something tells me that, if Dr. Kenner was still alive, he'd be able to shed light on the situation," Suero noted, and the others nodded while a deep pit began to form in Kirche's stomach. When they had found the doctor's body, they had wondered if he was the perpetrator or a victim of that house of horrors. They still didn't know exactly, but to Kirche it certainly appeared as though he was more likely the former.

Karin then breathed heavily through her nostrils as her frustration built, and she declared, "How Louise got there doesn't matter. What does is that we're in the wrong place. We need to turn around, pick her trail back up."

"Agreed. Staying here is a fool's errand," Marion replied while the others nodded.

Alphonse moved to say something, then he violently coughed into his hand and nearly doubled over. The others involuntarily stepped back except for Gabrielle, who immediately went to assist her twin brother. When the water mage was finally done, he moved his hand away from his lips, and Kirche immediately noticed a sticky, dark substance on his palm.

"Is that…blood?" Kirche whispered, drawing everyone's attention.

Alphonse looked at it for a moment, then he snarled, nearly hissed at Kirche as he claimed, "Stop looking at me like that! I told you, I'm not-!"

Before he had a chance to finish speaking, they were interrupted by the sound of something clinking against the concrete. Looking down, they saw a small canister made of metal and with a blue ring around the center land at their feet. Kirche briefly narrowed her eyes in confusion, only for them to widen once her memory of the gangster's lessons helped her realize what it was.

"Grenade, mo-!" she heard Agnès shout, only for the world to be consumed by white light as the grenade exploded. Kirche's ears rung as she was temporarily blinded and deafened. She could feel her throat throbbing as she screamed in pain without being able to hear herself and stumbled around, eventually hitting a solid object and falling to the ground.

After a few agonizing moments, Kirche's vision and hearing began to return. She blinked the white spots out of her eyes, and although everything sounded muted, she could hear the muffled screams and shouts of the rest of the party. A few that were further away from the grenade were able to dive away in time, namely Agnès, Julio, and Suero who were already firing their handguns at targets Kirche couldn't see. The others were still stumbling around, trying to recover as fast as they could from the unprovoked attack. It got worse when more canisters were thrown into their midst, these expelling a thick, white gas that made Kirche's eyes burn and tear up.

As more of her hearing returned, Kirche started picking up the sound of intense gunfire coming from all sides. In a daze, she briefly got up to look, only to immediately fall down in pain as something struck her chest. She instinctively threw her hand onto her chest to stem any bleeding, but to her surprise she didn't feel any blood. Looking at her hand, she didn't see any spot of red at all. Something had definitely hit her, and her chest felt bruised and tender to the touch, but it wasn't a bullet.

Knowing that they were under attack, Kirche crawled on her hands and knees to the other side of the car she was now using as cover, yelping and screaming as glass broke all around her. The rest of the rescue party had started to recover, flinging spells and firing bullets while others were trying to dispel the gas clouding their vision. But in the chaos, it was hard to see where everything was, and their ambushers appeared to be everywhere.

When more of the grenades were thrown, Kirche immediately shielded her eyes and ears while turning away from the ensuing detonations of light and sound. They still affected her, but to a far lesser extent. Shaking her head, Kirche cast a quick spell to remove the gas clouding her vision, but her eyes still burned. She cursed to herself that she was never able to cast a single proper healing spell as she frantically rubbed her eyes in an attempt to clean them, which was when she started to hear new, unfamiliar voices.

"Move in, move in!" a man shouted in a deep voice.

"Someone bring down that damn dragon!" another woman called out, her voice punctuated by an icicle clipping her shoulder and sending her sprawling to the concrete with a pained yell.

"Firing shock rifle!" a third responded, followed by the sound of lightning hissing through the air. A moment later, Kirche heard Sylphid cry out in pain as she was struck out of the sky, with Tabitha letting out a small yelp as well. A heavy thud was felt as Sylphid crashed, but Tabitha rolled clear and stumbled up to protect her familiar as their assailants started yelling about grabbing her and securing the dragon.

Peeking out from behind the car, Kirche eye's widened as she was finally able to see who was attacking them through her blurry vision. There were at least a dozen of them, probably more judging from the brief bursts of gunfire coming out of nearby windows. All were wearing identical black bodysuits and armor, with helmets and masks that completely obscured their faces. In their hands were rifles, shotguns, submachine guns, and a few other weapons that Kirche did not recognize.

Tabitha was valiantly trying to fend them off with expert displays of her magical prowess, raising a hasty ice wall that caught one of their legs in its frozen grip as they backpedaled in surprise, blowing several more of them back with heavy gusts of freezing wind and ice shards that cracked against their armor, but she was quickly beaten down under the sustained gunfire of multiple assailants from all directions at once. At the same time, Sylphid was trying to get up, but her muscles were failing her as a trio of the attackers were firing literal lightning bolts from strange, blocky rifles that were yellow in color. More started wrapping thick metal cords around her neck, snout, and limbs, completely immobilizing her.

Realizing she had to do something, Kirche broke cover, aimed her wand at the nearest assailant, and shouted, "Flamethrower!"

"What the-?!" her target shouted in surprise, only to be consumed by fire.

Kirche briefly smiled, but that smile soon fell to horror as the man started to flail and scream in utter agony. He tried in vain to smother the flames, and his cries grew more mindless and agonizing before finally beginning to sputter. Only then, as the main's lifeless body fell to the ground in a smoldering heap, did the sound cease. But Kirche couldn't focus on anything else as the world around her ceased to be. All she could see was the body of the man she had just killed. Her eyes dilated, and her breathing became shallow as the impact of what she just did consumed her.

As much as she tried to convince herself that she didn't have a choice, that she was defending herself and her friend, all she could focus on was the fact that she just killed a man. A man who, unlike the countless zombies she had put down in the past few hours, was still alive. He had a mind and a soul, one she just snuffed out in a brutal, agonizing fashion. In the face of that revelation, the outside world didn't seem to exist.

Until her stupor was forcibly broken when a closed fist was suddenly thrown into her face. Kirche fell back, crying out in pain, only to be pulled back and punched again in the gut. Her wand was ripped from her hand as her attacker threw punches into her face, chest, and stomach. One of her legs was kicked out from underneath her, causing the mage to fall to her knees where she quickly received another kick to the face.

As she fell onto her back, her mind was in a daze. Kirche could feel a dull, throbbing pain across her entire body. One of her eyes was swollen shut, and she could feel blood leak from her split lip. Standing above her was her assailant, and through the dark red, opaque visors of his mask she could feel his anger burning into her soul. He pulled out a chrome handgun and noticeably swapped magazines. Chambering a round, he pointed it right at her head, his finger hovering over the trigger.

"VANDAL, the fuck are you doing?!" someone called out as he ran over. "We need her alive!"

"She killed GRIZZLY! The bitch set him on fucking fire!" VANDAL angrily hissed as Kirche futilely attempted to shield her face with her hand.

"Bravo-2, stand down now! That's an order!" his comrade hissed, pushing the weapon away.

Bravo-2, VANDAL, looked at his teammate, giving Kirche a view of the logo they both sported on their shoulders. It consisted of four red diamonds pointing out in the cardinal directions, their points meeting in the center of a white background and grey ring. Underneath the logo were the letters USS, all emblazoned on a downward facing, rounded triangular patch. Letting out a growl, VANDAL finally holstered his weapon, then slammed his foot into Kirche's face, causing the world to go dark.

[~]

With his hands bound behind his back, Julio Chesaré and the rest of the rescue party were led across the street to the building Tabitha had previously spotted. Initially he had tried to struggle free from his captors, but a few blows from rods that somehow delivered an intense electrical shock deterred him. Moreover, it quickly became obvious that there wasn't anywhere he could run to even if he had managed to briefly escape. His weapons had been taken from him, stored in various bags that the soldiers carried with them. It was the same for everyone else, with particular attention given to the mages' wands and Derflinger, all of which had been carefully placed into foam-lined cases for as of yet unknown reasons, other than to shut Derflinger up after he starting cursing at them. But given the fact that he and his comrades were captured and not dead, and who these people were, Julio had a vague idea as to what they wanted.

"Keep moving!" one of the black-clad soldiers gruffly ordered as he pushed Baron Valluy, who also had his wrists tied together in large, white cuffs that Julio overheard being called zip-ties.

Incensed, the Baron stopped in his tracks, turned his head to look at his captor and shouted, "Get your hands—oof!"

Any further protests from the Baron was cut off as the soldier punched him in the gut, causing him to double over. He was then forcibly turned around and pushed forward, with the soldier saying, "I said move!"

Around him, Julio could see the other members of the rescue party glaring daggers at their unknown captors, with most of their eyes darting around in a vain attempt to find a way out of this situation. Others, however, most notably Tabitha and Professor Colbert, were focusing their attention on Kirche von Zerbst. Out of all the Halkegenians present, she was by far in the worst condition. A consequence of her actually killing one of the soldiers during the ambush, prompting his comrades to exact bloody retribution. By the time he noticed Kirche's predicament, he was already being brought down by more light and gas grenades along with concentrated gunfire from multiple angles. He never stood a chance.

His eyes briefly drifted to Karin de la Vallière, who had been the last one to fall. In a more open environment, her wind magic would've been more than enough on its own to destroy their attackers. But in such a tight, claustrophobic environment, there wasn't much she could do without risking the death of her subordinates. Some had been blown away, but the soldiers had purposefully spread themselves out as much as possible while maintaining overlapping fields of fire, almost as though they knew exactly what Karin would've done otherwise.

What finally made her surrender, though, was when the apparent leader of the soldiers brought Kirche's bloody, broken, and unconscious body out for them all to see and pointed a gun at her head. He claimed that, although he had orders to take them all alive, he was more than willing to accept Kirche as an 'unfortunate casualty' if Karin didn't comply. Even if they were firing less-than-lethal ammunition, rubber bullets if he remembered the gangster's instructional video correctly, the implication was obvious. The others had protested, and Julio could see how utterly enraged Karin was, but in the end she dropped her sword wand and surrendered without putting up more of a fight.

Only afterwards was Julio able to see how many attackers there had been. Including the man Kirche had immolated, there had been twenty of them, all wearing identical black armor, helmets, and masks that completely obscured their bodies. Some had been injured, most notably by Tabitha who managed to cut one in the shoulder and froze another's legs but, thanks to their armor and the medical supplies which were quickly administered afterwards as Julio and the others were secured, much of the damage was mitigated.

A storm of emotions swirled inside Julio's head as they finally entered sight of the building. Chief among them were anger and humiliation. The entire battle, if he could even call it that, had lasted for a little over a minute. They never even had a chance to counterattack. By the time they realized what was going on, they were surrounded and brought down. Even if the result had ultimately been the same, Julio would've at least felt better had they managed to put up more of a legitimate fight and taken more of them down. But now all he could do was focus on the fact that they, some of the best soldiers and battlemages in Tristain, were utterly and soundly defeated as though they were nothing more than schoolchildren. Worse in fact, as the actual schoolchildren had done the most damage.

Julio didn't know who these attackers were. The logos on their shoulder patches reminded him of Umbrella's, but he didn't understand why an apothecary guild would have such expertly trained soldiers or mercenaries on hand. But what was clear was that they knew a lot more about them than the other way around. The way they focused on taking out the mages first, disarming them of their wands as soon as possible. Spreading themselves out so that they wouldn't be caught together in a single spell. Some of them expressed surprise at seeing the few magic spells, but based on the tone it seemed as though the surprise was less of utter disbelief but more of seeing something for the first time after only ever hearing about it. Either way, it was clear they somehow knew what magic was in a world where magic didn't exist, and there was only one group Julio could think of that would know about that.

"Varyag…," Julio whispered under his breath.

Even after everything Pope Vittorio had told him about their most ancient enemy, Julio had maintained hope that after six-thousand years it would prove to no longer matter. That the Varyag had forgotten all about them, or possibly even disappeared entirely. But it was clear now that such hopes were folly. The Varyag were alive and well; that was obvious to Julio now, and they were still their enemy. An enemy who was far, far more powerful than they had ever even dreamt of in their worst nightmares.

He had to get himself and the others out of there lest they suffer a horrible fate. But try as he might, he couldn't find one, and that realization made the pit in his stomach grow even deeper.

"Put them here," the apparent leader of the soldiers ordered as they pushed open a wire gate in a fence that surrounded the complex. Seeing that there were a few zombies roaming around, he quickly added, "Kill the zombies."

"Acknowledged," the soldiers remarked. As one group led the mages, with another pulling Sylphid right behind them, the others went into the courtyard and began firing single shots or quick bursts into the heads of each and every undead abomination that had previously claimed the courtyard for their own. Unlike their own efforts with this worlds' firearms, the soldiers' aim was nearly flawless.

In a matter of moments, the courtyard was clear of danger. Afterwards, as he and the others were led to the center of the courtyard and forced to the ground, where another pair of zip-tie cuffs were wrapped around their ankles to completely immobilize them, a group of four soldiers went inside the building. As they went inside, Julio could see that the building had a sign that read 'Circular River Water Treatment Plant' emblazoned on the outside wall. At the same time, the other soldiers went along the perimeter to put down any zombies that were attracted to the gunshots. Strangely, now that Julio could focus on nothing else, he noticed that the gunshots from the soldiers' weapons were appreciably quieter than anything the rescue party had been using. Looking at the weapons more closely, he saw that all of them had long, black barrel extensions. Silencers, if he remembered the instructional video correctly.

"IVAN, plant is secure. Hostile BOWs neutralized," a female soldier remarked, the same one that Tabitha had clipped earlier. Aside from a thick bandage that had been wrapped around her shoulder, she appeared to be none the worse for wear.

"Thank you, GAUL," IVAN replied. He then snapped his fingers at three of the others soldiers and added, "KODIAK, VIPER, KHAN, check them for injuries. Treat them however you can. Start with the fire mage."

"Yes, sir," the three soldiers replied as they immediately made their way over to Kirche.

"Don't you touch her!" Professor Colbert hissed, but he was ignored and pulled away to give the three medics room to work.

"I'm seeing multiple contusions and lacerations across the face and upper torso," one of the medics called out while another gently raised Kirche's head and pulled open her eyelid while shining a small light into it.

"Possible concussion as well," she added. "Blood pressure?"

"Stable," the third replied as he ran a strange device up and down her body. "I'm not detecting any fractures."

"Are you certain about that?"

"As certain as I can be out in the field."

"That'll have to do. VIPER, inject a small dose of healing solution."

"Yes, KHAN," the lone female medic replied as she pulled out a small rod from one of her many pouches.

Pressing the tip of the rod against Kirche's neck, she pressed a button on the bottom which injected a bright green fluid into her body. Kirche was roused from her barely conscious state as she let out a cry of pain which thankfully seemed to quickly ebb as her injuries started to fade away. Her right eye was still swollen shut, and the largest bruise on her cheek was still visible, but at least now she could look around in a faint daze.

"Miss Zerbst? Kirche, are you alright?" Colbert asked as Kirche briefly looked at him, then she lowered her head.

"Everything…hurts…," she admitted, only for her captor standing nearby to chuckle.

"If you think it hurts now…," he ominously said, only for his leader to angrily pull him away. Julio focused all of his attention onto the pair of soldiers, and from the corner of his eyes he noticed Agnès, Karin, and Tabitha were as well.

"What is your problem, VANDAL?" IVAN lowly hissed, which Julio was barely able to hear.

"I told you, she burned GRIZZLY to death," VANDAL remarked while pointing at Kirche. "Am I supposed to just ignore that?"

"Yes, you are. Especially since you already beat her half to death," IVAN replied, then drove a finger into VANDAL's chest. "She's stable for now, but if she dies, it's coming out of your paycheck."

VANDAL's expression was impossible to read behind his mask, but he briefly glanced at Kirche as his comrades tended to her extensive injuries. Then he looked back at IVAN and replied, "I can live with that."

IVAN seemed to breathe in deeply, then he said, "Remember, VANDAL: survival, the mission, then pride. We're mercenaries. Dying is part of the job, but if I see you so much as look at her again, I will put you down myself. Am I clear?"

VANDAL was quiet for a moment, then he nodded in understanding. Underneath the armor, it was obvious that the mercenary was less than pleased. But he was going along with it, nonetheless. With the apparent insubordination seemingly dealt with, Julio watched as IVAN walked away, pulling out a small handheld device to begin speaking into it.

"Command, this is Bravo Team. Assets are secured, requesting immediate extraction," IVAN said, much to Julio's confusion. "GRIZZLY is KIA. Subject Sixteen caught him by surprise before we could bring her down. Asset is injured but in stable condition."

"Who is he talking to?" Agnès couldn't help but ask, only for one of the mercenaries to slap the back of her head.

"Be quiet," the merc ordered, causing Agnès to glare harshly at the man but she otherwise complied.

"Negative, Subject Zero was not among them," IVAN continued, responding to someone that Julio couldn't see nor hear. The mercenary captain briefly glanced at Karin, then he continued, "There is a possible familial relationship between Subject Zero and Subject Six. We'll need DNA analysis to confirm."

It wasn't hard to determine what 'Subject Six' was referring to, and Julio's attention shifted to Karin. To his surprise, Karin's ever-present passive and stoic expression had changed into one of pure shock. But that lasted for only a moment before turning into what could only be described as pure, unadulterated rage. She was glaring red-hot daggers into the mercenaries with such an intensity that, even in her bound form, they couldn't help but take a few nervous steps back. Julio even felt a few beads of sweat trickle down his brow.

Not that he could blame her. After all, if 'Subject Zero' seemed to have a 'familial relationship' with Karin, that could only mean one person. These mercenaries, or at least the company they worked for, were also hunting down Louise. An intense chill ran down Julio's spine, a sentiment he knew was shared by the other captive members of the rescue party. The only upside was that it seemed like they hadn't found Louise yet if they were openly saying she wasn't among them, but that was a small blessing.

"Affirmative, we did secure the flying creature. By all appearances, it matches the description of a dragon," IVAN continued, but by this point the rest of the mercenaries were beginning to talk among themselves.

"Jesus, I can't wait to get out of this shithole," one of them muttered.

"Corporate's going to pull us out after this op, right?" another asked, and a third nodded.

"They better, or I swear to God there's going to be Hell to pay," she said. "Still, actual magic. Didn't think it was actually real until I saw it."

"Speaking of, how's the shoulder?"

"Armor took most of it. Nothing a trip to the med bay won't fix. Your foot?"

"Same. Frankly, after all the trouble Delta Team's been having trying to secure just Subject Zero, I'm happy that we got them on the first try," he said, then he glanced at the captive mages. "Remind me, why are we keeping the non-mages alive again?"

"Corporate says they're from another world, so they want to run tests regardless of magical affinity or not," a fourth mercenary answered as IVAN continued to speak in an increasingly agitated tone.

"Command, I understand that, but—" IVAN protested, only to be cut off by whoever he was talking to. "The longer we wait here, the more likely it is we get overrun. We can come back for it later!"

"IVAN sounds pissed," GAUL pointed out, only for VANDAL to shrug.

"It's Command, what do you expect?" VANDAL rhetorically asked. "I'm just happy I won't have to deal with their bullshit after this op. I don't care if I'm still under contract, I'm done with them."

"I'll drink to that," KODIAK replied, followed by many of the other mercenaries responding affirmatively.

Julio's eyes narrowed as he soaked in the information they were carelessly giving out freely. He knew it ultimately didn't amount to much, which was probably why they felt comfortable talking about it at all. But it was information nonetheless, and he was trying to absorb as much of it as possible. Both to find a potential way out of this predicament, and to give to Vittorio when they got back to Tristain. They were going to need as much information as possible if they were to defeat the Varyag in their Last Crusade.

Strangely, Julio also started to notice that, at the far end of the adjacent street, there was a glint coming out of a window. He didn't know if anyone else noticed it, but the mercenaries were paying no heed. Figuring it was merely light reflecting off some glass, Julio decided to ignore it.

Finally, IVAN released a heavy sigh then said, "Understood. Bravo Team out."

Pocketing the handheld device, IVAN turned around and looked at his team then announced, "Alright, listen up. Extraction's been delayed."

"What? The fuck do you mean it's been delayed?" VANDAL incredulously asked, only for IVAN to point his thumb at Sylphid, whom they had temporarily stored in an adjacent garage.

"Command wants the dragon, too. Said it was 'too valuable an asset' to leave unguarded," IVAN answered. "Only problem is that it's too big for a Black Hawk to pull it out with us. So, in all their 'enlightened wisdom,' Command has deemed it fit to send us ground transport before extracting us to NEST 3. ETA is about an hour."

"They're sending a truck? That's bullshit. A chopper can get here in five minutes," VIPER complained, and IVAN released another sigh. "If they're so worried about leaving the dragon behind, they can drop a team off and extract us with the other-worlders."

"That's what I tried to tell them, but they didn't care. Said they 'didn't have the manpower,'" IVAN revealed in an obviously frustrated tone. "It doesn't matter. We have our orders. Secure the area, make sure no hostile BOWs can breach the perimeter. Only fire if absolutely necessary."

The other mercenaries glanced at each other in obvious frustration, then they reluctantly nodded in agreement. They spent the next few minutes inspecting their surroundings more thoroughly, planning out defenses against zombie encroachment. As some of them were discussing different options for escape routes while having to haul so many captives, Alphonse once again started to cough.

"Alphonse!" Gabrielle called out as his coughing, unable to be abated by his twin sister, increased in intensity. By now everyone was looking at him, and IVAN immediately saw the worried looks on the captives' faces.

"How long has he been doing that?" IVAN demanded of the nearest person to him, who just so happened to be Suero who spitefully looked at him.

"Ever since he visited your mother," Suero sarcastically answered, and behind his visor Julio could tell IVAN had narrowed his eyes.

"Cute," IVAN said, then ignored Suero and moved closer to the violently coughing water mage. "VIPER, thoughts?"

"Could be side effects of the tear gas," VIPER suggested, but IVAN shook his head.

"Not willing to risk it. Test him," IVAN ordered as the rest of the mercenaries conglomerated from the periphery, then looked around at the other members of the rescue party. "In fact, test all of them for T-Virus infection."

All of the mercenaries spoke in agreement before pulling out handheld syringe guns. They walked up to each member of the rescue party and pressed the guns to their necks before pulling the triggers. A shot of pain coursed through Julio's flesh and he released a gasp of pain as blood was extracted, his head pinned in place by the mercenary's free hand. A few moments later, the needle was extracted, a small trickle of blood leaving the small hole left behind before it was promptly sealed by a quick spray of medicine from a metal canister.

"Hmm," the mercenary in front of him hummed as he pulled out the canister filled with bright red blood, then inserted it into another boxy contraption. He pressed a few buttons and waited, the air filling with tension as he and everyone else did the same. Eventually, the device beeped and flashed green, and the mercenary reported, "Subject Eleven is green."

"Sixteen is fine as well," the mercenary overseeing Kirche added.

"I'm reading no sign of infection in Subject Six," a third called out.

One by one, each of the mercenaries reported the same thing. That the captives weren't infected by whatever this T-Virus was. Julio had no idea what he was referring to, but even though the mercenaries' bodies were completely covered by their armor, he could tell that they were nervous through body language alone. In fact, they seemed scared. Looking at the nearby corpse of a zombie, its head completely blown open, he remembered that supposedly the zombie condition came from a plague. Was the T-Virus their name for that disease?

Alphonse was the last one to have his blood extracted for analysis, and everyone was watching him with bated breath. None more so than Gabrielle, who continued to insist that her brother was fine and they should stay away from him. Then, much to everyone's horror, his device flashed red.

"Shit, SHIT! He's infected!" his assigned mercenary revealed as he frantically stood and pulled out his gun, training it onto Alphonse's head.

"Pull him away, now!" IVAN ordered, prompting VANDAL to grab Alphonse violently by his shirt's collar and drag him away from the others.

"No, Alphonse! Alphonse!" Gabrielle screamed and flailed as she tried to get back to her brother, only to fall flat onto her face for her trouble from the zip-ties wrapped around her ankles.

"Don't you dare touch him!" Wardes ordered, but his and everyone else's words fell on deaf ears.

"He's got a bite scar on the nape of the neck," one the mercenary medics revealed as she pulled back his collar.

IVAN, growling in anger, glared at Alphonse then demanded, "When were you bit? Answer me!"

Alphonse coughed once again, spitting out a few drops of blood onto the ground, then he looked up and replied, "Fuck…you."

IVAN breathed in and out harshly as he backed away, clearly trying to figure out what to do next. At the same time, one of the mercenaries asked, "The hell do we do now?"

"Kill him, obviously!" another earnestly replied. "Before he turns into one of those things!"

"Shouldn't we contact Command first?" a third asked, her voice filled with worry.

"Why, so they can tell us to wait and see what he turns into?" the second rhetorically asked. "I don't care if he turns into a regular-ass zombie, or a magic one. I don't want him anywhere near me when he turns. If Command gets mad about it, they can kiss my ass!"

The mercenaries descended into arguments among themselves, with only a single mercenary next to Tabitha remaining to keep watch over them.

"Enough!" IVAN shouted, cutting off the argument. He glared at Alphonse one last time, then he sighed and said, "It's too risky. VANDAL, put him down."

"You got it," VANDAL said as he pulled out his pistol and walked over to aim it squarely at Alphonse's forehead, who was now looking up at the mercenary in abject terror. As Gabrielle wailed for them to stop, VANDAL simply declared, "You'll be thanking me for this."

"NO!" Julio shouted, trying to get them to stop, only for his words to be cut off by a single gunshot, followed by VANDAL's head exploding.

"SNIPER!" IVAN shouted as he dove away, barely avoiding another gunshot that hit a second mercenary next to him in the neck. As he futilely clutched his open wound in a desperate attempt to stem the bleeding, he fell to his knees then collapsed into a lifeless heap in a matter of seconds. The third struck the mercenary left to oversee the captives, the back of his head exploding as a bullet went straight through the eye.

The open courtyard fell into complete chaos as the mercenaries sprinted and dove to whatever cover was available, with the captives pressing themselves as low to the ground as possible. Colbert had even wiggled himself to shield Kirche's body with his own. More gunshots rang out, managing to strike a fourth mercenary in the chest as she ran for cover. She fell to the ground, her compatriots leaving her behind as they focused on protecting themselves and finding where the sniper was.

At the same time, Julio started hearing frantic cutting noises. Turning his head to the side, he saw that, to his surprise, Tabitha had wiggled her way over the fallen corpse of the dead mercenary and, by bringing her knees up to her chest, managed to bring her bound hands back in front of her. She was now using his knife to cut through the zip-ties on her ankles and wrist, her eyes darting about to make sure no one was noticing what she was doing.

But soon Julio's vision was completely obscured as familiar metal canisters were tossed into the courtyard, prompting IVAN to yell, "FLASHBANG!", followed by the world getting consumed with blinding light and deafening sound. Julio had already screwed his eyes shut, but could do nothing to protect his ears other than futilely hunch his shoulders with his hands still bound, and felt himself yell in pain after the blast even if he could no longer hear it. After a few moments, he opened his eyes and his muted hearing slowly started to return, but by now the entire courtyard was covered in grey smoke. Unlike the tear gas that the mercenaries used on them, this gas didn't make his eyes burn. He was coughing, though.

Through the smoke, he started to see flashes of light and hear gunshots as a firefight broke out. It was difficult to see more than five feet in front of him, but he did notice that Tabitha was no longer there, with the dead mercenary's handgun noticeably missing. As the smoke began to dissipate, he could see Tabitha firing her stolen handgun at the mercenaries as she ran towards the garage where they had stored their wands and equipment, making it obvious to Julio what she was going for.

"Shit, she's loose!" one of the mercenaries called out as they noticed Tabitha. But before he could fire, a burst of bullets peppered his body and broke the glass window of the now bloodied van he had been taking cover behind.

"Fuck!" another mercenary yelled as they turned their attention to where the bullets came from.

To Julio's surprise, he saw five soldiers advancing from across the street, using the abandoned vehicles as cover. Unlike the mercenaries, each of them had their faces exposed and were wearing tan armor with no helmets or masks. Julio didn't know who these men and women were, but as they continued to advance under a volley of gunfire and precise sniper shots coming from somewhere behind them, it was clear that they weren't with the mercenaries. Were they survivors, another mercenary company, or perhaps even soldiers serving the United States itself? He honestly didn't know, nor did he know why they were attacking the mercenaries in the first place.

"Floyd, cut them loose now!" the apparent leader of the newly-arrived soldiers ordered as he loaded something into an under-barrel tube on his rifle. Pulling the trigger, another flashbang went off which disoriented the mercenaries, allowing the soldiers to advance into the courtyard.

"Stay still!" the woman whom Julio had to assume was Floyd said as she sprinted over to the nearest captive, who just so happened to be Agnès. Sliding to a stop, she pulled out a knife and started sawing through the zip-ties on Agnès' wrists. Once those were done, Floyd started cutting through the ones on her ankles, and soon the musketeer was completely free.

Without even wasting a second, Agnès immediately sprang to her feet as she charged the nearest mercenary before she could recover from the effects of the flashbang. Tackling her to the ground, Agnès and the mercenary started to wrestle for the woman's knife after the gun was knocked away, ignoring the growing firefight behind them. Floyd and the other soldiers, meanwhile, pressed further and further into the courtyard, gunning many of the mercenaries down or at least driving them back and preventing them from counter-attacking.

As more and more of the captives were cut free, the garage door exploded outward in a storm of ice, catching everyone off-guard. Tabitha soon ran out, casting a trail of ice along the concrete which sprang upward into massive spikes that impaled a mercenary through the arms, legs, chest and head. She then created a wall of ice to block oncoming gunfire which would've struck the stupefied soldiers, all of whom were staring blankly at her.

"…Okay, I can work with that," the soldier captain flatly said as he reloaded his rifle. "Ronson, suppressive fire!"

"Got it!" the second woman of their group, evidently Ronson, replied as she laid her massive machinegun on top of the hood of a car, then unleashed a storm of lead towards the mercenaries.

"Morris, help Floyd!" the captain continued to bark orders as he advanced towards Tabitha, firing his rifle at a mercenary who had managed to flank her. "Kimbala, with me!"

"On it, Captain!" both men responded as they went to fulfill their orders.

Morris proved to be the burly, heavily tattooed man who joined Floyd in cutting Julio and the rest of his comrades free, all of whom immediately ran out to rejoin the battle which was rapidly shifting in their favor. Some were running into the garage to grab their weapons, while others followed Agnès' example and simply tackled the nearest mercenary available. Kimbala, meanwhile, turned out to be the man with even darker skin than Suero, directly assisting his Captain and Tabitha in engaging the enemy.

"You're free, go!" Floyd told Julio as she finished releasing him from his binds. His head swirling in confusion at what was going on, Julio sprinted towards the garage as Sylphid finally made her presence known with a loud roar. Breaking through the other garage door, she snapped up a terrified mercenary who could only let out a shrill shriek before his upper body was encased in her jaws. The dragon raised her neck skyward and thrashed about back and forth before flinging the now limp corpse far away into the river.

It was then that Agnès finally managed to win her melee with the mercenary as she ripped the knife from the woman's hand then stabbed it straight into her heart. She gurgled for a moment, then her body fell still as the life left her eyes, now visible through a broken visor. Fuming, Agnès withdrew the combat knife, now stained a bright red from all the blood, then she stood up and wiped it clean with a rag the mercenaries hadn't deemed fit to take away from her.

The gunfire quickly died down as the captain ordered his men to cease fire. The only sound that could be heard was the dull thuds of someone striking someone else, which quickly proved to be Suero attacking IVAN. The Hespérian man had managed to disarm the mercenary captain of his guns and knife then proceeded to beat the life out of him, with none of the other former captives seeing fit to try and stop him.

"Hey, that's enough," the soldier captain gently said as he walked over to Suero and put his hand on his shoulder. "Believe me, I get that you're pissed, but if it's all the same to you, I'd like to take at least one of these bastards in alive for interrogation."

Suero glared at the captain, then threw one final punch into IVAN's now exposed and bloody face before dropping him like a sack of rocks, replying, "Sure, he's all yours."

"Much obliged. Floyd, cuff him," the captain ordered as he turned his head to look at Sylphid. There was clearly confusion written in his eyes, then he asked, "Now, before we do anything else, I gotta ask… Is that a dragon?"

Sylphid looked down at the Captain and tilted her head as Tabitha nodded and answered, "Yes, her name is Sylphid."

"Right, right…," the captain muttered as he looked at the icicles which now littered the courtyard. Glancing at Tabitha and her staff, he asked, "How'd you do that? Liquid hydrogen? Cryo-grenades?"

"Magic."

The captain and his men stared blankly at Tabitha for a moment, then Kimbala flatly replied through a thick accent, "Please don't insult our intelligence by saying it was—"

"Captain Jettingham, we got a problem!" a third female voice interjected from a device attached to a strap on his chest.

"What is it, Fowler?" Captain Jettingham asked as he pulled the device out, the rest of the soldiers turning around and raising their guns.

"Looks like a lot of zombies are wanting to join the party! There's a horde heading your way!" Fowler reported, with Julio assuming it was the sniper who made the opening shots.

Narrowing his eyes, Julio climbed up on top of a large van and peered out into the streets. True to Fowler's words, there was a massive horde shambling towards them, their moans drowning out everything else.

"Shit. Fowler, make your way over to us now! It's not safe for you there!" Captain Jettingham ordered.

"On my way!" Fowler replied as the soldier started issuing orders to his men.

"Ronson, take up overwatch on the roof. Kimbala, go with her," Jettingham said. "Morris, stay with me. The rest of you, head inside and lock the door. We'll tell you when it's safe."

Rather than follow his orders, however, Karin shook her head and replied, "While I appreciate the concern, Captain, it is unnecessary. Tell me, where is your…sniper, they called her?"

"Over there, why?" he answered, pointing down the street away from the zombie horde approaching them.

"Perfect," Karin said with barely disguised malice. She then walked to the front of the group, raised her newly recovered sword wand, and cast, "Heavy Wind."

"What are you-?" Kimbala asked, then the words died in his throat as, before their very eyes, a massive tornado formed out of nowhere right in the heart of the horde. Bodies were picked up and thrown about, ripped apart by the intense wind and splattered against buildings and cars. In a matter of moments, a horde numbering in the hundreds was reduced to nothing, and only then did the wind die down.

Everyone was silent as they stared at Karin de la Vallière who nonchalantly sheathed her blade. The silence was only broken when Fowler's voice called out and asked, "So, uh…anyone else see that? Or was that just me?"

No one replied to Fowler, then Jettingham threw up his hands and said, "Sure, magic. Why the fuck not? Makes as much sense as everything else in this God forsaken city."

"Duchess, we should probably head inside," Wardes spoke up as the adrenaline started to wear off, making the pain of Julio's injuries much more apparent. The same could be said for everyone.

"Agreed, but first," Karin said as she stared blankly at the soldiers, "may I know the names of our rescuers?"

Captain Jettingham stared back at Karin de la Vallière, then nodded as he flicked the safety of his rifle, stowed it onto his back, and replied, "I'm Captain Crispin Jettingham, United States Army Special Forces Team Echo-Six."

He then pointed to each of his men, including a new woman running in from the across the street carrying a large, scoped rifle, and added, "This is our scout, Lieutenant Caroline Floyd, our medic, Sergeant Erez Morris, our demolitions expert, Sergeant Marisa Ronson, our field scientist, Sergeant Lawrence Kimbala, and our sniper, Sergeant Sienna Fowler."

"I see," Karin said, then stood up slightly straighter. "I am Duchess Karin de la Vallière from the Kingdom of Tristain. You have my thanks, and we are in your debt."

"Tristain?" Captain Jettingham wondered aloud, then shook his head. "Alright, it's clear that we both have a lot of questions for each other, so let's do that inside."

"After looting the bodies for supplies," Claudette quickly added. "It's not like they're going to need it anymore."

"Agreed," Karin replied to both soldiers. It was a suggestion that Captain Jettingham readily agreed with, and soon both groups were scavenging for whatever supplies remained from the mercenaries.

There wasn't much. Most of the ammunition the mercenaries had was expended during the intense firefight, and some of the weapons had been unfortunately damaged beyond repair by Tabitha's more destructive spells. Not that they were complaining. The weapons they had already grown accustomed to using were still in perfect condition. Luckily, they were able to scavenge undamaged weapons along with boxes of ammunition and medical supplies. Once both parties were done, Karin and Captain Jettingham led the others into the water treatment plant.

Julio was the last to move, his mind swirling in disbelief as he tried to comprehend everything that just occurred. One moment, he was unsure if this world was truly their enemy, only for the next to hammer that fact in. Then, not even half-an-hour later, another twist to the narrative he'd been led to believe his entire life appeared as another group of Varyag risked their lives to save him and his comrades. He had no idea what was going on, or if he should actually trust the members of Echo-Six, but if nothing else this was a perfect opportunity to find out more of what was going on. With that in mind, he steeled his face and resolve, then followed them inside and closed the door behind him.

[~]

"Extraordinary," Sergeant Kimbala said as he held Derflinger up with both hands. "An artificial intelligence imbued into a sword…."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty amazing," Derflinger replied with no small amount of arrogance in his voice.

"So, wait. You guys are literally from another world with magic, elves, dragons and shit?" Fowler asked as she leaned against the railing on a walkway overseeing one of many vats of water inside the treatment plant. The water itself was a murky black, but Karin couldn't tell if that was normal inside the plant or a byproduct of the contaminated water.

The platform they were on had apparently been turned into a makeshift breakroom by the previous employees, complete with tables, desks, and more. Compared to the other safe places they had taken shelter in previously, it was a marked downgrade, but Karin wasn't complaining as she listened to the conversation and fiddled with her newly obtained revolver that she had taken from IVAN. If there was one thing she had learned from their engagement with the Umbrella Security Service, as the mercenaries were apparently called, it was that she had made a tremendous mistake in relying exclusively on her magic. Seeing as how the mercenary captain clearly didn't need his Colt Python anymore, she claimed it for herself.

"That's correct, Sergeant," Agnès confirmed, and Sergeant Fowler couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well, we got zombies. Why the hell not?" she asked herself.

"You're taking this rather well," Colbert pointed out, and Fowler shook her finger.

"Oh, trust me. In any other circumstance, I'd probably be freaking out or think you were insane," Fowler admitted, then pointed at Karin and Tabitha. "But they just froze and dropped a tornado on some motherfuckers by saying a few magic words and thinking about it hard. That's fine by me. I'll leave the freaking out for the scientists back home. Speaking of, Kimbala, how are you holding up?"

"As well as I can be, all things considered," Kimbala replied as he reluctantly handed Derflinger back to Julio.

"How'd you find us?" Julio asked as he strapped Derflinger's sheath back to his shoulder.

"We picked up your dragon on radar," Lieutenant Floyd answered as she pointed up at the roof where they could see Sylphid peering down from a skylight.

"Radar?" Marion asked while tilting her head in confusion.

"…Right, right, you'd have no idea what that is," Kimbala muttered. "To put it simply, radar sends out a type of energy called radio waves which pick up flying objects and tells us exactly where they are. The Army saw your dragon flying around the city and thought it was a flying BOW. They sent us to investigate since we were in the area. Clearly Umbrella saw you as well."

Tabitha frowned and clutched her staff tightly, and Karin's frown deepened. She didn't know what radio waves were, but she could still understand the utility of what was being described as she asked, "This radar…how powerful is it?"

"Very. Unless you're made out of radar-resistant material, if you fly up too high you'd light up like a lighthouse at night."

That complicated things tremendously, and she tightened her fist around the handle of her revolver. Colbert, meanwhile, looked at the device on Captain Jettingham's chest and asked, "That radio…do you use radio waves to communicate over distances?"

"Yes, we do," Captain Jettingham confirmed. "We use it to give updates to Army Command and each other."

"Fascinating…," Colbert muttered as he looked at the radio in open awe, a sentiment shared by everyone from Halkegenia.

The military strategist in Karin practically salivated at the prospect of such easy long-distance instant communication. Far too often military maneuvers failed due to an inability to communicate between different ends of a battle. A general from their tent could see what was going on and try to counteract, but by the time their orders reached the front they could be woefully out of date. If Tristain had something like that, they'd be able to react to and run circles around any enemy before they had a chance to figure out what was going on.

"Speaking of radios, you have any?" Jettingham asked, and when Karin shook her head he nodded and replied, "Thought so. Don't worry, we have a few extras we can spare. They're civilian models, so they only have short range of about ten miles, and the audio quality's shit, but they'll do."

"Ten miles is short-range?" Agnès asked with a raised eyebrow but took the offered radios, nonetheless.

"Compared to ours, yes," Ronson confirmed. "If we wanted to, we could talk to someone on the other side of the world."

"…I see," Agnès said, then looked at the radio in her hand as though it was a holy object.

"While all of this is incredibly interesting," Roselyne de Cazenave tersely spoke up, "we're ignoring the issue outside."

Karin nodded in agreement, then she looked right at Captain Jettingham and said, "Captain, I'm assuming you're wondering why we're here in the first place."

"That question has crossed my mind recently, yeah," Jettingham admitted as he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. "Now, I don't care that you're from another world. Frankly, we have more important things to worry about at the moment. But forgive me if I don't like the prospect of heavily armed individuals, some of whom can cast literal magic, walking around on American soil with the apparent ability to show up wherever they want with us none the wiser. Presents a national security risk, you see."

Karin nodded in agreement. If the shoe was on the other foot, she'd be just as concerned. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Julio's expression briefly shift but decided not to draw attention to it. The last thing she wanted was to give an incorrect impression that they were an advance scouting group for an invasion.

"We're here for my daughter," Karin admitted, catching the soldiers off-guard.

"Your daughter?" Morris repeated as he broke away from tending to Kirche. The poor Germanian girl had been utterly silent ever since their rescue, barely even reacting to anyone as they attempted to tend to her. Although her physical wounds had been healed by Gabrielle and Sergeant Morris, it was clear that the mental wounds from her killing a man were still just as fresh.

Karin's eyes softened as she looked at her, recognizing that all-too-familiar look on her face. It was one that most soldiers she had worked alongside with had acquired the first time they ever killed someone. No matter the situation, taking the life of another was always a traumatic experience. Most weren't mentally equipped for the experience when it happened. For those that were, Karin didn't want to associate with them.

But that was a concern she would attempt to deal with later. For now, she nodded and replied, "Yes, my daughter. She was attempting to summon a familiar a month ago, but she accidentally brought herself here instead."

"A familiar? What is that?" Kimbala asked, and Tabitha turned from where she and Morris were trying to help Kirche so she could point up at Sylphid in emphasis.

"A familiar is a magical creature that's bound to the mage, becoming their servant," Tabitha explained. "Sylphid is my familiar, for example. Familiars can also be wolves, phoenixes, or any other magical and mundane creature you can imagine."

"And your daughter's?"

"She's a special case. Her familiar was supposed to be a human who lived in this city," Derflinger nonchalantly answered, which caused the American soldiers' faces to darken.

"Are you telling me your daughter tried to kidnap and enslave one of our citizens?" Captain Jettingham demanded to know, but Colbert shook his head.

"No, of course not. A familiar is not a slave," Colbert insisted.

"Not that it matters. Clearly she thought the same thing you guys did and never bound her familiar after living with him and his family for a month," Derflinger revealed, which caused the soldiers to let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, that's one bullet dodged," Fowler quietly admitted, then she shook her head and continued, "So, your daughter, instead of bringing her familiar to her in your world, brought herself to her familiar in ours. Am I understanding you correctly?"

"Yes," Julio confirmed. "Louise de la Vallière is very important, for many reasons, so the Kingdom of Tristain and the Halkegenian Church collaborated on a rescue mission once we realized what was going on."

Captain Jettingham nodded while looking at Karin. Then his eyes widened and he asked, "Wait…you said her name is Louise?"

"That's correct," Julio said, then his eyes narrowed. "Why?"

Jettingham ignored him as he focused entirely on Karin, then laid his palm out flat beside him while saying, "Does she have pink hair, pink eyes, about yay high, and in her late teens? Looks an awful lot like you?"

"…Yes," Karin quietly said as she stood up straighter while Jettingham turned to speak to his fellow soldiers.

"No wonder Umbrella was chasing them," Jettingham muttered.

"Could Umbrella have known?" Floyd asked, and Kimbala nodded.

"Had to. They control this entire goddamn city," Morris pointed out.

"Excuse me, mind telling us what you're talking about?" Wardes asked in annoyance.

Jettingham nodded and cleared his throat before revealing, "We know who you're talking about. A couple days ago, when the outbreak began, we ran into a boy and a girl named Saito and Louise."

"You did?" Colbert asked in complete astonishment, and Morris nodded.

"Yeah, we did," Morris explained. "The two of them were on the run, trying to escape the city, when they found us. Not gonna lie, we almost shot 'em before we realized they weren't zombies. They were terrified and had some minor injuries, but they were mostly alright."

Kimbala then took over and continued, "More importantly, they told us that they were on the run from a team of mercenaries working for the Umbrella Corporation. This team broke into their apartment in an attempt to kidnap your daughter, but Saito's parents held them off long enough for the pair to escape before the mercs…killed them."

"Founder, no…," Colbert softly said, and Karin's heart fell at the accumulation of yet another debt the Vallière family owed the Hiragas, one they would now never be able to repay. At the same time, her anger towards Umbrella seemed to rise even more, which she honestly thought was impossible. She glanced around, and it was clear that the other members of the rescue party were just as shocked and saddened by the news as her, most notably Tabitha and Agnès, whose normally stoic faces were noticeably crestfallen.

Shaking her head, Karin asked, "What happened after that? Did you get them to safety?"

"We tried," Ronson confirmed, then shook her head, "but the U.S.S. team chasing them caught up to us and attacked. We held them off long enough for Saito and Louise to escape, telling them to make their way to the nearest evacuation center at the public library. Haven't seen them since."

"…I see," Agnès noted, then she growled, "Did you at least kill the mercenaries?"

"We would've, had a goddamn Tyrant not decided to crash the party," Fowler answered, causing Karin's eyebrows to raise.

"It was able to threaten both of your groups? What kind of monster is a Tyrant?" Tabitha immediately asked, which was further proof that she was not just a mere student. Once this was over, she intended to question the girl more closely, but right now they had other things to worry about.

"A big fucking zombie," Fowler replied as she frowned deeply. "Damn thing was a walking tank – completely impervious to small arms fire. It chased us halfway across the city. Nothing we tried did anything more than slow it down at best. Bullets, grenades, flamethrowers, zilch. Ronson collapsed a building on it, and the Tyrant just walked it off. We had to call in a damn airstrike just to kill the fucking thing."

"People can turn into something like that?" Gabrielle quietly asked, only for Kimbala to darkly chuckle and shake his head.

"Nah, that's the thing. They can't," Kimbala refuted, then he leaned closer. "Based off everything we've seen so far…Tyrants aren't like zombies. They're not accidental."

Suero's brow furrowed, then he growled, "They were made…."

"By Umbrella, just like the T-Virus," Kimbala confirmed.

"Wait, Umbrella made the T-Virus? I thought that's just what this plague was called," Colbert pointed out, but Kimbala shook his head.

"The T-Virus is what turns people into zombies, yes, but it's not natural. It's an illegal bioweapon Umbrella cooked up in a lab here in Raccoon City."

"A bio…weapon… They…," Colbert tried to say, but he was unable to find the words. None of them could, and Karin's eyes widened in horror and rage. Both at the fact that Umbrella had the ability to make such a weapon in the first place, and at how they completely violated the sanctity of life itself to do it. Julio looked by far the most enraged, and given how he was a priest of the Gods, she couldn't blame him.

"Yeah, and Tyrants aren't all they've made here," Captain Jettingham ominously warned. "There are…things in this city. Monsters that make the rest of these zombies seem like nothing. That's what a BOW is. It means 'bio-organic weapon.'"

The room fell into silence as everyone pondered his words, with Karin's knuckles turning white as she clenched them harder than she ever had before. Briefly looking around at the rest of the group, Karin could see that everyone was appalled and sickened by the revelation. It was enough to even knock Kirche out of her stupor, at least for now. Professor Colbert was, surprisingly enough, seemingly more enraged than Julio, outright grinding his teeth together while gripping his staff hard enough to almost bend the wood. She didn't know the man well, but Karin got the sense his interest and love of 'science' wasn't why he was so offended at Umbrella's misuse of it.

The silence was then broken as IVAN finally started to stir as he slipped back into consciousness, drawing everyone's attention.

"Ah, look who's awake," Captain Jettingham spoke up as everyone turned to face the Umbrella mercenary. "Good morning, Sleeping Beauty. Hope you had a good rest."

"Ugh…," IVAN muttered as he raised his head. He tried to press his hand against the bruise on his forehead, only to find that his hands were bound. Only then did his situation finally seem to settle in for the mercenary, and he muttered, "Ah, shit…."

"'Ah, shit' indeed, my friend," Captain Jettingham sarcastically responded as he pulled up a chair and sat down on it in front of the mercenary. "Now, if you don't mind, my friends and I have some questions for you."

With his helmet and mask completely gone, IVAN glanced at the others with a frown on his face before replying, "I'm not telling you shit. Not without a lawyer. I know my rights."

"Of course, of course," Captain Jettingham nodded as Sergeant Kimbala handed him a data pad which the captain quickly read through. "All American citizens are constitutionally afforded the right to a lawyer. A fact you most certainly understand, Sergeant Bykov Denisovich."

IVAN's eyes widened as his real name was revealed, and he muttered, "How do you-?"

"Know your name? Benefits of having the CIA on speed-dial. They knew who you were almost immediately once we gave them your picture," Captain Jettingham answered. "Ex-Soviet Spetsnaz. Served in Afghanistan from 1985 to 1989. You have quite the accomplished service record, Sergeant. No wonder Umbrella picked you up after the USSR fell."

Bykov was silent for a moment, then he scoffed and said, "So you know some things about me. It doesn't matter. I'm still not telling you a thing, American. Not until you get me out of here and I get a lawyer."

"Figured you'd say that," Captain Jettingham admitted. "But here's the thing. As much as I love my country and its constitution, as of September 24th, 1998, Raccoon City has been placed under martial law and, by order of the President, civil liberties are temporarily suspended in the interest of aiding evacuation efforts and containing the T-Virus. Seeing as that was…three days ago, it very much applies to you.

"Now, despite everything you and your company has done to my beloved country, you probably think that my men and I don't have the guts to do anything as extreme as torturing you for information. And you'd be right! But we're not the only party here that you've hurt, are we?"

He then sharply tilted his head in Karin's direction as he said, "I'm certain you're familiar with Duchess Vallière, and her daughter. Her daughter that I've just been informed some of your comrades have been attempting to apprehend after murdering her caretakers. Here's another fun fact: they apparently come from an actual alternate world of swords and sorcery, and they don't share any of our 'civilized' rules on how to treat POWs.

"So I'm going to make you a deal. Either you tell me what I want to know, or I give you to her…and let her go medieval on your ass."

Karin didn't exactly know what 'going medieval' meant, and part of her felt slightly offended at the 'civilized' remark. Besides, torturing Bykov for information would be both completely ineffective – the man was more likely to lie than actually tell the truth – and they didn't have the time to do it anyway, even if they wanted to. But she recognized the tone and the captain's true intent, and agreed with it wholeheartedly. Despite herself, she couldn't help but smirk wickedly as the captured mercenary stared with wide eyes at her, punctuated by Karin playing it up and slowly rotating her revolver's cylinder, and act echoed by everyone else in her party grinning evilly.

Bykov took a noticeable gulp before looking around at the others. When he spotted Alphonse swaying slightly towards the back of the group, his eyes widened even more, then he said, "Alright, alright. I'll talk…but you're going to want to take care of him first. He's infected."

"What?" Captain Jettingham replied in surprise before turning to look at the clearly sick Alphonse de Hauet.

"Why do you think we went through all the trouble to capture these guys alive only to try and execute him?"

Bykov's statement was punctuated by Alphonse once again coughing, causing everyone but Gabrielle to back up. Seeing this, Gabrielle de Hauet snarled and said, "Stop lying! My brother is fine!"

"Itchy…tasty…," Alphonse barely muttered in a low moan, his voice barely audible as blood dripped down his lips.

"Duchess?" Captain Jettingham tersely asked as he unholstered his sidearm.

Feeling the tension rising, Karin admitted, "Chevalier Alphonse de Hauet was bitten this morning during our first engagement with the zombies. One of our own was killed and bit him after resurrecting. But we've been administering aid all day."

"No, no. Fuck, that's not going to work," Captain Jettingham said as he pulled the hammer back on his M1911 handgun.

"Captain, we know the T-Virus turns people into zombies. But Alphonse isn't dead yet," Colbert tried to placate the soldier, but Kimbala shook his head.

"That's not how it works, Professor," Sergeant Kimbala rebuked. "The T-Virus doesn't kill its victims. It keeps them alive."

"What are you talking about?" Karin demanded to know.

"All the zombies you've been killing today? I know they may look like the walking dead, but I assure you they are very much alive," Kimbala revealed, making the pit in Karin's stomach grow even larger as the hairs on the back of her neck stood on their ends.

"Bullshit, there's no way those things are still alive!" Cazenave insisted, but Kimbala shook his head.

"Strictly biologically speaking, they are, even if whom they were before is gone," Kimbala insisted while aiming his handgun at Alphonse, whom Gabrielle was shielding with her body. "It spreads through fluids. Water, saliva, blood, all of them are potential infection vectors. The T-Virus leaked into Raccoon City's water supply, which is how the city fell so fast, but a simple scratch or a bite from an infected individual is enough to transmit the disease to a new victim.

"It may take minutes to a few hours depending on their health, but once someone is infected and starts to show symptoms, it's irreversible. Their body mutates and starts to undergo rapid necrosis as their neurological systems degrade. Mental faculties decline. Hunger and aggression instincts are heightened. Pain receptors die, and cellular division increases in an attempt to counteract the necrosis. All of that combined keeps the victims alive, and drives them to attack the living with no regard to their personal safety."

"He's telling the truth! You need to kill him, now!" Bykov insisted, but Karin wasn't having it.

"Quiet!" she ordered the captured mercenary, then turned to face Echo-Six and asked, "How do you know this? Are you certain?"

"Duchess Vallière, I have analyzed hundreds of bodies for the past three days, seen countless people turn before our very eyes, and we've secured dozens of top-secret Umbrella documents detailing their attempts to treat the disease once it got out of the lab," Kimbala answered. "I had to put down a mother and her child when they got infected. Believe me, Duchess, I am certain."

"Is it possible for someone to be naturally immune?" Karin asked, trying to grasp onto the slimmest hope.

"There's a ninety-percent infection rate, Duchess. And it doesn't just affect humans and animals. Plants can get infected, too."

The rescue party was quiet as everyone pondered his words. Then, much to Karin's shock, Agnès unholstered her handgun, pulled back the hammer, and pointed it right at Alphonse while saying, "I've heard enough. Suero, pull her out of the way."

Suero nodded in grim acceptance as he immediately began to follow Agnès' orders, moving towards the infected mage while the other nobles were frozen in shock. Karin herself could only widen her eyes as the situation rapidly deteriorated, her mind struggling to comprehend everything that was happening. She knew that Agnès was already suspicious of Alphonse ever since he was bitten. The musketeer had told her as such. Part of Karin wanted to order her to cease, but the rest knew better. There was no stopping her now. After three separate and unrelated groups confirmed the same thing, with escalating levels of credibility, that was all the proof she needed to act. The fact that two of the groups, despite one being blatantly hostile, made every effort to keep them alive before reacting this way after learning of Alphonse's condition spoke volumes.

It was also all the proof Karin needed. She didn't want to do it, to put down a fellow noble like a rabid dog, but the safety of her party took precedence. If anything, it was Karin's responsibility to put Alphonse down, not Agnès'.

Before the Duchess could say as such, Gabrielle hastily raised her sword wand towards Suero who promptly stopped in his tracks, raised his shotgun, and racked a shell in response.

"Drop it," Suero calmly ordered, clearly not caring that Gabrielle was nominally his superior. Behind him, the other commoners raised their handguns towards Gabrielle. At the same time, some of the nobles instinctively raised their wands towards the commoners to defend one of their own.

"No, I'm not letting you kill my brother!" Gabrielle shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Chevalier, stand down, now!" Karin ordered as she saw the situation continue to deteriorate.

"Why are you yelling at me?! I'm not the one threatening a noble!" Gabrielle incredulously asked, her face warped with rage. "You can't be serious, you believe them?!"

"Yes, I do," Karin immediately answered as she scowled and pulled back the hammer of her revolver. "Now move aside. Everyone, lower your weapons. I'll do it."

Suero and the other commoners looked at Karin then complied, as did the nobles, albeit reluctantly and only after Alphonse let out yet another moan. Only Gabrille and Agnès didn't, their weapons still trained on each other.

Seeing this, Colbert stepped forward with his arms raised and said in a calming manner, "Gabrielle, listen to reason. I don't like it any more than you do, but these soldiers know more about the T-Virus than us. If they say he's doomed—"

"I don't care what they say! Alphonse is my brother, and I say he's fine!" Gabrielle petulantly screamed while glaring at Agnès with fire in her eyes. "Now lower your gun before I make you!"

"I've already killed twelve mages. I'm not afraid to make it fourteen," Agnès calmly countered as she leveled her HiPower at Gabrielle's head, much to the other mages' surprise.

"What? You-?" Gabrielle muttered, only for Alphonse to let out a shrill hiss, drawing everyone's attention. Horrified, Gabrielle turned around and saw Alphonse's body twitching and spasming, his skin turning grey as his eyes became a milky white. Blood poured out of his jaw, then he lunged straight towards his sister with an animalistic hunger.

Before Alphonse could sink his teeth into her neck, however, Tabitha cast a whip of water which wrapped around Gabrielle and pulled her away. At the same time, Karin hastily aimed her revolver and fired three shots before the others had time to react, each one striking Alphonse in the chest and blowing massive holes through him as he was sent stumbling back. On the third strike, he toppled backward and fell over the railing, falling into the open water vat and disappearing into the abyss.

"NO! NOO!" Gabrielle wailed as she tried to run over to the railing, with Suero and Eugene holding her back.

"Fuck, FUCK!" Baron Valluy cursed as he ran over to look at the disturbed water.

"Frankly, I'm surprised he lasted this long," Bykov declared, but the others ignored him.

"I'm sorry, Duchess," Captain Jettingham softly said as Karin and the others looked at Gabrielle's wailing body.

"…As am I," Karin replied as she looked at the slightly lighter gun in her hand. Releasing a sigh, she asked, "You said there was a ninety-percent infection rate. Sergeant Kimbala, how many people lived in Raccoon City before the outbreak?"

"Although this is a relatively small city, census estimates put it at around a hundred-thousand residents, not including native flora and fauna," Kimbala answered, and Karin could feel her heartbeat quicken.

"Ninety-thousand…," Wardes muttered as he mentally tallied the number of undead.

"That's supposed to be small?!" Suero added as he and the rest of the commoners stared at Karin.

Karin de la Vallière locked eyes with Agnès, remembering her remark about 'killing mages'. Her eyes narrowed, particularly as the other mages in the party started to regard Agnès more closely, with Tabitha muttering, "Mage killer…."

Agnès didn't say a word, and Karin knew that they would have to discuss this between them. But that was for later. Right now, they had to properly dispose of Alphonse's body.

Releasing another sigh, she started to say, "Fish his body out of there. Colbert, Cazenave, prepare to—"

Her words were then cut off as the entire facility started to shake, catching everyone off-guard. The water inside the open vat started to shake and boil. Pipes filled with water began to burst, and soon the entire room was flooding.

"What the hell?!" Morris shouted, but Karin's attention was focused squarely on the body of water that Alphonse's body fell into. Particularly as it started to react more and more violently.

Then, out from the vat, came a large explosion of water as something leapt out and landed back onto the metal walkway. Tabitha and Wardes had hastily erected a wall of air which blew away the droplets of water, preventing any from landing on them, but everyone's attention was focused squarely on the figure that was now among them. It wore the tattered remains of Alphonse's clothes, and Karin knew it was him, but that was where the resemblances died. His once vibrant blue hair was now completely gone save for a few long, pale, and wet strands, and his skin had been replaced by dark blue, almost black fish-like scales. His hands and feet were now webbed, and lining his jaw were massive shark-like teeth through which the monster snarled at them.

"Alphonse…?" Gabrielle muttered, but Karin knew that wasn't Alphonse de Hauet anymore.

"That's not a human anymore! RUN!" Derflinger yelled as Alphonse released an unearthly scream and threw his hands forward, causing a wave of water to exploded outward.

[~]

"Suppressive fire, suppressive fire!" Captain Jettingham shouted as he and everyone else ran as fast as they could down the rapidly flooding hallways, firing his assault rifle in short, controlled bursts towards their pursuer. He was joined by the rest of his men alongside the commoners and a few of the mages, doing everything they could in a desperate attempt to keep Alphonse away.

Or, rather, the being who used to be Alphonse. A fact that Tabitha was quickly reminded of as she caught another glimpse of his warped, fishlike form. A wall of rapidly rising water, spewing from burst pipes and overhead sprinklers, was surrounding him, pushed forward as he advanced towards them. The water was acting like a shield, the bullets and pellets losing much of their kinetic energy upon impact. Some of the mages were attempting to assist, but most of their attention was focused on simply trying to keep the water away from them. Both to stay mobile, and to prevent any contaminated water from infecting them. Now that they knew exactly how the T-Virus worked, that task was of the utmost importance.

"Shit!" Morris grunted as his shotgun ran dry. He began sliding new shells into the magazine tube as he jogged backwards, firing them one at a time before inserting a new one. Tabitha was right beside him, freezing a chunk of ice in an attempt to keep Alphonse at bay.

"Alphonse, please! Calm down, it's me! Your sister!" Gabrielle wailed.

"That's not your brother anymore!" Agnès retorted, reloading her lever-action rifle and trying to hit Alphonse's head. But the water shield was proving to be effective, and all she got for her efforts were large splashes of water. Beside her was Julio firing his Thompson submachinegun at the abomination, only to receive the same result.

"We need to get out of here!" Wardes called out, charging up a bolt of lightning on the tip of his sword-wand.

"Don't do that, you'll electrocute us all!" Kimbala angrily shouted, a point that was punctuated by splashes as they ran through ankle-deep water.

"Damn it!" Wardes cursed, realizing the field scientist was right. Shifting tactics, the veteran battlemage shot a slice of air into the water wall, which briefly split apart. But before anyone could really take advantage of the opening, it sealed back up again.

The hallway was consumed by the sounds of exploding pipes and gunfire, making it difficult for Tabitha to hear herself think. If she wasn't wearing those earplugs they found, she knew for a fact that she'd be deaf. Overhead, she could barely hear Sylphid on the roof, frantically trying to get to her master, but there were walls of concrete and steel dividing them. Without access to spirit magic, there wasn't anything the rhyme dragon could do.

But there were far more pressing matters to attend to at the moment beyond an inaccessible dragon. Namely the fact that, despite the mages' best efforts, the facility was continuing to flood faster and faster. Soon it would be up to their shins, slowing their retreat immensely, and Tabitha didn't want to think about what would happen when it rose higher. There was also the fact that she could feel her willpower reserves stretch to their limits, and she suspected the same went for their stock of ammunition. If they ran out of one or the other, they were doomed.

Wardes was right. They had to get out of there. But between the rising water, the advancing monster who used to be Alphonse, and all the locked doors, that was easier said than done. Part of her wondered if they could perhaps lure Alphonse somewhere without water, thus depriving him of…whatever he was doing and making him easier to put down. Even if water was readily accessible throughout Raccoon City, anywhere would be better than a water treatment plant.

It was just their luck that he finally turned in perhaps the most dangerous place in the city for him to do so.

"Quick, though here!" Fowler called out as she pointed to a large, open steel door with a heavy latch on the inside.

Sprinting through the opening, Suero and Eugene helped the lieutenant move the heavy door through the water, the others trying to delay Alphonse as much as they could. Alphonse, letting out a shrill screech that sent shivers down their spines, picked up the pace as more pipes began to burst. But just before he or the wall of water surrounding him could reach them, the trio managed to close the door then latch it shut.

Breathing heavily, the two combined groups aimed their weapons at the door as Alphonse banged on it from the other side. Each blow was heavy, sending rattles across the room and making Tabitha sweat. But the steel door was holding, for now at least.

"Ammo and shell check, now! That door's not going to hold him forever," Jettingham immediately ordered his men as he swapped his mostly spent magazine for a full one, then pulled out a box of rifle bullets to refill the empty ones.

"That door's at least half an inch thick," Suero pointed out, only to flinch and jump back as a large dent formed in the center.

"Yeah, tell him that," Jettingham curtly replied, prompting Suero to nod and frantically refill his own weapons.

"Thank the gods we found that warehouse before this," Eugene de Allemand muttered under his breath, and Tabitha couldn't help but agree. Even then, Tabitha knew they wasted a lot of what they had on hand trying to kill Alphonse, and most of the rest was stored on Sylphid and thus out of reach.

"How the hell is he doing that? I know you guys are magic, but I thought you needed a wand and to say words to cast spells?" Morris asked as he restocked his shotgun and repeated the process for his handgun.

"What I want to know is how did he mutate so quickly?" Laurette countered. "He couldn't have been in that water for a minute. He should've just been a normal zombie, not…whatever the hell that thing is."

Tabitha was asking herself the same thing and struggling to find an answer, only for Colbert to whisper, "Genetics…."

"Come again?" Kimbala requested, and Colbert shook his head. He prepared to explain, only for another loud bang against the steel door, accompanied by a massive crack that started spraying jets of water at them, to cut him off.

"Later, I'll explain when we get to safety!" Colbert insisted.

"Agreed! Let's move!" Jettingham insisted, pocketing his refilled magazines and ammo boxes alongside the others.

"Hey, hey! Cut me loose and give me a gun!" Bykov insisted as he held up his bound wrists. "I can help!"

"Absolutely fucking not," Fowler immediately told the captured mercenary. "We give you a gun, you'll shoot us in the back."

Bykov shot her an offended look as he replied, "I'm a merc, not a fucking idiot! What do you take me for?!"

"If you honestly think I'm going to believe a word you say, you are an idiot," Fowler countered, and Bykov grit his teeth in anger.

Part of Tabitha agreed with the sniper's assessment. In any other circumstance, there would be no reason to trust a word Bykov would say, especially after he went through all that effort to capture her and her teammates. She could tell that everyone else agreed with Fowler as well, especially her fellow Halkegenians. But if there was one thing Tabitha had learned over her years of being forced to serve the Gallian crown, it was that one must exclude emotion from any decision-making process. And right now, that's exactly what everyone else was doing. They were letting their justified hatred and mistrust of the captured mercenary cloud their judgement, making them ignore the wider picture.

Sure, there was a substantial risk that a briefly freed and armed Bykov would stab them in the back. But with a mutated Alphonse rapidly closing in, a point punctuated by the sound of shearing metal as Alphonse finally broke through the first door, and the man being completely surrounded by those who would kill him without a second thought, there was no logical reason for him to betray them. Not if he wanted to escape with his life. And given how she saw Bykov admonish one of his now dead subordinates for letting his anger towards Kirche cloud his judgement, she got the sense that he saw the same things she did.

Coming to a decision, Tabitha pulled out the combat knife she had procured from one of the dead mercenaries, walked over to Bykov, and cut him loose.

"Tabitha, the fuck are you doing?!" Suero yelled in surprise, but Tabitha ignored him as she handed a surprised Bykov the USP9 she also recovered. Part of her knew that the USP9 was better than the Bodyguard she procured earlier in the day, but the revolver was more comfortable for her to use and used entirely different ammunition. She could survive giving it away, temporarily at least.

"You will give that back to me once this is done," Tabitha calmly ordered. "And if you even think about turning it on one of us, I will freeze and explode your lungs."

Bykov looked at her then nodded as he chambered a round, saying, "Message received, and like I said, I'm not an idiot. Glad one of you has their head on their shoulders."

Before anyone could admonish Tabitha or attempt to counteract what she had already done, the second door exploded as Alphonse returned, accompanied by a wave of water. The water nearly dragged a terrified Kirche away, but Bykov was already reacting as he grabbed the Germanian girl by her hood, yanked her back, then fired a trio of shots directly into Alphonse's head. The monster shrieked in pain as it dived back into the water as it tried to heal, briefly pausing its advance.

"I fucking told you, now move!" Bykov shouted, knocking the others out of their stupor.

With the threat on their heels again, the survivors ran as fast as they could down the hallway. Much to Tabitha's relief, they could see exit signs hanging on the walls, directing them to salvation. Once they got out of the water treatment plant, they could figure out their next course of action. Until then, she helped the rest of the mages keep the water back, preventing Alphonse from getting to them.

As she did, Tabitha took notice of what appeared to be the limit of the zombified Alphonse's abilities. It was clear that he was using magic, somehow, to manipulate the water. How he was doing it without a wand nor incantations was unknown to her, but what mattered was the effect. His wild magic was obviously very powerful, able to move large volumes of water and draw it towards him, but there was none of the finesse he previously used. It appeared that all he could do was simply push and pull the water. To some, that might not seem like much, but with the amount of water on hand, that was more than enough.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they came across the emergency exit. It was pushed open by the flood of liquid, which was now waterfalling down the steps onto a nearby wooden dock and into the Circular River, but Tabitha didn't care about that. Instead, she gripped her staff tightly as she and the others ran out as fast as they could. Without missing a beat, Tabitha froze the water coming out of the door, encasing it entirely in a block of ice several feet thick. Through it, she could see Alphonse roar in anger as he attempted to break free, slamming his webbed fists against the ice and causing large cracks to form, but for now they were clear.

Nodding to herself, Tabitha ran back to the rest of her compatriots, feeling the effect of willpower exhaustion rising. If she had to guess, she only had enough for one more spell. After that, she'd have to wait hours to build it back up. Thankful that she had foreseen this, Tabitha pulled out her Bodyguard, checked to see that the cylinders were full, then stowed away her staff for later.

"Okay, now what?" Claudette asked, taking the chance to breathe heavily while hunched over as she and the others stood on the wooden docks.

"Just call an airstrike on the fucker and get it over with," Bykov suggested.

"That was my brother!" Gabrielle continued to insist, but by this point any sympathy Tabitha had towards her situation had evaporated in favor of dealing with the threat that was still trying to kill them.

"Yeah, and you should've killed him earlier when you had the chance. At least then he would've died as himself and not as a monster."

Gabrielle, in her grief and rage, looked half-ready to kill the mercenary right then and there, but a quick glare from Duchess Vallière stopped her in her tracks. At the same time, Jettingham nodded and said, "Agreed. We'll fall back to a safe distance then call in a missile strike. Collapse the whole building on him."

Part of Tabitha wished they could give Alphonse a proper burial. After all, the man had served Tristain loyally for years. He deserved as much. But given the environment they were in, and the monster he had become, they couldn't afford such luxuries.

Standing up straighter, the party prepared to move out. But before they could, they started to feel a deep rumble underneath their feet. The water inside the river began to churn, and it was taking everything they could just to stay upright. At first Tabitha was worried that it was because Sylphid had landed next to them, but even after the dragon took flight once again, the churning continued. Then they heard a deep roar, and the entire wall of the treatment plant facing the river exploded outward as a geyser erupted.

"Oh, SHIT!" someone yelled, Tabitha unable to determine who as the wave of water reached them. The wooden dock was ripped from its anchors, and soon they were sent careening down the newly-formed rapids.

"HOLD ON!" someone else yelled as they held tightly onto the wooden rails, lest they get swept away.

Underneath her feet, Tabitha could hear the wooden boards strain and crack, and soon the entire dock began to split apart. The world began to spin, making it nearly impossible for Tabitha to see what was going on or who she was with. All she knew was that they were going down the river fast, and it sounded like a waterfall.

Realizing that it wasn't going to calm down anytime soon, Tabitha forced herself to turn around, ignoring the sprays of whitewater splashing onto her face. Now she could see that she was next to Bykov and Claudette, who were gripping onto a wooden rail for dear life. The dock had completely broken apart, forming a series of platforms that were tossed and turned with the massive waves crashing around them. In the center of it all was Alphonse, his scaly form swimming and dragging the water with him. When he jumped, the waves grew larger, threatening to overturn anyone in their wake.

Unfortunately, Tabitha quickly realized that Alphonse was heading straight for their raft. Her eyes widening, Tabitha hastily aimed her revolver at the monster and fired a few shots, but with all the tossing and turning all she hit was water. Both Bykov and Claudette seemed to notice what she was doing and tried to join her, briefly letting go of the rail to fire their handguns. But that was when a massive wave slammed into them. While Tabitha and Claudette, thanks to having one arm each still wrapped around the rail, were able to stay on the raft, Bykov was ripped free. With a yell, he was tossed into the water, and all Tabitha could see was his arms frantically splashing about as he tried to swim to safety. It was so loud, Tabitha couldn't even hear him scream.

A moment later, the mercenary was dragged under the black water, disappearing with a large splash. The water momentarily went still, and soon a deep red started to spread outward. Tabitha wasn't going to pretend she mourned for the man, but she still winced at the unfortunate fate she didn't wish on anyone.

More importantly, though, she realized this was an opportunity, one she had to exploit as she pulled out her staff, aimed it at the river, and shouted, "Freeze!"

Using the last bit of her willpower, Tabitha forced an entire section of the river spreading outward from her to freeze solid. The rafts were pinned in place, with black, murky water splashing onto and around it. The ice itself was slippery and transparent, and Tabitha nearly fell out from under her feet when she first tried stepping onto it.

"Don't worry, I got you," Claudette said as she hastily grabbed Tabitha, preventing her from falling over. Helping her stand upright, the two women stared at each other for a moment, then Tabitha nodded as a silent thanks. That was when she started to hear small cracks, and their eyes widened as the hastily and sloppily made ice raft already began to break apart.

"Quick, to the other side!" Colbert cried out, pointing towards a nearby dock that they could use to escape the river.

Tabitha nodded, then started making her way over towards it. If she had more time, Tabitha would've gone slower so that she wouldn't risk slipping and falling. But between the monster swimming underneath the ice and the ice itself breaking, time was a luxury she couldn't afford. So she kept going, using her staff as a brace to keep herself from tripping. Kirche and Professor Colbert were already at the dock, with the professor helping Baron Valluy and Agnès get to safety as the others rushed to join them. Tabitha and Claudette were the furthest out, an unfortunate byproduct of where she spell was cast, which pushed the pair to move as fast as they possibly could. The sound of more ice cracking behind them provided even more motivation.

That was when Tabitha heard a loud crack underneath her. Her eyes widened, and she glanced down at her feet to see the monstrous visage of Alphonse glaring up at her, his fist having slammed into the bottom of the ice. With a powerful kick which further weakened it, he swam away from the ice barge, then turned around and made a beeline straight towards her.

"Look out!" Claudette shouted as she pushed Tabitha away just as the ice broke and Alphonse breached the surface. With a mighty swing of his clawed hand, he slashed the front of Tabitha's sweater but, thanks to the chainmail underneath, didn't manage to break the skin. Still, the sudden shift in momentum caused Tabitha's feet to slip out from under her, and she fell hard onto the ice.

Unfortunately for Claudette, by pushing Tabitha away she lost her footing and fell onto her back as well. Without missing a beat, the musketeer pulled out her sidearm and emptied the magazine into Alphonse's chest. He roared in pain as blood burst from his body, giving Tabitha a good look at his yellow, bloodstained teeth that still had some meaty chunks and torn fabric from his previous meal stuck between them. Alphonse then turned towards the source of his pain, and Tabitha's eyes widened as he lunged towards Claudette.

"CLAUDETTE!" the Gallian knight heard Agnès scream as Alphonse sank his jaws around her fellow musketeer's throat. Claudette screamed in agony as she attempted to kick and punch her attacker off, her hand flailing as she tried to grab her knife, but the sound was muffled. Tabitha attempted to cast a spell, only to fail and find that her earlier assessment was true; her willpower was completely gone. Then she heard a violent, wet rip as Alphonse tore away a large chunk of flesh from Claudette's neck. Her screams became gurgles as blood began to pour out of the wound, and soon she went still.

Tabitha didn't even have a moment to process what just happened when Alphonse whipped around towards her. Having just managed to sit upright and realizing she wouldn't have time to get away, she hastily aimed her revolver and emptied the rest of its cylinder at the monster. All of her bullets hit true, two in the chest and one in the head, but their low caliber meant it didn't do enough. Pulling out her staff, she held it horizontally in front of her just as Alphonse dived forward, his teeth aiming for her neck but sinking into the wood.

Feeling herself sliding across the ice, it was only thanks to someone raising a chunk of it that she wasn't thrown into the water. She didn't know who, but she was far more focused on trying to kick the monster away from her. It was quickly becoming obvious that Alphonse was stronger than her, and with his increased weight and lack of self-preservation instincts he was throwing all of it onto her. The wooden shaft of her staff started to bend and crack, and he was ignoring all of her kicks. Briefly she considered reaching for her knife and stabbing him in the neck, but doing so would require taking her hand off her staff and allowing Alphonse to overpower her. Someone tried running over and pushing him off, unwilling to risk accidentally shooting her with a gun or spell, but the ice was cracking underneath them.

People were shouting and screaming, and Tabitha began to experience tunnel vision as all she could see was Alphonse's white, hateful eyes boring into her own. Then she felt a splash of water, and Alphonse's body went still. A moment later, the top half of his head slid off from a clean slice, collapsing on top of her. The ice platform went still, and the river became calm once more.

"Get him off of her!" she heard Karin order, and soon Baron Valluy and Eugene were hefting Alphonse's body away from Tabitha and dragging her towards the more secure dock. Her face had splashes of Alphonse's blood on it, but the Baron was already washing her clean.

Once she was hoisted onto the wooden dock, Tabitha saw Agnès and Julio rush over to Claudette's body. She already knew it was hopeless. Even if it wasn't from a zombie, there was no surviving that grievous of a wound. A wound that would've been Tabitha's had it not been for Claudette.

"Are you okay? Were you bit?" Baron Valluy asked, shaking the Gallian girl from her thoughts.

"Did you swallow any?" Eugene asked as well, and Tabitha shook her head.

"I'm fine, and no. I didn't," she said, thankful that the angle of the attack meant that his head had fallen by her side, and that her glasses had protected her eyes.

With her heart thundering in her chest, Tabitha shifted her attention towards the bisected skull that had been left behind alongside the rest of Alphonse's corpse. It looked as though someone had chopped through it with an axe or sword, but this was far cleaner. Turning her head to the side, she saw Gabrielle standing on the opposite side of the dock, her sword wand stretched outward and aimed right where her brother used to be. Following her gaze, everyone else looked at the surviving Hauet twin, whose attention was utterly focused on the dead body of her brother. The brother she just killed to save Tabitha.

With everyone's eyes on her, Gabrielle fell to her knees, and released a loud, mournful wail.

[~]

No one said a word as they recovered Alphonse's and Claudette's bodies, magically lifting them from the platform and putting them in the center of a nearby plaza. None of them had any idea where they were, which Echo-Six was currently trying to figure out, but the rest were far more focused on the task at hand. Julio was giving Alphonse and Claudette their last rites, speaking in holy Brimiric as he requested the gods to take pity on their lost souls. Gabrielle's eyes seemed lost as she stared at his corpse, and even as Professor Colbert and Chevalier Bernadette de Favre set the makeshift pyre they made from nearby wooden tables alite, she refused to budge. Tabitha, meanwhile, was far more focused on Claudette. Given how the only reason she was still alive was because of her sacrifice, Karin couldn't blame her.

Releasing a heavy sigh, Karin saw Agnès briefly walk away from the makeshift funeral, her fists and body tight. The musketeer stopped at the edge of the boardwalk, staring out over the broken remains of the ice barges. She didn't say a word, but Karin knew she didn't need to.

Steeling herself, Karin walked over to Agnès and began to say, "Agnès, I—"

"I warned you," Agnès cut her off, her voice dripping with venom. "I fucking warned you he was dangerous, that we should be concerned after Erard bit him. But you didn't listen. You and the other nobles took him at his word and said he was fine. Now Claudette is dead…and I have to write a letter to her family telling them why."

Getting up from the railing, Agnès shot her head towards Karin, boring her bloodshot eyes into the noblewoman as she growled, "Her death…is on your hands."

Without saying another word, Agnès stomped away. All Karin could do was watch her leave, then whisper, "…I know."

Karin stayed there for a few more minutes in complete and utter silence. Part of her wondered if Agnès was solely angry at Karin, or if she was also angry at herself for stopping the criminal from killing him earlier that day. If she had to guess, it was probably both. She certainly was feeling regret. It didn't matter if they had no reason to believe the man at the time. But had they listened to him, maybe none of this would've happened.

So engrossed in her thoughts, Karin only barely noticed Captain Jettingham approach her, and she turned to look at him as he said, "I'm sorry about your men. I didn't know them, but…they seemed like good people."

Karin nodded as she glanced at the surviving Hauet twin. They all knew the risks involved with this mission, especially after what happened to Erard, and she knew Alphonse needed to be put down. But the fact that it was his own sister who had to do it, after she spent hours insisting he was fine only for him to turn and kill one of their own, was something Karin lamented.

"I should've accepted the signs. If I had…," Karin began, but Captain Jettingham shook his head.

"You can't blame yourself. None of you can, especially you," he insisted, directing his last comment towards Gabrielle who barely regarded him. "I know it might not seem like it right now. But believe me, you didn't kill Alphonse. Umbrella did. What you did was mercy."

Gabrielle was quiet for a moment, then she sadly nodded. Karin was unsure whether she believed the soldier or not, but she clenched her fist tightly as she growled, "Umbrella…they will pay for what they have done."

Not just for what they did to Alphonse and Claudette, Karin thought, but also to Erard, her daughter, and even the people of this city. They may not be Tristainian, but no one deserved to have such an unholy abomination inflicted upon them. Not even the elves.

"That's the idea," Jettingham confirmed, then he released a sigh as he laid out a map on a nearby table which drew everyone else to gather around it. "Anyway, Floyd figured out where we are. We're in New Prague on the south side of Raccoon City."

He pointed his finger onto the location in question, marked by a red circle. Happy to focus on the task at hand rather than her guilt for at least a moment, Karin nodded then asked, "I see… Where did you say Louise and Saito were going?"

"Right here, to the Raccoon City Public Library," Jettingham confirmed, pointing to a large building north of Raccoon Park on the intersection of Chumleigh Drive and Woodbine Drive, and on the west bank of the Circular River. Southeast of the building was a massive complex labeled as the Spencer Nuclear Power Plant.

More importantly, it was on the other side of the city, and only a few miles north from the water treatment plant.

"Damn it, we were so close…," Karin growled.

"Duchess, Sylphid and I can fly over there and grab her," Tabitha offered, but Karin shook her head.

"Absolutely not. Not with Umbrella searching for us," Karin refused. "They'll capture you if you go on your own."

"You honestly think they'll come after us again?" Viscount Wardes asked, and Karin nodded.

"If they're putting in all this effort to capture my daughter, they'll do the same for us," she said, and the others nodded. "Based off how frustrated Bykov and his men seemed to be with their employers, I doubt they care about losing more men so long as they capture us in the end."

"You'd be correct. Duchess, you should also know that we lost contact with the library a few days ago, after we directed your daughter over there," Jettingham revealed. "I've already asked Command if anyone matching her description was evacuated, but with how many people we already have interred and in quarantine, that could take hours to comb through."

"So either she made it and got evacuated before it fell, or she didn't," Tabitha noted.

"Could…could Umbrella have already captured her?" Kirche quietly asked, the adrenaline of the battle against Alphonse at least momentarily knocking her from her stupor, but Tabitha shook her head.

"No. Bykov told his superiors that 'Subject Zero' wasn't with us when we got captured," Tabitha pointed out. "Subject Zero has to be Louise, and if they're still looking for her, that means she's eluded them for now. Others were also talking about how she's given the team assigned to her trouble, whatever that meant."

"You definitely know what you're talking about," Karin noted as she focused entirely on Tabitha, who matched her gaze with her own. It was obvious to both of them that they would talk about her history later, but it was already clear to Karin that Tabitha's appointment as a knight of Gallia was no mere political stunt. She had earned that rank, and given how young she was, that boded ill.

But that was for later. For now, they had to focus on what happened next. Taking a breath, she then said, "Regardless, we now have our destination, one we need to reach as soon as possible. Normally, I'd say follow the river, but that may leave us in the open for Umbrella to ambush us."

"What about the sewers?" Laurette suggested, but Jettingham fervently shook his head.

"Not unless you want to run into Hunters and all sorts of other nasty BOWs," he advised.

"…I don't even want to know what a Hunter is," Laurette remarked, then glanced at Alphonse's funeral pyre. The others followed her gaze as she continued, "Speaking of…what do we call what Alphonse turned into? Because that was no normal zombie."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Julio muttered, "Draugr."

Karin thought it over. Draugrs were legendary undead abominations that dwelled in ancient burial mounds, revenants that guarded treasure buried alongside them. She supposed that it wasn't a perfect comparison, but the image definitely felt appropriate.

"So, if one of us gets infected, we turn into a zombie," Agnès huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "If one of you gets infected, you turn into a draugr. Alphonse was a water draugr. Can't help but wonder what you all would turn into."

Normally, Karin supposed that she or any of the other nobles might've attempted to chastise Agnès for her tone. But given what had just transpired, no one did. Not that it would've done anything. It was clear that Agnès, along with most of the commoners from what Karin could see, weren't in the mood to show the nobles any of the usual deference.

Clearing his throat, Colbert spoke up and said, "We don't know that for certain, and frankly I don't want to know, but given Alphonse's affinity…I'd wager it depends on what the mage's affinity is. Maybe even their magical strength."

"That reminds me, Professor. You had an idea as to why Alphonse turned out like this. Care to elaborate?" Agnès pointedly asked, drawing everyone's attention, particularly Kimbala who was being tended to by Morris. He had taken a hit to the head during the rapids, one that would've needed stiches had Gabrielle not been able to heal it.

Colbert nodded, then answered, "I won't pretend to understand much of this, but during her time here, Louise became convinced that there was a link between magic and genetics. She theorized there was a 'magic gene' of sorts that could be passed down from parent to parent. One that was recessive, thus explaining why a mage having a child with a commoner might not result in their children being able to cast magic."

"A magic gene?" Kimbala muttered, then he slowly nodded. "Yes, that would make sense. The T-Virus causes extensive mutations in its victims. It would surely latch onto such a gene too once it infected a mage."

"That's what I'm thinking. Which means that, if Alphonse was a water mage and turned into a water draugr, the same would apply for everyone else," Colbert confirmed as he pointed at Gabrielle. "Were she to turn, she'd become just like her brother: a water draugr. If myself, Chevalier Favre, or Kirche were to turn, we'd become a fire draugr. Viscount Wardes, Duchess Valliere, or Tabitha, a wind draugr. Baron Valluy or Chevalier Cazenave would become earth draugrs. As for what they would be able to do…I can only imagine."

Karin pursed her lips as she thought over the professor's theory, then her frown deepened. Colbert's theory, while far from proven, was very likely to be correct. Alphonse was a triangle-class water mage, and that translated into him becoming a terrifying monster capable of wielding powerful wild magic. Given how everyone else in the rescue party was at least of a similar level of magical strength, even the students, that boded ill should any of them get infected. They'd turn into time bombs.

She could feel the unease fill every noble's heart. One that was magnified when Karin realized that the commoners were now subtly glaring at them. No words were said, but Karin understood them regardless. They got into this situation by letting a nobleman stay infected for too long, a decision that led to one of their own getting torn apart.

None of them were going to make that mistake again, and as the other nobles caught a glimpse of the angry commoners, they realized it as well.

Agnès was the first to stand up as she said, "Well then… I want an ammo and supply check. Marion, get up somewhere high to see if there's any zombies nearby. Eugene, go with her. The rest of you, check the nearby buildings and stores. Some of them look like restaurants, so there might be food.

"Yes, Captain!" the other commoners replied in unison, completely ignoring the mages.

When they were out of earshot, Kirche whispered, "They'll kill us…won't they?"

"Yes," Tabitha immediately answered.

All Karin could do was close her eyes and release a heavy sigh, then say, "We need to be ready to do what's necessary if the time comes. I couldn't do that before. That won't happen again."

The other nobles nervously gulped while Tabitha immediately nodded in acceptance, having clearly already come to the same conclusion. Then Sergeant Morris coughed and said, "While my team and I are in the same boat as you, just so you're aware, you shouldn't jump the gun and euthanize anyone who gets bit or scratched."

"What do you mean?" Julio asked, and Morris pointed to the Arklay herbs that Vivian, Laurette, and Suero had already found.

"Those herbs have minor anti-viral properties," Morris explained. "It won't cure you if you're already infected and start to show symptoms, but they can help boost your body's immune system and potentially stop it in its tracks."

Karin de la Vallière's mind returned to the clinic they found earlier, then nodded and replied, "We found a note describing that property earlier. Thank you for the confirmation, Sergeant."

"No problem. Just happy to help anyway I can."

"Indeed," she said, then turned towards Captain Jettingham and asked, "I trust we'll be parting ways now?"

"I'm afraid so, Duchess. Believe me, I'd love to drop what I'm doing and help find your daughter, but we have orders."

"Will your government be okay with our continued presence?" she asked, hoping to avoid a diplomatic incident while ready to resist if need be. Nothing, not even from the deepest pits of Hel, would stop her from finding her daughter now.

"Eh, that's a tricky situation," Jettingham confirmed. "On the one hand, they're not. Uncle Sam doesn't exactly like foreign soldiers operating on his soil."

"Is Uncle Sam your…President?" Karin asked, trying to remember the term from Louise's journal that described America's head of state, only for Jettingham to snort and shake his head.

"No, no, he's not our President. It's a figure of speech."

"Ah, I see. Then who is your President?"

"Someone who's about to get impeached or resign over this disaster, so it doesn't really matter," Jettingham answered, then placed his hands on his hips and released a sigh. "What does matter is that we can't have you going around Raccoon City all by yourself completely unsupervised. Were this any other situation, Command would've had us bring you in. But I'm very much aware that's not going to happen, nor can my team and I just drop what we're doing to go with you."

"What did you have in mind?" Julio asked, his voice filled with apprehension.

"We're going to give you these," Jettingham replied as Sergeant Kimbala pulled out over a dozen small cylinders with blinking red dots on the top, one for every surviving member of the rescue party, along with a large yellow device that looked like an oversized radio.

"This is a satellite phone," Kimbala explained, briefly going over the various buttons and telling her what they meant. Karin didn't know what a satellite was, but she remained quiet as he continued, "This has a secure line to us and Army command. Every hour, you are to call and provide an update if you are able."

As Karin looked at the heavy device in her hand, she nodded in understanding. Placing it into her backpack's pocket, Kimbala then held up one of the cylinders and revealed, "This is a GPS tracker. With it, we can track your every movement in the city. Keep these on you. They'll also function as IFF tags – tell us not to shoot you when you get on radar. You have no idea how many times we almost shot down your dragon."

"I can imagine," Karin noted as he pocketed the device.

"When you find your daughter, call us on the satellite phone," Fowler told the Duchess. "Command's agreed to send a chopper over to evacuate you and your team."

"You might want to hurry," Ronson advised while taking a drink from her canteen. "Most of the city has already fallen, and it's only going to get worse from here on out. Given just how bad everything's getting, the Army might decide to pull the plug and move to…sterilize the whole situation."

Karin's eyes narrowed as she understood the euphemism clearly, as did the others present. From the corner of her eye, she noticed that Colbert and Agnès had the most visceral reactions, briefly frowning before releasing reluctant sighs. Whether that was due to personal experience with such practices or something else, Karin didn't know. Nor did she care enough to ask.

"How long?" she asked, trying to remain focused on the more pressing issue.

"Nothing concrete, but I'd wager just a few more days."

Karin nodded, then replied. "I understand. Hopefully, that'll be enough."

"Yeah, hopefully," Jettingham said, then he stood up and added, "Well, we gotta get going. Sorry we couldn't do more."

"Captain, you and your men have done more than enough," Karin replied. She and the captain nodded at each other, then shook each other's hands before walking away.

As they did, Karin muttered a brief prayer under her breath, "Founder, give me the strength I need to find my daughter. Gods above, give her the strength to survive should I fail."

[~][~]

Hello, everyone! Here is the latest chapter of Familiar Evil! Special thanks to NaanContributor and Jesse K for all their help in bringing this chapter to life.

The rescue party's first mini-arc has come to a close. With it comes the death of two of their members, bringing the total body count to three. Not only that, they finally have a more solid understanding of the cause of Raccoon City's fall, and the best lead they're going to get to where Louise is. Whether or not they'll get there in one piece, or if Louise and Saito will still be there if/when they do, remains to be seen. You guys will just have to wait and see.

With this mini-arc complete, we are now going back to Saito and Louise as they embark on the next phase of their 'adventure' in the Raccoon City Public Library. From here on out, you can expect to see the chapters switch perspectives between the A-plot (Saito and Louise) and the B-plot (the Rescue Party). Depending on the current needs, there will be more A-chapters than B-chapters, but that is to be expected.

To answer some of your guys' questions:

The reason for the longer-than-usual update time was because I was finishing an arc for my RWBY/Halo crossover, Dust and Echoes. That was 3 chapters back-to-back which obviously took quite a bit of time. Trust me when I say that this story is far, far from dead. If for whatever reason I am forced to drop the story, I will let you guys know.

Do keep in mind that, aside from Julio, none of the other members of the Rescue Party even know they're scouts for a future invasion should the Pope have his way. They're solely here to find and rescue Louise. That even applies to Wardes, even if his motivation is far, far from simply being a concerned fiancé. Even then, all of them are good people at the end of the day, including Julio.

Please don't ask me when the next chapter is on the way. They'll be posted when they're ready, not before. Asking about it does not speed me up at all.

Glad you guys appreciate the fact that this is set concurrently with the mainline RE games rather than overriding them. That was a key thing I wanted to do. Gives me more creative freedom in any case rather than just doing what the games already did.

The Saito/Louise romance is a key subplot for the story I'm telling, and I hope I'm giving it justice and making it believable/earned for you guys.

That's it for now. Let us know what you think. If any of you have a TV Tropes page, any help in updating it would be greatly appreciated. We hope you enjoy and see you all next time!