At the sight of that biohazardous green color, Rain's eyes widened. In an instant, she was back to fighting to free herself. "Hey, we already agreed to your bullshit. You don't gotta use all that."

Alice's protective side flared up and she instinctively surged forward, only completing a single step before Cain aimed his pistol at her. "Stay put," he ordered.

"I've seen her file. Umbrella still has yet to understand her, and you think giving her another large dose of the virus is a good idea?" There was a slight waver to Alice's voice.

"New things cannot be learned unless you dare to tread unexplored territory."

A guard loaded a vial into a jet injector and began to approach.

"Get offa me!" Rain made slight progress toward rising to her feet before being shoved back down with more force than before. The side of her face was pressed into the concrete. Her arms were twisted so that they were folded behind her back. "Get offa me, dammit!" She got one of her legs out from under herself and managed to turn partly onto her side, kicking at the calf of the guard holding the virus.

Completely thrown off balance, he fell. Glass shattered. There was a strong, bitter smell. The insects were inside her brain.

Cain let out a short sigh. "If you want the others to live," his weapon swept over where the others were restrained and on their knees, "you will comply."

She begrudgingly stilled. Alice could hear the panic seeping into her breathing and see it in her eyes, which were so dilated that the blue was no longer visible. They almost looked like their original color.

"...Rain—"

"If this is it for me, it is what it is," Rain cut in. "If you have to take me out, that's what you'll do, you got that?"

'I don't.' Alice refused. There wouldn't be a need to, anyway. She was going to hold onto that stubborn hope for as long as possible.

"Don't hold back."

'I don't want to cause you more harm than I already indirectly have.'

Another full dose was prepped. The tip of the injector was placed against the side of Rain's neck. Alice was made to watch with worry churning in her gut as the trigger was pulled. As she had when she received the antivirus, Rain became completely tense. However, discomforted squirming—borderline spasming, really—accompanied this.

She snapped out of it abruptly.

"Release her."

The guards complied with their superior's orders. As their grips loosened, Rain tore away from them, latching onto the guy with the injector and toppling him over. She ripped his helmet off and began mauling him.

The other guards lifted their rifles.

"Hold your fire."

Blood and viscera were spattered onto the ground. The screams faded. The two men scrambled over to the helicopter to stand with everyone else.

When Rain was finished, when the body trapped beneath hers was a red mess above the shoulders, her attention shifted over to Alice and Cain.

Alice tugged at the zip ties around her wrists. Were they not even going to cut her loose for this? She threw a questioning glance over to Cain, who was in the process of backing away. He raised his eyebrows in a purposefully ignorant expression. "Is there a problem?"

'Prick.'

Noticeably more coordinated than she was at the overpass, Rain sprinted at Alice. Alice quickly sidestepped out of the way, and Rain skidded to an immediate halt, relaunching herself.

"I apologize in advance." Alice aimed a kick straight at her midsection, knocking her back. The lack of pain may have made it easier for her partner to keep going, but only to a certain extent. Alice was going to make her strikes relatively light. "I realize now that I'm not entirely sure if you can hear me when you're like this."

Pushing herself onto her feet, Rain swung at her. Alice jumped back and avoided it. She lowered her voice to barely above a whisper, positive it would only reach Rain's ears. "But this isn't going to be your end or mine. I won't let it be. You shouldn't let it, either."

She threw another punch. Alice dodged.

Another. It saw Rain's fist connect with her jaw. The coppery taste of blood filled her mouth. She staggered a bit, thrown off by the amount of power behind the blow. Her teeth no longer felt as though they aligned on the top and bottom. There had definitely been another increase in strength, she noted.

She managed to duck out of the way of the fourth swing. She hooked her leg around Rain's inner calf, firmly planting a foot on the opposite side to lock the other's in place before ramming into her with her shoulder. Rain was forcefully taken off balance and fell.

She somersaulted, then lunged, successfully pinning Alice down. Alice bucked and tried to turn, managing to put herself on top. She sat upright. Rain maintained an iron grip on her arms, rising with her.

Alice rocked herself every which way to wrench herself free. When it wasn't working and Rain's mouth was starting to get a little too close for comfort, she headbutted her, then threw herself backward as hard as she could. Her back hit the concrete once more. Thankfully, Rain didn't entirely collapse atop her, leaving enough room between them for Alice to bring her legs up and kick her off.

Unfortunately, she was right back on Alice in a matter of seconds. They grappled. Alice thrashed, twisted, kneed, did everything she could without having proper access to her goddamn hands. Rain wouldn't let go a second time.

Eventually, Alice found herself facedown with thighs bracketing her hips, a hand pressing most of Rain's body weight into her upper back, and another planted on the ground not too far away. Very not good.

In the struggle, her coat had slipped down on one side, exposing the skin left uncovered by the wide neck of her t-shirt to the cool night air. Hair lightly tickled her.

"Rain..." She experienced an awful, sharp, burning pain as Rain's fangs sunk into the slope of her shoulder. Bad. She did her best to stifle the discomforted noise that threatened to leave her lips. "Let go," she murmured.

Rain bit down harder, preparing to tear a chunk of Alice's flesh out.

"I need you to let go."

Suddenly, Rain stopped. Alice could hear and feel her breath beginning to come out in uneven puffs. She was fighting. She was still in there. Good.

In a single choppy motion, she dug in further.

"Don't let it win. Come on. You've got this. I need you with me."

Then, with clear effort, she slowly began to release and pull away. Her teeth scraped against Alice's skin, carving shallow valleys before letting go wholly.

"Fascinating," Cain muttered.

The pressure between Alice's shoulder blades vanished. She took the opportunity to shift her upper half to the side as much as she could while her hips were still trapped, slamming into the arm Rain had positioned adjacent to her shoulder. Rain's elbow buckled and her legs loosened, allowing Alice to roll.

When she landed on top of Rain, she found something hard in one of her partner's pockets jabbing into her lower back. There was a harsh edge attached to whatever it was. A folding knife? That would be useful. Alice blindly felt for the pocket's opening, realizing in the process that the object was too cylindrical to be that. Flashlight?

...She didn't appear to have much use for one, though...

A low growl sounded in her ear. The small ounce of control Rain regained was slipping away again. Before it could altogether, she shoved Alice off of her in an attempt to create distance between them.

As she got onto her knees, Alice came to a realization: 'When Angie told her to use the rest of the antivirus later, Rain must've stuck it in her pocket instead of putting it back in the case.' She needed to get ahold of it, which was currently easier said than done.

Remaining all fours like an animal, Rain swiped at her. There wasn't time to do anything but jolt back.

A stinging pain flared across Alice's lower leg. She glanced down, finding four long gashes torn through her jeans and skin.

...Rain had scratched her.

Rain had claws. Her left hand was normal, but in the gaps between the stained dressings on her right, her fingers appeared black like obsidian and ended in sharp points.

She reared back to try again. Alice kicked her arm. There was an audible CRACK! as it bent unnaturally.

Alice cringed. Her strike hadn't been hard enough for that to happen!

...Rain probably already had a small fracture that neither of them knew about, and the stress put on it from their fight just made it worse. Her arm dangled uselessly, fingers twitching.

Even lighter than before, Alice pushed her away with her foot.

"...Ah-lysss..." Rain got out between gritted teeth, sounding strangely slurred and unsure of her speech.

"Rain?"

She took hold of her busted limb, attempting to steady it as she held her hand out toward her partner. "...Cut-ttt..."

Keeping a careful eye on the guards, Carlos slipped a pocket knife out of his belt that remained unnoticed when he was stripped of his weapons. He subtly started to cut away at his binds.

"...Cut-tt'm!"

Finally understanding, Alice spun herself around and grabbed her hand, awkwardly sawing at the zip ties with Rain's talons. It wasn't that her nails had sharpened. No, her fingertips themselves had hardened into dangerous points.

Snap.

"I don't believe we've used enough," Cain told the goon closest to him. "Prepare more."

Alice promptly forced Rain onto her side and removed the antivirus from her pocket. At the exact same time that she pushed the injector's button and the needles stuck Rain's neck, Carlos freed himself, sliding his blade toward Jill as he swept the legs of the closest guard out from under him.