My great thanks to HighFlyingWings, who kindly chose to use some of his free time to be my beta reader!
8th October, 2008.
Summer stared carefully in the distance, waiting when the next wave of B.O.W's would arrive.
The last few days had been almost non-stop battle after battle, wave after wave of mutated monsters trying their best to break through the checkpoint, both to kill the ISIS soldiers there and to secure a path that swarms of B.O.W's could use to push northward.
The good news was, no one had died so far. The combination of power armour, energy shields, and Aura was enough to make sure of that.
The bad news was, they were eventually forced to fall back when the other checkpoints had started buckling under the pressure, threatening them with the possibility of Summer's checkpoint being flanked, if not outright encircled.
Command had thus finally given the order to fall back to the secondary defensive positions, and both Summers had to watch the rearline and fight back the B.O.W's trying to use their retreat as an opportunity to overwhelm them.
They failed, but not for lack of trying on Greene's part, and Summer had eagerly crashed for several hours of sleep, was completely spent Aura-wise, and frankly, was just as spent mentally.
Now, after some badly needed hours of rest, she genuinely felt much better, at least physically. The Old Blood in her veins and her recharged Aura made sure of that.
Mentally, however…
Summer sighed deeply. Mentally, the last days had been eye-opening in many ways.
It was one thing to fight and kill the Grimm, it was another entirely to know that every B.O.W. you saw was once a person.
Summer had to fight and kill mutated men, women, and even children, and the less said about the pregnant women, the better.
This war was far more horrific than anything her experience as a huntress had prepared her for, though thankfully, the incredibly life-like simulations she went through when she had joined ISIS had helped prepare her better for… this.
Even so, she still couldn't help but be horrified. Manhattan, and New York as a whole, was big. Very, very big. Millions of people lived there, reminding her of the kingdoms of Remnant.
And now, one of the great cities of Earth was being steadily lost to waves upon waves of monsters.
Oh, ISIS did as good as they could, but the fact of the matter was, they were being pushed back.
Slowly, at immense cost for Greene's hordes, but they were succeeding.
And the less said about the south, the better. Blackwatch was trying as hard as it could, but their strategy of sending regular marines to the thick of it while Blackwatch soldiers only acted when absolutely needed or when victory was assured was resulting in horrific losses for the US soldiers, and a lot more ground was lost compared to the north.
That, and Summer had heard rumors of what a shitshow the situation down underground was. There were even a growing number of rumors of small earthquakes being detected at times, and the general consensus on that was that Greene was almost ready to unleash some new horrors into the fray…
Some rather new big horrors.
Summer's face twisted, and she stared grimly at the rising sun in the sky.
Another day, several more hours of battle awaiting.
Somehow, she had little doubts it was not going to get any easier today than it was yesterday.
Call her paranoid, but she rather doubted that Greene was going to be satisfied with just pushing ISIS back a few streets.
"You know, frowning doesn't suit you, Summer."
She blinked, before looking to the side, her eyes widening at the sight of Aeon looking at her with slight amusement.
"Aeon." She smiled, glad to be able to see him, after the last several days where all the opportunities to interact with him could be measured up by the times he contacted her for status reports and to give orders.
She understood why, she really did. Both of them had been extremely busy these last few days, but she had to admit she had missed the comforting presence of the man who was both her boss, her teacher, her friend, and a god in his own right.
"Hey, Summer. How are you doing? We didn't get much time to talk lately."
"I'm…" she trailed off, looking out at the street beyond.
And the already quite high numbers of B.O.W. corpses splattered everywhere.
"I could be better." she admitted with a sigh.
Aeon nodded, coming to sit down by her side.
"Not used to this kind of war, huh?" he muttered.
She nodded. "I'm used to fighting the Grimm, not… not people infected by a virus turning them into monsters, all controlled by a madwoman wanting to burn the world down, or whatever it is that Greene seeks to do here."
She shook her head. "It's like dealing with a worse version of Salem and the Grimm. At least the Grimm were never human, but here…"
Her eyes fell upon the broken corpse of an infected little girl, who was ten at most.
Summer closed her eyes and looked away, but her mind still showed her the image, now burned within her memory.
She felt a hand fall on her shoulder, and she opened her eyes, staring into the saddened eyes of Aeon.
"I'm sorry." he said softly. "All you wanted was to go home, and I brought you into this mess."
She quickly shook her head. "No, no, don't apologies. You were right that day, I'm a huntress, fighting threats to humanity is what I do. Seeing all of this… It just convinces me more than ever that I made the right choice to join."
"Maybe, but this isn't your war, and I was the one to convince you to fight anyway. You already almost gave your life for the world once, asking more from you seems… wrong." he said softly.
Summer stared at the corpses in the street, the river of blood born from the combined lifeblood seeping away from the corpses, and sighed.
"None of what you said that day was wrong, Aeon." she said again gently, but firmly. "In the end, I choose with my own free will to fight for this world, as I once fought for Remnant. This world also needs its protectors, and there are no huntsman academy in this world. There are only soldiers, and whatever Hunters you convince to join you, and of course… You, along with Oedon and Lucy."
She sighed.
"I chose to be a huntress, even knowing how that would likely end. I chose to put my life on the line for a greater cause, and I do not regret it. I… I regret that I can't be with my family, that in the end I wasn't capable of protecting them as I hoped… But I do not regret everything else. Nor do I regret taking your offer. It was the right thing to do. The selfless thing to do. The Huntress thing to do." she finished with a slight grin.
"It was." Aeon softly acknowledged. "But that doesn't change the fact that I'm not Ozpin, Summer. I do have the power of dealing with all of this, if only I was willing to stop holding back."
He sighed, looking… forlorn.
"Am I truly a good man, when I let so many innocents suffer for some vague concept of a Greater Good? Am I truly a benevolent god, when I am so willing to sacrifice so many people on the altar of what I think is the right path for humanity to walk?"
He waved at the corpses before them.
"I look upon all of this, and I only see my sins staring back at me. If I truly wanted to give humanity a choice, shouldn't I openly reveal myself, and let Mankind choose to follow me or not? Instead, I hide, I hold back, declaring that ignorance is better than knowledge… Even when this is the result."
He slumped slightly, and Summer was struck by how old he looked right now, his eyes reminding her of Ozpin when he forgot to hide the true measure of his age, and the regrets of aeons of life were suddenly clear to see through the eyes of a man that may as well seen eternity pass him by.
Except in Aeon's case, that was quite literal.
She hesitated for a second, before her face turned determined and she hugged him tightly.
He stiffened in her embrace, but she didn't let go, and eventually he gradually relaxed in her arms.
"You aren't a monster, Aeon." she whispered gently. "I've looked into the red eyes of one, and I can assure you, you are nothing like her. You care so very much, and I'm glad to have met you, because all I ever heard of gods were the Brother Gods, and they were more like demons than gods, considering what they did to both my world and its people. But you, Lucy, Oedon, you all care, and you are here with us humans, willing to rage when we rage, cry when we cry, and I respect you all so much for it. I don't know everything you know, or everything that you have planned, but I know that I trust you to genuinely want the best for the world and its people, and that is enough."
She smiled, and hugged him tighter.
"Monsters don't feel sad over the lives of those who suffered because of evil, Aeon. They don't feel regret that they can't do more. You do. And that's why I'm glad we met. I'm glad I decided to work with you. You might say that you aren't really human anymore, but I disagree. You're one of the most human people I ever had the pleasure of meeting, and that is a good thing. So whatever it is that your divine self has seen that convinced him that this was the right way to go about things, that this was how things should be… I trust it. I trust him, because I trust you."
She fell silent, satisfied that she had said what she wanted to say, what she felt needed to be said.
Aeon wasn't perfect, but that was alright. She worked for Ozpin, she knew what it felt like to fight for an immortal far older and more powerful than you. And she knew that for all their power, their knowledge, they were still people in the end, just as capable of doubts and worry as anybody else.
"You've got a plan to win this battle, correct?" she asked softly.
"I do."
"Then trust in yourself, and trust in us to pull it off. I've seen what ISIS is capable of, Aeon. You created one of the most impressive armies I ever heard of, and we both know that the Hunters you gathered are very capable in their own right. So trust us to do our job, like we trust you to lead us to victory."
He huffed in amusement. "That's simple, huh?"
"Yup." she chirped, popping the end with a grin.
He fell silent, and she did the same, satisfied with just hugging him, letting her head rest against his side.
For a time, they simply stared at the rising sun, before Aeon spoke up again.
"Thank you."
She smiled.
"Anytime, Aeon. Anytime."
-
"So, are you ready for this?"
Rebecca grinned, holding on tightly to both her shotgun and her axe.
"I should be asking you that, Alex. You're the civilian here." she teased.
"Oh, ha ha. Very funny." Alex Mercer deadpanned, his right arm turning into a whip of some kind.
She glanced at it with interest, but there was no time for that, sadly.
Ragland was currently at a broken down military base, looking over the dead body of Patient Zero, and now it was up to Rebecca and Alex to protect him from any infected.
Alex would take point, be the first line of defense, while Rebecca would take the rear, standing protectively over the (thankfully very thick and reinforced) glass window separating the room they were in from the make-shift operating room where Ragland was cutting open the corpse of Patient Zero.
The roars of infected cut through their banter, and both Alex and Rebecca fell silent, their eyes staring carefully at the wall on the opposite side with a pretty big hole.
Rebecca tightened her grip on her axe, her green-colored Aura flashing around her as she prepared for a fight.
It wasn't quite the same thing as fighting on the frontline like she wanted to, but Aeon's reasoning for why Hunters had to be kept in reserve was grimly logical, so she would take whatever opportunity to help that she could until the time was right to go all out.
At least it gave her more time to heal people, which was a skill in very high demand right now…
The first infected made it into the room, and both Alex and Rebecca tensed, readying for the fight ahead.
Alex charged forward, his whip-arm cutting through the infected like a knife through butter, and Rebecca carefully noted Alex's fighting capabilities with all the experience of a Huntress of the Dream for the last decade.
The first conclusion she came to was that he was very fast and very strong.
She'd seen faster and stronger, Aeon came to mind, but there was no questioning the sheer deadliness of the man-shaped virus in front of her.
Alex Mercer walked, and monsters died by the dozen. That was that simple.
Limbs and body parts capable of shrugging off plasma blasts flew off all over the thankfully wide open room, the bloodthirsty roars of dozens of monstrous throats trailing off in dying gurgles as Alex Mercer cut like a scythe through wheat and chaff, cutting, smashing, crushing and all around tossing broken corpses everywhere he went.
The analytical part of Rebecca worked overtime to notice everything that Alex Mercer was capable of, and there was a lot of it indeed.
From whip-arms to blades to fists and more, Alex Mercer was quite obviously very much capable of switching strategies, and his very own body, in order to kill his enemies as efficiently as possible.
Alex Mercer fell under the category of Bio-organic weapons of war, and only a minute of seeing him at work really showed off the reason for that designation.
A squad of the best soldiers of ISIS would be hard-pressed to survive, much less take him out. Aura, energy shields, power armour, and Dust would help greatly, but Rebecca could tell it wouldn't be enough.
Alex Mercer was simply too much, in the same way a Hunter of the Dream was just too much.
Once that conclusion set in, she switched mental tracks and focused on thinking of the outcome of a fight between him and Hunters of the Dream.
The conclusion was one that had her subtly tighten her grip on her axe.
Rebecca was no pushover, none of those who were Hunters were at this point, and Aura only made that more true.
And yet, as she carefully noted all the capabilities of Alex Mercer, the outcome of a fight between her and him remained the same.
She would most likely lose.
It would be a brutal fight, but he would win. He was stronger, faster, and while he didn't have magic, that didn't mean much considering what he was.
If every Hunter (not considering Aeon) teamed up against Mercer, they would probably win. It depended on a number of factors, one of which was the potential gains he would receive from consuming any one of them.
… If any at all. It was possible that in that scenario, Aeon, the deity that is, would intervene and prevent Alex from getting anything from consuming them.
Combine that with their immortality, and Mercer would be in for a hell of a fight…
But she didn't want to underestimate him. The more they fight, the more he would learn of their strengths and weaknesses, and he would make use of that information in the most brutal way he could think of.
As for Aeon against Mercer…
She swallowed.
She was almost completely certain that Aeon would win, but that didn't change the fact that the collateral damage would be enormous.
It would be a fight between two gods of the mortal realm, and all caught up in it would be like leaves in the wind.
Her thoughts were interrupted as a number of infected made it past Mercer, screeching at her instead.
Her eyes narrowed. She was almost certain that Mercer could have handled them…
But why bother when he could get to see her in action instead?
She held back a grunt. Well played, Mercer, she grudgingly acknowledged.
Turn-about was fair play after all, and if she was using this as a chance to better know his capabilities, then it would work just as well against her instead.
She ran forward, making sure not to show off her full speed, and easily cleaved the first infected into half with her axe.
The next one took a shotgun blast to the face, followed by her axe in his skull when he refused to die, even with 3/4ths of his head gone.
Then after the two Walkers came the first Hunter, and she sneered at it before dodging its lunge, her axe flashing and cutting deep into its right leg, the Hunter collapsing on the ground and trying to get up only for her to bring her axe down on its skull before he could.
Her instincts screamed, and she quickly rolled underneath two more Hunters trying to use the distraction of the dead Hunter to jump on her, though they failed and got shotgun blasts and her axe to the brains instead.
She glanced towards Ragland, seeing him still hard at work behind the window, and turned back to the fight, just in time for Alex to slam his hand to the ground and cause dozens of long spikes to erupt from the soil, piercing the infected surrounding him with ease and letting their corpses dangle from the spikes for a few seconds before they retracted into the ground, as if they were never there to begin with, if not for the holes in the ground.
She stared at that move. That was the kind of shit she had seen Aeon pull when he was feeling particularly nasty.
She shuddered at the memory of all those tendrils then gaining their own tendrils, spreading across all the spikes, effectively trapping anyone lucky enough to avoid them coming from the ground into a forest of inescapable spikes where there was no salvation.
If you were within the area of the spikes, then you were already dead, you just hadn't been pierced dozens of times over yet.
Thankfully, it seemed that Mercer wasn't as good with that technique as Aeon…
Yet.
… Yeah, fighting Mercer would be a fucking nightmare, no two ways about it.
The fight ended soon after, Ragland informing them he was finished as well, and Alex and her were ready to escort him back to safety-
When the ground began to tremble.
Alex and her shared a look, a second before some kind of giant tentacle… thing bursted out of the ground.
"Whoa… That's not good!" he exclaimed.
"You think?!" she replied.
She turned around.
"Ragland! We're leaving! Now!"
The three of them ran like hell, deciding to focus on getting Ragland to safety rather than try and fight the new B.O.W that came out of the ground.
Of course, her grim expression didn't get better when the reports came in, and it was discovered that Greene had unleashed dozens of those things across the city…
-
"Dodge!"
Summer activated her semblance at her twin's words, barely avoiding the stream of acid sent at her by the new tentacled B.O.W's who had quite literally came out of the ground and started wrecking everything around it.
"I thought we had sensors for underground B.O.W.'s?!"
"The damn things are invisible to the scanners! Don't ask me how, I have no clue! It's Redlight, it's bullshit!" was the furious reply of her twin, engaged in a vicious fight with two Leader Hunters.
"Fucking great!" she cursed, barely avoiding a car that the tentacled B.O.W. gripped and then threw at her like it weighed nothing.
The B.O.W hissed at her, and she scowled at it, taking a fire Dust crystal in hand and throwing it in its mouth, before shooting it.
The "head" of the B.O.W vanished in a blaze of fire, the headless corpse crashing to the ground, and she turned just in time to see her twin finally decapitate one of the Leader Hunters, and then shoot the other at point blank range, allowing her to quickly finish it off.
For a moment, silver eyes met pale blue, both women panting for breath, before their radios crackled to life.
"To all units, retreat from the secondary defensive line! I repeat, retreat from the second defensive line to the tertiary one!"
"Fuck! We've lost Midtown then." cursed her twin, grimly turning to begin the retreat.
"Did the new B.O.W's push the rest of the line that badly?" Summer wondered.
Her twin grimaced.
"Command, this is Major Rose. Order received and acknowledged. How bad did the new B.O.W's hit us? Over."
"Copy that. No deaths from ISIS, but over a dozen of our soldiers are going to need magical healing to get back to the fight, Major. And Greene has apparently decided to send even more ways of B.O.W's on top of those new ones, so the decision was made to pull back for now."
Summer grimaced. A dozen soldiers bad enough to require magical healing… that implies a lot more got wounded, just not to that level.
Now that she thought about it, her Checkpoint had only been attacked by the one new B.O.W lifeform…
"Greene was testing our ability to handle her new toy."
She glanced at her twin, who apparently came to the same conclusion.
"Yeah, I thought the same. She sent one at us to keep us busy and see how we would react, but sent the majority to hit the rest of the line. She knew that we wouldn't be able to hold the checkpoint by ourselves if the entire line collapsed, so there was no point trying to take this place by force when she could simply make us retreat."
Her twin scowled.
"I hate smart enemies. They're such a pain in the ass."
"Yeah, well look at the bright side, Greene had to be just as annoyed by us as we are with her." she joked.
Her twin grunted.
Then she turned grimly thoughtful.
"If we are retreating, then…"
Summer nodded, just as grim.
"We're going to the southern part of Central Park, where the bridge leading to Queens is. If we lose control of that bridge…"
"We'll have to blow it up, no question about it." finished her twin, blue eyes coldly thinking the situation over.
"At least we evacuated the nearby zoo." Summer sighed.
"It's still not good news. We've lost the central part of Manhattan with this, considering how Blackwatch lost Murray Hill and the Garment District, and are being seriously pushed down Chelsea, at 23th Street. That's going to allow Greene to create more Hives, which means more B.O.W's… stronger ones, too."
Summer nodded.
"At least ISIS evacuated Midtown already, so no civilians will be stuck there…"
"Yeah."
The retreat was done in grim silence. They knew that Command had a plan, but no soldier liked to lose two lines of defense in just a few days…
-
Ada Wong stepped into Manhattan, the sounds of distant explosions, of vicious fighting, and more giving her concerning flashbacks to Raccoon City.
Ironically, her mission was the same here as it was then: gather samples (of Redlight and Blacklight this time), and then get the hell out of here.
The Organization had tried to gain such samples from agents present in Manhattan. Unfortunately, both Blackwatch and ISIS had been incredibly competent in finding all of them, until the entire island had been scoured clean of the Organization's presence.
Ada's presence here was thus a last-ditch effort in trying to gain something, anything out of this outbreak.
Considering her successful track record so far, she was without a doubt the best choice.
Not that she was all too happy at having to walk into such a clusterfuck of a situation, but needs must.
The entire world was staring in both abject horror and sick fascination at the developing crisis, and the Organization wasn't going to pass the chance to get their hands on viruses capable of giving immense trouble to both Blackwatch and ISIS.
Ada had to admit that she was both intrigued and concerned in equal measure, because anything that could give trouble to ISIS was-
"You know, I was hoping that you wouldn't be foolish enough to come here, but I suppose I can't say I'm surprised."
Ada turned, her blood turning to ice in her veins at seeing who was staring at her with a frown.
"Aeon." she said, trying not to curse aloud at having somehow been tracked down and discovered so quickly.
"Ada, I have a message for your bosses."
She held back her first instincts to go for her gun, and instead tried to appear confident in the face of who was arguably the most dangerous man in the world.
"And what is it?"
Aeon took out a… notebook? From one of his coat pockets and tossed it at her.
She caught it, a confused look on her face.
"What is it?"
"Me telling you the consequences of you and the rest of the Organization if you don't get the hell out of Manhattan."
She stared at him for a moment, before looking down at the notebook and opening it.
She read throughout its content for a few seconds, the look of confusion growing…
Before she paused.
And she held back the sudden urge of gulping.
And then kept reading, much more slowly this time.
"Is this…?"
"A complete list of all the names of the leaders of the organization, all the properties they possess, including safe houses, hiding spots and the like. If you don't get the hell out of here, consider that list about to be… crossed out."
She stared at him numbly.
"You-"
"Tell me, if I have that list, do you feel like gambling on me not acting upon it if you give me a good enough reason? I've got bigger problems right now, but let this make it clear: You decide to make yourselves a problem, and I'll turn you into a problem solved by the end of the day."
Ada glanced down at the unassuming little notebook.
Even a fraction of the knowledge it contained could destroy the Organization as she knew it.
The whole of it…
She swallowed, not able to hold it back this time.
This was it. This was the leader of ISIS finally drawing a line in the sand.
For more than a decade ,he had been willing to play the game, let agents fight it out in the field, gave them their little victories (and if anyone in the Organization believed that the Las Plagas samples she brought back being extremely weak to heat-based weaponry was a coincidence, she'd eat her dress), but no more.
Not this time.
The greatest boogeyman of those wanting to make use of mutagenic viruses had finally declared that enough was enough, and the notebook in her hands made it clear the consequences of defying him.
After all, who said that he didn't have, right now, entire teams of snipers and assassins ready to take out the entire leadership of the Organization with just a few words from him, if this meeting did not go well?
And even if things went as he wanted…
He just proved that he knew everything there was to know about the leadership of the Organization.
The implications of that alone…
She let out a shuddering breath.
"I will… relay your message to them, you have my word."
He smiled coldly.
"Good. Because if even one attempt is made to get samples of the viruses involved in this mess by an agent of the Organization, then the whole group will burn. No, I don't give a shit if one person from your little club goes against orders. One agent, and all those names die. Understood?"
"Crystal." she bluntly replied.
"Good."
Then he nodded, turned away and left, completely uncaring of the fact he just turned his back to one of the deadliest women on the planet.
Ada watched him walk away… and then opened the notebook at the end.
The last name on it chilled her to the core.
That was her name. Her birth name.
The one that no one except herself should know of, since she abandoned it the moment she became a spy.
Along with it were every single name that she had ever taken, every single property she had ever possessed…
She closed the notebook and turned around.
She had a message to deliver.
And probably quite a few people to kill, because she seriously doubted everyone in the Organization was going to be willing to let this go.
Which meant that those of the Organization smart enough to see the writing on the wall were going to have to kill the others, the ones too stupid or prideful to be cowed by this.
Logically, she could admire the sheer plan Aeon had just pulled off, not only guaranteeing that he wouldn't have to worry about the Organization, but that they were going to be forced to kill many of their own to avoid the whole group dying because of one idiot potentially fucking them all over.
Emotionally? Well, she wasn't willing to bet that Aeon would be merciful just because she and Leon had… history.
No, her name being present on the notebook was a clear message to her as well.
There would be no mercy, no leniency on this one.
The leader of ISIS had drawn a line in the sand, and no one would cross it without paying the price.
… Maybe she should consider taking Leon's offer. If Blackwatch somehow fell by the end of this outbreak, with Wesker dead leaving Tricell floundering, and now the Organization having been revealed as nothing but a mere afterthought easily crushed by the leader of ISIS, the enemies of ISIS still around were really going down sharply.
And Ada had no desire to see if Aeon's mercy would continue forever, especially once he would be capable of concentrating the power of ISIS on lesser threats…
Like, say, Ada Wong herself.
… Hm.
She wondered if Leon would need any help investigating Blackwatch. Not only would she get to work with Leon again, but that would be a clear message to Aeon that she was considering her options for the future…
Yes, that sounded like an excellent idea right now.
-
"So, he's back to full strength, then?"
"Better than ever, actually." answered Rebecca over the phone. "He unlocked some kind of full-body armour. He's now even harder to kill than ever before. In the end, Blackwatch's attempt at killing him only made him stronger."
"As I suspected, then. Very good. What's the next thing on Mercer's to-do list, now that he's free of the parasite?"
"Ragland apparently has an idea to make him even stronger. Only time will tell if it works out, but it probably will."
"That's good news. I look forward to it, then."
"Aeon…" Rebecca hesitated, before continuing, concern clear in her voice. "Are you sure about this? Alex Mercer is already immensely dangerous. I understand that, all things considered, he and his sister are victims in all of this, but…"
"You're concerned about the risks an incredibly powerful sentient B.O.W pose to the world?" I finished, not too surprised. "I understand where you're coming from, but where you see a threat, I see a potential ally. A very powerful one. Yes, he may not be human, but…" I chuckled. "It would be rather hypocritical of us to hold that against him, don't you think?"
Rebecca sighed. "I know, and you're right, but I passed the last decade of my life seeing B.O.W's in all their forms as a threat to the world, a cancer that needed to be fought at all cost. I'm not quite sure what to think of one who isn't evil, at this point."
I smiled. "Free Will, Rebecca. Alex is not evil, but treating him as such will make sure of it. Why do you think I am working with him? Helping him? I want to make it clear that evil is a question of choice, not nature. And that just because he is not human does not mean he can't find happiness in a world full of them."
The line went silent for a moment, before she spoke up again.
"And if you're wrong? If he chooses to be evil, in the end?"
I looked outside, seeing the setting sun in the sky, the night slowly claiming the sky.
"Then the virus will face the Hunt, and discover that in the end, even its power will not save it from Death. Not when the Good Hunter is the one to bring it to him."
Rebecca sighed. "Very well. I suppose that it's not too much of a gamble when we have a trump card like you in the worst case scenario. If you'll excuse me, I need to get back to Ragland -and speaking of which- I'm strongly suggesting recruiting him once this outbreak is over, he'll be a great addition to Insight Corp.'s ranks."
"Noted."
I ended the call, then looked up at the sky, thinking deeply over what still remained to be done before the end of this outbreak.
"You really trust Mercer that much, do you?"
I glanced at the Colonel, a slight smirk on my lips.
"I have a plan, Colonel. He's an integral part. If everything goes well, ISIS will gain greatly from this outbreak, as unfortunate to say as it is, chaos offers opportunity."
"Well, we certainly have quite a bit of chaos on our hands, that's for sure."
"Indeed. To be honest, all we really have to do is hold the line. Alex Mercer will grant us complete victory on a silver platter in due time, if things go as I believe they will."
"Against Blackwatch or Greene, sir?"
I chuckled. "Both."
The man raised an eyebrow. "Quite the hops that you are putting on one man."
"He is hardly what I would call a mere man, Colonel. He has the potential to be great… One of the most powerful defenders of Humanity. And if I have my way, he will get the chance to be exactly that."
"I'm curious to see how you're going to pull that off."
That made my grin almost slip away, but my self-control was too good for that.
Because the truth was, it was certainly going to be a very explosive plan.
I just really hoped the ones that would suffer from that explosion were only going to be those worthy of suffering the heat of it.
If not… Well, I was gambling a great deal here. At the end, a hero would be needed. A Saviour of Manhattan…
And there were only two people capable of pulling it off.
Alex Mercer… Or me.
I just hoped that things would go to plan. Not to say I didn't have back-up plans, but I'd rather go with my first, favorite outcome for this outbreak.
If I could pull it off… Oh, Alex Mercer's face when he'll get to see my plans for him was going to be utterly hilarious-
I paused.
That presence who entered the HQ…
Huh.
"Is there any report I need to be aware of, Colonel?"
"No, sir."
"Please go double check, if you please?"
The Colonel gave me a curious look, but agreed.
As he left the room, I spoke up again.
"Oh, and do let our guest come in, will you?"
The colonel blinked in confusion… only for understanding to dawn when he opened the door out of the office I was in.
"Of course, sir." he replied, a small smile on his face.
He let the door open, and a young woman entered before closing the door behind her.
She walked up to where I was staring at the darkening sky… and then hugged me.
"Hello, dad."
I smiled. "Hello, Sherry. I didn't expect you to come here."
"Oedon thought it would be a good idea."
I sighed fondly. "Of course she did." I mused, amusement clear in my voice.
She hugged me tighter.
"She was right."
I said nothing for a long moment, before sighing deeply, slumping slightly.
"She most often is." I whispered.
"You're hurting." Sherry declared softly, voice muffled by the way she buried her face in my back.
My lips quirked up. "Your empathic abilities are growing well."
"I wish I could help more." she whispered.
I smiled sadly, closing my arms around hers.
"You're here. That is enough."
"Not to me." she replied.
I chuckled. "I supposed that we both are never satisfied with things as they are, huh? Always wishing for better. Always thinking we should do more."
I sighed. "I'm not sure whether to be so proud that you are taking so much after me, or sad for the same reason."
"Proud." she declared, a grin on her face.
I scoffed. "Telling me how I should feel, huh? Cheeky brat. I'm not too old to spank you, you know."
She opened her mouth, a mischievous look in her eyes.
"If you say what I think you're thinking of saying, you'll regret it." I deadpanned.
She closed her mouth, though the amusement in her eyes didn't decrease at all.
For a moment, we simply stayed there in silence, staring at the sky outside, before she spoke up again.
"You're putting the weight of the world on your shoulders again." she declared, a measure of accusation in her voice.
"Someone needs to, when it is in danger." I replied.
She scowled slightly. "That doesn't mean that you should be brooding over it."
I scowled back at her. "I am not brooding." I replied, offended.
"You totally are."
"Am not!
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Maybe you should get laid?"
I spluttered.
Sherry, cheeky brat that she was (and where did she learned that from?!) merely grinned widely.
"What about the twins?"
"The- Summers?!"
"Yeah! The one from our world would drop her panties in a flash if you asked her!"
I facepalmed. "First, I have other women who would be perfectly willing to help with that… Like, you know, my girlfriends and wife… If, and I say IF that was actually required!"
She raised a blond eyebrow at me. "Are you telling me you don't want to have twins, especially ones as beautiful as those two, naked in your bed?"
"Well, yes, but- Look, that's not the point!"
She shrugged. "You know that mom would be all for it."
I growled. "Don't bring your mother into this, young lady!"
"Well, she certainly would get into this eventua-"
"Finish that sentence and I will spank you." I said flatly.
"I blame my father, he's shameless!" she quipped.
I looked at the heavens above for help, but only got the sensation of my True Self laughing at me.
"Family is quite obviously overrated." I declared firmly.
"See, you're brooding again!"
"Oh, for-"
-
Colonel Geary traded amused glances with the soldiers guarding the office of their boss when they heard the two arguing inside.
Well, more like snarking at each other, really.
"They're going to be at it for a while, aren't they?" said one of the guards.
"Hours, knowing those two." Geary replied with rising amusement.
"Good. The Boss could use the break. I swear, I'm not sure he bothered sleeping a single hour since this mess began. Sure, he doesn't need it, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't help!"
"Aye." grunted Geary. "Things are going according to plan, he can afford to spend some time with family. Even if that involves snarking at each other."
"Heh. Pipsqueak went a long way from when she was young." said the other guard with approval.
"I know. She was such a well-behaved kid!" The guard laughed. "And then she got adopted by the Boss."
"I'm actually surprised she hasn't joined ISIS by now." mused the second guard.
"She hasn't quite finished her education yet, not at the level she wants to at least. Though it probably won't be long now. Give it a couple years, and she'll be following in her dad's footsteps, blowing shit up and ruining bad guys' days like no one else can." Geary explained, smiling fondly.
Sherry has become a well-known person throughout ISIS, considering her family, and there wasn't a single ISIS soldier who didn't respect the girl.
Even if it sometimes involved her throwing some idiots across a ring until they're all black and blue before that happened.
That girl had a mean right hook, as some people learned the hard way. And she wasn't willing to tolerate anyone's bullshit.
Not even her dad's, which was saying something considering how much she adored him.
Which, admittedly, only helped her gain more respect from the people of ISIS, because everyone remembered the Great Prank War of 2005.
How the hell she managed to get the Boss into a bright yellow canary suit for a day, no one knew, but his revenge made the poor girl terrified of chocolate of all things for a good month.
Geary shook his head.
"Anyway, make sure they stay undisturbed for as long as possible, the Boss needs this and we know it. I'll handle things for a while unless a true emergency shows up."
"Aye sir, don't worry, we got this. And the kid got her dad to relax, so we aren't going to take that away from them unless absolutely necessary."
"Good."
-
"I still think that you should go for it. You'd all be happier!"
I groaned loudly.
"For the last time, no I won't seduce both Summers into my bed! You know that Summer, the huntress, has reasons to not pursue any kind of romantic relationship!"
"She will, though. Eventually." Sherry replied, voice soft but firm. "It'll take a long time for her to get back home, dad, you know that. Living in the past for that long… It's not healthy."
I fell silent at that.
If anyone understood the weight of eternity, it was me.
"Maybe." I finally acknowledged. "But I won't make the first move. It would feel… wrong."
She gave me a long look, but nodded. "You know how it'll end, though. You only have to look at her twin to see that. It's only a matter of time, we both know it. And if you don't acknowledge the truth, then the other Summer will, eventually."
I pursued my lips. Considering the full truth of the relationship between both Summer…
Well, Sherry could see much beyond the physical, much like me.
"Then so be it. As you said, if it is only a matter of time, then there's no reason to rush into this."
Sherry sighed.
I smiled gently at her.
"You're still young, my daughter. Young and passionate, eager to act, but still having trouble at being patient. Sometimes, the best path forward requires one that takes time, not rush through the journey. I know that you only want to help, but be careful that your good intentions do not backfire because you tried to do too much too quickly."
Sherry's face twisted, the eagerness of youth clear to see, but she nodded all the same, accepting the wisdom for its genuine value.
No matter how much it grated at her.
Heh. We both were too eager to leap, rather than think things through sometimes.
And she did not have my experience to know better.
Then Sherry looked out of the window, at the city beyond.
"I wish I could help you here." she whispered.
I smiled sadly. "I know, but one more warrior won't help right now. Helping Leon in investigating Blackwatch and Gentek is worth more than you simply going to the frontline. We all have our parts to play, and yours is simply not here."
She sighed. "I know. Trust me, I understand. Winning the battle is important, but winning the peace and removing both Blackwatch and Gentek from the world for good is even more important in many ways. Still…"
I gently hugged her, knowing all too well what she was feeling.
Then I grinned.
"Maybe you should be the one getting laid." I teased.
Sherry grinned. "Well, I did made thoroughly sure that Ashley would be… motivated… to keep her father on our side."
"And I'm sure you enjoyed every minute of it." I said with growing amusement.
"I learned from the best example unimaginable." she deadpanned, her lips twitching as she tried to hold back a wide smirk.
I sighed deeply, shaking my head in false sadness.
"My daughter, seducing her way to power. Oh, where did I go wrong raising you?"
"The number of women you broke on your dick and tentacles might have something to do with it." she flatly replied, blue eyes twinkling with mirth. "Like father, like daughter, hmm?" she declared, grinning widely.
"Who's the shameless one, again?" I dryly questioned.
She shrugged shamelessly. "It's your fault, dad. You put my young and impressionable self in a household full of women eager for your dick. And mom was no better, considering how eager she is at the idea of grandkids, which means she wasn't exactly shy in raising me to not be ashamed of having a strong sex drive."
I shrugged. "Sex is great."
"It really is."
There was a moment of silence.
"You know, I'm pretty sure we should have had a long, emotional heart-to-heart talk about my issues and how this outbreak is just smashing all of my buttons, but having a honest talk about sex is pretty good, too." I mused, rather amused.
"I wasn't going to let you brood, and we both know what we like, and aren't ashamed of it. And since I'm your daughter, not lover, I wasn't just going to just let you bend me over and fuck me silly." she replied with a smirk.
I snorted. "No, apparently it's Ashley you're bending over."
"What can I say, I enjoy a good screamer in the sheets."
"You sure that you don't want to seduce Summer yourself? At this point, I have to wonder…"
Sherry shook her head. "Nah, twins are hot, but you taught me that Hunters don't steal each other's prey, they're all yours. Besides, while I could seduce them, they'll be happier with you, and that's what matters most."
"Your benevolence knows no bounds." I deadpanned.
She smirked. "Again, I learned from the best."
-
9th October, 2008.
"So, you're all better, now?" Dana asked, looking at her brother with hope and concern.
"Yeah, it worked. The parasite is gone, and Ragland's got a lot of data to work with. Hopefully that'll help us take Greene down."
Dana sighed in relief, smiling at her brother, while Claire nodded in thanks to Rebecca for her help in this.
"Right, that puts us one step closer to finally ending this madness. Now-"
Alex, Claire, and Rebecca suddenly stiffened, looking towards one side of the room, a frown on their faces.
Dana and Alyssa exchanged a bewildered look, before looking back at those three.
"Is something wrong?"
Alex raised a hand towards her. "Shh! Wait, hold on…" he muttered, visibly tense.
There was a moment of silence-
*CRAAAAAASH!*
"Oh, shit-"
Dana barely had the time to jerk herself back and curse when the wall suddenly exploded, before she found herself face to face with a Leader Hunter.
The beast tried to grab her-
*Ka-boom!*
-only to flinch backwards when a now furiously scowling Rebecca shot at it with her shotgun, her green eyes furious at the monster for trying to hurt Dana.
The beast made a second attempt at grabbing her, but by that point Alex had recovered from his shock and lunged at the beast with a furious cry of rage, tackling it out of the room instantly.
"Claire, protect Dana and Alyssa!" screamed Rebecca, a moment before she jumped out of the newly-made hole, the sounds of combat intensifying a moment later.
Dana, having fallen on her ass when the monster crashed through the wall, stared in shock at the broken wall, her mind stuck on a loop as it tried to explain how the hell that monster made it to the top of the building… here in the north.
Behind the lines of ISIS soldiers keeping the B.O.W's at bay.
"Come on, let's not stay here!" shouted Claire, taking her by the shoulder, a shotgun in her other hand as she and Alyssa took the shell-shocked woman deeper into the building.
"Command, we require immediate extraction! The safehouse is compromised! I repeat, the safehouse is compromised!" shouted Claire in her radio.
"Copy that, we'll send reinforcement your way. Be advised, a number of B.O.W's have made it through our lines, unknown numbers at this time."
"How did they do that?!"
"The Hydras don't appear on scanners. They are big enough to hide a number of Hunters and Leader Hunters in their bodies as it turns out. The good news is, they can't bring anything bigger than Leader Hunters with them. The bad news is, they can bring them anywhere, apparently."
"Shit." Claire cursed. "Just our fucking luck. Alright, keep me updated, I recommend we bring Dana to HQ. If Greene can track us down once, she can do it again. Hiding will no longer serve us."
"Confirmed, bring Dana to HQ to safety. If we do so properly, Blackwatch won't notice anything, they don't have the resources to spare to notice her if we're smart about this."
"Good. Redfield over and out."
She put the radio at her waist and turned towards Alyssa and Dana.
"Right, keep your heads down and you'll be fine."
Dana blinked when Claire took her right hand and put a las-pistol in it, face grim. "Worst case scenario, you point and shoot at anything trying to kill you. Got that?"
Dana jerked a nod, and Claire turned back to lead them onward.
As they went down the building, Dana swallowed as she heard the uncomfortably close sounds of combat and explosions.
The Battle of Manhattan was escalating, and they weren't the only ones with tricks up their sleeves…
-
I glanced around at the people in the room.
Alex and Dana Mercer were effectively attached to the hip, refusing to go more than a few feet from one another since they met back up once the immediate threats had been eliminated.
Alyssa Ashcroft kept twitching at every sound, as if she expected a Leader Hunter to break through the walls and attack everyone.
Claire and Rebecca were frowning, both at the attack and the recent news of the current situation.
Ragland was there too, the man frowning deeply in thought.
I glanced at Colonel Geary, who subtly nodded at me, and then looked back at the people in front of me.
I cleared my throat, grabbing their attention, and began. "The attack, while swift and brutal, was not completely unexpected. From the moment the Hydras first appeared, we knew that they could avoid the scanners. It didn't take a genius to understand the implications of that."
I sighed, rubbing a hand over my short black hair.
"Nonetheless, we were forced to retreat the defensive line… and by quite a bit. At this point, we've lost the Upper East and West sides of Manhattan, and Greene's forces are trying to push us further back. As for Blackwatch, they've lost Greenwich village, and her forces are pushing towards both Williamsburg Bridge and Holland Tunnel. We don't expect them to hold either."
"That's most of the island lost." said Alex, voice grim.
I nodded at him. "Essentially, yes. Thankfully, we had evacuated the people in those areas when the attack happened, so no civilians were caught up in the crossfire."
"Well that's good news." Rebecca sighed in relief.
I nodded at her, and then glanced towards the door of the room, where every Hunter of ISIS that had yet to be here had finally arrived.
I smiled. "Ah, good, you're all here. Then it is finally time to explain the plan we have to win this war."
I could see the surprise on their faces. After all, didn't we just get defeated? At least pushed back?
Heh. O ye of little faith…
I stared at Ragland. "Will you have the parasite for Greene ready by tomorrow?"
"Yes, I should." he replied, happy to give good news but a bit confused at my sudden grin.
"Perfect. Then victory will be all but ours by tomorrow night."
"Eerrrr… What?"
I grinned at Summer, the Huntress, who was looking adorably confused by my words.
Poor woman entered the room looking like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders after a day of high-risk retreat, only to be told that victory was at hand? Yeah, her and the others' confusion was understandable.
I chuckled. If you want to deceive your enemies, learn to deceive your allies first.
If their expressions were anything to go by, what I was about to tell them was going to be quite the shock.
Just as planned.
"I had a plan from the start of this outbreak. Everything, every retreat, every battle, everything including the fact that you alone, Summer, were allowed to fight on the frontline from the start was part of the plan. And now, we can finally put it to good use. My apologies for keeping it hidden for so long, but with Greene potentially being able to get the memories of every infected, we couldn't afford a leak."
I grinned at the stunned faces before me. "Let me tell you about Operation: Revolving Door."
I waved at a large map of Manhattan, currently showing how much of the island was under the control of Greene's forces.
"As you can see, ISIS retreated more today than any day before that. It is deliberate. We wanted to let Greene think that victory is at hand… and she took the bait. She's going to be sending everything into one last push for full control of the island tomorrow, the day after at most. She thinks she knows us, knows what we can do, and that as a result she can afford to send everything she has into battle without fear. But she is wrong."
I smirked at the Hunters of the group. "We have all of you… and myself. And that's all we need to win everything back."
I pointed at the very first line of defense of this outbreak, and the checkpoints there. "First, when Greene launches her assault, you Hunters will go there, at our old lines, and act as bait for any and all reinforcements that Greene could be sending to the front. Don't worry about how you'll get there, I've got that covered. Your orders once there are simple: Rip and tear, until it is done."
I point at our current line. "Meanwhile, with every single soldier, ISIS and American that we can gather for this, we shall counter-attack, with me as the tip of the spear, punching a hole through the enemy lines. Once we start rolling through lost ground, we will not stop for anything, not until we reach the point where you Hunters will be fighting at."
I point down at the south, and look at Alex.
"And while all of this is going on, you Alex will track down the Core Hive, and try to assassinate Greene while she'll be distracted by all of the above. Ultimately, it would not be a lie to say that your mission is the most important, for taking out Greene will mean victory, no matter everything else. Of course, the ultimate goal here is complete victory: we take out Greene AND her army in one single day of fighting. While there will be stragglers, we can then far more easily mop up everything still alive after Greene is dead, and thus unable to marshal the surviving B.O.W's into a proper army."
I looked back down at the map.
"If the assassination fails, but the battle is won, then we'll have destroyed most of Greene's resources, taken back all lost ground, and can then focus on tracking her down and killing her. If the assassination is successful, but the battle is not, then the loss of Greene will allow for a far more standard anti-B.O.W. campaign to be waged in Manhattan."
"And if everything fails?"
I stared grimly at Alex.
"Then I have contingencies in place, but I can't reveal them to those present here, since any of you, especially you Alex as you'll be fighting Greene directly, could be consumed and reveal those plans to Greene."
Dana flinched at my words, but Alex merely nodded in grim understanding.
"Excuse me, but… you want to let those… Hunters… effectively fight alone behind enemy lines? Cut off from all reinforcements? That's…"
I glanced at Ragland, who seems rather dumbfounded at the idea of anyone surviving that part of the plan.
Jill merely grinned at him, however. "Don't worry doctor, we've got this. Aeon's prepared one hell of a plan for all of us, but we can pull it off."
"Agreed." declared Chris, his eyes bouncing around the map and taking in the battle plan, a look of deep respect on his face. "No wonder you wanted us to wait before striking. A plan like this is truly all or nothing, but if it works even half-way…"
"Then we would effectively save all of Manhattan in one day. Correct."
"But… Rebecca already fought to protect me and Dana, right? Shouldn't Greene know of her?" questioned Ragland.
The woman shook her head. "I held back. She might suspect that I'm at the level of Major Rose, but not at the level of Huntress Rose."
"And even then, let's just say that Hunters are very good at… surviving the odds and coming back for another round of fighting, shall we say." I finished with a knowing smirk that earned me a dark chuckle from my Hunters.
Really, putting a bunch of Hunters of the Dream in a target rich environment and telling them to go wild, without having to worry about collateral damage or protecting others?
Yeah, I almost felt bad for those poor B.O.W's.
Almost.
I looked around the table. There was a palpable sense of anticipation in the room, as everyone understood that this was it, the turning point of this war.
Victory or death, it would be all determined one way or another once Alex had the parasite in hand and gave the go-ahead for the operation.
Of course, in the worst case scenario there were still options, they just weren't good ones, going from nuking the entire island or me going avenging god on the entire place.
Needless to say, they weren't what I had in mind… Especially when all of this was just one part of the war.
There was still Blackwatch after all. And I already knew that Alex would fail to kill Greene, the parasite creating a Super-Hunter instead.
But that, too, was part of the plan.
After all, I wanted Blackwatch to be desperate. Desperate enough to do something incredibly foolish.
Something so insane, that it would ensure that I could utterly destroy them forever, and be praised for it.
Though admittedly, Alex was going to be the hero of that story… If all went as planned.
For now, however, I merely looked down at the map before me, and just like the others enjoyed the feeling of anticipation in my veins.
No more plotting. No more waiting.
Soon… It will be time to hunt.
-
A.N: Alright! Here is the next chapter in which we continue the events of Prototype.
A bit of pep talk from Summer to start with, followed by Rebecca and Alex killing monsters in "jolly cooperation", and Greene showing off more of what she created to win this war.
As for the part with Ada? Well, Aeon is entering an "endgame" mindset for this jump, and that means dealing with loose ends. The matter of the Organization and Ada is not quite over yet, but expect things to come to a head soon, as Aeon is going to show off more examples of what makes him a terrifying mastermind and manipulator when he wants to be…
And then, a wild Sherry appears! Honestly, my original plan for this talk was supposed to be something more along the line of Aeon's talk with Lois, but Sherry decided that her dad was NOT going to be brooding in her presence, and… Well, she got what she wanted by somehow bribing my muse, apparently!
An interesting thing about Sherry is that in this timeline, she was raised by both Aeon and Oedon, and to a lesser extent all of his lovers and friends like Chris Redfield.
The result of all of this means that in this timeline, Sherry is actually something of a femme fatale, someone who grew up in a family who was definitely not shy about the sheer amount of sex they got up to regularly, and Sherry, on top of being raised to be a very confident woman, was also someone who is not shy at all about pursuing every man and woman she is attracted to.
However, combined with that is Aeon teaching her discipline and pragmatic thinking, so she's more than capable of combining pleasure with business, so to speak.
And naturally, she's also got a sarcastic wit a mile long, and isn't shy from snarking at everyone and anyone… including her father.
So yeah. Sherry in this timeline is a femme fatale with a very sharp tongue who also just so happens to be very, very good at kicking asses and taking names. Oh, and also isn't exactly human at 100% and very much knowledgeable in a variety of supernatural subjects, so… Good fucking luck trying to lie to her and get away with it. Or trying to hide anything from her in general, really.
Also, a quick, blink-and-you'll-miss-it hint that there's something going on with the two Summers, and I'm not talking of their interest for romance, but something much… deeper than that. What is it? Well, you'll all find out eventually, though I imagine that you all can theories relatively easily what Sherry is talking about…
And finally, Aeon's plan is actually from Youjo Senki. Operation Revolving Door is surprisingly perfect for the situation at Manhattan with what ISIS is capable of, so Aeon is using Alex Mercer as a Tanya-shaped wrecking ball against Greene…
Still, with all that being said, I hope you all enjoyed this update! Next time, we continue to move onwards with things, as the battle for the fate of Manhattan begins in earnest…