my great thanks to HighFlyingWings, who kindly chose to use some of his free time to be my beta reader!
Sheva followed the two Hunters, helping to kill as many of the parasite-controlled B.O.W's running towards them while screaming their bloodlust.
Suddenly, all three of them paused, glancing upwards at the sounds of a helicopter coming closer.
Their radios crackled to life.
"You three OK?" asked a man, before the helicopter came into view and began using its guns to cut down waves of infected to smoking pieces, deadly lasers cutting down dozens of B.O.W"s. "Kirk here. HQ sent me to provide support. It's gonna get hot down there, so watch out!"
"Thanks, Kirk. We appreciate the help!" replied Sheva.
"Well, that ought to make things easier." remarked Jill.
"Agreed. Come on, we should be able to move faster through all these B.O.W's now." replied Chris.
With air support, two Hunters and Sheva providing back-up, the fight became even more of a one-sided slaughter than before, not that it seemed to affect the parasite-controlled B.O.W's any of course.
Instead, they kept charging in, and kept dying to either the people on the ground or in the air.
For a time, Sheva was even hopeful that things were going well…
And then naturally, they didn't.
Their radios crackled to life with angry curses.
"Shit, what the fuck are those things? Kirk to HQ! I'm under attack by flying B.O.W's!"
Sheva, Jill, and Chris looked up, expressions turning grim as they saw a good dozen of the flying monsters like those which bursted out of the corpses of other B.O.W's previously attacking the helicopter.
"Kirk, fall back! You can't properly fight those things!" said Chris, knowing that the helicopter wasn't great against small and agile targets like those things.
Their eyes widened when the helicopter suddenly caught on fire.
"I'm losing engine power- shit, I'm losing control! I'm going down! Mayday! Mayday!"
"Kirk, what's going on? Kirk?
"Come in, Kirk!"
There was the sound of an explosion in the distance.
All three grimaced.
"This is HQ. The helicopter is downed. All nearby units proceed to the crash site. I repeat, all nearby units go to the crash site."
"Shit. So much for air support." muttered Chris.
"Come on, maybe Kirk survived the crash!" said Sheva.
Jill and Chris shared a look, but nonetheless tried to speed up their progress across the twisting paths of this seemingly never-ending death trap of an African city.
"How long has Irving been preparing for this?!" complained Chris, as yet more waves of infected charged at them while they tried to make a path to the crashed helicopter.
"Don't know, but a while! We must have killed around a hundred or two, and that says nothing to what Aeon and the others are dealing with!"
"How the hell did the BSAA drop the ball that hard?!"
"If I knew, we wouldn't be here!" pointed out Sheva while headshotting yet another infected man.
Their conversation was cut short when they came across two closed gates blocking the path… Only for an infected with a fucking chainsaw to show up, cutting through the gates and then charging at them.
The laser bolts which hit him did little beyond slowing him down, and Chris scowled. "I'm going in!"
He charged towards the infected man, putting away his gun and taking his sword in hand instead.
When the infected man tried to cut Chris down, the Hunter easily dodged the wild swing and then decapitated the infected, before cutting off his limbs and stabbing him in the heart.
Only then did he nod and step back.
Sheva blinked, opening her mouth to point out that decapitation alone would have sufficed… Until she remembered that several of the infected that she had headshotted actually had the parasite within their bodies burst out of their necks like a twisted parody of a human head.
All things considered, decapitation might not have been enough to kill this guy…
"It was stronger. Lasers didn't work as well." grumbled Jill. "Why do I think that we'll face far worse before all of this is over?"
"Because of one thing: experience." said Chris with a grin, though his eyes coldly looked at the dead B.O.W. as well.
"Well, let's hope we don't meet too many of those. I don't have a big ass sword or two to kill these guys with." dryly pointed out Sheva.
"Don't worry, you can headshot them from a distance while we deal the killing blows." assured Jill. "Now come on, the crash site is nearby! Let's get going!"
They ran onwards, going through winding little passages until they finally reached the place. Unfortunately, the helicopter was completely on fire… And Kirk had been dragged out and left to burn on a pile of old cars' wheels of all things.
Chris and Jill scowled in anger, while Sheva took a few deep breaths to calm down… Before regretting it, as the smell of burned human meat reached her nose and made her recoil in disgust.
"Look!"
Sheva looked up at where Jill was pointing, her eyes widening. Dozens of crows were flying further away from the wide open area they were in, and that could not mean anything good.
Jill, Chris, and Sheva formed a triangle formation, eyes darting around-
WROOOM!
-Sheva turned, eyes widening as an infected man riding a bike jumped into the area, a long chain in his left hand swung straight at her.
Chris pushed her out of the way, but got his foot stuck in the chain, and as a result was dragged along with the bike-riding B.O.W.
Sheva reacted quickly, shooting the chain and breaking it, allowing Chris to come to a stop and free himself from it, while the infected biker turned and roared, the parasite inside of him coming out of his mouth and angrily thrashing around-
WOOOSH!
Only for a laser bolt to blow up both the human and parasite's heads a moment later, courtesy of a scowling Jill Valentine.
Then suddenly more bikers appeared, snarling and growling as they tried to run the three humans down with their bikes.
All three managed to avoid the bikes, which quickly turned around, readying themselves for another go at it.
And then a laser bolt took one out, blowing his head off.
They all turned, seeing a BSAA agent on a nearby roof with a long-Las who didn't waste any time. More shots followed, killing an infected biker with every shot, until more bikers began appearing and charging into the general chaos going on.
Then an entire team of BSAA soldiers showed up, and the entire wide area turned into a killing ground as every human proceeded to slaughter every infected who dared to show themselves and charge at them all.
After a minute or two of slaughter, the tide of infected finally dried up, letting the BSAA team approach the trio.
"Always glad to see reinforcements!" cheerfully declared Chris, Jill nodding in agreement, while salutes were exchanged.
"Delta Team, Captain Stones." the BSAA team leader introduced himself, with Chris and Jill shaking his hand and introducing themselves.
Then he glanced at Sheva and his face softened. "Sheva."
She smiled. "Thanks, Josh. I owe you one."
"You guys know each other?" Chris asked, looking curiously between them.
"I trained under Josh. I learnt a great deal from him." she explained.
Josh sighed, then grinned at Chris and Jill. "Sheva became the little sister of the team." he said, before looking back at her. "Now Sheva, you must continue your search for Irving. According to the data we got, we believe he has moved into the mining area." He took out the hard drive, then gave it to Chris. "We'll follow after taking care of business here. And keep your radios ready, just in case."
"Thanks, Josh." said Sheva.
He nodded, before looking at Chris and Jill. "What about ISIS? You weren't supposed to be here in force, but obviously, your leader managed to bring a lot of his forces here."
"Aeon will do what he feels is best." replied Jill with a shrug. "Most likely, he'll cleanse this place thoroughly, then go where he believes he'll be most useful."
"Fair enough. Well, some back home might not be happy about that, but I welcome the support." Josh declared, before giving them all one last look, silently asking if they had any questions, before leaving with his team when he saw they had none.
Chris glanced at her. "Sheva, you know where the mines are?"
"Past the station. It's not too far from here. I'll guide you." she replied, before taking the lead.
Before following her, Chris checked out the hard drive… and found a few pictures which made his eyebrows rise in surprise.
Without alerting Sheva, he showed them to Jill, who frowned in confusion for a second… Before her eyes widened in recognition.
They shared a look, the same amused glint of smugness in their eyes.
Then they wiped out any emotions from their faces, and rejoined Sheva before she noticed that they had trailed behind.
They moved on, once again having to fight waves of infected. The differences were that infected dogs attacked along with the standard infected… and that there were explosives carefully hidden all over their paths. As such, their progress was greatly slowed down by the need to be careful to not trip up any of those explosives, lest they all blew themselves up.
When they reached the railway station leading into the mines, Jill and Chris took one look at the things and glanced at each other.
""Spain."" They both declared, before sighing.
Sheva looked at them with confusion.
Chris grimaced. "Come on, let's go into the mostly collapsing, incredibly dangerous mining tunnels, what could possibly go wrong?"
"Tunnels full of B.O.W's." remarked Jill, voice as dry as the desert.
"Right… I'll take the lantern, stay close to me." said Sheva, as they entered the depths of the mines.
************************************************
To their absolute lack of surprise, it took less than 5 minutes before they came across their first infected.
From there, despite the fact the mines were supposed to be closed, they couldn't take a few steps without all but tripping over the damn things.
To Sheva's shock and awe however, while she couldn't see in the deep darkness of the place for more than a few feet, this fact seemed to be completely ignored by the two Hunters by her side. Quite a few times, she couldn't even see what they were shooting at, though she definitely heard the meaty sounds of corpses falling to the grounds.
Without Chris and Jill, this place would have been a death trap. Every corner potentially hiding another monster, every deep shadow hiding their potential doom. Instead, the only death and doom to be found here was for the infected, who fell like flies the further they went into the mines.
Sheva… She had to admit, she was starting to feel a bit useless. Sure, she intellectually knew that both Hunters were two of the deadliest people on Earth, but that didn't prepare her to actually see that fact in action.
And yes, the infected were not that different from a group of regular zombies, for all that they could use tools and weapons… But this one-sided slaughter really put into perspective just how utterly outmatched the B.O.W's were right now.
Eventually, they came into an ambush, a wide-open area with several levels all holding numerous infected, some with close-range weapons like axes, others with crossbows or grenades.
Sheva had prepared herself for a vicious fight-
And found herself staring at a slaughterhouse.
The two Hunters had moved the moment they had seen the enemies awaiting before them, and the gates falling down from the ceiling closing their escape route.
Guns blazing, the entire cavern had been lit with red and blue of lasers and plasma, death dealt by the half-dozen with every breath that Sheva took.
Grenades shot mid-air, crossbolts avoided and found themselves in infected skulls instead, and every charging B.O.W's made to look like fools as the two Hunters seemingly danced between them, dealing death at dizzying speeds.
Not a drop of blood touched their bodies, not an infected finger so much as grazed their clothes, the two Hunters made a show of what was supposed to be another death trap and turned it into a slaughterhouse for the infected instead.
There was no hesitation, no doubt, no moments where either of them paused to consider their actions. Every movement flowed onto the next, every action worked in perfect alignment with their fellow Hunters, and in the end, less than 3 minutes after the ambush had begun, all that was left was three humans, with not a drop of blood on them, surrounded by dozens of corpses.
Sheva had barely had the time to kill 5 infected in total.
She let out a breath she hadn't even noticed she had taken and kept holding in, staring with wide eyes at the carnage.
Then she turned towards her two companions… to find them already moving on, as if none of this had been anything noteworthy.
And once again, she wondered if they were truly humans. In a world where zombies and monsters existed to threaten the innocents… What else lived in plain sight?
She shook her head and followed them, taking a nearby elevator to the surface.
She couldn't match them in a fight, but every team needed good support eventually. This was something she had learned long ago when she was just a teenage girl in the rebellion, helping in whatever ways she could since she was too young to join the fight.
Honestly, she was glad and honored to be here. Glad, because she knew that whatever else happened, Irving would not escape this team. He would not escape justice, that was clear to see.
And honored, for when demi-gods walked the Earth, to be able to see them at work was a stroke of luck like few others. And these two might as well be demi-gods for all the difficulty they found in cutting their way through the legions of monsters arrayed against them.
The elevator came to a stop, bringing them back up to the surface close to a building where Irving was suspected to be in.
They quickly but quietly moved up the stairs leading to the entrance of the building, stood next to the doors, waited for a second-
And then charged in.
And found no one.
They blinked, before Chris cursed.
"Shit! He's not here. Where the hell is Irving then?"
Sheva rushed to the windows on the other side of the building, glancing around to hopefully catch a glimpse of the man fleeing, but no such luck.
"Wait, look. There's all kinds of documents here, Irving must have left in a hurry!"
Sheva and Chris turned to look at Jill, who was looking down at a table covered in various files.
"Sloppy of him." said Chris, though he eagerly came closer, a fierce smirk on his face at the thought that they were that close to their quarry.
Sheva joined them, and it didn't take long to strike gold.
"Look at this." Said Sheva, pointing at a map covered in big red circles with a few pictures on the side.
"The oil field… That's in the Marshlands!" she exclaimed.
Chris and Jill grinned. "Then we know where to go."
"Delta Team, Chris here. We located where Irving is going. He's headed for the oil fields in the Marshlands."
"Understood. I'm sending people to catch him there, but you need to come back. We've got matters to discuss."
"Roger that, Chris out."
The trio then left the building and headed into the nearby hills, having to fight their way through yet more waves of brainwashed, parasite-controlled B.O.W's whose numbers seemed endless.
At least, now that she was back in the open, it was much easier for Sheva to see her enemies and blow their brains up.
She still didn't really come close to the number of kills Jill and Chris dished out, but at least she actually felt useful now.
Then all three of them paused, hearing the sounds of a truck coming closer.
Their eyes widened when it came into view, controlled by yet another infected, who soon twisted the truck on a drift closer to them.
To Sheva's surprise, the truck stopped at a comfortable distance from them, rather than try and hit them. Moreover, the end part of the truck was now in the open air, facing away from the hills…
And then the back end of the truck opened, and all was made clear.
Some kind of giant, winged thing came out of the truck, going up above it before staring hungrily at them.
"What is that-"
Sheva had barely time to exclaim her shock before Jill took out a grenade launcher from her back (had that always been there?) and launched a round at the monster's face.
Said grenade exploded soon after, a shockwave of plasma burning deeply into the face of the monster who staggered backwards while screaming in agony.
Sheva and Chris quickly began firing at its underbelly, the glowing orange flesh proving itself much more vulnerable than its hard exoskeleton, orange blood exploding from every laser shot.
*SKKKKKKRRRREEEEE!*
The creature screamed, Sheva wincing slightly at the incredibly loud sound, before it took off and flew in the air.
They stopped firing, cautiously looking at it as it circled them, orange blood dripping from its burnt face and wounded underbelly, before it finally turned towards them and flew at high speed…
Straight towards Chris.
"I've got this!" he shouted, putting away his lasgun and taking his sword in both hands instead.
One thing that Sheva had discovered was that the sword had actually two sizes. A smaller sword could be drawn out of the greater blade, or the smaller sword combined with the greater blade to form a very heavy-looking greatsword.
And right now Chris was holding the full greatsword, seemingly completely at ease despite the obvious size and weight.
Sheva glanced at Jill, silently asking what she should do, only for the Huntress to relax and shake her head at her.
Sheva looked back at Chris, instincts tense as she watched the giant monster scream as it came closer and closer to Chris-
And then things happened incredibly fast.
Sheva's eyes just barely made out Chris dodging to the left when the monster tried to eat him whole, bringing his greatsword down and cutting a deep, bloody wound throughout the monster's entire right side.
Somehow, the sword had cut through hard exterior and softer inner organs alike like a knife through butter, and with the speed the monster possessed, all it could do was take the sword and keep going, eviscerating it.
It crashed on the ground, shrieking in agony while its blood and organs spilled out of the massive cut almost completely splitting it in two, the monster trying to get up and fly away and failing miserably.
Jill calmly pointed her grenade launcher at it, waited until it opened its maw to scream again, and then launched one in it.
The ensuing explosion cooked off its entire upper body.
Sheva blinked, acknowledging the fact that what happened did in fact happen, and once again decided that yeah, these two were in a realm of skill all of their own.
Then the scent of cooked monster flesh hit her nose, and she violently recoiled in disgust.
Jill and Chris gave her amused looks.
"You get used to it." said Jill, which Sheva couldn't help but doubt, because holy shit did it stinks!
And then, naturally, their reinforcements showed up. After the big monster was already dead.
A humvee screeched to a stop, a BSAA soldier waving them in.
The three soldiers got up on the back end of it, close to the laser machine gun bolted on, and soon enough all of them were being taken towards the oil fields.
"I heard about Irving. Tough break." shouted the BSAA soldier.
"Yes, but there will be other opportunities." Sheva replied, before activating her radio. "Sheva to HQ, come in, HQ."
"This is HQ. What's your situation?"
"There's a high probability that Irving is headed for the oil fields in the marshlands. We're re-grouping with Delta Team and heading there now."
"Understood."
"We've got company!" shouted Chris, pointing out the dozens of incoming infected bikers headed their way.
"They don't let up, do they?" exclaimed Sheva.
"Doesn't seem like it." said Jill.
Then Chris took over the laser machine gun, while Jill and Sheva began firing their own weapons at the incoming infected.
The BSAA agent began pushing the humvee harder, though against bikers trying to outrun them was rather hopeless.
Instead, Sheva and her companions did what they did best: killing B.O.W's.
Their radio crackled seconds later.
"This is Captain Stone, Delta Team. I just received word from HQ. Based on the data that you uploaded, and further confirmed by ISIS, most of the townspeople have been infected by parasites known as Las Plagas. The data refers to the infected as the Majini."
"What does all of this have to do with Uroboros?" questioned Chris while blowing up a truck full of infected.
"You got me. They didn't say."
"Then it looks like the only way we're getting answers is to find Irving." commented Chris, who was calmly gunning down biker after biker at every second.
"Agreed."
Sheva shot another biker and glanced at all those still headed their way.
"That's a lot of hostiles, Chris, Jill!"
She saw them frown, glance at the incoming Majini, before shaking their heads.
"Don't worry, we've got this!" shouted Chris.
"You're sure?"
Chris cut down an entire line of bikers, a dozen men dying near instantly.
"Absolutely!"
******************************************
Hours.
For hours now, the infected kept throwing themselves at them.
Sheva wasn't sure if what shocked her the most was the numbers of infected, or the numbers of trucks and bikes they had at their disposal.
Their enemies knew neither exhaustion, fear, doubt, thirst and hunger, but even they couldn't just create bikes out of nowhere!
And yet, they certainly seemed to have an exhaustible supply of the damned things.
Not that her enemies were the only inexhaustible things around here.
Sheva was tired, hungry, and thirsty. She had fought for hours now, the mission having started at the start of the afternoon… and night had by now all but fallen.
She was a sweaty, exhausted mess, and sheer willpower and training was all that kept her firing her gun now.
But the two Hunters by her side? They hadn't even broken a sweat if she wasn't wrong! Their breathing was calm and even, their eyes focused and clear, their shots as precise as ever.
She refused to believe that mere training could create this. It just wasn't physically possible.
Something was certainly up with those two, though what it was she had no idea. ISIS and Insight Corp. were renowned for their disdain of mutagenic viruses, so Sheva really doubted that was the explanation.
Either way, they clearly weren't normal human beings. Though Sheva didn't care too much right about now. They were on her side, that was enough.
Still, eventually, they managed to escape their pursuers by jumping over a broken bridge, at which point they were able to enter another city without issues…
If not for the very obvious BSAA corpses laying across the streets.
"What could've done this…" muttered Sheva in horror.
They came to a stop at the rendezvous point, finding yet more dead soldiers.
They got out of the humvee, carefully spreading around the plaza while the BSAA soldier went to check the bodies for survivors.
And then the ground began to tremble.
They all froze-
And then a car was sent flying their way.
"Look out!" shouted Chris, as he, Jill, and Sheva jumped out of the way.
It didn't take long to find out the cause of all of this.
Not when a giant foot came down to crush the BSAA soldier into a bloody smear on the ground.
*RRRRRRRAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!*
Sheva's eyes widened as a giant came into view, roaring loudly.
"Sheva, take the MG in the humvee!" shouted Chris.
Sheva didn't waste time arguing, going back in and taking hold of the machine gun, while behind her the two Hunters charged at the giant.
Jill once more held her grenade launcher, firing one straight at the giant's face. The monster tried to grab it, which naturally proved a very stupid idea when it went off in his hand.
The monster screamed, staggering back. Chris took his sword, rolled underneath a kick from the giant, and brought his sword down on its right ankle.
Once again proving his unnatural strength, the sword held in Chris' hands cut through it with ease, and the monster quickly fell face first on the ground.
Jill quickly brought out both of her swords, ran to its face and slammed both blades to the hilt in its eyes.
The giant shuddered, and for a moment Sheva thought that might be it-
*SQUEEEELCH!*
And then her eyes went wide when a gigantic parasite bursted from the giant's back instead.
Sheva didn't hesitate, bringing the MG to bear upon it and firing everything she had on it.
The power behind each laser tore chunks out of the wriggling parasite, both Hunters falling back cautiously and leaving her to bring a storm of lasers upon it to kill it.
The parasite tore itself out of the giant's back, trying to charge at the thing hurting it, at least until Jill brought out another plasma grenade and threw it at the monster.
The explosion sent it flying back, Sheva not stopping the storm of lasers until she had reduced it to a bloody, smoking pulp.
Only then did she stop, panting slightly as she cautiously looked at it.
"It's dead."
Sheva let out a breath at Chris' words, before she glanced at the BSAA bodies all around the plaza.
Not without cost, she thought sadly.
She went around, collecting the soldiers' dog tags and noticing, to both her relief and worry, that her mentor's body was not there.
"Where are you, Josh?" she muttered in concern.
Chris and Jill shared a look. They did get a sitrep from Aeon, who had told them both that ISIS was currently neck deep in infected in the first area the mission was supposed to be in. In short, ISIS back-up was somewhat iffy right now… And this was the result.
BSAA soldiers were good, more than capable of handling standard infected.
It was the non-standard infected lifeforms which always caused issues.
Like here.
Chris' expression softened.
"Sheva, you don't have to do this. You can still back out." It doesn't have to be your war, the man thought but did not say.
"What about you two?" Sheva questioned, her eyes going from Chris to Jill and back again.
Chris' expression tightened, a storm of emotions flashing through his eyes.
Sheva did not miss the spark of old hatred twisting his face for a split second.
"I've got a personal stake in this." he finally declared.
"We both do." agreed Jill.
"A personal stake?" she questioned. She looked around, before looking back at them both.
"Is it because of whatever it is that ISIS did to you two?"
They blinked, surprise and confusion on their faces.
Sheva snorted. "Come on, you don't get tired, you don't sweat, you can fight for hours without losing focus even once, you apparently don't get bothered by lack of food or water, and you fight like spirits or demi-gods of war and death! It's obvious that there is more than mere training involved in order to become a Hunter of ISIS."
They both glanced at each other, before Chris shook his head.
"No, that has nothing to do with that. Not in this case. It's just…" he sighed, massaging his brow for a moment, before looking back up at her.
"You remember Uroboros? We have reasons to believe that whatever it is… It was a plan created by a man named Albert Wesker."
Chris' face twisted with old rage and fierce satisfaction at the name, his eyes gleaming darkly, and Jill's face might as well be carved from stone for all the emotions she suddenly showed.
"The man's dead, but we believe one of his associates has been working for years to see his vision come to pass. We are here to stop that from happening, no matter what."
Sheva considered that for a moment. Albert Wesker, that name felt familiar, but where did she hear it…
"Are you sure that that man is dead, if his plan is still going?"
"Oh, I'm sure. I killed the traitorous son-of-a-bitch myself, after all." replied Chris, and there was no hiding the dark glee in his words. Quite obviously, this was deeply personal for him.
Sheva frowned…
And then it finally clicked.
Albert Wesker. Umbrella. The Mansion Incident which led to the outbreak at Raccoon City.
The former leader of S.T.A.R.S.
Her eyes widened.
"Oh, shit." she muttered, her mind racing. "Albert Wesker… Wasn't he noted as wanting to burn down the world and recreate it with mutagenic viruses twisting the ecosystem?"
"Yes." said Jill, her blue eyes cold like ice. "Yes, he wanted to do exactly that. The end of the world, and humanity, as we know it."
She stared at them. Then she swallowed.
"How certain are you of all of this?"
They glanced at each other.
"Certain enough to have ISIS be in force in the region, just in case things escalated quickly."
Suddenly, things fell into place in Sheva's mind. Why there were two Hunters on this mission… Why ISIS was here in force, with their leader personally present…
They were here to nip a potential end of the world scenario in the bud.
"Does HQ know?"
"Director O'Brian knows. But ISIS suspected the West African Branch to be infiltrated, so it was agreed that they would remain in the dark until the spy, or spies, was found."
Sheva fell silent. This… explained so much.
This wasn't just about Irving. No, she could make the obvious guess.
Irving was here to test the Majini for whatever mastermind was currently working on Uroboros.
And they weren't here just to stop him, but to get proof of that mastermind's identity and intentions.
And if ISIS' fears proved true and the world was in danger, then ISIS would strike and strike hard to remove the threat.
Well.
Shit. That certainly puts things into perspective.
She took a deep breath.
"Then I'm going with you."
Chris frowned. "You're sure? This is only going to get more dangerous from here on out."
"I can't just turn my back and walk away from something like this!" she exclaimed. "And we're supposed to work together, remember?"
Jill and Chris shared a look.
"If you are certain… Then you can go with us. But this is going to be much more than just a standard BSAA mission."
"Well, Director O'Brian knows, so technically the highest level of my organization is aware of what's going on." she pointed out.
"As long as you're sure." Said Chris.
Sheva nodded firmly. No backing out now, this was far too big to just run away because it was going to get incredibly dangerous.
"Very well then. Come on, we need to find a boat to go through the lake."
Thankfully, it didn't take long to find a turbine boat, and soon enough they were speeding up across the waters.
Sheva steeled herself for whatever awaited her in this mission. She really doubted that getting to Irving was going to be the end of all of this…
*****************************************************
"Sheva… Can I ask you something?"
Sheva glanced at Chris, though she could see Jill glancing curiously at them.
"Sure."
"What made you join the BSAA? Of all potential paths in life, why choose to fight this war against B.O.W's?"
Sheva let out a sigh. "My parents were in an accident… Or what I thought was an accident, at least. Caused by a pharmaceutical company when I was young."
She fell silent, lost in memories of fear, chaos and in the end grief…
"Umbrella?" asked Chris.
She nodded at him, snapping out of her past. "Yes. I later found out that the accident was to cover up the manufacturing of B.O.W's for terrorists."
Chris and Jill exchanged a look, not truly surprised. Umbrella's shadow was large and would take time to fully be forgotten by the world.
Hell, this entire mission was happening because of Albert Wesker, in the end, dead as the man may be.
"They were using Africa as a testbed for their experiments…" She shook her head. "Bioweapons were responsible for the deaths of my parents and so many others. And someone has to pay for that!" she said firmly.
Chris nodded in understanding. "And so you joined the BSAA."
"There's only so much one person can do. Even for superheroes like you and Jill." she said with a smirk.
Chris chuckled, while Jill grinned in amusement.
"We're no superheroes, Sheva. But together, we can end this. I can promise you this. Maybe not today… But one day soon, we will succeed, and the world will no longer need to fear B.O.W's."
Chris's words were firm, passionate, and above all were spoken with the conviction of a true believer. The sky was blue, fire was hot, and one day the Earth would be safe.
There was no hesitation in his voice. No doubt to be found. Only pure, absolute belief and conviction.
Sheva felt herself smile. If even the Hunters of ISIS, who fought in the worst battles against B.O.W's across the world, could be this certain of their ultimate victory, how could anyone else be anything but convinced?
"Then let's make a stand for our future!" she firmly declared.
The two Hunters smiled, before they all focused back on getting to their destination.
Unfortunately, this required them to pass through the territory of a local tribe… And it didn't take long for them to discover that they, too, had been infected.
The corpses of various BSAA soldiers they came across was a pretty big hint.
The screaming tribesmen with bright red eyes attacking them not long after just confirmed things.
Of course, men armed with spears against laser rifles really could only end in one way, and Sheva was both relieved and disturbed at how easy it was to kill every infected running at them.
With guns capable of firing thousands of times without issues, and capable of blowing up body parts with ease, all they had to do was go full-auto and cut everything moving down.
Needless to say, it was a one-sided carnage.
They kept going, leaving their boat in order to go further in-lands instead, with even more red-eyed tribesmen attacking them, and even more one-sided slaughter in return.
Sheva stopped counting once she reached the number fifty of dead infected at her hands, choosing just to keep moving and killing. There was nothing she could do for these people beyond granting them a quick death, so if anything, none of these people had to suffer for long… Though by this point, they were far beyond capable of feeling pain anymore anyway.
But the path to the oil fields required them to keep going through the village, so they did. Killing waves after waves of infected, frothing at the mouth with bloodlust, they forced their way through, killing everyone along the way.
As for the ones who had infected them, it wasn't hard to discover the truth.
They found a journal belonging to one of the locals describing how people from a pharmaceutical company came to give them medicine against a potential plague spreading through the region…
And then, beyond the village, were abandoned Tricell tents.
"Tricell." scowled Chris.
"Wait… Tricell helped fund the BSAA! What's going on?!" exclaimed Sheva.
"Come on, let's go through these tents, we might find what we're looking for." said Jill, face grim.
Sheva glanced at them, understanding dawning upon her.
"You… You knew that Tricell was behind all of this?"
"We suspected." said Chris. "ISIS Command has been suspecting Tricell of doing B.O.W. research for years now. We just never had the resources to fully investigate when more pressing threats kept us busy. After Manhattan however, the destruction of Blackwatch and Gentek gave us the freedom to focus on other suspected threats… Like Tricell. And now-" he glanced at the Tricell tents. "Here we are."
Sheva clenched her teeth, glaring at the Tricell tents. Her anger now had a target, and this also easily explained why there was so much secrecy on the part of ISIS.
If one of the groups funding the BSAA was actually corrupt like that, then no wonder they were keeping their cards close to their chest.
They all went into the tents, and had no issues striking gold.
They outright found a complete report on what the Tricell employee writing the report called the "Stage 3 Las Plagas" and how much better than the Spanish version it was, and how it would sell so much better!
The report even went on to describe the result of the "test" on the local population, the various mutations observed and how well their product was meeting expectations!
A grim-faced Chris gave the files to Jill for safekeeping, while Sheva glared at the nearest Tricell logo.
How many thousands of innocent people had lost their lives because of them? The answer was too many. It always would be too many.
"Come on, let's keep going. We still need to get to Irving."
"Right." Sheva took a few deep breaths, calming down. There would be retribution later, for now, they had a criminal to arrest.
They pushed on, finally arriving at the oil fields, and the old factory built there.
"We're finally there." muttered Sheva.
"Yeah, and Irving's not getting away this time."
"Agreed." coldly whispered Jill.
They entered the factory… and immediately Sheva pointed at someone in the distance. "Look! It's Irving!"
"And more infected." warned Jill, glancing at the various red-eyed men across the facilities.
"Then we cut through them and keep going. Come on!" exclaimed Chris, already blowing up the heads of a few infected.
They slaughtered their way through the exterior of the facility, even killing two chainsaw-wielding infected through Jill and Chris cutting off their heads, limbs and hearts.
Sheva was still mildly disturbed by seeing how casual both Hunters were at doing that, but honestly at this point she had seen so much death since this mission began that she didn't even blink at it anymore.
If anything, she began wondering if she should wield a blade too, in the future…
Still, they made it inside the facility, carefully proceeding deeper-
Until they heard footsteps behind them, turned, and froze at the sight of the leader of Delta Team, wild-eyed, visibly exhausted, but very much alive.
"Josh?" said Sheva, in both surprise and relief.
They all lowered their weapons, Josh included, the man blinking before looking at her in delighted surprise. "Sheva?" he asked, as if not daring himself to hope.
"You're alive!" she exclaimed in joy, before concern took over. "Are you ok?"
He sighed, finally properly relaxing, and nodded, his eyes checking her for injuries and visibly pleased to see none.
"Wha- How did you get here?!" she wondered.
"We were at the city near the great lake when we were attacked, and then… Well… Long story short, I ended up here."
He shook his head, the man looking exhausted.
"Where's the rest of the team?"
Chris, Jill and her glanced at each other, before they all grimaced.
Josh's face twisted, rage and grief flashing through his eyes. "Shit!"
"It's just the four of us, now." she said sadly, but firmly.
"Why did you not retreat? I mean, we're no match for them!" he questioned, stepping closer.
"We've got unfinished business." declared Chris, and Sheva glanced at him and Jill before explaining.
"We've found evidence that a pharmaceutical corporation named Tricell is behind the creation of the new type of Las Plagas. We're going to arrest Irving and see what he knows."
Whatever reply Josh was about to give them was cut off when they heard movement, and they all turned, weapons raised.
Blast doors closed around the room, and Josh had barely enough time to declare "Let's save the chit-chat for later" before infected began jumping through the windows.
Josh quickly went to the nearby controls of the elevator, while Sheva and the two Hunters by her side provided covering fire.
Waves after waves of infected came out of the windows, but at least the natural chokepoints made it much easier to keep killing them as they arrived.
Proving the overall lack of intelligence of the infected, they kept coming from the windows, stubbornly attacking them through the same tactic over and over again.
Needless to say, that didn't work out well .
Things were so bad that the sheer numbers of corpses began blocking the windows, forcing each new wave of infected to push away the corpses of the previous wave.
"There, got it!" suddenly shouted Josh. "Come on, let's get moving!"
They piled up in the elevator, and left just as more infected started coming in.
They ended up higher in the facility, with Josh leading the way. "There's a door nearby! We need to reach it to leave this place!"
They ran, quickly finding the door… And seeing it locked.
"God damn-"
"Allow me."
"What-"
Sheva and Josh blinked when Chris came in front of the sealed metal door, narrowed his eyes-
And then kicked the door so fast she barely saw anything.
*CCCCRRRRAAAASSSSHHHH!*
What she did see was the metal door flying off into the distance, crushing an infected that had the bad luck to stand in its path.
"What the fuck?!" exclaimed Josh, gaze switching from where the door used to be to where Chris was nodding in satisfaction.
"No time to explain, let's just go. Besides, it's hardly like anyone doesn't know that ISIS's Hunters aren't exactly normal soldiers."
Chris went through the door, followed by an amused and apologetic Jill, and then Sheva shook her head.
"Come on Josh, they're right, let's keep going."
Josh glanced at her, opened his mouth… Then thought better of it, scowled, and followed behind the two Hunters.
"I think I saw Irving bring explosives in this facility to try and cover his escape." said Josh. "You must stop him before it's too late. I'll try to go find an escape route of our own."
Jill nodded. "Alright, then we'll go get Irving."
Josh grinned fiercely. "Great. Listen, there's a dock up ahead. That is probably where he is going to try and make a break for it."
"Copy that." said Sheva.
Josh turned, but she called him before he could leave.
"Josh!"
He turned back to look at her.
"Be careful." she whispered.
He smiled, gave her a firm nod, and then left.
Chris glanced at her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's hurry. The sooner we deal with Irving, the sooner we can get back to support him."
She smiled. "Ok."
They left the facility, coming onto the docks, where they immediately noticed the boat docked there.
"That's Irving's boat, gotta be! Let's go before he leaves!"
She, Chris, and Jill ran, stopping when they saw Irving calmly walking along the boat, apparently believing he was safe.
"There he is!"
Irving turned, eyes widening before he grinned widely.
Sheva blinked. Why was he smiling?
"Ah, there you are! I was wondering if you were going to miss the fireworks! So long, suckers! Ahahahah!"
The boat engine was apparently finally ready, because the boat suddenly jerked forward and left before they could reach it.
"We need-"
"Infected!"
They turned back at Jill's shout, grimacing at the sight of dozens of infected now charging at them.
Sheva's radio crackled.
"Sheva, do you read me? I found a boat! We need to leave before the whole place gets blown up!" came Josh's voice, before giving a location.
"Forward!" shouted Chris, switching to his greatsword, Jill doing the same, before all three of them charged.
Sheva tried to not stare in awe or grimace in disgust as both Hunters hit the charging mass of infected like wrecking balls, blood, gore and body parts flying everywhere at every second.
Sheva just focused on shooting the heads of as many infected as she could. With Chris and Jill charging in, all the infected were trying to get at them, so she was free to shoot without having to worry about anyone attacking her.
They still wasted no time running across the docks, heading straight where Josh was, and for a minute everything became a blur of repetition.
Aim towards an infected's head, blow it up. Aim, shoot. Aim, shoot. Aim, shoot.
Over, and over, and over again-
"We're here!"
Sheva blinked, took sight of the small boat Josh had found, and immediately jumped in.
"Quickly, we must go!" shouted Josh, before glancing at her. "You're alright?"
Sheva opened her mouth-
*KA-BOOM!*
-before flinching when the facility exploded.
And then again.
And again. And again.
"How many bombs did he put in there?!" screamed Jill.
"Too many!" said Josh.
They quickly left, going at full speed on the water while looking behind them at the burning facility.
It was more of an impressive crater now than anything else.
"Damn. He really wanted us dead." muttered Josh, before glancing at the two Hunters. "Or at least you two."
"Yeah, well he failed. So let's get the bastard already, I'm tired of him managing to escape us just barely." growled Chris, Jill nodding in agreement at his words.
Sheva wanted to ask if they could have caught on to him without her to slow them down, but held back. They would get to him, no other outcome was acceptable.
"Do you know where he went?" asked Josh.
Chris pointed in the general direction his boat left on.
Josh frowned, then nodded. "Well, he can't have gone far."
He began to turn the boat to go in that direction, and Chris smiled. "Thanks for the help."
"Hey, that bastard cost me my team." Josh said coldly. "I want him dealt with just as much as you guys."
Chris nodded grimly. "I understand."
And by the look on his face, there was no doubt that he did.
************************************************************
Of course, things couldn't be simple, so they had to deal with boats full of infected trying to kill them, blockades along the river they were on, dozens more infected trying to kill them…
Sheva was pretty sure she had never killed as many as she had since this mission began.
And that number was nowhere near what Jill and Chris had reached.
Still, what choice did they have? It was them or themselves, no questions about that.
So Sheva killed. She killed, and killed, and killed so many the faces of those she killed just faded into one another.
And still, the infected came coming.
But it didn't matter. It never could.
Not with two Hunters by her side.
It was no wonder ISIS was so famous, she now knew with absolute certainty. Because with people like Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield within their ranks… A thousand B.O.W's was no different than one.
They would die all the same.
"Chris? Jill? Can I ask you something?" she said in a rare moment of peace.
"What is it?" replied Chris, throwing her a curious look.
"Just… How good are you compared to your boss, Aeon?"
Josh glanced at them, visibly curious at the answer.
Both Hunters exchanged a look.
"He kicked our asses so badly we never actually won a single spar against him." bluntly said Jill.
"We actually manage to draw blood… Sometimes. Usually when all of us fight against him. And we get lucky." dryly answered Chris.
Sheva and Josh blinked.
"You're telling me that every Hunter of ISIS combined can barely draw blood from your boss in a spar?" slowly said Josh, sounding rather stunned.
Chris grumbled something about… "Blood spears"? What?
Whatever it was, Jill gave him a deeply sympathetic look, before smiling wryly.
"Let's just say that drawing blood is bad enough… But succeeding makes things so much worse for us from that point on. it's not even funny."
Sheva had quite a few more questions to ask, but then more infected had shown up, and they all went back to killing their way through enemy lines.
Eventually however, they finally found Irving's boat.
Well, more like it found them, considering that the trees around the river had hidden it so well that when it suddenly crossed their path they almost crashed against the damned thing.
A turret on Irving's boat began to open fire, and they all ducked for cover in their small boat.
Needless to say, there wasn't much of it to be found.
Then Chris somehow managed to headshot the gunner, and suddenly they were back in pursuit, all of them gripping their guns tightly.
This was it. No more running, no more traps, this time Irving was theirs!
Chris, Jill, and Sheva got onboard the boat, Josh remaining on the one he had taken to serve as an escape route, just in case. As they did so, Irving actually came to meet them.
"Won't you three just die already?!" he screamed, furious. "You're making me look bad in front of my boss."
He snarled.
"Who did you think got this entire operation off the ground? Research like this doesn't fund itself, you know!"
He took a deep breath, glaring at them. "Yet everyone looks down on me."
He looked down.
Sheva's eyes narrowed, and she could see Jill and Chris tensing.
He held something in his left hand…
"But not anymore!"
Sheva's eyes went wide. It was a syringe!
"Don't do it!" she shouted, but it was already too late.
Irving stabbed himself in the neck with it, snarling angrily at them.
Seconds later he shuddered violently, his body convulsing-
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
-while he began shrieking in agony.
His flesh began to bubble unnaturally, and Sheva sent a look at Chris and Jill.
"What do we do? Should we shoot or what?"
"Not yet." grimly muttered Jill. "Aeon once warned us about that during our training. Mutagenic viruses react to things, and if we shoot him now, when the virus is at its most unstable and powerful, most likely he'll just evolve to be more resistant to heat-based weaponry."
"Unfortunately, we have to wait until he finishes transforming to kill him." grumbled Chris.
To be fair, they didn't wait long. Seconds after Chris was done speaking, a mass of green tentacles bursted out of Irving's back, while the man gritted his teeth with maddened glee.
"I'm far beyond anything you could ever hope to become!" he growled, and weirdly enough that seemed to darkly amuse both Hunters.
Chris finally tried to shoot him, but Irving threw himself above board and into the river's waters.
Both Hunters grimaced.
"Be ready, Sheva, things are about to get crazy!" warned Chris-
-A few seconds before the entire boat violently shuddered, massive tentacles like an octopus rising above the waters' surface around the boat.
Several tentacles tried to smash them to paste, before stopping, and they turned to look at-
Oh.
"Shit." Sheva muttered, eyes wide as she took in the sight of… Whatever the fuck the giant, tentacled thing rising out of the water while roaring in triumph was.
The thing's mouth opened, revealing what remained of Irving's human body, who was grinning madly at them.
"I just had an extreme make-over!" he cackled.
Chris and Jill both tried to shoot the man, but the monster quickly closed its mouth and went back in the waters.
"Chris! Status report!" screamed Josh on the radio. "What the hell is that thing?!"
"Just get outta here, Josh! It's too dangerous!" Chris replied, glancing at the various tentacles breaking through the surface of the river.
"We'll try to stop it! Keep our escape route ready!" said Sheva, rushing to where the turret on the boat was and taking hold of it.
"Understood. Just try not to get killed!" shouted Josh, before the radio fell silent.
Sheva began firing, targeting first the giant tentacles trying to hit the boat. They were massive, longer than Irving's boat, and extended far into the air, but targeting the middle of the horrific things seems to be enough to eventually cut them in half with her laser turret.
"Sheva! Let one tentacle hit the boat!" shouted Chris."
She glanced at him in shock. "What?! Why?!"
"Just do it, you'll see!" he exclaimed.
She scowled, but did as he ordered. As several tentacles were launched towards the boat, she targeted and cut in half almost all of the tentacles… except one.
That tentacle tried to crush Jill and Chris… only for them to easily avoid it-
And then Sheva's eyes bulged.
Both Hunters had taken their swords and stabbed deep into the tentacle, but instead of cutting it in half, they just held firmly on the hilt of their swords.
When the tentacle jerked back in pain… The two hunters went flying along with it, held only by their swords' hilt.
Sheva felt her jaw fall open as the two Hunters then jumped off… right on top of Irving's massive body.
And then they stabbed down on his body instead.
Irving's massive form shuddered, before he went straight down below the waterline, taking both Hunters with him.
For a moment, Sheva was left blinking in shock, staring numbly at where friends and foes alike had disappeared-
*SSSSSSSSKKKKKKKRRRRREEEEE!*
-and then she flinched backwards with wide eyes when she saw the giant monster fly out of the water, both Hunters utterly drenched but seemingly having no problem still holding on to their prey.
More, something clearly happened down in the waters, as Irving's body seemed badly wounded, and entire parts of his body were missing, blood falling like rivers into the waters below.
Then Irving hit the water again, his tentacles now focusing on trying to kill the two Hunters on his back at all cost.
Sheva rallied, pushing her shock away as she once again started to blast aparts every tentacles of that monstrous bastard trying to kill both Hunters.
Both Hunters actually tore their blades out of the monster's body, before running towards his head.
The moment he seemed about to go back into the waters, both slammed their swords into his body again, making him jerk around, with more tentacles coming out of his body to crush those two.
Sheva blasted those tentacles apart, giving time for the two Hunters to once again tear their swords out and run towards Irving's head.
And when they reached it, they once again stabbed their swords down into his body, Irving roaring in pain before once again disappearing under the water, taking both Hunters with him.
Sheva scowled, waiting for him to pop up again out of the waters… only for strange things to happen.
Parts of the river seemingly began to explode upwards, as if explosions were taking place underwater. It took Sheva a few seconds to understand that they were from Irving passing through those areas and that something was happening to him…
And then she jerked in shock when Irving's giant body suddenly flew out of the water to collapse on the back end of the boat she was on.
The great monster's maw roared, before something pink and ugly was thrown out of it, the monster collapsing back into the river while the pink thing that Sheva finally recognized as what was left of Irving's human body twitched weakly on the deck of the boat.
Jill and Chris came out of the monster's maw and came closer to the squirming Irving, swords pointed at him, and Sheva immediately went to join them.
She could talk to them about whatever the hell they did to Irving underwater later. For now, they had a criminal to… arrest? Interrogate? She wasn't sure what to do with him barely being human anymore.
"Tell me what Tricell is planning!" shouted Chris, expression grim.
"Damn Excella!" screamed Irving, visibly squirming in agony. His previous confidence was nowhere to be seen, and he truly seemed like a man begging for death to take him at this point. "I guess I wasn't worth the good stuff."
Sheva lowered her gun, glancing at the two Hunters. "Excella?" she asked, confused.
Chris ignored the question and stepped forward, kneeling next to Irving while showing him the images he got from the hard drive. "What do you know about the facility with the red flowers? What is the Uroboros project? What is Excella planning?!" he demanded.
Irving laughed weakly. "The BSAA… and ISIS… Wow, you three are just on top of everything, aren't ya?" he said mockingly.
He glanced at Chris. "The balance of the world is changing whether you like it or not, and you're completely oblivious to it."
"What's changing? What are you talking about?!" demanded Sheva, fed up with the mysteries surrounding this entire mission. "Is it the Uroboros project we keep hearing about? Is that it?"
Irving coughed blood. "It's too late now… No one can stop it. Uroboros is going to change everything we ever- AAAAH, AAAAAAAAAAAH-"
"Chris!" shouted Sheva, Jill taking him by the arm and dragging him back as Irving suddenly began screaming in agony.
Irving gritted his teeth, before glancing to the side. "There's a cave nearby… If you want answers, then go there… If you survive long enough! AHAHAHAHAH!"
He coughed up more blood, before grinning through bloody teeth. "Dying's not so bad… But it's not gonna change anything! You're still screwed! AHAHAHAH!"
"We're done here." scowled Chris, about to go get his gun and put a laser bolt in his head, but Jill stopped him.
"Look." she said softly.
Sheva and the two Hunters stared at Irving, the remains of the man suddenly beginning to melt into a truly horrific puddle of organic materials.
Chris let out a sigh. "Poor bastard. That's a nasty way to go."
"Yeah. And in the end… He died a fool." said Jill.
Chris smirked.
"Guess the old plan of Aeon worked, huh. Figures it would."
"What are you two talking about?" questioned Sheva.
The two Hunters glanced at each other.
"Let's get Josh and then go to that cave Irving mentioned. I've got a good idea of what we'll find there. And Irving name-dropping Excella… All we need now is true, actual proof, and we're good to end her."
"Agreed. About time, too. That trap has been waiting for nearly 10 years to be sprung. About time someone took the bait." mused Jill.
Chris glanced at Sheva and smiled. "Come on, let's get going. If everything went as planned, we'll get Tricell dealt with at long last."
Sheva glanced between both smug-looking Hunters and sighed. Well, at least she was soon going to get her answers, though obviously not quite yet…
She glanced at what was left of Irving.
Well at least, one of the people responsible for all of this was dead.
Now, all that was left was to get to the mastermind.
/
A.N: Alright! Here is the next chapter in which we continue the events of RE5.
Poor Sheva is really fighting in battles way out of her usual league by being around two Hunters, but she's trying, and actually being useful. Sure, Jill and Chris could have dealt with things on their own, but an extra gun is always welcome.
Also, while some things remain the same, others are different. Without Jill and Wesker working together against the good guys, expect the events of the rest of the game to go more and more AU.
I can't say too much here, because we're going to see everything revealed through Sheva herself learning about everything. I will say that Irving was actually a deliberate target of ISIS to the point of sending two Hunters for a reason, and no it's not because of Irving himself.
It's strategy, misdirection, and fooling your enemy into acting like you want them to. And Excella while by no means incompetent isn't a warrior or a strategist…
And especially not when her enemy is Aeon gleefully playing mind games.
Still, with all that being said, I hope you all enjoyed this update! Next time, all is revealed, and Aeon's decade-old plan is finally bearing fruit…