RESIDENT EVIL: BASILISK

CHAPTER 3:

MEMORIES, MAJINI, AND MASSACRE

Unleashing Fiendfyre was, admittedly, not one of my smarter moves. Then again, being Sorted into Gryffindor sort of ensured my impulse control was a bit on the dodgy side. So, as I recovered from a slight case of magical exhaustion, I had a brief trip down memory lane.

It was the day I first was able to talk to Jill. I don't know how it came about, and I'm not sure when it happened, only that it was about a couple of weeks since I was captured.

"Well, this bites," I was muttering to myself in my mental landscape. After being recruited by Ragnuk, I had worked on my Occlumency with teachers who were a damned sight better than a certain big-nosed, greasy-haired, grudge-holding son of a bitch known as Severus Snape. I had learned how to create a mental landscape as a form of defence against intrusion, and now that I was in stasis, trapped in my own mind, it was better than the darkness of unconsciousness. I'd based my mental landscape on Hogwarts and the grounds, but with a lot more sunshine and warm weather. Hey, it's a picturesque place, but it's also in Scotland, and was cold as fuck in reality, especially in winter. "Whose dick do I have to suck to get some decent conversation around here?!" I then howled.

Then, I had heard a reply, one that I wasn't expecting. And in a woman's voice. "Oh, God, I must be going mad from whatever Wesker's done to me. I'm hearing a Limey going on about fellatio."

I blinked. "Wait, what? Who's there?" After a moment, I had snapped, "I am Captain Harry Potter of the Intergalactic House of Pancakes, ordering you to speak(1)!"

Which, admittedly, didn't do much in the way of reassuring my conversational partner of my sanity. But considering I had been trapped within my own mind for what felt like a fucking eternity, I wasn't too sure of that either. Eventually, I had found what looked like a crack in the air. You know, like a common or garden jagged-edged portal into another world. I had poked my head through, and exclaimed, "GAAARBAGE DAY?! Oh, wait, wrong film. Let me try again. HEEEERE'S JOHNNY(2)!"

I found myself face to face with a rather bemused woman in a rather fetishistic black battlesuit, rather like the one I had, only this one was more tailored to the female form. And it had heels. Seriously, high heels on something designed for combat, I ask you. Anyway, her rather beautiful face was framed by long, blonde hair, and her eyes were pale. She was sitting in what looked like a fairly ordinary apartment.

She could've screamed, she could have hit me. Instead, she did something very unexpected.

She held up a large card with the number '6' on it.

I scowled. "I AM NOT A NUMBER, I AM A FREE MAN(3)!"

"Are you going to quote TV shows or films all the time? I have enough trouble holding onto my sanity as it is," the woman remarked. "Who the hell are you, and why are you in my head?"

"My head? You're in my head!" I retorted indignantly. I looked her up and down. "Then again, given the outfit, I'm guessing we're both prisoners of Mister Tall, Blonde, and Megalomaniacal, as well as the Italian with the breast implants."

"Tall, Blonde and…you mean Wesker, don't you?"

"Yeah. Seriously, is he wearing sunnies indoors as a lifestyle choice, or because of a medical condition?"

"Sunnies…I thought you were a Brit, not an Australian."

"I got partly trained by an Aussie mercenary," I replied. "You know him?"

"We go way back. What about you?"

"Only met him recently, though he's an even worse douche than a Malfoy. And considering they elevate being blonde arseholes to an artform, that's saying something. Murdered my team while I was leading them through Kijuju, and now, here I am, a guinea pig stuck in a stasis tank. So, evil ex-boyfriend, is he?"

The woman scoffed. "Hardly. He used to be my superior officer in STARS at Raccoon City."

"Wait, what? Isn't that the city that got nuked because of some epidemic or other?"

"Yeah. What outfit are you with? Army?"

"Corporate PMC, working for a financial institution," I had replied. No need to break the Statute of Secrecy just yet. Then, I frowned. "Actually, I think I remember you now. Wesker was gloating about having you in his power. Jill Valentine, isn't it?"

"Yeah. And you are…?"

"I shouted my name earlier. Okay, my name and rank weren't exactly right, but I'm Harry Potter of the Ragnuk PMC." I reached my hand through the crack. "Nice to meet you, Jill."

From then on, though it was a slightly rocky beginning, we were neighbours, of a sort. Then, comrades with a shared suffering, and a shared desire to get the fuck out of whatever prison Wesker had us in, and kick his blonde-haired megalomaniacal arse. And we even became friends.

Of course, you already know how I escaped, so I'll just get back to the story. And consciousness…

I woke up a few minutes after my little conniption, it seemed, being slapped (gently) awake by that dark-skinned angel that was Sheva Alomar. There were certainly much worse sights to wake up to, and not that many better ones. She was very beautiful, after all. The fact that she was an intelligent and compassionate person, and a competent operative, merely compounded that. "Hey, wake up, Harry!"

"I'm awake, I'm awake," I said, shaking my head to try and get rid of the spinning. I got up, finding myself and the others standing amongst the ashes and ruins of that village square. "Shit, I must be more out of shape than I thought. Is everyone okay? Well, everyone who isn't a Majini?"

Chris nodded. "What the hell was that?"

"Fiendfyre," Reynard said, looking shaken. "Perhaps the strongest fire-summoning spell one can use. Certainly one of the hardest to control. The fainting was from his exhausting a significant portion of his magical reserves in a short period."

"Still, you've got less of these guys to deal with," I said, grinning shakily. "I think in future I'll save it for somewhat more powerful foes. I just needed to work out a few issues."

Chris looked me up and down, before asking, "Are we going to have any incidents?"

"Chris, I was left with abusive relatives who kept me in a cupboard under the stairs until I was eleven after my parents were murdered. A man I considered a mentor was shaping me into a weapon, albeit with the best of intentions. And I was targeted by a wizard who would certainly have much to talk about with Wesker. I have a lot of issues, man. It's less a case of 'when am I going to snap', and more of a case of 'who am I going to snap at'."

"Chris…you can trust him," Jill said. "I've seen into his memories. Harry is not a bad person."

"How did you see into his memories?" Sheva asked, curiously.

"Telepathic link, somehow caused by the viruses Wesker pumped into him, and the ones I was infected with thanks to the Nemesis and Wesker," Jill said. "We don't know how, but we're not arguing. It was only thanks to that we could plan an escape."

"I can also use magical means, Legilimency, but that's less linking to another's mind, and more breaking and entering," I said offhandedly. "An old teacher with a grudge mind-raped me repeatedly under the pretext of supposedly teaching me how to protect my mind."

"Snape?" Reynard asked.

"Snape," I agreed. As brave Snape had been to go undercover, I reflected, he was a self-serving twat with no loyalty, save to himself, and probably my mother. Not me, not Dumbledore, and not Voldemort.

Reynard sighed. Then, he said, "I will head out of the Kijuju Autonomous Zone and make contact with the BSAA proper. Your orders are to apprehend Irving. Once Irving is secure, we will need you to stop Wesker from fulfilling his plans. Be careful, though. If the intel from Agent Valentine and Potter are correct, Excella Gionne of Tricell is working with Wesker, and Tricell has a lot of pull with the BSAA and its backers. Bring Excella in alive. As for Wesker…use your discretion."

Which was basically saying, Kill the bastard if you have to. And I knew that that ersatz-Malfoy (although he pulls off being a Malfoy better than any Malfoy) would never be taken alive.

As Reynard left, Chris looked at me. "You ready to keep going?"

"Yeah."

Of course, things were never simple. For one thing, I was involved. The Potter Luck tends to complicate things something fierce. And given what Jill told me about her own adventures involving Umbrella and their little viral menagerie (not to mention those she heard of involving Chris, his sister Claire, and a certain Leon Kennedy), they have not dissimilar luck.

We were told over the radio that Alpha Team was about to move in. We warned them to be wary of Irving, and to use incendiary weapons if they should encounter anything that looked like someone literally opened a can of homicidal black worms. Sadly, despite the warning from Jill and I, the next thing we heard from Alpha Team was panicked screaming and death. And judging by the noises we heard in the background, it sounded like Irving had unleashed an Uroboros monster on them.

We had our own little problems to deal with: more Majini. And even when a lull in them seemed to come in the waves of homicidal pseudo-zombies, it was merely a false calm.

We suddenly saw a young woman with blonde hair and in a black dress burst out of the second storey of a house, and scream at us. "HELP ME! FOR GOD'S SAKE, HELP ME!"

Just as a pair of Majini grabbed her, ready to take her back inside, I used an Accio to get her away from them. Well, in theory. In practise, they went along for the ride. I ended up sprawled underneath the lovely young woman, while the Majini got bullets to the brains.

"Oh, God, what the hell was that?" the woman groaned.

"It's classified," I said, as Chris helped her up. "Are you okay? They didn't force anything down your throat?"

She shook her head. "They were about to. I'm Allyson. Who're you guys?"

"We're with the BSAA. Biohazard Security Assessment Alliance," Sheva said. "Allyson, do you know anything about anyone by the names of Ricardo Irving, Excella Gionne, or Albert Wesker?"

"I know Irving. Annoying little runt. Tried to come on to me in a bar, made himself out to be a big businessman. I don't know the names of the others."

I looked at the others, then at her. "Look, I'll take you to where there should be some others not infected. They'll get you out of this part of Kijuju."

"But how are you going to do that?"

With Apparation.

I Apparated to the butcher's shop, where Reynard and the man they had rescued, who turned out to be called Petero, and a white miner called Adam(4), were just about to get ready to escape the area. Reynard was going to arm them so that they could shoot their way out if they had to.

Four people saved, out of hundreds if not thousands. Then again, Wesker was moving ridiculously fast now.

I left Allyson with the three men to escape, before Apparating back to Jill, Chris, and Sheva. It was Reynard's problem to explain how I could do that.

As I arrived, there was a radio broadcast from Kirk, the leader of this operation. They wanted us to find out what the hell happened to Alpha Team at the 'deal'. We got there quickly enough, but there was the distinctive black oily excretions of an Uroboros monster.

"Stay sharp," Jill said to her former partner and best friend. "If they unleashed an Uroboros creature here…"

Chris and Sheva nodded. We soon found the room with the deal location. More of that oily ooze everywhere, bullet holes, and corpses. One of the men was still alive, but he wouldn't be for long, even with the healing magic I could use.

Chris dashed forward to the man, whom he identified as Dechant. "What the hell happened here?" he asked quietly but urgently. "Who did this, Dechant?"

"Something…attacked us…Irving…he got away…it was a setup…"

"Tricell," I muttered as I tried to use the healing spells anyway. Dechant handed Chris a CD.

Suddenly, we heard a noise from outside, of someone dashing away. Jill rushed to the door, and glared. "It's Irving! He's just taken an elevator down!"

Chris nodded, before looking at Dechant. "…What's on the disc?"

"Data regarding the deal…downloaded from their computer…transmit it to HQ…" Then, Dechant died.

I snarled angrily and stood. "Dammit!"

"Harry…you tried."

"And failed." I ran fingers pensively through my hair.

Chris nodded sympathetically. "I knew him well. Thanks for trying." He then activated the radio. "Kirk, do you copy? We got the data, but Alpha Team has been wiped out by what Jill and Harry are claiming is an Uroboros BOW. Irving's flown the coop."

"Roger that," Kirk replied. "There's a vehicle storage facility nearby, with a computer that should still have an uplink. Upload the data to HQ from there. If you can intercept Irving, do so."

"Copy that," Chris said. "Dechant was saying this is a setup. Any news on the sponsor matter?" That was the code for the investigation into Tricell and Excella, in case of bugging.

"No joy, Redfield. The sponsor is being obtuse, and we need to tread carefully where she is concerned. Contact us when you get to the uplink. Kirk out."

"Didn't think there'd be any news," Jill muttered. "Tricell's too big a part of the consortium that founded the BSAA."

"We'll have to do what we can," Sheva said.

Chris nodded. "Let's move out."

A trip down the elevator, and we were in a furnace area, where the door was locked. And just as we found a key, well, surprise, surprise, we got ambushed.

You see, there were corpses, presumably from Alpha Team, strewn around this basement furnace area. And then, from the ceiling, something very large, very messy, and very malevolent fell down with a wet splat. A mass of gigantic writhing black worms, the metaphorical can of worms opened.

I sent a couple of Incendios at it, even as it began absorbing the corpses, growing stronger, and forming a whole new body. And what was worse was that it was blocking our escape.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Sheva demanded.

"That's what killed Alpha Team!" Jill yelled. "It's an Uroboros creature!"

Even as we began retreating for the furnace, it emitted a triumphant roar as it began to lumber towards us. To it, we were food. Nothing more, nothing less.

And if we weren't careful, we were going to go the same way as Alpha Team…

CHAPTER 3 ANNOTATIONS:

Sorry about the wait. Hope this was worth it.

Review-answering time! Squadpunk 2.0: This Harry is not actually sadistic per se, but he's got issues. Well, more of a subscription, really. He was rather like this before Wesker pumped him full of viruses. He's seen a lot of death both during his Hogwarts years, and his time in Ragnuk, and his sarcasm and flippancy is his way of coping. He wouldn't use Fiendfyre on something other than Majini or something similar though, but there's a bit of a pyromaniac about Harry in this story.

knightblazer85: I'm not doing that, as I have way too much on my plate to do it, but you could ask someone else to do it.

The Fanfic Stealer: Yeah, well, still calling it a genocide. :P

AnthonyR89: It's not for everyone, but it's a bloody good show. Even the classic series will have stories you can enjoy.

1. In the excellent humorous Half-Life machinima series Freeman's Mind, Gordon Freeman yells this as he tries to exit the test chamber just after the Resonance Cascade. This version of Gordon Freeman makes an appearance in my Harry Potter and Portal crossover Is Your Great-Aunt an AI?!

2. 'GARBAGE DAY?!' is a by-now infamous line from what would have been an otherwise obscure horror movie, Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2. I first heard it in the first episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! Season Zero Abridged. As for 'Here's Johnny', it originally came from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, but is perhaps more famous worldwide for being delivered by a gurning Jack Nicholson during the Stanley Kubrick adaptation of The Shining. Little bit of trivia for those of you who haven't read the book: Jack Torrance uses a roque mallet.

3. Harry is of course quoting Patrick McGoohan's famous line from The Prisoner. And considering his character is called Number 6, it's kind of appropriate, given Jill's score.

4. I didn't intend on naming the Kijuju local Harry saved from Las Plagas, but quickly looked up names in Swahili. Petero is Swahili for Peter. Adam, meanwhile, is the writer of a blog used to promote Resident Evil 5, Experience Kijuju. It is here that the blonde woman attacked by the Majini, Allyson, is named.