RESIDENT EVIL: BASILISK

CHAPTER 4:

OF LUNACY

"We need a plan!" Chris yelled. "Can you use that Fiendfyre in here?"

"Not in a confined space! It's basically superheated plasma with a bad attitude!" I yelled back. "Fire's a good idea, though! I think Wesker bitched about the fact that it was weak against it!"

We ran into the furnace area, and Sheva looked around. "This furnace, can it do the trick?"

"Yeah, but the controls are out here. And I'm guessing they take a while to activate," I muttered. "Looks like someone's going to have to be bait. Lure the damn thing in there, then get the fuck out before they get cooked. Being the mage with the teleportation powers, I volunteer."

"I'll go with you," Sheva said. "If there's too many of us at the control panel, it might try to attack them instead of a single person."

"Sheva, it's too risky!" Chris snapped.

"Chris, we're being attacked by a homicidal BOW. At least with my Apparation, I can get us both out at the last moment." The Uroboros creature burst into the room with a shriek. "Moot point. Boring conversation anyway!"

Sheva and I dashed over near the Uroboros creature. I spotted some gas canisters. "Sheva, when I entangle that canister into the creature, shoot it!"

Sheva nodded, and I used a Wingardium Leviosa to dangle the canister in front of the creature. It promptly, and stupidly, absorbed it. We backed away a little, before firing at the canister. Gas shot out, and ignited in a ball of flame, sending us all sprawling to the floor, and causing the creature to scream.

Sheva helped me up. "Come on!" she yelled.

We scrambled into the furnace, the Uroboros creature loping behind us, realising we had hurt it, and hurt it badly. And it wanted revenge, on some animalistic level. "Incendio! Incendio!" I yelled, firing spells at it to goad it onwards. "COME ON YOU STUPID OVERSIZED CAN OF WORMS! DON'T YOU WANT YOUR DINNER? YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO WORK FOR IT!"

Harry, Jill sent to me, try not to piss it off any more than you have to!

I'm fine! It's going to be… A tentacle sent me sprawling, putting the lie to my assurances. It loomed over me, ready to smash me into pulp, or perhaps make me into the impromptu star of an Uroboros-style tentacle hentai.

Sheva dragged me away. "Chris, do it now!" she yelled.

"No! He's dazed, he might not be able to do it!" Chris yelled back.

I shook my head, and yelled, "Chris, just do it!"

Alarms rang out, and the doors began shutting. As the Uroboros loomed over Sheva and I, ready to kill us both, I flipped it off, and said, "See ya, wouldn't want to be ya!" And then, I Apparated, bringing Sheva with me.

Sheva helped me up to my feet, and I shook my head to get rid of the dizziness. Beyond the doors, we heard the dying screech of the Uroboros creature as it got cooked. Chris glared at me. "That was reckless."

"That was Gryffindor," I retorted, but he had a point. I knew he was flashing back to the time when Jill sacrificed herself to save Chris from Wesker, a sacrifice Chris thought had ended with her death. I tapped the side of my head. "The viruses Wesker pumped me and Jill full of do wonders for brain injuries. Concussions go away in seconds. Believe me, I've done stupider things against bigger monsters than that."

"Like what?" Chris demanded.

"My codename in Ragnuk is Basilisk," I said. "It was partly because I killed one when I was twelve. Think the biggest, most deadliest snake you can imagine."

Chris and Jill looked at each other, before they looked at me. "Harry, we fought a pretty big snake at the Spencer Mansion," Jill said. Over the mental link, she sent a memory image of a pretty big snake. Seriously, I was surprised they won against such a thing. Then again, Jill took on the Nemesis creature and won. I whistled, before sending back an image of the Basilisk, albeit once its eyes got pecked out by Fawkes.

As Jill gaped, I said, "The poison is almost completely lethal. As far as I know, only Phoenix tears are the cure. But the thing about it is, if you make direct eye contact with it, you're dead. Even indirect eye contact will petrify you." I would have rolled up my sleeve and showed them where it bit me, but in a skintight battlesuit, it's a touch difficult. "I, rather stupidly in hindsight, took on that thing alone and won to save the sister of a friend, although I got bitten into the bargain. My meddling old fart of a headmaster's Phoenix saved me, thankfully."

"At twelve," Sheva murmured. "That sounds like sheer lunacy."

"I'm not arguing with you Sheva. I wouldn't be surprised if the aforementioned meddlesome headmaster wanted to shape me into a weapon. He left me with abusive relatives deliberately after all, for my own protection from my enemies. Don't get me wrong, I think he had the best intentions. But you know what the road to hell is paved with."

"You said that earlier, about your mentor. Harry…I trust your skills, I'm just worried about your judgement," Chris said. "If you had been too concussed, the Uroboros creature might have killed you, or else you might have been trapped there in the furnace when it was activated. Sheva might have died with you."

"Fair enough," I said. "Sometimes…I'm not so sure I care about my own life. But I promise, I'll avoid endangering anyone else with my actions."

Now, you would think that I would have gotten angry at Chris for his remarks. To tell the truth, I was far more angry at myself, though I didn't show it. I had nearly gotten Sheva killed. Not only that, but as I said, Chris was probably having flashbacks to the castle Spencer was holed up in, when Jill tackled Wesker out of a window down into a ravine.

It was true, what I said. I did have a self-preservation instinct, just a stunted one. Dumbledore, after all, shaped me up to sacrifice myself to get rid of the Horcrux, even if he hoped that I would survive the experience. Chris was right to be worried about my judgement. The fact that Bill had died in front of my eyes thanks to Wesker didn't help. I wasn't sure I wanted to face Fleur afterwards.

Had they already notified the others about Bill's death? Had they received admittedly premature news of my own demise? Then again, the way I was going, it may not be so premature yet.

We made our way to an elevator, and after emerging into a garage, Chris went over to a car and began uploading the data. Jill went over to him, while Sheva stayed with me. "Harry…thank you anyway," she said.

I turned to her, and smiled, a little shakily. "Thanks. But…Chris is right. I risked your life as well as mine."

"I had faith in you," Sheva said.

I chuckled bitterly. "Too many people had faith in me. Too many of them died."

"You're not the only one who has lost loved ones," Sheva said quietly. "My parents died thanks to an accident in an Umbrella factory they ran. I later learned BOWs were released in that factory."

I nodded. "I'm sorry for your loss. I never knew my parents. Voldemort murdered them when I was only one. My survival when nobody else survived that damned spell made me famous. I never wanted that fame. Too many people looked up to me as a messiah…or down on me as being, supposedly, a spoilt attention whore."

"In short, you had all these different opinions about you," Chris said from where he was uploading the data. "And those who looked up to you died."

"Not all of them. But too many."

Chris nodded. "You feel their deaths."

"A good friend of mine told me so many times, I have a saving people thing. I take it personally when I can't."

Chris nodded again, and indicated Jill. "I took it very personally when I thought Jill had died. And Jill was only the latest."

"Like the Spencer Mansion," Jill said. "Only Becky, Barry, Brad, and the two of us got out alive. Well, unless you count Wesker."

"I don't," Chris said. "He's a dead man walking. Standing orders are that he is too dangerous to be taken alive."

I nodded, before saying, "Chris…I'm sorry I reminded you of what happened with Jill and Wesker at that castle." As he looked at me sharply, I said, "That's part of the reason you were stroppy with me, right?"

After a moment, Chris nodded in acknowledgement. "Anyway, I need to contact HQ." He activated his radio. "HQ, do you copy? Did you get the data?"

"This is HQ. We copy. Excellent work out there. We're starting to analyse the data. Reynard has arrived with the civilians. What's the status of the town?"

"The abridged version? It's gone to hell. Virtually everyone left here are Las Plagas infectees. What's worse is that we had an encounter with an Uroboros BOW. It wiped out Alpha Team, and we barely managed to destroy it ourselves. We're lucky to still be breathing."

Sheva nodded. "Our transport's gone too. Requesting a mission update."

"The mission stands." As the four of us looked at each other in shock, HQ said, "Capturing Irving is still the top priority. So too is eliminating Wesker, and arresting the rogue sponsor. Irving is believed to have fled to the mines on the other side of the train station."

Jill frowned. "HQ, there's only the four of us. Alpha Team are no more. Is there any back-up?"

"Delta Team have been dispatched and are on their way, Agent Valentine. In addition, a BOW expert has been dispatched. Basilisk, I believe you may be familiar with her."

"Her? I didn't know anyone in the BSAA. Not until I met Jill, anyway," I said, puzzled.

"She's a relatively new recruit, but she's a rising star. This is her first field assignment, but given the circumstances, we felt someone with a magical background and knowledge of your methods may help. She volunteered once she heard of your being here in Kijuju. She told me to tell you 'Wit without measure is humanity's greatest treasure'."

My eyes widened. Could it be…? "You know her?" Chris asked.

I pursed my lips. "If it's who I think it is…well, you think I'm crazy? You ain't seen nothing yet."

Chris frowned. "I think I know who you're talking about."

"She'll be with Delta Team. You'd better get a move-on. We can't afford for Irving to get away. Proceed to the mines beyond the station. Over and out."

Sheva scowled. "This is lunacy."

"Ever get the feeling you're expendable?" Chris asked.

"All the time," I snarked back. "It's called being outnumbered by homicidal monsters."

We pushed on for a while. Between Las Plagas-mutated dogs, Majini driving a truck, and now Plagas creatures that could fly like the mutant offspring of facehuggers and bats, we had a bit of a hard time. It was alleviated when Kirk Mathison in a handy chopper came in and picked off the Majini in a seaside marketplace and port area, but shortly thereafter, we saw the chopper being attacked by the flying Plagas creatures. And soon, we got news we were dreading: the helicopter had been downed.

Our problems hadn't gone away either by a long shot. We got confronted with a huge fucking Majini with a chainsaw. And I was beginning to flag, my magical reserves beginning to run dry, along with the ammo reserves of my comrades.

We eventually made it to that crash site. The helicopter was ablaze. Worse, Kirk had been pulled from the wreckage, and whether alive or dead, was shoved onto a pyre of tyres.

Before we could do much more than gape in horror at the sight, a motorcycle, driven by a belligerent Majini, revved up. He lashed out with a chain. I shoved Sheva out of the way, only to end up going for a ride myself, the chain wrapped around my ankle.

Now, I'd like to say that I did some brilliant spellcasting and got out of it, but the truth is, it was only Sheva's sharpshooting that severed the chain before any real damage could be done. I got to my feet rather shakily (try being dragged along the ground at speed involuntarily, see how you like it), and watched as the Majini, frustrated at my escape, snarled, his face peeling back like the petal of a flower for emphasis.

As a rebuttal, I sent a wandless Reducto spell at his head, turning it into pulp. He slumped down, as I used a wandless Accio to get my wand, dropped when I went for a ride. But more motorbikes came flying from the surrounding areas, landing, Majini snarling at us belligerently. Chris and Jill had to dodge one lot, and Sheva and I another.

Suddenly, a gunshot, and one of the Majini's heads exploded. Most of the Majini were shot, but then, one got hit with something very familiar. A Body-Bind curse. The Majini looked distinctly unhappy at that, but then again, are they ever happy? I think not.

Then, with the distinctive crack! of Apparation, an extraordinary figure appeared in front of me. Dressed in jeans and a shirt, with a mokeskin pouch at her belt. Blonde hair and wide, pale eyes looked at me. Then, she threw her arms around me, and laughed. "Oh, it is you! It IS you! Harry, you have no idea how much you made people worry back home!"

"Yeah. Well, I'm okay more or less now."

"No, not yet. But you may be," she said. She then sniffed. "Ooh, you have viruses in you. Nice bouquet." She then sniffed Jill. "Ooh, similar smell. Nice. Better than the smell of zombies or Las Plagas."

"Umm, who are you?" Jill asked.

"I'll introduce her," Chris said. "I only met her a few times, but she makes quite the impression. Sheva, Jill, this is Agent Luna Lovegood, a BOW expert. And, it seems, a friend of Harry's."

"You can say that again," I remarked. For the first time in what felt like a very long time, a friendly face. And Luna turned to me, and smiled, not that ditzy little smile, but a wonderful smile of relief.

I just had to hope that she hadn't just gotten herself killed by coming here…

CHAPTER 4 ANNOTATIONS:

Luna's in the house, and Harry's struggling with his demons.

The pairing will still be Harry/Sheva. But Harry and Luna have had a bit of history. Since the break-up with Ginny, they had a 'friends with benefits' relationship for a time, until Harry joined Ragnuk. Details in the next chapter.

Review-answering time! jonesy757: Harry'll use a gun or a knife if he needs to. And as funny as that is, Harry and Jill's link is not active all the time. They have to consciously activate it. That being said, I might write in a scene to that effect.

No numbered annotations this time.