October 1st 03:10AM
LOCATION: NEST 2 Lab
Jill handed the note to Black Widow, it was addressed to Dr Frank Herman from the recently deceased Dr Nathaniel Bard, she could practically hear the note being spoken in the ass hole Doctors snarky obnoxious voice:
"Please allow me to send my heartfelt congratulations to you and your colleagues at Umbrella Europe for completing Nemesis, a truly remarkable achievement in the field of bioweapon research."
"Introducing a parasitic organism into a Tyrant's brain to gain external control of it? How can I not marvel at such a wild idea! However, from a medical perspective, I must emphatically state my disapproval of this shift away from established Umbrella policy."
"By turning to the use of parasites, you are setting a dangerous precedent. Viruses can be kept in check. I believe any effective vaccine can be developed for any virus on earth (with abundant funding and a bounty of samples of course) can you say the same for parasites, however? Doctors have tried in vain to develop a vaccine for Malaria."
"Parasites like 'Plasmodium' are far more genetically complex then the T-Virus and to think that they will submit to control is utter folly. Perhaps in your country consumers are willing to buy automobiles with no breaks, but here in America they know better."
"Then I recall you have a degree in economics, so no doubt you've already devised a brilliant marketing strategy to win over the nay sayers. I look forward to your talk at the forum in Berlin next month. In the meantime, I shall be exploring medical solutions to this hubristic problem you've foisted on us."
Sincerely, Nathaniel Bard PhD.
Jill felt her body take on a harsh chill 'a Tyrant inflicted with a mind control parasite?' it was connecting the dots-
"That thing, the creature, its called the Nemesis" Jill whispered her thoughts out loud, Natasha nodded.
However, what bothered Black Widow the most was this mention of a mind-controlling parasite 'plasmodium'.
The likes of the Red Room and Hydra had basically written the book when it came down to mind-control, she understood their brutal techniques better than most 'save for Bucky Barnes AKA The Winter Soldier'
The techniques the Red Room had used to warp her mind in her youth had been more psychological and invasive whereas the Winter Soldier had been programmed through a more instantaneous and technological method of brainwashing.
Using a parasite to control the will of others, it all hit too close to home for the Black Widow, her choices- her freewill, everything had been taken from her as a child in the Red Room,
She had burnt the Red Room to the ground when she killed General Dreykov.
Yet here she was, reading research that sounded far too much like Red Room and Hydra ideology 'No, it can't be'
The thought that Hydra or God forbid the Red Room (pre-destruction) had dealings with Umbrella in their research into mind-control made her feel sick-
A terrifying thought crossed her mind 'What if Colonel Vladimir stole Red Room research and sold it to Umbrella?' it would explain the reason why General Dreykov suddenly despised him so much.
"Natasha, are you ok?" Jill asked, the red headed Avenger had gone extremely quite since reading Dr Bard's letter
"I'm fine" it was a clear lie, but Jill supposed they didn't have much time to explore what was really going on in the Black Widow's head
"Come on, we need to get this cure synthesised" Jill nodded, there were so many questions that needed answers, however, Jill Valentine was no stranger to a little detective work-
She hoped that once they were out of this mess that Natasha Romanoff might stick around for a while and together they could wipe Umbrella off the map for good.
Jill recalled that Chris had jetted of to Europe on his own on an Umbrella lead, she hoped that he was ok- because from the details stated in the letter, she could tell that Chris's lead had been on the money.
They start to backtrack the way they came, Natasha attempted to keep her thoughts focused on the now,
"So the Nemesis is a new form of Tyrant imbedded with some sort of Mind-Control parasite" Jill pondered her thoughts out loud,
A killing machine whose will was controlled by another- the irony did not escape Black Widow however, this killing machine lacked an off switch and that was a big problem,
She herself had found that she possessed an uncanny ability to calm the Hulk with the codeword 'Sun's getting real low' being an off switch that she'd been able to eventually train in to him
'There's absolutely NO FUCKING WAY that I'm trying that method with the Nemesis' the thought almost made Natasha laugh.
The note now in her pocket made her think again about Dr Bard,
Had the scientist had any hand in sending it out the Nemesis to assassinate the members of S.T.A.R.S? If not directly doing it then he certainly knew about it-
He wasn't a good person, but still Black Widow would have preferred to have the scientist in custody rather than having him dead- the dead don't answer questions.
They enter back into the large lab containing the Tyrants and Hunters when all of a sudden three of the Hunters crash out of their hibernation tanks,
The labs containment protocols immediately set in- the Computer AI announced "Security breach in lab- initiating lockdown contamination protocols" sealing both of the large hangar doors, locking them inside with the B.O.W's
"For fuck sake!" Jill exclaimed over the loud noise of the alarms, as they went about shooting the extremely volatile Hunters
"Coincidence?" Jill asked Black Widow as she quickly dodged the sharp claws attempting to slice her to ribbons
"I've never believed in coincidences" Natasha responded.
Black Widow fired with both pistols as she quickly notices a weak spot in the creature's anatomy, whilst Jill fired with her Magnum.
As soon as the last Hunter dropped the security containment protocol lifted reopening both hangar doors.
Natasha sighed and looked around, she was certain that they were being watched 'You'll have to try harder than that' she thought to herself as she noticed that the labs security feed was still running, she shot at the security camera.
She wasn't certain if they were being followed through the network of cameras, but she decided not to take the chance.
They quickly make their way back up to the lab with the giant centrifuge to synthesise the cure Natasha took the Antigen and Adjuvant samples out of her pocket and inserted the vials into the chambers on the centrifuge where she started inputting the mixing ratio numbers they needed for a viable cure
"Where'd you learn Microbiology?" Jill sarcastically asked
"Before I came to Raccoon City, obviously" Natasha sarcastically responded with a shrug.
October 1st 03:28AM
The machine made a loud hissing noise as the sample contents were drained into the machine
"Synthesising Vaccine" the computer announced
"Yes" Jill grinned, they were finally one step closer to saving the city and getting the hell out of here,
"Synthesis complete, please remove container"
Natasha took the vial that came out of the machine-
It was the same beautiful vibrant purple colour of the other sample, the one they had administered to Jill earlier.
Natasha smirked as she placed the vial in one of her chest pockets for safe keeping.
Jill suddenly yelled and began shooting her gun,
Natasha quickly whipped around to see that Jill was being held in the air by the Nemesis, it held her neck in a deathly grip with its tentacle, she felt the grip get tighter the more she struggled.
Natasha jumped high into the air grabbing onto Jill's struggling form as Jill attempted to slice the creature's appendage with her knife
"Brace yourself, I apologize in advance!" Natasha yelled as she released an extremely hazardous amount of electricity into the tentacle holding Jill.
The Nemesis roared in pain as her electric bites connected all three of them in a loop of convulsing electric sparks, Jill wasn't sure if she was able to scream, her entire body jolted with hot pain.
Suddenly, the creature furiously threw the both of them across the lab-
They painfully landed on the metal walkway above the Tyrant lab,
"Fuck!" Jill cried out as she regained as sense of feeling again
"Sorry- yeah they really do sting" Natasha quickly checked the condition of the Vaccine vial in her pocket 'Phew all good'
Jill shakenly regained her footing, she felt as if every fibre of her being had been turned into jelly-
"Please- never, ever- EVER use those things on me again!" Natasha laughed, she couldn't make any promises.
Jill quickly ducks into an open vent where Black Widow immediately follows, now all that was left to do here was to track down Carlos and get the hell out of here.
Jill turned her body and kicked open another vent which led out into an open corridor, Jill crawled out first,
"Behind you!" Natasha yelled as she saw the creatures unnatural appendage coming for them again, it wrapped tight around Jill's neck,
Jill fired wildly at the Nemesis, but her bullets had little to no effect on the creature in its animalistic form-
"Persistent Bastard" Natasha hissed as she realised that her guns were next to useless, she suddenly spotted the large canisters next to the creature,
She hoped that whatever was contained inside was combustible.
She fired at the metal cylinders causing the end of the corridor to explode into flames, the Nemesis immediately dropped Jill as the explosion engulfed it-
"Thanks" she breathed to Natasha as Jill quickly got back on her feet and ran to the Avenger,
"RUN!" Natasha yelled as she pushed Jill ahead of her when Black Widow suddenly felt something tighten around her leg,
Next thing she knew the entire floor was knocked from beneath her as the Nemesis pulled her body towards it, she quickly grabbed onto the metal walkway-
"Natasha!" Jill yelled as she watched the Nemesis attempting to pull the Avenger to it, but Natasha held tight onto the metal walkway and with all her upper body strength Natasha began to pull her body in the opposite direction.
Natasha wasn't sure if it was attacking her by mistake- or if the creature had come to its conclusion that it wasn't going to be able to kill its primary target with her in its way, and over her dead body was she going to allow that to happen.
"Come on!" Jill hissed as she fired explosive round after explosive round at the Nemesis whilst Natasha kept painfully pulling herself away.
Suddenly another explosion caused the creature to release its tight grip on Black Widow,
Jill quickly grabbed her hand as they both retreated to the elevator at the end of the corridor before the entire space was overtaken by flames.
They both sighed heavily in the sudden silence,
Jill turned to look at Natasha who tirelessly rubbed her damp face
"When was the last time you slept?" Jill asked,
Black Widow shook her head 'Do I look that awful?' she wondered with a laugh,
Honestly she hadn't really stopped since the outbreak started, but she kept reminding herself that she could keep going, she had to.
"Right- forget I asked" Jill sighed as they exited the elevator and into a room where the could take a quick breather.
Jill sifted through her inventory she was struggling for ammunition, whilst Black Widow wondered where they had ended up, she picked up a note on the table
"Disposal Centre Protocols" Natasha whispered as she read the document quickly;
"This Facility is to be used for the dissolution and disposal of test subjects used in NEST 2 Experiments. The potent solvents used will ensure that any biological matter within the VAT living or dead is completely dissolved and ready for disposal"
"Hmm" Natasha hummed to herself as she read the Disposal Centre Protocols,
At least she now knew how Umbrella destroyed the B.O.W's that were considered defective 'Potent Solvent' had to mean some form of strong acid.
Despite its gory implications Natasha couldn't help but be slightly impressed at the ingenuity that went behind designing such an effective method of B.O.W elimination 'Just fucking throw them all into a giant vat of acid' simple, but thorough.
Black Widow smirked; she could certainly think of something that she wanted dissolved in acid.