Chapter Eight: Killer Queen


The sound of footfalls repeating over the metal walkway were drowned out by the heavy sloshing of sewage-filled water, and the furious, snarling, hiss-like roar of a hungry beast, which morphed into a ravenous roar. The dirty sewage waste splashed wildly through the air as the enormously scaled body of the ravenous monster chased the coated form of the federal agent known only as Ada Wong before leaping through the air, its long jaws snapping open, and missing her by scant inches.

The rows of its dirty, stained teeth instead crunched down on the railway she was running across. The massive beast, a huge, dark-scaled alligator grown to titanic and impossible proportions, collapsed back into the sewage water, sending waves of filth splashing about as it spat out the ruined metal, hissing as its bright green eyes found the woman once more, its long body resuming slinking through the dirty sludge after her.

Ada's eyes, hidden under her dark sunglasses, remained focused on the path ahead, her small sidearm drawn and gripped tightly in her right hand. While the Broom Hc was light, easy to conceal, and perfect for dispatching infected viral carriers - human or otherwise - the small bullets had bounced uselessly off of the gargantuan form of the infected alligator she had the unfortunate luck of stumbling across once she reached a deeper network of sluices under Raccoon City.

As she had passed through the upper pipeline passages, the whole area had shook twice, the tremors feeling like a small earthquake... That was, until she had spotted something among the piles of garbage and waste slither away, taking a good portion of the mound of trash it had been hidden under and itself deeper into the shadows, an ungodly growl warning anything too close to get away, and fast. Ada had ignored that warning, figuring the upper walkways she would use to venture further would keep her from the creature's reach, and well out of harm's way.

So much for that idea... her mind bitingly seethed as she continued running ahead, ignoring the sounds of splashing and of the metal pathway just a few precious feet behind her crumpling under the powerful bite of the viral alligator.

She was almost to the junction that would take her to an elevator deeper into the sewers, closer to her goal. But the titanic reptile was hot on her heels, and incessantly persistent, unwilling to let up until her warm flesh was in its gullet...

A set of stairs was just ahead, leading down to the next walkway that would take her to her destination. If she lived long enough to get to them, that is. Behind her, the agent could hear the sounds of the alligator splashing through the sewage increase in tempo, and could imagine the beast charging forth, its jaws opening wide to swallow her whole-

She reached the stairs, but instead of starting to descend them, she jumped, sailing down onto the next walkway with a loud *clang,* the woman tucking herself into a tight ball, and rolling with the impact. Behind her, a wave of sewer water gushed down a steep incline as the mutant alligator leapt after its meal, jaws open... and crunching down on a large gas fuel canister built just above the slope. The beast bit down into the tube, small lines of flame issuing out of the breached steel, the hiss of gas undertone to the creature's angry snarls and growls.

Rising back up with her arms crossed, Ada couldn't resist the pleased smirk that formed on her lips. Even through her sunglasses and the heavy darkness in the sewer passage, she easily recognized the familiar bright yellow and red warning painted across the fuel canister. Raising her arms out, gripping her pistol with both hands, she lined her shot while her hidden gaze met one of the alligator's beady green eyes.

A single loud *BAM,* followed by a softer *tink* of metal striking metal-

Both drowned out by the thunderous blast of the exploding gas line. Flaming shrapnel struck the brick and mortar walls of the sewer passage, a few patches of waste catching light as well, while the long body of the virally-infected alligator, now missing the entirety of its long snout and head, slid slowly down the incline, a waterfall of dark blood and bits of scaled flesh following it.

Lowering her weapon, the dark-haired female gave the beast one final look over before saying, "Chew on that, you overgrown gecko."

Satisfied, she holstered her Mauser, and made for the entrance to the passageway that would take her to the elevator she needed to get closer to her target. Before moving on, she paused, glancing down at her feet, raising her right, then her left, checking the long heels of her pumps to make sure one of them hadn't snapped off. Satisfied, she looked back, and as she did, happened to glance at the creature's remains one last time, noting with impression that the dead reptile's body and tail were so long, it was unable to properly slide all the way down to the bottom of the sewer line below.

She had been warned of the t-Strain's adverse effects on potential local fauna, but aside from a few aggressive dogs and the occasional skinless mutations - Lickers, she remembered, the name coming from an officer's report calling them as such - she had not been overly impressed by the virus's effects. While the alligator had definitely benefited from t's unusual ability to increase a subject's size, its choice of habitat had limited its ability to hunt effectively. And while she wasn't a scientist, the agent would imagine even Umbrella's researchers would have been disappointed to see how easily dispatched the beast was by a comparatively small explosion.

A part of her wondered how such an animal had even found its way down here in the first place, but she wasn't getting to paid to find that out, and it didn't matter anyway. It was dead, and she was on the clock.

Stepping into the new corridor - the air staler, but no longer suffocating and oversaturated with the stench of sewage waste, letting her breathe easier - Wong turned the next corner, and began following the line of electric lights fixed into the walls. If she remembered her layout brief right, she was approaching the lift that would take her to the basement levels of Raccoon City's sewers, where the city officials worked... and where Umbrella had set up a cable car transport to their NEST facility for their staff, built deep underneath the metropolis in a limestone cavern that had been discovered before the initial construction began.

With any luck, I won't even need to go to the NEST. Annette's probably scrounging around somewhere down here... she thought to herself.

One could only hope. While she didn't want to complain, what was supposed to have been an easy job had turned into quite the colossal headache.

The woman rounded the last corner, and was greeted with the sight of the elevator, the gate already opened and waiting for her. Stepping inside, she pressed the only button, prompting the gate to close shut, and the cart to shudder to life, beginning its descent down for the basement levels. Having found a rare moment to think to herself, Ada leaned against one of the cart's walls, rolling her neck and shoulders with a sigh, her mind wandering.

Her original plan had been simple enough: Feed intel to the reporter about Irons's corruption. Have him drill Annette for information on her husband's new viral agent. And once Bertolucci found something useful, preferably the location of Birkin's samples, she would give him Irons's financial records as payment. Ben would get his exposé, and Ada would get a sample of the new G-Virus strain.

Information on the new virus was scarce, with only word of mouth to go on from what few people who knew anything about it had to say; emphasis on few. Umbrella wasn't risking any leaks. Anyone who worked on the G Project and left had simply vanished. If she had to guess where, they were more than likely shipped off to another Umbrella research facility... as Test Subject A, B, or C.

What was confirmed was that it had a higher mutation strength than the t-Strain, and that, once finished, it could create bio-weapons that made everything produced by the t-Virus obsolete in comparison.

Ada's mission was simple: Retrieve G-Virus sample.

The agent scoffed to herself.

Simple. Right.

That had been back when it was just a snatch job. Now? Now, it was anything but simple, the t-Virus outbreak having complicated matters as thoroughly as it had infected Raccoon's unlucky populace.

Ada had arrived in Raccoon City a day or so before the city had become completely sealed off, and much of her time afterwards had been spent searching for Ben in the hopes that he would have had any new information to give to her. Unfortunately for her, and even more so for Ben, one of Umbrella's cleaners had gotten to him first. She had only really looked at his body once, but she could still see his crushed, bloody skull and dislodged eye in her mind's eye...

She shook that thought off. Ben was dead. Unfortunate, but also not a total loss, and a complete waste of time. The man had failed to come through with anything new or useful to her mission. And now here she was, scrambling to catch up to Annette Birkin, the only other lead left to a G-Virus sample.

Annette wasn't the creator of the G-Strain, of course. That honor belonged to her husband: Umbrella's golden boy and top scientist, William Birkin. Ada recalled skimming through the file created by her contact and supplier. He had apparently known William for almost two decades, and the file was sound and informative. She knew Birkin was a genius based on his accomplishments through research of Umbrella's Progenitor and t-Virus strains, and the creator of several of their more successful B.O.W.s.

Birkin was also a very clear narcissistic sociopath, based on how many people he had sacrificed in the name of his research. But the male Birkin was a dead-end. He had vanished in late September, though no effort had been made to locate him once the disaster in Raccoon became too prominent to ignore.

Wong cocked her head in thought as the elevator continued its descent. Her mission handler had seen the outbreak in the city as their chance to seize a G-sample, but much like with the whereabouts of the husband Birkin, no real effort had been made to discover the source of the outbreak, save for possible contamination into the city's drinking water. Another factor that made William's disappearance so strange was that recovered email files had detailed his near completion of the G-Strain. From what she had read on the doctor's file, once the G-Virus had been completed and turned over to Umbrella, he would have become a member of the board of directors, which was one of the highest positions within the company, under Old Man Spencer himself.

The woman rubbed her chin, her thoughts continuing to sift through the pieces of the puzzle that was the scientist's disappearance. Could Umbrella have eliminated him? It didn't seem likely. The man was a genius, and he had been with the company for over twenty years. Killing your top scientist was bad for business, especially after the S.T.A.R.S. disaster in July. Umbrella had lost two facilities in as many days, hundreds of millions of dollars in equipment, workers, and specimens gone in two massive explosions. Losing Birkin would have just made the situation that much worse for them.

But now, this disaster in Raccoon City?... This was the big one. There would be no recovering from this. The Umbrella would fold for good.

Still, the most important question remained: Was this outbreak an accident... or intentional?

The cart shook softly as it reached its destination, coming to a stop before the gated door slid open automatically. Glancing at the open doorway, the agent pushed herself off the wall, striding out into the new basement level, noting the various pipes and power boxes affixed to the walls. As she did, she internally reached a conclusion to her earlier thoughts.

It doesn't matter. None of it does. My job is to find the sample, and get out. Not play detective.

It wasn't a happy reminder, but one she needed. The outbreak had claimed thousands of lives, but there was nothing she could do about it. All that mattered was finishing the job, and then getting out alive.

Spotting another doorway just ahead to her left, and down a small set of steps a little ways ahead of that, Ada advanced onward, absently drawing her small sidearm as she did. Arriving at the iron barred door, the woman nudged it open with the barrel of her Broom, her hidden eyes scanning for any trace of movements. Asides from a small table with various items strewn atop it, as well as other objects littering the room, there was nothing inside.

Pushing the door open entirely and stepping inside, the agent glanced back over her shoulder into the previous room. There was, of course, nothing in there, but you didn't last long in this field of work without a little proper paranoia. She always ran her jobs solo, confident in her skills and abilities to handle herself safely, but having someone to watch your back in a kill zone like Raccoon City wouldn't have been too much of a hassle.

Like that blabbermouth I ran into in the parking deck. He seemed to know how to handle a gun... and a sword, oddly enough. Certainly would've been useful as alligator bait. That dark thought almost made her smirk and chuckle, but she kept her face neutral, and fought the humor down.

That guy - Tony Redgrave, she recalled - had been a strange one, indeed, carrying a sword as long as he was into this living horror flick. Yet she had seen him moments before mocking an undead dog, and smacking it aside with said weapon with all the finesse of a baseball player at pitch nailing a home run. His chattiness and prying questions aside, she wouldn't have minded having him watching her back down here.

But he had declined her offer, opting instead to go find his missing girlfriend, who was supposedly somewhere back in the police station. It was such a shame. They both were probably long dead by now, especially if she was right about just what exactly Ben's killer had been.

Shaking the thoughts off, she ventured further into the room, approaching the next door on the other end. Ada pushed it open, listening to the rusty hinges squeak in protest... and a woman's voice murmuring softly just under it.

"Definitely William's handiwork..."

The agent recognized the voice instantly. Her body reacted automatically, shoving the door all the way open, and charging out. She drew out her handgun, holding it out with both hands, tightly grasping the handle as her hidden eyes found her target, the barrel of the weapon leveling out a second later. There, crouched on the floor by the body of a zombie, was her target.

"Annette Birkin."

At the sound of her name, the older blonde woman glanced away from the body she was observing, turning her tired blue-green eyes to Ada's hidden ones, before returning her gaze back to the corpse, indifferent to the intruder. The other female kept her handgun drawn on the scientist, noting how dirty and tattered her disheveled blonde hair looked, as well as the stains along her white lab coat and gray blouse, her jeans caked with splashes of blood and dirty sewage water as well. She was a long ways away from her clean and sterile lab, but that was fortunate for Ada. It had saved her the trouble of tracking her down any further.

"Not much time..." the researcher mumbled to herself as she rose back up, her eyes never wavering from the zombie's body.

The armed woman chanced a glance from behind her shades. She wasn't sure why Annette was so preoccupied with this particular undead. It didn't look any different from the other ghouls in the city above, their clothes bloodstained, their flesh gray and rotting, though there were strange scratches around the bloody lips, along with a few thin black lines of a fluid too dark to be blood leaking from the corners as well.

"Need to dispose of it..." she stated aloud, her voice snapping Ada out of her thoughts.

She couldn't afford to lose her train of thought. Not at this juncture. Her target was less than ten feet away, and potentially the only person left alive in Raccoon City who knew where the G-Virus samples were.

"I'm here for the G-Virus!" she declared, making her intentions clear.

That seemed to catch the female scientist's attention. She looked over to the agent, her expression one of disbelief, before scoffing mockingly, sneering back at her and her weapon, seemingly unafraid. But Ada saw a flicker in the other woman's eyes. One she knew all too well.

Panic.

"That's not gonna happen," Birkin retorted, her cocky smirk betraying the fear Wong knew she had to be feeling.

The agent took a single step forward, her handgun held steady, and aimed to put a bullet between the lady's eyes at a moment's notice. "I'm warning you, doctor."

And it was the only one she would get.

Once again, the scientist scoffed.

"Oh yeah?" she challenged, while her right hand discreetly slipped into her jean's pocket. A second later, a soft *clink* sounded, breaking the tense silence.

Ada blinked, recognizing the sound of a lighter igniting. Then she realized there was another smell under the stench of the rotting body of the zombie, this one also very familiar.

Gasoline.

Before she could react, Annette tossed the burning lighter at the corpse, the body igniting almost instantly, consumed in bright yellow and orange flames. Unable to help herself, the younger woman's gaze snapped towards the now ignited corpse, and Birkin seized her chance, quickly twisting around, and fleeing down a corridor to her right. Collecting herself and hissing a curse under her breath, Wong gave chase, arriving at the junction in a quick dash-

*BAM!* *BAM!*

Two gunshots, one after another, missed the agent by bare inches. Exclaiming a curse, Ada flung herself across the floor as another bullet flew overhead, passing her by precious centimeters. As she landed harshly on the cement floor, her sunglasses flew off, vanishing into the heavy shadows on the ground.

Down the corridor she had fled to, Annette Birkin lowered her smoking handgun, and dashed through the gap in the huge, closing gated door, her eyes flashing manically as she screamed, "You'll never get the G-Virus!"

Snapping back up, her jaw grinding down in fury over her reckless chase after the woman scientist, Ada Wong squeezed off two shots of her own, but by then, the huge door was almost fully closed, the rounds bouncing off of its solid steel surface uselessly. Running up to the door, the female agent was infuriated to see no visible means of reopening it, cutting her off from the Birkin woman. Slipping her sidearm back into its holster, she glared at the door, resisting the urge to slam her fist or foot against the strong metal surface.

"Shit!" she hissed, which satisfied her anger, if only for the moment. Turning back, she moved back for the junction where the smoldering body of the zombie lay while murmuring, "Didn't expect that from a scientist..."

She could only hope to find another means of following her target on the other side-

-when she stopped, her brown eyes falling on the sizzling body of the zombie. At first, she thought Annette's pyrotechnics on the corpse had woken it back up, like a few of the viral carriers she had encountered in the police station that had a habit of 'playing dead.' The corpse's torso was jerking and twitching as the body burned, but the limbs only shifted slightly in response to the body's movements.

Ada blinked. Wait, did that mean... there was something inside the body?

Her answer made itself known a moment later. The abdomen of the carrier's corpse burst in a small splatter of coagulated blood, as something weakly struggled to pull itself free from the body. The woman actually found herself flinching back a step as she watched whatever it was, as black and burned as the corpse that served as its host, slowly ceased its struggles, a weak high-pitch cry emitting from it before it went still, only halfway jutting out of the smoldering body.

For a moment, she simply stared at the strange burnt creature, her mind racing, grasping to understand what it was exactly.

Some new kind of new B.O.W. parasite? That can't be... Umbrella's French division is the only facility working on anything like that, and those are brain parasites. This thing's too big, and in the wrong part of the body... So what the hell is it?

She took a step closer to the limp corpse, studying the charred parasite for another moment before looking back at the closed vault door the doctor had fled through.

Definitely William's handiwork...

Annette had mumbled those words while observing the body before lighting it afire, presumably to dispose of the corpse. But now she understood that the doctor had really been trying to prevent this thing from being 'born,' so to speak. Still, 'William's handiwork' kept floating in her mind, Ada narrowing her gaze in thought.

Could these parasites be linked to the outbreak in some way?... Could Birkin be responsible for all of this?

It was a definite possibility. Some of the hacked emails recovered from the good doctor's private account had the man expressing his frustrations with the sudden pressure from the top of the company, seemingly demanding Birkin's new synthesis so they could market it, hoping to use the sales to recover from the financial losses of the Spencer Mansion Incident. Unsurprisingly, William was also a perfectionist, and his rants in his email files repeatedly stated he would only turn his G-Virus over once he felt is was truly completed, and under the condition he receive full credit for the project.

In that sense, Ada could almost understand. Birkin had sunk almost a decade of his life into the G-Virus Project; a significant amount of time he would never get back. And if he knew Umbrella was trying to screw him over... Would he have let Raccoon City descend into pandemonium to escape with what he felt was rightfully his?

Before she could give it any more thought, a gentle series of soft *beeps* sounded from the inside of her coat. The woman's eyes flickered down, her right hand slipping inside one of her coat's interior pockets. A second later, she produced a compact handheld radio: a more advanced model of anything available on the commercial market, and perhaps a few years ahead of most military types as well. Even several hundred feet underground, through miles of concrete, asphalt, lead, and other layers of stone and metal capable of blocking out radio transmissions, this one would always sync up with her contact.

Ada held the radio close to her face, just a little ways away from her ear. From the speaker box of the radio, a deep, cultured voice spoke.

"Report."

"I'm right outside the facility, in pursuit of Annette," was her response after hitting the transmit button.

She hadn't worked with this contact on many jobs before... but just picturing the man in his dark business suit, eyes hidden behind those ever-present sunglasses, was enough to make her tense up. There were very few people in this line of work who could inspire such a feeling inside her... but he was one of them.

Releasing the transmit switch, she held the radio closer to her ear, waiting.

"Can you confirm she has the sample?"

"If it's not on her, it must be in the NEST," Ada answered, glancing at the burned carrier's body once again, her eyes falling on the cooked parasite hanging out of its guts as she waited for a response.

"The clock is ticking. Our window is closing."

Yeah, no shit, she scathingly thought, but bit her tongue.

Mouthing off to this man was tantamount to suicide, but he was right. The U.S. government wasn't sitting on their hands while she scrambled to recover the sample. Sooner or later, they would have to act to contain the outbreak, and that meant only one thing.

Sterilization.

"Once it's in hand, I'll call for extraction," she assured the voice over the radio.

It wasn't much of a placation, but it seemed to satisfy him. The little blue light on the radio ceased glowing, indicating the transmission had ended.

Feeling the tension ease out of her body, Ada lowered the radio, slipping it back inside her coat, once more looking at the parasitized body of the carrier, her thoughts returning to her earlier line of questioning over who exactly was responsible for unleashing the t-Virus on Raccoon's unsuspecting populace. Then she looked away, casting the question aside. There would be time to ponder it later, if there was a later. Right now she had a job to do.

And like the man had said, the clock was ticking.

"You can run, Annette, but you can't hide," she murmured aloud as she stormed down the last corridor in the hallway, her eyes falling on a peculiar sight. A long service ladder was underneath a large hydraulic fan, and behind the fan was an access shaft to the next area of the sewage management plant.

Perhaps it wouldn't take her directly to her quarry, but it would get her closer to the scientist all the same. Still, there was now the new problem of getting around said hydraulic fan, which, even off as it currently was, was still too large to just squeeze through. The agent's brown eyes scanned the wall to her right, noting a small locked electronic panel.

With a smirk, she reached under coat, and into a second, smaller holster under her Mauser. From it, she produced what resembled a handgun grip, with a small, blue-lensed end, and a digital readout on the side.

"Secret weapon time," Ada declared as she aligned the end of the 'EMF Visualizer' the techs had labeled the small device as.

Its primary purpose was discovering an electronic device's main power source, and as she gently squeezed down on the trigger of the device, the panel it was pointed it at came to life with a few beeps. A second later, the hydraulic fan above her began spinning to life. Still smirking, the agent squeezed tighter down on the Visualizer's trigger.

The effects of the device became apparent as the panel began to smoke and spark, while the fan it was connected to began to spin faster, faster, and faster, until finally-

*BOOM!*

Stepping back to avoid the worst of the exploding metal and shrapnel, Ada holstered the Visualizer while moving towards the ladder, declaring, "Candy from a baby."

The main purpose of the EMF Visualizer was to find the power source of any electronic device, hack into it, then overload its circuits. So far in Raccoon, she hadn't had any real chance to use it, but that was about to change. She recalled the warning from the tech boys that it wouldn't work on every electronic device, and there was a distinct possibility that any tech in the NEST may be shielded from electronic overloads.

Still, she wouldn't even need to go to the NEST if she caught up with her target, and retrieved the G-sample from her.

Climbing up the ladder, Ada arrived in the large access shaft, and began striding through it quickly, arriving at the end in no time, before noting with disgust a swarm of overgrown cockroaches flickering about around the single light bulb hanging over a second hydraulic fan. Wrinkling her nose and resisting the urge to flinch away from the disgusting insects, the woman drew the EMF Visualizer back out, and peered through its small sight.

The world turned partially blue and somewhat see-through through the dirty metal walls, and the agent quickly found the power line connecting the fan to its power source: another electronic panel down and further along the wall of the room it was overlooking. A tight squeeze on the device's trigger sent the fan spinning to life, blowing the unlucky roaches next to it away, a few of the disgusting things torn to shreds once the fan blades they had been crawling along spun rapidly to life.

Stepping back, the woman increased the power flowing into the fan, making it explode in short order like its sibling, the shrapnel expelling itself into the next room instead of anywhere near her, thankfully. Holstering the Visualizer, the pursuer peered down into the new room, noting nothing of importance save a lone table, and the body of a sewer worker in dark coveralls laying in the corner near the only door. Crouching, then hopping down in short order, no sooner had she landed did the body groan hungrily, the corpse's pale, noseless, bloody face turning up towards the sound of the noise.

Without even acknowledging the body so much as a proper look, the agent drew her sidearm, and squeezed the trigger twice, one bullet finding the hole where the carrier's nose had been, the other through one of its bloodshot eyes. The body promptly went still without another sound. Ejecting her handgun's clip as she strode towards the door, she counted a single round left, quickly chambering it before ejecting the empty clip to slap a fresh one in.

When she had first arrived in Raccoon, she had only brought three clips of ammunition with her, later looting the bodies of any dead officer she had come across for more ammo, so that was no longer any concern of hers, though she still tried to sneak around any virus carriers she'd happen to come across. They were slow and dumb, the t-Virus only reviving the parts of the brain that needed to move and feed. So long as you avoided them in large numbers and/or getting cornered, they were easy enough to elude without wasting ammunition.

Shoving the door open, Ada had arrived in the main power room of the treatment plant, specifically a long metal railway a floor above it. Keeping her Mauser drawn and at her side, she quickly moved along the pathway, finding a descending set of stairs to her right. Moving down them quickly, the woman's eyes shot up when she heard a virus carrier snarling somewhere in the heavy shadows, but near enough to get her moving just a bit faster.

She had no idea how many were down here, and the darkness in the many corners were too thick and too deep to risk venturing into. Thankfully, there was a service lift just to her left-

"Are you kidding me?" she murmured to herself upon seeing the power light was a bright red, indicating there was not enough power for the lift to function.

Behind her, another hungry groan echoed, followed by shuffling footsteps. With an annoyed sign, the armed woman quickly ran ahead, but her movement came to an abrupt halt when she saw another virus carrier ahead of her: a rather tall and heavyset one. A civilian, if their bloodstained clothes were anything to go by.

Back where she came from, the shuffling footsteps were getting closer, as was the wave of an awful stench that was a body in the stages of heavy decomposition. Acting fast, Ada drew up her handgun, holding the grip with both hands, and squeezed off a single shot, nailing the approaching zombie directly on the forehead in both a brief flash of fire and a splatter of blood. The ghoul stumbled back, giving her the perfect chance to dash ahead of it, though she quickly cursed under her breath when she didn't hear it fall down. It only groaned, and began staggering after her, joined by the one that had been coming from behind.

Not a problem. Just need to get ahead, find a safe distance, and then dispatch them, she told herself, following a series of emergency lights deeper into the plant. She just needed to find a power line. Then she could use the EMF Visualizer to hack into it, and divert the necessary power to turn the lift back on.

In moments, she arrived at an open space where a small alcove was overlooking a yawning pit, while a pile of containers were situated in another corner. Wong spotted the power panel situated along the wall overlooking the pit, and for a moment, felt like her luck was turning around.

Then, from above, another virus carrier plunged over the railing above with a heavy *thump,* a hungry groan emitting from it as it rose back up on unsteady legs, a shard of bloody bone emerging from its right shoulder, the useless limb hanging at its side while its left reached out, grasping for her. Behind it, a female undead emerged from the shadows, hissing as its cataract-coated eyes fell on the only living human. And behind the agent, the shuffling steps of the zombies from earlier were getting louder, their groans eager.

"Fuck..." she hissed to herself, backing up several steps for the alcove.

She was surrounded. Like a rank amateur, she had allowed herself to get too overconfident. And now here she was, trapped and cornered like a rat. The woman raised her handgun, the barrel quickly moving back and forth between the approaching swarm of undead.

Between the ghoul with the broken arm and the woman behind it, along with the earlier two, now joined by a third, she had five virus carriers to dispatch, the window to do so shrinking by the second. The Broom Hc carried seven rounds, but thanks to whatever mutation had occurred in this particular strain of the t-Virus, these carriers weren't always dispatched by a lone shot to the head, usually requiring at minimum two additional rounds to ensure complete termination.

I've survived worse, Ada reminded herself, though she was hard pressed to remember when exactly.

Then, her eyes narrowed suddenly. There was a sound underneath the droning groan of the small horde of undead closing in on her.

Like... rushing air.

Before she could snap out of her surprise, a dark blur descended from the ceiling, accompanied by a rasp of metal drawing out. Silver flashes undertoned with sparks of white lashed out, the strange rushing air sound mixed with swinging steel, and quieter wet sounds. Instantly, each of the approaching undead all went still and silent.

The woman blinked, her eyes wide, mouth partially agape when she saw the source of the sounds.

Appearing in front of her was the crouched form of a figure in all black, their head and hands swaddled in bandages, the right gripping tightly the hilt of a shining sword, an eastern katana, while the left gripped its lacquered black sheathe. The figure rose from their crouch, and Ada saw by the broadness of their shoulders - along with the fact they were a full head taller than her - that it was a man.

The bandaged man twirled his drawn sword, flicking drops of dark blood off the pristine surface of the weapon. Then, his left hand moved behind his back, while his right rose over his shoulder, sheathing the blade in a single motion behind his shoulders. When the hilt connected with the sheathe in a gentle *click-*

-each of the viral carrier's bodies began to slide neatly apart. Arms fell off, legs gave away, torsos split, and heads fell apart as dozens of thin lines appeared along their bodies. In moments, chunks of neatly-cut undead meat collapsed along the floor with thick wet sounds, and splatters of diseased blood. For a long moment, there was only silence.

Then, the tall, mysterious figure in black turned in a slow, single motion, and the female agent's shocked brown orbs met his darker blue gaze. The swordsman glared down on her, his intense gaze narrowing before drifting lower, eyeing the small handgun momentarily before returning his cold stare to the woman's face. She kept the gun up, trained on the stranger's face, her mind racing.

What the hell was that?! What in the world just happened?!

Five virus carriers, all chopped into deli pieces. Ada hadn't seen the man's sword even touch a single one of the walking corpses, but she saw the blood drops he had flicked off his blade, meaning he must have been the one responsible. And yet, she had only seen him fall from somewhere above, not even swinging the sword in the direction of the undead before sheathing it. So how...?

...Unless...

...Unless he swung the sword so fast, I couldn't keep up with it...

No... That kind of speed... Nothing human could move that fast. It had to have been some kind of trick... With razor wire, perhaps-

"Do you intend to hold me at gunpoint for the time being?..." the bandaged swordsman asked, his deep voice voice muffled by the paper straps wrapped tightly over his mouth, the gauze crinkling as he spoke. His tone was dry, and Ada detected just a slight hint of mockery, as if the idea of having a loaded gun pointed at his face was just the funniest thing. "Or are you going to put it away at some point in the foreseeable future?... Some time today, perhaps?"

His jeering words sent a spark of irritation through her, and she pulled the hammer of the Mauser back, hoping the sound of the soft *click* would make her point. "Depends... How'd you do that?"

To her continued irritation, he ignored her question, his eyes narrowing in amusement as he glanced down towards the weapon in his hands, before looking back to her again, the corners of the gauze around his mouth crinkling upwards in a hidden sneer. The swordsman slipped his right hand into the pocket of his dark pants, his demeanor completely casual, further frustrating the woman.

"Hm... A rather odd display of gratitude for someone whose life was just saved," he mused, his tone still aggravatingly dry and mocking, though his eyes remained locked on her weapon. "Wouldn't you agree?"

Unable to hold back her annoyance any longer, she snapped, "I had that under control. I didn't need any help."

The stranger inclined his head slightly, favoring her with a bemused stare. "Is that so?... Five of those disease carriers closing in on you, trapping you in a corner, with only that rather... puny weapon to defend yourself?"

The figure regarded her handgun with a contempt-filled glare, and Ada was surprised by the genuine disgust she saw flicker through his intense gaze. Not a fan of guns, then, she noted.

"I suppose you could have walked away from that encounter with your life, unaided... though probably not intact," he finished, meeting the woman's eyes again.

The agent struggled not to look away. His eyes were like cold sapphires, completely unreadable, and yet so intense, she also found herself... intimidated.

Ada Wong was not a woman easily rattled by anything, having been a field operative for almost a full decade... But something about this man was sending alarms ringing through her entire body, the most defining one simple: Get away.

She needed to change tactics. This newcomer was clearly dangerous, but he hadn't tried to harm her... Yet. She needed to find out why.

Reluctantly, she drew her handgun back, letting the hammer fall back. His eyes narrowed, though his body language relaxed slightly. His shoulders loosened just a tad, his fingers flexing over his drawn katana's sheathe before settling in a looser grip.

Keeping her eyes trained on him, exuding a more lax air but keeping her guard up internally, Ada slipped her Broom under her coat, holstering it while saying, "You know, you're the second person I've seen tonight carrying a sword around."

A muffled scoff issued under his breath, his cold eyes flickering in amusement, while his fingers flexed over his sheath's length again. "...I'm aware. You could say that... Tony Redgrave is the one who led me here."

His response made the woman cock her brow. Had he been spying on them earlier? Was he following her, or that strange man named Tony Redgrave?

Going on, keeping her tone neutral, the agent asked, "Let me guess: that loudmouth's a friend of yours?"

The bandages around the man in black's mouth crinkled again, his sneer returning. "Friend?... No. You could say that I am... his shadow."

Then he chuckled lowly, seemingly amused by his own curious wording, which made her frown.

'Shadow?' He's been following him? Why? Could it be... Were these two also sent to recover the sample?... No. That guy genuinely had no idea about Umbrella, or their viruses... Unless he's a better actor than I thought...

Her train of thought was interrupted by the mysterious newcomer speaking again. "Why are you here?"

Ada blinked, staring back at the his eyes, still giving off their cold intensity. This time, however, she could feel him scrutinizing her intently as he glared down at her. It was a rather direct question, but could be interpreted in multiple ways if she chose to overthink it. But then she remembered she was on the clock, and the longer she wasted time talking to this strange swordsman, the chances of her target escaping increased.

Turning her back to the man in indifference, Ada drew the EMF Visualizer back out, quickly locating the power line she needed to divert before replying tersely, "Sorry. That's classified."

"I know that you claim to be an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I know that you are here on an assignment of sorts, no doubt pertaining to the current infestation of disease carriers plaguing this city. And I know that you are tracking down the ones responsible for this crisis."

Upon hearing the man finish his sudden interjection, the woman stopped what she was doing, and snapped back towards him, glaring at him over her shoulder.

He still continued to scrutinize her, no doubt reading her surprise over how he knew such things, and added, "...I learned all of this from Anthony."

Ada's glare only hardened, her eyes narrowing further in suspicion as she queried, "Then why bother asking me that when you already know the answer?"

"Because that is the answer to the question of what you are doing here, not why," he countered, gaze unwavering under her scowl. "You are to bring these perpetrators to justice. That is what you came here to do. What I am asking you is why. Why are you - of all people - here?" His bandages crinkled upward, indicating that he was sneering again. "Did you come here out of some misguided delusion of grandeur, or a firm sense of duty? Trying to save the world, are you?"

The agent said nothing, meeting his cold gaze with her fiery glare another moment more before huffing and looking away, raising her hacking tool once more.

"I'm not that naïve," she retorted.

The stranger remained silent, watching her all the while, his eyes flickering between the Visualizer in her hand before looking back to her. When Ada finished, she slipped the device back under her coat before turning and moving quickly past the swordsman, whose eyes followed her every movement.

The woman was already almost ten feet away when she heard his footfalls behind her. Aggravated, she whirled around to give the man another glare of her own, though, like before, he simply met and held her gaze, his eyes cold and unreadable.

"I'd prefer to go it alone from here."

The man in black brazenly continued after her, waving his sheathed sword towards the sliced body of one of the virus carriers he had dispatched only moments ago before saying, "As I said before, Tony led me here. I can't simply let you walk alone in such a dangerous place. Not after the impression you left on him. Call it a gentleman's agreement. And besides..."

He took another step towards her, and Ada once more noted the difference in their height, the heavy darkness of the area aiding him in looming over her.

"You have yet to answer my question. Why are you here?"

Unable to stop herself, she took a step back, but managed to maintain her glare at him. "I'm the one who should be asking you that."

The stranger remained silent, watching her all the while, his eyes firmly squared directly at her before replying simply, "I had nothing better to do... And Anthony is rather preoccupied at the moment, so I decided that finding you might help me... kill some time."

At the word 'kill,' his fingers flexed over the lacquer of his sheath, the knuckles of his hand issuing a few faint pops. The agent refused to let herself show any kind of reaction to that.

Then, after another moment of staring down at each other, she turned away with an annoyed huff, waving her hand before saying, "You wanna follow me? Fine. But you better not slow me down."

She figured the guy could save her the bullets should another swarm of disease carriers get the drop on her like that. If not that, then at least he'd serve as bait.

The bandaged swordsman was silent at that, watching her move ahead before continuing after her, his gait slower than hers, keeping himself a good five feet behind her, though she would have preferred he'd stay at least twice that distance from her.

When she reached the lift, she hit the now-green button. The woman felt the small lift jerk to life, the mechanical gears grinding as it began to ascend. For a moment, Ada almost believed she had reached it faster than the newcomer... but her hopes were shot down when she glanced over her left shoulder, and spotted the dark swordsman standing on the edge of the lift, both hands resting on the pommel of his sword's hilt like a cane, his face forward, but his cold eyes continuing to watch her with the intensity of a hawk.

"Are you going to answer my question?" he inquired as the lift approached the top, his tone still dry and bemused.

Resisting a growl of aggravation, the woman snapped, "How about you tell me who you are first? Isn't it rude for a so-called 'gentleman' to not give a girl his name?"

The man's eyes flashed with amusement, a soft chuckle slipping from his muffled lips. "Fair enough... Call me... Gilver."

A strange man with a strange name. Why am I not surprised?... the coated woman thought to herself, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Ada Wong. F.B.I.," she responded, figuring that returning the courtesy would shut him up for a minute.

"...So I've heard."

The lift reached the top a moment later, and the agent forgot all about the newcomer, Gilver, and his suspicious remark the moment she saw Annette Birkin through a large glass pane window. The blonde scientist never even saw her pursuer arrive, simply turning a corner into the next room filled with large computer terminals.

The element of surprise might just have returned to her, and Wong couldn't resist whispering to herself, "Got you now."

"Your quarry, I presume?" Gilver inquired behind her, and she ignored him momentarily, dashing ahead while drawing her Mauser from its holster.

"Like I told your 'friend,' my mission is to track down the people responsible for this mess," she told him as she moved for the door. "She's one of them."

Even if the other woman slipped into another room, she could only go so far before Ada caught up with her.

You've always been good at running, Annette. I'll give you that, she thought to herself, shoving the door open with her shoulder, and quickly moving in, turning and raising her handgun up-

Only to find the scientist already gone.

Resisting the urge to curse, the agent ran ahead into the room, walking towards the large computer terminals the scientist had slipped between. This time she did groan in growing frustration at the sight of another large vault door similar to the one the other woman had escaped through in their first encounter.

Behind her, Gilver followed at a slower pace, pausing to look towards her as she stomped back into the main part of the hall. The mysterious swordsman's eyes followed her before returning to gaze down the path she had just walked from. Ada ignored him as he walked up to the vault door, observing it with a cocked head before running his gauze-covered fingers over it.

Not entirely understanding what he was doing, but also somewhat grateful his intense cold gaze was no longer on her, the woman told him, "We can't get through it. We'll have to find another way around it if I'm going to catch up to her."

The strange man was silent for a moment, lowering his hand before peering over his shoulder and saying, "You still haven't answered my question, Agent Wong."

Ada blinked, rounding around, her eyes narrowed as she gave Gilver an incredulous expression, when the whole room shook suddenly, almost causing her to trip.

As she straightened herself and looked back to him, the swordsman was peering past her, raising his empty hand to point before saying, "And it looks like we have an uninvited guest."

Blinking, she turned around to see what he was talking about-

-and saw the massive coated form of what could only be Ben Bertolucci's killer. The hulking figure was wrapped up tight in a dark full body coat, its forearms and legs bound tightly with several black belts, its heavy boots stomping across the walkway just outside the room, and its tightly clenched gloved fists each sporting a silvery 'X' banded on the back of its palms. Save for the occasional burned or scorch spot - plus a few cuts - across the coat, it was identical to recovered footage taken at Umbrella's manufacturing plant on Sheena Island.

A model T-103 mass-produced, human-based bio-weapon. Otherwise known as...

Tyrant.

And it seemed to have followed her here after finishing off any remaining survivors there may have been at the police station. Just perfect. She had a sword-wielding mummy following after her, and now an unstoppable killing machine to deal with, too.

"Persistent bastard, aren't you?" she whispered to herself as she began quickly backing away, before turning entirely, and racing for the opposite end of the room.

Another large door blocked her off, but unlike the other vault door, the agent could see an access switch along the wall. She quickly snatched it, and yanked it down as hard as she could. The switch fell down, but the door didn't raise up. Ada looked back at the access switch's panel, and sighed in aggravation when she saw the power light was off.

Reaching under her coat for the EMF Visualizer, she called to Gilver, who had calmly and slowly made his way back into the main section of the room, reporting, "I can get us out of here, but I'm gonna need a minute. Make yourself useful, and buy me some time."

The man cocked his head towards her, as if curious, before turning his gaze back to the end of the room as the sound of metal crumpling resounded, the Tyrant having knocked the door off its hinges.

"...So be it," the bandaged man murmured to himself as he positioned his body directly between her and the fast-approaching monster, the brute setting its burning eyes on the man before it.

With the Visualizer, she quickly found the switch she needed to divert power from back to the door, but upon hearing the Tyrant's stomps getting closer by the second, she chanced a glance over her shoulder towards Gilver-

-and felt her eyes widen with panic as she saw the darkly-dressed figure simply standing in place, the giant almost upon him, its massive hands cupping together as it brought both arms over its head, before fiercely swiping them down in a descending double-fist smash-

That never connected with its target, as Gilver's entire body seemed to flicker, the man himself vanishing in a dark blur, a strange hum emitting through the air. All the electronics in the room suddenly dimmed, with even the Visualizer in her hand's readout momentarily becoming nothing but blue static before correcting itself, the power switch it had locked onto turning yellow as the line was successfully hacked.

The agent looked from her device back to the Tyrant, watching the behemoth draw its arms back, its hideous face still a stoic mask, but an unmistakable flash of confusion briefly appearing in its red and black eyes as it continued to stare at the ruined section of the floor its target had only seconds ago been standing on.

Then the lights in the room dimmed again, the humming sound echoing a second time as Gilver reappeared behind the creature in a crouch, his sword tucked near his hip as he rapidly drew the blade out, the silver and black katana cutting into the back of the Tyrant's legs... and the blade somehow managed to slice through the reinforced coat wrapped around the beast, sending splashes of black blood onto the floor. The colossus actually stumbled forward a few steps, but it recovered just as quickly, its left arm swinging out, trying to smack the swordsman away. But again, his body flickered, vanishing entirely with a hum, the monster's gloved fist striking nothing but air.

The electronics in the room flickered again, and the man in black reappeared in front of the creature, his blade lashing out, cutting deep into the beast's neck. Black blood spurted from the long gash, and the Tyrant staggered back, one massive gloved hand clutching its bleeding throat. The golem collapsed to its knees, and its foe stepped back, his cold eyes observing his opponent as its blood seeped out between its gloved fists, falling fast at first, but gradually slowing. This prompted the bandaged man to narrow his eyes.

Behind him, Ada pulled the switch down entirely a second time, and a gentle electronic beep prompted the heavy door to finally retract to the right, opening a new passage.

"Let's go!" she called out, before quickly rushing into the next room.

The swordsman's eyes followed her momentarily, before looking back at the Tyrant. His icy gaze widened just a fraction when he saw the flow of blood leaking between the giant's gloved fingers had almost stopped flowing entirely, the coated behemoth lumbering back up to its feet, its burning gaze locked on the bandaged figure, the red and black eyes glowing like hellfire.

Gilver cocked his head as the creature lowered its hand from its throat, revealing the deep cut he had inflicted upon its neck was almost entirely healed, the flesh of the Tyrant's neck darker, with quickly-formed scarred tissue not unlike the hideous flesh already upon its face.

"Hmph... So you do have more than just a brute's strength..." he mused to himself, gripping the hilt of his blade tightly as he dropped to a low crouch. "Now I see how such a base creature could've proved a challenge for someone like 'Tony Redgrave.'"

His tone was dry and bored, as always, until he spoke Redgrave's name, spitting the name out like a foul curse, as if saying it offended him somehow.

Behind him, the sound of overloading electronics resounded, an explosion of electricity and metal issuing, shortly followed by Ada's voice calling out, "Gilver, come on!" The man looked over his shoulder, and saw the woman in the far back of the new room, situated behind a table, and in front of a smoking, ruined filtration fan.

The agent had already slipped through when her eyes widened and she shouted, "Behind you!"

Gilver didn't even bother turning, hearing the Tyrant behind him rising back to its full height, the air rushing once more as it brought both of its clenched fists down in a double-fisted hammer blow once again. The bandaged swordsman's body flickered a third time, disappearing with a hum, and reappearing in the new room in a low crouch, his sword sheathed at his side. Cold eyes glaring back at the creature in annoyance, the entirety of his sword began to glow with black and white light.

"Don't move," he hissed, drawing his blade a fraction of the way.

The glow faded from around the sword-

-and the empty space around the Tyrant's head darkened momentarily, before lighting up with dozens of flashes of black, gray, and white, the sounds of slicing metal issuing. In moments, dozens of cuts appeared all over the monster's head, dark blood spurting from every wound, and the beast's red and black eyes vanishing in a flash of onyx and silver. The giant staggered back, its right hand clutching its ruined eyes while its left swung out blindly.

It struck various terminals, smashing them to pieces like cheap plastic, before blindly lunging forward, desperately trying to find the one responsible for its injuries-

-and collided with one of the windows, shattering the glass, and sending the behemoth tumbling back onto the walkway outside. The metal pathway gave way under the creature's unrestrained weight, causing it to plummet back down into the darkened area below.

The stoic swordsman watched the entire display in silence, before the gauze crinkled around the corners of his mouth in a wide sneer of triumph.

Was this really the best the Umbrella Corporation could come up with?

"Disappointing..." he murmured, rising from his crouch, slipping his hand back into a pocket before turning to follow the federal officer.

The agent had already slipped through the damaged filtration fan, landing in a new area, her eyes staring back above at the impromptu escape route she had created. She could hear Gilver's sword slashes singing through the air in the room above, along with the sounds of the Tyrant's fists lashing out, seemingly striking random terminals and something made of glass, but she heard nothing else after a loud crash of crumpling metal. The woman narrowed her eyes, a part of her wondering if the creature had finally managed to get its hands on swordsman...

Then the lights of the area she stood in flickered and dimmed, casting everything in deep shadows. Ada heard that strange humming sound once again, and when the lights came back on a moment later, she looked away from the filtration window she had slipped through above, turning her gaze to her right-

Where stood said missing stranger less than a foot away, with nary a stain on his dark clothing, the gauze wrapped tightly over his head, and hands unmarked as well, his cold sapphire eyes observing her in silence. His right hand was once again in his pocket, while his left held his sheathed katana.

Ada gazed back at him, her mind rushing to process everything she had seen this strange swordsman do. From killing five undead with seemingly one sword swing that she hadn't even seen, to fighting off a Tyrant with an ease even she wouldn't have been able to pull off with the proper weaponry needed to fend off such a beast.

I'm beginning to wonder if there even is a man underneath those bandages... she thought to herself as she faced the darkly-dressed figure entirely.

Gilver raised the hand that held his sword towards the damaged filtration window above before speaking. "That... will not be troubling us again." He lowered his scabbard, but continued watching her silently.

Keeping her own mask calm and aloof, the woman nodded, turning around to head for the steps that led to a doorway into the next area, all while speaking as she did. "Guess you can be useful, after all."

The stranger said nothing in response to that, only cocking his head as he watched her take the lead before following, remaining at a slight distance behind her. When Ada reached the next area, she saw a large piece of machinery to her left, and a stairway leading to an upper walkway. To her right was another door, and the agent quickly stalked towards it, spotting a powered-down panel next to it, which made her roll her eyes.

"Of course..."

She reached into her coat for the EMF Visualizer, while behind her, the man in black had wandered off a little ways, and was looking at the large machinery, which made the woman somewhat grateful, if only to have his intense and cold glare off of her for the moment. Checking the hacker tool's readout, she found that all the power lines were protected from her tool's hacking capabilities. She huffed in annoyance, slipping the Visualizer back into its holster under her coat, moving away from the door.

If the Visualizer couldn't get her through that door, she was going to have to find one of the identification wristbands Umbrella employees were required to wear to get access to the NEST, and other areas associated with it. Ada walked over to the small alcove just in front of the incinerator, Gilver a few steps behind her, still studying the large machine, and was now peering through the small window built into the closed doors of it.

As the female agent was checking through the various items strewn about the room, hoping vainly to find a wristband, or a dead Umbrella worker with one, she heard a soft clicking *snap,* and turned her head, seeing her strange companion with his empty hand raised, his finger snapping a second time, making her cock a brow in confusion. His fingers wagged, motioning her to come closer. Wary, and against her better judgement, she approached him slowly, never taking her eyes off the back of his bandaged head, though his own eyes were still peering through the small window built into the door.

He gestured his hand towards the window once she was close enough, pointing a single finger before murmuring, "Curious..."

Unable to help herself, she glanced into the interior of the incinerator herself. At the far back of it lay three bodies; maybe more. It was hard to tell because of how dark it was inside the large machine... save for a blinking green light emanating from the wrist of a dead man propped against the far back wall. Ada resisted the urge to pinch herself.

This is almost too easy, she thought to herself with a smirk before looking back to Gilver.

"Wait right here."

She was already moving away before he could respond, though he watched her quickly ascend the two flights of metal stairs leading to the walkway above. The woman looked around the upper level for a moment before her brown eyes fell on a large lever. Grasping it, she pulled it all the way down.

A moment later, the heavy door to the interior of the incinerator began to rise up with a groan, the man turning his cool gaze back to watch it move up. The agent quickly made her way back to the base level below in the meanwhile, and soon descended into the interior of the incinerator, heading towards the bodies in the far back, her silent companion following a few steps behind her. Reaching the very bottom of the chamber, she crouched down, unclipping the small one-size-fits-all wristband from the dead man's hand.

She smirked at the blinking green light on the small item in her hand-

-when behind them, the light of the previous area was suddenly cut off, prompting both to whirl around just in time to watch the large door to the incinerator slam closed, trapping them inside. Just before it settled down entirely, Ada spotted a pair of jeans-wearing legs, and cursed under her breath for her foolishness.

"It appears we've fallen into a trap, Agent," the mysterious swordsman observed, tone as dry and bored as ever.

"Yeah, no shit," she snapped back, quickly charging up the incline of the incinerator, her brown eyes glaring at the open window slot, where Annette Birkin gazed back with just as much contempt.

"Bravo," Ada mockingly congratulated, before asking, "Gonna burn us alive now?"

"You'll never get your filthy hands on the G," the runaway researcher hissed back.

The federal agent marched up to the door, and stared face-to-face with the scientist, the swordsman idling behind her all the while, watching the two women with rapt attention.

"I'm not the only one after it," the younger woman pointed out to her. "...You realize that?"

The G-Virus wasn't exactly the best kept secret at Umbrella at this point. Spies within the NEST, William Birkin's own contact in the United States military, and other parties were all aware of its existence. Even now, any one of those parties could be closing in on any remaining samples left in Raccoon.

The other woman continued to glare defiantly back at her, before stepping back. "...Then you won't die alone."

She peered past her adversary, giving the bandaged man a curious look before slamming the shutter closed. Not even a second later, a loud mechanical *beep* issued through the incinerator, and the floor under the two trapped captives feet came alive with low orange flames.

Gilver blinked, glancing down at the now burning floor while Ada quickly unbuckled her coat, and flung it onto the floor, stepping onto it. The faux-leather material would provide a small barrier between the fire and her pumps, but she wagered she had about a minute at best to find a way to escape this fiery death trap.

Hearing the agent's sudden movements prompted the stoic mercenary to look away from the floor, and back to his fellow captive... and the gauze around his right eye crinkled as he cocked a brow upon seeing what the woman had been wearing underneath her coat the entire time.

"Interesting choice of attire for a federal agent..." he noted aloud, and Ada had to physically stop herself from drawing her handgun, and shooting him between the eyes.

Instead, she stayed silent, drawing the Visualizer, and beginning to scan the walls of the incinerator while Gilver slowly approached, still eyeing her choice of clothing.

A silky red cocktail dress and nylons weren't exactly standard issue, but Ada hadn't been planning to have to search for the sample as soon as she arrived in Raccoon City. She had arrived two days before the outbreak reached its critical juncture, having checked into one of the city's nicer hotels, and had been planning to go out to dinner the night the shit hit the fan. So yeah. She wasn't exactly dressed appropriately, not that it mattered right now.

"You gonna keep running your mouth, or are you gonna help me get us out of here?!" she snapped at the mummy-wrapped swordsman, glancing over her shoulder to glare back at him.

Infuriatingly, the stranger simply crossed his arms and closed his eyes, shrugging casually, as if they weren't about to be cooked alive. "I can choose to leave whenever I want," was all he said before staying silent, eyes remaining closed.

Then why haven't you?! Ada angrily thought to herself. She looked away from the frustrating bandaged freak, shoving her annoyance back down. Getting riled and unfocused right now would only get them both killed.

With the EMF Visualizer, she was able to find three connecting power lines supplying electricity to the incinerator. They had heavier shielding compared to the other power lines she had overloaded, but all that meant was it would take a few more seconds to overload them. A small measure of time, but it was those precious seconds that would decide life or death.

She had successfully fried the first power line, and was moving to overloading the second when smoke wafted up to her face, causing her to glance downward. She spotted the edges of her coat had started to char and burn.

Behind her, Gilver, eyes still closed, raised his right hand, wagging his index finger back and forth while chiming, "Tick-tock. Time's running out..."

Ignoring him, Ada finished overloading the second power line, and quickly located the third. Just as the flames under their feet began to increase in volume and heat, the Visualizer finished overloading the final power line. The three overclocked circuits above the door to the incinerator exploded in a shower of electric sparks, and the door itself was blown off a second later, collapsing on the floor outside of the incinerator, while the flames under the female agent and mysterious swordsman's feet promptly flickered and died. Unable to help herself, the woman breathed a sign of relief.

Being cooked alive was definitely near the bottom of her preferred ways to die list, right above turning into a zombie. Glancing down at her ruined coat, Ada walked out of the incinerator, her companion a few steps behind her as always. Once out of the incinerator entirely, the man in black paused and checked the soles of his boots, his intense blue eyes noting with disdain a few charred spots. The agent couldn't care less, however, promptly ignoring him as she went around the incinerator, and spotted the door she had checked earlier.

Only a few minutes ago, the terminal to unlock it had been powered down, but now it was glowing again.

That bitch knows what she's doing... she admitted to herself. Ada would chalk it up to being rattled by both her encounter with the Tyrant and Gilver's seemingly supernatural abilities distracting her, but Annette had still lured her into a trap.

Walking up to the door, she reached for the wristband she had stuffed into her satchel. Slipping it around her right wrist, she walked up to the door, holding her hand out towards the scanning panel. A pleasant chime issued, and the mechanical door slid open as an electronic female voice spoke up.

"Visitor clearance confirmed. Your ID is authorized until [OCTOBER] [FIRST]. Please return before this date."

Not gonna happen... she thought to herself as she moved into the newly opened corridor.

A quick check in the back saw nothing of interest, so she headed for the hallway she had passed earlier on her left, Gilver slipping in after her before the mechanical door closed. Ignoring him, the woman spotted another door at the end of the shorter corridor.

Stepping through it, the agent arrived in the upper level overlooking the treatment pool room a floor below. She saw a raised platform bridge in the center of the chamber, connecting the walkway she stood on to a smashed wall across from it. If she had to guess, judging by the amount of construction equipment scattered about, it was in the process of being remodeled. Moving towards the bridge, her mysterious companion still several steps behind her, the woman started across the bridge, wondering how much farther Birkin could have gone in the short time since springing her trap-

-when a powerful light turned on so bright, Ada was forced to blink, and flinched her gaze away from it. She opened her eyes again, peering towards the light's source to her right...

And saw Annette Birkin standing on the opposite side of a wall-sized window of the sewer manager's control office. The scientist had her hands in her coat's pockets, and was observing her with a cold, methodical expression. Wong, for her part, glared back at her, while internally kicking herself for falling into another trap sprung by her target.

"Enough with this cat and mouse game!" the agent snapped to the scientist. And she meant it, utterly sick of chasing after the other woman, and falling into trap after trap.

"The game is over," Annette responded, her voice filtering through a speaker as she moved towards a control panel in the office. "You lost," she declared with finality, hitting a single button on the panel.

Refusing to admit defeat, the younger female called out to her again. "Tell me: is your husband still alive?!... Or did you kill him, so you could take credit for G?!"

There was really no basis to her question, but perhaps provoking Birkin into making a mistake would distract her long enough for Ada to think of a plan. Unfortunately, she wasn't taking the bait.

The female scientist sneered back at her as she yanked a lever on the panel back. "Interesting theory..."

Behind her, a large piece of machinery began to rise up, prompting the federal agent to snap her gaze towards it, before quickly looking back at her target. "If you don't cooperate, I'll get a sample from the NEST!"

That, it turned out, was the wrong thing to say.

"Over my dead body!" the older woman hissed as she yanked another lever down, prompting the large machine piece to come down onto the bridge.

Ada whirled around, eyes widening as Annette, meanwhile, pulled another switch, causing the large machine to drag itself towards the federal officer in a kick-up of sparks, the huge device coming at her as fast as a speeding car with twice the weight-

-when the powerful light still on the agent dimmed and flickered as Gilver appeared in front of Ada, his body in a low crouch, sheathed katana tucked low at his hip, the scabbard glowing black and white once again. The bandaged swordsman rapidly drew his blade out, slashing through empty air, while the dragging machinery became engulfed in darkness that vanished into hundreds of silver and black flashes. Almost instantly, the large machine was cut to pieces in multiple bursts of sparks, heavy metallic groans echoing across the room as the cut-up pieces fell into the treatment pool below with a series of heavy splashes.

Both women had watched the entire scene in stunned silence, Birkin more shocked than Ada. The scientist could only watch as the man in black spun his sword once, before standing up to his full height, sheathing the blade slowly. Only once the katana was back in its scabbard did his cold blue eyes turn to look towards her.

Upon meeting this mysterious man's intense gaze, Annette could only do one thing... She twisted around and bolted out the door, her instincts screaming at her to run and hide from that creature dressed as a man. It wasn't anything even remotely like the monsters she had helped Umbrella create.

No... Looking into that man's eyes... was like trying to hold the gaze of the devil himself.

Gilver watched the older woman flee through a door in the office she was hiding in, unable to resist the malicious grin forming on his hidden lips as he recognized the terror in her eyes from the brief moment they had met his own-

-a gentle *click* broke him from his amusement, though his grin did not fade.

"...I save your life again... and you show your gratitude with that puny weapon... Again." A low scoff escaped from his lips. "You wretch."

Ada held her Broom Hc with both hands, pressing the small handgun tightly against the back of his head. Watching him destroy that piece of machinery - which had to have been at least twice the size and weight of an average car - with only a single swing of his sword confirmed what she had suspected after meeting him: the bandaged stranger wasn't human.

What he was, she wasn't sure, but she was willing to bet a bullet through the brain would still put him down.

Ignoring his words, the agent squeezed the trigger-

-but no sooner did the weapon fire did the lights in the room flicker and dim into darkness, her shot going wide, and hitting the wall across from her. When the lights returned, Gilver was no longer in front of her. Ada whirled around, backing up several steps when she saw that the darkly-dressed swordsman was now behind her, his right hand back in his pocket, while his left clutched his sheathed katana.

He observed the startled agent with his cold eyes, his sneer still on his lips as he began to slowly walk towards her.

"What's the matter, Agent Wong?" he inquired, his tone mockingly stressing the word 'agent.'

"What the hell are you?" she demanded. "You're not a man; I can tell that much... Nothing human could do what you just did."

The woman was hoping that her questioning would get him to keep talking. She needed him distracted, just for a second, if she had any hopes of hitting him with one of her bullets when another opportunity presented itself.

Gilver chuckled dryly, favoring her with a mocking smirk. "Well... you're not entirely wrong... Although, aren't you being just a tad bit... hypocritical? You dare to call me out for a lie I never even uttered, when you yourself have been lying to me since our first meeting?" he asked, cocking his head as he continued to slowly approach her, his fingers flexing over his scabbard's length.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" the woman snapped before she could stop herself.

The imposing swordsman laughed quietly yet mockingly again, looking down on her with amusement flashing through his cold eyes. "Really, 'Agent' Wong... You claim to work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. You say you came to find evidence to use against Umbrella... So why, then, have you come to this city all by yourself? Armed so poorly, dressed as you are, without even a partner to watch your back... And if you really needed evidence against Umbrella, why not simply take one of the disease carriers? Surely that would be more than enough evidence for any federal agent to complete a mission of this caliber, would it not?... Unless, of course..."

He trailed off, his smirk vanishing, and eyes narrowing slightly as they met her own. Gone was the calm, stoic gaze of before, replaced by an intense, almost menacing gaze. Like that of a predator watching his prey.

That was when Ada realized her story had never fooled this man to begin with.

"Unless that federal agent wasn't a federal agent, lying about her identity, and instead was something else entirely... A corporate spy, perhaps, whose true objective... the real reason she would even come to this lost city of the damned... was to recover this so-called 'G-Virus,' and sell it to the highest bidder... So which are you? Are you the agent, or are you the spy, Ada Wong?" he asked rhetorically. "...If that even is your real name."

Ada didn't respond, only keeping her gun aimed right for his wrapped-up face.

The bandages covering the corners of figure's mouth crinkled again, his sneer returning. "I suspected as much..."

His thumb flicked the guard of his sword, the katana unsheathing partially-

-and then his eyes suddenly widened, his sneer vanishing as his head snapped to the left.

The woman hadn't heard anything that might have caused him to suddenly shift his attention, but she wasn't about to waste what was her only chance.

She squeezed her Mauser's trigger a second time, the muzzle flashing as the bullet shot towards Gilver-

-who's attention returned to her, his head snapping forward at the same time his free hand grasped his sword's handle, rapidly drawing the blade out in front of himself. The bullet from her gun struck the katana, where it split in half, the two halves striking the wall behind the figure as he drew his sword out, and swung it for her neck-

-only to stop when the edge of the weapon's sharp tip touched the side of her neck.

For a single moment, the two simply held each other's gaze, neither saying a word.

Then, Gilver slowly drew his sword back, spun it once, and returned it to its scabbard.

Only once it was fully sheathed again did he speak again. "You're in luck, agent... Our time is up. He's here."

Before the woman could ask what he even meant by that, and who 'he' even was, the bandaged swordsman turned on his heel, and began walking towards the shattered wall.

As he did, he raised his free hand up, his index and middle fingers following afterwards. "That's two bullets I owe you now, Miss Wong. And I always return the favor... Until our paths cross again..."

With those final words, he rounded the corner once he was in the new area, and the lights dimmed again briefly. When they returned to their regular brightness, he was gone.

Once she knew she was all alone, Ada let out a long, shuddering breath she hadn't even known she had been holding, her legs wobbling, and threatening to give out on her. She looked towards where the stranger had vanished, her mind racing, a single question repeating over and over again:

What is he?!

After a long pause, she managed to calm her racing heart, and in response to that question in her mind, she asked herself: Does it matter?

Whoever - or whatever - that mysterious swordsman called Gilver was, it didn't matter.

She had a job to do, and less time to see it finished with every passing minute.

Ada glanced at the wristband on her right wrist again. This would get her into the NEST. And if she remembered her intel properly, there was a cable car for transporting staff to that facility close by. She'd find it, infiltrate the laboratory, and recover the sample.

With that decided, she followed down the pathway her new adversary had gone through, albeit at a slower pace, with her handgun ready just in case anything else was lurking around.

As she ventured off, her mind recalled his final words to her: Until our paths cross again...

She could only pray that wouldn't be anytime soon...

But somehow, the woman calling herself Ada Wong just couldn't convince herself of that.


Hey an update that didn't take three months!

What are the odds?

(Remembers we're in a literal biohazard pandemic of our own at the moment)

...well at least I used the time off from work in lockdown productively.

Chapter 8! This was the fun one! The two most mysterious parties in Raccoon City briefly join forces! Believe it or not, Ada and Gilver teaming up was supposed to happen a lot earlier, but my beta/co-author Da-Awesom-One convinced me to change the progression of the story up, for the better! He's also been on a re-writing/editing spree for this story, changing up dialogue, correcting my many spelling errors and mistakes, adding nice little tidbits of characterization and even giving our protagonist Tony Redgrave a new outfit based on some concept art from DMC4.

I can say for a fact without his help, I don't think this story would have been even halfway as successful as its turned out!

So if you haven't already, go check out his author page, my pal has some awesome crossover stories of his own I think you'd all enjoy.

Next chapter: Things are coming to a head! Claire is gonna meet Annette before trying to find Sherry, who's disappeared once again, and Tony Redgrave and Gilver are about to have a long overdue reunion. After that, a certain secret Tony has been hiding from Claire finally comes to light...