Honestly... I almost felt like I had wasted my time. All that drama... for this.
I turned my head toward Leon, who was still scanning the room warily, clearly not yet accustomed to watching me absorb an entire scientist's memories in a matter of seconds.
"Well..." I sighed, stretching slightly. "Thanks to the memory transfer, I now have complete access to everything that was in his head... and honestly? I'm disappointed."
We casually left the director's office while I continued sorting through the flood of information, my hands tucked into my pockets as though we had just finished an exceptionally dull business meeting.
"All of their research is mediocre. Seriously... just a handful of local T-Virus variants, some makeshift genetic modifications, a few interesting behavioral mutations in certain specimens... but overall?" I shook my head in open contempt. "They followed the exact same path as every second-rate bioweapons scientist: mass production, stable but mediocre products, and endlessly recycling the same concepts."
Leon walked beside me, absentmindedly reloading the handgun he had recently recovered.
"So basically..." he asked with a faint amused smile, "...you just insulted twenty years of classified research?"
I merely shrugged.
"Even James Marcus would be decades ahead of them. William Birkin could rebuild this entire facility in a week. As for Alexia..." A faint smirk crossed my face. "She'd probably burn the whole place to the ground simply because she'd consider their work an insult to science."
A quiet laugh escaped Leon.
"I can actually picture that."
We soon reached the back of the office, where the secured elevator Victor used to access the lower levels of the facility was located. Thanks to the memories I had acquired after assimilating him, I now knew the entire layout of the complex by heart.
I entered Victor's security code.
A few seconds later, a mechanical click echoed through the silence.
Clack... Clack... Clack...
Several internal locks disengaged one after another before the heavy reinforced doors slowly slid open.
Leon studied the dark elevator shaft for a few moments before turning toward me.
"So?" he asked calmly, adjusting his grip on his weapon. "We're just heading down to gather some useful information before continuing the search for your precious Elpis?"
I stepped into the elevator, calmly folding my arms across my chest.
"Not exactly."
The doors slowly closed behind us, and the elevator began descending with a deep metallic rumble.
I glanced at the digital display, which listed several underground levels.
"According to Gideon's memories, this level mainly serves as the facility's body disposal center," I explained calmly. "Any patients, employees, or test subjects deemed useless were brought down here to be recycled... or used in secondary experiments."
Leon frowned.
"Charming..."
A faint chuckle escaped me.
"The interesting part is that Gideon eventually turned the entire area into an observation zone. He tried to eliminate one particular test subject... but every man he sent after it was killed."
I paused for a moment.
"So in the end... he simply abandoned the entire underground level to it."
Leon immediately turned toward me.
"Wait... you mean..."
A slight smile spread across my face.
"Marie."
The name alone was enough to make Leon grimace.
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed.
"Seriously...? That insane woman who crawls across the ceiling and tries to eat people?"
I nodded slowly.
"Exactly. That mutated clone of Grace is one of the most interesting creations this facility has produced, even if Gideon considers her a failure."
A far more intrigued smile spread across my face.
"So... I'm going to recruit her."
Leon was silent for a few seconds before slowly shaking his head.
"Of course... naturally... why am I even surprised anymore?"
"Stop worrying," I said with a grin. "Once we're done with this little adventure in this world, you'll be able to stay home with Claire without me dragging you into trouble."
"I'm not worried," he replied with a sigh. "I'm literally the weakest person in this world. Even the Leon from this universe handles crises better than I do."
"He has a lot more experience," I answered. "When you arrived in Raccoon City, I immediately took you under my wing. His counterpart had to survive on his own. The two of you followed completely different paths."
I smiled reassuringly.
"But you don't need to be the strongest. You're a valuable friend... and, more importantly, you make me laugh."
"Well, at least," he replied, "from what I got from his memories, my love life turned out better than his, and—"
He suddenly caught himself.
"...Wait. What do you mean I make you laugh?"
"Nothing," I answered with an amused smile. "You're just entertaining to be around. But let's get back to our target. With the overpowered mutant we captured in the East Wing... and the new armored demolition unit... I should be able to pin Marie down long enough to force a capture. After that, there are only two things in this place that could still threaten us... and even then, I'm not convinced they actually can."
Leon folded his arms with a nervous smile.
"You know... sometimes I almost forget that you see every mutant creature as a potential new recruit."
I glanced at him.
"My entire power depends on accumulation. I'm simply doing the logical thing by collecting everything I come across. Besides..." I shrugged. "I've already told you—the one who gave me this ability expects me to fight horrors that would make El Gigante look smaller than an ant."
Leon simply shrugged.
"Do whatever you have to do. I'm just looking forward to finishing our business here."
At that moment—
DONG.
The elevator came to an abrupt stop.
The lights flickered briefly before the normal lighting switched over to a series of red emergency lamps.
Then the elevator doors slowly began to slide open with a long metallic groan.
Immediately, a completely different smell from the upper floors hit us head-on.
The air down here was heavy, saturated with moisture, mold, and the overwhelming stench of rotting flesh—so thick it practically clung to the back of my throat.
I stepped forward, Leon close behind, and we found ourselves facing a long corridor carved directly into the natural bedrock beneath the facility.
The uneven stone walls, damp in places, gave the impression that this entire underground complex had been hastily hollowed out of solid rock rather than properly constructed.
Old fluorescent lights mounted on the ceiling cast a pale glow, flickering intermittently and making the place feel even more oppressive.
Several staggering figures were already shambling toward us.
Ordinary zombies, still dressed in the uniforms of the facility's technical staff.
Without even slowing my pace, I casually extended one hand and instantly absorbed them into my Factory.
"That's the one real advantage of this ability," I murmured with satisfaction as I continued walking. "It's fast."
Leon glanced at the empty spots where the infected had stood only moments before.
"Good thing you've got hair," he said with a smirk. "Otherwise I'd start calling you Mr. Clean."
I simply smiled and kept moving.
The tunnel soon opened into a vast industrial chamber that immediately reminded me of a modern slaughterhouse.
Dozens of black body bags hung from the ceiling, suspended from an enormous overhead conveyor rail mounted several meters above us.
Slowly...
Very slowly...
The bagged corpses advanced along the automated track, accompanied by the steady, metallic rhythm of the machinery.
Clack... Clack... Clack...
The conveyor rail disappeared into another tunnel farther ahead, most likely leading to the incinerators... or some kind of organic recycling system.
I looked up slightly, studying the dozens of human-shaped forms sealed inside the body bags.
"Charming facility..." I muttered. "They're literally transporting corpses like they're on an industrial assembly line."
Leon grimaced as he watched the hanging silhouettes sway gently overhead.
"The more I see of this place..." he said, "...the more I start missing Spain."
"The Los Illuminados wanted to spread their influence," I replied coldly. "Even when they killed, it was never on this scale. This... is both the beauty and the ugliness of capitalism."
I paused for a moment.
"Optimization."
We crossed the chamber without lingering, deliberately ignoring the suspended corpses. Something told me we'd find something far worse deeper inside.
After several dozen meters, the tunnel widened once more before opening into a strange prison-like section.
Dozens of cells had been carved directly into the stone walls on both sides of the corridor.
But what immediately caught my attention...
...was what they contained.
Stuffed animals.
Everywhere.
Dozens of teddy bears.
Dolls.
Cotton rabbits.
Children's toys carefully arranged against the walls, on the metal beds, and in the corners of the cells.
It was a profoundly disturbing sight considering where we were.
Leon instinctively slowed his pace.
"...Okay... this is getting seriously creepy."
I frowned.
"Gideon kept children down here..."
Leon cautiously approached an open cell on our right, peering into the darkness inside.
"You think these were Grace's prototypes?"
I didn't even have time to answer.
BANG!
A gigantic deformed hand suddenly burst out of the cell directly across from him, literally ripping part of the reinforced metal door from its frame.
"HOLY SHIT!"
Leon threw himself backward at the last possible second as monstrous claws sliced through the air just inches from his face.
A guttural growl echoed throughout the corridor.
Then...
...she appeared.
Marie slowly crawled out of the darkness, dragging herself halfway out of her cell like a creature unable to decide whether it should move like a human... or like a beast.
Beneath the faint, flickering candlelight scattered throughout this section, she looked infinitely more terrifying than she had during our first encounter.
Her body still retained the vague outline of a woman...
...but everything about it was grotesquely twisted.
Patches of gray, decaying skin hung loosely from her body in ragged strips.
An entire side of her face had fused with asymmetrical bony growths, exposing a warped jaw lined with blackened, jagged teeth.
Her arms were unnaturally long—almost absurdly disproportionate—and ended in fingers that resembled curved blades of bone.
Her back constantly spasmed with violent muscular convulsions, as though several different organisms were fighting each other for control of the same body.
But the worst part was her eyes.
Or rather...
...the almost complete absence of them.
Two deformed white sockets that somehow still seemed to be staring directly at us despite their condition.
Even I, after everything I had seen in the world of bioweapons, felt a slight chill run down my spine.
Leon immediately took several steps backward.
"Damn... she's even more horrifying than she was upstairs..."
Marie let out a high-pitched, guttural shriek as she lowered herself into a crouch like a predator about to pounce.
I immediately backed away.
"We fall back. There's not enough room to fight here."
We quickly retreated into the large chamber filled with hanging body bags while Marie pursued us at an unnaturally high speed, alternately crawling across the walls, the ceiling, and the floor in movements that were completely impossible to predict.
The moment we reached the open area, I immediately activated my Factory.
Two enormous figures materialized instantly in flashes of organic light.
To my left stood my armored demolition zombie, its body covered in thick bony plates resembling a suit of living armor.
To my right appeared the over-enhanced colossus we had captured earlier—an immense mountain of muscle standing well over three meters tall, every fiber of his body swollen to the extreme.
Marie charged without slowing down.
The armored brute intercepted her immediately...
...only to be swatted aside like a rag doll.
Her monstrous backhand sent his massive body flying into one of the walls with a deafening crash.
"Damn..." Leon muttered. "She just sent your tank flying..."
But already...
...my second monster was moving.
The muscular colossus sidestepped with surprising speed before brutally seizing one of Marie's deformed arms.
In one perfectly executed movement—almost worthy of a professional grappler—he spun his entire body and performed a devastating arm lock.
CRAAACK!
The stone floor fractured beneath the impact as Marie was violently slammed face-first into the ground.
She let out a feral scream and immediately began thrashing wildly.
At that exact moment, the armored brute was already back on his feet.
Without hesitation, he lunged onto Marie's other arm and threw his entire colossal weight onto the joint, pinning it firmly against the ground and completely eliminating any chance of movement.
Together, the two monsters held the mutant in a perfect immobilization.
Marie continued struggling with incredible ferocity, her claws scraping across the stone and sending showers of sparks into the air.
A slow smile spread across my face as I walked toward the creature, now completely restrained beneath the combined strength of my two monsters.
Only seconds earlier she had been a whirlwind of violence.
Now she was nothing more than a mass of violently trembling muscles pressed against the cracked stone floor.
Her claws continued to scrape frantically across the ground with an unpleasant screech while guttural growls escaped her twisted throat, as though her body simply refused to accept that she had lost.
"Much better..." I murmured with satisfaction.
I slowly cracked my knuckles before crouching directly in front of her deformed face.
At this distance, I could clearly study the horrific damage caused by Gideon's experiments.
Her partially dislocated jaw.
The black veins pulsing beneath her skin.
The irregular bony growths surrounding her skull.
The entire forced mutation almost made me want to pull Victor back out of my Factory...
...just so I could punch him a second time.
Behind me, Leon watched everything unfold, his pistol lowered while his expression shifted between fascination... and profound discomfort.
"You know..." Leon said nervously as he watched my two creatures pin Marie to the ground. "The longer this goes on... the more I feel like your monsters are scarier than the ones we're fighting."
I turned slightly toward him with an amused smile.
"Maybe..." I replied calmly before turning my attention back to Marie. "But mine are prettier."
Without waiting any longer, I slowly placed my hand against her burning forehead.
The moment I did, I felt the capture link activate.
A surge of energy ran through my arm as the Factory absorbed the mutant completely. Her body convulsed violently one last time before disappearing in the familiar organic glow.
A few seconds passed.
Then her figure reappeared before me.
But it was no longer the deformed monstrosity that had been crawling around moments earlier.
Every visible mutation had vanished.
Her gray skin had regained a healthy human complexion.
The grotesque bony deformities had completely receded.
Her monstrous claws had become perfectly normal human hands.
Her blonde hair now fell neatly around a face still damp with the first traces of tears.
Within only a few seconds...
Marie had become the exact image of Emily.
The same face.
The same height.
The same innocent expression.
As if the two little girls had always been twins.
Her eyes slowly opened.
For a brief moment...
...she looked completely lost.
Then something inside her broke.
Her lips trembled.
Her breathing became ragged.
And without any warning...
...she burst into tears.
Real tears.
Not the scream of a mutant.
Not the howl of a monster.
Just the sobbing of a little girl who had probably regained her mind after weeks...
...or even months...
...of unimaginable horror.
I immediately felt every ounce of tension leave her tiny body.
Stepping closer, I gently pulled her into my arms.
"It's okay, sweetheart..." I whispered in a much softer voice, slowly stroking her hair. "It's over now. No one will ever hurt you again."
She clung to me instantly with surprising strength for someone so small, her tiny fingers gripping my shirt tightly as she continued crying against my chest.
A cold anger rose inside me as I thought about everything Gideon had done to children simply to satisfy his twisted research.
Behind me, Leon watched the scene in silence for several seconds.
His expression had softened considerably.
He rubbed the back of his neck before letting out a quiet sigh.
"Damn..." he muttered. "Moments like this are exactly why I know you'll never become one of those insane scientists."
Without stopping the gentle motion of comforting Marie, I looked up at him.
"When we get home, I'll ask Claire if she'd be willing to take care of the twins."
"No."
The answer came so quickly that Leon almost startled himself. Then, noticing Marie looking at him, he immediately began to stammer awkwardly.
A smile spread across my face.
"I meant I'll ask Claire to be like a big sister to them. And if Grace agrees... you'll have three little sisters to spoil."
Leon looked up at the ceiling before slowly shaking his head.
After another few moments, I gently loosened my embrace.
Marie sniffled quietly, her red, tear-filled eyes fixed on me with that unmistakable expression children wear when they've finally realized they're safe.
I gently rested a reassuring hand on her head before standing back up.
Then I turned toward Leon.
"All right. Change of plans."
He frowned slightly.
"What?"
I gestured toward Marie, who was still clinging to my leg.
"You take her with you."
Leon blinked several times.
"...What?"
I continued calmly.
"Go back upstairs. Take her to the lounge where Grace, Emily, and Jeff are waiting. Stay with them until I return."
His expression immediately grew more serious.
"And you?"
I slowly turned toward the deeper sections of the underground complex, my eyes following the countless side tunnels disappearing into the darkness.
"I'm going to do a quick cleanup," I said calmly.