I won't bother describing the flight, because absolutely nothing interesting happened during it besides the occasional bored remark tossed out here and there. We landed brazenly right on the helicopter pad, where two others were already parked. Well, what of it? We had restored the corporation's logo—after having hastily covered it up earlier—so for a while we at least had a chance of passing as friendlies.
Turned out we didn't need that chance.
No one contacted us on approach, which immediately put both me and Yamata on edge. Yoko and Cindy simply didn't realize anything was wrong.
"We've got a problem," Yamata said once we touched down and still no one came out to meet us.
"I can see that without your help," I replied as I climbed out of the cabin and noticed a couple of corpses that simply hadn't been visible from the helicopter.
"Think it's already started?" Yamata asked, stepping out beside me, half keeping an eye on the girls, who were twitching nervously.
On the one hand, they had seen this sort of thing before, and the memories weren't pleasant. On the other, their new instincts were screaming that what lay before them was a vat full of liquid useful to the body. And on the third hand—their bright hopes had just shattered. The girls had wanted to believe all of this had stayed behind in the city that was destroyed.
"The main thing is that it hasn't already ended. You're in charge of gathering evidence and information, while I need to hurry to the prison. That should tell me what's going on right away. Stay in contact."
With that, I accelerated and dashed toward the place where, according to a map the Four Eyes had previously dug out of Umbrella's archives, the room I needed was located.
One leap and I cleared a fence. Then a sprint around the tropical forest at top speed—the sooner I knew what was happening, the better. Then another jump, carrying me over the next wall of a half-ruined building.
No one here. Further on… there, I could already see the road. It would be incredibly frustrating if everything had already ended!
That mad dash ended at a partially wrecked prison building. Well, "wrecked" was a relative term—the building had definitely taken some damage, but according to that same map, the actual prison was located below, and I had no use for the reception area anyway.
And how picturesque the cemetery beside the prison looked! A very direct hint for the inmates to be honest, if they didn't want to end up adding to it.
In front of me sat a car smashed into the wall, engulfed in flames despite the still-light drizzle. The main thing was that it didn't explode. I went around it on the left and, after turning left once more, headed down to where the entrance to the prison at this island facility was located.
There I saw two silhouettes. One was moving slowly; the other stood a bit farther ahead, judging by the posture, slumped against something.
Hm. Hopefully I'd made it here at least a little before the main events had begun. That would make it possible to play things out in a much more interesting way.
I headed down and, turning left in the corridor—seriously, what is it with everything turning left, though there weren't even any branches here!—I took a pistol shot square in the body armor and lunged forward. I could have stepped out of the line of fire. Sure, the bullet was faster than me, but the man firing it was slower. Still, why bother?
Closing the distance with some Black guy who was already clutching a bleeding wound even without my help, I struck with my left hand, broke his ribs, and drove my claws between them.
Fight over.
My opponent's body slid down the wall to my right. I hadn't held back the force of the blow, so he'd hit the wall headfirst with considerable extra momentum. Oddly enough, for a second it seemed to me like I'd hit something with my own head too.
After quickly frisking the corpse so generously sharing valuable fluid with me, I found keys.
Eureka!
Now I could finally go inside.
I didn't even have to pick the lock—among the keys was the right one for the little room's door itself. So, with a soft click, I opened it and stepped into the dark room.
To my right sat an old acquaintance of mine, currently doing time.
Heh. Same clothes as ever. Now that's consistency!
Though seriously, she should've started dressing in something less conspicuous. Might've kept her from ending up here.
"Who's there?"
There was tension in her voice, but not fear. And the noise outside should've woken her up—Wesker hadn't exactly been restraining himself in canon—and then there had been the commotion at the door, courtesy of me and the Black guard. Still, she was holding up well, even though all she could see in the darkness was a vague silhouette.
"Mr. Angel," I said, recalling the events from our encounter with Birkin. Best possible way to prove that I was me.
"Ha-ha," Claire drawled, more out of politeness than because she truly appreciated my wit. Then came the click of a lighter… and where exactly had a prisoner gotten that? Under its weak flame, the girl studied me, trying to make out my features.
"You got taller," she said.
"I grew," I rasped laconically.
"And what happened to your voice?" she pressed on. Why was she so suspicious? Then again, if she weren't, she probably wouldn't have survived this long.
"Side effects of the mutation," I finally admitted. No point trying to hide an awl in a sack. Sooner or later I'd have to come clean anyway, whether I kept talking in this hoarse voice or started speaking to her directly through thoughts. No hiding it.
Besides, she was someone I could probably count on—assuming she still felt indebted to me for helping her in the underground lab. Sure, I'd really been helping myself and pursuing my own goals at the time, but that hardly mattered.
On the other hand, human gratitude has a tendency to fade quickly, and it had been almost three months since we'd last seen each other. We'd both been busy. She'd been looking for her brother, while Yamata and I had first gone legit, then built up a reputation, and in the end had even started training our "meat," all while keeping tabs on what was happening with the corporation.
(End of Chapter)
P@treon: /SadRaven
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