Chapter 20

- The Nemesis Returns -

"There they are!" Claire shouted, pointing up the street. Leon, Ada, and Jake looked in that direction to see Chris and Jill walking their way, weapons at the ready while talking amongst themselves. Chris looked up, and a massive smile of relief spread across his face at the sight of Claire.

He quickly moved forward and pulled his younger sister into a bone-crushing hug. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you," he said. He just stood there for a minute, continuing the hug, but then Claire tapped his shoulder, and he saw she was starting to turn blue.

"Oh, sorry," he said, letting go. "Guess I forgot my own strength."

"It's a Kodak moment," Ada quipped, standing off to the side with her arms folded across her chest. Chris and Jill both turned to her.

"Ada Wong," Jill said, her tone decidedly neutral. Ada simply smirked.

"I see my reputation precedes me," she replied.

"It does." Chris said, also using a neutral tone.

"All good, I hope?"

"I wouldn't say that, exactly," Chris said. "Let's get something straight here, Ada. At the moment, I'm only tolerating your help and your presence because Leon and Claire are giving you the benefit of the doubt. If you give me any reason to think you're gonna-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Ada said, raising a hand to quiet him. "Your dear sister already warned me that she would do the same, and for once, I don't plan on double-crossing anyone here. Believe it or not, I have no desire to see the world end, especially not at Wesker's hands."

"Well, at least we all agree on something." Jill remarked. With that, they turned to Jake.

"So, you're Jake Muller?" Chris asked.

"Yep," Jake replied. "No autographs, please." Jill rolled her eyes.

"So, you two are the boy scouts who want my dad dead?" Jake went on. Chris nodded. "Before we go, I just have one question: are you just following orders, or is it personal?"

"Both," Jill said without hesitation. "You may not like to hear this, Jake, but your father is an evil, heartless monster who needs to be put down. He killed most of our friends in the S.T.A.R.S., and what he did to me..."

Jill stopped at that, deciding it would be easier to show rather than tell. With that, she unzipped the front of her jacket just enough to expose the area of her chest just below her neck. Jake, Leon, and Claire automatically recoiled, and even Ada couldn't help but grimace at the sight.

On Jill's skin was a painful-looking scar that vaguely resembled a second-degree burn, pockmarked with circular, somewhat sunken markings; the remnants of what the P30 device Wesker had planted on her for three years. Without a word, Jill zipped her coat back up.

"Yeah, it's bad," she said. "He planted some kind of drug injector on me, made me his slave for three years. I couldn't control my actions... but I was still aware of everything."

Jake was silent for a minute.

"Frankly, you guys can count me in," he said dully. "I don't really care about what happens to my dad. He ditched my mom and me before I was even born. He's just my sperm donor, not my father. Besides, I'm with Ada here; I don't want the world to end either."

"Then we're agreed," Chris said, offering his hand. Jake simply stared at him for a moment, and then took the hand and shook it. "So, anything else before we go?"

"I have an idea," Leon piped up suddenly. "And it involves ducking."

He immediately grabbed Claire and Ada, hauling them to the ground while throwing himself down as well. Chris automatically did the same with Jill and Jake just as a rocket sailed over their heads and hit a wall roughly ten feet behind them, blasting it to smithereens.

"BSAA," a deep, guttural voice growled. Jill cursed inwardly.

"Shit, he's back!" she said, getting to her feet as the others did the same.

"Wesker sent a Nemesis T-Type here?" Ada asked. "I think that's airing on the side of overkill."

"Who cares?!" Jill almost screamed. "He sent it here, and it's gonna kill us all!"

"Bit pessimistic, aren't you?" Jake asked.

"Up there!" Leon shouted, pointing to the sky. The others followed his finger to see the Nemesis lurking on top of a high building, rocket launcher in hand. After a moment, it jumped down to street level, the ground shaking slightly on impact.

"You think we can take him?" Jake asked, cracking his knuckles. Jill gave him a look.

"What, are you nuts?!" she demanded.

"There are six of us and only one of him," Jake retorted.

"One is plenty!"

Jake waved a hand, dismissing it. He quickly raised his handgun, seeing a red barrel in the Nemesis' path as it approached.

"Eat this!" he snarled through his teeth as he pulled the trigger. As soon as the bullet pierced the barrel, it exploded in a burst of flame, engulfing the Nemesis while everyone else instinctively recoiled.

After a moment, the flames died down to reveal the Nemesis, slightly charred, but otherwise unharmed and still standing. After a moment, a long tentacle snaked out from under its right sleeve.

"Okay, not what I was expecting," Jake said.

"Would it be in bad form to say 'I told you so'?" Jill asked as the Nemesis began its advance.

Rebecca finished looking over Piers and Helena's wounds, as well as her own, and then turned to Sherry.

"Let me see how bad it is," she said, but Sherry shook her head.

"No, I'm fine," she replied. Rebecca looked at her, flabbergasted.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked. "Look at your arm!"

Sherry did as Rebecca said, seeing her right arm hanging limp and useless at her side.

"No, it's okay. See?"

With that, Sherry tenderly grabbed her right forearm and, clenching her teeth, snapped the broken elbow back into its socket, letting out a little cry of pain as she did. After a minute of clutching her arm, she raised her hand and flexed her fingers, all damage having been instantly repaired.

Rebecca was shocked and struggled to form a coherent sentence at the sight.

"What the hell... How did you... What are you?"

Even before an expression of pure hurt crept across Sherry's pretty face at that last comment, Rebecca instantly felt disgusted with herself.

"Look, Sherry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No, no, I get it," Sherry replied, waving a dismissive hand. "Didn't you guys know I was infected with the G-virus back in Raccoon City?"

"Yeah, I remember hearing that," Piers said. "But weren't you cured?"

"Not as completely as we thought," the cold voice of Simmons cut in, and everyone turned to see him, Hunnigan, and President Benford re-entering the room.

"Though Agent Kennedy and Claire Redfield did indeed treat Sherry with the G-vaccine, the virus adjusted and adapted to her physiology, greatly enhancing her natural healing process. Have no fear, over the years, we have determined there is no danger."

"Good to know," Alice said, having chosen to remain silent until now. Simmons turned to her and gave her a look, but said nothing.

"Well, you have Agent Birkin, and Wesker's thugs are gone," President Benford said. "What will you do now?"

Alice stepped forward. "There is one other thing," she said, pulling the dossiers of Bruce McGivern, Manuela Hidalgo, Angela Miller, and the Echo Six team that had been deployed to Raccoon City in 1998 out of her coat and handing them to the President. "Do you know how we can get in contact with these people?"

"Everyone, scatter!" Chris shouted. "No matter how tough he is, one B.O.W. can't get us all!"

With that, they bolted in three different directions in groups of two; Chris and Leon, Jill and Ada, and Claire and Jake. The Nemesis let out a savage roar before charging after Claire and Jake, the latter looking over his shoulder to see him.

"Why do I gotta be so goddamn popular?!" he shouted as he ran.

"Good question!" Claire fired back.

Jake ducked down a side street with Claire in tow. Seeing a truck parked near the end of the road, an idea formed in Claire's mind.

"Can you hotwire a car?" she asked Jake. Jake saw the truck himself and nodded, a smirk forming on his face.

When the Nemesis reached the end of the street, it was mildly surprised to find the duo nowhere in sight. Slowly advancing up the street, its single eye scanning every possible direction, a pair of lights suddenly blinked on, and it recoiled briefly before following the lights to their source, discovering that they came from a pair of headlights on a truck, with Jake behind the wheel and Claire in the passenger seat. Jake leaned out the window.

"Special delivery!" he shouted before popping the clutch and slamming on the gas pedal. The truck shot forward and slammed full force into the Nemesis, knocking it off its feet and ramming it into the wall before backing up, a dent in the front of the truck.

"You think he's dead?" Claire asked.

"They never are." Jake replied. With that, he backed up some more before ramming into the Nemesis again at full speed, before repeating the process several more times, each time driving the Nemesis deeper and deeper into the wall. When the impression in the wall was about a foot deep and the front of the truck was considerably smashed up, Jake stopped.

"Well, that should do it," Jake said.

"I certainly hope so." Claire remarked, remembering what Jill had told her of the Nemesis' resiliency and persistence.

They got out of the truck, leaving it pinning the Nemesis, who, unbeknownst to them, was already beginning to move again...

Derek C. Simmons waited until everyone else had left the room, and then, making sure there was no one else around, pulled a cell phone out of his pocket, hit the speed dial, and waited.

"Hello?" a female voice on the other end said.

"It's me," Simmons said. "Wesker's henchmen just attacked the White House."

"What a colossal imbecile," the voice said. "Albert will not undo everything we've worked for."

"Indeed," Simmons said. "He should have just stayed in the hole where Redfield left him. I've worked too long and too hard to maintain the world's stability. He's a wild card in these things, and I will not let him create any more chaos."

"For now, we will stay our hand and see how things pan out," the woman said. "If the situation becomes too much for the BSAA and their allies to contain, then we will step in."

"They already failed to kill him once," Simmons said, a note of indignation in his voice. "I'm not going to just stand by and let them try to take him out only to fail again-"

"Remember our deal, Derek," the voice on the other end said, every word dripping menace. Simmons stayed quiet for a moment before letting out a resigned sigh.

"Very well. Your wish is my command... Alex."

Author's Note:

There we go. You didn't think I'd just forget the Nemesis, did you?

So, yeah, I've decided to make Simmons a secondary antagonist. Have no fear, he won't be stealing any time or thunder from Wesker. As for who his mysterious female partner is... well, I'll let you guess, and we'll go into her later.

Please R&R. Until next chapter...