Resident Evil Multiverse Of Madness

"Hey. You okay?" Spencer asks Alice as she is shivering a bit. After he proceeds to offer her his jacket to keep her a bit warm to which Zeel immediately intervened between the two. Alice at this point had grown increasingly annoyed by his possessive actions but she also noticed that he held himself back a fair deal – almost as if he had little control over how he felt.

"Here." Zeel says after taking off a cuff that was on his biceps.

Alice looked confused at first before replying "I'm fine." What could a cuff do anyway?

"Come on." Zeel says while pulling her and pinning it around her wrist, with his strength she could not refuse. "It have an internal temperature modulating system to keep the body temperature within tolerable limits"

While Zeel and Alice were getting along for the first time, Spencer jumps in the conversation though he did it from the opposite side of Alice, careful to avoid Zeel "Do you remember anything?"

"No. Nothing before the train.��

"And you?"

"No. Nothing."

Like a savior should Kaplan interrupts everyone's conversation "I found an alternate route, but it's gonna cost us time. We double back, cut through Dining Hall B... then we're right on track." Kaplan says pointing to his display and tracing his finger to ensure we are paying close attention to the route.

"We're behind schedule. So let's move it. Come on." James says as he leads everyone away, sadly if everyone stayed a bit longer they'd be able to see the drowned lady open her eyes which would give them all a scare. Zeel however is able to catch the awakening from the corner of his eyes.

A few twist and turns later, the group now stand in front of what seems to be a horror floor reminiscent of every horror movie ever watched since childhood.

"Where I am from, they said never go to such places. My mother is African so I'm part black. My father said we die first in such places" Zeel said recounting the lessons from his childhood, not aware that everything he said made it that much more difficult for James to give an order to explore the supposed 'Dining Hall'.

"Dining Hall B." Kaplan says looking a bit confused by what he is seeing. "That's what it says on the map."

"Maybe you're reading it wrong." James comments.

"Maybe the corporation's keeping a few secrets down here. Something you're not supposed to see." Matt speaks for the first time since they entered the hive.

"I like you, rats live just short of c.o.c.kroaches" Zeel said in a complimenting tone of voice, though nobody in their right mind would actually take his attempts as an actual compliment.

"Rain keep the prisoner. Everyone else spread out and be cautious. Keep it tight. Move it." James commands as everyone disperses to investigate the floor that looks like a prison from hell.

Alice begins wondering around because despite her best efforts she doesn't feel like she fits in around these guys, especially with Zeel annoying her. Truth be told she is warming up to his constant annoyances.

Zeel on the other hand feels right at home, he walks around looking at the containers and examines the monstrosities on the inside. He then proceeds with his mission since this area houses exactly what he came for – huge amounts of liquid mercury. This is the area of The Hive that is primarily responsible for tissue generation and their method of tissue production uses enormous amounts of liquid mercury in combination with other substances. Ripping out a container from near the chambers Zeel proceeds to chug the down like Vikings of the distant past, all the while only trailing slightly behind Alice.

"Why do you keep following me around?" Alice asks.

Zeel wipes the Liquid Mercury from the corners of his mouth as he responds "You know I actually don't know! It's a bit confusing for me too since emotions are new for me!"

"What?"

"Nothing, Let's just say it's an investment on my part. And you're the product I'm investing in" Zeel says empathetically.

"What happens when your investment doesn't work out?" Alice asked quirking her brows.

Zeel walks towards Alice and places a knife at her throat and whispers "Then you eliminate it"

"careful what you say, sometimes an investment can cost you your life" Alice replies as a dagger was pressing against Zeel's abdomen area. The two look at each other and flash genuine smiles on their faces, appreciating for that moment that they were the same kind of person.

"I said keep it tight." James pops up out of nowhere with the reminder, but Zeel was sure he waited for the perfect moment to f.u.c.k up their intimate moment.

"Sorry. I'm not sure I want to remember what went on down here." Alice says after she hurriedly turned away from Zeel and stared into a nearby chamber which had a mass of tissue that looked truly disgusting.

"I don't blame you." James says.

"I think it's a bit beautiful. The evolutionary path your world chose" Zeel comments more for his own self, but was still overheard by James and Alice who just wrote it off as the rambling of a mad man. James orders Spencer along with Rain to secure the 'Dining Hall' as a precautionary measure.

After a couple more twists and turns the group makes it to the terminal to access the core of the Red Queen. Kaplan begins working his magic on the computers, thought Zeel may not be able to fully understand what he is doing, he still has a good idea more or less.

"Red Queen's defenses are in place. She's making it difficult." Kaplan says with Zeel behind him analyzing the code and learning at speeds impossible for the humans.

All of a sudden the door unlocks and James says "Let's pack it up!"

"Wait I don't think it's a good idea to head in there right now!" Zeel says stunning everyone in place.

"You stay here." James says as he drags a duffle bag with an EMP into the transparent corridor made up of glass and other impenetrable metals.

"What is that?" Zeel asks clearly interested in the tech James is dragging.

"That's what will shut the Queen down. Delivers a massive electrical charge. Scrambles the mainframe and forces it to reboot." Kaplan replies in a bragging tone.

"Well I guess I'll go with him" Zeel says as he enters the door, which not long after closes automatically.

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

All of a sudden highly concentrated laser beams turned on at the front and makes its way towards him and James at moderate speed. The pattern was basic at first with a single line but soon it increased into a multitude of laser beams; Zeel and James were dodging the beams as if the beams were their ex-girlfriends. On the outside you could hear Alice yelling at Kaplan to get the situation under control since she was someone who naturally cared for those around her.

"Some kind of dormant defense mechanism. Opening the door tripped it." Kaplan replied trying to type code faster than should be humanly possible.

"Put it back to sleep." Alice yells.

"Working on it."

By this time the fourth round of lasers is about to begin when Zeel feels a shiver run down his spine all of a sudden. "James step back quick this one is a bit tricky."

"I got this!" James replies.

Zeel considered for a moment since his intuition was telling him this would be the Red Queen's killer shot. Zeel wore a special synthetic polymer on his body that had reflective properties but not enough to completely bounce the laser beams away; however, it could cause enough interference to make the grid collapse.

Zeel thought 'Since you wanna be a hero so bad' and then yelled at James "Wear this it could help in the case we get burned"

James not questioning Zeel's action quickly put on the coat Zeel pulled out from a storage pocket at the back of his combat clothing. After James finished wearing the coat, Zeel mumbled a low 'sorry'.

Not long after the lasers turned into cross hatches as Zeel jumped and kicked James in the back towards the laser grid. A sizzling sound was heard, not that dissimilar to cooking fish in oil as James' body was dismembered into fine pieces of flesh. This reflective properties of the coat made him last a bit longer destabilizing the laser grid just enough for an opening to be presented. Zeel jumped and made his body horizontal to the ceiling, falling he did two rolls followed by two hops and a duck that managed to just barely avoid a laser from splitting his head in perfect half.

When everything was over Zeel watched as James' body on the ground slowly splits apart into almost fine pieces, he vomits a bit in his mouth. He has seen many dead bodies and killed many too, but laser sushi? This was a first one for him. Not long after the door opens and he rushes out not wanting to risk anymore confrontation with an AI that could turn people into Sushi at will. Kaplan and Alice turn their faces when they see what is on the inside.

"Could've been worst" Zeel said eyeing Alice carefully since he was sure she had seen him kick James to the dogs without any hesitation. Alice however, showed no outwards reaction to his stare as if saying 'It was only natural'.