Chapter 143: Ivan: I Have a Bold Idea (Patreon)

The explosion rang out. Riddled with holes, the Tyrant had no strength left to resist this time, and it burned itself out in the sea of flames.

Alex let out a breath of relief.

Behind a screen, the Umbrella test supervisor had been collecting combat data through the Tyrant's point of view. He was fairly satisfied with the T-103's performance.

After all, its opponents were no ordinary people. They were the cream of the crop, handpicked from Delta Force, every one of them an elite soldier, yet the Tyrant alone had taken out ten of them.

If Umbrella Europe's Sixth Laboratory hadn't butted in, sending the Nemesis-T Type to cause a fiasco and hitting the Tyrant with a rocket that changed the course of the battle, the remaining five would probably have been wiped out sooner or later.

By comparison, the Nemesis-T Type the Sixth Laboratory had sent was something of a joke. Its first shot hammered its own teammate and got Delta Force out of a jam. Before it could do anything else, a single shot blasted it from the rooftop down to the foot of the building, and one more finished it off on the spot.

A clown among clowns. Absolutely absurd.

At 11:05 p.m. on September 24, Brad landed his helicopter on the roof of the processing plant and picked up the surviving Delta Force members.

Down at the foot of the building, the Nemesis-T Type lay in a heap that no longer looked like anything. Whether it was an illusion or not, it seemed to be moving faintly.

Earlier that evening, in the S.T.A.R.S. office, Ivan had recalled how Umbrella airdropped BOWs in the original course of events.

He announced to the entire city that, because of Umbrella's airdropping of biological weapons, a no-fly order was now in effect…

Anyone who wanted to operate in Raccoon City's airspace had to contact the dispatch center at the Raccoon City Police Department and explain the situation. Otherwise, they would be shot on sight.

The date the order would be lifted would depend on the circumstances.

With the order given, Ivan looked out the window.

The militia were lining up to receive firearms handed out by the police department. Their fighting ability had been amply proven during the limited-time event in the Arklay Mountains, so Ivan was completely at ease arming them to defend against the Raccoon City crisis.

He walked out of the captain's office. Apart from Daisy, who handled secretarial work, plus Sherry and Makima, everyone else was already at their posts, hunting down the BOWs roaming the city.

"Brother Ivan, I want to go fight alongside Sister Lisa and the others, too."

After some time together, aside from Ivan, the person in all of S.T.A.R.S. whom Sherry clicked with most was Lisa. The two were practically inseparable, and Lisa adored the little girl.

But times had changed. With the situation in Raccoon City growing more complicated by the day, Ivan wasn't about to let Sherry go out with the main force. The battlefield has no eyes. If anything happened to her, how could he face the promise he'd made to Annette?

Ivan crouched down and patted Sherry's head.

"Sherry, I've never doubted that you have the ability."

Feeling the warmth of his big hand, Sherry answered sensibly.

"Mm~ I understand, Brother Ivan."

"Sir, I'll stay right by your side!"

As she spoke, Sherry gave Ivan a salute. Her adorable manner amused him. He gave her shoulder a light pat in approval.

"I'll remember Member Sherry's words."

Hearing that, Sherry clasped her hands behind her back and grinned, eyes squeezed into crescents.

"Hehe~"

"Boom!"

Suddenly, the sound of something crashing down came from the street outside the station.

At this hour… could it be?!

As if he'd realized something, Ivan pulled out a sheet of paper and stuffed it into Makima's arms. Then he dashed out the door, leaving a parting line.

"Makima, I'm leaving S.T.A.R.S. to you."

Makima understood his meaning: protect Daisy and Sherry. She unfolded the paper he'd tucked into her arms and read it carefully.

Sure enough, it was the appointment letter naming her acting captain of S.T.A.R.S.

"Sister Makima, did something happen?" Sherry asked sweetly. She actually had a good impression of Makima.

Makima was always gentle with her, too. It was just that Sherry sometimes felt, without quite knowing why, that Makima gave off a certain aura that… um, how to put it? A chilling one.

"…"

Meanwhile, Ivan rushed out and reached his destination. From the officers' reports, one voice after another, he pieced together what had happened.

Put simply, right after Ivan issued the no-fly order, a helicopter heading toward the Raccoon City Police Department had been picked up on the monitors.

Following protocol, the dispatch center had given it three warnings, demanding that it state its identity and purpose. Every one of them went unanswered.

In that case, the dispatch center immediately notified the colleagues on duty outside the station and ordered a targeted strike. On receiving the order, they fired an RPG, and the downed helicopter crashed into the street on the west side of the station.

Since the area had been evacuated in advance, there were no casualties.

Ivan, now on the scene, looked at the metal culture tank in front of him, nearly two people tall.

As expected, what the helicopter carried was a Tyrant. Its purpose was obvious: to destroy Raccoon City's local armed forces.

Ivan looked around and spoke.

"From now until you receive my next instruction, make sure that at every moment at least three RPGs are aimed at this thing."

"That way we can destroy whatever's inside the instant it moves."

"Yes, sir!"

Ivan nodded, said a few words of reassurance to the personnel present, then left the scene and contacted Lisa, who was out on operations with Jill.

At 10:45 p.m. on September 24, Lisa and Jill returned to Ivan's side.

"Lisa, could you control the Tyrant and make it work for us?"

That was exactly what Ivan had in mind. The combination of Nemesis and the T-103 could give birth to the fearsome Nemesis-T Type. So Lisa, who possessed all manner of viral abilities, ought to be able to control it, too.

Of course, failure wouldn't matter. But if it worked, he'd gain a powerful enforcer for the team, and that could only be good news with the situation heating up.

Lisa nodded.

"I've never tried, but I think I can."

"Let's go, Ivan. Take me to see it."

As far as Lisa was concerned, if it was something Ivan wanted, then if it could be done, great, and if it couldn't, she'd do it anyway!

"Okay."

With that, Ivan had the officers haul the culture tank into the station's back garden. Few people ever came here, making it a good place to get things done.

As for how to open the tank and wake the Tyrant without authorization, Ivan had a method.

He summoned the leech tide and told them what he wanted done. The leech tide took on the mimicry of a pool of black water and wrapped itself tightly around the tank.

"Tsss~"

No one knew how they pulled it off. In any case, the once-unbreakable tank's hatch popped open, and a layer of white mist spread out from inside.

At the same moment, Lisa summoned Nemesis. A dense mass of tentacles, driven by incomparable strength, pierced the Tyrant's brain before it had fully come online…