Dragon Across the Multiverse (Si-WC) (Patreon)

Chapter 2: When Monsters Meet Monsters

Raccoon City – Underground Service Route

Jill’s boots echoed along the dim concrete path beneath the city. The air was thick with mildew, decay, and the unmistakable coppery tang of blood. Every now and then, distant growls or wet dragging sounds echoed through the tunnels.

Carlos walked just ahead, his rifle sweeping from side to side, hyper-aware. “So, you’re saying that guy just... vanished?” he asked over his shoulder.

Jill frowned. “Not vanished. Dissolved. Like—like light particles. I know how that sounds.”

Carlos chuckled dryly. “Lady, there’s zombies and monsters out in the streets eating each other. At this point, disappearing pretty boys are the least of my worries.”

Jill sighed. “Still. He was fast, strong. Not like any spec ops I’ve seen. Not normal”

“At least he didn’t try to kill you,” Carlos offered, nodding toward a half-open maintenance hatch. “We’re almost at the bunker. I’m with the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service—U.B.C.S., for short.”

Jill blinked before a scowl appeared on her face. “Are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me? You guys are the ones who caused all of this!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you talking about? We’re just here to help people. What’s wrong with Umbrella?”

Scowling even further at his answer Jill shook her head. ““What’s wrong with Umbrella?” Oh my god. Your company is responsible for infecting everyone!”

“Yeah, uh, I don’t know anything about all that. You don’t have to trust me, but I’m going to the shelter. You comin’?”

Jill hesitated. She didn’t trust him. But she trusted being alone in this hell even less.

Silently, she followed him into the dark.

“How do you always get yourself into these messes, Jill?” she muttered under her breath.

=====

Raccoon City – Power Substation

The old substation was a crumbling, barely-functioning relic of a bygone era, and every inch of it smelled like death. Rusted wires dangled from the ceilings, the floor was slick with some sort of bile, and the dim emergency lights flickered with each distant rumble of thunder.

Jill stepped carefully through the open service door, pistol drawn and flashlight cutting through the gloom. She muttered under her breath, "Great. Power’s out, everything's crawling with bugs, and I’m the one who has to flip the switch."

She rounded a corner into one of the maintenance corridors, the buzzing overhead intensifying. Her instincts screamed a moment before something dropped from the ceiling—an infected Drain Deimos, its grotesque mandibles snapping as it lunged for her.

She barely had time to react before—

BOOM–BOOM!

Two thunderous gunshots roared through the narrow space, and the creature’s upper half exploded in a shower of ichor and twitching limbs. Its twitching remains slid off Jill’s shoulder and hit the floor with a wet slap.

Wide-eyed and catching her breath, Jill spun around, gun still raised—only to see him again.

Standing in the ruined corridor, wreathed in faint smoke from the twin silver magnums he held at his sides, was the stranger from earlier. His short, pale-blue hair shimmered under the emergency lights, his tall frame casting a long shadow behind him. His calm, unreadable expression was the same, but this time his clothes were stained slightly with blood and grime—yet he still looked somehow otherworldly. Unbothered.

“Looks like I’m making a habit of saving you,” he said with a slight smirk, casually spinning one of the magnums before holstering it across his back.

Jill kept her weapon up a second longer, then slowly lowered it. “You again.”

“Me again,” he said with a nod. “Nice shot, huh?”

“Not bad,” she admitted, glancing at the splattered mess on the floor. “You planning to keep following me?”

“Only when you’re about to get killed by giant bugs or monsters.”

She gave him a long look. “You still haven’t told me who you are.”

He smiled faintly. “Let’s just say I’m not from around here.”

“Yeah,” Jill muttered, “no kidding.”

Another screech echoed in the distance—more Drain Deimos were on the move.

Akari glanced toward the sound, his eyes narrowing. “I’ll cover you while you restore the power. Let’s clean this place up.”

Jill gave him a curt nod. “Fine. But if you’re going to stay, I want some real answers.”

“I’ll try to stick around this time,” he said, lifting his magnums again. “Scout’s honor.”

Together, the two pressed deeper into the infested substation, their footsteps fading under the rising chorus of hissing, crawling things in the dark.

=====

Raccoon City – Akari, Minutes Earlier

Perched on a rooftop overlooking the subway entrance, I waited patiently. Jill would be returning any moment now—no doubt sent to reroute power to the station so the remaining survivors could try their luck escaping through the subway.

Without even glancing, my hands moved in a blur, twin magnums firing off a pair of shots. Two distant groans were silenced as a pair of zombies dropped in the alley below.

“I was right. This is kind of boring,” I muttered, holstering the weapons with a sigh. “Glad I decided to get involved in the plot.”

A faint smile crept across my face as I felt a wave of excitement ripple through my connection with Veldora. He was a few blocks over, and from the intensity of the joy radiating off him, he was definitely enjoying himself.

Amidst the heavy cloud of panic, fear, and death suffocating the city, Veldora’s sheer enthusiasm lit up like a flare to my empathic senses.

Then I saw her.

Jill stepped out of the subway again, her face set in grim determination.

My pulse quickened.

“Looks like it’s time for me to get more involved,” I murmured with a grin, rising to my feet.

And with a shimmer of light, I was gone.

=====

Raccoon City – Power Substation

As we walked through the disgusting, infested halls, I shot down more Drain Deimos, all the while waiting patiently for Jill to speak first. She’d remained mostly silent, but I knew she was dying to know more about me. With her personality, it wouldn’t take long.

“So. Am I at least going to get a name this time?” Jill asked casually.

“Akari Tempest. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jill Valentine,” I said, giving her a quick smile when she turned my way at the mention of her name.

“Hmph, seems like a lot of strangers know my name lately,” Jill muttered with a grunt. “Whatever, I don’t care. If you’re really here to help like you said, then we need to activate the four breakers to reroute power to the subway.”

“Got it. Shouldn’t be too difficult.” I nodded in agreement, then glanced at her from the corner of my eye. “Once this mess is over, I wouldn’t mind sharing a few things with you.”

“…Such as?” she asked, clearly intrigued.

“Like the fact that, just like you, I’m not a big fan of Umbrella. And that they’ve managed to create something even worse than the T-Virus,” I said, my tone turning serious.

She winced at the news, then turned to me with a sharper look. “And how would you know that?”

“Haha, easy there,” I replied with a relaxed smile, unfazed. “We’ve got things to do, right? Like turning on the breakers? If you’re still interested after, I’ll tell you all about it—over drinks. My treat~” I winked.

“That a real offer?” she muttered, stepping over a twitching, half-fried zombie. “You planning on sticking around that long?”

“I guess you’ll just have to find out, won’t you?”

Jill stared at me for a moment, then eventually turned away. “Those drinks better be good,” she said, walking off with just a hint of sway in her hips.

‘Hmhmhm. See, Ciel? What did I tell you?’ I asked my cute Manas, following a bit behind her.

“Hmph. Master is cheating with all his perks and looks,” Ciel added grumpily.

She was not completely wrong but that didn’t mean that I wouldn’t use them to my advantage.

Before too long we got the breakers turned on again as I killed everything that even remotely moved with extreme prejudice.

“Aren’t you afraid you’re going to run out of ammo?” Jill asked as we made our way back the way we came, on our way to turn on the main power switch.

“Not at all.” I said casually shooting a dead corpse on the ground not even checking if it was alive or not. With my power I could infinitely make ammo for myself and would just have to reload. “The real question you should be asking is if a Shotgun is going to be enough for the things waiting for us ahead?”

“…Not all of us are lucky enough to be walking around with a pair of Lighting Hawks.” Jill muttered in slight jealousy.

“Hahahaha true true.” I nodded with a bit of a laugh before putting my hand inside my coat and pulling out an extra magnum. “Here, as a sign of our new friendship.” I offered to her along with a bunch of extra magazines.

“You’re just going to hand me a Magnum as easy as that?”

“Are you not going to take it?” I asked teasingly in return with a raised eyebrow.

With a click of her tongue, Jill took the gun and ammo from my hands and muttered out a quiet thanks.

It didn’t take long before we reached the main switch, watching through the grime-smeared window as the grotesque organic mass clinging to the power plant pulsed faintly in the low light.

“Moment of truth,” Jill muttered, hand hovering over the lever.

“I’d stand back if I were you. Knowing Umbrella’s handiwork, this thing might just explode,” I said with a smirk, taking a leisurely step to the side.

Jill rolled her eyes but smirked faintly. “If it does, and I die, you owe me those drinks in the afterlife.”

“Deal.”

She yanked the lever.

The power surged with a heavy thrum, and instantly, arcs of electricity raced through the organic growth outside. The fleshy tendrils twitched violently, sizzling and burning away, and the large mutated creature embedded in the mass let out a guttural screech before retreating back underground.

Unnoticed by Jill, one of my clones silently peeled off from a nearby rooftop, slipping into the tunnels after the monster to make sure it was dealt with permanently.

“We’re back in business,” Jill said, a rare note of pride in her voice.

“You say that like we’re not going to get jumped by something in the next sixty seconds.” I casually cocked one of my Magnums and gave the room a slow glance. “Power coming back on is practically a monster summoning chant in this city.”

“Don’t jinx it,” she muttered—but she was already checking her new Magnum, fingers working with crisp, confident movements.

I smiled. She looked good with that gun.

We turned from the panel and made our way toward the exit. The floors beneath us rumbled faintly as the substation trembled.

“...That felt normal to you?” Jill asked, her voice tense now.

“Nope. And if I had to guess…” I paused, pretending to listen. “That sounded like something big just got very awake.”

In truth, I already knew it was the aftermath of my clone tangling with the creature. But Jill didn’t need to know that.

She raised her weapon. “Nemesis?”

I shrugged. “Possibly. But if it is, I call dibs.”

“You’re insane,” she muttered, taking the lead up the stairs.

“And you’re starting to sound like you’re impressed.”

She didn’t answer, but I caught the small grin tugging at her lips before she turned away.

“Carlos, it’s Jill. We’ve restored power to the subway,” she said, pulling out her radio as we exited the substation.

“Nice going! Wait—we?” came Carlos’s surprised voice through the static.

Jill cast a glance my way. I offered a cheeky smile and a slight shrug as she kept walking.

“Yeah, my friend from earlier decided to tag along. Anyway, what’s next?”

“Well I’ll be damned—so he was a good guy after all,” Carlos said. “Next up is the traffic control system. Should be in the subway company’s offices.”

“Right, I think I know the building.”

“Really? Way to go, partner. One step ahead!”

“Not your partner,” she snapped back automatically, cutting the line and tucking the radio away.

“Friend, huh?” I asked, stepping up beside her with a teasing grin.

“Tsk. Don’t let it get to your head, pretty boy,” Jill shot back, but there was a playful glint in her eye. “Besides, I’d rather trust you than someone who works for Umbrella.”

“Fair.” I shrugged and kept walking, my senses already flaring up like an alarm. “Though it looks like our old friend is back.”

“What do yo—”

The rest of her sentence was obliterated by the deafening crash of a building wall collapsing. Debris scattered, dust filled the air—and through it all, the hulking, twisted form of Nemesis stormed into view like a demon summoned from hell itself.

“STARS!!” it bellowed, voice guttural and broken like a war drum being shattered.

I immediately stepped in front of Jill, magnums already in hand. “Yup. Definitely back.”

Jill backed up a step, magnum raised. “You jinxed it. You absolutely jinxed it.”

“I’ll take full responsibility—after I turn this thing into a pile of meat.”

Nemesis charged, tentacle flailing out like a whip. I sidestepped just in time, feeling the air tear past my coat as the tendril missed by inches. In return, I unloaded both magnums into its chest—BOOM BOOM. It staggered, just a bit.

“Go!” I shouted over my shoulder to Jill. “I’ll hold it off, you get to the control room!”

“Like hell I’m leaving you with that thing!” she snapped back.

I gave her a grin as I dodged another blow. “Flattered. But seriously—this is gonna get messy.”

Jill hesitated for just a second before gritting her teeth. “Fine. Don’t die.”

“No promises!”

As she darted around the wreckage and disappeared into the next street, I turned my full attention back to Nemesis, whose gaze burned holes into me.

“Alright, ugly. Just you and me now.”

Its response? Another roar—louder, angrier.

Perfect.

Nemesis’s roar faded into the night as we stood face to... whatever passed for its face. Smoke curled from the bullet holes in its chest—holes that were already starting to regenerate.

“Man, you’re even uglier up close,” I muttered, sliding my Magnums back into their holsters. “Let’s make this interesting.”

I cracked my knuckles and smiled. “No guns this time. Let’s see how you do against someone who punches back.”

Nemesis didn’t wait for an invitation. With another inhuman growl, it lunged forward, swinging that grotesque tentacle arm like a wrecking ball. I ducked low, pivoted beneath it, and drove my fist straight into its gut.

The shockwave rippled outward as Nemesis flew backward, crashing through a parked van like it was made of cardboard.

“Umbrella really thought this was a good idea?” I called out, strolling toward it. “What was the plan? Send it out for milk and have it rip a few hundred heads off on the way?”

It staggered to its feet with surprising speed and charged again, fists slamming down in a wide arc. I caught both—barehanded—and shoved back hard enough to crack the pavement beneath us.

“C’mon, big guy. You can’t honestly think you’re gonna out-muscle me. I’m built different.”

Nemesis screamed in frustration and reeled back for a haymaker. I sidestepped and drove a clean uppercut into its jaw, launching it into a second-story window.

“Whoops. My bad. Guess you needed a room with a view.”

It disappeared for only a few seconds before it exploded back through the wall, even angrier than before. A tentacle lashed out—I caught it mid-swing and yanked.

Hard.

Nemesis slammed into the ground like a ragdoll.

I crouched beside the crater it made and leaned in. “Tell your masters at Umbrella this isn’t a bioweapon. It’s a bioclown.”

It thrashed back up and tried to body-slam me. I sidestepped, grabbed its arm, spun for momentum, and let go—sending it flying a good distance through the air.

“Hmhmhm. That was fun… Oh crap. Jill’s that way, isn’t she?” I thought with a sweatdrop, then shrugged and followed after it a moment later. “Time to make a grand entrance.”

=====

Raccoon City – Near the Subway Office

Jill sprinted through the ruined streets, shotgun at the ready and breath tight in her chest. Nemesis’s roar had come out of nowhere, and she hadn’t seen Akari since he told her to keep moving.

She rounded a corner—just in time to see a blur of motion.

CRASH!

Nemesis came soaring through the air like a sack of meat—only to be caught mid-flight.

By the ankle.

Akari stood in the middle of the street, coat rippling in the wind, a small grin tugging at his lips. He turned toward Jill without missing a beat, like he hadn’t just caught a ten-foot bioweapon with one hand.

“Oh hey, Jill,” he greeted casually.

Then he suplexed Nemesis into the ground, spine-first. The concrete split beneath them, the shockwave sending dust and rubble flying in all directions.

Jill blinked, lowering her shotgun. “…What the hell…”

“I was just having a bit of fun,” Akari said, brushing dust from his coat as he strolled toward Nemesis’s twitching body. “But playtime’s over.”

With a flick of his wrist, a sword—no, a katana, Jill realized—materialized in his hand, appearing as if summoned from thin air. The air around it shimmered faintly, reality itself seeming to recoil from its presence.

“Guess I have to resort to this, huh?” he muttered. “Let’s say… one-tenth of a percent should be enough.”

Nemesis groaned, trying to rise—but it was too slow.

With a single, effortless swing, Akari cleaved through its neck. There was no resistance—just a clean shnk and the heavy thud of its head hitting the pavement.

The rest of its body twitched once, then went still.

Akari flicked the blade clean, sending a perfect arc of blood across the ground, then calmly sheathed it.

“Still think I’m insane?” he asked, stepping up beside Jill.

She stared at him—shock, awe, and something else flickering in her eyes.

“…I’m starting to think you’re something else entirely,” she muttered.

Akari smirked. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

“Let’s go reroute that train,” he said, as casually as suggesting coffee. “I think we’ve kept your UBSC friends waiting long enough.”

“…They’re not my friends,” she replied automatically, still staring at Nemesis’s corpse.

He chuckled at her response. “Right, right. Associates at best, then. Strictly professional.”

She gave him a look. “If they were professional, we wouldn’t be cleaning up their mess.”

“Point.” Akari kicked at Nemesis’s severed head, watching it roll a little. “I’ll let you keep the head if you want a souvenir.”

Jill grimaced. “I’d rather not keep anything that reminds me of this hellhole.”

“Understandable. Still, not every day you watch someone suplex a bioweapon.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I saw that, by the way. You really threw him like a ragdoll. What are you, some kind of genetically modified secret weapon?”

“Something like that,” He said with a wink. “Though let’s just say I’ve had better teachers and a lot more gym time.”

Jill exhaled through her nose, half-amused, half-exhausted. “Well, mystery man, you just made my job a hell of a lot easier. And possibly gave me a heart attack.”

Akari walked beside her, hands tucked into his coat pockets, as the two made their way toward the subway company building. “That’s nothing a good drink or two couldn’t fix,” he said with a casual grin.

“You’re really milking that drink offer, huh?”

“I only offer my best to the bravest,” He replied dramatically. “And you did run toward the monster, not away. That’s worth at least a couple rounds.”

Jill gave a tired but genuine laugh. “Fine. One drink. If we make it out of this city alive.”

Akari smirked, casting a sidelong glance her way. “Then I guess we’d better survive, huh?”

They walked on through the dark streets of Raccoon City, quieter now, if only for a moment. The tension hadn’t vanished—it simply shifted. Nemesis was down for now, but the night was far from over.

And the real horror, they both knew, was just beginning.