"Whew… looks like it worked. And stop mumbling that 'think quieter.' Your voice… well, your mental voice dropped after the very first repetition. It's just that while I was coming to my senses, I wasn't in any state to call out to you," Yamata said after a while, having gotten back on her feet and brushing herself off.
"Thank God," I replied—without opening my mouth. What for? All that comes out of it are wheezes anyway. I'll have to master this undoubtedly useful ability.
"So where on earth did you manage to get yourself entangled,that your panicked thoughts about how to justify yourself nearly killed me? And I take it we're alone again?" Yamata sighed, the last question more rhetorical than anything else.
"Yes," I confirmed her second remark, and she accepted it rather calmly. After all, among mercenaries, "changes in lineup" happen all the time, so Yamata was used to that sort of thing. As for the ghouls, to grieve for them would be utterly ridiculous.
It hit me harder, though. Because of that strange connection between me and the fully infected—like Yamata and Kate.
"As for your first question—Trevor turned out to be too strong. The ghouls all fell, and Kate pulled me out from under the blow. There's a certain irony to it. Every civilian I've turned ends up the same way. No, from now on I'll only turn military personnel and other 'combat types.'" I telepathed, attempting to smirk—fat chance. When you don't have cheeks, smirking is impossible. Irritating.
"You do look… something else. Hard to argue with that. What? You're practically broadcasting all your thoughts to the whole area, as you so eloquently put it," Yamata snorted mockingly.
Now that's a problem!
"Whose?"
Mine, damn it!
"And what exactly is wrong with it?" she continued, clearly enjoying herself.
The fact that even close people should have secrets from each other—and we're not even in that category! I need to learn how to conceal my thoughts instead of announcing everyone what's on my mind. Otherwise, in a battle with someone intelligent, and it would be fortunate if that were only human, I'll think about where to strike, and they'll immediately prepare for it.
"From that perspective, you're in an unenviable position. By the way, I should take your blood for analysis. Since bitter experience has already taught me, stick out your tongue right away—your skin looks concrete-hard even at first glance. Ah, how much easier it was with your previous stage. You'd transform, I'd swipe a cotton swab across the exposed muscle mass, and that was it—tests done. And about that 'category' comment—are you saying we're not close? You've wounded me to the core," Yamata continued teasing.
"Not close? More like not people at all! What interests me far more is—where have you been delayed so long?" I shot back mentally with equal sarcasm.
"I didn't even know it was possible to convey sarcasm mentally. Yes, Cain, with you, I make new discoveries every hour." She sighed and shook her head tiredly.
"I'm making new discoveries every hour myself!" I replied sadly.
"And don't dodge the question!" I tried to frown—realizing I didn't have much to frown with. All I could manage were my eyes and mouth.
"I'm not dodging… the tongue, please. At the warehouse, I just tried to collect as many different samples as possible, yet I didn't immediately notice that I wasn't the only one doing so. Yes, I ran into a certain 'lost soul.' Ada Wong, if I'm not mistaken. A careful exchange of gunfire accomplished nothing except the loss of several samples—clumsy bitch! Then a third party crashed our little party. By the way, congratulations, Cain—the city is officially doomed, since Umbrella Corporation deployed the Beta team for our immediate capture. Or perhaps just one of us, if they're unaware of your latest evolution.
"During the firefight, Ada managed to slip away. As for me, to shake off those soldiers, I had to blow up the warehouse. Their training is clearly a level above our previous squad. If not for my new abilities, we wouldn't be talking right now.
"I have the collected samples with me—you're right to glance suspiciously, they're right in this sports backpack. Including a G-virus sample. I'm not sure what losses the squad has suffered, but hardly more than five out of nearly twenty are dead. Assuming the worst, there are now fifteen professionals prowling the city with a very specific purpose—trained to capture someone like us, and armed even better than we are. That's it, you can put your tongue back."
"So?" I asked after a moment.
"Besides a heap of genetic garbage that never fully integrated into your DNA, I can say this: the three core components—the Progenitor strain, the G-virus, and that prototype aspiring to be the former—have created something entirely new. You can recognize shared elements from the viruses I listed, which served as the foundation, but what you are now isn't even a subtype. It's a completely new strain of an unknown virus!
"This is a genuine breakthrough in virology. In fact, it's something close to what the corporation was striving for. With your samples, we could easily outclass Umbrella and create supersoldiers. And while it's never publicized, the corporation was almost certainly sponsored at a very high level—though it doesn't look like their home country was the source. In other words, we could take over all contracts for supersoldier production, get fabulously rich, and drive a competitor into bankruptcy."
She sighed at the end. "Yes, I know—it's a crazy idea. No need to broadcast it to the entire city. A girl can't even dream anymore."
"You can dream. Just don't get carried away. The gleam in your eyes worries me—I'd hate to end up as raw material for your 'perfect soldier serum' production line." I gave an involuntary shudder.
(End of Chapter)
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