Recover Umbrella

Steve rolled in front of Natasha and Alicia, holding the Vibranium Shield upright to protect them from the flying rubble and shrapnel.

"Is he dead?" Alicia nearly rose from her wheelchair, her eyes alight with excitement.

Tony was less concerned with whether Isaac was dead than with whether the blast's tremors would cause the place to collapse.

As it turned out, his concern was unnecessary. Umbrella Corporation's underground construction was impressive. The fireworks packed into the mechanical limbs had been powerful, but they hadn't managed to shake the solid earth.

"Roar!"

The flames gradually died away, and a staggering figure emerged faintly through the black dust.

Isaac stumbled out of the smoke. His head hurt a little.

The others couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath at the sight of him, their impression of the T-virus's horror deepening.

The upper half of Isaac's head had vanished. In its place were three horrifying tentacles.

His suit and shirt had been completely torn apart by the missiles. His exposed chest was charred black, and countless fleshy tendrils wriggled across it like a box of tangled mealworms, assaulting everyone's eyes.

"Shit, I might not be able to enjoy dinner tonight!"

With that, Tony raised his left hand. Another missile shot out from his forearm.

The missile streaked toward Isaac's chest, trailing flames, and exploded once more.

With the monsters of Resident Evil, there was nothing a rocket launcher couldn't fix. And if one shot wasn't enough, just fire another.

Tony's missiles were like a rocket launcher: if one wasn't enough, use two. And just to be safe, he opened the small missile bay on his shoulder and fired all sixty mini-missiles—each as powerful as a grenade—at Isaac.

The successive explosions completely engulfed Isaac. He never got back up; his body was reduced to a mangled heap of flesh.

He was dead, but the T-virus was still alive. If they put his body in a repair pod and used nutrient solution to restore it, he could eventually come back to life.

But no one would do that.

"It's finally over!" Natasha let out a sigh of relief. Then they heard heavy footsteps behind them.

Nemesis had arrived at last, carrying a Gatling gun and a rocket launcher!

He hadn't been on the scene for even a minute before Tony turned and blasted his head apart with several repulsor shots.

"It's over. It's all over!" Tears streamed down Alicia's aged face. For more than a decade after her father's death, she had imagined this moment countless times. At last, her dream had come true.

Alicia had been doomed to die from progeria anyway. Now that the obsession weighing on her heart had vanished, she had no reason to keep living.

She believed the T-virus was the source of all the tragedy. Even if she could inject herself with it again and become young, she didn't want to.

"By the way, are you people from the White Palace?"

At the mention of the T-virus, Alicia's half-closed eyes opened again. She looked at Natasha and the others with gratitude.

"..."

Natasha looked at Steve, Steve looked at Tony, and Tony looked at Natasha.

They had only hesitated because they were worried that answering poorly might affect Duncan.

Tony and Steve had already learned from Natasha who the woman before them was: the owner of Umbrella Corporation. Unlike Duncan, a shareholder with considerable influence, Alicia could make decisions for the company. It wasn't an easy situation to handle.

Tony put his armor into silent mode so that their voices wouldn't be broadcast, then quietly said to the other two, "I'll get in touch with Duncan and let him handle this himself."

Duncan was drinking an iced cola at a warehouse in the suburbs when Tony's call came through. He jumped up excitedly.

"Tell her the truth first. I'll be right over!"

Twenty minutes later, Duncan arrived at the Sanctuary beneath the Hive with James Squad and Sam, and, as he'd hoped, got to see Isaac's corpse.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk!"

Duncan stared at the charred corpse, clicking his tongue repeatedly. The mocking look in his eyes, obscured by his gas mask, made him look like a great villain.

Alicia, seated in her wheelchair, narrowed her eyes when she saw Duncan. She recognized him before he even removed his mask and said in surprise, "You?"

"It's been a long time, Ms. Alicia!" Duncan crouched in front of her wheelchair and removed his gas mask, smiling.

Duncan hadn't actually known Alicia's name. Tony had told him.

"You're special, and you've brought me a surprise too!" Alicia smiled. She looked like a kindly old woman, though she was only in her twenties. "I'd planned to contact you, but you exposed yourself too quickly. I thought you were dead."

Duncan had wanted to discuss transferring the shares with Alicia, but her words raised so many questions that before he could say anything useful, the conversation had veered off course. "You wanted me to deal with Isaac from the beginning?"

Alicia nodded slightly and answered in a serious tone, "Because the real Duncan Aremus is dead. You're his clone, a very special one who has broken free from fate!"

?

Duncan stared at her in bewilderment. The others, stunned by the bombshell, looked at him in disbelief.

A clone with a body of flesh and blood, and a mind of his own?

Mistaking Duncan's bewilderment for confusion, Alicia gently comforted him. "You're not a puppet on a severed string. Compared with you, who has gained your freedom, I'm the one being controlled. You're better off than I am! I've seen anger in your eyes. Those feelings should fade away with Isaac's death. The rich memories you make in the future will weave themselves into a complete life. You are you!"

Duncan pressed his lips together in silence. He wanted to say something, but swallowed the words. In the end, he only nodded, his expression complicated.

It wasn't that he minded being a clone. He knew perfectly well what he was.

It was just that all the strange details had suddenly fallen into place, and his mind hadn't quite caught up. He also found the way she was comforting him a little awkward and didn't know how to respond, which was why he wore that expression.

Everyone saw his reaction and misunderstood it, feeling sympathy for Duncan.

It couldn't be helped.

Steve felt it even more strongly after hearing Alicia's words. He was an old man who had climbed out of an ice coffin; he should have died near the end of World War II.

If Nick Fury ever told him that he was actually a clone of the real Steve Rogers, he might fall into self-doubt for a long time.

So Duncan was a clone. Was he perhaps not even ten years old?

"Thank you..." Alicia sincerely thanked Duncan one last time, then tried to close her eyes and wait for death.

Seeing Alicia shut her eyes, ready to give up and die, Duncan hurriedly called out, "Wait! The truth is harsh, but the crisis isn't over yet. If you can, will you transfer your shares and position to me?"

Alicia opened her eyes again and asked in confusion, "What do you want the company for?"

"The virus has already spread through the air. The citizens harmed in Raccoon City need compensation from the company, and control of the various bases around the world needs to be taken back from ambitious people. These aren't things a handful of people can handle alone."

Alicia stared hard into Duncan's eyes. Duncan didn't back down; he let her look into his sincere eyes as much as she wanted.

After a long while, Alicia nodded. "All right."