Rain kept falling over the quarry at the edge of Valdelobos village.
Zealous cultists hauled open the heavy iron gate together, and the thing that lumbered out stood over thirty feet tall. The El Gigante loosed a deafening roar, its clouded eyes fixing through the rain on the distant cabin where firelight flickered. Somewhere in that beast-brain, it sensed something it wanted to tear apart.
"Hey, big guy. Your fight's over here."
A red silhouette cut through the air. Ada fired her grapple gun one-handed, swinging through the rain with the clean grace of a swallow, tracing a sharp arc as her tactical submachine gun sprayed the giant's face. The burst dragged its attention back to her.
The El Gigante roared and stomped the mud to pulp, then ripped a nearby tree straight out of the ground, one so thick three men couldn't link arms around it. It swung the trunk like a baseball bat, the air shrieking with the force, sweeping sideways at Ada in midair.
She twisted to fire the grapple again, but a drilling, bone-deep pain lanced up from the base of her spine.
She hissed through her teeth.
The parasite inside her was resonating, going haywire. Ada clenched her jaw, and the agony cost her a fatal half-second of hesitation. She watched the massive trunk fill her vision, growing huge, and there was nowhere to go.
Of course it acts up now. Whatever Wesker gave me was always garbage... She managed a bitter smile and reached for the flashbang on her belt.
Then a savage force dropped from the sky.
The sound that followed was muffled and enormous, like a sledgehammer striking solid steel plate.
Ada had braced for a hard crash into the mud, but a hand caught her shoulder with surgical precision. The momentum of her fall bled away in an instant, and she landed steady on a boulder nearby.
She stared at Ryan. Everything she understood about physical force was being crushed in front of her eyes, and the sheer visual impact of what she was seeing made her forget to breathe.
Ryan stood two steps ahead of her. One hand in his coat pocket. The other extended casually forward, palm flat against the tip of the swinging tree trunk.
A thirty-foot giant. Tons of impact force. And his hand hadn't budged half an inch.
"It's the middle of the night. You came all the way out to this godforsaken quarry to play tug-of-war with this ugly thing?" He tilted his head, his gaze calm with a trace of amusement. "Ms. Wong, your fieldwork could use some improvement."
Ada steadied herself and smoothed back her rain-lashed hair, burying any trace of shock behind a mask of composure. She crossed her arms and let out a short hum. "I was doing you a favor watching those two girls of yours. If this big lug had gotten through, that cabin would be rubble. You're the boss here. Don't you owe me a babysitting fee?"
"Fair point. Babysitting is hard work."
His earpiece crackled.
"Uncle Ryan, first wave at the cabin is clear." Becky's voice came through steady and cool. In the background, the distinct click of Sherry loading a carbine magazine. "Things got pretty loud over here, though. Sounds like we woke up the big one at the quarry."
Ryan keyed his comm. "I see it. The big one's mine. You two focus on the cabin defense. This is your exam, remember. Ace it, and the mission bonus doubles."
He smiled, then turned back to the El Gigante. The thing was still straining against the tree with everything it had, its whole body shaking from the effort. The smile dropped off Ryan's face. What replaced it was a pressure that could freeze blood.
"You're loud. You're bothering my students. And I don't like people pushing my babysitter around."
He released his left hand from the tree trunk, and his fingers curled slowly into a fist. Nothing special. Just a fist.
No windup, no flourish. He simply punched the air toward the giant's chest.
The rain above the quarry ripped apart. The fist's shockwave tore outward in a visible, transparent ring, and the El Gigante's torso, wide as a hillside, caved in like wet cardboard. The parasitic core that had just begun worming its way out of its back exploded into a shower of meat and fragments before it ever had a chance to unfurl.
The giant didn't even scream. Its body folded like someone had pulled out every bone, and it toppled backward into the mud, throwing up a geyser of water dozens of feet high.
One punch. Instant kill.
Ryan flicked a few raindrops off his coat as if he'd just brushed away a leaf. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a small vial glowing faint blue and a syringe, and tossed them to Ada.
She nearly fumbled the catch, her mind still replaying that punch.
"Picked these up from the castle. Bottom-of-the-drawer treasure from Salazar's private pharmacy, made by Luis. Should be a few grades above that knockoff you've been using." His tone was flat, offhand.
Ada didn't hesitate. She twisted the cap off the syringe, drew the solution in, and jabbed it into the side of her neck.
A coolness spread through her veins and across her whole body. The fire along her spine vanished instantly, and even the cold, creeping awareness that had lurked at the edge of her consciousness for weeks was gone, pulled out by the root. Compared to the cheap Plagas suppressant Wesker had been feeding her, this wasn't even in the same league.
"So you knew all along that Wesker was giving me that 'painkiller.'" She looked at Ryan, a quiet understanding in her eyes.
"I need my premium business partner in peak condition, not getting screwed over by some deadpan in sunglasses." He slid both hands back into his pockets and stood in the rain, casual as ever. "The dose will last a long time. Go play double agent to your heart's content."
Ada's lips parted. She savored the lightness in her body, a feeling she hadn't had in a long time, and her voice carried a teasing edge. "What, you're not going to the cabin to help your two prized students yourself?"
"They're having fun. If the boss shows up, they'll get stiff." He looked toward the distant firelight. "Their exam's in the second half now. Leon's sharp, they're coordinating well. Time for me to go set up their 'graduation present.'"
He turned to her. "As for you, get back to Wesker and write your fake report. Tell him the El Gigante here had a sudden heart attack and dropped dead. Nothing to do with him."
Ada laughed. She leapt, firing her grapple at the cliff face above.
"Relax. Writing absurd fiction is my specialty."
She glanced back in midair at the dark figure standing tall in the wind and rain, and waved. "I'm very satisfied with the babysitting fee this time. See you around, boss."
Ryan stood on the boulder, watching the red silhouette disappear into the fog, and shook his head.
"Babysitting fee? This woman..."
He turned back, eyes locking on the cabin in the distance.
"Sherry, Becky, this wave of villagers is done. Next up... let's see if you two can take down the village chief while you're at it."
Before the words faded, his silhouette dissolved into the rainy night and vanished.
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