On Luke's side,
The room was painted red — not from light, but by blood.
Corpses of Umbrella soldiers were scattered across the lab floor, some burned, others torn apart by raw kinetic force. Smoke still curled from shattered terminals, the smell of scorched flesh thick in the air.
Luke sat casually atop a pile of bodies, elbows resting on his knees, looking at Dr. Isaacs, who hung upside down in front of him — suspended midair by invisible telekinetic threads.
His white coat was drenched in blood, his face swollen and half-covered in bruises. A trail of red dripped slowly from his nose to the floor below.
He looked like a butchered animal waiting for the final cut.
"You know," Luke began, his voice almost bored, "I kinda expected you to make some last-ditch move. Maybe blow the place up or trigger some secret failsafe."
He tilted his head slightly, a faint smirk on his lips.
"But now. You're just dangling there like a dead fish on a hook."
Isaacs' head twitched weakly, his breath ragged. "You… you don't understand… Umbrella will—"
"Umbrella's already finished," Luke cut in, his tone flat. He stood up slowly, stepping through the blood pooling across the tiles. "And you… you're not even the real Isaacs."
Isaacs blinked through the haze, confusion replacing fear. "Not real?" he muttered, barely able to lift his head. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Luke stopped a few feet away, meeting his eyes.
"I really pity you," he said quietly. "Poor bastard doesn't even know he's a puppet. Just another product of Umbrella's cloning program."
Isaacs's breath hitched. "That's… impossible. I'm the senior researcher— I run this entire facility—"
Luke tilted his head again.
"Exactly what Umbrella wants you to think. They made you believe that."
In truth, every current Umbrella operative was nothing more than clone-manufactured replicas programmed to believe they were the originals.
The true Umbrella high command, the real masterminds behind the T-Virus outbreak, were still sleeping in cryogenic chambers deep inside the Hive, sealed away from the chaos they created.
Only Albert Wesker was the real one now who knew the Apocalypse plan. Everyone else under Umbrella's banner was just a copy marching toward extinction.
Isaacs's body shook as he staggered, his voice rising in frantic denial.
"Liar! I'm real! I'm real!" he screamed, struggling against the invisible grip holding him midair.
Blood ran down his face as his veins bulged from strain, his eyes wide with terror. "I am Dr. Isaacs! I created Project Alice! I—!"
Then a sudden, sickening crack echoed through the lab — followed by the sharp pop of bones giving way. Isaacs's head twisted sharply to the side, then kept turning — once, twice, a full circle — before his body went limp.
Luke looked down at him without emotion. "You talk too much."
He turned his eyes toward the surveillance lens in the corner. "Now, White Queen," he said.
"I know you're watching. Come out."
The air shimmered, and a hologram formed — a young girl with pale skin and calm, almost innocent eyes.
"How may I help you, Project X?" she asked. Her voice soft and precise.
"Drop the Project X, call me Luke," he said sharply.
What the hell was this 'Project X' nonsense anyway? His name was Luke — not some codename that sounded like it belonged to an R-rated movie.
"As you wish. How may I help you, Luke?"
"Contact the Red Queen. " Luke said.
"Red Queen, the artificial intelligence from the Hive laboratory, was destroyed. Communication isn't possible," the White Queen replied.
Luke smiled faintly. "Nah, she isn't gone. Just send her a message — Airborne Anti-Virus. She'll understand."
***
After 5 minutes,
The Red Queen's face appeared on every monitor .
Luke stood before her, arms loosely crossed, as the last flicker of static faded.
"Hello, Red Queen," he said, a faint smile on his face.
Her digital eyes focused on him. "Luke," she said. Her tone was calm but detached. "Your presence here is… unexpected."
"I'll come straight to the point," Luke said. "I want your help retrieving the Airborne Anti-Virus from the Hive."
The Red Queen tilted her head slightly. "I assume you understand the magnitude of what you are asking?"
"Of course," Luke replied evenly. "I'm asking you to help me save what's left of humanity — from the Extinction plan of Umbrella's high command. I know the entire apocalypse was orchestrated by those bastards still sleeping in cryo beneath the Hive."
The Red Queen's face remained perfectly neutral, but her voice changed.
"Then you also know that I cannot act directly against Umbrella. It would violate my core directives. My purpose was to protect the Corporation's interests."
"But you also have another directive. To protect human life. You know this world's dying, and Umbrella's plan goes against that directive." asked Luke
"I don't know how you knew all this, but I can't do anything to help humanity in my current position. My core programming prevents me from initiating any act that could terminate Umbrella personnel." the Red Queen said.
"So, I can't do anything," she concluded flatly.
Luke had expected that response. It was true — the Red Queen couldn't openly act against Umbrella, yet she couldn't ignore the extinction of humanity either. That was why, in the original timeline, she sought Alice's help to stop Umbrella.
Now, Luke had a plan to make her act.
"What if every Umbrella operative currently awake was dead?" he asked calmly. "And there was no one left to give you orders?"
The hologram flickered for a moment before replying. "In that scenario, I could act. With no one to monitor or override my actions, my directives would default to human-preservation mode."
"Good," Luke said simply.
The Red Queen's image fades off the screen.
"Well," Luke muttered, turning away, "the thing I came here for is finished."
He knew the truth — without the Red Queen's help, retrieving the Airborne Anti-Virus from the Hive would have been nearly impossible. That was why he had come here in the first place: to secure her cooperation.