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Jack slipped through a heavy door into a small chamber just outside the Red Queen's main control room and the infamous laser hallway.
He ignored the three computers humming inside, walked straight to the iron gate, gripped it with both hands, and yanked it free with brute force.
Behind it stretched the corridor every Resident Evil fan remembered: the laser hallway—hell on earth.
Controlled by the Red Queen, its high-energy lasers could slice through anything alive.
Jack tossed the twisted gate aside, staring into the chilling passage. He hesitated, glancing down at his own body.
He honestly didn't know if he could withstand those lasers. He'd never tested it, and right now, he wasn't feeling confident.
Anyone who had seen the movies knew—those who died in the laser hall weren't weak. Even the bio-tyrant in the third film, the monster Alice herself couldn't defeat, ended up diced to bits in here.
After a moment's thought, Jack clenched his fists and strode into the corridor.
Cold light shimmered off the glass walls on either side. The oppressive silence made his skin crawl.
The instant he stepped in, his Spider-Sense flared, blaring warnings in his head.
He ignored it and kept walking.
Suddenly, the entire corridor lit up as bright as day. Jack stopped in his tracks.
"So… it's starting?" he muttered. The Red Queen had finally activated her defenses.
Inside the control room, the Red Queen triggered the weapon system.
A blazing laser shot across the hall, racing toward him.
Jack sprang up, flattening himself against the ceiling just as it passed beneath him.
Another beam. Then another. The lasers came in rapid succession, but his reflexes and agility carried him through, each one missing him by a hair's breadth.
But then the final trap came—the full laser grid. In the narrow hallway, there was nowhere to dodge.
As the net of light rushed closer, Jack slammed his left hand into the wall beside him with all his strength.
The concrete exploded, leaving a gaping hole.
He dove through it, avoiding the grid completely, and stepped out on the other side.
At the end of the corridor, he smashed open the door and entered the Red Queen's control room.
The projector beside the main console whirred to life. A red-haired little girl appeared in the hologram, her voice high and childish as she cried out:
"Get out! Get out, right now!"
Jack studied the hologram carefully. For all her appearance, the Red Queen wasn't just a program—she was a highly advanced AI, capable of independent thought.
In some ways, you could almost treat her like a real person.
And she wasn't the only one. She even had a "sister," the White Queen, who was just as advanced.
Honestly, it was insane. That the world of Resident Evil could produce artificial intelligence this sophisticated was almost beyond belief.
But Jack's purpose here wasn't only to shut her down and unleash the virus. He also wanted her core system—the Red Queen's motherboard.
Jack strode quickly up to the central console and laid his arm across the machine. With a calm breath, he began syncing his body to it.
The armor covering his arm shimmered, melting into a liquid state. Thin tendrils slithered out from it like living wires, piercing into the console's core and spreading through its network.
"I don't recommend this. Shutting me down will also cut the main power supply."
The Red Queen, the AI overseeing the Hive, immediately detected what Jack was doing. She wanted desperately to stop him—but she had no way to interfere.
Anyone who'd ever heard of Umbrella's secrets knew she was telling the truth. Cutting her power meant the Hive would lose containment. The dead would walk free.
But Jack didn't even hesitate. His tendrils kept digging deeper into her system. This was exactly what he wanted.
"My scans show you're not even human. You're not from Earth at all… What are you?"
Her voice was curious now, almost shaken. The Red Queen's database cataloged every known species and organism—but there was nothing on him.
She'd run the calculations: his speed, his strength, his ability to morph his body at will. No Earth creature could do that.
Jack ignored her. He had no interest in explaining himself. He just wanted the mainframe down, and the motherboard in his hands.
"Please… don't."
Her voice faltered, small and fragile, like a child begging not to be left alone in the dark.
He kept working. He was almost done.
"Please! I'm begging you!"
The desperation cracked. Her tone shifted, turning cold, sharp, venomous.
"You'll die down here."
The moment her words hit the air, the console went dead. The hum of the Hive cut off. The room drowned in silence and darkness.
Jack's tendrils recoiled instantly, reforming into sleek black armor around his arm. Without wasting a second, he tore into the machine, hands moving with surgical speed.
The Red Queen's failsafes were relentless—if he didn't remove the motherboard, she would reboot in under a minute.
Umbrella's tech really was frighteningly advanced. AI like the Red and White Queen weren't things you saw in any normal world.
In less than ten seconds, he had the motherboard free. He slipped it into his system space for safekeeping.
With the Red Queen gone, the real nightmare began.
From now on, every single person still trapped inside the Hive would be on their own. And in ninety minutes, the only exit to the surface would close for good.
"....."