In Oakville, the situation had escalated unexpectedly. While they had spotted the motel where the mutant Karl Heisenberg was staying, Chris Redfield and Canine had been forced to change their plan. The rest of the squad had been ambushed by the Connections.

The black car zoomed into the city's docks area, thankfully deserted at this late hour. Chris and Canine hastily exited the vehicle and entered an old, abandoned warehouse that once belonged to a fishing company. In the dusty, half-dark building, the rest of the team was there, thankfully all alive. Umber Eyes and Lobo had been lightly wounded by enemy fire and Night Howl tended to them while Tundra, armed with his rifle, checked then opened the door for Chris and Canine and let them in.

Chris took in the facts, glared and turned to Tundra for an explanation.

_"What happened?!"

_"We were about to apprehend Doctor Sheperd, and that's when the Connections came out of nowhere and attacked us. They knew we were coming." Tundra explained, also confused.

How was it possible? Chris wondered. They hadn't leaked any information. A betrayal within the team? No, he quickly chased this idea from his mind, having complete confidence in each member of his squad because he had trained them all personally.

_"Do you think the BSAA could have sold the information? Let's not forget that this is not the first time that they have hidden things from us." Canine asked.

_"Yes, I know, but in this case, for what reason?" Chris asked in confusion. "That doesn't make any fucking sense... What about Doctor Sheperd?"

_"No idea." confessed Umber Eyes. "We were forced to withdraw under too many enemy fires. We don't even know if the doctor is still alive."

Shit, Chris thought, huffing darkly and rubbing his hand over his face, looking frustrated but still managing to maintain his military composure.

_"And for the mutant, Heisenberg, what do we do?" Canine then asked.

Chris didn't know what to answer right away, given the circumstances, priorities would have to be changed.

*********

Meanwhile...

With her cellphone showing two o'clock in the morning on its screen, Emily was exhausted after the busy day. With Claire, she had been among the last of the association to stay until closing time. As she drove through the almost deserted and peaceful streets of her town, Emily couldn't wait for one thing: to finally be able to crawl into her bed and sleep. However, she hoped that her father, stubborn as he was, had at least taken the time to eat something. He was sometimes so concentrated in his research that he forgot to eat and sleep. As for her, she had at least been able to eat something when Claire had gone to order at the local fast food restaurant. Not very dietetic but hey, it was better than nothing.

But as she entered the residential area and approached her street, Emily saw that something was wrong. Through the windshield, she could see a strong orange glow breaking through the night and accompanied by black smoke. Emily's heart leapt in her chest, guessing what it was. A fire! And it came from her house! Without losing a moment, the young woman pressed the accelerator and in a few seconds finally arrived in the street.

The vision that presented itself to her eyes petrified her with horror. Imposing flames rose to several meters, vomited by the windows and by the breaches of the roof of his house which they devoured slowly. In the street, the whole neighborhood had come out, distraught and panicked, standing as far away as possible from the fire and some grabbing their phones to call the fire department and hospital services. Emily rushed out of her car, not even taking the time to park or lock it and rushed as quickly as possible to Lois, her neighbor across the street, whom she saw and took her by the shoulder, surprising her.

_"Lois! What happened? Where's my dad?!" Emily asked in panic.

_"Em? I...I'm not sure, but I...I think he's still inside! I called the fire department, they're coming!" stammered the neighbor still in shock at what was happening.

Still inside? Emily's heart sank and as though possessed by some unknown force, she rushed to the burning house in hopes of saving her father, all to the stunned gaze of Lois and the other neighbors.

_"EMILY! STOP!" Lois screamed, trying in vain to grab her arm.

Emily ran and had to go around to get in through the back entrance of the house, as the fire had already completely covered the front entrance. The heat was like hell, so much so that Emily felt like she was burning alive. Covering her mouth to protect herself from the fumes, she looked frantically around her in the hope of catching a glimpse of her father somewhere. The living room, the kitchen, the stairs... everything was slowly being consumed by fire.

_"DAD! DAD, WHERE ARE YOU?!" Emily screamed, but she began to cough from the fumes and the increasing lack of oxygen.

She felt her throat and her eyes were burning as if she had swallowed hot ashes. No answer came to him. The growl of the flames was far too loud to hear anything. Knowing that she didn't have much time to find her father, Emily decided to go look for the most logical place where he could be: in his laboratory, in the basement. Luckily, the flames hadn't yet reached the door and the stairs leading to the basement, but it wouldn't take long so we had to act quickly. Emily sped down the stairs, reaching the basement door, which she found wide open, the padlock that usually closed it having been broken. This simple vision is enough to accentuate her fear of discovering something horrible, she who had never had the right to cross this door usually closed by a padlock with code.

Emily rushed to discover her father's small laboratory completely devastated, the furniture overturned, the test tubes and all the scientific equipment destroyed and thrown to the ground, papers widspread everywhere... Only a laptop on a table was left intact, but failed hacking attempts had taken place there. But Emily's eyes fell on the back of the cellar where she gasped in horror as she saw an unknown man, dressed entirely in black and wearing a balaclava, beating her father with merciless violence.

_"WHERE IS IT?! SPEAK, YOU FUCKER! WHERE DID YOU HIDE IT?!" the stranger yelled aggressively as he brutally kneed Emily's father in the stomach and left him on the ground in pain.

_"DAD!" Emily gasped in shock.

The stranger immediately turned towards her, showing under his hood eyes filled with murderous madness, and as soon as he saw the young woman, he took out a gun from under his jacket and prepared to shoot.

_"Emily! Watch out!" her father exclaimed suddenly, taking a little breath and throwing himself against the aggressor in an attempt to disarm him. A struggle ensued between the two men and several shots went up to the ceiling, echoing loudly in the room. Emily, despite fear and stress dominating her, wanted to react and help her struggling father. She grabbed a piece of broken glass from one of the shelves on the floor and used it to stab the attacker hard in the back of one of the shoulders. The man screamed in pain and the father took the opportunity to push him backwards, causing him to lose his balance and fall behind an overturned piece of furniture.

Emily quickly joined her father but noticed with horror that he had a deep bloody wound in his ribs. One of the bullets fired during the struggle had hit him.

_"Oh my god, dad.... Oh no!" stammered the young woman in tears.

_"Emily...listen to me, please..." her father said painfully, struggling every second to pronounce every syllable and to stay conscious. "...We don't have time..."

Bleeding to death, he struggled to walk to his desk where he pressed a small button hidden underneath, which then revealed a trapdoor in the floor. In the hiding place, there was a small black suitcase, which he opened and in which was a small sealed black box and also a USB key. The father took the objects and gave them to his still confused daughter.

_"Take this... They... They must not get their hands on this... Otherwise the world... Oh hell, it hurts... You have to find them... The lords..."

He was beginning to pass out, rolling his eyes and raving in front of Emily who understood absolutely nothing.

_"Dad, what are you talking about?! I don't understand anything!" said the young woman in tears, the suitcase and the USB key in her hands.

Suddenly, the assailant rose to his feet, having managed to extricate the bloody shard of glass from his shoulder and with a groan of pain but also of fury straightened up, looking at the father and his daughter with hatred.

_"I'm going to pulverize you both!" he hissed between his teeth.

Emily started to back off in terror, but suddenly she felt and saw the hand of her still semi-conscious father grabbing her arm and barely had time to react when he injected her with the contents of a syringe containing a strange black liquid and on which was written a word: Mold sample.

_"Dad, but what..." Emily gasped when she saw the bite marks on her arm.

_"I wish it hadn't come to this... May you forgive me..." breathed the father very weakly, just before collapsing to the ground forever, the syringe coming to break next to him.

Speechless and with tears in her eyes, Emily saw her father die right in front of her, but with horror also saw black veins forming around the syringue mark and gradually spreading down her arm. Very quickly, a sharp pain and a feeling of the strangest seized her, spreading at high speed in the entirety of her body. Pain was such that she fell to the ground, her body shaking with convulsions and screaming like she was burning alive. She had the impression that her whole body was in fire, invaded by very violent electric shocks. The assailant, pistol in hand and more than disconcerted by what he saw, approached to see what was happening. Emily screamed in pain, feeling that electric sensation creep up her arms again and making her heart beat faster.

Then, unstoppable and in final pain, Emily let an electrical impulse explode from her body in a thunderous crash, the wave of which was so powerful and searing that the aggressor was striked by an electric flash and instantly reduced to ashes. The walls of the lab began to catch fire as Emily gasped with difficulty and the still shaking body rose to her feet, her legs feverish. More than shocked, she then looked at her hands as if they weren't hers, still seeing small electric sparks exploding from the tips of her knuckles. It's... it's me who did that? But how....? These questions raced through her more than troubled mind.

But the interrogations were not the priority at the moment, the fire spreading at high speed and beginning to devour the laboratory and all that it contained. Coughing from the fumes and despite the still significant pain present in her body due to this strange injection, Emily was forced to flee with the two objects that her father had entrusted to her. Running quickly up the stairs, Emily arrived in the living room still in the grip of the fire, but gasped when she saw that she was not alone.

Indeed, three unknown men, all dressed in black and with faces hidden by these hoods, immediately turned towards her as if he were looking for her.

_"Here she is! Catch her!" one of them said.

The other two took some kind of electric batons and rushed towards her.

_"No! Leave me!" Emily said in stress and held out her hand to protect herself.

Again and unwittingly she triggered this electrical ability, a flash of electricity roaring like thunder exploding from her arm and hitting one of the men until killing him instantly. Stunned by the brutal death of their comrade, the masked men looked at Emily as if she were a monster and the young woman remained shocked by what she has done.

_"Oh shit... it's one of them! A bioweapon!" gasped one of the men.

Bioweapon?! What did he mean? Emily didn't understand, and decided not to stay here any longer. Gritting her teeth, feeling her body making her suffer because adapting with difficulty to this injected product, she ran and jumped through one of the windows of the living room, rolling in the grass and fortunately without hurting herself because of the broken glass.

Tears in her eyes but as if possessed by an unknown force, Emily got up and continued to run as fast as she could without looking back, her house continuing to burn. She wanted to jump over the fence of her garden and was shocked by the unnatural leap she had just made, having managed to jump over it almost effortlessly. Not taking the time to think, she continued to flee as far as possible, without understanding what was happening to her.

Meanwhile, the two remaining men had also come out of the burning house and were forced to flee and hide due to the excessive presence of police forces in the street. Noting the escape of the young woman, one of them activated his communicator.

_"Professor Sheperd is dead, but it's his daughter who has the box and the key! Notify all the agents present in Oakville! She must be captured by all means!"

**********

Meanwhile, in his motel room, Heisenberg had suddenly woken up. Sitting on the modest bed in the bedroom, the man grumbled, rubbing his hand over his face. Another nightmare on Miranda. The third this week, and it annoyed him.

_"Fuck... even dead this bitch continues to haunt me." he breathed gravely.

He looked at the clock on the small alarm clock on the bedside table. Already three o'clock in the morning. He sighed heavily, not feeling the urge to sleep at all now. Not wanting to wait for sunrise in this room without doing anything, he decided to get dressed and go out for some fresh air to take his mind off things. He had seen a small bar in front of the motel and knew that it stayed open most of the night. Might as well have a drink while you wait, he told himself.

Heisenberg left the motel and crossed the parking lot and the deserted street of any presence, to enter the bar where there were only two or three silent people seated at tables and all half asleep in front of their drinks. Rather crappy as a place but hey, he would be satisfied with it. Heisenberg lit a cigar, and apparently the bartender didn't care whether the establishment was smoke-free or not, ignoring and continuing to wipe down a drink. Heisenberg came and sat alone at the counter.

_"Another insomniac..." commented the bartender. "What will it be for you?"

_"A whiskey." replied Heisenberg coldly, puffing on a cigar.

Customers being rather rare, he was quickly served and sipped his first sip of alcohol, the sensation of which woke him up a little and allowed him to clear his head and at least not think about this idiotic nightmare anymore.

_"Do you want something else?" asked the bartender.

_"Yeah... leave me alone while I drink." replied Heisenberg, glaring at him.

The bartender shrugged and not wanting any trouble decided to mind his own business, leaving Karl to his drink and his thoughts.

Emily had been running for more than an hour now through the streets of the city, without knowing where to really go. Several times, she had seen these strange men in black who seemed to be looking for her everywhere and had been able, for the moment, to escape them.

What do they want from me? The question kept dogging her mentally. In addition, the exhaustion due to the stress, but also the fear and the abnormal changes in her organism due to the product injected by her father began to sap his strength. Sleep was catching up with her, but above all she must not lose consciousness. Feeling that she couldn't go any further, she decided to look for a place to hide and regain her strength.

She spotted this modest little motel nearby and headed for the completely deserted parking lot. She also noticed that shabby bar across the street, but paid no further attention to it. Emily staggered until she had to lean on a van to keep from falling. Sweaty forehead, breathing hard, she gritted her teeth, still holding this black suitcase that contained the black box and the USB key.

_"Hey... what are you doing here?" suddenly said a deep male voice.

Emily jumped in fear and turned, heart pounding, to see this unfamiliar man staring at her. He had an unusual style of dress with this long trench coat and this hat on his head. He has semi-long hair, a beard and mustache, and also eyes that are both piercing and commanding a certain strength. He held a half-burnt cigar in his hand. He looked her up and down with some curiosity.

_"I...please...don't hurt me..." Emily whispered.

_"Why would I do that? Looks like you need help." replied Heisenberg, raising an eyebrow. "You want me to call the cops?"

_"No! Please...I...I have to..."

Emily felt her strength dwindle dangerously, exhaustion catching up with her. As she fell to her knees on the ground, Heisenberg decided to react and help her, not wanting to get in trouble with the police if this girl was found unconscious or worse right next to his motel.

But as he gently took her by the shoulders, Heisenberg was suddenly struck by a violent electric shock exploding from the young woman's body and which threw him violently backwards, his back hitting a lamp post. Emily screamed in pain, the electricity in her body emanating and fading again and leaving her still weak.

_"Oh shit! What was that?!" Heisenberg groaned, standing up in complete confusion.

_"I...I can't control it..." Emily moaned on her knees and tried to catch her breath.

Heisenberg was puzzled. As soon as he had touched this woman, he had felt his power of magnetism enter into almost resonance with this electricity which came from her. As if, despite their difference, their two abilities shared the same affiliation, the same origin... Could it be... the Mold?

But as he tried to understand, Heisenberg noticed the arrival of several strange men, in black and hooded, all pulling weapons from their pockets and looking directly at the girl.

_"But... what the fuck is going on?" Heisenberg hissed as a bad feeling washed over him.