Chapter Text
Stale air filled Ethan's lungs as he watched the fourth lord pace around the room, cigar smoke still hanging in their midst. Ethan's head was beginning to ache with the effort of making sense of everything he'd learned in Heisenberg's factory, he indeed hadn't been lying when he'd told Ethan how he hated Mother Miranda. Face to face with him again after surviving the utter bullshit of the bowels of Heisenberg's factory, Ethan knew making this decision would take a monumental swallowing of pride on his part.
Heisenberg leaned against a workbench with his arms crossed, cigar glowing and reflecting on his glasses as he awaited Ethan's response. Ethan had discovered some of his writings down in his workshop, surprising the fourth lord greatly by surviving his own murderous creations. Heisenberg was admittedly shocked when Ethan stood up from reading another personal note the mad engineer had written to himself regarding his vendetta against Mother Miranda and shouted to Heisenberg through his intercom system, "Alright! Let's talk!"
Ethan's face screwed up in frustration and impatience, "Fuck. FUCK. This - I don't know, this is ridiculous! But... it might be my best shot."
Heisenberg put his hands out at his sides, "I'm not so bad, Ethan. I barely tried to kill you. C'mon..."
Ethan glared at him, "Alright, we'll do it. On one condition -"
"Uugghh, don't say it-" Heisenberg pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.
"Rose stays out of this." Ethan spoke over him.
Heisenberg sighed, "Fine."
"Alright. I'm in." Ethan sounded grim.
"Good. That bitch will finally get what's coming to her." Heisenberg smirked, pushing himself off the workbench.
"So what's the plan?" Ethan crossed his arms, wondering just how big of a mistake this may turn out to be.
"I didn't make this factory for nothing, bucko. I have an army, Ethan, and now? Now I have you." Heisenberg's smirk split into a wicked grin.
Primal fear was quickly coming to a boil within Ethan as he watched Heisenberg release his many completed Soldat. Machines whined pitifully and clanked so loudly Ethan's ears began to ring as the conveyer above them dropped row after row of mindless, reanimated corpses. Heart beating a bruise into his ribs, Ethan's hand twitched towards his gun on instinct. Heisenberg chuckled at him.
"Settle down there, bud. They couldn't attack you if they wanted to."
He tapped a forefinger to his temple, "I maintain constant control over physical and mental faculties. Gotta love a hive mind, hm?"
This didn't comfort Ethan much, but he relaxed a bit, "I have a distinct lack of appreciation for hive minds, actually." He snipped.
The last of the Soldat were dropped to their feet and the man-made army stood at attention in unison, hundreds of glowing red lights embedded in the chest of every one of them illuminating them in an eery glow. Ethan glanced at Heisenberg, he looked like a proud father, this expression was the most human Ethan has witnessed from him, it was unsettling. Heisenberg burst into triumphant laughter and clapped his hands together.
"My children!" He bellowed, "Let's go to war!"
With a powerful shove of both hands Heisenberg ripped open a hole into the side of his factory, daylight spilling in as the Soldat army turned to the exit and began a shambling march to the outside. Ethan was barely able to register his awe of Heisenberg's true power when a familiar voice rang out from behind, loud enough to be heard clearly over the thunderous foot falls of the Soldat.
"Not so fast, Heisenberg." Punctuated with a gunshot.
A bullet shot straight through Heisenberg's skull, entering between his eyes as he turned to face the intruder, exploding out of the back of his head and painting Ethan with his blood.
"Holy shit- wh-what what the hell? Chris?!" Ethan stammered as he discovered the shooter.
A few yards away stood Chris, gun still trained on Heisenberg whose body slowly dropped to one knee.
Chris cocked his gun again, "Step back, Ethan."
Ethan looked from Chris to Heisenberg, horrified, "What the hell are you doing!"
Ethan moved to stand in front of the fourth lord, arms out in defense of his questionable new ally. Chris registered visible confusion and lowered his weapon ever so slightly.
"What are you doing, Ethan?"
Behind him, Ethan heard Heisenberg growling. As his exhausted brain worked double time to put together a defense for the situation the growl became inhuman, gutteral and animalistic, beastial.
"We're going to destroy Miranda, and save Rose!" Ethan knew this didn't explain much, but failed to come up with a better response.
Chris opened his mouth to argue but behind Ethan came a sound that distracted them both. An otherworldly howl paired with fabric being stretched and torn, stitches ripping at their seams. Ethan spun on his heel to see what Chris had dropped his jaw in response to. Heisenberg had nearly doubled in size, hat lying on the ground, trench coat splitting down the middle as his shoulders spread. Of course he was a lycan. Why wouldn't he be a lycan?
"Heisenberg, DON'T!" Ethan tried.
With a rabid sound Heisenberg leapt at Chris who raised his gun again, Ethan reacted as quickly as his body would move. He grabbed the end of Heisenberg's trench coat and wrapped it around his arm several times, putting all of his weight into his heels. Somehow, be it a fluke or a miracle, Ethan's body weight threw Heisenberg off in time for him trip and collapse. Heisenberg was growling as he turned a feral face towards Ethan, jaw elongated, fangs overgrown and bared. His facial hair had thickened and grown wild, eyes alight in a blazing yellow glow, Ethan wondered if he was beyond reason at this point.
Heisenberg glared at Ethan, still wrapped up in his trench coat, before he turned to glower just as ferociously at Chris who trained his weapon in preparation for attack. To the surprise of both Ethan and Chris, Heisenberg took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. As the last of the Soldat exited the factory, Heisenberg appeared to regain control of himself, shrinking in height and mass to his human form. He shook his head as the wounds healed and closed, shrugging off his destroyed coat and shirt as he pushed himself onto his feet from all fours. Ethan watched him carefully, glancing at Chris again.
"Ever the trigger happy hero. Shoot first, ask questions never? Boulder punching bastard... You owe Ethan here your life, Redfield. If he didn't like you, I'd devour you whole." Heisenberg coughed as he staggered over to his abandoned hat and dusted it off before replacing it on his head.
Chris opened his mouth to snap back, but Ethan cut him off, "What the hell is going on, Chris?"
Ethan's tone was venomous, Chris looked hesitant, "I... I'm not sure where to start, Ethan."
Heisenberg snorted derisively, "How about at the beginning?"
Ethan couldn't disagree with his statement, he stared expectantly at Chris.
"We had to move quickly. I never had a chance to warn you. Miranda took Mia and assumed her place to get close to Rose. When we came for her she faked her death and escaped. We took you because we didn't know if she had affected you as well. I didn't know what had happened until I found the destroyed caravan. I knew Miranda had survived and taken Rose. I wasn't sure if you would make it if you hadn't died in the crash."
Chris looked lost, Ethan had so many questions, but he knew they didn't have time, "This conversation isn't over, but we have to move. We're never going to be more ready than we are now, with Heisenberg's army."
Frowning slightly, Chris looked skeptical, but nodded, "My team is sweeping the town and I have someone monitoring Miranda as we speak. We need to gear up with whatever ammo and explosives we can get our hands on."
Heisenberg barked a laugh, "That's more like it! Get a fire under your ass, let's do some gratuitous violence!"