The chamber fell deathly silent.
Tony stood at the edge of the sewer platform, both pistols drawn, eyes gleaming. Opposite him, Delta team fanned out with tactical precision, flanking into firing positions. HUNK stood beside them, eerily still, his SMG aimed dead center on Tony's chest.
The tension broke with a single word:
"Engage."
Lupo opened fire first, her shots whistling through the darkness. Beltway followed with a concussion grenade, detonating near Tony's feet. Four Eyes ducked back, preparing a sedative canister, while Vector blinked out of sight.
Tony blurred.
With inhuman speed, he twisted, spun through a narrow support beam, and returned fire—each shot timed between breaths, ricocheting with lethal accuracy.
The first bullet slammed into Lupo's rifle, disarming her. The second grazed Beltway's helmet, knocking him off balance. The third clipped Four Eyes' shoulder, spinning her back.
Tony, leaping from a concrete pipe and roundhouse-kicking Vector mid-cloak, sending the ghostly operative crashing into a wall.
Tony flipped, landed in a crouch, and fired behind him without looking—forcing HUNK to shift positions.
"Okay, you guys are actually good," Tony muttered. "No wonder Umbrella still hasn't fired you."
But the team recovered fast. Training kicked in.
Vector and HUNK flanked him simultaneously—HUNK laying down suppressive fire while Vector circled with a combat blade.
Tony blocked Vector's strike with his pistol's frame but caught a burst from HUNK dead-center.
CRACK!
A bullet pierced his temple. Blood sprayed.
Tony's body spun and hit the ground hard, unmoving.
Delta team closed in cautiously.
"Is he dead?" Beltway asked, keeping his weapon trained.
"Check him," Lupo ordered.
Four Eyes knelt, pressing fingers to his throat. No pulse. She pulled a blood sample kit from her case.
As she leaned in—
Tony's hand shot up and gripped her wrist.
His eyes opened, glowing bright gold.
"Ow," he muttered. "Okay... props. That actually hurt."
He sat up like nothing had happened, regenerating before their eyes. The bullet forced out of his skull with a soft pop, clattering to the floor.
The squad staggered back.
"Impossible," Four Eyes breathed.
Tony rose slowly, cracking his neck. "You guys play rough. But now it's my turn."
He moved like lightning.
One by one, he disarmed them—Beltway's arm twisted, his detonator crushed. Vector knocked into a steel beam with a precise elbow. Lupo parried two shots before Tony ducked low and kicked her legs out from under her. Four Eyes was last, her hand swatted away before she could raise her tranquilizer gun.
Seconds later, they were all on the floor, groaning but alive. Their weapons destroyed or out of reach.
Tony stood over them, the G-virus sample in one hand, a smoking pistol in the other.
"Okay," he said calmly. "Here's the deal. You can take this—"
He held up the vial.
"—and leave. Or leave with nothing. Either way, you'd better be gone before the sky starts glowing."
Lupo looked at HUNK. The normally unreadable operative gave a faint nod.
"We'll pull out. No further pursuit of Sherry Birkin."
Tony nodded. "Good choice."
He leaned down and gently placed the sample into Four Eyes' shaking hand.
Then, with a wink, he disappeared—leaping through a maintenance shaft, vanishing into the darkness like a ghost in the storm.
His destination: RPD Station.
Time remaining: 3 hours and 5 minutes.