Outbreak in Southtown

The chatter of people filled the cafe and the "Sneering Blaze" Ash Crimson was sitting at the table in the middle. The TV was on a news channel, but no one was watching it. It was early in the morning and an overcast sky filled the light blue eyes of the bored young man as he looked out the window. He had a newspaper next to him and a cup full of coffee and a piece of apple pie in front of him. The waitress had handed him the newspaper, but he didn't bother to pick it up. Ash was wearing a sleeveless black shirt with the word Blaze on the front and a skull that was surrounded with green flames on the bottom of the word. He had black jeans and black steel toed boots and his blond hair was loose.

"I know I've been M.I.A around these parts for awhile, but man is it still as boring as ever…"

WIth a sigh, he looked at the newspaper cover where the words in bold print read: South Town Daily and at the bottom it read "Iori Yagami Still Missing!" He picks up the newspaper with his right hand and the coffee cup with his left and he takes a sip and sets it back down. He smirks at the picture of the redhead since he is flipping off the camera. He picks up the piece of apple pie and eats it in one bite and he opens the newspaper to read more about Iori's disappearance.

"Hmm… last seen with Leona Heidern. I guess either Orochi is back or they both fell in love and ran away. How disgusting."

Ash crumbles the newspaper and tosses it behind him. He drinks the rest of the coffee and stands up to leave, but the TV catches his attention when the words Breaking News flash across the screen and it changes to a helicopter view of a city in ruins.

"We have breaking news! A viral outbreak has reached us here in South Town! As you can see here, several creatures have ravaged parts of the city and are on the hunt for anyone. This is a similar incident that happened to Raccoon City many years ago and we hope we can avoid any casualties. We suggest that everyone remain inside and stay calm. The army should be here shortly and-"

The TV suddenly cuts off and an explosion is heard outside and a helicopter crashes onto the cafe where the entrance was, crushing the people that were there. The sickening sound of crushing bones and blood splatter made Ash smirk and low groans could be heard from a distance. The remaining people that were still in the cafe run off, but they see that they are surrounded by more zombies and they start to back away towards the back entrance where several zombies break the door and run inside. The trickster quickly surrounds his body with green flames and runs past the zombies, burning whichever ones were foolish enough to try to grab him. He puts his hands in his pockets and the green flames vanish when he turns to see the people being devoured by the zombies.

"I take back what I said earlier, South Town now really is fun.♪"

He starts to walk towards the city center to see what kind of creatures he'll find there.

"As if ugly creatures like yourselves will actually get to kill someone as beautiful as me."

Vega removed the blood stained mask upon his face and wiped it off with a rag he found in the counter. He looked at the mutilated corpses he had just killed as he proceeds to clean his claws. He was shirtless only wearing his trademark yellow and purple spandex with a red sash around his waist and brown loafers. The masked assassin was dropped off here to kill several people, but he can only came here to look for his friend, Iori Yagami. The sudden outbreak of the creatures made Vega suspect that Shadaloo was behind this since a similar thing happened once in a Shadaloo laboratory.

"These may be connected to the disappearance of Iori and Leona. Hmm, to think that Iori may have ran away with the blue haired beauty."

He chuckles a bit as he finishes cleaning his claws and tosses the rag aside and places the mask back on his face. He was inside a gun store which had been raided already, but there was a sawn off shotgun and dual uzi's behind Vega. He picked up the shotgun and put the gun strap around his back and the shotgun hanged behind his back. He had a gym bag full of shotgun shells and clips for the uzi's laying next to him since the person who was gonna take the last two guns and ammo bag was killed by the zombies and Vega took the bag. The Spaniard took the uzi's and placed them inside the bag and zipped it up and he picks it up and walks outside. He looks up at the overcast sky and looks around for any sign of creatures. He spots a black speck in the distance and goes to see who or what that is. Getting closer, he recognizes who it is.

"It's that kid that stole Iori's flames… I thought he was dead."

He jumps up the nearest building and waits for Ash to pass by and the thought hits him that the trickster may be connected to Iori's disappearance. He puts the gym bag over his shoulder and crouches and jumps aiming his claws towards Ash's back.

Despite Vega's efforts of trying to be sneaky, Ash was already aware of his presence. He does a 180 turn and looks up as he sees the Spaniard leap off to attack him and with a smirk, he sidesteps him.

"Attacking someone from behind, what kind of man are you?"

He puts his hand out and it gets engulfed by green flames. He puts his right leg forward preparing to attack Vega, but he recognizes who the masked man is.

"Oh. Well, if it isn't Señor Vega!♪"

The green flames vanish from his hand and he smiles more realizing this man isn't a threat to him. He wasn't aware that he and Iori were friends and only knows Vega from the reports about him attaining the Pandora's Box from the Antarctic and from hearing about vain and narcissistic he is.

"I'm surprised you're not in front of a mirror telling yourself how beautiful you are."

He chuckles as he awaits a very angry response from Vega and the thought of it makes him chuckle more.

Vega takes the shotgun hanging from his back and aims it at Ash's face.

"You better watch yourself, kid. I won't have any problem killing you and leaving your carcass to be feasted upon these hideous creatures."

He looks towards the voice of a woman and hears the word "necromancy." The Spaniard didn't consider the idea that it may be just that instead of the T-Virus. Keeping the shotgun still aimed at the young man, he gets closer.

"Now then, where is Iori? It's a bit too convenient that you're here when you are supposed to be dead and these fucking things are roaming around."

"I know nothing about his location and you're partially right about me being dead. However, it's really none of your business."

Ash wasn't intimidated by the shotgun aimed at him. He moves aside and proceeds to walk, but he stops when he catches a glimpse of the young ninja that was nearby and heard the voice shouting something about necromancy. The trickster knew that it may attract some more zombies, but he saw something crawl by instead. It looked like a skinned human crawling up the side of the building behind Vega. The creature known as "Licker" was looking for the source of the noise since it has no eyes.

"What the hell is that?"

The Licker heard what Ash said and it leaps to where he is with it's claws ready to shred anything in it's way. Ash ducks ready to incinerate it, but he smirks seeing that it will get Vega. He walks over towards Sheena and sees that she had a killed a zombie. It starts to rain lightly and the low rumble of thunder can be heard from a distance.

"Seems like you are having fun killing the undead, mademoiselle.♪"

"Hey! Where are you going?!"

Vega aims the shotgun at Ash as he walks away and sees the creature coming at him and he pulls the trigger, blasting it away. Some of it's blood splattered on his mask and removes it to clean it.

"Damn it!"

He puts the mask down and opens the bag to reload the shotgun and he zips the bag up and puts the mask back on. The masked assassin picks up the bag and goes to see where Ash is going and he sees the Licker twitching as a puddle of blood forms on it's back. The sight of blood made Vega chuckle and he sees a young girl. He was getting ready to aim the gun at the trickster, but he didn't want to scare the young girl. As he approaches them, he sees a dead zombie and knows this girl must be some kind of warrior.

"Are you okay, miss?"

Vega puts the gun strap over his body and lets the shotgun hang loose on his back. He figures Ash must be telling the truth since he didn't show any fear even at gunpoint.

"I suspect that Umbrella may be behind this. After all, they did destroy Raccoon City."

The Spaniard was intrigued by this girl's beauty, but he knew this wasn't the time or place. He wasn't bothered by the rain, but he wanted to leave the area quickly because he knows the shotgun blast will attract more creatures.

"We should get out of here and head to the city. We may be able to find out more about this outbreak."

Vega looks at Ash and points his claws at him.

"I'm sparing you for the time being. If you try anything, I'll kill you without hesitation."

Ash grinned hearing Sheena say it was disgusting killing the zombies, but he knew it was fun to do so.

"You make it seem like it's a bad thing to be involved in killing some creatures, miss. Don't you enjoy killing?"

The young man glared at Vega when he threatened him and he simply smiles.

"Oh, look at how scared I am of you now, Señor Vega.♪"

Ash chuckles and starts to walk ahead towards the city knowing that Vega or the mysterious woman may not know where it may be. He looks at the clock tower as it strikes 10:00 am and the light rain suddenly ceases and the wind starts to pick up. The trickster puts his hand up to block the wind and he squints as he keeps walking forward.

Vega followed Ash as he walked beside Sheena. He kept the shotgun in his left hand and turns around every other time to see if anything was following them. The wind felt good to Vega despite him being shirtless. He puts his arms out like he was embracing it, but he suddenly heard distant barking from behind and aimed his shotgun and readied his claws.

"Behind us! Prepare yourselves!"

A pack of 6 zombified dogs were coming at them and he shot the first one that leaped at him sending its corpse back into the nearby building and attempts to stab the other one, but the dog caught his claws in it's jaws and a third dog leaps at him. Is this the end of beauty?

Ash turned around when he heard Vega and he saw the dogs. He smirked seeing the dogs go for Vega. The dog that was gonna get the narcissist made Ash wonder if he should step in to help or not, but he dashed to grab the dog by the throat and it was suddenly engulfed in green flames and he kicked the dog away that had the Spaniard's claws.

"If anyone is gonna kill you, it shall be me."

The young man tosses the dogs charred carcass at Vega and takes the bag away from him. Ash opens up the bag and takes out the two uzi's inside. He hears the remaining dogs approach and he shoots them. The trickster takes 2 clips and walks over to Sheena and hands her an uzi and the two clips.

"See? You didn't have to kill this time, mademoiselle."

Ash smiles at her and he takes the other uzi and puts it in his pocket and takes the bag in his right hand.

"Don't bother taking this back from me, Vega. If you have a problem with it, then get over it."

He starts to walk ahead and looks at the sign that says the city is only a few minutes away. Ash was wondering what they'll find there and if these weapons are even enough to destroy whatever may come there way.