[TWD x Resident Evil] — Chapter 495 - The Alice Project

Leon's words cracked open the sealed vault of old memory and tore through Marcus's carefully maintained calm.

His clouded eyes churned. Anger. Regret. And beneath both of those, something older and colder, a hatred that went all the way down to the bone.

"I don't know where she is now, either."

"Back then, she was under Umbrella Corporation's control."

"They said it was to protect her." A bitter pause. "But I knew. They were using Alicia to threaten me. Forcing me to hand over more refined research results."

"I had no choice. I had to cooperate."

"The company provided the funding, I provided the thinking. Good for everyone, they said."

Leon knew this playbook.

Classic Umbrella.

"I suspect that the moment that old bastard Spencer gave the order to have me eliminated, my poor Alicia had already been silenced."

Marcus went quiet after that, visibly wrestling with something he couldn't put down.

The hatred was real. No performance there.

Leon just listened.

He understood it, that particular despair, the kind that comes from being backed into a corner with no way out. The madness that made a man willing to do anything for someone he loved.

"Don't worry," Leon said. A rare thing, for him. "Anything is possible."

Marcus let out a long, slow breath.

"You're sharp, Leon."

"Where I stand now, under your thumb, with nothing left to hide behind."

"There's something you should know. I ran a project — in secret, on my own authority. I called it the Alice Project. At the time, only a handful of my closest students even knew it existed."

"But the subjects coded 'Alice' — they were only clones of my daughter."

"They had her face, near-perfect genetic compatibility. But they were manufactured. No inner life. No history. Blank slates, every one."

"After I developed the T-Leeches compound, I used them as test subjects."

A trace of something entered his voice. Not quite regret. Close.

"Generation after generation of the T-Virus, injected into their bodies. All of it aimed toward one goal — so that one day I could apply the T-Virus to Alicia safely."

"I know how that sounds." Marcus said it without being asked. "Insane. Inhumane."

He looked at Leon. Those eyes, composed of writhing Leeches, held something that wasn't quite madness and wasn't quite grief.

"But do you understand what a father is capable of doing for his daughter?"

"I would have slaughtered the entire world for her. I just wanted her to live."

"Sacrificing a few clones?" He let the silence finish the sentence.

Leon spoke.

"So. You're telling me all of this because you want something. What is it?"

Marcus raised one hand and pointed.

"In my last remaining research base, there are still some Alice clones."

He gave a set of coordinates. His tone shifted, something almost like pleading crept into it, which on Marcus was a deeply strange thing to hear.

"If you find her, please. Bring her back. She may only be a clone, but she is still my daughter. I regret what I did to them. All of them."

"And I'm afraid of what Umbrella will do if they find her first. Turn her into another one of those things. Another weapon."

"Help me find her. Bring her back. In return, I will give you everything, my research, my work, my remaining years. I'll personally teach everything I know to whoever you assign."

"Every last thing in my head. As long as you save her."

Leon didn't hesitate.

He nodded.

Honestly, it didn't matter to him either way. Whatever he needed Marcus to do, Marcus would do. That wasn't going to change.

But agreeing cost him nothing. And it made the whole arrangement sit a little easier.

Marcus exhaled slowly when he saw the nod. Some of the tension bled out of him.

"Enough about her." He shifted. "Let's talk about Ashley."

"Now that you have the Hellhounds, Ashley's situation becomes considerably more manageable."

Leon's brow furrowed. "What did you say?"

"These three." Marcus gestured toward the dogs, who were wagging their tails at him with complete indifference to the gravity of the conversation. "They carry the earliest prototype of the T-Virus."

"They are living viral samples. Successful cases of early T-Virus genetic modification in mammals."

He studied them, and something like pride moved through his voice.

"They have extraordinarily long lifespans. But more importantly, their bodies carry consistent characteristics of both the T-Virus and the Progenitor Virus."

Leon's gaze moved across the three of them. Bruce. Sam. Max.

First-generation T-Virus products.

There had to be a connection to the Progenitor somewhere inside them.

"What Ashley carries is the purest primitive strain of the Progenitor Virus, the Sunlight Staircase strain. Original, unmodified, and heavily defective."

Marcus kept going.

"The T-Virus is an evolutionary iteration of the Progenitor combined with Leeches. They share the same origin and exist in a sequential relationship."

"So, extracting compounds from the dogs' blood may be able to neutralize the rampant Progenitor Virus destabilizing Ashley's system, and establish a stable equilibrium within her. One that has already proven it can hold."

"But this requires extraordinarily precise biological expertise. A deep, structural understanding of both viruses."

He looked at Leon. His leech-eyes gleamed.

"Fortunately, I have both."

He wasn't lying.

Marcus was the Progenitor Virus's creator. His understanding of the T-Virus outran everyone else alive, by a wide margin.

"How long will it take?" Leon asked.

Marcus extended a hand toward the three dogs.

"Extracting the T-Virus from their blood is not a simple procedure. But I believe it can be done quickly enough."

Leon turned that over in his mind.

Three dogs' blood to save Ashley. It sounded almost absurd. And yet it tracked perfectly, the logic was airtight.

And the dogs weren't dying for it. Just a blood draw. Nothing to weigh.

"How long does Ashley have?" he asked.

"A week. Give or take." Marcus's voice was measured. "The neutralizer is only suppression, not a solution, and repeated doses are degrading her condition. The more she receives, the worse she becomes."

"I need to begin immediately. The longer this waits, the lower the odds."

Leon drew a slow breath.

He'd captured this monster, bent him to his will, and now this same monster was Ashley's only shot.

The world had a particular sense of humor.

"I'll give you the best lab I have. Whatever resources you need." Leon's voice was flat and direct. "But Ashley lives. I don't care if she ends up with no abilities whatsoever. I just want her breathing."

"You have my word." Marcus nodded.

"This connects to my Alice. If Ashley dies, you will hold me accountable. I would not gamble with Alice over something like that."

He looked at the three dogs again. Something more complicated moved through his expression.

"I will need their cooperation."

Bruce, Sam, and Max wagged their tails.

"Done," Leon said. "I'll make sure they work with you."

He turned and gave a single command.

Bruce. Sam. Max.

All three dropped obediently to the ground and looked up at Leon with calm, trusting eyes.

Marcus stared.

He knew what these animals were. He knew their independence, their nature. He hadn't expected Leon to have them this thoroughly.

But that was someone else's problem to be impressed by.

He had work to do.

➤ Next: Artificial Cultivation — Ascension