Imperium of Man Terra Aeterna Season 01: Rise of Humanity's War Machin

Russia, Kamchatka Peninsula — Umbrella Prime.

Beneath layers of ice hundreds of meters thick, hidden nearly a thousand meters below the surface, stood a futuristic complex shaped like an inverted bowl—submerged at the bottom of the frozen sea.

This was Umbrella Prime, Umbrella Corporation's underwater city. Designed to simulate biological apocalypse scenarios, it served as a testing ground for countless virus variants and humanity's survival strategies... or its annihilation.

---

Five hours later.

A tactical transport approached the hidden coordinates.

Alice and her team—Chris Redfield, Luther West, Leon Kennedy, and seven provisional elite operatives—had finally arrived.

"No active defense systems. The virus has already spread... all personnel evacuated to this facility were reported dead," explained Hotaka, former Tokyo head of security, now their reluctant informant.

He pointed toward the distance, where a column of red smoke shot into the sky.

"Submarine ventilation shaft, two kilometers ahead. Fastest way in."

Alice nodded. "We move."

Without wasting time, the team advanced in formation, trekking across the ice toward the glowing red heat source—a massive ventilation exhaust, the remnant of a thermal waste system that vented air from deep within the facility.

As they neared, they saw it: three giant cylindrical openings. Hot steam hissed from the sides, but the center shaft was dark and calm—the main intake tunnel.

"Hotaka. Your time," Alice ordered, still alert.

Hotaka turned to her. "You'll let me go after this, right?"

Alice stared at him flatly. "As long as you open the door, yes. You walk."

Hotaka swallowed hard, then stepped briskly toward a large metal device. He opened a protective panel, revealing a security keypad. With trembling hands, he keyed in the code.

A mechanical groan rumbled from beneath the ground. The ice ahead of them slowly peeled open, forming a circular aperture like the petals of a massive flower. Beneath it, a metal corridor emerged—and from the depths, two cylindrical lift units rose into view.

Hotaka stepped back and turned to Alice.

"You're free," she said.

"Thank you... thank you!" he bowed quickly, then took off running into the darkness.

Luther sneered. "Idiot... thinks he'll survive out here alone in the polar ice? Good luck."

There was no time to waste.

"Chris, take one team down the right lift. I'll lead the left," Alice commanded.

Chris gave a sharp nod. "Got it."

The team split. Two squads stepped into the lifts and began their descent into the facility's long-abandoned depths.

Just before they reached the lower levels, a faint sound crackled through the comms. Static—then an alarm.

"INTRUDERS! We've got intruders!" screamed one of the guards from the upper ventilation post.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Alice fired first. Three guards dropped instantly. Leon and Chris followed suit, stopping the counterattack in seconds. But before the last guard died, his finger slammed the emergency button.

Alice's lift jolted to a stop.

"Go on without me! I'll catch up!" she shouted to the other lift.

Luther hesitated, then nodded. Their doors closed again, continuing the descent.

Alice climbed onto the lift's roof, searching for an alternate route. Along the corridor wall, she spotted a narrow opening into the horizontal ventilation system. Without hesitation, she jumped and squeezed into the metal tunnel—barely wide enough for a human body.

Dark. Damp. Silent.

She took a deep breath and crawled forward, every muscle alert.

As Alice emerged from the narrow tunnel, the air that greeted her felt like she was stepping into another world. Before her stretched a miniature city simulation—a replica of Raccoon City. Artificial sunlight beamed down, a gentle breeze rustled through rows of trees, and American-style houses lined the streets. But everything was in ruins. The roads were littered with burning cars, wrecked vehicles piled up at corners, and bloodstains marred the asphalt. This place—Umbrella Prime in the Kamchatka Peninsula—had clearly been used for bioweapon testing. The aftermath of past battles still scarred the ground.

Suddenly, the sound of engines approached.

Alice instinctively ducked behind the carcass of a burnt-out vehicle. Four or five cars appeared in the distance, screeching to a halt, and over ten armed figures poured out.

She recognized some of the faces: James, Rennes… but Alice knew—they were all clones.

"I'll give you five seconds. Surrender… or die," clone-James barked, eyes sharp and unblinking.

Alice said nothing.

"Fire!" he ordered.

Drrrat-drrrat-drrrat!

Tak! Tak! Tak!

A hail of bullets shredded her cover. Alice returned fire swiftly, taking out several attackers. The moment she saw an opening, she dashed and rolled behind another car.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Squad A, close in! Find her!" clone-James shouted.

"Squad B, flank her from the right!" another clone commanded.

---

Moscow Simulation Zone – Chris's Unit

Meanwhile, in the Moscow simulation zone, Chris's team was running—chaotic and desperate.

They were under relentless assault from zombies. But these weren't just any zombies—they drove cars, fired weapons, and executed maneuvers like trained soldiers. If it weren't for their decaying faces, you'd never know they weren't human.

"Shit, Leon! What the hell is this?!" Luther shouted, firing wildly.

"Don't ask me! We'll figure it out if we make it out alive!" Leon snapped, firing back.

AAARRRGHHH!!

One of their special ops teammates was ripped apart by a gun-toting zombie.

"This way!" Chris shouted, leading the group down a side street.

Only six of them remained. One of them—a technician—was glued to a digital map on his tablet, provided by Hotaka.

"There's a safe route here!"

But just meters ahead, a massive tentacle lashed out from a rooftop. It snatched the technician mid-step and—CRUNCH!—he vanished in a single, wet bite.

They all turned upward. A monstrous figure loomed above—a Licker. But this one was five or six times larger than normal, its tongue twitching, muscles bulging.

AAARRRGHHH!!

The Licker screeched and leapt down.

Drrrat-drrrat! Bang! Tak-tak!

They unloaded everything they had.

"Spread out! Don't let it get close!" Leon yelled.

But two more soldiers were already down—torn to shreds, only pieces of their torsos left.

Luther's face twisted in rage. He raised his rifle and roared, "You ugly fuck—DIE!" unleashing a furious spray.

Suddenly—VROOOOM!

A reinforced Rolls-Royce came barreling from around the corner. It slammed into the Licker, launching the creature into a wall with a thunderous crash.

The car door swung open.

Alice stepped out from behind the wheel, her hair tousled but eyes calm and razor sharp.

"Waiting for an invitation, boys?" she said coolly.

Chris, Leon, and Luther exchanged glances—exhausted but relieved smiles breaking across their faces.

"Alice…" they said in unison.

The three of them scrambled into the car.

---

"I heard gunfire," said Alice as she glanced back from the driver's seat, a faint smile tugging at her lips. "That's how I knew it was you guys. Lucky I wasn't too late."

"Not too late," Luther replied with a grin. "Any later, and we'd have had to serve that jumbo zombie an extra-large dinner."

Alice just raised an eyebrow—then a familiar voice crackled through her headset, light and teasing as always.

"Sister Alice, I've got bad news. Wanna hear it?" asked the Red Queen, flirtatious as ever.

"What kind of bad news?" Alice shot back quickly, her tone shifting to serious.

"Big Brother Reuel is here. Isn't that bad enough?" replied the Red Queen, followed by a mischievous giggle.

Alice went quiet for a beat. "Reuel's here? How did you know I'd entered the facility so fast?"

"Brother Reuel told me not to tell you… but I told you anyway." Her voice sounded like a child who'd just broken the rules and enjoyed it.

"Reuel's here?" Luther said from the back seat, surprised. "At this base too?"

"I don't know exactly where yet," Alice answered. "But if Red Queen's right, he got here before us."

Their conversation was cut short by the sudden roar of gunfire from behind.

Drrrat-drrrat-drrrat!

Bullets tore through the rear windshield. Alice glanced at the mirror: a swarm of armed zombies on motorcycles and in cars were speeding after them.

"Chris, Luther, Leon—get ready!" Alice slammed the accelerator, weaving the car between rubble and scorched vehicles lining the road.

Chris and Leon rolled down the windows, returning fire from inside the moving vehicle.

The zombie horde kept shooting, relentless and coordinated.

Suddenly—

BOOOOM!!

A rocket whooshed toward them.

"Hold on!" Alice shouted. She jerked the wheel hard to the left, and the car swerved violently, just dodging the explosion. The rocket slammed into the roadside, blowing up two parked vehicles.

Luther took the opportunity to lean out and fire. "Take them down now!"

More than half the pursuing zombies dropped—either gunned down or crushed under the tires. Motorcycles flipped, and zombie bodies flew through the air.

As they sped into a tunnel leading to the underground station, Alice slammed the brakes.

"We've arrived," she said. "This is the Tokyo test zone. Matches the map coordinates."

The car screeched to a halt in front of an old, metal-clad building.

From the opposite direction, two figures emerged slowly. One of them raised a hand in a mock greeting, a sly smile on his face.

"Hey, Alice. Surprised to see me?" Reuel called out casually, standing next to Ada Wong.

Ada gave a small nod. Her eyes were sharp, her body language alert.

"Reuel, you're here too?" Luther asked, visibly caught off guard.

"Good. Extra reinforcements," said Chris.

"Quite the surprise," Reuel replied coolly. "But I already knew you'd end up here."

Alice stared at Reuel, her face unreadable. But inside, tension coiled tight. This meeting was unexpected… and it could mean a lot of things.

"Red Queen, you little traitor. You know I don't like being lied to. Want me to hand you over to the Adeptus Mechanicus boys?" Reuel said, voice half-playful, half-threatening.

"Big Brother, nooo… I was just trying to help! Don't give me to those red-robed guys! They're creepy!" Red Queen whined through the headset.

"Hmph. When I'm nice, you act up. Next time, I won't be so forgiving."

"I promise I won't do it again! Really!" Red Queen replied, with a bratty tone.

Reuel sighed. "Fine. Just this once. But if you screw around again, I'll ship you off to the Tech-Priests so they can turn you into spare wiring."

"Nooo, seriously—don't!" Red Queen sounded almost panicked now.

Leon, who hadn't met Reuel before, stepped up and introduced himself, "Hi. Name's Leon."

Reuel gave a nod in return. "Hey. I'm Reuel. And this—" he gestured to the woman beside him, "—is Ada Wong."

Leon and Ada exchanged a brief glance—enough for two seasoned professionals to size each other up.

"Let's move," Alice cut in. "We need to find the control center before this place turns into hell all over again."

They approached the main building. Inside, a white hallway stretched ahead like a mechanical throat ready to swallow anyone who stepped inside. The flickering neon lights on the ceiling cast shifting shadows that only deepened the sense of dread.

Reuel walked at the front. One by one, the zombies in the hallway dropped. Every bullet he fired hit a head—precise, merciless. Chris and Leon followed close behind, covering the left and right. Alice scanned every corner, finger on the trigger.

Suddenly, at the end of the hallway, a squad of Umbrella clones stood ready, weapons raised. Among them stood a clone of James.

"Drop your weapons and surrender. Or we'll shoot you all dead."

James' voice was flat, emotionless. But Alice only stared coldly. Reuel didn't waste time.

"Drrrat-drrrat-drrrat!"

"Bang! Bang! Tak-tak-tak!"

The first shots came from Reuel's side. Within seconds, the narrow hallway was filled with deafening gunfire. Flames and bullets flew in every direction. Several clones went down, blood spurting from their heads and chests. The rest panicked and fled deeper into the main building.

Reuel and his team gave chase without hesitation.

Clone soldiers scattered throughout the facility were cut down one by one. No mercy, no time for negotiation.

Then, a horrifying sound echoed:

"AAARRRGGHHH!!"

A giant Licker emerged from the shadows—six times larger than usual. Its skin was thin, veins bulging like exposed power cables. Its long tongue lashed at metal pillars, dragging its grotesque body forward.

"Drrrat-drrrat-drrrat!" "Tak! Tak! Bang!"

They fired while taking cover behind control consoles and piles of twisted metal. Bullets tore into the Licker's flesh, but the monster kept moving, its saliva dripping like acid.

The creature's tongue lashed out, slamming into Luther and hurling him against a wall. Chris rushed to drag him back.

"Luther!" Alice shouted. "Are you okay?!"

Luther coughed violently, blood dribbling from his mouth. "No biggie... just coughing up blood."

Meanwhile, the Licker lunged toward Reuel. But he was ready.

With a calm motion, he pulled the pin from a high-yield grenade and tossed it straight into the monster's mouth.

"BOOM!"

The explosion rocked the room. Flesh, bone, and bloody shrapnel sprayed in all directions. The Licker was obliterated into charred chunks.

Everyone let out a breath of relief.

"Let's move," Reuel said coolly, as if he'd just squashed a bug.

They passed through a massive iron door into the control center. As the door slid open, a giant hologram appeared—a girl's face with glowing eyes.

"Leave! You've accessed Umbrella Corporation systems without authorization!" screamed the holographic projection—Thunder Queen.

Red Queen spoke through Alice's headset.

"Oh wow, look at her. Thunder Queen is so ugly. Compare her to me—clearly I'm the elegant one."

Thunder Queen glared at them, her face flickering between anger and digital corruption.

"This is... the 'Thunder Queen'?" Leon asked, frowning.

"Just a security system hologram. But yeah… tacky," Ada Wong replied flatly.

Reuel ignored all of it. Calmly, he pulled Red Queen's subroutine from its storage sheath and plugged it into the main system port as instructed.

"You'll all die!" Thunder Queen shrieked, her voice screeching like a broken radio.

But before she could finish the sentence, her projection flickered… and vanished.

Replaced by a far more familiar figure—Red Queen.

"Brother, I've taken over Kamchatka's control center!" she chirped, standing beside Reuel in a 3D projection of a young girl who now looked… more alive.

"Good," Reuel replied simply. "You've earned praise."

"Hmph. Just praise?" Red Queen pouted, folding her arms. Her expression was far more complex than before.

Alice and the others exchanged glances. Even the virtual projection was now negotiating with human emotions.

"Is she... becoming more human?" Chris murmured.

Reuel thought for a moment, then said with a casual tone, "In that case, let's have dinner. Just the two of us."

Silence filled the room.

Red Queen rolled her eyes, her expression unmistakably saying: Humans are impossible to understand.