"My dearest Ada Wong…
Operatives Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield have been deployed to the Republic of Edonia. The BSAA has been engaged with the Edonian Liberation Army, and with reinforcements from North America, they may very well breach City Hall. This will work in our favor.
Find out if either of the operatives has antibodies to the C-Virus. If it is as you suspect, our mutual friend Albert may not have been as thorough when he extracted the T-Virus from Operative Valentine, and while samples from Moira Burton and Natalia Korda tested negative, Operative Redfield did have a unique reaction to T-Phobos.
We can't have anyone else producing a vaccine.
Hmm. Unique.
Perhaps we should give Agent Harper another look when you're done with this.
And Ada, my love? If you're to let your… pet out to play again, do keep it on a shorter leash.
Good luck."
Edonia - December 24, 2012
Inside a BSAA chopper, Captain Chris Redfield addressed his unit.
"Just got off the comms with HQ," he told them. "The ELA has triple As on-site. We can't land until our boys and girls on the ground take out those guns."
"I heard Europe's units are barely holding their own against these guerillas," came a nervous remark from a rookie, who squeaked when Chris looked his way.
"Finn, right?" Chris said, getting a frantic nod in response. "It's okay to be nervous. What we're about to face is nothing any of us has ever dealt with before."
"Not even you, Captain?" Finn asked, wide-eyed.
Beside Finn, Piers grunted in protest.
"These j'avo we've seen on film look like it's caused by the same type of virus we saw in Marhawa Academy. Bindi Bergara's mutation is similar to these j'avos. Look at the eyes."
"The one who turned into a giant spider?" Claire asked.
"They'll turn into giant spiders?" Finn whispered to himself in horror. "I'm afraid of spiders."
"How's Merah doing, Piers?" Jill asked, taking Claire's hand and distracting her from responding to Finn.
"She's good," Piers answered Jill, the edge in his voice gone, replaced by a softness. "Finally cleared to go back in the field. She can't wait for her next mission."
"I know the feeling," Claire muttered, glaring at Chris when he snickered.
"Try being dead for three years," Jill quipped, making both Redfields groan.
"It's still not funny," Claire whined, unhelped by the roaring laughter from the rest of the unit, with Piers and Finn even managing a chuckle. "Don't encourage her!" she snapped at them, but the obnoxious giggling persisted.
Chris reached over and gave Claire a pat on the back.
"I can't believe you're engaged to that sense of humor."
"I can," Jill declared, leaning close to Claire and smirking. "You love my jokes, don't you, Mrs. Valentine?"
Claire's response was to turn as red as her hair, which had most of the unit hooting and cheering.
"And there they go," Piers grumbled as Jill stole a kiss, while Finn politely looked away.
"Don't be jealous because Claire's woman is right here and yours is in the Far East," Jill pointed out, and then went for another kiss as Piers sputtered incoherently.
"I'm not- she's not- we're...we're not!"
"Redfield's got you again, Nivans!" Ben teased, Carl and Andy following with snickers. "Better shot, better driver, better woman- wait, you don't have on-"
Chris held up one hand, the other on his earpiece, and the chopper quieted in an instant.
"Copy, HQ," he said after a moment, and then faced his unit. "The triple As are down, but the ELA just dropped two giant BOWs on the AO. We're going in. Now."
The area of operations, what used to be a town square, looked nothing more than a patch of dead land with dilapidated buildings and bodies strewn along its stretch. In the middle of it, two giant BOWs chased down fleeing BSAA operatives, who took refuge underground. Beta and Delta teams, which had opted to land via chopper, were nearly taken out when one of the giant BOWs took a swipe at them.
Chris, finding one of the smaller buildings, quickly dropped on its roof. He shrugged off his parachute and took cover, observing the giant BOWs.
"Claire, these things aren't plaga or uroboros," he told his sister over the comms, "but that one's back, it's exposed. It looks like a weakness. You and Piers land on the tallest building and take shots from there."
"Roger," both Claire and Piers responded.
"The rest of us are going to make sure they stay with us on the ground," Chris ordered.
"What about the other one?" Jill asked, the second to touch ground and on the very building Chris wanted the snipers to perch. "That thing on its back is covered up."
"We'll deal with the one we can handle first, Jill."
"Roger," Jill relented, and the rest of the unit chorused affirmatively.
Seeing Andy hover too close to the giant BOWs, Chris rushed out and fired, drawing attention to himself while Andy landed safely. He was soon joined by Ben, the three of them luring the BOWs away from the rest of Alpha Team and the European operatives underground.
Jill rushed down from the highest building, tailing the BOWs as they chased Chris and Ben. Above her, Piers, Carl, and Finn landed on the roof. Carl and Finn made their way to her while Piers mounted his anti-materiel rifle. Claire landed soon after and set up her own rifle.
"Shoot the jaw, it's weak!" Andy yelled over the gunfire.
Chris, Jill, Ben, and Finn focused on Andy's target, the giant BOW with the protected back, and several of the European operatives joined in. Carl stayed on the other BOW, leading it away so that its exposed back was turned on Claire and Piers.
With two sure shots from a pair of anti-materiel rifles, the giant BOW was brought to its knees. It smashed into a building, and as it collapsed, the rest of the European operatives closed in, shooting the weak spot on its back.
"Claire, Piers, again!" Chris ordered, and his snipers didn't disappoint, both of them hitting the mark.
With the BOW incapacitated, Claire loaded another round in her rifle. She was about to pull the trigger when, suddenly, a j'avo grabbed her from behind, attempting to choke her with its own sniper rifle.
"Claire!" Piers cried out, reaching for his sidearm and shooting the j'avo.
"What's happening!" Jill demanded.
The j'avo flinched, its entire left eye shot off, but his mutated body repaired the damage within seconds. It tightened its grip on the gun, pressing it harder to Claire's throat.
Piers fired again, this time hitting the j'avo's arms and triggering another mutation. The j'avo dropped its sniper rifle, but continued to choke Claire with its mutated arms.
Cursing, Piers rushed over to help Claire, but another j'avo grabbed him and knocked his sidearm away. He dodged a knife that would have gone right through his skull and kicked the j'avo off with both feet.
Two more j'avos emerged from the hatch, both going for the anti-materiel rifles. Piers hurried after them, but the j'avo he had kicked scrambled after him, dragging him back down.
"Captain, we have j'avo on the roof. Tell everyone to take cover, they have our rifles!" he yelled over the comms.
"Copy that, Piers. Do you and Claire need back up?"
"I'm heading up. Cover me, Carl," Jill said before Piers could answer.
"Jill!" Chris called out, but Jill ignored him. "Damn it. Carl, cover her! You, too, Finn!"
"Roger!"
"You got it, Captain!"
Piers wrestled with the j'avo, struggling with its enhanced strength. Several more kicks to the ribs triggered another mutation, a protective shell that covered the j'avo's midsection. Piers reached for his knife when a j'avo, the one that had been choking Claire, sailed over him and right off the building.
Next came the j'avo on top of him, yanked off with ease. Piers saw Claire effortlessly lift the j'avo over her head and throw him at one of the two j'avos who had taken their rifles. Piers grabbed his sidearm and shot the other j'avo, stopping it from shooting. He then watched in awe as Claire tossed all three j'avo off the building like they barely weighed anything.
Claire turned to Piers, her eyes glowing red. Piers stepped back in alarm, frozen in place when Claire's red eyes faded to orange, briefly turned green, and then, finally, back to their original blue.
"What the hell," Piers whispered, approaching Claire. "That still happens?"
"Only when I'm in danger," Claire said, returning to her rifle.
"Does HQ know?" Piers asked. "Does Chris know?"
"No," came an answer, this time from Jill, who wasn't even out of breath despite the great distance and height she had to cover in so little time.
"I'm okay, Jill," Claire assured her fiancee, who fretted at the sight of her bruised neck.
"No to what? HQ or Chris? Both?" Piers persisted, not letting the couple have a moment.
"We'll talk about this later, Piers. We still have a job to do," Claire reminded him, turning her attention back to her rifle.
"We're talking about this, alright. With the captain," Piers muttered as he retrieved his own rifle.
"Roof's clear," Jill reported over the comms, looking like she was considering kicking Piers off it.
At Chris' order, Alpha Team and the European units, now joined with Beta and Delta Teams, came out of hiding and reengaged the giant BOWs, stopping them from climbing to the snipers.
Once the BOWs were back on the ground, Claire fired first, hitting the one with the exposed back. Piers, behind because he was staring at Claire, pulled the trigger when Chris barked at him to fire.
"It's down, it's down!" the captain of the European unit shouted.
The remaining giant BOW roared and went into a frenzy. The units on the ground took cover, forced underground. The BOW reached right through the manhole, threatening to collapse the tunnels.
"We need to get its attention," Piers told Jill and Claire. "Shoot it and run for the hatch."
Jill, who had been staring at the protrusion on the giant BOW's back, switched on her comms.
"I'm exposing its back," she said.
"Jill, no!" Chris protested.
"Baby, can you make it go over here?" Jill asked Claire.
"I got a shot," Claire said, much to her brother's vocal dismay. "She'll be fine, Chris."
"You don't know that!"
"The captain said no!" Piers barked, but Claire already took a shot, hitting the giant BOW's jaw.
It stumbled, and then came charging at the building with a loud roar. Jill, standing on the edge of the roof, calmly stepped off and landed on the giant BOW's back. Grabbing the protrusion from its back, she yanked hard, and the BOW bellowed loudly. It tried to throw her off, spinning and shaking wildly, but Jill held on its back and kept pulling at the protrusion until finally, the hard flesh cracked and gave. The BOW crumpled to its knees, its weakness exposed.
With the BOW doubled over from the pain, Jill jumped off it, giving Claire and Piers clear shots to its back. The snipers wasted no time, firing round after round into the exposed mound of flesh. The units underground emerged, and together, they brought down the giant BOW.
"What the hell were you thinking!" Chris growled at Jill before the BOW was even done twitching. "You could have been killed!"
"I was fine, Chris," Jill pointed out, her calm answer only angering him. "I'm fine-"
"No, you were lucky, and luck runs out. Yours already did, so you should stop pushing it," he snapped. "You're not some super soldier anymore, Jill. You're not doped up on P30, and Wesker took the T-Virus out of you. You're just you now."
"'Just me' was more than enough for you before, Chris," Jill snapped back. "I'm not made of glass. I won't break when a BOW looks at me. We've been over this!"
"You disobeyed orders! I'm your captain, not your partner. Remember that."
"I'll treat you like my captain when you start acting like it!"
Before the argument could further escalate, Claire and Piers showed up, and Claire quickly put herself between the two.
"Hey. That's enough, alright?" she told them, putting a hand on Chris' shoulder while wrapping an arm around Jill.
"Alright," Jill agreed, leaning on Claire.
Chris sighed.
"Yeah," he said, bowing his head, and then cleared his throat. "Alpha Team, we're moving out in five! We need to get to City Hall-"
Chris stopped talking, interrupted by screams and gunfire over the comms. At the other end of the street, tearing right through Delta Team, was another BOW. It was no giant, but with its hulking frame and weaponized arm, it made alarmingly quick work of Beta Team, dismantling yet another BSAA unit before they could retaliate.
A single, powerful blast from the cannon on its arm sent everyone scattering, with Chris, Jill, Claire, and Piers barely escaping.
"Claire, Piers!" Chris called out.
The two snipers tried to run back up the building, but the BOW, incredibly fast and agile for its bulk, blocked their way, knocking Piers away and attempting to grab Claire with its non-weaponized arm.
Claire swiped at the BOW's hand with her rifle and ducked, sliding past it and making a run for the other side of the building, towards the ladders that led to the roof. The BOW chased after her, shrugging off gunfire from Alpha Team and the European operatives.
Mid-sprint, the BOW removed the cannon on its arm and replaced it with a claw. It attempted to grab Claire again, the claw briefly catching her arm before she wrestled it away.
"Why isn't she fighting it off?" Piers asked Jill as he frantically mounted his rifle on the roof of a shorter building. "She can handle it, can't she?"
"Piers, what the hell are you talking about!" Chris demanded, swearing when he ran out of ammo and then reached for another clip. "Hurry up over there, we need to get it away from Claire!"
"Roger, Captain!"
Piers fired a shot, hitting the BOW's shoulder. It didn't even flinch, again trying to make a grab for Claire. This time, it found purchase, the claw closing over her waist.
"No!" Jill cried out, leaving Chris and Piers and running towards the BOW.
With a strong tug, the BOW pulled Claire in. Claire didn't fight it, instead letting herself be drawn closer until she was face to face with the BOW. At point blank, she braced her gun against her shoulder.
"Claire, no!" Chris yelled over the comms. "The recoil could kill you!"
Ignoring his order, Claire pulled the trigger, blasting the BOW straight through its arm. The gun jerked back as the bullet ripped through its shoulder, severing its arm.
The BOW stumbled back, still on its feet despite its injury. The claw clattered to the ground, and Claire quickly loaded another round in her rifle, firing just as the BOW charged at her. It went flying, crashing into a wall.
As the building collapsed on the BOW, Claire lowered her weapon and rolled her shoulder, completely unharmed by the recoil.
"Claire," Chris said, his voice a raspy whisper. "Why are your eyes red?"
Claire sighed.
"Not now, Chris," Jill answered for her.
"Jill knows?"
"Not now, Chris!"
With a roar, the BOW sprung to its feet, flinging slabs of concrete with its good arm. Claire reloaded her rifle and braced it against her shoulder. She cursed, her eyes turning orange.
"Run, Claire!" Piers warned, shooting the BOW's injured shoulder.
The BOW only moved faster, about to close the distance between it and Claire. As Claire turned to run, Jill intercepted the BOW, kicking hard enough to stagger it.
"What the hell," Chris mumbled in shock, the rest of Alpha Team having similar reactions.
"How did she get there so fast?"
"She was just here!"
"Chris," Jill said, pausing to kick the BOW again when it came charging at her. "This thing is after Claire. Probably me, too."
"What? You don't know that, Jill!"
"It tried to capture her. Think about it, Chris. It could have killed her with the cannon, but it switched to the claw. Whoever sent this thing probably knows about Claire and T-Phobos. Chances are, they know about me and T-Virus."
"We're not going anywhere without you two," Chris declared.
Jill glanced at the BOW, already on its feet and not bothered by its injuries.
"This thing has Nemesis written all over it, Chris. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."
"So what's the plan?" Chris asked.
The BOW, instead of heading towards Jill and Claire, turned around and rushed to the opposite direction.
"Shit," Claire hissed. "It's smart."
"What? What does that mean?" Piers asked.
"It means it knows it can't kill us, but it can kill all of you," Jill pointed out, chasing after it with Claire. "Get everyone to the choppers and get the hell out of here. Claire and I will finish the mission ourselves."
"I'm not leaving you behind, Jill," Chris said, more a plea than a promise. "Not again. I'm not losing you again, both of you."
"Claire and I are going to find a way to get rid of it, Chris, but we can't do that when it's trying to kill all of you."
"She's right, Chris," Claire affirmed, switching to her sidearm and taking a few shots at the BOW. "We can handle it. You know that. Don't put everyone else at risk for our sake."
After a long pause, Chris sighed.
"Copy."
"Jill?"
"Yeah, baby?"
"It stopped following us."
Jill stared at the closed doors and waited.
"So it did," she said when nothing happened. "That's new."
"New?" Claire asked, her sidearm still trained on the doors.
"Yeah," Jill said, staring to lower her weapon. "In my experience, if you're going to the right place, it'll be there. This is City Hall, the ELA's HQ. So either our intel was wrong and we're in the wrong place, or this is-"
"A trap."
Jill and Claire whirled around, guns raised. There stood a woman with short black hair and amber eyes, her own hands raised in surrender.
"Identify yourself," Claire said, moving to the woman's left flank while Jill moved to the right.
"My name is Carla Radames," the woman told them, keeping her hands raised. "I'm the lead scientist of Neo-Umbrella."
"Umbrella?" Jill repeated, her eyes narrowing. "People usually aren't so forthcoming about working with Umbrella."
The woman scoffed.
"Then you've only met the people who were willing. They have my family."
"Who's they?" Claire asked. "And how do we know this isn't part of the trap?"
"You don't," the woman said. "And 'they' call themselves The Family. You're familiar with one of their members, the man who also happens to be my… employer. Derek Simmons."
Claire looked surprised at first, and then she scowled.
"National Security Advisor Simmons?"
The woman nodded.
"Yes. He's been funding the ELA through Neo-Umbrella to collect combat data on the C-Virus. It's the same virus the BSAA encountered in Marhawa Academy, for the same reasons. He's planning to unleash the C-Virus in every major city in the world, starting with the United States and China."
"Let me guess," Claire muttered, "he has a cure."
"No. Not yet," the woman told them. "That's where you two come in, and why you're still alive. You should leave while you can. As you can see, there's no threat to neutralize here. Not anymore."
The woman stepped back, giving them a view of the foyer. The whole area, from the floor to the stairs to the ceiling, was covered in a hardened, greenish substance.
"What happened to them?" Jill asked, noticing the humanoid shapes, all of which were poised to run, towards the doors.
"Members of the ELA who realized too late that they were nothing more than statistics to Neo-Umbrella. Those j'avo you've seen are only the first stage of the C-Virus. This is the second."
"It's like they're in some sort of cocoon," Claire said.
"A chrysalid, yes," the woman confirmed. "The virus breaks down the body and reforms it into a complete mutation, like the giant BOWs that you took out, and that thing that's been chasing you. Ustanak, I think that one's called."
"And what are these going to be?" Jill asked, both her and Claire still pointing their guns at the woman.
"You'll find out for yourselves if you don't leave now," the woman warned. "Nothing as big or smart, these aren't as elaborate. But still, it's a small space, and there's so many of them."
"Then we're leaving," Jill decided, approaching the woman from behind and grabbing her arms. "And you're coming with us."
"I'm afraid I can't do that," the woman said as Jill cuffed her hands behind her back. "I can give you all the evidence you need to put Simmons away, but I can't go with you. I have unfinished business here."
"I'm sorry, Ms. Radames," Claire said, holstering her sidearm. "You're a key witness, but for your involvement with the C-Virus, you're also a suspect. We have to take you in."
"That's too bad," the woman remarked, and with an effortless tug, she snapped the cuffs.
Before either Jill or Claire could react, the woman threw Jill over her shoulder, kicked Claire aside, and then ran to the foyer. They chased her up the stairs, reaching the second floor just as the woman slid under a closing passage.
Claire gripped the bottom of the descending wall and tried to lift it back up, but when her eyes didn't turn red, Jill yanked her away before her hands got crushed.
"Baby, I love how brave you are, but your beautiful fingers aren't worth it," Jill quipped, laughing when Claire groaned. "We'll find another way, okay? I managed to put a bug on her before she took off."
"Okay," Claire agreed, getting to her feet and looking down at the foyer. "Shit."
"Shit?" Jill echoed, joining Claire to see the chrysalids begin to hatch. "Shit."
"Oh, we've only just begun," came a voice - the woman's - from the speakers.
From the mounted cameras, two darts shot out, hitting Jill and Claire on the neck. Ripping the needles off, they held up their guns as the chrysalids continued to hatch.
"Yes," the woman said when they showed no reaction. "You two will do."
United States - December 25, 2012
Helena woke up, surprised to find Ada in bed with her.
"You're still here," she mumbled, blinking.
"Is that so strange?" Ada asked, reaching over to comb a hand through Helena's messy hair.
"Yes," Helena answered, the promptness of her response making Ada laugh.
"Afraid your baby sister will catch us and throw me out?" Ada teased, cupping Helena's cheek.
"She'd probably love the chance to," Helena muttered, sighing as she nuzzled Ada's hand.
"I believe it," Ada remarked, smiling. "She really doesn't like me."
"She just worries about me," Helena said, sighing again. "It's weird."
"To be worried about?"
"Yeah. She thinks you're not good enough for me because you're only here when you want to be."
"'When I want to be'?"
"Her words, not mine."
"And how would you put it?"
Helena stared at Ada for a long moment, covering Ada's hand with her own.
"For years, I thought you gave the plaga sample to Wesker. I hated you. I hated myself for letting you have it. I kept thinking that maybe I should have died, maybe I should have let Ashley die. Two lives is nothing compared to how many have been lost to the plaga since.
Then I saw you again in Eastern Slav, and you saved my life. Again. And you destroyed Belikova's lab when you didn't have to. Maybe you weren't even supposed to. I don't know who you work for, I probably never will. I don't know what I am to you, if you really care or if I'm just some means to an end, but…"
"This is all just very romantic," Ada cut in, smirking.
"I feel something for you, Ada," Helena said with such emotion that it actually caught Ada by surprise. "I know what this is. I know what it can't be, and I don't care. What matters to me is that it's with you."
"That's a lot of faith you're putting in me, Helena," Ada whispered.
"Am I wrong to?" Helena asked, and Ada smiled.
"I suppose we'll find out, won't we?"