A/N: Piers died a hero, an honorable way to go… but I hated that Capcom killed off such an amazing character! So, I've altered the ending and this can be considered my version of what Resident Evil 7 would be. It takes place shortly after the ending of Chris's gameplay (after the escape pod reached the surface), and it's going to be Piers/OC.

My OC is named Riley Conway, and she is a young virologist with the B.S.A.A. Please note that I am in no way a virologist. All my knowledge of the field is from the internet.

Summary: Saved from ending his life by Chris, Piers Nivans is taken back to the United States' B.S.A.A to be treated by Dr. Riley Conway, a young virologist. But a new threat emerges, and the two soon find themselves being chased by the organization they trusted most – the B.S.A.A. If they can't find proof of the traitor in the B.S.A.A, the world will suffer a bioterrorist attack that could see to the end of everything.

Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil.


At seven o'clock in the morning, all Dr. Riley Conway wanted to do was sleep for a month.

Six months ago, she'd been busy trying to help B.S.A.A soldiers in Edonia who became infected with the C-Virus during attacks. She wasn't a soldier and didn't even know how to fire a gun, and being dropped off with a science team in the middle of a war-zone wasn't what she'd had in mind when she'd gone into work in DC the day before hopping on a plane. But the soldiers infected needed help, and as a doctor she'd taken an oath to help the sick. But the C-Virus was incredibly aggressive, and without a cure there was very little she could do apart from trying to dull their pain. In the end, most died from being shot after turning, or committing suicide before they could become J'avo or some other hideous mutation. She couldn't really say that she blamed them for choosing to kill themselves while they were still human. A few soldiers did survive, however, after being treated with just about every antidote she and her team had, but they would constantly have to take injections to keep the infection from spreading. It wasn't a cure, but it did keep the C-Virus from progressing and taking over. Unfortunately, because of the threat they posed they were under constant supervision, and most ended up dying further down the road anyways.

Things abruptly slowed down after she was in Edonia for two weeks, the J'avo disappearing. No one was sure where they went or why they left, but rumor was that it had something to do with Agent Sherry Birkin and her charge going missing. Riley didn't know, and though it concerned her, she'd been happy to go home to DC.

Just when things there started cool down, however, she had to turn her attention to battling the C-Virus that had spread like a wildfire in Tall Oaks via a gas, transforming almost everyone into zombies. Some people managed to get out of there alive, and more than a few were infected. The victims suffered the same fate as the soldiers in Edonia had, though, and most of those infected eventually died.

Then there was the incident in China, but she'd been allowed to remain in DC considering all the work she and her superior had to do. Just because she wasn't a soldier didn't mean that her job with the B.S.A.A's science/medical division wasn't as demanding. At any point she could be deployed to battle an infection in another state or country, and there was always testing and paperwork to be done in an attempt to be ready for the next outbreak that would undoubtedly come.

And when things finally dulled down and she was sound asleep in her apartment, she got a phone call from her superior demanding that she return to HQ. Apparently, an advanced C-Virus case had just arrived and was in desperate need of medical attention. Nothing else was told to her over the phone, and the young doctor was left wondering just what she was going to find.

Pulling into her parking space at HQ, Riley took a moment to pull her shoulder length dark blond hair into a messy ponytail and sat back in her seat, staring at her reflection in the rear-view mirror. She looked like a train wreck with the dark circles under her green eyes and no makeup to cover them up. Grabbing her B.S.A.A badge from her purse, she stepped out of her jeep and made her way inside, showing her I.D when needed, and went straight to the elevator that would take her to the science/medical division in sub-level two.

Nearing the elevator, Riley heard someone arguing with Cynthia at her desk beside the elevator, demanding that he be allowed down there.

The doctor frowned and quickened her walk, her three inch heels clacking against the shined tile.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but you are not authorized to use the elevator," Cynthia repeated nervously, her dark cheeks flushed.

"I don't give a damn about authorization!" a deep voice boomed, one that Riley recognized. "That's my partner down there!"

"I understand…" she trailed off when the man snorted. "I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave, or I'm going to call security."

The arguing continued despite Cynthia's threat, and upon rounding the corning, Riley gaped. "Chris?

The Captain snapped his head up in her direction, and with one last glare at Cynthia, he hurried over to her and wrapped her in a tight bear hug that she eagerly returned before stepping back.

She and Chris Redfield had met when he brought Jill Valentine back from Africa to be treated, and she was one of the doctors assigned to help purge the virus from Jill's system and was probably the only one who genuinely cared about her well-being. The three had been close friends ever since.

The last time she saw Chris was in Edonia six months ago before he disappeared after losing his men. She'd heard that his friend and comrade, Piers Nivans had taken command of a new squad in order to search for him and bring him back. Both she, Jill, and his sister Claire had feared the worst.

"What the hell happened to you?" she demanded, her relief at finding him alive turning to anger. "Claire and Jill were worried sick about you and no one would tell us anything!"

"I wasn't taking the death of my men well and slipped into some form of post-traumatic stress induced amnesia. Piers found me in some dive bare in Edonia, then took me to China to get back in the fight," he explained hastily, then asked, "Are they all right?"

"Your fiancée and sister feared you were dead, Chris. Do you think they're all right?" The soldier sighed, scrubbing his face with his hands. He looked tired, beat up, and pitiful, and her anger ebbed away slightly. "Why are you here and not with Jill or Claire? They'll want to know that you're alive and safe."

Chris walked over to the wall, bracing himself against it with a closed fist while his other stayed on his hip. To her, it looked like he was trying to keep from taking his anger out on someone physically. "Piers was infected with the C-Virus."

Riley stared at him and her heart fell to her stomach.

While she didn't know Piers too well and had only spoken a few hellos to him back in Edonia when she crossed paths with he and Chris, she was well aware that he was one hell of a soldier and honorable to a fault. Chris held him in high regards, and had once admitted to she and Jill that he thought that he would make for an excellent leader in the B.S.A.A. Chris Redfield didn't think that way about very many people, so Piers had to be good. To hear that he'd been infected…

"What happened?"

"He and I went to rescue Sherry Birkin and Jake Muller from an underwater base and were attack by a massive B.O.W. Long story short," he sighed. "I was grabbed by the creature while Piers' arm was crushed against a wall by some debris from the base falling apart. Then he…" he trailed of, gritting his teeth. "He tore his arm off and injected himself with a modified strain of the C-Virus so he could save my sorry ass. He developed a mutated right arm in place of his old one and his right side was mutated all to hell. After we killed the creature, Piers wanted me to leave him behind but I forced him to keep moving. He tried to shove me into the escape pod without him, but I wouldn't let go of his good arm and punched him. I don't think the punch did any serious damage, but it knocked him out long enough for me to drag him into the pod and get rescued."

Riley was at a loss for words, but as much as she hated to think it, letting Piers die a hero might have been far more merciful. As of yet, they didn't have a cure for the virus, let alone a modified version. And if the mutation was as bad as Chris made it sound, she feared the worst.

The hardened soldier startled her from her worries by violently punching the wall, putting a fist size impression in the drywall.

"I'm calling security," Cynthia announced, picking up her phone.

"No, it's all right, Cynthia," Riley assured the nervous secretary. "I've got this."

Reluctantly, the mocha skinned woman hung up the phone, watching the two closely just in case.

Following Chris to some chairs, they both took a seat. "That man's like my brother, Riley. Couldn't you just damn authorization and let me make sure he's not being treated like a science experiment."

Chris didn't have a whole lot of trust invested with the science/medical division, and for good reason. There were a handful of good and honest doctors with the B.S.A.A – like Riley – but a majority were willing to do whatever it took to get cures, even at the expense of the victims sometimes. Unfortunately, her boss was the kind of man who wanted to get results at any cost. He often got his results and cures, but the patients didn't always survive.

"I really wish I could, but it isn't possible," she explained apologetically. "It's for everyone's safety."

Her friend shook his head, wholly unhappy with her answer. "He's still my comrade and friend, Riley. He didn't lose what made him who he was like the J'avo did. He's still Piers Nivans."

She chewed on her lower lip before she said, "Look, I was just called in to help my boss with an advanced C-Virus case, which I'm guessing is your partner. I'll do whatever I can for him, Chris, and I'll keep you informed on his status, I promise." She didn't know what exactly she could do for Piers, but she'd do whatever was in her power and then some.

Nodding, lips curling up in the slightest trace of a smile, he gave her small hand a tight squeeze. "Thank you, Riley."

Her phone beeping ruined the moment and she sighed, reading the irritated text message from her boss. Giving her friend a pat on the shoulder, she rose from the chair, straightened her brown blouse and black pencil skirt, and went to the elevator.

"What about Captain Redfield?" Cynthia asked quietly, glancing over at him.

She sighed. "Just leave him be. He won't cause any trouble."

"If you say so," the secretary mumbled, returning to her work.

Riley put in the key code then stepped inside the elevator and slipped on her lab coat while it took her to sub-level two. The doors opened and she stepped out into the white hallway, handing her badge to one of the security officers.

"So much for beauty sleep, huh, princess?" one of the guards asked on a chuckle.

Ignoring him, she took back her badge and attached it to her lab coat before proceeding to the quarantine area where all new patients were placed.

Nicknames such as princess were things she'd grown accustomed to, along with sweetie, pumpkin, and other kid nicknames given that she was twenty-eight, making her the youngest doctor of her position. Most people wouldn't even be considered for her particular job until they were in their thirties or forties, but she'd held her current position as one of the B.S.A.A's top virologist since she was only twenty-four.

All her life, she'd been called gifted and a protégée, graduating from high school when she was fifteen and going into the medical field. What should have taken years to complete took less than half the time for her and she was sought out by the B.S.A.A the moment she finished her residency. She was very smart, she was gifted, but she wouldn't go so far as saying it all had helped her in every aspect of her life.

Making friends was difficult growing up, and most of the people she worked with were far older than she was. Her high intelligence led her to saving a lot of people and aiding in discovering cures for viruses, but it had taken quite a toll on her social life, though she did have a few friends in the work place, and she had Chris, Jill, and Claire.

And so she ignored the jabs made at her age and equally young looks. She had a job to do and she wasn't going to let a few assholes bring her down by picking on her.

Punching in the key code when she reached quarantine, she let the decontamination system run its course, and when she stepped out she was met by her boss, Dr. Ethan Merrick.

A man in his late forties with greying brown hair and grey eyes, he was the top virologist in the United States and had been with the B.S.A.A once the science/medical division was created shortly after the organization expanded. And as far as she was concerned, he'd been born with an extra brain in place of his heart. He was cold when it came to his patients, hardly taking the time to learn their names, focused only on his theories, data, and getting results. His work, no matter how cold he was, often got them results that led to vaccines and cures that helped stop the spread of viruses. In the end, he saved a lot of people.

As well and good as that was, though, Riley took the time to learn the names of her patients and get to know them. If she were in their place she sure as hell would want to be treated like a human and not as a science project.

"You certainly took your time, didn't you, Conway?" Merrick scolded, escorting her to the room their patient was in.

"I ran into Captain Redfield," she explained. "He said his partner, Piers Nivans, was infected by an advanced C-Virus strain. Is he our patient?"

"He is," Merrick confirmed, handing her some blood work results that were on his IPad. "And to say the strain is advanced is quite an understatement. It's far more advanced than the strain that created the J'avo and undead. The C-Virus has mutated a majority of his right side, as well as created a new arm, if you could call the new appendage an arm, and, well, I won't waste my breath. It's all in the file."

She scowled at him but turned her focus to the IPad he'd handed her, selecting a video file to see how the virus was reacting. More often than not, he opted to "not waste his breath speaking with her". He acknowledged her intelligence, but didn't like her much, if at all.

The results made her step falter a bit and she jogged to catch up with him again. The C-Virus was binding with his cells. In all other cases, the C-Virus destroyed and took over the host's cells, leaving very little of what made the host who they were behind. But this… Piers' cells were relatively intact, so to speak, the C-Virus was merely binding to them, joining with them.

"The same thing occurred with Derek Simmons," Merrick informed her after she caught up. "A virologist with the Chinese B.S.A.A forwarded me the results from Simmons and they are virtually identical to our patient. Ours doesn't appear to be able to switch back from human to creature and vice versa like Simmons, however, though his new squid-like appendage has the capability to fire bio-electric energy. A useful form of defense, really."

"Chris said he hadn't lost his humanity like the J'avo did," Riley commented, looking up from the IPad.

Merrick nodded. "Yes, I was informed of this as well, and apparently the same occurred with Simmons. What the C-Virus has done to our patient… it's remarkable."

"Piers Nivans."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Our patient," she clarified, looking up at him. "His name is Piers Nivans."

The older doctor rolled his eyes at her and didn't reply, and she didn't demand one. There was no point.

At last, they reached the two-way mirror of the room Piers was being kept in, and she was suddenly glad Chris wasn't able to come down with her. The young soldier looked like hell and then some. His uniform had since been removed, replaced with white pants that reminded her of scrubs, allowing her to see just how hurt he was.

What had replaced his right arm was grotesque and squid-like, pulsating with energy, the tendons and muscles on his side down to his hip were exposed, and the right side of his neck and face looked equally bad. The veins were almost black beneath his skin and the flesh around his right eye looked almost charred and the eye itself probably wasn't much better. were in his good arm and he was hooked up to various machines. His heart rate was abnormally high, breathing labored, but he looked sound asleep.

"He's drugged?" Riley asked.

"Yes," her boss replied. "According to one of our doctors who escorted he and Redfield back to the States, our patient came to shortly into the flight and was apparently furious that Redfield hadn't left him behind to die. The doctor had little choice but to tranquilize him so that he wouldn't unknowingly damage the plane."

The young woman stared at him in disbelief. "Tranquilize? As in what you would use for an animal? Why the hell would he –"

"It was necessary, Dr. Conway," interrupted Merrick sternly. "Besides, given his state there was little to suggest he'd be willing to take something to calm his nerves. I informed the doctor who would be traveling with them to carry a tranquilizer gun just in case."

"You shouldn't have let him use a tranq. God knows what that could have done to him," she argued.

"As if anything could be worse than this."

It was obvious that they weren't going to agree so she let the conversation drop, though she wanted nothing more than to slap him. "What do you need me to do?"

"I'm assigning you to be his primary doctor. You're likeable amongst patients, and I want you to ensure that he cooperates with us."

She snorted. "You make it sound as though he's a prisoner."

At that, the older doctor glared at her, and snapped tightly, "Make no mistake, Conway, I care about my patients, I merely choose to aid them differently than you do. Were I not obligated to work with our other patient in creating a cure for the C-Virus, I would be seeing to the soldier."

"You mean you found a way to cure it?"

"Yes. A young man by the name of Jake Muller has antibodies to the C-Virus. Given time and human trials, we will be able to distribute a cure to the world, hence why I am putting you in charge of Nivans," he explained. "While I deal with creating a cure, I want you to run tests on him and keep him calm. Besides, I recall seeing you chatting with him in Edonia. A friendly face certainly couldn't do any harm."

She wouldn't go as far as saying that she and Piers chatted, but they'd been friendly enough with each other whenever she crossed paths with him and Chris.

Looking at his watch, Merrick started walking off, snatching his IPad from her. "I've had all the items from your office placed in the observation office next door to his room. That office will be yours for the time being. Feel free to treat the patient as you see fit, but I suggest your hurry and do whatever you think should be done. The C-Virus isn't spreading as quickly as it has in other cases, but it is still spreading." With that, he left her alone in the hallway with the nurses and security officers.

Riley sighed.

It was going to be a long day.


A/N: I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to have Piers lose his arm permanently, or somehow get back a new one, or something.