Chapter 1: Hook, Line, and Sinker
Jill Valentine walked down the busy sidewalk. A small backpack hung over her left shoulder, filled with sweaty gym clothes. Casually, she moved with the stream of people as they went about their daily lives. Some went into shops and buildings along the way, only to be replaced by more on their way out. Like the circulatory system, the flow of people moved all around her.
It had been about two weeks since the fall of Umbrella. Jill, Chris, Barry, Claire, and Rebecca had all contributed to it in Washington. Umbrella's Chairman and circle of leaders had since been arrested. Since that happened, the world was seeing less and less of the red and white Umbrella logo plastered everywhere. The company supplied many things for the entire world, so Jill figured it would be a while before all of it was gone. Some of their products were still being used, however. Medical wonders like First Aid spray were utilized in hospitals all over the world. As much as Jill hated to admit it, it was an Umbrella product that saved lives, hers included.
One thing still troubled the former S.T.A.R.S teammates: some of Umbrella's staff was unaccounted for. The missing ranks ranged from simple workers with normal jobs, to high class researchers and business executives. People in positions of great power. Jill thought about it as she walked in the flow of people.
"Whoever hasn't been found yet has deep ties, not to mention a ton of cash. They have the resources to escape the legal system. The FBI, CIA, and NSA hasn't been able to track any of them. None of them could ever account for Umbrella's secrets."
Umbrella had it's public side, but it's true face was something to be feared. No one knew what kind of stockpiles of viral weaponry or bio-organic weapons it had. With their help of toppling Umbrella, Jill and her friends had one request for the government: to continue to root out hidden Umbrella strongholds, and dispose of the abominations there.
Now that Albert Wesker had resurfaced with an unknown company with the intent of taking over Umbrella's research, the team wanted to quickly eradicate the rest of the corporation. The last thing they (and the rest of the world) needed was something that took Umbrella's place.
The President denied their request, under the condition that the American Nation would not approve of a group of mercenaries. He assured them that the matter would be dealt with properly. So they acted on their own accord, without the knowledge of the government. That didn't exactly make their actions legal.
Jill continued on her way. A few meters behind her was a man walking in her direction. This was nothing unusual, given that Jill was surrounded by people, but he had been following Jill for several blocks, ever since she left the gym. He was dressed as an average civilian, but Jill didn't see the gun holstered underneath the coat he wore.
When Jill crossed the street, so did he. When she stopped at a vending machine for a bottle of water, he looked casually into the newspaper vending machines. She hadn't spotted him yet. After taking a drink from her water, she stowed it in the side of her back pack. She cut around a corner and onto a less crowded street. The man followed patiently.
"I hope that Rebecca and Claire were able to get some information from Leon," she thought to herself. "He said he'd help us once he was in the government and had access to Umbrella's case."
During Umbrella's trial, Leon had surfaced and gave his story as well. He then joined the U.S government. Some special forces thing. Jill couldn't remember if it was Secret Service or some other shady organization. None of them knew why, either.
Jill decided to take a short-cut. She didn't feel like waiting at the busy intersection up ahead. Down another street, she turned into an alley. The man following her broke off from the few people along the sidewalk and followed her. The alley turned, and the public lost sight of Jill. The man drew his gun. A black suppressor was screwed into the barrel of it. No one would hear or see him, and she would just become another statistic; an unlucky woman who was mugged and shot in some back alley.
Coming down the opposite side of the alley was another suspicious looking man. He wore dirty, tattered jeans and a green hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his head. He walked with his head down, hands stuffed in his pockets. Jill couldn't see his face, but tried to veer a little ways away from him. The man following her also saw him, and tucked his gun behind his back, and pretended to scratch an itch. He would take them both down. Some stray vagrant wouldn't get in his way.
The hooded man passed by the man following Jill. As they passed, his arm snapped out and grabbed the man's wrist and twisted it forward. Surprised, the man jerked forward, bent over. The hooded man drove his knee into his midsection and dropped his elbow on the back of his head. The gun clattered to the street. Grabbing the scruff of his coat he pulled the stunned man up and delivered a hook punch across the man's face. He dropped back against the pavement, groaned, and passed out.
Jill turned around at the sound of the scuffle, but the man was already unconscious.
"That was fast," she commented.
The man flipped his hood down, revealing his spiky brown hair. It was Chris. Jill joined him as they checked out the body of the unconscious man. Chris ejected the magazine from the gun, then pulled back the slide. The chambered bullet popped out. He threw the magazine in the dumpster and the gun down the sewer drain. Jill took his wallet and had a look. She pulled out an Umbrella identification badge.
"Robert Conner," she read off the tag. "Clearance: level 3." She showed Chris.
"Is he on the list of exec's that went missing?" Chris asked.
"No, never even heard of him."
Chris thought about it.
"What's he do?" he asked.
"It doesn't say. It just says he works for section TE-96," Jill replied.
Chris frowned. "He's nothing more than an assassin. A suppressor like that isn't something they give to anybody."
"It looks that way," Jill said. She grimaced. "I guess it's time to move on."
The team was forced to move from city to city whenever Umbrella became aware of their presence. Chris predicted that their monitoring would die down after the world was informed. Umbrella proved more relentless than usual with this new attack. They seemed to think that once S.T.A.R.S was dead, their problems would be over.
Chris dug through the assassin's pockets and pulled out a cell phone, then called the police with it. If he was connected with Umbrella, they would arrest him. They had kept the ID badge they found on him. With a level three card, they could get into some more Umbrella files, and it had been about time they got a lucky break. Rebecca had 'borrowed' an Umbrella laptop from Washington. It was stuck in an Umbrella limousine at the trials. They hadn't dared to try accessing it without a pass card.
Several weeks earlier, Chris was almost beaten to death in an interrogation, and his sister was almost mutilated in an attempt to break him. Throw in an unknown sniper which had wounded Rebecca in Washington, Jill was aching to hit Umbrella back. But first, they had to leave the city and regroup.
She and Chris left the alley and rejoined the circulation of people on the street.
"Oh, and next time, Chris," she added. "You can be the bait."
