- Excella Gionne, stop right there!
The woman turned around to face them, clapping her hands in even some sort of appreciation, although quite sarcastic, as it seemed.
- Bra-vo - mocked Excella, smiling at them like they were the most desirable guests. But Chris wasn't in the mood to play games; inside he nearly boiled and he wanted some answers - immediately. Sheva gave him a quick worried look, sensing his temper.
- Damn it, where's Jill!? - said Chris angrily, pointing his gun at the woman. He felt mad: if she weren't going to tell him about Jill, he swore he would shoot her.
- Jill?.. - the smile on Excella's features grew wider and even more sarcastic, and her accent seemed more heavier now. - Maybe I'll tell you. Maybe I won't.
Suddenly a loud sound erupted somewhere above them and something fell down - well, not something, but somebody, as a matter of a fact. Somebody already familiar to Chris - that mysterious person in the coat and a mask. It standed on one knee, and the edges of it's coat were still in the air, slowly flying down to touch the floor
Sheva immediately went for an attack, but their new enemy appeared to be much faster than her. Sheva was only trying to hit, but their new foe was already attacking her, taking her by her wrists and smashing them so she would drop her gun; then the coated figure went for Chris, while Sheva backed of, pulling a round-kick into his face several times. Chris was thinking that their enemy was infected and zombielike too, like everybody here. So he aimed for their foe's head (it wasn't easy as she was moving) and pulled the trigger. He didn't miss - the B.S.A.A. training and the training he received while being in S.T.A.R.S. didn't disappear.
But then he heard a loud metallic "bang", and something fell to the floor - it was the bird mask.
Fortunately neither Chris nor Sheva lost their guns and they still had nearly full loaded magazines. They opened fire on the cloaked figure, while it was backing off - it was fast, and it seemed as though their foe was just spinning in the air, not even touching the floor. The bullets didn't hit it - the figure was very quick, too quick - so the bullets just flew in the air, crashing into the floor evidently.
With the final powerful spin the figure kneeled a little, pushing it's hood back to cover it's the face. Chris saw it's lips and chin - and his memory tickled him with familiarity. But he couldn't place all the puzzle pieces in the right order - something was like still missing from the whole picture.
- Stop playing around, we want some answers!.. - said Chris, anger bowling inside of him. He truly looked murderous - like any minute he was going to explode.
- You haven't changed.
That voice. That unemotional, cold voice, a little bit slow and stretching, but the owner of it talked like that on purpose. Although now it showed some kind of an emotion. It was filled with great sarcasm, and that way he spoke to Chris, that tone - a friendly tone. And that meant only one thing - that he found himself a new toy - but a special toy. A toy that he wanted to have for so much time, the toy that exactly refused to consider itself as his pray, the toy that was his archenemy.
So that voice could belong only to one man on the Earth.
Albert Wesker. Their S.T.A.R.S. captain, their leader, that betrayed his team and let his comrades die, the man, that was with Umbrella, and the man, that finally destroyed the company he worked for so many years.
Chris quickly lift his head up, so quickly, that he made the bones in his neck clutch.
There he stood, the traitor, the threat to the whole world. There he stood, in a middle sleeved shirt, all dressed in black, as usual, with his blond hair and sunglasses on, smiling sardonically at him.
- Wesker! You are alive. - Chris said, surprised, stepping forward a bit and pointing a gun at him as a reflex. Oh, what a fool he was - thinking, that the person, that survived detonation those years ago, could die just falling out of the window!.. Maybe he just cheered himself up by that Jill didn't die for nothing, that she at least died with Wesker. Somewhere in the depths of his soul he knew that he couldn't die. Or it would be too easy.
- So this is Wesker?.. - asked Sheva rhetorically, briefly glancing at Chris. He didn't even look at her - he was staring at his arch-enemy, the man, that destroyed Racoon City, the man, that was responsible for so many deaths you couldn't count. But on top of that - he was responsible for killing Jill. Jill Valentine. Chris's partner, the one he survived that horrible night in the mansion with, the one that always covered his back and he covered her's. He killed his Jill, or whatever he'd done to her - Chris was there to make sure that Wesker will pay.
- We last met at the Spencer Estate, wasn't it?.. - Wesker headed down the stairs, rising his left hand in a mocking manner. His voice was loud and echoing from the walls, as though there were dynamics all over and he was speaking through the microphone. Actually, he wasn't - the sound effect was because the hall they stood in was large and empty, well, except for the five of them here. Chris tightened his grip on the gun - how much he wanted to shoot Wesker, but he knew that bullets didn't cause him any damage. And besides, he wanted to get some information about Jill.
- Well, isn't this one big family reunion?.. - Wesker continued, finally reaching the end of the staircase and walking to the cloaked figure, that stood still as though it was a statue, not moving, and even not breathing, at least as it seemed. Excella looked at him, smiling maliciosly, but Wesker acted like she wasn't there. He slowly walked to the cloaked figure, standing close to it, patting it's back in a way a master patts his dog. The figure still didn't move, not even flinch.
- I would expect you to be happier to see us. - Wesker grinned, and suddenly one suspicion struck Chris. Still aiming his gun at Wesker, Redfield asked quizzically, although somewhere in his head a little bell rang; maybe he had already found that missing puzzle piece, but he wasn't sure... He had to make sure beore making conclusions.
- Us?..
- So slow to catch on. – Wesker stretched his hand and slowly removed the hood that covered the cloaked figure's face.
Crystal blue eyes met Chis's brown ones. He carefully lowered his gun; his face softened. Her's, on the contrary, was as unemotional as Wesker's - cold eyes, unmoving lips, blond hair... Hair. It was ironically, really - now Jill looked like a female version of Wesker. That bastard and his sick mind games.
- Jill... - he came a bit closer, lowering the hand with the gun down. - Jill, it's me, Chris!
- What!? - Sheva glanced at him with desbelief, taking a step forward too, but still aiming her gun at Wesker and Jill. - Are you sure that's her?..
- The one and only. - Wesker mockingly replied instead of Chris, touching Jill's back.
Chris was just staring at his old partner - he couldn't believe she was actually alive. God he missed her. He missed her, and those two years were like a torture for him. Those long two years... When Jill and Wesker disappeared into the darkness, falling out of the window, he just stared down in the fog, his eyes strangely dry, his hand pulling hard on the shatters of the broken window, her name still echoing in his head. Only when he felt blood running down his palm, he stood up and ran outside as fast as he could, to search at least for the bodies. But they were just gone - he couldn't find neither Jill's, nor Wesker's body. Those two years he lived like a zombie - the only person who didn't allow him to fall into deep desperation and full unconsciousness was Claire, his sister. After that day when Jill disappeared from his life, he started to drink. At first only a little, but then bottles, empty and nearly empty were everywhere in his room. He was rude to his colleagues at work; he yelled at them, and even punched his coworker in the face breaking his noise when he asked him to write a report on Jill's death. He nearly got kicked out of the B.S.A.A., but they gave him a second chance. And he knew that he was on the verge of loosing all his chances because he couldn't stop drowning his pain in alcohol, but, fortunately, Claire came from college to visit him. She cried over Jill's death a lot - they were good friends and she liked Jill like her own sister. But Chris felt ten times worth then Claire - he thought that he was responsible for Jill's death. Claire was trying to reassure him that he was wrong, but he couldn't accept it - he knew it was his fault. He betrayed Jill the second time already - the first was when he didn't save her back then, in the Racoon City; she suffered those last hours of Racoon all by herself. And now he didn't save her either.
Claire discarded of all his bottles and lived with him for some time, making sure that he didn't get himself drunk again. Well, that didn't help - somehow he managed to buy new drinks, although she didn't give him a lot of money - she hid it so he won't find it. But one night, when he again got drunk, Chris had a dream about Jill. She came to him in her old clothes - in her old S.T.A.R.S. uniform, and said that it wasn't his fault, that he shouldn't drink because of her. That she'll be ok there, where she is now. And that he must continue fighting against of what remained of Umbrella. Then she kissed him on the cheek and vanished - flashing her last sad, but trying to be cheerful smile. He tried to catch her, pleaded her to stay - but she was gone. He woke up in the night strangely without a hangover, with tear streams on his face and with her name on his dry lips, and from then on he didn't drink. He was again Chris Redfield, only not the one Chris everybody knew before - even when he smiled, there was pain in his eyes, they showed so much pain that it was amazing how he still lived. It tortured him, still - he saw the last glimpse of her, her and Wesker disappearing into the dark, soundless, her face, concerned, a little bit scared maybe, but she knew what she did. And why she did it. She sacrificed herself because of him - but she never thought that her death will only make everything worse.
All this mission was about Jill. When Chris caught information, that Jill was alive, and somewhere in Africa - he went to his commander and said that he must go there. Fortunately he didn't need to explain why - there was that mission - a mission to Kijuju, and his commander wanted to send him anyways. Although that information about Jill alive was just a rumor and the source wasn't reliable at all, he wanted to know for sure. He wanted his Jill back and he didn't want to miss any chances.
But he couldn't go there all by himself, no matter how he was eager to. So they gave him a new partner - she was from Africa, she knew the language and all. Sheva Alomar - he knew she was no way better than Jill, and that she never would be Jill's replacement. They didn't understand each other like he and Jill did, but at least she was a good partner - didn't ask a lot of questions and seemed to know her work. He even trusted her - although not like he trusted Jill. Sheva was a good partner, a good friend - that's all. But Jill was like his better side, she was like himself - they understood each other completely. But still - they were only friends. Although very close friends. And they always were coworkers - and because of that they couldn't let themselves start looking at each other like lovers - they knew it would distract their work. But secretly, maybe secretly...
And now he was face-to-face with Jill, but she wasn't his Jill. Now she was Wesker's Jill - but he knew that her true self must be somewhere in the depths of her. He couldn't stop believing.
Although Jill wasn't going to stare at him at all. She started to move - and before Chris could do something, she hit him - hard. He flew several meters up, and then she hit him again - he bumped into the floor, and she pushed off his chest, flying backwards. Sheva fired, but missed - Jill landed and knocked the gun from her hand. Then she jumped on her, spinning around her head, nearly breaking her neck - and then throwing her to the ground. Not losing any second, Jill ran off to Chris and squeezed his collarbone - she was powerful, something like Wesker, really. Her grip felt like iron. But Jill forgot about Sheva - and now she was strangling Chris, Sheva pointing the gun at her. Sheva nearly pulled the trigger, but Wesker knocked her off her feet, sending away from Jill. Jill hit Chris in the chest and then moved back to Wesker, her eyes still cold and her features steady. Chris and Sheva were already on their feet, struggling to regain their breathing from the fight with guns in their hands, pointed at Wesker and his "new partner".
- Let's finish this once and for all - said Wesker cooly, standing beside Jill. Chris almost grunted - it was him, Chris Redfield, who ought to be standing by Jill Valentine's side, and not Wesker. Although it seemed more like Jill was standing by Wesker; because Albert Wesker never standed by anybody's but only his side.
- I think the odds are fair. Two on two - Wesker lifted his hand, separating two fingers and pulling others into a fist and then smiled mockingly, looking at his "partner" with expectation. - Right Jill?..