AN: Yes, another Resident Evil game rewrite. I know this has been done several times before, but mine's different. It's AU, so many things will change, including a few major and minor plot points. I'll try to keep everyone pretty much in character, but if I fail, just chalk it up to them having slightly different personalities in this universe. And, yes, I may have over exaggerated Brad's shyness. There is a good reason for it, and I may go into it in a separate side story.

Prologue

Chris Redfield, marksman for the STARS Alpha team, had been sitting at his desk since 6 in the morning, board out of his mind and temporarily ignoring the large stack of paperwork sitting on his desk. It had been months since either of the STARS teams, Alpha and Bravo, had a mission to go on, but this was normal. The regular police force was enough to deal with a good ninety-nine percent of what went on in the small isolated town of Raccoon City and it was a wonder they even had a special police force at all.

Most of their important missions came just often enough to keep the force from being disbanded, but the rest of the time they just ended up doing odd things that no one else in the building had time to do—for example, the paperwork he was supposed to be doing right now. That bastard Irons should have given to his secretary, but he had given it to him because she had more important papers to attend to. "And besides," he had added nastily when he put the pile on his desk, "it's not like you have anything better to do at the moment, do you Mr. Redfield."

He hadn't realized his fists were clenched until he heard the pencil snap. Why can't that moron just fall off a goddamn cliff or something already!

"Man, what's got you so pissed?" Chris turned to see Joseph Frost standing by the door, with Brad Vickers practically hiding behind him. Joseph joked around quite often and was the loudest person Chris knew. He was a native to Raccoon and could find just about any place in the city, from the most expensive hotel to the oldest, most obscure gas station within the city limits, and was almost never seen without his "lucky" red bandana.

Brad was the exact opposite. He was nice, but had always been timid, overly apologetic, and somewhat of a coward, so he tended to get picked on by many in the RPD, which is how he got the nickname "Chickenheart." He and the rest of the STARS (especially Joseph) had managed to end most of the harsher bullying, but there was still some teasing every now and then.

Both of them were part of the Alpha with him—Brad as the pilot and Joseph as the vehicle specialist—and they were rarely seen apart. There were a few rumors about a relationship between them going around, but Chris was never one to listen to gossip. It wasn't really his business anyway. He was dragged out of his thoughts by an impatient "Well, are you going to tell us or not?"

"That asshole Irons just turned me into another one of his secretaries. I think he's still mad at me for that argument we had last week."

At that moment, Forest Speyer, Jill Valentine, and Richard Aiken entered the office and nearly collided with Brad, who was still standing in the , all the while apologizing excessively, moved out of the way and sat down at his desk, with everyone else following suit.

Chris hadn't realized that he had been staring at Jill until he felt a sharp pain in his ribs. "Hey, what was that for?" "You were staring again. Not that there isn't anything to look at, but shouldn't you get that paperwork done before Irons comes back for it? I think he said you only have until twelve to get it done." "Damn bastard, I should've known he'd give me a time limit." He turned back to his desk to try to get started on the pile again, but his mind kept wandering to everyone else in the room, especially Jill.

He had often found himself staring at her, and he wasn't the only one who did. As the only female member of the STARS Alpha team and very hot to boot, she tended attract plenty of stares. Chris liked her a lot; she was beautiful, could take care of herself just as well, if not better, then the rest of the team, a great friend and one of the nicest people he had ever met.

Forest was part of the Bravo team as the vehicle specialist, and had been Chris's best friend ever since they moved to Raccoon five years ago. He had come from Alabama, and had the soft southern drawl in his voice to prove it.

Richard worked as the communications expert for both teams, and was always ready to help anyone who needed it. Due to his past job as a tour guide in Disneyland, he was often called on to give tours of the RPD building to new officers and the schools that had fieldtrips there once or twice a year.

The rest of the STARS members showed up right about then. Barry Burton was the weapon expert on the Alpha team and a devoted family man. He had helped him get into the team after he had been kicked out of the Air Force, and loved guns as much as he loved his family, which most people, including him at times, found a bit creepy.

Albert Wesker was the Alpha team's captain and the founder of STARS and oversaw the membership of both teams. Everyone in STARS trusted him, though no one knew anything about his home life, except that he had a girl who broke into the STARS office to give him gifts on holidays and around April or June. The only reply they could get out of Wesker on the subject was muttered grumbles that discouraged continued attempts to get him to talk. (Whoever she was, she was a damn good thief to avoid tripping the security system or even appearing on the numerous cameras set throughout the building; not to mention, she made the freaking best chocolates and the world's greatest fruitcake. Ever. That, the fact that nothing else in the building was touched when she was there, and that nobody else had successfully broken in or out were the only reasons that the entire force didn't really mind it.)

Everyone else was on the Bravo team. Enrico Marini, their captain, was strict at times, but cared about the safety of everyone on his team. Chris got the feeling that he didn't like him or Barry much, though he couldn't figure out why. He'd heard rumors that either him or Barry were going to eventually replace Enrico, but he didn't really believe that, did he?

Kenneth Sullivan was the field scout of the team, as well as one of the ten African Americans in working in the RPD and the only one in the building good in chemistry. Many often wondered why he didn't take a job in the chemical field, but he explained that he'd rather be a police officer than some stuck-up scientist cooped up in some lab all day. (This earned a funny look from Wesker, but, wisely, no one dared to ask.)

Rebecca Chambers was a rookie and the team's medic. She had just joined the STARS three weeks ago straight out of college. Chris had only talked to her once or twice, but she seemed like a nice girl, if a bit too quiet.

Edward Dewey was their pilot and Kevin Dooly worked as their co-pilot. Why Bravo needed two pilots was anyone's guess, but probably had something to do with how often the Bravo team helicopter malfunctioned. Chief Irons had claimed to have ordered a new one, but after four months everyone had come to the conclusion that Irons was a cheap bastard and refused to buy another one. That, on top of his weird taste in art and tendency to snap at anyone who voiced their dislike about all the artwork scattered around the building, was one of the reasons very few people actually liked him.

Chris pushed his thoughts to the side and tried yet again to get started on the paperwork that had been sitting on his desk for the last ninety minutes, but his mind started to wander again. There had been numerous cases of cannibal murders lately, and for some strange reason Chief Irons had been trying to put off investigating on them. He kept saying it was probably just wild animals and the park rangers stationed in the Arklay Forest would have it under control soon, something that no one in the RPD believed for a minute. Chris had argued with him last week over it, but other than that no one said anything out of fear of losing their jobs.

The general public didn't really buy his story either, but as the murders had died down a bit, they hadn't really had any reason to complain. But recently they seemed to be getting worse, and now several Umbrella employees from all over the city had mysteriously vanished. I don't think he can put an investigation off any longer. That demonstration at the library yesterday almost got out of hand. The police monitoring said incident almost had to call in the riot police from the next town over, it was so bad. There wasn't any real riot weaponry anywhere in Raccoon City, as there wasn't any need for it until now. Finally starting on all that paperwork, Chris had a bad feeling that STARS was going to be sent in soon, and that it wasn't going to end well at all.

So, what do you think? Please review and let me know.