Chapter 3: Blackguard

Piers's POV

The days and months blended together. After Edonia, I fell into a cycle: Wake up, go to work, find new leads on Chris, Check leads, inform my superiors, train the new recruits, go home and repeat. I wasn't blind, I could tell by the way Jill looks at me that she's worried. She's cornered me a few times these past few months about slowing down and taking a breather.

Who has time to do that when our captain—and arguably the most important man in the B.S.A.A. Is missing?

I raked my hands down my face. It was barely past lunch, but my eyes began to droop. I've been reading the same paragraph in this report for the past twenty minutes now. I shook myself, took a sip of my coffee and got back to reading. I keep hitting dead ends. The latest news we got was two weeks ago from a bartender and some regulars in Southern Edonia. They took one look at Chris's picture. The bartender said he only stayed for a week and was at the bar day and night and one day he didn't show up. It was just another dead end.

Dammit! Where the hell are you?

I gave up on trying to read the report and flung it back on my desk. I snapped my head to the window, the leaves sprouted almost overnight, or is that just what I think? I've been too busy with this case that I hardly have any time for anything else. I shifted in my desk chair as I watched the odd person walk by. I heaved out a tense breath as that woman's face popped into my mind. I clenched my teeth.

"Ada," I hissed. This is all her fault. If it wasn't for her, Chris would be here and my team would still be alive! I clenched and unclenched my fists at my side, trying to bring my breathing back down. "She'll pay for what she did, wait and see."

Another face popped into my mind. Green eyes gazed at me from behind her mask, fear etched onto every inch of her face as she plummeted off that bridge. If it wasn't my team, it would be her green eyes that haunted my dreams. They were perpetually the same, she'd reach out towards me, begging me to save her and my hand would just brush hers just before she slipped. Her screaming would snap me awake, and I'd be covered in a cold sweat. Another person I failed to save.

A small shadow darted by the window, snapping me out of my daydream. I shot up from my desk and strolled over to the window to investigate. I cocked my head to the side when I saw the black cat jump up from the shrubs and sink its self on my windowsill. It started to clean one of its paws and paid no attention to anyone.

Odd, how did a cat get in here?

It snapped upright, my breath caught in my throat when its green eyes landed on me. I recalled seeing similar green eyes on a sarcastic, obnoxious, black-haired woman before. A bitter smirk pulled my lip as I glanced down at the cat and over to the abandoned files on my desk before I gently cracked opened the window. The cat meowed with delight as it eased its self inside and in front of me, its eyes darting around the room in curiosity.

"Hey, buddy. How'd you get in here?" I gave it a light scratch behind the ears. It nudged against my hand and began to purr profoundly. A genuine smile began to form on my lips, it felt foreign, it's been a while since I felt this relaxed. "You remind me of someone I met before. Although you're a lot more charming to me than she—" The cat nipped at my hand. I jerked it away with a hiss and examined the small bite mark it left.

Never mind. You're both the same.

It meowed and plopped into my office and jumped on my desk. "H-hey! Don't go on there." I gave a huff of agotation at being ignored. The cat paid no attention to me as I stalked up beside it. Instead, It resumed cleaning itself, bluntly ignoring me. Yeah, I saw the similarities alright. I tried picking it up, but it let out an annoyed meow and plopped onto my desk with a roll, giving my hand a light scratch. I let out a tense long breath as I stared down the comfortable feline purring on my desk. With a sigh, I gave up and sat back down in my chair in defeat, glaring at the cat out of the corner of my eye. Its purring grew louder as it resumed cleaning itself, swishing its tail over all my files. I heaved a sigh and got back to scanning the files, ignoring the unwanted feline as best I could.

Time flew by, the shadows on my desk shifted by the time I finished with the reports and moved on to my emails. I try to stay in touch with the younger Redfield, she grows more anxious by the day. I feel bad for her, but I try to ease her stress by updating her on my recent finds. I was in the middle of doing that when the cat's head shot up and dashed off my desk, knocking my files off as it did so and dashed out the window. "H-Hey!" The files crashed to the floor as I shot up from my desk, but the cat was already gone. With a curse under my breath, I picked up the files, but my hand froze under one that was tucked away. I gathered it up and read the name.

"Blackguard?" I turned the file over in my hands, my mouth in a firm line. I opened the file and began to scan it.

NAME: N/A

SEX: FEMALE

NATIONALITY: CAUCASIAN

AGE: N/A

STATUS: UNKNOWN

RECOGNIZED AS: HIGHLY INTELLIGENT, SPECIALLY TRAINED IN THE ARTS OF MULTIPLE FORMS OF HAND TO HAND COMBAT, AS WELL AS GYMNASTICS, WEAPONS HANDLING, AND CLIMBING SKILLS. THE WOMAN IS RATED AS VERY DANGEROUS, BEING ABLE TO DISARM BOMBS AND SECURITY SYSTEMS IN AS LITTLE TIME AS DEEMED PLAUSIBLE. WE DON'T KNOW WHO SHE WORKS FOR WHAT SHE WANTS NOR WHERE SHE CAME FROM. SHE HAS BEEN SEEN IN AND AROUND ENEMY ESTABLISHMENTS, ALTHOUGH WE DON'T KNOW IF SHE HAS ALLIED HERSELF WITH THE ENEMY OR NOT. THIS HAS NOT BEEN PROVEN, BUT WE CANNOT DISPROVE THE IDEA EITHER. SHE HAS BEEN NOTED HELPING OUR MEN OUT IN THE FIELD FROM A DISTANCE. MAKING SURE NOT TO GET PHYSICALLY INVOLVED HERSELF. BUT COMMUNICATES THROUGH VIA A HACKED RADIO TRANSMISSION. LAST KNOWN SIGHTING 24TH, DECEMBER, 2012 AT THE SOUTH LANE BRIDGE, CENTRAL EDONIA. NUMEROUS SOLDIERS INCLUDING CAPTAIN REDFIELD AND ALPHA TEAM WITNESSED THE WOMAN PLUNGING INTO THE WATER AFTER AN ENEMY ATTACK ON THE BRIDGE PROMPTED IT DOWN. TWO WITNESS REPORTS FROM THE RESEARCH TEAM AND CLEAN UP CREW WITNESSED SEEING A UNKNOWN PERSON WEARING BLACK ATTIRE SIMILAR TO THE UNKNOWN WOMAN CLIMB FROM THE RIVERBED AND QUICKLY TAKE OFF TO THE CLOSEST BUILDING. INVESTIGATION TOOK PLACE. NOTHING WAS FOUND.

I flipped to the next report on the rogue report was dated December 24th, 2012—the same date of our mission. I slumped back into my chair and poured over the file. The photos attached were taken by researchers and scientist from HQ. The quality wasn't the greatest—But not completely unrecognizable.

The first photo was of the front line at the bridge just after the siege, our reinforcements blew out a wall by the destroyed bridge that we crossed earlier— The same bridge that the woman was last seen on. Debris littered the war-torn city, bodies and armed weapons scattered here and there, other scientists were examining the dead J'avo's. It's not a significant photo on its own, the average photo that is taken for research purposes and for documentation, but why was this photo put in here?

The second photo showed the cleanup team and researchers rummaging around capturing photos, documenting and carrying away the bodies of J'avo for research. Much like the previous photo, I see no reason for it to be here. Taking a second glance at the photo, I noticed a scientist in the right-hand corner glancing at the cameraman and pointing to the riverbed. Shifting my attention to what the man could be pointing at, my breath caught in my throat. It was vague, but there. A black shadow lay partially on the ground and in the water. It's hard to make out what it is. But it must be crucial for one of the scientists to take note of it and get the cameraman's attention.

The report earlier mentioned that two witnesses spotted possibly a woman climbing out of the water. It could have been her! It matches the description, location and time. My hands shook as I quickly turned to the next photo, all the blood drained from my face.

The third and final photo showed the black form was indeed a person—a living person. Staring back at me was a woman with glowing green eyes. I abruptly stood from my desk, my mind spinning with questions. I grabbed the photo and dashed out of my office and nearly bumping into someone.

My eyes shot up from the photo to confused brown eyes. Jill! She looked startled. Her hand still raised as if she was about to knock on my door.

"Oh, Piers." She lowered her hand and took a step back. "Are you busy? I was just coming to see how you were doing?" She raised a quizzical brow shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"Sorry, Jill. But I have something to do." I sidestepped past her, but nothing gets by this woman unnoticed. Her eyes glued to the photo in my hand.

"What's this?" Snatching the photo before I could protest. She brought the photos to her face. "Who's this?" she shoved the picture in my face. My hands grew clammy.

"No one knows who she is." I swallowed the anxiousness down. "She was there Jill! She was in Edonia during our mission. Everyone thought she was dead." I took the photo from a bewildered Jill.

"Everyone but you it seems." She flashed me an amused smile which I returned with my glare. She held up her hands in defense. "Okay, so she's alive. That doesn't justify where you're going." She crossed her hands over her chest as she fixed me with her eyes.

"To talk to the two men in this photo. They were the last ones to see her alive." I looked down at the photo again. "The one person who could help us find Chris is her." Jill winced at hearing her longtime friend and partners name. Nodding her head she looked the younger man in the eyes.

"Alright, Piers." She placed a hand on my shoulder giving it a gentle reassuring squeeze. "Just—I know you're anxious to get him back, we all are. Just...be careful alright?" Her voice was low and warm. She dropped her hand back to her side.

"I will. Thanks, Jill." I gave her a small smile and a curt nod before stalking past her down the hall towards the researcher labs.

She's alive! Now I just have to ask the scientists what location she was last seen running towards. Look for clues to her whereabouts...There should be more eyewitnesses. She was heavily injured after all...someone had to have seen her. What if the enemy captured her and questioned her? Or she died of her injuries?

I shook the negative thoughts from my head. I opened the doors that said research wing.

She's way too stubborn to die that easily.