First off, thank you to wulfgarfang and Squirrel54 for taking the time to review this fic. I'm very thankful for your opinion, guys. You made my day! Chapter 3 in the story that changed a man. It is a little short, I admit, but this was the best point to end it. Chapter 4 is considerably longer, I promise! Enjoy!
Chapter III
'Sir, we've arrived,' it crackled over the microphone. Wesker pushed the appropriate button.
"Report your status."
'The train looks deserted, sir. Some lights are still on, but I can't see anyone inside. Seems like it's lain still for some time. Engine's out too. We're moving in now.'
Both Birkin and Wesker leant forward, as if they could follow the happenings better that way. For a moment there was only static creating a slightly haunted look in Birkin's eyes. Wesker kept on his usual poker-face.
Umbrella had enough money to hire the best mercenaries out there. No doubt the team consisted of specialists in their field only, so there was no need to worry. Even if Birkin's assumptions of the spill having leaked as far were to prove true, these soldiers should be able to take on a few infected. The train was solely transporting employees, no experiments or whatsoever.
A shot to the head would down any carrier.
'Sir, we're in now,' the man on the other end reported. Birkin and Wesker leaned in to be able and hear better over the static. It might only be the connection, but something in the soldier's voice had changed.
'The place is a wreck, sir. Everything's torn and broken, seems as if there's been a hefty fight in here. There's no trace of the passengers though.'
"Perhaps they fled," Birkin suggested, but they both knew that it was only wishful thinking.
If the T-virus had gotten so far there had been no escape. And considering the mercenary's description, they were dealing with an infection. How it had reached the train was beyond Wesker though. They would find out soon enough he guessed.
'We're proceeding to the passenger compartments now…' so they must have entered through the driver's cab, the STARS captain concluded.
"Wait," he ordered before the men could advance any further. "Check the systems. Is there any visible damage?"
A slight pause.
'No, sir. There's a bit of a mess here, but the train should still be functional. The additional device needed to start it up is in the back compartment though, so I can't say anything about that.'
Wesker seemed satisfied enough with the answer. "Proceed, then."
Another awful moment of silence – before hell broke loose.
'What the-,' the soldier on the other end yelled and as soon as they heard shots there was no doubt left in Birkin and Wesker. '…cover the flank Charlie… shoot them for Christ's sake, shoot…oh my god Evans…'
There was a noise of a shattering window, and the two scientists could only imagine what had happened – or not. 'Retreat… RETREAT! Sir, we lost two men, there's leec- getoffme, you bastard…' There were a few more shots, then the line went dead, static the only sound in the little surveillance room.
Neither of the two said a word for some minutes, before suddenly Wesker's beeper joined into the static's monologue. He took it out of the pocket, but only glanced at it briefly tucking it back quickly.
Birkin was still frozen, his eyes locked on the microphone.
"They're dead," he eventually said, his voice a little unsteady. It took no expert to see that he was beginning to panic. "…they're dead."
"Yes, but for how long will they stay that way?" Wesker asked, though it was more of a rhetorical question, considering the situation, "Listen, I need to go. There have bee-"
"-go! Go?!" Birkin cut him off, "You're not going anywhere! Umbrella just failed to handle their little puppies, and we're sitting right in their nest! If those experts got killed by human carriers, how does Umbrella want to clean up the entire facility?! I need to go! I need to go and warn Annette, I need to go and safe my work before the infection spreads!" The blond scientist was on his feet by now, gesticulating wildly with his arms to underline the emergency of the situation.
His hysteria didn't seem to brush off on Wesker; the STARS captain was still sitting in front of the monitors, calmly watching Birkin's tantrum, from time to time glancing at the screens.
"Enough now," he finally said sharply and the tone of his voice indicated that the discussion was over. Even when they had both started working for Umbrella fifteen years ago, Wesker had always had the upper hand. Birkin turned out to be relatively easily controllable when the situation demanded it and he had always relied on Wesker to come up with emergency plans when one of their experiment had failed – or gone lose.
Birkin stopped speaking and seemed to calm down. He was still throwing questionable looks at both the monitors and the door.
"As I said there has been a complication with Bravo team's deployment and as leader of STARS I'm requested to handle the situation. I will leave in a moment and try to dispose of the problem quickly. Until my return, get into contact with Umbrella and tell them to send another team as soon as possible."
Birkin nodded in understanding and Wesker knew that he would comply with the orders given. He briefly wondered what exactly those complications with Bravo team were. If said complications turned out to be a minimal inconvenience Birkin's tantrum from before would be nothing compared to his.
The Training Facility was in need of his presence more than in the last twenty years, especially considering his future actions. He hadn't been able to catch on the last words of the soldier in the train – did he say leeches? – but he doubted STARS' complications were as dire as these here.
Umbrella needed to send a clean up team that actually made it into the building so Wesker could record their battle data. It was one of the pillars of his plan and if this pillar was destroyed he could scratch the entire project. If he was with STARS in Raccoon City he would have a hard time in obtaining the necessary files and concerning Birkin's growing hysteria there better be no big problem waiting for him at HQ.
Wesker's a busy man, Birkin must busy himself with observing the screens. Life's a bitch. Marcus is still acting from the shadows, but will reveal himself soon. When will Wesker get the virus? What virus does he actually get at all? Stay tuned, find out soon.
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