Chapter 4: Titanic's Fall
The heavy beating of the chopper blades thrummed through Chris' heart as they hovered over the helipad to the B.S.A.A.'s Washington, DC, base. The evening sky was fading into a rusty red as the sun bled its way down past the horizon, outlining the Washington Monument in a halo of fire. Chris watched it for a long moment as he leaned against the open helicopter door, only blinking when Piers firmly shook him by one shoulder.
"Time to go, Captain," he said as he stepped out of the helicopter. Jill was already out of the chopper's pilot seat on the landing pad besides Piers. She was a brunette again, but by the way her roots were slowly beginning to bleed out, the older man knew that she had dyed it. Her blue eyes stopped and lingered on him when she felt him looking at her, but neither mentioned it. Jill just redirected her attention back to Piers as she pulled out a small device from her pack.
As Chris walked up next to her, she turned it on. Out from the small box-like device sprung a hologram with a detailed map of each floor of the complex. With the slightest touch of her fingers, Jill skillfully manipulated the map to show exactly what she wanted. Hallways grew and shrank at her fingers' beck and call.
"We've already contacted the President. He's assigned us a group from the Secret Service to directly respond to the threat. They're currently holed up outside the building and waiting for the security system's lockdown to time out, which should be any minute now," Jill said as she highlighted the infiltration team's intended path. "They are going to handle the infection and make sure that whatever happened in the building dies in the building."
"So we're not addressing the infection with them? What's our objective?" Piers asked.
"We'll be entering from the roof," she said as she pointed it out in the maps and expanded the helipad. "This way we're closer to our objective ‒ the fifth floor."
"What's on the fifth floor?"
"The entire collective intelligence gathered by the B.S.A.A., the US Government's National Security sects, and various other organizations," Chris said.
"Everything…" Piers said, looking between them. "All of our information… Why the hell is all of our information in one place?"
"Think of it like a backup hard drive. We have this information in various different bases and organizations, but all of it is collectively stored in one place as well."
"Still, all in one place?"
"It isn't like it isn't well defended, Agent Nivans," Jill said as she looked at him with an unamused face. "As of right now we know that the fifth floor has not been accessed, nor has its air quality or any of the information suffered during the span of the outbreak."
"How do you know that?" Piers asked from where he knelt on the helipad ground. He reached out for the hologram and gently touched the fifth floor. The security readings then popped up along the side: Outbreak Code 5, infectious toxin detected on this floor. Do not enter building until all air has been cleared for safe inhalation. Current ETA is 5 minutes and counting. Caution, Outbreak Code 5‒ "That hardly looks unaffected to me."
"That's not the fifth floor," Chris said as he stepped up beside Piers and brushed the selected floor away. He then pulled up the full map again and touched both the fifth and fourth floors. With just the spreading of his fingers, he zoomed in on the space between these two floors and pointed to a door in-between the two levels of the elevator shaft. "That is the fifth floor."
"No soul in this building knows that it even exists. Nobody assigned to this building has ever been in it. Only a small handful of people in all of the B.S.A.A. have even been in it, including Former Director O'Brian and I.T. Director John Sikes," Jill said as she turned off the device. "The floor is built with an intricate security system. The walls are practically camera lenses ‒ they see everything. The floor's camera feed is then monitored by a special team of security personnel who do not know where the facility is, all they know is to press the red button if anything is wrong."
"And they are monitored and protected by ISAAC and ICARUS from within, too," Chris said.
"Who?"
"ISAAC ‒ Intelligence Security Autonomous Artificial Collective, our security agent assigned to the protection of the data, and ICARUS ‒ Interagency Cooperative Assimilation Regent and Unit Security, responsible for filtering and maintaining all the information that comes in. They're artificially intelligent systems created to protect the information housed on that floor," Jill explained.
"So let me get this straight, all of our collective intelligence on every bioterrorism attack is stored all on one floor, and it's guarded by robots. You expect me to believe that?"
"You're the equivalent of a human light bulb, right? It shouldn't be so hard to understand," Jill said. Piers gaped at her.
"Jill, please," Chris warned, then turned to Piers, "You need to understand, this system isn't new. It's been in effect for over a decade and has kept all of our information safe. It's our Titanic, Piers. No one thought it would come to this."
At that moment, the box that the female agent was holding began to blink red.
"All contaminants have been cleansed from the air. Please proceed with caution," a voice said calmly from the box.
"Alright, that's our cue. It's our job to go in, get the information, destroy what we can't carry, and return what we can to the B.S.A.A. We are not to stop for any reasons," Jill said and looked at Chris, "Director's orders."
"Understood."
"Then let's move," she said and put the device back in her pack. Below they could hear the sound of the front doors being blasted open as the infiltration team entered the ground floor.
Jill quickly ran to the stairwell door attached to the rooftop, the men right on her heels. The door opened easily now that the shutdown was over, and Jill kicked it in with ease. The moment the door was open, all three agents had their guns aiming into the stairwell, but nothing was there. Inside the light flickered warily, its fluorescent hum unsettling. Jill exchanged a silent look with both men before heading inside. Piers followed, then Chris. The stairwell door shut with a heavy clank behind them.
The halls of the falsely named fifth floor were just as barren as the seventh and eighth. That wasn't to say there were no bodies, because there were plenty. The men and women of the Washington, DC, B.S.A.A. Recruiting, Marketing, and Business Management Head Quarters all sat at their respective desks, motionless in death. Some of them had collapsed onto the ground while on their way to grab water or to visit another desk. Others were slumped in their chairs as if sleeping. The agents found them slumped against walls and laid over tables. All dead and none of them reanimated.
Upon finding the first of the victims, Piers had shot it out of habit. The force of the shot had sent the body tumbling, but it did nothing more. Blood oozed out sluggishly and stained the carpet, but nothing else happened. The other corpses were not suddenly awakened by the noise, nor did anyone move. The lack of response was almost more unsettling to the three agents than if one of the bodies hadmoved.
Chris grabbed him by the shoulder and squeezed.
"I think they're really just dead…" he said.
Jill knelt down beside one and gently moved the body this way and that with the barrel of her gun as she examined it. There were no sores, none of the flesh was giving way beneath the pressure of that simple touch, nor did the corpse appear to be an incubator for anything else to come. The body was ashen and cooling, but otherwise no different than any other dead body.
They were all simply dead.
"Maybe it was just a typical toxin," Jill said as she stood.
"A B.S.A.A. base gets attacked and you expect me to believe a biohazard isn't the cause of it?" Chris said as he examined a corpse beside him that had its hand locked with another's, both of them hunched up together in a corner. He grimaced.
"At least they actually died… They didn't have to experience the horror of an actual bioterrorist attack," Piers said as he stopped beside his captain, eyes on the couple in the corner.
"Every act of terrorism is a horrible one," Chris said, "Just because they didn't eat each other doesn't mean these people were any less frightened."
"That's not what I‒"
"‒I know. Come on; let's just get to the fifth floor."
"Don't let your guard down just because these guys aren't dancing," Jill said as she passed them and walked to the elevator, "It could be a new virus. Something that takes longer."
"Right, better to be cautious," Chris said as he straightened his grip on his gun and moved to cover their backs as Piers and Jill then manually forced the elevator doors open. Once the doors had been opened, the box chirped from within Jill's pack.
"Elevator door forced open on level 5.5," the voice said, "Please confirm."
Piers wedged himself between the doors to ensure they stayed open as Jill withdrew and pulled out the box once more. She held it up in her palm and said, "This is Agent Jill Valentine with Agents Piers Nivans and Chris Redfield. We were sent to retrieve the information held on the fifth floor."
And then the voice changed from the automatic, cool tone of the female voice to that of a young man.
"Yes, we've been notified of your coming and have been expecting you," the voice said with no more emotion than the last voice had provided.
"So we're clear to come down?" Jill asked.
"Yes, just give me a moment to disable the explosives along the entrance corridor," the voice said, "Alright, yes. You're clear to come down now. A hand print will be required in order to proceed past the door. Protocol. I'm sure you understand."
"We'll be there shortly."
Then Jill turned off the device and returned it to her pack. When she turned around, Chris was already walking towards the elevator shaft. The huge cord that operated the elevators hung before them just a little ways out of reach. With his flashlight, Chris then scanned the walls of the elevator just below them. The light passed over normal looking elevator walls until finally it exposed a small symbol on the far wall ‒ a globe with a wreath of ivy at its top and "B.S.A.A." through its middle.
"That's our door," Chris said as he took a few steps back. Piers let go of the elevator doors to see if they would hold in place, and when they did he quickly got out of the way. Once the way was clear, Chris took three large steps and leapt across the elevator opening. His large hands latched onto the elevator rope tightly and he held on as he waited for the rope's swaying to even out. Then the older agent allowed himself to slide down a little bit until he was even with the symbol on the wall. With one hand extended, he pressed the flat of his palm overtop the logo. A moment later a square that was just barely bigger than Chris' hand began to glow where he had touched the wall. A light from within the hidden ID pad then scanned his hand twice before fading again.
"Access accepted," the voice said, "Welcome, Former Director Redfield."
"Former director?" Piers whispered from the elevator doorway just as the wall next to the symbol shifted and split, its walls opening like the lens of a camera to reveal a hallway within. The captain then swung himself into the hallway and rolled to a neat stop, gun ready. With the hallway clear just as the security intelligence had promised it would be, he signaled for the other two to follow. Chris hadn't even fully turned around yet before he came nose to nose with a man who looked no older than a college student.
The man was tall, as tall as Chris at least, and had short scruffy hair. He wore a hoodie that had no logo upon it and jeans that looked ages old. His hooded lids hid sharp, icy green eyes that stared at the three agents with an alien sort of intelligence that made the older man's insides squirm. He wasn't human.
"Hello, Former Director Redfield," the man said. Chris scowled.
"I was barely a director for a week and that was years ago, you really don't need to call me that."
"We were programmed to know and respect all of the Directors, Former Director Redfield," the man replied and stared at him through icy, hooded eyes. "Special Agent Valentine, B.O.W. Piers Nivans, please follow me."
And with that, the tall youth turned on his heel and walked down the corridor. Piers growled at him from behind Chris.
"I'm not a B.O.W.!" Piers said as he lunged forward, but didn't get far due to a lack of room in the small hallway combined with his captain being in the way. Chris didn't allow the younger man to squirm through, either. He stayed firm until he knew Piers wouldn't do something stupid like attack the strongest security unit in the B.S.A.A. for calling him what his file identified him as ‒ a B.O.W.
"Calm down," Chris said, "ISAAC is just doing what he was programmed to do. It's not personal."
"Whatever," Piers said and took a step back.
"Please hurry, agents. The last I checked this building was under a terrorist attack and I'd rather not expose my life's work long enough for it to get taken now," ISAAC's voice called from around the corner.
"I didn't know you could program a robot to be bitchy," the young man said below his breath just before Chris elbowed him.
"Cut it out."
Before he could say anything else, Chris and Jill were already halfway down the hall. Piers turned to make sure the elevator shaft was still empty, and then he followed. The hall was long and winding, and after a while Piers wasn't even sure if the so called 'fifth floor' was anywhere near where an actual fifth floor would be. But in the end, it all eventually led them to a large room of floor to ceiling machines, wires, and assorted fans. Screens and monitors displayed the security feed of all of the floors and angles of the building, dead bodies on every single screen. On a few they could see the Secret Agents below scouting throughout the compound.
Other screens streamed endless amounts of data as file after file circulated into the system from various government and B.S.A.A. branches. At the heart of the room was another young man. This one was shorter, lither. He wore a simple long sleeved shirt and pants. The only thing that really stood out about his frame was his eyes ‒ blue in a way none of the agents had ever seen before. That and the huge cord that ran from the base of the man's skull to the ceiling.
When the group walked in, the other robot instantly turned to regard them, and when he did, he smiled. His eyes had merry crow's feet at the corners, which became even more vivid when his smile widened.
"Former Director Redfield, it's a pleasure to meet you. You look just how your most recently updated file portrays you. All of you do. Just how I imagined you all to be."
"Uh… Thanks," Chris said as he looked between ISAAC and ICARUS. "ICARUS, we‒"
"‒are here on a mission, I know. I apologize, it's just that this is the first time I have ever met a human other than my creator. Though I do watch," ICARUS said as he gestured to the security feed, and then his smile washed away beneath an ocean of programming, "Or at least I did… I cannot believe that they are all gone. It only took minutes. If only I had… That reminds me. Former Director Redfield, I would like to report a glitch in my system."
"‒Our programming is clear, ICARUS," ISAAC said suddenly. The man had been so quiet that the agents had almost forgotten he was there. "Protecting this floor comes first."
Chris looked between the two in confusion.
"Is there something wrong with the data?"
"No," ICARUS said, "I would like to report that 0.5 seconds after the virus was released into the air ducts, I was unable to send a report to the head of security of this building to warn them about the contaminant. If I had, then some of them could have been saved."
Chris barely covered his grimace, but ISAAC still caught it. His head tilted slightly when he noticed it, then looked over as Jill took a step forward. That one step closer to ICARUS made ISAAC growl from his place in the doorway.
"We have clearance to be here," she said when she noticed his intent gaze.
"I know."
She gave him a long, wary look before turning back to ICARUS.
"That was not a glitch," Jill said, drawing the robot's attention. "Like ISAAC said, you were programmed with the safety of this floor in mind. Any communication with any other personnel in this building could have compromised you. The information you two protect affect millions of lives, ICARUS, and that's why we're here. We need to take as much of it back to a safer location as soon as possible."
"Millions…" ICARUS repeated.
"Yes, millions."
And then the smaller robot turned to look at her plainly. It was not in his programming to judge, nor was it to feel. But curiosity, questions, a quest for understanding ‒ Jill could see it in the robot's eyes. He didn't understand.
"Two minutes ago, I had not met you, Agent Valentine. I knew you existed because the humans who programmed me said you existed. Now I have met you… So yes, I know there are millions of people in this world. My programming tells me as much," he said as he turned to face the security screens, "But an hour ago, these people were my world. I watched them drink every one of their morning coffees, I saw them file every report. I even saw B.O.W. Nivans when he was first recruited in this very office. I have seen these people come and go. They celebrated holidays, got excited about snow… I know the world is much bigger for you, but for me it was quite small."
"ICARUS, we really need‒"
"‒I could have saved them, but you programmed me not to."
His tone was not accusing. He was simply repeating the words in order to confirm that they were true, and they were.
Jill opened her mouth and then closed it.
Chris did not open his mouth at all.
ICARUS' eyes suddenly cleared and he nodded. He then reached one finger up to his temple and pressed against the skin there. A small click followed, and then a tiny microchip ejected out through the false-skin there. He took the chip between two fingers and looked at it. For a terrifying second, Chris thought the filtering unit would just destroy it then, even though it was against his programming to do that.
But he didn't. Instead, ICARUS just held the chip out to him, his eyes a little less bright now that it was gone. When the oldest B.S.A.A. agent held out his hand, the robot gently let it fall into it and then curled Chris' fingers around it with his own. His hands were not cold, nor were they warm. They were room temperature, and it made Chris uncomfortable to touch something that both did and did not feel human, but he did not pull away.
"I hope nothing stops you from protecting your bigger world, Former Director Redfield," ICARUS said. Chris could not tell if the robot was being honest or scathing ‒ he wasn't even sure if ICARUS could even contrive anything quite so subtle ‒ but it stung deeply all the same. Chris pulled his hand away.
"You're not coming with us?" Piers asked. Jill looked between them, then excused herself to the hall as she contacted HQ. Chris could just barely hear her as she told them that they had retrieved the data and were ready to leave.
"He can't," ISAAC said, and gestured towards the ceiling where the cord from ICARUS' neck connected into the framework of the security system. "ICARUS is a filtering system for all of the data that comes into this facility. He was never meant to be portable, and even if he was, he cannot function outside of the system in this room."
Piers turned to look at Chris and pointed at ISAAC.
"And what about him?" He asked.
"Our orders were to collect as much as we could‒" Chris said.
"‒I understand," ISAAC said and stood a little straighter. "We should go. Now that the data is no longer in ICARUS, it will be harder to maintain. The sooner it is in a secure facility, the better."
"Right," Chris said, then turned to look at the ceiling-bound unit. "ICARUS… you understand what I have to do, right?"
"Of course. It is protocol. I understand."
Chris nodded. "Piers, go to the elevator shaft and make sure the hall is clear. I'll be there in a moment."
"Yes, sir."
Once he and the two robots were all that remained, Chris walked around the room and set in place several remote bombs around the room. When he was done, he walked back to ICARUS and curled the robot's fingers around the detonator. "Do you know how to use this?"
"Yes."
"Once the Secret Service men have left, do it," Chris said, and tightened his hand around the other's minutely. "I'll make sure this information was worth the cost that was paid."
ICARUS smiled, but it was an odd expression on his face now that his eyes were not as bright. Empty.
"Thank you, Former Director Redfield."
He nodded, then turned to ISAAC.
"Alright, ISAAC. Let's go."
Then Chris, and ISAAC followed. He followed him exactly halfway into the hall before he gently grabbed Chris by the elbow to stop him.
"Former Director Redfield," he said somberly, and then stared at Chris. The older man blinked, then looked back in the direction he knew Piers and Jill would be. They needed to go.
He turned back to face the tall robot.
"Yes, ISAAC?"
When Chris finally rounded the corner, Piers was already running down the hall and leaping at the rope. By the time he had shimmied up the rope and back onto the fake fifth floor, the older B.S.A.A. agent had also grabbed the rope and was beginning to make his way up. Jill and Piers both helped pull him up to his feet once he made it out of the shaft, and it was then that Piers noticed that there was no one behind him.
"What happened to ISAAC?"
"The world he had been watching for over ten years was about to end and he didn't want to outlast it." Chris licked his lips, then continued. "Only a director can override his programming, so I did."
Chris then handed the tiny chip to Jill and started to walk away. The female agent quickly placed the chip into the protective case the B.S.A.A. had given her for it, then rushed to follow with Piers right beside her.
No one said anything for a long while.
The route back to the helipad was an uneventful one. None of the corpses suddenly stirred, and there was no barking gunfire from downstairs. The Secret Service had no doubt figured out exactly what they had ‒ whatever killed these people hadn't been a virus.
And then Chris stopped.
"ICARUS had said a virus had been introduced into the air ducts, hadn't he?" Chris asked, causing the other two to pause. "But nothing happened…"
Jill had the door to the roof halfway open when she looked back with a frown.
"We can think about that when we finish our mission, Chris. Let's go."
"I‒ Right, yeah. Let's go."
Jill went out onto the roof first, weapon ready as she scanned the area. Piers followed her, then Chris. But the roof was just as they left it ‒ empty. Despite this, Chris couldn't shake the growing feeling of unease in his stomach. It was like a slow plummeting feeling, and the further he stepped out onto the roof, the stronger the feeling got. Jill and Piers were already to the helicopter and opening the chopper doors when he finally stopped.
Every hair on his body was standing on end now, and he couldn't help but feel like this was a feeling he should recognize. A feeling he had had before. His eyes were sightless as he cast his attention in upon himself, trying to figure out what was wrong.
"Guys," he said, "Wait up a second. Something's not right‒"
And that's when he heard the sound of Piers' head being slammed into the side of the helicopter. He jerked up just in time to see the young man stumble, stunned, as Jill sent a powerful kick sailing right into his chest. The force of the blow sent the man flying, and he landed in a rolling heap a few feet away.
"Jill, what the hell is wrong with you?" Chris demanded as he jogged towards Piers. He hadn't even made it halfway when the other man managed to look up at him, first in disorientation, then with wild, panicked eyes.
"Captain, behind you!"
But the warning wasn't quick enough. Suddenly, Chris' arm was yanked out from behind him and cruelly twisted up behind his back. He yelped as the arm was then pulled tighter and one of his knees was kicked out from under him. There was a wet pop and he howled as his knees bit into the concrete.
Whoever was behind him had kneeled down as he fell, and still remained behind him. They pulled him back tautly and smiled into his ear.
"So you're a captain now. How ironic."
Chris' heart stopped. If the voice had not been so distinctive, he wouldn't have believed it possible. But before he could even ask the man how he survived two rockets and a volcano, there was a sudden stinging pain in his neck.
"What did you‒?!"
And then he was shoved forward. His head knocked against the concrete painfully as Pier was suddenly on his feet. The young man quickly dodged another sweeping kick that Jill delivered his way and raced towards Wesker with his gun firing all the while.
"Pathetic," the blond B.O.W. scoffed. Chris struggled to his feet, knee throbbing and pulse jumping as he watched Wesker move like water and dodge the bullets Piers fired at him. Once the young man was too close to fire anymore, he raised the butt of his gun and attacked the other B.O.W. head on.
"Piers, no‒!" Chris yelled as Wesker dodged once more and sent his open palm directly against the agent's chest. Chris could hear the hollow thump of it hitting, as well as the sharp crack of at least one rib snapping, and then Piers was sailing through the air again. When he landed this time, he didn't get up. "Piers!"
He raised his gun then, but just as he lined his aim with Wesker's smirking face, the world tilted beneath his feet. Images hopped before his eyes, turning everything into a trembling mess. Chris couldn't figure out which Wesker he should aim at and tried blinking to clear his vision.
"What did you do to me?" He snarled. He didn't shoot, not when he couldn't tell the difference between the floor, Wesker, and Piers. He quickly rubbed his wrist against his eyes and tried to blink again. His vision cleared for a second, and then quickly blurred again. Wesker laughed from somewhere close, making Chris jerk his gun in whatever direction he thought the voice had come from.
"Jill, ready the chopper for flight," Wesker said, "This will only take a moment longer."
"Jill? Wha‒?"
He stumbled. His gun felt too heavy for his trembling hands to hold, and when it hit the gun the clatter of its fall was painfully loud. Chris took one step, then two before the world tilted violently in the opposite direction it had been tilting before. When his shoulder hit the concrete, he couldn't feel it.
He rolled onto his back, stared up at the now night sky with unseeing eyes, and wondered if the last thing he'd see before he turned into whatever Wesker had injected him with would be those stars and that sky.
Too bad it's so blurry, Chris thought, wouldn't be such a bad last sight to go on.
He could hear small bursts of static from somewhere, but he didn't know where or from what.
Then fingers pressed into his neck for a while and pulled at his eyelids. When they were done doing that, those hands moved under his arm pits and lifted him. One of his arms was then draped over a strong set of shoulders, and he was dragged to the helicopter. His feet stumbled beneath him uselessly as he tried to struggle, but as his head grew heavy, that too eventually fell forward.
And everything went dark.
[a/n] Responses to reviews below, BECAUSE I LOVE YOU GUYS! :D Don't stop reviewing, you lovely people!
Ultimolu - I know, I was so sad that Capcom killed him, too. And Wesker. So I brought them back, haha. Thanks, glad you like it so far!
symphonyofslience - Thank you so much, I'm glad you're enjoying it so far!
Pink and Black Cherry Blossom - I know! I HAD SO MANY PIERS!FEELS! I really was excited to see what he would do in later games, and then he DIED.
bloody raptor - You bring up a super good point, but it is something that has a reason further into the story. Leon is usually off in Europe despite his HQ being in DC, but don't worry. He's coming.
Guest 1 - I HOPE SO TOO! But I hoped that with Wesker, too, and well… Capcom is mean, lol.
Guest 2 - Thanks!
Digilady99 - Me too, and thank you so much! Glad you're enjoying it so far!
Riri Yuki - I'm glad I surprised you with that - I was excited when I was writing it. Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Domofan19 - Thanks! I'll try my best to keep them coming. ;)
Arawun - Thanks! -hug-
KyraMokana - I'm so glad you think they're in character! That's one of my biggest fears, I'm terrified I'll write one of them out of character. I hope I don't, and please let me know if I do!
Sokulski - Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it!
All the support has been awesome, guys, thank you so, so much!