Wesker's p.o.v
The agent was currently examining the faint scratches indicative of a tripod having been moved or adjusted on the spot, facing the Prometheus tech business complex across the street. He aimed his hands from his squatting position as though he were aiming down the barrel of a rifle, taking note of just how much the wind was shifting his line of sight. Behind him, worked the other operatives sweeping the roof for any clues, having only found the white, chalk outline of a bird perched atop a dead branch. Wesker had taken a photo of the effigy and was currently awaiting the analysis from Umbrella Intelligence Division while he oversaw the investigation. It would appear, that the assassin was being a little more cautious with leaving any other evidence behind. They couldn't even find the shell casings.
Wesker stood and folded his arms as he calculated the distance and wind resistance along with everything else necessary to pull off a shot from this far away… even humidity effects the trajectory at this distance and he had to admit… She, for he is quite certain this is his assassin, is an excellent shot. As if right on que, his phone rang so he tapped the Bluetooth earpiece to answer the device as he turned to survey the crime scene.
"Wesker." He answered with his professional tone.
An emotionally detached male voice responded, cutting right to the chase. "We have the information you requested."
"Excellent." He stepped away from the ledge and eyed the effigy traced into the ground as he spoke. "Tell me what is significant about this bird."
"It is the signature of an assassin, code named Raven, whom had become activated on December 15th, 1998 with the confirmed assassination of Umbrella CEO Jeremy Bridgers. His throat had been slashed by an unknown assailant within the confines of his own home, leaving the bloodied effigy of the crow or raven, perched upon a dead tree branch."
Wesker remembered this incident. He was not directly involved with the investigation for it had been assigned to another U.I.D. agent. But he did recollect the story. It was a bloodied mess, so much so it was mistaken for a frenzy killing, indicative of extreme rage. "How does one contact this assassin?"
"Apparently, this 'Raven' contacts you. According to those who have hired her services within the corporate sector, she calls them with top secret information one can only retrieve from their secured files and blackmails them into hiring her… Or she would sell their information to their rival company. She has been known to work for Omni Pharmaceuticals, Tricell, and the Russian mafia."
"The Russian Mafia?" Asked Wesker, feeling that was a tad out of place with her current M.O.
"You'd be surprised how far their reach is. They've even been so bold as to offer protection to some of our covert firms."
'Ah… a rather clever place to start.' Mused the agent to himself.
Wesker couldn't help but smirk at how manipulative this 'Raven' appeared to be for using people's paranoia and greed. Retrieving such sensitive information required intellect and skill. He had use for one such as her. In fact, if he could secure her services he could finally put his own plans into motion, breaking away from Umbrella and from Spencer. "Her last confirmed kill was Robert Williams, a high ranking official from the Tricell corporation. I want you to identify all known associates and rivals, be it personal or professional, and upload them to my system."
"Copy that sir."
The specialist hung up without another word, leaving Wesker to his thoughts as he began to incorporate the use of an assassin with his plans. Before he can utilize her, he must test her combat capabilities against B. . Many of his future targets will be in underground facilities and can potentially become Biohazard zones. It would be a complete, utter, waste of time and resources to enlist a potential operative, only to have them die on their first mission out. He did not have the kind of patience required to separate the truly capable from the weak… and he would prefer not to rely solely on operative Ada Wong. He did not trust her. Or anyone for that matter.
Raven's p.o.v.
~…Somewhere in New York's Forest Preserve, three days later…~
The quiet hiss of a silenced desert eagle hand gun was quickly drowned out by the clang of a tin can being hit dead centre; leaving the remining six cans on either side of it undisturbed atop a fallen log as it flew from its perch. The clattering sound of tin hitting the bark of another tree was soon drowned out by a very loud "FUCK!" and a painful growl. Raven was now squatting in her firing position, nursing her right wrist with the recently fired gun before her feet. She was dressed in her usual attire of navy blue jeans, black singlet and brown female combat boots but this time she had her hair tied back into a tight pony tail. She wore the cap she had worn at the coffee shop but it had been twisted backwards to allow her a full view of the woodlands surrounding her. Wouldn't pay to be snuck up on now, would it?
The hammer recoil of her weapons still hurt her previously damaged wrist but not as much as it had done before. She no longer needed a brace but she did need to keep it strapped up to reduce the whiplash from heavy calibre rounds. For now, she would need to use her left hand as her primary gun hand, like she did for the Prometheus hit. With her suspicions confirmed, Raven stood and approached her duffle bag to fish out what was required to strap up her wrist. Once tight and secured, she stood quickly and shot the remaining cans within ten seconds… and tisked for taking too long. She walked towards the now scattered cans and bent to pick up three of them at once. Her mobile rang as she had them bundled and took her time to place them back onto the log before whipping it out of the back of her pants.
She answered her phone as she stooped to assemble the rest of the cans, speaking with her usual professional tone. "Raven."
"Good afternoon miss Raven. We have seen that you are back in town and are very interested in hiring your services." It was her previous client. This made her ignore her target practice and scan the area.
"I believe I instructed you not to call me again. Goodbye Mr. Isaacs." Since Raven has always been adamant about not using names, revealing that she knows her client's name, should be enough to scare him half to death.
Just as she was about to hang up he panicked. "No wait please! I know we breeched the terms of agreement for your employ but we have found that your proficiency rating is unparalleled. To make up for this grievance, we are prepared to offer you a high-risk contract and pay you handsomely for it."
Raven knew she should hang up. She does not forgive. For anything, no matter how small it may seem. For efficiency sake alone she should hang up. But she was curious… and running low on finances. After a deliberately long pause she asked "Who's the mark?"
"I cannot tell you unless you agree to complete the hit." Breathed Mr. Isaacs. He sounded slightly out of breath. The pitch of his voice was higher than it should be. Interesting.
"I will not accept until I know who the intended target is meant to be." Answered Raven with a cold, disinterested tone. She really didn't care if she got this job or not. "Consider it a new term for my employment due to the previous failure to comply on your part. This is a one-time offer however. If I refuse this contract and you contact me a third time… I will find you… and I will kill you. Will you comply with this term of agreement?"
She heard an audible gulp on his end of the line and smiled rather cruelly. She loved scaring these corporate bastards who think they rule the world. "Y-Yes… I agree. The target is Nikolai Zinoviev. Are you familiar with this man?"
Raven's world ground to a halt. She knew the Silver Wolf… She knew him well. He didn't know her but that's his problem. She had been looking for him… ever since that fateful day that changed everything. Nikolai…. Is on her personal hit list. In fact, his name is just below Oswald E. Spencer and Albert Wesker. She MUST have this hit.
Mr. Isaacs' voice cracked over the line "A-Are you still there?" causing the assassin to raise an eyebrow. This man was afraid.
Raven resumed her cold tone and chose her words carefully. "Yes… I am still here, and I am familiar with the UBCS operative."
"How did you?... never mind… Well… are you interested then? Will you take the contract?" asked her client, doing his best to hide his fear… which only made him sound desperate.
"Perhaps." She answered, sounding like she was going to dismiss this no matter what he said. "That very much depends."
"On what?" He asked, sounding confused.
"Hmmm…. You sound nervous Mr. Isaacs. That makes me uncomfortable. It gives me a strange idea that this may be some kind of trap. You wouldn't be so foolish as to try and trap me, now would you?" Cooed Raven in a mocking tone.
"No! No don't be ridiculous! I had no idea you were so paranoid! Huh… Maybe you're not the right person for the job." He tried to sound cool but the assassin could still hear the terror in his voice.
"Perhaps you are right. But that does nothing to disguise the stress in your voice. So, I must assume this call is being traced and I must disappear once more. Good day Mr. Isaacs." Rachel merely moved the phone away from her face, not really intending to hang up just yet.
"No NO! Dammit! Listen! Yes I'm nervous! But it's not what you think. Nikolai is onto me and if you don't kill him I'm a dead man for sure ok!? There! Now you know!"
'Ah… so this is a personal motive for you.' Raven paused again before answering the freaked-out client. "Very well. I accept the contract. Leave the Intel at the designated drop site."
"Thank you…" He sighed with relief before speaking again. "This needs to be done as quickly as possible. Be as messy as you like. No need to be clean about this."
"Understood." Raven hung up and returned her phone to the back of her pants. She couldn't help but feel that something was very wrong with this contract… but she also figured she could handle anything thrown her way.
~… Penn Station. Manhattan. Two hours later… ~
The famous New York traffic had proven to be too much of a pain for Raven to tolerate so she opted to walk to the station. She also deliberately took her time, ensuring that no one had followed her or appeared to be waiting for her. The assassin also took her time to surveillance the exterior entrance for the main hub before casually entering the station. There was no real cause for her paranoia other than she liked to be cautious. It is indeed what has kept her alive since she began her career as a freelance assassin.
She didn't really care for the exquisite design of the stations architecture, nor did she care for interacting with the denizens currently making their way to their appointed trains, all in a hurry and far too busy to pay attention to her. Still she kept her cap on and her head down to avoid being picked up on the clunky, obvious security cameras, all the while maintaining a casual pace, squeezing past people rather than shoulder barging through them like she SO desperately wanted to. The never-ending sea of people made her feel a little claustrophobic. Raven couldn't help but notice how the populace seemed to wonder about aimlessly, on auto piolet, the constant humming of so many people talking over each other, overlapping so much that they sounded like wordless moans.
'Like Zombies…' She mused to herself. 'They're behaving like zombies.'
With a scoff of disgust, the assassin made her way to the storage compartments, temporarily assigned to whoever could afford them and wielded the designated key. She approached the lockers while fishing out the key for locker number 327 and stopped when she spotted something out of place in the corner of her eye. A well-dressed man with a rather stoic expression appeared to be watching her closely. When she focused on him, he murmured something into the cuff of his navy blue sleeve, causing three other similarly dressed men to emerge from the crowd. They appeared to be spooks. Or people of that calibre… and they also seemed to know the significance of this locker.
Raven scanned the crowd, searching for a quick exit but found she had been boxed in by the approaching agents. There were also at least two more targets within the crowd, making a total of six dead men walking as far as she was concerned. What could be problematic is the oblivious crowd that surrounded them. Too many human shields for this to go down smoothly. Honestly, Raven could not be bothered with trying to talk her way out of this. She highly doubted it would work for they were reaching into their jackets to undoubtedly grab their guns.
She put her key back into her back pocket and quickly whipped out her desert eagle, that had been tucked safely down the back of her pants, and fired a shot dead centre at the closest agent to her. This caused an eruption of panicked screams as the crowd ducked and ran in multiple directions, slamming into each other and the other agents as they struggled to aim their weapons at her. Raven used the startled crowd to her advantage, ducking and merging with them, as though she were their shadow, deliberately shooting the ground to make people run towards the remaining agents out of fear and reflex.
The agents fired in the direction of the shots, wounding and killing innocent civilians in a blind attempt to shoot the assassin but she had already moved from that point. She dove out of the dispersing crowd with her feet first, seemingly missing the agents head as she flew past him but she caught his chin and the base of his skull within her hands. She used the momentum of her dive to drag and guide the agent face first into the corner of a square potted plant, containing a fern of all things. The impact had caved in his face, smashing the base of the plant and killing him instantly as she released her grip and skidded along the floor.
The remaining agents fired at her exposed position, forcing Raven to quickly get back to her feet and defensive rolled behind a row of benches, barely missing a ricochet that skimmed past her leg. This was not good cover so she quickly aimed over the top of the bench and fired at the agents, forcing them to take cover. The crowd had made themselves scarce now so it was only her and them…. It also meant the cops would be there soon so she really didn't have long to play.
The assassin quickly sprinted to the escalators leading to the underground subway, vaulting over the ledges and laid prone between two conveyer belts. She aimed her gun and panted as quietly as she could, waiting for the agents to catch up with her. As soon as one hurried head popped up into her field of vison, she fired off a shot and got him right between the eyes. She pounced onto her feet and charged at the three agents currently skidding to a halt on reflex at the sight of their comrade's head exploding in front of them, delivering a leaping kick into the chest of one while shooting the face of another.
Raven flipped and rolled forward to dodge the returning fire of the agent on her right, using the edge of the escalator as cover before taking aim and firing whilst still upside down. With a spatter of blood, he collapsed onto the belt, leaning over the side as he was dragged further down into the subway. The final agent was trying to get onto his feet while taking aim at Raven but she twisted onto her stomach and shot him in the shoulder, causing him to fall back down with an agonising howl. She stood and walked, almost casually towards the wounded agent, aiming her gun with one hand while adjusting her hat with the other. Since her pony tail was coming out of the back of her cap, where the adjustment strap provided a gap, it kept her cap from falling off during the flips and turns… However, it had come loose and needed to be straightened on her brow.
The agent reached for his gun with his opposite hand but a firm, merciless stomp for Raven's combat boot kept his hand pinned to the ground. He yelled as he felt his bones crack and struggled to get his hand back as she ground it into the ground. He looked up to see a sadistic smirk on the smallest portion of her visible face and paled at the thought of just what she might do to him. Raven released his hand in favour of kicking him onto his back, stomping onto his wounded shoulder to let him know she meant business. He yelped with the hit and writhed on the ground but made no move to fight back of to raise from the floor.
With her gun still trained at the fallen agent, Raven spoke calmly, coldly… so cold that one would never know that she had just been in a fight and almost had her face blown off twice. "I will only ask you once… Who sent you?"
The agent stared at the barrel of her gun, then tried to look past the shadow on her face that obscured her eyes. He kept his voice steady, trying to mask his pain and fear. "Isaacs. It was Isaacs."
"The drop?" She asked, leaving it open for him to fill in any gaps on his own.
"A set up… There is no drop." He breathed shakily, obviously wanting to put pressure on his wound but didn't dare move.
The assassin paused for a moment, displaying no emotion as she processed the information. Isaacs did not strike her as the kind of guy to double cross someone that can kill him. You need a spine for that and she was fairly certain he didn't have one. She tilted her face slightly at the fallen agent and asked "why?"
"I don't know…" He winced, expecting a hit and from the pain. "I'm just following orders." He stared at her, waiting for her to do something... anything.
Raven surmised he was telling the truth. Strange how loyalty to one's employer goes out the window when you face your own death. She shot him without warning and made her way deeper into the subway system, stepping over the mangled corpse of the agent that had been dragged down here earlier and dropped onto the tracks. She listened out for any approaching trains and followed the tunnel complex for a maintenance exit. It would seem that she needed to pay a visit to Mr. Isaacs.
~…Omni Pharmaceuticals, that night…~
Raven, now dressed in her Kevlar combat suit and armed to the teeth, was currently scaling the business complex. She used her grappling hook to pull herself past any obstacles that were far too high for her jump to on her own and stuck to the shadows like she belonged there as she continued her ascent. She reached the roof of the tall construction of steel and glass, ensuring all of her belongings were strapped on tightly before searching for a way in. Going through the front door dressed like this was out of the question and it would have been incredibly foolish to have addressed this issue in her civilian attire, so she had no choice but to pry the grating for one of the ventilation ducts off and crawl inside.
Crawling through the ventilation system in perfect silence is no easy feat and is rather time consuming but the last thing Raven wanted was to have to fight her way to Mr. Isaacs office. This would lead to unnecessary collateral damage and that was unprofessional in her opinion. She didn't care if she had to do it, it just seemed sloppy to her. Every once in a while, she wold come across the grating that allowed access into a different room. She looked down and waited, quietly listening for signs of life below her. Much to her surprise, she was greeted with silence.
'Odd… Perhaps they closed earlier than I expected? If that is the case, then why are all the lights still on?' Raven shook her head and continues her slow crawl towards the CEO's office, remaining hopeful that Mr. Isaac's was still there.
Finally, she approached the vent she had been waiting for and gently lifted it open. The assassin paused and listened for any signs that someone to have heard her, but all she could hear was the constant hum for the office lights and from the monitor of a computer. Carefully, she crawled forward then allowed her legs to dangle slightly before lowering herself into the room. She dropped with a quiet 'pat' as he feet made contact with the floor and quickly scanned the area. The double doors leading to the main hub of office employees remained closed and no one else appeared to be in the room. A rather expensive looking office chair held its lone occupant, currently with his back to her, looking out the window.
Between them, laid the crowded desk, littered with paperwork but nothing to suggest it had been raided or disturbed. The name "Brendon Isaacs. CEO." Was inscribed onto a thin wooden plaque at the front of the desk. Just in case you forgot who you were talking to. The rest of the office was quite spacious and well organised, containing rows of information waiting to be read within their shelves, tinted with the typical brown, almost burnt orange walls. There was even a stupid fern plant everyone seemed to be obsessed with these days in the far-right corner, next to the windows that never open, overlooking the city.
Raven drew a silenced Desert Eagle with her right hand and aimed it at the chair as she approached the desk. There was no sound, no movement… something was wrong. It was not in Raven's nature to taunt or make some huge speech to someone she intends to kill… not unless she really wanted to fuck with them first but that kinda sociopathic level of communication was reserved for her personal Umbrella Corporation hits only. Instead, she silently moved around the desk, keeping her eyes trained on the chair until Isaacs' body came into view.
Now that she was standing in front of him, she could see an awful lot of blood, staining his pristinely bleached white shirt and pooled upon the floor. The flow had ceased and the substance had begun to coagulate but he had not been dead for long enough for his blood to turn brown. His chin was currently digging into his chest so Raven used her free gloved hand to grip his dirty blonde hair and lifted his head enough to see his face. The skin was a sickening grey, his eyes were pale… almost white… That should not happen, not so soon… from her reasoning, he had only been dead for an hour, maybe two… but the most noticeable factor was his jaw had been blown off, leaving it hanging from its left socket, exposing his tongue, making it look longer than one would expect.
Powder burns were on his right cheek, suggesting that whoever shot him, had been right next to him. She lowered his head and looked into his lap. His hands appeared to be holding something. Never letting go of her own gun, Raven used her left hand to pry open his right, finding a hands-free radio with an ear piece clutched tightly. She pulled it from his grasp and placed it on the desk. Now she pried open his left hand to find a crumbled piece of paper, stained with blood. She had to holster her weapon in order to open the note.
The blood made it difficult to read but she immediately recognised the handwriting "Missed me."
It was her note. She left it for one person and sure enough he got it. 'Oh… shit.'
Suddenly, an alarm blared seemingly from everywhere at once, causing Raven to wince, drop her note and aim both of her guns in every direction as she scanned the room once more. White emergency shutters slammed into the ground, making the glass unreachable and impenetrable before the lights went out. In the pitch, black darkness, the assassin crouched to the ground, keeping her guns ready for anything as the emergency lights came on. Their dull, low whatt globes provided a poor light, casting shadows throughout the room.
A heavy thud caused her to spin on her heels, aiming her guns at the corpse of Mr. Isaacs. She watched him closely before lowering her arms, releasing a small, gentle sigh. She believed she must have in-avertedly knocked the chair at some point when the lights went out, causing him to fall… That was… until he began to move. Her goggles prevented the world from seeing her eyes widen in shock. Her mask prevented the world from seeing her jaw drop in horror… Her mind catapulted to the events of two years ago, slamming her into a tempest of complete. And utter. Hatred.
The corpse moaned as it reached towards her, his hand outstretched as though he were begging for her help before collapsing into the ground. He crawled along his belly, inching closer to the frozen assassin, bit by bit until he grabbed her boot. Her body shook but not from fear as she raised her gun over her shoulder before ramming the butt of her gun at the ridge of his nose. Forced knocked him onto his back, but the undead Isaacs began to lift his torso from the ground. At this point, Raven had climbed onto her feet and kicked the zombie onto its back again.
It fumbled to grab her foot and bite her as she raised her knee and stomped its head. This caused the creature grunt in protest, stunning it temporarily as she brought her foot down again. And again. Screaming with rage as she stomped on it repeatedly until its brains was all over the once polished floor. Raven panted, staring at Isaacs remains, trying to get the rage back into its bottle as she paced back and forth from behind the desk. After a few moments she was calm again, kicking the corpse out of her way so she could pull the office chair up and take a seat.
Raven tapped on the keyboard for Isaacs computer, but it would appear that the emergency power was for the lights and locks only. Just as she stood with an agitated sigh, the radio sitting on the desk right in front of her began to beep. Cautiously, the assassin took the ear piece and lifted her mask just enough so she could drill it into her ear, never allowing the fabric to truly leave her face. Once it was in, she straightened her mask and switched the radio on.
"Hello?" She asked, her voice was colder than ice for she was not in a good mood after that encounter with a zombie.
"Ah, Miss Raven. How nice to hear your voice again." Answered Wesker with a charming, yet condescending tone.
Raven's jaw dropped for the second time that day. 'Now it all makes sense. Somehow Wesker figured out who hired me for the Williams hit and set up a trap… or traps, should I say? What's worse is that he knows my code name. What else does he know?'
She blinked before responding with a little more aggression than she intended. "Wesker. What the hell do you want?"
"Hm. That's quite the temper you have my dear." He cooed, further agitating the woman.
Raven scoffed as she walked towards the double doors, testing the handles to see if they're locked. "Besides stating the obvious, was there something you wanted to say Mr Wesker?"
He chose to ignore her minor stab and spoke with a professional tone. "Straight to the point. Good. You have potential Miss Raven and I find myself in need of your services."
With a slight jiggle of the handles, Raven found the doors were locked down tight and turned to eye the air duct she crawled through to get there in the first place. "Now why the fuck would I want to work for an Umbrella lackey such as yourself?"
"Not only can I compensate you financially and with better accommodation that you have been able to attain thus far, I can provide you with what you seek."
Raven finally spied the Camera that had followed her every move and stood to stare it down… to stare him down while she spoke. "And that is?"
"Don't play coy with me my dear, we are both smarter than that."
"You can give me the Silver Wolf?"
"That is not the correct question to ask. What you should be asking, is what else can I provide for you?"
"Alright. What else can you provide for me?"
"I can give you access to surveillance, security codes, classified locations, everything you would need to know for the annihilation of Umbrella and its people…" He paused briefly before continuing, making his proposition sound perfect, tantalizing, and oh so tempting. "I can give you Spencer, Raven."
Raven knew a con when she heard one. But she also knew that this would undoubtedly be her best chance at receiving the intel she needed to assassinate the son of a bitch that started it all. She ALSO knew that it would be unwise to decline a deal with the Devil, especially when the Devil made it perfectly clear that he already knew where her base was, or so he implied by his remark about accommodations, and he knows her code name. She will not be able to hide from him for long. A deal like this… will come at a high price.
"And what exactly do you want from me?" She asked, her voice laced with suspicion.
He hummed, undoubtedly smirking on the other end of her radio before speaking with a teasing purr. "Not so fast my dear. First, you must pass a little test."
"Test?" She asked, turning at the corpse of Mr Isaacs, not liking the sound of it.
"Oh yes. Consider it a… try out if you will. If you succeed, then we can negotiate the terms of your employment."
She didn't need to ask what would happen if she failed. "And what do I need to do, to prove my worth?"
"Survive."
The line went dead and all of the emergency locks were released at once. The shutters did not budge however so Raven had no choice but to either push forward through the double doors, or try to climb out through the vents. She did not like, how Wesker said 'survive' for she got the feeling Mr Isaacs was not an isolated case. He looked and moved just like the people of Racoon City… Whatever they had, Whatever it is that Umbrella made, that fucked up an entire city, is undoubtedly in this building… survival will be difficult. But not impossible.