Author's Note: Revised.
|Second Wind|
Her body ached as they drug her into the surrounding forest. When they had breached the surface, it had taken one small radio call for mercenaries to swoop in and pick them up. They stood by, holding off Tri-Cell security as they were escorted off of the premises. The benefactor didn't cut any corners. Harley stared at he place she had once called home since she started working there. Half of the building was gone and ablaze. Dust and smoke made it hard to see, but gave them ample amounts of cover as they skirted around buildings, making their way to the outer perimeter. Helicopters with Tri-Cell insignias on them thundered overhead with gunners shooting down anything that wasn't wearing the company uniform. The noise, the smell of smoke, and the screams of agony made her stomach roll. A spike of adrenal spurred her forward, running to the cover of the trees. A distraction had been set up at the front gate, allowing them to slip right through an opening in the perimeter fence with little resistance. The forest engulfed them as they ran for their lives. Ran for their freedom.
A little voice in her mind kept screaming at her. Run! Get away! We could slip into the forest; lose them while the Mercenaries escorted Wesker and Zimmer to the pick-up site. But where would she go from there. She had no idea where this Tri-Cell facility was based. It was obviously somewhere near the equator. The forest was tropical and the hot, humid weather bore a heavy cloud of insects. That left only two possible locations in the world. She was either in South America or near the coast of Africa. She could either chose to get lost in the jungle hear and either wait for Tri-Cell to find her, the jungle to consume her, or she could ride Zimmer's 'copter out of the area and take a chance at another time. If a second chance even presented itself. Her heart thundered in her ears as they quickened their pace through the trees.
It must have been the adrenaline. Somehow, she had managed to keep up with the decently sized group. That extra boost of energy was the only thing keeping her going now. Her body felt like it was on fire from the fever. Her shoulder was stiff and caked in drying blood, but somehow, she managed to trek onwards with the rest of them. She felt like a rabbit hiding from a hawk as Tri-Cell helicopters scouted overhead. This is how they cut their path through the forest, making their way along two miles worth of terrain covered in thick foliage and a sharp downgrade. The Tri-Cell facility had been nestled on the side of a mountain surrounded by heavily dense forest to help keep it hidden. Only one road cut up the mountainside to the facility and it was blocked off by the company's security. Only certain vehicles could pass to and from the facility. Those who meandered too close were shot on site or taken in as prisoners. The nearest village was fifteen miles south.
She scanned her surroundings, taking in the types of plants and insects that might look familiar. Birds and small monkeys chattered in the canopies above them, panicked by their intrusion and the chaos they had left behind. She stumbled, falling face first into a particularly thick portion of underbrush. There was a nest of some sort cradled somewhere inside. A Mercenary, catching her by her coat, had managed to steady her back on her feet. A cloud of buzzing, angry creatures surrounded her with the sickly sweet odor of decay. Her ears rang with the buzzing of thousands of insects as she swatted them away as the creatures bombed her face mindlessly. Flies. Not just any flies. The Tsetse flies bombarded them as they made their way through forest. These flies could only be found on one continent, and even then, in a certain part of that continent. She was somewhere in Central Africa. They were out in the middle of Africa's nowhere. The tsetse was a carrier of disease. It was something they had worked on in the past year. Part of her wondered if the specimens had been plucked from the surrounding forest. Another part of her wondered how many of those specimens had been released.
The trek had taken hours as they traversed the inhospitable environment. The radio had buzzed to life as they neared the helicopter. When they had arrived at the small clearing, the engine roared to life as they were filed into it. It was Zimmer, Wesker, and then her as a few of the mercenaries jumped in with them. Those that were left disbursed into the forest, never to be seen again. As the helicopter lifted she felt a sense of relief as the forest fell away. The sun was beginning to set as they headed north. They flew over the small mountain and made their way out. She watched the pillars of smoke from the burning facility disappear, the remnants of a lost chapter in her life.
Her eyes darted to the figures of Wesker, Zimmer and the mercenaries while she settled into her seat. Zimmer gave her a smile, a devious gleam in his eyes. She clawed at her bandages, trying to scratch an itch as his gaze made her feel uncomfortable. He fiddled with something in his hands.
"Good job, gentlemen. You know, Miss Desmond, Alex is going to be very happy when he sees you. Albert here was the main goal of this operation, but when he found out about you, he had to have you," he said, tossing something to the mercenary sitting next to her.
She caught a glimpse of something that was eerily familiar. The burning in her leg had subsided to a dull throb. Her attention was back on Zimmer as he fingered a second item in his hands.
"When you wake up, I'll explain everything," he said as she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder.
Panic rose as she struggled away from the syringe, but the drug took affect within seconds. Wesker shifted in his seat, reaching for her as she began to slide to the floor of the helicopter. He was distracted as Zimmer smashed a syringe full of sedatives into his shoulder. He managed a decent struggle before the drugs took affect, knocking him unconscious next to Desmond. Alex Wesker was going to be happy with him. He couldn't help but feel pride. He had been waiting to do this to Albert Wesker for a long time. After all the hell he had endured working for him under Excella Gionne's orders, he was glad that he could repay it using the monster's brother. He just wasn't sure if he was trading his soul to a more sinister devil…
|Sweet Brother|
Her head ached, nausea sat in the bottom of her stomach, and her mouth was so dry that it was hard to swallow. Her eyes burned as they fluttered open. Struggling against the bright, fluorescent lights that beat down on her like an artificial sun. Her head felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. She knew the symptoms enough to put two and two together. The syringe had contained a tranquilizer. Harley looked around, her eyes having trouble focusing on her environment. The strong smell of antiseptics and sterilized surfaces burned her nose, as she started slow. She was laying on something soft. It wasn't the bed of a five-star motel, but it was a bed nonetheless. Reaching a hand to her forehead, she pressed her cool palm over her left eye, hoping that applying some pressure would alleviate the throb there. She was startled as a voice cracked out of nowhere, echoing around her in the bright room.
"Good morning, Miss Desmond. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever come back to us. How are you feeling?"
She didn't recognize the voice. It had a strange accent to it. Like the voice of a refined gentleman. However, it seemed oddly familiar. She rolled over onto her side, pushing herself up with her only good arm. Her fogged gaze dropped to her cleanly bandaged shoulder. Her patient's gown slid off of it, baring it to the world. It was still tender, but she guessed that some sort of painkillers had managed to dull it to a fraction of what it should be. She sat there, letting fog in her head settle as she focused her gaze on the tiled floor.
"Like a I was hit by a truck," she muttered.
"I'm sorry to hear that. I've made arrangements to ensure that we make your stay here as comfortable as possible. You're probably upset about your current rooming conditions, but I promise we'll have that fixed as soon as we can stabilize your condition. Your infection has had some small complications, but we'll get that fixed as soon as we can. Zimmer has filled me in on your many endeavors, Miss Desmond. I must say, it's an honor to meet you finally. I don't know if Zimmer mentioned it, but your family and I go a long way back."
"Then why do I feel like we're meeting for the first time?" she asked through gritted teeth as she took in the observation room.
I'm in a lab!
"Your mother was an acquaintance of mine before she took her sudden leave of absence from Umbrella when the company was in its prime. We had the honor of working with your father. The honorable, Mr. Oswell E. Spencer. I find it an odd twist of fate that our paths crossed while I was searching for my brother! Don't you?"
Her brow furrowed. She felt anger and fear as she took in the words the faceless voice said to her. Mr. Oswell E. Spencer. That was a name she hadn't heard in many years. Her mother had warned her about these people. For over a decade, her mother had toted her across the states in the guise of so many different names. She never had an identity until her mother broke down and told her the reasons why they were constantly on the run. Janice Koehler once worked on a case for Mr. Spencer. She had opted to become a surrogate mother for a special project Spencer had been working on. It was his backup plan if something went wrong with Project W. Janice, unable to follow through with the experiments had run off with her in tow. It had been a hard decision on her part. But, with the help of a co-worker, she had managed to slip through Umbrella's fingers. Marcus Desmond had stuck with her in her travels, doing everything he could to help her hide. The pair had eventually married, and she in turn called him father for years.
Marcus had been in and out of their lives, going out on errands for several weeks at a time before showing back up to check on them. He had kissed them good-bye and was out the door to work a nameless job…but never returned. His final disappearance had made her mother distraught. For years she had went into a depression. For the longest time, she had just thought he was a dead-beat dad. It was when Janice had finally filled her in on everything, that she realized the true implications of Marcus's disappearance. She had been fourteen at the time. He hadn't disappeared because he was done with them. He had disappeared because Umbrella had found him. Where Janice had dropped her guard because of Umbrella's demise so did Marcus. He lost his life because of it. She knew very little about Spencer, only that he had been the evil mastermind behind the corporation that had destroyed so many lives.
"I feel like I'm at a disadvantage," she said as she glared at the mirrored window. "You know everything there is to know about me, yet I don't think we've been properly introduced."
"Oh, where are my manners!" the voice exclaimed over the intercom.
A light flashed on behind the mirrored window, revealing a small team of scientists. Zimmer stood at his side like a good little lackey. The man leaning into the microphone looked strikingly similar to Wesker. He could have easily been mistaken for the tyrant had it not been for the slight differences in his features.
"Forgive me, Miss Desmond. My name is Alex Wesker," the man said with the most sinister grin…
Wesker had taken in his surroundings long ago. It was a familiar place, not unlike the old laboratory design the Arkley facility had many years ago. He had broken his restraints and was now pacing. His ego whimpered like a lost puppy when he found that he couldn't force his way out. Somehow, his strength had weakened here. These doors and walls had been reinforced like it had been prepared for him. Above him was a glass walkway. It made for a nice observation area, and it wasn't empty. He glared up at a face that hadn't graced his presence in many years. The years hadn't been too kind to him. Although he was the youngest, he had aged over the decades, unlike Albert. The virus had preserved him as he had when he died. How is this possible? Wesker thought as he stared up at the man in the black suit.
"Hello, big brother. So nice of you to join us. It seems you've been a very busy bee…" Alex Wesker said, his voice laced with animosity, "since you murdered Mr. Spencer."
"He was past his prime. It is as it should be. Spencer could no longer finish the project. I only put the man out of his misery," Albert sneered, as he watched his brother saunter overhead. "It is the natural order of things. The younger and stronger candidates will always overcome the old and weak. It looks like, even after all these years, Spencer had his secrets."
It was Albert's turn to smile.
"Yes, Spencer had his doubts about you. He thought it would be best this way in case…you know. He wanted to test you, Albert. He wanted to make sure that you were the one. But in case you were to turn around and bite the hand that fed you all these years, he put me in charge of his last operation. He knew you would come for him eventually, Albert. Why do you think it was so easy? He made sure that you caught wind of his last hideout. He wanted you to find him, because he thought it was time for you to know. I warned him, but Oswell didn't listen. In the end it cost him his life. Killing him was your first mistake, brother. Your second was entrusting Uroboros to Tri-Cell. We could have been great together. You and I, we could have reshaped this planet. We could have changed the face of humanity. Instead, you took off with this insane idea to release this beast of a virus into the atmosphere. Tisk, tisk, brother. You used to be smarter than that. You're the workings of a mad scientist. You are a lunatic that is too smart for his own good."
"And you had a better idea? Sitting in your little laboratory playing dead all these years was actually making progress for Project Darwin?"
"I was, in fact. I've been sitting here, buying my time and waiting for you to screw up. With your help, Tri-Cell has proved a distraction to the BSAA. With them out of the way, I am free to do as I please. Neo-Umbrella is almost finished and we have Oswell's only heir to the throne. Miss Desmond has proven herself more than capable of taking her father's place. We just have to clean up the mess you created. I'm hoping she will step up to the challenge. If not, I'm more than happy to keep my title as leader. She will prove useful elsewhere. We still have yet to delve into the mystery that is U-EV23. With both of you infected, we'll have more than enough samples and specimens to gather data."
"Oswell has a daughter? How is that possible?" Albert asked, taken aback by the information.
"Oh, that's right. Oswell wasn't about to let that information fall into the wrong hands. Oswell had a back-up plan if Project W fell through. With his legacy riding on the only surviving two children, he chose to create an alternative in case something were to happen. Harley Desmond, the beautiful young lady that flew with you last night, is Oswell's test-tube baby. Willingly or not, she's going to help us bring Neo-Umbrella to fruition."
