Ada typed up her report. The organization, as she had presumed, kept up with her actions for the past week. Using the same satellite system Wesker used to monitor Ada and Krauser, the covert party equally supervised her activity from an aerial distance. She refused to have a personal bug attached to her person. It wouldn't do if they listened in to her more 'private' activities. Not even Wesker would demand that.
On her laptop, she typed in the password, and then sent out the short report in a secured file.
A voice on the other receiver firstly praised her for accepting the task on the man-made peninsula. The underground research was to be kept under quarantined, but found that the government hadn't been aware of the recent activities below ground.
Since Madre-falls is a sanctioned area for scientific plant research and farming, it was by an observer's standpoint, a harmonious procedural set of facilities. And unless reports are made of irregular activity they found no need to file a high security risk on the premises. Because none have reported anything out of the ordinary, Dr. O'Neil as head scientist managed to send out reports in a regulatory fashion. Consistency and steady progress accounts kept things under control.
"Miss Wong," an indistinct voice said on the other end, noting her surprise. "You're not infected, if you're worried."
"No, I didn't think so. I'm aware that those who remain on the peninsula for a longer duration could receive the unfortunate consequence."
"Then you do know that it is imperative that you must keep the head scientist there on the isthmus. He's not to be transported out of there."
She smirked. "I'm afraid you're too late. Our resurrected American Soldier Mr. Jack Krauser is currently with the doc. He's taking him to a facility for an intensive research. However," she continued, noting the silence on the other end. "Dr. O'Neil's condition is physically unstable, as well as mental. He is quite capable of all his intellectual abilities as a doctor from what I could see, and has taken a reversal serum of sorts to somehow change back."
"Did it?"
"I wasn't around long enough to find out."
"We received your sample as planned, and we want a full report on Wesker's activities and the doctor. As for Jack Krauser, he doesn't seem to be of any threat to the organization, as he's just a grunt following orders. Conversely, he may be a threat in the future when it comes to resurrecting Wesker's new Umbrella, so it's in our best interest if you eliminate him."
"That was the plan." She replied, her honeyed voice smooth and crisp. "The only reason why I went after him was that he was after the government agent, but now, I suppose his interference could jeopardize the future of the Organization."
"Not to mention, it's highly essential to follow Wesker's moves. Thwarting his plans for the future remains on your head, Miss Wong. I trust that whatever you do in the near future shall be to our benefit?"
The connection then blurted out, cut off by the other party.
She leaned back against her chair and sighed deeply. She was going to go find the doctor again, not exactly eager to see his pretty face, but first the trip back to the peninsula.
As she made her way back to the laboratory, Wesker's business like mood returned. He didn't even bother asking what she was doing beforehand.
"Come," He briskly said. She followed him to his lavish office, and in the efficacious dimness, the satellite panoramic analysis of Madre-falls glowed in an overlay of the atlas.
"The red dots?" Ada ventured.
"Not really laboratories, but underground greenhouses. Because certain species of plants need to be secured in their own environment, they were placed separately. The government spent billions of funding on this project, and do you know why?"
She walked closer; her eyes scanned the panoramic screen. "For pharmaceutical companies? To heal the world of cancer?" She didn't mean to sound cynical, but her experiences with many scientists have put her on the edge of suspicion.
Wesker is one of those ambitious scientists.
"Better. To observe how and why these rare species were able to thrive in extreme environments, and as you may perhaps have surmised, much of these rare samples are not from your average tropical forest."
"Go on."
"The projects that came from an aerospace research facility provided much of these." He looked at her then.
"You're aware of the projects that the institutes have been conducting found evidence of certain life forms found in other planets not fit for human environment?"
"Wesker, you're not suggesting?" She looked apprehensive. It was bad enough that Saddler's cult were a bunch of zealots who used 'power' and manipulation to achieve their ends, and as she stared at the man before her, she was infinitely aware of his influence.
"Suggesting what?" His dark blond brows lifted in mocking challenge. "Do tell me, Miss Wong…"
"Is this part of New Umbrella? Procuring plant specimens from uncertain life forms, stabilizing them in a locked down man made environment and expect to find positive results?"
There, she said what she wanted to say, though she couldn't come out with everything that was in her heart.
He said nothing. Just stood there and looked at her. "I had hoped you of all people would understand..." He approached her, took off his sunglasses, and she watched as he took her hand, kissed it. Then said in that bored, insulting drawl. "Tell me now. Are you in or out?"
It was a challenge.
She flinched then her eyes flew to his; her dark eyes locked on to tiger-like eyes; a numb sensation passed through her body as he continued in an infuriatingly calm tone. "What is it going to be?"
"I'm in..." The lies were piling up.
"I have hopes that you'll finally understand why I need to do this. You, of all people, would come to that understanding. You and I are not like them…."
"Them?" Ada parted her lips; she could feel her heart pounding as he drew her close. "Oh you mean like Leon and them…"
"Do you really think you could be part of that world, Ada?" He chuckled darkly. "Morality has little place in your heart, as in mine. Although, I confess…I do have somewhat of a conscience…"
She was aware of that. The reports Wesker sent her on the unidentified woman years ago tugged at his ethics, and since it was a secret report made from his truly, it did not mean that Birkin possessed that 'ability.'
But...she knew, she knew that they, him and Birkin, Annette and the rest who were involved, are aware of their crooked deceit.
Birkin would sell his own soul, his wife, and his daughter's soul. But Wesker? He didn't want a family. They would have been a thorn on his side, and these are luxuries for men like Wesker, for responsibility and morality are out of their reach.
Just like her…..she would have choked back a sob if it weren't for his lips against hers.
"I'm going to Madre-falls with you." He rasped against her lips, brought his gloved hand to cup the back of her head, gripping the dark strands there.
"Partners huh?" She was unresponsive this time, trying to control her feelings was taking an immense effort. If only…if only…..but she knew it was impossible. Only girls who were dreamers could even possibly think…..
"It'll cut our time in half. We'll go separate ways if you like, I'll take care of the east end and you can procure everything that is on the other side."
Abruptly, he pulled away from her. "Let's go. Time is not a luxury we have. We can't remain on the isthmus for too long."
He pulled out his attaché case, took out a rifle from underneath the lacquered curved desk, detached a scope from it and folded the weapons. Placing them inside with meticulously ease, they clicked inside in a concise fashion and then he threw her a few flash grenades. "Here. You'll need them."
She caught them in mid air. "Thanks."
Wesker pushed back his blond strands; his gloved hands set the glossy hair back in the usual style. He pulled off the lab coat and donned a dark jacket over his black long sleeved turtleneck shirt. Glancing over at Ada, he watched how her eyes took in his satellite assessment of Madre-falls.
His coolly polite voice cut into her thoughts, "And your incendiary grenades? They're not to be used under the conditions that we're going to be going into."
She shrugged, her arms folded. "And here I thought I'd indulge my pyro needs."
Later, they both reached to his evac chopper, and Ada glanced up at the dark clouds above. The sound of thunder rumbled loudly in the atmosphere. A brisk wind picked up, throwing her dark strands away from her face. Her usual attire consisted of a red dress she loved to sport around even during missions, but now was glad to be wearing a pair of black pants, her vest over a dark shirt and a belt around her waist that carried grenades and magazines.
Wesker sat back in the shadow of the chopper, watched the streak of lightning cause a bright flash across the sky, illuminating his sunglasses. Then the thunder came...since light travels faster, the bolt pierced through - it appeared to electrify the water on the ocean.
"Looks like there's going to be quite a bit of a weather as we land on Madre-falls. Perfect."
He pulled open his laptop to check the weather conditions. "As I guessed, north winds are coming in fast in the direction we are going."
Wesker called out to his evac pilot. "Hurry it up; we don't want to get caught in a small storm. Even this advanced aircraft can't hold off the wind. I'll have to call for a plane to pick us up once we're done."
"Where on earth is a plane going to land on Madre-falls?" Ada casually replied, she sat down next to Wesker in the enclosed area.
"Not to worry, things should run smoothly, if all goes as planned."
"The plants there, I've only encountered one in a pot that attacked me, I'm pretty sure there's more."
He sat there; his sunglasses obscured the expression in his eyes.
The wind picked up quite considerably when the chopper reached their destination. As the gust of wind swept up, it nudged the chopper to pitch, and the evac pilot turned around, "Mr. Wesker, I can't land! You'll have to get the ladders out and climb down!"
Wesker nodded, immediately unfolded the ladder which reached towards the bottom, but not touching.
"I'll hold it steady while you go down, Ada."
Hurrying up, the wind nearly pushed back her body, but she held on to the sides of the aircraft. Looking down, the bottom was quite a ways, and the ladder only reached within a two story depth of the landing.
As she landed, she easily pushed her body up from the inelegant fall, for the wind had started to sting at her eyes and the trees and vegetative brush swayed around them. Wesker was making his way down.
Rain began to pelt in a steady pour, wetting her dark hair and soaking her entire spy suit.
Wesker's stylish landing made Ada cock her brow at him. Even in this weather...He grabbed Ada by his side, "You go in that direction as the map suggests. Here."
She nodded. He looked about to kiss her but changed his mind. "I'll contact you on your PDA. This shouldn't take long since there are two of us. There are instructions on the map as well."
He turned away from her then, but stopped. "Oh yes," he said dryly, "Don't forget these." A pair of dark sunglasses were in his possession. "You lost the one you had in your previous mission. It's a small gift from me - just for emergency purposes."
She gasped, remembered how she had used her recent one to escape from Leon by avoiding the probing questions the Agent wanted to know. She just watched Wesker draw a faint smile, turned away and jumped down from the ravine.
The man made peninsula breathed with a hidden unnatural light. Beneath the lush vegetation, moss and mildew created a sensational pattern against the cold grey concrete and highly secured walls. Strange music created electrical vibrations underground and rendered some life breathing organisms to stay still. As the concerto played on, the noise penetrated the tunnels, causing the existing vines to curl up from the music and a sharp change in the turgor pressure beneath their cells throbbed.
Ada jumped down into the tunnel, remembered this area first hand when she came the first time. Then she saw them in the unriant lack of light.
She watched and listened with a tentative air as the creeping vines trembled; the sound of eerie music coming from hidden speakers reached her ears. To find some kind of response from them, she snorted out honeyed reply, a smirk on well shaped lips.
"Hmmm, let's see, since plants have no ears to hear and no brain to process, I'm assuming you all were once capable of humanity once, and can understand me, is that right?"
Ada found to her assessment that they could understand with the capacity to process the human senses.
The light on her rifle wasn't sufficient enough so she lit a flare.
As the flare lit up, it illuminated the entire complex underneath and what she beheld was the veiny existence of intertwined thick branches, leaves that moved as if there was a strong wind here and eyes set in the alternating nodes of the stems.
In reply, they motioned their way towards the intruder, a sound alarm went off through out the tunnel.
Ada flipped back, avoided a thorn embedded vine trying to wrap itself around her ankle. She kicked forward as she pushed her body backward. Landing elegantly, she whipped out the flash grenade, hoping that Wesker was right…that these should hold them off for awhile. It did for her first encounter, though the sheer volume of what lay before was quite intimidating.
Awhile was what the flash grenade could only do. They screamed a disturbingly human wail as the flash struck the ground.
Running quickly she took the first right, spotted the metal door and tried to kick the door open.
It swung open. The first look inside revealed caged experiments of plant and dead animal parts. Closing the door securely behind her, she checked her PDA for the map. "First red dot here. Four more to go, and then…..Wesker."
Wesker who was on the other side of the isthmus ran alongside the bottom of the hilly canyon. He had the opportunity to meet one of the thriving vegetative hosts on the premises. It had backhanded him from behind, which sent him rolling along down a path so that when he got up, the walking vegetable opened up its mouth and tried to eat him.
He cursed beneath his breath then, but more from being careless than anything. His fingers tipped off the clip from the grenade in his hand.
Chucking the hand grenade down its throat, Wesker backed away slowly as the yawning orifice of the standing plant folded its petals in.
It exploded, bursting violently forth from within its gut. The combination of flesh, sap and wet moss met his suit with a loud splatter. "That's nice." He grunted disapprovingly, pulled out what looked like a handkerchief and wiped off the offending substance. Since the rain had calmed to a light sprinkling, this managed to benefit his suit - the water fell off the expensive material as rain off a ducks back.
Now, he carried the Killer 7 securely in his hand.
Each sector where the five red dots were planted on the map held up human remains that were somehow switched to basically a mass of green gook. The inside of the underground greenhouse had a locked down security system just in case 'they' managed to escape. The security alarms then released those typical laser systems.
Wesker found a system to override them by inserting a password and encoded some of the sample he had in his possession, this thereby released the security gates, and gave him access to go in without trouble.
He sent Ada to another part, where she wouldn't have to do what he had to go through, making her job a little easier than his.
It wasn't his nature to allow anyone a better time of things than he, but then again, when this was all over, he'll make her see what the New Umbrella would bring.
Everyday brings him closer to his objective and when this mission was over, he'd send her off on that vacation he took away from her. Perhaps give her an extended trip, but he's no fool. Ada Wong may work for him; she no doubt went about on her own. Saving her life was one thing, but keeping her on a tight leash was another.
Damn, Wesker, you're getting soft in your old age…You'd think with how he had changed over the years, his system now possessed of the new power inside him, that he'd overcome all those human emotions.
Something nagged at the back of his mind: Cats only have nine lives, but a butterfly is a rebirth.
But what was the future, if there was no one there to share the glory with? He scoffed inwardly. He'd have sooner shot himself than to entertain such thoughts that did not include his associates as merely tools to his achievements.
What did he say to Ada more than once? Thanks to you, the future of New Umbrella will chart a new world.
Pushing aside the door to the greenhouse, he anticipated his next move.
A/N; for Krauser, he's up next chapter.
