Another Side, Another Story
It was so much easier to see the world in black and white. Gray? I don't know what to do with gray...
All was quiet, for now at least.
Jake Muller took one last look back, at the burning ruins of the floating restaurant and helicopter, before shaking his head and moving on, catching up to Sherry up ahead. She was already waiting by the doors, looking back at him with that depressed, but simultaneously hardened look.
He wondered how she was holding up. While he could tell quite easily that Sherry was a woman who had faced a lot of horrors in her life and had developed a very strong will as a result, it was still plain as day that she was very, very shaken by what had happened earlier. He knew she had told him that Leon had apparently saved her life back in Raccoon City, but there had not been much elaboration, and whenever Jake tried to bring it up in small talk she would either ignore him or change the subject. But from what he could tell, however, Leon had been a really important figure to her after that, possibly even a surrogate big brother or father.
Father.
He thought back to the story he was told so many times over the course of six months, how, supposedly, Albert Wesker, genocidal maniac who intended to destroy the world, had somehow conceived a bastard son somewhere down the line, and had abandoned both him and his mother shortly after their brief relationship. The fact that his dad abandoned his family to the dust, so he could go on to 'change the human race', deeply angered him. If he was still alive, he would not hesitate to hunt him down himself to kill him, tell him how he essentially murdered Jake's mother and left Jake to the life of an aimless, wandering mercenary.
Deep, deep down, he hated his father. He wondered if Sherry felt the same about her own father, who had infected himself with the G-Virus to save his life, but realized too late the horrific side-effects.
Sherry really must have cared for Leon a lot, something he unfortunately couldn't understand very well, but could sympathize with.
"C'mon, Jake. It's time to finish this," she said as he came up, her expression changing to that of determination. They went along the corridors, until they came along to the large set of doors. They were both aware of what lay beyond these doors. Simmons. The man Leon told them was responsible for the outbreak in the US. If there was anything she could do to honor him, it was to find the truth.
"If...if Leon was right about Simmons, I want you to run. No matter what happens," she quietly said, before adding "Promise me," After a moment, Jake grunted "Fine,"
Together, they opened the doors and stepped in.
"Ah, Agent Birkin, how wonderful it is to see you!"
That familiar voice sounded genuinely happy as Sherry walked forward, her face grim and hardened. Standing before her, above the high platform, was Simmons, in his white coat as always. And to either side of him, a row of men in suits, their eyes hidden by sunglasses. They appeared calm and collected, but there was no mistaking the telltale bulge of pistols and submachine guns in their pockets or coats. She wondered if they were D.S.O, before realizing it was impossible; the D.S.O's modus operandi was discreet, with agents either working alone or in pairs, and in investigative operations, as well as coming to missions with limited armaments, being expected to procure most of their weapons on-site . They certainly didn't work in such large groups, and they as far as she knew they didn't work as bodyguards.
Leon was a special exception, the President's protection being his role even before the formation of the D.S.O.
Right now, Simmons had a broad smile on his face as he opened his arms in a welcoming gesture, the same smile he used every time he saw Sherry happy, whenever she got to see Claire again, or got a high score in the video games he bought for her, or when she was accepted into the D.S.O for the first time.
Now that Leon had told her he was not to be trusted, she wasn't sure how much of it was genuine anymore.
"I see that you have succeeded in your mission of locating Jake Muller. Excellent! You can't believe how...how proud I am of you! To see you become such a fine and capable agent...We have a chopper ready, and once we're back in the States I'll make sure to treat you to-"
"Simmons. Were you involved in the terrorist attack in the US?" she bluntly asked, intending to get to the point.
There was a brief look of surprise on his face, though it was quickly replaced by a blank 'what do you mean' expression. The suited bodyguards slowly reached their hands into the pockets where they were keeping their weapons.
"What are you talking about, Agent Birkin? Who told you that?"
"A...A fellow agent that I trust," she then looked away for a moment, resisting the urge to tear up at the horrible memory, hesitating before she continued. "He and his partner told us that while we were on our way here. They were there, during the outbreak,"
Simmons blinked a few times before he slowly put his palm to his temple, as though he was having a slight headache, an irritating problem.
"This...this agent. His name is Kennedy, isn't it? And his partner is named Harper, is that right?"
Sherry said nothing, but she continued staring at Simmons while simultaneously trying not to think about the two of them, particularly Leon. Simmons snapped his fingers.
"...just as I thought. You've been misguided, Agent Birkin. You see, Agents Kennedy and Harper were trying to deflect the blame away from them-"
"What-"
"They were responsible for the President's death, seeing as they abandoned their posts right at the moment of the outbreak!"
Several seconds passed, as Sherry took it in. Her face was that of muted horror. The President...?
"The...the President's dead?"
"And we have the two of them to blame!" he rattled. "Speaking of which, where are they now, Agent Birkin? We could use the information to take them into custody-"
"Oh, save the bullshit, and just get to the point!" Jake spoke up for the first time in the conversation. "The President's dead, so what. Answer the question - were you or were you not responsible for the attack in America?!"
Now, it was Simmons' turn to glare at the two.
"You...you have been hanging around the wrong people, Sherry-"
"Tell us the truth! Are you responsible?! Now! Answer me!" Sherry suddenly yelled in uncharacteristic fury, recovering rather quickly from the shocking news of the President's death.
Simmons appeared thoughtful for a moment. Then, he uttered "yes. Yes, I am."
In the following seconds, several things happened at once. Jake pulled out his pistol, his face visibly angered as he opened fire, whilst diving to the side for cover. The suited bodyguards revealed their weapons and started firing on the two, and Sherry stood there, dazed as she took in the information, before yelping as she was pushed into cover by Jake.
Just as they got by, the bullets hit the spot where they once were.
"Hold it, hold your fire, those two may still be of use to us!" Simmons ordered.
Sherry was frightened. The man she had seen as a guardian, a surrogate father, a mentor, a friend had betrayed her, and now he was actively trying to capture them. Jake looked into her eyes, and she shallowly breathed "What...what are we gonna do?"
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" he said as he shook his head. He just wasn't used to all this 'thinking and planning' stuff. Charging in head-on was more of his style.
Then, peeking his head out a little, he took aim and fired off a couple of shots. One of the men grunted in pain before falling down just as he was forced back by more gunfire. He panted before taking out his assault rifle, having found some more ammunition for them.
Turning back to Sherry, he said "I really have no idea, so I say we just waste them,"
And with that, before Sherry could protest, he rushed out from cover, firing his rifle into the men. They scrambled for cover, shooting back just as Simmons looked down at him with a smug look on his face. He turned back as he whispered to his men, "Take them out. Non-lethally. You know they can take much more than anybody,"
Just then, a masked( and for whatever reason, shirtless) man leapt down in front of Jake. He glared at him as the J'avo laughed and shouted "I'm gonna gut you alive, Muller, but only after Lady Wong's done with you! Ahahaha!"
He apparently failed to take into account the row of armed men behind him, so he cried out in pain the next moment as he was peppered by far more bullets than he could regenerate, disintegrating from the inside-out. The fact he wasn't wearing any clothes at all other than his pants probably helped him out a lot. Huh, maybe he just wanted to show off his body. His sweaty, glistening, muscular body...
Wait, what in fuck's name was he thinking about?!
The bodyguards then turned their attention to him, but then they seemed to be distracted, deciding to turn around and fire upon an unseen threat behind them. There was a yell of pain, and he saw Simmons stumbling back as he clutched his neck, before pulling out what appeared to be a long dart loaded with something.
Jake didn't miss the opportunity; he reloaded and continued firing on the distracted agents, just as another J'avo leapt down from above, then another, and then another. He glared at the masked men before pulling out a grenade and throwing it, causing one of them to catch the thing in mid-air, before trying to throw it back. He was too late, though, and the thing exploded in his hands, completely destroying him and causing one of his partners to scream as his mangled arm rapidly mutated into a giant praying mantis sickle, whilst the other one was thrown off and smashed against a wall, starting to get to his feet when he suddenly started burning up, moaning in pain as slime consumed his body and he became a Chrysalid.
From behind her cover, Sherry leaned out, completely horrified at the turn of events. Not only was Jake acting brash and bullheaded by running off to fight the agents( and now, the Neo-Umbrella J'avo), but he had also left her behind, as she was too cautious to join him in his extremely risky move. She gunned down another J'avo with her pistol as more of the masked men as they jumped down from above, shouting in Cantonese and pointing to her.
She shot off the mask of another one of them, and he stood there in surprise, his two main eyes, his real eyes, his eyes when he was a human, looked down at his bloodstained hands and he started screaming before his head exploded, a quad of giant dragonfly-like wings sprouting from the stump and causing the body to dangle as he started flying upwards, the hands feeling around what used to be his head in a panicked fashion. Sherry was distracted by the new head-based mutation long enough for another J'avo to grab her from behind.
"JAKE!" she cried out, as the men grappled her and started pulling her away.
Jake looked back as he punched and knocked out another J'avo, seeing as Sherry was taken away. Oh...shit! In his blindness, he had allowed Sherry to get captured...
"SHERRY!" he yelled as he started to make a beeline for her, firing his rifle into the mob.
"Get him! Get him now!" another voice yelled in Cantonese before someone jumped him from behind.
"Ugh, get off me, you-" he said as he shook off the guy, but then another J'avo, the one he punched out earlier, punched him across the face before putting his hands on his mouth just as he said "Remember me, you cunt?!"
Damn, he was getting suffocated! As his vision started to fade, he could only see Sherry, still screaming for him as she was taken away. It was then that he realized he had...completely failed Leon. The man clearly cared for Sherry like a father and, though they didn't off to a great start, he could tell he would have wanted him to protect her. Goddammit...Leon...Sherry...
He made one last futile reach with his hand before he blacked out completely, and Sherry was knocked out with a strike to the face.
The data concerning Jake and the C-Virus was still in her pocket as she was captured.
Hunnigan wiped her forehead of sweat as she leaned back on her chair. She had to admit; she was tired. Burned-out, and not just physically, but mentally too.
Nearly two hours had passed since she lost contact with Leon and Helena. And it wasn't like the signal was jammed, or they had moved into an area with no signals(which was impossible in an economically important city like Lanshiang). It was almost like...the signals just ceased to exist. Like their handhelds were destroyed or something.
And even then, she would have still been able to detect a faint signal, unless they were completely destroyed by fire or electricity. The handheld phones of today weren't just built to be aesthetically pleasing with their holographic designs, but hardy too. It was rare for such a cellphone to be destroyed so easily.
So what could have happened to them? She sighed as she cleared her desk, the empty coffee cups and crumpled sandwich wrappers strewn on them pushed over the edge. She'd barely gotten any sleep ever since two days ago. She was really tired, and she knew she needed a break, however short it may be.
She pushed back her glasses as she continued typing, taking a sip of cold coffee as well. She would not give up until she either rediscovers Leon and Helena, or until she finds out what happened to them. She hoped it was nothing too bad.
She would never give up. Not until she finds her friends.
"DON'T LET HER GET AWAY!"
The damned woman in the blue dress was getting away, and Chris was not happy with his current situation. Right about now, he and Piers were chasing her down the long corridor, after she had trapped them in a room and tried to kill them with pathetic explosive drones. As if it would make any difference. He was going to hunt her down to the ends of the earth, and he was going to kill her.
For his men. Finn. Marco. All of them.
"My, you sure are desperate, aren't you? Got some temper issues?" Ada taunted as she continued running, her red scarf trailing behind her. Chris noticed the junction they were coming up to, and the rectangular design of the walkway.
"Piers! Take the other route! We're cornering her!" he commanded.
"On it Captain!" he heard Piers respond.
Damn, he was getting closer...Ada was getting to the corner, he could see Piers across the other side...
"FREEZE!" he yelled as he drew his rifle, Piers doing the same. Ada was cornered, and she started looking around, apparently looking for a way out.
"Don't even think about it!" Chris snarled, inching closer to the blue-dressed woman, who merely smiled.
"So..you're playing the hero now, aren't you?" she said icily.
"Damn you... Goddamn you, Ada!" he yelled as she pulled out her C-Virus dart gun. Her other hand fished around for something else.
She then pointed the pistol at Piers' direction.
"Any closer and you'll have another man short," she sing-songed, deliberately playing at Chris' fear of losing more men. His grip on the rifle tightened, and he made a subtle signal to Piers.
Though he appeared hesitant, Piers signalled him back and moved in while she was facing Chris, making a quick motion with the intention of disarming her.
With a humanly impossible reaction speed, Ada turned around and fired the pistol, the dart narrowly missing Piers as he weaved to the side, his eyes wide with panic.
"NO!" Chris shrieked before closing in, lifting the butt of his assault rifle to attack- no, bludgeon her to death when Ada threw something small at them.
"Wha-" he started to say before there was a blinding flash of light, and his ears couldn't hear anything other than the constant, whining tinnitus of a flash grenade.
He roared, holding his hands in front of his eyes and seeing the light start fading just as Ada smirked and pulled out her grapple gun.
"No! NO!" he yelled just as the woman pulled herself upwards, a smug look on her face as she disappeared through the open window.
Chris could only stare for a moment before he balled his fists, smashing them into the wall.
"GODDAMMIT!" he yelled in frustration as he removed his fist from the indentation on the wall, furious. He then immediately said "She can't have gone far. Let's move!"
"Captain. Captain!" Piers called. Chris then turned around, and gave Piers a very harsh glare. His subordinate, however, did not appear intimidated in any way, and responded with a glare of his own.
"What?!"
"Please rethink all of this, Captain! You're letting your vengeance cloud your judgement all over again! You have to think of the big picture!"
"Then what?! Are you suggesting I let her go?!"
"No, I'm suggesting you actually do something that will honor your men! Arrest her, Captain! Isn't all of this for justice?!"
"What I am doing is justice!"
"No, this is not justice, this is just your own personal revenge! This is madness!"
"Say again, Piers?!"
"Are you really going to stoop all the way down to their level, Captain? For revenge? Is it what you think Finn would have wanted?!"
Chris glared at him for several seconds, before looking away and commanding, "We've already wasted enough time! Let's move!"
He didn't see Piers glare at him behind his back, but Piers knew that the captain was aware about it.
Chris and Piers ran along the tight corridor, pursuing the woman in blue as she made her own merry way through the aircraft carrier.
Every now and then, Piers glanced aside at Chris. He definitely did not look like he had improved in the least bit, ever since his memories came back to him. As a matter of fact, he almost looked older, even though he was still in his 30s. Though still relatively young, the bags under his eyes told of how old he really was, inside.
And instead of reinvigorating him like he expected, the return of his memories only seemed to only worsen the situation, burying his beloved Captain beneath the lust for vengeance.
His worried looks did not escape Chris' attention. While still moving fast, and without looking directly at him, Chris said, "What is it, Piers?"
Piers swallowed. He could not break here, not now. Opening his mouth, he spoke.
"This is wrong, Captain. This is all wrong and you know it," he said.
"What the hell's wrong, Piers?" Chris responded, still not looking.
"She's a human, Captain."
"So what?"
"She's human. You don't kill those. The Chris Redfield I know wouldn't do that. Not the Chris Redfield all those men followed. The Chris Redfield Finn followed,"
Chris didn't look at him, but Piers knew he was giving him a deathly glare that was telling him to shut up right now.
He ignored it, continuing.
"Death is too good for her, Captain. It's like a mercy to her. Please, just-just put her behind bars. Something she'll hate more than death."
Though Piers didn't know it, Chris did think about the situation in his mind. Some primal part of him wanted Ada dead, whilst his conscious was screaming to take control, to bring her to justice. He didn't know which voice to listen to now.
"Don't do something you'll regret for the rest of your life, Chris. You can't turn your back on justice for something like revenge. What would happen if you killed her, huh? You'll still be angry. Nothing's gonna change. Finn and the others, they're still gonna be dead. It won't change anything, Chris. Just...just remember that," he pleaded.
Chris said nothing. He opened the doors and stepped out, sweeping the open area with his rifle, feeling the strong wind. And then saw it, the blue shape standing at the edge of the observation deck.
"Ada!"
"Still haven't had enough, huh? Even after losing all your men-again?"
Chris and Piers aimed their guns at the woman in blue as she backed down, a confident smile still plastered on her face as she wrapped her scarf over a second time. She was cornered, and unlike last time, had no where else to escape to other than the deep fall behind her.
Sweat trickled down Chris' forehead as he aimed through the sights of the assault rifle at his hated enemy, the visible laser dot pointed at her chest, whilst Piers slowly looked over to Chris. He was becoming very nervous about what was going to happen next, and wondered if all his talk from before was enough to snap his respected Captain out of his revenge-fueled rampage.
"With your track record, I gotta say, I'd hate to be a member of your team, Chris." she taunted, her face twisted into an arrogant sneer.
"Ada..." Chris practically snarled, venom in his voice as he edged closer. Ada merely smiled again as she pulled out her dart pistol, the very same one she used to turn Marco.
"Don't listen to her, Captain!" Piers tried to say as Chris slowly advanced closer, trying to do anything to defuse the ticking situation. "Goddamn you, Ada...Goddamn you, goddamn you!" Chris yelled. Ada seemed to only become happier at his response, judging by the wicked smile that cracked her lips.
"But where are my manners? I mean, really- I should be thanking your men, for being such...good...test subjects."
And with those words, Chris Redfield finally snapped. He aimed the rifle at her hand and fired off a burst.
Ada's face immediately switched from calm and sadistic to that of pain and shock as her right hand was utterly mangled by the assault rifle, the dart pistol flying off as well. And then just as quickly, her face twisted into a feral snarl as she turned to Chris, pure shock still in her eyes, as if she did not expect him to do that.
The time it took for her to switch expressions was also enough for Chris to cross the distance between them, seemingly arriving before her in an instant.
Just because he decided that no, he wasn't going to kill her, did not mean he was going to be gentle. She needed to know just how much he wanted to end her and how Piers really is the only thing keeping him in check right now.
And so, he then grabbed her by the neck. Her eyes strained as they were filled with hatred, glaring into his own eyes, as he increased the pressure on the chokehold.
"I'm not going to kill you, Ada. Ever since Edonia...all I've wanted is to see you dead. But this isn't about vengeance. This is about justice." he said.
He tightened his grip, causing her to struggle in a very uncharacteristic way, as though she was panicked, something he had not seen in her before.
Ada glared wildly between Chris and Piers before suddenly shouting in a very out-of-character manner, "Screw you, Redfield! Screw all you fucking B.S.A.A! Do you think it's all over now? No, you're wrong, you're always wrong! Simmons, his Family, the world they created, they will all still pay for what they did to me! My plans are thriving, they're just beginning! I am A...Ada W-ong" she stuttered, as if she was being forced against her will to speak the name, "...and I will have my-"
She did not finish her sentence. Chris had roughly let go of her, pushing her back.
"But just because this is for justice, doesn't mean I'm gonna be nice," he said the latter six words very quietly. Very, very quietly. The dangerous kind of quiet voice.
She was forced back a step by Chris' rough push.
Standing right at the edge of the platform, she glared at them one more time they suddenly changed. Her feet were only halfway on the deck, and she started to fall over the side. Off-balance, her eyes turned wide with shock as she toppled backwards over the edge of the deck, losing her footing.
Chris' eyes similarly filled with surprise as he reached out, realizing his shove was harder than he intended.
"NO!" he yelled as he grabbed the red scarf instead, having missed her hand, and collapsing to the ground. There was a sudden tug as he struggled to hold on, the red scarf straining as he felt Ada hanging around in mid-air. "Captain!" Piers yelled, as he pulled Chris over. Chris looked over the edge to see that Ada's face seemed to be turning blue, thrashing and flailing about as she tried to undo the scarf, as if she was instinctively trying to scream for breath but could not. Streaks of blood flowed down her blue dress as she grasped her scarf with her bloodied, mangled hand.
She was choking to death.
"Hang on!" he cried as he started to pull, but it was clear on whose side the battle was; Ada's struggling was becoming more frantic and clearly painful as she slowly suffocated, while it wasn't immediately clear if they could pull her up by the scarf alone. The scarf itself was visibly starting to tear, being unable to support her weight for too long. He couldn't imagine the pain of the strangulation she was going through.
And yet as the two B.S.A.A soldiers heaved and pulled together again, Chris couldn't help but notice how Ada's eyes had opened, and despite all the things she had done, the eyes were not filled with malice, but the haunting look of sheer, unwavering fear and suffering as she stared into Chris' own eyes. Her hands weakly reached up for him, as though she was reaching to him for help, even as the struggling started to become slower, weakening.
Then, it fell down to her side, hanging limply. Chris stared at Ada, his mouth agape with shock as he took in the motionless, dangling body.
Ada Wong was dead.
And he...he had killed her. He had taken a life, and not only was it not in self-defense, but in the slowest, most painful way to take a life possible.
As his hands became numb with shock, his grip slackened. The scarf slipped from his fingers, and he could only state as the swaying body fell, landing hard on the deck below. Blood started to pool around the body, whose eyes were still open and stuck in the last expression of complete, utter fear she had in life.
A helicopter suddenly appeared, it's searchlight focused on the body for a moment before it left, as quick as it came. But they paid no attention to it.
Behind him, Piers balled his fists and punched the concrete, silently swearing. It was then that HQ suddenly contacted them.
Chris could not make out much of the radio messages, only a few words. "Missiles, launching, aiming for Tatchi, get the hell to it!" among other things.
He could not even really think that clearly even as Piers had to physically pull him away from the edge.
This wasn't the first time Chris had killed someone. It was the first time he did it without any provocation whatsoever, the first time his victim suffered so much before death, the first time he felt no contempt, but pure guilt for it.
It was a death he would be haunted by for a long time.
Fun fact: Sherry is actually older than Piers, Helena, and Jake...Yea. Special thanks to Mazzie May for helping me out aplenty! The slowness of suffocation and imperfect hanging was researched to make the chapter climax as horrific as possible :(