Chapter 9

-Diplomatic Approach-

Chris waited for his death to finally come and claim him but it never happened. Instead a young woman approached the two at a run and slammed her boot into the side of Wesker's head, sending him away from him. A hand reached down to help him to his feet and he found himself face to face with his partner.

"Sheva!" he exclaimed in grateful surprise.

"Looks like I got here just in time, partner." Sheva said to him with a smile.

The two turned to face Wesker, who was glaring at the BSAA agents with deadly force. Realizing she needed to tell Chris something, she looked back at him.

"Chris, I have a way that may stop him but someone needs to restrain him."

Sylar was attacking Wesker now and the tyrant moved swiftly around the room, avoiding the electricity shooting from the other man's hands. Meanwhile Chris was still listening to Sheva's plan.

"So this is what Wesker needs to remain stable?" he asked, staring at the syringe in his open palm.

"Right, the only chance we have is to cause him to go into overdrive. It should act as a poison to him according to the documents I found." Sheva explained.

Chris enclosed the syringe in his hand and nodded to Sheva. "Okay then, I'll hold him and you inject him with this."

He handed the syringe back to Sheva and hurried over to the others to inform them of Sheva's plan. Chris had barely finished explaining the idea when Sylar flew backwards and hit the ground hard. Wesker front-flipped forward and landed neatly on his feet. His attention was now turned on Peter and Nathan, who suddenly were flying through the room, landing on the balcony.

"Interesting..." Wesker murmured.

Claire tossed her body against him again and with great annoyance he threw her off. She fell to the ground, the breath knocked out of her as Matt shouted for Wesker to look at him. Wesker started to turn towards Matt but then Chris was wrapping his arms around him from behind. The tyrant growled in annoyance as the younger man attempted to pin Wesker's arms to his sides.

Chris was losing his grip fast against the other man's incredible strength but a moment was all they had needed. Sheva ran forward and plunged the syringe into Wesker's chest, injecting the fluid. Once the liquid was injected, Chris released him and went to stand next to Sheva to see if it worked. Nathan and Peter flew back over to the others and the rest of the heroes gathered, once again a group.

Injected with the extra dose, Wesker staggered back as he grunted in pain. He fell forward onto his knees and bent over in pain. The tyrant ripped the syringe out of his chest.

"Did it work?" Sheva asked, watching Wesker.

"I think so." Chris said, not sounding as sure as he wanted to be.

Wesker got to his feet but it was clear the virus was definitely messing with him as he stumbled. The black-clad man clutched his head and started screaming in agony. The noise was inhuman and horrible, sounding more like a wounded animal than a man as he fell back onto his knees from the pain. He lifted his head to glare furiously at them and since he wore no sunglasses, they could see his glowing red irises as he practically snarled at the group. Chris stood in front of him and watched the taller man warily.

"What have you done?!" came a girl's voice that Chris recognized as belonging to Eva.

He glanced up and there she was, standing on the balcony. Without bothering to take the stairs, she vaulted over the railing and landed on the floor below. Eva ran to Wesker and knelt in front of the man. Placing her hands on either side of his face, she stared into his eyes with frightened worry.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" she asked him, her tone one of deep concern for his well being.

"Eva? What are you doing? You know Wesker?!" Chris asked her, his eyes wide in confused shock.

Breathing heavily, Wesker moved his eyes from Eva to Chris and then back to Eva.

"So Chris and his friends have been the ones you keep running off to see..." Wesker said to her.

"Eva, what's going on? How do you know him?" Chris demanded, starting to get angry.

Wesker brushed Eva's hands away from him and struggled to his feet.

"Let's finish this," he said to Chris.

"Don't be stupid." Eva said.

When he tried to take a step forward she placed a hand on his chest gently. "Don't."

Surprisingly, Wesker paused and stared down at the girl with green eyes.

"This is what you wish?" he asked her.

"It is." Eva replied.

She turned her eyes to Chris, who was staring at her along with the others.

"Eva, how do you know Wesker?" Chris asked her again.

Eva didn't seem too happy about the situation. She hadn't wanted it to come out like this.

"Because he's my dad."

"Better close that mouth before I put my boot in it, Chris." Wesker snapped, referring to the BSAA soldier's gawking stare as he looked at the two of them.

"Wesker, you have a daughter?!" Chris exclaimed incredulously.

"Is it really so hard to believe, Chris? I was human once upon a time."

It all dawned on Chris then. "That's why I thought I recognized you! You answered your phone just like he does and you never show your emotions just like him! Heck you even dress the same and make similar expressions when you talk. I can't believe I didn't realize sooner! I knew I had heard some of your comments before. That's because I heard Wesker say the same things!"

"Congratulations, Chris. I'm glad you have half a brain." Wesker retorted bitterly.

He tried to take a step but ended up stopping immediately, wincing in pain as he clutched his side.

"Dad!"

Eva wrapped her arms around him and Wesker leaned heavily on her. She turned her gaze to Chris, tears threatening to emerge from her usually calm demeanor.

"What have I told you about calling me that?" Wesker muttered, sounding irritated.

She ignored him and instead checked him over worriedly. "What did you do to him?"

"They just gave me another dose, Eva. I'll be fine once my body adjusts to it." Wesker informed her.

"But those doses are supposed to be precise! Are you sure your body will be able to adjust? What if it doesn't? Dad, maybe-"

Wesker chuckled, causing Eva to stop talking. He smiled at her and it was the first time Chris had seen the man smile without the menace attached to it in a very long time.

"Don't worry about me. I can't die that easily."

He wiped away a tear that had started to trail down her cheek. Embarrassed to be crying in front of him, she wiped the tears from her eyes and regained her usual calm composure.

"Good. Cause you remember your promise, right?" Eva asked him.

Wesker shook his head. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

She stared long and hard at him and then a smile broke out across her face.

"You jerk!" she said with a laugh and playfully punched his stomach, being careful so that it barely touched him. "Don't pretend!"

A smile crept across Wesker's face. "Of course I won't forget. I did promise, didn't I?"

"Yep." Eva said, still smiling.

Chris was stunned speechless. He could see the obvious affection and love these two held for each other and he couldn't believe it. Wesker was a monster and incapable of love. It was what he had convinced himself of over the years to make it easier for him to hunt the man. He had always told himself that Wesker's humanity was gone and only a hollowed shell of the man he had once known was left. But here before him now, all those beliefs meant nothing because he could see human emotions in Wesker's eyes right there and then. And hadn't Wesker said he was saving the world through Uroboros? Perhaps the man really did believe he was somehow doing the right thing through his actions. It just didn't seem feasible. Chris began to get frustrated at being constantly confused about what was going on around this strange place.

"Eva, why didn't you tell us Wesker was your dad?! You lied to us about your name!" Chris accused.

Eva's smile faded and she looked back at Chris calmly. "I told you my name was Eva Jane. You didn't ask whether Jane was my middle or last name."

Chris grumbled to himself about how that wasn't the point and then seemed to remember why they were all there. Retrieving Wesker's gun, he pointed it at the man.

"Now where's Uroboros? I won't let you kill billions just so you can have your so called perfect world."

Sheva followed her partner's lead, also aiming her weapon at Wesker. Eva protectively moved to stand in front of her dad, arms spread out as if to block them from him.

"No! You're supposed to help him!"

Chris and the others with him weren't the only ones gaping at her in stunned puzzlement.

At Eva's words, Wesker raised an eyebrow at her inquisitively. "Beg your pardon?"

Eva ignored her father, focusing on Chris. "Wesker is only doing this because he doesn't think he has any other choice. He thinks he's a monster and so he has to act like one but he really isn't! He's sweet and kind... He's a good man."

Chris stared at her as if she had lost her mind. "Good? He's a monster! Wesker kills without remorse! He's trying to spread a virus that will murder billions of innocent people!"

"The experimental virus changed him. His sensitivity has decreased exponentially, which causes him to have trouble distinguishing between what is morally acceptable and what isn't. The virus made him that way." Eva explained to them.

"Simply ridiculous." Wesker interceded. "Do not defend the unspeakable actions I have committed. I was fully aware of the choices I made and I do not regret them."

"See!" she exclaimed. "The fact that he knows they were unspeakable acts proves he still retains his humanity despite the virus!"

"Eva..." Wesker began.

Eva continued to defend her father regardless of his reluctance for her to do so. "Wesker may have done terrible things but he also did good things. He destroyed Umbrella's research data which was the key to destroying that evil corporation and exposed himself to testify against them."

"Umbrella's erased data..that was you..." Chris uttered out loud.

He was genuinely shocked by this revelation and wasn't sure how to feel any more. Without the data being destroyed, Umbrella never would have fallen so quickly.

"And can any of you tell me that you've never done anything bad? Huh?" Eva continued.

Chris held up a hand for her to stop. "Look, what are you getting at?"

"Help him. Tell him to stop his plans for spreading Uroboros across the globe."

The BSAA agent gawked at her as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Yeah, if only it were that easy!"

Wesker bent to retrieve his sunglasses from the floor and put them back on. He turned and fixed his gaze onto Chris with a very calm and collected disposition.

"Well now, Chris. Why don't you try a diplomatic approach? It couldn't hurt."

Chris searched Wesker's face, trying to see what the man was thinking, but it was impossible. Even without the sunglasses, that man had always been a difficult person to read.

"Wesker, I don't want to play your games." Chris informed the older man, a flicker of annoyance crossing his features.

Red eyes flashed from behind Wesker's dark shades as his eyes bore into Chris's own brown ones.

"Just ask, Redfield."

The use of his last name caught Chris's attention. Hesitantly, he blinked at Wesker and lowered the gun slightly.

"Okay... I would certainly appreciate you not slaughtering billions so you can continue walking about like the pompous asshole you are."

A disapproving growl sounded audibly from Wesker. "Without the sarcasm, Chris."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. Could you not spread Uroboros around the world, thereby infecting and killing innocent people?"

Wesker and Chris stared at each other and after a very long moment, the tyrant spoke. "Very well."

Chris nearly choked on his own surprised reaction. "What?!"

Before he could react, Wesker had closed the distance between them. He pulled the BSAA agent closer so that he could lean down and whisper in his ear. "I do this for Eva, not you. Understand?"

His nemesis released Chris's shirt and he stared at the tyrant. "Uh, yeah..I..guess?"

Wesker smiled. "Good boy."

The hateful glare returned to Chris's face. "But there's nothing you say that I can believe. I can't trust you."

Chris wanted it to be clear that he didn't fully believe Wesker was just going to up and change. Why would the tyrant do such a thing? For his daughter? He didn't know the full extent of their relationship but he didn't trust Wesker to be one capable of unconditional love, even for his own daughter.

The taller man tilted his head to the side slightly, placing a hand to his chest where the needle had stabbed him with slight discomfort.

"No..." Wesker said. "You cannot."

This comment did the complete opposite of calming his nerves. Though the next words out of the tyrant's mouth were definitely closer to settling him.

"The crates over by the door you came in contain ammo. You should find any kind of ammunition you need for the guns you have, in there," he told them.

Sheva went to investigate, along with Noah and Danko who also had guns, while Chris stayed where he was to keep an eye on Wesker in case he tried anything. He overheard Sheva asking the others about the powers she had seen them display but he returned his attention back to Wesker when the other man spoke to him.

"My gun?" Wesker asked, extending a gloved hand outward.

Chris hesitated but handed the gun over anyways. If Wesker really wanted to kill him, he had no doubts that Wesker could take the gun away at any moment and shoot him. The BSAA agent wanted to believe he could hold his own in a fight with Wesker but when said opponent had superhuman abilities, it kind of ruined any hope of that ever happening. Upon receiving his gun, Wesker holstered it and inclined his head towards his daughter when she started to speak, visibly listening.

"Now Chris, before I tried to tell you. My father, er... I mean Wesker, thinks he saw old friends of yours."