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Chapter 12: One has Friends in Low Places

"It says… Corinthia," Chris reported. "I don't get it."

Alice quirked a brow at Chris's words. Clearly this wasn't the ship that they were looking for, but it seemed everything was set up to be waiting for them. "There's only one way to figure out what's going on here," she pointed out. "We need to get on that ship."

"And you don't think this is a trap?" Chris questioned. "I mean, there's no reason they'd want me, but you… I think I deserve to know what's going on here. Claire didn't tell me shit about you, but I can't help but think this is somehow you're fault," he accused.

Alice brushed the accusation off with a shrug. "It probably is." The admission came out like it was nothing as she moved toward the boat.

Honestly, she'd be surprised if it wasn't a trap. Everything that had happened since the prison had 'trap' written all over it. She didn't want to sidestep around it and try to find a better way because frankly there was no other way. Just making the attempt would waste valuable time.

"I suggest if you want to save your sister, you come on," she told Chris.

The man gave a heavy sigh. He would have nothing without Alice. No leads to follow; no clues in the right direction. Not to mention he could certainly use her abilities, the known ones and the unknown.

He boarded the small craft behind Alice, mumbling to himself as he went at the thought of approaching the ship, "Probably be shot on sight…"

The blonde picked up on Chris's words. "Then we'll make sure to shoot them first," she said.

Putting her bag aside, Alice went over and fired up the boat's engine and took the wheel. She directed the craft out toward the ship, calm and steady despite the threat of danger they were heading straight into.

Chris rolled his shoulders, trying to release some of the tension of not getting any sleep from the night before. It wouldn't be long before they pulled up to the ship… if they even got that far, so Chris began arming himself as well has he could. He pocketed a couple of grenades, reloaded his pistol, and selected a high-quality assault rifle. It was game-time.

The minutes leading up to their arrival were spent in silence. Alice pulled them up next to the access ladder on the port side of the Corinthia - this ship was smaller than its counterpart, which was hopefully a good thing.Before boarding the large ship, she gathered as many weapons as she could.

Once they were ready, Chris led the way up the access ladder. What waited for them on deck was not something that he wanted to see - there were a lot of people waiting for them. In a long line of soldiers, stood a beautiful, blonde woman. She was dressed in tight leather, but it wasn't nearly distracting as the area that was uncovered. Settled atop her cleavage was a large red device. Her helmeted companions were heavily armored and armed. Chris counted 24 men to her right and 23 to her left; all in all, they were facing 48 enemies.

Alice came up behind Chris, taking a quick head count like he did. Her attention settled on the blonde in the middle of the line. "Jill... what an unpleasant surprise. Switched sides, did you?"

The woman offered her a malicious grin. "Project Alice, we knew you'd show up. Always so predictable." She glanced to the men at her left, then to her right. "Capture them, and remember - we need them alive."

Without hesitation, the men moved forward. Some brought up their guns, others had steel batons to try and beat the two down. "I knew this was a trap," Chris muttered.

"Aim just below the helmet, there's an opening in their armor," Alice advised.

"Yeah, I know that," he informed her before bringing up his assault rifle. To avoid being shot himself, he took down six of the soldiers that were taking aim at him.

Alice avoided a barrage of bullets - the soldiers weren't as cautious about shooting at her as they were with Chris. Three soldiers made the mistake of getting within arm's reach. She unsheathed her kukri blades and took the men apart. Without missing a beat, she threw the blade from her right hand only to have it go straight through another soldier's helmet and embed itself in his skull.

Jill stayed back and watched the fight unfold in front of her. She'd wait until the right moment to get involved herself.

Chris took down six more guys with the assault rifle before switching off to his pistol. The grenades weren't an ideal weapon in such close combat, but when they were so outnumbered, there wasn't much of a choice. He pulled one from his pocket, yanking the pin and tossing it into the thickest part of their foes. He wasn't exactly sure where Alice was in all of this, but he figured she'd be out of range - or she could get out of range in time. The blast rocked the deck of the ship, sending nearly a dozen soldiers in every direction - Alice wasn't among them, thankfully.

A couple of soldiers flanked him, forcing him into hand to hand combat. He ducked under a punch coming from his right and turned to fire off a shot point-blank at the man coming up to his left. The shot was no good, hitting him squarely in his bulletproof vest, but it was enough to slow him down temporarily. That allowed Chris to focus on catching an incoming kick from the soldier at his right. The block was successful and with a firm grip to the soldier's leg, he brought his own knee up to impact with the other man's. There was a sickening crack and the man howled in pain before dropping to the deck.

The soldier that had been attacking from the left fully recovered and renewed his attack on Chris. He had a baton in hand this time and swung it around at the former S.T.A.R.S. member. Chris sidestepped to miss the attack, bringing his foot up to plant in the other man's gut. What he wasn't expecting was an arm to wrap around his neck from behind and a fist to land in his side several times. Each impact hurt more than the last and he wrestled to get out of the person's grip. It took a few moments, but he managed to free himself, turning to face his attacker - it was the blonde woman. She was a lot stronger than he would have guessed.

Alice was still fighting Umbrella soldiers - a blade in one hand and a pistol in the other. Their numbers were quickly starting to dwindle away. Considering the company they worked for, she was actually slightly surprised that they were going down so quickly - she expected them to be trained better. That wasn't really her concern at the moment, she'd ponder it later if it was necessary. Right now, these men were in her path to Claire, so they needed to be dealt with in a timely manner.

Chris ducked under another attack from Jill and was forced to duck again fairly quickly. For her size, she was much faster and much stronger than he thought she should have been. When she swung at him again, he took advantage of the opening and grabbed her arm, yanking it around her back. When she tried to bring her other arm up, he grabbed it before she could do any damage and pinned it behind her back as well. She was incredibly hard to contain, and he really didn't know how long he could hold her.

Alice dropped the last two soldiers - impaling one with her blade while turning to shoot the man charging her. Once they were on the ground, she glanced over to Chris, finding that he was struggling to keep a hold of Jill. Her attention focused in on a glowing red device on Jill's chest - that had to have something to do with the woman's change in allegiance. Without a second thought, Alice brought up her pistol, aimed, and fired.

Chris felt the impact of the shot through the woman he was holding, but considering she was still struggling, he knew it wasn't fatal.

Alice quickly approached the two. She had shot the scarab-like device that was on Jill's chest. Once she was close enough she reached forward and grabbed it, giving it a firm pull. Even with her super-strength and damage done to the device, it didn't come off easily. A handful of tense seconds passed by before the scarab was ripped free. Almost immediately, Jill collapsed, completely still on the ground for several moments.

"That was…" Chris panted once, out of breath, before finishing, "intense." He looked at the woman seemingly passed out on the deck; then glanced at Alice. "Do you know her?"

The blonde let out a groan as she slowly pushed herself up from the ground. Alice pointed her gun at the other woman once more, just to be on the safe side. "Yeah, we know each other," she answered.

Jill glanced up toward Alice. "Shoot me, and you're never going to find what - or who- you came after."

Alice didn't lower the weapon. "I'll find what I'm after regardless," she said.

Jill shook her head a couple of times. "I'm the only way either of you is going to make it onto the Arcadia alive." She paused a moment before adding, "That's where Claire is, and you're not getting there by yourselves."

"What do we have to do?" Chris asked.

Jill stood up fully, brushing herself off. "You're going to have to cooperate."

Alice had yet to lower her pistol. "And why should we trust you? A few minutes ago, you were trying to kill us," she pointed out.

"Not kill, capture," the blonde woman corrected. "Wesker wants the both of you - alive. He knew you'd be drawn to your friends, Alice. That's why he left this ship here while the Arcadia kept sailing. I'm meant to capture you and take you to him."

Chris saw this as an opportunity to finally get some answers. "What does Umbrella want with Alice?"

"There isn't time for questions," Jill shook her head. "Right now, you two need to make a decision - a quick one. You can either try and go in guns blazing and die, or you can go in the smart way. I can help you get onto the Arcadia."

"No," Alice said almost immediately. "I'll kill everyone on that ship if I have to."

"You never change," Jill almost chastised her. "If you go that way, you'll be killing yourself, innocent people, and Claire too. That scarab they planted on me? They take control, and that's exactly what they did to Claire."

"And why should we trust you?" Alice demanded. "You were just working for Umbrella, this could all be part of the trap."

"You should know a thing or two about Umbrella taking control," Jill snapped back. "That device drugs people; you can't control your actions. You have to obey every command given."

Alice didn't like this one bit. If Jill was telling the truth and Claire really had one of those things on her, a rescue was going to be difficult. She still didn't know whether or not to trust the woman, considering she'd been under the employ of Umbrella lately.

Jill didn't seem to want to wait around forever. "If I don't report back soon, this place is going to be swarming with more Umbrella soldiers. More than even you can handle, Alice. You can either trust me to get you onto that ship and save lives, or you can really get captured and be handed over to Wesker on a silver platter - and not save anyone."

After a moment of contemplation, Alice finally lowered her pistol. "If this is part of the set-up, I'm going to kill you." When it came down to it, if rescuing Claire meant trusting Jill, she'd do it - even if she didn't like it.

Chris huffed, "I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm gonna let some woman I don't even know lock me up. I only just broke out of prison…" Claire would hear about this when they got her back, and then she wouldn't hear the end of it. But if he was going to lose his freedom again, at least he was giving it to a woman real easy on the eyes.

"You won't be locked up for long," Jill informed Chris. She glanced back over to Alice briefly. "But you... are going to have to pretend to be unconscious."

"What?" Alice questioned.

"We were supposed to hit you with tranquilizers... keep you docile and incapacitated until we get to the Arcadia," Jill explained with a grin. "So you need to be convincingly unconscious."

Inside, Alice was fuming. It was bad enough she was practically handing herself over to Umbrella. But to be incapacitated - or at least, pretending to be in this case - was not going to make things easy. If she had to stay that way all the way onto the other ship, she wouldn't be able to get her bearings right away.

"If you don't think you can pull it off, Alice…" Chris smirked, readjusting his grip on the pistol in his hand at the same time. "I'd be happy to take care of that for you."

"I can handle it," Alice replied, just barely civil about it.

"I hope you're sure about that." Chris became serious. "Because if you can't…it could cost Claire her life."

"I know what's at stake," Alice told him.

"Alice, on the ground - be convincing about it," Jill advised, grabbing the coat off of a fallen soldier. She put it on to cover up the fact that the scarab was no longer attached to her and pulled a radio from the pocket. "Chris, you're going to need to be restrained... we'll have a few minutes between now and the arrival of backup." After that, she spoke into the radio. "Project Alice has been incapacitated, Chris Redfield has been captured. I require reinforcements to bring them in."

Chris prepared himself for the restraints by placing his wrists behind his back, and Jill obliged him by putting him in zip ties.

"On the ground," Jill told him after she secured his hands. She stepped away for a moment, picking up the discarded scarab and tossing it overboard before grabbing a gun. Once she made sure Alice was on the ground and convincing in her act, Jill returned to where Chris was to wait for more Umbrella soldiers to show up.

When the osprey came into sight, she placed the barrel of her gun at the base of Chris's neck, so it looked like she really was holding him captive. The Umbrella chopper came in swiftly and landed on deck, a dozen more soldiers charging out of it. Most of them went to Alice, picking up her limp form and dragging her below deck. There was a holding cell waiting just for her - one where they could put her in heavy restraints so that she wouldn't get loose.

Only a few stayed behind with Jill and Chris. "Set us on course to the Arcadia," she instructed them. "I want us back to the ship as quickly as possible." The men nodded and set off to the bridge.

Once they were out of earshot, Jill pulled Chris up by his shirt and directed him below deck. There was a place they could hold him as well. "I'll rendezvous with you and Alice on the Arcadia. Stay quiet and don't cause any trouble."

Jill nearly blushed when Chris gave her a charmed smile at the mention of trouble. After making sure he was secured, she went to the room they were now holding Alice in.

When the soldiers had left her, Alice didn't bother trying to pretend to be unconscious. There were no cameras or people around, and she'd hear anyone coming. Briefly she wondered if this was the right decision. She was positive she could have gone in guns blazing without a problem, killed everyone on board the Arcadia, and saved Claire. But they would be expecting that and she couldn't risk the redhead's safety - especially now that she learned Claire was under Umbrella's control.

She'd do anything to save Claire, even risk handing herself over without a fight.

There were a few footsteps outside the door, but she recognized the person's gait. Jill stepped inside the room without announcing herself first. "Wesker is going to expect you to just be coming to when we get to the Arcadia. The effects of the drugs would still have you groggy, slightly out of it. Think you can handle the act?"

"I'll be fine," Alice answered. "What you said about Claire... They really put a bug on her?" When the other woman nodded in answer, she spoke again. "Are you aware of what you're doing?"

"Completely aware, but you have no control over your actions," Jill answered bluntly. "And before it's over, he's probably going to make you fight her. So when she tries to kill you... it's nothing personal."


"Obedience breeds discipline, discipline breeds unity, unity breeds power, power is life."

"Say it again, Claire," Wesker deadpanned.

Claire did everything she could in her mind to resist the order. In the time she'd been with Wesker, she began to understand the kind of affect the scarab had on her. Small commands, simple ones, she could stall for longer. It had taken hours to get to this point – the point where she could stare down her captor and refuse his wishes for a few moments.

A deeply amused laugh erupted from Wesker's throat. "Fight it all you want. Any second now – it won't matter."

Claire really thought she was making progress, but then she felt a change. Her body temperature warmed the slightest bit where the bug rested on her chest. She was being re-injected with the drug.

The words poured from Claire's lips, and with it, another piece of her spirit. "Obedience breeds discipline, discipline breeds unity, unity breeds power, power is life."

"The sooner you learn this lesson, the easier for you it will be." Wesker began to pace in the white hall, his coat swaying lightly behind him. "You're part of my plans, Claire. Like Alice, except a little more permanent."

At the mention of Alice, the redhead was taken over by dread. Wesker removed his sunglasses with his back towards Claire; then turned and met her eyes. His eyes glowing as scarlet as the device on her chest, Wesker brought his hand up to Claire's face. She had no words to explain the look in the devil's eyes, but he brushed his fingers across her bare cheek with more tenderness than she would have though him capable of.

The nausea at the touch was nothing compared to the sickness in her stomach when suddenly a message played onto a large screen directly behind her captor.

"Jill reporting. I have brought Project Alice and associate: Chris Redfield. Permission to come aboard, sir?"

Without turning, Wesker replaced his sunglasses and said with a smile, "Permission granted."


Reader: Are they thinking what I'm thinking?

Writers: If you're thinking of a girl fight between Alice and Claire…

THEN FUCK YEAH!

(please hold your applause until after the fight, but feel free to review the chapter in the meantime)