Twenty Eight

July 27th, 1981.

Alexia Ashford, the Ashford's family newest addition to their legacy and a certified child-prodigy due to the genetic experimentation that her father performed to create, graduates from a prestigious university in Great Britain with full qualifications and top grades in each of her science degrees. Umbrella's many divisions race to hire her to work for one of them in order to suprass the others in the competition between them for who can create the greater B.O.Ws. Alexander, refusing to let any of Spencer's men have control over her, requests to the board that she performs her own experiments under his supervision at the Antartic facility, promising that she would update them fully on the progress of her work.

They agree and soon Alexia is working at the Antartic laboratories, with the unwanted supervision of her father and the appreciated devotion from her twin brother, Alfred, the future heir of the family. And in the years to come, Alexia would discover a virus that had laid dormant for centuries in the genes of queen ants and would work on this to create what is now known as the T-Veronica Virus...

Later in the evening on that same day, in the laboratories underneath the Spencer Estate.

Albert Wesker typed up his weekly reports in his office, making sure that he included every aspect of his work in the report and that he had put enough detail in it to satisfy the board. Once he had finished it, he saved it to a floppy disk and put it inside a plain brown envelope, shutting down the computer and left to hand it to the Computer Technicians for them to send off. All reports, for some reason Wesker had yet to determine, had to be sent by the Communications Network in the computer system.

The report showed everything that they had accomplished thus far in the project and what they now needed from the board in order to keep it running smoothly. What the board would learn from that report would certainly have them pleased to no end, especially for Umbrella's USA division when they realized that they were now ahead of them with this new creation.

Which is rather idiotic. They should be mainly focused on keeping Umbrella the head of biological weaponry development, instead of competing with each other to get the most praise for their work.

Wesker resisted to roll his eyes in irritation at that thought, knowing full well it was true. As Umbrella was a mega-national corporation in the business of bio-weaponry development and was currently the biggest in the field of work, they should really all be aspiring to focus on the big picture; staying at the top of their field. Biological warfare was a major issue amongst huge corporations because it was a chance to use their money and power on researching a different angle to war itself. This was so important because war offered new customers, profits and opportunities to gain access to new projects under development as every country, large or small, wanted something that provided them with a great advantage over their enemies and were willing to barter with anything for such an edge. Thus, the T-Virus could provide such an edge.

And as such, most large corporations focused on such endeavours to gain these factors all to themselves, depending on how powerful they were in the field and how much of a reputation they had; which is why it was important that Umbrella should mainly focus on creating more powerful viruses and formidable B.O.Ws so that it was still the best. But the corporation's divisions weren't interested in keeping the corporation itself, but rather keeping each other more in praise and respect in Spencer's eyes.

The higher-ups weren't concerned with the corporation, but with their own petty and sordid empires. Since Spencer had complete control and authority over Umbrella,a doculd decide the course of their lives with the snap of his fingers, no one was aspiring to take power from him, knowing full well what consequences would occur for such a goal. But what they were really trying to do was to be the one that Spencer saw as most promising and would gain complete control over everything he owned upon his death.

To put it simply, Umbrella was a family of greedy and spoilt chidren attempting to gain the most favour from a dying parent to gain the bigger sum of the inheritance.

And it's not just the divisions themselves. The individual scientists working under them are exactly the same, motivated by rivalries between each other for the acquisition of the better results.

Wesker scowled briefly in irritance at that thought, knowing full well that a prime example of this was inside the Arklay facility itself.

"I told you yesterday!!!" Wesker heard Birkin bellow from the main lab that he was walking towards.

"B-b-b-but sir, I was just-" some stammered, obviously terrified of Birkin's temper onslaught.

"Don't give me any excuses!!! You are being paid to give excuses, you are paid to do what I instruct you to do!!" Birkin yelled, interrupting the terrified assistant.

Wesker stood outside, patiently waiting for the conversation to end and hoped that, for the assistant's sake, nothing taboo was mentioned.

But unfortunately, something was. "If only Alexia Ashford were here, then maybe the project would go more smoothly than usual," the assistant said, clearly filled with awe and idolism for the Ashford girl.

Wesker grimaced, knowing full well that Birkin would certainly explode into a temper tantrum for saying that. Ever since Alexia Ashford had started working for Umbrella, Birkin had started to act more immature, becoming increasingly jealous of her, slaving day and night to create new and wondrous things, to restore his ego and praise in the eyes of Spencer, which was costing them a lot of specimens and B.O.Ws.

The reason was because of Birkin's original sort-of non-displayable award of being the youngest person to be accepted into Umbrella, to work on the Progenitor and to 'create' the T-Virus, all at the age of fifteen. No one, besides Spencer and Wesker, saw that Birkin wore that achievement with a lot of pride and egotistical arrogance, always seeming to enjoy the praise and congratulations from his co-workers yet never showed it on his expression. He enjoyed the fact that he had earned so much recognition from everyone in the corporation and took great pride in being respected by so many people for his genius.

But ever since Alexia Ashford arrived on the scene, all the attention immediately shifted to praise and admire her for her genius and youth, as she was only 10 years old, shattering Birkin's award. Wesker could understand why the praise and attention of all the employees, even the scientists at the Arklay laboratories, had gone to her, as her grandfather Edward Ashford had founded Umbrella along with the late James Marcus and Lord Spencer, and had also been a certifiable genius in his time. In addition, there was the point that the Ashford was considered to be one of the first and finest aristocratic families to be on the planet, making them greatly admired by everyone who knew their name.

However, since the death of Edward Ashford, the family's name had fallen into disarray and became overshadowed by others, thus the world was now forgetting and forsaking the Ashford name. And now Edward's son, Alexander, was working with his prodigal daughter in the Antartic base that he had set up 12 years ago, so that she could without any outside influence.Hence why Wesker grew weary of the continual praise for the Ashford girl that the scientists under his management voiced out loud, judging her intellect and potential only on her heritage and blood because nothing good would come out from her employment and work, no matter how much of a genius she was. Ever since the Antartic facility had been constructed, they had never yielded any worthwhile results over there and, even with Alexia there, Wesker doubted they would uncover anything useful.

But Birkin certainly didn't see it that way. He was now working harder than ever to earn back what he believed was his, repeating disorganised experiments one after the other, working at such a faster pace that no one could keep up with him and thus his work began to suffer. They had lost several specimens through Birkin's now envious attitude, his faster work pace and the lack of resources to keep the specimens alive, since Wesker and the other staff could not keep up with him.

Wesker saw a similarity between Birkin and their former mentor, the obsession to keep what they thought was theirs, but if the work was to make any further progress, he needed to get a grip on reality and focus. Otherwise, they would both have a permanent reunion with Marcus in a shallow, uunmarked grave somewhere in a wasteland.

"What did you say?" Birkin asked, his voice taking on a darker tone.

"Nothing, sir. Just voicing an opinion," the assistant replied.

"Are you judging me?" Birkin questioned.

"But sir, I was only-" the assistant tried to explain.

"I DON'T NEED YOUR JUDGEMENT!!! I DON'T NEED YOUR OPINIONS!!! I EXPLAINED WHAT I NEED FROM YOU AND SO FAR, RECEIVED NOTHING!!!" Birkin yelled at the top of his voice.

"S-s...s...sir, I am just-"

"Leaving! You are relieved of your post and reassigned to the lower labs, effective immediately. So leave!" Birkin ordered.

The assistant walked past Wesker, looking positively petrified, and headed towards the elevator to floor B3. Wesker stepped inside to see Birkin hunched over his desk, taking in deep ragged breaths and his white hands clenched on the table for dear life.

"Trouble with the staff?" Wesker asked sarcastically.

Birkin spun around, his face still red with anger. He had developed bags under his eyes and his hair was unkempt, sticking up in several places and looked in desperate need of trim.

He pointed an accusing finger at him. "Don't you start Wesker. I don't need it now," he snarled.

Wesker walked over to him, his expression impassive, and leaned against the wall next to his desk.

"I beg your pardon," he apologised, trying to get Birkin to calm down so that they could get on with their work unhindered.

He looked up at the large stasis tanks that stood in the centre of the room in two groups of six with a small walkway in between. Out of all twelve, only one held a fully complete B.O.W from their current project on gene combination.

"How did this turn out?" he asked, moving closer to the stasis tank.

Inside the stasis tank, immersed in the clear green fluid was a six-foot tall creature, floating in a dreamless sleep, several wires placed inside every part of its body to monitor each of its vital signs. The creature inside was six-foot tall, humanoid in shape in only, possessing a huge muscular build and a dark green reptilian skin. Impossibly, long arms reached to its knees, razor-sharp claws tipped on its toes and fingers, and a wide mouth pulled back to reveal dagger-like teeth beneath bright red gums.

Birkin spun around in his chair to look at the B.O.W. "Better than we expected. The Hunter project has been a complete success. Once the board has been informed on how we produced this and what it is capable of, they will soon start mass-production. Hopefully, Spencer will be satisfied," he stated.

Wesker knew that Spencer would be impressed with this development but doubted he would be satisfied; he seemed beyond satisfying at the moment, thanks to a new 'development' they had made. During their research on the T-Virus, they had discovered an important factor that was a limiter in the virus' potential as a biological weapon (at least in Spencer's eyes) which had been unknown to them until they were permitted to use human specimens in their work, because it seemed this factor ony occurred in a human being.

They had uncovered that the T-Virus didn't kill everyone in a population, due to some compatiblities in the DNA of certain people that prevented the T-Virus from infecting them; if a group of people received the infection, only 90 would become zombies, the other 10 wouldn't show any signs of infection, not even if directly bitten by any B.O.W. It seemed amazing to them, since no matter what they tried, no infection or mutations would occur and when the host died from bite wounds sustained from direct contact with an infected or B.O.W, they stayed dead, no signs of regeneration or resuscitation being evident. And no matter how hard or much they analysed their DNA, they could find nothing to indicate the cause of this 'natural immunity'.

At first, Wesker hadn't been particularly bothered by this, since a virus that killed 90 of a population was still a successful biological weapon and would fetch a very high price from desperate customers. But, Spencer thought differently and made that perfectly clear during their last meeting, when he had exploded into a temper as Wesker had explained that they couldn't change the DNA in people to contribute a 100 infection. He shuddered slightly, remembering how awful that went with Spencer ranting on who was in power, in control over Umbrella, and who kept Wesker alive, and reminding him coldly of where his place was in the corporation, using Marcus as a grim example of the consequences of any ignorance.

Bu what is he really after? He knows as well as I do, that a 90 kill-rate in a virus would fetch a good profit from customers and that they needed the money to keep the project running, considering how expensive the work is. Then why is he ignoring the costs? What does he really want beside money out of this?

Spencer wasn't a idiot, he knew that the cost of such work was expensive to maintain, what with security, finances, staff payments, equipment and biopsy purchase, and to bribe all the necessary people they needed to keep the work a secret from the public. But he continued to ignore the costs of the work and ordered that they slaved night and day to find a way of making the T-Virus able to wipe out a whole population, not showing the slightest intent of passing it off as it was now.

But what was his real aim? If not financial, what was it really?

However, since Wesker had no time to spend his efforts on figuring out what Spencer's real intention was for the T-Virus, which would only arouse suspicion on his part, he and Birkin decided to find out a new way of eliminating an entire population without wasting time and resources on a worthless course of changing the T-Virus' structure to do so.

Hence why they developed the Hunters. The Hunters had been created via the combination of a fertilized human ovum with reptilian DNA, forming a patchwork human-reptile hybird and then the implantation of the T-Virus in the resulting creature, enhancing its physical traits tenfold. This creature was designed to deal with any surviving people in an outbreak scenario, to hunt down those who had this 'immunity' or had received a vaccination of the virus (another aspect of the project that Wesker wanted to ask for permission to work on), even if they were wearing body-armour or biohazard suits, their claws giving the ability to tear through the fabrics with relative ease.

Wesker looked back at Birkin, his previous thoughts momentarily forgotten. "Maybe he will be pleased. After all, this is a marvelous specimen you have created," he claimed.

Birkin nodded. "So far, there have been no problems with this specimen. It is a complete success, in perfect condition and ready for mass-production if they ordered so," he responded, his voice tinged with growing pride.

Wesker nodded, walking over to his desk and picked up one of his notes to read through on the results of the recent combat-smulations. The Hunters had been a successful project and showed real promise in the future, at least from what the computer simulations told them in their tests; they revealed a substantial amount of strengths that the board would find useful, but they would want the weaknesses that were uncovered to be sorted out as well. And Wesker knew, as Spencer did, that simulated data couldn't be used on a battlefield, they needed actual combat data.

But for now, we have to stick with what we have.

The positive traits of the Hunters is being able to survive a lot of gunfire before their death, having great running speed and jumping height due to the increased muscle mass in their legs. And the most gruesome ability that the Hunters possessed was their vicious techinique of instantly decapitating their enemies with their sharp claws, utilizing their speed to get closer to their foes. All in all, it was a very lethal and formidable B.O.W.

However, the Hunters had a few weaknesses that could be an impairment on their roles as a B.O.W, but only two of them seemed to be the real trouble in the Hunters fighting prowess. One was that, although they could survive and endure gunfire whilst nearing a target, they could not withstand a gun of high power, firing rate or damage, such as a .44 Colt Anaconda, a Desert Eagle 5.0, an M16 Assault Rifle or a shotgun blast at close range, since their scaled skin was not exactly a strong defense against such fire-power. And two, since the Hunters relied mainly on their speed to get close on their targets so that they could use their claws, all one had to do was blow a leg off to stop it dead in its tracks.

And because of Birkin's jealous behavior and disorganisation with his work, we only have one fullly functional Hunter as of yet.

Every part of the Arklay laboratories was falling to disarray due to Birkin's behavior and only managed to stay upright because of Wesker's leadership and control over the situation. But they couldn't keep on going on like this if they wished to make any progress, since the staff lacked the skills to cope with the magnitude of the problem.

Laboratories were working around the clock performing meaningless tasks that Birkin had randomly set them to do, the aged scientists barely finding enough energy to keep up with his pace, all the specimens they had were now dying and were unable to be resupplied quickly enough for the project to progress forward. And despite how many times the staff had complained to Spencer about how badly the Arklaay facility was running, he made no move to do anything about it, leaving all the responsibilities and problems on Wesker's shouders for him to solve.

To put it simply, the Arklay laboratories were now the workplace in Hell.

But despite everything here, 'she' still lives.

"How is Lisa?" he asked out of the blue, catching Birkin by surprise.

Birkin looked at Wesker, his face completely pale and bloodshot eyes wide in shock. "She is still the same as ever, violent and locked up in the cells. I have done some tests on her with the T-Virus itself, to see how her DNA would react to it, but the virus itself just merges with her and the other viruses flowing in her system. Somehow, she still survives from the infections and I can't find out why yet," he explained.

Wesker nodded and held out his hand. "Give me your access card," he demanded.

Birkin glanced at his hand then back to Wekser's stoic face. "Pardon?"

"Give me your card," Wesker repeated.

Hesistantly, Birkin reached into his lab coat pocket and pulled out a sliver keycard, with his name and picture on it, placing it in Wesker's open gloved-hand.

"What do you want if for?" Birkin asked, narrowing his eyes slightly in suspicion.

Wesker put the keycard in his trouser pocket. "I am going to check on Miss Lisa. Someone has to make sure she is fed, locked up and that the guards are keeping an eye on her," he informed bluntly, walking over to the door.

Birkin nodded and turned back to his desk. "I better stay here and work on the Hunters further."

Wesker stopped as the door in front of him rose up to the ceiling to let him out. "Don't let your jealously of Miss Alexia Ashford get in your way," he warned.

Birkin spun around in his chair and pointed an accusing finger at Wesker. "Don't you start making judgements between me and that little brat!" he snarled.

Wesker shrugged his shoulders in response. "You have no need to worry about me making judgements between you and her. There is no time for that, we need to keep the project moving forward. Otherwise Spencer will have our heads."

Not waiting for Birkin to make a reply or response to that, he walked out of the lab and headed to the elevator towards floor B3, stepping inside the metal car once the gates opened and pressed the 'up' button. When the elevator stopped and the gates slipped open, he proceeded through the halls at a normal pace, occasionally nodding at the guards who saluted him or the scientists who greeted him with 'good day' or 'hellos'.

He unlocked the entrance to the prison with the three passwords Spencer had gave him and Birkin, and walked down the steps to the dank, wet tunnel below. He turned the corner and saw Lisa's cell ahead, the four guards standing outside the door with their weapons ready, looking absolutely afraid of the creature imprisoned inside.

As Wesker approached, the guards immediately snapped to attention and saluted.

"Has she been fed?" Wesker asked.

One of the guards nodded. "Yes sir."

"Restrained?"

"Yes sir."

"Good." He pulled his and Birkin's keycards, holding them out to the guard. "Open the door," he ordered.

The guard looked at the cards in Wesker's hands then stood back up straight, facing the wall in front of him. "Sorry, sir. I can't do that. It is near the end of our shift and we have to switch positions with the next group, so we can't leave with...'Her' on your own," he explained.

Wesker put on a grateful smile and straightened his sunglasses. "As much as I appreciate your concern, you needn't worry. I shall be fine. Just send the other group down here." He leaned closer to the guard, looking as if to study his expression. "You should also take a break. You really could do with one," he advised.

The guard sighed in relief and nodded. "Thank you, sir. We'll go get the others." He gestured to the other three guards and they all headed for the stairs.

"One more thing," Wesker said suddeny, catching the guards' attention. "Once you have had your break, I want you to help the scientists in sorting out the labs, to get things running smoothly again. And if there is any trouble, tell them to come and speak to me."

The guards nodded and went up the stairs, their footsteps echoing away as the ascended the stairs and then the door slammed shut with a loud metallic clunk. Wesker walked over to the door of Lisa's cell, swiping both his and Birkin's cards through the lock; the two lights on the lock changed from red to green and the sound of a metal lock releasing was heard on the other side.

The door slid open on its hinges and Wesker stepped inside the small, dark cell, making sure that the 9mm Beretta he now carried in his jacket for emergencies was loaded and ready for use.

Lisa was sitting against the far wall of the cell, a large manacle chained over both of her wrists, with a long attached to the manacle and a small metal loop in the wall. Two similar manacles were clamped on her ankles and attached to two other small loops in the wall by long chains as well. A plate sat in front of her with the remnants of a large steak sitting on top in large chunks, bones and small scraps scattered around the floor by her feet. Her hospital gown looked as filthy as ever, the blood and meat stains from her steak being the only fresh marks on the ancient, mouldy piece of fabric.

Wesker approached her catiously, taking light steps, his right hand coming to rest over his left breast pocket where his gun was holstered. He picked up the plate and slid outside the doo lightly, making sure he made no noise with it. After the plate with the leftovers slid outside the door, he crept over to the computer on the desk near her bed and inserted a floppy disk into the hard-drive, starting the download of the files inside into the disk.

The process took about five minutes, which Wesker was thankful for, and he took out the disk, turned on the computer and turned to leave when he heard a sound that made him go rigid. A low, unearthly moan next to him. He turned slowly to his right-

-to see Lisa staring at him with dark, insane eyes, her mouth set into a grim snarl. She hissed at him in anger, her fists balling up into fists. Wesker stepped away from her, being extremely careful not to enrage her, his right hand clutching hold of his pistol and his left hand reaching for the cell's door handle. He reached the door and stepped outside, slowly bringing the door shut-

-when Lisa shrieked and leapt at him, her chained hands raised as if to beat him with her manacles. Wesker immediately slammed the door and backed away, pulling out his pistol and pointing it at the door nervously, his finger ready to pull the trigger if she came through the door. However, to his fortune, the chains on her wrists and ankles held her firmly and she was yanked back in mid-air, causing her to crash on the floor with a loud thud.

Wesker took in deep shaking breaths to calm down his frazzled nerves and wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling gald that the guards weren't nearby to see his feared reaction at Lisa's attempted attack. Since Wesker was the one who was keeping the lab up and running as best as he could, and made up the only stable command of the facilities, the last thing people wanted to see was that he was losing his cool. The lab and its staff had come to rely on Wesker's cool, calm and calculating persona to make sure that they all trust to keep the lab in working order, in regards to Spencer's neglect. And if he started showing that he was losing his cool, the staff would really begin to worry and the lab would fall apart at the seems.

He walked up to the barred window in the cell door and peered inside at the mutated woman, sitting against her wall again, seemingly in rest. Wesker found it surprising that she was still alive throughout everything of her existence within Umbrella's inner workings, despite all the experiments, viruses and strains of the Progenitor that now ran through her system, and also the additional from Birkin's jealous behavior manifested in his work, evident from the recent scars on her arms and thighs due to hasty injections without proper technique.

"What is it that makes you so special? Why do you still live despite this Hell?" he questioned, sounding like he was asking her for the answers, thoug he found himself feeling stupid for asking such a question to her. He doubted that after all those years in the laboratories, she would still have any logical thought left.

And if she did have any logical thought left, she would really just wish for a quick death.

Wesker felt a momentary stab of pity in his heart but surpressed it soon after and went back to the stairs, passing the next group of guards as they came to take on the shift of keeping watch on Lisa. He didn't have enough experimental data to work with in finding out Lisa's specialty from the other specimens and had too much work that needed to be done with the Hunters and the T-Virus than to worry about 'Her'.

Right now, the factor of most importance was to keep Spencer and the board satisfied, and to do that, he had to work on the T-Virus project and keep the Arklay laboratories running efficiently...

It was coming up near midnight in the Arklay laboratories, all th scientists having retired to their dormitories to catch up on their rest for the day, all the specimens now shut down and locked away to be used again, the many rooms in the underground labs now shutdown for the night, all the rooms left in pitch-blackness except for the small flicker of lights that indicated the most important machines were still running properly. The only people still awake at that time were the guards who were given the night-shift in patrolling the estate's grounds and the second Head Researcher currently busying himself with his work down in the B4 main lab.

Birkin was still busy writing up all the notes on every experiment that he, Wesker and the rest of the staff had performed, making sure that a report was written up of everything that had been done in the laboratories that day, offering his own evaluation on each of them and stating his opinions on what to do for improvements. He had wanted to get it all done and dusted as soon as possible, not caring if he had to work all night to get it done and ready to be sent off to the board.

Someone has to do it right. Someone who can actually focus on the importance of the work, not like those brown-nosing delinquets for scientists who only cared about sucking up to the person they believed was the best. And Wesker is busy keeping the labs going, so he is too busy to help.

Birkin took another sip of his coffee and slammed the cup down on the table. He had begun to feel impatient and annoyed by the scientists' attitudes and intelligence (or lack of it) in their work. All they now did was complain to Wesker of how the project was failing, how they couldn't keep up with Birkin's workpace with their current lacking in resources and specimens, and the fact that the security staff, who they argued were very much beneath them (which Birkin totally agreed on), were now in the laboratories, messing about with their work when all they did was offer their assistance.

It's all the fault of that snot-nosed brat, Alexia Ashford. Ever since she arrived, I am losing everything that I have gained and the labs are falling to hell.

Birkin held his head in his hands and let out a muffled growl, his fingers locking onto the small bangs of disheveled hair that hung over his pale face. He knew that ever since Alexia Ashford had arrived that everything would get worse for him, his work and the Arklay facilities themselves, and to his misfortune, it did. The scientists were becoming lazy and whiny, always complaining about their lack of progress on the T-Virus and how well it would go if Alexia was in charge, only showing interest in praising her new employment, despite the fact that she had done nothing at all.

The guards weren't able to cope with the endless demands that had to be fulfilled, looking and acting like rats in a maze, running around aimlessly, accomplishing very little at all. The specimens couldn't survive the increased work-pace or strenuous tests on their anatomy, resulting in their death and immediate disposal at the Treatment Plant near the Training Facility, which was still kept in operation as it was vitally important to get rid of the terminated specimens.

Wesker himself had begun to lose track of his work, now having to keep up his role as Head Researcher and the only authority figure in the entire lab complex by ensuring that everything was running smoothly, forsaking his work to perform his other duties, since Spencer had abandoned them. He had become unwantingly immersed in the political machinations of the corporation, swamped with meaningless procedures and red-tape that wouldn't go away until everything was back to normal. Though at the rate things were falling apart, it would take a miracle for that to happen.

Birkin decided to ignore that thought and get back to his work, knowing that these had to be done at the end of the week so they could be sent off to the main HQ in Europe for the board to review, otherwise they would have more trouble on their hands.

He read through all the reports and wrote down whatever needed to be written down, finding every part to be in good order until he came to one report that practically butchered all the others. One of the reports showed that status of their still-living Hunter, or their previously living Hunter, having dropped to critical levels earlier in the day when he had left the main lab earlier in the day to help out things in the B3 laboratories. It seemed that after an hour when he had left the lab, the Hunter had woken up out of its sedative state and went beserk, damaging the life-support systems in place to keep it alive in its tank and had drowned. The body had already been sent to the treatment plant for disposal.

His fingers went numb with disbelief and the report slipped from his hands, his eyes widened in shock. "Four days work," he mummered, his voice barely heard even by himself.

His cheeks soon flushed red with anger and his hands balled up into fists, so hard that the palm of his hands had started to bleed.

"FOUR DAYS WORK UP THE BLOODY SPOUT!!!" he bellowed, picking up the coffee cup and hurling it across the room, the cup shattering against the far wall and spilling its contents over the mesh floor.

He had been afraid that this would happen, that they would lose the only decent and current accomplishment they had achieved to show the board, but he knew far back in his mind that this would happen, that something would always go wrong with his work. He was loathed to admit it, but he had come to realize that since Alexia's arrival, his own work had started to suffer and die, that he was beginning to lose focus on his research and that, no matter what he did, it would all just wither away and pass on like the Hunter.

He had to face the facts that Alexia's arrival had ruined his career quite badly and he was in desperate need of a way to get it back on track, along with the rest of the lab. Or he would have to face the board's decisions on where his career was to be diverted to.

He stood up and slammed his hands down on his desk, the small droplets of blood staining the stainless steel with the crimson liquid. "Heaven help us," he whispered.

"Hello? Is someone still in here?" a female voice called out from the doorway.

Birkin looked around the stasis tanks to see a young woman standing at the door looking around, her face etched with concern. She took a few cautious steps forward into the room, her high-heeled shoes clicking on the floor as she moved and Birkin was able to see what she looked like. She seemed to be about his age, either 18 or 19, Birkin himself being 19 years old after three years of employment, possessing a tall and slim figure, long golden blonde hair that reached her chin and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a white lab coat over a dark blue button-up shirt, a white knee-length skirt with matching high-heels.

She turned to face him and gasped, her cheeks flushing red with embarassment. "Dr Birkin?" she asked.

Birkin stepped out from around the corner and leaned against the tanks, his hands stuck in his lab coat pockets. "Yes, what is it you want?" he asked, keeping his tone neutral.

She cleared her throat. "I was working upstairs in the surgery room, finishing up the reports for tomorrow so you could have a look, but I heard the sound of something shattering and came down here to look if anything was wrong," she explained.

Birkin nodded. "That was my coffee cup. I...threw it at the wall. Just the stress and strain of the work catching up with me."

The young woman looked at him, an expression of concern plastered across her face. "Are you well, sir?" she asked.

He sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "Not really, no. I am quite at my wit's end with everything that has happened. First, Miss 'High-and-mighty' Alexia Ashford comes along, everything I have earned is shattered, the staff complain about the lack of progress in our work and the laboratories themselves are falling to trash," he explained.

"Miss Alexia Ashford? That new employee in the Antarctica? I hear she IS a genius," the woman said, mainly to herself.

Birkin looked over his shoulder at her. "That's what everyone has been saying. Hell, they haven't stopped talking about it for ages, always whining and moaning about how fast the project would go with her in charge. What could she possiby contribute to us, she's only just been employed!?!" he yelled, losing himself in his temper tantrum.

The woman looked away, feeling quite worried that she had angered her boss. "I beg your pardon, sir. I was only voicing an opinion," she apologised.

Birkin turned full around to face her and suddenly felt a pang of guilt at making her feel that way, seeing the look on her face. Somehow, despite feeling only anger at any of the other staff talking about the Ashford brat, he couldn't help but regret making the woman feel uncomfortable and losing his temper at her when she hadn't done anything.

He sat back down at his desk and immersed himself in his notes again. "Sorry I snapped at you. It's just that all everyone talks about is that girl and it gets on my nerves," he explained sincerely.

The woman leaned on the corner of his desk, looking at him curiously. "Why does she get on your nerves?" she asked.

Birkin looked up at her. "Well, it's because that since she is younger than I am and is a so-called 'genius', everyone in the entire corporation seems to have forsaken my existence and what I have accomplished for them. I have made considerable advances in our work and now they all revea their true natures as complete and utter kiss-asses to anyone who is the supposed greater intellect. Bascially, I was just a fad and all my work is forasken for her priveleges," he informed her, though in the back of his mind he was wondering why he was telling this to her in the first place.

The woman listened intently, her arms crossed across her chest. "I don't see why you would be forsaken by the corporation. After all, you are a genius, one of the best they have," she stated truthfully.

Birkin suddenly began to feel embarassed. "W-wh-what did you say?" he stammered.

The woman's cheeks began to flush red again, feeling embarassed at having said that. "Well, uh, you are responsible or creating the T-Virus in the first and for making all the progress thus far with it in the research, so you have accomplished a lot in your time. It takes real talent to be able to work on something like this at such a young age and to achieve so much in just a few years of employment with Umbrella," she replied, rubbing her hands together nervously.

Birkin was actually surprised that she had said something like that to him, considering the current circumstances revolving around the laboratories. All the other scientists had never praised him at all upon Alexia's arrival and generally complained to him about his attitude, some of them requesting transfers to different areas and others staying behind to continue their own projects, despite being afraid of Birkin's increased temper and limited patience.

But here before him, this woman who he had never seen at all in the labs ever since coming to work here three years ago, was praising his talents and his accomplishments. He had never really bothered to remember any of the staff's names, preferring to just call out to one of them and send onto their work, so he didn't know anything about any of the staff, except Wesker of course. But throughout his entire time in the labs, he could never recall any female researchers ever working in the labs and didn't particularly care to find out a reason for this, making her a new addition that he hadn't been aware of. And he found it so peculiar that this woman, who he had only just met, was praising him, and his work as if she had watched him for years and had been a part of it.

"Thank you," were the only words he could say to her and he said them with genuine gratitude.

She smiled at him and he found himself transfixed by her sweet smile; it seemed to be the silver lining of light in a dark, terrible storm, bringing him sweet relief. He returned her smile.

"You're welcome," she responded.

Birkin looked back at his reports and cleared his throat, taking up his pen in his hand. "I had better get these done. Sorry for taking your time, you should be getting some sleep," he stated, once again absorbed in writing and evaluating the reports.

"If you want me to, I can help," she offered.

Birkin thought it over seriously for a few moments whether he should let her or turn down her offer. He had always preffered to work on his own, since the other scientists lacked the intelligence and the focus to keep up with his work, always losing track on what they were doing and had to be guided back like children wondering away from their parents. But as far he could tell, he found no problem with her helping him to get the reports done.

"I would be most grateful for your help," he answered, holding out his hand for her to shake.

She smiled and clasped his hand, shaking it firmly. "Well then, lets get started."

Working together, it only took half an hour to finish up all the reports and put them all neatly in order, ready to be sent off. Birkin had to admit that he wass impressed with the woman's own talents and abilities, showing herself to be a really competent and reliable scientist in her work. He had to admit that he was fascinated by her, the fact that she was the combination of a beautiful and highly-attractive woman with a kind nature and an intelligent mind for her work. He often found himself casting glances in her direction, gazing at every part of her wonderful figure, finding simple fascination in just watching work. To him, she seemed perfect in every way.

But when she glanced in his direction and their eyes met, both of them stared into each others' eyes, finding something interesting inside them that they couldn't look away from until they soon snapped out of their daze and looked away from each other, their cheeks flushing with embarassment. Birkin cleared his throat and let out a series of fake coughs whilst the woman just started writing on the reports at a faster pace.

Once they had finished everything, they had both left for the dormitories at the end of the courtyard, walking side by side as they walked through the lucious, decorative gardens designed in an old Victorian fashion. They started to talk about each other, explaining a lot about themselves, what they were like, what they liked and hated, even simple things as their favourite color. The woman listened intently to everything Birkin had to say, looking really interested in what he had to say and he returned the favor by listening to everything she had to say, showing the same interest in what she had to say.

Birkin told her about his life, how he was in the neighbourhood during childhood, what his dreams were, where he went to school, what college was like for him, how university went, what he did after employment in Umbrella and what he hoped to achieve in the future. He had avoided any questions or mentions about the late James Marcus, not feeling particularly keen on discusiing anything to do with his dead tutor, whom he had assassinated aong with Wesker.

The woman had been born, like him, a child prodigy in a simple neighbourhood, being drawn into science at a young age as he had. She had gone to the State University of New York Upstate Medical University at the age of 15 and had graduated, full honours, with a PhD in Biochemistry and Biology. Soon, the Umbrella corporation had taken a notice of her and had her sent to the Arizona Training Facility, spending a whole year there in preparation for her to work on the T-Virus, and afterwards was assigned to the Arklay laboratories.

They had continued that way, talking with each other about every aspect of their lives as they walked through the courtyard over to the dormitories and near to their rooms, lowering their voices so as to not disturb the others.

They soon came to room labelled 101. "Well," the woman started, turning to face him, "this is my room."

Birkin nodded. "Have a good evening," he said and moved to walk past her until she grabbed his arm.

"Wait. Would you like to come in for a few minutes?" she asked.

He thought it over for a few moments and nodded, smiling at her. She returned the smile and unlocked the door, stepping aside for him to step through, closing the door behind her. Her room was just like his and the others; small and cramped, a bed at the far end of the room on the left hand wall, a wardrobe opposite that, a dresser on the right of the bed and the bathroom behind the door on the right of the entrance. The difference was her bedroom was more organised and tidy, whereas his was a mess of papers and scattered books.

The woma slipped out of her high-heels and walked over to her bed, sitting on the edge of it. Birkin stood in his place rigidly.

She chuckled slightly. "You can sit down if you want. There is no need for you to stand there at all," she said, moving over slightly and tapping her hand on the bed for him to sit down.

Birkin walked over and sat down next to her, his hands folded in his lap, taking a glance at the woman to see she was doing the same thing as he was, although her cheeks had started to take a turn towards the crimson color spectrum.

"So, was there anything you wanted to say to me?" he asked, looking at her.

She turned to look at him, her cheeks tinted with a slight pink flush. "It's about the Hunter project. I...I owe you an apology for it," she said, her voice filled with guilt.

His expression changed to one of confusion. "What on earth do you mean?" he asked.

"I...I was there when the Hunter woke up. I...I couldn't do anything to prevent it's death. W...we had no sedatives or drugs to incapacitate it and the life support systems were far too damaged to be repaired or reactivated. I...I guess you could say...it was... my fault," she admitted, suddenly looking downcast.

Birkin thought over what she had just said to him, but he surprisingly found himself not getting angry or feeling any blame to place on her. He knew that the board would be disappointed with the lack of a suitable B.O.W and that his research had been put back considerably over a couple of days, that he would have to get the Hunter developed again whilst assisting Wesker to keep the labs going, so there would be a lot of trouble for him in the coming days.

But she wouldn't have done it on purpose. She is certainly a bright, attractive woman with the talents, intellect and focus to keep the project moving forward. She is definitely one of the only other staff members in have seen with any ACTUAL intelligence to work here.

He put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. It is not your fault. You are certainly a talented person and I highly doubt that you would do that on purpose," he said sincerely.

The woman's face showed her sweet smile again and she placed her hand over his. "Thank you, sir. And you shouldn't let Alexia Ashford and what the others say about her get to you. You are far more brilliant than she is, at least in my eyes," she responded, squeezing his hand softly.

Birkin enjoyed the feeling of her soft slender hand over his, squeezing it gently, her gentle fingers curled around his palm, his own rough fingers closing on top. They stared that way for some time, holding each other's hands and staring into each other eyes, showing no care for anything else around them except each other. Birkin felt his face go hot again and his heartbeat starting to increase in its rate, feeling lightheaded and some unknown emotion that he had never experienced before creeping to the front of his mind; it was an attraction to the perfect woman seated before, almost like he was in...

He shook his head and stood up, reluctantly letting go of her hand. He walked over to the door and turned back to face her, an apologetic look on his face.

"Forgive men for making you stay up this. I should get to my room now and get some sleep for tomorrow. There's a lot of work to be done," he said.

She nodded. "It doesn't matter. It was...nice...talking with you, Doctor," she replied.

"William. My first name is William," he informed her. He scratched his head for a few moments, thinking how to ask this question when he knew he should have asked this earlier. "Um...what is...uh...your name?" he asked, feeling stupid for having to ask this so late when he should have asked it sooner.

Instead of looking insulted, she smiled again and Birkin relaxed, the stress and stupidity of what he had just said flowing away, like water through a sieve.

"It's Annette. Annette Jenkins. It was nice to meet you Doc-...William," she said, still smiling.

Birkin returned her smile, glad that he got to know her name and that she wasn't insulted by him asking so late into their conversation.

"Annette?" he asked, "Since I have recently fired my assistant for his lack of skills and continuous whining, I am in need of someone to help in my work. I, uh, was, well wondering if, um, you would, that is if you want to, fill that position?"

Her beautiful blue eyes went wide as grapes and she pointed a finger into her chest. "Me? You want me as your assistant?" she asked incredulously.

Birkin nodded. "You certainly have talent that should be focused something more important than working with the other scientists' projects. You are a very bright person and you know how to conduct your work to the best of your ability, making a good job of it. And I would consider in an honour if you would take up my offer," he explained.

Annette was silent for a few moments, thinking over his proposition, then she practically beamed at him, her sweet face crinkling with her angelic smile. "I accept your proposition, William."

Birkin returned her smile just as equally. "Well, I better be off to bed. And our work starts at 7:30 tomorrow morning in the main lab on B4. We have to create another Hunter so the board can receive a prototype for their review. I'll see you then."

She nodded. "Goodnight, William."

"Goodnight, Annette," he replied, stepping out into the hall and headed towards his dorm room, Annette locking her room door as well. Birkin walked through the halls of the simple wooden building until he came to room 103, his own room, taking out his keys and unlocking the door, then shutting it and locking the door behind him. His room was as it was when he had left it to get to work, a site of a photocopier gone wild, papers scattered everywhere that one couldn't move without hearing the crunch of paper under their feet.

Birkin didn't bother getting ready for bed, just kicked off his shoes and lay down on his bed, gazing up at the ceiling for a few minutes, about how he was going to create the Hunter again and get everything ready by the end of the week for the board to look at.

And the prospect of working with Annette again springs to mind, doesn't it? his mind declared.

Birkin couldn't really understand why he had that feeling when holding Annette's hand and staring into her beautiful face, almost like he was falling in love with her and felt compelled to be with her, barely able to control his feelings for her, despite the fact that they had only just met. He had never been interested in women before, being a child prodigy, because he had always been more focused on his professional life, leaving his personal life and its issues on the back burner. He had been fully aware that him getting a girlfriend was impossible during his years in education since he was so young and preffered to ignore other people so that he could work in the science labs or read up on new research studies and theories in the library; as he had been immediately accepted into a secondary school at the age of eight and spent four years in there before he went to university at 12, he could never get a girl, since they were all very much older than he was.

But he seemed to be quite interested in Annette Jenkins, seeming to find her perfect in every way. She was an extravagant woman with a great intellect that could match his own and the dedication that would get her far in her employment in Umbrella. She had the skills to handle any kind of work that Umbrella could offer her and she had the focus to never lose track of it. And she was also highly appreciate of his own skills and success, seeming to admire and compliment him on what he had accomplished, and interested in what he had to say about himself.

And you feel the same way for her. You admire her as she does you.

He let that thought resonate in his head for a moment, letting his counscious register what it fully meant. As much he couldn't belive it, he knew he was interested in and admired Annette, in more ways than one, and was quite glad to have the opportunity of working along side in his work. It would help to get to know her better.

Deciding to leave that train of thought alone until tomorrow, he turned off his light and drifted of to sleep, his mind wandering back to the young woman he had come to admire...

Annette leaned against her door, trying to slow down her racing heartbeat when William Birkin had left, feeling very much flustered and was quite sure her cheeks burned bright red from embarassment. She couldn't believe that she had gotten so close to him at all, let alone being able to talk about his life and have him listen to her when she talked about hers, to hold his hand and actually stare into his unnaturally bright blue eyes. But she found it most surprisingly of all that he didn't get angry at her when she confessed her failure in saving the Hunter and was astonished that he instead offered her a position as his assistant.

And everyone complains that he's an arrogant, stuck-up jerk. Hell, I did as well! But he is a nice man, if you get to know him better.

She sighed and decided to have a warm bath before going to be, wanting to get the stench of a long work day off of her. She stepped into her bathroom and turned on the faucet for the water, placing her hand under the water to feel how hot it was. Once she was sure it was warm enough, she put in the lug and let it fill up, going back into her bedroom to grab a pair of white towels from the dresser, taking them back into the bathroom and hanging them on the hooks on the door.

The water reached up near the rim and she turned of the tap, soshing the water with her hand gently to spread the warmth around. She took off lab coat and hung it next to the towels, unbuttoning her shirt and putting it in the laundry basket next to the sink, along with her skirt and underwear, before she slid gently into the bath, feeling the warm cascade and soothe her fatigued body. She dipped her blonde hair in the water and picked up a shampoo from the stand hung over the side of the bath; she took a brief glance at the Umbrella logo pasted on the front and squeezed some of the contents in her hair, rubbing it in gently.

Once she had finished, she washed the shampoo out of her hair and lay in the warm water, eyes closed, relaxing to the soothing, cleansing water in peace. She thought over everything in her life then, relishing the good memories, thinking about her home-town, her parents and the time they spent together, the first science fair she had won, her time in college and university, her employment with Umbrella and finally about William Birkin.

She opened her eyes and held up her hand near her face, still feeling his hand over hers, even seeing his fingers encircling her own. Ever since she had arrived at the Training Facility in Arizona, she had heard rumours and gossip about the Raccoon Training Facilty's protogee candidates, the 'child-geniuses', the 'disciples of Lord Spencer' and other bizarre names that described Albert Wesker and William Birkin. She had become interested about those two, since they had to be quite famous to be mentioned and talked about when they worked so far away; everyone in the Arizona Training Facility talked about them incessantly, even the staff did.

She had to admit that she was impressed with them for being recruited so young into the corporation, let alone to be given such high ranks as Head Researchers under the tutelage of James Marcus and Lord Spencer, becoming two of the greatest minds on the corporation's payroll. And when she had been accepted into the corporation's inner-workings and was assigned to be working in the Arklay laboratories underneath Lord Spencer's Estate, she had been surprised that she would be working underneath Birkin and Wesker's management. She had asked around a bit about what the staff thought of them, maybe thinking that they shared the same respect and admiration of them that the other candidates at the Arizona Training Facility did.

But their thoughts on the two child-geniuses were very different because they despised and feared them. The reason they despised them so much was because they were highly jealous of their success and favour with Lord Spencer. The other staff had been working on the Progenitor since the estate had first been constructed, spending over 14 years working in the labs and making quite substantial breakthroughs in the research, yet none of them had ever received the position of Head Researcher. Then Wesker and Birkin had arrived, being granted the positions of Head Researchers by Lord Spencer himself and received full control over the laboratories. This angered the other scientists because they had been on the project for so long and had yet to be rewarded, but along came the child geniuses and taken their long sought-after positions from them, meaning they were now being bossed around by teenagers who they believed were far too inexperienced to work on the real research at Umbrella and too young to have such positions.

And they feared them because they weren't the most socialable pair, only discussing their work amongst each other and showing respect to each other, never to the other staff, always changing how they treated them depending on the situation. Wesker was generally the man that the other scientists showed a small measure of trust in, despite how jeallous they were of him, and relied on him to keep the labs running; although, people were scared of him because no one could tell what he was thinking, what he was really upto, what he really wanted out of it; a true enigma.

Birkin, on the other hand, was more tempermental, making him feared as he would go off at the slightest mistake, acting like a complete perfectionist. No one could do anything to please him, he always found mistakes and always prosecuted people for them, yelling at them for ages and driving them to their breaking points. And still the staff had praised, falsely or not, which he had enjoyed tremendously, to be recognised for his genius and admired for his accomplishment, displaying his rpide around like a wave.

And we all thought he was an arrogant jerk.

She had to agree with the others about Birkin especially, since she rarely had any experience at meeting with Wesker, recognising him only by face and his dark sunglasses. She had watched as Birkin had went beserk at one of the scientists for failing to follow through a simple equation, which resulted in the death of specimen. He had berated him on how he had stupidly failed to keep up with a simple equation, belittled by complaining on how somehow of his 'neandethal' intelligence had managed to work for Umbrella and insulted him further by explaining how to perform the experiment in a slow tone of voice. Back then, she respected his talents, his success, his dedication, but she had come to hate his attitude, the arrogant expression he always wore that showed he was better than anyone else.

But now, she found she actually liked him. He had actually shown that he was a nice man underneath his arrogant exterior, that he could show any other emotion besides contempt to other people. She seemed to find herself on good terms, perhaps on friendship, with the man ever since they had worked together briefly in the labs earlier in the evening. He had shown interest about what she said, listening intently to what she had to say about herself and her life, and had been incredibly polite with her, even not shouting or yelling at her for the accident with the Hunter.

But you find him attractive and brilliant. You obviously want more than a simple friendship. her mind taunted.

Annette was momentarily stunned that such a thought would enter her head about William, considering it was the first time she had ever got to know him. But she knew that there was something causing her to feel attracted towards him because she had occasionally taken brief glances at him whilst they worked together in the labs, admiring him as he worked, and had felt considerably embarassed when their eyes had met for a second when he took a glance at her as well. And then, there was the time when they held hands and gazed into each other's eyes, seeing an emotion in his eyes that seemed to match her own. And that feeling.

She decided to leave it for another time and get some sleep for tomorrow. She stepped out of the bath and pulled the plug to drain it, grabbing the towels from the hooks from the door, wrapping one around her body and the other around her hair. She walked into her bedroom and opened up the wardrobe to pull out a long white night gown, putting it on and tying a knot in the large laces on its sides.

She turned out the lights and slid under the covers, falling to a peaceful sleep where she dreamed about the young genius that her feelings had begun to grow for...

Sorry if the update is a bit late, had some trouble in deciding how to write this chapter, so I hope it came out all right.

This is my first time EVER writing anything with a romantic theme to it and I hope it was good for a first try. Also, hope Annette is in character and that I have explained how William/Annette's feelings develop for each other to become the marriage couple (especially for my No.1 reviewer Chaed, cheers for reading through the entire story. You are the best).

Anyway, sorry if the updates are a bit late, trying to update as soon as I can. I AM going to finish this, I WON'T abandon it and leave it to wither unfinished in the site.

So thanks everyone for reading and reviewing. And stay tuned for chapter 29!!