Twenty Nine

Nothing new or worthy had occurred over the passing months until 1982, where some of history's biggest events, known or unknown, had begun. One example is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial being dedicated in Washington D.C., after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War Veterans on November 13th. Another example is the assassination of the Lebanon President, Bachir Gemayel, in Beirut on September 14th, followed by the Lebanon Christian Militia's slaughter of Palestines in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in West Beirut, four days later.

But one of the most devastating events that the world hasn't forgotten is the Falklands War, from April 2nd – June 14th. The war where many British soldiers had been sent to their deaths to reclaim the Falkland Islands from Argentian occupation, which resulted in 258 British troops and 649 Argentian soldiers KIA, with 777 British and 1068 Argentian units wounded. Back in Umbrella's heirarchy, when news of the outbreak of the Falklands War reached the Executive Board, nearly all of its member believed that they could start selling their B.O.Ws and the T-Virus to the Argentians for money and profit.

However, due to Spencer's immediate disagreement and refusal, the matter was dropped and the corporation continued its efforts on improving the T-Virus and creating more efficient B.O.Ws to sell, providing a much greater purchase value and reputation amongst potential customers. At least, that was what he CLAIMED to want out of it, but since he was the man who called all the shots in Umbrella and had the most influence over everything that occurred in the corporation, no one questioned his true intentions and thus, the scientists continued work on the T-Virus without question.

Currently, in an underground facility in the frozen and blizzard-covered wastelands of Antarctica, built inside a frozen glacier, a young girl was preparing to begin her own experiments, without any outside influence to interfere in her work.

Alexia Ashford walked into the decontamination elevator to the labs, wearing a small yellow Haz-Mat suit, waiting to begin her work on what she deemed worthy for her attention to be focused on. The elevator soon came to a stop, the decontamination vapours slowly faded away to nothing and the hiss of the sprays built into the walls of the small lift stopped.

She stepped through the doors into a small hallway of to her left which led to a large circular pit with a metal wakway built around its side of the walls in a semi-circle, one direction led to a hallway that ended in a hallway with a pair of automatic metal doors leading the stasis room. She proceeded down the path on her right, which led towards her own personal office and laboratory.

She reached the small wooden door and walked inside, greeted by the soft light coming from the ornamental lamp sitting a small cupboard in the far corner of the room, her desk opposite that, with all the textbooks that she had been reading lately scattered on top. To her left was her own personal lab; right now, it consisted of a small surgery table, a desk with a computer console sitting on top along with an atom-mass-spectrometer and several glass tanks containing experimental specimens. It was a small and fairly common type of lab, simple in design and technology, but she knew that she would soon get better equipment to perform more complex experiments once either her pathetic brother or her reliable brother got permission from the board to have such equipment.

Her small ruby lips formed a tight scowl when the thought of her father came to mind. She hated her father, as much as Alfred did, perhaps more so. Alexander Ashford was an incompetent, moronic and paranoid man, who seemed to believe that he had complete control over everything he had in his possession and could command Alexia on what she wanted to accomplish in his own beliefs. But Alexia knew she had rarely needed her pathetic father for anything, neither in her life nor her work, she desired; she had always relied on herself to do what must be done.

My father and the rest of them are insignificant, compared to me. My intellect is beyond them and they think I NEED their help!? What blind fools does this corporation hire for staff, university rejects?

Ever since she was born, Alexia had always known that she was above everyone of the ignorant masses on the planet. No one could ever match to her brilliance, not those teachers and lecturers at her university, not the staff of the corporation, not her ignorant father or dear brother, no one could. She had always been better than anyone and had decided that it was better if she worked alone on what she wanted to do, since having anyone else involved would just hinder the work and get in her way.

So she had requested from her father that she be allowed to work alone, relying only on her brother to help her, which he readily agreed to, giving her a private lab in the Antarctica facility and full control over everything that she would need, no questions asked by anyone. She did need her father for some things, but only because of his position within Umbrella's hierarchy made him useful in acquiring what she needed to work with. That was quite possibly the only use she found for him at all in her work and life.

Alfred, on the other hand, was more reliable than her father. He was loyal, obedient, faithful and ever-admiring towards her, only following orders that she gave him and he followed them through relentlessly and to the best of his ability, never stopping until he had accomplished them completely. He treated her like a goddess and worshipped her immensely, and she rewarded him by depending on him even more, shwoing that she appreciated his work for her.

He may not be as brilliant as me, nor is he perfect, but he is a faithful soldier to me. And I am grateful.

There came a timid knock at her office door and she allowed the person to enter, seeing it was her twin sibling and loyal soldier, Alfred. He was dressed in the same Haz-Mat suit as she was and was holding something wrapped in a black sheet of plastic.

"I am sorry disturb you, dear Alexia. But, I have something that you could use in your experiments," he said, his voice very small and quiet in the presence of his sister.

Alexia walked into her lab, not taking a glance back at her brother as he followed her, the wayward pup that he was, and started up her computer.

"Dear brother, what is it you wish to speak to me about then?" she asked politely as she opened up one of the stasis tanks that held a large tarantula spider. She picked up a nearby syringe and injected it under the spider's fangs, into its mouth to draw a blood sample, the syringe filling up with a yellowish fluid whilst her finger released pressure on the plunger.

"I had found a good specimen for to use in your experiments. The other scientists said that you couldn't possibly find any use for this, being the fools that they are, but I knew that you would be able to, so I brought it to you," he explained, holding out his hands.

Alexia turned to her brother, a grateful and loving smile upon her face. "Thank you, my dear brother. Well, what is it?" she asked.

Alfred opened up his hands and Alexia's eyes widened in horror as she saw what was in her brother hands. It was the body of a queen ant, seeming to have aged much over its years of life, its skin turned a darkish gray color thanks to rigor mortis beginning to set into its body post-mortem. She felt immensely sickened and paralysed at the sight of the dead insect; out of all the creatures on the planet, she hated to see an ant, more specifically the queen ant, die.

"What caused this?" she asked, her voice turning harsh with rage.

Alfred's face immediately went pale and he closed his fists over the dead queen ant. "I am sorry, Alexia. I-I-I...I...I'll get you a n-new specimen, a better one," he stammered, feeling afraid that he had angered his sister.

"Who did this?" she repeated, her tone of voice growing darker still.

Alfred looked around and pointed a shaky finger at the tarantula inside the glass tank. "That did it. The scientists said that the queen ant had been found inside a web cocoon caught in the tarantula's web. It was drained before it arrived here," he answered.

Alexia glared at the tarantula with cold, malicious eyes and clenched her fists. The tarantula itself just sat there at the bottom of the glass tank, absorbed in its own thoughts. "Kill it," she ordered.

Alfred glanced up at her and then back at the tarantula with the same malicious glare. "At once, Alexia," he agreed.

He strode over to the surgical table and picked up a small scalpel that was laying on the tool rack, waiting to be used, and sliced his finger open by running it along the blade, blood slowly coursing down his hand, to test its sharpness. He walked back over to the desk and opened up the glass tank, lowering the sharp scalpel to the spider menacingly; as Alfred's hand neared the spider, it lunged forward to sink its poisonous fangs into the flesh of his wrist, but was unsuccessful as Alfred immediately snapped his hand back and growled at the spider.

"How dare you!" he snarled and stabbed the scalpel directly into the centre of the spider's thorax, impaling it in what could only be unbareable agony. Both Alfred and Alexia watched with a sadistic smile upon their lips and a morbid glee flashing in their eyes as the spider struggled in vain to free itself of the sharp blade that was deep enough to pass through its body fully. Alfred soon began to shake the spider around, Alexia laughing in amusment behind him, playing with it like a ragdoll and occasionally slamming it into the side of the tank, splattering its yellow blood all over the sides of the tank. The force that Alfred span the spider at and how deep the blade had pierced the spider eventually split it in half, its head and thorax lay in one corner, the legs curling over it and growing stiff with rigor-mortis.

Alfred chuckled in delight and picked up the two halves of the spider, discarding them in a nearby bin. "It is done, my dear sister," he said, turning to her and bowing politely.

Alexia walked up to him and kissed him affectionately on the cheek, causing him to blush immensely. "Thank you, my loyal soldier," she said gratefully, her ruby lips spreading into a kind and loving smile.

Her gaze soon shifted towards the dead queen ant and her expression turned to one of melancholy, feeling her joyous mood at the spider's death slowly ebb away. Her brother's expression mimiced her own, him knowing full well her feelings on ants and how much seeing the dead queen ant had affected her.

Out of all life on Earth, Alexia found that she was most fond of ants, more specifically their lifestyle and the queen, because it closey related to her own life; finding them to be an ideal concept for her to study, she spent much of her childhood researching on ants and their ecology. From what she read and learned from what current knowledge they had, it seemed that the life of ants all revolved around their queen and it had to be subservient to her in order for them to thrieve and live on. The soldiers, workers, the entire hives, every creature that lived in the hive was the queen's slaves throughout their entire existence. And the reason they were so subservient to her and could be used so was because they were all expendable and easily replacable as long as the queen lived, for she was the birth mother of al her loyal followers and could just as easily reproduce more to increase the numbers that their hive had. However, once the queen died, the hive died with her as the worker or soldier ants lacked the ability to reproduce and increase their numbers, thus meaning that the rest of hive will slowly die out and become extinct, leaving behind a dirty masoleumn to commerate their existence.

And this was the same way that the ignorant masses acted towards her, as queen of the hive. Everywhere she travelled, there were always the insignificant people, the workers and soldiers, who dedicated their lives and energy towards her advance and thrive in live, doing whatever she commanded them to do, following through without question, reluctance or hesistation. In the university, her home and now here in the corporation, every person was working on something that she had ordered them to do, doing what she commanded of them and always with fierce devotion, despite the fact that most of them lacked any proper intelligence whatsoever.

It is because I am the most important creature they have ever seen. I am the queen of this hive of a planet that we reside on and they know that my existence will carry on their's. My life is of absolute necessary to each and everyone of them.

But she still felt the deepest regret for the queen ant's death, since her existence had now ended, she would just be abandoned and left to rot whilst the rest of her hive slowly died out with her, leaving nothing but an empty tomb to show for her live. A terrible thing for something so important.

However, she needed a suitable specimen to work with and her brother had provided her with one; this woud be the first time she had ever used her most favourite creature in her work; for this dead monarch of the hive, to take part in such important work of another monarch was a worthy funeral.

"Are you alright, Alexia?" Alfred asked, his face drenched with concern.

Alexia sighed and put on another loving smile for her brother. "It is of no concern. I am just wondering what I shall find with it," she replied simply.

Alfred walked to the surgery table and picked up a pair of latex gloves, handing them to his sister. "You never know until you try, dear sister," he stated.

Alexia's smile widened and took the gloves from him. "You are right Alfred. Let's get started." She pointed to the tools on the rack standing next to the surgery table. "Hand me a scalpel," she ordered.

Whilst Alfred looked amongst the tools for a clean scalpel, Alexia took the queen ant's corpse and slipped it inside another of the glass tanks gently, taking great care not to damage it any further. After she lowered it to the bottom, she held out her hand and Alfred placed a clean, smaller scalpel into her open palm. She gently sliced open the soft undertissue of the stomach to reach the ant's internal organs and gently pulled aside the edges of the cut, revealing what looked like the queen ant's heart.

"Syringe," she ordered bluntly.

Alfred picked up a 2cm cubed syringe and handed it to her, placing in the needle part after making sure that there were no obstructions in the tip. Alexia gently lowered the syringe through the insection and plunged it gently into the exposed heart, punching slightly through the cardiac muscle, and pushed on the plunger, releasing it slowly to fill the syringe up with a greenish-yellow blood.

"Test tube" she ordered, snapping her fingers for emphasis.

Alfred pulled over a wooden test tube rack on the desk towards her, the rack holding six test tubes, each of them clean and ready to be used. Alexia removed the syringe from the queen ant's heart and placed it over the tube, pressing down on the plunger gently to force the fluid out into the test tube. Once the syringe was empty and all the fluid was safely inside the tube, she slipped it inside the atom-mass-spectrometer, hooked it up to her computer and activated it, the machine started up with a low hum and a rapid series of beeps, colorful lights shining on various parts to show the machine was functioning properly.

She pulled up the simple metal chair to her desk and sat down in front of the computer, turning on the screen to a plush background of rolling hills under a sunny, clear sky, and opened up the examination program. The screen changed to a dark green color, a small dark square in the right side of the screen with several smaller white boxes lined next to it, each of varying size.

"Sample number TS-023. Scanning started," the voice of the Red Queen announced.

A silver bar appeared on the screen, slowly beginning to fill up with a light blue color, a percentage meter underneath beginning to increase as the bar was filled with the light blue color. After a couple of minutes of waiting and the twins talking to each other about certain things they liked, the machine let out a high pitched beep and an image of a viral molecule appeared in the black box, several equations appearing in the white boxes next to the box.

"Substance contains unknown viral compound. DNA and protein sequence has no match to any information stored in Archives. Estimated time of existence, 1200 BC," the Red Queen informed them.

Alexia seemingly found herself drawn into this ancient virus, something about it making her thoughts accelerate to incredible speeds as she realized what the potential of this could mean for her goals. This virus that she had uncovered in the queen ant's corpse was unlike any another organism that anyone had ever discovered or yet to discover, making it something unknown and new for them to use, meaning that it's potential was yet to be touched upon. And since it was inside the queen ant, that meant that she could find the DNA trait in its genetic code that made the entire hive subservient to queen ants.

Since the entire was born from the queen ant, the only conclusion was that there was a genetic trait in the queen ant's DNA that was passed down into her children which made her children totally devoted to her. And as this virus seemed to have been laying dormant inside the queen ant's body for centuries, that would mean it may have adapted to coincide with the queen ant's DNA and may have been able to acquire the 'monarchy' trait.

And if that is true, I will finally become the goddess I was destined to be.

Alexia knew that she was destined for godhood, that her life was to be a deity and worshipped by all those beneath and she now had a method of obtaining that which she was destined for, thanks to her dear brother. And she now felt giddy and euphoric, her body wrapped tightly in joy and mirth at what she would soon be able to accomplish.

"Alfred! Have a look at this!" she called enthusiastically.

Alfred walked over and looked at the computer intently for a few seconds before he looked back at his sister curiously.

"What does this mean?" he asked, confusion etched in his voice.

Alexia hugged him gently, her arms looping around his shoulders and kissed him on his forehead. "It means, dear brother, that you have provided me with the greatest possible item for me to work with. You have provided us with a means of keeping the Ashford legacy alive for millenia to come," she told him affectionately.

Alfred beamed brightly in mirth and joy. "I have? Then, I am glad that I have been helpful," he replied, feeling embarassed.

Alexia returned his smile. "Of course you have." She then let go of him and clapped her hands together eagerly. "But, if we are to use this new virus, we first need to find some way of making it more powerful, due to its reduced state of having been dormant for several millenia," she explained, tapping her chin in thought and pacing around the room.

Alfred scratched his head, obviously deep in thought, for a few seconds before he spoke up.

"What about the Mother Virus?" he asked abruptly.

Alexia's eye widened in sudden realization and stopped her pacing. "What was that you just said?" she asked, snapping her head towards him.

Alfred sat in another chair and rubbed his hands together nervously, looking to the floor as he couldn't face his sister's intense stare. "Well, before he helped to create Umbrella incorporated, our grandfather had discovered a very powerful virus that had the ability to change an organism's genetic structure to increase its power and capabilities tenfold. I thought that maybe, if we were to utilize the Mother Virus in your work, then maybe it could give you a greater chance of fulfilling your dreams. But, it's up to, dear sister," he explained.

Alfred's words sunk into Alexia's mind and quelled her swirling thoughts, bringing her mind down to a slower pace until her thoughts settled on a single prospect. If she could successfully combined the Mother Virus with this ancient virus that she had just discovered in the queen ant's corpse, then maybe she would be able to create a strain that coud infect a living human being's DNA and give her the ability to control it. And if that virus had accumulate some of the genetic traits that were present in ant DNA, then if she could control the virus infections in other people, they would all be subservient to her will alone.

If I can perfect this new virus and use it in myself, I can become the TRUE queen of the hive and have total dominance over everything on this planet. I can fulfill my destiny.

She smiled triumphantly at her brother. "That is a brilliant suggestion!" she exclaimed.

Alfred's expression brightened up and he leapt to his feet immediately, walking towards the door of her office. "Well, I better go see the Laboratory Manager and have the sample brought here quickly. We best get started on your work as soon as possible," he stated, hurrying out the door. He put his hand on the doorknob and stopped, turning back to his twin sibling. "Do you have all the equipment you need for this experiment?" he asked, in a concerned tone of voice.

Alexia nodded. "I have the equipment I need. All I require is a sample of the Mother Virus," she answered.

Alfred nodded and dashed out of the room, letting the door swing slowly shut behind him. When the door clicked shut, Alexia back over to her desk and began to set up her equipment for her new project, taking out all the textbooks she had on ants and their ecology, and set up the spectrometer so that the combination of the two viruses could go smoothly.

This is the start of earning my dreams.

And she had already thought of the perfect name to go with this project, the name that would describe her future role as a ruler and supreme dictator over everything on Earth, to be the one creature that al would bask to, the one whom all would serve and cherish for eternities to pass. Yet, it was to comemmorate the other goddess that she was descended from, the one who started her noble birthright years ago, the one being that everyone claimed she resembled in everyway and whose name had been recognised for decades in starting their great family.

The project was to be called Tyrant-Veronica...

October 31st, Halloween, 1982. 9:34 p.m.

For all ordinary civilians around the road, this was a joyous day of fun and frights, of sweets and scares, of candy and creeps. Houses were decorated with eerie candlelights inside carved pumpkinheads, children wandered throughout the streets of every town to knock on their neighbourhood doors for sweets, chanting the widely known words 'Trick or Treat'. Every child was dressed in costume of a monster that they heard from stories and the television, playing games as they attempted to scare their friends and family for enjoyment. All the people on Earth took it on themselves to enjoy such an occasion, despite the amount of toothaches and nightmares they woud gain from the day.

But for those who worked for Umbrella, who knew what they really did, it was never a joyous occasion. For unlike the rest of the global populace, they knew that monsters were real, could be real and that they were the ones who created them. To them, such an occasion was just a grim reminder of the truth that they had come to realize and fear.

And this particular year was not very pleasant for them because, in a remote facility on the moutainous island of Crete, an incident had occurred.

A Mii Mi-14 helicopter flew over the Idi Rnage of the moutainous island, the pilots keeping the helicopter on its course for the LZ whilst the engineer kept the chopper running, the usual business for the crew of the aircraft. The thrity-two USF soldiers in the back kept quiet as ever, making no sound at all that they were seated in the cabin, save for the slow breathing as each of them mentally prepared themselves for their mission.

HUNK was no different from the rest, seat calmly in the back and checking over his weapons to make sure that he was combat-ready. He carried a Heckler & Koch HK33 with two spare clips, each holding a maximum of 40 rounds, a Daewoo USAS-12 combat shotgun, with three spare 20 round drum-magazines and a Glock 17 pistol with two spare clips; all of the weapons were cleaned and in good condition, so he was more than ready for the mission.

It was just another normal mission for him, like all the others he had been on previously. Escaped infection, renegade B.O.Ws, quickly in, rescue any survivors, recover all the data, activate the self-destruct system and reach the extraction point, that's what he had come to expect from his missions. He still held the position of Alpha-4 amongst a squad of six, with Bravo, Charlie and Delta each containing six members as well. All in all, just another normal mission for him.

Except for that Russian kid we have tagging along.

HUNK allowed his eyes to travel around the chopper until he spotted the kid seated amongst his colleagues in Alpha squad, looking confident and eager to start, a smirk perched on his lips as he twirled his combat knife expertly in his fingers. He looked to be about 19, white hair, lean muscular build and was dressed in a forest camouflage uniform, a mixture of green and brown, with a black Kevlar vest and combat boots. He was armed with a Heckler & Koch G4 and MP5 with a Smith & Wesson Model 59 sidearm, each with three clips, and a Beretta 21 Bobcat concealed in his left boot.

HUNK didn't know who the kid, having never met until the start of mission when Colonel McVarian had informed that they would be taking him along for the mission, though it was never specified why. But HUNK knew that the kid obviously had some form of military training if he was going to be sent on a mission such as this.

The kid looked up and met HUNK's eyes, glaring at him intently as if offering up a competition for him to challenge. HUNK returned it fully, showing that he accepted whatever challenge he had given.

"Approaching the dropzone. Prepare for landing," the pilot announced through the headset.

The engineer walked over to a console on the side of the chopper and entered a code on the keypad, lowering a screen from the roof of the chopper to face the soldiers. The screen blinked and the face of Colonel McVarian appeared on the screen.

"Okay people, here's the situation. As of 15 minutes ago, this facility was attacked by an unknown enemy force, highly equipped, well trained and greatly informed. They had managed to storm the entire facility and gain complete control over it, anihilating all the personel on site. As of yet, they haven't made any demands or threats against us and are not showing any signs of leaving their current positions," the colone explained.

"How many troops are on sight?" Alpha-1 asked.

"Between twenty to thirty men, all armed. We don't know how many are outside the facility or inside," he answered.

"What's the facility's layout?" HUNK asked, causing everyone to look at him.

The screen changed to a holographic 3-D image of the facility.

"This facility is located deep inside a cave on the face of a cliff on the southern edge of the range. It consists of four floors, the first floor holds the dormitories and cafeteria, the second floor is the secondary laboratories where our pharmaceutical products are made, the third floor is the main lab where the T-Virus experiments are conducted. And the fourth floor is the specimen storage area and where the self-destruct system can be found." The pointer highlighted the small room at the bottom of the schematic, magnifying the image to reveal a large metal pillar in the centre with a computer console placed in its side. "Your objectives are the same as on your previous missions. Reach the laboratories, recover any data and transmit it to the Red Queen, rescue any survivors, activate the self-destruct system and redenvous back at the LZ for pick-up," the colonel ordered.

HUNK glanced over at the kid. "What about the new recruit?" he asked, obtaining another glare from the kid.

"Sergeant Nicholai Ginovaef is here on a classified assignment from the Monitor organisation. He is assigned to Alpha Squad effective immediately and is under direct orders from Colonel Sergei Vladimir himself, so he is joining you on this mission," the colonel explained.

HUNK glanced over at the kid, Nicholai, to see a smug smirk spread across his face, seeming impressed with himself. HUNK also felt slightly impressed with Nicholai since he was under direct orders from the director of Monitor, Sergei Vladimir, which meant he had to have some exceptional military training if he was to have such praise from a grizzled war veteran and to have a position in the organisation at such a young age.

He's a bit like me I suppose. So hopefully he won't get in my way and just focus on the mission.

"LZ in sight. Get ready for landing," the pilot announced.

HUNK stood up and approached the hatch, standing behind Alpha-1 with Alpha-3 next to him. He looked at the red light above the hatch, waiting for it to change to green so that he could get this done quickly; in and out in very little time as possible, that was how he did his missions and this would be no exception. The light turned yellow and Alphas 1 and 2 slid open the hatch-

-only to receive a hail of gunfire from the moutain range, Alpha 2 falling back onto the helicopter floor, bleeding from several bullet wounds in the chest, whilst Alpha-1 slumped lifelessly out of the chopper, falling silently to the rocks below.

"Report!! What's happening!?" McVarian bellowed over the radio, his concerned voice being heard over everyone's head-sets.

The pilot pressed his hand to his head-set and yelled, "Sir, we are under attack!! The enemy is firing at us!! We-"

"RPG!!" the co-pilot bellowed, pointing at a rocket soaring towards the chopper.

"Hang on!!" the pilot shouted, grabbing the joy-stick and giving it a sudden jerk to the left, causing the chopper to bank left.

HUNK grabbed onto the side of the hatch for dear life, clutching the metal as the wind attempted to force him outside the chopper to his death. He reached out with his other hand and felt someone grab hold of him, seeing that it was Nicholai, currently buckled into one of the seats, holding onto him with both hands. He pulled HUNK with all his strength towards another seat next to him and tossed him towards, his arms straining against HUNK's weight and the force of the wind.

"Get strapped in!!" HUNK ordered, buckling himself securely in the seat.

The rest of the soldiers hurried to their seats and strapped themselves in tightly as the helicopter continued to swerve and dodge the incoming rockets fired by the enemy. However, when the helicopter took a nose dive to avoid the rockets, one man wasn't strapped in yet and flew up to the ceiling, his head turning at an awkward angle and his neck broke with a loud snap that could be heard around the cabin.

HUNK grimaced slightly at the man's death and pressed his hand to his head-set. "Can you get us close to the LZ!?" he yelled.

"No!! There's too much enemy fire coming from the facility's perimeter! We-"

Whatever the pilot had to say next was cut off by a sharp explosion, a smell of electrics burning and a loud mechanical whine. The cabin made a sudden lurch downwards, everyone being thrown about in their seats from the strong movement.

"Shit! This is NightHawk Five!! We've been hit by an RPG!! Sustained considerable damage to the main rotor!! Can't maintain altitude!!" the pilot yelled into the radio urgently.

HUNK tightened his strap and clutched onto his seat. "Brace for impact!!" he commanded.

All the soldiers checked the straps on their seats and looped their arms through each other armpits, their expression most likely grim and afraid behind their gas-mask visors. HUNK looped his arm through Nicholai's armpit and clutched the edge of his seat as the helicopter continued to go down at a dangerous speed.

"HEADS UP!!" the pilot bellowed.

HUNK closed his eyes tightly and clenched his teeth together.

This will be rough.

The helicopter rushed towards the cliff at an uncontrollable speed and crashed onto an outgrowing ledge, barely skimming the edge to hit the ground. It scraped along the ledge, churning up dirt and rocks in torrents outside the open hatch door, metallic squeals and sparks flying. The scream of the dying engine echoed throughout the cabin and the thick, burning smoke smothered and choked the soldiers inside, despite the gas masks they wore. Branches outside snapped and cracked against the metal body as the chopper plowed through nearby bushes and trees until it came to a sudden crash against a cliff wall.

It collided straight into the solid rock wall, the windshield shattering and the glass blown inside the cockpit, hacking up the pilots in their seats, spraying the cockpit with blood and minced organs. The entire cabin lurched forward and bent upwards at an angle, throwing all the soldiers around roughly in their seats, several of which had their bones shattered and organs punctured.

And then, everything was still and quiet. The rotors settled down with a low moan, the engine finally dying out with a strangled gasp of metal and a small cloud of black smoke rose up from the rotor blades. Except for the coughs of a few survivors.

HUNK shook his head to remove the ringing in his ears and fog from his vision, his heart pounding at a rapid pace, his lungs stuffed with grime and smog. His entire body throbbed and hurt all over that he practically felt bruised everywhere on his body, barely finding himself able to move his sore limbs, although miraculously, he found that none of his bones were broken or his organs damaged.

He slowly raised his head, resisting the pounding headache he felt, and glanced around the helicopter. He was suspended on the left side of the cabin, his seat a few feet above the gaping hole that opened onto the rock floor of the cliff, the hatch door still wide open, letting in the thin, pale shafts of moonlight. The other soldiers were completely still in their seats, making no effort to move from their seats, their chests not rising or falling with breath, blood staining their black uniforms.

HUNK shook his head at the sight and to clear his head of the throbbing pain, unbuckling his straps and dropped to the floor, grunting from the twinge of the pain that soared through his legs on the impact of the landing. He carefully rose to his feet, ignoring the cramps and bruises on his body, and walked outside of the door.

The moon was high in a clear sky, casting little light onto the darkened island beneath it. The ledge he stood on stretched far to the left and right before it dropped into a sheer cliff; the path of destruction that the crashed helicopter left behind was easy to see, dirt and rocks scattered around the area, bushes and trees pulverised by the spinning rotors, and a ditch had been formed from where the chopper had scraped along the floor.

I knew this would be rough.

"You still live, Agent HUNK," a young voice with a thick Russian accent stated dryly, as if talking about a simple subject like the weather.

HUNK looked behind him-

-to see Nicholai sat on a small log, his rifle nestled in his lap and a simple ration biscuit in his hand, half of it having been eaten. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and smiled at HUNK.

"But, with your reputation, there is little surprise," he remarked.

HUNK stared back impassively through his gas-mask. "The Death cannot die," he claimed, quoting his famous motto.

Nicholai's smile vanished. "Then I hope you are ready for the mission." He got to his feet. "As of now, you and I are the only survivors from the crash, by some form of luck. Our rough landing will not have gone unnoticed, so we need to find the entrance quickly and get inside the labs. Also, the radio was damaged in the crash, so there will be no chance of calling in to report for evacuation," Nicholai explained, loading his weapon.

"Then I guess we need to find another way out of the facility after our mission is complete," HUNK stated, checking his weapons, seeing that none were damaged in the crash.

Nicholai nodded. "Let's get moving."

He walked over to the cliff face, picked up some dirt in his hands, rubbed it into his palms and began to scale the cliff, climbing quickly and quietly like a panther. HUNK felt slightly impressed with Nicholai's apparent ease and calmness in the situation, but he had to remember that Colonel Vladimir had assigned him here so he had to have the necessary skills for the mission.

HUNK walked over to the cliff and began to scale, his fingers clasping hold of a slight crack in the rockface, hoisting himself him up to reach for another handhold further above with his left hand, planitng his feet firmly against the rock. He followed in Nicholai's path, grabbing hold of any handholds that he had previously used to climb higher, placing his feet in the spots that Nicholai found and scaled at a slow pace up the cliff.

It took them a good quarter of an hour to reach the top, the edge of the cliff coming into sight, bushes and tree roots jutting out from the rock, grass peeking through the slight cracks in the dirt and rock. Nicholai reached the top first and hoisted himself up-

-but suddenly lowered himself, his hand slowly reaching for his knife.

"What is it?" HUNK asked in a hushed tone.

"Three sentries. Each armed with FAMAS and P7s. Definitely special forces," Nicholai answered, keeping his voice down.

HUNK looked around the cliff face and found another handhold above his head. He reached up with his right hand, grabbed hold and hoisted themselves up to look over the edge.

This will be a challenge.

At the top of the cliff was a large cave that opened into a dark, damp tunnel, water dripping down from the stalactites that hung from the ceiling. And in front of the entrance were three soldiers, dressed in a camouflage uniform consisting of a mixture of greys and blacks, carrying fully loaded FAMAS and having what looked like RPGs rested against the cave entrance. One of the guards was currenty pacing back and forth in front of the entrance, his eyes keen and alert, whilst the other two busied themselves with playing a game of poker.

One of the soldier's radio began to let out a hiss and the soldier answered it.

"Yes sir. The entrance is secure," he stated.

There was a moment's pause as the radio let out a garbled speech from the other user.

"Well, sir, Umbrella was quick in sending out their Special Forces. A helicopter had arrived to deliver some of their men, but we have shot it down. No survivors have been found and if there were any, they are dead now," the soldier explained.

Another pause as the radio released more garbled speech.

"Yes, sir. The helicopter is on its way. ETA, one hour maximum," the soldier replied.

More garbled speech.

"Yes sir. We will keep the exit secure for you, the B.O.Ws and our agent. Over and out," the soldier stated, turning off the radio.

HUNK narrowed his eyes at the mention of the word 'agent', running through all the possibilities that that word would mean, none of them at all pleasant. The best he could come up with was that they had a spy in the facility, one with enough authority to help the enemy gain control of the facility and had enough scientific knowledge to help them acquire suitable specimens.

That might explain my friend here from Monitor.

HUNK had heard rumours about the Monitor organisation, about what they really did for Umbrella and themselves. Most say that they are spies sent by the higher-ups to observe and report on what each employee was up to in the corporation. Others said that they were cleaners, elite soldiers trained to destroy all evidence to prevent anything from leading back to Umbrella, which included assassination of suspicious and traitorous employees, if their orders say so.

I'll have to ask 'Comrade' Nicholai about his objectives in this mission.

HUNK lowered himself from the edge and looked over to Nicholai. "They have a chopper coming to pick them up in an hour, along with some of Umbrella's bio-weapons and an 'agent'" he explained.

Nicholai nodded. "Then we best get started," he retorted.

He pulled a rock off from the cliff face and flung it towards some nearby bushes, immediately pulling out his knife afterwards and placing it between his teeth, sacling the wall quickly. HUNK looked over the edge to see the three guards all looking towards the bushes, completely unaware of who was behind them. Nicholai hoisted himself up onto the edge, circled around the lone soldier, taking his knife from between his teeth, creeping towards the guard carefully. Once he reached the guard, he clasped his hand over the soldier's mouth and swiftly slit his throat, looping his arms under the dead soldier's, dragging the body away as the soldier's blood drenched his uniform.

HUNK hoisted himself up, rolled away from the edge, lay down on his stomach and quickly drew his Glock 17, firing a single shot into each of their heads. He got to his feet and looked behind him to see Nicholai appear from behind a row of bushes, wiping his knife on his sleeve as he strode towards HUNK.

"Unit 3, come in. Gunshots were fired in your area. What's your sit-rep? Repeat, unit 3, gunfire in your area, respond over," the radio barked.

HUNK picked up the radio and hit the 'Respond' button. "Unit 3, reporting in, sir," he answered.

"Unit 3, gunfire was heard in your area. What's happening up there? Over."

HUNK cursed under his breath. If they had heard the gunshots already, that means that there were some guarding the elevator. "Apologies, sir. We had a weapons malfunction. No injuries. Area is still secure. False alarm," he lied, hoping that his bluff was called.

"Very well. Unit 2 is on its way to relieve you. Get yourselves to the elevator and come down to the mess hall for your meal. Out," the radio barked out before the static died out.

"Dammit," he cursed, throwing down the radio over the edge. He pulled out his rifle and turned to Nicholai. "We are about to have company," he stated calmly.

Nicholai nodded, smirking. "Then let's prepare a proper greeting," he retorted.

Both of them walked into the cave entrance, their footsteps echoing of the jagged stone walls, penetrating the eerie gloom of the cave. HUNK kept his weapon raised and senses on high-alert as he crept forward, taking light steps to lessen the echo; the last thing he needed to do was alert the enemy to his presence and receive a bullet in his head as a reward. And the darkness of the cave did very little to ease the tenson he felt, since he couldn't see anything five metres in front of him. Plus, turning on a flashlight wouldn't help matters much since all it would do was provide an open target for the enemy.

He glanced over at Nicholai, barely able to notice him at all through the shrouding darkness, to see that his forehead was dotted with sweat and his hands were clenched tightly on his rifle. HUNK smirked slightly behind his gas-mask, feeling somewhat relieved that even the Russian kid was capable of experiencing fear like everyone else. At least he had the assurance that he had a human working with him.

They continued trekking through the cave until they came to a pair of elevator doors set inside the stone wall, a flourescent light turned on above the frame, illuminating the number bar set in the frame-

-which slowly begun to rise up to their floor, most likely carrying the relief for the unit that they had killed.

HUNK stood to one side of the elevator, Nicholai on the other, his knife ready in his right hand. The elevator slowly continued up to their floor, the traditional hum of its machinery becoming louder as it came closer with its payload. The hum soon began to grow lower and came to a stop with a short high-pitched ping, the doors sliding open and three armed soldiers stepped out, only for one to receive the butt of HUNK's rifle to his face, shattering his nose and knocking him back into the elevator. Another one received the blade of Nicholai's knife in his throat, his hands reaching up to keep the blood inside his throat at it seeped through his fingers.

The third soldier spun at HUNK and swiped at him with his gun, knocking the rifle out of his hands. HUNK responded with a roundhouse kick to the chest, causing the soldier to bend over, gasping for breath; he quickly looped his arms around the soldiers head in a head-lock and twisted it roughly to the side, causing the bone to break with an almighty snap. The third soldier attempted to stand, raising his weapon to fire at them, but Nicholai rushed forward and plunged his knife deep in the soldier's chest, the blade piercing the soldier's heart, causing blood to pour from his lips and his body to spasm for a few seconds before falling still.

HUNK grabbed his rifle and stepped in the elevator, pushing the button for them to head into the laboratories. The doors slid shut and the hum started again as the lift made its descent into the mountains towards Umbrella's Crete facility.

Nicholai pulled his knife out of the soldier's corpse and twirled it in his fingers. "Some highly trained 'Special' Forces. They are too arrogant to suspect any danger whatsoever and prepare themselves for any possibility, poor excuses for soldiers," he remarked, scowling down at the body.

HUNK dropped his rifle on the floor and spun around hoisting Nicholai up by his neck, his Glock 17 out and pressed against his forehead. "I need answers," he stated, his voice growing cold.

Nicholai's scowl deepened. "If you are pointing that pistol at me, I suggest you use it," he warned, glaring into HUNK's hardened gaze.

HUNK pressed the gun harder into his forehead. "What are your mission objectives?" he asked.

"Classified," Nicholai evasively answered.

"Bulshit!! You are with Monitor and I am with the USF, we work for Umbrella. And we were sent here to accomplish our missions, different they may be. So you know mine and I want to know yours," HUNK demanded.

Nicholai growled at HUNK, his eyes narrowing further and his expression turning into one of extreme irritance. "Very well. This facility wasn't conquered by force, but by betrayal. Someone inside this facility's staff was working for a rival corporation to Umbrella and allowed their forces into the laboratories to steal the T-Virus research. My mission was to find the spy, interrogate him to find out what he knows of his employer and what they are after from Umbrella's work, and elimnate him afterwards," he explained.

HUNK narrowed his eyes slightly. "How do I know you aren't lying to me?"

Nicholai raised his knife to HUNK's throat. "How dare you?" he snarled, "My father has been loyal to Colonel Vladimir for years and I shall remain forever loyal to him for my life. And since he works for Umbrella, my loyalty shall remain with them, they know I am trustworthy." He narrowed his eyes at HUNK. "And what of you 'John Doe'? The man of no past? No one knows who you really are, what you are really like, nothing is known about you except your anonymous indentities and that you work for us. How do we know YOU can be trusted?"

HUNK pressed his gun harder into Nicholai's forehead that his head was being pushed roughly against the elevator walls. "My loyalties are to Colonel McVarian and Umbrella. I at least owe them that for what they have done for me in the past. Because of them, I have a purpose and for that, I owe them my life," he explained.

Nothing was said after that point, the elevator falling into a suspenseful, the two soldiers pointing their weapons at each other and glaring full force in each other's faces, testing to see who would react first. After a few moments had passed with none of them saying a word to each other, Nicholai suddenly smiled.

"It seems we are very much alike, in both skill and motive, 'Mr Death'," he joked, adding his code-name seem to bring more humor in the subject.

HUNK chuckled behind his gas-mask visor. "Well, you may have a point, 'comrade'," he retorted.

Nicholai sheathed his knife in its holster. "Since we seem to have a mutual understanding of each other and work for the same people, lets work together to accomplish our goals." He held out his right hand. "Agreed?"

HUNK glanced at Nicholai's then back up to his face, looking for any trace of a lie and found none. He holstered his pistol and clasped Nicholai's hand, shaking it. "Agreed."

He gently lowered Nicholai to the floor and picked up his rifle, turning to face the doors, waiting for them to open. He had a job to do and was going to accomplish it by any means necessary, that was the way he worked...

Nicholai rubbed his collar for a few seconds, his throat throbbing slightly from the hold and glanced over at HUNK momentarily. He hadn't been expecting that from the USF soldier and had been surprised that he would have any reason to doubt Nicholai's loyalties to the company. After all, his family were in debted to Colonel Vladimir and Nicholai was not going to betray that trust for anything.

Though in such circumstances, it is good that he is cautious of what could happen.

Though it was no surprise that John Doe was cautious, since the mission had already taken a turn for the worse. Their helicopter had been shot down, the rest of the troops were dead, they were cut off from support in hostile territory, a traitor lay in wait inside the facility and there were still the caged B.O.Ws to worry about. But such dangers were common to Nicholai and he was well prepared for them, being under the tutelage of Sergei Vladimir had taught him to be aware and prepared for such things in his work.

Colonel Sergei Vladimir had been something of a childhood idol for Nicholai ever since he heard the stories about him from his father. His father shared the same idolship for the Soviet Colonel, his admiration evident in his voice when telling the stories, which enthralled Nicholai all the more. All the stories were involved around his father's servitude in Colonel Vladimir during the Second World War, specifically during the house-to-house bloody battles in Stalingrad and how he had earned the reputation of being the man that was a living symbol to the Soviet flag; the hammer that smashed his enemies and the sickle that hacked up anything in his path.

So when Sergei Vladimir had approached Nicholai's father to request that Nicholai join the Umbrella corporation under Sergei's leadership, he was happy to take up the position and was soon brought into the fold. And for five years, he had been trained in combat, espionage and military tactics by Sergei Vladimir whilst in the employ of Umbrella's Monitor Organisation and the Spetnaz. As part of his employment in Monitor, Colonel Vladimir and Lord Spencer knew they needed an agent inside the Spetnaz to keep taps on what happened in the Soviet Government, so they sent Nicholai in under the guise as a new recruit. And during his time with Spetnaz, he had learnt much on interrogations, spying, assassinations and undercover operations, which he now used to help benefit his work with Umbrella.

And if I find our little 'Judas', a little of my methods should be useful in prying some information out of him.

In his time, he had learnt many brutal ways of loosening one's tongue to acquire useful information from certain individuals and had been put through the mental training of coping with such things; after all, the Spetnaz's KGB division had used most of these techiniques before in their line of work.

"Get ready," HUNK advised, jarring Nicholai from his thoughts, and raised his rifle at the doors.

Nicholai raised his rifle at the door and crouched low, not wanting to make himself an easy target for the men outside the doors, HUNK following suit. The elevator soon came to a stop with the high-pitched ping and the doors slid open to reveal a simple stainless-steel hallway, with several ventilation covers inserted in the floor and ceiling, showing large water pipes running through them. Nicholai leapt out and faced towards the left whilst HUNK took the right, both weapons raised and aimed down the hall, looking for any sight of the enemy.

The hallway stretched for some time in both directions until it reached a dead end, several doors lining both sides of the hallway in both directions, leading into what looked like the dormitories. And opposite the elevator was a pair of double doors which led into the cafeteria, from where could be heard the sounds of many voices. Nicholai and HUNK approached the doors, standing at either side, counting to three silently before they both kicked in the door.

Inside the cafertia were several clean metal tables placed around the room in rows of four, each with two metal benches on either side with the food counters and the single metal that led inside on the left hand wall, and the tray racks placed against the right hand wall, and another set of double doors were at the opposite corner of the room. At least a dozen soldiers were currently seated at the tables, their weapons placed down on the floor since they weren't expecting an attack, food dished out onto the plates in front of them. They looked up and gasped in shock as they saw the two Umbrella soldiers standing in the doorway, their eyes wide and mouths hanging open, some having even leapt to their feet.

"Knock knock," HUNK quipped before he opened fire, hitting one man directly in his forehead, his brains splattering against the table and soldiers behind him as his body fell lifelessly to the floor. Nicholai opened fire and killed two men, one with a burst directly to his heart and another by a shot to the neck, blood spurting from their bodies in rapid torrents as they crumpled to the floor, clutching their fatal wounds with what little life they had left.

The other troops leapt into action, quickly reaching for their weapons and overturning one of the tables to create some cover or leaping behind the food counters. HUNK and Nicholai ducked back behind the doorway as the soldiers opened fire on them, the elevator doors becoming sprayed and dented by bullets, the sounds of automatic gunfire echoing throughout the metallic halls.

The barrage lasted for a few minutes before the soldiers had to reload, giving HUNK enough time to bring out his combat shotgun and for both of the Umbrella troops to fire inside. HUNK peppered the room with buckshot, killing three unfortunate men who had yet to duck back behind cover whilst Nicholai took careful aim at the men behind the counter, killing two men with a single shot to their heads through the glass of the counter's display.

The soldiers soon reloaded and unleashed another barrage at the two Umbrella troops, causing them to duck back behind the walls as the bullets flew past them and pinged against the elevator doors. After a few minutes, the soldiers started to reload again and HUNK rushed in, leaping over the table and the soldiers crouched behind it, performing a roll once he touched the ground, coming back onto his knees, spinning around and rapidly fired at the soldiers, decimating them. Nicholai rushed inside and fired at the counter, unable to hit any of the three laying prone behind it, as HUNK spun the overturned table around to face the counter.

Nicholai continued to fire, counting down the rounds until he reached at one round left in the clip and searched for anything that could help them. He looked around the entire cafeteria for anything that could help them until he caught sight of a large white tank behind the cooker, seeing the word 'FLAMMABLE' imprinted on it in big red letters aong with a fire symbol.

"Fire in the hole," he yelled, firing at the tank.

In the split-second between the yell and the explosion, Nicholai felt himself being pulled down roughly after he fired the shot by HUNK, crashing down hard enough on the floor to bruise his knees. The explosion that happened seconds after filled the room with a tremendous 'BOOM', the sound deafening in the large room, followed by a bright white flash. Soon, the noise of the explension settled down to be replaced by the roar of flames, the stench of choking smoke and the clitter-clatter of blackened utensils falling to the floor.

Next to Nicholai, HUNK emitted a small laugh intertwined with short coughs. "That's one way to clear an area," he joked.

Nicholai chuckled in response. "Just comes with the job," he retorted dryly.

Both of them got to their feet, steadying themselves by grabbing onto the table for support, and looked over at the remains of the food counter. The explosion had destroyed the entire counter, glass and burnt pieces of metal scattered around the room, bright red flames had engulfed the counters and the troops behind it.

Nicholai and HUNK stared at the burning counter for a few minutes before they headed towards the double doors at the other end, unloading the half empty clips from their weapons and reloaded them with fresh ones. They pushed the doors open and stepped through into another hallwaay, similar to the one before, stretching in both directions towards a dead end, doors placed on both sides of the wall leading into the dormitories and an elevator opposite the doors to the cafeteria.

HUNK walked up to the doors and pushed the down button. "We best check the main lab. The enemy agent is most likely down there, getting the last of the data he intends to steal," he suggested, adjusting the sling of his rifle to fit more comfortably on his shoulder.

Nicholai cracked his knuckles. "What say we introduce ourselves?" he asked grimly.

The elevator soon arrived with a loud ping and the doors slid open, allowing HUNK and Nicholai to step inside. HUNK pushed the 'down' button and the doors slid shut again, the lift starting its descent with a low hum. Nicholai pulled out his knife and tested the blade by cutting open his thumb, making sure that the blade hadn't gone blunt from its use on the soldiers upstairs. The enemy agent was down here and Nicholai needed his equipment ready for this delicate part of squeezing a person's tongue for information, since he had to make sure that there would be no mistakes, because if there were any mistakes, he may end up accidently killing the suspect and losing a chance of gaining valuable information.

All I need is just a few minutes to find out who he's working for and what they want, then he is of no more use alive to anyone.

The elevator soon arrived on the floor and the doors opened to reveal the main laboratories. The room was a large square block of 24-by-24, flourescent lights illuminating the entire room from above on the ceiling, metallic pipes running through the grated floor towards three rows of stasis tubes against each side of the room, a computer console placed in front of each tube and a circle of desks in the centre of the room.

HUNK pointed over his shoulder behind him then jabbed a thumb in his chest before he pointed at Nicholai and in the other direction. Nicholai nodded in understanding and crept slowly out of the elevator towards the rows of stasis tubes on the left, weapon raised, taking short and quiet footsteps so as not to make any noise on the grated floor to alert his presence, HUNK doing the same thing as he headed to the right.

Nicholai kept his eyes and ears alert for any signs of the traitor, making sure that he didn't let his guard down for a second; doing so would result in his death. He reached the first row of the stasis tubes and leaned against the first in the row, his hands gripping the weapon tightly as he edged towards the corner. In a few measured steps, he reached the corner and leapt around into the aisle, weapon raised to fire at anyone he saw.

The aisle between the rows was empty, nothing there except for the computer consoles that flashed with varying colors of light and let out a series of beeps to show that the creatures inside were still alive. He glanced up at one of the stasis tubes to see a fully-grown Hunter inside, its body floating and stationary inside the dark green fluid, sleeeping through the artificial slumber the sedatives enforced on it, for which he was gad for. Having them awake and on the lose woud be a serious inhibition on their mission , not to mention that he was pretty sure that they didn't have enough ammunition to fight all of them successfully.

"Don't move!!" a quivering male voice ordered from behind him, the cold metal of a gun barrel adding emphasis to it. "Drop your weapons!"

Nicholai felt a momentary stab of shame to his ego and a hint of self-irritation for letting himself get snuck up on like that, but decided that there was no point in self-insultation at the present moment and complied with the man's orders. He held the rifle up by the barrel in his left hand and slowly placed it on the floor, making sure that he didn't give the man any reason to shoot him.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

"Umbrella," Nicholai answered simply.

"God, you assholes can't let your precious work go anywhere without a punishment to whoever is selling it off," the man snapped.

Nicholai stayed crouched on the floor, waiting for the right moment to strike. "So you admit that you betrayed us."

The man laughed. "I was never an employee to you, but to someone with far more sense and vision. What makes you think that I was an employee for you insane fools?"

Nicholai smiled. "Nothing really. Just a hunch," he stated.

"Do bad that was the last hunch a worthless child like you shall have in your life," the man declared, cocking the gun, the bullet sliding into the chamber with a click.

Nicholai immediately reacted, spinning around on the floor, sweeping his right leg out, tripping the man up, the gun clattering to the floor. Nicholai leapt up and grabbed the man by his collar, hurling him into a computer console. The man was a thin, bony man, sunken cheeks, bloodshot eyes, basically the average physique for an ordinary pencil-pushing scientist, but Nicholai was fully aware that he wasn't an ordinary scientist. And the prove he needed was from the sudden headbutt that he received, followed by a punch to the gut and to the side of his head.

Nicholai collapsed to the floor, grunting as the scientist made a run for it, his footsteps clanging against the grated floor. He groaned from the pain in his stomach as he rose to his feet and cursed himself for letting the agent get away, for screwing up badly in his mission-

-until he heard a sudden yelp and the sound of someone falling to the floor. Nicholai steadied himself by grabbing hold of the railing placed around the row of stasis tubes and staggered around the corner-

-to see HUNK standing over the scientist, his boot pressed down firmly on his chest and his pistol aimed at his head. HUNK looked up at Nicholai as he approached, his expression hidden behind his gas-mask visor.

"You should be more careful," he chided.

Nicholai scowled. "I don't need a lecture." He glanced between the agent and HUNK, nodding slowly.

HUNK nodded in response and stepped around to the head of the scientist, looping his arms underneath the agent's, dragging him to his feet. Nicholai stepped closer and looked the agent in the face, both of them glaring at each other.

"Now, I will ask you some questions and you will answer them in full detail. Otherwise, there will be nasty consequences for you," he warned.

The agent spat him in the face defiantly. "Go to hell," he snarled.

Nicholai wiped the spit from his face, glaring at the agent in irritation, and looked at HUNK. "Secure?" he asked.

HUNK nodded in understanding. "Go ahead."

Nicholai's face broke out into a cold, ruthless smile. "I warned you," he stated.

The agent's expression was as stoic as before but Nicholai could see the underlying fear lurking behind his eyes. Nicholai picked up the agent's right leg, straightened it out and brought his left foot down hard on his kneecap, shattering it in a nauseating crunch. The agent screamed in agony and pain, his leg flopping down aimlessly as the joint was destroyed amd struggled in vain to break free of HUNK's strong grip.

"Okay!! Okay!! I'll tell, I'l tell!! Just stop!!" he begged as Nicholai reached for his left leg.

Nicholai felt a moment of disappointment in the agent's lack of endurance and courage, but dismissed it. "Alright. Tell me, who is your employer?" he asked.

"The HCF!! The HCF!! I work for the HCF!!" he shouted, his eyes beginning to water up with tears of pain, his voice becoming choked with sobs.

Well, that was a name is no surprise.

After all, the HCF was Umbrella's number one business competitor in computers, health care, medical products and bio-engineering. Ever since Lord Spencer and his colleagues had founded Umbrella, there had been several reports, threats and public denounciations made by the HCF towards them, either on their health or 'shadow' operations. And because of their increasing competition in both areas of work with Umbrella, Sergei Vladimir and Lord Spencer had made sure that all Monitor agents were informed about them and their potential threat to the corporation's endeavours.

But even if they were in competition with Umbrella over legal and illegal machinations, they should have had no idea that the T-Virus existed, so they shouldn't have attacked this facility in the first place.

"Why this facility? What were they after? Speak!" he commanded.

The agent whimpered. "They were after any source of data they could get on Umbrella's T-Virus. We had managed to acquire secret information from some of our other agents about the Tyrant-Virus' existence and our organisation wanted to acquire as much data on the project as possible, along with live samples," he explained,

Nicholai nodded. "How did you manage to find out that the T-Virus existed?" he asked.

"One of our agents in Umbrella America informed us of its existence, so we had to find out a way to steal it. Thus, we decided to take control over this facility and steal as much as the research as we could. I was to download all the data onto several disks and send them over to our HQ via the computer system, whilst the soldiers obtain some samples and specimens from the Hunter project." The agent reached inside his pocket and pulled out a small disk inside a glass case. "I have already sent the data to HQ and preset the self-destruct system to activate in the next five minutes, and to detonate in the next three minutes. This is the only remaining copy of the data," he assured.

Nicholai took the disk from the agent's hand and placed it in his trouser pocket. At least one part of the mission was accomplished, now for the other part. He nodded over to HUNK, who nodded in response and twisted the agent's neck in an awkward angle, breaking it with an almighty snap.

HUNK threw aside the corpse and picked up his rifle. "We best be hurrying. If we don't want to die in the explosion occuring in the next eight minutes, we have to find a way out," he advised.

As if on queue in a script, a hiss of static emanated from the agent's pocket.

Nicholai rummaged through the corpse's pockets until he came across a small hand-held radio, currently turned on and hissing out a wave of static from an incoming call.

"This is Alpha-45. Agent Orian, what's your status?" a voice asked, accompanied by the familiar sound of a helicopter engine.

Nicholai pressed the respond button. "This is Orian. We have a problem. All data has already been transmitted to HQ and I have the last remaining copy of the data, but we were unsuccessful in retrieving any of the samples of the T-Virus. The Hunters have managed to escape from their captivity and have wiped out a considerable number of the soldiers on site and the self-destruct system is set to detonate soon, so we need urgent pick-up," he bluffed, hoping to God that he had hid his Russian accent well enough.

"Roger that. I am on my way. Be outside in three minutes," the pilot informed them, having been convinced.

Nicholai shut off the radio and threw it aside. "We need to get outside," he ordered.

HUNK nodded. "We'l need to take out the pilot and steal the helicopter. But I can't fly a helicopter, I am a soldier, not a pilot," he stated dryly.

Nicholai shook his head, chuckling. "Strange that you don't know how to fly aircraft, what with your reputation," he joked. "I can fly the helicopter, so long as we can get rid of that pilot."

"Alright, lets go," he ordered, jogging towards the elevator with Nicholai behind him.

They hurried through the facility, going back the way they came in, through the cafeteria and dormitories, up the elevators and through the dark dank cave, running with all their might and energy so as not to miss their only way out of the area. Nicholai just hoped that it would be easy to get their hands of the chopper without damaging or losing it because they were really cutting it close with this mission.

They stopped a few inches from the cave entrance and crouched down in the darkness, looking outside to see a small helicopter waiting on the ledge, its rotor blades still on and spinning, the hatch open for any passengers and the pilot seated in the cockpit, waiting for his comrades. Nicholai drew out his rifle and pointed it at the pilot's head, taking careful aim and precision so as not to miss.

Stay calm. Take a deep breath and focus. Concentrate on nothing else but the shot.

Nicholai felt the world drown out around of sight and sound, his vision blurring at the corner of his eyes, his ears going deaf to the wildlife calls nearby and the helicopter's still-going engine, his only attention focused clearly on the pilot. He felt his head, hands and face break out in perspiration, soaking his skin in the clear warm fluid to call down his increasingly hot skin, his finger resting tightly on the trigger, ready to pull once he was sure that he wouldn't miss. He took in a deep breath, held it, steadied his hands, closed one eye, the other focused down the sight towards the pilot-

There.

-and fired a single shot. Time seem to slow down when the shot went off that Nicholai thought he could see the bullet soaring on its trajected path after being fired. The pilot turned his head, looking to see who had fired, his facial expression looking shocked before the bullet reached impact, shattering through the glass and into the pilot's head, just above his left eye. The pilot's head snapped back sharply, his body crashing and slumping back into his seat, blood and gore splashing the inside of the windshield.

Nicholai and HUNK were immediately on their feet, dashing for the open door and leaping inside once the pilot had been hit, hurrying to get out of the area and back to HQ. Nicholai hefted the corpse out of the seat and threw it to HUNK, who in turn, pushed it out the door before slamming it shut.

"Now!! Get this thing in the air!!" he shouted over the engine, strapping himself into one of the seats.

Nicholai leapt into the pilot seat and placed the headphones on over his ears, checking his pocket to see he still carried the disk and quickly grabbed the joystick, raising the helicopter into the air and away from the facility towards the horizon.

"Mission accomplished," he exclaimed.

"Mission accomplished," HUNK agreed, looking out the cabin window.

As the helicopter flew away, the self-destruct system activated, the alarms blaring in empty halls, the voice of the Red Queen speaking to no one but dead men, the White Queen already beginning the countdown. Then when the countdown reached zero, the generator increased its power output and detonated the explosive inside itself, causing the entire bottom of the facility to collapse. Then the other explosives placed throughout the complex detonated and brought the rest of the facility caving down itself, all the technology and creatures inside, dead or otherwise, were engulfed in the flames and rubble that was brought down on them. Outside the mountain range shook and the people of Crete assumed it was a slight tremor, looking about curiously for what had happened to cause the tremor, whilst the mountain range gave way to a small rockslide that ended up to roll down into a neraby forest, all the stones and rocks coming to rest against fallen trees as the facility under the mountainss was buried beneath hundreds of tonnes of rock and burning metal...

A few hours later, in Washington DC, HCF Headquarters.

A large board meeting was being held by the higher-ups of the corporation, all seven of the higher-ups gathered around a large meeting table in a dark shadowed room, what little light there was only enough to show the people's clothes and bodies seated by the table, their faces shrouded in shadow.

One man in an orange suit spoke up first. "It has been confirmed that all our troops and agent Orian were eliminated by the Umbrella Special Forces in the Crete facility mission. No survivors reported in, as of yet," he explained, tapping the paper in his hands that he was reading, his topaz ring glinting in the light.

"Was anything useful gathered from the mission?" a woman dressed in a blue business suit asked, her thin delicate fingers tapping lightly on the table.

"All data on the T-Virus, Progenitor and Umbrella's recent projects with both strains were obtained from the site. We now have the data stored in our mainframe for use of our own, but no actual samples or specimens had been acquired at the time, so the success is...questionable," a man dressed in a green suit answered.

"Still, it is something we can use. After all we have the staff, resources and fundings to work on this. With the data we have acquired, we could begin to make our own samples and start work on this endeavor as soon as we wish," a woman dressed in a scarlet suit stated in a matter-of-fact tone, her ruby necklace glinting in the light.

"But we have no idea of how to make it from just raw data alone. Umbrella isn't stupid enough to just leave a step-by-step instruction list on the T-Virus in their data for us to steal and use ourselves. We really needed those samples for us to work with, otherwise the project is less than useless!!" a man in a yellow suit complained.

A pair of violet lips grew into a small smile. "There is another way," a female voice declared, catching the entire room's attention. "There are always those who can be changed to work for us, to leave Umbrella's employment and join with us in our endeavours. All one needs to do is feed them with their most desired yearning, such as money, protection, work, power or opportunities. All we really need is one of the high ranking scientists on the project to work for us, then we have what we need," the woman explained, brushing down the violet jacket of her suit as she spoke.

Before anyone could add their own opinion to the woman's explanation, a cough emanated from the head of the tabel, behind a plush leather chair.

"Miss Violet speaks wisely," a voice claimed, his tone emotionless.

The yellow suited man stood up. "What do you mean, Mr White?" he asked, confused.

A white gloved hand extended outwards from the chair and opened up its palm. "Do we have any data or references to the head scientists on the T-Virus project?" he asked.

The orange suited man handed over the folder. "The Head Scientists are a Albert Wesker and William Birkin. Both of them certified child prodigies with exceptional intellects and unlimited knowledge to handle the work, and are both responsible for the recent successes on the project," he explained, handing over the folder.

Mr White read through the entire folder on the two scientists, taking great care not to miss out any detail on the two, paying close attention on their history with Umbrella's hierarchy and T-Virus project. After he had finished reading through the folder, he handed it back to the orange suited man and turned his chair around to face the board members.

"Very well. Upon observation of our research on Umbrella's staff and evaluation of the mission success, I have to say that we shall commence our own endeavours in creating the T-Virus. We shall assign the best of our scientists onto this task and keep them under close observation to prevent any hazards. In the meantime, I advise we have our agents keep an eye out for any possibe employees to be brought over to us and to report back on anything that Umbrella will start," Mr White explained.

"That seemse suitable," Miss Violet stated. "Agreed?" she asked the other members.

"Agreed," they replied.

Mr White nodded. "Very well. Meeting adjourned."

Everyone got up to leave the room, their footsteps disappearing along with them as they walked through the shadowed room, opening the double doors that led outside, the light breifly illuminating the room before they all walked out and the door was shut again, leaving the room in darkness again...

Sorry for the late update everyone, had a bit of trouble writing it. It was difficult to try and make this coincide with the timeline.

Hope that everyone is in character, that I have explained everything throughly and that you enjoyed this chapter.

Please read and leave a review if you want, and thanks for reading all the way through.

And stay tuned for chapter 30!!