The Progenitor Chronicles

by inserthedgehog

The Progenitor Chronicles takes place from July 1998 to July 2016. The story follows Rebecca Chambers as she strives to find a cure to the Progenitor Virus and its descendants, fighting biohazards with intelligence rather than with guns. It also explores this world constantly under threat from bioterrorists from the eyes of a regular civilian growing up.

2. Volume II - War

Chapter 1 (MC): Let the Past Bury its Dead, June 2005

We'd mostly arrived at the same time and we walked through the cemetery together, in silence: the trio, Nick, and myself. Exactly one year ago, today, we found ourselves facing death on the other side of the world. And we'd made it back. At the time – well, after I'd somewhat recovered from my almost catatonic state – I marveled at how fortunate we'd been to survive. Recently, the explosive news that the head of the FBC, Morgan Lansdale, had actually orchestrated the Terragrigia Panic explained some of that luck. He'd provided the bioweapons and equipment to Il Veltro, but had told Veltro to disperse the virus via air (thus diminishing its impact – the virus wasn't airborne). He'd instructed Veltro to deploy Hunters into the tourist sector and then fan out into the rest of the city, meaning the Hunters were mostly attacking the rest of Terragrigia when the FBC landed at the airport; moreover, the FBC didn't have to contend with a full-on viral outbreak as Veltro hadn't dispersed the virus properly. It also explained how the FBC had responded so quickly – Lansdale knew ahead of time what would happen.

A few weeks after our rescue, he then ordered the orbiting satellite that powered Terragrigia to reconfigure, focusing solar power onto the city and destroying it. It was a clever ploy to get rid of any evidence while ostensibly taking drastic measures to "contain" the outbreak.

Miss – I mean Doctor Chambers now – told me that 2 of her former teammates from STARS, who'd founded the BSAA, had been the ones to expose Lansdale. Apparently, Lansdale's motivation was to provide a reason for increasing the funding and authority of the FBC and, ironically, he succeeded – in increasing the funding and authority of the BSAA, since he was promptly arrested and the FBC merged into the BSAA afterward.

I mumbled that I hate politics and she agreed. She and I went on to talk about other things, like how we were both headed to Bear University in a few months – she was beginning her post-doctoral studies advising the BSAA, which had a research facility there collaborating with the school, while I was starting college. I liked to think she chose that location because I would be there, but I knew that was silly.

The five of us slowed down as we approached George's and Myrtle's graves. Neither of them actually had bodies buried beneath the tombstones, since their bodies were never recovered. I surmised that even if the FBC troops had encountered Myrtle's body, they wouldn't have recognized it.

Rita lay down some flowers. None of us said anything. In my mind, I had never forgiven Myrtle for her affair with Tom, but I wasn't going to go out of my way to insult her memory or interrupt our solemn gathering. I wondered how George had died and what he was thinking of when Veltro's attack first hit the harbor. Was he wondering where Myrtle was? Did he die ignorant of what she was doing behind his back? I hoped so. I hoped he had peace when he went.

We continued on toward Jay's grave next. Only the sounds of our quiet footsteps and a slight breeze accompanied our approach. Like those of Myrtle's and George's, Jay's grave contained no body. The troops at the airport hadn't bothered collecting his corpse after saving me, which was understandable, considering that wasn't their mission. Trying to collect every fallen body in Terragrigia would've been lunacy. Periodically, I still had flashbacks to that moment the Hunter decapitated him, right next to me, with a single swipe, that moment Death itself stared me in the face. The other day I saw a video of an alligator (or was it a crocodile?) opening and closing its jaws and I almost had a panic attack. It would probably take a long time for me to heal from my experience.

Unlike with George, I knew exactly how much peace Jay had when he died. None. I should've told him not to come with us, I thought. Again and again, I wished I could return to before the trip, when we talked briefly about Daisy. You don't need to come if you don't want to, I remember saying to him. But you have more of a right to be there than Tom does.

He'd sighed and quietly said he'd rather not waste the plane ticket and hotel reservation. And I had left it at that. I should've just told him to stay home.

We stopped in front of Jay's grave. Rita put down more flowers and again, we were quiet. I'd heard that Daisy had finally broken up with Tom. He had decided to bring an entire group of girls with him to Prom, including her, and she'd decided that was too much. She didn't seem to mind knowing that he was cheating on her during our trip, never leaving his side after we ran into each other going into the airport, but she reacted to that. I didn't know why, nor did I really care.

"Would've been great hanging out with you after graduation," Nick whispered. "All of us, together, talking about how much ass we were gonna kick going off to college."

Nobody else said anything. I wasn't entirely sure what to say, if anything. Presently we turned to leave and I was surprised to see Daisy walking toward us, carrying flowers in her arms as well.

"Hey, you guys," she said, softly.

I didn't answer her, instead looking at her coolly before walking past her and continuing out of the cemetery. Anger, guilt, sorrow…a bunch of emotions whirled in my head and I wished I could dispel them. I wished I could time travel back to talk Jay out of coming to Terragrigia with us. I wished I could time travel back to when the Hunters first appeared, and I wished I had some sort of superhuman powers where I could slaughter the bioweapons myself. But as I walked away, I remembered what Dr. Chambers had told me when I'd vented my frustrations:

"You can't do any of that. Nobody can. But you can learn, and excel, and grow to fight off bioterrorism just like you said you would back when you called me that night. You will. You just need to have faith…we both…need to have faith."

Chapter 2 (Rebecca): First Blood, June 2005

I cleared out a spot for Jill to sit down. She looked around my office as she did so and I wondered whether she would comment on how messy it was. I hadn't really bothered to tidy up – I spent most of my time in the lab area, anyway.

"What've you got for me?"

I pulled up a few files on my computer. "Let's start at the beginning. Based on some loose files I found back in the Umbrella Training Facility…way back during my first mission, I know there's some sort of original virus Umbrella discovered that they used as a base to make the t-virus. What this original virus is or what it does, I don't know. I do know that the first t-virus was created by combining it with leech DNA, courtesy of mad scientist James Marcus. We currently know of 3 descendants of the t-virus: the G-virus that Claire encountered when Raccoon City was overrun, the t-Veronica virus that Claire encountered in Antarctica, and the t-Abyss virus that Veltro used on Terragrigia."

Jill nodded. "Okay, go on."

"Of these three, we have the most information about the t-Abyss by far. Besides what Leon, Claire, and Chris wrote down from experience, we know next to nothing about how the other two viruses work. But based on the t-Abyss vials you recovered and the files we took from the FBC, I was able to reverse-engineer a few genetic traits of the t-virus. See, the t-Abyss was made by combining t-virus genetic code with a known pathogen discovered in deep-sea fish, so by elucidating differences between t-Abyss genetics and the genome of the known pathogen…"

I pulled up a few more diagrams and schematics. "The analysis is still difficult. One thing I've figured out thus far is the t-virus is very…adaptable. It can infect different organisms and, if combined with other viruses, it easily gains new capabilities."

"Well, we've seen…let's see, monkeys, sharks, bats, snakes, spiders…"

I shuddered. "Exactly. It also makes vaccine development very difficult – we'd need to target something fundamental about the virus rather than examine its mutations or descendants. Otherwise, there's always a high likelihood a subsequent outbreak will simply feature a new strain that renders a vaccine useless. For instance, the medication you used in Raccoon City likely wouldn't work on the t-Abyss or even on a t-virus outbreak today."

"So…what are your next steps?"

"Well," I said, sighing. "I'll continue what I've been doing. My main goal right now is to characterize as much about the original t-virus as I can – structure, genetic code, anything – and see if I can find something to base a vaccine or treatment on. And that's…"

I trailed off and looked at Jill, who returned my gaze with a quizzical expression. "What?"

"Uhh, well, it'd be nice if…I mean…"

Jill gave me a confused side-eye and said, "What, are you trying to ask me out?"

"What?! No! Of course not!"

"Then what's with the tongue-tied awkwardness? Spit it out already," Jill said, laughing.

"You got infected back in Raccoon City, and there're probably antibodies in your blood, which would have some sort of motif specific to the t-virus's outer structure, so…"

Jill laughed again. "That's it? You want a blood sample from me? That's what you were so nervous about asking?"

I looked away sheepishly. "I mean…I don't want to treat you like a lab rat. Also, capitalizing on you having gotten infected seems…"

Jill rolled her eyes. "If it'll make you feel better, I'll say you owe me. Big." She leaned close, facetiously narrowing her eyes, before losing control and bursting into more laughter.

I sighed, then said, "Thanks, Jill."

"Anytime, Rebecca. It's…good to have all of us working together again. I really think the BSAA is going to make a difference. We're going to fight back."

"The fact that the head of the FBC was himself a bioterrorist worries me, though," I said, as I rose and led Jill down the hall toward the lab. "Besides the obvious question of whom we can trust, people's opinion of the anti-bioterror groups just took a hit. We can't afford to lose support."

"Playing espionage games is Director O'Brian's job," Jill said. "I know that all too well."

"I thought he was stepping down."

"…Okay, playing espionage games is the job of whomever takes over after him," Jill answered. "In all seriousness, though, the reason Chris and I wanted someone to direct the BSAA besides us was for precisely this problem – theatricality and deception aren't things we specialize in. We remembered Wesker and Irons and decided we needed someone more suited to that kind of thing."

I swiped my card to enter the lab and Jill continued. "Speaking of deception, this reminds me of back during the Raccoon Trials where someone on the Internet kept posting articles about how Umbrella made a bioweapon designed to shrink penises so they could no longer function. I doubt that was true, but I definitely remember hearing a bunch of guys decide to avoid all Umbrella products 'just in case.'"

I looked at Jill and grumbled, "I have my suspicions as to who that was."

I sat Jill down, prepared her arm, and drew the blood. Though research was slow, as it usually was, I shared Jill's sentiment and was glad I was finally able to apply my skills to combat these viruses directly.

Chapter 3 (MC): From the Ashes We Fall, January 2006

I stretched and groggily turned off my alarm clock. Spring semester definitely began more intensely compared to the previous semester and I was already feeling the weight. I stumbled out of bed and made my way to the bathroom to go through my morning routine, waving hi at my hallmates as I did so.

First semester at Bear University had gone nicely. I'd made a few friends and dove right in to classes and extracurriculars. I tried continuing kendo, but decided I was never going to be fit enough and dropped it. On the other hand, I continued practicing archery. Besides one or two social organizations, I decided to join a new club on campus: the Society of the Phoenix, which was formed after receiving some grant money from TerraSave dedicated to restoring Terragrigia. Obviously, a few college students weren't going to repeat the marvel of engineering that built the city in the first place, but college design teams building some relatively simple technologies were fairly common.

I was part of the biosensor project, where we were trying to design a device or procedure to help determine whether the ruins of Terragrigia still posed an infectious risk to people. Originally I thought I'd contribute on a molecular biology level, considering what Dr. Chambers had taught me since 1998, but I quickly grew to love the physics and engineering that went into the project. Over the course of a semester, I'd decided to major in bioengineering as a result, possibly marking the first time in my life I was learning something Dr. Chambers herself hadn't learned.

I finished my morning routine, got dressed, and began heading out. As I exited the dormitory, a blast of freezing wind greeted me and I winced. The icy Northeast was a far cry from the warm and humid South. I steeled myself and began walking toward central campus, where all the classes were held.

Bear University was fairly large in size, but navigating was pretty easy given campus was organized into zones. The dorms stretched from the west to the north while all the administrative buildings were in the northeast. Classes were in the center and melded into the research zone, which occupied the eastern area of campus. South of the research zone (southeastern campus) held all the sports facilities. In the southern end of campus sat Ursa Quad, surrounded by various common buildings, such as dining halls and theatres. Beyond Ursa Quad to the south was a small college town with apartment buildings and restaurants. Dr. Chambers lived there.

I grabbed a cup of coffee and went to my first class of the day. Today was going to be a packed day: classes in the morning and early afternoon, an interview for an undergraduate research position in the later afternoon, and finally a Society of the Phoenix meeting toward the evening. And then, of course, I had a bunch of homework I hadn't yet started on.

Class flew by before I could fully grasp the material, as usual, and I shuffled to my next one, which was the same. A third class later and I began the trek east to the research zone. Soon I reached Barney Road, which stretched from the northern edge of campus all the way to the stadium in the southeast, nicely dividing the class halls from the research zone proper. As I crossed the road, I thought to myself how annoying it must be for drivers on campus – pedestrians were constantly moving to and fro on the street and many paid little attention to traffic lights.

I turned left and walked up Barney Road toward Power Road, which ran from the dorms in the west all the way to the eastern edge of campus. I'd never been to the research zone before, not counting the initial tours of campus where I had no idea where I was anyway, but from the map I'd consulted a few days ago, the bioengineering building, Tycoon Hall, was at the northern end of the research zone, right up against Power Road.

I reached Power Road, turned right, and kept going. From the corner, Tycoon Hall was the third building on my right. I looked for an entrance and walked inside into a large lobby. The glass doors and windows behind me, as well as a matching set of doors and windows on the other side, let ample sunlight in, giving the building a bright and energetic atmosphere. A large central staircase wound up from the side of the room, disappearing into a balcony above. I paid it little heed, as my destination was on the first floor, and it took me a few more minutes of searching before I found it and entered.

"Ah, you're the new prospective undergrad, I take it? I'm Cidney." A middle-aged woman rose from her seat and extended a hand. I introduced myself and she asked me to wait awhile while she finished something on the microscope in front of her chair.

"You're a freshman, right? Is this your first time in this part of campus?"

"Yeah, actually."

"That's unsurprising. I hope you found your way without too much issue. I once had a student walk all the way to Balamb Hall on the far side of the research zone – the eastern-most building on campus, if you're unfamiliar – before realizing he'd gone too far."

Cidney typed a few things and looked up. "Well, I'm done. Let me show you around."

I followed. "Tycoon's a newer building, though we're attached to Narshe Hall, down that way upstairs" – she pointed down a hall that I think led westward. "They were initially just going to expand Narshe Hall, but we kind of pushed for a full-fledged facility for bioengineering. It worked well for us."

She swiped into a neighboring lab. "Having all the research buildings together is nice. If you go outside, you'll find Crystal Quad. Counterclockwise from here around Crystal Quad, you'll reach Midgar Hall, the biology building; Baron Hall, the physics cluster of buildings; Zanarkand Hall, the computational core; and finally Alexandria Hall, where all the imaging equipment is – confocal, MRI, CT, etc."

She sat down. "So, tell me. What kind of research are you interested in?"

I sat down in front of her and began to respond when a poster on the wall caught my eye. It showed an incredibly large, detailed depiction of some sort of green lizard and a jolt of fear shot though me. My eyes widened, my throat closed, and I shuddered involuntarily. Cidney furrowed her brow, turned, and looked at the wall.

"What is it?"

"…Sorry…just…lizards and reptiles have that effect on me. I'm alright."

"Hmm…we have that up because lizards regenerate so well. We do regenerative medicine research here, after all."

"Yes, of course," I said, making an effort to swallow my panic. I began expanding on my experiences in Raccoon City and in the Society of the Phoenix. We talked about a few potential projects before she ended the interview, saying she'd "get back to me." I smiled, shook hands, and left, fully convinced that my miniature freak-out had ensured I would not be getting this position. At any rate, this time I exited south onto a short set of stairs leading into Crystal Quad rather than north back onto Power Road. I crossed the quad and walked down the walkway between Baron and Zanarkand Halls to emerge onto Jurassic Road. This road ended where it hit Barney Road, as on the other side of Barney Road was the upper part of Ursa Quad.

I walked down Jurassic Road toward Ursa Quad, passing Cornelia Hall, the new nanotechnology facility nestled in the southwestern corner of the research zone. I'd heard stories about Cornelia Hall – it was the newest and most advanced building on campus, housing the university's most state-of-the-art equipment and facilities. Undergraduates were strictly not allowed in the building and the doors were reinforced to prevent any unauthorized entry. In the event of a fire, Cornelia Hall had some sort of self-seal-off system to protect its equipment. I'd always wondered what they did in there, but…well, I wasn't allowed into the building, so I supposed I'd never know.

I reached Ursa Quad and entered the first building on its northeastern corner – David's Hall – where we were meeting. I walked into the café, sighed, and plopped down into a chair, finally getting some rest from walking all over campus. I still had some time before the meeting, so I opened my backpack and pulled out a problem set to work on when a shadow fell on the table.

"It's been a long time," a familiar, soft voice called my attention. I looked up and did a double-take.

"…Daisy?!"

"Yeah, it's me. I'm glad you recognize me."

My surprise did nothing to dull my irritation at seeing Daisy again. All I could say was, "What are you doing here?"

She pulled out a chair and sat across from me. "I transferred. I'm starting here this semester."

I looked at her with a slight quizzical expression before saying, "I didn't think you the college type."

She didn't answer immediately, perhaps because she detected the subtle insult in my response. I looked back down toward my problem set when she spoke again.

"Maybe you could show me around campus? It's so big."

"Campus isn't difficult to navigate. I'm sure you can find a map," I said, without looking up.

"I guess so…" she said, slowly. "Anyway, the meeting's here, right?"

That made me look back up at her. "You're here for the Phoenix meeting?"

"Mm-hmm."

"What exactly do you think the Society of the Phoenix does?"

"Student projects aimed at restoring Terragrigia? Why are you asking that?"

"It's just…if you know that, why are you here? What can someone like you possibly hope to contribute?" I said, not even bothering to hide the disdain in my voice.

She grimaced. "Listen…I know we didn't really part on the best of terms, but I've been trying to put the past behind me. So please…"

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "I lost one of my close friends in Terragrigia. He let a Hunter decapitate him because the girl he thought the world of would rather be with a guy who was cheating on her with another girl already in a relationship, a guy who unhesitatingly left said girl to die as soon as she became a burden, a guy who literally pushed Jay to the ground while we were running from an army of monsters. You obviously have the right to date whomever you please, but I also reserve the right to think very little of you for what you chose. So don't give me that crap."

Before Daisy could respond, I saw Susan, the President of the Society of the Phoenix, walk up behind her. I waved Susan over.

"Susan, I'm not feeling well, so I'll have to skip out today," I said as she approached. "If you need anything from me…"

"Oh, don't worry," she said. "Today's mainly logistics anyway. And you…" she turned to Daisy. "You must be Daisy. I'm Susan."

Daisy smiled her pretty, empty smile and shook hands with Susan. I packed my things and left.

Chapter 4 (Rebecca): Evolution, October 2006

I robotically pressed a few buttons to get the treadmill running and began warming up. I wore my old combat clothes, as I usually did while exercising, but today it only reminded me: Jill was dead.

Chris visited a few days ago. He wanted to talk to me personally. I hadn't seen him in a long time – he had certainly built an astonishingly large amount of muscle mass, as Claire had mentioned awhile back, but when I saw him, his facial expression and body language was what stood out to me.

With a subdued tone, he told me what had happened. The BSAA received some intel that they'd finally located Ozwell Spencer, CEO of Umbrella, in his estate in Europe (I guess they didn't think to look for Spencer in one of his family's own houses before this). They sent their two best agents – him and Jill – to go apprehend him. When they found him, he was already dead – and Albert Wesker was standing over his corpse.

I turned the treadmill's speed up. After Chris had returned from Antarctica, what, 8 years ago? He had warned us all about Wesker returning; however, in these 8 years, nobody had seen him and he had seemingly done nothing. The BSAA had a few rumors that they didn't think warranted investigation or, more likely, were too devoid of detail for any sort of action. And now he'd suddenly reappeared.

He hadn't lost those superhuman traits Chris mentioned back then, either. He effortlessly beat both Chris and Jill, despite being unarmed, and would have killed Chris had Jill not tackled Wesker through a window. Both fell off the cliff the estate was situated on.

I turned the treadmill's speed up again, breaking into a full run. After completing the raid on the estate, the BSAA sent more people in, but nobody recovered either of their bodies. Chris was ready to believe Jill had sacrificed himself to take out one of our old arch-nemeses, but I pointed out that the first time we saw Wesker "die," he had been impaled by a Tyrant, so if he survived that, him surviving a fall off a cliff wasn't out of the question. Jill, on the other hand…

I turned the treadmill's speed up again, stabbing at the control panel with a finger. Chris had handed me whatever files he and the BSAA had recovered from Spencer's estate, asking if I could do anything with them. They were certainly eye-opening, though the answer to Chris's questions ended up being…no.

Spencer wrote very little about the biology of any of the viruses. It was pretty clear that the other 2 founders of Umbrella, Marcus and Ashford, were the scientists of the group. Spencer was, first and foremost, an eugenicist, who recovered a virus from a plant in Africa known as the Stairway to the Sun. This, which they dubbed "Progenitor," was the virus Marcus mentioned in the Umbrella Training Facility – the one he combined with leech DNA to create the t-virus.

Progenitor had one of 3 effects when it infected a host. The most common was death. 10% of the population was naturally immune, so the infection would have no effect on them. Finally, there was the effect that Spencer was most interested in – in very rare cases, it gave the host superhuman abilities. He wrote at length about unleashing Progenitor on the world, killing the vast majority of humans, and raising the survivors as a genetically pure, superior population with himself as its god.

I turned the treadmill's speed up again, forcefully pounding the control panel with my palm. Why Spencer anticipated being one of the people who would acquire superhuman abilities, given that it was so rare, was anybody's guess. Even if he were simply immune, it stood to reason that whatever new superhumans to emerge from his plan wouldn't see him as a god at best – more likely, they would hunt him down and kill him for, you know, massacring their friends and loved ones with a virus. So not only was Spencer a disgusting eugenicist, but also he was delusional and stupid. Despite his idiocy, he had essentially caused every manufactured biohazard outbreak the world had seen since 1998 – up to and including the destruction of 2 major cities.

I still didn't know why Spencer and Umbrella decided to modify Progenitor, either. Spencer's files actually made very little mention of the t-virus, as it wasn't his primary focus. From those few mentions, the t-virus was, essentially, a less stable and less lethal version of Progenitor. Instead of death, it either caused cannibalistic tendencies and necrosis (the zombies we faced) or no effect in 10% of the populace. Some of the notes mentioned that 1 in 10 million hosts of the t-virus would become a Tyrant, and I assume that same ratio held for Progenitor giving superhuman abilities. Rare indeed.

This also explains how Wesker got his abilities. He must be one of the 1 out of 10 million who would gain those abilities from Progenitor. And he was probably out there still. Doing something. Plotting. Being a threat to everything and everyone.

I slammed the treadmill's speed to its highest setting. I was sprinting at this point. While Spencer's files mentioned that 10% immune rate, he didn't go much further into it. It confirms my suspicions that there is, in fact, some aspect of Progenitor and its descendants, something fundamental, that the human body could target and render the virus harmless. It was genetic, it seemed. But what was it? How would I, or anyone, even go about trying to figure out what gene or allele imparted this immunity, especially if I didn't have any access to Progenitor? It seemed that the more information we obtained about Umbrella and its pathogens, the less I was able to do about it.

My thoughts turned back to Jill. She and I had bonded over leading lives where we were much younger compared to our peers. She was in the Delta Force in her early twenties – and people thought me graduating from college ~4 years earlier than normal was an accomplishment. She took time to teach me a few things, such as disabling locks of all kinds, and I remember her as an easygoing friend outside of work. Only 4 of us had gotten out of 1998 alive – and now we were 3.

I ran and ran, sweat pouring from my body, my old green and white combat boots slamming onto the track again and again. Finally, I slowed the treadmill down. I didn't know exactly what to do at the moment, but I promised myself the raid would not be in vain. There was something within 10% of the population that imparted immunity to Progenitor. The fact that I knew that now meant a cure was possible. I just had to figure out how to get there. Jill fought against bioterror with her field skills and lost, but I would continue the fight – in my own way, with every skill I had.

Chapter 5 (MC): A Double-Edged Sword , October 2008

The autumn breeze brushed my hair as I stepped onto the balcony. The weather would do its annual abrupt shift to winter soon, and I wanted to enjoy being outside while I still could. As I looked out over Crystal Quad, I noticed the flag at half-mast. 10 years ago today, Raccoon City was destroyed. The news broadcast, President Whitmore's speech, and my phone call with Dr. Chambers all remained crisp memories for me. I'd promised her to fight bioterrorism that night. And…well, I have been.

The biosensor project was going very well in the Society of the Phoenix. This year, I was taking leadership, being the most senior…senior…on the team. We already had a few prototypes and they all had promise. Because they all utilized different mechanisms, I wanted to develop a protocol that used all of them to minimize false positives/negatives. A representative from a company known as Tlemsanix Technologies – this woman in Victorian-era clothes (?) who introduced herself as Alicia Hills – called us last month and expressed interest in buying the intellectual property. I actually decided I'd remain at Bear University for an extra year, picking up a Master's degree, so I could stick around to see the device and project completed. Normally, a Master's would take longer, but my tenure in Cidney's lab gave me a considerable head start on any thesis project I'd embark on.

I was surprised when Cidney offered me a position, given my performance at the interview. She never mentioned my lock-up at the lizard poster, but then I had to deal with spending my lab time near that poster. I think it's actually helped desensitize me – which is good, since I didn't want to be jumping at every vaguely lizard-like picture or thing for the rest of my life. Then again, while that specific poster didn't quite have an effect on me anymore (given I saw it daily), I was playing a video game the other day and an in-game lizard still made my heart race.

I glanced at my phone and turned back into Tycoon Hall. I had one last thing in lab to finish, and then I was supposed to go over to Dr. Chambers's lab to return a book I'd borrowed. I exited the lounge area, walked down the hall, and descended the elevator to the first floor. As I stepped out, I almost ran right into Daisy.

Daisy…had also joined Cidney's lab. Somehow. Ever since she appeared at that Society of the Phoenix meeting, she had an irritating habit of following me around – not literally, but she'd decided she also wanted to major in bioengineering and, after 2 years, she asked to join Cidney's lab. From what I understood, she was (unsurprisingly) struggling with the curriculum and, in fact, she would need to stay another year just to finish her undergraduate degree. Why she wanted to pursue a research position was bewildering.

"I've been looking for you. I need some help," Daisy said.

I sighed. "What for?"

"I'm expanding some fibrous cells for a bone differentiation study and I need basic transforming growth factor. I think…alpha? Beta?"

I gave her an incredulous look. "Impressive. Every word in that sentence was wrong."

She looked taken aback and I continued. "First of all, you were referring to fibroblasts, not 'fibrous cells,' whatever those are. Second, fibroblasts can't differentiate into bone, so either you're expanding the wrong cell type, or you're actually expanding MSCs. Third, you're getting, like, 3 growth factors confused. Basic fibroblast growth factor isn't the same as transforming growth factor beta, which isn't the same as transforming growth factor alpha – by the way, we don't have nor use TGF-alpha. Finally, you don't need bFGF to expand MSCs."

"I…see."

I sighed again. "Can you just show me the flask you're expanding?"

"Okay," she said, and began walking toward the lab. I followed and was surprised to see Dr. Chambers looking at us down the hall. I smiled and waved. She returned the greeting and said she'd wait until I was done.

Daisy and I went into the lab and I looked at the flask. Luckily, someone else had seeded the cells, meaning I could trust the label on the flask, which said MSC rather than fibroblast (which told me Daisy was, indeed, culturing the correct cell type). I pointed out the components she would need to continue the culture, grabbed my things, and exited the lab to meet back up with Dr. Chambers.

"Hey," I said.

"I finished early, so I thought I'd come down here. Is she okay?"

I cocked my head to one side. "Who, Daisy? She's doing a trivial medium exchange. I doubt she'll have any issues, especially when I pretty much made the medium for her just now."

"Hmm. That's Daisy, huh?" Dr. Chambers looked toward the door to Cidney's lab for a minute.

I'd forgotten that, while I'd mentioned Daisy to Dr. Chambers when talking about my high school friends and Terragrigia, she'd never actually met her.

"Walk with me," she said. I followed her down the hall toward the lobby.

"You really don't like her, do you?"

"…I mean…I told you what happened. She got one of my friends killed."

Dr. Chambers pushed open the door to the lobby and we headed toward the staircase. As we ascended, she spoke. "I don't quite know if that's fair. But…even if we say it is, she certainly doesn't seem to be the airheaded girl you described to me a few years back. Aren't you being harsh on her?"

Arriving at the third floor, Dr. Chambers turned toward the wing that led to Narshe Hall. "What…do you mean?" I asked.

"I remember you telling me how Daisy seemed content with being a trophy for that guy…Tom, was it? I'm saying that from what you've told me since then, she seems to have changed. Transferring here, joining the Society of the Phoenix, pursuing your major, joining your lab…"

I was quiet as we crossed into Narshe Hall. The door led to a suite of offices and Dr. Chambers led me through them toward the biochemistry labs. She continued, "You've always been like this. Unflinchingly loyal to your friends and frighteningly merciless to those who get on your bad side."

I laughed a little. "Really?"

"Oh, if I had a dollar each time you told me how much you hate that Tom guy, I would have a building on campus named after me by now," she responded with her own laugh.

"Hmm…and how many chambers would your hall have?" I asked cheekily. She gave me a tired look before breaking out into a smile and rolling her eyes.

"You're hopeless. Look…people change. Remember when I was in grad school and I yelled at you? Not one of my proudest moments and certainly not something I would've done when I was younger. And then I grew past that…all that bitterness. People change. I just think you're judging Daisy for who she was in high school, not who she is now – you're ignoring everything she's done since then."

We reached the end of the office suite and walked into the L-shaped hall that connected one of the clusters of labs. Dr. Chambers's lab was at the junction of the L and as she pulled out a key to open the door, I looked behind me to the glass wall that overlooked the first floor, giving me a nice view of the large DNA sculpture that adorned the building's center.

"You're always seeing the best in people," I said. "I…really admire that."

She smiled as we entered her lab. "Thanks. You know, some would call that being naïve. But…just think about it, okay? About Daisy."

I smiled back at her. "Yes, Dr. Chambers."

"Good boy. Anyway, you want to get something to eat? I have to stay overnight, so I wanted to grab food now."

"Sure!" I responded. "Oh, and here's that book I borrowed."

Chapter 6 (Rebecca): Commencement, March 2009

I stepped out of the clean room and de-gowned before grabbing my things, throwing on my winter coat, and walking quickly down the white hall out of the nanotechnology core labs. I swept past the heavy double metal doors, emerging into the outer ring of Cornelia Hall, and made a beeline for the exit into Crystal Quad. I couldn't contain my excitement – Jill wasn't dead, as I'd thought for almost 3 years. She was alive. And she was arriving here, today, finally rescued from Africa and Wesker's clutches.

I didn't have many details. All I knew was that Chris had embarked on a BSAA mission to Africa, found Jill alive being mind-controlled by Wesker, and killed Wesker (hopefully for real this time?). After they returned to the United States, the BSAA ran a few preliminary tests on Jill to assess her health before deciding to send her to me for further testing.

It sickened me to think that Jill had been Wesker's captive for 3 years. Who knows what he'd made her do. But she was alive.

I crossed Crystal Quad, passing the central flagpole, and went through Alexandria Hall. I kept walking until I reached Balamb Hall, after which I turned right and exited campus to the BSAA's small facility. I'd originally intended to do all my work here, but the university's labs had way better equipment, not to mention the various facilities in Crystal Quad were way easier to access if I worked out of Narshe Hall. That said, the university had understandable qualms about having BSAA personnel (possibly armed) coming and going on campus – I had to petition for them to allow me on campus freely, so I arranged for Jill to arrive at the BSAA facility rather than an on-campus one.

As I approached, I saw a helicopter on the far side of the building. They'd arrived already. Entering and hurrying down the hall to my office, I saw Jill inside, clad in a simple gown, with Chris next to her. Jill looked sickly pale and her hair was an unnatural shade of blonde, but I barely noticed and ran up to hug Jill, tears almost forming in my eyes.

Presently, we let each other go. "No hug for Chris, huh?" Jill said, mirth in her voice. She turned to him. "I think she can't even reach all the way around you, anyway."

"You're still your old self," I said softly. "After all you went through…"

Jill smiled weakly. "I'm eager to put that behind me. Hopefully I can…" she trailed off. "But for now, I'm just glad to be back here…with you guys."

"Yeah, it's a big reunion. If Barry were here, we'd have everybody," Chris spoke.

"How is he? Have you been in contact?" I asked, turning on the computer and some equipment.

"He's in Canada, with his family. Last I heard, they were doing well. He's retired, basically. I don't blame him for wanting to put all this behind him."

"Well, that's good," I said. I turned to Jill. "I'm going to take a blood sample for some basic analysis and then I need to review the files the BSAA –" I turned to Chris "– you sent me. That will allow me to figure out what to do next."

Jill stretched her arms above her head. "You still owe me for the first blood sample I gave you…" she said. I gave her a tired expression and she smiled innocently at me.

"Alright," I said. "Stay here – I'll go get some alcohol wipes and syringes."

I finished setting up the computer to register a new data file, rose, and went next door into the supply room. I scanned the shelves, picking out gloves and equipment for drawing blood, when I heard Chris crash into something and let out a loud yelp.

"…What's going on in there?" I shouted.

There was a pause. "We're fine!" Chris's voice came up. "We're all fine here, now, thank you. How…are you, Rebecca?"

Really? I grabbed what I needed and returned to the lab where Chris was busy trying to clean up a spilled cup of coffee on the ground while Jill looked at him with an amused expression on her face. I sighed. "That didn't spill on the computer, did it?"

"Nope."

I rolled my eyes. "The one time I let food and drink in the lab area and this happens."

Jill smiled. "It really is nice…being with you guys again."

I began setting up. "So…umm…what happened? In Africa?"

Chris narrated. "In 2004, Leon – that's Claire's friend from Raccoon City – went on a mission to Europe. Don't know for what, since he's a secret agent, but he wrote a report detailing a parasite he encountered there that allowed certain people to mind-control others. It's possible Wesker managed to get a sample of whatever this parasite was and use it to make a mind-control device."

I shuddered. "Now we have to worry about mind-control parasites?"

"…Well, it's also possible Wesker made his mind-control device from something completely unrelated to what Leon described," Chris said. "It just seems…strange, if that were the case. Especially when you consider that Wesker's been up to all sorts of experimentation and bioweapons development using the bits and pieces of previous biohazard agents these past few years."

I opened an alcohol wipe and started on Jill's arm. "He's dead, right? For real this time?"

"We threw him into an active volcano and then shot two rockets into his face," Chris said. "The BSAA has since cordoned off that volcano and is monitoring it 24/7 to make sure nothing leaves. If he did somehow survive that and tries to leave, we'll know."

"It does seem less likely he survived lava and 2 rockets compared to impalement and a fall off a cliff," Jill said. "Also, Uroboros is weak to fire, right?"

I stabbed Jill with a needle. "Uroboros? The mythical snake? What does that have to do with anything?"

"The new virus Wesker made, named Uroboros. It's derived from Progenitor. He intended to do what Spencer wanted – kill everyone genetically incompatible with it – before we stopped him," Chris answered.

I frowned. "…What makes Uroboros different from Progenitor?"

"We were hoping you'd be able to tell us that."

I finished drawing Jill's blood and nodded. "I'll take a look. For now, you two should get some rest."

Jill slid off the table and smiled at me. "Good luck!" I gave her a thumbs-up in return.

Over the next few days and weeks, I studied the files Chris had recovered from his mission, mostly from assets seized from TRICELL (yet another pharmaceutical company in the bioterrorism business; go figure). It seemed that Wesker had defined several shortcomings of Progenitor for his and Spencer's purposes. First, Progenitor, like its descendants, was not an airborne virus. Disseminating it to the entire world's population was thus incredibly difficult, so Wesker did something that terrified me: he made Progenitor airborne when he turned it into Uroboros. He planned on dispersing it via missile launch in the atmosphere. The fact that the pathogens we'd faced thus far could only be transmitted via injection or ingestion had been one of the few reliefs we had…and now that was gone.

Also, it seemed that Wesker thought Progenitor was too lethal, even though I thought that was the entire point of why he and Spencer wanted to use it. At any rate, his modification into Uroboros made the virus slower to mutate the host, giving the host more time for the virus to "adapt." Failure to adapt didn't result in death, but instead resulted in mutation into a writhing mass of tentacles. He used the antibodies in Jill's blood to accomplish this, which makes me sick even just thinking about it for all sorts of reasons.

On the topic of Jill, the mind-control chemical Wesker used on her was termed P30 and was derived from research into those Las Plagas parasites Leon's report described. Apparently, Las Plagas came in 2 strains: a dominant strain and a regular strain. Hosts of the dominant strain can mind-control hosts of the regular strain. Wesker engineered P30 to have the same effect; he didn't simply use the Plagas because he didn't want to inject himself with a dominant-strain Plaga.

On the topic of the Plagas, TRICELL spent a lot of resources on researching the parasites themselves. They had ample notes on how to disrupt and kill the parasite once inside a host, ranging from newly developed drugs to painful-sounding radiotherapy; mostly, they were trying to find ways of countering these measures. I could study the notes on the drugs and disseminate the information to the BSAA so they could mass-produce it in the event that bioterrorists tried to use the Plagas again, like TRICELL did in Africa.

Of course, my main focus was still on Progenitor and its derivatives. I searched the files for some biological data on how Progenitor or Uroboros actually infected cells and the mechanism of action post-infection, but found none. It seemed that Wesker himself didn't know – most of his experiments were trial-and-error. I did find his notes on how Jill's antibodies interacted with Progenitor on a molecular level, which meant I could likely use the protein structures to develop some sort of prototype antiviral drug. It wasn't much different from what I'd been doing already, except now I had information on Progenitor's structure whereas before, I only had information on Jill's antibodies.

Wesker was dead. We finally had some concrete data on the virus that started this entire nightmare. I felt like things were finally looking up.

Volume II Finale: To Poke the Bear, Part I (MC), February 2010

I watched Dr. Chambers move around the lab, her actions quick and confident, exuding an aura of calm and expertise. "So how much money did you guys make?" she asked.

"I have no idea. The university owns all the intellectual property. Someone from technology transfer or something hashed out those details with Tlemsanix."

"I see. Even thus, congratulations on getting your devices into the market."

"Thanks," I said, smiling brightly.

"You recovered from your trip there yet? Tlemsanix headquarters are in…what, Louisiana? That's a ways away."

"Yeah," I said. "I slept through most of yesterday. I think I'll be fine."

"Good," Dr. Chambers responded. "I'll probably be doing that tomorrow. I have another long night here." She gave me a sigh and a grimace.

"I'm sorry," I said. "You…umm…want me to keep you company through the night?"

Dr. Chambers laughed. "You have an exam on Monday. Go study."

"Okay," I said, getting up to leave. "Have fun, Dr. Chambers." She responded with her usual thumbs-up and I left the lab and descended to the first floor of Narshe Hall. The sense of satisfaction from finalizing our deal to sell the intellectual property to Tlemsanix Technologies was still fresh on my mind and I found myself full of energy, even as the brutal February wind greeted me with a blast to the face as I left the building. Our design team in the Society of the Phoenix would be holding a celebration sometime soon. Personally, I felt I had done something significant for Terragrigia and for the war on bioterror.

Dr. Chambers was right, though – finalizing the deal, culminating in a trip to Tlemsanix headquarters, meant I had devoted little time to my coursework. I'd need to kick myself into high gear in time for my exam…but then again, what else was new.

I crossed Crystal Quad and walked across Jurassic Road to turn right and enter Ursa Quad. The quad was covered in fresh snow and I found myself missing the relatively warm weather in the south during my trip. Crossing Ursa Quad, I entered town and walked a bit further to my apartment. I entered, put my things down, and decided to chill for a bit on the Internet before studying.

My friends were commenting on social media about my trip to Tlemsanix. I hadn't mentioned what we were there for – I wasn't entirely sure I was allowed to, what with all the business and intellectual property things going on that I never bothered to understand, but I had written about touring their facilities and how they were working to restore Terragrigia. Nick from high school wrote, "Glad you're fighting the good fight, unlike some other people I can name who instead decided to go screw people over selling health insurance."

He was talking about Tom. Reading his comment reminded me of Daisy and Dr. Chambers's words regarding how much I was judging her. Maybe she was right. Tom had been an ass in high school and it seemed he was still an ass now. Daisy had been an airhead in high school but…even I had to admit she was a totally different and admirable person now.

I hadn't really interacted with her much, preferring to keep my distance. Maybe I should make my peace with her before graduation, I thought, turning off the Internet browser and opening my notes.

The next thing I knew, I was groggily waking up to the sound of my phone's alarm. I realized I had fallen asleep studying with my head on top of my arm, which was now also waking up with a million pins and needles. I picked up my phone, realizing the alarm wasn't a regular one – it was the alarm reserved for emergencies. Flipping it open, I glanced through the text.

"ACTIVE BIOTERROR THREAT AVOID CAMPUS 12:13 AM"

Huh?

I fumbled around and dialed campus police. "I just received an alert for a bioterror threat. What's going on?" I asked the operator.

"Bioweapons have been spotted on campus. Police have been dispatched to all residential areas. We recommend staying at home until further notice."

"On campus?! Wait – I have a friend on campus. She's –"

"The BSAA has been notified and they've given us an ETA of 30 to 60 minutes. I'm sorry, but our priority is to deploy personnel to all residential areas. Please stay indoors until further notice."

"I…"

"I'm sorry; if there's no emergency, I need to hang up to ensure I'm able to respond to other callers."

"Yeah, sure. Thanks," I said, and the operator hung up.

I was no longer groggy. Anxiety had dispelled my drowsiness as completely as a hurricane would disperse a pile of ash. Dr. Chambers was on campus. She might even be asleep in lab. I began texting her…but then realized that if there were monsters around her, it'd be much better if her phone didn't make any extra sound. Then again, her phone would have made the same screeching alarm mine did when the alert came through…

She can take care of herself, I thought. She was in STARS. She fought off Umbrella. She'll be fine. But this time she wasn't armed. She was in a lab doing experiments. She was…

My anxiety blossomed and suddenly I had an intense flashback to Terragrigia – how quickly the Hunters had invaded and wrecked the tourist sector, how vicious they were killing the panicking people, how one had so easily ended my friend's…

I tried once again to calm down. I failed. In that moment, I stood up, strode across my room, and put on my finger-tab and arm-guard. I pulled my stringer out of my quiver, strung my bow, and packed it back into the quiver. I checked my arrows – I had a dozen – and swept to the door. I quickly threw my winter coat on and stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind me.

I wasn't even fully processing what I was doing. The notion of Dr. Chambers needing my help was pretty ridiculous – her combat ability was, well, existent, unlike mine. I also wasn't entire sure what I was supposed to do with a bow and arrows, but it wasn't like I had conventional weapons lying around. Despite all this, all I could think of, all I knew, was that I needed to get to Dr. Chambers. I needed to be there to help her in any way I could. I couldn't let anything, none of the horrific fates I witnessed before, happen to her. Even if I could be a human shield, that was something.

Before I could walk down the hall to the stairs, my next-door neighbor, Alyse, popped out of her apartment. "Hey, did you hear…what are you doing?"

"My friend's on campus," I said.

"What, are you going to go save him? With that?"

"Her. And I have to do something. Keep trying to get through to police, will you? We'll be in Crystal Quad. The research zone."

"Are you insane?!"

I paid her no mind and walked down the hall away from her. "If I die, you can have my stuff," I shouted back, before throwing open the door to the stairs out of the building.

The cold greeted me again – this time, even more brutal than before. It was a bit past midnight, after all. I tightened my grip on my bow and headed toward Ursa Quad before seeing the red-and-blue flashing lights of the police cruisers between me and campus. They'd likely stop me, even though they weren't going to do anything for anyone on campus, I thought, and made a sharp right to head east. I ran down the road toward the small path that led to the sports zone. I saw nobody on my way and I soon emerged onto campus, Sportsball Stadium looming to my left, the research zone across Jurassic Road in front of me.

I slowed my pace as I jogged across Jurassic Road to come up against Zanarkand Hall. I could hear something in Crystal Quad. I turned left, toward Barney Road, intending to get closer to the western side of the research zone where Narshe Hall was.

An explosion rent the air. I looked around – it seemed to have come from the northeastern direction – around Balamb Hall. I calmed myself a little – at least it wasn't Narshe Hall – and continued on. Passing Zanarkand Hall, I turned right and walked between it and Baron Hall to enter Crystal Quad.

There they were. An army of Hunters. They seemed to be clustered around Narshe Hall, to my dismay. Their shapes, their features, and their sounds – everything I could see and hear screamed at me to run away.

I snuck closer, keeping close to the buildings, until I moved up alongside Midgar Hall. I slowly pulled out my ID card and pushed it against the reader. The door clicked unlocked and I pulled it open just slightly. I was actually surprised none of the Hunters had seen or somehow sensed me yet. They were right there. Terrifying. Deadly. My nightmares in the flesh.

Between me and Dr. Chambers.

I nocked one arrow to my bow and drew it back. I relaxed my grip on my bow.

"HELLO THERE!" I shouted, my voice echoing through the empty quad. The Hunters reacted immediately, turning toward me, but I didn't wait for them. I loosed my first arrow into the nearest one, pulled open the door to Midgar Hall, and ran inside. I burst into the nearest stairwell and began climbing, even as I heard shattering glass and splintering wood behind me.

Reaching the second floor, I opened the door and sprinted into a corridor. A quick glance out a window showed most of the Hunters had turned their attention to Midgar Hall. A half-formed thought crossed my mind, something about me being grateful that the Hunters were now out for my blood, but I had little time to dwell on the matter. I ran down the corridor, using the lighted EXIT signs to guide me to another stairwell closer to Narshe Hall. More shattered glass behind me signaled the arrival of more Hunters and I wasted no time bursting into that stairwell and making my descent.

I slowly opened the door back outside at the foot of the stairs and inched out, keeping close to the wall. I could hear growls all around me. Taking a deep breath, I nocked another arrow, took a few steps out, and aimed at the flagpole in the center of the quad.

My second arrow flew into the pole and bounced off, sending a loud clang across Crystal Quad. I stepped back against Midgar Hall and waited for the growls to move toward the flagpole. I gave it about three seconds before I took off running into Narshe Hall. The Hunters had very nicely torn a hole into the entrance, so I didn't need to worry about swiping my ID, and I hopped over some wreckage to emerge into the lobby with the large sculpture stretching up toward the ceiling. I made a beeline toward the elevators, pounded the up button, and waited a few tense seconds.

The elevator arrived with a ding that sounded about nine thousand and one times louder than I thought it was supposed to. I ran in and frantically pushed the door close button, even though I knew that button did nothing in most elevators. As the doors finally began to close, I saw a Hunter re-enter the building and leap at me. Before I could react, the door had closed, blocking its attack, and the elevator began its ascent. Was it just me, or did that Hunter move much more slowly than I remembered from Terragrigia?

I held my breath as the elevator went up, but nothing happened and the elevator reached the third floor. I ran out the door into the L-shaped hallway. A quick look around showed little out of the ordinary. I kept low – there was that large window overlooking the first floor behind me – and crept toward Dr. Chambers's lab. The door was closed, which I guessed was a good thing. If Hunters had broken in, there wouldn't be a door left to close.

Slowly, I turned the handle and looked in. The lights were off, but the single emergency light provided enough light to see inside. I looked around quickly when Dr. Chambers popped her head up behind a bench, aiming a can of compressed air directly at me.

I sighed with the most relief I think I've ever felt. "I'm so glad you're okay," I whispered, and closed the door behind me. I ran into the lab and behind the bench next to her. She stared at me with a mixture of bewilderment and shock.

Before she could ask, I spoke. "There are Hunters. They're mostly hitting this building for some reason. There're a few on the first floor right now."

I looked at Dr. Chambers. Her expression hadn't changed. "We should leave through Tycoon," I finished.

"…What…are you doing here? Why do you…" she gestured to my bow and arrows.

"I heard about the attack," I said. "I…felt I had to come help you."

Dr. Chambers's expression turned to one of incredulity. "Are you out of your mind?!"

"I had to do something," I said, sheepishly. "Look, you can yell at me later."

"Oh, I will," she said. "What did you say about the –"

Some more crashes and broken glass outside interrupted her. The Hunters were getting closer and there weren't any exits out of the lab besides the way I'd come in. We were at the junction of an L, meaning the two paths into the area both led to here.

I looked around and stopped when I saw the two cell culture incubators in the corner. I pointed and asked, "Is anyone doing cell culture in that?"

"I am," Dr. Chambers responded.

"In both?"

"The top one. Where are you going with this?"

"Let's unhook the CO2 tank from the bottom one."

"Oh," she said, after a short pause. "I get it. Alright, hold on."

I kept my eye on the door as she worked. "That wasn't you in the quad earlier, was it? I heard someone yell hello," she asked.

"Yeah," I said. "You know…just practicing my social skills. Introducing myself, that kind of thing."

"You're quipping at a time like this."

"I feel like I quip at any and all times," I replied. It actually did occur to me that I wasn't being entirely appropriate – I should be shaking in terror, not making flippant comments – but I guess it was a defense mechanism or something. Or maybe I had actually gone off the deep end. I didn't dwell on the matter.

"Got it," Dr. Chambers said. She began rolling the tank out from the corner and I looked around the lab again for something I could use. I needed to aim the bottom of the tank at the door and break the regulator on top of it, thereby releasing all its pressure at once – this would propel the tank through the door, making a giant mess outside and hopefully distracting any Hunters so we could get away.

Dr. Chambers rolled the tank directly in front of the door and I started setting something up when more crashes outside signaled the Hunters' arrival. Something slammed against the door, breaking it into splinters. Another swipe and a Hunter entered, staring at us, growling its characteristic low growl.

Dr. Chambers dropped the cylinder and backed away. She pulled out that can of compressed air again. Thinking quickly, I grabbed the closest heavy object to me – a tabletop microcentrifuge – and hurled it at the head of the gas cylinder. The centrifuge slammed against the regulator, breaking it with a loud clang, and the cylinder shot out of the room, right into the Hunter and into the hall beyond. Loud shattering glass and an even louder crash followed.

I turned to Dr. Chambers, who put away her can of compressed air and grabbed 2 stopped flasks with some sort of liquid inside them sitting on the bench. We ran outside, to the left, and headed into the office area. As I left, I saw that the gas cylinder had completely shattered the window overlooking the first floor and crashed into the large sculpture beyond, damaging it heavily. At least it made a lot of noise, I thought to myself.

We ran into the offices when a Hunter leapt out at us. Dr. Chambers stumbled to a stop and I nocked an arrow to my bow. Before I could raise my bow, Dr. Chambers threw one of her flasks into the Hunter's face. The flask shattered, releasing the liquid inside, and the Hunter recoiled in pain.

"It's weak to acid! Shoot it!"

I obeyed, loosing my third arrow into the Hunter, right where Dr. Chambers's flask had hit it. The Hunter recoiled again and we ran onward. We reached the door leading to Tycoon Hall – and it was locked.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," Dr. Chambers said. "My keys are in the lab."

The Hunter from before lumbered into view. Dr. Chambers ran into a nearby desk and gestured at me to do something about it while rifling through it for something. I nocked my fourth arrow to my bow and shot the Hunter again; this time, it fell to the ground and twitched a little before it stopped.

"Found one," Dr. Chambers said, frantic triumph in her voice. She ran to the door with a paper clip and began picking the lock. I had no idea she knew how to do that, but I guess it didn't surprise me either. I nocked another arrow to my bow, tensely scanning the hall behind us for more Hunters, but Dr. Chambers succeeded in getting the door open soon enough and we ran through to enter the third floor of Tycoon Hall.

Continuing on, we ran to the railing to the central stairway. I looked down and stopped. The first floor had a few Hunters crawling around. Even as my mind flew, trying to figure out what to do, I noticed once again they weren't moving with the demonic speed I remembered.

"They're slowed for some reason," I murmured.

"They're cold," Dr. Chambers responded. "Hunters are reptilian. Cold-blooded. And it's freezing outside."

"I see…"

"If we go down the stairs, they're still close enough to attack, though."

"I'll shoot an arrow into the door. Hopefully the breaking glass will get their attention. We'll run into the quad."

"I was thinking we should go to the BSAA facility beyond Balamb Hall," Dr. Chambers said.

"That's a…wait. I heard an explosion from there when I was coming up."

Dr. Chambers was quiet. "I'm starting to think these things are here specifically for me."

"That's silly," I answered. "This can't be your fault. Anyway, we ready?"

We inched out into the stairs and I took aim. Inhaling, I launched my fifth arrow into the glass door leading to Power Road. The breaking glass got the Hunters' attention immediately and we made a break for it down the stairs. As we reached the first floor, though, a few of the Hunters were still close enough to notice our approach.

"Run to Cidney's lab!" I yelled. Dr. Chambers turned and ran toward the hall and I followed, nocking another arrow as I did so. We reached the door to the hall and I slammed my wallet against the reader, hoping it would detect my ID.

The door unlocked and we ran past it. I slammed the door shut and the angry Hunter on the other side began clawing at it. It wouldn't hold for much longer.

"We need to slow them down more," I said, running down the hall toward the lab. We ran inside and I headed directly for the cell cryo-storage room. "Help me roll the liquid nitrogen tank out," I said.

Together, we managed to push the tank into the entranceway just in time to hear the door break into a cloud of splinters. I propped up the nozzle to the tank on a chair and opened the valve fully, spraying liquid nitrogen into the hallway.

I pointed behind me. "We'll need to break that window to get out of here," I said.

"On it," Dr. Chambers replied, running further into the lab. I backed away from the liquid nitrogen tank, my bow at the ready, as a Hunter leapt into view. It instantly recoiled at the spraying liquid nitrogen and backed away, only to be replaced by a second Hunter. I took aim and sent my sixth arrow into the second Hunter, which stumbled into the first one, both taking the full brunt of the liquid nitrogen.

A loud crash behind me and a blast of cold air signaled that Dr. Chambers had succeeded in breaking the window. I ran toward her and we crawled outside, slowly, hoping we didn't cut ourselves, though she'd pretty much shattered the entire window, giving us plenty of clearance. Once outside, we could see the bright flames beyond Balamb Hall, confirming my suspicions that the BSAA facility had been destroyed.

"Let's run to Cornelia Hall," Dr. Chambers said, her teeth chattering. I realized she hadn't brought her coat with her (unsurprising, considering the circumstances).

"Hold on. Keep low," I said, running toward Power Road. I pulled out another arrow and took aim. "I hope nobody's in that car," I mumbled, looking across the road, and let my seventh arrow fly. It shot directly through a car's left window and the car's alarm screeched through the air.

I turned back toward Dr. Chambers. "Give the Hunters a bit to run toward it," I said. "In the meantime…"

I dropped my bow, took off my winter coat, and draped it around her. Before she could protest, I picked up my bow, peeked back toward the car, and signaled that we needed to leave. We ran down the stairs into Crystal Quad and a quick glance behind me showed that the entrance to Tycoon Hall was completely destroyed. The Hunters in the building had broken through to Power Road to investigate the car alarm, while any in the quad had broken through the doors on the quad side to get through the building to join their comrades.

We continued running southwest, toward Cornelia Hall. I didn't know why Dr. Chambers wanted to go there, but it wasn't like I had any better ideas, so I followed as best I could. The cold bit into me, made worse due to me sweating from exertion and adrenaline. I gritted my teeth and pushed my pain aside.

Reaching Cornelia Hall, Dr. Chambers pulled out her ID and scanned it into the door. We ran inside and she closed the door behind her before heading to the nearest fire alarm and pulling it. Instantly, a second set of metal doors swung closed in front of the doors we just entered through. Loud thuds around the building signaled other doors doing the same.

"Fire alarm activated. Personnel evacuate Cornelia Hall immediately. Initiating building lockdown."

"This building has a voiced system?" I asked.

"Yes? Oh, right, undergrads aren't allowed in here."

"Hey…I'm a Master's student now."

Dr. Chambers rolled her eyes. "Anyway, we'll be safe in here. Lockdown means the doors will only open from inside and this building is very well reinforced. I don't think a Hunter could breach those doors."

"Fire alarm activated. Personnel evacuate Cornelia Hall immediately. Building lockdown complete."

"…Which is good, because that voice is going to start broadcasting outside the building now."

I gave Dr. Chambers an alarmed look. "It's so that people outside the building know to avoid Cornelia Hall," she said. "I'm sure we'll be fine. Just…let's stay away from the –"

A loud slamming sound from the metal doors reverberated through the hall. Dr. Chambers looked toward the door, her expression turning to one of dread. Whatever was on the other side slammed into it again.

"…That doesn't sound like a Hunter," I said.

"It's not."

Before I could ask for more details, Dr. Chambers pushed past me and ran down the hall, beckoning for me to follow. I obeyed.

"See those potted plants around? Start piling them up over there."

We split up to collect the plants. I didn't question her, though I wondered how piling a bunch of plants was going to help us against whatever was currently busting through a set of metal doors. Once we'd finished gathering what we could, Dr. Chambers crouched down and placed the second of the two flasks she had carried out of the lab in the midst of the plants.

"More acid?"

"Nope. You ever heard of a Molotov cocktail?"

"You made a Molotov cocktail?!"

"Yeah. It's easy." Dr. Chambers opened the flask and poured a little of its contents into a piece of gauze she pulled out of her pocket before recapping the flask. "Come on," she said, getting up.

I followed her further down the hall toward another exit. When we reached it, she held out her hand. "Give me one of your arrows."

I did so and she wrapped the wet gauze around the tip, then returned it to me. "When they show up, I'm going to light the gauze and you'll shoot the arrow into the flask, setting all of that on fire. We'll need to run outside as soon as we can, because once that fire starts, the entire building is going to get flooded by the sprinkler system."

"How's making them wet going to stop them?"

"Because once they run outside after us, convection will cool them down rapidly. Especially if they're running in pursuit."

"Oh. Right."

"It'll probably slow any Hunters down significantly. Maybe even stop them. As for the Tyrant…we'll just need to run as fast as we can."

I stared at her. "…The Tyrant."

"If I'm right, that's what's breaking down the doors right now. Unlike Hunters, I don't think Tyrants are cold-blooded. Not in the biological sense, anyway."

"…So…that giant clawed thing you mentioned? Back in the day? That's what's out there?"

"The thing I mentioned was a prototype Tyrant. I'm guessing the one out there is a more modern one."

"…Anything I should know?"

Dr. Chambers sighed. "Besides run? No."

I was quiet. We both were, just staring down the hall, past the piled plants, waiting. We didn't have long to wait before a deafening crash echoed down the hall and a large figure emerged into view.

"Now!"

I drew the arrow back and Dr. Chambers lit a match to set the gauze alight. "Shoot!"

I wasted no time in letting the arrow – my eighth – go. That burning gauze was awfully close to my hand. The arrow broke the flask neatly and a plume of flame billowed up to lick and spread through the pile.

Dr. Chambers grabbed my arm and pulled me to the doors, which she flung open and we ran back out into the cold night. As we did so, I heard the robotic voice announce, "Warning. Fire detected. Initiating laboratory lockdown. Activating fire suppression system."

We ran. We ran as quickly as we could, even as the sudden return to the freezing outdoors cut right through my clothes. We ran diagonally across both Barney and Jurassic Roads into Ursa Quad. We ran directly across the quad, toward town. Suddenly, Dr. Chambers stopped and pushed both of us to one side. I barely managed to keep my footing and stumbled back as that figure from before slammed into the ground with a large fist, narrowly missing us.

"So much for running," Dr. Chambers grumbled. We backed away from the Tyrant, which straightened to its full height and turned toward us.

It looked like a large human, dressed in a trenchcoat and fedora. Its face had a completely empty expression, like some sort of terrifying void, but I could tell it was focused on Dr. Chambers.

I nocked an arrow into my bow. "You run for it. I'm going to distract him," I said softly. "I have four arrows left."

Dr. Chambers walked up beside me and gave me a flat, "No."

The Tyrant strode toward us and Dr. Chambers pulled out her can of compressed air. She aimed and pulled the trigger – and rather than a puff of air, a stream of flame blasted forth into the approaching Tyrant's face. It staggered back, raising its arms to its face, as its fedora caught on fire and flew off.

The Tyrant took a step back and Dr. Chambers dropped her arm. She grabbed me and took off running again toward the south, glancing back quickly to track the Tyrant. We didn't make it very far before Dr. Chambers dove to the right. I tried to follow her, but was too slow and caught a glancing blow from the Tyrant, sending me flying to the left.

I landed in a puff of snow. I struggled to get up but failed, feeling the effect of both the impact and the cold. The Tyrant had turned away from me and was walking toward Dr. Chambers. I raised my bow and shot my ninth arrow into the back of the Tyrant's head.

"Hey! Mr. Fashion Disaster! Over here!" I screamed, even as a sudden wind cut into my skin again. The Tyrant turned back toward me. I thought I saw irritation in his expression, but I was probably just seeing things, as I don't think Tyrants ever had expressions. He took a step toward me. Good.

I pulled out another arrow and nocked it. I was shaking now, my breathing short and ragged. But it didn't matter to me. As long as the Tyrant was focused on me, it didn't matter.

I aimed as best I could and let my tenth arrow fly. The Tyrant nonchalantly slapped it to the side before it could land.

"…Well then," I muttered. I weakly reached back for another arrow when I heard a voice off to the distance, above me. I couldn't quite make out what it said, and the next thing I knew, something landed near the Tyrant's feet just a few meters from me. It blinked with some sort of LED, then exploded in an impossibly bright flash of light and an equally impossibly loud bang.

I turned away, squeezing my eyes shut, but even with my eyes closed I saw nothing but light. I could barely hear anything, either. That, on top of exertion, was very quickly getting to me. I struggled to stay conscious, tightening my grip on my bow, but the last thing I remembered before passing out was a pair of hands grabbing me from behind and pulling me…somewhere.

The next thing I knew, I was slowly opening my eyes in an unfamiliar room. The first thing I did was shut them again, the memory of whatever bright thing that knocked me out flooding back into my mind. The next thing I did was sit up frantically, my eyes wide open, as I remembered why I'd been out in the first place.

"Hey, hey, relax."

I turned to see Alyse sitting casually in the corner of the room. She got up and walked toward me.

"Dr. Chambers. Is she –"

"She's fine. In fact, she gave me specific instructions to go get her as soon as you woke up."

I lay back down, relaxing. But then I sat back up again, albeit less frantically. "My bow. Is it…"

Alyse pointed to the other corner, where my bow and quiver (with my 2 remaining arrows) were leaning against the wall.

"You've got to unstring it," I said. "You shouldn't leave a bow strung for too long…how long was I out, anyway?"

"Not long," Alyse replied. "It's Sunday afternoon."

So the attack occurred last night. "I don't know how to unstring a bow," Alyse said.

I pointed to my quiver and began giving instructions when Dr. Chambers walked into the room. One look at her face and I gulped in fear. She looked…more furious than I'd ever seen her, even compared to that day she yelled at me in high school.

"You," Dr. Chambers said, pointing to Alyse. "Out."

Alyse wasted little time in obeying, leaving me alone in the room with a very angry Rebecca Chambers. She turned to me, her arms folded, with an expression that I was certain could have made that Tyrant from last night flee for its life.

"What. The Hell. Were you thinking?!"

Any number of reasons could have explained how I responded, which was in a blabbering mess. Maybe I hadn't thought this far, given I had left my apartment expecting to serve as a distraction at best and, given the circumstances, I didn't have a high chance of survival. Maybe I had no idea Dr. Chambers would be this angry. Maybe I was just tongue-tied since I'd just awakened from…whatever combination of things had knocked me out. Maybe I was remembering the last time she was angry with me, and the way she kicked me out of her life. But I spoke quickly, and perhaps nonsensically, and…I don't remember exactly what I said, but I stumbled over my words explaining how much she'd meant to me ever since I met her in 1998 and how I remembered the Hunters from Terragrigia and how I was terrified of anything even remotely like that happening to her. I'm pretty sure I said a bunch of other things, and I probably repeated myself a bunch of times. But gradually, I trailed off, probably having run out of things to say or energy to say them, and looked up at Dr. Chambers. Her expression had, very surprisingly, softened significantly.

"So that's it, huh. You like me."

Had I said that out loud? A new wave of terror gripped my chest. Actually, this wasn't terror – it was panic. I'm sure I stopped breathing and if I'd been ignorant of basic biology, I would've sworn my heart stopped beating as well. My eyes widened and my face either flushed or became pale. Or both…though that didn't make any sense. She smiled slightly and walked toward me.

"I think I always knew. Way back when…I thought it was just a childhood crush, but, well, you're grown up now." She sighed and sat down next to me, turning to look at me.

The panic intensified and it took me a second to notice her laughing, full of amusement and mirth. "You idiotically charged into a college campus under attack by bioweapons with nothing but a bow and arrows, making one-liners the whole time, but this terrifies you?"

I didn't answer, panic still strangling my entire body, and Dr. Chambers laughed again. "It's okay, you know. It's okay. It's…"

She leaned even closer, and before I knew it, we'd locked lips, sharing a long, quiet, passionate kiss. And as she leaned back, away from me afterward, I stared, stunned, into her lovely green eyes. I opened my mouth and only one word came out, an almost plaintive squeak:

"…Becky…"

A slow, mischievous smile began spreading across her face. "That's Doctor Chambers to you."

I could tell she wasn't being serious, but I nevertheless dropped my gaze and said, "Yes, Dr. Chambers."

Her mischievous smile continued to widen. "Good boy."

Volume II Finale: To Poke the Bear, Part II (Rebecca), February 2010

"So we know nothing. Who did this. Why."

Silence amongst the people in front of me confirmed my words. I closed my eyes in a mixture of disappointment and irritation.

"From BSAA intelligence, no known terrorist group has the resources to deploy a Tyrant; furthermore, terrorist groups usually claim responsibility for an attack to make demands. Nobody has said anything since then."

I opened my eyes and said, quietly, "Whoever did this, I think they were after me. Specifically."

Parker furrowed his brow. "Why do you say that?"

"The first target they hit was the BSAA facility. The Hunters only hit the research zone, and were clustered around the biochemistry building where I was. The Tyrant we encountered seemed focused on me, up until your people stunned it and got us out of there. All of this seems very precise for a bioterror attack."

"Well, you did give us those anti-Plaga pills and the prototype antiviral – the most we've had to combat an outbreak, ever. I can see any terrorist group considering you a threat," Quint spoke up.

I turned to my laptop instinctively, though I'd ensured multiple times that my research data was still intact. Thanks to that CO2 tank stunt we pulled, the Hunters hadn't caused any damage to anything in the lab space I was in. I had a backup drive at the BSAA facility, but that didn't survive the attack.

"Way to make her feel better about all this," Keith admonished. Quint gave him an indignant expression and I shook my head.

"Don't worry about that. Look, I think I need to leave Bear University. I'm a danger to the student body here, if I'm right."

"You sure? The students seem like they can handle themselves, like that archer-guy."

I shot Quint a death-glare. "What?" He protested. "I was thinking we should recruit him."

Keith turned to him. "You don't know when to shut up, do you?"

I stood up. "Enough."

"The Director's currently wrangling with the US government about sending us in without prior approval…stupid politicians…but once that's done, I'll suggest we put you in a BSAA base full-time, at some undisclosed location. For your safety, as well," Parker said.

I sighed and nodded. "Quint," I said. "Can you backup and encrypt my research data?"

"Sure thing," he replied, and grabbed my laptop.

I left the room as we dispersed. Ever since Jill left the BSAA facility last year, after I'd finished clearing her, my work had accelerated dramatically thanks to the intelligence Chris recovered from Africa. I'd taken the anti-Plaga drugs TRICELL was researching – designed to halt a growing Plaga inside the body – and modified it to inhibit an adult Plaga's mind-control capabilities, thereby allowing us to neutralize anyone infected with a Plaga at any stage of the lifecycle. With years of piecing together bits of information about Progenitor, the t-virus, the t-Abyss, and Uroboros, I had finally developed a prototype vaccine and an antiviral. I'd focused on trying to counter the virus's ability to affect lung cells to blunt an airborne route of attack and was just starting to improve the formulations for use in the bloodstream. Quint was right. Someone out there knew and had these weapons and that someone didn't want my work to continue. I smiled grimly to myself – at least that meant I was getting somewhere.

"There you are," a voice from behind me caught my attention and I turned. It was Claire, who ran up to me and hugged me.

"You guys deployed here now?"

"Yeah. Neil decided not to send many of us…from what we heard, the attack was a small one." She quickly added, "I mean, not to you, I guess, but –"

"It's okay," I said. "Who's Neil?"

"I stepped down. He's in charge of TerraSave now. I felt it was time for someone else to lead."

"I see."

"The reports were right, though. This attack is unique – no pathogens were detected. Just Hunters and a Tyrant. 'Just' being a relative term, of course. They sent me to obtain antivirals and vaccines from you, but it seems we won't need them."

"Well, that's good," I answered, even as her words reminded me of how surgically precise this attack was. "How's the campus doing? The students?"

"Fine, actually. Without any viral outbreaks, very few students were hurt. I heard something about a crazy guy with a bow, but other than that…"

I groaned. Claire gave me a quizzical look.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it. I'm glad this was relatively contained."

"Yeah," Claire said. "Anyway, I should get going. No rest for the wicked, huh?"

I smiled half-heartedly at her and she walked off. I looked out the window for awhile longer, collecting my thoughts, before I departed as well. I'd need to start packing. I didn't want to leave here, especially given my now-boyfriend, but…I didn't want him stupidly running after me with a bow, either.