Story: Zirconia
Note: Most of game one is going to be assumed to have happened in short order this chapter. I see no real need to write out a lot of the game itself. Some of the final scenes with Wesker will be visited but with slightly different dialogue and set up to reflect the change of canon with Claire and such. Otherwise I assume Jill and Chris ran through the mansion dealing with random shit as per the usual. This is assuming both members were actually doing things ./gasp
Chapter Nine: Incarnation
"The phoenix must burn to emerge."
― Janet Finch
The trail of breadcrumbs led right where I wanted it. Like children the S.T.A.R.S. members followed it expecting to discover their goal. They didn't, well they couldn't, have imagined what was waiting for them. They were scattered now, much of Bravo team was lost before Alpha even got here, a few had survived but they only served to slow down members of Alpha team. They often served to slow them even if they hadn't survived, Forest hadn't gone out well. I had Barry working on my side thanks to a few well-placed threats. Between us we would dwindle them down or confuse them. It'd honestly taken extremely little to get him to betray the others. He didn't know the full extent of my plans, but he was a great scapegoat to make others nervous about his loyalty. It took attention off of me.
I had to give Birkin he'd put a lot of thought into these little games and challenges, he'd kept a better lid on the various experiments than I'd expected he would. That is, until the team members started randomly opening up all the paths and doors which allowed the creatures to spread. I headed to the lab after the group split at the front entrance. Frowning a little at the sticky note left on one of the refrigerator units.
"Al. Made this for you in case anything goes sideways. Should help you survive. You remember how to inject a sample into the bloodstream right? - Will"
I shook my head at his taunting, he'd never really appreciated my change of job from being primarily focused on research. I knew he'd been working on extra prototypes of the progenitor virus to build stamina and speed after Lisa, but not that he was this close. With the swiftly populating T-virus everywhere in the mansion I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I'd take the sample before any S.T.A.R.S. members reached the labs. It wasn't the first time I'd used such tests for an extra edge, it likely wouldn't be the last. For now I returned to work. I had a lot of data to gather by watching the teams move through the building in the camera's we set up all over the grounds and mansions.
They did better than I predicted. I managed to get a huge amount of data on the various surveillance we had set up throughout the building. I had to stop and help a few times by fixing broken doors or leaving extra supplies. Sending Barry to save Jill, but largely they were highly capable. I was torn on if Chris would make it all the way to the lab, but he even brought the rookie with him. Chambers had also proven highly capable of surviving these sorts of situations so far. Pity she'd have to die with the rest, she could have been useful for future tests like this one.
"So, you've come." I noted, still typing as they paused nearby. I'd just finished injecting the virus Birkin had left. "Chris, you make me proud. But, of course, you are one of my men."
He sighed, clearly annoyed that I wasn't paying attention to them given the sarcasm. "Thanks."
To his credit, he didn't gasp or jump when I pulled my gun on them, unlike the girl.
"Since when, Wesker?" Chris asked instead, so he wasn't just a thug without the ability to think about more than shooting or attacking. Somewhere in here he'd figured out I was up to something, probably after the near explanation by Enrico. I played the innocent all the same. He doubled down. "Since when have they been slipping you a paycheck?"
"I think you're a bit confused." I walked a step closer as we spoke, glad I got to explain to him. "I've always been with Umbrella. The S.T.A.R.S. were Umbrella's, no, my little piggy's."
The shock on his face was nice. The pain of betrayal that entered his eyes.
"The Tyrant virus leaked polluting this whole place and unfortunately I had to give up my lovely members of S.T.A.R.S." I said, their frustration serving as mild entertainment. More so in his case, given he'd gotten in that lucky punch the other day.
"You killed them with your own dirty hands." Chris pointed at me, his voice shaking slightly in his anger. "You son of a bitch!"
"No…" Rebecca breathed, still too shocked to fully compute what she was hearing.
"Oh, yes dear. Just like this." I remarked, moving the gun enough to shoot her before retraining it on Chris. He'd called her name and turned to help her instead of taking the chance to come at me, still leading with his emotions instead of logic.
"Don't move!" I ordered.
"You!" Chris had his hands curled into fists again, turning slowly back toward me. It was only the barrel of the gun between us that kept him at bay..
"I don't think you want to die just yet." I observed, walking back a few steps to the console. Clicking a few buttons so the lights in the Tyrant tank would activate and the water would drain. "I have something of some interest to you. It's beautiful, decades of work to create the perfect lifeform."
I wanted Chris to be the one to take on our creation. He was the strongest of the S.T.A.R.S other than me. He was the best suited to offer some excellent final data before I got out of here.
"This is what you betrayed us for? Monsters? What about Claire?" He hissed, seeming to be considering if he should rush me regardless of the gun. "You, you would leave her without any family at all? She actually cares about you, you jackass. I knew you were bad news, but I couldn't have guessed it was this bad. You're insane."
"I plan to get Claire free of the city, don't worry about that." I remarked, amused at the twitch in his face at my comment. "I'll try to make sure she's comforted after your tragic loss."
"You bastard…" Chris hissed, backing up a step when the Tyrant stepped out of the glass. I grinned at the terror on his face as he nearly tripped over Rebecca, who was still on the floor.
Ow…
The flash of movement came too quick, the agony of an arm stuck through my chest only arriving a moment after I realized it had happened. My creation had turned from Chris to attack me first, ungrateful beast. This felt horrible. I was tossed to the side then, ragdoll bouncing sending sparks of torment through a body already in agony. I slammed into one of the many metal walls, denting it and not moving from where I crumpled to the floor. Things had definitely gone sideways. I vaguely heard people crying out, but the light in the room faded swiftly out as I eyed the gaping hole in my chest cavity.
Claire –
I leaned my head against the cool glass of the bus window. I was almost home, my head hurt – likely from the stress. I'd managed to get focused enough on putting in data after both teams left that it had distracted me for much of the day and evening. I was getting nervous though since the second team had lost contact with the first and now, we weren't hearing anything from them. Leon had been left behind as contact, but he hadn't heard anything beyond that they were having trouble with the radios last time I'd checked with him. I had run out of work to do, so he'd told me to go home and that he'd text me if something happened. I didn't really have a choice. I would probably be in the way if I stayed at the office.
Off the bus I went right back to the apartment and locked the door before going to get some Tylenol. Something about this whole thing made me nervous and I had a headache. I doubt I'd be able to focus on my bike. I looked at my phone, frowning. I knew better than to call Chris on a mission. Even if he had taken his phone, which he wasn't supposed to, it could distract him at a bad time. Same for Wesker. Ugh, I wish I knew more. Chasing them into the woods was a bad idea too, I didn't even know where they'd gone beyond a large area of outskirts. Besides, I knew how to shoot, but I wasn't exactly trained or equipped for special tactics sort of operations. I could end up making matters worse.
I instead set the oven to preheat and dug a frozen lasagna from the fridge. I figured I could always fridge the extra and give it to Chris later. I then dug out some packages of kool-aid and a pitcher to make something sugary to drink. I liked a sugary drink with savory meals. I figured lemonade would be good with the hot weather. After getting the drink ready I put it in the fridge and turned on the ice maker, then shoved in the meal and clicked on the timer. Heading to take a shower when the phone rang.
"Chris. You okay?" I asked immediately. "Chris?"
"…aire! …..out! …ker might be… Betr…..ere safe." I could barely make out a few words, the voice sounded frantic but was interrupted by broken static. Then the call died. That didn't sound good. Was he okay? Shit. Was he trying to talk about Wesker?
"Glad to hear Chris survived." The tone didn't sound glad at all. I turned to see him in the hallway. He looked awful, there was blood all over his chest and a hole in the front of his uniform. I forgot about the call, walking up closer to him. Reaching out to barely touch his front. I didn't see or feel any open wounds, but he or someone had bled heavily. He was a little cooler than usual though, was that blood loss?
"Holy crap! Are you okay?" I stared at the wide hole in his shirt. "What happened out there? Where are the others?"
"Not able to make it. I need to get you out of town. Do you have a to go bag?" He asked. I nodded lightly. Chris had made me make one in case of some sort of town emergency. "Get it. Can I use your phone?"
"Of course, here." I handed it over, in shock but not wanting to question him after what I'd just heard and seen. I went quickly to get the backpack I'd put together months ago, coughing from the dust. "Can you turn off the stove!"
"Yes." I heard him call back and I shoved a few extra things in the bag, nervous. What was so bad he wanted to get me to evacuate the area so fast? Was the cult a lot larger than they had expected?
Wesker –
Coming back to life was less painful than I thought it would be, much less agonizing than the dying. Escaping the mansion after failing to get the data I needed was frustrating, but I had other plans I needed to keep. The virus Birkin had provided had not just brought me back. I was stronger and faster than before, though, lacking awareness of my own abilities I largely shot my way out of the mansion and jogged to a safe distance before it exploded. This was not what we'd had in mind. From the lack of bodies of both the tyrant that had skewered me and Chris or Rebecca I should presume he'd made it out on the helicopter with the coward, Vickers. Why Birkin hadn't taken care of the aircraft I didn't know. Birkin might have had his own problems since Sergei had locked off the data and closed us off. I could only assume if I'd been removed from the network that the Birkin's would have as well.
Murdering Sergei was going to happen the first chance I had. William knew what was coming, he would have to react appropriately. I didn't have time to go after him. I needed to get to Claire and get her out of town. Then, setting up a trip out of the country. I was ready to be done with Umbrella and had a new company lined up but they weren't likely to be keen on me failing to appropriate the T-Virus combat information for them. Once I got Claire out of the city, then I could focus on the next steps. If I happened across Chris in the process, all the better for me to murder him in the crossfire.
Sadly his truck wasn't back when I reached their shared apartment. I parked and came around to the door quietly; Valentine wasn't the only one good with a set of lockpicks. I managed to get the door open without much trouble and listened for noise nearby before slipping into the main foyer. The memory of Claire in that lovely black dress coming up the hall flitted through my head as I slipped along the passage toward sounds of movement. She was moving around the kitchen, putting in a frozen dinner and making a drink from some sort of powder. Chris hadn't taken good care of her is this is how she regularly prepared her meals. I watched her walk around, biting her lip nervously. I watched her, knowing all I had to do was administer the drug I'd acquired to keep her sedated, she wouldn't remember most of tonight either.
Then she got a phone call, and I could make out enough to know Chris was alive. Which meant it was a matter of time before she knew the truth. I slipped the vial of sweet-smelling liquid back into my pocket, I'd get to that if needed. Unable to keep the distaste fully out of my voice when I spoke of Chris. He had just gotten me killed after all.
"Holy crap. Are you okay?" She gaped at me when she turned to see me, notably the large hole in my clothing. Stepping closer to touch my recently regenerated flesh. Her touch slightly numb, a sign the new regeneration hadn't fully finished with nerves yet. "What happened out there? Where are the others?"
"Not able to make it. I need to get you out of town. Do you have a to go bag?" I prompted, glad when she nodded. At least Chris could manage to keep some protocols. "Get it. Can I use your phone?"
"Of course, here." She handed it to me before running to get the bag I mentioned. I heard her call out a moment later. "Can you turn off the stove!"
"Yes." I walked to comply with her request, then grabbed a few bits of food and water from the kitchen, glad there was a small cooler nearby. I wasn't sure what I would need at this point, but I knew she'd need food. I had to consider what I could say to her, there was little explaining after my small speech to her brother. Even if I could spin it in my favor she wasn't likely to remember it. I went into her phone, digging through internal settings so I could block her brother's number and alter the one currently programmed by a digit. She wasn't too likely to notice in the next short period, while it would matter. I met her near the front door and opened it for her as I handed the phone back.
"What's going on? Why do we need to leave?" She asked, pausing only to lock the door before following me to the car. "Where's everyone?"
There were many lies I could have told, a million words on my tongue that could be used to placate her, stop her from asking questions. Yet, the innocent fear, the trust in her gaze when she turned to me in the car to look at me and genuinely seek answers bothered me. More than I wanted to admit. I didn't want to lie to her. So, I covered her face with a rag a moment later instead. The chloroform was light, but it would get the job done until I could use the greater sedative, I'd brought in a syringe in the glove box. With the drug, she wouldn't remember seeing me at all. Which is what I prefered. They might figure I was the one to move her, but given Chris had seen me die, I doubted it.
"I'm sorry, Claire." I stated at the hurt confusion in her eyes before they slid shut, she raised her arms but didn't truly fight me as I knocked her unconscious. I pulled her closer as her body started to lose the ability to control its own weight. "I have to get you to safety."
It wasn't a lie. I wanted to get her free of this place before it fell apart. I tilted her head back and it fell without any control. A sign I could add my sedative to her blood. That should keep her unconscious until I could get her to her dorm. She might not trust me again, but she'd live. A repayment for the work she'd done. For what I planned to take from her in the future. I buckled her seat belt and kissed her forehead before turning to drive. I didn't have time to waste on any further sentiment.
End Chapter
Another shorter chapter. Trying to keep stuff coming while plotting in my head where I want things to go. My goal is to make this 26 chapters long. If you hadn't noticed yet every chapter title starts with a new letter of the alphabet, I expect that to get difficult sometimes. Hope everyone is plague free and remains so, stay safe.
-Aura
To my reviewers:
Evolution500 - I agree that Rebecca and Claire would likely get along but it didn't fit into where I wanted to be as far this and other chapters go, with Leon becoming a point of contact.
Crystalyna - Yeah, they both didn't really know how things were about to change in general.
