Pandemic: Resident Evil VI
Chapter Thirty Two: A Familiar Sight
Like with the rest of the building, power was still on in the basement, meaning that Alpha Team couldn't use the cover of darkness. Again bringing up the rear, Piers followed the rest of the team down the concrete steps after the basement access door was open at the bottom of the stairwell, still not liking the idea of Chris leading from the front after only just getting himself back into the field. So far nothing had gone wrong, though, which was great, but there was always the chance of the Captain snapping again like he had done in Edonia.
Underground and surrounded on all sides by concrete, every noise produced by Alpha Team was bounced around the walls and ceiling, creating echoes that were impossible to hide, but also making it just as impossible to figure out what the cause of the noise was. Maybe Chris could bluff the uninfected terrorists into surrendering if they thought there was a whole army coming after them instead of just a dozen guys, but as soon as Piers reached the end of the initial corridor, he realized that such trickery was not necessary.
The basement was mostly made up of a single, open chamber that housed a row of washing machines on one side, and a few utility closets scattered around where the janitor likely kept their cleaning supplies, but everything else was empty… and the bioterrorists were there, all right. Maybe some of them had panicked after realizing that there was no way out of this place, and used the same injections as their comrades upstairs, but either way, there had been one hell of a shootout down there. Bullet impacts dotted the walls near where the terrorists had fallen, both infected and normal alike, but… but this was definitely not a victory.
Even though all of the bioterrorists had killed each other with their own scheme, the UN hostages had been caught in the middle of all the chaos, because there they were, standing still as statues in the very center of the room. More empty injectors were on the floor near each one, meaning that the terrorists might have forcibly injected them with the same stuff, but the effect was different for some reason. Instead of becoming deranged, violent freaks, the hostages were covered with a brownish colored kind of crystalline substance that had apparently hardened while dripping off of them, leaving their terrified faces barely visible through the substance.
"God damn it." Piers whispered, walking up to Chris. "The terrorists must have known there was no way out, and infected them just for spite… fucking assholes. Should I call this into headquarters, Captain? Uh… Captain?"
But Chris wasn't listening; he was just standing there, almost as still as the frozen people, his eyes wide with fear, while breathing shallow and rapidly. The Captain's eyes were locked onto the nearest cocooned hostage, not responding when the Lieutenant or anyone else tried to speak to him, and then taking a sudden step back that resulted in Chris falling on his rear. Instead of getting up, the Captain scooted backwards across the floor, stopping when his back hit the wall, and… and damn it, Piers had known that this was a bad idea from the start.
"Captain!" The Lieutenant exclaimed, kneeling down with him and shaking Chris's shoulders before snapping his fingers in front of his eyes. "Come on, don't do this, Chris, not now… don't fall apart on me now."
For several seconds there was no response, not to shaking him, snapping, or even slapping the Captain in the face. The other soldiers were murmuring to each other and discretely pointing toward them, and yeah, there was no way to hide the truth this time… no matter what Amelia thought was best here, Chris had become unreliable in the field, and this needed to be reported to headquarters. So he activated his radio, and was just about to contact them, when the Lieutenant gasped in reaction to the Captain suddenly reaching up and grabbing his arm.
"Don't… Piers, don't… don't." Chris said, sounding like he was trying to get himself under control. "Piers, I… don't call them… I remember what happened… in Edonia."
Edonia, Eastern Europe
December 24th, 2012
All preparations to assault city hall were complete, with Bravo Team taking up defensive positions around the perimeter of the building, leaving Alpha Team in charge of breeching the front door. Now that the various BSAA teams had taken care of most of the infected mercenaries, this was really all that was left, so Chris's team got onto one of the transport trucks just as the cold wind started to pick up again. The helicopter that Sherry Birkin had gotten into was flying toward the mountains, vanishing from sight as it passed through come clouds, and then it was gone, allowing the Captain's focus to get back on his team.
There was a pretty heavy mixture of experience levels in Alpha Team, ranging from veterans like Chris and Piers, all the way down to rookies like Finn Macauley who was supposedly twenty one, but right now looked about twelve. This was the kid's first mission with the BSAA, and naturally Finn was terrified of the infected J'avo, as headquarters had designated them, but… oh, who the hell was the Captain kidding? Chris hadn't exactly had balls of steel the first time he faced a BOW back at the Spencer Estate, and these things were a lot more dangerous than some T-Virus zombie… hell, these things could shoot.
"All right, guys, you done good so far, but the mission's not over yet." The Captain said as the truck started moving. "There still might be some bad guys in city hall, and there's a chance they have some hostages, so we're gonna do this by the book. Hopefully, they do the smart thing and surrender, but anyone who thinks messing with BOW's is a good idea… probably isn't smart."
"Yeah, so we're gonna go in there and kick their asses." Piers added, causing the men to voice their agreement. "And then when we get back to base, we're gonna hold Finn upside down while he drinks an entire keg of beer by himself. And then when he pukes that all over himself, we're gonna make him drink another one, because there's no quitters on Alpha Team."
All the men in the back of the truck cheered, some of them slapping the kid on the back, and to Finn's credit, he was trying not to show how nervous he was. So far the team hadn't taken any losses, even though there had bee a few close calls during the invasion, and Chris was determined to keep up that good luck streak. Then just like Piers said, they would all get to go home, and yes… the Captain was going to personally hold Finn upside down while he drank, and drank, and drank. After all, the kid was a man now, having performed pretty well so far, and it was Chris's duty as the commanding officer to make sure that all rookies were properly welcomed to the team.
"You know, Finn, some of the hostages might be beautiful women." One of the others said. "I don't know how the chicks are in Canada, where you're from, but these Eastern European girls can be, uh… pretty grateful for rescue, if you know what I mean."
The kid laughed nervously while the other soldier started elbowing him in the ribs, and then Finn actually started blushing when everyone in the truck agreed that he should get first dibs on such gratitude. Chris laughed a bit too, figuring that by the look of him, the kid had probably never touched a woman in his life… yeah, not everyone could be as lucky in the love department as Captain Chris Redfield… and he couldn't wait to get back home to see his wife, Amelia once all this was done.
Now that the fighting in the streets was pretty much over, the transport truck made its way down the city streets unobstructed, eventually coming to a stop in front of city hall. The building looked like it had taken some hits during the fighting, with a few pieces missing from the outer walls, but it appeared to be structurally intact… mostly. Well, if any of the mercenaries remained, this was the perfect place to make their last stand, so as soon as the truck stopped moving, Alpha Team jumped down to the ground.
Crouching down and moving behind whatever cover was available in case anyone inside started shooting, the Captain led the way as they passed through the snowy courtyard, up to the overly large double front doors of city hall. Overly large, metal double doors that could have been easily barricaded from the inside, but… surprisingly weren't. Chris had expected to find a heavily fortified defensive position, filled with mercenaries who would fight to the death to avoid getting captured or killed, but the doors weren't even locked… easily swinging open when he pushed them with his hand, revealing… nothing?
No explosions, no gunfire, hell not even any hostiles, at least not in the entry hall, allowing Alpha Team to slowly enter with building as if they already owned the place. Keeping their weapons ready, aimed at every doorway and other possible hiding place where the enemy could be lurking, the Captain kept waiting for something to happen… but nothing did, and soon it was announced that the entry hall was clear. All right, maybe the bad guys were somewhere deeper inside, since the first room in a place wasn't always the best place for a last stand, so they moved on.
"Squads on the door, move in by two's." Chris ordered as he started forward. "I'll take point, Piers, watch our asses."
The team broke in half, forming two lines against the wall on each side of the next door, and on the Captain's signal, he and the opposite man went through, followed by the others two at a time. Again, nothing started shooting at them, but this next room was impossible to identify, since it had taken a lot of damage during the battle. Part of the roof had collapsed, landing on top of what might have once been wooden furniture, and now everything had a light coating of snow… except for the flicker of movement that was spotted underneath a partially intact desk.
"Who's that?" Chris called, causing everyone to aim their rifles. "You, under the desk… show me your hands, and come out real slow. Do it, now!"
Expecting to find a heavily armed, surviving mercenary, it surprised the Captain when the hands that slowly came up from under the desk had painted fingernails, followed by the short dark hair and slender frame of a woman. She was trembling, probably from a mix of being frightened and because of the wind that was blowing in through the open roof, and from the dress she was wearing, it was easy to see that she wasn't armed, allowing the team to relax. Still, she was an odd sight, clearly a hostage, but also the only Asian person that they had seen since entering Edonia.
"Don't shoot… please." She called out in a shaky voice. "I work here, I'm Ada Wong… I'm the City Stenographer… here… here's my ID."
"Piers, go check that ID… carefully." The Captain replied. "And what the hell's a stenographer?"