Pandemic: Resident Evil VI
Chapter Forty One: Fathers
There hadn't been any guard uniforms that would even come close to fitting Sherry's petite frame, so simply covering her face with one of their masks was out, but there was a lab coat and slacks inside one of the lockers that came pretty close, so she was going to have to try and pass herself off as a scientist. Thankfully, with her hair being longer now, the blonde was able to tie it up into a ponytail, and the look was completed with an extra pair of glasses that were in a case on the locker's top shelf.
Whoever actually owned them must have had really bad eyesight, since the lenses were so blurry that Sherry had to pop them out in order to not walk into things, but the frames alone were convincing enough. To tell the truth, the blonde actually looked like a completely different person, especially after applying some of the bright red lipstick that was inside the locker as well. There had been a TV show from America called Alias that Jake had seen a few years ago, and he had always laughed that the main character could just change her hair color and no one recognized her… yeah… not laughing anymore.
As soon as they were both in disguise, the young man wanted to leave right away, but Sherry said that they couldn't, at least not until she recovered the satellite phone that she had bene carrying in Edonia. It was absolutely critical to her that she be able to report to her supervisor, especially after basically being MIA for six months, but if they couldn't get her phone back, then they were going to have to find the lab's communications room. Every facility like this had one, or else how could they communicate with the outside world? And Jake had no idea where the guards would have kept prisoners' belongings, so… let's find the communications room.
He had been nervous about being spotted by the other guards or scientists as soon as the two of them passed through the next door, but instead of another section of the laboratory, the door opened up into what could only be described as a luxurious mansion. Gone were the sterile lights and walls, replaced with marble floors and traditional Chinese design and architecture… was that where they were? China? There were lots of people moving around the stairs and hallways, so the two of them joined in, going seemingly unnoticed while searching the whole place one room at a time.
While not the most exciting task in the world, the search for the communications room gave Jake some much needed time to process everything that the blonde had told him about his father while she had been getting dressed. Like every kid who never got to meet their dad, the young man always had a mental image about who he was, or at least the framework of an image since his mother never talked about him. However, that image was shattered into a million pieces as Sherry described what sounded like one of the worst people who ever lived.
Albert Wesker had been the Captain of STARS back in Raccoon City, although secretly a spy for Umbrella, as well as one of their top T-Virus researchers. His true colors were revealed at someplace called the Spencer Estate, where the blond man had been ordered to destroy all evidence of Umbrella's wrongdoings as well as ensure the members of STARS didn't survive, but then he fucked over the company as well. On top of causing the deaths of almost every STARS member, Wesker blew up the Spencer Estate, but stole Umbrella's research for himself and faked his death… great guy.
It made Jake feel a bit sick to his stomach to know that his father had a large hand in the destruction of Raccoon City, but it didn't end there… oh, no, that was just the beginning. After destroying the city, which basically sparked the beginning of the age of BOWs, the blond man went on the offensive, attacking Umbrella bases around the world, and causing even more outbreaks while stealing even more research for himself. The point of all this theft and murder was Uroboros, which was basically a plot to infect the entire world with some wacky new virus that would only leave ten percent of people alive, or something crazy like that.
His plane crashed at the last minute, and Wesker burnt up in a volcano along with all known traces of Uroboros, that was how Sherry ended the story. Yeah, the tale of Albert Wesker had Jake pretty down, and his first reaction was to blame his heritage on some of the less morally correct choices throughout his life, but then the blonde surprised him by saying that way of thinking was bullshit. She told him that he couldn't spend his life blaming his parents for his own actions, and then Sherry got into details about her own parents.
Apparently not only was her mother, Annette, a cheating whore who really did have an affair with Tobias… ew… but both her and the blonde's father, William Birkin were scientists who worked for Umbrella on both the T-Virus and the prototype G-Virus. It was William who actually caused the Raccoon City outbreak, infecting himself during a fight with Umbrella's special forces team, and then killing Annette before infecting Sherry. According to her, by the time William was killed by Leon and Claire, he was so mutated that there was nothing left of his human self.
"I was too young to understand everything back then." The blonde had said to him. "But my dad was just as psycho as yours, he just got killed earlier, but I promised myself that I wouldn't be like them. As soon as I was old enough I dedicated my life to stopping people like my dad… and you should, too."
Those words actually struck a chord with the young man, making him feel selfish for having lived his life the way he had. For the longest time, which was actually just in the past few years since his mother died, Jake had felt that mercenary work was the only thing he could do, and certainly the best paying. Could he do something else with his life? Probably not work for some government like Sherry, but something? Maybe, but now the time for self-reflection was over, because the next room the two of them walked into… had a communication system.
"All right, everyone, clear the room." Jake ordered in his best authoritative voice. "Doctor, uh… Smith here has to send a priority transmission, for, uh… Gillette Liquid."
Nobody around the room had really been paying attention to this random guard's announcement, but as soon as he said the word Gillette, everyone fell silent. The people operating the equipment, the ones carrying file folders, even the girl getting coffee all stopped as if they were frozen in time. Suddenly everything came to life again, startling the two of them as everyone dropped what they were doing; trying to get out the door as if this Gillette person was going to show up and start killing people like she was Darth Vader or something… part of him really wanted to meet this woman, but… maybe not.
"Lock the door, Jake." Sherry said as she walked over to the console. "Okay, now let's hope my supervisor's frequency is still active."
The blonde attached one of the console's earpieces to her ear, set the dial, and actually got a signal pretty fast. Jake figured that since her contact was probably in America it would be hard to reach him, but not only did her boss pickup real fast, but apparently the signal was strong as hell. So strong that Sherry had to remove the earpiece for a second after identifying herself because of how loud the guy on the other end was yelling.
"I couldn't help it, Sir, I was detained." The blonde explained once her boss calmed down. "I was captured in Edonia, and… yes, I still have the target, he's right… no, I'm in China… what? You are? Oh my God, that's great! Yes… we'll find some way to get there, what is the extraction point?"
It was annoying to only be able to hear one side of the conversation, but from what Sherry was saying, it sounded like good news. And it was; as soon as she hung up, the blonde explained that her boss had tracked where their transmission was coming from, and the new extraction point was in a place called Kwun Lung Plaza in Kooching, which… apparently wasn't too far away. Now all the two of them needed to do was get out of the mansion, and acquire a vehicle somehow since the extraction was several miles away.
"All right, then, let's get out of here." Jake said, unlocking the door. "We'll worry about a car once we're outside."
Just as calmly as they had done before, the young man and Sherry walked out of the communications room, with the blonde even bowing politely and thanking the people who had been inside for allowing her to send the transmission. Rejoining the constant traffic moving through the mansion, the hall by hall search for the exit was begun, with everything going just fine until Jake and Sherry both jumped a little when an alarm started going off.
"Containment alert!" A voice said in three different languages as spinning yellow lights activated on the walls. "Containment alert! A dangerous specimen has escaped from the laboratory's secure West Area, repeat, a dangerous specimen has escaped from the laboratory's West Area! Containment alert!"
"Oh no." Sherry gasped quietly, starting to panic as the people began to look around. "What do we do?"
"What do we do?" The young man repeated, wracking his brain for an answer. "What do we… we follow orders, that's what. All right, everyone, remain calm! You all know the drill; I need you to begin moving quickly, and calmly, toward the exit!"
Everyone just looked at him for a second, with Jake holding his breath for fear that he was about to be caught, but then the people shrugged and began walking down the hall at a quickened pace. Holy shit, he couldn't believe that worked… now all he and Sherry had to do was follow these workers to the exit, and then simply vanish the moment they got outside. Each time the slowly gathering crowd approached more guards, Jake would repeat his commands to head to the exit, and then the guards would move on… wow, Tobias was actually right… sometimes the clever approach was the better option.
"What are you guys doing?!" The young man called upon spotting some confused looking stragglers. "Come on, we're evacuating… move quickly and calmly toward the exit!"