Disclaimer: As you should know by now, Resident Evil is owned by Capcom. You should also know by now this story is mine.
Resident Evil: Armageddon
Part I- Prelude to Destruction
Chapter 8- Plan of Action
Written by: Striker
Chris stared out of the window in his room. He had a tough time sleeping the night before. There were too many thoughts swimming around inside his head. First were the events of yesterday. He was bothered that Umbrella had found them so soon. He didn't know if Umbrella knew where he and Claire were living, or only that they were in London. Maybe the men in the Sedan just wanted to capture and interrogate him. He wouldn't know that now. Those guys were charred skeletons at some morgue. Second, he didn't know if he should tell Claire. He had kept quiet about the whole thing, but now he thought she should know. The third thing was finding his friends. He knew that would be hard as hell. He didn't know where Barry was, if Jill and Brad were alive, or what happened to Rebecca. The only person he knew he could reach was Leon. He had heard about this guy from Claire. He seamed trustworthy, but Chris wasn't so sure. After the Spencer Mansion, Chris had found it hard to trust anyone. He wasn't even sure Leon was telling him the truth. It wasn't until he checked Umbrella's files on Rockfort that he knew Leon wasn't lying. He had thought about getting a hold of Leon, but didn't have the time. Now, however, he would have to, and soon. The last thing was Claire's current state. He wasn't sure if she was ready to go against Umbrella. He wasn't sure she should be involved at all. If he had only called her and told her the truth like he should of, she wouldn't have been involved to begin with. Chris wrestled with his thoughts for another minute before coming to a decision. He just hoped that it wouldn't blow up in his face.
Chris walked into the living room. Claire was sitting at the table, eating some of the ice cream he had got for her the other day. She had on a brown sweater and a pair of navy blue jeans. She looked up as he sat down at the table.
"Hey Chris, don't you wear anything other than those clothes?" Claire said, noting the fact that Chris had on the same clothes he wore for the past week.
"I'm not a girl. I don't have a million clothes. Besides, I feel comfortable in these."
"That's it. Today we go shopping. I'm gonna get you something decent to wear. The last time I checked, black and white went out of style a long time ago."
"You mean your gonna get something for YOU to wear." Chris knew this all too well. Claire was using him as an excuse to buy herself something.
"I can't believe you would say that. I never did anything like that before."
"Oh yes you have. Going shopping with you is just as worse as getting teeth pulled. By the time you're done, half the store's practically bought out."
"Well this time it'll be different. I'll only get stuff for you."
Chris covered his mouth and muttered, "Like hell you will."
"What did you say Mr. Chris Redfield?" Claire asked in an angry tone.
Chris dropped his hand. "Nothing. Why don't you go get ready. I'll wait here."
"I'll do that." Claire said, a disgruntled look on her face from what Chris had said.
He watched as she stormed off into her room, slamming it shut. He knew she was just kidding. At least that's what he hoped. Claire had a bad temper, just like he did. Her mood was unpredictable too. One minute she would be so happy, the next minute she would be steaming mad. The funny part was all it took was someone saying the wrong thing to her to do it. Of coarse, she knew when someone was just fooling around with her. She'd play along with them, putting on a show. But if the person meant it for real, look out. She would give them a warning, and if they didn't get the clue, she would get physical. Claire could handle herself well in a fight. He guessed she learned from watching him. Chris thought back to the fights he had been in. He was one of those people who didn't fool around. He would drop his opponent as quickly as he could. He didn't talk trash, he didn't do anything fancy, he didn't bob or weave. He hit the guy where it counted, ending the fight before it even began. Claire would do the same thing. She went right for the kill, not wasting any time. All he could think was thank God she knew he was kidding.
She had been in a great mood today, mainly from last night. Jack had come to their apartment for dinner, just like he said he would. He had brought some flowers for Claire. They were white roses, her favorite. She had been happy to see him. The three had talked all through supper, with Jack commenting on how well Chris had done the steaks. After dinner, Claire had offered Jack some of her ice cream. He had refused politely, saying that he had to get to bed. He had to be up early the next morning. That night, she had slept well for once. Chris had really appreciated the fact that Jack hadn't of said anything about what happened to him on the way back from the store. Suddenly, Chris remembered.
"Awe fuck, the car."
It looked like he would have to tell Claire about the Umbrella agents now. There was no way she would believe any bullshit story he made up about how the BMW had gotten smashed up. He decided he would tell her on the way to the car. Damn, would she be pissed.
Claire came out of her room and grabbed her jacket. "Are you ready to go?"
Chris hesitated for a bit. "Sure, let's get this over with." Chris took his jacket and left with Claire.
They got into the elevator and Chris hit the button for the parking lot. He turned to his sister. "Claire, there's something I have to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Yesterday, while I was coming back here, I got tailed by another car. There was an Umbrella logo on the plate. I managed to get rid of the car, but that's not important. What's important is that Umbrella knows we're here. I didn't want to tell you because of the nightmare you had yesterday morning." Chris closed his eyes and tensed up, waiting for Claire to hit him. He knew Claire did not like anyone trying to protect her.
"Thanks."
Chris was surprised by her response. "What? Your not mad at me?"
"No. You did what you felt you had to. Believe me, the last thing I needed to be thinking about was Umbrella coming to kill us while we were asleep. Did Jack know?"
"He did. He didn't want to worry you either."
"I'll have to thank him."
The elevator stopped and they got out. When they got to the BMW, Claire could not believe her eyes.
"Chris. When you said you got rid of the car, in what sense of the word did you mean?"
"Well, we sort of bumped each other."
"BUMPED! That's not what I call bumped. The whole side of the car's banged up. It looks this it was in a demolition derby."
"Compared to the other guy's car, this is nothing."
"I'd hate to see what happened to the other car. I'll just have to watch the news and find out."
Claire got in her side. Chris got behind the wheel, having to yank open his door. They pulled up to the gate, met by Jack's smiling face.
"And where would you two be going today?"
"I'm going to buy my brother some new clothes." Claire replied. "Chris doesn't have any sense of fashion at all."
"Your not using that as an excuse to go shopping for yourself, right?"
"I am shocked and appalled that you would think that I would do something like that."
Jack laughed. "I know you wouldn't. So, how do you feel about this Chris?"
"I feel like a condemned man. I have a bad feeling I'll be spending a few hours in a stall trying on whatever Claire can get her hands on. Either that, or it'll be Claire in the stall, and I'll be waiting for her."
Claire smacked him on the arm as he laughed to himself. "OK bro. I intend to prove you both wrong. Well, lets go. You know how the stores are on Friday."
"I won't hold you up any longer." Jack said as he raised the gate.
"Bye." Claire said as Chris pulled out.
Claire had kept her word. She had bought Chris some new T-shirts, only these were different colors. She also bought him some colorful long-sleeve shirts, a couple sweaters, a few pairs of light-blue jeans, and a couple of green, brown, and navy blue shorts. During the whole time, she had only gotten herself a flowered dress and two pairs of polo shorts. It had taken them a few hours to get everything, and a half hour of waiting in line. They had gotten back to the apartment around five. Jack had offered to help carry the bags, but Claire told him he didn't have to. They had just got done sorting through Chris' new clothes when Claire asked him a question that had been bothering her for a while.
"Chris, when are we going to call Leon?"
"I don't know. Soon."
"And how long will soon be?"
"Listen Claire, first I think we should find out where my friends are. Once I know that, then we can find someplace where we ALL can meet at once. It'll be easier that way."
"I think that if we contact him, he can help us. That way, we'll find your friends faster than if we do this ourselves. You told me that Umbrella knows we're here; so that's another reason to call him know. We have to, before we run out of time."
Chris knew she was right about not having time to wait. "I just wish I knew where Jill and the others were."
Claire had an idea. "Chris, remember when Umbrella had you under surveillance in Paris."
"Yeah, so?"
"So, maybe Umbrella has your friends under surveillance too. You could check Umbrella's computer to see where they are."
"Maybe Claire, maybe." Chris ran to the computer and turned it on. He waited until Windows came up before he logged on to the Internet. He went to Umbrella's homepage and went to the employees' page. He easily broke through the password screen. He had learned how to successful hack into any computer in a way that he couldn't be found. Some guy he met in Sweden taught him this. He finally got to where he wanted to go, a search screen. He typed in S.T.A.R.S. and hit enter. Claire stood behind him, waiting for the results. One thing came up. It wasn't what they wanted, but it got their attention.
"What's Project X?" Claire asked.
"I don't know." Chris clicked on it, revealing what looked like an operations report. Chris looked at the table of contents. He clicked on a link that said "ENEMIES." He was shocked not to see four, but eleven names in a list. "I know most of these people, but who the hell are Carlos, Ark, Rott, and Lily?"
"You think I would know. The only people I know on that list are us, Leon, and Sherry."
"I don't like this at all. There has to be some reason for this. It's like Umbrella's made a list of targets. We'd better look into this. Hand me a ZIP disk, could you?"
Claire gave Chris one of the ZIP disks on the desk. He put it into the computer and saved the list to it. He then began to copy the whole document to the disk. It looked like a plan to wipe out not only the S.T.A.R.S. team, but anyone else who had survived Umbrella's little spills. It called for the development of new weapons to use against the survivors. Chris also found out that there were two men heading the operation. Some man called Nicholai was in charge of military operations. Chris could hardly believe who the other man was.
"I can't believe it, he survived."
"I thought you said that he died in the blast?"
"I thought he did." Chris couldn't believe what he saw, but it was true. The man in charge of the development of the new weapons was none other that Albert Wesker.
"Isn't Wesker supposed to be working for someone else?" Claire didn't know what confused her more, the fact Wesker was among the living, or the fact he was back with Umbrella when a few weeks ago he was with some other company.
"It seems he likes to stab everyone in the back. He probably weaseled back into Umbrella because his other employers didn't take failure very well. He must of promised secrets in exchange for his job back."
Chris continued through the order until he came to something else he found strange. It was at the bottom of the table of contents. It said "WORDS FROM THE LEADER." He clicked on it and a message came up. It was from some man whose last name sounded all to familiar. Charles Spencer. It was written by him, Chris assumed. Spencer basically rambled on about how the company would finally see it's true power. Now that Mr. Umbrella was dead, he would fix the mistakes that had been made. The first being the elimination of Umbrella's enemies. The man sounded unstable, like he could loose his marbles at any moment. That is, if he had any marbles to begin with.
"This is bad, very bad. This guy could be trouble. We'd better find out who he is. This could change everything."
"Then I guess we better contact Leon. According to this, the operation's gonna start soon. He's going to need to know, since his name was on the list."
"OK. From what I know, Leon said he was still in the U.S. If I send him something now, he should get it and reply immediately. It's almost five now. It should be about noon there. I'll send it now." Chris opened his E-mail and typed the address in as Claire recalled it. He then typed this.
Dear Leon:
This is Chris, Claire's brother. Thanks for telling she was in danger. We both got out of Rockfort and a base in Antarctica. Both places have been destroyed. Rockfort was bombed by some other company, I set the self-destruct mechanism on the island. I also dropped a nuke on the Antarctic base, so it's gone. Right now we're in London, but we can't stay for long. Umbrella somehow found out we are here. I also found some documents I believe you have to see. I also have some bad news. We need to set up a rendezvous with you. Tell us where you are, and we'll go there. After we meet, we'll have to find the other S.T.A.R.S. members or anyone else that survived. This is important. We HAVE to get together before it's too late. Also, DON'T call, send an E-mail. I don't know if our phone has been bugged or not. We'll see you soon.
Chris and Claire Redfield
"What do you mean our phone's bugged." Claire said as Chris sent the letter.
"If Umbrella knows we're in this apartment, they may have a trace on the phone line. I don't want them to know what we're doing."
Claire understood and nodded. She knew what happened now would mean not only their fate, but the fate of the world.
It was eleven o'clock. Claire was still at the computer, waiting for a response. Chris was on the couch, watching the TV. There had been a report on the news about the chase he had been involved in. He turned and looked at Claire. The way she was looking at the screen waiting for Leon seemed like the same way he used to look at Jill. The way she had insisted on E-mailing him in the first place said that she and Leon were more than just friends. He would have to keep an eye on those two when they met. She had her heart broken once, she didn't need it broken again. Chris vowed he would see to that personally. His mind wandered back to Jill. God, he hoped she was OK. Her name on the list meant that she had survived Raccoon. Now his worry was if Umbrella had gotten to her already. Was she looking for him? Did she give up? Did she forget about him? No, no she wouldn't. She would still be looking for him, he knew that. They were friends and partners, and they would be back together again. And then, he may tell her that he loved her. The only question was if she felt the same way, or if she had fallen for someone else. Chris shook the thoughts from his head. He would worry about that when the time came.
"Claire, I think we should turn in for the night. We can check my mail tomorrow."
"OK Chris." Claire turned off her brother's computer. Ever since they had sent that E-mail, she had been hoping that Leon would reply right away. She wanted to know how Sherry was doing. She missed that little girl. It had broke Sherry's heart when she left. She had also made a promise that she'd be back, and that was a promise she intended to keep. She also wondered about Leon. How was he doing? They had grown close during their time together. She often wondered what would have happened if she had stayed longer. She knew she felt something for him. It was almost the same thing she had felt for Steve. No, it wasn't. She loved Steve. Now he was dead. She knew she could never love anyone else ever again. That's why she was questioning her feelings for Leon now. She decided not to think about it anymore tonight. She quietly walked to her room and went in.
Chris went to the computer. He removed the ZIP disk and took one last look at it. 'This,' he thought, 'is going to change all our lives, I just know it.' Chris turned out the lights in the apartment and walked to his room, disk in hand. He knew it was time for the battle to begin again.
Author's Comments: Talk about foreshadowing. It looks like the show is about to begin. Everything is almost in place. The countdown has begun. We now know a little of what Project X is. I'll let you guess what kind of "Weapons" Umbrella's going to make. Also, we see the feelings that Chris and Claire have for Jill and Leon. Like the other chapters before it, you get to see the problems that each character has. These problems will play out in future chapters of this saga. You also see the potential clashes that will happen between the characters. This is the one aspect of the Resident Evil mythos that I wanted to concentrate on. The others being the action, mystery, and horror aspects. I decided to give the characters depth, that's why I embellished and or modified their pasts. I also made up pasts for the new characters I introduced in this part. I'll also do this with other new characters of mine to come. For the relationships, I either modified or embellished on past events found in the game history, or made up events to further show the connection between some of the characters. I basically tried to give the characters believable personalities, instead of having them be the cardboard cutout characters from the game. I guess I did enough rambling on for now. I just wanted readers to know why I've spent so much time on character development.
In chapter nine, all the characters
finally reach out and touch each other. Kind of sounds like that old AT&T
commercial, huh? Before they meet, they have to first pick a time and place.
Also, we find out that Umbrella has plans to stop one group from uniting with
the others. Find out who and if Umbrella will succeed. Plus, find out how
Spencer's little plan is progressing. The road to war is about to start in RE
Armageddon: Part 1, Chapter 9- Contact.