Disclaimer: The good folks at Capcom own Resident Evil. I own this story. If the good folks at Capcom have a problem with that, T.S.
Resident Evil: Armageddon
Part II- Hands of Fate
Chapter 3- New Mission, Old Threat
Written by: Striker
Chris looked through the bags piled in the large room at the end of the hall. It appeared to be the master bedroom of the house. He had left all his bags in this room with Barry's permission. His stuff was to the right of the door. His sister's bags piled on the other side of the room.
"Where the hell is it?" Chris was still fuming at what Claire had said. He was mostly angry with himself. She was right, he shouldn't have left. He should have been there for her and his friends. Because he had been so impatient, he wasn't there when it mattered. He had always been taught that the mission came before his friends. He had always thought better. He never left a friend behind, no matter what. That was why the Air Force had kicked him out. It was during a battle and one of his close friends had been injured during the retreat. He had disobeyed direct orders to leave the man behind. Chris rescued his friend, but ended up in front of a review board. In order to avoid the appearance of punishing a hero, he was honorably discharged and was allowed to keep his pilot's license. Then he had been there for his friend.
Now, when his friends had needed him, he had left. He had let the mission take priority over his friends. He had felt guilty in Europe. Now his guilt had doubled after learning what the others had to go through because HE had left. "I only hope that this can make up for the trouble I caused."
Chris finally found the laptop and the ZIP disk. He picked them both up and headed out the door. He stopped and tried to cool off. When he was ready, he came down the stairs. "Everyone, come to the den. I have something you all may want to see."
Everyone had filed into the den just as Chris had set up the laptop. He had a serious expression on his face as he talked. "While I was in Europe, I learned how to hack into Umbrella's computer network. I found all kinds of files and information. They were mostly locations of research labs and facilities scattered around the world. It wasn't until yesterday that I found this." Chris held up the ZIP disk. "On this is what I believe to be an operations order. I came across it while checking to see if Umbrella had any of you under surveillance. I put it all on this disk so I wouldn't have to hack into Umbrella again."
He put the disk into the ZIP drive attached to the computer. He then opened the files, displaying the order.
"This order has something to do with something called Project X. From what I can figure, this is a plan to wipe us out. I had told Barry this on the phone. There is a list in this document that has all our names on it. Umbrella is finally trying to tie up any loose ends. Why they decided to do this now is because Umbrella has a new chairman."
"I think I read that in some newspaper. Mr. Umbrella ran his car off a cliff somewhere in France. Some new guy took over." Carlos said.
"Guess who took over?" Chris asked.
"How should we know. I didn't know Mr. Umbrella was dead. I didn't even know there was a Mr. Umbrella." Leon said.
"I'll tell you who." Chris continued. "A person whose family had first founded Umbrella. Charles Spencer."
Everyone was shocked. They had all heard of the Spencer Mansion. It had been the place of the original outbreak.
"Spencer, like in the Spencer Estate?" Jill asked.
"Yes." Chris answered. "Charles' grandfather, Edward Spencer, built the Spencer Estate back in the 50's. He loaded it with all sorts of traps and puzzles. He was into the spy thing that was going around at the time. Shortly after, he added the underground lab area to the grounds to begin research on the T-virus. Edward died and his son, Franklin Spencer, tried to take over the business. However, our friends the Ashfords had managed to convince the board that the Spencers where too unstable to run the company. It was Alexander Ashford who ended up gaining control. He was the one that appointed Mr. Umbrella as chairman while he began his own experiments. It was set up so that Alfred would take over the company after Mr. Umbrella's death. Since Mr. Umbrella is no longer among the living..."
"And we killed off the Ashfords," Claire said, "That meant that Charles Spencer had no one to stand in his way."
Chris nodded to his sister. "Spencer wants to make Umbrella a major player in the production of weapons. First though, he has to deal with us. We are the only ones that can stop his plan. He wrote a little note at the bottom of this thing. He said that Mr. Umbrella made a serious mistake underestimating us. From what I read, Spencer isn't going to make those mistakes again. He wants us dead no matter what. I read this thing, and it is not good. He sounds very dangerous, and is obsessed with eliminating us."
Barry shook his head. "This does not sound good. That mansion was a nightmare. If Edward Spencer was crazy enough to build that place the way he did, his grandson must be worse."
"I agree." Rebecca said. "Both those families that founded Umbrella sound nuts. From what you say Chris, this guy may be unpredictable. Who knows what he might come up with."
"It looks like taking down Umbrella may be harder than we thought." Jill said. The situation had started to sound grim. It didn't help anyone's mood what Ark had to say.
"I hate to make this worse, but Umbrella isn't the only company we have to deal with. The company that bombed Rockfort is called Bio-Tech. They want to destroy Umbrella and become the new leaders in biological warfare. They also have someone from Umbrella working for them." Ark closed his eyes and swallowed. He knew no one was going to like this. "Albert Wesker."
Jill didn't know what to say. Barry was stunned. "You can't be serious. Wesker died in the Spencer Mansion. Chris saw him get stabbed by the Tyrant." Barry wanted to believe that Ark was lying.
"I'm serious." Ark said. "Wesker survived the mansion explosion and joined Bio-Tech. I wish I was wrong, but he's alive."
"You're wrong about one thing." Chris said, drawing everyone's attention. "Wesker is alive, but not working for Bio-Tech. He's gone back to Umbrella. He's in charge of weapon development for Project X. I'll let you guess what kind of weapons they are."
"So, we just kill this guy again. A shot to the head, and adios senor Wesker." Carlos said.
"It won't be that easy." Chris looked at his friends, not knowing how to put it. "He's changed. I ran into him at the Antarctic Base. He was injected with some form of the T-virus. I don't know how they did it, but somehow Bio-Tech was able to change the virus so that it wouldn't destroy Wesker's mind. Not only is he as cunning as before, he has twice the strength of a normal person. His reflexes and senses are also increased. He won't be easy to kill this time. The only good news is that the virus he has is weaker than the T-Veronica virus."
"How do you know?" Rebecca asked.
"Cause Alexia kicked his ass." Claire said. "She slapped him once, and sent him through a wall."
"I had hoped Wesker died in the blast," Chris continued, "But he got away. I believe he went back to Umbrella for fear that Bio-Tech would kill him. He's probably using the fact that he has information on Bio-Tech to keep Umbrella from shooting him. I know he's up to something, I just can't figure it out yet. All I can say is that sooner or later, we're going to have to face Wesker. When we do, we can't be careless, or we're dead."
"This is bad." Leon said. "Wesker sounds like a B.O.W. I can't wait to see what things Umbrella comes up with."
Chris looked at Jill and Carlos. Jill looked miserable. Wesker had locked her up in the basement of the mansion. She had trusted him, more than the others had. That trust was shattered when he had stuck that gun in her back and laughed as he threw her into the cell. She would never forgive or forget what Wesker had done. Carlos looked at Jill and then back to Chris. He had a "you better tell her something good" look on his face.
Chris hesitated before beginning again. "We also have another problem. Spencer isn't waiting for these new "weapons" to be finished. He has sent a team over to this country to find us. Somehow he knew we were coming here. That team is to monitor Atlanta, and see if we show up."
Barry had received another shock. "How does he know where we are?"
"Simple." Chris replied. "Mr. Umbrella, knowing that Sherry had been infected with the G-virus, assumed that Leon and Claire would bring her down here."
"Why?" Claire asked. "Why would we take Sherry to Atlanta?"
"Because Atlanta has the C.D.C., the Center for Disease Control. He thought that you two might try to prove the G-virus was real by giving some of Sherry's blood to the C.D.C. He therefore sent agents down to catch all three of you." Chris turned to Barry. "They didn't find Claire, Leon, or Sherry. They never came down here. The agents did find out that you had brought a helicopter down here, and took a plane back home. Fortunately, you picked New York City as your destination, not Calgary. Umbrella found out a few days after you left, so they never bothered to follow up. The good news is that Spencer isn't sure. He thinks that maybe Atlanta is just the meeting place. He thinks we may go someplace else. If Umbrella's agents don't find us here, they have orders to return to Paris. That means we have to be careful during the next few days."
"Whose in charge of that group?" Rebecca asked.
Chris looked at Carlos. "Carlos, remember how you said Nicholai stabbed you and your friends in the back. You'll get to return the favor. He's in charge of finding us."
Carlos had a scowl on the face. "When I see the bastardo, I'm gonna make him suffer."
"That brings us to our mission." Chris said. He began to work on his computer, looking through files he had on his C drive. He had typed out all the documents he found on a writing program his computer had. He found this easier than carrying a bunch of papers around. He also didn't run the risk of loosing any of them. He had, in addition, a couple of floppies that had information too. He found what he was looking for, a list of facilities in the southeast U.S.
"There is an Umbrella factory located in Northwestern Alabama. If we hit this place. Umbrella will hopefully assume that we moved. After that, we move further North, hitting facilities in Tennessee and Kentucky. We'll convince Spencer that we're being mobile. When he takes the bait, we start hitting facilities all over the country. Spencer will then be so confused, he'll start making mistakes. Those mistakes will cost him dearly. If we can push him over the edge, he'll destroy his own company."
"And in the process make a Frankenstein monster. I hope you really thought this thing out. What your suggesting is like throwing gas on a fire." Leon said. He thought the idea of provoking Spencer was stupid. He hoped the others felt the same way.
"I agree." Barry said. "If he's dangerous now, think what he'd be like if he lost his mind. He might push a button and BOOM, he could spread the T-virus all over the world."
"He can't." Chris said. "He doesn't have any way. The only possible way of spreading the virus all over the world would be to either contaminate the world's water supply, which would be impossible, or setting off bombs in the atmosphere and having the jet stream carry the virus. If he could do this, he would only use it as a last resort. He has it set in his mind that he can beat us."
Ark spoke up, throwing his suggestion into the conversation. "I think there may be an easier way." Everyone's attention was on him. "As I said before, I'm a government investigator. After Raccoon was nuked, the NSA, FBI, CIA, and U.S. military wanted to know what virus was so horrible that a whole town had to be hit with a nuclear missile to keep it from spreading. A unit from the Army was sent in, but contact was lost shortly after. From what Jill said, they must have been killed. Reports of monsters made by the S.T.A.R.S. team prompted the soldiers to take that new rail gun with them. They wanted to be prepared for a twelve foot giant with eight foot claws. After the city was destroyed, the government wanted an explanation. Umbrella wasn't cooperating much, so my superiors decided to track down survivors from Raccoon and get the truth from them. We found Leon and Sherry. My friend Carl made a deal with Leon. If he worked with us, his parents and Sherry would be put into protective custody and hidden somewhere, like a military base. Leon declined, but the deal still stands. All I have to do is call Carl and tell him the deal is on. I'm sure any family the rest of you have can be included too. With the government's help, we can have all the guns and supplies we need. We would also have military support on our missions. I say this is the best thing to do."
Everyone began to think. The deal was attractive. What could be wrong with getting help.
"No." All eyes were on Chris, who had a stern look on his face.
"Why?" Ark asked.
"Because they didn't believe us when we tried to warn them in the first place. They said we were lying. They then tried to blame us for the deaths of our teammates. I believe it was called gross misconduct of the investigation. Now that they had to blow up the city, they want to try to make up for that. They want to put the blame on someone else. They didn't help us when WE asked for it, now why should we help them?"
The rest of the former S.T.A.R.S. agreed with Chris. " We didn't get any help from anyone." Jill said. "We're better of on our own. If all of us had survived the last outbreaks either by ourselves or in pairs, then we can handle Umbrella together."
"Yeah." Barry added. "I don't feel like having to cut through red tape just to go to the bathroom. Besides, how do we know that Carl isn't an Umbrella spy."
Ark gave Barry a dirty look. "I know because he's my friend. If he was an Umbrella agent, he would have had me captured while I was in Spain. If you don't like my idea, fine. Just keep your comments to yourself." Ark was furious that Barry could even think that his friend was a spy.
"If you're all done, back to the mission. First, we need someone to stay here and look after the children." Chris looked for volunteers.
"I'll stay behind and watch Rott and the others." Ark said, still angry with Barry.
Chris continued. "Now that we have that taken care of, back to the factory." Chris clicked on an icon and a building schematic came up. "We'll land some distance away from the factory. We'll go by foot from then on. We don't have enough for two teams, so we'll stick together." He pointed to a door on the floor plan. "We'll enter here. It won't be heavily guarded so we shouldn't have a problem getting in." He then pointed to what looked like an elevator. "We'll go in, descend to the basement level, and find the self-destruct trigger. Every Umbrella facility has one in case of an accident. It's a way of insuring that no evidence is left behind. I've had experience on how to operate one, so all I'll need is cover. After I set it off, we'll have less than fifteen minutes to get out before the place blows. Any questions?"
Everyone understood the plan. Barry spoke up. "I have enough guns for everyone, that is if you didn't bring your own."
"I brought mine, but I'll need more than a handgun for this." Leon said.
"You can take mine." Ark said. "I got a .45, a Glock 9mm, and a Cougar magnum. Take what you want. I'm sure Umbrella won't come here, I didn't tell Carl where I was going." He glared at Barry before going to the living room.
"That's all. We leave at ten. Be ready, or I'll leave without you. The copter gases up?"
"It is." Barry replied. "I got it fueled up at a local airfield before I brought it here. If we need more, I know the guy that owns the airfield. We should have no problem with fuel."
"Then I'll be outside checking the helicopter. Better get ready, tomorrow's going to be a very busy day." Chris left the room, heading for the front door. Everyone else began to talk about the mission. Carlos turned to Jill.
"Hey Jilly, I'm going to talk to Chris. From what you told me about him, he's not acting like that at all."
"I don't know." Jill said "The only other time I saw him like that was when he quit. Chief Irons had really pissed Chris off. He looked like he was going to kill the greasy fool. Instead, Chris slammed down his badge, told him to fuck off, and left."
"I'll see what's eating him Jill, I just hope I don't upset him anymore than he already is."
"Yeah, well, I plan on talking to him tonight." Jill said. "Maybe if he doesn't talk to you, he'll talk to me."
Carlos nodded and went out to see Chris.
Chris was looking at the helicopter. He didn't want to inspect it. He needed some time to think. He had a lot on his mind. From what he heard and saw, things had changed too much. Everyone had changed but him. He was the same old Redfield who had joined the S.T.A.R.S. two years ago. The incident in the kitchen had proven that. How could Jill really love someone like him. Carlos seemed more open, livelier. She deserved someone like him, not some cold, uncaring person who had left his friends behind. And Claire, she didn't deserve a brother who didn't let her know where he was. A brother that didn't even bother to call her to tell her what had happened. She didn't need a brother who couldn't relate to what she had gone through. They were all better off without him. After this mission, he would leave them and do this by himself. It would be better that way.
"Chris, I have to talk to you."
He turned to see Carlos come towards him. "What do you want?"
"I just wanted to talk about what happened earlier. Everybody's worried. They say your not acting like yourself. From what Jill said, she's never seen you like this except one time. She's scared man. I'm sort of worried myself."
"Then she also told you I'm sort of anti-social, so excuse me if I don't seam to care about how you feel. I don't make friends easily. You want to get on my side, prove yourself."
"Then what do I have to do?"
"Take care of her. Don't let anything happen to her and always be there for her. That's what you have to do." Chris headed back for the house leaving Carlos confused by the conversation.
"Her? Who do you mean her? Claire or Rebecca?" Carlos trudged after Chris. Jill was right, she may be the only one Chris will talk to. "You better Jilly, because he DOESN'T like me."
Author's Comments: You can't help but see the irony in Chris and Carlos' conversation. You also can't help but see the irony during the briefing. That "he didn't help me so why should I help him" mentality held by the S.T.A.R.S. members may of made their situation more difficult. Don't worry, they may come around later. Also, what Chris is planning to do is going to really make some people mad. He may hurt the team more than help them. It's interesting how such small problems can quickly balloon into huge ones. Oh well, maybe Jill can talk some sense into him. (Not bloody likely.)
In the next chapter, it's time to get
ready for the first mission. The time for talk is over. Now we get down to...
Oh yeah. We still have the night to get by. The truth is finally revealed as a
midnight incident sparks a tearful twilight conversation. Also, find out if Ark
gets the couch again as sleeping arrangements get made in the next installment
of RE Armageddon: Part 2, Chapter 4- Hidden Feelings.