To continue the fight
By Bloodlover
Here it is chapter 2! Sorry it took a while, but I have been busy with school. I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: Resident Evil and it´s characters belong to Capcom. I´m not making any money from the story. Emily Johnson, Donnie Martin and Richard Colt are characters made up by myself, inspired by the game. Dont steal them.
Chapter 2
February 10 1999 Umbrella HQ in Paris, France
Jill slowly opened her eyes. Her head was ringing, it ached and she could feel bile rise from her stomach. She moaned and shook her head.
"Good morning Sleeping beauty. Slept well?"
She startled at the voice. It was Wesker, the man who had captured her, the man she thought was dead. She had never seen his dead body but Chris had told her about the traitor´s death, about how he was skewered by the Tyrant… How come he is alive then?! No one should have survived that.. She straighted up. That was when she discovered she was tied up, her hands were at the sides of the chair she sat in. Her feet were tied too, so she could not have kicked him if he came close enough. Wesker was always so careful.
So I´m totally at his mercy. This is not good, definately not good.
"Wesker! How did you survive the explosion at the mansion?! Not to mention the fact that you were skewered."
He smiled down at her. But there was nothing warm in that smile, just a cool smile like a predator when it has the prey cornered. Jill held back a shiver.
"Someone saved me Jill, that´s all you need to know. What I want to know now is where Chris is."
"I have no idea."
"You lie Jill, I found this with you." He held up the knife right in front of her face. It took all her willpower not to shiver. She was suddenly reminded by a film she had saw, involving a tied up cop that got his ear cut off…
"I found that in his hideout but he was long gone. If I knew where he is don´t you think I would have been with him?"
Wesker sighed and shook his head. "You disappoint me Jill. I thought you were smarter than that. He could have sent you, but then again… By this time he should know that something had happened to you. If that is the case we just have to wait for him, right?"
When he didn´t get an answer he sighed again and continued. "But assume that you are telling the truth… I guess you wouldn´t have told me anyway."
She swallowed hard. Wesker knew her answer already so it was no use lying.
"I wouldn´t."
Someone sighed behind her. "You´re right Wesker she isn´t very smart."
It was Nicholai and now he walked to stand beside Wesker, his arms crossed. "Don´t think we don´t have the guts to kill you. So far you haven´t been so much use to us."
Wesker nodded. "You´re right Nicholai. Still I want to give her one last chance. For the last time, Jill where is Chris?"
"I told you before, I don´t know anything about his whereabouts."
Wesker bent over so his face was only a centimetre from hers. "I´m beginning to get tired of this game!" He went behind her and now she saw what he had taken. It was a syringe with some sort of liquid inside. If Jill had been scared before she was terrified now. She thought that she heard Nicholai shout something when Wesker took her arm and plunged the syringe in it, but that was lost in her own scream…
February 10 1999 Four Star Hotel London, England
BBRRINGG!!!
Chris sighed. He had just showered so Claire had to take it. She had her mobile on all the time, just in case Leon needed to contact them. That was probably Leon now, Chris couldn´t think of so many people who had their number. He reached for his clothes and got dressed. Now he was fully prepared and ready to take on what was next. He went into the kitchen and started to make a late breakfast, or rather brunch for himself and Claire. He was just about to call her when he overheard the last part of the phone conversiation.
"Okay, right… No it´s not a problem at all don´t worry. Bye!"
Huh? That was a very short conversation! Maybe something happened.
He went into Claire´s room and found her sitting on her bed, lost in thought.
"Who was it? Was it Leon?" he asked concerned. It was defitantly bad news from the look on her face. Not to mention the very short conversion…
"Oh yes… It was Leon. He asked us to take a mission to steal the coordinates to the main lab of Umbrella. The REAL Umbrella HQ Chris!"
That was really good news! Too good in fact, there´s gotta be a catch…
"And…?" he prodded Claire.
She swallowed hard. "The coordinates is in the Paris lab."
Chris understood her dilemma. It was at the Paris lab that Claire had been caught and sent to Rockfort Island. A place where she would probably had died a horrible death, if, ironically, Wesker hadn´t attacked the island and she got free. It had been the beginning of a nightmare that hadn´t really ended yet. He had saved her, true, but the nightmares were still there. Steve hadn´t made it out alive either…
"Chris, I won´t lie to you and say that it won´t bother me, or that I won´t be afraid. I promised myself that I would never go back there. But Leon really thinks that we can get a good shot at Umbrella now. I can´t turn away from this one."
He still wasn´t satisfied. "And how do we know that the coordinates are really to their HQ? In fact how did Leon got ahold of this information?"
"He has contacts. One of their sources sent him this message. It was STAR."
Chris relaxed a bit. STAR was one of Leon´s contacts, who had also helped them.
"I guess STAR is the one whom will also fix guns and supplies right?" When she nodded he continued. "How will we get to Paris? Will Leon or STAR get us there?"
"Leon and I determined a rendevouz where the helicopter will wait for us. It will fly us into Paris and set down near the Umbrella HQ. After that it flies away. After we complete our mission we´ll contact Leon again and he will get us out of there."
"And where will we meet the helicopter? This afternoon?"
She nodded. "We hadn´t decided anything special for today right? But first you have to meet STAR and get weapons…"
Chris felt now very proud of his sister. She had known excatly which questions to ask. Yep she is turning into a real pro. Even if the thought was proud it didn´t bring him any joy.
"I guess STAR is waiting for me then. The usual place? Claire nodded and he went to fetch his jacket. "I"ll be back soon Claire. Can you prepare the dinner please? We´ll eat early."
"Chris. He didn´t answer my questions about Sherry. And he sounded so strange…"
Chris frowned. Even if he didn´t know Leon, he sounded like a good guy and he had helped Chris rescue Claire. This didn´t sound good…
Try to calm her down. She need to focus on the mission.
He gave her a quick hug and then looked her in the eyes. "Claire, I´m sure they are fine. Maybe he just wasn´t so talkative. Maybe he was worrying about tonight, and so need you. Just trust him Claire. He helped both you and Sherry out of Raccoon and helped me find you."
Claire smiled back at him. "Okay Chris, you´re right."
Chris winked at her and closed the door behind him, then he was gone. Claire sighed and stared down at her hands. They were trembling but she made them stop. She wouldn´t be afraid. She would never let herself get captured again, she wouldn´t worry especially not when her brother was with her.
February 10 1999 Goverment Secret Operations Base somewhere in the U.S.A
Leon Scott Kennedy let out a deep sigh and leaned back in his chair. Another day was soon over, another day working for these strange guys. He was only 21 but he sure was experienced as his superior in Raccoon had been.
On the other hand he didn´t had to go thorugh this. That´s because he´s dead.
He didn´t have a mirror for the moment but had a good guess of how he looked. Ruffled brown hair and blue eyes tired of trying to answer questions to which there were no answers. Tired of only waiting.
Tired of worrying about Sherry, the girl whom Claire had entrusted him to take care of. He hadn´t seen her for a while. He was afraid that the guys running the Agency might turn her into a soldier, which was enough to make him want to vomit. Death and blood was terrible enough to him and he was a grown up. Children should never, EVER, be allowed to particate in the horrors he had seen.
On the other hand… The guy I spoke to, my boss, didn´t seem like the type that would do such a thing. He seemed more interested in me.
He could hope. Still since Sherry was his responsibility he should be allowed to see her more regulary. He wanted to tell Claire that Sherry was fine and be honest. Claire deserved that.
Another question that bothered him was if he were doing the right thing. The guys at the Agency wasn´t that talkative and they surely had their own motives. Still thanks to them he could do something in the struggle against Umbrella, he would have been a fool if he had turned down the offer.
And the doctors are good here, and you get free care…
He absently rubbed the spot where he had been shot months ago. That brought back memories of Ada Wong. How he got wounded trying to save her life… How she had died saving his in return… He didn´t want to remember but the memories came back. Painfully.
He had screwed up. He had lost his gun and now Mr X was on him. Maybe if he could feint the monster…
BANG!BANG!
It was Ada! She was shooting at the monster with just a Browning, and despite being wounded. The monster turned towards her with slow, terrible steps like the killers in the movies. But this was a real killer…
Ada!
He wanted her to run but she continued to shoot at the monster, even when it lifted her by the throat when she had to stop to reload, she continued to shoot, to fight. The damage she´d done to the creature must have taken effect, because it threw her at a mechanical thing, it looked like a board of some kind, but it didn´t matter. Ada mattered to Leon.
Mr X fell into the lava pit, clutching his face.
He ran to Ada´s side.
She had been run through by the metal. She was mortally injured. She wanted him to leave but he wouldn´t. Finally she said that she loved him and he took her into his arms and kissed her. Kissed her with all the passion and love he had for her, wishing that she didn´t had to die. But she did and he had screamed her name, his heart broken…
But when he had to power up the train that would take them to safety, someone had thrown a rocket launcher to him. It was a rocket that finally killed Mr X, all his other weapons had been useless. In short the woman had saved his life.
She sounded like Ada and looked like Ada too…
But why had she ran away? Why hadn´t she tried to contact him?
And the biggest question of all, how could she survive such terrible injuries?
Suddenly another thought hit him. Hadn´t that crazy scientist woman, the one who shot him, raved about something called "the Agency"? She claimed that it was the Agency that had sent Ada. Could his employer and Ada´s be the same?
He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. Only questions no answers! It seems like it´s my life nowadays…
He turned to his computer again, reading a report from a friend of his, Ark. He was going out soon to do a task…
Sherry sat in the window as usual. It wasn´t much to do in this place. She missed Claire, she missed Leon. When they had gotten out of the city she had imagined that they would be free, out in the open… Not confined in a dark, dreary place like this.
Claire… She will come back for me. She promised.
She drew up her legs and hugged them. She felt so small, she hated it! She wanted to go to Leon and go away from this place, go away to find Claire…
The door to her room opened and a woman stepped in. Sherry recognized her somewhat. They had met in Raccoon City. She had had other clothes back then, black tights and pink cut-off dress, but it was the same face, just other clothes.
The woman closed the door behind her and smiled. "Hello Sherry. Remember me? I took care of something for you when we met last time. Now that I found you I´ll return it to you."
She reached into a pocket in her jacket and took out a pendant.
Even though she knew she couldn´t trust anyone on this place but Leon, she felt relaxed being with this woman. And she had really missed her pendant. The reason to it was because inside it was a picture of her parents… She opened it and saw the picture of her and her family. Even though her parents didn´t spent so much time with her, she knew that they had loved her. Claire had told her about her mother´s death, that her last thoughts had been with her… It was also her mother that had told Claire how to make her better again, she had been so sick.. Sherry had cried and Claire had hugged her and comforted her. Leon had done the same too.
Slowly tears began to roll down her cheeks. The woman reached out to brush her hair in comfort.
She isn´t comforting as Claire or Leon. But she does a good try. She doesn´t even know me after all…
When Sherry felt better and smiled back, the woman cleared her throat.
"Feel better? Good. I just wondered what you would like to eat? What is your favourite food?"
Sherry answered without hesitation. "Pancakes. With ice cream, please." Her mother had told her to always say "please" when she wanted something. The woman seemed to like it.
"Pancakes it´ll be then. I will be back soon."
She turned and started to walk towards the door. Sherry thought this would be a good time to ask a question she had wanted to ask for a long time now. And this woman seemed to be a nice person, despite her somewhat cold appearance.
"Umm.. Can I ask a question?"
The woman turned around to face her. "Yes?"
"Do you know when I may get out of here? Not that I have anything against you, but I would like to have some more fresh air. And where is Leon? Will I see him again some time soon?"
When she had mentioned Leon´s name, the woman got a strange expression on her face. She seemed to hesitate before she answered.
"Soon, soon Sherry…"
With that she walked out and locked the door behind her.
February 10 1999 Road to military base for U.B.C.S, U.S.A
Carlos leaned back in his seat. Nothing was as relaxing as a smoth drive on a deserted road in the middle of nowhere. To his left sat Barry Burton, a former member of S.T.A.R.S. He had been in the same team as Jill Valentine, the woman Carlos had escaped Raccoon City with, as a weapons specialist. Carlos had learned a lot from him the short time they had travelled together. He surely had a lot of knowledge.
I shouldn´t be surprised. If he was in the same team as Jill I don´t expect anything lesser. Jill… I wonder what she is doing now? Why did she had to go searching for this Chris guy by herself? And why didn´t I or Barry go with her?
Or maybe he was jealous? Why else would he trouble himself with questions like these. Jill could take care of herself, she was a proffesional. Was it that she searched for someone named "Chris Redfield" that made him jealous? It was true that he liked to flirt with women and was considered a ladies man, but he had felt very attracted to her when they had fought to stay alive in the doomed city. But on the other hand she hadn´t showed any interest in him. If she had felt anything, she hid it very well. Besides, they hadn´t spent that much time together.
To clear his head he turned to Barry.
"Barry? I just wondered… What do you know about Jill?"
"Do you mean her background and such? Why are you asking me this now?"
"To kill some time. We don´t have anything to read and even if we had, I feel sick when I read while travelling."
Barry chuckled. "You´re right. Okay then… Jill was in the Delta Force and when she began in S.T.A.R.S she got high honours from her former superior. She is also decent with chemistry and how to make bullets from simpler kinds of gunpowder. She plays the piano good too, but when she was in the Alpha team she was officially the machine expert."
Carlos lifted a brow. "So she is sort of Jack-of-all-trades huh?"
Barry laughed. "You could say that! She always cares about her friends and fights only for what she believes in."
Carlos hesitated before ansking the next question. This was a rather sensitive one. "Barry.. Does she have a…does she have a boyfriend?"
Barry didn´t answer right away. "Well… Not an official one. But it looked to me like she and Chris, that´s Chris Redfield the man she is looking for, had something going on. She even had a picture of him on her desk. Now that I think about it… Maybe it was wrong of me to say they weren´t officially together…"
"But why…?"
"Well in the beginning they were dating, hugged all the time, giving each other looks. But after awhile something happened to Chris. He was always on his own, never confiding in anyone. Jill must have been pretty hurt. He also got into a lot of fights. After that he blew out of town after telling us to come after him. I sent my family away and left town too. I talked to Jill before leaving, and she sounded okay. But she looked like her heart had been broken. I decided that I would try to keep in touch, and when the communications with Raccoon were lost I flew a helicopter into town, sending messages over the radio on all channels. That´s when I got in contact with you in that factory. The rest from there you know."
Carlos had kept silent all the time. He seemed to be lost in thought. Barry scowled a little.
"What´s wrong?"
No answer. Barry then put the pieces together.
"Carlos. Are you in love with Jill?"
Carlos didn´t know what to answer. Was he? Or was it just concern for a friend in a crisis situation? Barry deserved an answer though… But what should he tell him?
"Carlos look! Is that the base you were talking about?"
Saved! Thank God! But sooner or later I have to answer that question, at least for myself.
"Sí. That´s the place. That´s were the rest of the U.B.C.S will be. From what I heard it´ll be ten totally that want to join our cause. I wish it had been more but it´s all we got."
Barry smiled a little and didn´t repeat his question. Probably because of the more important matters that were ahead of them. Probably.
They drove up to the base´s main gate, which opened before them. Carlos caught a familiar face in the control room. At least he thought it was familiar.
Isn´t that Colt up there? I think so and he probably recognized me.
BOOOM!
The gate closed behind them as Colt, if it was him, went down to greet them. Two other people were already on their way, walking towards them. Three totally. What had happened to the rest? Only three people that wanted to fight with them. That dishearted Carlos deeply.
Have so many died? Or have they turned to Umbrella? Our team has a high mortality so probably a lot of people are really dead. And let´s not forget that it might be more traitors. Like that creep Nicholai….
Barry hit the brakes and they stopped. They opened the doors and went to greet their comrades. Carlos knew all of them, at least a little.
The first was Emily Johnson and she was the one that Carlos knew best. They had dated a short time when they first had come to the U.B.C.S. She was a good friend, though she had a sharp tongue. She had been his commander in the first team and was famous for shooting down people verbally who didn´t took her seriously. A real pro.
The second was Donnie Martin, a sniper that he only knew by reputation. He had bragged that he´d never missed a shot in his carrier. More than that Carlos didn´t know.
And now Richard Colt came. It was really he who had opened the gate for them. Carlos had met him a couple of times, so they knew each other´s faces at least. But Richard was always very reserved. Some thought he was creepy and all kind of rumours floated around him. Since most members of the U.B.C.S had shady backgrounds, some rumours were really frightening. But Carlos didn´t know how much of truth there was in those rumours. In any case they didn´t had the luxory to start an investigation on Richard Colt. Besides Carlos felt like they could trust the man. They had to.
Emily gave him a rough, but friendly hug. "So Oliviera you´re still alive? That´s good news."
Barry extended his hand. "Barry Burton formerly of S.T.A.R.S."
"Emily Johnson, formerly captain of U.B.C.S."
"Donnie Martin, no longer with the U.B.C.S. but still the greatest sniper!"
"Richard Colt, formerly with U.B.C.S. Glad to be at your service."
After they had all introduced themselves, Carlos carefully asked the question he had wanted to ask after seeing how few they were.
"What happened to the rest Emily? Not to sound ungrateful or not liking your company, but I thought it would be ten to join up…"
Emily grimaced. "We got ambushed by Umbrella thugs on our way. It was one of the new guys that betrayed us. Two were killed before we even knew what had happened. I almost died too, but Richard saved me. It was also he who killed the traitor and got us out of the trap.
Richard shrugged. "I couldn´t let the creeps kill us."
Emily continued. "What you see is what you get. The rest were killed. The others have either disappeared or turned to Umbrella´s forces. Maybe if we´re lucky we´ll come across more, but for the moment, this is all we got."
Richard looked more grim. "U.B.C.S, the death squad."
An uncomfortable silence fell over them. Donnie was the first to speak.
"Maybe we should get in to the base´s briefing room, to let you fill us in… I have something interesting to tell you too…"
The group went into the base. It was sturdy and good, but Carlos thought it felt creepy. Yet it would be their home, at least for a while. Emily opened the doors and took the position as the briefing´s leader, and the rest sat down.
"Okay Oliviera, and Burton. Could you tell us everything. Burton could start. What happened at that old Spencer mansion?"
Barry took a deep breath and started the story with how they were sent out to rescue the Bravo team. How they were attacked by dog monsters and Joseph´s death. How he was blackmailed into helping Wesker, the man who had let his own team be killed and had tried to kill them all. He had wanted to leave that part out, he still felt shame, but decided it was best to play with open cards, to avoid trouble in the future. They had to trust each other completely. He then continued with the story.
The Bravo team had all been killed except for a young rookie, Rebecca Chambers, who was saved by Chris Redfield. He finished the story with how they had escaped the hellhole, thanks to Brad Vickers, their now dead pilot.
"Well the man made up for his mistakes…" muttered Richard.
"Unforunaly nobody believed us. The higher-ups in Raccoon City had been bought by Umbrella. All of us headed to Europé, except for Jill Valentine who stayed, that was how she met Carlos, and Rebecca Chambers who disappeared a couple of weeks after that…"
They all fell silent wondering what had happened to Rebecca. Emily broke the silence.
"I guess Carlos should continue now."
"Okay, I was sent to Raccoon City together with many other U.B.C.S. But we were totally wiped out by zombies and other monsters. Nicholai was on Umbrella´s side too. He was a traitor. I saw myself how he killed Tyrell, he shot him… I don´t know for sure but I think he also wounded Mikhail, but I could be wrong. It wouldn´t surprise me though…" Carlos blew out a breath to collect himself. "Mikhail was killed by the Nemesis, a monster sent out to kill every last S.T.A.R.S. member still in the city. It infected Jill with the T-Virus but I managed to find a cure."
That seemed to impress the others but Carlos knew that he couldn´t stop. They had to act as soon as possible. "Regarding Nicholai again…He was to collect data from the victims and give it to Umbrella. He tried to kill both me and Jill Valentine, a woman I met in the city she was with S.T.A.R.S, and he escaped. Barry came to our rescue when he heard our hails by the radio."
Donnie whizzled surprised. "Geez.. You had a hell of luck then."
"Yes. You were lucky that I sent messages right then. I picked you up the right time."
"So guys what do we do now? We kick Umbrella´s butt for sure!" Colt stood cooly in the corner like some James Bond-type agent. Proffesional from head to toe. Bet he was born to be with U.B.C.S… thought Carlos.
"Hey guys! I have something to tell you too!"
All of them looked at Donnie. He flushed a bit but continued.
"Before I hooked up with Emily and her crew, some mystic guy contacted me. He said that the Paris lab contained the coordinates to the real Umbrella HQ! I think this would be a real shot for us!"
He´s right, but it sounds too good to be true. Donnie´s just like I was once. Before Raccoon…
"Donnie, how do you know that this guy can be trusted? It could have been a spy. Moreover how do you know that the guy wasn´t the one who ordered the attack?"
Donnie seemed to sharank a bit. "I can´t guarantie that. But if he was a spy he could have nailed me right there. It was two weeks after that that I met up with Emily. He could have killed me anytime."
Barry opened his mouth to protest and so did Emily, but Donnie continued. "I know what you guys are going to tell me. That he could have said that to set us up. But if he was the one who ordered the attack, why take the risk to kill me? Why BOTHER to try to kill us if we were going to be killed at their head quarters?!"
Nobody could argue with that. Donnie was right. Richard Colt, who had kept silent up until now opened his mouth.
"I don´t like gambles. I don´t like to act from tips from people I can´t trust. But on the other hand Donnie´s got a point. You have to take chances sometimes."
Emily nodded and so did the others. "You´re right, we have no choice…"
February 10 1999 Umbrella Head Quarters in Paris France
Nicholai glanced nervously at Wesker. The man was crazy, one of the most uncomfortable persons he had ever known and Nicholai had known many. Some of them had died in Raccoon City. Wesker himself looked down at the pale woman lying on the bench before them. He didn´t have any love for Jill Valentine, but to inject live T-Virus in her had NOT been in their plan. They were going to use her as bait for Chris Redfield, and he sure seemed like a bright guy. He would never fell for the "dead hostage" trick. Not to mention what vengeance he would dish out…
I´ll only use the syringe to scare her. I won´t inject it. And I will only use it if all else fails.
That was what Wesker had said. But he had done it nevertheless. After that Jill had shaken and lost conscienceness. She got high fever, but still she was okay. They had taken a blood sample and discovered why she was immune to it. She had anti-bodies, she had gotten infected but got a vaccine.
I think I have a good idea where…
The question now was what they were going to do with her. At least for Wesker, he couldn´t make up his mind whetever he was going to use her as guinea pig or stick to the old plan of using her as bait for Chris. Nicholai had tlaked him into using her as bait for Redfield. They would hit two birds with one stone.
"Well sooner or later she will die in any case." laughed Wesker.
Nicholai shivered.
TO BE CONTINUED!!!!
Like I said sorry it took so long and sorry I didn´t show so much of Jill in this chapter, but I wanted to use the others too… And BTW I mentioned Ark here but since I haven´t played Survivor I don´t know so much of him, and therefore I can´t write so much of him, so I stick to what I know.
Hope you liked the story and as always feel free to comment on it, or how I can write better.