Disclaimer: as always, this has to be in place... I do not own Resident Evil or any material related to it, i only wish i did...
note: this is the first (and hopefully last) revision, which should be a lot easier to read, and has some added/modified content, as well as some corrected grammer and spelling
A/N: well, i'm aware the concept is rather... cliche or whatever, but i remember seeing a RE fic with the same concept but thought it was not well written, and for some reason i couldn't help but want to write a (hopefully) better take on the concept.
If i write any chapters after this, it is unlikely they will be as long, i wrote this chapter longer than i otherwise would have to get past the initial part of the story, which even i think is not that great
also, i will only write more if some of you actually like the story and want me to, i will gladly accept flames on any parts of it that you, the readers, didn't like, since it will be helpfull to know where my writing needs help, especially since personally i don't think i'm that great when it comes to writing... but maybe i'm too critical, i'll leave that to the reviewers
Lastly, at this point i do not intend to put any pairings or romance into the fic, unless it is requested by the reviewers
Anyways, enough of my ranting, i'll get to the story now... really.
***New Jersey, USA***
The sun stood high overhead as a black haired man strolled along, he was dressed plainly in jeans, sneakers, and a white T shirt, he was wearing shades and had a guitar case in his right hand, the only thing that could be seen as unusual about him was his hands, both were bandaged from the wrist up, with only the tips of his fingers showing
He glanced at his watch and increased his pace, turning into an alleyway and slinging the guitar case over one shoulder, began to climb up the fire escape on the side of an apartment building
His name for the time being was Rand Foster, and he had spent painstaking weeks tracking down certain persons, and he had finally found one of them, so it was time to get to work
Arriving at the top of the building he glanced over the side, towards the entrance to a store, and opened the guitar case, taking out variouse weapon parts and putting them together to form a rifle, he locked a scope into place on the top and layed down on the edge of the roof, waiting...
A man walked out of the store with a bag in hand, wearing an "I love New York" T-shirt, sneakers and plain gray sweat pants, his hair was dark brown and brushed back
The man pulled a pair of shades from his back pocket and put them on, and although he took care to move his head as little as possible, it was obviouse he was searching the surrounding buildings for any would-be snipers, but Rand had chosen his spot carefully, he sun stood at his back, hiding his position from the view of the man below, the man known as Chris Redfield
He wiped sweat from his brow and aimed carefully as the man started walking away from the store, flipping up the cover on his scope and making the final adjustments to his aim a mere second before firing, the gun kicking against his shoulder, through his scope he saw a puff of red mist as the bullet grazed Chris's left arm
He was already away from the edge of the building and heading towards the fire escape as bullets were fired at his previouse position, and he could hear screaming down on the street as he descended
***ten minutes later***
Rand had followed Chris back to where he was staying, looking for blood whenever he lost sight of him, and now was using binoculars and a shotgun microphone to spy on the room Chris was in
He nodded to himself smiling, he had counted on this, Chris was not alone, he had the medic with him, what was her name? yes... Rebecca Chambers, and she was tending to the wound Rand had given Chris
Rand sighed, he had hoped there would be more of them, since just tracking down Chris had been very difficult, now he would have to track down the others and guide them together... what a pain, he wondered why he wasn't allowed to just kill them as he found them, but he never questioned his orders, despite the fact it would be much harder to kill them all as a group
Something caught his attention and brought him up from his thoughts, a third voice rang out in his headset, he lifted his binoculars back up and smiled, ahh yes... so there were three of them... it was a mans voice, he couldn't see who it was though
He pulled a cellphone out of his back pocket and quickly dialed a number
"Hello? this is alpha one-two-seven reporting, i followed subject two, he has subject one with him as well as another who i cannot identify, though it is likely either subject four or five. whats the call?" he said
There was a pause before an answer came
"Affirmative alpha one-two-seven, freedom of action granted" said a woman on the other end
Rand nodded and smiled, that was what he was hoping to hear...
He ended the call and tucked his phone away, and sat contemplating what approach to take, his favored method was to befriend or at least become a contact of his targets, though he was unsure why... maybe to delay the inevitable? no... he was a professional, it was his job, why should he want to delay it? he just enjoyed the lack of effort to keep tabs when you were friends... yes... that had to be it
***the next day***
They had acted sooner than Rand anticipated, or more likely, had started their plans before he shot Chris...
They were booked for France, and Rand was at a loss, since the flight was full, and the next flight would give them a few hours on him, so he did what he had to do...
He straightened the stewards jacket and glanced in the mirror of the bathroom, satisfied he had made his face look close enough to that of the steward to pass
He turned and made sure to lock the stall he had stowed the steward in, the man would not awaken for many hours to come, and hopefully nobody would find him for a while...
It was sloppy but he didn't have time, he sighed and walked out of the staff bathroom, quickly boarding the plane, making sure to practice his voice on the way so as to feign a sore throat, since he had been unsuccessfull in imitating the mans voice
***Paris, France, the following day***
Rand had been forced to evade police after the flight arrived, and had almost lost track of Chris and the others, but during the flight he had served them drinks and it turned out that the second man was Barry Burton
Luckily he had also managed to stick a small transmitter on Chris however which, although not very accurate due to its very compact size, had helped him to find them again, so now he stood in his hotel room, only three doors down from Chris and the others
It was time for an identity change... but what should his name be?
He stood in front of the bathroom mirror, and added some gray to his hair then combing it back, applying some fake wrinkles, and sticking a short mustache on and saying
"I am Father Gerrard Foster, a traveling priest from... the UK" he frowned a bit, wondering why he chose the last name Foster so often, but shrugged, it didn't matter...
And so, Gerrard dug through his bags, putting on a pair of black slacks, casual dress shoes, a black shirt and a dark brown leather jacket, he then slipped a white priests colar on and looked in the mirror, then nodded and put on a brown hat that matched his jacket
He frowned, looking at his bandaged hands, and unraveled the bandages on his right hand before putting on a pair of thin leather gloves
As an afterthought, he draped a simple wooden rosery around his neck
***later, towards sunset***
Rebecca was the one who left the room first, she wore a pair of black cargo pants, a suede leather jacket, and a pair of shoes that almost looked like combat boots, her hair was a shade of dark brown very much like Chris's, and was cut short
He would have said her blue eyes were pretty if they weren't so bloodshot from lack of sleep, not to mention a pair of dark rings under them, and he caught himself feeling a little guilty since it was likely his attack that had them all on edge right now, but he shook his head to clear it and set his mind to the task at hand
He shadowed her untill she went into a drug store
Gerrard opened a paper he had stowed under his arm and feigned reading it untill she exited, so he decided to make his move and walked right into her from the side, pretending to have been reading his paper
She fell with a yelp, dropping her bag
Painkillers, bandages and other medical supplies scattered onto the sidewalk
He feigned surprise and started to say he was sorry in halting french, making sure to use a couple incorrect words, and pulled off his right glove, extending the hand down to help her up
she took his hand and said "i speak english"
Gerrard scratched the back of his head after pulling her up, and put on a dopey smile
"ahh... i am so sorry miss, i was reading my paper and i guess i stopped paying attention to where i was going... please allow me" he said
He helped her gather the scattered medical supplies, after which he straightened and, tipping his hat said
"again, so sorry miss"
she shrugged and said "its alright"
He scratched the back of his head again and said "ah, pardon... but you wouldn't happen to be a local? i seem to be lost..."
She shook her head and said "no... and i don't really know my way around, what is it your looking for?"
He shrugged and said "i suppose the nearest hotel would do"
She frowned and gave him a suspiciouse look, but then said "theres one just this way" and started walking
So he followed her, and he caught himself thinking she was cute and about his age besides that, he shook his head, he had no room for such thoughts... and besides, he was an old priest from the UK right now
They arrived shortly back at the hotel, and he tipped his hat saying "ahh, thank you very much miss...?"
She seemed even more suspiciouse now and answered "ilene"
he supressed the urge to laugh, but it was understandable that she would be cautiouse
He just nodded and said "well then, thank you miss ilene, i am Father Gerrard Foster, hopefully if i bump into you again it will be in the metaphorical sense hmm?" he laughed then, and she joined in but with a laugh he could tell was at least partly forced before heading to the elevator
***later that evening***
He climbed back in through the window of his room, then walked over to the table where he had a small radio and headset, he put the headset over his ears and turned the radio on
Voices sprang up onto the headset from the bug he had placed on the window of the room Chris and the others were in
"...ould go somewhere nice, its been forever since we ate a good meal" Rebecca said
he heard a sigh before Chris said "fine... what did you have in mind?"
"well, according to this brochure, Pierre's is a good, affordable, four star restaurant not far from here, we will need a reservation though" she said
"fine, what is the number?" Chris said, and she read it off to him
Gerrard wrote down the number as well, and took note of the name Chris used for the reservation, Underhill, and called in to make a reservation of his own
***the following evening***
Gerrard had dropped by earlier in the day and made certain "special" arrangements at the restaurant, and now entered it just behind Chris and the rest
Chris had seemed rather agitated about the suit he was wearing, which was a simple black and white one Rebecca had chosen for him
Gerrard couldn't blame him though, they were both men of action and such clothing didn't suit them, Gerrard adjusted his own suit, which was almost identical to the one Chris had, and sighed
Rebecca wore a full length black dress, nothing too showy, but she looked out of place in it for some reason...
Barry was the only one who didn't seem out of place, he looked good in his suit, which was the same as Chris's except for the fitting
He waited to approach untill after they discovered their reservation was not on the list, then stepped closer but waited patiently behind them
They turned to leave and Gerrard blinked, acting surprised, when he saw Rebecca
"miss... ilene was it?" he said
She was surprised but it quickly turned to suspicion
"ilene? right... who is this?" Chris asked
"he's the guy who ran into me yesterday, Gerrard i think" she replied
Gerrard tipped his hat "Father Gerrard Foster, pleased to meet you sirs, but please just call me Gerrard or Jerry, i couldn't help but notice you are having trouble with reservations... perhaps i could be of assistance?"
He approached the waiter and said "Foster, party of four"
The waiter looked at his list and frowned "it says you only have reservation for a party of one"
He smiled and slipped a fifty to the waiter, the waiter took the fifty saying "ahh, my mistake... i hope you don't mind waiting a moment sir"
Gerrard turned back to them and said "it gets a bit lonely traveling about as i do, and i wouldn't mind some company... you don't mind sharing a table with an old man do you?" he let out a small laugh
They all seemed suspiciouse of him now, but Chris nodded his head towards Barry and said "well, we were already going to, so why not make it two old men?" he grinned
Barry frowned and said "i'm still young enough"
The waiter returned and led them to a table, the restaurant was well furnished with dark wood that appeared to be oak, with plush red carpet underfoot, and the variouse plants around seemed very real, and even may have been
They remained fairly quiet, still untrusting of Gerrard, who waited untill after they all ordered before saying "so what brings you all to france anyways?"
Chris shrugged and said "well, it is a nice place to vacation to, and you?"
Gerrard nodded, smiling "ahh, well, i had always wanted to travel around, see the world and all, before i got too old, but being a preacher does not afford that kind of budget, my father died recently however and left me a rather large inheritence, so i traveled to germany first, then i came here to france"
The evening went on smoothly, Gerrard saying a lengthy grace for the meal when it arrived
Gerrard did most of the talking, speaking of his "hometown" in the UK, and some of the supposed events of his time spent in germany, untill finally it was time to leave
Gerrard picked up the bill, refusing in a stern tone when Chris offered to pay their part of it
***later, back at the hotel***
"well then, it was nice to have some company after so long" Gerrard said as they stepped off of the elevator to their floor "sleep well, and may the lord look over you in your travels" he added before walking over to his own room
He was just opening his door when he heard glass smash and yelling from their room, he cursed, who would dare to try interfering on his job?
He ran to their room and stepping in, he was shocked by the scene
There were three things he had never seen before, they had scales like reptiles but stood as tall as a man, they had huge claws and rows of teeth that looked razor sharp
Apparently these things had burst in through the windows, glass scattered across the floor
Chris was running towards an open suitcase where a pistol sat on top of clothing, Rebecca had dived behind a chair to avoid one of the things, and Barry was just kicking one off that had lept onto him
The third saw Gerrard, and ran towards him
Gerrard gasped and moved a hand like lightning to where he normally would have a pistol under one arm, but then remembered he didn't have it with him right now
He threw up his left arm as it bore down on him and gritted his teeth as its claws raked across the back of his arm, its second claw came up with amazing speed and he barely twisted aside, getting cut deeply in his right side
Survival came over his cover... so he did what he had to, he kicked the thing hard in the chest, sending it back, and twisting his arms just so, a pair of .38's sprang into his hands
He fired off several shots into its head, which seemed, strangely, to be attached directly to its torso
It fell backwards, and its body writhed violently for a few moments before being still
Chris had gotten ahold of his pistol and was shooting the one Barry had kicked off
Gerrard started cursing and fired at the one after Rebecca just as it tore apart the chair she was behind, he'd be damned if some creature out of a novel killed one of his targets
Unfortunetly, his .38's had very little clip capacity, and his bullets failed to take it down as he emptied the .38's into its side, instead enraging it
It turned on him and charged, it took a bullet in its already riddled side from Chris's 9mm but kept coming
Gerrard retracted his .38's, and caught it as it bore down on him, rolling with the force and kicking it so it flew into a door behind him, almost breaking it open
He sprang back to his feet and ran into the room as the thing got back up and charged back in after him, but it was stopped as Chris let loose several more bullets into it
Before the thing even stopped writhing on the floor, Chris and the others were already packing up
Gerrard, having run out of curses in english, said some curses in french and ran to his room, switching the torn jacket of his suit for the dark brown leather one and grabbing a spraycan of ammonia from his suitcase before heading out
Chris and the others came out as well and Chris spotted him, frowning, but then took off for the stairs
Gerrard quickly set about spraying any blood he had shed on the floor with the ammonia before following them
He caught up with them easily, and could hear sirens in the distance
He ran ahead of them and said "quickly, follow me! i have a car nearby"
He knew they had a car as well, but being on the run as they were, it was obviouse using their own car could prove fatal since they had clearly been found by Umbrella
Although they were obviously still distrusting of him, they didn't have many options, and followed him to his car
They quickly piled in and took off, Gerrard pulling into an alley just as the police came along, one side of the car scraping against the wall of the alley as he did so
After the police passed he pulled back out and began driving towards another hotel he knew
He winced, feeling the pain in his arm and side even more now as the adrenaline started wearing off, he could also feel blood soaking into his pants now
***shortly afterwards***
He pulled up to the hotel and said "well then, its up to you if you want to go somewhere else or stay here" before stepping out of the car and heading in
The pain in his side throbbed every step he took, and he knew he had to stop the bleeding soon or else he would bleed to death
As he entered the lobby, he held his suitcase in front of him to hide the blood soaked into his pants, and as he approached the front desk to get a room he noticed Chris and the others had followed him, he hadn't expected that
He was feeling a little light headed now...
They exchanged no words, but as he stepped off the elevator he teetered and would have fallen if Barry hadn't caught him
He was feeling a little numb and had not noticed that the blood had aleady soaked into his pants badly enough that he felt some soaking into his right sock, blood was dripping steadily from his left hand as well
Barry had to almost carry him to his room, and the last thing he remembered before passing out was seeing Rebecca unpacking her medical supplies
***the following evening***
He was walking down a tiled hallway, straight ahead he could see a pair of swinging double doors, he knew this place...
This was the infirmery, this was where she worked...
He pushed through the doors and kept walking, were the halls really this long? why was there so little light? he thought he remembered more lights here...
Suddenly he found himself in front of a door
It had a name on it, Chelsey Foster, he opened the door and remembered, yes... she was the doctor who always took care of him when he got hurt during training...
She had been a good friend of his father, almost like a mother to him...
Why was he here though? he was not hurt...
He saw her sitting behind her desk, she was a plump woman with a round face, her cheeks were always a slight rosey hew, and she always had a smile for him...
He felt a weight in his hand...
He looked at it, it was a gun, why did he have a gun?
Seemingly against his will he raised the gun to point at her, she kept smiling though as if nothing were wrong, and he fired, just like that
Everything seemed to slow down as a rose of blood bloomed from her breast, the gun fell from his hand and he ran to her, why was everything so blurry now? was he crying?
He dropped to his knees beside her, she was still smiling...
She patted him on the cheek and gripped his left hand, her hand was wet with her own blood, and as she gasped her last breath he looked at his left hand, covered in her blood
He cried out and ran from the room, everything blurred and when he next was able to focus, he was in his room, scrubbing his hands clean in the sink, why did he kill her?
He had ordered to, thats why...
Suddenly he realized he had stopped crying, he felt numb, he wanted to cry more, wanted to keep feeling something, but he couldn't
He sat on his bed staring at the wall, he wanted to feel something... anything...
He kept scratching at his left hand, it still felt so dirty... tainted...
Without thinking he piled a bunch of papers into a small wastebin and dropped a match in
Yes... fire... fire destroys everything, it could destroy that taint...
He held his left hand over the flames, and for a few moments he felt nothing, then pain flooded up from his hand, and he started laughing, he didn't stop laughing despite the torrent of pain, and left his hand in the flames
He felt strangely comforted by feeling anything at all, even if it was pain...
After several moments he realized his laughing had turned into cries of pain
His eyes snapped open and he gasped for air, blinking away the tears that had welled up under his eyelids, he could still feel a burning pain in his left hand...
When he tried to lift his hand to look at it he realized his hands and legs were bound together
He looked around, and found he was laying on a bed in one of the plain rooms of the hotel, his wounds were bandaged, and Chris was sitting in a chair in the corner, watching him
He tested his bonds before struggling to sit up on the edge of his bed
Chris stood up "its about time you woke up, you thrashed about for what must have been an hour" he said
He shuddered, he hated that memory... but whenever he tried to forget it, as that idiot umbrella shrink had told him to, it came back to him in his dreams
Chris walked out of the room and returned shortly with the others, they sat across from him on the other bed
"well, we know you aren't a priest..." Chris said, with Barry holding up one of the spring loaded forearm braces with a .38 on it
"and you also have about a million passports with differant names on them, not to mention surveylance equipment and weapons... so, what is your real name then for starters?"
"if you mean my birth name, that is something i no longer possess, my name is alpha one-two-seven, but i suppose you can call me Alphy" he said, wincing at a memory, that was what chelsey had called him...
"alpha one-two-seven...? what kind of name is that?" Rebecca asked
"its simple, i was trained in group alpha, and i was trainee number one hundred and twenty seven." Alphy replied
"so you are a soldier? who do you work for?" Chris asked
Alphy laughed "i'm not some mere soldier first off, and secondly you shouldn't need to ask who i work for, who do you know who has a lot of money, resources, and a desire to do away with you?"
Chris frowned "so you work for Umbrella."
Alphy nodded "if you don't mind however, i have a question of my own... exactly what the hell were those... things... that attacked you?"
"they are called Hunters, and they are genetically mutated creatures developed by Umbrella" Chris replied
Rebecca nodded and said "and why did you help us anyways if you are supposed to try to... do away with us?"
Alphy frowned "...i don't know, i wasn't really thinking... what else does Umbrella do?"
"you don't know?" asked Chris
Alphy shook his head "no... they don't tell me anything i don't need to know, and apparently they didn't seem to think i needed to know they would be sending some monsters... hunters you said?... to do my work for me"
Alphy felt anger well up in him, they had betrayed him... he had almost died because they had neglected to tell him, and they had tried to do his job for him with those things... why bother spending as much resources as they did training assassins if they just send things that should not exist to do the work instead?
he heard their voices asking more questions but he didn't pay attention, a thought suddenly occured to him...
Had his father been working to make things like that? was he killed because of those damn creatures? he had to find out...
Damn his orders, he wouldn't lay a finger on any of these STARS members untill he found out the truth
Chris was snapping his fingers in Alphy's face
Alphy blinked and said "i want to help you"
"what? your kidding right? and besides, why should we trust you?" Chris said, taken aback
"first i want to know everything you have learned about what Umbrella does, in exchange of which i will provide you with the location of one of their facilities, as well as the goal of that facility" he said
Chris agreed and he sat quietly listening to their tales of horror, of all the creatures Umbrella had created
He found it almost impossible to believe, but after his encounter with those hunters, he was willing to believe just about anything they could dish out
then, it was his turn "i knew Umbrella was a shady corporation, but this..."
He shook his head "you see, myself and many others were mostly orphans, or children who were... volunteered... by their parents to certain training courses, Umbrella took only the fittest and put us through many terrible trials, most of us either died or were otherwise so badly incapacitated as to be unable to continue training, my group was the first, only five of us... graduated... out of one hundred and fifty to become the weapons of Umbrella if you will, our only purpose was to destroy their enemies, i do not know why i was chosen out of us, the other four are better than i am... although in training i rated just as well if not better, but i don't seem to do as well outside of training... anyways, at present group beta is in training, there are even more of them than our group, three hundred perhaps, so it might be in your best interest to stop this facility"
And just like that, he had given away another of Umbrellas secrets, he took a deep breath after saying so much at once
"i see... we'll have to think on this then, Alphy" said Chris after a moment
he nodded "of course... and by the way, thank you for tending my wounds miss chambers"
Rebecca nodded and said "don't mention it... it was the least i could do after the help you gave, and besides that, you could hardly answer any questions if i did not"
Alphy layed down after they left, he didn't mind that they had left him bound, after all he had even admitted he had been sent to kill them, likely they would wonder whether the facility he told them of was a trap... there was nothing he could do about that though
He sighed, suddenly feeling very tired, and drifted off to sleep
A/N: well, thats it for the first chapter... make sure to review if you think it was any good and want more chapters, or to flame it if you think it was lame, otherwise if you think i wrote it well but don't like the concept then i am open to suggestions, though if you read right to the end you must have: 1: thought it was good 2: hoped it would get better or 3: been really, really bored!
also, as i mentioned at the beginning if you bothered to read it, if you would like more chapters and would like to see any pairings and romance and whatnot then make sure to say so in your review, otherwise i do not intend to put any of that in
note: this is the first (and hopefully last) revision, which should be a lot easier to read, and has some added/modified content, as well as some corrected grammer and spelling
A/N: well, i'm aware the concept is rather... cliche or whatever, but i remember seeing a RE fic with the same concept but thought it was not well written, and for some reason i couldn't help but want to write a (hopefully) better take on the concept.
If i write any chapters after this, it is unlikely they will be as long, i wrote this chapter longer than i otherwise would have to get past the initial part of the story, which even i think is not that great
also, i will only write more if some of you actually like the story and want me to, i will gladly accept flames on any parts of it that you, the readers, didn't like, since it will be helpfull to know where my writing needs help, especially since personally i don't think i'm that great when it comes to writing... but maybe i'm too critical, i'll leave that to the reviewers
Lastly, at this point i do not intend to put any pairings or romance into the fic, unless it is requested by the reviewers
Anyways, enough of my ranting, i'll get to the story now... really.
***New Jersey, USA***
The sun stood high overhead as a black haired man strolled along, he was dressed plainly in jeans, sneakers, and a white T shirt, he was wearing shades and had a guitar case in his right hand, the only thing that could be seen as unusual about him was his hands, both were bandaged from the wrist up, with only the tips of his fingers showing
He glanced at his watch and increased his pace, turning into an alleyway and slinging the guitar case over one shoulder, began to climb up the fire escape on the side of an apartment building
His name for the time being was Rand Foster, and he had spent painstaking weeks tracking down certain persons, and he had finally found one of them, so it was time to get to work
Arriving at the top of the building he glanced over the side, towards the entrance to a store, and opened the guitar case, taking out variouse weapon parts and putting them together to form a rifle, he locked a scope into place on the top and layed down on the edge of the roof, waiting...
A man walked out of the store with a bag in hand, wearing an "I love New York" T-shirt, sneakers and plain gray sweat pants, his hair was dark brown and brushed back
The man pulled a pair of shades from his back pocket and put them on, and although he took care to move his head as little as possible, it was obviouse he was searching the surrounding buildings for any would-be snipers, but Rand had chosen his spot carefully, he sun stood at his back, hiding his position from the view of the man below, the man known as Chris Redfield
He wiped sweat from his brow and aimed carefully as the man started walking away from the store, flipping up the cover on his scope and making the final adjustments to his aim a mere second before firing, the gun kicking against his shoulder, through his scope he saw a puff of red mist as the bullet grazed Chris's left arm
He was already away from the edge of the building and heading towards the fire escape as bullets were fired at his previouse position, and he could hear screaming down on the street as he descended
***ten minutes later***
Rand had followed Chris back to where he was staying, looking for blood whenever he lost sight of him, and now was using binoculars and a shotgun microphone to spy on the room Chris was in
He nodded to himself smiling, he had counted on this, Chris was not alone, he had the medic with him, what was her name? yes... Rebecca Chambers, and she was tending to the wound Rand had given Chris
Rand sighed, he had hoped there would be more of them, since just tracking down Chris had been very difficult, now he would have to track down the others and guide them together... what a pain, he wondered why he wasn't allowed to just kill them as he found them, but he never questioned his orders, despite the fact it would be much harder to kill them all as a group
Something caught his attention and brought him up from his thoughts, a third voice rang out in his headset, he lifted his binoculars back up and smiled, ahh yes... so there were three of them... it was a mans voice, he couldn't see who it was though
He pulled a cellphone out of his back pocket and quickly dialed a number
"Hello? this is alpha one-two-seven reporting, i followed subject two, he has subject one with him as well as another who i cannot identify, though it is likely either subject four or five. whats the call?" he said
There was a pause before an answer came
"Affirmative alpha one-two-seven, freedom of action granted" said a woman on the other end
Rand nodded and smiled, that was what he was hoping to hear...
He ended the call and tucked his phone away, and sat contemplating what approach to take, his favored method was to befriend or at least become a contact of his targets, though he was unsure why... maybe to delay the inevitable? no... he was a professional, it was his job, why should he want to delay it? he just enjoyed the lack of effort to keep tabs when you were friends... yes... that had to be it
***the next day***
They had acted sooner than Rand anticipated, or more likely, had started their plans before he shot Chris...
They were booked for France, and Rand was at a loss, since the flight was full, and the next flight would give them a few hours on him, so he did what he had to do...
He straightened the stewards jacket and glanced in the mirror of the bathroom, satisfied he had made his face look close enough to that of the steward to pass
He turned and made sure to lock the stall he had stowed the steward in, the man would not awaken for many hours to come, and hopefully nobody would find him for a while...
It was sloppy but he didn't have time, he sighed and walked out of the staff bathroom, quickly boarding the plane, making sure to practice his voice on the way so as to feign a sore throat, since he had been unsuccessfull in imitating the mans voice
***Paris, France, the following day***
Rand had been forced to evade police after the flight arrived, and had almost lost track of Chris and the others, but during the flight he had served them drinks and it turned out that the second man was Barry Burton
Luckily he had also managed to stick a small transmitter on Chris however which, although not very accurate due to its very compact size, had helped him to find them again, so now he stood in his hotel room, only three doors down from Chris and the others
It was time for an identity change... but what should his name be?
He stood in front of the bathroom mirror, and added some gray to his hair then combing it back, applying some fake wrinkles, and sticking a short mustache on and saying
"I am Father Gerrard Foster, a traveling priest from... the UK" he frowned a bit, wondering why he chose the last name Foster so often, but shrugged, it didn't matter...
And so, Gerrard dug through his bags, putting on a pair of black slacks, casual dress shoes, a black shirt and a dark brown leather jacket, he then slipped a white priests colar on and looked in the mirror, then nodded and put on a brown hat that matched his jacket
He frowned, looking at his bandaged hands, and unraveled the bandages on his right hand before putting on a pair of thin leather gloves
As an afterthought, he draped a simple wooden rosery around his neck
***later, towards sunset***
Rebecca was the one who left the room first, she wore a pair of black cargo pants, a suede leather jacket, and a pair of shoes that almost looked like combat boots, her hair was a shade of dark brown very much like Chris's, and was cut short
He would have said her blue eyes were pretty if they weren't so bloodshot from lack of sleep, not to mention a pair of dark rings under them, and he caught himself feeling a little guilty since it was likely his attack that had them all on edge right now, but he shook his head to clear it and set his mind to the task at hand
He shadowed her untill she went into a drug store
Gerrard opened a paper he had stowed under his arm and feigned reading it untill she exited, so he decided to make his move and walked right into her from the side, pretending to have been reading his paper
She fell with a yelp, dropping her bag
Painkillers, bandages and other medical supplies scattered onto the sidewalk
He feigned surprise and started to say he was sorry in halting french, making sure to use a couple incorrect words, and pulled off his right glove, extending the hand down to help her up
she took his hand and said "i speak english"
Gerrard scratched the back of his head after pulling her up, and put on a dopey smile
"ahh... i am so sorry miss, i was reading my paper and i guess i stopped paying attention to where i was going... please allow me" he said
He helped her gather the scattered medical supplies, after which he straightened and, tipping his hat said
"again, so sorry miss"
she shrugged and said "its alright"
He scratched the back of his head again and said "ah, pardon... but you wouldn't happen to be a local? i seem to be lost..."
She shook her head and said "no... and i don't really know my way around, what is it your looking for?"
He shrugged and said "i suppose the nearest hotel would do"
She frowned and gave him a suspiciouse look, but then said "theres one just this way" and started walking
So he followed her, and he caught himself thinking she was cute and about his age besides that, he shook his head, he had no room for such thoughts... and besides, he was an old priest from the UK right now
They arrived shortly back at the hotel, and he tipped his hat saying "ahh, thank you very much miss...?"
She seemed even more suspiciouse now and answered "ilene"
he supressed the urge to laugh, but it was understandable that she would be cautiouse
He just nodded and said "well then, thank you miss ilene, i am Father Gerrard Foster, hopefully if i bump into you again it will be in the metaphorical sense hmm?" he laughed then, and she joined in but with a laugh he could tell was at least partly forced before heading to the elevator
***later that evening***
He climbed back in through the window of his room, then walked over to the table where he had a small radio and headset, he put the headset over his ears and turned the radio on
Voices sprang up onto the headset from the bug he had placed on the window of the room Chris and the others were in
"...ould go somewhere nice, its been forever since we ate a good meal" Rebecca said
he heard a sigh before Chris said "fine... what did you have in mind?"
"well, according to this brochure, Pierre's is a good, affordable, four star restaurant not far from here, we will need a reservation though" she said
"fine, what is the number?" Chris said, and she read it off to him
Gerrard wrote down the number as well, and took note of the name Chris used for the reservation, Underhill, and called in to make a reservation of his own
***the following evening***
Gerrard had dropped by earlier in the day and made certain "special" arrangements at the restaurant, and now entered it just behind Chris and the rest
Chris had seemed rather agitated about the suit he was wearing, which was a simple black and white one Rebecca had chosen for him
Gerrard couldn't blame him though, they were both men of action and such clothing didn't suit them, Gerrard adjusted his own suit, which was almost identical to the one Chris had, and sighed
Rebecca wore a full length black dress, nothing too showy, but she looked out of place in it for some reason...
Barry was the only one who didn't seem out of place, he looked good in his suit, which was the same as Chris's except for the fitting
He waited to approach untill after they discovered their reservation was not on the list, then stepped closer but waited patiently behind them
They turned to leave and Gerrard blinked, acting surprised, when he saw Rebecca
"miss... ilene was it?" he said
She was surprised but it quickly turned to suspicion
"ilene? right... who is this?" Chris asked
"he's the guy who ran into me yesterday, Gerrard i think" she replied
Gerrard tipped his hat "Father Gerrard Foster, pleased to meet you sirs, but please just call me Gerrard or Jerry, i couldn't help but notice you are having trouble with reservations... perhaps i could be of assistance?"
He approached the waiter and said "Foster, party of four"
The waiter looked at his list and frowned "it says you only have reservation for a party of one"
He smiled and slipped a fifty to the waiter, the waiter took the fifty saying "ahh, my mistake... i hope you don't mind waiting a moment sir"
Gerrard turned back to them and said "it gets a bit lonely traveling about as i do, and i wouldn't mind some company... you don't mind sharing a table with an old man do you?" he let out a small laugh
They all seemed suspiciouse of him now, but Chris nodded his head towards Barry and said "well, we were already going to, so why not make it two old men?" he grinned
Barry frowned and said "i'm still young enough"
The waiter returned and led them to a table, the restaurant was well furnished with dark wood that appeared to be oak, with plush red carpet underfoot, and the variouse plants around seemed very real, and even may have been
They remained fairly quiet, still untrusting of Gerrard, who waited untill after they all ordered before saying "so what brings you all to france anyways?"
Chris shrugged and said "well, it is a nice place to vacation to, and you?"
Gerrard nodded, smiling "ahh, well, i had always wanted to travel around, see the world and all, before i got too old, but being a preacher does not afford that kind of budget, my father died recently however and left me a rather large inheritence, so i traveled to germany first, then i came here to france"
The evening went on smoothly, Gerrard saying a lengthy grace for the meal when it arrived
Gerrard did most of the talking, speaking of his "hometown" in the UK, and some of the supposed events of his time spent in germany, untill finally it was time to leave
Gerrard picked up the bill, refusing in a stern tone when Chris offered to pay their part of it
***later, back at the hotel***
"well then, it was nice to have some company after so long" Gerrard said as they stepped off of the elevator to their floor "sleep well, and may the lord look over you in your travels" he added before walking over to his own room
He was just opening his door when he heard glass smash and yelling from their room, he cursed, who would dare to try interfering on his job?
He ran to their room and stepping in, he was shocked by the scene
There were three things he had never seen before, they had scales like reptiles but stood as tall as a man, they had huge claws and rows of teeth that looked razor sharp
Apparently these things had burst in through the windows, glass scattered across the floor
Chris was running towards an open suitcase where a pistol sat on top of clothing, Rebecca had dived behind a chair to avoid one of the things, and Barry was just kicking one off that had lept onto him
The third saw Gerrard, and ran towards him
Gerrard gasped and moved a hand like lightning to where he normally would have a pistol under one arm, but then remembered he didn't have it with him right now
He threw up his left arm as it bore down on him and gritted his teeth as its claws raked across the back of his arm, its second claw came up with amazing speed and he barely twisted aside, getting cut deeply in his right side
Survival came over his cover... so he did what he had to, he kicked the thing hard in the chest, sending it back, and twisting his arms just so, a pair of .38's sprang into his hands
He fired off several shots into its head, which seemed, strangely, to be attached directly to its torso
It fell backwards, and its body writhed violently for a few moments before being still
Chris had gotten ahold of his pistol and was shooting the one Barry had kicked off
Gerrard started cursing and fired at the one after Rebecca just as it tore apart the chair she was behind, he'd be damned if some creature out of a novel killed one of his targets
Unfortunetly, his .38's had very little clip capacity, and his bullets failed to take it down as he emptied the .38's into its side, instead enraging it
It turned on him and charged, it took a bullet in its already riddled side from Chris's 9mm but kept coming
Gerrard retracted his .38's, and caught it as it bore down on him, rolling with the force and kicking it so it flew into a door behind him, almost breaking it open
He sprang back to his feet and ran into the room as the thing got back up and charged back in after him, but it was stopped as Chris let loose several more bullets into it
Before the thing even stopped writhing on the floor, Chris and the others were already packing up
Gerrard, having run out of curses in english, said some curses in french and ran to his room, switching the torn jacket of his suit for the dark brown leather one and grabbing a spraycan of ammonia from his suitcase before heading out
Chris and the others came out as well and Chris spotted him, frowning, but then took off for the stairs
Gerrard quickly set about spraying any blood he had shed on the floor with the ammonia before following them
He caught up with them easily, and could hear sirens in the distance
He ran ahead of them and said "quickly, follow me! i have a car nearby"
He knew they had a car as well, but being on the run as they were, it was obviouse using their own car could prove fatal since they had clearly been found by Umbrella
Although they were obviously still distrusting of him, they didn't have many options, and followed him to his car
They quickly piled in and took off, Gerrard pulling into an alley just as the police came along, one side of the car scraping against the wall of the alley as he did so
After the police passed he pulled back out and began driving towards another hotel he knew
He winced, feeling the pain in his arm and side even more now as the adrenaline started wearing off, he could also feel blood soaking into his pants now
***shortly afterwards***
He pulled up to the hotel and said "well then, its up to you if you want to go somewhere else or stay here" before stepping out of the car and heading in
The pain in his side throbbed every step he took, and he knew he had to stop the bleeding soon or else he would bleed to death
As he entered the lobby, he held his suitcase in front of him to hide the blood soaked into his pants, and as he approached the front desk to get a room he noticed Chris and the others had followed him, he hadn't expected that
He was feeling a little light headed now...
They exchanged no words, but as he stepped off the elevator he teetered and would have fallen if Barry hadn't caught him
He was feeling a little numb and had not noticed that the blood had aleady soaked into his pants badly enough that he felt some soaking into his right sock, blood was dripping steadily from his left hand as well
Barry had to almost carry him to his room, and the last thing he remembered before passing out was seeing Rebecca unpacking her medical supplies
***the following evening***
He was walking down a tiled hallway, straight ahead he could see a pair of swinging double doors, he knew this place...
This was the infirmery, this was where she worked...
He pushed through the doors and kept walking, were the halls really this long? why was there so little light? he thought he remembered more lights here...
Suddenly he found himself in front of a door
It had a name on it, Chelsey Foster, he opened the door and remembered, yes... she was the doctor who always took care of him when he got hurt during training...
She had been a good friend of his father, almost like a mother to him...
Why was he here though? he was not hurt...
He saw her sitting behind her desk, she was a plump woman with a round face, her cheeks were always a slight rosey hew, and she always had a smile for him...
He felt a weight in his hand...
He looked at it, it was a gun, why did he have a gun?
Seemingly against his will he raised the gun to point at her, she kept smiling though as if nothing were wrong, and he fired, just like that
Everything seemed to slow down as a rose of blood bloomed from her breast, the gun fell from his hand and he ran to her, why was everything so blurry now? was he crying?
He dropped to his knees beside her, she was still smiling...
She patted him on the cheek and gripped his left hand, her hand was wet with her own blood, and as she gasped her last breath he looked at his left hand, covered in her blood
He cried out and ran from the room, everything blurred and when he next was able to focus, he was in his room, scrubbing his hands clean in the sink, why did he kill her?
He had ordered to, thats why...
Suddenly he realized he had stopped crying, he felt numb, he wanted to cry more, wanted to keep feeling something, but he couldn't
He sat on his bed staring at the wall, he wanted to feel something... anything...
He kept scratching at his left hand, it still felt so dirty... tainted...
Without thinking he piled a bunch of papers into a small wastebin and dropped a match in
Yes... fire... fire destroys everything, it could destroy that taint...
He held his left hand over the flames, and for a few moments he felt nothing, then pain flooded up from his hand, and he started laughing, he didn't stop laughing despite the torrent of pain, and left his hand in the flames
He felt strangely comforted by feeling anything at all, even if it was pain...
After several moments he realized his laughing had turned into cries of pain
His eyes snapped open and he gasped for air, blinking away the tears that had welled up under his eyelids, he could still feel a burning pain in his left hand...
When he tried to lift his hand to look at it he realized his hands and legs were bound together
He looked around, and found he was laying on a bed in one of the plain rooms of the hotel, his wounds were bandaged, and Chris was sitting in a chair in the corner, watching him
He tested his bonds before struggling to sit up on the edge of his bed
Chris stood up "its about time you woke up, you thrashed about for what must have been an hour" he said
He shuddered, he hated that memory... but whenever he tried to forget it, as that idiot umbrella shrink had told him to, it came back to him in his dreams
Chris walked out of the room and returned shortly with the others, they sat across from him on the other bed
"well, we know you aren't a priest..." Chris said, with Barry holding up one of the spring loaded forearm braces with a .38 on it
"and you also have about a million passports with differant names on them, not to mention surveylance equipment and weapons... so, what is your real name then for starters?"
"if you mean my birth name, that is something i no longer possess, my name is alpha one-two-seven, but i suppose you can call me Alphy" he said, wincing at a memory, that was what chelsey had called him...
"alpha one-two-seven...? what kind of name is that?" Rebecca asked
"its simple, i was trained in group alpha, and i was trainee number one hundred and twenty seven." Alphy replied
"so you are a soldier? who do you work for?" Chris asked
Alphy laughed "i'm not some mere soldier first off, and secondly you shouldn't need to ask who i work for, who do you know who has a lot of money, resources, and a desire to do away with you?"
Chris frowned "so you work for Umbrella."
Alphy nodded "if you don't mind however, i have a question of my own... exactly what the hell were those... things... that attacked you?"
"they are called Hunters, and they are genetically mutated creatures developed by Umbrella" Chris replied
Rebecca nodded and said "and why did you help us anyways if you are supposed to try to... do away with us?"
Alphy frowned "...i don't know, i wasn't really thinking... what else does Umbrella do?"
"you don't know?" asked Chris
Alphy shook his head "no... they don't tell me anything i don't need to know, and apparently they didn't seem to think i needed to know they would be sending some monsters... hunters you said?... to do my work for me"
Alphy felt anger well up in him, they had betrayed him... he had almost died because they had neglected to tell him, and they had tried to do his job for him with those things... why bother spending as much resources as they did training assassins if they just send things that should not exist to do the work instead?
he heard their voices asking more questions but he didn't pay attention, a thought suddenly occured to him...
Had his father been working to make things like that? was he killed because of those damn creatures? he had to find out...
Damn his orders, he wouldn't lay a finger on any of these STARS members untill he found out the truth
Chris was snapping his fingers in Alphy's face
Alphy blinked and said "i want to help you"
"what? your kidding right? and besides, why should we trust you?" Chris said, taken aback
"first i want to know everything you have learned about what Umbrella does, in exchange of which i will provide you with the location of one of their facilities, as well as the goal of that facility" he said
Chris agreed and he sat quietly listening to their tales of horror, of all the creatures Umbrella had created
He found it almost impossible to believe, but after his encounter with those hunters, he was willing to believe just about anything they could dish out
then, it was his turn "i knew Umbrella was a shady corporation, but this..."
He shook his head "you see, myself and many others were mostly orphans, or children who were... volunteered... by their parents to certain training courses, Umbrella took only the fittest and put us through many terrible trials, most of us either died or were otherwise so badly incapacitated as to be unable to continue training, my group was the first, only five of us... graduated... out of one hundred and fifty to become the weapons of Umbrella if you will, our only purpose was to destroy their enemies, i do not know why i was chosen out of us, the other four are better than i am... although in training i rated just as well if not better, but i don't seem to do as well outside of training... anyways, at present group beta is in training, there are even more of them than our group, three hundred perhaps, so it might be in your best interest to stop this facility"
And just like that, he had given away another of Umbrellas secrets, he took a deep breath after saying so much at once
"i see... we'll have to think on this then, Alphy" said Chris after a moment
he nodded "of course... and by the way, thank you for tending my wounds miss chambers"
Rebecca nodded and said "don't mention it... it was the least i could do after the help you gave, and besides that, you could hardly answer any questions if i did not"
Alphy layed down after they left, he didn't mind that they had left him bound, after all he had even admitted he had been sent to kill them, likely they would wonder whether the facility he told them of was a trap... there was nothing he could do about that though
He sighed, suddenly feeling very tired, and drifted off to sleep
A/N: well, thats it for the first chapter... make sure to review if you think it was any good and want more chapters, or to flame it if you think it was lame, otherwise if you think i wrote it well but don't like the concept then i am open to suggestions, though if you read right to the end you must have: 1: thought it was good 2: hoped it would get better or 3: been really, really bored!
also, as i mentioned at the beginning if you bothered to read it, if you would like more chapters and would like to see any pairings and romance and whatnot then make sure to say so in your review, otherwise i do not intend to put any of that in