Chapter 8: A Death Unfit for a Soldier
"Lord Spencer, not to undermined your abilities, but why did you send our best team to complete a mission that is already done?" a shadowed body asked from the end of the table.
"Board of directors, it is true that Operation: Sherlock was completed by one of our other teams. And I did send our best team in to do a mission that was already complete, but for good reason. I wanted to make sure that when our Project: Solo started to work that the team wasn't around this Umbrella Facility," Lord Spencer said as he rolled a pen in his hands obviously not realizing the importance of the matter.
"Yes regarding Project: Solo, are you sure that Pierre will be able to continue his outstanding work as a solo instead of in a team?" another shadowed man asked as Lord Spencer began to walk towards the door.
"You know, just as well as I do that all of our top solo agents have had to have the tragic lose of their team. It makes sure that they remember what they were trained for. Pierre will come back from this "mission" 100% better. I give you my word," Lord Spencer said as he stepped out of the menacing room.
Pierre's knees buckled as he landed on the roof. He then heard two silent thumps behind him signaling that his team was ready to go. The city was blanketed in the deep blue of night except for the various streetlights that still illuminated small patches of the night. Umbrella had spared no expense, the entire building was made of a strong glass that enabled his team to look below their feet and see the small offices below them.
"Where are we going, Marius?" Pierre asked as he looked back at the darkness to find Marius's intimidating frame.
Marius pulled out a small penlight and examined the map that had been given to them by Lord Spencer. The map was small, but detailed. It included all of the Umbrella facility along with their underground research facilities.
"We're going to go about 6 meters to the left of where we are, go down the stairs to the lobby of the facility, and then all we should have to do is put in the pass code in beside the statue of the bird. That should lead us the underground facility and the self destruct system, according to this map," Marius said as he traced the path with his fingers along the map.
Pierre walked blindly into the dark as he counted off six meters in his head. The glass gave off a metallic click as their boots scoffed against it. As Marius had said, they soon reached a door that lead to a series of stairs. The staircase was brightly lit and gave off an iridescent glow to the starch white stairs. How people could work in that kind of condition was beyond Pierre, but then again the only people who worked here were paid actors for Umbrella. All of the revolutionary activities went on deep under the city.
As the three of them reached the end of the stairs after what seemed like forever Pierre looked back at Marius to make sure that they had stopped at the right place. Marius quickly gave a short nod as he readied his Beretta for anything that moved. Pierre quickly shoved his shoulder into the locked door sending it spiraling off its hinges. As Pierre struggled to regain his footing after hitting the door he heard the sound of three bullets being shot in quick succession.
"Way to go killer," Marius said attempting to stifle a laugh as he looked down at the dead mouse lying on the floor.
"I should have let it eat your ass," Madison said holstering her Beretta as Pierre regained his footing.
The huge lobby of the Umbrella facility was tastefully decorated in beige with various pictures lining the walls. The receptionist desk was covered in blood from the carcass that rested on it as the soft drip of blood echoed in the room. The huge front glass windows had been shattered and a few bodies were scattered along the streets just outside broken window.
Just to the left of the receptionist desk was a six-foot statue of a dove suspended in flight. Pierre quickly stepped up to it and ran his black- gloved hand along the inside of one of the bird's huge wings. A small panel slid open at the base of the statue and presented a numerical keypad. A small door to the right of the statue slid to the left revealing a small doorway as Pierre punched in the correct sequence of numbers.
The hallway was dimly lit and extremely damp causing their boots to emit a soft squishing sound. The hallway reminded Pierre of a cave, until the hallway abruptly gave way to white tile in the place of wet rock. White doors began to dot the walls as they continued to make their way to the door that led below the city. The hallway seemed to be descending quite rapidly Pierre thought as they finally reached the end of the hallway to a steel black door.
"Where are all the BOWs?" Marius asked from directly behind Pierre.
"I'm not too eager to see them, so if they want to go their way and we go ours I don't have any problem with that," Pierre said as he attempted to pick the door's lock.
The door's lock gave a soft click as Pierre finally picked the lock on the door. The door lead to a descending set of rock stairs. They had passed the labs on their way to the steel door; so most of the danger should be behind them, Pierre silently thought to himself as he jogged down the stairs with his magnum not wavering in the least.
"The target point of the self destruct system should be approximately seven meters ahead of you," Marius said as he checked the map once more.
Pierre guided himself through the darkness at Marius's words alone. The huge room that the stairs had led them too was pitch black and a faint hum could be heard. As Pierre continued his slow paced walk to activate the self-destruct system he could make out a flashing red button.
"What the hell is that?" Madison whispered from the back of the group.
"Marius, give me your pen light," Pierre commanded in barely a whisper.
Before Pierre could read the inscription under the flashing red light a feminine voice came over the speaker.
"You now have T minus 15 minutes to reach minimum safe distance"
"Who the fuck activated it!" Madison shouted in anger.
"I don't know, but we better haul ass out of here," Pierre said as he started his ascent back up the stairs.
As Pierre sprinted back up the stairs and through the white tile hallway he noticed the various dead BOW bodies scattered inside the glass windows of the observatory rooms. Someone had been there before them, and whoever it was had been highly trained Pierre noticed from the well-placed bullets in the bodies.
As Pierre sprinted into the lobby he noticed that he only heard himself running, his teammates weren't behind him. He quickly whipped around only to find Madison collapsed on the floor and Marius kneeling over her. Pierre wasted no time and doubled his speed to his fallen teammate.
Madison's shoulder length hair was spread out around her face giving her the look of an angel. Her bright eyes searched his face as she gasped for each breath. Pierre just then realized how beautiful she was. He frantically searched her for any wound that might have been inflicted on her by some unseen foe. No mark could be found and she wasn't bleeding at all. Whatever was killing her was doing it from the inside.
"You now have T minus 10 minutes to reach minimum safe distance"
"Pierre leave me!" she shouted through ragged breaths as she pushed Pierre away from her.
Pierre knew she would be dead soon, but he wouldn't admit it to himself. She couldn't die now that he had finally lightened up, not now that he had just started to accept her as a teammate. He shut his eyes tight and told her the only thing he could think of to say.
"I'd go to war with you any day," Pierre said as he grabbed Marius by the shoulder and left his dieing friend behind.
Pierre ran over the door that he had broken down seemingly forever ago, back when he had his full team with him. He unconsciously shook his head trying to forget the thoughts as he climbed the starch white stairs. Marius was right behind him matching him step for step as they made it through the door that led to the roof.
The cool air filled Pierre's lungs as he heard the steady hum of the Night Hawk helicopter filling the night air. He had never been happier to hear that sound in his life. His mind searched for the answer to the question that kept running through his head. "Why had they been sent to fulfill a mission that was already seemingly done?"
"Pier-" A voice that Pierre barely noticed as Marius's gasped from somewhere behind him.
Pierre ripped his gaze away from the helicopter and turned just in time to see Marius holding out his hand as he fell to his knees and then to the glass roof. Marius's gloved hand was covered in blood that was slowly dripping from his right ear. Pierre ran to his friend that was now laying face down.
Not now, not both of them, not without reason, Pierre's thoughts raced through his mind as he fell onto the glass roof beside his fallen friend. He shifted Marius's weight to the other side; which gave Pierre a good look at Marius's face as he removed the menacing helmet. Blood began to course down Marius's uncovered face from his nose as the helicopter began to land.
"How do I look?" Marius said through gasping breaths.
"Don't worry, you're going to be fine Marius. We are going to get you back to Umbrella, and they are going to fix you right up," Pierre said knowing that it wouldn't be that way.
"Pierre, cut the shit. I know I'm dead already. It's funny, you imagine this big honorable death by some unbeatable monster, but in the end its just some damn virus," Marius gasped through short fits of coughs.
"A death is only as honorable as the person it happens to," Pierre said as he closed his friend's blank eyes.
Pierre grabbed the dog tags that hung around Marius's neck before he reluctantly stepped into the helicopter. His whole team had died on a simple easy mission. That was no way for a soldier to die. Pierre could barely keep his temper in check as the helicopter sat down and a soldier in combat fatigues stepped up to him.
"Lord Spencer requires your presence," the soldier said but made no attempt to lead Pierre there.
Pierre's blood was still boiling as he knocked on Lord Spencer's office door. Unlike the other times, this time when Pierre gave three quick taps on the door, the fatherly Lord Spencer did not greet him. This time a more business like Lord Spencer met him at the door, and did not offer him to sit.
"Pierre, I'm quite disappointed with you," Lord Spencer spat at Pierre a cold chill running up his spine at the tone he used.
"Sir, me nor my team had anything to do with the death of my teammates," Pierre said unwilling to bend to this man after what had just happened to him.
"You let your whole team die on a simple mission. You didn't even let them have solder's death. Because of your unawareness of your own team, two of my finest solders are dead. And to top it all off you degraded their bodies by becoming attached to them. I would usually kill a solder for lesser charges than that, but I'm going to cut you a break this time," Lord Spencer spat as he turned his chair to face his window which dismissed him from the office.
As Pierre left the office he silently promised himself that he would never get attached to another teammate, and that he would do whatever it took to regain Lord Spencer's trust. He would never be so weak as to get attached to a teammate again.
"He acts just like his uncle with that back talked," a man said as he stepped out of the shadows of Lord Spencer's office.
"I think he is better than his uncle. Albert Wesker didn't have near that talent that this boy does. Nor did he react as well to the slaying of his own team," Lord Spencer said without looking at the man.
"How do you kill of their teammates at the right time?" the man said.
"An overdose of the virus, it slowly breaks the brain cells down before severing the brain steam killing the patient. It takes exactly 5 hours to kill the patient without any warning," Lord Spencer said as he gazed out the window at the brilliant red sun that was rising.
"Lord Spencer, not to undermined your abilities, but why did you send our best team to complete a mission that is already done?" a shadowed body asked from the end of the table.
"Board of directors, it is true that Operation: Sherlock was completed by one of our other teams. And I did send our best team in to do a mission that was already complete, but for good reason. I wanted to make sure that when our Project: Solo started to work that the team wasn't around this Umbrella Facility," Lord Spencer said as he rolled a pen in his hands obviously not realizing the importance of the matter.
"Yes regarding Project: Solo, are you sure that Pierre will be able to continue his outstanding work as a solo instead of in a team?" another shadowed man asked as Lord Spencer began to walk towards the door.
"You know, just as well as I do that all of our top solo agents have had to have the tragic lose of their team. It makes sure that they remember what they were trained for. Pierre will come back from this "mission" 100% better. I give you my word," Lord Spencer said as he stepped out of the menacing room.
Pierre's knees buckled as he landed on the roof. He then heard two silent thumps behind him signaling that his team was ready to go. The city was blanketed in the deep blue of night except for the various streetlights that still illuminated small patches of the night. Umbrella had spared no expense, the entire building was made of a strong glass that enabled his team to look below their feet and see the small offices below them.
"Where are we going, Marius?" Pierre asked as he looked back at the darkness to find Marius's intimidating frame.
Marius pulled out a small penlight and examined the map that had been given to them by Lord Spencer. The map was small, but detailed. It included all of the Umbrella facility along with their underground research facilities.
"We're going to go about 6 meters to the left of where we are, go down the stairs to the lobby of the facility, and then all we should have to do is put in the pass code in beside the statue of the bird. That should lead us the underground facility and the self destruct system, according to this map," Marius said as he traced the path with his fingers along the map.
Pierre walked blindly into the dark as he counted off six meters in his head. The glass gave off a metallic click as their boots scoffed against it. As Marius had said, they soon reached a door that lead to a series of stairs. The staircase was brightly lit and gave off an iridescent glow to the starch white stairs. How people could work in that kind of condition was beyond Pierre, but then again the only people who worked here were paid actors for Umbrella. All of the revolutionary activities went on deep under the city.
As the three of them reached the end of the stairs after what seemed like forever Pierre looked back at Marius to make sure that they had stopped at the right place. Marius quickly gave a short nod as he readied his Beretta for anything that moved. Pierre quickly shoved his shoulder into the locked door sending it spiraling off its hinges. As Pierre struggled to regain his footing after hitting the door he heard the sound of three bullets being shot in quick succession.
"Way to go killer," Marius said attempting to stifle a laugh as he looked down at the dead mouse lying on the floor.
"I should have let it eat your ass," Madison said holstering her Beretta as Pierre regained his footing.
The huge lobby of the Umbrella facility was tastefully decorated in beige with various pictures lining the walls. The receptionist desk was covered in blood from the carcass that rested on it as the soft drip of blood echoed in the room. The huge front glass windows had been shattered and a few bodies were scattered along the streets just outside broken window.
Just to the left of the receptionist desk was a six-foot statue of a dove suspended in flight. Pierre quickly stepped up to it and ran his black- gloved hand along the inside of one of the bird's huge wings. A small panel slid open at the base of the statue and presented a numerical keypad. A small door to the right of the statue slid to the left revealing a small doorway as Pierre punched in the correct sequence of numbers.
The hallway was dimly lit and extremely damp causing their boots to emit a soft squishing sound. The hallway reminded Pierre of a cave, until the hallway abruptly gave way to white tile in the place of wet rock. White doors began to dot the walls as they continued to make their way to the door that led below the city. The hallway seemed to be descending quite rapidly Pierre thought as they finally reached the end of the hallway to a steel black door.
"Where are all the BOWs?" Marius asked from directly behind Pierre.
"I'm not too eager to see them, so if they want to go their way and we go ours I don't have any problem with that," Pierre said as he attempted to pick the door's lock.
The door's lock gave a soft click as Pierre finally picked the lock on the door. The door lead to a descending set of rock stairs. They had passed the labs on their way to the steel door; so most of the danger should be behind them, Pierre silently thought to himself as he jogged down the stairs with his magnum not wavering in the least.
"The target point of the self destruct system should be approximately seven meters ahead of you," Marius said as he checked the map once more.
Pierre guided himself through the darkness at Marius's words alone. The huge room that the stairs had led them too was pitch black and a faint hum could be heard. As Pierre continued his slow paced walk to activate the self-destruct system he could make out a flashing red button.
"What the hell is that?" Madison whispered from the back of the group.
"Marius, give me your pen light," Pierre commanded in barely a whisper.
Before Pierre could read the inscription under the flashing red light a feminine voice came over the speaker.
"You now have T minus 15 minutes to reach minimum safe distance"
"Who the fuck activated it!" Madison shouted in anger.
"I don't know, but we better haul ass out of here," Pierre said as he started his ascent back up the stairs.
As Pierre sprinted back up the stairs and through the white tile hallway he noticed the various dead BOW bodies scattered inside the glass windows of the observatory rooms. Someone had been there before them, and whoever it was had been highly trained Pierre noticed from the well-placed bullets in the bodies.
As Pierre sprinted into the lobby he noticed that he only heard himself running, his teammates weren't behind him. He quickly whipped around only to find Madison collapsed on the floor and Marius kneeling over her. Pierre wasted no time and doubled his speed to his fallen teammate.
Madison's shoulder length hair was spread out around her face giving her the look of an angel. Her bright eyes searched his face as she gasped for each breath. Pierre just then realized how beautiful she was. He frantically searched her for any wound that might have been inflicted on her by some unseen foe. No mark could be found and she wasn't bleeding at all. Whatever was killing her was doing it from the inside.
"You now have T minus 10 minutes to reach minimum safe distance"
"Pierre leave me!" she shouted through ragged breaths as she pushed Pierre away from her.
Pierre knew she would be dead soon, but he wouldn't admit it to himself. She couldn't die now that he had finally lightened up, not now that he had just started to accept her as a teammate. He shut his eyes tight and told her the only thing he could think of to say.
"I'd go to war with you any day," Pierre said as he grabbed Marius by the shoulder and left his dieing friend behind.
Pierre ran over the door that he had broken down seemingly forever ago, back when he had his full team with him. He unconsciously shook his head trying to forget the thoughts as he climbed the starch white stairs. Marius was right behind him matching him step for step as they made it through the door that led to the roof.
The cool air filled Pierre's lungs as he heard the steady hum of the Night Hawk helicopter filling the night air. He had never been happier to hear that sound in his life. His mind searched for the answer to the question that kept running through his head. "Why had they been sent to fulfill a mission that was already seemingly done?"
"Pier-" A voice that Pierre barely noticed as Marius's gasped from somewhere behind him.
Pierre ripped his gaze away from the helicopter and turned just in time to see Marius holding out his hand as he fell to his knees and then to the glass roof. Marius's gloved hand was covered in blood that was slowly dripping from his right ear. Pierre ran to his friend that was now laying face down.
Not now, not both of them, not without reason, Pierre's thoughts raced through his mind as he fell onto the glass roof beside his fallen friend. He shifted Marius's weight to the other side; which gave Pierre a good look at Marius's face as he removed the menacing helmet. Blood began to course down Marius's uncovered face from his nose as the helicopter began to land.
"How do I look?" Marius said through gasping breaths.
"Don't worry, you're going to be fine Marius. We are going to get you back to Umbrella, and they are going to fix you right up," Pierre said knowing that it wouldn't be that way.
"Pierre, cut the shit. I know I'm dead already. It's funny, you imagine this big honorable death by some unbeatable monster, but in the end its just some damn virus," Marius gasped through short fits of coughs.
"A death is only as honorable as the person it happens to," Pierre said as he closed his friend's blank eyes.
Pierre grabbed the dog tags that hung around Marius's neck before he reluctantly stepped into the helicopter. His whole team had died on a simple easy mission. That was no way for a soldier to die. Pierre could barely keep his temper in check as the helicopter sat down and a soldier in combat fatigues stepped up to him.
"Lord Spencer requires your presence," the soldier said but made no attempt to lead Pierre there.
Pierre's blood was still boiling as he knocked on Lord Spencer's office door. Unlike the other times, this time when Pierre gave three quick taps on the door, the fatherly Lord Spencer did not greet him. This time a more business like Lord Spencer met him at the door, and did not offer him to sit.
"Pierre, I'm quite disappointed with you," Lord Spencer spat at Pierre a cold chill running up his spine at the tone he used.
"Sir, me nor my team had anything to do with the death of my teammates," Pierre said unwilling to bend to this man after what had just happened to him.
"You let your whole team die on a simple mission. You didn't even let them have solder's death. Because of your unawareness of your own team, two of my finest solders are dead. And to top it all off you degraded their bodies by becoming attached to them. I would usually kill a solder for lesser charges than that, but I'm going to cut you a break this time," Lord Spencer spat as he turned his chair to face his window which dismissed him from the office.
As Pierre left the office he silently promised himself that he would never get attached to another teammate, and that he would do whatever it took to regain Lord Spencer's trust. He would never be so weak as to get attached to a teammate again.
"He acts just like his uncle with that back talked," a man said as he stepped out of the shadows of Lord Spencer's office.
"I think he is better than his uncle. Albert Wesker didn't have near that talent that this boy does. Nor did he react as well to the slaying of his own team," Lord Spencer said without looking at the man.
"How do you kill of their teammates at the right time?" the man said.
"An overdose of the virus, it slowly breaks the brain cells down before severing the brain steam killing the patient. It takes exactly 5 hours to kill the patient without any warning," Lord Spencer said as he gazed out the window at the brilliant red sun that was rising.
