Batman/Resident Evil: The Gotham Protocol

Chapter 2

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Resident Evil™ is a registered product of Capcom Inc./Batman™ is a registered product of DC Comics Inc. Neither of these properties is used here with permission. This original story idea is ©2003 by Christopher W. Blaine.

Chris Redfield put the phone back down on the receiver and looked over to the two women relaxing comfortably on the couch. They seemed totally entranced by the television show they were watching, but Chris knew better. It was all a farce because all any of them could think of was the level of Luciferian corruption that was permeating their organization, their country and their world.

"We just got a random hit on the tracking program," he announced as he moved over to the small table. He picked up one of his Beretta 9 millimeter pistols and slammed a clip home into it. "Gotham City."

Jill Valentine, a tall long-legged redhead that oozed a latent sensuality, unfurled her legs from underneath her and slowly stood up. "I haven't been to Gotham in years," she remarked as she adjusted her trademark beret. "That's strange territory."

Chris agreed and holstered his weapon. "There are no S.T.A.R.s in Gotham City, which is surprising given the number of psychopaths, serial killers and terrorists that have hung out there in recent years."

"Isn't that the home of the Batman?" Rebecca Chambers asked, the youngest of the three. Barely nineteen years old, she was one of the most intelligent people either Chris or Jill had met. Rebecca had graduated from college while most of her friends were worrying about prom dates. A S.T.A.R.s agent for only a year now, she was nonetheless an experienced field operative now. She had been dealing with the Umbrella problem since the very beginning.

"I don't believe in batmen," Chris said.

"We fight zombies for a living," Rebecca said, not believing what she was hearing. "You have heard of the Justice League? Of Superman?"

"Wonder Woman?" Jill added. The two women nodded to each other.

Chris rolled his eyes. "Sure, I've heard of them. I even had a crush on Wonder Girl when I was a teenager; but I'm a real cop that has to fight real bad guys with real intent to kill me. All of those super-heroes, as far as I'm concerned, put on a dog and pony show. It's all fake to me."

Jill came over to the table and selected her own pistols, while Rebecca busied herself with straightening up the hotel room. Chris wanted to tell her to stop, but he realized that it was the younger woman's way of coping. They were constantly on the run, hiding out from the very organization they were trying to redeem, as well as from the forces of Umbrella. If Rebecca wanted to keep house for just a few minutes, who was he to complain?

It was a real shame that so young a woman should be involved in such a terrible thing as this war against Umbrella. Rebecca was a pretty girl, maybe a little thin for Chris, but he had seen the way other men had looked at her. Her only flaw, if one could call it that, was her intelligence. She was simply too smart for the average guy and most men felt inadequate around her. "I had a thing for Robin myself," she said as she straightened some pillows.

"I'll take a slice of Captain Marvel any day of the week," Jill said with an evil grin.

Chris said nothing, realizing that Jill was trying to bait him. Since their ordeal at the Spencer Estate in Raccoon City, the two of them had become very close, though neither of them dared to risk taking it to the next level. Instead, they both stood apart, watching the other's personality change as the war progressed.

Once a cut-up and all around womanizer, Chris Redfield was becoming the serious type and both Jill and Rebecca found his intensity somehow arousing. He was no-nonsense now and constantly worried about the welfare of not just his partners, but their other allies as well. One day, he would be a leader on the scale of Alexander the Great Rebecca had commented.

On the other hand, Jill Valentine had been somewhat subdued before Spencer, trying to draw little attention to herself or her past. The woman in the blue beret had not always been a law-abiding citizen, which ironically was what had caused the S.T.A.R.s to recruit her. She still didn't discuss her past, none of them did, but Jill was becoming more of a live-for-the-moment type of person and some of escapades drew shaking heads from her comrades.

Chris continued briefing them on the information he had received. "A call was put into the Coast Guard that a person had been murdered on a freighter we know is under contract to Umbrella. The Coast Guard arrived but were relieved by Delta Team from the Metropolis S.T.A.R.s. We know that they have been compromised by Umbrella." Jill nodded; it had been her that had discovered that bit of information when she had contacted an old friend in the LexCorp security services. Apparently, LexCorp had tried to recruit several S.T.A.R.s members, only to warned off by Umbrella operatives.

Lex Luthor may be president but he wasn't all-powerful. Few corporations in the world could give him pause; Umbrella was one of them. "Then there must be a facility in Gotham," Rebecca announced as she went into the bathroom to change. Unlike Chris and Jill, Rebecca preferred to relax out of uniform and in something oversized and wrinkled.

"We've always suspected it, but we couldn't prove anything. Umbrella has a number of legitimate operations, companies that had absolutely nothing to do with the other amoral activities of the corporation." He slid his second weapon into its holster, ran a hand through his close-cropped brown hair and then reached for his jacket. "Hey!" he called to Rebecca. "Hurry it up in there!"

Rebecca stepped out clad in her light green BDU's complete with a ball cap that she kept her hair under. Jill shook her head. "Lose that hat, sweetie; you're a pretty girl."

Rebecca blushed and pulled of the hat, letting her dark hair fall. She had let it grow since Spencer and it made her look a little older, Chris decided.

From a distance at least.

"It's been five hours since Delta assumed control of the area," Chris said as they sat outside the docks. There were several police cars, ambulances and various other emergency vehicles parked at the entrance, preventing them from entering. The official word, as Jill had gotten from a news cameraman with some flattering words and a lot of cleavage was that the captain of the vessel had been murdered in his sleep. The Office of Homeland Security had turned over the matter to S.T.A.R.s Metropolis because it appeared that the captain had some terrorist ties.

"Very neat; they can cover anything up by saying terrorists are involved," Chris said, disgust in his voice. He could not fathom the minds of the people responsible for the things he had witnessed. The depths that they would go to for something like money made him want to vomit. He turned and leaned into the car window. Rebecca was sitting in the back, typing away on a laptop. "What do you have?"

She didn't look up, but instead kept working, her small pink tongue sticking out as she did so. It made her look even younger. "The call was from an untraceable cell line, probably routed through a satellite with some high-tech encryption gear. Unfortunately for the caller, I can hack into the Coast Guard database where there is a digital copy of the call. Its standard federal regulations."

"How does that help?"

"I'm taking the voice print and running it through CIA headquarters to see of we can get a match, but first I have to figure out the encryption sequence. The caller used a special software to change the physical characteristics of their voice, but I'm assuming they used one of the standard programs to do it." She hit a few more keys. "I'm working on a hunch that since we're in Gotham, they might be using WayneTech stuff."

"That's a good thing?" Jill asked as she slid into the passenger's seat with a box of doughnuts.

Rebecca refused one and kept working. "It is for me; I used to trade info on the net with someone named Oracle when I was in college. You might say Oracle has a thing for child prodigy's; we're all part of the same circle." Chris nodded, thinking what group he fell into when he was her age, which was not so long ago. He had been a jerk. "Anyway, she gave me a program once for encrypting our conversations and a computer science guy who liked me showed me how to upgrade it secretly from the WayneTech database."

Chris let her continue working and turned back to regard the press corps and police. There were several Gotham City police officers and Chris wondered if what he had heard about them were true. Years ago, Gotham City had been rife with corruption until a single officer by the name of James Gordon had led the battle to clean things up. That same James Gordon was now the police commissioner and Chris wondered if he approached the man with his problem, would he be willing to help.

They needed all of the help they could get and the aid was not coming in very quickly. Most of them had been labeled rogue agents, criminals; Chris had even seen one report where it was reported that Jill was nothing more than a prostitute with a badge, selling her body to whomever had the cash available. It was a terrible thing Umbrella was doing, destroying lives all in the name of the all-mighty dollar. They had put their claws into everything, including the S.T.A.R.s; recruiting those they could, killing off those they couldn't.

"Son of a biscuit-eater," Rebecca said silently.

Chris turned and once again poked his head into the window. Rebecca had a shocked look on her face. "I've got two probably matches, depending on how the encryption was done. It's the best I can do."

Jill wiped some jelly off her lips and gestured with the remaining pastry. "Go ahead, honey, we're listening."

"Well, the first one is probably just a fluke, but it says it might be Richard Grayson."

Chris shrugged. "Who the hell is that?"

Jill looked at him like he was stupid, as did Rebecca. "The guy who almost married Kory Anders, the alien super-model? One of People's 50 most beautiful people three years ago? Heir to Wayne fortune? Major hunk?" Chris didn't seem impressed.

Rebecca shrugged. "The other one is Nightwing."

"So my choices are a spoiled rich kid or a super-hero from…New York?"

Jill shook her head and rummaged through the doughnut box for something to offer Chris. "Actually, I heard he's been busting heads in Bludhaven."

"Whatever. How did the CIA get their voice prints?"

"Grayson's adoptive brother was killed in the Middle East a few years back and the concern was that he could be a target himself. The voice print was taken from a television interview to be used for verification in the event of a kidnapping." She typed in a few words and smacked the Enter button. "Nightwing's is from an interview he did a few years back as well. There is a 15% margin of error because they weren't digital recordings."

Chris was satisfied. He opened the driver's side door and got in. He started the car up and started to slowly back away. "I don't suppose any of you know how to contact Nightwing?"

"He's with the Titans; their number is a matter of public record," Jill said. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed information for New York City. Chris continued driving, taking them towards downtown Gotham City to try and find some place to eat that didn't serve sugary sweets. Jill's obsession with carbs was bad enough; the fact that she only seemed to get prettier the more she ate them was downright frustrating.

"Yes, hello, I'm looking for Nightwing," Jill said after a few moments. "Is this an emergency? Well, yes, it is. Who am I? A friend? Excuse me? No, I'm not desperate. Who is this? Well, Miss Troy, I'll have you know that if I wanted to go to bed with him, I'd have no problems getting him in there. No! You're the hoochie!  You bitch!' She threw the phone onto the car floor. "That bitch hung up on me!"

Chris chuckled despite the seriousness of the situation. "Can you imagine how many women call up to speak with him, or any super-hero for that matter? No wonder the Justice League has their headquarters on the moon!"

"Yeah, I can see you calling Wonder Woman," Rebecca added from the back.

"Actually, like I said, I had a crush on the bitch as Jill so eloquently put it," he replied as they pulled into a parking garage. "We'll need to ditch this car here and find another one."

The others agreed and after finding a suitable spot, they parked. Jill went off to find them a new ride and Chris found himself discussing super-heroes again with Rebecca. "I guess my generation," he said and winced. He wasn't that old! "Look, I just think that if super-heroes were doing their job, then we wouldn't have to deal with companies like Umbrella."

"I think that's unfair," Rebecca said as she adjusted the laptop bag on her shoulder. "How many times have the heroes saved the world? They do their part and we have to do ours. Just because there are super-heroes doesn't mean that we stop having police."

Chris shrugged and did another look around to make sure nobody was watching them. "All I'm saying is that if I were Superman, then Umbrella wouldn't be a problem anymore."

"No, you would be the problem." Chris shot her and angry look and she started to explain. "Look, Chris, you're a helluva nice guy and all, but if you had the power, as you just admitted, you would go in and stomp Umbrella and anyone else who you thought was wrong. You would become the almighty judge, jury and executioner and you wouldn't require a trial or evidence. We should feel lucky that these beings with these enormous powers have decided to abide by our laws." She looked away. "Because God help us if they ever decide not to."

She was right, of course, and he knew it. Again, she was extremely intelligent and were he a few years younger, he doubted that anything would keep him away from chasing her around this parking garage. The fact was that he was the older one and he knew she looked to him for guidance and leadership. Sometimes being a leader meant swallowing your pride and accepting the point of view of another person.

"Maybe you're right," he admitted and she turned back, her face brightening. He put an arm around her shoulder and gave her a quick hug. "You're pretty smart, kid."

"I'm a woman," she reminded him. She acted so much like his sister.

Jill came walking back up the ramp, speaking on her cell phone. The conversation was over by the time she reached them. Chris asked where their new car was. "We've got a ride coming."

"What do you mean?" he asked, surprised.

"Seems that Titans Tower traced my phone call and discovered that we were using an illegal cell," she said, tossing it into a nearby garbage can. It was true; they could not use any regulation S.T.A.R.s equipment and so Jill had been tasked with procuring black market phones for them. "Miss Troy called me back and told me I'd better explain myself or she'd personally hunt me down and have me arrested."

"Did you tell her?" Chris asked, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Cool your jets, lover boy," Jill chided. "It was Nightwing that made that call last night and he would very much like to speak with us about what we know. It seems he and another hero, Arsenal, encountered something very odd last night."

"Something like a zombie?"

Jill nodded. "It shook them up pretty bad and they want to know everything."

Chris understood that the final decision was his. They could all three disappear right then, just walk off into the day time foot traffic and never worry about it again. But they needed allies and for all purposes, Nightwing seemed to be one of the better heroes. The Titans had always enjoyed good press and there was certainly no reason not to trust them.

He looked to Rebecca, who smiled and nodded, prodding him in the ribs with her elbow. Jill gave him a look that filled him with longing, a look that said she was counting on their bond to influence his decision. "Fine. We wait. I hope they have coffee."