Nervousness or anxiety can be accompanied by a strange fluttering feeling in one's stomach. The presence of stress causes the brain to divert focus from digesting to other more important functions, leaving what many call "butterflies" in the stomach. Ms. Black's stomach was filled with a vertible nest or two of butterflies. She was going to call a good friend of hers, a man who helped inspire her from the beginning of her career at Umbrella. He was a man whose past was as mysterious as his current intentions. He was a man named Albert Wesker. Wesker had been of great assistance to the Umbrella corporation, and had been one of its top scientists for many years, not to mention a compatriot of the late William Birkin. After one ring, Black found herself speaking to Wesker's secretary.
"Name please."
"Ms. Black."
Without any acknowledgement from the secretary, Black heard the sound of her call being transferred and she now could hear the smooth, slick voice of Wesker himself.
"I am assuming that you are calling to deliver data on your 'Sin' experiments. What have you accomplished since your last call?"
The butterflies were fluttering in her stomach at an extremely rapid rate, almost to the extent that she felt slightly nauseated. She tried to swallow before she began, but she had no saliva in her mouth that she could swallow, so she began regardless. "The experiments are finished. I have added the Sin virus to my fellow chairpersons and each have undergone different mutations due to their differentiating genetic structures. I have also had Doctor Quillocy build upon previous tests and research with the Sin and we have created more improved bioweapons based on previous designs. All of the samples and subjects are here and I have also captured eight survivors from the Raccoon City outbreak. They are currently in the basement of the facility in the Prison Quarters. I plan on using them to test the capabilities of my Sin creations."
"Hm." Wesker did not speak for a moment, an action that Black did not know the meaning of. She hoped that these breakthroughs pleased him, but his awkward silence was building doubt in her mind. Her heart seemingly began to beat again when he spoke up. "I am very pleased to hear that you have had success. I am going to send agents over to your facility to retrieve your subjects and samples of the Sin virus. They will aid my research in many ways."
Black's blood ran cold. She had labored for months on this project, and now her superior simply wished to take away the fruits of this labor and claim it as his own. Her head began to ache as she attempted to restrict her emotion from exploding upon Wesker at that very moment.
"But, sir-"
"I did not ask for your opinion. I AM sending some of my agents to retrieve the subjects and virus samples regardless of your viewpoint on it. If you don't cooperate, I just might accidentally tip off a certain anti-Umbrella organization, which is something you would not want me to do, rest assured. You're beginning to forget who is in charge Ms. Black, and I am afraid that consequences must be faced in order for you to learn your lesson. That is all I have to say to you. Goodbye, Mrs. Black."
The call ended, and Black was now taunted by the beeping from thenow deadline. She stood frozen, the phone still by her ear, each beep resounding in her skull like a jackhammer. She simply could not believe the nerve that Wesker had, and she felt that she should not have to put up with it. She lobbed the phone across the room, pulling the plug out of the wall. According to Wesker, she was irrelevant and putting her out of the picture was the only option. The fact that she was soon going to die was now more than obvious to her. "I'm not going down without kicking and screaming my fucking head off. If Wesker wants to send others to do his dirty work, then boy oh boy, am I going have surprises for them.I'll give themone hell of a fight." Black walked back over to the phone that she had thrown, picking it up and plugging it back into the wall. She dialed Dr. Q once again, probably for the final time. When he picked up, she gave him no time to speak. "Doctor, please release the virus samples throughout the entire complex. I also request that you please release all of the bioweapons as well. Thank you." She hung up, not waiting for Q's answer. She knew that he was a loyal man, and a smart one too. He had an oxygen mask in his quarters, and he'd put it on if he wanted to live. Black walked close to the door and opened a keypad that was concealed in the wall. She could not risk anybody leaving the building, both staff, prisoners, and the soon to arrive intruders alike. After a few swift button presses, she saw the steel covers slink downwards and cover every window in the Conference Room. Identical steel covers were doing the same thing in every other room's windows, and also on the entrance and exit doors of the building. The only doors that would go unblocked would be the Rooftop doors, both to the elevator and stairs. She needed some way for the intruders to arrive. Even better, the entire Basement floor would be sealed off, leaving her precious captives safe from the virus. After all, they were going to be a part of her test subject, and her creations were probably more than excited by now. They needed something to display their strength on. Ms. Black suddenly smiled and began to giggle to herself as she could hearthe panicking Umbrella workers below began to scream at their sudden confinement. What began as a horrible situation was now unveiling itself to be quite a good thing.
-
Dr. Q sat in what was now nicknamed "The Womb." The Womb was the windowlesslab room where the seven Sin creations sat in stasis, and it was also the location for the one viral sample. He walked over to the safe where the virus was kept, and opened it, taking the small vial and putting in the pocket of his lab coat. His nerves were kicking in, and he was beginning to sweat. He wiped the sweat off his brown forehead with one shaky hand. He never thought that it would happen like this. He never thought that Mr. Wesker would turn on them like he did. He also grabbed his Cougar 9MM pistol and two clips of ammunition from the safe, and placed them in his other pocket. He grabbed an oxygen mask from the supply closet before heading towards the telephone. He wanted to make sure that he was not the only survivor, and that there was at least some backup firepower in case things went awry. He called Giles Henderson, the leader of the cleaner squad. They were armed, and if they survived, they would be a great source of protection. He scratched at his greying beard as he dialed Giles.
"Giles speaking."
"Mr. Henderson, please equip all of your weaponry and have all of your soldiers and yourself put on oxygen masks. Ms. Black wants to infect the building and release the specimens. Stay alert." Dr. Q hung up and put on his oxygen mask. He waited for five minutes, just to make sure that the boys had enough time to get ready. The five minutes seemed to last for a good five years, and Q rubbed his freezing hands together. He pulled the vial from his coat pocket and stood on a chair, opening to the grating to the air vents. "Here's to you Albert Wesker, for fucking over so many months of hard work." Q threw the vial with all of his strength and anger, and he heard the tiny sound of a small glass vial shattering. He looked back at the clock. It was about 7:30 PM. The Sin was a much quicker virus than the T-Virus, so infection would prove to take hold much faster. He expected that all of the employees would be carriers by at least 8:00. He walked over to each of the stasis tubes, looking at each monstrosity that sat in them. They were monsters, but they were like children to Q. He had spent so long creating them, perfecting them, and he hoped that they lived up to what he made them to be. He shut off the sedative and vitamin feeds in each tube, and activated the draining process. He quickly ran to the supply closet and hid himself within it, closing the door and locking it behind him.
-
The helicopters were just only a few minutes short of arriving at their destination. The Anti-Umbrella Resistance Force soldiers were on their way, tipped off by an anonomous benefactor. Three helicopters were filled with eight soldiers each, and in one of these helicopters, Barry Burton sat, admiring an old and weathered photograph. He had kept the picture of him and his family with him since the incident in the Spencer Estate. He considered it not just as a good luck charm, but to him, it was also like a guadian angel. His family meant the world to him. Hell, they were the only reason that he was still doing work like this. He wanted his daughters to grow up safely and have normal lives, and he desperately wanted to make sure that they never had to go through what he had. He kissed the picture and put it back into his pocket, asking God for a short prayer of protection before his mission began. He turned to the man on his left, who coincidentally was also staring at a photograph. He was a younger man, probably just nearing his thirties with long blonde hair that fell past his shoulders and a seemingly innocent face. His name was Bruce McGivern. Barry nudged him a bit and got his attention.
"Who's the girl?"
The man paused for a second, almost as if he were surprised that another noticed the woman in the picture. Bruce spoke with a heavy Southern-drawl, "Her name is Fong Ling. I had met her on a cruise ship that was hijacked by a terrorist named Morpheus Duvall. She was an agent of the Chinese government, and she helped me. Both of us survived the viral disaster that occured, but she just left me afterwards." Bruce let out a sad little sigh. "I've pretty much made an oath to myself to find her, just to thank her at least, for what she had done for me. And, well, maybe a little bit more too." Bruce winked and shot a sly little grin, and Barry returned the smile.
"What are you two flirting about over there?"Barry and Bruce turned to see who caused the sudden interruption, only to see that it was the one and only Carlos Olivera. Carlos was a Hispanic man, a quality that was easily given away thanks to Mr. Olivera's thick Latino accent. He had dark brown hair that fell past his earlobes, which he parted to the sides down the middle. He had a bit of a goatee, but it was only stubble. Carlos was currently rubbing at this "goatee" as he spoke again. "You can't start making out now, the 'copter is gonna land pretty soon!" Bruce smiled and retorted with the universally known middle finger and Carlos piped up again, "Aww carajo Brucie! Take it easy caballero!" They chuckled for a bit until the helicopter buckled a bit. They had landed. The other two helicopters landed not long after, only behind by a few seconds. All of the soldiers piled out, leaving the pilots. The armed pilots were to stay in case of an emergency. Barry ordered this himself. He didn't want another "Chickenheart" situation on his hands. He did not intend this mission to be one where people died, but he somewhat felt that it would be inevitable. He wished that he could be optimistic, but as soon as he saw the huge Umbrella logo painted on the rooftop, any hopes for optimism faded away. He was the first to the elevator door, and he turned and stopped.
"Alright ladies and gents, this is the last stop. From here on out, be alert, stay focused, and do not, I repeat, do NOT let your guard down. Some of you already know that you will not be up against the average man. If you want any advice, make it quick and go for the head. We are heading for the basement. There are eight survivors down there that we must rescue and evacuate. If they are all safe, radio in. We'll all meet back here on the rooftop. Everybody got that?" Barry was answered by a chorus of nods and acknowledgements and 'Yes sirs.' He sent Fleet 1 down the elevator, Fleet 2 down one of the sets of stairs, and finally his Fleet, Fleet 3, went down the secondary set of stairs. He checked his watch. It read 20:08, about 8:00 PM.Their mission had officially begun.