Barry quickly made his way into the S.T.A.R.S office closely followed by Chris and Claire. The office was less crowded then before. Claire glanced at a clock on the far end of the office. It was a quarter to three. She wondered what Leon was doing at the time, or worst, what Steve was doing to Leon. It wasn't such a nice thought but if she didn't find him in time, they'd probably torture him. Thats what umbrella's all about. Causing outbreaks, killing innocent people, and using human beings for their experiments. She stared at her brother who was walking alongside of her. She could tell he was determined to bring umbrella down and part of her admired that, but he was so serious. Claire really missed having a normal life. Chris was never like this before. That's how she could tell the recent events were really getting to him. He looked so much like their dad when he was serious. He had the same hair, the same facial expressions, and the same attitude. She really missed her parents. They died when she was only fifteen.

She couldn't believe Leon had seen the whole thing. He actually witnessed her parents death. She could just imagine the horrified expressions on their faces when they saw the car speeding in their direction. The sound of metal clashing and glass breaking. She slightly shook her head, trying to get the thoughts to stop coming, and began to focus on what they were going to do. Barry reached out and pulled the door to his office open, stepping aside so that Chris and Claire could walk in.

"You two stay here," he demanded. "I'll be back in a minute."

Both Chris and Claire nodded as Barry walked away, closing the door behind him. Claire glanced at Chris. He seemed as if he were lost in his thoughts. She felt terrible about Jill being abducted but then again, she hadn't known it was going to happen. Just like she hadn't known about Steve being alive or how he wasn't the same Steve she knew back on Rockfort Island. Everything was so screwed up and it would take a while to get them out of this mess. Chris could see his sister staring at him from the corner of his eye. He brung his eyes up to her, catching her stare. She seemed worried.

"What's wrong Claire?" he asked, as he watched her fiddle with her fingers. She lowered her eyes for a second and then brought them back up to Chris.

"Look, I know you must be angry with me and I'm not going to argue that, but I really need you Chris. I want us to work together and forget about our problems for once."

Chris studied her face, amazed at the fact that she was talking to him first. After all, she was the stubborn type. He could hardly believe it.

"I don't want to go through with this investigation knowing that you won't talk to me. I don't want to feel alone," she said, hoping he'd say something.

Chris stared at her for a moment. He began to feel really bad. He knew he acted like a jerk the last couple of days. He suddenly pulled Claire into his embrace, startling her. He hugged her tightly, resting his chin on her head.

"Your not going to be alone Claire. We're partners and we're gonna get through this together."

His words made her feel much better being that they hadn't talked like that for days. They both jumped up when Barry walked in followed by three other people, all of which were S.T.A.R.S members. Claire immediately recognized one of them but the other two were new faces.

"Chris, Claire, meet our two newly recruited S.T.A.R.S members Erika Simmons and Kyle Nelford. Their going to be assisting in this investigation."

Erika shook Claire's hand, realizing how troubled she seemed. Erika was about the same height as Jill, her straight, jet black hair hung a few inches below her shoulders. Her eyes were such a beautiful shade of green that Claire couldn't bring herself to look away. It was almost like they could hypnotize a person. Kyle also had black hair which he kept spiked up. He was tall, nicely built, and extremely handsome.

"Rebecca is also coming along for the investigation. She is an expert in the medical and bio-chemical fields and she'll be able to help us a great deal," Barry added.

Chris glanced at his teammate. He knew she was the best medic they'd had in years but she wasn't the type of person for these kinds of investigations. Barry probably thought it was best she came in case they ran into trouble and someone had suddenly been injured. She also had probably been told to run some tests on the odd substance Chris found back at Jill's house. Kyle would also help them a great deal being that he was a weapons specialist. Although Chris had a fair amount of experience with weapons, having an extra S.T.A.R.S member with that kind of expertise would definitely benefit them.

"We need to start this investigation right away," Chris said. "Otherwise we'll never find Leon and Jill."

Barry gazed at Chris, a grin spreading across his face. "You don't have to worry about that Chris," Barry assured, sounding a little too pleased. "That's why we have Kyle. He knows the exact location of this facility."

Chris' mouth nearly dropped open when Barry said this. How did he know where the place was located? How did he know if Leon and Jill were even being kept there? All eyes suddenly fell on Kyle. "How do you know where their facility is?" Claire asked, noticing that he was staring at her a little too much. Kyle lowered his eyes as if thinking about what to say.

"I had a friend who worked for umbrella. He was one of the facility's security guards. "One day...........," he trailed off, bringing his eyes back up to Claire. "Five months before I was recruited into S.T.A.R.S........I decided that I wanted to see the place, something that was against their rules. People who didn't work for the company weren't allowed to be there. They didn't want their research to be exposed to the outside world. I insisted that he wouldn't get in trouble and that we'd be careful but deep down I knew he wasn't too crazy about the idea. The next day...we went, only it didn't take ten minutes. It took at least two hours to get there. He managed to get me in without anyone noticing us." He stopped for a minute, thinking about the next thing to say until Chris interrupted his thoughts. "This friend of yours, does he still work for umbrella?" he asked. Kyle lowered his eyes once again, an image of his friend coming into mind. "My friend is dead. He was found dead in his apartment the next day. They killed him, I know they did," he insisted.

Everyone fell silent at the thought of it. Claire glanced at her brother from where she stood and judging by the look on his face, she knew it made him even more anxious to destroy umbrella. Umbrella screwed up their lives but they wouldn't get away with it. Chris would make sure of that. Then her eyes fell on Rebecca. She didn't look too happy. Something told her that Rebecca had also experienced umbrella's madness. She stood there wearing a serious expression. Maybe she wanted revenge too. Either way, everything would be better after they got through the investigation.

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Leon sat on the cold cement floor, his back resting against the wall. The flourescent light began to flicker above them. He gazed at Jill who sat next to him, her knees pulled up to her chest. She didn't look too good being that she was so pale. She turned to him, catching his stare.

"Are you okay Jill?" he asked.

He found himself getting a little worried. She leaned foward, resting her head on her knees.

"I'm fine Leon," she lied.

She definitely felt weird. If she stood up she'd probably get dizzy and pass out. She picked her head up and gazed at Kevin who layed on the floor unconscious. He looked much worst than her. His skin was a ghostly pale color and he would occassionally jump in his sleep as if he were being attacked. What scared Jill the most was how the veins in his arms were bulging, the green lines flowing up to his shoulders. Jill knew that whatever they did to Kevin was done to her. She couldn't even remember how she got there. God knows what they could've done to her. There was just one thing that kept bothering her. Leon didn't look pale at all. In fact, he remembered exactly what happened before he got here. He wasn't out of it. He was totally aware of his surroundings.

Jill's heart skipped a beat at the sound of the door being unlocked. It had to have at least ten locks. Each sound of a lock snapping open echoed loudly throughout the small underground dungeon. Both Jill and Leon stared at the door, afraid to find out who was behind it. Leon pictured Chris and Claire walking through the door but he knew for a fact that it wasn't them. The facility was in the middle of a forest and it would probably take them days to find out where umbrella's secret underground hell hall was located. When he finally heard the sound of the handle, he quickly jumped to his feet, ignoring the sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. The door flew open, startling Jill. Leon wasn't surprised to see Steve walk through the door.

"You little shit! I wanna know what you did to them!" Leon yelled, pointing at Jill and Kevin. "I swear to god I'll.......," his words trailed off when he saw Sherry step out from behind Steve. He noticed Steve's grip on the young girls arm tighten only making the red marks worst.

"You were saying, Leon," Steve asked, finding the expression on Leon's face so amuzing.

"What is she doing here Steve," Leon asked, this time sounding a little more calm. "Leave her out of this. Whatever you have against the Redfield's has nothing to do with her."

"Well now it does," Steve replied.

He glanced at Sherry who at this point was desperately trying to pull out of his grasp. She wanted to run to Leon. She didn't feel safe next to Steve. He was evil. Pure evil. He suddenly let go of her arm and shoved her in front of him, causing her to fall onto her hands and knees.

"Take the little bitch," he cursed angrily. "She annoys the hell out of me."

Leon quickly ran to the girl's side and lifted her up into his arms. He embraced her, ignoring the fact that she was trembling. He had forgotten about her coming to visit for the summer and Claire had probably forgotten to pick her up at the airport. How did they know? How did they know Sherry would be at the airport? Why did they want her locked up in this place with the rest of them? She didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve to suffer with them. Still holding Sherry in his arms, Leon watched as Steve walked out the door.

"This isn't over Steve!" he yelled furiously. "You and Wesker won't get away with this!"

Steve stopped and spun around, his eyes burning into Leon's.

"Do you see your friends? In about four hours or less, their going to die. Oh, but don't worry, they'll come back and when they do, they'll kill you and the girl. Whenever the Redfield's get here, they'll find their friends dead and we'll finally finish them off. You know what the funny part is? One of umbrella's lead scientists, Dr. Nelford, has a son who has just been recruited into S.T.A.R.S and he's leading the Redfield's right into our trap. Think about it Leon. There's nothing you can do and believe me, this time we will get away with it."

Leon didn't want to admit it but deep down he knew they were all screwed. Steve and Wesker were going to finish them off one by one.

Leon watched as Steve finally turned and walked out the door slamming it shut behind him.

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