S.T.A.R.S. To The End
Typing up his field report, Wesker shook off the sense that he was being watched. Since the Antarctic base exploded, he had bought his time well and the corporation that rebuilt him had no clue as to what his plans were. No one short of the survivors of the Antarctic base knew he even survived the Raccoon City incident. He really liked this fact for being a dead man allowed him to maneuver rather easily through situations requiring his expertise.
Looking up onto his finished work, Wesker's reptilian eyes refocused under his sunglasses as he smiled at his rather ingenious work. Laughing maniacally, he knew it would be perfect to cover his escape from servitude. Rereading it after it had printed, Wesker signed the spots he needed and transferred the report via fax to his bosses. Although before the report could fully be sent, Wesker took his fist and shattered the machine into bits as a toothy grin stretched across his face.
"Pathetic," Wesker laughed, "This'll make them think I had been caught and taken care of. This is too ingenious... Now that the corporation thinks I'm dead, I'm finally free to take care of those Umbrella bastards."
Getting up from his seat, he finished gathering his weapons and tossed his tote over his shoulder. This was his final moment as a slave for soon he would exact his revenge on those who betrayed him... However, there was something else that would happen before he could evacuate that would forever alter his plans...
Thirty minutes earlier in a large complex, a group of people rushed through a darkened corridor of concrete. Speaking through their headsets, they rushed through the building for their task was soon to be complete. In each of their hands, there was a bag containing a string of very sensitive devices... Footsteps and equipment rattled through the corridor and echoed off of the hollowed walls as they ran toward completing their objective... Whereas most people would just push it aside, the noise produced here was sufficient enough to keep the crew on their toes... Stepping up their paces, they placed the last few bags at their specific points across the structure... Each of the crew bared biohazardous armor with the UBCS (Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasures Service) logo highlighted against their uniforms... Knowing to keep their radios silent, they continued to push themselves as they raced through the complex... Meeting up on the roof, the squad leader rushed to meet up with his squad and broke the long radio silence as he contacted the covert ops unit placed outside of the building.
"The last device is in place," the squad leader bellowed through the line, "We're moving out. The mission has been accomplished. No one has been privy of our existence here. Repeat. The mission has been accomplished. All devices have been placed and I'm awaiting confirmation of remote activation."
"Received Red Leader," the covert ops unit replied, "All devices read hot and you must fall back to the safety point. We will contact you later about further clean up of the mess afterwards. This is ops out..."
With a loud hiss over the lines, the short burst radio transmission went silent and the squad dropped their gear as they sighed having done their one task Watching carefully around for onlookers, they quickly turned on their GPS units and awaited pickup from the now roaring helicopter overhead. The crew of the helicopter dropped a series of lines out as the team grasped them and climbed aboard... Everything had gone according to plan. The covert ops unit getting the all clear signal started final checks as the devices were activated... starting the countdown... After sending the okay, they left the area and went off to meet the rest of the team. The countdown had begun and nothing could stop what would happen next...
Some time later, Wesker opened the door of his secret hideout and went to leave... The sense that something was not right overcame him again... Yet this time, there was no stopping it or trying to fix the problem... With a loud resounding series of explosions, the whole building, where Wesker resided, came crashing down around him. As everything came thundering to life, Wesker shut his eyes and saw his life flash before his eyes... He knew that there was little chance of getting out of this one alive... but there was always a slim chance and fate seemed to be on his side... Mumbling a curse to Chris Redfield and Umbrella, he sighed as he was trapped under a pile of rubble...
Many miles away from this scene, a brother and sister sat talking and joking about what little they had to smile about now. A young woman with red hair dressed in pajamas sat sprawled out on her bed flicking through the television. She was still young by the look in her face but her eyes seemed so much older than her having seen so many atrocities... Beside her sat her brother, he was much more mature than her in looks and mannerism. His boyish good looks had long since receded because of his time dealing with Umbrella... He was busy laboring over a newspaper looking for any hint of what Umbrella was doing next... Dropping his paper and feeling a sudden chill down his back, Chris sat upright in his chair and shuddered catching the attention of his sister. Looking over from her perch, Clare rested her hand on his shoulder and looked for some sense of him knowing she was there. Getting up and out of the bed, Clare sat next to Chris looking into his hollowed eyes trying to get his attention.
"What's it now?" Clare finally spoke with a nudge in the side, "Last time, you jumped like that there was a spider in the bathroom. It wasn't even that big!"
"I know," Chris shook himself out of the daze and laughed, "I don't know what the deal is... I just got this weird feeling that something happened that's going to haunt us all... HEY! Wait one moment there, missy! Do you realize how hard it is to kill one ten times that size!? If you want to be like that, fine... Look at you little miss macho, you can't even go anywhere unless it's well lit and you're armed to the teeth!"
"Well you say it best," Clare giggled, "The Raccoon City Incident changed us all... I've seen what lurks in the darkness and I don't want to ever remember that place... That's why I can't stand the dark... All those horrors lurked there..."
"None of us survivors want to remember," Chris shook his head, "It's not like you've ever trusted me with this knowledge before! You still won't trust me enough to tell me what really went on in Antarctica... When will you lower your defenses and tell me?"
"In time," Clare sullied, "I'm still coming to grips with it myself... I just need to find... uhhh... the answers to the questions I still have myself..."
"I'll be here when you want to talk," Chris touched Clare on the shoulder with a forced smile, "Anyway... We need to get a move on. I got word from my partner, Jill Valentine. Umbrella is making a major move and we don't know what they're going to do next... We have to stay one step ahead of them before more innocent people get hurt..."
"Right," Clare nodded, "Where are we going now Chris?"
"Jill sent a letter to Barry and Barry is going to send it to our last known address," Chris yawned, "We're going to have to backtrack a little and make sure to cover our tracks... It'll be risky but well worth the effort... From what Jill has told me, it's going to bring us S.T.A.R.S back together. I just hope Wesker doesn't crash the reunion."
"He's busy with Nanotek," Clare replied quickly, "That corporation is in need of him to correct a few more of their own problems..."
"How'd you know about Wesker's corporate affiliation?" Chris hesitated, "and what else do you know that you're not telling me? Come on spill it Clare!"
"A friend hacked into the systems and found the files," Clare sighed, "It was in the Umbrella mainframe... which means that they know also... which, of course, can't be a good thing... I know you want to know everything I know but it's going to take me a lot of time to cope with it all first. This knowledge of Umbrella's evils haunt me in my dreams..."
"Fine... Remember what I said about being here for ya... Whenever you feel comfortable, here I am," Chris frowned, "I'm sorry sister... The last thing I ever wanted was to drag you into this with me... but we do have to go... We've got a long stretch to cover... and a very short time frame..."
Hastily packing their belongings, Clare and Chris Redfield looked around the hotel room for anything that they missed... Sighing deeply, Chris wiped the room clean of fingerprints while Clare finished packing the various hidden weapons... Chris grabbed his pack and nodded to Clare as she shoved her last gun into her bag... Turning the handle with a napkin, Clare and Chris Redfield left their room behind and moved through the hotel toward their rental car. Laughing and joking on the way down, they found themselves at the front door of the hotel. At the sight of the rental car, Chris jammed his hand into his pocket searching for the key. Grabbing the key and pushing his finger against a button for the alarm, Chris turned back to Clare talking with her as they walked closer to it... With a loud squeal, the car's lights flashed and the alarm deactivated as they were now drawing near it... Putting the key into the door as Clare watched over his back, Chris unlocked the door as the whole thing was engulfed in a fireball that flung Chris and Clare some fifty feet... With the breath knocked out of them, Clare and Chris looked up onto the now burning car as the echo of every cars' alarm in the parking lot screamed as the sirens of police in the area drew near...
Dusting themselves off, Chris and Clare managed to get up with a few bumps and bruises and slip off in the maelstrom that followed the explosion as the police came onto the scene... Following the car explosion, the two found themselves trying to blend in with the crowd of gasping newcomers... Chris and Clare tightened their hold on their stuff as the police started pushing back the onlookers... Disappearing from the scene was simple as they found themselves turning a corner away from the disaster... The clouds that had been blocking out the sun moments before now allowed sunlight to pour across the streets as it flashed against a metal object some ten feet ahead of them... Looking up, Chris caught the unmistakable insignia for the UBCS running around a corner. Quickly reacting by hiding his sister in a nearby cafe, Chris took after the man dressed in biohazard armor... The man speedily ducked in an alleyway as Chris caught up with him... Cornered and without a way out, the UBCS operative held up his hands trying to plead his way out...
"Oh... no... you don't! You're not going to get out of this THAT easily... I don't mind if you try to kill me, but when you endanger my sister and others," Chris yelled as rushed forward and landed a right hook to the ribs, "you will have to answer to me!"
"But..." the guy stammered.
"But nothing!" Chris shouted as he connected an uppercut, "You're going to pay for what you did!"
"No more!" the guy forced out as he fell to the ground coughing, "It wasn't me! Some guy paid me fifty bucks to wear this! I don't even know what this insignia means..."
The clouds above them shifted a little as it highlighted the grim scene in the alleyway... Chris stood over the UBCS operative with his fists outstretched ready for the next move. The UBCS operative leaned over and coughed up something on the ground as he tried to manage himself onto his feet. Getting ready to knock him out this time, Chris took a step toward him crunching his knuckles as the anger emanated from his eyes... As his fist was sent toward him, a small beam of light reflected into Chris's eyes from a distant building and caught his attention... Looking around swiftly, Chris tried to figure out where the light came from...
"Oh shit!" Chris stuttered as his eyes widened and a shot echoed through the alleyway. Hitting the dirt, Chris tried to pull UBCS operative down but it was too late... A single bullet with assassin's precision cut through his flesh and pierced his heart. The man fell limp to the ground as a pool of blood fixed beneath him... Hurrying to the scene after the shot, a woman from a nearby apartment building ran out and screamed at the sight before her... As Chris sullenly checked his vitals, his attention turned to the woman standing in the alleyway and tried to calm her to no avail...
"Oh my God! You... You killed him! HELP!!! He has a gun!" the woman hollered as she ran from the scene, "He killed that man! I saw him... He killed that man!"
As a crowd came into view, Chris made himself scarce and grabbed Clare who was having a cup of coffee... He did not need this attention because S.T.A.R.S. was already taking enough heat... Running from the murder scene, the brother and sister duo found their way to a clean get away... which was surprising because the police were just around the corner... Fleeing at top speed, they found themselves some time away from their destination still but they managed... Despite Chris' downplaying of the situation, there was no stopping his destiny for the final fate of S.T.A.R.S was the same as his own...
About the time that Chris and Clare managed to get away from the scene, the woman, who claimed Chris had murdered the UBCS operative, scurried back into her apartment building when the police finished her interrogation... Racing up the stairs, she gathered her things and her sniper case... Leaving her apartment, she pulled her cellphone out and called her employers.
"I missed the mark," she said with an air of disappointment, "Although, I did make it easier to find him... The authorities have his appearance and a sketch of him. It won't be long before they catch up to him."
"That doesn't matter now does it?" the man boomed on the other end, "You should've fixed the problem there! The Umbrella corporation wants all loose ends tied up!"
"I also accidentally left a dead man with the UBCS logo," she mumbled, "but I can recover the uniform easily..."
"WHAT!" the man jostled, "You left that uniform on a civilian! You pathetic excuse for a hitman! We're going to take care of you after we deal with Chris, Ada Wong!"
"..." Smiling meekly, Ada hung up her cell and discarded it as she was soon to have her revenge on Umbrella and Nanotek. Like a phoenix arising from its ashes, she had done well to hide her appearance in Raccoon City and now she was on the run from Umbrella too (even if they did not know her connection with the G-Virus outbreak)... Although, she was not too worried because with their recent political blunderings, Umbrella was swiftly gathering people who hated them... Powerful people who could do much more damage than the technological giant could even fathom. Laughing silently, Ada thought back to the protection she had through Nanotek but she did not need that now. She was sure to make both pay for their hand in everything even if it meant she would be a martyr for better business practices.