Jill and Barry heard Wesker's cackling laugh ring through their ears as they approached the door. They couldn't tell what he was laughing at exactly, but whatever it had been it couldn't have been good.
"You ready?" Jill asked preparing to flank the entrance.
"As I'll ever be." Barry replied.
The two nodded at each other, raised their pistols, and then took sides of the door. Barry counted to three and then kicked the door in revealing Wesker standing at a terminal.
The room was simple, a computer terminal, some tables and chairs, a wall-sized monitor with a bunch on indescribable numbers and letters, and a very obvious two way mirror. To make things worse everything in the room was tan. The chairs, computer tables, and walls, all except the east wall which was a cold metal door labeled "Laboratory Entrance".
Wesker turned and looked in their direction.
"Ah, Barry, I see you've done your job well. I didn't expect you to go above and beyond your duties like this, but I commend you nonetheless." He said, never glancing away from the large monitor on the wall.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Barry replied.
"Well, you brought me Jill Valentine, which truly is a work by itself."
"What?" Jill said taking a step back.
"I guess the joke is on you Wesker," Barry answered, "I saw your email, you can't make me do shit anymore, Jill and I are here to put an end to your tyranny."
"Tyranny!" Wesker laughed, turning around, "You don't know the beginning of it!"
"Albert Wesker you are under arrest, put your hands on your head and lay down on the ground." Jill began to read the Miranda Warning.
"Oh skip the shit Valentine," Wesker retorted, "Barry I want you to go back to the courtyard and wait for me there. I have plans for Miss Valentine."
"Maybe you didn't hear me the first time," Barry said raising his magnum, "I saw your email, there's nobody outside my family's home, you have no control over me anymore."
"Ahh, ignorance truly is bliss," Wesker replied going back to his computer, "do you honestly think I left that email open by accident Burton? You were boring me, so I thought I'd mix things up a bit. If you looked carefully you would have seen the email had never been sent yet. Of course I figured I'd have more time to plan before you read it, but I suppose this works just as well."
"No, Barry, don't listen. He's lying." Jill said.
"I said go wait in the courtyard Burton," Wesker added quickly as he reached for his walkie-talkie, "otherwise, you know the consequences."
Barry watched as Wesker clicked the talk button of the walkie-talkie on and off once. As the static clicked in and out Barry felt his stomach turn into a larger knot then it had been in all night. Wesker could very well be lying, but at the same time, based on his present mental state, he very easily could be telling the truth. Wesker's game had been deception from the get go, so what was to say he wasn't still playing.
Barry sighed and turned towards the door.
"Barry." Jill said desperately.
The door opened and shut as Barry's bright orange best disappeared behind it.
"Much better." Wesker said finally leaving his computer terminal and walking over to Jill.
"You can put the gun down now Valentine, it won't do you any good." He said.
Jill slowly lowered her gun back into its holster.
"I don't understand," she started, "why Captain? Why would you do this to us? You're a traitor."
"Ha!" Wesker exclaimed, "You can't even begin to wrap your mind around this situation Jill, I am no traitor, simply because I was never for the S.T.A.R.S. team to begin with."
"What?" Jill asked, "How can that be? Why would anyone put themselves through such grueling testing if you don't even want to be a S.T.A.R.S. member?"
"How naïve, don't you get it? Umbrella appointed me here, all I had to do was keep you pests out of their hair and maintain a daily progress log with the scientists at this mansion facility. If I did my job I got my Umbrella pay, plus a little police stipend."
"They'll find out." Jill said. "With an operation like S.T.A.R.S. Umbrella will get caught."
"Wrong again Valentine," Wesker replied, "Those of us S.T.A.R.S who actually know how to make it in today's ever-changing world are Umbrella influenced. I'm not the only one by any means, and there aren't enough of you across America who Umbrella hasn't contacted for you to be of any threat to our operations. Face it, you lost."
"So why us? What is this all about?"
"Well, since I plan to kill you anyway, I suppose it couldn't hurt to share a few minor details," Wesker said. "Only the true villains of our time do this practice, so I consider myself privileged to be amongst them." He laughed.
"Cut the crap Wesker." Jill replied.
"Ah, getting straight to the chase I see, well, an accident occurred here, if you couldn't already tell," Wesker started, "and a very valuable piece of research known as the T or Tyrant virus was let loose on the inhabitants of this house. To make a long explanation short its affects our deadly to live tissue, killing it slowly, then converting any excess energy in the dead tissue into reanimation, into life. Of course this has a rather zombie like affect, which I'm sure you've seen this evening, but we at Umbrella see error as opportunity, so when opportunity struck, they contacted me and thought what better chance then now to test our creation in combat situations—,"
"And what better combatants then a unit of S.T.A.R.S members." Jill finished his sentence.
"Precisely," Wesker said, "you guys are called the best of the best, so why not see how good you really are? I had by now assumed that you all were dead and that Barry would be my last task, but now that I see you are still alive, I can finally test our modern miracle of science."
"Which would be?"
"You'll see soon enough."
"Wesker," Jill asked, "besides pay, what is in this for you? Unless that email was entirely fake it sounds like you are playing for more then one team here."
"You always were a smart one," Wesker replied, "In the world of business, one must remember that the difference between an average successful business man, and one of great report and power is evidence. Whereas once I kill you and Burton there will be no evidence beyond Umbrella of my S.T.A.R.S. involvement, after I steal the last surviving T-Virus sample and blow up the mansion, there will be no evidence for Umbrella when I sell the sample on the black market."
"But what if whoever you sell it to uses it?"
"No longer my concern," Wesker said, "The earlier in life you learn that, the better. If Burton had any street smarts he would have handled tonight much better."
"What? By blackmailing people that trusted him?"
"Ha! Blackmail? Please Valentine, you know as well as I do that that email was fake. I can't help that Burton is an idiot, not even I have that kind of jurisdiction over Umbrella's power. There was never anybody outside his home, but so long as he believes here is then there's less blood on my hands."
Wesker walked towards the door, away from the lab.
"Now, if you'll follow me," he said, "I can prep you for your meeting."
He laughed hysterically as he opened the door back to the hallway.
"After you Miss Valenti—."
Jill watched as Wesker instantly crumpled face first to the floor, his infamous sunglasses cracking into pieces against his face. Where he once stood was a very angry looking Barry Burton with magnum in hand. He had apparently clocked Wesker in the back of the head.
"Had to come back," he said looking at the incapacitated Wesker on the floor, "I almost forgot to kick your ass."
"Barry, how did you—I thought," Jill stuttered.
"I figured I may stick around for a few more minutes; never know what someone might say at just the right moment, eh?" Barry responded.
"Well, thank you, I really owe you one. Let's get him cuffed and conscious."
"I don't have any cuffs, you?"
"Nope," Jill said, "Let's see if there is any industrial wire or cord in the laboratory we could use."
The two walked over to the door and pressed the open button, the door hissed open and split in half revealing the laboratory on the other side. Jill and Barry wandered around the room looking for something that they could use to tie up Wesker, but as Barry continued looking Jill was suddenly intrigued by another idea.
"This is the modern miracle of science?" She thought looking at the large glass tube in the center of the room.
Suspended in a stasis state was a man, no—a monster. It was about six-and-a-half to seven feet tall with gray skin. Its head was bald, and its face was mutilated as if it had grown and stretched faster then it should, like pulled rubber, with large parts of bone and tooth exposed near the mouth. It had one human arm and one arm that had been horribly mutated; it was now shaped like a cluster of large, sharp claws, the longest extending down to the floor of the tube. It was naked, but not offensive as it had no sex organs, it almost seemed as though they had melted away, smooth skin replacing where they would have been. But the most interesting part of this thing was the tumor in its chest where the heart should have been.
"Wait," Jill thought, "that is its heart!"
Jill watched as the tumor-like ball pulsated like a heart beat. Whatever was inside this tube was alive and well, just napping.
"Hey Jill!" Barry yelled from across the room, "I found some stuff I think we can use."
Jill turned and watched Barry rip some heavy-duty cables from behind a terminal and then turn towards her with them in hand.
"Barry, you need to come see this" Jill said calmly.
Barry walked over and looked at the tube that had caught his partner's attention.
"Jesus H. Christ," Barry said quietly in amazement, "Is that a person?"
"If it ever was a person, may god have mercy on their poor, poor soul." Jill said removing her green beret.
"Alright kid, this thing is starting to creep me out, let's tie up Wesker, and go back to Raccoon. I'm sure the appropriate authorities will know what to do with this place once we go public." Barry said.
"Go public?" A voice said from the back of room.
Jill and Barry turned quickly to see a rather battered and pissed-off Wesker standing in the doorway to the laboratory.
"I'm sorry, but I really, really, can't let you be doing that." He said slowly approaching them.
"Wesker stay right where you are goddamnit!" Barry yelled.
"Barry, quiet, you're going to wake that thing up!" Jill whispered.
"Or what," Wesker replied loudly in return, "Are you going to shoot me?"
Wesker slowly pulled his Desert Eagle out of its holster and began to aim it, through his slightly blurred, concussed vision, at his two foes.
"Wesker, don't do this," Jill said calmly as she motioned at the large tube behind her.
"Ha!" Wesker replied, "Far too late for that Valentine. See you in hell!."
Wesker shot at them both, missing because of the blow to the head. Jill and Barry dodged as the bullet struck the glass of the tube behind them.
Jill gasped and watched intently as the monster's eyes slowly opened, and its human hand began to pound at the slightly cracked glass in front of it.
"Jill!" Barry yelled, "Run! It's breaking loose."
The two S.T.A.R.S. members ran in separate ways for the door of the lab as Wesker, in turn, ran for the main terminal next to the test tube, slamming down the only red button on the keyboard.
Before either Barry or Jill could make it to the door, it began to hiss shut and a red light filled the room.
FIFTEEN MINUTES UNTIL SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE IS ACTIVATED
"Shit!" Barry and Jill said in unison.
"Wesker you moron," Barry continued, "You just locked us in, we are all going to die."
"No, no dear Burton, not at all," Wesker replied, "The system goes into lock down for exactly three minutes, forcing scientists to back up and export their work before running in a frightened frenzy. So don't worry, the explosion won't kill you—."
Just then the central glass tube shattered and the large creature inside stumbled forward out of it onto the lab floor.
"Ah," Wesker continued his sentence, "But maybe this will."
Wesker and the two S.T.A.R.S watched from separate ends of the room, as the monster in the tube, regained its footing and took a glance around the room letting out a terrible roar.
"Live my tyrant! Live!" Wesker said from behind it.
"Barry what should we do?" Jill said frantically.
"Wait," Barry replied, 'What's it doing?"
Jill and Barry watched as the monster slowly turned towards Wesker and began walking in his direction.
"Tyrant I command you to eliminate the S.T.A.R.S. team. Turn around I say!" Wesker was starting to panic.
The monster was less then a foot away before it stopped and starred at Wesker.
"Goddamnit Richardson," Wesker said under his breath, "I said kill them now. Turn the fuck around and your job you worthless piece of shi—."
Jill and Barry watched as the monster lunged its claws forward right through the abdomen of Captain Albert Wesker. Whatever he had planned to say was now lost to agonized wheezing and painful screaming as Wesker lay impaled upon the mutated fist of this creature, who then proceeded to through Wesker with all its strength half-way across the room, slamming him up against the wall.
Jill and Barry watched as he slid down the wall into a bloody heap on the floor.
Albert Wesker was dead.
And this "tyrant" was starting to turn around again.
THIRTEEN MINUTES UNTIL SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE IS ACTIVATED
"Now what?" Jill asked.
"Let's keep it busy for one minute, until the door unlocks." Barry replied.
"Split up?"
"You got it kid."
The two S.T.A.R.S. members split in two directions around the edge of the laboratory, Barry heading to the left and towards the back, Jill to the right and towards Wesker's body. When she got there she grabbed his Desert Eagle off his body.
When Jill turned towards the beast again she saw it moving in on Barry who was standing against a wall, with his colt raised in the Tyrants direction. She heard him firing slug after slug at it, but it didn't seem to be remotely phased at all.
"Barry!" Jill yelled, "Aim for the heart!"
Jill ran towards him jumping over terminals and chairs to get in front of the beast, and once she did the two unloaded on it as best they could.
"Wait," Barry said as the Tyrant edged uncomfortably close, "I have an idea, take cover."
Jill dove under a desk as she watched Barry pull out a frag grenade from his pouch, pull the pin, and throw it right in the Tyrant's path. Jill covered her ears, and after the explosion stood up to see the Tyrant face first on the floor.
TWELVE MINUTES UNTIL SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE IS ACTIVATED. ALL DOORS ARE NOW UNLOCKED, PLEASE PROCEED TO THE NEAREST POINT OF EXIT.
Jill and Barry heard the laboratory door hiss open, and without a seconds hesitation ran for the door. There was no way they were about to wait to see if that thing was about to go for round two.
As they ran past the door, Jill stopped and looked at Wesker, dead, on the floor.
"Burn in hell," she said, spitting on his corpse.
The two S.T.A.R.S ran out of the lab, heading back down the hallway towards the elevator that lead back to the surface.
Just as they passed the door that they had passed before, it swung open behind them.
"Shit!" They both yelled jumping back and spinning around guns aimed and ready to fire.
Just then Chris and Rebecca came stumbling out from behind the door.
"Chris?" Jill yelled running to give him a hug.
"Yea," he replied, "it's me. But listen, there is something else you have to know. I think Wesker may be a traitor."
"We know Chris, Wesker is dead now." Barry said putting a hand on Chris shoulder as Jill embraced Rebecca.
"Dead?" he replied.
"Trust me, it was for the best. Now let's get the hell out of here!"
Just then Chris's walkie-talkie clicked on.
"H-H-Hello? Can anyone hear me? I'm c-c-coming back, but its dark so if I am going to be able to see you, you are going to have to set up some f-f-flares."
The walkie-talkie clicked out.
"Brad!" Chris shouted looking at his team, "Let's get on the roof and set off some flares, we're about to be rescued."
NINE MINUTES UNTIL SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE IS ACTIVATED
"And not a moment too soon," Rebecca replied.
The four teammates headed into the elevator and pushed the "roof access" button. They waited patiently as it headed for the top of the building nobody saying a single word. At this point in the evening, words were useless and no longer necessary, their only concern was escape.
Escape and exposing Umbrella once and for all.