Special thanks to my dear friend The95will.

Chapter 7. "Secrets Part 2."

Hunk and Claire crept down the hall, their steps muffled by thick-dirty carpet, the place seemed to be the nice part of the lab.

They made a turn at a hallway fork. Hunk's weapon went first; then, he continued carefully. The mercenary faintly heard Claire let out a breath at the sight.

The place that looked nice, before it was stained with blood and liquids, it's obvious these creatures were everywhere.

The duo traversed the lab carefully. There were stragglers of zombies in small numbers here and there. Nothing they couldn't handle. During their exploration, they haven't encountered any Hunters since. Or killer worms…

'So far, so good.' Claire thought to herself. The hall continued on, leading to sections for plants, and some had animals, mostly dogs. They heard them clearly parking, turning again there was a door on the left they could try. Claire pushed the door open and smiled weirdly at the empty room, at the row of chairs that she could see since it was well-lit.

"People actually live here for their work?" Claire commented. She inspected the room more to see a table with plenty of food on it. "Pretty sad."

Hunk checked the whole dinner table; three plates were filled with chicken parts, four plates of salad, and visible beer cups. As lovely as the room was, it did seem to hold danger. Perhaps recently, something came in and hide in there, maybe around the fireplace, and there were a few things scattered across the floor, empty bottles.

"That's what you think miss holier than thou," Hunk stated as he inspected it.

"What did you just call me?" Claire said coldly. Hunk crossed his arms and didn't bother to look back at her.

"You heard me, you behave like this perfect little angel that could do no wrong. Somehow this gives you the right to pass judgment on people around you." The mercenary paused for a moment and turned to face Claire. "Aren't you the same person who desired to kill me painfully? Explain this to me on how that isn't murder? There will be blood on your hands no matter who you decide to kill."

Claire slightly tilted her head. "Excuse me? This coming from an experienced murderer."

"I do what I'm paid to do." Hunk frowned back at her under his mask

Claire opened her mouth, but nothing came. As much as she hates to admit it, he burned her there, he is right.

'No, what are you thinking, someone like him deserved to be punished for what he did. As Chris said, everyone will experience retribution for their actions.'

The survivor has pulled away from her thoughts as there was a noise somewhere close to them.

They heard a sound on the other side of the room, it seems the noise coming from the other side of the door, a substantial step, then a long pause, then a second step.

Claire exhaled slowly then prepared her weapon, with her eager index finger at the trigger. Hunk went first ahead of her and touched the handle, he gazed back at Claire to make sure, and she nodded.

Hunk held his sidearm tightly and kicked the door open, the other side again had the lab-looking ground, a sign above them written on it clearly called Section D.

"Alright, seriously, the design of this place is strange." Claire shrugged.

This section, though, had weird-looking eggs spread around, their size was abnormal like they were the eggs of a Griffion, machines all over the place like this is what held the power in the whole base. Both of them watched each other's corners, but Hunk was much more professional about it.

Claire's brother Chris at least showed her various military techniques, but she wasn't at the full form to do so seriously.

She didn't see Hunk grimace at her on her sloppy technique. He kept it to himself, however.

Claire walked backward carefully with her weapon, while Hunk kept his eyes for any possible danger.

They walked around the machines in the middle of the large section and saw an automatic door in the front that immediately opened when they get close.

She heard a quiet gasp under the mask, "What?" though he didn't stay long. He sprinted through what appears to be an operating room.

There was a bed in the middle and wires all around it. On the right side, there is a large glass and an office behind it. There was a door in the corner where Hunk went through without hesitation.

"Hey, wait up," Claire shouted and ran after him. On the other side, she felt a painful Deja-vu. Something about the area was too similar to the long steel path like the one in Birkin's lab, thereof the railing she saw the same, a pillar-like machine holding much electricity.

"Nighthawk." She heard Hunk call out in a somber tone.

A wounded man curled in a corner around some cut wires, his hands tied to the machines. "No, get back." A muffled voice stammered back. It was apparent he didn't have much energy. The tone of it was all too clear to Claire, he was obviously exhausted.

Claire only noticed the red uniform the man wore, but she didn't have time to observe him thoroughly.

After one second of silence, they heard a hideous sloshing sound. Claire followed the sound and saw stains of white liquid coming from... Claire looked up, and her eyes widened. "Uh oh," she whispered, she slowly started to backtrack. "What's that!?"

Hunk turned away from the wounded man to see what was going on. Something large jumped down from someplace. The rough blue exoskeleton just reflected in the already dim light as a small head spouted out of the center that just rotated its head at them. It just grumbled at them. The abdomen section didn't have any visible organs but appeared to be a thick tendon of muscle with more of the grey shell covering it. It grumbled at them again, and the creature's right arm appeared to be nothing bone and jagged fragments of the exoskeleton. It did not have a left arm, apparently. The thing lowered its right arm. A small head spouted of the left shoulder, and it just had an eye blink at them. It stood about double the height of Hunk, who was already six foot one. Overall, it looked like a Humanoid Shellfish.

Claire tried to take the shot, but it seems the thing is covered like a standard shell. It slammed its arm to the ground, and both of them felt the vibration creep up their legs. A weird sound came out of the creature, and it sprinted toward Claire, she tried to dodge and jumped to the side, but it was fast, and she felt a flaming wound in both of her ankles. "Oh," Claire grunted in pain. The adrenaline in her system from earlier must have worn off.

Hunk took the chance and aimed at its eye, two, three times. The creature raised its other arm for a moment. Claire pushed herself as far away as she could, but the ground beneath her shook violently. The vibrations this time caused her to lose balance, then tripped and slammed to the ground harshly.

She gasped and noticed that Hunk was down too. After that thing slammed its arm. 'That's some worrying strength it has.' She thought.

Hunk stood up and ran around the creature to catch its weak spot once again, one bullet went through, but the creature was fast to turn around and protect itself. Hunk prepped himself to dodge, and in less than one second, the shell sprinted toward him. He timed it just right for him to sidestep the behemoth as it stumbled past him.

'It didn't adjust its path…' Hunk thought to himself as he aimed his pistol to fire at sections he believed to be exposed skin.

Claire immediately aimed and fired none stop from the other side. "Come on, die." She whispered.

Though the creature continued, once again, it raised the arm. 'Try to get as far as possible.' The slam came in again, and both of them couldn't avoid the shake. Hunk fell flat on his back as Claire toppled over and landed on her hip. Both of them cast their reserves thoughts aside for a moment.

"Ouch, I seriously can't take this," Claire said as she rubbed her lower back.

"Our little friend doesn't want to say goodbye." Hunk replied while he rolled to his stomach to push himself back to his feet.

Claire dusted herself and stood up. "Alright, I'll distract it."

Hunk nodded and carefully walked in the side, to allow Claire to be in front of the thing. His eyes caught Nighthawk for a split second before he positioned himself in the spot.

Claire shot at the thing, fooling it to turn to her. "Don't mess this up."

"Do your part." Hunk fired over the eye, while he moved forward following its steps.

"Take this!" Claire shouted and throw her gun toward him.

The creature again sprinted toward Claire, and by luck, she was able to dodge this time. Hunk held the two guns and fired at the beast until its eye exploded, and the shell broke in half. A sigh of relief escaped her lips, and she rubbed her forehead, then wiped the sweat away. 'Thank god.'

Claire came forward to see the wounded man.

Hunk knelt down and worked to free him, using his knife. "Keep up the fire," Nighthawk chuckled "What the hell took you so long?"

"Just hold the torch, jerk." Hunk joke back as he inspects the wounds.

Nighthawk looked at Claire for a moment, confused, and his gaze returned to Hunk. "Who's the girl? I'm telling you man, bold move to have a date during an outbreak." The pilot chuckled.

"What was that, Pigeon?" Hunk said coldly and put a bit of pressure on his waist wound.

"ARGH! Alright, just lay off, will ya?" Nighthawk said and lowered his head.

Claire knelt down and took her gun from the ground, near him.

This time, Claire was able to catch a full glimpse of Nighthawk after she holstered the weapon. The red uniform was more crimson with shades of black to them. His torso had somebody armor that looks to be slightly heavier than Hunk's. At the rims of his armor had red to it, Claire assumed it was to see the pouches more comfortable in the heat of the moment. What really set Nighthawk apart from Hunk on that he wore a single pair of goggles for his eyes and underneath was some sort of breathing mask. However, it didn't look like the kind that existed in the everyday markets. His helmet was red on the center and white at the sides. Under the mask, goggles and helmet was a balaclava. Just by sheer appearance, Hunk had the rugged equipment as Nighthawk had the updated gear.

The two continued some more small talk as Hunk applied some basic first aid here and there.

Claire watched the scene before her silently, his words still echoed in her mind harshly. *You behave like this perfect little angel that could do no wrong, you have darkness within.* Hunk wrapped the man's arm around his shoulders and helped him stand on his feet.

*There will be blood on your hands no matter who you decide to kill.*

Claire creaked her teeth and waited until the two walked past her.

Together they returned back to the dining room, where Hunk gently placed his friend on the chair. He took the plate of salad and held it in front of Nighthawk. "Eat, you need it."

The pilot's hands trembled as he took the plate from him, he stared at the food for a moment, and despite the icky feeling in his stomach, he was hungry. Nighthawk moved his breathing mask and his balaclava.

Slowly he began to eat with a side of spaghetti.

Hunk glanced at Claire, standing at the end of the table, her cheeks glistened with tears. 'What!?' Hunk thought as he removed his mask, he took out a chocolate bar and begin eating.

"Damn, you used to have such a sweet tooth, look what you did to them." Nighthawk teased. Hunk rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Hey girl, you better eat too, it's not rotten," Nighthawk called her.

Claire sniffed and took a breath. "No, I'm fine."

Hunk shrugged in response.

Nighthawk felt better as he did not overeat, only enough to possibly give him energy for the next few hours.

They spent a good five minutes resting in that room, and once they decided to leave, they went back to the other side.

They went through what seems like another lobby on the other side of a cell section, Hunk observed the place carefully and noticed there are more cameras in the corners. This meant, from a specific room here, he could find access to past recordings, then maybe one of them had caught Nighthawk and the people who took him...somewhere, there was information he needed to find silently.

Nighthawk gently let go of Hunk, he felt his balance was troubled, but he was able to stay still. "I'll take a seat over there." He limped toward a couch.

Hunk felt Claire tabbing his shoulder quietly. He looked back and saw her eyes are focused on something. He followed her eyes and saw a shadowy figure inside a room labeled Boardroom.

Without speaking, the mercenary singled her to stay quiet and prepare her weapon. Carefully he moved with Claire following behind, his gloved hand touched the metal handle.

He took a breath and opened it without making a sound. The duo entered, and they were met by an oozing corpse stood near the window, the table was a mess it had blooded papers scattered all around. 'Again!?' Claire thought, she was about to aim, but Hunk stopped her.

Hunk took out his combat knife and lightly came close to the bloated zombie, he gave it a strong kick on the knees, and a punched it in the back.

Immediately his knife impaled its head multiple times until it began to shrink to nothing. In the middle of the blood and insides, he saw what it seems to be a name tag, he snatched it out and tried to read it.

"Caro..." his breath hitched in his throat, "Willow!?"

"I'm not sure what the hell is this all could mean, but..." Hunk heard Claire talk, she looked over the pages of a journal. "Spec Ops Echo Six are gone, their freedom is earned, though I don't think it's true and the only survivor they ever found has been brought here. I don't think they made it out before the missile wiped the city off the map."

'I feel this whole thing is a mess, how the hell will Umbrella rise from the ashes? I find it impossible to lose many agents and employees, but somehow they're sure their plans will succeed.' Claire observed him waiting for something to comment about this.

"I get it." That was the only statement he said as he stood up and prepared to leave the room.

"What?"

"Quiet, it doesn't matter."

Claire rolled her eyes and sighed. She went over more papers around, hoping she'll find more things she could use.

A few seconds passed when a sound appeared, and it sent chills down her spine. It was Hunk, he was laughing, a laugh entirely empty of humor. It reminded her so much of these creepy laughs she hears in horror movies though mixed with anger.

"Oh dear," she whispered and held into her gun tightly.

Claire walked out of the board room, and her eyes looked around for him. He was in the room to her left, standing at the threshold, looking inside a dark room.

Claire felt her heartbeat go crazy. Her hands trembled as she came closer and closer to him. Though her steps were halted, something inside the room caught her attention, a large image of a man with silver hair. The room seemed like another chemical workplace, it was huge and had two large counters in the middle.

Deja-vu. The lab reminded her of Doctor Birkin's lab in Raccoon city. Claire swallowed a lump in her throat and spoke. "What's so funny?"

'I'm finally able to put the pieces together.' He thought. 'The mission out of nowhere, the nice paycheck, Nighthawk… I should have known.'

Claire shook her head, whispering. "God, you're a creep, answer me?" and still waited for a reply.

'But I won't allow him to smell my fear and doubt, never.' She frowned and pushed the thoughts away.

Nighthawk came in, biting his lips, and held onto Hunk. "You see now, buddy, we're nothing but..."

"Thank you, I'll take that as a compliment." Hunk replied to Claire and pushed her out of his way, it was apparent he stopped Nighthawk before he blurts out anything.

"Jesus," Claire said. "This replica of Birkin's lab. What the hell do you know about this, tell me? I've seen the lizards section through the monitor, and it seems they've broken through and destroyed everything, someone must have helped the things to break through and go up to the city." She said sharply. "It can't be they broke such security."

"Believe whatever you want, but I have no idea. Do I have to remind you of the words you told me?" Hunk looked over his shoulder. "Dumb bitch, stop it already with these strange thoughts of yours of somehow I hold all the answers you need." Hunk adjusted his shoulder to support Nighthawk. "I'm just a mercenary."

Claire looked away from him, those words...that hit a nerve. And her... it stung and echoed throughout her mind.

The sheet was the only thing covering her body. Right there, a man stood with a prideful smile. "Stop it with these laughable thoughts of yours…" The voice muffled for a moment as he put a shirt back on."I don't hold all the answers you need. I thought you understood that it was just physical between us… you were a nice ride, babe." A chuckle echoed in her mind. "Call me again if you're interested." A door closed.

Hunk was already inside to check the counters for any traces of that strange virus, Nighthawk was set down on a chair on the far end. Nothing appeared to be in the immediate area, and he leaned back… A metal object poked at the back of his head, just from experience, he knew it was a gun. Hunk slowly turned around to look at her.

Like time slowed down, that look in her eyes held so much rage. "Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked, and the red lenses just reflected back at her.

Claire stood still for a moment, the gun shaking in front of his eyes, and a second later, the expression was gone.

Claire lowered her gun and looked away.

'You're one strange girl, I give you that much.' Hunk thought.

"Forget it. Look, there is a card key over there. I'll head upstairs, you check down here." Claire whispered and pointed at the stairs near the machines at the back of the room.

"Look at you trying to practice leadership." Hunk teased. "How old are you, anyway?"

Claire shot him a scowl, then turned and went up the stairs.

A few seconds later, the sound of her footsteps vanished.

Once the door closed, Claire falls on her knees against the door, she held her head between her hands and sobbed quietly.

How come someone like him can shake her morals so much, to the point of crying? Is she the same as him?

At last, Claire felt calm, she stood and wiped her tears.

The room was an office for a trio, with a heavy heart she started looking over things: some documents, and albums. Most of them spoke of Raccoon city and the abyss experiment. It was evident to her, someone wanted to get rid of the city, wipe it off the map because of all of these secrets underground, those bastards, and they take innocent people to cover up their mistakes!?

Something on the last page of the document caught her attention, she closed her eyes and shook her head, thinking perhaps this is not real. She looked again and it still the same. She brought the page way too close to her eyes to make sure she was seeing this right.

"No way!?" she gasped. "Is this true?"

Name: James A.K.A. Subject 10

Age: 4 years old when acquired. Currently speculated to be 22 years old.

Codename: Human Unit Never Killed. The title and label gave to his control group. Known for wearing a gas mask during all of his missions. The current gasmask was part of an arms deal with European Extremists. He chose it for himself.

The other children, however, did not survive the course of time.

Claire didn't find the energy to read much, and she checked the date of the report and said. "April 15, 1998." This was five years ago.

It seems to her, time itself halted. She was shocked as her jaw dropped. "Claire, you dumb holier than thou."

She searched through the office and found an empty bag under the chair.

"There." she took it and gathered many documents and papers off the desk.

(…)

Hunk returned to the large lobby along with Nighthawk, there were multiple doors he needed to check.

"Let's see what's behind door number one," he mumbled, going through the door behind a receptionist desk, and he raised his gun, ready to burn everything that stands in his way.

It was a resting room, one that had once been quite elegant, there he could see four infected men wander around the bunk beds in the sides of the room, and all of them turned and danced toward him. They all looked like computer specialists and two engineering workers, their skin gray and torn, their eyes blank, their arms though were white and bloated. One of them had a fork sticking out of its forehead. Hunk quickly closed the door and stepped inside, a clean headshot had taken them one by one.

Once their bodies laid still on the ground, Nighthawk took a seat and breathed. "This is getting out of hand, what do you think we should do?"

"First, take it easy, second that man will never escape me, even if he ran to the end of the earth." Hunk announced." I will find him, and I'll make him pay dearly for the hell we went through."

Hunk went to the T.V. and knelt down to check VHS taken out of the drawer.

"So this is a recording of the cameras?" he said and put the first tape his hand found and clicked play.

The screen showed the room they were in earlier, with the tube and hunters, researchers were walking back and forth checking the tubes, the view didn't help him see what was in there. He tried to check their faces and see if he recognize anyone of them, he went through two tapes of nothing, and the third one.

It started with that clone lab, the screen showed four men dragging something inside and sticking needles in it, more than one. "Hmmm, could it be Willow?" Hunk said.

"I never heard anything from Space ops echo six after Raccoon city, do you think they're alive?" Nighthawk inquired.

Hunk shrugged. "Maybe...I feel like the members of Wolfpack are next. That Russian Asshole has lost his mind."

Thank you for reading, oh secrets are finally revealed but it's not over, I'll update sooner this time.

Thank you reaperfan for your greet review: Yeah the worm is inspired by the amazing silent hill.

It always seems to me Hunk is considered this amazing man who cannot be bothered, but I wanted to show him in a vulnerable moment, and it worked nicely. Still, the attitude won't change easily lol.

Ah, you're going to have to wait a little more for the wolfpack members. :)