Chapter 6: Rise and Shine

Wednesday 8:27 January 4th 2012, Carpathian Mountain Range, Romania

Ethan was surprised at first from the sudden hugs bestowed by his two beloved daughters, but he soon wrapped arms around them, returning the hugs gently.

"Hey, girls," smiled Ethan, "You're not asleep yet?"

"Not yet. Mama was telling us a story." replied Eveline.

"When did you get here, Ethan?" asked Miranda.

"Just now. I was coming up to check if the girls were in bed when I saw the light was still on. Then I heard you mention my name, so I decided to come see what's going on?", replied Ethan, before turning to his daughters, "So, I gotta ask…what is going on?"

"Mama is telling us a story." said Rosemary, repeating Eveline's answer, "The story of how she first met you."

"Really?" asked Ethan, taken aback a little bit about the topic, but his exterior gave a smile and surprised look, "What part did she get up to?"

"The part where she found out your real name after she finished fixing you up," said Eveline, "She kept on referring to you as Vector until she said your name was Ethan."

"You never told us that Mama performed surgery on you," added Rosemary, "It's kinda hard to believe that you first talked to her while halfway through surgery."

Despite keeping a smile on his face, Ethan was greatly worried inside. It had been years since he had even heard his codename being used in conversation. Only Miranda knew of his former identity as Vector, but now she had told their daughters about it? He knew that his daughters would ask how he would meet their mother one day, but this was much earlier than he expected. And he knew Miranda would never give away anything that would tie him back to the Umbrella Corporation, but he still needed to make sure.

"I guess…a part of me was eager to meet the person who saved my life," laughed Ethan, "What did she tell you so far?"

"How she and Uncle Karl found you in your crashed helicopter, took you back to her village house, fixed you up and went through your things until she found out your real name from a paper in a box.", replied Rosemary, "And then you just came in."

Ethan gave off a soft sigh if relief. From Rose's summary, Miranda didn't tell them any explicit details from their first encounter. Just the basics. That was good because they were still too young to understand the truth behind the encounter. And they certainly didn't need to hear the gruesome detail of his injuries. Maybe he could try to wrap this all up.

"Okay. Well, now you girls know how your mother and I met," said Ethan, "And it's getting a bit late-"

"But, Papa, she hasn't told us what happened next." protested Rosemary.

"Yeah, Papa. We want to hear more. Why did you come to Romania in the first place? When did you go on your first date with Mama? What was the wedding like? How you met our aunts and uncles in the valley?" agreed Eveline.

"And what kind of pilot you were." added Rosemary.

Ethan raised an eyebrow at the mention of the word 'pilot', but then he realised that Miranda must have substituted that in place of his real profession as an Umbrella Security Service operative and the fact that he was found in the helicopter. That was good. He loved his daughters to death, but he still wasn't sure what they would say to him if they knew the real nature of his previous employment. Maybe he could make it more vague and say he was part of a private army? His mind was struggling to make its decision.

But in the end, he didn't want to keep them in the dark. If he told them something true but left out the specific details, they would be satisfied.

"How about I take the story from here? I'll fast forward it from there to the point where I woke up from the surgery. Nothing I really important happens in the time that I was asleep," said Ethan, "But first, you girls might want to get comfortable."

"Yay!" cheered the sisters happily.

Both the girls returned to their beds, pulling their blankets over their bodies and snuggling in. Miranda sat back down on in her rocking chair while Ethan sat down at the foot of Rosemary's bed.

"Okay, Papa," said Rosemary, "So what happened when you woke up?"

Ethan took a moment to make a mental note to keep the story simple and as child-friendly as possible, not wanting to give anything away that would arouse suspicion. He took a deep breath before he spoke out.

"I remember that day like it was yesterday," Ethan spoke, "I found myself in a room. In a stranger's house. In a valley that I had never heard of before. I woke up, feeling stiff and groggy from the surgery…"

Ethan remembered so much had happened before the point he met Miranda. There was the Raccoon City Incident, the outbreak on Sheena Island and his final mission on Rockfort Island. But what happened in Raccoon City really changed his life path, diverting him towards a different future. A future of uncertainty and independence. But back then, he certainly didn't expect to crash land in a familiar, yet strangely unique world cut off from the rest of humanity.

But that one crash led him on a path he would find himself exploring more and more until the present day.

Starting with the stranger that was Miranda.

Friday 7:28 PM January 7TH 2000, Unknown Village, Carpathian Mountains, Romania

4 days later, 12 years earlier…

Vector had been conscious now for a few minutes, but his eyes were still shut tight. He couldn't make up his mind whether or not he would wake up to find himself back in the place he woke up in after he fell unconscious in the snow. Maybe the woman, the one named Mother Miranda, would be by his side, waiting for him to wake up. Perhaps that shaggy haired man with the coat would be next to her. It was true that he fell completely unconscious after Miranda had prevented him for reaching for his firearm. The pain in his body caused by the debris was too much to bear for him.

But now that pain was completely gone. He remembered that there was metal wedged in various part of his body, but most of it was gone when he awoke, no doubt Miranda's work. He remembered helping her to remove that final wedge from his lung and chest, but it was more painful than any bullet wound he had ever sustained. Breathing in gently from his nostrils, he felt no pain from his chest. Did Miranda somehow succeed in healing him quicker or was it the doing of the HT-Virus? He remembered how his body spasmed when the metal was removed and felt like his body didn't heal the way it should have been. Or perhaps he died after all and now he's in a place that was beyond life?

There was only one way to find out.

Finally snapping open his eyes, Vector found himself staring straight up at a ceiling. A ceiling with a series of yellow light bulbs and the ceiling itself was seemingly made out of…dirt? He didn't get a good look at it when he awoke in the middle of the surgery as his attention was too focused on Miranda. Speaking of the woman, he looked around lifted his head up and surveyed his surroundings. Miranda was nowhere to be seen. From first observation, the place he was in looked like some kind dug-out bunker, but it was old. Really old. Remembering Miranda's words that she had brought him to her home to be treated, she must have used this place as a makeshift operating room rather than it being a basement.

Turning his head in different directions, he caught more of his surroundings. There were wooden tables and shelves, loaded with so many items that Vector managed to survey only a few things that he recognized like papers, jars, some surgical tools, various dried-up plants and…his operator suit?!

"What the hell?" muttered Vector to himself.

An alarm went off inside Vector's head. Looking down at himself, he saw that he was in his jumpsuit, but feet and hands bare. Vector figured that it had to be done as part of the surgery, but he wasn't so much as worried about being half-naked as he was worried having his identity being compromised.

And he wasn't certain why he didn't notice it before, but he saw that his hands and feet were bound by rope to the four corners of the table Miranda used to operate on him. He must have been like this for a while because his body felt stiff from being in this position. He needed to find a way for get out of his bounds if he wanted freedom.

"Gotta find a way out of these restraints." said Vector to himself.

And, as luck would have it, he soon noticed a bloodstained scalpel lying next to his right hand. Judging from the blood on it, Miranda must have used it on him as part of the emergency surgery. Grabbing a hold of it with his hand, he directed its delicate blade on the rope, beginning to cut through it. He had a small knife hidden within each of his gauntlets for situations like this, but since they were no longer on him, it was not an option.

"Come on, come on." Vector grunted as he continued to slice through the rope.

At last, the rope lost the battle with the scalpel. But it seemed like barely as the scalpel blade had been dulled down from all the cutting. Not that it mattered to Vector as he now used his free hand to untie his other hand from its binding. Once both hands were free, he sat up to do the same with his feet. He groaned as he sat up, though, feeling the stiffness in his back from the prolonged duration of lying down.

Once his feet were untied, he swung his legs over to the side of the table. But his request at a steady stand was denied as his stiff legs and numb legs failed to support his weight, causing Ethan to fall on his stomach.

"Son of a-" muttered Vector, "Okay. Just gotta take it slowly."

Allowing the numbness in his body to subside, Vector tried again to stand up straight. This time using the edge of the table as a support. Taking a few minutes to stretch and bend his legs, taking a few careful steps forward and wiggling his toes, he soon found his legs back in their active state.

Suddenly remembering his gear, he walked over to where it was resting, but a new problem arose when he got to the designated table.

"Oh, shit.", cursed Vector.

Beside his suit gear, he saw his backpack, which Miranda had salvaged from the crash, no doubt. And as expected, the file that had his name was lying next to it. It was opened with its papers scattered alongside Mia's personal journal, which was also open. He gathered up the papers and journal into the file before turning his attention to the rest of his things. But what he saw next only caused a whole new level panic to overcome Vector, despite his normally cool and collected persona.

The box that contained all the things he would need for the future was wide open. And its contents were displayed out separately like artifacts in a museum for all the world to see.

Miranda had gone through all of his belongings.

"How the hell did she manage to open the box?" Vector asked himself.

But he knew the answer to that once he got a closer look at all the stuff on the table. The silver key and the photograph were laid out carefully. Vector grabbed the photograph gently, not wanting to add any more wear and tear to it.

Taking a moment from all the commotion at hand, Vector just stood in solemn silence as he eyed the photograph. He remembered this being taken on the day he and the other five in the photograph had officially become the Umbrella Security Service's Delta Team, codenamed WOLFPACK. That was almost seven years ago. Despite the fact that he preferred to go on assignments alongside his former mentor and father-figure, Hunk, Umbrella decided that he would be better off in a team to divide the efficiency into two teams rather than just working as a duo. Vector remembered being reluctant about this decision, but nonetheless allowed it.

At first, he was distant towards his teammates. They were all in it for the money and came from different backgrounds while Vector barely acknowledged his past life and was practically raised by Umbrella as a security agent. He assumed their skills early on were not on par with his own, but he soon realized that their own set of skills and talents were different from their own and contributed in their own ways.

Overtime, he got to know his teammates. He heard their stories, where they came from and why they joined. Lupo was a former French Special Forces Operative who wanted to support her kids financially after she murdered her abusive husband. Spectre wanted to escape the Soviet Union after getting involved in the seedier side of the regime as well as offering his services as a sniper and security expert. Beltway wanted to work his talents in explosives after being dishonorably discharged from the United States Army Corps as an engineer. Bertha joined as Umbrella saw her talents as an expert medic and torturer to their liking. Four-Eyes joined out of her love of studying virology and her status as an able-bodied scientist, combined with her emotional detachments from most of humanity as she saw them as nothing but guinea pigs. That sometimes disturbed Vector.

He understood their stories and soon came to recognize their talents as integral parts of the team. And in return, he indulged them in his own story. Originally from a backwater town in the United States, he joined the United States Army for the thrill rather than patriotism. After getting discharged, he was approached by Umbrella for a job opportunity in their new Umbrella Security Service. Hunk essentially became a father to him and trained him in honing his skills and mastering multiple martial arts.

Despite his mostly silent nature, he did find communication did lead to a more effective team. After some time, he had come to accept that the team was like a family. Lupo was like his adoptive mother, being the eldest of the team and always looking out for her team like they were her own children. The others were like his adoptive brothers and sisters. They differed in personalities and character, which led to some moments of bonding and some of disagreements. But when it came time for a mission, they all had each others' backs. Even after getting the HT-Virus treatment, their opinions of him didn't go down in the least. In fact, they were most ecstatic about having a super soldier on the team. Most teams didn't last as long as Wolfpack did.

Vector sighed in sadness, knowing that he was never going to see them again. Who would have thought despite Raccoon City had taken his team away from him in the final stage of the mission? Vector didn't, that was for sure. To this day, even though that was over a year ago, it ate away at him at not being strong enough to protect his team. But they didn't go unavenged. Hunk always told him that 'Survival is your own responsibility'. A lesson that Vector took seriously. Maybe he took it in deeper than the others did. It didn't matter now and what was important that he moved on. Like they wanted him to. Like Hunk would want him to.

He then eyed the dog tags. Before he left Raccoon City, he took the dog tags from each of his teammates. He knew that no one else was going to take them, but they were better in the hands of the only living team member than destroyed by a bomb. Looking through each of them, he could almost feel their presence. Like they never left him. And in a way, they never will. Because he will always remember them as his family.

But getting back at the situation at hand, he looked at the other stuff that Miranda had brought back from the helicopter. Other than his weapons, he got his eyes on a few small gadgets, plenty of loose ammunition and handgun clips, medicine packs, food packs and a water canteen. Among other things.

"Looks like she brought bak everything that was not nailed down," said Vector, "But I better get out of here and get to my destination before she comes back."

While he was grateful to Miranda for helping to treat and fix him, Vector couldn't help but feel there was something more...sinister about her. And even if she meant nothing but well, he still couldn't be around her much given his current situation. She would be safer the less she was around him.

Vector decided that suiting up was what he needed to do first because his bare feet were starting to get cold. In a few minutes, he was fully back in his operator combat suit from head to toe, feeling like he was ready for another mission. Even though he would never go on another one ever again. He stuffed the documents and dog tags back into the leather box, which he put in the backpack together with the file. Finally, he put in whatever was left.

And all that remained were his blade and his two handguns.

Vector inspected the blade. There was still blood on is from his last kill. He didn't have time to wash it, but maybe he could clean it off once he got to his intended destination. This unique blade was one that he custom made himself. He had the choice between this customisable blade and heated blade HOT DOGGER, but went this this one as the other still was imperfect at the time. It was great for killing hostiles with a single slice to the throat or stab and effective against zombies and smaller B.O.W.s. But he did look upon the Umbrella logo on it with distaste. He slipped the sabre into the scabbard on the vest, careful not to accidentally stab himself with it.

Next up was the shinier handgun. His personal Lightning Hawk. A standard issue for all experienced Umbrella Security Service personnel. He was awarded it by Hunk himself after a particular mission. Well before the HT-Virus and Wolfpack. He looked upon it like it was a badge of honour, having it customised several times with newer upgrades and it went on every mission he was ever assigned. He slipped it into the gun holster on his vest.

And finally he was down to his last item. The other handgun.

It was a Samurai Edge. The customized standard issue Beretta F92 handgun formerly used by the Raccoon City Police Department's Special Tactics and Rescue Service. Or S.T.A.R.S. for short. He had heard of these in reports by Albert Wesker about their unique custom design and power, but always preferred the standard issue Lightning Hawk due to its superior firepower. He had acquired this weapon after a confrontation with its previous owner some time ago, but the initials C.R. remained. After using it, Vector decided that it was worth keeping since it performed better than expected. He slipped it into the holster on his thigh.

He slung the backpack on his back.

"Alright," muttered Vector, "Now I gotta find a way out of this place."

"Leaving so soon?" a female voice spoke up from behind.

With blinding speed, Vector aimed the Samurai Edge at the source of the voice. There, standing in front of a passageway that he didn't notice before, was his saviour in her robes.

Miranda.

"You can put the gun down. I'm not here to harm you," said Miranda, unintimidated, "We need to talk…Mr Winters."

Slowly, Vector lowered his weapon. The mention of his new identity slightly disturbed him, but who was he to tell her wrong now that she had gone through all his files?

"I looked around and saw my stuff on a table, but I was alone. As soon as I managed to get back on my feet, I knew that I had to get out of the house." continued Ethan.

"But why, Papa?" asked Eveline, "Why did you want to leave? Didn't you love Mama?"

"No, no, no," laughed Ethan, sheepishly raising his hands in defence, "I wanted to get out because I was scared. Plus, Miranda wasn't around and I didn't know much about her other than her name. We didn't even fall in love at the time as I was just a patient to her. That was at a later point in our lives. And I love your mother very much now."

"That's right, sweetie," said Miranda, "Love happens over time, not in an instant. Unless it is love at first sight."

"Was it?" asked Eveline.

Both Miranda and Ethan looked at each other for a brief moment before Ethan answered, "Sort of."

"But didn't you want to thank her for saving her life?" asked Rosemary, "You weren't just going to get up without saying good-bye to her, were you?"

"Then it was a good thing that I had decided to come down and check up on your father myself." said Miranda, who looked at Ethan in mock-hurt, "I still remember you trying to pack up. Leaving me alone without saying good-bye."

Both the girls laughed at that while the parents chuckled. Ethan leaned over and planted a kiss on his wife's cheek, which she reciprocated with a giggle.

"Anyway, Miranda came down into the room just when I was packing," Ethan continued the story, "And that's when we started to know each other."

Anyway, there's another chapter done.

I know I've been gone for five years, but I'm back and ready to write more.

This is my first Author's Note since my previous story, Break-Up Town, USA (Regular Show). I'm working on this story as a comeback story.

I seem to be getting some good reviews so far, but I would like to hear more from you guys. I've read other Ethan x Miranda stories, but I think this is the first one ever to incorporate the Operation Raccoon City story with the Ethan Winters Saga.

Also, in case anyone isn't aware, VECTOR and WOLFPACK are actual characters from Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. If you guys need more info, look up on the Resident Evil Wiki, play the game or watch the gameplay.

And as a final note, be on the lookout for some Easter Eggs and references throughout the story. I've already planted out one or two that should be recognizable.

Till Next Chapter