The sense of relief he felt when Leon confirmed Claire's well-being was something that Chris could not explain with words. His baby sister was safe and sound, and in Chris's eyes, that was all that mattered. Sadly, the good news got overshadowed by the report of a potential new type of B.O.W.

"Long story short, there's a high chance of a new virus development in this place. The new B.O.W.s are tough and very violent, but their movement seems restricted to nighttime. I'll explain in more detail when you get here. Claire believes there might be important information in this facility. However, that information seems to be in the underground research center, which, in my experience, must be filled with more B.O.W.s. I don't think Claire and I can handle them on our own."

"Of course, you don't! Don't you even dare to go down there until we arrive, understood? If those things are as bad as you say, make sure to stay in a safe place."

"I know, don't worry. "

"We'll talk soon, then. I gotta go."

"All right. Do you want me to hug Claire for you?"

"Don't you dare, Kennedy. Keep those charms off from my sister..."

"I'll try..."

"You..."He couldn't finish since Leon had cut off the call.

Lie a hand on her, Kennedy, and I'll make you suffer.

Chris put away the radio with annoyance and turned to the rest of his team. He saw Jill's relieved expression as she exchanged some words with the soldiers before getting to the cockpit.

"Told you that girl was a tough cookie," Barry said, patting his back, "So it seems our mission turned from rescue to something else."

" If there's a B.O.W involved, then we need to do it. I expected Neo-Umbrella to die with the events in China, but it seems we were wrong. Those bastards..."

"Tch, those leeches are hard to kill. You know that."

A soft beeping sound made Chris pull out his PDA, and he let out a soft chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"Seems like Claire and Leon decided to send us a little present," he replied, showing him the blueprints and information he had just received.

"Well, now. Look at that," Barry laughed, "Very kind of them."

"Judging by the looks, we've got a bunch of nasties awaiting us."

"Heh, when has it been different? We only need to blow them off as we always do."

"Now that's a positive way to see it," Jill smiled, walking back to them, "I just contacted HQ, and we got the green light to take on that laboratory. Our new objective is recovering the bioweapon data."

"Count on Jill to be efficient, "Barry commented, shaking his head.

"Someone has to keep things in order. There's something I am concerned about, though, those new B.O.W.s that Leon mentioned. They only come out at night?"

"Well, that's what they said, but who knows. It might not be the case. That's another thing we will need to look into to be sure. How much more before we get there?"

"Doug says that we need another three hours."

"Means we'll get there just for breakfast…" Barry said, checking his watch. "Hope those kids are getting a good night of rest 'cause this is gonna be one hell of a mission."

"Jill, did you find any clues of why would they target Claire?"

"Sadly, no. TerraSave was helpful, though. I guess they want Claire back as much as we do."

"Hell, if they do. From what Moira tells me, Claire is pretty much TerraSave's goddess by now. They must be panicking now that she's not around. Hey, that could be a reason to kidnap her."

"Yeah, but why would the terrorist group want to sabotage TerraSave?" Jil replied, crossing her arms, "They are only rescuers, so...it wouldn't make sense."

"Unless…" Chris whispered, "Claire told me some time ago that TerraSave had been helping B.S.A.A with the viral studies. That was primarily the reason for which she decided to take on virology."

"Do you think TerraSave could have found something important about the viruses?" Jill asked, "I mean, they didn't mention anything about the institution researching their own accord."

"It was a secret because they wanted to avoid this type of situation. I only knew about it because Claire told me the reason she wanted to study virology, but even then, she didn't tell me much. It was a classified matter, and I respected that. God knows how many things I've kept from her."

"Someone in B.S.A.A should know about it." Barry suggested.

"Right, we can ask that later, when Claire is back with us. Damn, I wished this plane would fly faster."

"Patience is a virtue, Chris."

"Try being patient when your little sister is sleeping somewhere surrounded by those fucking mutants."

"But at least she's not alone this time. She's got someone watching her back, and you can be sure Leon is not someone who would betray her," Barry reasoned.

"Yeah, right. A playboy with charms..."

"Hah, he may be a pretty boy, but he's got his guts. "

Chris did not reply. He knew Leon cared about Claire, but he couldn't help but doubt the man's loyalty sometimes. The agent had a soft spot for a certain Asian spy, and what was stopping him from going after her and leaving Claire behind? And because he knew his sister, was that Claire wouldn't try to stop him at all. She'd probably encourage him to go after her, which was even worse.

"Changing to a lighter topic… It's nice to see Claire's red locks are back in place." Barry said casually, and Chris knew that the man was trying to ease the mood " Can't say I wasn't surprised when she showed up to save my ass two years ago with her hair chopped off. She didn't look bad, though."

"I heard about that…" Jill said with a smile, "Those rookies from B.S.A.A were all over it, but I didn't get the chance to see her..."

"Badass, I tell you, but I like Claire with her ponytail. She's more our Claire, right Chris?" the older man snorted, elbowing the younger one.

"She won't stop being my Claire if she cuts her hair, Barry."

"Nah, I know that, but you must admit you like her with that ponytail. More like the little Claire you love, right?"

Chris wouldn't admit it out loud, but Barry was right. There was some symbolism in his sister's hairstyle. As long as she kept her casual ponytail, it felt as if things had never changed, and his sister was still that sweet little woman always following around and calling him to make sure he'd had a decent dinner. When Claire cut off her hair, Chris knew something had changed. She was a Redfield, and like him, Claire had her ways to cope with pain.

In his case, it had been the drink, not that he was that proud of it, and he had needed a hard shake off to snap out of it. In Claire's case, she had cut off her hair as a symbol of her abandoning her old self. Not many would have noticed, Claire was good at keeping things from others, but he was her brother, for god sake, he could see through her like an open book, and he had seen what the experience from two years ago had done to her.

She still smiled. She was sweet and caring like she always was, but she had lost the confident and trusting glow in her eyes.

What has all this crap done to us?

Chris would have done anything in the world to spare his sister from the horrible calamities that bioterrorism brought to the world.

"I used to have short hair too…" Jill commented.

"Yeah, I remember those times. Wow, it feels like centuries ago, when S.T.A.R.S was alive and kicking…" Barry sighed, "and when all this crap began."

"No use thinking about that now." Chris said absently, "Let's focus on our current situation, shall we?"

"As you say, captain." Barry laughed.

Chris checked his weapons and gear. There was still a long way ahead, and he needed to keep himself preoccupied.