File #9

A Hero's Welcome

Grim stood there with the pistol pointed at the pair of us. I could see his dark eyes through the eye holes of his mask and he did not look happy. Good. Douchebag.

"So…You THINK you can just walk up into MY facility. Kill MY lieutenants and try to steal and destroy MY research," he said through what sounded like gritted teeth.

"And YOU think you can point a gun at MY son," Dad growled back. He moved between me and Grim.

"Shut the FUCK up you boulder punching asshole!" Grim shouted.

"Read Heisenberg's notes, have you?" Dad taunted. I'm almost positive I've mentioned that Dad had punched a boulder in the past. It seemed to be a huge joke in the criminal underworld.

"Move ONE muscle and I will kill your son. Do you FUCKING understand me Redfield?!" Grim yelled. In the distance, if I concentrated hard enough, I could hear the rage of Jill Valentine ignite.

"I'm done being your lab rat Quinten," Dad taunted. Grim flinched violently when Dad apparently said his real name.

"DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED THE LAST TIME YOU CALLED ME THAT?!" Grim pretty much screamed at the top of his voice. Damn yo, this dude is PISSED.

"Yes I do Quinten but here's the thing pal, I am no longer imprisoned, you are threatening my son and I don't like you," Dad said and cracked his neck. Grim fired his pistol at me. He missed but that didn't matter to Dad. His hand was wrapped around Grim's neck, the pistol was halfway across the room and a loud cracking sound filled my eardrums. It was Grim's hand. Dad used his other hand punched him in the face, shattering the stupid skull mask.

"Gak!" Grim choked. I couldn't really see his face over Dad's bulk.

"What the FUCK did you just do?" Dad growled. Grim managed to kick him off and scramble over to his pistol on the ground. His fingers on his good hand wrapped around the barrel and he pointed it at me and fired. This time his aim was true. He got me right in the shoulder. I fell to the ground in pain. Dad yelled "NO!" and was by my side within seconds.

"Here's what's going to happen REDFIELD. I am going to walk out of here ALIVE and your son WILL die. That bullet was poisoned," Grim explained in a triumphant tone. He was right, I could feel myself getting really really ill.

"Stay with me Zack. Look at me. Focus on me," Dad said, trying to stop the bleeding in my shoulder.

"Poor Chris Redfield. Surrounded by death. There were so many people he couldn't save. Joseph Frost. Ben Airhart. Carl Alfonso. Finn Macauley. Andy Walker. Piers Nievans. Ethan Winters. And now your son. Zackary Redfield. All dead because of your failure as a sol-" BANG! Dad had silenced the bastard with one bullet to his head. I noticed he had grabbed my pistol and used it. A large hole was now through Grim's head and parts of his brain had splattered on the wall. He had been mid sentence when dad shot him so his mouth was still open in shock as the bullet tore through his brain matter. Grim's body fell on the ground with a thud and moved no more. He was dead. Killed while monologuing. Good fucking riddence asshole. I'll see you in hell. My vision was blurring from the poison but I had caught the look on Dad's face. He didn't look worried.

"Don't worry Zack. It's not fatal. It'll bring you close to death but you won't die. Needless to say, I'm not leaving you like this. There's got to be a blue herb around here somewh- Ahh! There we go!" Dad was saying. It sounded muffled to me but I had registered that the poison wasn't fatal. Dad disappeared from my view for a few seconds and I got really scared but he returned with a piece of paper with a crushed up blue plant on it.

"Eat this. It'll taste bad but it'll nullify all of the poison," he explained and dumped the plant into my open mouth. He was right. It was like ingesting burned dirt. The effect was immediate though. I sat up and coughed a little, trying to get the repulsive taste out of my mouth. Dad was typing away on a computer.

"Dad, what are you doing?" I asked.

"Wiping all traces of this research and then we're gonna blow this lab sky high. This guy only kept the completed virus samples in this room. They're right over there," Dad said and jabbed his thumb at a cabinet on the wall. In it, I saw several hundred small vials of the virus.

"Uh…wouldn't doing that be a bad idea?" I asked.

"Grim was using a very old method of producing bioweapons. This stuff will only take effect if it's combined with a human's blood. I know it has the potential to be airborne but that requires a lot of effort in order to get that to work. I know they used all their current supply of the airborne variant to frame you for that incident in Buffalo. Fire will completely nullify it too. I dealt with this virus with your mother back in the 90s. It's incredibly odd that he decided to use this one. How he even got the virus is beyond me. The only place I know of that has t-Virus specimens is the B.S.A.A. labs…" Dad explained.

"I may have an idea," I said and told him that Xander was a traitor.

"Bold claim son. You got any proof…Hold on, what's this? Looks like B.S.A.A. body cam footage," Dad said and pressed play on a video file. It was the body cam footage of Reaper finding my "corpse" and telling Jenna, Mom and Laura that I was dead. I watched Dad's face when he heard Mom scream. He was so angry. He got even more mad when Xander came on screen and this time I was able to see the rest of the video as Dad didn't punch the screen.

"...him next. That fucking bastard shares Redfield's hatred of me. Same with that other guy. Jin or whatever. No wait! I'll find a way to send the other Redfield child to you! Yeah! That sounds like fun! I'm stopping by the B.S.A.A. in the morning. I'll tell Jenna the same thing I told her bitch brother. Hearing Valentine cry when she finds out her whole family is dead will be music to my ears!" Xander's voice said. Dad did punch the screen but only after Xander stopped talking.

"NOBODY threatens my little girl," Dad shouted. He walked over and gave Grim's corpse a mighty kick out of anger. I was afraid to say anything. Plus hearing my mother scream had triggered a flashback. Specifically the one where that bullet whizzed by my head after dad had kicked a wooden door to pieces.

"NO! NO! MY BABY!" the voice of my mother rang in my ears and I simply stared at my pistol on the desk near the computer Dad had been working on. My hand inched toward the gun but before I grabbed it, Dad's had stopped me.

"It's ok son. You know that won't solve anything. I told you that I was not going to lose my son to suicide. Your mother would never be the same if she actually lost you," he said. I snapped out of it. Within a few minutes, I was going to be back with the people I love the most in the world and Xander was going to be behind bars for his crimes. That's when I remembered that I had Grim's phone. I pulled it out and realized there was a 4 digit password. Dammit. I tried the basic 1234 combination but that didn't work. I glanced towards the virus samples again and a thought struck me.

"Hey Dad, when did you deal with the t-Virus?" I asked. Dad thought for a moment.

"1998? Yeah, that sounds right," he answered. I typed the numbers 1998 into the keypad and the phone unlocked. I scrolled through messages (that turned out to be a bad idea because there were nude photos of Jessie) and videos. It pretty much contained all the evidence that connected Xander to Grim and his operation. Can this day get better?

"Nice one David Lightman," Dad said, slapping me on the shoulder. I had no idea who that person was but he must be some sort of computer guy. I stowed the phone in my jacket pocket after checking it for any malicious programs designed to wipe it. None. This day got better!

"Are we almost done here?" I asked dad, reminding myself of being a little kid and wanting to get home after being at Auntie Claire's house for a few hours.

"Yep…There! The hard drive should be wiped. I spotted some plastic explosives in the weapons locker over there. Use it all," Dad instructed. I did so. Together we placed the plastic explosives all throughout the room. I even found a remote detonator so we could blow this place from a safe distance. My shoulder stinged with pain every so often because of the bullet wound. I'd get someone back at B.S.A.A. to have a look at it. Probably Laura. Dad finished setting the final charge and turned to face me.

"Alright son, let's go" he said.

I had grabbed Grim's keycard in case we needed it to exit the underground lab but the doors opened for us with no issue. The detonator was safely in one of my vest pockets. It was a press and hold style detonator so it wouldn't go off on accident. Dad and I walked through the wilderness before we came upon a motor pool guarded by 2 Disciples of Azrael members. I went to engage them but Dad grabbed my shoulder. I turned to face him only to see him smirking at me and he motioned to a large boulder perched on a hill nearby. I grinned back. We snuck over to it and Dad sent the boulder rolling down the hill with a few punches. It made a loud crashing noise that spooked the guards.

"What the…REDFIELD!" one of them said spotting me leaning against a nearby tree. He raised a gun at me but his head was taken clean off by another large rock thrown by my father. The dude threw the 80lb stone like it was a baseball and at like 90mph. What a guy! The other guard looked incredibly confused, even as the 9mm cartridge tore through his head and he fell to the ground. Dad walked over to one of them and found some keys.

"I'll drive," he said smiling. I climbed into the passenger seat with all my gear (I had retrieved the other guns from the chest and had thrown them in the trunk of the Jeep), buckled myself in and finally felt I was able to rest. Dad started the Jeep with one turn of the key.
"LLLLLike a glove!" he said cheerfully and started to drive away. I leaned up against the seat and felt myself drifting off to sleep. The last thing I saw before I fell asleep was my merchant friend waving to me and dad before he vanished into thin air as dad pressed the button on the detonator.

I awoke to the sound of a car door slamming. I shook my head and realized that I was outside my parents house. It was a cozy 3 story home (counting the basement) in the suburbs. Dad was walking toward the house but I noticed that Mom's car wasn't here. She must still be at the B.S.A.A.. I got out of the car and followed him after leaving my weapons in the Jeep. Didn't think I'd need them. Dad heard me shut the Jeep's door.

"Need a shower and a change of clothes, then we'll go to the B.S.A.A.. Get some food in you," he said as he opened the door. "Ahh, now this feels like home," he said as he walked inside. I followed him. He went upstairs and I walked into the kitchen. I opened the fridge to see that there was some burrito meat and some fixings in there. Now ravenously hungry, I made myself 2 large burritos and wolfed them down. I grabbed a glass of water as I heard the shower start running followed by Dad going "Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about." I smiled. I did it. I found dad. After almost 4 months of him being gone, it was me that found him. I couldn't wait to see Mom's face when she saw him again. Speaking of Mom, I saw that there was a half finished bottle of wine next to what looked like a photo album in the living room. I walked over to check it out. I was right, it was a photo album. Specifically, photos of me as a baby. There was one of me in Dad's arms as a newborn, another of me and Jenna sleeping together in our cribs, another of me in my mom's arms at her wedding and even the infamous photo of me napping next to Sherry Birkin.

"Get up. Now!" a female voice I recognized said from behind me. The back door was behind the living room couch. She must have gone in that way after seeing the unfamiliar car in the driveway. I didn't move.

"I said. Get. Up!" the voice ordered again. This time I complied. I heard a small gasp from behind me. I smirked before I turned around with my hands up in mock surrender. Sure enough, Jenna was there aiming a gun at me. Rude! I'm telling! Jenna gasped again but didn't lower the pistol. I knew why, we had dealt with plenty of bioterrorists and weapons for a long time. Many of which could shapeshift.

"WHO ARE YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THIS HOUSE!" she shouted at me. I could see that she was shaking a little.

"Your brother. I needed a burrito and Mom makes the best ones so here I am," I answered still with a smirk on my face. Jenna didn't seem to buy it.

"LIAR! WHAT…what was the song you sang during that one BBQ?" she managed to ask. Mom and Dad had taught us to ask a suspected shape shifter a question only the real version knew. I smiled at my sister and sang "Broadway is dark tonight, little bit weaker than it used to be." I barely finished saying the word "be" before Jenna screamed, started sobbing and threw herself at me. Thankfully she holstered her gun and turned the safety on. She was crying so hard she was shaking.

"Hi sis," I said, patting her on the back.

"Jade wasn't lying! I knew it! I knew you were alive! There was no way you crashed on that motorcycle! Those safety features are top notch!" Jenna's muffled voice said. Brave woman. I must have smelled pretty bad. I should take a shower myself in a minute. There was one more surprise for Jenna. Oh yeah, the features on my bike. Basically, it is very very hard to crash on a motorcycle nowadays. The wheels pretty much magnetize to the road and it takes a very hard impact to send a bike and a rider flying.

"What happened? Where were you? It's been like 7 hours since anyone heard from you," Jenna said, wiping her eyes. I noticed that the shower had stopped running upstairs.

"Followed a bogus lead on dad. Got captured by those Disciples of Azrael douchebags," I explained as footsteps rang out from upstairs along with the sound of whistling. "How's Mom?" I asked, trying to keep Jenna's focus on me rather than Dad upstairs.

"Not good. After Reaper said you were dead, she left the B.S.A.A. and I found her here drinking and looking at photos of you. I managed to persuade her to go back as I didn't trust her to be alone. She's still there, holding onto your jacket as if you were still wearing it. I just came back to get her a sweater when I spotted the Jeep in the driveway filled with weapons. Thought the place was being robbed so I came in the back," Jenna explained. I heard Dad start to slowly make his way down the other staircase leading to the living room. They happened to lead right behind Jenna near the back door.

"Good call. It wasn't all bad though," I said. Dad had come around the corner dressed in cargo pants, a t-shirt and a button down shirt. The dirt and grime was off his face now and his hair was styled in the way he always kept it. He smiled when he saw Jenna and silently positioned himself behind her.

"Really? What else were you doing?" Jenna asked.

"Fulfilling a promise," I said. Dad placed one of his hands on Jenna's shoulders. Jenna gasped again. She looked down at the hand and then back up at me before she said in the smallest voice "D...Daddy?"

"Hi Little One," Dad said gently. Jenna turned around and looked our father in his face. She immediately broke down like a little girl that had hurt herself on the playground and wanted her daddy to make it all better. I could hear her saying "Daddy!" over and over as she cried.

"I'm alright Jenny. Zack found me," he told her.

"But...but…4 months!" she protested.

"Oh come on, you think that I was gonna give up that easily? I should get some real food. I smell burritos. Lemme have one and then we'll go back to the B.S.A.A. ok?" Dad said, still in a very gentle voice. Dad made himself a burrito of his own while Jenna refused to leave his side. I took the time to go shower myself. I stripped off my filthy clothes and hopped into the shower. I gave myself an extra hard scrubbing in order to get Jessie's touch off my body entirely. I noticed that Mom had kept an extra supply of clothes for me in my old bedroom which was pretty much untouched. My movie posters were still on the wall along with my diplomas. Some of my old action figures were still on my dresser. I grabbed a pair of cargo pants as well as a plain t-shirt. I grabbed my clothes and put them in the washing machine while muttering "Sorry mom" and walked downstairs where Dad and Jenna were sitting together at the table.

"How's your mom?" Dad asked Jenna between bites.

"N-not good," Jenna stammered. "She still thinks you and Zack are dead." Dad nodded and finished off his burrito.

"Well, let's change that then shall we?" Dad said.

About 25 minutes later we pulled into the garage at the B.S.A.A.. We had decided to take the commandeered Jeep. The guards at the gate had seen Dad get out of the car and they froze.

"Holy fuck…Commander Redfield?" one of them said.

"Yes. You 2, take the weapons in this Jeep over to the armory. I want them checked for any trackers or faulty parts," Dad ordered but he handed me my pistol.

"Yessir!" the other guard said before he noticed me. "Corporal Redfield too! Damn, what a night huh Devin?" he said to his buddy.

"I'll say. Your wife is over in one of the break rooms Commander. I think it's the one on the 4th floor last I heard," Devin the guard informed us. "I'm glad you're safe sir" he added as he and his friend began gathering the weapons from the Jeep. Dad, Jenna and I proceed to make our way to the 4th floor break room all while acknowledging people that had noticed us passing. None of them thought to inform Jill Valentine that her husband and son weren't dead. They must have felt that it was personal business. Eventually we got to the break room and I peered inside. There were 4 female figures with their backs to us. My mom, Auntie Claire, Laura and mom's friend Jade Voth who I had saved earlier. I heard Jade say "I'm sure Zack is still fighting Jill," while mom made a sobbing noise. Dad smirked when he saw me inhale sharply upon seeing my girlfriend's back.

"Reeled her in didn't you son," Dad whispered. Jenna nodded. "Atta boy," Dad continued with a nod. Neither me or Dad could decide on who should enter first. Jenna made that decision for us and walked into the room. In the reflection of a nearby window, I saw 3 of the women turn to face her (Mom still faced the opposite direction). Jenna nodded and then Dad motioned for me to walk in. I took a deep breath and walked into the room. I got about 4 steps into the room before people started shouting.

"Zack?!"

"Corporal Redfield?!"

"Laddie?!"

"Chubby Cheeks?!" Mom had moved upon hearing Auntie Claire call me my old nickname. She slowly turned to face me. I barely registered Laura sobbing at the sight of me along with Auntie Claire. I only had eyes for the first woman that loved me unconditionally. I smiled at her.

"Hi Mommy," I said knowing it would get a reaction. It did. Mom got up from the chair, placed my jacket on the table and started slowly walking over to me. She stopped right in front of me and held out her hand to touch my face. I grabbed her hand and pressed her palm against my cheek.

"Z…Zack…sweetie?" Mom said in a voice barely above a whisper. I know what she was thinking. What if this was a shapeshifter? I smiled at her and sang "Yeah, all the things that you are, beautifully broken al- WHOA!" Mom had grabbed me and pulled me into a hug so fierce I feared my head was about to pop off. I heard her simply bawling and saying "My baby! My baby's alive!" After about a few seconds, I felt some more hands wrap around me. Auntie Claire and Laura. I caught Laura's eye and smiled at her. She smiled back but continued crying. The 3 women hugging me felt like they were never going to let go until…

"Hey, do I get a hug too," my dad's voice asked from behind me. That got Mom and Auntie Claire to stop crying and both let go of me. I was now able to see who else was in the room. Jin and his cousin, Kimi were along with Reaper. They were standing off in a corner. Uncle Leon was also in the room eating a sandwich. They caught my eye and grinned before noticing Dad.

"Commander Redfield?!" Reaper, Jin, Laura and Kimi said in unison.

"Chris?!" Auntie Claire and Uncle Leon shouted. Mom didn't say anything. She was struck dumb. Completely speechless. She looked from Dad to me and then back to Dad.

"It's him Mom. I told you I would find him," I said to her and gave her shoulder a squeeze. Mom still did nothing. Dad stood there with his arms open like a bit of a clown. He frowned slightly.

"Jill, it's me Chris. Don't you recognize me?" Dad said. That triggered something in Mom because she finally moved. And by moved I mean pretty much launched herself into Dad's arms before kissing him so hard I thought I heard teeth getting smashed together. Eventually, Auntie Claire had walked over to hug her brother and she managed to squeeze Mom in the middle.

"Hah, Jill sandwich," Uncle Leon said to himself and sniffed. He had walked over to me and put his arm on my shoulder. I looked up into his face.

"You crying Uncle Leon?" I asked.

"Zack come on man, we thought you and Chris were dead," he said. I grinned and gave my uncle a hug.

"Wow, how sentimental," I heard a new voice say. For once I was glad to hear the voice of Evan Xander. He was standing in the other doorway to the breakroom…still wearing those sunglasses. At least he was alone this time.

"Outstanding, just the man I wanted to see," I said and started to walk over to him. This was going to be so fucking cathardic. All the shit this douchebag had given me over the years was finally going to be over. It was going to end. He was going away for a long time and I was going to be hailed as a hero. I drew my pistol, cocked it and pointed it at Xander's forehead.

"Whoa! Laddie, what are you doing!" Reaper shouted.

"Yeah, laddie. What are you doing?" Xander growled at me through gritted teeth. I didn't lower my gun. "Lower that. Now. You are on thin ice as it is." That got me.

"Am I," I snarled. "Evan Xander, you are under arrest for bioterrorism, murder, kidnapping and just because fuck you, slander." Xander bared his teeth at me before he started saying "On what evidence are you mak-" before I pistol whipped him across the face. Knocking those FUCKING sunglasses across the room. Laura, Mom and Auntie Claire all gasped. Xander recovered from the hit and spit out a little blood.

"You little shit," he snarled.

"Shut. Up," I snapped back. "Or I will just shoot you. Understand?" Before he said anything else, I pulled out Grim's phone. I saw his eyes widen in fear. Good. He knew he was guilty now. I tossed the phone to Reaper. "Code is 1998 Captain. Check the messages. Stay away from the ones from Jessie though," I said while keeping my pistol pointed at Xander's head. I watched Xander's cockiness slide off his face as he heard his own voice come from the phone screen laughing about framing me and threatening to do the same to Jenna. I glanced over at my parents and squadmates and saw they were looking at Xander with absolute disgust. I smiled smugly at him.

"Threatening the daughter of Commander Chris Redfield is a terrible idea and framing, kidnapping and attempting to kill the son of Commander Jill Valentine is an even worse one" I told him. From behind me I heard my mom crack her knuckles and start to move forward. I guess dad had gently stopped her with his hand because I heard her huff indignantly. Xander was still looking at me with pure hatred in his gaze. "On your knees and hands in the air please. I will not ask nicely again," I said. Xander reluctantly complied before he started laughing maniacally for some reason. I didn't realize why for a few moments…before I noticed the now empty syringe labeled "Prime Red Virus Strand" rolling across the floor.

Oh fuck…