Author Note: Continuation to Secrets & Flies that starts three months after the end. Love, betrayal, suspense and action are on the menu for this story as we watch our favourite band of Umbrella renegades give it their all too hopefully bring a final end to their hellish lifestyle. To do that, assistance will be required for some, unconventional characters...
I do not own the characters & this will be very different from any RE movie and/or video game plot (to date)
Please read & review as you wish!
B.
Update 12-Aug-2021: Minor updates / corrections based on changes to Secrets and Flies.
Calm Before the Storm
- 14 -
Alice and the rest of the team watched as Mason and Jacob were carried away by the enormous creatures with black silhouetted wings and horns that glinted in the moonlight. There was no use wasting anymore ammo for they were out of range and the noise would only attract more. Their only chance of rescuing them was making it to the Pentagon. A bright red light shot straight up into the sky like a laser beam. That had to be where The Red Queen was, the light acting like a beacon, calling her mutated pets back to grovel at her feet.
"What the hell were those things?" Luther asked while scanning the sky with his gun in the event others tried to swoop down.
"More of The Red Queens minions. We need to get to that building." Alice replied.
"And end this once and for all," Jill added with a smile.
Alice smiled back, motioning them to follow on foot now that the front end of their only working Hummer was caved in. Smoke was rising from under the crumpled hood that now resembled a balled up piece of paper. Wesker and his men stationed at the White House were likely dead, the place overrun by those creatures after the first attack. If they failed, there was no telling what The Red Queen would release upon the world.
They kept close, scanning the horizon for more monsters, remaining both alert and on edge. Luther and Jill took the rear, while Ada and Leon flanked left, K-Mart and Chris to the right leaving Alice and Claire to lead the charge. The duffle bag with the weapon to stop The Red Queen was slung over Alice's shoulder. She hoped this was the one time Wesker decided to tell the truth.
Eventually the mangled, corroded gates of what used to be the Pentagon appeared before them. What was once their nations Department of Defense was now an abandoned building that homeless squatters would call home. The place was eerily quiet; no guard dogs, no soldiers, nothing. All they had for a point of reference was the red beam piecing the clouds above.
They had grown accustomed to Umbrella's futuristic décor of slick black walls, illuminated floors, and large glass windows, but none of that was visible here. The only identifiable mark that this was now under Umbrella's control was a crudely spray painted red and white logo in the center of the doors leading inside the building. As they stepped over crumbling walls gouged by deep claw marks, and iron fencing bent into pretzel's, the hair on Alice's neck began to stand up as she gave the signal to hold their position.
"She's watching us," Alice whispered to the the group, pointing at the small black surveillance cameras over the door, "Watch your backs,"
Surrender Project Alice and your friends will live The Red Queens voice echoed in her head.
Get out of my head! Alice shouted back internally, feeling an ice pick pain drill her skull, knocking her to her knees. Claire knelt beside her, seeing the distress on Alice's face while the rest of the group prepared for an ambush.
"Alice, it's her isn't it?" Claire asked, brushing the hair for Alice's face, "Fight it, you're stronger than her,"
Alice's arms began to tremble, The Red Queen burrowing deeper into her subconscious. Her head pounded as the young, yet robotic, voice repeated the same phrase over and over again, trying to break her.
You're all going to die here...you're all going to die here...
Alice could feel blood trickling from her nose as she closed her eyes, trying to focus all her energy on keeping The Red Queen at bay. With the T-virus flowing through her, her ability to resist The Red Queen's control was difficult, but not impossible. She has gone this far, sacrificed so much, like hell she was going to roll over and play dead now.
"S-stay back," Alice warned behind clenched teeth, locking eyes with a distressed Claire.
Chris grabbed his sister's shoulder, pulling her away and training his gun on Alice, "Make one move to harm her and you'll get a bullet between the eyes,"
"Chris no!" Claire yelled, clawing at her brother's strong grip.
You were warned Project Alice The Red Queen said before clearing Alice's her mind. Suddenly the pain stopped, her vision returning when a gunshot rang out. Jill had her pistol aimed at Luther who was now on his knees, hands pressed to his stomach. What the The Red Queen meant by her warnings was suddenly clear.
"Shit! What the hell!" Chris yelled, releasing his grip on Claire. He eyed Ada who was taking aim at Jill, "Like hell you're shooting her!"
"She just killed one of our own!" Ada yelled, both of them watching an almost catatonic Jill turn the gun towards K-Mart, her finger itching the trigger.
"K-Mart get down!" Claire yelled as the girl dove behind a nearby cement barrier. Jill pulled the trigger, grazing K-Mart's shoulder, the bullet hitting cement.
"Damn it Jill! What the hell's gotten into you!" Chris yelled as the woman turned the gun towards him and Ada, her eyes flashing with the Umbrella logo.
"Everyone get to cover!" Alice yelled as the group scattered, Jill taking aim on anything that moved.
Bullets hit metal, cement, ground, but never flesh. Ada and Leon were with Chris behind what remained of a cement wall, trying to get a clear shot. Ada took aim, resting her hand on the wall.
"I have a clear shot," she replied, finger on the trigger.
Chris swatted it away, "I told you once, and I'll shoot you myself the next time."
"She's a threat, she needs to be eliminated."
"I'm not going to let some ex-Umbrella operative be the one to make that call."
"She's no longer the woman you love Redfield, she's a drone to Umbrella, remember that."
Alice and Claire were on the other side of the pathway, ducking behind a stone pillar but keeping their eyes glued on Jill. Claire noticed the blood smears on the ground left by Luther. He managed to get behind a barrier with K-Mart, but based on the blood on the ground, he was dying. At first she thought she was imagining it, but she swore she saw the Umbrella logo flicker in Jill's eyes after she shot Luther. Was she a drone of Umbrella once more? If so, was it possible it could happen to her too?
Claire turned to Alice, noticing she was coming to the same conclusion she was. "Alice, I-" she then stopped, her eyes glazing over.
"Claire?" Alice asked, reaching out to grab her shoulder when she saw the Umbrella logo flash in her eyes just as she lunged for Alice's throat.
"Shit Claire!" Alice yelped as the redhead pinned to the ground.
Claire was strong, her hands like iron around her neck. Her vision began to blur as she clawed at Claire's shoulders, not wanting to hurt her. Alice could feel her throat squeezing shut, Claire was not going to stop until she was dead. Alice gripped Claire's shoulder's tight, tossing her light body like a rag doll across the ground. Even as a drone, she was no match for the super strength of the T-Virus. Alice gasped for air, aware that the gunfire had stopped. It seems Jill had run out of bullets. Before Alice could warn the rest of them of what was happening, Claire ran back towards Alice, prepared to fight, but Alice rolled out of the way, scrambling once more to her feet.
-/-
When the gunfire stopped, Chris emerged from behind the cement barrier. Jill instantly spun in his direction, clicking the trigger to her emptied gun. He raised his hands to show a sign of surrender, inching closer as she repeated the same motion, her arms shaking, fighting control. Tears were falling down her cheeks, but her eyes refused to blink.
"Jill, sweetheart, put down your weapon." Chris asked in a calm, soothing tone.
He could see Jill attempting to do just that, struggling between her physical desire and mental commands. Eventually, she lowered her arm, dropping the gun onto the ground.
"Good, now let's talk,"
Suddenly her brown eyes flashed with the Umbrella logo. It was so quick that if Chris wasn't looking, he would have missed it.
"Terminate Chris Redfield," she replied in a robotic tone, lunging at Chris and tackling him to the ground.
They hit the asphalt hard, disorientating Chris for a moment. Jill was already straddling him, thighs like steel pressed into his ribs while she punched, getting a few slugs in before Chris was finally able to block his face with his forearms. She was strong, and kept going, never losing pace. He tried to find a moment when he could grab her wrists, but it was useless, she was too fast.
"God damn it Jill stop it!" Chris grunted, blood smearing his cheeks as he tried to restrain her powerful punches.
-/-
Alice broke away from Claire again, this time with a punch to the face which she instantly regretted throwing upon impact. Claire stumbled back, shaking it off before grabbing a piece of rebar sticking out the ground. She swung wildly at Alice who dodged left and then the right, the metal digging into the ground, displaying the power behind each swing. Alice grabbed her discarded shotgun, using the barrel as a sword.
Ada took aim on Claire, "Just say the word Alice and she's done!" she yelled.
"No! Do not shoot her!" Alice yelled as she prepared herself for another strike.
"Are you both out of your mind, they need to be eliminated!" Leon exclaimed.
Chris finally grabbed a hold of Jill's wrists, feeling her arms tremble, knuckles red and raw. "Jill, stop, what did those assholes do to you?" he asked, searching her eyes for any sort of answer.
"It's The Red Queen, she's controlling them somehow!" Alice replied, knocking Claire away once more.
Those damn Medusa bugs. It had to be those, for it was why only Jill and Claire who were effected. Some sort of backdoor command must have been implanted by Umbrella in the event those Medusa Bugs were ever removed from their chests. Now that they were within her range of The Red Queen's command centre she was activating them, like sleeper agents.
"You can't be serious, the damn computer's doing this!" Chris growled as his arms trembled, unable to hold Jill back much longer.
Ada lowered her weapon and nodded to Leon to grab the duffel bag, "If she's right then your only chance is if Leon and I go shut her down!" Ada called.
They sprinted towards the main doors, neither Jill nor Claire seeming to care, for they were both fulfilling their orders. As they approached the doors, a blinding white light shot out into the night sky. Ada and Leon stopped, shielding their eyes for a moment and dropping the duffel bag, ready to battle whatever was coming for them. Two figures appeared in the doorway, glowing red scarabs strapped on their chests. As they stepped out of the light, Ada and Leon drew their weapons, but before they could even get a shot off, machine gun fire erupted. They dove in separate directions, using anything for cover while bullets cut cement like butter.
They returned fire, but the figures moved with agility and speed, dodging each bullet well before it would hit. Leon was about to line up a perfect head shot when he realized his target was Jacob Mason. This split second afterthought got Leon a sucker punch to the gut, bringing him to his knees with the wind knocked out of him. Jacob's knee then collided with Leon's chin, as he was barely able to lift his arm to block another punch aimed for his jaw.
"I didn't think steroids were easy to come by in the end of the world." Leon grunted, finally able to punch the young kid across the cheek.
-/-
K-Mart was watching everything unfold from a distance, trembling behind her cement barrier, blood trickling down her arm from where the bullet grazed her. Luther was beside her, leaning against the pillar, his skin ashen from blood loss. She looked down at his red sticky hands, pressing her own against the wound to keep the pressure tight. Luther let out another wail in pain as the bullet traveled further into his abdomen.
"Shit, Luther, shit wh-what do I do?" K-Mart stammered.
"Y-you need to end this," Luther replied with a cough, blood trickling out of the corner of his lips, "L-leave me, they need you more than I do."
K-Mart shook her head, crying harder, "I can't, Luther no,"
"Y-Yes you can, Angie would w-want you to."
She looked over the barrier, eyeing the discarded duffel bag about twenty feet away. Everyone was preoccupied at the moment, teetering on the edge of injuring or murdering loved ones and recent comrades. She saw Ada explaining the weapon to Alice in the tent, it was possible, she could do it. Luther was right, and she hated that the most, for it meant leaving him to die and for them all to loose another person they considered family.
"You're sure you'll be okay without me?" K-Mart asked one last time.
Luther coughed again, spitting more out of his mouth, "I-I'll be fine, I promise."
He was lying, K-Mart knew it. She had seen enough people die over the years to know when their time was up. She leaned in and hugged him, kissing his clammy cheek before taking off in the direction of Ada and Leon. She didn't stop running, swiping the bag with her hand and swinging it over her shoulders, continuing into the bowels of the Pentagon.
"No K-Mart, stop!" Alice yelled.
The young blonde looked over her shoulder and shook her head, accelerating with adrenaline and out of sight. Gun fire erupted behind her, her heart skipping a beat, but there was no time to think about that. She needed to end this if she wanted those she loved to stop trying to kill each other.
The halls to the Pentagon were hollow and dark. The only indication she was heading in the right direction was a red light illuminating the floor. She replayed Alice and Ada's conversation, that the weapon needed to be as close as possible to The Red Queen for maximum damage. How was she going to know what or who The Red Queen was? She knew nothing about it besides it being a computer, was it a server room? A hologram? Command Center?
I'll know it when I see it, K-Mart thought and kept running through the barren halls using the red light as her guide.
- /-
God damn it stop this! Please, stop! Jill screamed in her head so clear that for a moment, she thought she said it out loud. What the hell was happening to her? How could those bastards get a hold of her once more? She was a computer, a holographic little girl, how the hell did she get to be so powerful, so self aware?
You will follow your orders this time Chief Security Officer Valentine. The Red Queen echoed in her head.
Did she really shoot Luther in the stomach? Did she really try to kill everyone, the people that risked their lives to keep her alive? The people that could have easily executed her as another Umbrella Operative, but chose not to. It was Alice that saved her life, who saw the potential to bring her back from the dark side and regain her trust, her lost friend and renegade from Raccoon City.
Like hell I am bitch Jill retorted as she dropped the gun, focusing on Chris's voice over the homicidal kid trying to hijack her brain.
You will terminate Chris Redfield and then Project Alice The Red Queen echoed once more.
Her body lunged forward, knocking Chris to the ground and began to beat him senseless, her arms moving on their own as she tried to stop, to resist the control, but her own self will was no match for The Red Queen's power.
- \ -
She thought she was just going to wipe the blood from Alice's nose, concerned that their one chance at defeating The Red Queen was succumbing to her control. It was like a light switch, her bodily functions no longer her own as the fingers meant to gingerly wipe blood reached for Alice's neck instead and squeezed as tight as they could.
Stop! Please, don't make me do this! Claire yelled in her head, staring intently into Alice's eyes, watching the life slowly being sucked from her. Alice had been blindsided by the fact that her lover and ally turned into a weapon to kill her.
You will terminate Project Alice, you will not defy your orders The Red Queen's robotic and juvenile voice echoed in her head over and over again.
She was too strong for Claire, there was no way she would be able to overpower the computer. The only thing she could hope for was Alice to figure out what was happening and end it before one of them ends up dead.
When Alice's fist collided with her cheek she knew it was a love tap compared to the true force she had with the T-Virus inside her. It was confirmation that Alice knew what was happening, and it brought relief to Claire that she didn't really want to kill the woman she loved.
I love this woman, please, don't make me do this Clare pleaded feeling the emotion of pain, but not shedding a single tear as she swung the rebar at Alice wildly, counting her blessings every time it missed.
Project Alice is a threat to your Queen, she must be eliminated. With that Claire lunged at Alice once more just as she was spouting off the revelation that they were being controlled.
"I'm so sorry Claire, I love you." Alice replied, knocking the rebar out of Claire's hand.
Do what you have to Alice to end this, I love you Claire said in her mind, hoping she was able to convey her understanding in her eyes.
She felt the power behind Alice's toss, knowing now exactly what the T-Virus did to her after all these years. Airborne, her breath caught in her throat as she collided with a cement wall. It crumbled beneath her weight as a sharp, hot pain flared up her left side. Her neck snapped back as she hit the rubble with a thud, vision blurring, The Red Queen's voice finally stopped echoing in her head.
The last thing she saw was Alice taking off after K-Mart into the Pentagon.
- / -
Ada wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth from Mason's hefty upper cut. It was the last move he made before she round-housed him across the face, sending him to his knees. She pulled the gun from her hip and fired, blowing a hole the size of a quarter into his skull. His body slumped over at her feet, the red scarab in his chest going dark now that it's host lay dead. She saw the young kid, K-Mart they called her, take off into The Pentagon with the weapon. Alice followed a few minutes later now that Claire was slumped over in a pile of rubble, sedated for the time being. She looked to Leon who had the younger Mason stuck in an arm bar, pulling it back so far she heard bone snap.
"I've got this, go after them!" Leon called.
She stopped for a moment to reconsider before nodding, taking off inside The Pentagon.
K-Mart turned down countless corridors, hoping that her instincts of following this red light were not leading her astray. She came to a halt, suddenly feeling the weight of the duffel bag slung over her shoulder. The ceilings were high, the glass walls streaked with blood from dead Umbrella Operatives who at one time, occupied those seats. There were maps of different countries, graphs showing the amount of infected to those who were potentially still surviving. Even at this stage in the outbreak, Umbrella was still looking for a way to make a profit.
One of the monitors was displaying vital signs to Jill, Claire and Alice along with CCTV footage of what was happening outside. It was as if The Red Queen was literally inside their heads. Jill's vitals were strong, her heartrate racing as she kept wrestling Chris on the ground. It was hard to tell if she was struggling with him or The Red Queen more. Claire's on the other hand were weak, her video feed black. Maybe she was unconscious, it was hard to tell. Alice did not have video footage, it was a GPS tracker, watching her movements in a computerized map of The Pentagon. She was on the way to K-Mart.
"Who are you?" The Red Queen suddenly spoke, aware of another presence in the room.
In the middle of the room atop a large oval platform, a holographic projection of a little girl with hardened eyes and a furrowed brow materialized. K-Mart knew The Red Queen was the computer, but did not know it was literally that of a little girl. An eight year old was currently in charge of a Corporation that was hell bent on destroying the earth.
"None of your god damn business," K-Mart replied as she dropped the duffel bag and unzipped it, extracting the weapon.
"You will die down here," The Red Queen taunted.
K-Mart armed the weapon, following the exact same sequence she saw Ada show Alice in the tent back at the White House. She looked the little girl in the eye. "If I do, then so will you," she stated, pressing the last button, arming the weapon.
K-Mart gave the hologram the middle finger as she backed out of the room, turning back down the hall she came from. Not long after she heard a loud growl at the end of the hall. K-Mart stopped, noticing a long, slithering tongue coiling around the corner, followed by large talons digging into the tiles. The lights flickered over head, the ground shaking under the monsters weight. She could see the entrance to the hall that led her back to the entrance from where she stood, but to get there she was going to have to play chicken with whatever was coming around the corner.
Activate bio weapon in main corridor, seal all exits The Red Queen ordered over the intercom.
K-Mart jumped as thick Plexiglas dropped behind her, sealing the hall. The deformed head of a Licker appeared in the flickering lights, howling at her. She took off, cutting left as another piece of Plexiglas was coming down to seal off her exit. It locked into place seconds before she got there, trapping her in the room with the licker.
That was when Alice appeared on the other side, managing to catch up to the young teen. She could see her blonde heroine screaming and pounding the glass. Next Alice pulled out her weapon and fired, the bullets bouncing off like rubber. It was useless.
"Go! Get out of here!" K-Mart yelled, a single tear falling from each eye.
Ada had caught up with them, the young blonde watching helplessly as the once Umbrella assassin tried to pull Alice away from the glass, knowing there was nothing more they could do. K-Mart pressed her hand to the glass as Alice did the same before being ripped away and back the way she came.
K-Mart closed her eyes, smelling the decomposing, infected flesh behind her. It's spiked tongue was trying to coil around her ankle and sweep her off her feet. She raised her machine gun, pulling back the safety and spun, firing bullets at a rapid rate into it's engorged head. Blood sprayed her face and body as she slid beneath it's elongated torso and made a break for the far end of the hall, putting as much distance as possible between her and the now wounded and pissed off creature.
Moments later a sudden rapid beeping, signaling the end of the weapons countdown. K-Mart hid in the corner, squeezing her eyes shut as the hall shook from the Licker running in her direction, but it was muted by a loud explosion.
-/-
Alice pushed Ada into an alcove for cover as debris and fire raged down the hall they were running through, incinerating anything in it's path. The red light that illuminated the halls went dark. What remained of The Red Queen's control suddenly left her body. The weapon worked, the computer was destroyed and Umbrella was finally crumbling to it's knees. The heat from the flames was sweltering while pieces of ceiling and rubble collapsed around them.
Ada was knocked unconscious, a piece of ceiling hit her in the head, blood trickling from the wound. Alice checked for a pulse and felt one before she stumbled to her feet, bruised but still standing. The main hall smelt of burnt flesh as she walked back towards the entrance, knowing that if the Licker didn't kill K-Mart than the explosion would have. As she made it back to the main doors that had been blown completely off, her ears were still ringing. The ground was suddenly littered in dead bio weapons. Everything, even the creatures, were connected to that central computer.
Alice headed for the pile of rubble off to the left, where she had thrown Claire in order to sedate her long enough to go after K-Mart. She smiled, for the first time in almost eight years they were free. Claire and her were finally allowed to love one another like they always wanted to, but this time with no secrets. It was time to rebuild, time to replenish the human race and take back the planet they fought so hard to protect.
"Claire, it's over, we won." Alice whispered. She pushed away a few fallen pieces of rubble when the colour drained from her face.
A four inch piece of rebar was sticking out of Claire's abdomen. Alice leaned in close, listening for a heartbeat, a pulse, anything to prove that she was still alive. There was nothing, her skin was cold and clammy, her army fatigues soaked in sticky brown red liquid like tree sap.
Alice began to weep, pulling her in close just to hold her one last time. "I will always love you," she whispered in her ear before kissing her dry lips.
As much as Alice wanted to stay, she knew that would not end well with the others, especially Chris. He was already on a war path, and this would push him over the edge. No one would believe it was an accident. She was safer on her own, and that broke her heart just as much as seeing the one person she cared about, the one person she wanted to save from all this, dead by her own doing.
Alice removed the gold necklace Claire always wore around her neck. It was simplistic, the charm was that of a Celtic knot. Claire always said it would give her good luck. She tucked that into the pocket of her pants as she stood, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands.
Before anyone took notice, Alice disappeared into the darkness.
T.B.C.
I know that this is a hard chapter to digest, a lot happened and I'm sure you have more questions and are wondering how I could do this to our favourite duo when I too love them to pieces.
There will be one final chapter (short, but I feel necessary) and that will wrap up this story. I hope you all enjoyed and please let me know what you think...I'm quite curious to hear your reactions
Always open to suggestions/comments/concerns/praise/ etc.