"So, you killed the man you adored the most. The other founder?"

"I wake up every day with the same regret… Most of everything I learned was from him. The lectures, extra credit and homework were always to exceed his expectations and hopefully safeguard a future in Umbrella. Always dreamed of being like him. If I knew all of Umbrella was corrupt and malicious back then, I would've walked out as soon as I got the chance."

"Couldn't you just leave Umbrella's clutches back then?"

"Most people are in service until death… foolish until death. When you're a child prodigy, things are different."

"How different?"

"Umbrella did everything they could to make me comfortable, so I would never want to leave. They couldn't afford to lose me to anyone else, so they groomed me like a dog."

"When did you participate in his murder?"

"There was no participation… I killed him myself. That's right. The student killed the teacher. Irony at its finest."

"Right… That happened two years ago? When you were a trainee. Don't tell me you were you still naive back then after… you know..."

"I wasn't. Opened my eyes to things I never wanted to see, but they were open."

Claire folded her arms. "Then what kept you in Umbrella? You killed the man you look up to, and you still stayed… Why?"

"They promoted me… gave me the same salary as William and within a week I was working with him and Annette. I even shared their assistant. I wasn't a student or an assistant; I was an equal."

"Richard was the assistant. Wasn't he?"

"Unfortunately."

"So that's how you were assigned to the team." Claire threw her arms and relaxed them on her hips, and paced slowly in a circle. "Killed Marcus, got a promotion, and now you're working with a good friend, no doubt. Sounds fantastic…"

"I thought I could put my skills to better use. I wanted to change the world."

"Was it worth it?"

"Excuse me…"

"Was it worth it?" Claire repeated.

Scott's lips trembled. "How can you say that?"

"Then why did you take the offer to kill him? You could've walked away; it wasn't your concern..."

"I didn't want to do it, but someone had to, and I took the chance-"

"The chance for what?!"

Scott was silent with a pause for a short breath before he resumed. "Money… Claire, I needed money… My student loans landed me in debt, my brother was out of a job, and my father wasn't around… It was all on me. The bank was gonna foreclose my house and the car."

"And your teacher meant nothing in comparison?"

"After I heard the crimes, maybe but… Claire… it wasn't about my things. I could… I could handle the situation, but… my fiancée… was pregnant… Then I got handed all the hospital bills; they weren't good."

"Umbrella doesn't cover medical fees?"

"Hardly… After my mother died, I refused all of their financial support regarding my son's birth."

"Oh damn it. I never knew."

"I needed the money because of my family… I had to make investments to get out of debt, and I had no money to do it because of that credit card scandal that year. And do you know how much it was to raise a child the same year you lose your father? Brothers to support..."

"I remember that. Thousands were laid off work."

"That's why I killed Marcus. Everything came down on me out of nowhere, and he was the only way out. Then this happened..."

"The infection? What does Marcus have to do with this?"

"Not Marcus per se, but recently I had found out that he and his research wasn't disposed of properly, and I took offence to that and brought it up with William. This was the same day we finalised the G-virus."

"Still waiting..."

"The moment I'll tell you… there's no guarantee if it'll make things better between us..."

"Until someone knows the truth, I'll take the chance." Claire folded her arms. "The more of us know, the better chance the truth will get out of the city."

Scott said nothing. He was thinking. Staring at the stone floor. Thinking about the floor's features.

Claire broke the silence. "Scott," she said, "I need to know. My boyfriend - your brother - died doing his job because of this outbreak. If you care for him in any way as I do, then you better honour him and tell me the truth."

Scott inhaled deeply and rolled his eyes to meet Claire's. "For the record, I'm only saying this, so you know it's the truth, and you won't try and kill me-"

"Depends, really..."

"Oh, God…" Scott breathed.

Claire stepped closer to Scott. She could feel his breath reflecting off her face; they were short and stuttered. "I went to William and confronted him about Marcus, and why he wasn't properly disposed of. You know that. It was because... he was reanimated by the T-virus and had an outburst in one of our facilities," Claire went to interrupt, but he continued over her, "that outburst cost the lives of over two hundred Umbrella personnel. That was the Ecliptic Express Incident, the one that led to the Mansion Incident the day after. They were innocent workers, and Marcus killed them. So I brought it up with William."

Claire covered her mouth. Silenced her words. She couldn't care about most of what he said, but she heard of the Mansion Incident from Marvin. Deaths of several S.T.A.R.S. members, including Scott and Zaac's father and her boyfriend's sanity. No wonder Scott brought it up to William; if she were in the same position, she would be beyond furious.

"You were right to do that."

"Not as much as you'd think because there was less talking and more arguing. As I heard from the incidents, I stated the T-virus was nothing but trouble, and it was getting people hurt and even killed. This was right when the G-virus was still in development, and I feared if nothing changed, history would repeat itself, only much, much worse. I was going to bring the project down with the evidence I gathered, and I had the perfect amount of leverage to do just that."

"What did you need leverage for?"

"To convince William to cease the G-virus research. I tried so hard to get him to change his ways, but I wasn't talking to my friend or colleague; I was talking to a madman, a genius lost beyond his brilliance and legacy. Once I realised he wasn't giving me much choice, I decided my argument was in vain."

"What did you do?"

"I… shot him…"

Claire's eyes shot wide open. "You did what…?"

"I… ugh. William. I… I..."

Now Leon brushed closer to Scott's side. "You killed William? You?" With a fierce scowl, he clutched Scott's shoulders and heaved him against the wall of the security room. Scott couldn't budge. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

Scott had his hands raised, surrendering himself to Leon's wrath. "I never said I killed him."

"You intended to. Didn't you?"

"He gave me no choice! I had to take him down. If the G-virus were controlled by Umbrella, they would sell it as a weapon. Then, all of Central America would fall apart."

"Lies upon lies upon more lies!"

Leon let go of Scott against the wall. His weight sagged slowly down on his weak knees. "I can't believe this jerk-off right now..."

"How could you be so bloody blind, Scott!"

"I survived on leftover scraps until I got to the department. For the last year now, I've been nothing less than a washed-up old fool!"

"Great…" Claire rolled her eyes. "What happened after that?"

"Nightmares… I was falling apart back then, like I am now, over the atrocities I committed myself for the sake of my career. Only after some surgery I was fine. Back to work without any hiccups. Then I had a recollection of the truth behind Marcus, the viruses and the future for G; I realised my mistakes all over again. I reopened my eyes, left behind my false, feel-good persona, and decided to quit Umbrella. I hoped William would see reason, but he had to die with the project. I wasn't a good shot, but I disabled him..." Scott's head rolled with his back arched forward. "I'll be lucky to get the death penalty after this. Oh, God..."

Claire couldn't look at Scott; he was half the man he used to be. The smart, intellectual man was falling apart and almost looked like a miserable, out-of-work douchebag, one that smelled of body odour and crusty mud stains that also blended with the dried blood on his collar and sleeves. At least she hoped it was mud and not dried blood. She turned away but arched her head to at least her Scott's future ramblings.

"Is that all that happened between you and William?"

"I begged him to listen to reason; only his ego and life's work got in the way of that. So skipping the part where I tried to kill him, the U.S.S. stormed the lab and gunned me down. Once I got back on my feet, the T and G-virus samples were gone, along with William's body. I wasn't dead yet, but it hurt like a bitch getting around."

"Tell me about it..." said Leon.

"Before the lab was stormed, William only just told me that there was a traitor on the team."

Claire suddenly turned around to face Scott with a quick spin on her heels. "A traitor? That must be one of the reasons why William didn't trust you unless you already knew that."

"I didn't. I never knew until after I pulled the trigger. He accused me, though, and after he had heard I had no idea, we both suspected the same person. Our assistant."

"Richard."

"Richard gave away our location to the U.S.S. to save his own bloody skin! The way we acted earlier was a prime example of how much I hate him. The company director ordered the U.S.S. to steal the G-virus by any means necessary, even using lethal force." He sat down in a slowly forming puddle of filth that dripped from a crack in the ceiling above. His ass was wet with murky water instantly. "If I couldn't ask William to help with reason, I would have to use force to steal the samples from him and destroy them. Though with the betrayal from Richard, the U.S.S. gave me no time to get away with the samples. It was all because of him… Our position was breached, and they gunned me down before I could leave."

"And you've been down here ever since?"

"Yeah… That was days ago."

"So William had the samples, then you, now the U.S.S. How did the T-virus get into the city?"

"Rats..." Leon nodded, looking at Claire. "The R.P.D. had reports of local vermin swarming places they shouldn't. Most of the cadavers in their morgue had bite wounds around the ankles. Small bite wounds."

"Just like the Bubonic Plague..."

"I found the samples; they were all smashed. I didn't see any rats or how it all happened, but… my fiancée did."