"Chris…?"

Jill stood behind her partner and stared at the hints of his reflection on the glass. They were in the area behind the one-way mirror of the interrogation room, Jake still loudly announcing his displeasure to his detainment, but even more so now that his life was asked in exchange for another. The call with the J'avo and Piers's capture had ended not too long ago, and already arguments had been thrown around for what to do. Chris stared at Jake through the mirror; though he heard Jill call his name, he left her without acknowledgement as he studied Wesker's son. The image of Piers's tortured body was stuck in his mind, and every time he looked at Jake he saw Piers next to him, bruised and bloodied.

"You know this could be a trap," Jill continued. Her words were true, and Chris never shooed away that feeling. But this could also be their only chance to save Piers. They had no idea how long he had been in Neo Umbrella's possession, but Chris couldn't stand the thought of him being abused any longer. But trading Jake for Piers's life…he was still trying to process the thought entirely.

"We need to get Piers back," he resonated, though he didn't look back at Jill. "This may be our only chance." The coordinates they were given were in the middle of the ocean, most likely on top of the rubble of the underwater facility. Chris had no doubt it was merely a location for the exchange, and he had no idea where Neo Umbrella may be hiding currently. If they were anything like their former corporation, he also had no doubt that they had dozens of labs lying about, none of which the BSAA knew the location of that weren't already destroyed in the past few months. He watched Jake, whose anger to the situation had carved a scowl on his face. It was obvious his mind held a lot of hatred for the BSAA currently, and even more for the fact that he was being treated as an object in this deal.

"You can't tell me you're going to go through with this." There was some kind of emotion in Jill's words, but they were muddled together with so many others it was hard to tell what the backbone of it was. "You have no idea if they'll actually let Piers live, or you for that matter." Chris turned around, taking notice of the confused desperation she held on her face. "I couldn't give any less of a damn of what happens to him, but I don't want you to risk your life in a stupid move like this." She was angry at him. At least, so he suspected. Her expression turned into a glare, staring at him directly to his eyes.

"I have a plan," Chris said, his voice only matter-of-fact. He could see Jill's fingers twitching.

"A plan?" she spat. "How do you know it won't fail? How do you know he won't go running off?" She practically threw her hand forward as she pointed at Jake while she spoke. Chris took a few steps closer to her.

"Because I trust him," he confessed.

"Trust him? He's Wesker's son!" Chris had never seen Jill so motivated by rage as he saw her now. He was almost certain that was entirely from her all her past experiences building up, especially given what happened in Africa. He felt pained seeing her like this. It reminded him of the state he was in when blind fury sent him on a quest to kill Wong at any costs. Only now did he understand how Piers must have felt during that time. Chris tried to calm his words down, hoping it would do the same to Jill. It took every ounce of self-restraint he had.

"He showed me mercy at a time where I'm not even sure if I would've if I was in his situation," he started. "If we're going to have this plan work, we'll need his cooperation and his skills. We're going to walk out of this with everyone, alive." Though his words held confidence, he could still see the skepticism Jill carried.

"Tell me the plan," she said, a slight growl accenting her words. "But I'm coming with you. And if I see him acting up, I will take the necessary action. If that means shooting him, so be it." Though it may have sounded like a threat to anyone else, Chris knew Jill enough that she wouldn't act on her words unless she felt it necessary. Even if the distrust she felt for Jake was beyond measure.

"Alright," Chris sighed. "Here's what we'll do."

"You are one crazy son of a bitch, you know that?" The pounding of the helicopter across the ocean muffled Jake's words as they escaped his lips, but it wasn't enough to hide the disgust that covered them. "You seriously think this will work?"

Chris and Jill sat beside Jake, checking their guns and loading them to ready themselves for the exchange. Jill loaded her handgun, then took out her knife and placed it in a hidden sheath by her ankle. Chris loaded his assault rifle and placed it on his back, then took out his Nine O Nine in preparation. In order to sell the act, they had Jake's wrists bound together, though Jill still kept a wary eye on him.

"As long as you stick with the plan, things will be fine," Chris answered. Jake shook his head at him.

"Yeah? You know this isn't going to be such a cakewalk. It took me six months to escape last time. They're not going to let me off so easily this time around."

"You don't have to escape this time. If you can't get to the rendezvous point then we'll go in after you." Chris looked outside the helicopter after he finished his words, taking a scan of the area. His suspicions about the coordinates were correct in that it was by the underwater facility, though most of the debris that had floated to the surface had already been pushed to land by this point. They were miles from the Chinese shore, and nothing else but their helicopter indicated the presence of any people here. Neo Umbrella was yet to be found, but Chris kept panicked thoughts at bay until they reached the location.

They had been in the air for about half an hour before they finally came across the coordinates. "We're here, sir!" the pilot shouted to the BSAA captain. Chris and Jill looked down and scanned the area—the location turned out to be some sort of platform reminiscent of those at an oil rig. It was fairly large, and though it seemed damaged it still appeared stable enough to be able to hold the weight of the metal bird. Jill pointed downwards, noticing that Neo Umbrella seemed to have already landed, and Chris took notice of a J'avo that walked into their view, Piers in its grasp.

"They're here," Jill said, almost sighing in disbelief. They held on to the helicopter as they landed, Chris roughly grabbing Jake's arm to make it seem like he was trying to prevent him from escaping. He hoped the act would work. Chris cautioned the pilot to keep the blades running, just in case they needed to escape quickly. When they touched the ground, Chris forced Jake out with a shove, who just barely managed to land on his feet. Jill hung behind, her finger apprehensively on the trigger in case the J'avo tried to attack. Chris pulled Jake up to his feet, and placed the muzzle of his gun on the youth's temple. He could feel Jake's muscles slightly tighten from the unexpected move.

The J'avo walked forward, and Chris could see that others of its kind were circled around Neo Umbrella's own helicopter, which was off. Piers seemed to have mostly healed from his beatings before, though Chris could see that a few bruises and cuts still dotted his skin. They looked fresh, and Chris wondered if they were trying to discourage the sharpshooter from escaping, or if they just took sick pleasure in torturing him. Piers's brows were raised in absolute horror, and the J'avo lifted his hostage's chin upwards and rested its blade on his neck. Chris wondered if that was a reaction from his own handling on Jake.

"Give us…Jake Muller," the J'avo hissed. Piers slightly jerked around in the J'avo's grasp, though the J'avo simply tightened its hold on him. Chris stared it down, though he struggled to find a focal point beyond the red lenses of its mask.

"Give me Piers," he shouted. Jake gave an attempt to free himself as well, but Chris simply tightened his grip and pressed his gun deeper into his skin. For once, he was happy Jake's stubborn attitude was actually working to their advantage. The J'avo didn't budge at his demand. "Let's do it this way," Chris continued. He jerked his chin upwards as though he was pointing at something. "We'll meet half way and exchange at the same time. If you try anything…" He gently lifted the safety of his gun. "I will shoot him." His voice had a sinister tone to it, and he hoped it was able to add weight to the threat. The J'avo didn't vocalize an agreement, but it shoved Piers forward, practically dragging him as it took steps towards the half-way point. Chris mirrored this movement, kicking Jake in the back of the knee, who stumbled forward from the sudden attack on his balance.

"Take it easy, will ya?" he whispered, shooting a flash of his teeth clenched in pain. Chris didn't respond to him. The two groups ended their advancements at the middle of the platform, but neither of them released their captives. They were still a few feet away from each other, but they were close enough for Chris to see all the details of Piers's battered body. Jake shook himself around some more, and Chris violently grabbed him closer to make him stop.

"Well?" Chris asked, staring the J'avo down. The J'avo kept its vision focused on him, then pushed Piers forward, who tumbled to the ground. Chris repeated the action by throwing Jake forward as well, who stumbled over to the J'avo. The creature called out something in a distorted language, which lead to a couple of the other J'avo stepping forward and grabbing Jake. Satisfied with their new captive, the J'avo turned around and walked back to its helicopter. Chris immediately ran up to Piers and helped him up, throwing one of Piers's arms around his shoulder and using himself as a crutch for the young man to slowly stumble forward.

"I got your back," Jill commented through his communicator. "They're not trying anything yet." Chris hobbled forward with Piers to their own helicopter, the sharpshooter hardly aware of what was going on.

"Captain?" he released. "Oh god, why'd you do it…" The disappointment in Piers's words slightly stung the man, but he replaced them with thoughts of the plan going successfully. Neo Umbrella started up their helicopter and took off, and once Chris had safely brought Piers aboard, they continued their own journey.

"How does it look?" Chris asked, kneeling down beside Piers. He examined the young man, whose injuries were starting to disappear now, but most of them still lingered. He observed Piers's mutated arm, taking notice of the cracked skin. Some of it seemed burned, just like the side of Piers's face, and only now was he able to realize that his right eye was also slightly glassed over, though not nearly as much as it was when he had just injected himself back at the underwater facility. Jill took out her PDA from her pocket, tapping it in a few places as though she was looking for something.

"He did it," she said, turning back to look at him. "We got a lock." Chris pulled out his own PDA to confirm, and was relieved to see a blinking red dot float across the virtual map. His partner walked over to him and also kneeled beside them, seeming to take a moment to examine Piers. "I'm going to give him a quick pat down," she said, gently grabbing Piers's limbs. "Just to make sure they didn't put anything on him." Piers was too weak to comply, so he simply remained limp as Jill pressed around in search of anything suspicious.

"You're going to be ok, Piers," Chris told him. After a few moments, Jill turned around and gave him an ok symbol with her fingers to show the conclusion of her search.

"Captain…" Piers heaved. "I can't believe you did it."

"Don't worry. Everything is going to be all right." He only hoped those words would hold true.