"How is he?" Chris hovered over Piers as he lay within the BSAA's medical wing. It had been about six hours since they arrived, and so much had happened since then. To be extra careful, a team did a proper search on Piers to make sure he had nothing on him before they stepped foot within the headquarters; once inside, they immediately took him to the medical wing, where they took a sample of his blood for examination. Under superior command, Piers had been given a dosage of sedatives to keep him dormant while his blood was tested as a way to be sure that his mutations would not lead him to destruction. Chris wasn't worried about that even becoming a possibility, but he was concerned to know how the virus had affected his second-in-command. Chris and Jill already had a debrief session on the encounter, and Jill made sure to have a team keeping track of where Neo Umbrella had gone. Thus far, the signal had been still for a few hours, in what appeared to be northern Russia. A recon team was being established when Chris had decided to check on Piers in the medical wing. He looked at one of the doctors that stood opposite of him, examining the medical devices at Piers's bedside.
"We've run just about every test we can so far with him being unconscious," the doctor started. "I've never seen anything like it. Piecing together what you had in your report, Captain Redfield, it seems that his arm had essentially regrown from the mutated appendage that originally replaced it." He walked over to his clipboard and flipped through a few of the pages. "We've found that the muscles in his right arm have been replaced with mutated tissue that gives him the ability to produce bioelectricity, though those levels are currently low." He handed the clipboard over to Chris, who flipped through copies of data, x-rays, and CAT scans. "His healing abilities are also back at full force now that he's had some rest." The doctor let out a bit of a cough as he said the final word, being full aware that this restful state of the agent was forced upon him. Chris took a moment to look through the rest of the papers.
"Is there any indication of Neo Umbrella doing anything to him?" he questioned. The doctor shook his head.
"Not as far as I'm aware, no. But this is the first time we've examined this form of the C-Virus so it's hard to say." He walked a bit closer to Piers's bed, giving his body a look over. "It seems that scar tissue is from the virus, and his right eye is slightly blinded, though that is just an educated guess at the moment since we have not yet preformed any sort of visual tests to confirm." Chris stared at Piers, then turned his gaze to the doctor.
"How will this virus affect him?" he questioned softly. "Will he be able to live like this?" The doctor returned the captain's gaze, a hint of worry defining his features.
"It's hard to say," he sighed. "Unlike others infected by the C-Virus, Piers retains his free will. From what I understand, the only other person to have been infected with this is Derek Simmons, whom I'm sure you've been informed of." Chris hummed an agreement, recalling the brief report he was given on the matter. "However, Simmons was able to transform his entire body and destroy much of Lanshiang. Piers would also be completely capable of doing this, which is the reason for the breaks in his skin here—" he pointed to the scarlet cracks that ran along Piers's right arm and a bit of his shoulder, "—however, seeing that only his arm is like this and the rest of his body is not, I don't believe Piers has transformed yet. It's possible he simply doesn't realize he can, or that he differs from Simmons and carries most of his power in his arm."
"Tell me, doctor." Chris began, hesitantly. "Would you consider Piers a threat to us?" The doctor seemed to be caught off guard by the question, and took a moment before he was able to answer.
"If Piers is truly in control of himself, then I don't believe so. But until we know for sure, I would advise you to keep him under armed guard at all times, Captain." Chris nodded and thanked the doctor. Just as he was exiting the room, the doctor called out to him. He looked at Chris a bit apprehensively. "As you know, sir, the vaccine can only prevent the infection of the C-Virus, not cure it. If we were to try and give Piers a dosage, it will probably kill him. It's more than likely that he will remain like this for the rest of his life." The force of the doctor's words made Chris's muscles slightly tighten, his heart feeling heavy.
"Understood," he simply sighed, then left the room. Not too long after he was stopped by Jill, who noticed him walking through the halls.
"There you are," she said, finally catching up to him. "I wanted to talk to you about something. Privately." She turned around and motioned Chris to follow her, who simply did so without word. After finding an empty room, she pulled him inside, closing the door behind them.
"Is everything alright?" Chris asked. He noticed Jill seemed a bit uneasy, though he wasn't sure if that was just her nerves to the situation or if something had actually occurred.
"I don't know," she commented, gripping her chin with her thumb. "And that's what bugs me. Did that feel like it went a little too…smoothly to you?" Chris could see where she was coming from, and he couldn't help but agree. Things did seem to go just a bit too easily. There was no sort of resistance, no sort of attack, no struggle. Compared to the attack Neo Umbrella had apparently orchestrated in the Middle East, the exchange seemed incredibly tame.
"Yeah," Chris confessed. "Think they've found us out?" They still had another few days before phase two of the plan could be initiated, and he wondered if Neo Umbrella was fully aware that Jake was in on it, or if the organization had some other sort of plan to sabotage the BSAA's own.
"I'm not sure," his partner responded. "They're clearly planning something if they want Jake, if they even want him at all. I keep thinking of the stolen P30 and if Neo Umbrella actually has it." She sighed. She looked at Chris, who wasn't sure what to say. "I don't like this. They practically gave Piers to us like he was a gift, and it's making me nervous." Chris nodded, rubbing the back of his neck to distract him from the thought.
"I'm keeping Piers under armed guard until we know for sure what's going on," he commented. "As for the P30…we'll continue to keep an eye on it."
"Yeah. I might just be overthinking that, but…someone clearly wants it." Jill sighed. "Piers didn't have anything on him so I'm not so much worried about him. I don't know if Neo Umbrella is intending to use the P30 on Jake, either. Right now I'm just hoping we can go through with this plan and that he can complete his side of it." She walked back over to the door. "I'm going to go make sure our team is prepared for the next stage and keep an eye on the tracking signal. If you need me, you'll know where to find me." Chris vocalized his acknowledgement, and just as Jill was exiting she added, "Go get some sleep. You look beyond exhausted."