Chapter 33: The Road To Hel(sinki)
"A variant of the so-called Mosqoths have finally reached American soil..." Chris repeated to his partner, grimacing at the news Leon had called in not long ago.
Jill and Chris had been informed briefly of their change of direction from Hunnigan four days ago, the BSAA weren't taking full orders from the DSO but were working hand in hand with them.
Truthfully, Chris wasn't shocked at Jake actions and shrugged it off, almost knowing it was coming, but could anyone blame him? Really? The kid just wanted to know what his father was like, 'even if he is a complete psycho...', the BSAA Captain thought wistfully.
Himself and Jill sat in one of the HQ's airstrip cabins dressed down from the usual full gear and waited for pick up, three large sacks piled next to them full of equipment and a change of clothes. The day after Hunnigan had called, the BSAA received valid Intel; picking up immense movement of a B.O.W supplier from somewhere within Northern Europe, Finland, Lapland and were moving out within the hour. The two were taking a very long houred flight to Helsinki and from there Tampere, another long trek to Oulu, and on to Rovaniemi, Lapland. 'Wonder if we'll meet Santa Claus?' Chris thought with a smirk, his thoughts springing back abruptly to the phone call from Kennedy and his face set a more serious expression.
"Those Mosqoth creatures have landed in America," Leon had spoke gravely, panicked voices could be heard in the background, the DSO were obviously on a higher band of alert than before. "A small part of Carolina has been infected, but the infection is growing rapidly. Hunnigan spoke to your HQ as seen as you're already set out for Wesker, I wanted to tell you before we left..." His voice died off quickly as someone who Chris assumed was Helena spoke to him, "Right..." He muttered then spoke up, "It's getting bad out there, me and Helena are going to meet the BSAA troops and we're gonna get it under control." Chris had nodded into his earpiece, instinctively.
"You and Helena be careful, it's the new virus. We haven't had a real chance to see what it's completely capable of yet, don't get stung by those creatures - and 9mm nitrogen rounds do wonders on them - should you get into a squeeze." Chris informed calmly, recalling his and Jill's experience from under the Hospital with Jake and Sherry.
"Sure thing, we'll make a note to stock up..." Again, someone spoke to him and Chris could hear more the urgent tones in the females voice. "Chris, I've gotta go, but you take care... And make damn sure both Wesker's get it." He laughed half heartedly, "I know you will."
Chris could only chuckle and smile lightly as Leon said this, and wished him and Helena, along with his own troops good luck before Leon hung up in a hurry. Chris could see him and Helena in his mind's eye; Leon grabbing his leather coat off the back of his chair, swiveling it around his shoulders and pulling it on as Helena holstered her handgun to her thigh, then grabbing her beloved Hydra, cradling it in her arms like a child while the whole of the DSO called to other agents and operatives around the States in a blind panic, people running around with bits of paper to various offices, as well as Hunnigan nodding to Leon handing him a new earpiece and phone.
Chris sighed and closed his eyes, 'When will all this end?' He thought sadly, he had wanted to retire some time ago, give over the huge responsibilities to the young, brilliant and very capable Piers Nivans, but had fate had it - here he was, again.
He'd been in the game so long now, he was actually getting tired and thinking back to the S.T.A.R.S, Spencer Mansion, Europe, Africa, the Zenobia... Hell the lot of it, the last 20 years swam before his eyes, his memory flashing back to people, names, dates, co-ordinates, places, Jill, Claire, Leon, Jake, Brad -
"Hey!" Jill said suddenly, snapping him out of his dizzying flashbacks. "You look like you're having a hard time over there." She said attentively, reaching over the small table between them and putting a hand over his, gripping tight.
"Sorry... Was... thinking."
"That's dangerous... Especially for you, old timer." She laughed with her warming smile.
Chris frowned and smiled faintly, just as he was thinking about how old and tired he was it wasn't fair his partner was chipping in too.
"Hey, hey... I didn't mean it like that." She smiled again, worry playing in her eyes as she saw his face drop at her bad attempt of humour. "I'm basically the same age as you... And, I've already had white hairs." She joked painfully about her last experience with Albert, then sighed too, her gaze dropped to their hands joined on the table. "It has been a really long time, hasn't it?"
Chris squeezed her hand with his own, reaching over with his free hand to tip her head up to meet his gaze.
"Yes." He said with a grin, "But we'll kick ass as always... And you never know, it may actually be over this time."
She nodded and wished she could believe her friend, comrade, captain and lover.
The arrow whizzed through the cold air of the snow as it buried deeply into the brain of the small Doe in her path, this was the third one she'd encountered through the forest back to the tiny shack she'd set up in as a temporary base days ago, wondering how these creatures had been alive for so long, unless it was a recent addition to the wildlife thanks to Albert.
As the creature went down with a thud, she huddled into her thick black coat, bringing the fur around the edges of the hood closer to her freezing face, a very welcome addition to her new outfit, and she was very thankful she'd thought of new clothes before coming to Germany, which would no doubt lead her back to the freezing Scandinavian reaches of Finland at some point.
She'd stopped tailing Jake and Sherry after her call with Leon, purely out of spite from the weather. At the time she'd only been wearing her red blouse and black leather trousers and was extremely cold, additionally deciding to go back to the hut in the woods to change clothes, get dry and warm, but then not an hour later she'd heard an explosion and worried for the two.
Dressing with speed along with her new jacket she raced out back into the cold and rain, hoping to find flames or something to signal what or where they were, but she'd found nothing, also finding it odd that she hadn't seen either of them.
Carefully, Ada had slinked along the tree lines near the old Umbrella plant in her search, turning up nothing but an overly large slick gross patch near a dent in the metal fencing, along with a waterlogged blood patch. No footprints could be seen through the very watery mud, herself coming to the conclusion that all evidence had been swilled away by the rain, that or her eyesight was going wayward.
Ada had sighed into her scarf when the rain finally turned to snow and gave up the investigating search of the blast, her boots squelching in the mud as she turned, going back to the warmth of her wooden room.
As she entered the room, she smiled at the cosy log wood fireplace in the corner, looking at her soaking clothes still drying over the back of the only chair in the room, then back to the solitary single metal bed in the other corner. 'It could be better.' She thought indifferently, closing the door behind her, and bolting it shut with a hefty piece of metal.
Sighing once again she unzipped and unbelted the snug coat and shrugged it off, throwing it onto the bed, and seated herself beside it looking at her bow.
Sherry and Jake could only be inside the plant now, and she couldn't bring herself to bust in there just yet. If she was honest she wasn't sure how she would handle seeing Albert again. 'I was his servant for all those years.' She thought savagely, a grimace playing on her pretty face, 'A pawn at his disposal... Just like I was Alex... One of the last times we spoke was when he'd ordered me to kill Leon.' Her finger accidentally pulled the trigger in her sudden anger, and an arrow flew across the room, jamming into the wooden wall at the opposite end of the cabin with a ping. She laughed out loud and shook her head, she was meant to be saving Jake and Sherry from the tyrant that was his father, and here she was brooding and letting her anger get the better of her.
"But, I really do hate the snow." She said out loud with her usual sarcastic manor, this time looking out the single murky window in the whole place, watching as the snow came down thicker and heavier. "When it let's up... But for now..." Her small voice trailed off as she lay down thinking more of Leon, and how much she missed him, wondering what he was doing, her eyelids slowly shut.
"Planes here." Chris spoke up looking out the crystal clear window, "You ready for hell?" He asked with a smirk.
Jill's face looked shocked at his phrasing, then caught on suddenly.
"Hel-sinki... I see." She laughed, grabbing one of the heavy bags from the pile watching Chris' muscles flex as he picked up the other two effortlessly flinging them over his shoulder in a single action. "Have you been working out more?"
"You know we have." He said in his huskiest voice, winking at her then chuckling at her face going a shade of pink.
"Captain!" The young soldier named Linnankivi beamed striding through the door, briefly saluting, "We're almost ready for takeoff, please begin to board."
"Right." He nodded muttering quietly, Jill and himself following their younger comrade out the door to the small military plane sitting on the asphalt strip.
Linnankivi was born in Finland and knew the area obviously very well, and was taking the trip with them to translate if they needed to as well as help them get to Lapland.
Jukka Linnankivi was his full name and was at least 21 years old, a crack shot in the field, joined the BSAA when he was 18 and was a good looking man Jill thought, but not her type. He had the bluest eyes she'd personally ever seen, a nice light tan to his white skin, a slim nose and flattish lips that complimented his slender well contoured face, and he was also blonde. The young man's hair was fairly long considering he was a soldier, but somehow got away with it; he was charming and strong, having a long list of confirmed B.O.W kills and the like, granting him a good officer and private. 'Might even make a good Captain one day.' She thought to herself as they made way to the plane through the streaming sunlight.
"Jukka," Chris called, making sure he said the kids name right; the J sounding like a Y 'Y-ukka', "How long will it take us to reach Rovaniemi? Roughly."
The young man scowled, frowning, thinking quickly.
"Dah," Jukka exclaimed lightly tipping his head to the side, "9-10 hours to Helsinki first depending on weather conditions, then to Tampere BSAA private train will be about 2 hours, we take a flight from Tampere to Oulu another 2 and a bit hours..." The young soldier breathed deeply and sighed, his deep Finnish accent becoming clearer. "After that, another... 2-3 hour journey by train to Rovaniemi... Ughhh..." He smiled weakly, "About 18 hours, without rest."
Chris and Jill just blinked at the young Finn and nodded, sighing, feeling defeated.
"And that isn't all!" Jukka started again, "We still need to find the base!"
"Enough enthusiasm Private." Chris groaned, "This is going to be one hell of a long ride. We had better -" His voice cut off looking to the piles of equipment in bags next to the planes stairs. "What's all that for?" He asked frowning.
"Two tents, sleeping bags, freeze dried food and the like." Jill answered once she'd stepped over, undoing one bag and rifling through it.
"We are going to Lapland Captain, probably in the middle of nowhere to find The Organisation's base..." Private Linnankivi replied seriously, "Do you want to be stuck out in a frozen land with no food or shelter?"
Chris smiled and nodded to the Private, the kid was good, had his wits about him, he was glad they'd decided to let him come along.
Jill was also as surprised as Chris looked, the two had thought they'd be in hotels and BSAA bases at all times, not considering the possibility they would be out in the sticks with nothing. It just showed that the two of them had been so used to accommodation and fun-filled lands for too long, that or they'd always been lucky and found the enemies hideouts within a day.
In minutes the three had loaded all supplies, guns and boarded the plane that held 8 people, then took their seats. Not too long after that, the engines began to hum then roar loudly, a small weight change then the scenery outside the window opened up from a cluster of buildings to a large airfield, which soon began to fade away beneath them as the plane lifted them off the ground and into the air.
"Remind me Captain, why only three of us?" Jukka asked innocently from the front of the plane, having to shout over the engines.
Chris willingly explained again that the three of them would go in before anyone else was called, because it would be useless to go all the way to Finland with a bunch of soldiers for them to find nothing. This was as much find and infiltrate as much as it was recon, the less people for now was better, until they found something more to go on. He continued to explain that the Intel received gave a certain area that the B.O.W and virus trafficking was being dealt, but not a solid pinpoint location due to the supplier moving around the huge expanse of the northern borders of Suomi.
"The Organisation sure is a vile company!" Linnankivi yelled with a curious but annoyed tone.
"He never saw true Umbrella..." Chris muttered under his breath to Jill sat next to him, who smiled wearily.
Thank you so VERY much for the new reviews and joy that I'm writing again! It seriously fills me with - well joy! ^_^
My loves to you all, as soppy as that is XD xxx