Showdown, Chapter 9 by patricia51

(Running for It)

As Jennie fell to the floor Christina turned her MP5 on the woman her friend believed was her lost lover. Because of that identification she hesitated for an instant. That delay was long enough for Alice to spring forward, her T-Virus enhanced body moving with incredible speed. One punch dropped the mystery woman on the floor out cold.

"What in the world?" exclaimed Christina even as she knelt to check Jennie. The ex-SWAT officer gave a sigh of relief. "I think she'll be all right. Her armor vest took the impact but she was knocked down and hit her head on the floor. She's woozy though."

"I'll explain about her," Alice indicated the other fallen woman, "when we have the chance. In the meantime, Carlos, carry her. And make sure she stays out of it." Her husband shrugged and caught up the unconscious woman in a fireman's carry.

"I think," he grunted as he settled under his burden, "that we've overstayed our welcome."

"Uh-huh," admitted Alice.

Sirens had been sounding since shortly after they group had started its rampage. More started blaring, almost drowning out the speakers that had been jabbering with contradictory orders. But now a single decisive voice broke into the panicked ones.

"Wesker?"

"Uh-huh," repeated Alice. She shrugged. "It was fun while it lasted. We need to go now."

"Back that way?" asked Jill.

Alice pointed towards a door, "and head down the stairs. Eight levels down and turn right. The long corridor will take us right under the hanger. Up on flight of stairs and we're gone."

"Assuming that the hanger, the VTOL's, Claire and Sam and everyone else are still there," pointed out Trent.

"Worry wart." The teasing note in Alice's voice was underlined with the fact she was worried about that exact thing herself.

(In the Hanger)

"Cover me!" yelled Mike over the gunfire and explosions that seemed to fill the entire hanger area. Without waiting for any answer he took off across the concrete floor, bobbing and weaving as he went, demonstrating why he had been a starting wide receiver on his high school football team. He slid along the floor in a head first dive as he reached the objective of his rush. He reached that objective untouched as first one and then a second of the "borrowed" Umbrella machine guns opened fire.

Everything had been going just fine. Claire and Sam had supervised the Umbrella ground crews who checked over the machines. Although none of the original raiding part had been female they had taken a chance that the people in the hanger would not be aware of that and got away with it. Sam had assured them that he had met a number of female pilots during his time with the corporation and the odds were that several at least would be here at Headquarters.

Stan had done what the Guard intelligence officer did best; gather intelligence. He had quietly moved the cavernous room, moving from one little block of Umbrella personnel to another. He listened far more than he talked but occasionally he would subtlety turn the conversation to areas he wanted to know more about.

Briefed carefully by Stan the others had kept their ears open and generally their mouths shut, except for the directions and reports that Sam and Claire got from the ground crews. Even that was illuminating as more than once a crew chief or mechanic apologized not completing a check or filling the fuel completely "because of the shortages". Mike and William, both trained in the Army Rangers and familiar with how a crack outfit conducted itself noted that the Umbrella personnel's uniforms were beginning to look tattered and stained. Not just the ground crew but the security personnel as well. Some of the people were quietly surly. Things obviously were not perfect here.

Stan had circled the whole area once and was halfway through his second circuit when the first rumblings came from deep underground. Then the siren went off. Confusion reigned; confusion that the invaders helped spread by running around yelling things like "What the Hell is happening?" and "The zombies are breaking in!" But then someone answered a phone hanging on the wall. His eyes grew wide and he looked right at the group and started to point at them. He never quite finished the gesture as William raised his M4 and popped him with one burst. Then the fight was on.

Caught by surprise the Umbrella minions scattered. The group concentrated their fire on armed security personnel, ignoring as much as possible ground crew and others who were no threat to them. One immediately exception was made when the hanger doors groaned and started to close. Claire, who had hopped back into her aircraft to retrieve her sniper rifle zeroed in on the man at the controls. The heavy caliber rifle reduced both the Umbrella lackey and the console to junk in short order.

Things looked like they were pretty much under control. That abruptly changed when a door burst open and what seemed to be a never ending stream of heavily armed Umbrella guards poured through it. At the same time Mike's eyes had zeroed in Stan. The intelligence officer was slumped on the floor in a slowly growing pool of blood. The ex-Ranger yelled and pointed.

William had just jumped back into the VTOL and exchanged his M4 for one of the captured Umbrella light machine guns. He brought the new wave of attackers under fire, pinning them down enough to spare a burst over Stan's prone form and over Mile's head as well to discourage any interference with his friend's rescue attempt. Sam opened up from the doorway of his aircraft with another machine gun, having decided his ten gauge shotgun was not the best weapon for the job at hand. Between the two of them he and William drove the reinforcing guards back to the far side of the doorway they had been coming through.

Not all of the intruders had fallen though. Several took cover behind machinery or the bodies of their late coworkers. From protected positions they put out enough gunfire to make Claire, Sam and William all need to duck for cover at one time or another. Fortunately all the members of the trio were never pinned down at the same time. At least one weapon kept the guards from accurately firing on Mike as he weaved across the floor to where Stan was feebly trying to wrap his belt around his leg, which appeared to be the source of most of the bleeding.

Quickly Mike knelt and finished rigging the impromptu bandage on Stan's major wound, adding a field dressing he pulled from a pocket. He grabbed his friend under the arms and pulled him up, throwing an arm around the other man's back. As fast as they could they hobbled towards Sam's aircraft.

Sam fired a burst and tapped the earpiece of his radio set.

"Alice? What's happening?"

"We're on our way. We have one additional passenger and we'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"Okay." The former Umbrella pilot switched frequencies. Since there was no need to be stealthy any longer he dispensed with click codes and such. "Claire honey?"

"Right here," she answered.

"Wind it up."

"Got it." Claire scrambled into the pilot's seat, started throwing switches and the powerful engines of the VTOL came to life. Nearby her other half's craft fired up as well. Mike helped Stan into the passenger compartment and retrieved one of the other machine guns. Along with William he kept the enemy under cover. Almost.

Just as Alice notified Sam they were coming out an Umbrella guard popped up with a grenade launcher. Before either of the former Rangers could target him he fired. The grenade sailed into the open door of Claire's aircraft and detonated.

Fortunately there was no explosion although a fire started and began to spread. However it was obvious the VTOL would never take to the air again. Claire tore open her safety harness, grabbed her sniper rifle and gracefully bailed out of the door. Her landing was a bit less than graceful however and the language she used could be heard over the gunfire. She picked herself up and headed for Sam's chopper just as a nearby door crashed open and Alice led the raiding party into the landing area.

"Oh SHIT," was the comment by the former Umbrella security chief. The entire group ran to the open hatch except for her. She sprinted to the pilot's window.

"Sam will this take all of us?"

"It better. Get in!"

Alice climbed in just as Sam fed power to the engines. Mike and William will still firing out the door as the machine rocked back and forth. Then it rose in the air, straining to get just enough altitude to clear the hanger doors, taking several hits from the gunmen below as it did. Then they whipped away, the door closing as the craft clawed for enough sky to switch over to level flight and run for it.

Jill and Chris, having been taught first aid as a part of the grueling training they had received to qualify for the elite STARS split up. He went to Stan while his wife knelt beside Jennie. Christina looked up.

"I think she's just dazed from the impact chock. Neither round penetrated her vest but the blunt force trauma at that range could be severe. Add to that the psychological shock of finding that her Emily is alive and then being shot by her, well, no wonder she went down and is having a hard time recovering. But I think she'll be fine."

Just in case the two women carefully removed the Umbrella armor and checked the former Border patrol agent for broken bones. At the same time Trent, also trained in first aid as were many RCMP officers who patrolled the sparsely settled areas of Canada, aided Chris in bandaging Stan properly and checking that none of his wounds were life-threatening.

Meanwhile Alice and Carlos were examining the still unconscious Emily, paying particular attention to the red glowing spider like thing on her chest.

"I swear it's moving," muttered Carlos.

"It is," replied Alice. "Look at those legs or whatever flexing. It's like they're... "She broke off as her eyes narrowed. With one swift move she grasped the device and yanked. It came off and the legs flexed harmlessly in the air.

"Look there," Carlos pointed. "The tips of the, I guess you might call them legs, seem to be tipped with hypodermic needles."

"Injecting a drug into whomever they are attached to. A drug that disables the conscious will of the person, leaving them open to being reprogramed to act however their captor wants. Their memories are repressed. They know only what they are told and do exactly as they are instructed."

"How do you know all this?" asked Cristina, who had made her way across the crowded aircraft along with a still dazed but recovering Jennie who was torn between listening to Alice and gazing longingly at her lover's unaware form.

"When I worked for Umbrella I was head of security for a large research facility called The Hive," Alice explained. "A prototype of this device was developed there along with the experimental drug that was to be used in it. This is the same thing, just more refined and better crafted. The good news is that with it removed Emily should almost immediately stop responding to whatever the commands are that Umbrella planted in her mind. When her body rids itself of the drug, which it will do, she will suffer from amnesia but eventually she should regain most of her memories. As with anyone with amnesia it will help to have familiar surroundings," she smiled at Jennie, "or familiar faces, around. So stay with her."

"I won't argue with that," Jennie said with a smile. She settled in beside the other woman and took her hand. Christina sat with her friend.

The flight went on for several hours. Then the VTOL lurched sharply to one side. One of the motors coughed and sputtered before regaining its steady roar.

"Oh Shit," Alice found herself saying aloud again. At the same time a fervent rendering of exactly those same words came from Sam and then was echoed by Claire.

"What is it?" asked Alice as she made her way up between the two pilots.

"When we were taking off we took some hits," replied Sam as he scanned the gauges while Claire threw switches. "At the time it seemed to be nothing. But apparently wed had a gas tank holed and the self-sealing has given way. Claire is trying to transfer the remaining fuel to engine one but we've already lost a lot. The leak that sprung is BIG."

"And?"

"And we're in the middle of the ocean and we don't have enough fuel to get to Alaska or to return to Japan."

"Oh SHIT."

(To be continued)