A/N: Excella, now Celeste Travis, has adapted to the Uroboros Virus better than planned. Of course that was Wesker's plan for her to die. What will she do now that she has a new life, and essentially a new biology?
Chapter 1: Enter the Operatives.
Celeste looked back on her former life with a glass of wine in her hand, and was surprised to see how much she missed the simplicity of it. Her grandmother had already taken care of her entrance into the public, but it was slow. They didn't want to catch the attention of the B.S.S.A. so soon after her "death". She sighed, and knew it would be unbearable to just sit back and have her hands into nothing meanwhile there is progress that could be made. She had no idea what to do with this new information as of yet, however her mind was buzzing with ideas, and possibilities.
She, of course, showed that it was possible to become a better adapted subject than even Wesker. She snorted, she still haven't heard any news of rather if he died or not. He was very hard to kill after all. She hoped he was dead. She gripped the wine glass, and it shattered in her hand. She gasped, and cursed. She needed to do some training today. But she needed someone to train her, and she thought back to Umbrella's records, and a couple names came to mind.
Leisurely she walked out, and strolled down to the training facility. She pulled out her phone, and dialed a number that she saved from Albert's file. It rang a couple of times. "Hello," the voice was silken, and smooth.
"I would like to hire you for something. There is someone I need." She answered.
"Who is this," the voice was bored, but it held a threat. Do not take me lightly. You will regret it. Celeste smirked, and she liked the woman already.
"Celeste Travis." She answered, "I need you to find the operative H.U.N.K." She went straight into the point. There was no point in dragging on the conversation. Especially when she was already getting bored with the call.
"That won't be easy," was the replied on the other side of the phone.
"I hear you are the one to go to when needing something is won't be easily done." She countered. "Ada Wong." She said her name with an edge in her voice. She need the operative, with someone with his record and reputation. Who else would be better to train her, especially with her new condition? There could be other ways, but she was discreet.
"You know my name," she sounded amuse now.
"We had a mutual connection." She said, and her voice was deadpan. She didn't like to think about him much anymore. However, Albert was good for knowing who was useful, and for what. Though it seemed like he was using this woman less and less. "Name your price and I will pay it." She told her after a moment of quiet.
"I will name my price upon delivery," Ada answered. "I will keep in touch." Then the line went dead. She sighed, and she would hope that she could find him as soon as possible. In the meantime she needed to test her control. There was no point in going out in public if she was going to expose herself. Ever since Umbrella made the slip up, every country has been on full alert. It was something that her family did not take lightly keeping cover, especially since they were still cleaning up her mess from Africa.
She arrived to the train facility, and despite her attire, the security service were beginning to take her seriously. She smiled as they automatically went on guard. She knew there was a wait, but she was never the one to just sit around. She wanted to get as much practice in before he arrived. She wanted it to be fine tuning, but a chore. She wanted to be perfection.
The weeks went by slowly, but finally she received the phone call she had been waiting for, and Ada Wong had delivered the goods. She sighed, and instructed her to come to the Travis estate, and to dress the part. She emphasized the last part. She can't have any amount of people coming in dressed in gear to combat. Her family's image was important after the events of what Albert and she had caused. Secrecy was absolutely vital until what had happened had passed.
It was a couple days later, but Celeste's waiting had come to the end. She waited in the conference room, and had paperwork waiting on the operative HUNK. She was unable to find his name, but perhaps Ada had found out. It was so trivial, however, she wondered if it was even really necessary at this point. There was a knock at the door, and she looked up with a smile on her lips.
"Enter," She replied, and the security let a woman close to her age, and a man around her father's age into the room. Her eyes was able to see the smooth muscle that flexed, and rolled underneath his clothes. He was dressed properly, not a high dollar suit, but clearly Ada had something to do with it. He was attractive for a man of his age. Gray silver hair that was cut in a military fashion. Pale skin, and according to his past his work was done mainly at night. Sharp ice gray eyes, and alert to everything around him. A habit, she imagined. An attractive face, and with some wrinkles, but his overall physique made that easy to overlook. "Sit." She offered, but it was an order.
The two sat across from one another, and near herself. The man spoke first.
"You want to hire me for a mission." He stated simply, and as if he was still used to it, and could only imagine one purpose for him being hunted down. Celeste glanced at him briefly, and handed him a folder.
"Yes, a job actually" She answered, "It will be training me combative structure." She told him. "You will find more detail in the briefing I have given you." She told him as she stood up. "Ada, if you would follow me." She said as she turned around, and began walking out onto the balcony. Ada did follow, but only after she was already standing on it. "I imagine it was difficult." She asked.
"Hardly so," She answered, "The only difficult part was getting past of who he works with now." She explained. "He works for the B.S.A.A." She made a subtle point. "That may be a problem considering who you actually are, Excella Gionne." Celeste kept a neutral expression. It wasn't too surprising that she figured out who she was, granted the lack of information she gave her.
"Do you believe that he would betray me, and report back to the US?" She listened to her pulse which gave away nothing. She also used this time to study the woman who Albert had written about in his reports. She was about her height, and of Asian descent. Not surprising from her name after all. Her eyes were amber, and sharp on her eying her up and down carefully. She was wearing a red dress that clung to every curve on her body. Short heels, in case she needed to run. She was an attractive, and jealousy hit, and she wondered if she had a relationship with Albert. She tried to push it out of her mind. It wasn't important, and she realized now that Albert clearly wasn't interested in that sort of factor in his life.
"No," She answered. Celeste raised a brow. "I just wanted to let you know what you were dealing with, is all. Considering that it is clear of who was the mutual connection we had." She explained.
"Had?" She titled her head to the side trying to comprehend what the spy was telling her at the moment.
"Didn't you hear?" She asked, "Albert Wesker is dead. Blown to pieces by rocket launchers, and body destroyed by a volcano." She left no detail to the imagination, though it didn't help Celeste at that present time. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and she didn't understand why. Could it be possible that her feelings were unresolved from when he intended to kill her?
"Good," she said. Ada smiled slightly. "Now your payment." She began. The agent waved her hand.
"Consider this, "She looked up as if to figure out the proper wording she wanted to use, "A courtesy mission base on I imagine a long relationship." She grinned, and strode passed her before stepping off the edge. In the darkness, she saw Ada use her grappling hook to land her into safety. The woman must had known about her new biology, because she waved and winked directly at her. Celeste grinned.
She returned to the operative HUNK, and she looked up and down. He looked up, and neatly placed all of the paperwork into the folder. "Is this for me to keep?" He asked her as he leaned back against the chair.
"If you're taking on the job." She answer. He stared at her, and she imagined it was possibly that he could be gauging if it was worth leaving the B.S.A.A... The pay will be significantly higher. "If it will make it a better offer. Any dependent you have will have no problem getting into any school, and perhaps you will have more than enough pay their education."
"Money was never a problem," he answered simply. He was very quiet, and not in the way that Albert was where he would be deliberately ignoring you. This man was thinking everything through, and she could see it in his eyes that he weighing all his options out. Not so much the empty helmet Albert claimed him to be, probably why he was never able to hire him on. Celeste thought herself. The two sat in silence, before HUNK stood up, and Celeste rose with him. He held out his hand, and once Celeste took it within her own he finally spoke again. "Frederick Harrod."
"Excuse me," she asked him puzzled, and let go of his hand first.
"I haven't gone by HUNK in many years, if I am to work for you. You may as well know my name." He explained, and Celeste smiled at him.
"I am pleased that you have accepted my offer," She said to him, and after reading through the folder, and all of its contents. He knew the condition, and pay. "Is there anything you wish to negotiate?"
"I will accept what you offered in the Intel." He confirmed, and he sat down. She smiled at him.
"Please follow me, and I will show you where you will staying during the duration of the training." She said as made the gesture with her hands, and began to lead the way. She walked out of the room, and nodded to the security members who left the two of them alone. Her heels sounded commanding against the floors, and Frederick's footsteps were as quiet as his nature. "Do you have any questions about what I had in the briefing?"
"Your biology is similar to the Uroboros that you and Albert were working on?" He asked, and it surprised her for a moment. She paused, and looked back at him. "I'm assuming that Albert said something about my intelligence, which is fine by me. I never liked working with the man."
"Yes, though it's a lesser version of the virus." She told him, "I survived, and adapted to it after the transformation." He gave her a look, which meant he knew more about Albert than she did to begin with. It would be surprising since he was from Umbrella during the same time he was in the corporation. "Right now, I have above average strength, healing, and my skin is thicker than to withstand bullet shots." She gave him a brief run down.
"Doesn't seem like your eyes were affected like his were." He noted, but he left it at that statement. He went back to being silent. Celeste left at that as they were closing in on his room, and she opened the door. She turned and handed him a key.
"This is your private wing of the estate." She told him as she entered it before he did. Her eyes adjusted quickly to her new surroundings. "You have your own kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. As well as a living area, and other amenities." She told him as she gave him a brief tour. He followed her obediently. "If you have any guest then you shall alert me, so I may give them access to the estate and your dwellings." She said as she wrapped up back to the front of the door. "Are there any concerns?"
"Yes, how will I contact you?" He asked her, and she rose her finger up. She could hardly believe she almost forgot that, and she pulled out a phone.
"You may add whomever you please to your phone, I am under Celeste Travis."
"Naturally," he responded, as he quickly typed something into his phone. "I will see you tomorrow. Celeste." He said as she turned her back to him and left. She closed the door behind herself, and continued back to her own wing.
She sensed someone was in the room, and the hilt of a gun came rushing at her. She reacted, and she didn't know why, but she moved out of the way of the attack, and countered. She held on to the tip, and crushed it with her hand, and lashed out with her own hands. Fingers shaped like claws, and torn through a desk in her attack. Her attacker nimbly evaded her lashing out, until she realized that it was Ada.
"Ada," She asked surprised. Ada smiled, and dropped to the ground. "What is this about?" She demanded, and she felt her blood boil in anger.
"I wanted to see the level of what you were working with," she said. "There is definitely raw potential, and something to hone with your fighting. While HUNK is training you, so will I." She told her.
"Why would you do that?" She asked, curious.
"Even though Albert was an overzealous piece of work," she began, and Celeste scoffed. "He was a good source of work, and an endless supply of possibilities. I see that with you, and I would like see you live." Ada paced slowly, and glanced at her weapon. "Especially since I refuse to work with Alex Wesker." She noted at the end.
Celeste remembered reading about her, and though Albert barely spoke with her, and certainly. He had in his mind that she would adapt or she would die. Very ruthless for someone he considered a sibling. However, she believed it was only to be polite to the woman considering that she called him brother.
"Why is that?" She asked, and she wondered if it was the same reason. Ada only smiled, and at this point she was probably thinking that she had been generous enough.
"I will come in at random points at a time to access your progress." She said as she gracefully leapt off the balcony like she did earlier this evening. Just like that she was gone, and Celeste was alone to her feelings. She shuddered a sigh.
Was she relieved that Albert was dead? Definitely so. Did she mourned him? No, she can't have. She can't mourn anyone who would want her dead. He made his move motivate, and where she stood in his life clear when he attempted on her life. She was relieved that his plans had failed, and part of her felt tempted to send Chris Redfield, and his partner Sheva a little gift to say thank you for killing the bastard. She twisted her fingers nervously as she heard a rapping at the door.
"Who is it?" She asked, and she was already smelling her mother's perfume.
"It's me, Excella," her mother refused to call her by her new name. However, due to their family reputation. She relented only in public. In her mind, she was the one that gave birth to one of the few select people who had adapted to the virus. She wanted more respect within the family.
"Come in," she said and looked back to face her mother. Whose expression was clear when she saw the damage she had done to the desk. "Excuse the mess," She began, "I had a late night guest." She explained.
"I have noticed." She said with a nod. "You have a gentleman staying within one of the wings of the estate?" She asked within her statement.
"Yes," she agreed, "he is here to train me, so I will have better control of my new abilities." She went further, her mother unlike her uncles didn't go further into her education. However, she did ensure that they would have better trade within the family by marrying her father. "I find it is absolutely necessary, especially so I may return to public." She finished, not letting her mother have much a say in this matter.
Her mother sighed, and shook her head, "Just do not make the same mistakes again. For your sake, and our family."
Celeste sighed, "That is the plan mother." She told her begrudgingly. She had reminded her that she had made a mistake with Albert, and that she had warned her multiple times to stay away from him. She gritted her teeth, enough to hear them grind in her mouth. She inhaled, and exhaled slowly trying to calm herself.
"Don't get upset with me," Her mother warned, "You may be an advance human, or whatever you may be, but I am still your mother. I am telling you this not for the company or the family, but that I do love you. He made an attempt on your life, and you were lucky to outlive him. Do not give anyone else that chance to finish what he had started." She told her simply. Celeste was a little calmer, but it still didn't aid her frustration.
"Yes mother, thank you." She said, "Goodnight." She said, and her mother left her alone again. Her mother said that she was an advance human, but all of her feelings still felt all too human. She walked out to the balcony, and stared out into the landscape, and below the hill she just saw the shining lights of the city. "Soon, I will be out among you all." She said to no one in particular. "I will change this world, but it will done in my image." She looked down on the unsuspecting world with a smile on her lips.