Author's Note: Hey guys! Thank you so much for the reviews. I really wasn't expecting to get any. Also, thanks to everyone who added this story to their favorites. I'm so glad you liked it. This is the second chapter to the story and hopefully things will start to unfold. Soon, a certain character will make an appearance that some of you are either gonna like or hate. Not giving any hints yet; just keep track and you'll see.

Also, I'm still looking for a beta reader if anyone is interested. I'm not too certain about some parts and I could really use some help or corrections.

Finally, I made a banner for this story. You can see it in my profile page as I can't paste a link here. This is how I imagine Claire's uniform to be. I didn't change anything about Leon because his B.S.A.A. uniform cannot be seen from under the jacket so it suited me just fine.

Anyways, hope you like this chapter! Please, please review, I love reviews I think my heart skips a beat when I get one.

Chapter Two: The Arrival

The flight to Paris was long and tiring. Claire didn't really enjoy long plane rides but she at least managed to get a nap while they were on air. First class tickets were a wonderful thing, the service was incredible. She always wanted to go to France but under different circumstances of course. Fall in love in Paris, as they say. Maybe she'd have a chance to do that someday.

Leon was wide awake before Claire went to sleep and right after she woke up. Had he been awake all this time? He hadn't moved from his position at all. He was reading a book; she couldn't make out the title. His hair fell graciously all around his face framing it like curtains. He seemed really absorbed and she soon realized she was staring and turned her gaze to her brother. He was sitting next to Jill and Ian and they seemed to be chatting. The hours were passing ever so painfully slow.

When they finally arrived she let out a sigh of relief. She didn't want to see the inside of a plane for at least another month. She stretched and grabbed her luggage. They were all greeted at the airport by the European B.S.A.A. branch's chief whose name she couldn't quite remember. They were escorted to their hotel called 'The Parisian Plaza' which was located in the middle of the city center. Claire watched the Eiffel Tower as they passed by it, as long as many other sights she wished she had been able to see on her own terms. This was a mission, there was no room for anyone to enjoy the city and go sightseeing.

Soon as they arrived to the hotel, they got the keys to their own single rooms. The chief told them they would be picked up at 0800 hours tomorrow morning.

Claire went to her room dragging her luggage behind. It was very illuminated by the lights and was painted in a warm orange color. A single bed with white sheets stood in the middle of the room. A mini desk was situated at the corner of the room as well as a TV set that was right above it. A small orange flower patterned couch sat next to the bed. The bathroom was small but bright. It was generally a nice room but she didn't think she'd mind if it wasn't; she wouldn't be spending much time in it.

There was a knock on the door. She went to open it and much to her surprise she saw Jill standing there.

"Hey, Jill.", Claire greeted her with a smile. "What's up?"

"Claire.", she smiled back. "Nothing really, just wanted to check if you're settled."

Claire nodded and gestured towards the room. Jill entered and took a seat on the couch by the bed. "It's nice. I mean, it's Paris.", she said in a half-excited half-disappointed tone.

"Yeah, can't really enjoy it when you're here to fight monsters.", Jill said. She looked around hesitantly as if she wanted to say something but she regretted it.

"Something wrong?", Claire asked concerned.

Jill pressed her hands on the couch's arms. "Look, Claire.", she sighed. "I'm not trying to scare you or anything.", she started. "When I was held captive by Wesker he did horrible experiments on me. He tampered with my head and I couldn't control my actions. I wasn't the only test subject there."

"How many more?"

"Thousands.", she only said.

Claire seemed dumbfounded. Thousands? Wesker really would stop at nothing. "So, we're about to assassinate innocent humans. Like you." Jill sadly nodded. "But maybe we can help them like Chris helped you!", she said with hope in her tone.

Jill shook her head. "We can't afford to be compromised. I just came here to warn you about what you're going to see. It's not gonna be pretty, Claire.", she said as she looked away probably haunted by her own thoughts. "We need to do what's necessary for the mission and that is to destroy all the biochemical weapons Wesker created."

"I know."

"You're with the B.S.A.A. now. You need to be tough."

"I am, trust me."

"Good."

"I just wish we could help people."

"You can't save everyone, Claire.", Jill said.

"I know.", Claire only said as she remembered two people she couldn't save and would regret it forever. She could have done more. She could have. But there was no use dwelling in the past. The safety of the world was in their hands now. Maybe she couldn't save who she wanted to save but she would save a lot more.

The next day, they all met at the lobby of the hotel, dressed in their uniforms. They were equipped with their standard Beretta pistols except for Chris and Ian who had the SIG 556 rifle. She was more of a machine gun person herself but the handgun would have to do for now.

There were two black vans waiting outside the hotel. Alpha Team was instructed to enter the first one and Claire and her team got in the second one. She took a seat next to Leon and opposite Nathan. She hadn't had the time to get acquainted with either of her other two team members but she figured it would happen eventually.

"Buckle up, people.", the driver said in a french accent. "We'll be arriving at the facility in approximately 20 minutes."

"Outside of Paris?", Leon asked.

"Oui.", he replied. "It's near Suresnes. We'll be there shortly. There are bulletproof vests for you under your seats. Please put them on."

"Vests?", Claire asked. "Why would we need bulletproof vests?"

Leon shrugged. "Better safe than sorry."

Claire could only agree to that and she figured it would do her no harm. Well, they were uncomfortable of course, but making it back in one piece was more important than feeling comfortable. She loaded her gun and took a few bullets from the supplies in the van and put them in her pockets.

"If we stumble upon anything unusual we report back to headquarters immediately.", Bruno finally spoke. His accent was not as rough as the driver's. There was a French tint in it but it looked like he had lived in America long enough to be able to drop it.

"You need to define unusual because my idea of unusual is a whole lot different than yours, Lambert.", Claire said. It was true. Unusual for them could be anything from a non-cooperative civilian to weird sounds. For Claire, unusual were horrifying monsters she had encountered before and even then she never thought she could ever come face to face with anything that would surprise her. When you're used to fighting monsters, you're ready for everything.

"Miss Redfield, I'm just pointing it out.", Bruno said almost regretting ever opening his mouth. Chris Redfield's sister was definitely a lot more experienced than he was so he was in no position to be giving anyone advice.

Claire nodded and turned to Leon. "You think we'll find anything?", she asked.

Leon was just finishing loading a clip to his gun. "I suppose so. Wesker was obsessed with the virus, I really doubt he hadn't made any back-up plans in case his other experiments failed."

There was truth to that. Wesker was a malevolent being. She couldn't bring herself to even call him human because he stopped being that a long time ago. She was glad he was gone though. She couldn't think of anyone else that could ever be more dangerous than him. The only thing that scared her were his 'leftovers'. What if he left something a lot more powerful than him? She hoped that wasn't the case but all these years she'd given up hope that the creation of these monsters would ever stop. Just when they thought they were finished and free from the virus, some other new threat would arise, much more dangerous than the last.

About 22 minutes later they arrived at the facility, followed by the other van. Claire got out of it, followed by Leon and the rest. She was in some sort of field. There was a forest on their left and she could see the Seine river expanding in the distance. It was a secluded area apart from a few buildings here and there but the biggest one was standing before them. She assumed it was the facility they had to investigate. It was a tall dark structure, with the label 'Suresnes Pharmaceuticals' pinned somewhere in the middle. The color of the letters was a faded green and the sign itself was worn out. It seemed like a normal facility but she knew better than that. Umbrella had used many facades and the people working there knew how to pick companies and locations that wouldn't arise any suspicions. Who would think there would be something abnormal so close to such a crowded area near Paris? They sure knew how to disguise themselves.

"Alright, this is it.", Chris said as he approached them. His rifle was holstered but he was holding his handgun. He was leading the mission. "We will split up and meet here at 1600 hours unless we are instructed otherwise. We will communicate through these headsets.", he said as he handed everyone a pair of headphones with a microphone attached to it. "Keep in contact and inform me about anything you find.", he turned to Jill and nodded. "Beta team, enter through the front door. We'll get the backdoor.", he said as he started walking away. "Keep low and be careful.", he said to everyone but he was mostly addressing his sister.

"Let's go, people.", Leon said as they all started walking towards the facility. The closer they got, the more gigantic it seemed. Leon walked to the front steel door. He examined the door. "It's locked.", he said as he tried to open it.

"I got it.", Nathan Grimes, the other team member said. He approached and took out his lockpick. He picked the lock in a matter of seconds. "Easy as pie.", he grinned.

"Huh.", Claire exclaimed. "You'd figure a place like this would have a more secure entrance."

"It's all part of the cover. I'm sure we'll find more locked doors probably impossible to pick.", Grimes said.

"Let's get inside.", Leon said as he slowly opened the door. After making sure it was clear, he gestured for the rest to follow him. The inside of the building was dark and dusty. The windows looked like they hadn't been cleaned in months.

"You'd think this place would be cleaner.", Claire said as she traced her finger on one of the windows and it came back with a thick layer of dust.

"I don't think they were very interested in keeping this area clean.", Leon pointed out. He walked slowly around the gigantic room. The ceiling lights were flickering on and off, most of them almost broken. There was a flight of metallic stairs both to their left and their right. It looked as if the place was divided in two sections.

"This place is huge.", Lamberts said looking around in awe.

"We'll never be able to check this whole place by four.", Claire said as she looked at her clock. It read 8:47 A.M. They still had plenty of time but she knew that in places like these it was never nearly enough.

"We should split up.", Leon suggested. He turned to Claire for confirmation. She nodded. "Claire and I will take the left. Grimes, Lambert, take the right." The two men nodded. "Keep in touch."

Claire and Leon started walking opposite ways from the other two. She noticed there were stacks of papers scattered around the room. She picked one up, unfolded it and started reading out loud.

"Suresnes Pharmaceuticals to be closed down due to insufficient funds. Over two hundred people about to lose their jobs. Large quantities of drugs to be left over. The founder of-"

"Due to insufficient funds?", Leon scoffed. "Yeah, right. They probably needed to get rid of people that were becoming suspicious of their experiments."

"So, we need to find where exactly the experiments are being conducted."

"Somewhere in this building, I presume.", Leon said as he looked around.

The high ceiling structure made the room look bigger than it actually was. A huge torn fan was hanging from the ceiling, dangling a bit from the subtle wind. There were doors almost everywhere. They didn't know where to start.

"Let's take them by order.", Claire said as she pointed to the first door they could see. It was a metallic blue color, parts of it red, probably from corrosion.

Leon gently pushed Claire aside and stood in front of her in a protective way. "Let me go first.", he said trying not to make it seem as if he didn't trust her or anything. It was a nice gesture but Claire could take care of herself. He motioned for her to wait as he unlocked the door. It creaked a bit and they both took a peek inside. It was a messy office, books and papers scattered everywhere and some spilled coffee on the desk. There was also a metal tag that read a name Claire wasn't too interested in remembering. There was a dying plant in the corner. The drapes were closed.

"Looks like someone left in a hurry.", Claire said.

"Just a normal office.", Leon said as he looked around a bit. There seemed to be nothing of interest apart from a framed photo on the desk of a man around his mid-thirties with a blonde woman. "We could try and go through some papers but it would take us forever."

Claire nodded. "Let's move on."

They both started walking to the other doors, opening them one by one. They were all offices almost identical to the first one but not as messy. There seemed to be personal stuff still in the offices. "Looks like the employees' offices."

"It almost looks as if it was evacuated.", Claire pointed out. She had noticed that none of the offices were empty. If the people who worked here were actually let go after the organization closed down they wouldn't have left stuff behind.

"You think something happened to them?", Leon asked hesitantly, putting emphasis in the words.

"You don't mean…", Claire said without being able to finish her sentence. She didn't want to believe it but it was very suspicious. Maybe the people weren't infected like Leon had wordlessly suggested. If that was the case, the place would be messier. Messier in the sense of bodily fluids, blood and guts lying on the floors. No, it was too clean for something like that. "Let's not hope for the worst, Leon."

Leon nodded. "Let's take a look over there.", he said as he pointed to a set of double steel doors. There were two buttons on each side of it. Leon pushed one of the buttons. Nothing.

"Maybe we should both try at the same time.", Claire suggested. She put her hand over the other button and silently counted to three. They both pressed the buttons simultaneously and there was a clicking sound coming from the door. "Why would they need at least two people to go inside?"

Leon shrugged. He pushed the doors open and they both went inside. There was a long white corridor almost like a hospital. What was a place like this doing here? Why would they need hospital rooms?

"Claire.", Leon said as he looked in awe the corridor that stood before them. "I think it's time we start worrying."