AN:Man, it feels like forever since I updated! This chapter was surprisingly hard to write, even though I wrote most of the dialogue ahead of time. Then again, the story did go through some plot changes long after I wrote those scripts.
College is tiring. Even though right now the year just started, there's been so much going on that I have had very little time to finish this chapter. Plus a whole lot of other things appeared (including a potential Uncharted 3 story) and distracted me from writing this as well. I'm still getting used to everything, so I can't say exactly when I'll be able to update again. Good news is, I'm enjoying college, and I've switched over to new software which will allow me to write/edit my fanfics anywhere. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil or its characters. Non-Canon characters own themselves, except for Delfredi and his lovely assistant. XD Those two were created by JediSpartan217.
Stevie stared at her partner in disbelief. There were two things on the younger cadet's mind: the fact that her partner still feared the woman who had chased after her four years ago, and one very important question: Why in the world did Excella decide now would be a good time to haunt her partner?
"...Kate? Excella's gone, remember?" Stevie spoke, in an attempt to ease her anxious partner's mind. "She's not supposed to exist here."
The older agent nodded as her shoulders hunched upward, protecting her neck as she looked around, searching for the source of her fear. "Yeah, but I swear her eyes are fixed on the back of my neck. I can feel it," she whispered, "And we never did find out where she went after that battle on the roof four years ago."
Stevie raised a puzzled eyebrow. "Still going on about that?" she asked. Kate nodded again. "Last time I checked, nobody but you was able to vouch for what happened while you were up there. And keep in mind that Mattie DID whack our heads into concrete a couple times while we were on the roof."
" Are you calling me a liar? Because I didn't give myself those injuries on my feet."
"No," Stevie finished, grabbing her partner by the hand and pulling her forward, "Let's go. I'd like to get out of here as soon as humanly possible."
"What should we do about Excella?"
"Just . . . tell her to shut up. Now let's get out of here." Stevie guided her partner through the remainder of the corridor, only to be met by a sealed door at the end, held shut by a large piece of wood. "Help me with this," she instructed. Once the beam of wood was out of the way, the agents emerged into a brightly lit hall. One door was situated to their immediate left, while another one sat at the far end of the hall near a pile of crates. The duo tried the double doors first, finding no resistance as they passed through.
However, the group stopped into their tracks when they saw what lay in the room ahead of them. "Lickers," Stevie commented sarcastically, "Really?!" Then she began shouting towards the ceiling. "Hey Delfredi! Do you have any shred of originality at all?! Or do you just take ideas from previous games?"
Kate peered into the room beyond the glass, observing the creatures closely before noticing a common denominator: "They're all asleep."
Stevie moved to stand next to her partner. "Do we have to go this way?" she asked, "I know there was another door back there. Why don't we try that one?"
"Right. You go try the other door," Kate consented, "I'll stay here and keep an eye on these monsters."
Stevie nodded and exited the room, leaving Kate with a pane of soundproof glass between her and the Lickers.
The room was quiet, save for the sounds the Lickers made as they slept. "I wonder if they snore?" Kate thought to herself as she gazed through the window, watching their bodies rise and fall with each breath. It would have been peaceful if not for the fact that Lickers were lethal killers with a taste for human flesh.
"BOO!"
Kate let out a shrill shriek, jumped out of her skin, pulled out her handgun, and bracing against the window as she whirled around to face the prankster. Her eyes fixed on the closed door for several seconds, breathing sharply as adrenaline pumped through her bloodstream before realizing that no one was in the room with her. Kate checked the status of the Lickers; still asleep. The room had no intercom speaker, so that left one last suspect. "You're still here?!" the skittish cadet called out to the air.
Excella's disembodied voice giggled back at her. "You poor thing. You should have realized it by now: I'm always with you."
Kate bit her tongue, suppressing a shiver as she struggled to find the words she wanted to say. Finally, she summed up the courage to voice a simple response. "You're not supposed to exist. Get out of my head," she replied, a move that would have been brave if not for a slight quiver in her hands that failed to cloak her anxiety.
Excella chuckled. "It's been fun . . . I'll be back sooner than you think," she spoke one last time before leaving the agent alone with her thoughts.
Kate lowered her handgun and looked around the room. Aside from the Lickers in the other room, no one was around but her. Once verifying this fact, she allowed some of her anxiety to subside. A few short seconds later, Stevie came through the door and re-entered the room. "What's happened?" the younger cadet asked, "I heard you shout from the other end of the hall. It scared the crap out of me."
"It's nothing," she sighed, running one hand through her hair as she slowly calmed down, "Excella was being a total bitch and decided to scare me."
"Tell me about it. When is she not a total bitch?"
Kate smiled at the snide comment. "Any luck with the other door?"
"Negativo, buddy," Stevie replied, leaning against the door behind her, "The security on that door was tighter than my favorite pair of leather pants. We're not getting in there."
Kate turned back to the window. "Then it looks like we have to go through here," she said softly, her eyes scanning over the Licker-covered floor.
Stevie gave one look and promptly tossed her two cents in. "Uh, no thank you. I'd rather try to move that pile of crates we saw earlier. At least those won't eat us."
"Right now is our best chance," Kate explained, "The Lickers are asleep, and I can see a door on the other side of this room."
Stevie stared into the Licker room, gauging the distance between the room she and her partner were standing in and the door on the other side. "Okay, but it better be unlocked, and those monsters better not get too friendly."
The two agents moved closer to the door that led into the Licker room. "Alrighty, from now until we get out of here, we have to stay quiet," Kate whispered a quick briefing as she put one hand on the doorknob, " Don't want to wake these guys up. Watch your step." Stevie nodded in understanding. Kate opened the door and quickly filed in behind her partner.
Tiptoeing through the Lickers was no easy feat. The agents moved carefully, making an effort not to step on the monsters' limbs in the process. Brushing up against the creatures' flesh was not an option either; the women did not want to take any chances. Clear floor space was at a minimum, making it that much harder for the agents to find places to put their feet. Nevertheless, they crossed the room without making any noise. Stevie tested the door, feeling the handle give way. Unlocked. The younger cadet signaled her partner with her eyes. Kate nodded, and both cadets passed through swiftly and silently.
They emerged into another hallway. Like some others, it was sparsely lit by overhead lights, but rows of doors sat on both sides of the hall. Once assured that the door was securely closed, the two agents let out heavy sighs of relief. The tension was over. Kate made the mouth-zip signal and gestured toward the Licker room, warning her partner not to make any noise until they were far away from the Lickers. Stevie nodded and gestured towards the hall that stretched out before them. In silent agreement, the duo began to walk again. When they had made it a fair ways up the hall, they began talking again.
"That was nerve wracking," Stevie whispered her complaint, "Now Delfredi's really being an asshat."
"Is it weird that I still think Lickers would make good pets once you train them not to eat you?" the older cadet added.
The ground jerked violently under Kate's feet before Stevie could reply. The older cadet's vision blurred as her body pitched forward. "Kate!" Stevie yelped, making a grab for a flailing limb. Kate wobbled out of her partner's reach on unsteady feet, and within seconds, landed face down on the unforgiving floor with a dull thud, barely noticing a sharp wince from Stevie.
The older agent groaned as she pushed herself up, only to be greeted by a slow clapping inside her head. "Brava…" Excella mocked, "You have a penchant for ineptitude, did you know that? Maybe that's why you are so blind to your faults."
"I know my own weaknesses. Just leave me alone," Kate sighed; her morale was beginning to crumble under the villainess' insulting presence.
Stevie walked over to where her comrade lay. "Still falling down on the job, buddy? What happened to all that balance training?" the younger cadet commented sarcastically.
Kate replayed the fall in her mind, searching for the cause. Randomly losing her balance and falling was nothing new, but the habit saw a sharp downturn since she started training with the Organization. "I have no idea," she explained, "I just got really dizzy all of a sudden and boom, I'm down here."
The dark-haired agent gave a short laugh. "I can't take you anywhere, can I?" she joked as she helped her friend to her feet.
"Not while I'm this un-coordinated." A sharp hissing interrupted Kate's reply, forcing her back to reality. "What the hell was that?"
Stevie looked back up the hall, eye widening as they fell upon the open door directly behind them. "We got trouble," the dark-haired cadet murmured.
One of the Lickers had woken up and somehow gotten out of the room, judging by the door that now hung slightly ajar, and was now crawling around the floor near the end of the hall, sniffing for food. "Did you close the door properly?" Stevie whispered nervously.
"I did! How did that thing get out?" Kate hissed back.
"Don't ask me!"
The agents observed the Licker as it crawled onto the wall, then attached itself to the ceiling. "It's looking for us. If we make any noise, we're toast," Kate whispered calmly before glancing farther down the corridor, away from the stray Licker. "We don't know how much farther this place goes. We better hide."
Stevie nodded and gestured to the door on their immediate left. The agents moved fast; luckily, the first door they picked was unlocked, and as soon as they were inside they shut the door behind them quickly and silently.
"Okay," Stevie whispered with one ear pressed to the door, bracing it with her body, "We'll wait in here until it leaves."
Kate turned and began to scan the room they had entered, only to have her blood ran cold. "Uh, Stevie," she warned, "We're not alone."
The younger cadet whirled around. A blonde woman in a short lab coat stood in front of them, pointing a handgun right in their direction. Her hair was tied in a bun at the back of her head, and a short dress peeked out from under the lab coat, but what caught the agents' eyes was a distinct red and white pattern on the coat's upper sleeve. Stevie's hand dived for her own handgun.
"Don't even think about trying it," the woman warned, adjusting her aim so the gun pointed directly at Kate, "I have the upper hand." Stevie glared at the woman, but nonetheless drew her hand away from her weapon.
"Thought you could hide in here, did you?" the woman spoke in a bitter tone, "I expected better from the BSAA, but it's obvious that you are nothing more than mere cadets. It's almost if you haven't trained with them at all. Let me guess, running out of ammo?" Stevie and Kate traded uneasy expressions. How the heck did this chick know about their Hunter predicament? "I thought as much."
The older agent wracked her brain for a suitable response to the woman's claims, coming up with nothing. Her mind had frozen like a deer in the headlights. "Why don't you put the rest of those bullets to good use?" Excella coaxed, her voice sickly sweet and thick as honey in Kate's mind, "Your cover's about to be blown, so go ahead; grant yourself a painless death before the monsters find you first."
The older agent shook her head in nervous defiance as the mental images played in her head. "No. That's not going to happen," she swore under her breath as she tried to focus on the woman in front of her, "Not while my friends need me."
Excella snickered, bringing the skittish agent to the defensive again. "We'll see about that..."
"Just leave me alone," Kate pleaded shakily, feeling herself get closer to an anxiety attack every second, "Go away . . . "
The woman's eyes widened, listening to the older agent speak before grabbing hold of a nearby clipboard. "Looks like the virus is working… at least on one of you pests," she said as she began writing on the clipboard with extreme vigor, "Not exactly what I had in mind…" She stopped writing long enough for an excited smile to cross her face. "But that means more research to do once the virus spreads!"
"It spreads?!" Stevie exclaimed, momentarily forgetting about the Licker outside.
The woman set down her clipboard, picking up a breathalyzer-like device to replace it. "Breathe into this," she ordered, shoving it into Kate's hands. "I need to know how much you've inhaled to determine the level of effects."
The fair-haired brunette glanced at Stevie for a few seconds, then shrugged and exhaled into the device. The woman took the machine away from her, scowling as she read the results on the side. "Drat," she spoke, "Only a small dosage. Not enough to prompt other side effects."
"What 'other side effects'?" Kate asked with a note of despair in her voice, "I already feel like I'm going to lose my mind; what's worse than hearing voices?"
"Aww," Excella cooed, sending a shiver running up the older cadet's spine, "Don't be such a baby."
The woman narrowed her eyes at the two agents. "A dose that small should wear off in time. If it had been larger, though," she started, only for her voice to turn bubbly again, "you'd be hallucinating even worse and eventually turn into a Tyrant! That would make my notes SO much more exciting!"
The duo shirked backwards at the girlish enthusiasm. "You're just sick!" Stevie commented before listening at the door again. "I think the Licker's gone," she told Kate, "Let's get out of here. With our luck we'll run right into Delfredi himself."
"I'm afraid Dr. Delfredi doesn't want to see visitors yet," the woman spoke, pointing her pistol at them once again as they looked towards her, "You still have tests to finish, after all."
Stevie and Kate shared a glance and came to an instant agreement: this lady was way too creepy to be reasoned with. "O-kay," Stevie responded, not knowing what else to say as her hand inched towards the doorknob, "We'll be going now."
The younger cadet's hand barely touched the doorknob before the woman spoke again. "You don't get to leave!" she warned them, "At least, not yet." Stevie and Kate looked back to face her. "Since you've given me good data, I'll let you go for now. But the next time we meet might not be so lucky for either of you."
A radio unit that sat on the woman's belt clicked on. "That'll do, Veronica," Delfredi spoke, "Return to the safe room."
"Right away, sir!" the woman, now known to the two agents as Veronica, responded, still pointing her gun at the two women, "But first I need to see a few rats return to the maze."
"So she's the one helping Delfredi," Stevie thought as she and her partner assessed the woman's threat; if she could hold a gun without her hands shaking, she wasn't bluffing. "Duly noted," Stevie responded before turning to her partner. "C'mon. That Delfredi guy said he had more 'Playtimes' waiting for us."
The two agents exited the room quietly, leaving the woman alone in the laboratory. Veronica smiled as she stowed her handgun away. "That wasn't too difficult," she said brightly, picking up the clipboard to review the data she collected, "Dr. Delfredi should be very happy with this new information!" Veronica giggled to herself in glee, gathering the rest of the notes she needed before returning to her boss.
After her trial with the Lickers, Jill quickly retreated into one of the nearby labs and locked the door behind her, hoping to find more files. Instead, she found a computer that was recently used, judging by the fact that somebody forgot to sign out.
Jill began checking the files on the computer. Many of the documents were protected and required a password to get in. "Shit, now what do I do?" the agent thought as she stared at the screen, trying to figure out how to get in. The former STARS member was computer literate enough to pass the BSAA's tests, but she wasn't a complete brainiac like the guys back at HQ. She'd have to guess the password and hope there wasn't a security system attached to it.
Jill's fingers began pecking at the keys. "Let's try 'Umbrella'," she spoke under her breath, "This is one of their facilities." The password 'Umbrella' yielded no results, neither did 'Spencer', 'Tyrant', or 'Raccoon City'. Granted, that last idea was a long shot, but Jill was running out of ideas. "I wonder . . . " she let the thought trail as she entered a potential password for the fifth time. If it wasn't related to the old Umbrella, then Jill would be on to something. She slowly typed 'Delfredi' into the terminal and hit 'Enter'. The unlocked files greeted her, sitting in rows like presents under a Christmas tree. Jill allowed a short-lived beam to cross her face. "Bingo."
After that moment, it was back to business. Lacking the necessary hacking skills to send the documents straight to HQ, Jill preferred to upload the files onto a portable USB stick for Quint to analyze at a later time.
Jill plugged the USB stick in. As the files began copying onto the new piece of hardware, Jill did some snooping into the terminal's email archives. The computer brought up several emails over the past month. Jackpot. Jill scanned the line of messages in the Sent box first. They had all been written by the same person; unfortunately, Jill could not see who the messages were being sent too. Someone had taken precautions. The content of the messages appeared to be updates. Jill clicked on the most recently sent message, dated no more than an hour ago, judging by the time stamp. She began reading.
"From: Vsmithson
To: (REDACTED)
Everything is running smoothly. There have been little to no lapses in Delfredi's condition, but I'm watching him closely just in case. I've noticed that Delfredi is acting stranger, more distant since this operation started. I believe that the presence of Jill Valentine is causing him to act this way. But thankfully, he is staying in the Control room while I am in the field. I'm certain the dynamic duo that Jill brought with her have realized my presence. I will have to find better places to hide. For now, 'Delfredi' is dominant. All intruders are currently occupied by his 'Playtimes' , so I don't expect to run into any trouble while following orders."
Jill stepped away from the computer. "'Delfredi is dominant'? What is this person talking about?" she thought, "And why is Delfredi so interested in me, anyway? I don't know anyone with that name." The former STARS officer shook her head. "At least Delfredi has some sort of weakness. Now I need to know how to exploit it." With this knowledge, Jill shifted her focus and was able to pull up a basic floor plan of the facility on the computer with a few swift keystrokes. "Now, where the hell am I?"
The door at the end of the hall opened into a small, narrow stairwell. Being on the first floor, the agents had no choice but to go up. One flight of stairs later found them in front of another door. A quick test of the handle proved that this one was unlocked.
Beyond the door lay a shorter corridor, leading into another white room. A square-shaped ventilation shaft sat on the far wall, with a door in the wall to the right.
"There! I think that's our way out," Stevie spoke, rushing forward into the white room while Kate jogged behind her.
As Stevie passed into the room, a pane of glass slid down in the doorway, forcing Kate to stop in her tracks. A telltale 'click' of a lock confirmed the agents' fears; They were separated.
"Kate!" Stevie panicked, running back towards the wall of glass, "Are you okay?!"
The older cadet's eyes bounced around the space, doing her best to stay calm. She nodded quickly to Stevie, then ran the other end of the corridor and tried the door she and her friend had entered through. Kate grasped the doorknob violently, only to find that that door had locked behind them as well. "I can't find a way out!" she reported to her partner, "What about your side?"
Stevie glanced about the chamber. Aside from the ventilation shaft, the only other exit was the door to the side. She tried the door. Locked. "This door's no good either!" she reported, then her eyes fell on a key card reader. "I think we're gonna need a key!"
Before the cadets could say anything else, the intercom clicked on above them. A quick glance toward the noise revealed a security camera as well. "Ah, I hope you're ready for the second round of 'Playtime'. There's something I wish to learn from you," Delfredi spoke from an intercom. "Are you willing to face your fears to save your friend? Your lives now depend on it."
AN: Don't forget to leave a review!