A/N: Hello to all and welcome back. Now that we are officially in the Code Veronica part of the story, we're going to be seeing an all too familiar face that many of you have been expecting, and hoping for.
As I said previously, this arc of the story is relatively short since most of this game was from Claire's point of view. So there's only going to be a handful of chapters compared to the rest of the fic. But that won't make them any less impactful.
Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil.
"Your skill, strength, and overall survival are offensive to some people. Those are definitely not your people." - Sabrina Newby
It was rare moments like these that Ethan was glad that he had both his intelligence and fore-sight in situations like this. Halfway climbing up the cliffs on the South-West side of the island, Chris ended up slipping and nearly dropped his pack of supplies.
Thankfully, the traveler had been right under him when it happened and grabbed the bag before it fell into the ocean below. Had he not been there Chris would have been ass out with hardly any armaments.
"Nice grab." Chris said, accepting the bag when Ethan handed it to him and strapped it back on. "Would have been in rough shape if I lost this."
"Bet you're damn glad to have backup now." the younger male said with a knowing smirk which had the former pointman shaking his head.
Before they proceeded they took stock of their weaponry and supplies they gathered when they were back in Capetown. Thankful that Chris' contact didn't ask any questions as he got them what they asked for.
Going through his pack, Ethan pulled on his black tactical vest before slipped his trusty Samurai Edge into the thigh holster on his right leg. A backup sidearm, a Glock-17, going in a second holster on his lower back.
Next came a FAMAS-G2 assault rifle that he slung across his back before slipping magazines and clips of ammo into the proper pouches.
"How many grenades do you have?" asked Chris, loading shells into a Spaz-12 gauge shotgun he'd picked up.
"Got two. You?" the traveler asked back as he slipped said explosives onto his belt.
"Same." replied the older man as he finished kitting up. "Think it'll be enough?"
Ethan shrugged as he stood up, checking the sharp edge of his combat knife before slipping it into the scabbard on his left shoulder. "If it isn't, we'll improvise." When they were both finished they looked toward the small cave on the ledge they stopped at.
Drawing their sidearms, the duo hunched down and made their way inside. It was an isolated place, but it was definitely connected to the main compound if the radio antenna outside was anything to go by.
The cave led to a large, open room. The walls and ceiling were natural rock formations, but the floor had been leveled by human means. A light ahead of them marked the way and they followed the tunnel in that direction.
From what they had seen on their way in from the ocean, the attack on the compound had been a vicious one. Whoever had been responsible really had it in for Umbrella.
A sudden tremor shook the tunnel, sending dust and small pebbles raining from above onto their heads...then the ceiling collapsed behind them.
"Shit..." Chris muttered when they turned back and saw the passage blocked.
"The attack must have weakened the island's geological structure." said Ethan as he pulled out a small flashlight and checked the fissure cracks on the walls and ceiling. "Better watch out step, this whole chamber could come down."
"...W-What?"
The raspy voice from closeby had the two former STARS aiming their weapons toward the opposite wall of the cave. Finding a man slumped to the floor, dressed in a tattered and bloody white t-shirt with military pants and boots.
From what Ethan could make out of the patch on his left shoulder, he was one of Umbrella's. And from what he could see of his injuries, he wouldn't be alive much longer if he didn't get help.
"I didn't know anyone was still around," the man said weakly, coughing roughly, "Thought I was the last one...after the self-destruct..."
"He's fading fast." Ethan thought, kneeling down beside him. "What's you're name?"
"Raval...Rodrigo Raval." said the man before coughing again.
"Rodrigo, we're here looking for someone, a young woman named Claire Redfield. Do you know where she is?" the traveler asked.
At the mention of her name, Rodrigo smiled to himself, "An angel...She's gone, escaped. I helped her...let her go. She tried to help me, but it was too late..."
"Are you sure she got away?" asked Chris, hope blooming in his tone since hearing about the self-destruct.
The man nodded slowly, "Heard the planes leave...Saw a jet come out of the basement, under the...tank. You should go, too. Nothing left he-"
Whatever Rodrigo was going to say was cut off when a deafening cry suddenly filled the cave, followed by another, harder, tremor that had the ground shaking so hard Chris and Ethan had trouble staying upright...
Then the Earth erupted, an explosion of dirt and rock spraying from the floor in a large fountain. Some of which was coated with a strange slime that felt all too familiar to the traveler when he was pelted with them. The smell of sulfur and decay permeated the air as a large, rubber like cylinder climbed toward the ceiling.
The top twisting around to face the ground with the top peeling back via a series of wormy tentacles. A yawning, howling throat filled with teeth opening up and emitted another ear piercing shriek that shook the rocks around them.
"Oh FUCK!" Chris shouted, reaching for one of the grenades on his belt while Ethan started shooting the massive worm.
The creature reared back and came crashing down with it's mouth open, swallowing Rodrigo whole before he ever had a chance. Diving into the sandy soil he had been sitting on with its lower half arching over and following through the new hole made.
The duo stumbled to their feet, the ground still shaking as the large worm continued to burrow beneath the surface.
"Ideas?!" Chris called over all the noise.
"We don't kill this thing it'll either eat us or bring the cave down ontop of us!" Ethan called back. Feeling the ground shuttered beneath his feet and he had just barely enough time to dive aside before the snake-worm burst up through where he had just been standing.
Seeing the opprotunity, Chris pulled the safety ring and pin from the grenade and ran toward the creature's lower body where it emerged from the ground. Ducking under it's gaping maw when it opened wide again while dropping the explosive while continuing to run. Diving for cover behind the giant worm's twisted body and covering his head.
The creature's next shriek was cut off by a loud explosion that shook the ground harder than the animal itself had. The wet splatter of guts and blood echoed as it painted the walls of the cave in viscous bucket loads that reeked of burning sewege.
Both men stood, drenched in the creature's innards while the front half laid on the ground writhing and convulsing in its dying moments. It's muscles clenching and unclenching several times before expelling a flood of contents from its stomach...including it's last meal.
"Rodrigo!" Chris called out as he and Ethan both ran to the man's side. He was coated in yellow bile, several patches were seen were it was already in the process of burning through his flesh. His body seizing from shock and pain.
Wiping his face with the palm of his hand, Ethan ignored the tingling sensation and the light sizzle of the acid burning his palm as he checked the man's status. "Chris, we're losing him. He was already knocking on death's door before that damn thing tried to eat him."
Rodrigo opened his eyes, and though they were full of suffering, they also had the wet, glassy, faraway look of someone leaving it all behind, someone about to be free of pain and fear.
"Right...pocket..." he whispered. "The angel...gave...for luck."
Rodrigo took a slow, deep breath, and let it out just as slowly, an exhalation that seemed to go on forever...and then he was gone.
Ethan automatically closed his half-open eyes, simultaneously sad and relieved at Rodrigo's passing, the end of a life but also an end to dying. "Another damn victim." he thought bitterly.
Sighing, Chris reached into Rodrigo's pocket, felt skin-warmed metal, and pulled out the scuffed, heavy old lighter that he'd given to Claire himself, a long time ago.
For luck.
He held it to his chest, suddenly overwhelmed by a rush of love for his sister. She'd carried the lighter with her everywhere for years, but had given it up to ease the mind of a dying man, possibly one of the men responsible for her capture.
A hand on his shoulder had Chris looking up at Ethan's understanding gaze, "She's alive. If she's anything like you, she'll have gotten through this in one piece."
Chris nodded, pocketing the lighter before noticing the younger man's hand. "You good?" he asked motioning to the burned skin.
Ethan looked at his palm and shook off the bile. The patches of red skin already in the process of lightening to pink thanks to his advanced healing. "Yeah, I'm fine." he said with a shrug. Both of them getting back to their feet, sending one silent prayer at the fallen man before continuing on their path.
With their way in blocked, there was no other way to go but forward. No turning back.
X
There was a fight about to happen on one of the monitors in what was left of the control room, and Albert Wesker, frustrated by a day of fruitless searching and not looking forward to yet another long flight, pulled up a crate and sat down to watch.
He'd already sent his men away, their job done for the time being, he was alone. Except it appeared that he'd missed somebody, two somebodies, and they were still wandering around the island.
"But not for much longer," he thought sadistically, wishing the reception was better.
Thanks to Alfred Ashford, the self-destruct system had screwed everything up. None of the monitors were functioning at full capacity, the images grainy at best, but it was more than enough to behold the entertainment that was about to take place.
And they were well armed, from what he could see, but they weren't neither Umbrella or one of his, that much was for certain. And they obviously knew what this island was since they came prepared
Both men were walking through the training facility just one floor below, and they was about to meet up with one of Umbrella's newer bio-organics, one that had been trapped down in the sewers until Wesker had shown up and set it free. They were one hallway apart; when intruders turned the next corner, they were as good as dead.
Wesker adjusted his sunglasses, pleasantly diverted from his own troubles. Sweepers, Umbrella was calling the new monsters, but they were basically Hunters with poison claws. Huge, primarily amphibious, violent as hell. In Wesker's opinion, the Hunters, the 121 series, were perfect without the extra poison touch.
"But isn't that just like Umbrella, always wasting resources, playing games when they could be winning wars." he thought bitterly of his former employers. Wesker set aside his distaste for the company and leaned in to watch the bloodshed about to occur.
The first victim, tall guy with reddish-brown hair, that was about all the static would allow, was two steps from disaster. The younger individual righ behind him with the Sweeper waiting just around the corner for them...but then they stopped and backed up a step when the younger of the duo grabbed him and said something before they both pressed against the damaged wall.
Wesker frowned. The first man started to back up, slowly and carefully, still hugging the wall, looking over his shoulder to say something to his companion who seemed to nod.
They'd made it halfway back down the corridor he'd come through when the Sweeper finally got impatient, deciding to take action. There was no sound system left, but the creature had thrown back its head and was screaming, that weird, trilling screech floating up to Wesker through the ruined building just a split second later.
"Get them," Wesker breathed eagerly, looking back at the poor, doomed men. The Sweeper leaping out from behind the corner, still screaming...
Bright muzzle flashes were seen on the monitor, one of the men holding what looked to be an assault weapon while the other a shotgun. The gunfire reaching him through the hollowed halls as the BOW shuttered as the rounds found purchase, falling over onto its back, it's sharp limbs flailing about as the first man stepped forward and fired into its head at point blank.
The creature went still, blood and chunks of flesh painting the floor where it's head had once been.
Wesker was astounded. And then furious. That creature had been a miracle of science, a warrior created for battle, who were these bastards who'd just rambled in and blown it to shit?
"Dead Bastards", Wesker thought darkly, pushing the crate away and heading for the stairs. He took them two at a time, carefully bypassing a few still burning fires, aware that he was channeling all his frustrations and upsets toward the unknown soldiers and not particularly caring.
Alexia wasn't at Rockfort, which meant he had to get his ass to the Antarctic of all places, to the only other facility she might be at, why else would Alfred have gone there? And if Wesker didn't get to her before she woke up, he might have to go home empty handed.
All of which added up to failure, and if there was one thing Wesker hated, it was losing.
He marched through the crumbling leftovers of the training facility, reaching the hall he wanted, silencing his steps as he edged farther along. There was still smoke in the air when he reached the corner where the conflict had taken place and past the headless corpse of the Sweeper.
There, ahead and to the left; he could smell the intruders, could smell sweat and anxiety emanating from the small working lab to which they'd gone into.
"This is going to hurt you more than it hurts me.", he thought, his mood lifting somewhat at the thought of a little personal interaction.
X
The island had been through hell and back. Considering what had gone down before their arrival Ethan wasn't all that surprised. The facility under ground took the brunt of the explosion, the walls crumbling but the overall structure remained in tact as he and Chris picked their way through the wreckage.
Save for the handful of undead that lumbered around, and the new variant of the Hunter BOW they encountered when they got into the facility, they were completely alone.
But something felt off to the traveler, an instinct that refused to let up since they came down from the caves. Something he felt at the Arklay training facility and then later the Planet.
The feeling of being watched. And it put him on edge.
Entering another small lab, sweeping from corner to corner for movement, the two former STARS stepped inside only for Ethan to pause. All of his senses suddenly coming alive as the world around him slowed to a crawl. Chris had turned when he stopped and went to ask what was wrong...
Without warning, Ethan shoved the older man aside just in time for a black blur to rush past where he had been standing. His gun was up and aiming at the one that attempted to get Chris from behind...his eyes widening, not able to believe who it was.
"Very good, Ethan. Your skills are just as sharp as ever." Albert Wesker said with a dark chuckle as he turned around and faced the duo. His signature sunglasses over his eyes while he stood there wearing a black bodysuit. "And Chris is here as well, its a regular reunion."
"Wesker." Chris hissed, aiming his shotgun at the man beside Ethan. "You're supposed to be dead."
"And yet, like the phoenix, I have been reborn from the ashes." Wesker said, adjusting his glasses a moment.
"More like a cockroach." Ethan growled, his rifle centered on the man's head. "Is there even any human left in you, Wesker?"
The man shrugged casually, "Humanity is flawed, I simply found a way to...evolve."
"Why are you here?!" demanded Chris.
"I'm here, for Alexia Ashford." said Wesker, "The organization I've been hired by wants me to capture her."
"...You attacked the island." the older Redfield said, connecting the dots. His teeth gritting in fury, "You attacked my sister." he snapped his shotgun up and prepared to fire.
Wesker smirked before he launched forward at speeds that were unnatural for humans, his open palm slamming into Chris' chest and sending him flying into the far wall.
Ethan responded to the sudden attack by swinging his rifle around , the stock aimed to hit the man in the head. Wesker dropped low and came back up with an uppercut that sent the teen flying back and crashing through a broken specimen tank.
Chris staggered to his feet, but was quickly grabbed by the throat, hoisted off the ground and pinned to the wall. "You have no idea how much I hate you and those damn friends of yours." said Wesker as he started to squeeze Chris' neck. "You all destroyed my plans. So now I've sold my soul to a new cause."
The man in his grasp gaged as he struggled to breathe, but the grip holding him was like iron. Whatever happened to Wesker made him a lot stronger than before. The blonde grinned sadistically, preparing to snap Chris' neck. "Now...die."
"You first!"
Wesker was struck in the side of the head, the force of the blow knocking him away, causing Chris to drop back to the floor gasping and sending his sunglasses clattering to the floor.
Rising back to his full height, the man turned. His red-orange, cat-like eyes locking onto Ethan who leered back with a pair of red orbs, his stance tense and combat ready as he sized up his opponent.
"Still full of surprises, I see." Wesker said, tilting his head to the side until a crack was heard. In the next moment he blurred toward the traveler, swinging his right fist with enough force to take the teen's head off...
However, he wasn't expecting Ethan's left forearm coming up and stopping the attack an inch from his face. Mild shock reflected in the older man's eyes for a fleeting moment which gave the teen the opening to launch his own attack in the form of a straight jab.
Wesker dodged left and sent an elbow toward the traveler's neck, but Ethan stopped it with and open palm and retaliated with an uppercut that the older man blocked as well. The two of them standing there in a deadlock as they glared at each other.
"It would seem I wasn't the only one to sell his soul." Wesker quipped as they jumped apart, "Now I see how you managed to best me at the Spencer mansion, then survive the fall of Raccoon City while avoiding Umbrella's attack dogs."
"Maybe," Ethan said back, "Though I wasn't willing to become a guinea pig to save my own ass."
The older man's slitted eyes narrowed, "Still the same arrogant little cretin you were all those months ago. I see time and experience hasn't taught you anything."
"I beg to differ." the traveler said, drawing his Samurai Edge and opening fire.
Wesker smirked his body making fleeting after-images as he moved around the incoming bullets. He went to launch at his opponent when he had to dodge when Chris suddenly charged in with his knife slashing downward.
Grabbing the older Redfield's outstretched arm, twisting it sideways before launching him across the lab forcing Ethan to catch him to avoid him hitting another wall.
"Here's a little secret." said Wesker, "Young Claire is in the Antarctic. Her plane took a rather, unplanned detour. Which is where I plan on going myself."
"Like we'll let you get that far!" Chris bellowed as he and Ethan prepared to go at him again.
All was stopped, however, when the sound of cool, female laughter filled the room. "Don't you want to play with me?" the same woman said, low, sexy and dangerous before laughing again. An unmerciful yet beautiful sound that trailed away like a spectre in the wind.
"Alexia!" Wesker hissed before snapping his attention back to the two former STARS. "Another time, gentlemen." he turned and flashed toward the exit, scooping up his sunglasses as he went.
Ethan fired his weapon after him, each round missing their target, his frusteration at its peak.
How the hell could Wesker be alive! He pumped enough lead into him that should have finished off most things...but somewhere deep in the back of his mind he knew that the man survived the mansion. He just never wanted to admit it to himself.
Chris leaned against a nearby computer terminal, rubbing his sore throat to ease the pain pulsing through it. "I thought you...killed him?" he asked, coughing as he spoke.
"Fifteen 9mm rounds. Two in the head, the rest in the heart and lungs. No normal SOB could survive that." Ethan replied while reloading his sidearm. "Wesker obviously dipped his hand in more than just Umbrella's resource pool. The fucker was even able to dodge bullets."
"You think he has any idea what you can do?" asked the older man as he picked up his dropped shotgun.
The traveler shook his head, "He was shocked when I managed to stop his attacks. Though I think he'll be expecting it next time. Either way, he told us everything we needed to know."
Chris nodded, "Antarctica...Umbrella certainly picks the oddest places for their hidden facilities."
"Or the best ones to keep their secrets hidden." replied Ethan as they started moving again.
They had a plane to catch.
X
They were only a few hours away.
Three men connected by history, one her enemy, the other two...Alexia didn't know about them, not yet, but knew that they meant to reclaim the girl she'd taken from the snow machine. Probably the boy, as well. None of them would be leaving, of course. But she was looking forward to the petty intrigues and overblown, self-important dramas that their humanity would bring to her home.
She would enjoy the chance to observe their natural tendencies and instincts before forever altering their lives.
Standing in the great hall, she considered things; possible futures, her next transformation, the structural and psychological changes her new synthesis would create in humans, how she should welcome her new guests...
And it occurred to her that her home, deep beneath the ice and snow, might be difficult for them to achieve. She immediately wished for the doors to be opened, for obstacles to be removed.
She heard and saw and felt the result in the same instant, existing in a hundred places at once as locks were broken and walls were taken down, as debris was pushed aside and apertures were widened.
Alexia was prepared. Things would move quickly now, and what happened in the next hours would, to a degree, define her choices for some time to come. It was all still so new, the templates of her new life written only in sand.
Smiling at her own poetic notions, Alexia went to see about the first series of injections for the boy.
A/N: Looks like Ethan and Chris have a lot of people waiting for them when they make it to Antarctica.
The rematch between Ethan and Wesker hasn't even begun, what you all just read was a prelude for a bigger thrown down in the ice and snow. And trust me, none of you want to miss that.
Till next time folks!
