Regeneration

Chapter 3: Calls

Well. Look at me now, third chapter in three days. Am I rushing this? I wasn't too fond of my second chapter, reading it over. I hope I can do better on this one. Also, please forgive me if I get the location of the North American B.S.A.A. Headquarters wrong, I looked it up on the wiki, and they didn't say exactly where in America it was, and I didn't really expect any greater, given it's a top-priority U.S. organization. So I just made up a location of my own. Please read and review! —Chris

Piers Nivans

All over Chris. I hated to admit it, but Jake had touched a nerve there. I was NOT all over Chris. A guy can't seem to be friends with another guy these days without being gay. A little respect for your superior should be a good trait to have.

I was sitting around my bedroom, trying not to think about it and failing. I had already taken a couple of sleeping pills, but it wasn't working. I figured maybe blasting a few trash cans would make me tired, but that might get noticed. I had hoped to meet up with Chris, if only to prove myself right, but he was already asleep. I don't blame him. I never much was of a late nighter myself, but I messed up sleeping for so long in that jacuzzi. Maybe I could go see Leon Kennedy. I didn't know him much better than Helena, but he seems like a cool enough guy to hang around. I walked out of my rooms and got all the way to the lobby before I remembered that, duh, Leon wasn't part of the B.S.A.A., and wouldn't have any reason to be here. I walked back up to my room, feeling stupid, and then fell back up onto my bed, staring at the ceiling. Guess I was just gonna have to wait for that Unisom to kick in, unless the virus or the antimutagen had prevented it taking effect. Yeah, that was probably it.

After a few minutes, I jerked upright—my private line was ringing. I picked up the reciever. There was no name, and I didn't recognize the number. I picked it up. "Hello?" I asked.

"Hello? Is this Piers Nivans?" a girl's voice I still didn't recognize said. "Yes, can I help you?" I said tentatively.

"Oh, I'm Ashley Graham, I'm...well, I used to be the President's daughter."

"Oh!" I sat up straight. "Right, what can I do for you?"

"I was calling to say I think it's amazing that you're going to recover from the virus. Is...is it true you infected yourself to save the world?" she asked.

I sat there for a few seconds, probably longer than was polite. A former president's daughter calling a sickened soldier to ask fan questions? That seemed...awfully out of character for anyone of her position...This was Ashley Graham, wasn't it? Not that I thought the woman, who in all honesty sounded like a young girl, was any threat, but of course you never knew. Impertinent, more like.

"Well, I wouldn't say that...I was on a mission, but got caught under rubble, and the Captain was...preoccupied."

"I heard about that. It was that Haos monster, right?"

I was surprised she knew the name of the thing. "Yeah."

"And you were going to sacrifice yourself for your Captain, and the B.S.A.A. ...and you still managed to kill that monster!" She said in awe.

"Yeah, well...I guess I did." I said sheepishly. I wasn't quite sure what to say when the former president's daughter was gushing at me over the phone. Was she just able to get any number she liked? The discomfort was growing by the second.

"Well, at any rate, I should tell you why I really called. The new president was going to have you awarded, but I convinced him to wait until you were recovered enough to take it personally, you and Captain Redfield both. Your teammates..." she paused here. I would have too. "...they'll be getting honorable mentions, and their, uh, posthumous medals."

"Wow...Thank you." I said quietly. Things were very quiet for a minute.

"You are a great soldier. I can't think of anyone who deserves the cure more." she said.

"Are you sure about that?" I said slowly.

"Yes." she said, sounding strained. "I know you'll be a great soldier soon, you've got a lot coming in the future."

"Ashley..." I said carefully. "How old are you again? If I'm not out of line to ask?"

"I just turned twenty-five." (*)

Damn...she sounded like a teenager! She was nearly as old as I was!

"I know, I sound like a little girl." her voice said.

"No no, I didn't mean that, I just...sorry, I—"

"It's no trouble. At any rate, I'm not as helpless as I used to be, so I thought I'd make this call on my own. I hope you're doing well?"

"Yeah, I'm doing okay."

"Good." She sighed. "My dad wanted to talk to you, but they kept saying you were already gone. So I asked for this number, and I didn't mean to call at such a late hour, but I was away from the phone for a long while. Don't worry, I won't abuse it."

"It's fine." I said. "Thanks for calling."

"You're very welcome. I have to go now, but take care and get well soon, okay?"

"I will." I said firmly.

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye." I said, and then the phone beeped and she hung up. I set it back on the reciever. All of a sudden, I felt really tired.

Ada Wong

I looked up at the sky and sighed. I had had the dream again. The one where I turn into a mass of white goo and eat myself. Never is as funny as it sounds.

I shook out my red robe and put it on, walking out into the apartment hallway. The fresh air hit me hard, and I pulled it tighter around myself. I thought about just how many people were dead because of Carla Radames, and Derek Simmons for that matter, or worse, who might still be alive because of her. True, I had felt a little bad for her, but she had attacked so many people, and that made me...very angry. I was especially annoyed that she had slipped out from under Leon. Isn't he supposed to be sharper than that? Really now. Clueless, as always.

As I thought of Leon, I remembered that Leon had met up with those soldiers in China...a certain Piers Nivans was in the condition he was because of her. And one Chris Redfield had also met her, both before I had ever had the chance. That meant that as far as those two knew, I was dead and a criminal.

I should fix that.

Later the next day...

Chris Redfield

I looked at my alarm clock. It was 8:30 a.m. I should probably get up right about now, sleeping in would not be a good habit to get into if I wanted to stay a Captain. Ah, screw it, one morning won't hurt. I turned over, pulled the spread over my chest, and closed my eyes.

Then my phone buzzer rang.

Feeling cheated, I slapped a hand on the button. "What can I help with?" I said groggily.

"Chris, there's a woman here to see you. She wouldn't tell me her name, but we searched her and we can't find anything dangerous on her. She also wished to see Mr. Nivans when he is ready for visitors."

"Did she say what she wanted with us?"

"She says she simply wants to have a casual talk. Don't worry sir, we made sure she's not dangerous, and hell, if she is, you can take her, right?"

"Maybe after some coffee." I said bitterly. "Be there in five minutes." Damn, if I'd known it was just a casual visit, I could have ignored the phone and gotten a few more hours of sleep. But I forced myself to sit up, rubbed my eyes, slipped on my boxers, brushed my teeth and generally got myself presentable, then put on some jeans and a collared shirt. Still feeling cheated, I walked down to the central office. "Right in there, Chris." the management man said, pointing towards an office down the hallway. I walked down and went into the room. Waiting for me was a woman. With black hair. In a red suit. My breath caught in my throat.

I let the idea that I might've been hallucinating slip through my mind for the briefest second. Ada Wong, here? I let out a low, hissing breath and pulled a fighting stance, slamming the door shut behind me and locking it with one hand. She did nothing to stop me. In fact, all she really did was stand there and stare at me.

A few more seconds passed, and my hand drifted to the place I'd normally keep a gun while that white-hot, familiar anger seeped through me. How had this happened? How had no one who had contact with me recognized Ada Wong walking through the doors? Hadn't they searched her? Did they know that she really was helpless, and above all why hadn't they bothered with telling me her name?!

I blinked. She blinked. After a few more seconds, in which the urge to strangle the woman in front of me gave a violent increase, she held out a hand and spoke.

"Good morning, Chris. My name is Ada Wong."

"I know who you are. We've met three times."

"No we haven't. We've met once, on a ship where who you thought was Ada Wong happened to be at the same time. It would have been shortly before you went to the underwater oil field and went on that rescue mission." She said. She was completely cool and collected, a fact I recognized painfully and which made the anger in me surge to a point where it was starting to give me a throbbing pain in my temple, not to mention the look of lockjaw I undoubtedly had on my face.

It took me a moment to say anything, in which time she raised an eyebrow at me.

"And the woman I killed wasn't Ada Wong, is that what you're saying? Your evil fucking twin was on that ship, is that what you're bullshitting me with?!"

"Essentially, yes. The person you met was a clone of me, created shortly after a perfect test run with the newly created C-Virus, which she engineered herself. And you didn't kill her, by the way, I did. After she fell, she injected herself with her own strain of Enhanced C-Virus-which is what your comerade is suffering now-and attacked, and I was forced to kill her. That said," she paused, a gloved finger coming up to rest on her cheek in a thinking pose, "I owe you an apology. I also owe you evidence, before you break into a million pieces and assault me."

Out of her pocket-I gripped her arm forcefully at this point-came a phone, which I wrenched out of her hand.

"You already know I'm not carrying anything dangerous. That phone's about as rigged with explosives as any other Android."

She told me to explore the files on the phone, and when I found the third one titled 'Classified', I was to open it and enter the password 'capcoada'. I did, and then-

Whoa.

Leon Kennedy and Helena Harper had already shared with the BSAA and most of the government the files proving the guilt of Derek Simmons. This wasn't in the package, though this-this had every detail of a woman named Carla Radames. As I looked through, a badly recorded film played on the phone's screen, showing a Chrysalid, out of which broke a naked and confused-looking Ada Wong.

"I was very lucky to get a hold of this. You see, after I finished off Carla and helped destroy Simmons, I went back, and destroyed every single bit of info, every computer in that office that held the truth about Carla Radames and Derek Simmons, including the ID cube I used that would've salvaged much of it. Thankfully, Derek kept a second copy, which was promptly...ah, borrowed by me after the government got a hold of it. You're the second person to see this, and whenever you choose to, you can return it to United States premises, and those of China and Edonia."

There was a pounding in my ears. I couldn't process this, it just-it went everything I knew, everything I was sure of.

"It's entirely your fault. I don't know how you survived, but you're going on trial, tomorrow. Coming here was a mistake. Hands in the air."

Ada did as I told her, but continued speaking. "The reason the clone existed was because of a relationship I had with a Derek Simmons. It seems he took my rejection a little harshly, and, well, made a new me. Which then started Neo-Umbrella. The file will tell you everything. Ask Leon, I swear he'll tell you the truth."

"Shut up and start walking." And she did just that as I escorted her out of the room.

Later that day...

"Do me a favor, if you could, Mr. Redfield. Don't release these to the public. The governments of the respective countries should know who really harmed them-that said, I don't need everyone in the world knowing I'm exactly a good little girl."

For those of you wondering about the (*) mark in the Ashley Graham portion of this chapter, some will remember that I originally had her at twenty-nine years old, older than Piers, which was noted by some. However, I didn't actually get this wrong-official Capcom sources put her birth year at circa 1984, which would make her 29 years old as of 2013, and 20 years old as of 2004. Ashley however, is widely known as either fourteen or sixteen during the events of 2004, which was Resident Evil 4. This fanfiction assumes the latter age, 16. If we go by all published material, Capcom has made an error. -Chris