Chapter 5

-Jill's Fate-

Chris led the way with Sylar next to him. The cut on Sylar's arm had already healed and there was no evidence that he had ever been scratched. The other heroes trailed behind them and David and Danko followed from the rear. They were no longer armed but they could at least keep watch and stay alert in the back. The open doorway the hunters had come through took them into a dark hall. Glancing around, Chris chose the door to the right and against the left wall. That door took them outside on some sort of walkway to another door. The door at the other end stood open and he figured the hunters must have come from there. Moving through the open door they walked into a warehouse and the agent led them through there into a large stone courtyard. Soft padded feet could be heard in the otherwise silent night. Chris held up a hand for them to pause.

"Dogs," he whispered.

Claire didn't seem to understand why that was cause to whisper. "Well they're just dogs right? Why are we being careful?"

Chris educated her. "No. Skinless dogs. The guard dogs infected with the T-Virus. The ones who ate Joseph and who are the reason why we couldn't just walk out the front door."

Claire seemed to remember and simply stood a little closer to her father. "Oh."

Chris seemed to be trying to think of the best way to get through them but Sylar simply strode past him. "I'll handle this."

"Sylar, wait!" Chris called out to the other man who ignored him.

The group followed and the sounds of several dogs growling broke the quiet of the night. Sylar lifted his hands and electricity coursed into the four, no five skinless dogs that tried to attack him. Within minutes the dogs were dead and Chris raised an eyebrow.

"If only you were there that night of the mansion incident." Chris said wishfully.

Sylar smirked, taking in his sound victory. The look in his eyes seemed to change Chris's opinion. "Maybe not... You seem to enjoy power a little too much."

He glanced at Chris. "And what's wrong with enjoying power?"

"The last person I trusted who liked power a little too much was Wesker." Chris replied.

Sylar's smile faltered as he and the BSAA commander stared at each other. When Sylar didn't say anything back to him, Chris turned his gaze ahead.

"Come on, we should keep moving," he suggested.

He started for a very old elevator shaft and saw the battery was missing.

"Okay then, the doors over there I guess." Chris said, pointing to a metal gate to their left.

Before they could even start to head over there though, a familiar voice turned their attention to the area of the courtyard they had just left behind. An image of the Wesker from ten years ago was pacing around the area. It was easy to tell the difference from his past and present self not only because he was partially see-through, but also because he was wearing the STARS uniform. The man was on a cell phone and he strolled right near their group, clearly not able to see them.

"Yes. Yes. It will be done." Wesker said into the phone, sounding impatient and annoyed.

"But it won't be long now before they discover I'm the traitor. There are certainly enough documents around here with my name on it."

Wesker paused, listening. "Of course it won't be a problem. I'm handling it. I've got the STARS running around finding keys for Spencer's ridiculous traps and puzzles. If they even make it to the labs I've released the hunters from their cages. Don't worry, the STARS will never make it out of here alive."

Wesker hung up the phone and started to put it away but it rang suddenly. "Yes."

"Calm down Birkin."

Chris explained the name to the others. "William Birkin. He was a researcher for Umbrella like Wesker. Birkin created the G-Virus which also got loose in Raccoon City. Umbrella assassinated him so they could steal his research before it was destroyed along with Raccoon City. Before he died he injected himself with his G-Virus and turned into an uncontrollable abomination. He couldn't control himself and nearly killed his own daughter because of it. A rookie cop by the name of Leon Kennedy managed to take him out with the help of my sister Claire."

He turned his attention back to the image of Wesker when the man spoke into the phone again.

"So Marcus succeeded... The virus will undoubtedly reach Raccoon City now. It's only a matter of time. I suggest you get your family out of there before it's too late... Forget your work Birkin. It's over. Take a sample and get out of the city."

Wesker hung up and put the cell phone away. Pausing to remove his sunglasses and wipe the lenses, he stared off into a space straight ahead and spoke to himself.

"Indeed...it is time to leave the sinking ship that is Umbrella."

That was the first time any of the others had seen Wesker's eyes before they'd become mutated. His eyes had once been an interesting gray-blue. Then the captain put his sunglasses back on and left the courtyard, using the doors Chris and the others were going to go through.

Chris stared after him, watching him go.

"I didn't know he was planning on leaving Umbrella from the beginning..." he spoke, thinking out loud.

"Chris."

The whole group turned. Eva was standing across the courtyard from the doors they had come through only minutes before. She strode over to the group, glancing down at the recently deceased dogs as she went.

"Guess I missed the barbecue," the girl commented with a small smile.

"Eva, where did you go?" Chris asked her, staring hard at her. Again he was struck by how familiar she seemed.

"I was trying to find out why all of this is happening but didn't get much. However, I learned some old friends of yours are still very much alive." Eva said this meaningfully to Chris.

The man frowned, not knowing who she could possibly mean and before he could ask her about it, Danko interrupted.

"I want to know what you're doing here. What do you have to do with all of this? I mean, shouldn't you be in school or something?" Danko asked her very demeaningly.

Eva didn't seem to be bothered by his unfriendly attitude though. She simply looked him straight in the eye and retorted, "I've already finished school with a PhD in Genetics with highest honors."

Everyone seemed stunned by this revelation and Danko clenched his jaw tightly.

"Then shouldn't you be in a lab or office somewhere, with you being a genius and all?" he asked with narrowed eyes. He didn't like being embarrassed, especially by a seventeen-year-old girl.

"I prefer fieldwork," she replied and pulled her gun.

Chris started to reach for his own weapon alarmingly, seeing as he was the only one armed. But Eva didn't mean them any harm. She simply turned, aimed at the gate they were planning on going through and fired. The single bullet pierced the lock and it broke, falling to the cement with a clatter.

"That should make it easier to continue, don't you think?"

She holstered her weapon and started for the door. Chris was the first to follow after her while Danko was the last, as he was still feeling a bit sore about this Eva situation. That left the foremost of Danko's mind, however, when Chris suddenly started groaning in pain and clutching his head. Claire and Noah were walking beside him and Claire was the first to notice.

"Chris are you okay?" Claire asked, concerned.

"I don't know... My head... Ahhh!" He began to scream.

He fell to his knees, clutching his head in unbearable agony. "Ahh! God! What is this?! Gahhh!"

He continued to scream out in pain. Eva rushed to his side just as his head fell back, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Chris collapsed onto his side, his eyes open but unseeing. Again, only the whites of his eyes could be seen. Peter checked him over.

"He's still breathing."

"Look." Noah told them.

They did look. Images were appearing in the courtyard but along with the images, a place was appearing. A hall with stone walls and floors. Coming down the hallway with weapons out were two people dressed in combat clothes which read BSAA. The group recognized both of them. One was Chris looking pretty similar to what he did now and the other was Jill. Jill had deep blue eyes and even though she wore a cap, it was clear her hair was a dark brown from the ponytail sticking out the back. Odd, since the Jill they'd seen earlier that night had had blonde hair and pale eyes. Even so, it was still very much the same woman.

The duo hesitated outside a set of double doors, exchanged looks, and then burst into the room with Chris in the lead. The images shifted to encompass only that room, the hallway disappearing. Inside the room there was a wheelchair collapsed on its side and an old man lying in a pool of blood, very much dead. But the images moved past this and focused on a tall man standing near a large window with his back to Chris and Jill. He and Jill both looked stunned to see the superhuman being. Wesker was dressed in the same clothes he'd been wearing when Chris had fought him earlier that night in the mansion foyer. The tyrant slowly turned around to face the newcomers. Even though he wore his usual dark sunglasses, the glow of his red eyes shone through for a fraction of a second as his lips curved into a smile.

"Wesker!" the image of Chris shouted.

Immediately following his shout, Chris and Jill opened fire on their foe. Wesker weaved and dodged the bullets with ease, moving with a blur of motion. He reached Chris and grabbed the younger man's arm, twisting so the BSAA member was forced to drop his gun. Then Wesker threw a punch into Chris's face, disappeared, reappeared on Chris's right side and hit him in the chest and then face. Chris yelled out in surprise and pain as he stumbled back. Wesker was already moving again. Nothing but a black blur as he headed for Jill who was still shooting at him. The tyrant reached her and lifted her up by the neck. Jill's gun slipped from her fingers as he slammed her against the wall, choking her.

Jill struggled to break free with little luck but fortunately Chris came to her aid and punched Wesker across the side of his face. Wesker released Jill as Chris started to attack him and the ex-captain avoided Chris's blows with frightening ease. When Chris threw another punch, Wesker enclosed Chris's fist with a gloved hand, squeezing. Chris gritted his teeth to avoid more loudly expressing his pain and tried to break free. Wesker didn't give him time though as the blonde man spun, restraining Chris's arms, and punched him in the face with excessive force. Chris grunted as his head snapped painfully to the side in response to the blow but he didn't give himself time to recover from the hit, instead twisting his body to side kick Wesker. The tyrant blocked the attack and immediately disappeared from the spot in a blur as Jill opened fire on him. Wesker brought an arm down against Chris's back, sending him stumbling, before running and twisting to avoid the bullets from Jill's gun.

Her gun out of bullets, Jill ran towards Wesker even as Chris attacked him. The man blocked Chris's punch and sent his own fist into Chris's face, knocking him to the side. Jill reached them and in a flash, a combat knife was in her hand. Wesker turned his attention to her as she slashed at him with her knife. He blocked her and sent her flying against the far wall with a single hand hitting her stomach. Jill smashed into a glass case which shattered upon impact with her back, and she fell to her knees with a cry of pain.

Chris and Wesker were now once again locked in hand to hand combat but it was clear who was winning. The tyrant got in several blows before picking the BSAA soldier up by the throat and lifting him high into the air. Wesker slammed Chris against a long table and dragged him along the entire length before flinging him to the stone floor under the large window.

The felled man grunted in immense pain at the burning his back felt from the splinters now embedded there. He had been thrown to the floor and had rolled onto his side. Chris tried to move from where he laid on his side but he could feel his body giving out. Slowly he shook the disorientation from his head but could barely do anything more. From where she had fallen, Jill started to get back on her feet as Wesker started towards Chris.

The BSAA agent could hear Wesker's footsteps and he tilted his head in time to see a gloved hand coming at him. Chris was lifted high above Wesker's head by one hand and he struggled to free himself from the vise-like grip with no success. Now standing, Jill saw Chris in trouble and knew Wesker was about to kill him.

"No!" Jill shouted in horror as she raced towards the two men.

Wesker smiled up at his struggling prey and began to flex his free hand.

The group watching these images playing out recognized that motion. Wesker had done it right before he'd punched a fist completely through the BSAA soldier, Josh's, chest.

"Let's finish this." Wesker said to Chris, raising his free hand and clenching it.

Before he could though, Jill dove into their opponent and they both went crashing through the large glass window. Chris climbed to his feet and ran to the broken window.

"Jill!" he shouted, fearfully.

He peered down into the darkness searching for any sign of Jill or Wesker but there was nothing.

"Jill!" Chris cried out again.

Then as suddenly as they had appeared, the images vanished and Chris was sitting up. He groaned and rubbed his still slightly throbbing head.

"What just happened?" he asked, disoriented.

Eva filled him in. "I think we just got a glimpse of your past. You, Jill, Wesker, and a window."

Noah offered a hand and Chris took it, climbing to his feet. With one hand still massaging his head, he confirmed. Now they had all seen what had brought Jill to be in Wesker's control.

"Oh." Chris said. "That was two years ago. Jill and I had heard one of the founders of Umbrella, Oswell Spencer, was still alive and planning to bring the Umbrella Corporation back. We went after him, hoping he would lead us to Wesker. When we got there Wesker had already killed Spencer and...wait a minute."

Chris halted his train of thought on that incident and lowered his hand from his head as he looked at Eva.

"How did you know his name was Wesker? I never told you it was."