Chapter 16

-Deceptive Illusions-

In the aftermath of the brutal attack by Alexia and the enhanced tyrants, the group gathered themselves together in the grassy field in Africa. The grass itself was yellowing and clearly hadn't been receiving a sufficient amount of water in this African flatland but it provided something soft for the injured to be laid out on. Chris, Sheva, Danko, Bennet, Nathan, and Eva managed to escape the battle without injury. It was another story for their other companions. Peter was okay except for a small gash on his head and what he diagnosed as a fractured ankle that he would be fine limping around on. Claire Bennet and Sylar had been hurt in the fight but their wounds had healed up already and only the bloodstains on their clothes gave away that anything had ever happened to either of them. Matt, Chris's sister Claire, and Mohinder were the ones most seriously hurt. All three were still unconscious and had been laid out comfortably on the grass next to one another. The rest of the group sat around by their unconscious allies, wondering what to do now that it was all over.

Chris sat on the grass beside his unconscious sister, watching over her with worry etched on his face. Every now and then one of the members of the group would look over at him, clearly waiting to see if he was going to tell them what they should do next. Wesker, who was still recovering from the gaping hole the vine had put in his stomach, sat on the grass with Eva glued to his side in concern. The blonde haired tyrant would heal but it would take longer than usual because of his overdose of the serum. The frequent glances the others in the group were giving Chris, did not escape Wesker and he was the first to mention anything to the man.

"We could take them to a hospital." Wesker suggested, referring to the three unmoving forms on the grass.

He shook his head in disagreement without bothering to remove his eyes from his sister. Sheva approached her partner and rested a hand on Chris's shoulder.

"It would be a good idea to get them to safety, Chris. But before we leave Africa we need to find Uroboros."

He frowned and narrowed his eyes at his partner. "What? Why do we need to find Uroboros?"

"To destroy it of course." Sheva seemed surprised that he was so negative about the idea.

Chris relaxed a bit and his wariness faded. "Oh. Where is Uroboros, Wesker?"

The man drummed his fingers on his his thigh calmly. He seemed to be thinking, calculating something in his mind. Perhaps deciding whether or not revealing that information would benefit him in any way. Apparently he decided it wouldn't do him any good to tell for his lips tightened and he said nothing. Chris stood, facing Wesker with growing frustration. He looked ready to draw his weapon and his fingers hovered over the gun, just itching to take it out. The BSAA agent appeared to be hoping the other man would give him a reason to shoot him. Wesker remained stone faced as usual and merely lifted his head to stare back at Chris. After a long moment of tense apprehension between the two long-time enemies, Wesker answered him.

"Uroboros will never be released into the atmosphere. I promise you that."

Chris continued to stare at Wesker, trying to figure out what was going on in that head of his but it was impossible to read any emotions or signs when he was wearing those dark sunglasses. It didn't help that Wesker had never been an easy man to understand either, even back when he had been the STARS captain over ten years ago. One thing Chris did know about him was that Wesker was a man of his word. He had promised Uroboros wouldn't be released which meant it wouldn't be and the world was once again safe from the evil man's plans. Or was he good now? Chris had once looked up to this man when he had been his captain and had learned a lot from him.

Chris wanted to believe Wesker could be good but doubt continued to nag at him. Could anyone really change just like that? Chris wasn't sure but he would do what he always did in these situations. He would trust the man for now and give him the benefit of the doubt. The agent relaxed his hand away from his gun holster, visibly showing his acceptance of Wesker's reply. Eva caught Chris's eye and smiled at him.

"He always keeps his promises." Eva told Chris, a smile still spread across her face. "After this he's going to keep his promise to me too."

He opened his mouth to ask her what promise Wesker was supposed to keep but he instantly forgot about that when his sister shifted on the ground beside him and opened her eyes. Blinking rapidly a few times, Claire adjusted to keeping her eyes open and took notice of her brother for the first time.

"Chris!" She sat up quickly.

The sudden change in position caused her to feel a bit dizzy and she placed a hand to her forehead. Other than the brief disorientation she appeared to be all right and she grinned openly at Chris as she got to her feet.

"Looks like this time it's me on the ground and you freaking out." Claire commented with a laugh.

Chris recalled their previous meeting when he had been unconscious after Las Plagas was removed from his body and Claire had been looking down at him with concern. He rubbed the still aching shoulder wound the emergency parasite removal had left him with as he remembered, and gave her a small smile. Chris was finding it difficult to be happy right now because he had a very bad feeling. He thought it was too good to be true that they were suddenly back in Africa. The soldier found it hard to believe something as powerful as Sin would simply give up after a few of its illusions were defeated. Chris forced himself from his thoughts when he caught Claire staring at him as she waited for him to say something.

"Yeah I guess so," he said to her. "We really need to stop getting ourselves hurt."

She scoffed. "Yeah right. Then you would need to stop throwing yourself into danger and that's never gonna happen. Not as long as people are out there getting hurt and you know it."

"I'm just doing my job, Claire." Chris retorted defensively. "I don't try to get myself killed."

"Could have fooled me." Claire muttered.

Chris stiffened. He could feel the awkwardness that had been between them ever since Jill's presumed death two years ago surfacing. Chris had never forgiven himself for losing Jill that fateful day in Spencer's estate and he'd shut himself away from his friends and sister. He'd gone on mission after mission with the BSAA just to keep himself busy and his mind off of Jill. He had been trying to create the illusion that he was okay. He'd failed to be around because he just hadn't wanted to be near anything that resembled the part of his life Jill had been in. And by doing that he had rarely seen his sister for the last two years, and Claire had never forgiven him for it. Claire studied his darkening features and quickly changed her tune with a lighter comment.

"I'm just saying that you should be more careful, Chris. Or there may never be any little miniature Redfields running around in the future." Claire said to him, smiling again.

Eva giggled to herself, receiving stares from all around. None of them had ever heard the usually very serious girl giggle like that before. Not that her giggle was a bad thing. She had a very nice smile too and it was pleasant to see her bringing it out more. Claire Bennet had the growing suspicion that it was Chris which caused her to act in this way but she couldn't say for sure in the short period she'd been around them.

"Aww...little mini Redfields. How cute!" the green-eyed girl remarked with a smile.

"Mini...Redfields..." Wesker began, speaking very slowly as he stared at Chris and then Eva. "Perish the thought."

A few smiles and a couple laughs from some of the others sitting around, followed Wesker's words. Chris acknowledged Wesker's comment with a grunt of agreement. He couldn't picture himself ever having any kids. From the Air Force, to the Raccoon City Police Department Special Tactics And Rescue Service, to his Anti-Umbrella sabotage missions, and finally to his current job as an agent in the Bio-terrorism Security Assessment Alliance, he couldn't see starting a family being added in there. He had been a soldier in some form or another all his life and didn't really know how to do anything else. Fighting was what he was good at. And yes, throwing himself into harm's way was what he'd been doing forever. A life of working to protect others was all Chris had known and he didn't want that to change. Especially when he had failed Jill in such a way. Her death meant he had a lot to make up for.

"What should we do, Chris?" Sheva asked, interrupting his thoughts. "I don't recognize this part of Africa. We could be anywhere. We may not even be anywhere near Kijuju."

A thought occurred to Chris at that moment. "Sheva, what ever happened to the rest of your team? You were alone when you came to the mansion."

Sheva's expression dropped, growing sad. "A large group of majini ambushed us... They didn't make it."

"How very sad." Wesker said as he climbed to his feet, Eva following suit. His tone was emotionless and it was easy to tell he didn't really mean it. "There's a building over there."

Sheva and Chris turned and fixed matching glares on Wesker at the same time. Sheva placed her hands on her hips and Chris crossed his arms across his chest.

"Have some respect for the dead. They were our comrades." Chris told Wesker, looking slightly pissed off.

"No, they were more than comrades. Some of them were my friends." Sheva revised, sounding upset.

She was glaring at Wesker with a look Chris had never seen on her face before. Her eyes seemed so different and extremely hateful which he had never thought possible in someone as good as Sheva.

"Everyone dies, my dear. It's a fact of life." Wesker said, addressing Sheva. Then after a pause, he added arrogantly, "Well...everyone but me. I can't die it seems. I just keep coming back... Right, Chris?"

It was his turn to glare at Wesker, clenching his jaw as he forced himself not to let the tyrant get to him. It was incredibly hard not to strike out at the other man, especially when he was giving Chris his trademark smirk. But he also knew it wasn't wise because even injured, Wesker could probably tear him apart. Seemingly satisfied with Chris's reaction to his words, the tyrant returned to the matter at hand and repeated his words from earlier.

"There's a building over there. Let's go over there." Wesker said, pointing past Chris's shoulder.

Chris kept his arms folded against his chest and continued to glare at the man. He didn't like Wesker giving orders now in place of him. And he especially didn't like that he could hear everyone getting to their feet as they actually listened to the man. Glancing behind him to where Wesker had pointed, he couldn't see signs of any buildings and so he turned back to the tyrant with annoyance.

"I don't see any building so how can you see it? And we can't move out yet because Matt and Mohinder are still unconscious in case it slipped your mind." His mouth upturned in a small smirk as he added, "I suppose you forgot seeing as you're getting old."

Wesker didn't seem at all disturbed by the insinuation that he was getting old. Instead, he drew closer to his nemesis until he was standing so close that Chris's nose would touch him if he moved even the slightest inch forward. The BSAA agent held his ground, continuing to stare the blonde tyrant in the eyes or at least at his dark shades. Wesker could sense Chris's discomfort at their close proximity to one another and he enjoyed every moment of it. Leaning close and placing his lips right beside the man's ear, he spoke, but he spoke loud enough for everyone to hear despite the fact that he was so close to the intended recipient of his words.

"I'm not human, Chris. I can see much further than a normal individual. And as for your friends... Matt and Mohinder I believe... Well they've been awake since around the time the appalling idea of you actually reproducing came up." Wesker informed him ever so shrewdly.

He clenched his fists, grinding his teeth together as he fumed silently at Wesker's hefty blow to his ego. His joy at bringing the BSAA agent down a notch showed as he stepped back and smirked. As furious as he was at the tyrant, he also didn't have anything clever or defiant to say for once because Wesker was right. Matt and Mohinder were standing along with the others. They didn't look in the best condition but they were awake and standing nonetheless. Wesker was always more in the know it seemed, and it drove Chris crazy to no end.

"Fine, let's head over to the building," he muttered under his breath.

Wesker tilted his head, cocking an ear towards the other man. "I'm sorry, you'll have to speak up. Did you just say we should agree with my decision and go over to the building across the field?"

He grimaced as he realized Wesker was going to make him admit it out loud to everyone. Fixing a glare at the tyrant one last time, he turned his back on the blonde haired man to look in the direction they were to go.

"Yeah, yeah. You're right about heading over to the building. Can we go now?" the agent asked with a tired sigh.

"Certainly." Chris flinched as he felt hot breath against his ear. Without Chris noticing, the tyrant had moved to stand directly behind him to whisper in his ear. "And as for your remark about my aging, I don't do that any more."

He raised an eyebrow slightly. He didn't think the other man looked any older than when he last saw him two years ago or even ten years ago for that matter but still...

"You don't age?! Not at all?"

Wesker stepped away from Chris, giving him space again, and nodded once. "Correct."

Chris stared at him in amazement, intrigued by this new information. Wesker moved past him, ignoring the stares, and started across the field to the building in the distance. Eva hurried to catch up so she could walk beside him, and the others trailed behind them. After exchanging glances with his partner, Chris and Sheva followed the rest of the group across the field. All he could do was be glad he had successfully completed his original mission and hope they had seen the last of Sin's deception.