They say when one door closes, another one opens. Well, a door closed tonight.

This nightmare was finally over. Out of 13 members that set out, eight remained: Chris, Jill, Brad, Barry and Wesker of Alpha, and Enrico, Rebecca and Richard of Bravo.

And now… with the information they had gained from the mansion, the remaining STARS officers had the unenviable task of convincing their chief of the events that had occurred… and make sure that Umbrella did not learn the truth behind Wesker's betrayal...


Finally arriving back in the city, Wesker sighed with relief. He made it and from the sight of the chopper on top of the RPD, it looked like at least some of his squad had made it back safely. He spotted them climbing out and Jill was the first to see the Captain from a distance. Grinning, she waved them over, also gaining the others' attention as well.

"Captain Wesker! Hahaha, he's alive!" Richard laughed with immense relief.

"Thank goodness! And he's got Alana, too!" Rebecca cheered.

Jill wasted no time, using the fire escape to get down to the ground, with Chris hot on her tail. The vessel of Neptune raced over to them, almost on the verge of tears of joy upon seeing the unconscious girl in Wesker's arms. "Is she alright?! What happened back there?!"

"Ha… you would call bullshit if I told you…~" Wesker panted exhaustively, having trekked quite a distance without so much as a break. The fire in the woods had spread quickly, giving him little chance to rest.

"Wesker, after what we've been through tonight, you might as well tell us." Rebecca said as the other STARS joined Chris and Jill.

"You should be more focused on alerting the station to the fire and getting the RFD out there to tackle it… but if you insist." He paused to take several breaths, then explained in brief what had happened.

"After you and Redfield left, I finished up the data download and disabled the connection. We made our escape into the caves, but Lisa ambushed us as we attempted to exit back to the mansion. I was going to fight her myself, but Reya intervened. She possessed Alana's body and transformed into a witch, using her powers to disable Lisa long enough to crush her with a chandelier. I don't know if she survived that, but I very much doubt she could have survived the explosion. We escaped the mansion moments before the blast. Alana passed out after Reya relented control, and I had to run for both our lives to outrun the encroaching flames…"

"Jesus…" Rebecca whispered in shock. Briefly interrupting them were the sounds of the Raccoon Fire Department as several trucks zoomed down the road towards the woods. "I guess they caught wind of it when the explosion went off."

"Or maybe it's the giant fucking fire field over there." Chris sarcastically stated, pointing at the Arklay Mountains. "Pretty difficult to ignore that, I should think."

"Christ, I can feel the heat from here… it's gonna take more than those fire engines to put that out…" Barry added.

"What the hell was Umbrella thinking, installing a device that could make that big an explosion? It felt like a damn nuke hit us when I was trying to fly the chopper away…" Brad chimed in.

"Yeah. No way that they're gonna talk their way outta this shitstorm… not with all the evidence we found." Enrico agreed.

"Right! The evidence is too much against them. They'll get found out before they can even mount a defense in court once this gets out." Rebecca nodded along with them.

"I dunno about that, guys. Umbrella controls this city. The mayor answers directly to Umbrella, what with all the money they've poured into his office. They might be able to buy their freedom…" Richard darkly retorted.

"Aiken has a point. It's hard to be tried in court, when you pay the jurors. Plus, remember the vault? Irons is a potential mole for Umbrella…" Wesker agreed.

"Then we go over his head. Take our evidence directly to the FBI. They'll have no choice but to investigate." Chris demanded.

Wesker stroked his chin. "That could work… IF you have means of sending the information that Spencer can't intercept."

Chris grinned. "The fax machine in the STARS office. I can send copies of our evidence directly to the FBI HQ. Not even Spencer can hack that."

"Sounds like our only option. I mean, we could go ourselves, but there's no chance Irons is going to miss his entire Special Forces team vanishing." Barry concluded.

"It's settled then. No one speaks of this to Irons. If he demands information, make up a story. He cannot be allowed to learn what we're planning." Wesker finalized. "In the meantime, to maintain my cover story to Spencer that I was killed in the explosion, I need to leave Raccoon City. I will be taking Alana with me. We're going to Japan, where I have a contact who can keep us under the radar."

"Wesker… take care of her, alright?" Jill spoke softly as she looked down at the sleeping girl, stroking her hair while at it. "She may not be my daughter… but she feels like it, ever since we've met. Please… make sure she stays safe."

"Actually Valentine…" The voice of their guest suddenly and softly spoke behind them, causing several of them to jump, having forgotten about her. "Alana IS your daughter. And Chris'. Just as he and she are my descendants…"

The group went stock still as Chris and Jill looked down at the sleeping girl in Wesker's arms. ALANA WAS THEIR DAUGHTER?! It was no wonder they felt such a connection to her! And why Jill felt such a maternal bond to the girl! And why Chris was so protective of her!

"It should have been obvious to you from the moment she entered the main vault. Did you forget? Only a Redfield could open it, and only a Redfield could enter it. The reason you and the others could enter, is because I deemed it necessary. I allowed you and the others to follow. And Chris… you knew this."

Everyone looked at him. "I did not!" He rather defensively shot back.

"Oh, didn't you? If that were true, then why did you protect her so? If she was merely your captain's little friend, why would you care so much about what happened to her? You do not fool me, Chris. Setsuna knew it too. I suspect you knew long before Wesker figured it out." Shiala pressed him.

"..."

Chris' silence spoke volumes. He knew. He had known for quite a while. So… why didn't he say anything about it?

"...Chris? You knew?" Richard asked, breaking the silence.

"...yeah. I knew…" He said after several seconds of tense silence. "I knew she was mine when she began speaking of her vision of Shiala. Of how she'd spoken to her and what she had said. I think Alana herself knew it too, but perhaps didn't quite understand it yet. The reason I kept it silent was because of what Wesker said about his 'former' allegiance to Umbrella. I didn't fully trust him to be telling the truth. To protect Alana, I kept my mouth shut. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."

"A wise attitude. Your silence, whether you know it or not, likely saved her life." Shiala replied solemnly.

Jill looked back to the sleeping girl in her arms as she began to shed tears of happiness. She… She had a daughter! Once more, she began to stroke her hair. "But… I don't understand. If Alana's our daughter… how come we didn't remember in the first place? All this time, she was right here and yet…"

"That is a long story, one that is not fated to be told here. You will learn this truth in time, but now is not that time. The walls have ears, Miss Valentine. And many eyes report to many places…" Shiala cryptically warned them.

"She's right. Right now, we need to focus on Wesker's plan. Once we've sent the documents, I have another plan I've been whipping up on the trip back here." Chris said, diverting attention from this new revelation.

"Whatcha thinking, bud?" Barry asked.

"It's simple, really. Since we probably can't wait for a response from the higher echelons of justice, I say when we're done here, we go directly for the heart of the beast. We go to Umbrella's HQ in Europe, track down Spencer and cut the head off the snake." Chris explained. "He and his company need to pay for what they've done here, especially if Setsuna's vision comes true, and the virus does reach the city. If that happens, we need to make sure the world knows who's responsible."

"Right. Umbrella won't be able to hide behind their facade for long after this. Sooner or later, this WILL get out and Spencer will go down hard." Jill nodded in agreement. "And also… we need to find the rest of our sisters, Chris. If we are going to fight at full strength, we need to somehow find them."

"Then you stay here, Jill. Chris and I will go to Europe ahead of everyone else, after I relocate my family of course. Brad and Rebecca can remain here as well. Richard and Enrico… eh, do whatever you guys wanna do. Come with us, if you like. Jill, you can coordinate the city's defense and evacuation, if the virus breaks out. But if all goes to hell, you and the others get the fuck outta here and meet up with us in Europe." Barry said.

"I will stay and help with the defense of Raccoon." Shiala nodded.

"So, it looks like this is it then… See you guys on the other side. Hopefully we all come out of this in one piece…" Chris added with finality, bringing everyone together in a group hug.


However, it would not end as peacefully as they had hoped.

Not everyone was going to return alive this time.

For some of them, they had merely prolonged the inevitable.

Raccoon City would burn.

But only time would tell how many of them would live to see the dawn…