My great thanks to HighFlyingWings, who kindly chose to use some of his free time to be my beta reader!
25th December 2012, Edonia, Eastern Europe.
Sherry and Jake went through the caves, the mines abandoned if the discarded equipment was anything to go by, while carefully listening to ensure that no infected rebels might be in them as they went.
Their caution paid off, as they soon discovered a number of infected investigating the caves, no doubt searching for them.
With the ice under their feet, Sherry was the only one capable of moving about silently, as her training with her father easily ensured that she didn't crack the ice with her every step.
As such, she usually went about quickly and silently eliminating every infected they came across, with Jake providing back-up if need be.
As they went through the caves, Sherry couldn't help but note how much easier everything was without Ustanak in the picture. Regular infected were no match for either her or Jake, so it was almost relaxing to walk through the mines, at least compared to what she knew things could have been.
Apparently, Jake agreed, because after they finished clearing another cave of rebels, he frowned.
"For some reason, I feel like this should all be much more complicated than this." he muttered.
"Yeah, well after the avalanche and everything else, I'm just fine with an easy end for this mission." she said dryly.
Jake snorted in amused agreement. "Can't argue with that."
They kept going, pushing through any attempts at stopping them by the rebels with ease, until suddenly they felt a cold breeze from further ahead.
"Is that the exit?" Jake wondered, smiling at the thought of getting out of here.
"It is!" she said cheerfully when finally the exit out of the mountain appeared before them. "Once we're out, I'll radio for pickup."
They ran outside, before stopping when the glare of the newly risen sun hit them, making them flinch for a moment, before they looked out at the city that was visible at the foot of the mountain nearby.
"That's the rendezvous." she declared, pointing at the city.
"About damn time." replied Jake with satisfaction.
They heard a shot and instinctively flinched, guns rising, before blinking when they saw a rebel collapsing from where he had been hiding behind a tree.
They looked up towards where the shot came from, and Sherry smiled at the sight of Summer Rose, the one from Earth, giving her a nod while several more ISIS soldiers began to approach…
With her dad at the head of the group.
"Dad!" she exclaimed, before running towards him with a smile.
She slowed down as they came closer, Sherry flushing slightly at the amused look he had in his eyes, before she tried to look more professional. After all, her mission was technically not over yet.
Then his eyes found Jake's, narrowing thoughtfully at him.
Jake, standing a bit behind her, glanced at the group of ISIS soldiers before looking warily at her dad.
"So. I heard you lot wanted to get blood from me?"
"That's right." said her father, nodding at him. His eyes found hers, some curiosity in his eyes.
"Did Sherry have the time to inform you of why you have the antibodies yet?"
Jake glanced at her, before shaking his head, while Sherry grimaced.
Her dad was going straight for it, huh? Well, she supposed they might as well get this over with soon-
"We'll talk about this later. For now, we need to move. There's a large force of infected coming on top of us, and I don't think I need to tell you why they are coming." he finished, giving Jake a meaningful look.
-or maybe not. Then again, if they were about to be attacked if they wasted time, yeah, she could understand waiting.
"Fine by me. I've got 50 million on the line, I'd rather get on with it." calmly said Jake, and her dad nodded.
"Fair enough. Come on then, let's go."
They began walking onwards, while several helicopters came down to transport them.
"Congratulations on a successful mission, Sherry." said her dad, a proud smile on his face that made her smile back happily. "We got Ustanak's body, so that's a problem taken care of."
Her smile grew, before she turned concerned. "Things went well with Chris?"
Considering what happened in the other timelines…
But her dad merely nodded calmly. "Our dear lady in blue was nowhere to be found. I take it she was the one who took down your transport?"
"She was." she confirmed.
"As expected." her dad replied, before cheerfully ruffling her hair with a wide grin. "Now enough of work talk! I've got a strawberry cake at home with your name on it, and I know how much you love those!"
She laughed. "Everyone loves them, dad! It's your fault for making them taste literally divine!"
And while Jake might think she was just exaggerating, she wasn't.
Her dad could get his lovers to pretty much do anything in exchange for a promise of baking his strawberry cakes.
Or any kind of dessert, really.
Then again, she understood. It had taken all of her willpower to not cry tears of bliss the first time she had taken a bite of one of his cakes.
Her dad was ridiculously good when it came to cooking.
And she was pretty sure part of that was in an effort to get through the hearts of his lovers through their stomach… if so, he succeeded brilliantly.
A bit too well, considering how seriously all of them took his desserts…
Then again, they really were too good. If he wasn't her dad, she'd have been tempted to seduce him herself to guarantee an eternal supply of the divine dessert…
"You're drooling, Sherry." came the very amused voice of her dad, making her flush and quickly wipe her mouth.
She looked away, cheeks a bright pink.
"Cakes this good should be considered weapons in their own right." she grumbled. "You'd get any woman in the world in your bed with just a bite." she complained.
He chuckled, while they took off in the helicopter towards the local ISIS HQ, followed by going to the Insight Corp. HQ to bring Jake to her mom's labs.
"I dare say you don't get to complain too much considering I taught you how to bake as well."
"Yes, but despite my best efforts I'm nowhere near as good as you!" she pouted.
Her dad laughed, before giving her a knowing look, and she felt a wave of magic pass over them both to shift their words to those trying to listen.
"You're worried about Muller learning of his past, aren't you?" he said gently to her.
She grimaced. As ever, he could see right through her.
Still, she appreciated him trying to take her mind off things with casual banter.
"Yeah. He may try to hide it, but he's not completely fine with the way he's living his life. There's a lot of regret and anger buried underneath, and I worry that the truth will bring it all out."
Her dad stayed silent for a moment, before he put his hand on her shoulder.
"It'll end well, I promise you." he said simply, but firmly, and she relaxed.
Even if she had concerns about the road to get there… If her dad said that things would end well, she believed him.
Then he pulled his hand back, and they both looked at Muller, her father smiling.
"Alright, why don't you both give me a sitrep of what went down during Sherry's escort mission? Things obviously took a turn for the unexpected at some point."
Sherry and Jake shared a look, before Sherry began explaining everything.
She was still worried, but she could only hope that Jake wouldn't react too badly at the knowledge of his dad.
-
"What did you just say?!"
Sherry grimaced. Yup, Jake was not happy at all.
They had reached Insight Corp. HQ without issue, and Jake had been quietly impressed with the technology on display, but then they had brought him to a reunion room and broached the subject on why he had the antibodies he did.
And naturally, mention of his father being the source had not been warmly welcomed.
So now here they were, her dad, mom, and Lucy with her facing off with Jake as he glared at them all.
To her credit, Lucy didn't even blink.
"As we told you, the antibodies you possess are a result of your biological father, Albert Wesker. And yes, he was one of the greatest bio-terrorist masterminds in existence, working with both Umbrella and then the Organization during his life, and was the true mastermind behind the events involving the African branch of Tricell a few years ago."
He stared at her, then glared at Sherry, who hid a grimace at the look on his face.
"You knew?" he asked coldly.
"I wanted to tell you, but… Well, we were attacked in the cabin, and then there was the avalanche…"
She trailed off, Jake grimacing but calming down slightly.
Instead, his gaze found her dad, his eyes narrowing.
"Who did it?" he asked coldly.
"Who killed your father, you mean?" he calmly replied.
"Yes." he growled.
"Chris Redfield." he answered.
"Chris… the one we met?" he questioned her, his gaze hard as it flickered her way.
Sherry managed to mostly hold back her grimace this time. Mostly. "Yes."
Jake's jaw clenched, a dark look in his eyes, and his emotions…
Well. They were a mess, to say it bluntly.
Finally, he seemed to make a decision, as he nodded at Lucy.
"You'll have my blood, as promised. But I want something more as payment along with the 50 million."
"Name it." Lucy replied curiously.
"I want access to all the data you've got about my dad. All of it. And I want to meet Chris. He's one of yours, right? I'm sure you can arrange that."
Lucy pursed her lips, her eyes flickering towards her mom and dad, but both merely nodded at her.
She sighed. "Done. Anything else?"
"No."
Jake got up, and Sherry hurriedly did the same.
"Jake-"
He raised a hand, a complicated expression on his face.
"I… need to be alone for a while."
He quickly left the room, Sherry staring sadly at his retreating back, before her dad put a hand on her shoulder.
"He'll be alright, by the end of all of this. I promise." Sherry swallowed and slumped slightly.
"I know, it's just… He's not a bad person I think, he just needs a better path to walk than the one he's on right now."
Her dad smiled. "He's still young, angry, and confused on how to feel about everything. Give him time, he's spent years hating his dad for never being there, and now he just learned that said man was a monster all along. And he's questioning his path in life in the face of that revelation. He'll find good answers eventually, he just needs time."
She sighed. "I hope you're right, dad. I hope you're right."
"Come on." said her mom, taking her by the shoulders. "There's still some of your father's cake left. How about you take your frustration on it? It's meant to be eaten, and making you happy, so it's perfect."
Sherry's huffed a laugh. "Bribing me with dad's cake, mom? Really?"
"Is it working?" she asked, green eyes twinkling.
"Yes damn you, but I feel bad for every other woman in the world that has to actually not eat as much as they want to not get fat!"
Her dad snorted. "Reminds me to keep that in mind when I'll actually try to build up cults in my name. I can already see it: Join my cult, where you can eat delicious food all you want without ever getting the risk of getting fat! How's that for a miracle?"
Lucy snorted. "Please don't, I might be forever ashamed of my gender if you do, considering the number of women who would consider that a great deal in exchange for their souls."
Sherry opened her mouth… and then closed it.
She tried to imagine her dad serving a piece of his cakes to every woman in the world… And promising them more, without ever getting fat, if they joined his cult.
She promptly shuddered.
"Please listen to her, you'd take over the world in less than a day!"
"Come on, surely it wouldn't be that bad-"
"It would."
"Absolutely."
"Without a doubt." finished her mom, voice flat… though her green eyes twinkled.
Her dad paused, then turned thoughtful.
"You think that, if I add perfect and free dental care, it would work even better?"
"Dad, stop trying to take over the world! Especially when it might actually work!"
-
"You're sure of your choice?"
"I am."
Sherry looked at Jake with hesitation, not sure what to say. He had given his blood, got his money and the data he wanted, and if anything since then he'd been more and more closed off, thoughtful and lost.
And there was still a good measure of anger underneath it. Him meeting Chris might have helped, except that Chris was busy dealing with a number of situations in Edonia requiring his presence, which had pushed back that meeting for a while.
And now, Jake had just informed them that he wanted to travel for a while, though he still expected that meeting with Chris sooner rather than later.
"I need time to think, and as great as the accommodations you've given me were, I need to move, think, and…" he trailed off, sighing and showing a hint of his turbulent thoughts and feeling, before his face hardened with determination.
"I need time on my own." he finished firmly.
"Jake…" she trailed off, while her dad merely nodded in understanding and acceptance.
"Then by all means, you are free to go. Just make sure that you stay in contact, as you still need to meet Chris, as you requested."
Something dark and troubled passed through Jake's eyes at Chris' name, but he merely nodded at him.
Then his eyes found hers, and she stepped forward to hug him.
She had tried her best to talk to him and help him while he was at HQ, since she knew what it felt to have a father who did great evil, but despite her best efforts he still obviously needed more time.
"Take care, ok? Call me if you need anything." she whispered.
He hesitated, but after a moment he hugged her back.
"I will. And… I'm sorry, I just-"
"It's okay." She took a step back, and smiled kindly. "I just hope that you find the answers you seek."
He stared at her, before looking away. "... Yeah."
Lucy stepped forward, and shook his hand.
"Despite everything, your aid will help save countless lives. Do not ever forget or doubt that, alright?" she said firmly, but with clear kindness towards someone who could use as much of it as he could get.
Jake gave her a complicated look, but some of the tension in his shoulders relaxed at her words.
"Right. Well, for 50 million, I'll gladly give you more of my blood if you need it, so don't hesitate." he smirked, trying to appear more mercenary than he really was.
They were empaths after all, they could tell a part of him was genuinely happy and relieved to have done some good in his life, especially something on that scale.
Finally, after a few more words exchanged, Jake took his bike and left, riding away to try and find himself.
ISIS Intelligence reported that Carla Radames successfully captured him less than a week later.
-
June 27th, 2013. Deep sea, Northern Atlantic.
"I knew that you couldn't resist."
Ada Wong rolled her eyes at Simmons' smug voice through her communicator.
"I'm just here to find out what you're up to." she calmly replied, glancing around at the interior of the submarine she had infiltrated.
"Then by all means, proceed. Just so you know, level 4 requires a handprint for access. I've made sure that you'll be recognized."
Ada raised an eyebrow. "You've got my prints on file?" she replied, before narrowing her eyes. "You're not playing around, are you?" she muttered.
"Oh, I've got much more than your prints, Miss Wong. You'll see. Good luck."
Ada cut the connection and put her communicator in her back pocket, expression turning thoughtful.
"All right, Simmons. Let's see what you are hiding." If it's really you, and not Carla, at least. This doesn't feel like your style…
She carefully began to make her way through the submarine, soon enough coming across infected soldiers that she recognized as C-virus soldiers.
Her eyes narrowed at the sight of the shock troops of Neo-Umbrella, before taking out a glowing green gun and firing at him.
The soldier didn't even have time to scream before most of his upper body was straight up gone, all of it with barely any sound.
Ada pursed her lips. The little gift she got from the leader of ISIS was terrifyingly powerful, outright destabilizing the bonds between the atoms of anything it hit. It was a weapon he had outright admitted would remain only in the hands of a handful of individuals, simply from how deadly the gun was.
A single shot could have a decent chance of piercing through the armor of a battle tank, after all.
The fact that he had trusted her with the gun was appreciated… Even if she could see it for the trap it was. If somehow its design were to leak, her head would be on the chopping block in a flash.
Well, either way, it would certainly make her missions easier. And honestly, she'd rather not see these weapons spread across the world. They genuinely were too terrifyingly powerful.
As ever, Insight Corp. was proving itself capable of creating horrors as terrifying as they could create wonders worthy of awe.
Thankfully, there were a lot more of the latter than the former.
As she went through the submarine, she noted what she could of these new breeds of B.O.W's, taking in their black armor and the red glowing lenses of their helmets.
Thankfully they died to broken necks just like humans, so sneaking up on them and killing them with her bare hands was pretty simple.
Also, their bodies disintegrated completely after death. Useful.
Soon enough, she was in a new area, filled with paintings and looking more like a high-class hotel than anything else.
Ada took one look at her surroundings and shook her head. Simmons really did never have any taste.
After managing to open a locked door she froze when lights on the grounds glowed red, and flinched backwards just in time when a nearby turret fired.
Then she blinked, when she noticed that the turret had instead hit an infected soldier behind her.
She smirked. "I'm guessing teamwork isn't a strong point around here." Then again, Simmons is involved, so of course it isn't…
Using the rather ruthless security defenses, she began tricking them repeatedly into killing the infected soldiers, which made her progress much easier.
Then she arrived in a new room with a projector, and she frowned in thought.
"I wonder who else he's got on file, besides me…"
She began playing a recording, leaning against a nearby wall with her arms crossed as she looked at the images appearing.
"My dearest Ada Wong-" she scoffed in disgust. In your dreams, Simmons. "-Jake Muller has been located in the Republic of Edonia. Your mission is to find out if his body has antibodies against the C-virus. We cannot allow a vaccine to be produced."
New images appeared, Ada's eyes narrowing at them. "ISIS is also on his trail. One of their agents will be sent to acquire the target. Most likely a Hunter, or perhaps the daughter of the leader of ISIS herself. Your job is to ensure that Jake Muller is captured as quickly as possible. Alive, naturally. Good luck."
The recording ended, and Ada frowned. Checking things out, she noted that it was dated 6 months ago.
That was, obviously, impossible. She was nowhere near Edonia at the time.
What are you up to, Carla? she thought in confusion.
She tried to leave the room, but not long after an alarm started blaring, and infected guards began appearing.
With her new gun in hands, it was quick work to kill them all, and she swiftly began running away, eager to get out of this place now that the alarm has somehow been activated.
As she did, she couldn't help but wonder, as all she found was the orders given to "Ada Wong" half a year ago.
She was increasingly certain that Simmons hadn't actually contacted her, but this certainly wasn't Aeon's work either, so that left only Carla…
But why help her find hints of the truth of what Simmons did, when the woman in question was insane and wanted to destroy the world?
… Oh right, she was insane. That's why.
Well either way, she supposed that she appreciated the help… Though she was rather dubious on how trustworthy her new ally is in fucking over Simmons was.
The insane did not make for trustworthy allies, after all.
No matter. She'd use Carla's madness for her own goals. If nothing else, Ada wanted to delete as much data that Simmons had on her as possible.
Hunting down his bases and wrecking his and Carla's work along the way would just be a nice bonus.
She shook her head. The rescue sub should be close, she was done here.
For a time, things were pretty textbook. Shoot infected soldiers, run as stealthily as possible, shoot some more, rinse and repeat.
And then one of the soldiers she killed proved to have a twitchy trigger finger, even in death, as he discharged his gun everywhere while his corpse finished to fall on the ground.
Including on some exploding canisters.
And that's how she found herself running for her life while water started to get everywhere and explosions filled the air around her.
Never a boring day on the job, that was for sure…
"Think where you are before you shoot! I mean, really!" she growled in frustration, while running as fast as she could through corridor after corridor.
"The hull has been compromised. Prepare to evacuate immediately." came the automated announcement across the submarine's speakers.
"You don't say?!" she exclaimed, while nearby an explosion nearly swept her off her feet.
Oh, and the infected soldiers were still trying to kill her, the damned brainwashed fools than they were.
"I really hate enemies without any self-preservation instincts." she growled, while avoiding laser shots and collapsing ceilings.
She bursted through the door marking the way towards the nearest escape pods, before stumbling when the sub began to tilt to the side and backwards.
"Come on…" she growled as she kept on running, alarms blaring everywhere as she passed.
Then more explosions echoed, and she had to wave her arms to keep her balance, as the sub began to tilt uncomfortably close to 90°.
She began outright crawling on her hands and knees, sweat dripping down her face from both the sheer heat from all the explosions and the sheer effort she had to put into trying to keep moving onwards.
Then the sub kept on tilting down, and she began sliding down as well, falling feet first on a large box.
Heart thundering in her chest while in near free fall, she looked around for something-
There!
She jumped, sliding through a door leading into a corridor and letting her walk on the wall.
Sighing in relief, she immediately began running once more, trying to make it to the nearest escape pod.
She wasn't sure at this point that she could make it to the point of contact for the rescue sub, so an escape pod would do.
Or, alternatively, she could try and get into a torpedo and escape through one…
Hm. The room for it should be nearby…
She idly wondered if Carla was watching all of this somehow, but that was a concern for later. For now, she needed to escape.
She began to run or scale up everything in her way as fast as she could, as the water was filling up the sub, and reaching upwards more and more.
She needed to hurry. One slip and she was going down along with the sub.
She kept running and going up ladder after ladder, the sounds of rushing water never leaving her ears, until she finally managed to reach a door she could seal behind her to give her more time before she was drowned in the sea.
She let out a relieved sigh, then glanced around, before quickly going deeper in the room for the torpedoes.
And then, because the universe hated her, there was no more power in the systems when he got there.
So she had to run around, swim more than a few times, while still killing more of the infected soldiers, some of which had obviously mutated because of taking wounds, and all of that while more water began to take over the entire place.
Leon had damned well better be ready to take her to a nice place to eat after all of this, because she could use a relaxing night.
But apparently the universe really wanted to make her work for her relaxing night, because when she tried to use the system once the power was back on, it then asked her to answer several questions in order to activate.
All the while more infected soldiers somehow began showing up to try and kill her.
She was starting to really hate this place.
"Identify yourself." came the question from the automated voice.
"I'm a little busy right now, try again later." she snarked while shooting infected soldier after infected soldier.
"Please state your name." the computer insisted.
"All right, I'll bite. Ada Wong." she replied, shooting the head of a soldier.
"Authorization approved."
"Miss Wong, 6 months ago you performed experiments on humans in Edonia." declared the computer next, and Ada's eyebrows rose at that. "You were following Simmons' orders, but it was your choice to do so. How do you plan to atone for your crimes?"
"Interesting story." she dryly replied. "You might want to do some fact-checking though. I don't work for Simmons. I've got nothing to atone for."
"Authorization approved."
"I know everything about you, Miss Wong… Everything." the speakers declared, and Ada had a sudden suspicion on whose' voice it was. "I know what it is you're looking for. A world of chaos… Am I right?"
"If you know me so well, you shouldn't need validation. A world of chaos? Not number one on my list." Right now, that'd be a relaxing night with Leon. "But it would make Simmons squirm, so I might reconsider."
"Authorization Approved."
"Perfect answer. Now, the final question. Are you ready?"
"Hold that thought, it's my turn." she said instead, before looking up. "Who are you?" she questioned, thought she had a pretty good idea.
"Authorization Approved."
"I have no obligation to answer you. My final question: What are you fighting?"
"Whatever the hell gets in my way." she coldly answered. "And the viruses always seem to make a cameo."
A chuckle echoed in the speakers. "I like your answer."
"Identity verification complete."
"Simmons is waiting for you." declared the voice. "I'm looking forward to seeing how this all unfolds."
"Authorization complete. Releasing locks now."
"I'm glad this is over." she muttered, before moving on at last, after having had to kill far too many infected soldiers somehow managing to find their way to her.
She quickly began working on one of the torpedoes, before calling on " Simmons" again.
"Found anything interesting?" he asked.
"A recording from 6 months ago." she replied.
He smiled. "Then the trip was worthwhile."
She smiled mockingly at him, and he raised an eyebrow. "What's the matter? You still haven't figured it out? Allow me to clarify. Tomorrow, the US will suffer a bio-terrorist attack. After that, China. And then major cities all around the world will suffer the same fate at the hands of Neo-Umbrella's very own Ada Wong."
She glanced at "Simmons" with an amused look. "If you think I'm going to sit back and be your scapegoat, Simmons, you've got another thing coming."
She quickly went into the torpedo, and cut off the connection.
"Especially when you're barely even trying to hide who you really are, Carla." she said to herself, safe in the speeding torpedo while behind her the submarine finally blew up.
Now then, I've got some calls to make, and some more places to investigate…
-
June 29th, 2013, Tall Oaks, Ivy University, USA.
"Mr President, it's so good to see you safe."
President Adam Benford smiled while standing, healthy and safe, in the office of the headmaster of the university, and Leon breathed a sigh of relief, one shared by Helena Harper at his side.
True, Leon knew that ISIS had been ready for the attack, but it still was a relief to actually see his friend safe and healthy despite Simmons' attempt at killing him… and the rest of this town.
Leon was immensely grateful that Ada was able to find out about the attack and gave advanced warning to him and Aeon, as otherwise there was little doubt this would have ended in tragedy.
As it was, the moment the first B.O.W's showed up, releasing infected gas which turned everyone nearby into zombies, ISIS strike teams had been deployed.
That wasn't to say that the city was perfectly secured, fighting was still ongoing all over the place, but it did mean that the President had been adequately protected before tragedy could strike.
That, combined with the fact that Insight Corp. had a cure thanks to Jake Muller's blood, should mean that the outbreak would be quickly dealt with.
"And it's good to see you safe as well, my friend." replied Adam, before he sighed deeply. "Today had been a hard day for us all, though I'm told that the town will be secured entirely by tomorrow, the day after at the latest. Though there is… disturbing news."
Leon and Harper frowned, but Aeon, leaning against a wall in the room, spoke up to explain.
"The cure we have isn't working as well as it should." he explained with a frown. "No doubt as a result of Neo-Umbrella getting their hands on Muller and using his blood to strengthen the virus."
Leon grimaced, but Aeon smiled. "Don't worry, we've got the location of the facility where he's being kept. Sherry is going to bust him out soon."
"And what about the mastermind behind this attack?" questioned Harper, and Leon glanced at her with a frown. There was something in her voice and eyes as she mentioned this that made his instincts scream that she knew something…
Aeon gave her a look, before frowning slightly.
"We've determined that the now former Director Simmons is the mastermind behind this mess… But I'm sure you already knew that, didn't you, Agent Harper?"
Leon turned to fully face her, the way he gripped his laspistol tightening slightly.
"Helena?" he questioned.
Helena glanced around the room, towards him, President Adam watching calmly if sympathetically, the same with Aeon and Summer Rose, the one from this world, who were both in the room as representatives of ISIS.
The Agents meant to protect the President currently in the room, that Helena was meant to be a part of, frowned and tensed, suddenly glaring at her, but ultimately Helena merely glanced back at Aeon, a storm of emotions passing in her face.
"You know." she whispered, guilt mixing with relief and fear in her eyes.
Aeon nodded. "The information about this attack had been given to us in advance by an allied spy. Once we knew what was about to happen we checked on everyone Simmons could have flipped… and discovered that your sister had disappeared for a while now. It wasn't hard to see that you were the one he flipped through kidnapping your sister and holding her hostage."
Helena slumped, guilt clear on her face, and Leon relaxed. If she had been forced into this, she was just one more victim of Simmons, not an enemy to be wary of.
Especially with Aeon giving her a kind look. If he could trust her, then so could Leon.
"That being said, would you be willing to help us investigate Simmons?" asked Aeon, and Helena's eyes widened at the request. "The bastard managed to escape when it became clear his assassination attempt failed spectacularly, but that doesn't mean we can't try and find out everything he was up to."
Helena hesitated, looking at the President. "I…"
President Adam smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, what happened to you and your sister should have never happened. I trusted Simmons as the National Security Advisor, and in the end merely invited a viper into my home. Please, excuse the folly of a blind old man."
Helena's eyes widened in shock, and she shook her head fiercely. "No! No, it's not your fault. If anything, it's Simmons' fault for abusing your trust and trying to have you killed. None of this is your fault, Mr. President!"
Adam looked at her with a knowing look.
"Yet, you blame yourself for all that happened here, do you not?"
Helena flinched, looking away. "I… I did as he ordered, I put my sister before my duty, I endangered everyone, I'm sorry, I-"
"Enough." firmly declared Adam, though not unkindly. "If all of this is not my fault, then it is not yours either. We are all victims of a monster of a man hiding among us as a loyal citizen, and the one here supposed to lead the people of this nation and guide it to prosperity is me. I will not have you blame yourself for suffering under the cruel hands of a tyrant hiding among us. So with that being said, please, help Agent Kennedy see Simmons brought to justice, and your sister saved, before you try to surrender yourself to judgment, alright?"
She bit her lips, almost hard enough to draw blood, before looking away.
"I'm not worthy of your trust."
Adam stood firm, though his expression was gentle. "Perhaps, perhaps not. But I decide who to give it to, and today I choose to trust you. So, please, will you help my friend Leon in his investigation?"
Helena took a good long look at him, then released a shuddering breath and nodded. "I was willing to share everything I know and simply give myself up… But if you trust me to see this through first, I will."
President Adam smiled warmly. "Thank you. I have full confidence I will not regret it."
Helena visibly swallowed, gratitude mixed with deep guilt on her face, before she turned to look at Leon.
"I have a lead. If you're willing to trust me, I know where to find the data to incriminate Simmons even further than whatever you all already have, and maybe find where he went to hide."
Leon stared at her for a long moment, seeking deceit in her eyes, but found nothing but an earnest woman filled with guilt and the desire to make things right… along with a level of desperation that made it clear that she was hoping to save her sister from Simmons before it was too late.
He nodded, and she slumped in relief, before smiling weakly. "Thank you."
"Take Summer with you." said Aeon, and they all turned to glance at the two ISIS soldiers. Aeon smiled. "She'll provide the firepower you'll need to handle anything that gets in your way."
Leon glanced at the blue-eyed, red and black haired woman, who gave a sharp salute to Aeon. "I'll see it done, sir." she firmly declared, and Leon could see the unbreakable determination in her gaze.
"We need to go to the Tall Oaks Cathedral. The sooner the better." declared Helena, and Aeon nodded at her.
"We'll get you a vehicle to get there, it's out of the city limits, but close enough that there might be some infected in the area."
"So what's so special about this church? I doubt that you're just trying to confess your sins to the local priest." Leon questioned towards Helena.
Aeon gave him an amused look, probably at the overall pointlessness of Helena confessing her sins to a priest when she did it right in front of Aeon himself, but Helena hesitated.
"It's hard to explain-"
"It's where Simmons performed his experiments, correct?"
They all turned to Aeon, who shrugged and smiled at their looks. "What? It's not that hard to figure out. Besides, I checked some things since we've known of the attack. The area where the Cathedral is in belonged to Simmons' family for generations. It's pretty obvious what he might have hidden down there."
Helena opened and closed her mouth a few times, and Leon shook his head in amusement. Yeah, Aeon was Aeon, obviously he would know everything with just a glance.
"Yes." she finally answered rather lamely.
Aeon chuckled, before turning serious and taking a syringe out of his long coat and giving it to Summer.
"You'll know when to use it." he simply said, and Summer nodded and carefully put it in one of her pockets at her belt, seemingly perfectly satisfied with the vague order she had been given.
Then Aeon looked back at them. "Now then, you better get going. I need to go back to keeping an eye on things, the President will soon be evacuated out of here, and you need to go find the evidence of Simmons' crimes, and a location he fled to if possible from the cathedral, along with saving Helena's sister. I wouldn't recommend waiting, if Simmons was smart, he might be trying to wipe out anything in the area that will trace back to him."
"We'll get it done, no worry." promised Leon.
"Agreed." firmly said Summer.
"Come on, let's not waste any more time." declared Helena, before nodding respectfully at the President and turning around.
As they left, Aeon spoke up again.
"Oh, and Leon? Ada should be there somewhere too, so you might get her to help you out if need be."
Leon paused, before shaking his head with a smile. Of course she already found out about the place, why was he even surprised?
"Understood." he ignored Helena's curious look and merely walked onwards.
"Come on, we've got a vehicle to requisition."
All three of them walked quickly out of the University and managed to requisition a jeep, before taking to the streets. Helena sent a few looks at Summer in her high-tech armor and with her Sword/Gun weapon, but otherwise did not say a thing, though she seemed a bit relieved at having someone so heavily armed with them on this mission.
As they passed through the streets, the signs of the battle being waged were obvious. American soldiers were everywhere, with squads of ISIS ones rushing towards where the battle was fiercest. Some buildings were on fire, corpses or what was left of them littered the streets, terrified civilians could be seen running away or simply looking anxiously towards the sounds of battle, and in the air, several aircraft could be seen unloading plasma bombs and other such payloads down on concentrations of zombies, along with the distinct red and blue flashes of laser and plasma guns firing.
Leon even blinked at one point when he saw Alex Mercer and his sister, apparently they had somehow ended up in this mess. Maybe because of Mercer's sister being a journalist? Could she have been there to report on the planned speech of the President in the university before everything went to hell? Possibly.
Leon wondered if Alex Mercer was going to gain a grudge against Simmons for effectively putting his sister in danger. If so, he almost felt bad for the murderous bastard who tried to kill his friend, President Adams.
Almost.
"God, look at all of this…" muttered Helena, looking out of the jeep's windows at the chaos outside.
"First time seeing an outbreak up close, huh?" he said.
She grimaced. "Yeah. Everyone heard the stories and saw the recordings of course, but…"
"It's one thing to see it on TV, another with your own eyes?" finished Summer.
Helena sighed. "Yeah." then her expression hardened. "Simmons will pay for what he's done."
"He will." firmly declared Summer, the look in her eyes and the strength in her voice speaking of true, absolute belief. "He will, I promise you."
Leon and Helena glanced at her, though Leon was the only one who gave her a subtle nod when their eyes met.
They both knew exactly what awaited Simmons now. After all these years, the last remaining mastermind that truly endangered the world was about to be hunted down and dealt with. Whether alive or dead, he would end up being judged either way.
The gods of their world would allow nothing else now that the time had come.
"Do you guys have any advice to give me when dealing with these things? I must admit, dealing with B.O.W's isn't the speciality of the Agents meant to protect the President, and you both have experiences with things like this." said Helena, and both Leon and Summer spoke at the same time.
""Shoot the heads, or any glowing bits you see.""
They shared a look, then smirked at each other.
Truly, it took experienced B.O.W's killers a single sentence to recognize one another.
"Ooookay then… I'll keep that in mind?" hesitantly replied Helena, and Leon chuckled and took pity on her, deciding to elaborate.
"In our experience, mutagenic viruses still require a brain in an infected body to keep them alive, so to speak. Also, the mutagenic viruses have a tendency of creating special nodes which help control the infected bodies. Destroy those nodes and the virus will lose the ability to control the body and exert its influence, causing the B.O.W's to die. So if you see glowing bits, especially in massive B.O.W's, that's where you need to hit to do actual damage."
Helena fell silent, before nodding. "Well, that's pretty straightforward at least."
Summer laughed. "Oh, the theory is, the practice on the other hand… Well we'll see how you handle being charged by a bunch of zombies or how you handle a B.O.W. towering above you trying to squish you like a bug."
"I'm sure you'll do fine. You wouldn't have been allowed in the protection detail of the President if you weren't able to handle yourself in a fight." Leon tried to reassure Helena.
"Yeah… Though I'm not sure how much anti-sniper training will help against B.O.W's." she said dryly.
"You'd be surprised. Being on the move is important in both cases, for example." remarked Summer.
Helena blinked, frowned thoughtfully, and began asking more questions.
Leon and Summer shared a look while answering her questions. At least for now, their plans to distract Helena from her guilt for what happened and her worries for her sister were going as they hoped.
They weren't as concerned about the situation, not when they knew that Aeon was keeping an eye on everything, but Helena didn't know they had quite literally a group of gods on their side.
Ah well. They'd just have to keep her focused on how to better fight B.O.W's while on the way to the Cathedral.
It was hardly a waste of time, anyway.
Then, Helena and his radio crackled to life. "Helena, Leon, what's the situation on your end of things?"
Leon smiled. "Hannigan, we've confirmed the President is alive and well, and now we're headed to the Tall Oaks Cathedral with Summer Rose of ISIS as back-up. We're pursuing a lead on Simmons."
A note of concern appeared in her voice. "The Tall Oaks Cathedral? From what I know, the area is filled with infected. Be careful out there, alright?"
"Copy that. We'll keep you updated once we reach the place."
"Good. For now, the outbreak is being contained. ISIS' quick arrival kept what would have otherwise been a slaughter into a more controlled battle. The lack of truly heavy B.O.W's is playing in our favor. Simmons wanted an assassination, not a full-on horde of unstoppable monsters. I'll keep you updated if that situation changes."
"Thank you, Hannigan."
"Thank me by tracking down where that bastard Simmons went." came the cold and angry reply. Quite obviously, Hannigan was pissed to have worked under a traitor for quite a few years now. "As it is, we've got our hands full on our side of things trying to hunt down and arrest as many of his supporters as we can. Again, ISIS came through and shared an immense amount of intel they had to have been collecting for decades, but that just means we're all pulling double, if not triple shifts for quite a while."
"No issue so far?" asked Leon.
"Well, we've got a few running battles from people refusing to go down quickly, and a lot of traitors are trying to go underground, but we're keeping on top of things for now. Still, the media is already aware that something big is going on in the halls of power, so we're headed for yet another scandal once the full truth comes out that we had a traitor try to assassinate the President as one of our highest-ranked men charged with keeping the country safe!"
Hannigan took a few deep breaths, before sighing deeply. "Sorry about that. The last few hours were hard on everyone, and I've got a few people I thought I could trust now arrested for treason… And I'm not the only one. At this point there are quite a few people wondering if we shouldn't just ask, or outright beg ISIS to act as our own counter-intelligence group, because we're all questioning how competent we truly are after so many years of hidden traitors in our ranks being discovered time and again."
Leon grimaced in sympathy. "Come on, I'm sure that you're genuinely good at your job. It's just that those people were there for a long time, and when you're supposed to be able to trust each other, you don't stay on your guard at all times. No need to get paranoid or depressed."
"I wish I could agree, but this is one too many times, Leon. This isn't the first or second, hell not even the third time something like this has happened."
There was a moment of silence, before Hannigan sighed. "Look, I have many other calls to make. Keep me updated and we'll talk later, alright?"
"Alright." Leon said, before the connection was cut off.
He sighed. It was hardly Hannigan' fault that literal gods were always going to be better at dealing with spies than mortal men, but the result would certainly weigh on her. Nothing to do about it but to try and keep her spirits up, though.
He looked at the road ahead, expression determined. Once Simmons was dealt with, there would hopefully no longer be a need to worry about evil organizations infiltrating the US government.
Maybe he could even ask Aeon to subtly help said government in routing out the spies and dealing with any new ones trying to get in. That ought to help.
That was for later, though. For now… The Tall Oaks Cathedral awaited, along with whatever secrets it held.
-
There were, in fact, a number of infected waiting around the cathedral.
Thankfully, the man driving the jeep, and the jeep itself, were both from ISIS, which meant they outright rolled over each and every infected trying to get in their way without any issues.
They thus arrived at the cathedral without trouble, where the driver cheerfully told them good luck and then drove right back towards the city, crushing zombie after zombie on the hood of the jeep.
Helena was left rather dumbfounded by the whole thing, but Summer considered it all entirely normal, and Leon was far too used to ISIS' general craziness to be surprised by the nonchalance of the driver ramming through hordes of zombies on the way back in and out of this place.
Either way, they were thus able to go through towards the cathedral without too many issues. Sure, some infected tried to get in their way, but Summer slaughtered her way through the majority of their enemy with barely any pause, and Leon along with Helena easily dispatched any stragglers.
The only infected with visible mutations they encountered was some kind of Screamer variant which attracted infected to their positions whenever they screamed, on top of giving headaches to Leon and Helena. Summer, Leon noted, was seemingly immune to the debilitating effects of the screams.
Still, they were able to make good time, and soon enough they arrived at the entrance doors to the cathedral… only to find the place already occupied.
"Please, open up! We need to get inside!" shouted Helena, banging on the doors.
"Are you crazy? Those damned monsters will get inside and kill us!" someone shouted back at them.
"Look, it's just us for now! So open up and let us get inside!" Leon shouted.
"Bullshit I will! I can hear 'em out there!"
"We'll kill them." bluntly spoke Summer, before turning to look at the infected getting over the fences. "Then you'll let us inside." The or else was not told, but clearly heard nonetheless.
Apparently, Summer was not amused that these people were willing to let innocent people die to infected without even trying to save them.
Leon and Helena turned to help her kill off the incoming zombies, while inside, a new voice spoke out.
"Paul? Is someone out there? You gotta let 'em in!"
"And let a bunch of walking corpses in with them? Are you nuts-"
They opened fire.
Helena and Leon only had laspistols, so that didn't make much sound, but Summer had heavily upgraded her sword/gun over the years… and had the latest weapon created for ISIS incorporated.
So before the wide eyes of Helena, green rays of death destabilizing the bonds between atoms shot out of her gun, vaporizing zombie after zombie with deadly precision and terrifying results.
Leon didn't even blink, having already been briefed about the latest weapons created by Insight Corp., and he once more focused on dealing with the stragglers while Summer dealt with the greatest of their numbers.
After a few moments spent gawking, Helena joined in, though there was still a measure of awe in her eyes.
In less than five minutes of continuous fire, the horde seemingly disappeared, the natural breakdown of C-virus infected bodies making it almost seem as if the horde had never existed in the first place.
Then Summer turned around, and slammed an armored fist against the doors.
"Summer Rose, Hunter division of ISIS. Open those doors, or lose them. Either way, we'll be getting in." she loudly declared.
There was a moment of stunned silence, before scrambling sounds came from within the cathedral.
The doors opened, and they all entered.
Summer glanced at everyone hiding inside, before pausing at the sight of one of the man holding a lasgun awaiting them.
To him, she nodded, muttering something about "him" approving.
Leon had a good idea of who she was speaking to, considering this was a religious building.
He had to admit, Aeon would indeed approve of someone in a church responding to a bunch of undead attacking by laser shots to the face a great deal.
Either way, everyone inside took one look at them and immediately glanced at Summer, visibly hoping that they could be saved by bringing them all to safety.
Unfortunately, Summer could only disappoint them for now.
"Sorry everyone, but ISIS and the American Armed Forces are busy pacifying the town right now, so no extraction for the time being. Stay there, don't get outside, and wait for a few more hours. We should have this whole mess dealt with in a day or two." she said calmly.
There were quite a few disappointed sighs, but seeing a Hunter of ISIS and being told everything would be dealt with soon visibly relaxed every civilian hiding in the place.
"When can we expect to get out of here?" questioned one of them.
"Depends on the situation in Tall Oaks, but so far, we're easily keeping on top of things. There's very little mutations going on so far, just standard infected, so ISIS is steamrolling most of what's in the town. So don't worry, you'll get out of here soon enough."
"If I may, what are you all doing here? Shouldn't someone like you be, well, on the frontline?"
Summer glanced at the woman who said that, who flinched at the sudden attention, but Summer merely nodded.
"Normally you'd be right, but we have information that some of the people responsible for this bio-terrorist attack might have used this place to hide something important. As such, me, Agents Kennedy and Harper are here to investigate under the orders of Commander Aeon of ISIS and the President."
There were mutterings at that, and Helena glanced at her. "Was it wise to reveal that?"
Summer shrugged slightly. "Something tells me we won't be able to hide our investigation from them, so might as well keep them from doing something stupid or spreading around by warning them that this place isn't in fact entirely safe."
Leon gave her a look. If she had a feeling, there was a 50/50 chance that it wasn't mere instinct.
Helena sighed, and confirmed his suspicions with her next words by pointing at the altar.
"There's a secret door by the altar that leads underground, but we need to find a way to open it."
Behind her helmet, Summer's jaws clenched, and her pale blue eyes flashed dangerously. "So Simmons hid his horrific experiments behind faith… Did he believe himself divinely blessed or invested with divine purpose?"
The sheer disgust and contempt in her voice made it clear what she thought of that.
Helena scowled. "Don't know, don't care. For all I know Simmons just thought himself a god or something. Either way, what's important is getting into that secret passage."
They walked towards the altar, and when they were in front of it, Helena scowled. "There were stairs leading downstairs the last time I was here… Shit, what do we do?"
Leon opened his mouth… and then closed it, when Summer suddenly marched towards a nearby small statue and held it up.
"We need another like this one." she declared.
Helena blinked. "How do you know?"
"Trust her." Leon told her. Helena gave him a look, but nodded a moment later and they went searching.
Not long after, Summer managed to get to the first level of the cathedral, and soon came back with another statue. She gave Leon one, then pointed to a pedestal, with another similar one on the other side of the cathedral.
The moment both were put down, the Alter shifted open for a second before settling back closed, only for a previously locked steel door to slide open upwards.
"Now we're getting somewhere." muttered Helena approvingly, though she sent a curious look at Summer for so quickly knowing what to do.
She shook her head. "I've had enough of those games. Let's go."
They entered a new room, making sure to order the curious civilians to not leave the main hall of the cathedral, only to find that the room was divided into two by rows of steel bars, with a lever at the end of each side.
Helena and Leon took one side, Summer the other, and they activated the levers at the same time.
Statues suddenly came out of the wall holding crossbows, and Summer quickly shouted at them to hit the red button at the foot of the statues.
What followed were a few minutes of running back and forth across the room, avoiding crossbow bolts while smashing down the buttons, before the last statues came back into the walls and new doors opened leading onwards.
They had to do that a second time, with Helena cursing the place loudly along the way, before they next had to use laser sights to activate a series of mirrors that allowed them to keep opening more doors.
Leon's own thoughts on this whole mess was to once again curse whatever insane school of architects every single evil mastermind he had to deal with seemingly subscribed to.
It was only the fact that he knew that Aeon found the whole thing as ridiculous as he did that reassured him that no, the gods had nothing to do with this insanity, it was all humanity.
Then they had to ring every bell in the cathedral towers while solving a riddle, because yes, Simmons was genuinely this ridiculous.
Doing that gained them a second statue and opened a door leading back to the main hall of the cathedral, at which point they finally were able to go back to the altar to open the secret passage.
Summer stood before it, weapon in hand, after telling the civilians to gather close to the entrance, just in case. She had a bad feeling that something nasty was waiting as guard of this place.
Meanwhile, Helena and Leon went on the balcony overlooking the main hall, found two spots to put the two statues on, and once Summer gave them the go ahead, put the two statues down.
And then, finally, the altar shifted to reveal the secret stairway down into the secrets of this place.
There was a moment of silence, as everyone stared at the newly revealed entrance, Leon and Helena with grim determination to go down there whatever the dangers that awaited them, and the civilians with shock at the secret passage…
*SSSSSSSSSKKKKKKRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEE!*
And then Summer brought her weapon up and opened fire down the passageway at the same time as an unnatural scream coming from it pierced the air and made everyone flinch back in fear.
-
A.N: Alright! Here is the next chapter in which we continue the events of Resident Evil 6!
So, a few changes born of the differences in the timeline. Jake Muller made it to Insight Corp., but the revelations he learned there made him eager to leave for some time on his own… And Carla took full advantage of that.
Also, Ada told Leon of what Simmons had planned since they are together in this timeline, and used the fact that Carla was impersonating Simmons to actually use the discussion they had as proof to the president. The assassination attempt still happened, but failed as a result of the warning given, with ISIS quickly arriving to handle the outbreak. That means the first hour or so of the Leon campaign didn't happen, since the university was secured by ISIS, and so was a good chunk of Tall Oaks.
And Summer Rose, Earth-born, ends up working with Leon and Helena to investigate the cathedral. I'm sure those of you who know the game already know for who the cure that Aeon gave her is for. Also, I have a bit of fun using Summer's connection to True!Aeon to have her essentially blitz the puzzles through sheer divine intuition. I've also shown off some more characterization for her, with her showing faith/belief that any situation arising can be handled since she believes in Aeon protecting the world, her being annoyed at people refusing to open the doors of a cathedral for what could have been innocent people in need of aid, and of course her being pretty damn pissed at Simmons using a religious building to hide horrific crimes. If it had been an actual Cathedral of Aeon (though that could have never happened since Simmons trying that would have seen him smitten out of existence), she would have gone full on avenging Angel on the place.
Still, with all that being said, I hope you all enjoyed this update! Next time, we continue RE6 with the underground facilities beneath the cathedral, and everything to be discovered there.