Resident Evil: Tangled Web

By: PhantasmBabeIvory

Chapter Seventeen

Author's Notes (Please read) – Sorry it took so long to get the remainder of this chapter posted. It took longer than I anticipated to hammer out the details.

For those who have been reading the companion story, Razor's Edge, I have to say that Chapter Four of that story takes place four days prior to where Tangled Web is currently at. The end of this installment is going to spoil something that hasn't occurred yet in Razor's Edge; you've been warned.

And now on with the show.

"Wesker said he wanted us to be able to reach him with little difficulty. To save on time, he had the intercom wired to multiple locations that he frequents."

Claire hadn't given much attention to the intercom since it was installed. It had puzzled her as to why there were several buttons below the speaker until Elliott explained it. "I'm guessing he gave us a guide telling what's what."

Elliott nodded and went over to the desk to grab a diagram Raymond had drawn. "From left to right, we have Wesker's living quarters, a science lab, office, and a board room."

"What the hell does he need a board room for?"

"It could be strictly for Excella to utilize when she's here. Maybe Wesker just uses it as a quiet place to sit and think," Elliott pointed out. He moved to Claire's side. "You ready to contact him?"

She steeled herself, turning to look at the intercom. She still felt silly pressing one button after another and saying, "Hello?"

There was a response from Wesker's office. "This is a pleasant surprise, Miss Redfield. I wasn't sure you'd come around so soon."

"Elliott and I are interested in talking," Claire said, fighting to keep her tone serene. "Somewhere other than our apartment. We've been getting a bit stir crazy here."

"An outing would be perfectly fine. However, I do have a business matter to conclude before I come down. I'll be there soon."

Claire turned away from the intercom with a sigh. "At least he's giving us some prep time," she said in a near whisper.

Elliott casually crossed his arms. "I've been curious about something. You said you and your brother trusted and admired Wesker prior to his betrayal. What was he like back then?"

"We both thought he was a good person, in spite of him being indifferent and reserved. Those were qualities that made Wesker an exceptional law enforcement officer and team captain for S.T.A.R.S. He was good at keeping his cool in extreme situations. I had only interacted with Wesker three times before everything went to shit and he became something not human. Back in the day, the longest conversation Wesker and I had was when I asked if he could spare some change for a vending machine. Now look at us... I miss when my biggest concern was how to spend the weekend."

"Why ask him and not your brother?"

"I was too embarrassed to let Chris know I had lost my job and was broke. Seems so stupid in retrospect." Claire paused, then chuckled. "The one thing that didn't change is that Wesker almost never went a day or night without sunglasses, even when his eyes were still a normal grayish blue. It was one of his quirks that had nothing to do with becoming a monster."

"Hard to imagine the guy ever living such a mundane life," Elliott said. "I'm guessing he mutated on the same night the S.T.A.R.S. unit was decimated."

"I couldn't tell you. All I know for sure is that Wesker was different when Chris and I next saw him. After the incident, my brother went into hiding along with three other surviving members while they built a campaign to bring down Umbrella. Chris didn't even tell me what had happened to S.T.A.R.S. or what Wesker had done. Chris eventually ceased contacting me in an effort to keep me away from the whole mess, to keep me safe. All it did was make me worry. Following my brother's trail in an effort to find him put me on Umbrella's radar in a bad way."

"And that's when Umbrella sent you to their privately owned prison compound," Elliott said. After a pause, he added, "Were they using you as bait to draw out your brother?"

"I wasn't there long enough to know what Umbrella's intent was," Claire answered. "You know what's funny? Wesker was the one who inadvertently freed me from my prison cell when he led a team of fighter jets to bomb the island."

Elliott blinked. "I thought Wesker worked for Umbrella. Why would he attack his own allies?"

"Because Wesker left Umbrella at the same time he betrayed S.T.A.R.S. He'd gotten ambitious enough to think he could do better than the corporation he was employed with. Wesker aimed to get his hands on as much of Umbrella's research as he could to use for his own ends. That's why he was there on Rockfort Island, because he was in pursuit of Alexia Ashford."

"The woman you said kicked his ass? Seems out of character for a guy who meticulously plans things. Why'd he blindly rush in to something he wasn't prepared for?"

"Due to a case of mistaken identity," Claire said. "From my understanding, Alexia went into cryo-stasis more than a decade beforehand. She had developed a virus that caused rapid, uncontrolled mutation in anyone it was administered to. She felt that freezing herself immediately after exposure was the best way to slow the process and give her body time to better adapt to the changes in her genetic makeup. The only person that Alexia trusted to watch over her until her awakening was her twin brother. She even let the world believe she was dead so no one would come poking around. If Alexia's brother hadn't been a recluse who went mad with loneliness and ended up pulling a Norman Bates, her plan might not have unraveled. Rumors of 'Alexia'-sightings inevitably leaked to the world outside the island."

Elliott snickered. "Let me see if I have this right. This whole confluence of events happened because Wesker took interest in a cross-dresser?"

Claire burst out laughing. Wiping tears from her eyes, she said, "It really sounds silly when you put it that way!"

"I know you said the whole Rockfort Island story was pretty twisted, but damn!"

Claire wanted to keep going and tell the story in its entirety. But before she could say another word, the door to their cell clicked open. She was grateful that Wesker arrived while she was in a more cheery mood, though it was hard not to laugh with Elliott's second-to-last comment replaying in her head.

Thankfully for Claire, Elliott spared her from having to think of something to say. "Speak of the devil," Elliott said casually. "Claire was just telling me great things about you."

Elliott, I will kill you, Claire thought, fighting to keep a straight face.

"Is that so?" Wesker said with a blank expression and even tone. Try as she might, Claire couldn't determine if he knew he was the butt of a joke. "Do tell what that might be."

Claire lightly bit her tongue before saying, "Your days working with S.T.A.R.S."

Wesker half smiled. "I do have some good memories of that particular time." He didn't give Claire or Elliott a chance to reply. "Shall we?" he said, gesturing toward the door.

"Hang on," Elliott said. "There's something I need to get off my chest. You offered to restore my younger sister to who she was before the accident."

"A matter which I understand you're not agreeable with," Wesker said.

"Did you really think I would be since you've given me no cause to trust you thus far? Why would you care about doing me a favor anyway?"

"Tell me, Mr. Gregory. Is there any answer that you'd actually accept?" When Elliott didn't respond, Wesker said, "Exactly. We are in quite the quandary. I can talk until I'm blue in the face, but it won't do any good so long as the two of you are determined to doubt my sincerity."

Claire crossed her arms. "Okay, I'll bite. What's your answer to this dilemma?"

"I will have to show you something that may make you both see things in a new light."

"You're assuming a lot for someone who abducted us and is holding us prisoner," Elliott said.

Wesker cracked his knuckles. "Perhaps so. But how would I know for sure without putting it to the test?"

If there was one thing that Claire hated most about Wesker, it was his tendency to talk in riddles. "Fine, let's get this over with."

Once they were on the elevator, Wesker casually said, "I've been meaning to ask you, Miss Redfield, on how young Sherry Birkin is doing these days. I'm aware that you've visited her frequently since she was taken into government custody. She's what, eighteen now?"

Claire's eyes narrowed. "Twenty, not that it matters. Sherry is a topic that is off limits."

"Are you saying that out of fear of slipping up and giving me a clue on her whereabouts or the level of security protecting her? I determined years ago that Miss Birkin wouldn't suit my needs. She wasn't even infected with the same strain as you."

"Then why the interest in her?" Claire asked.

Wesker waited until they'd exited the elevator before he said, "Curiosity. Her father, William, manufactured the virus you and Miss Birkin and even he himself were exposed to, and yet you've barely mentioned him. I would think that you'd want to talk about the man partly responsible for your current condition."

"Why? William Birkin is dead. You said yourself that his research was destroyed and you have no knowledge of the steps he took. He's in no position to help anyone."

"And the world has suffered greatly over this loss." Wesker turned to look at her without breaking stride. "You speak as though you hate him, dearheart."

Again with the 'dearheart' crap. Feel free to stop calling me that anytime, Claire thought. "Hate is a strong word. I have no appreciation for what he did for a living or the legacy he left behind. But I know what it feels like to be orphaned. Sherry didn't deserve that kind of pain or to lose both her parents by the age of twelve."

"Yet another crime to lay at Oswell Spencer's feet." Wesker stopped in front of a metal door midway down the hallway and punched in a code on the nearby keypad. "I personally made sure he answered for that and more."

"This conversation is raising a lot more questions than it's answering," Elliott said. "Does either of you want to clue me in?"

"A valid point," Wesker said. "But I wouldn't know where to begin unless you share the extent of what you know of the G-Virus."

Ignoring Wesker, Claire looked around the room they stepped into. She couldn't resist interrupting. "You said you had something to show us," she said. "Hope you meant more than an empty lab."

"Patience, dearheart. I never said this little game changer would be available for viewing right away. And there are other matters that need to be addressed before the unveiling." Wesker looked at Elliott. "Mr. Gregory, would you kindly share what you know?"

Elliott rubbed his eyes. "I know the G-Virus had potential to turn Claire into a monster, but she's still normal apart from an instantaneous healing ability. I know it wasn't the same virus that destroyed Raccoon City, yet the G-Virus somehow caused the outbreak. And Spencer's need for control is what led to the disaster." Elliott hesitated; it was like a lightbulb turned on over his head. "Was Birkin planning to take his research and abandon Umbrella? Was the outbreak the result of a power play gone wrong?"

"Very astute, Mr. Gregory," Wesker said. "Spencer had spent so much time hiding Umbrella's illegal genetic and viral research that the idea of it getting into the U.S. military's hands, as was Birkin's intent, made him panic. And so Spencer sent a special-ops team employed by Umbrella to intercept Birkin and obtain the G-Virus before he could flee. They didn't count on Birkin injecting himself with his own creation as a means of stopping them. Only one operative survived to tell the tale."

"And a chemical spill that occurred during the altercation is what resulted in the mass infection of Raccoon City," Claire filled in. Before she could say more, she thought she heard something from the curtained off section of the room. She wasn't given long to ponder if the rustling was real or not before Elliott spoke.

"What did the virus do to Birkin?"

It was hard for Claire to talk about what she could have become, but she knew she couldn't gloss over it forever. "It turned him into a monster you couldn't even imagine. He still looked more or less like himself at the start. But each time he took damage, the virus would mutate him further into something less human and more resilient. The one thing that was consistent in each of his forms was a single giant eyeball somewhere on him." A hysterical laugh escaped her lips at the thought. "Here's hoping I never have to worry about that."

Elliott stepped toward her, one hand coming up to give her shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"If it means anything, Miss Redfield, I don't see that ever being a concern," Wesker said. "You would have immediately shared William's fate if you didn't possess such a unique physiology. The odds of something happening to you after the virus has been a part of you for a year is slim to none."

Elliott rounded on Wesker. "Do you always have to be such a bastard?" he said angrily. "You don't need to rub Claire's face in a sore subject."

"That's hardly my intent. As bad as you think I am, I'm not the one who caused the explosion at Wilpharma that triggered Miss Redfield's infection. That blame falls on someone else's shoulders." Wesker paused. "If you want someone to take your anger out on, dearheart, it should be the man who really deserves it."

Claire's eyes narrowed. "Frederic Downing is already paying for his crimes," she said heatedly. "He's in a federal prison where he belongs. That's good enough."

Wesker smirked. "Let's be honest, Miss Redfield. You only found out about your condition less than a week ago. Downing is certainly not answering for that one. You can't tell me that you're not the least bit angry." Wesker took a step to the right, pulling open a drawer on the side of the medical slab. "Which brings me to what I wanted to show you. Or more precisely, to give you. A way to work out your rage."

The hair on the back of Claire's neck was standing on end. She stepped forward as Wesker moved away. When she saw a revolver, a scalpel, and a bone saw resting inside the drawer, it made her tenser. She wheeled around with wide eyes and asked, "What the hell is this?"

Wesker stopped at the doorway, adjusting his shades as he turned back to face them. "Do a little exploring, and you'll figure it out. I'll be back in an hour. I hope that's enough time."

Elliott was rushing toward the door as Wesker turned to step out. The next thing Claire knew, her friend was sprawled on the floor, rubbing the center of his chest where he'd apparently been shoved.

She knelt by Elliott's side and put one hand to his shoulder to help him sit up. "Are you okay?"

"I'll live," he said, an edge to his voice. "What the hell is he up to?"

"I don't…" Claire broke off when a louder rustling suddenly sounded from behind the curtain. That was all it took for her to connect the dots and come up with a picture she didn't like. "No," she whispered, shaking her head in denial. "Wesker can't possibly have the power to have done what he implied!"

She could see fear in Elliott's eyes when he looked at her. That didn't stop him from getting up and going to the curtain, drawing it aside. Claire recoiled at the sight of the gray-haired man lying, bound and gagged and looking just as terrified, on a medical table near the wall. She felt sick at the realization that all the talk about the G-Virus and her exposure to it had been done for the benefit of her and Elliott's unexpected companion.

"Elliott," she said, her voice sounding completely numb to her own ears. "Meet Frederic Downing."