Almost a decade ago, when Rain found herself amid an incident that, unbeknownst to everyone at the time, would eventually lead to the collapse of society, she seriously thought she was a dead woman walking.
Almost a decade ago, she stood in the Red Queen's chamber alongside Matt, Kaplan, Spence, and Alice after the aforementioned woman had reactivated the AI. They were listening to the artificial bitch go on about the virus. At that time, Rain was already infected. She thought she would be a goner before the night was over, but still resolved to do everything she could to help the others make it out.
When the infection started to progress much more rapidly, leaving her unable to walk, see clearly, or do much of anything, the rest of the group insisted on practically carrying her ass around.
That was when Alice remembered the cure. Unfortunately, Red Queen said the chances of it working grew slimmer as time passed, and Rain had already been sick for a while. Again, she figured she was probably dead.
She wasn't. The antivirus didn't quite work. It wasn't even enough to dent all the T-virus that had gotten into her system, but it made it more willing to play nice with her.
Rain isn't a zombie. She doesn't know what the hell she is. All she knows is that sometime after Matt was forced to put a bullet between her eyes, the virus stopped wrecking her body and began... improving it. If you want to call it that. She doesn't.
Then, Umbrella found her.
And nowadays, Rain wishes she was dead. In a messed up way, it's funny how a job from Umbrella was a godsend to the young—but more than capable despite what everyone seemed to think—L.A.P.D. officer she used to be, how she had been proud to earn a place in their ranks, and currently? Well. The job is literal hell. There's no other way to put it. Rain doesn't want to be associated with these scumbags. She doesn't want to do their dirty work.
Unfortunately, she doesn't have a choice. Umbrella spent time studying her in their labs and decided she would be a useful tool. But when Rain continued to be as noncompliant as possible, when she refused to listen to a word they said, when she fought, spat, and continued to insult them, they quickly grew tired and found a way to force her obedience.
The P30-Scarab injector affixed to her sternum is something Rain usually only sees stuck on test subjects. There's just one other person among her ranks she sees around with it: Her superior, Jill Valentine.
Although they've worked together for years, Rain doesn't know Valentine. Not really. The Scarabs make sure of that. The pair have zero control over their actions. They're nothing but viewers trapped within bodies being puppeted by an AI. All Rain knows is that, like her, Valentine isn't acting of her own free will. And that sometimes, when their eyes meet, she sees the same tired hopelessness that she feels.
The only comparably awful thing is the faces Rain has to look at. Since most of humanity has been wiped out, the majority of positions are filled by clones. Often, clones made from the DNA belonging to those who are long deceased. Rain has to look at One, Olga, Warner, Vance, and even J.D., her best friend.
She sees Spence's sorry ass. The desire to kick his teeth in has never fully left her.
There's the U.B.C.S. guys. Carlos, Nicholai, Yuri, Murphy, Mikhail, and Tyrell.
Then, there are people whose fates she still isn't sure of. Matt, Kaplan, Alice...
While Rain is fully aware that they aren't the people she knew, it doesn't make it hurt any less. Especially when some of them are damn close to who they were cloned from. Day in and day out, she works alongside them in Umbrella Prime, attending to whatever duties that asshole computer-kid delegates to her. She walks through the halls of the facility, which are so unbelievably white and sterile that they hardly seem real. It all drags on and on like the worst torture known to man with no end in sight.
But that's when Umbrella picks up on a broadcast from the Arcadia.
Rain doesn't get to see Alice when she's captured and brought in. She's too busy attending to the monitor duty she was assigned to with Kaplan... five? It's hard to keep track. He has an utterly blank expression. Her thoughts are drifting between how she misses seeing the focus and nerdy glee in the real Kaplan's eyes, and how badly she wants to bash her head against the screen in front of her when Red Queen appears, rendered in front of Rain's vision courtesy of her retinal implants.
"Project Alice's weapons have been stripped for examination and decontamination." Although not plainly stated by the AI, she's placing that task on Rain, who automatically stands, tugged upright by her strings.
She almost can't believe that Alice is in the same place as her again. Everything else turns to white noise she tries to process what exactly this means.
Alice is still alive... Not a huge surprise, honestly. Rain has been choosing to believe that all along. She knows that Alice has a knack for surviving things no matter how slim the chances are.
And with that, the ability to escape despite no clear exit in sight often comes.
...
A cage won't hold Alice. Rain knows that.
For the first time in forever, she sees what might be a light at the end of the dark cave she's been stuck in. It feels like the warmth of the sun on her skin.
Here's to hoping she can make that final trek, that she can squeeze through the passage despite how narrow it might be.
A grand total of two and a half days have passed since Alice's arrival.
Unexpectedly, the power goes out. In an instant, the facility is blanketed in darkness. All the doors unlock.
Rain is in her resting position when this happens. It isn't quite the same as sleeping, but rather more akin to being powered off like a machine. As a result, she isn't aware of the outage until Red Queen switches her back on. The Scarab on her sternum glows brightly. The spindly metal legs dig deeper into her flesh, triggering a heat within her chest that turns into a burning sensation flowing through her veins. She gasps, her eyes snapping open quicker than the snap of a mousetrap.
"Escaped fugitive loose within the facility. Wait for instruction from Security Cheif Valentine."
'...Already?' Rain almost feels a rush of pride toward Alice. 'The bitch has gone and done it again!' The corners of her lips threaten to curl up into a smile beneath her gas mask.
"Scramble all security teams," Valentine barks out as she stands. She hastily slides her pair of submachine guns into their holsters as she turns to face her troops. "Patrick, sweep the corridor with the laser grid. Ocampo, Shade, Oliveira, Drew, LesProux, Ginovaef, Yamata, Kaplan come with me."
The eight troopers rise in unison, marching behind the security chief in formation. They head over to the holding cell area.
Valentine unlocks the door to cell 919. As it slowly slides back and into the wall, they're greeted with the sight they're all expecting at this point: no Alice. Just an empty room. A drawer on the wall is open, the slots meant to be holding an Umbrella-issued combat suit for her following successful integration empty. She shouldn't have been able to open it without access to the proper control panel, which sits a few floors above in the observation room.
"How did she get out?" Shade asks.
"She's obviously getting help," Oliveira says.
"Obviously." Valentine stalks around them in the circular space almost accusatorily. "We have a traitor in this facility."
Rain watches Kaplan type away on his wrist computer. "Security systems were shut down for two minutes, ma'am."
"What about Control?"
"We still can't raise them." She offers Valentine her communicator. Upon trying and failing to reach Control herself, Valentine drops—or rather, throws—the device to the floor. It breaks apart. The Scarab's light flares.
"We're heading to Control next. Get a move on."
Aside from a few strips of panels on the floor, Central Control is dark when they arrive. The control stations don't rise from the floor like they're meant to, nor do the set of overhead screens come down from above.
"Kaplan, get things up and running again."
"Consider it done, ma'am." Kaplan accesses the hidden maintenance panel on the wall, plugging the retractable cord of his wrist computer into a jack. For a moment, Rain can imagine that the panel instead looks like a false light switch, that they're all practically yelling over the whirling of helicopter blades from outside, blowing the expensive curtains and sending leaves into the dining room of the Hive's emergency entrance. She can see the real Kaplan standing there, and hear Shade giving the orders instead of Valentine... It almost feels like a whole other lifetime ago at this point.
"Stand by," a computerized voice instructs.
The wall panels power on.
CLINK. The ring of screens descends from the ceiling.
KA-CLUNK! Eight spots on the floor sink in simultaneously then split open, individual control stations rising out of them. All the employees meant to be manning them are either slumped in their seats or facedown on the desks. They're dead. Blood is splattered onto the monitors.
Rain approaches one of the stations, pulling her helmet and mask off as she inspects a pair of corpses. Both died the same way. "A single shot to the head. Assassination style."
Valentine turns to Shade. "Check surveillance."
He gives a curt nod and heads to the station Rain is standing near. "On it, ma'am." He pushes a corpse out of its chair before promptly taking it for himself. He switches on the screens. He pulls up the security feed and begins to rewind the footage. "No sign of the fugitive." Gunshots come crackling through the speakers in reverse. "However, it appears her help was in here." Shade hits play. They all watch the scene play out.
A lone figure in a red dress enters. Nobody pays attention since she's allowed to be in the Control Center.
Calm as can be, she raises her gun and starts shooting, quickly taking out all the employees. Rain recognizes her as a top agent within the corporation. Ada Wong. Rain's mildly impressed with the precision of her shots.
"That's our traitor." Valentine's face twitches slightly. "When Wesker went rouge, she must have joined him."
Rain's hand drifts toward the keyboard Shade isn't using. She starts switching through other feeds, eventually landing a particular one. Although she tries to keep her mouth shut, it works against her will. "That's not all. We have intruders over by the submarine pens." Five men... None of them are— 'Holy shit, is that Luther fuckin' West?' For a second time, a genuine expression manages to creep through. A sliver of disbelief.
"They're here to help our prisoner." Another twitch. "Oliveira?"
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Arrange a little welcome party for our guests."
"Very well, ma'am." Oliveira takes the adjacent station and starts typing away. "Running Moscow test scenario now."
"Good. Let's move out. We still have a fugitive to run down and a traitor to kill." Those words sound like a promise of nothing good, but when Jill's gaze briefly meets Rain's, the dull glaze of hopelessness has something threatening to break through it. A good thing. A glimmer of the opposite.
Trying to locate Alice and Wong feels like a wild goose chase, but that's Alice for you. Always slipping through the cracks. Apparently, Red Queen activated the Toyko test scenario, and Alice made it through that and into the Control Center after they left it. She ran into Wong there. Now, the pair of them are nearly to the end of the New York test scenario and heading for Suburbia.
Valentine, Rain, and the other troops are in pursuit. Rain is practically burning with anticipation. She isn't worried about Alice getting shot dead or captured again. Especially not when the other woman is already anticipating resistance. However, Rain is a bit worried about what she'll do. The virus has kept her body from physically aging, so she doesn't appear to be in her thirties like she should. And since the last time Alice saw her, she was acting like a bloodthirsty zombie that needed its brains blown out, she doesn't think Alice will recognize her as the real Rain. She'll, understandably, see her as a clone.
On top of that issue, it's not exactly easy to plan ahead when you can't dictate the actions of your own body anymore. But with the way things have been, Rain will take a shitty plan barely held together by threads over nothing at all. 'Alice, Jill, and I are gettin' out of this underwater hellhole today if it's the last goddamn thing I do.' As well as Wong and the intruders, too. Hopefully.
Hidden double doors slide open. The Security Chief and her troops step through the simulated sky in the suburbs of Raccoon City and onto the fake grass.
Rain has never lived in any suburbs, let alone those in Raccoon, but she went to them more than a few times while working as a paramilitary commando. Many of Umbrella's most important white coats and higher-up corporate assholes owned big ass houses in those areas. Every time she's made to enter here, Rain feels as though she's truly standing in part of a city that no longer exists. Talk about surreal. As much as she hates the corporation's tech, she has to acknowledge that these testing floors are incredible enough to come straight out of a sci-fi film her brother would've bugged her to watch with him.
As they pass between ruined homes, Ginovaef spots an individual entering one made of light brown brick with a three-door garage. Valentine signals for them to make a quiet approach. They spread out across the front lawn, leaving no spots to slip past without the threat of a spray of automatic bullets. Valentine calls for a few more troops to haul ass to their location. Just in case.
One minute turns into two...
Nobody is even sure yet if they're waiting for the right people, but Red Queen decided to run this simulation prior to the outage, and it already ended. Most of the B.O.W.s have been cleared out. Clones rarely survive these unscathed since they're meant to die... as messed up as that all is. 'Twisted motherfuckers.'
Then, three minutes...
Rain plants herself on the bright red swingset with an air of casualness that belies how keyed up she is. It's not unusual for her by any means. Having always worked dangerous jobs, she knows it's important to be able to keep your head on straight. That's why she always tries to quickly reel her temper back in when it gets the better of her, stays strong because sometimes, one rock is the only thing keeping the most fearful person anchored. It's the difference between life and death.
Four minutes...
Right now, however, the primary reason Rain is behaving this way is that the Scarab is forcing her to.
...
'They they are.'
Finally, after all this time, Rain is looking at Alice. The real Alice, which is confirmed to her by the fact that her retinal implants identify her as DESIGNATION: PROJECT ALICE || THREAT ASSESSMENT: LEVEL 10 (PRIORITY CAPTURE). 'Goddamn, you're the sight for sore eyes.' She's clad in the full-body black combat suit issued by Umbrella. Had Rain not worked with so many Alice clones since they last saw each other, she might've found it odd to see her with her natural hair color as opposed to the blonde. She's still just as much of a looker as Rain remembers. The warmth in here feels a little more real all of a sudden.
Behind Alice, there stands a woman in a red dress with a Glock 17 strapped to her right thigh. Her dark eyes assess the threats before her with careful neutrality. DESIGNATION: ADA WONG || THREAT ASSESSMENT: LEVEL 9. 'The traitor.' Rain wishes she could buy her a drink or something as a thanks for helping cause all this.
Holding Alice's hand, there's a young girl wearing a backpack. There's no name in the database. DESIGNATION: CLONE || THREAT ASSESSMENT: LEVEL 1.
The same as Wong, Alice sweeps the scene, the tactically focused gears in her head quickly working. Though, her intense gaze lingers on the unhelmeted troopers. There's a twinge of shock there, followed by pain, then dismay that's quickly steeled over.
Having come across photos of Becky's father mere minutes ago, it's no surprise to Alice to see that the DNA samples used for clones came from Umbrella personnel. However, that doesn't soften the realization that she's going to have to fight more faces she's known and loved.
James Shade wielding an ACE 21. He's not even a day older than when he was gruesomely diced apart by the Red Queen's defenses. He was a friend. A friend that Alice, unfortunately, couldn't properly remember until after she woke up in Raccoon City General Hospital.
Carlos Oliveria, adjusting his grip on his CTAR-21. Alice had gotten to know him at the start of the apocalypse, fought alongside him, missed him, loved him, and then missed him even harder upon losing him back in the Nevada Desert. She'll never forget his charming smile in the back of the borrowed car L.J. was driving, the nights spent close before Angela's death caused Alice to split, or the feeling of his lips against hers before they parted ways for the final time... She'll never shake the guilt, either. If not for her joining the convoy, Isaacs would have never attempted to ambush them with the Super Undead.
If that one-two punch wasn't enough, then the sight of Rain Melendez Ocampo idly pushing herself on the swing set, tapping her finger against the trigger guard of her Colt M4A1, and staring her down with her usual scowl? That's certainly what knocks the teeth clean outta Alice's skull. Like James, Alice knew Rain before the Hive Incident. They were friends. Half the time, in between flings with Spence, it felt as though the two of them were verging on something more than that.
Like Carlos, Alice loved Rain.
All those times the two of them spent in Jack's taking shots of vodka and tequila (respectively), throwing punches and pinning each other on the mats, sending one another taunts at the shooting range... Alice continues to see them in her dreams despite the years that have passed. Unfortunately, they often get broken up by the sight of Rain sickly, weak, and quickly getting worse during that terrible night back in 2002. Alice sees the subtle warmth in Rain's dark brown eyes draining before that unsettling blue seeps in and overtakes the color entirely, hears the inhuman, raspy noises leaving her bloody lips as she tries to tear a chunk out of Matt's throat with animalistic fervor.
Then, she's slumped over dead against the wall, swaying gently with the movement of the train while dark, coagulated blood slowly oozes out of the wound on her head like molasses. A lump forms in Alice's throat, sticking as hard as the day she witnessed the sight for real.
She'll always regret not going further with Rain than the lingering touches and blatant flirting. She wishes that at the very least, she would've kissed her, the virus be damned. It wasn't as if she didn't end up being infected in the end—
"...Daddy?"
Becky's voice properly snaps Alice out of it. She reaches over, gently touching the girl's arm as her attention briefly finds its way back to the Carlos clone. "He's not your father."
"Capture if possible," Red Queen orders. "Terminate if necessary."
Rain checks to make sure her underbarrel grenade launcher is loaded. Alice's focus darts back to her at the audible click. "There's a child here," she points out with an edge of exasperation.
"Your problem, not ours." Rain's words are cold and borderline flat. 'I'm not seriously about to launch a grenade at a damn kid, am I?' She wouldn't be able to forgive herself for that.
"All heart. You haven't changed a bit." It's apparent from Alice's tone alone that she doesn't think her comment is directed at the real Rain.
"...I—" There's an invisible block lodged in Rain's throat. 'Speak, Ocampo! Tell her that you're not a clone. You've always had trouble keeping your big mouth shut, so getting out three fucking words shouldn't be so fucking hard!'
"I don't know you, lady."
'I'm gonna kick my own ass.' Immediate frustration at herself begins to form, but the Scarab won't allow her to express it in any way. She's like a corked bottle in a paint shaker.
"Now," Shade starts. "Surrender, or die."
Alice raises her hands without hesitation. Rain already knows what she's doing the moment she moves a step closer to the kid.
In a subtle, quick movement, Wong unholsters her pistol and fires it.
As the troops spread to avoid the gunfire, Alice hastily grabs the kid and rushes her back inside.
The only member of Valentine's forces not quick enough to move is Kaplan. A bullet goes straight through the center of his chest. He keels forward and lands roughly on the ground.
Wong's fifth shot nails Yamata in the heart, felling her a mere foot away from Kaplan.
Rain is already off the swing, getting low and into a good firing position. She squeezes the trigger of her rifle, opening fire on Wong, who retreats into the house without being struck.
With no visible targets, the group quickly resorts to blind firing into the house in the hopes of hitting her or Alice. Shattered glass, splintered wood, chunks of brick, and bullet casings are going everywhere.
Alice and Wong briefly appear from behind the cover of half-walls, returning fire through the open doorway.
Wong nails Lesproux in the stomach.
Alice unloads half her clips on an old silver Toyota that Drew is using for cover, which explodes, killing both him and Ginovaef.
Reinforcements arrive. Before a full minute passes, they're also dropping like flies, helping paint the artificial grass red.
"Advance in teams!" Valentine orders.
BLAM! A Warner clone is downed, a bullet in the throat sending him toppling with his automatic pistol still firing.
BLAM! BLAM! A Loginova clone collapses, his kneecap shattered with a single shot, and his shoulder ruined by the follow-up.
BLAM! Another Drew. A gory spurt leaves his head as a round passes cleanly through the sizable gap between his gas mask and helmet.
Rain's aim is nowhere near as precise while she's not in control, but it feels more akin to a blessing right now than anything. Judging by the amount of gunfire, neither Alice nor Wong have been too injured to call it quits.
"Ocampo." Valentine's hand firmly grasps Rain's shoulder. "Time to execute our backup plan."
Although she nods her head yes, her head is instantly filled with the word no. She readjusts her grip on her Colt, her hand starting to move from the trigger of the gun itself to that of the grenade launcher attached to it. The action is almost painfully slow, and her hand shakes and trembles with effort as she attempts to stop herself. The cork is starting to loosen.
"Ocampo." The look in Valentine's blue eyes doesn't match the stern expression on her face. That is until the red subtly hazes over it. "Now."
Rain pulls the trigger. There's a loud pop and a bright yellow flare as an explosive sails toward the home, splitting into six.
The troops and their chief take cover.
BOOM!
An instant wave of heat surges forward, carrying enough force to rock the school bus they're behind. The blast distorts the false sky, sending a ripple across it. A couple of blackened panels fall to the testing floor below.
Once everything settles, Rain, Valentine, Shade, and Oliveira step out. They're all that remains.
Flames continue to crackle and smoke billows up, up, and through the new hole in the ceiling. Shade and Oliveira keep their rifles cautiously raised.
Rain steps into—mostly onto at this point—what remains of the house, searching for bodies. As the ringing in her ears fades, it's replaced by the insistent thumping of her heart. She scans the mess, hoping to not find any indication that Alice, Wong, or that kid got killed by what she had done.
'I ain't seeing nothing...' She steps onto an overturned fridge. Her implants catch sight of a figure, struggling to outline and scan them since they're obscured. They're moving. They're alive, clearly trying to get out of Rain's sight by crawling through a hole in the floor that's mostly covered by a slab of broken marble countertop. She raises her firearm, her lips splitting into a grin that's a strange mixture of genuine and forced. "Goin' somewhere?"
"Capture, do not terminate," Red Queen instructs.