Chapter 28

Dr. Albert Wesker took one deep breath as he looked at the carnage that had occurred in the front lobby of the castle. All of the security officers that Wesker figured he would have to deal with were already dead.

"Did someone beat us here?" Ada Wong asked as she moved up to Wesker.

Steve Burnside was bent down to one of the guards, carefully picking up his handgun. "This guy looks really slimy."

"They all are, son," Wesker told him. "There's a BOW of some type here."

"Well, we did take out that thing that was going to kill Mr. Trent and Miss Valentine," Ada reminded him. "So that should've been obvious to you."

Wesker shook his head. "No matter. We can handle whatever it is. Just be ready for it. Come on." Wesker moved for the stairs with Ada and Steve in pursuit.

"Why did you do it, father?" Alicia asked, horrified shock on her face. "You know that they're coming for us. We needed those men!"

The imposter's lips quivered and he looked away from her. "I… don't know."

"He's losing control," Ozwell Spencer stated from his wheelchair, turned, facing the massive window just past his desk.

Alicia looked toward him. "Then fix it. Have Dr. Ashford do something."

"I sent Dr. Ashford away with Simon and Felix," Ozwell told her. "They are the future, and the legacy. We have to preserve them at all cost." He sighed. "Besides, I don't need the security staff when I have you, my dear. You can handle our enemies."

"I am only one person," Alicia told him. "Without father's wits about him, I don't know what I can do."

Spencer sighed. "There is a mood stabilizer in the upper level of this room that Edward left behind just in case. Take James up there and inject him. It should give him some semblance of control… just long enough to handle our interlopers."

Alicia turned to the imposter and gently took his arm. "Come on, father. There's something that can help you." She could hear the leeches hissing in protest. "Stop it. I'm trying to help him."

Finally, the imposter moved off with her.

'Alone at last,' Spencer thought to himself. 'A chance to reflect on my failures.'

Lord Ozwell Earl Spencer had lived longer than he ever imagined that he would, but he knew that he wasn't long for this world. Whatever the party crashers had in store for him, he knew it wouldn't be good. Too many terrible things had happened since the initial outbreaks first started in Arklay County and Raccoon Forest, and the final judgement was long overdue.

The massive double entrance doors creaked open, which made Spencer close his eyes in pained realization that the time had already come. There was still so much he wanted to accomplish. The true crime would be the loss of his brilliant mind to this world.

"My, how the mighty have fallen," an all too familiar voice stated.

Spencer turned his motorized chair to fully face him. "Dr. Wesker. Albert. So good to see you after –"

"I had an interesting conversation with Agent HUNK about you," Wesker interrupted him. "He told me to ask you about The Wesker Children before I killed him."

"Did he now?" Spencer asked before a coughing fit started on him. It took several moments for him to calm down and compose himself.

"I think the old man's gonna croak before you get your answers," Steve stated.

"Such a rude boy," Spencer said. "I remember you. Martin Burnside's brat."

That clearly hit a nerve as Steve sprang forward only for Wesker to quickly shadow port between them. "No. Ada, take Steve to cool down."

Ada stepped forward, taking Steve's arm. "Good to see you again, Ozzy."

"Likewise, Miss Wong," Spencer stated dryly. He never cared for her. Finally, he saw Wesker turn back to him. "The Wesker Children were a new superior breed of humans given birth by The Progenitor Virus. They were entrusted with endless potential. Of them, only two survived: HUNK and you." He was of course lying. Hell, one of them was in the upper level of this very room.

"Are you saying I was manufactured?" Wesker asked.

"I was to become a God!" Spencer exclaimed, coughing again for a moment. "Creating a new world with an advanced race of human beings. However, all was lost with Raccoon City. Despite that setback, your creation still holds great significance." He slowly got to his feet. "Now my candle burns dimly."

Wesker cleared the distance to Spencer, not knowing what he was doing, but he had to prepare for anything.

"Ironic, isn't it?" Spencer asked. "For one who has the right to be a God! To face his own mortality."

Wesker tilted his head. "The right to be a God?" He immediately thrusted his fist right through Spencer's stomach.

Up above, Alicia and the imposter had been looking down. She gasped when this happened.

Wesker leaned in close to Spencer's ear as he gasped. "That right is now mine!" He pulled his hand out of Spencer's stomach, kicked him hard, and watched in delight as his lifeless body slid down the three steps that led up to where he stood.

Alicia jumped down from the upper level, landing in a crouch.

The imposter jumped over the banister as well and landed beside Alicia.

Wesker lowered his sunglasses. "You're supposed to be dead, Dr. Marcus."

The imposter smirked. "I'm sorry."

"You're going to pay!" Alicia exclaimed.

"Temper, temper, young Miss Marcus," Wesker said. "You should know by now that will get you nowhere."

Steve and Ada both moved back over to Wesker.

He smirked. "I like these odds. Three on two." Then he stopped himself, sensing something. No, someone. He sniffed, just barely glancing behind him. Two people. He smirked. "Well, isn't this one big family reunion. Chris and Claire Redfield. You've really become quite an inconvenience for me."

Chris and Claire were indeed standing, with their guns pointed, at a side door, but Claire's focus wasn't on Wesker. She saw Steve, alive. He had turned when Wesker mentioned her name, and now they were both looking at each other in shock.

Alicia smirked to Wesker. "I decided to bring a few friends."

Wesker pulled off his sunglasses, his eyes burning red. "You should've brought more." He immediately tossed his sunglasses right at Chris and took off running toward him.

Chris caught the sunglasses in surprise, having not expected it to even happen in the first place, but before he could realize that he'd been distracted, the glasses were taken from him with one of Wesker's hands and he got punched with the other. Claire was immediately grabbed by the arm and tossed into the air before landing on the floor.

"Claire!" Steve shouted, but before he could move to her to make sure she was ok, Alicia blocked his path and punched him in the face, knocking him back. "You bitch!" He punched toward her, but she blocked it only to receive a hook launcher to the face, knocking her down. Steve nodded to Ada. "Thanks."

"I wouldn't stand between a man and the woman he loves," Ada said, but it was more than obvious that she had an ulterior motive to helping him since Claire was the one involved.

Jill and Barry suddenly moved into the room from the same door that Chris and Claire had supposedly entered and immediately opened fire on Wesker.

"Eat this, bitch!" Jill yelled.

Wesker teleported as each bullet tired and failed to land on him. "Looks like the old team is back together again!" He rushed forward, kicking Barry in the gut and then grabbing Jill by the hair, slinging her to the floor.

Wesker went to kick Chris while he was down only for the blow to be blocked by Marco Palmieri, grabbing hold of Wesker from out of nowhere. He tilted his head. "Director Palmieri?"

Marco lifted up on Wesker's leg, tossing him to the floor.

Rebecca moved into the room and immediately began checking her fallen compatriots. "This is what you guys get for running ahead."

Chris coughed as he sat up. "We had to give the medic reason to have something to do."

Claire moved to get to her feet, but she saw a hand reaching down to her.

"Claire," Steve said.

"Steve," Claire said, her shock immediately returning to her as she accepted the hand. "How is this possible?"

"Corey Hart over there brought me back," Steve said, pointing to his eyes. "I have whatever he has."

"Oh, Steve," Claire said.

Wesker jumped to his feet and spin kicked Marco, barely causing him to step back. "Your fighting skills have been greatly lied about, Palmieri."

The Marcus imposter began singing suddenly. Leeches poured out from under his ceremonial robe, rushing toward the people at the far end of the room.

Ada immediately knew to turn tail and take off as some of the leeches moved in her direction. She fired her hook launcher at the upper level and sailed above, pulling herself over the banister. 'Albert, you can be mad all you want, but I'm out of here. Leeches are above my pay grade.'

Rebecca helped Jill to her feet and then turned in shock as the leeches rushed toward everyone. "Billy." She looked to Jill. "I have to get to him." She took off out the door, looking for another entry point.

Barry checked the bullets in his magnum as he nodded at Rebecca's departure. "Sure, we got this. Take your time, Becca."

Marco tried to clothesline Wesker, but he ducked out of the way and then finally noticed the leeches coming.

Wesker used his lighting fast speed to avoid the leeches as he took off toward the imposter. "It's time to put Dr. Marcus to bed again." As he jumped into the air to attack from above, Wesker could see something was growing red on the imposter's chest under the ceremonial robe. He only had a split second to think that over as he landed on the man and ripped open the robe, spotting the scarab device attached to his chest. "Fascinating."

The Marcus imposter fought against the attack, but Wesker avoided each blow from his hands as he began tugging on the scarab, trying to pull it free.

Alicia groaned on the floor and rolled over, seeing what was happening. "Father, no!" She got to her feet and rushed forward, but it was too late as Wesker managed to pull the scarab device free.

The force of breaking it off of the imposter's chest caused Wesker to fall backwards into Alicia, knocking them both down. Getting back to his feet, Wesker pocketed the scarab for examination later.

The leeches were being fired on by Chris and the others, but they suddenly stopped attacking entirely, no longer interested in what they were doing. Most of them quickly rushed away from the area, disappearing in small holes in the walls.

The former imposter dropped to his knees, confused, looking around everywhere.

Tears streamed down Alicia's face, knowing she'd lost her father all over again. She got to her feet and rushed to a bookcase, pulling on a book that opened a secret passage that she immediately disappeared through, knowing there was no way to get the upper hand now. She'd get her revenge on Wesker someday though, and that thought comforted her.

This situation was becoming increasingly outnumbering for Wesker, and he knew that a tactical retreat would be in order, but he didn't like the idea of having to run like a coward. Then, he remembered Steve.

'Ah, yes, my sweet weapon,' Wesker thought to himself. He pulled out a device that he'd fashioned a few months back when he'd been working on his blood analysis in case he managed to find the right test subject. Now was the time to see if his skills in technology were just as strong as his viral understanding since clearly Steve was no longer interested in willingly helping him. Claire would pay for that specifically. He pressed the button.

Pain instantly overcame Steve as he pushed Claire away from him.

"Steve?" Claire asked in worry. "What's wrong?"

"Steve is mine!" Wesker exclaimed. "And you cannot have him any longer, Claire."

Chris sneered at Wesker. "Whatever you're doing to him, let him go!"

Wesker smirked. "Oh, Chris. Always looking out for the little guy. Too bad you can't save them all."

"Albert!" Trent exclaimed as he entered the room from the massive double doors that Wesker had come in earlier.

"Trent," Wesker sneered. He pressed a few more buttons on the device and then dropped it, smashing it so no one would be able to revert the controls which told Steve to obey his every word, and the first command was to kill.

Steve immediately tried to attack Claire, but Barry tried to stop him, doing his best to hold him back.

"You're stronger than you look, kid," Barry commented.

"He's got the same abilities as Wesker," Claire said. "We can't fight him."

Wesker rushed toward Trent and Trent rushed Wesker as well. They both met in the middle squaring off in hand-to-hand combat. It wasn't lost on Wesker as he did this that something familiar had happened to Trent's eyes. "Look who decided to even the playing field."

"Had to take away your advantage," Trent told him.

"Too bad it's not enough!" Wesker exclaimed as he moved to do the same killing stroke on Trent that he'd done to Spencer earlier.

However, his arm was immediately grabbed by a hooded figure that appeared out of nowhere, stopping him from killing Trent.

"The checks and balances finally shows his cowardly face," Wesker said. "At least now I'll finally know who you really –"

He pulled the hood down, revealing Joseph Frost.

"Joseph," Wesker stated in pure shock.

Joseph immediately began striking Wesker, who was unable to stop him from doing so. Every time Wesker tried to strike, Joseph would immediately catch his hand and return the blow, landing it perfectly.

Wesker turned toward Steve to try to command him to help him as he was causing the other, so called, heroes to spread out in the library so they could try to fight him without hurting him, the fools they were, but Joseph grabbed Wesker by the throat really tightly, keeping him silent.

"You talk too much, Captain," Joseph told him.

Wesker headbutted Joseph right in the face, causing him to lose his grip. "I'll make sure to find some new doggies to eat you completely next time." He immediately teleported away, knowing that Joseph was trying to keep stride with him.

Wesker moved past Barry, kicking him in the gut to try to throw Joseph off. He saw Rebecca moving back into the room from the main doors and rushing toward the imposter. For a split second as he fired rounds from his handgun in Rebecca's direction, Wesker wondered who the imposter actually was. Something to find out later, and there would most certainly be a later.

A smirk formed on his lips as Wesker watched his second diversion work better than the first as Barry had been stopped from being thrown too far by Marco rescuing him with those strange reflexes he seemed to have, but the bullets going for Rebecca wouldn't be so easily stopped, and as such, Joseph had turned his stride in her direction, immediately throwing himself on both Rebecca and the imposter, taking them to the floor, the bullets sailing past and into the wall.

That was when he noticed Trent teleporting after him now as well, and his smirk grew wider. "Steve, stop Trent!" And as Trent managed to get within an inch of Wesker, Steve rushed in, sphering Trent away from him.

Wesker's target this entire time had been Chris. 'Good old Chris.' He found him close to Spencer's body, firing off rounds in his direction, but he avoided every shot before grabbing hold of him by the throat and lifting him into the air.

Balling up his fist, Wesker sneered. "Let's finish this!"

"No!" Jill called out from several feet away.

Wesker thought he had more than enough time to end his enemy, but seconds before his killing blow could be dealt, Jill threw herself into him and they both crashed through the massive window, tumbling downward toward what Wesker figured would be a deep, dark, watery grave, but at least he'd be taking Jill with him. A cold comfort, but taking Jill away from Chris would have to suffice.

Chris managed to regain himself the moment Jill and Wesker had gone out of the window and he moved toward the open window, his hand stretched out. "Jill!" It was too late though. She was already out of sight and so was his enemy.

The entire room had fallen silent, and the only thing that happened was Steve taking off at a run out of the room.

"Steve!" Claire yelled, trying to chase after him, but Trent stopped her.

"No," Trent said. "He's still under Wesker's commands. He'll kill you."

"We have to do something!" Claire exclaimed.

"We will," Trent assured her. "Once we have a way to contain him."

Tears welled up and then fell freely from her eyes.

Feeling awkward about doing so, but knowing that he should, Trent wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry. I promise I'll do what I can for him."

Joseph moved over to Chris and bent down to him as he was still staring out into the nothingness. "I'm sorry, Chris."

Chris shook his head and sat back, closing his eyes. "Joe…" He finally turned to him. "I never really told her how I felt."

"I know, bro," Joseph said. "You've always been shit at expressing your feelings."

"Her sacrifice isn't in vain," Barry said as he moved over. "She took that scumbag with her. She sacrificed herself for you, Chris. You can't lay there in self-pity. Jill wouldn't want that."

Chris nodded. "No, she wouldn't, and she'd want her father found."

"I don't know if he's even here," Barry said. He turned toward Rebecca. "Becca, will you ask your boyfriend if he's seen Jill's dad and the other two?"

Rebecca had been on her knees, staring at Billy, who seemed rather unresponsive the entire time. She gently pulled his bangs out from his face, finally able to partially recognize the man she knew. "You look weird with blond hair, Billy."

He barely lifted his face to look at her. "I'm a monster."

Rebecca smiled lightly. "You were being controlled. You're you now, and we need your help. There's supposed to be three people here: Dick Valentine, Sherry Birkin, and Kate Boyd. Do you know them?"

"They were here," Billy said. "But Brandon Bailey took them away from here months ago. He said they needed to be moved somewhere safer."

Chris finally stood up with Joseph's help. "Ada Wong's letter said that he was part of something called The Connections."

Trent looked away from Claire and focused his attention on Chris as he pulled out of the embrace with her. "I've heard whispers of them but nothing concrete."

"Well, they clearly exist," Barry said. "If she wasn't lying."

"She seemed sincere enough in that letter," Claire said. "I doubt she'd have reason to lie. I just can't believe that Sherry is still out there, not safe. It's on me. I have to find her and her aunt."

Loud footsteps could be heard from outside the door as everyone pulled up their weapons, expecting a threat, but they immediately pulled them down again when they saw David, John, Leon, Carlos, Kevin, and Rain all move in together. They lowered their weapons as well.

Claire moved away from Trent, wiping tears from her eyes, and went over to Leon, hugging him tightly. "You just missed your other girlfriend." She smiled weakly.

"Ada was here?" Leon asked.

Claire nodded.

Leon shook his head. "What matters is that you're here right now, and that we're both alright."

She smiled. "Then are you finally ready to kiss me, Kennedy?"

Leon smiled shyly. "Sure, Redfield." He leaned in, claiming her lips.

Chris looked to Joseph. "Find me a bucket, Joe. I think I'm going to be sick."

Joseph smiled lightly to him. "Never change, Chris."

Chris was about to say something else, but then he noticed Carlos roaming around, clearly looking for Jill. His heart fell right back in his stomach again, and he knew it was going to have to be up to him. Patting Joseph on the shoulder, Chris moved toward Carlos to deliver the bad news, not ready at all to deal with this kind of awkwardness.

John moved over to Rebecca and Billy and knelt down to them. "So, this is the famous Billy Coen I've heard about?"

Billy glanced to him in confusion. "You seem to know me. Been fantasizing about me, have you?"

John tried but immediately failed at keeping a straight face as he laughed before looking to Rebecca. "I like this guy."

Rebecca shook her head, managing to laugh as well.

Kevin moved to Joseph and clasped hands with him. "Did you do it?"

"Sorta," Joseph said. "I fought him, but Jill sacrificed herself for us to be rid of Wesker."

Kevin nodded. "She was always brave. That's what we'll remember most."

Rain moved over to Trent and Marco, who were both bent down over Spencer's body. "How does it feel, sir?"

Trent looked to her. "What?"

"Umbrella's crumbling," Rain replied. "We have them on the ropes, and their main founder is right there, gone."

Trent sighed. "It's an empty victory. I wanted him alive." He stood up before turning outward to everyone else, Marco standing up as well, moving to be beside Trent. "This fight isn't over. You all know that those they have captive are still out there somewhere, and the Marcus lineage is still at large since Alicia got away. Edward Ashford isn't here. Ada Wong and Steve Burnside are in the wind as well. This group called The Connections are going to have to be dealt with. I'm not going to force any of you to do something you don't want, but despite setbacks, we've still accomplished a great deal."

"Then what's the plan, Victor?" Marco asked.

"We're going to reorganize and build our forces stronger than ever," Trent replied. "You'll even get to be a director again officially, Marco. I've been planning to set up a special organization that will work hand in hand with the different governments of the world to bring down companies and evil like Umbrella. We'll stop bioterrorism before it even starts."

"What will we call it, Mr. Darius?" Barry asked.

"The Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance," Trent replied.

"That's a mouth full," David commented.

Joseph smirked at that and nodded toward David in agreement.

David noticed and was almost shocked for a brief moment. He remembered all of the extensive research he'd done on Barry's S.T.A.R.S. when everything was first going down, right before he met with them about Caliban Cove, and he recalled seeing pictures of all the members, including the deceased ones, and Joseph Frost had been one of them. Yet, there he was in the same room as the rest of them. It was definitely something to look into later, and he had to remind himself several times it wasn't because he knew Joseph was a homosexual, like him.

"Just call us The B.S.A.A.," Trent told David. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen, let's get to work."