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RE: Legacy - Chapter 2 Prologue

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Location: ** REDACTED **
Washington, DC
October 9th 2015
21:45 EST



    Where you go I go…

    With a heavy sigh, Jill stared at the large two-way mirror that held the empty shell of her reflection.  Those fated words had been spoken as a trusted bond between two friends… two partners who cared deeply about each another.  Now, all they could do was stand as a brutal testament to everything she had lost.

    To be honest, she’d had reservations once Chris announced his intentions to the team but even through those concerns, her support of him hadn’t wavered.  After all, what kind of partner would she be if she hadn’t backed him when he needed her most?  However, hindsight was always a luxury that could be afforded after fate had run its course.  At the time there’d been no way of knowing the full extent of the consequences as a result of their actions.  If only she had known then what the true cost would be… of what would have to be sacrificed.  Would any of it have influenced her to make a different choice?

    With that question her eyes began to sting with familiar pain.

    “Jill?”

    Her thoughts were interrupted to the sound of her name.  Turning around, she saw Carlos motion his hand toward a pitcher of ice water sitting on the table.

    “Would you care for something to drink?” he asked gently.

    For the past hour she’d been recounting the events of Viper Squad’s first contact with enemy forces inside the mining village.  That confrontation had led to the entire team going “off the grid” to conduct a recon sortie into Abkhazia.  The memories of that heart-pounding battle had been enough to sustain her, but now that she had a moment to pause and assess her needs, Jill quickly realized how thirsty she was.  With a small smile of gratitude, she took her seat and allowed Carlos to fill the glass.

    The cold liquid upon her lips was enough to bring her mind back into focus… along with her current circumstances.  Regardless of Carlos’ presence, the fact remained that she was still being held here by an unknown organization.  Worse… she had no idea what they really wanted from her.

    At the start of this interview, she’d been silently guessing as to who was ultimately pulling the strings here.  Was it truly the CIA as Agent Winston had alluded to earlier… or was this something else?  One anomaly had stood out though – Carlos.  While she hadn’t heard from him after they’d parted ways, he didn’t strike her as the type of man who would take up the life of a government spook.  That meant some sort of “shadow” agency operating off the books.  But even if her assumptions were true, it still brought her back to the initial question – what was she doing here?

    Carlos soon finished writing down the last of her information and set down the pen.

    “Nemesis…” he whispered with genuine sympathy.  Of all the people she had worked with in her life, the man sitting across from her was one of the few who could appreciate the horror that one word invoked.  “My God, Jill.  After everything we went through to destroy the one in Raccoon… For you to have to kill another one…”  He stopped and shook his head.

    That was when her mind flashed back to the roar of the chanting crowd… of the tentacle wrapping around Chris’ neck…  Closing her eyes, Jill looked down at her hands that were folded in her lap.

    “Were it so easy,” she replied.  “But it was an obstacle that had to be eliminated if we were going to find out who was behind all of the attacks.”

    “The Russians?” he asked.

    She nodded.  “That was who we suspected when that Hind gunship showed up; although we had no hard evidence to support it.”

    “And back in the village,” he replied, bringing the conversation back to the battle, “this was your first contact with both the “infected” and the Abkhazian rebels, correct?”

    “Yes,” Jill replied.  “The villagers there had been exposed to a more potent form of the virus used in the capital attack a few days prior.”  She then recalled what had happened after blasting the one rebel’s head in half only to see a plaga-like appendage sprout up from the remains.  “As for the rebels… I was initially surprised to see that they were implanted with a parasite.  After all, they hadn’t acted like wild savages as described in both the Kennedy or Redfield reports.  Their attacks were too coordinated.”

    Again, Carlos jotted down her observation before looking back up at her.

    “Jill, I have to ask – why did you agree to go with Captain Redfield into Abkhazia?  I realize that he was your fiancé… but you had to have known that type of move was against the BSAA’s mission.  That was why he ordered you and the rest of the squad back to the Alexander Graham wasn’t it?”

    He then clasped his hands together and leaned forward like a prosecutor making his case.

    “I can understand his reasons for doing so, but why did you go along?”

    “Why wouldn’t I?” she quickly replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

    Another curve ball to throw… and one that seemed to hit its mark.  Carlos stared back at her blankly; the bewildered look on his face betraying his thoughts concerning her flippant response.

    “I… I don’t understand,” he replied as he shook his head.  “You’re a rational woman.   You had to have known…”

    Whether he intended it or not, he was beginning to patronize her.  For too long she’d put up with that type of bullshit from her BSAA counterparts and just as quickly the familiar surge of pent-up anger was bringing itself to the surface.

    “Don’t presume that you know everything about me, Carlos,” she said coolly before leveling her eyes at him in warning.  “True, we spent a few days together surviving that nightmare back in Raccoon, but that doesn’t mean that you know me.”

    Leaning back in her chair, Jill crossed her arms in annoyance.

    “I don’t know what you’ve been doing since we parted ways, but I continued the fight against Umbrella… and Chris was with me every step of the way.  He was the only one who stood beside me after I was shunned by those I thought were my friends.  You’re asking me how I could have gone with him into enemy territory knowing the risks?  Simple – because he did it for me.”

    She’d read his report from Africa during her search for answers into her missing years.  While most of it had contained details he’d already shared with her, he hadn’t told her that he’d gone against orders.   He and Sheva had been ordered by HQ to pull out of the region, but he’d refused – all because he had to find her.  He’d always been stubborn like that – a selfless trait of his that she had grown to love.  His passion was full of a fierce determination that could motivate any member of his team to do the impossible.

    Jill took another silent breath in an effort to brace herself against the tide of emotions threatening to take hold of her.  While her retort was genuine with frustration born of circumstance, there was another reason for doing so – she wanted to get some idea of who Carlos was working for.  Perhaps it was a bit under-handed to goad a former ally, but her actions would quickly bear fruit.

    “We all contributed to the fight in our own way, Jill,” he replied.  “My employers brought me on shortly after Raccoon City to aid them in dismantling Umbrella.”

    Finally, a small piece to the puzzle had been revealed.

    “‘Dismantling’?”  That word had been used by the news outlets on multiple occasions concerning the US Government’s response to the global pharmaceutical conglomerate’s actions.  “So you’re a part of the government then?”

    Carlos must have realized his faux pas because his eyes widened in surprise before turning away.

    “I… I said more than I should have… at least for the moment.  I promise you that more will be revealed, but they’re still not sure about you yet.”

    “Why not?” she asked with frustration building in her voice.  “What more could I possibly give them that they can’t ready in a report?”

    “Because those documents lack one very important aspect that can’t be reflected in written words – emotion.  The only way to truly experience an event is to hear it from the mouths of those who survived it.”  He then paused and leaned forward.  “Trust me, Jill – I know exactly how you’re feeling right now.  Confusion… even anger – all of it were things that I felt when I was in your place.  I was in a room not unlike this one when they had me recount everything that happened back in Raccoon… of what we went through.”

    He wasn’t lying to her – not about that.  His face was telling her everything, and she immediately regretted her actions.  “I suppose you did… I’m sorry.”

    “I’m not your enemy Jill.  Please know that,” he replied as he lifted his hands up like he had done earlier.  “My employers want to hear the rest of your story from your own lips… and I think that deep down you want to tell it – that you need to tell it.”

    Perhaps turnabout was fair play because now it was his turn to hit a nerve.  Still, what he’d said held merit.  This job had been her entire life and in all that time she’d only been able to find solace with Chris as her shoulder to cry on.  After her departure from the BSAA, she had bottled up her emotions inside and isolated herself from everyone – even becoming a stranger to her own family.  She was depressed – that much she already knew.  But how could her mother, father, or even Jackie possibly relate to the experiences or the suffering she’d endured?  How could she talk to them about what Wesker had done to her… or what had happened to Chris?  No… she couldn’t place that type of burden on them.

    Now in an unexpected twist, Carlos was presenting her with an opportunity for a sense of closure.  Would she be the fool for not embracing it… or would she be the fool if she did?  There was only one way to find out.

    Closing her eyes, Jill let out a deep sigh of acceptance before looking back at him.  “Perhaps you’re right, Carlos.  We’ll continue… for now.”

    She knew that his betters were observing their conversation.  Her little caveat was to let them know that her voluntary cooperation would be directly tied to what they could give her in return – answers.  And they had better be damned good ones.

    Carlos nodded in understanding before picking up where they had left off and soon brought their conversation back to Abkhazia. The team’s decision to follow Chris into hostile territory was clearly the topic this organization was most interested in… and for good reason.  Regardless of their reasons, what Viper Squad had found had been the defining moment in the BSAA’s campaign.  It was a moment that would start a chain of events that would consume everyone involved… and lead to a horrifying truth that would hit close to home.

    While the rest of the world had seen the Abkhazians as rebels who had turned to biological terrorism, they had uncovered evidence of what was really going on inside the way-ward province.  Now was the time to unmask the real culprits behind the conflict, including those who had hid themselves within the shadow of betrayal.

    For it would be their treachery that would lead to the downfall of the BSAA.



                                                                Next: Chapter 2-1: Contact
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DarkTonic's avatar
I have to say, If someone were to make more novels about the games I'd like you to be that person.