Jake wasn't sure if the pounding on the door was coming from his head or the door. The Neman, as Jake had decided he would call them, screw everyone else, still pounded on the door, stopping and starting sporadically. He opened his eyes to find both Sherry and Anna looking down at him. "Gah!" He pushed away from Anna straight into Sherry, almost bowling her over.

"Are you ok?" Anna started to put a hand forward, Jake shrank away from her. He glanced down at the floor, her white lab coat had been rolled into a ball and placed under his head.

Wesker and Birkin were in a heated argument near the door.

"Don't touch me." Jake whispered hoarsely turning away from her.

"I make you uncomfortable." Anna said lightly drawing her hand back. Sherry put a comforting hand on Jake's shoulder. "Why?"

"Oh, come on." Jake turned to her, he put a finger right into her face. "You think that Wesker brought you back and you have nothing to do with any of this?"

Anna paled. "Brought me back..." She looked so uncertain. It was killing him. The happier times before his mother became sick. Her refusal to move to another area for treatment. Her letter... This was what she had been before all of that. Before he was part of the picture, a scientist. She'd even helped Wesker. Was there anything he had that wasn't connected to that bastard?

"Just stay away from me."

"What do you mean brought me back?" Anna moved closer, the argument by the door had ceased.

Wesker crossed the floor and put a hand on Anna's shoulder. "Jake, now isn't the time for this."

"The hell it isn't," Jake stood and glowered at Wesker and pushed Sherry away. He glanced down at Anna as she slowly rose to her feet.

"Tell her, Wesker," His Edonian accent began to show as his anger rose. "Tell dear Mati here, why she's here. Tell her who I am. Tell me, why you brought her back."

Anna turned to Wesker, her eyes were shining. "Oh my god, Albert, the overlays actually worked?"

Jake was confused for a moment at the reaction, even Wesker's eyes widened a fraction before he cooled back into his normal monotone state. He nodded, "They did. You are a genius, my dear."

"You brought me back." She crossed her arms, looking up at him. There was no surprise like Birkin, unlike Birkin she had a memory overlay that didn't include her son, or ever being pregnant.

"I did, I..." Wesker hesitated and rubbed his temples. It seemed like Birkin, Anna hadn't realized she'd been dead. But unlike Birkin, the news wasn't as traumatic.

Holy shit, Jake thought. He actually cares about her.

And she cared about him, although she didn't reach out and touch him, she wanted to. Jake could see it. It made him physically ill. What had made his mother go from this to fleeing from him?

"So...Jake." Anna turned to him. "Who am I to you?" Behind her, Wesker shot him a warning glance. "You called me Mati, you are obviously from Edonia, like me..." Her voice trailed off.

"Anna..." Wesker started.

"Don't bother," Jake snapped. He stood up towering over her, all 6'3" of him to look Wesker eye to eye. "If she can't see the resemblance for herself, it really doesn't matter. Does it?" Anna looked between them and gasped. Same eyes, same chin, same nose, but Jake had his mother's reddish hair and ruddy features overlaying Weskers. His blue eyes were even a closer match to Anna's than Wesker.

"When?" Anna crossed over to him and reached up. "I had a child, how long..." She turned back to Albert. "What happened to me?"

"Now's not really the time," Wesker turned back to Birkin. "William, do you really think the plaga sample will work on that creature outside of the door. He moved away from her and began questioning Birkin.

Anna stood alone stunned, Sherry held back, picking up Anja who was stirring. There was pity there, but she knew if she moved in to comfort Anna, Jake might come unglued. Jake had moved to the other corner of the room for a moment. Sherry knew he was trying to get a handle on everything he'd learned today. Nothing had prepared him for this.

"You invented the memory overlays?" She said finally to Anna.

"I? Yes, I did..." Anna shook her head and looked at Sherry. "I worked with storing and saving the memories of people, it's a very difficult procedure, it took us years, but the idea was to save those who had died..." She stopped. "I can see it worked. But I don't know...how many years it's been..." She looked at Jake again.

Sherry turned away, Jake had retreated to the corner and was rubbing his face. Wesker and Birkin were discussing the creature outside the door, leaving Anna and Sherry in the middle of the room.

"Is that..." Anna ventured, staring at Anja.

"Her name is Anja," Sherry replied giving the Edonian pronounciation that Jake always used, lengthening the initial A, when he said his daughter's name. "She was named for his mother."

Anna turned red. "Anjatte Mueller, Anja for her friends. Anna here in the states." She sighed and tucked a lock of red hair behind her ear. "I have never even thought I was going to have a child. I never thought Albert would—" She looked embarrassed. "I don't know what happened."

Sherry turned to Jake and winced as the pounding commenced once again.

"William try stopping the creature." Wesker's voice full of impatience, floated over to them. It was the wrong time to be friends with this woman. But she'd helped her with Jake.

"He doesn't know either." Sherry whispered. "Here hold her." She passed Anja over to Anna before Anna could say no. Then she stood and walked to the other corner of the room to Jake.

"Jake," She whispered, "Are you ok?" She put a hand on his shoulder, he flinched but he didn't move away.

"Everything I am, everything I have, is it all going to be tainted by my father?" He whispered. He turned and looked at her and then over at Anna holding Anja, his eyes narrowed. "She loved him. I mean, really loved him."

"You don't know what happened. She also left him." Sherry whispered. Jake sighed and turned and folded Sherry into his arms.

"My whole existence is based off of that asshole. Everything I have." Sherry stiffened in his arms and he tightened his grip on her. "Except you." He put his face down on her suddenly, desperately and Sherry leaned into him.

"We'll get out of this." She whispered. He only nodded and took another glance over at the clone of his mother holding his daughter.

"She looked like that once, you know. My mother, when she got sick she went downhill pretty quickly...she could have gotten help but she didn't want to be found."

Sherry chanced a glance over at Birkin and Wesker, they were staring at them.

"When you are ready," Wesker said.

"I was born ready," Jake said with more confidence than he felt. He moved towards the two men by the door. The Ustanak shifted, Jake had managed to forget the large B.O.W. was in the room. He gave it a wave. God, he couldn't wait to take this one out for good. He shoved the memories of his mother out of his mind. My mother died, because of some asshole. These two people are just copies, not the real thing. She didn't live the life my mother did. She didn't sacrifice the things my mother did for me. He kept those thoughts to himself. But it was still a bittersweet reminder of what his mother used to be. Even if she had fallen for that bastard.

"We're all going to escape here, there's a weapons cache, one floor down. It's not too far, we'll need it."

"A weapons cache?" Jake eyed Wesker's side arm. Unlike the rest, Wesker was the only one packing.

Anja had started to whimper in Anna's arms and Sherry took her back and started to unbutton her shirt to feed her.

"New plan," Jake said. "You, me, big ugly there," He pointed at the Ustanak, go and get the weapons and bring them here and clean house along the way.

Wesker hesitated.

"Look, Anja's a liability right now. She cries and attracts, whatever the hell you've got down here...we're dead. Hell, the docs are a liability as far as I'm concerned."

Chris hit the floor after Jill and Claire. He paused for a moment, the grief flowing through him at the certainty that Leon was dead. He punched the wall, the sound echoing down the hall before he could get a hold of himself. Jill was suddenly in his face. She had a firm grip on his forearm. "Chris get a grip, we came here to do a mission. You don't know what's down here, and you just may have attracted it."

They stood listening for a moment, hearing the sounds of water dripping

"And something was here," She whispered pointing to the wall. Claire let out a small gasp, and Chris took a small step backwards. The lights were still flickering but there was a huge blood stain on the wall with bits of other parts stuck inside. Chris took a deep breath. Something had been thrown bodily against the wall and then something else had drug it's claws through the ichor on the wall if the lines that ran through the center of the stain were any indication.

Jill put a finger to her lips and listened. She could hear ten times better than Chris. Not that she'd ever fully explained the extent of her abilities. Sitting in a BSAA lab had been the dullest moment of her life. She couldn't wait to get out into the field. It was ironic that her first time out was here with Chris somewhere under Raccoon City. The Arklay mountains lay to the east. It was the weirdest homecoming ever.

"I don't hear anything," she whispered finally. Chris nodded, and they moved forward. Claire had tears streaming down her face and she held back a sob. No one mentioned Leon's name.

"Jake, no..." Sherry said moving forward.

"That's a good idea," Birkin said at the same time. His respect for the young man was starting to grow, even if he didn't like him.

Also the idea that those two wouldn't make it back appealed to him very much. He could tell that Sherry loved him but she was young and would get over his death. At least that was how Birkin attempted to justify the idea in his own mind.

Wesker looked between Birkin and Jake. Sherry's were the only motivations he did not find suspicious, Jake he knew would act to protect his family. Birkin was possibly after revenge, especially after he'd discovered Sherry.

Anna, he wasn't sure about. She'd been shocked to discover she'd carried a child, or rather the original Anjette Mueller had carried one. She kept giving him glances, frowning, trying to figure things out. Wesker could have told her how that had gone down, but it was the furthest thing from his mind at the moment.

"If Birkin can control that creature, he can station it outside the door," He said finally. "We can get into the armory probably better than anyone else here. The baby is just a distraction."

"Spoken like a loving grandfather." Jake snapped moving towards the open door. He felt a hand on his arm.

"Jake don't do this to me." A tear slid down Sherry's cheek and she trembled visibly. .

He turned to face her and grabbed her shoulders in his hands and pulled her to him kissing her and ignoring the other people in the room. He pulled away. "Sherry, you survive no matter what, do you hear me?"

She only nodded too choked up and not trusting herself to speak. Jake moved over to Anja and glanced down at her. He bent down and planted a kiss on her forehead being careful not to wake her.

Wesker only sighed impatiently and Birkin glanced elsewhere.

Jake turned to Birkin, "don't let anything through that door."

"Of course not." He said feeling pale still. He hoped the plaga that he had taken wouldn't impair him to the point where he wouldn't be able to control the creature outside. It had been a last ditch effort at revenge. It seemed to be their only defense against the other Nemans.

"Let's go then." He glanced at Wesker and strode out the door armed only with his fists. Wesker nodded to Birkin and moved outside closing the door from the outside and keying in the codes to make sure it stayed locked.

The nightmarish creation of Birkin's stood feet away not moving. Jake shuddered visibly remembering the first time he'd been chased by something Neo-Umbrella had dragged out of the pits of hell. The first time he'd caught sight of an Ustanak he wasn't sure what to make of it, but having been battling bio-organic weapons for the past year already he didn't panic. Now an Ustanak was shadowing him out the door, currently on his side. However long that lasted.

Jake noticed the big creature seemed just as afraid of the Neman as he was. Jake didn't like his odds against one of those creatures one on one, let alone a whole horde of them. The fact that they had at one time been biologically his half siblings...

And with the luck they'd been having here in the first place, they would probably run into the rest of the Nemans at some point.

"Which way." He stared hard at Wesker who was still studying the Neman.

"That way," he pointed off towards the right. Jake sighed when he didn't move. Dear old Dad, he thought taking the lead.

The hallway was gray and the floor sounded metallic as his boots moved over it. He slowed and took his steps more carefully. He was unarmed here against creatures that could tear him apart without blinking an eye. While Wesker and an Ustanak followed behind. He laughed, the irony was too much. Wasn't Wesker the doting father he'd always been looking for?

"What's funny." Wesker asked from behind him.

"Nothing at all." Jake responded. Not bothering to turn around. He heard the click of the gun behind him.

"I meant what I said earlier Jake," Wesker was following, making at attempt at walking in silence. Even the Ustanak moved quietly for something his size. "You really are the most dangerous B.O.W. here."

"Sure whatever," Jake didn't care. He had just left his wife and child in a safe room with the clone of her biological father. Nothing was going to surprise him at this point.

They neared the end of the hallway, even the Ustanak was silent. The hallway ran into another corridor which ran perpendicular the one they were standing in.

Something skittered in the distance and Jake tensed but remained silent.

"The right." Wesker said behind him.

Jake glancing quickly to the left moved into the right corridor and followed it down. Here if anything showed up they would be sitting ducks. Their best hope was not to attract ANYTHING. He was starting to feel better about leaving Sherry and Anja in the safe room.

The hall started to curve around. The lights also started flickering. "Great, like we didn't have enough problems," he muttered.

The silence was more unnerving than running into a B.O.W. The worst part of a battle was always waiting for it to start. He both hated and loved that part of being a mercenary. Jake hesitated before continuing down the hallway. Wesker and the Ustanak were behind him. A myriad of uncertainty lay before him.

He realized he was going to have to turn off his feelings for Sherry and Anja before he moved. They were safe for the moment. Worrying about them right now was going to get them all killed. He needed to be just as ruthless as he was when he and Sherry had first met in Edonia. Back when getting them both out wasn't his first priority.

He took a deep breath closed his eyes and opened them again.

"Something wrong, Jake?" Wesker's voice prodded him from behind. Jake really hated this guy. He turned that off too. All Wesker was right now was a means to an end.
"No." Jake responded and moved forward into the flickering lights. He refused to think of this man behind him as his father, cloned or otherwise. He was just the jack ass with the gun.

Everything else faded away as he listened for whatever was in front of him. He knew there was something there. He'd caught a glimpse of something running on all fours. He hoped it was a guard dog. But the odds were against it being uninfected. The flickering lights weren't helping. What had happened in the time they'd made it to the safe room? Where were the rest of the people in this facility?

He longed for the familiar feel of a glock in his hand, or at least something to do battle with. He scanned the floor for any kind of weapon as he moved forward.
He spotted a wooden table in front of him. Well that's helpful, he thought. He picked it up and slammed it against the wall. The table shattered leaving him a sharp wooden stick in hand. Better than nothing, he moved forward again. The worst part was knowing he was immune to the C-Virus but not knowing if he was immune to the virus Birkin had unleashed. He doubted that part, given that all his other "siblings" that Wesker had created had turned into Nemans, and were running loose all over the place. He wasn't sure if it had been part of the plan or not, but watching and listening to the two men arguing earlier, he didn't believe Wesker had wanted the Nemans. Birkin had done something else, added something...

He moved forward keeping his pointed stick out in front of him, against a Neman he doubted it would do much damage but he'd fought against other creatures with less and won. He just had to avoid being scratched. He wasn't even sure if that's what it would take to transform him.

The scratching sounded again and Jake caught a glimpse of the creature in front of him. It was an infected doberman. Its skin torn in places as blood and other biological fluids dripped onto the floor. Wesker and the Ustanak moved behind him.

Jake couldn't believe he was taking point with a stick.

The dog leapt at him, startling Jake and he simply reacted by bringing the point up. It hit the doberman square in the chest. It let out a shriek and was still. The impact knocked Jake back and dragged the stick out of his hand. Jake reached down and picked it up and brought his boot down hard on the dog's head with a satisfying crunch.

"If only that was the worst thing down here." He muttered.

"If only," Wesker agreed. The Ustanak said nothing.

"Where would the Nemans have gone?" Jake asked without turning around.

"Probably up and out," Wesker responded. "Think about it, they are reasonably intelligent. Escape is probably their first priority."

"Do they remember what they were?" Jake said staring straight ahead. Leon, where are you?

Wesker didn't respond for a moment. "I don't know," he admitted. "A pity if they did." Jake turned around to look at Wesker again. Someday soon he was going to have it out with dear old Dad. He still couldn't believe this man had fathered him at some point. At least the original had...and he had to been some sort of insane genius to come up with a back-up plan of this magnitude.
They stepped around the dead dog and moved forward, the lights continued to flicker, Jake prayed that they wouldn't go out entirely.
"So," He said quietly as he continued forward. "You going to tell me what else is down here now?"
"And ruin the surprise?" Wesker's voice was almost condescending.
"Ah, fuck," Jake snapped. "I hate you."
"Always cursing, you'll never get far like that."
The Ustanak grunted behind Jake and Jake took it as a sign that at least the creature was in agreement with him.
He kept walking forward with his wooden table leg in hand. It wasn't going to help much against the Nemans but it was better than nothing. At least he could take out a few infected dogs and who knew what else was down here. Rats of epic proportions?
The lights flickered suddenly and above their heads a hatch suddenly popped open. Jake reacted instinctively jumping backwards into Wesker who pulled the gun on him. Jake didn't even give him a second look only staring at the face of Chris Redfield as his face peeked through the opening.
"Chris?"
Chris's own surprise took a second longer to register. "Jake! Are you ok? Where's Sherry?" He bombarded Jake with questions as he dropped down.
And then he took stock and noticed Wesker behind Jake with the Ustanak. No one moved for a moment.
"Where's Sherry?" Claire's quiet voice came from the hole. Jake glanced up at her.
"I left her in the safe room with Birkin."

Claire dropped down, no longer surprised at anything. Wesker was here again back from the dead. Why not Birkin too? They had been friends long ago, if Wesker could have been said to have any friends. What did surprise her was seeing Jake moving down a tunnel with Wesker and a creature that Sherry had described to her as the Ustanak. Oddly enough it made no move to attack any of them.
"Birkin?" Chris on the other hand was quite surprised. "Anyone else you brought back that I should know about."
Wesker shrugged, but Jake's face went through a convoluted set of emotions before going stone cold. Jill dropped down behind Chris.
"Guys there is a weapons cache we're trying to get to here." Jake said before anyone else could come to the wrong conclusion. "I've got a stick."
Chris swung his glance back at Wesker holding the only hand gun. "You're in front?"
Jake shrugged. "There's all kinds of creatures here...I've killed a dog but who knows what else is down here."
"Besides that you mean?" Claire nodded to the Ustanak, who only shrugged.
Jake nodded. "Look guys, Sherry is alone with a clone of her Dad, I kind of want to get back to her as soon as possible."

"Let's ditch this guy," Chris pointed his own gun at Wesker, his skin crawling to see him up and moving again after watching the original die in a volcano.

This time it was Jake who pulled Chris's gun down. "He knows where the weapons cache is, and I think we are going to have to do a whole lot of fighting to get out of here." Jake glanced around suddenly. "Hell, you guys didn't think to bring Leon with you?"

Both Chris and Claire suddenly looked down. Jill looked away. Jake caught their meaning. "No..."

"We didn't see him die," Chris said putting a hand on Jake's shoulder watching as Jake's fists balled up.
"It was a huge creature, black eyes, dark skin...it moved so fast." Chris remembered Leon standing between them telling them to run. He shuddered visibly.

"Why Jill, it's good to see you again." Wesker's voice cut through. "I admit I wasn't expecting to see you outside of a BSAA lab anytime soon. Can we pick up where we left off?"

Jill lifted her gun. "Anytime."

Wesker only lifted an eyebrow. "That's not what I meant Jill, you know that."

Chris frowned but moved in between them. "That's enough."

Jill gritted her teeth, lifting her rifle again, her body was shaking. Chris turned to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "The mission Jill. You got this? I know he'll say anything." She only nodded. Chris squeezed her shoulder wishing they were alone, but this confrontation was going to happen at some point. It needed to happen.

"Well this is all touching but the Nemans aren't the only dangerous creatures down here." Wesker's irritating voice cut in. Jake's fists got even tighter, both Chris and Claire visibly tensed. "Besides I'm sure the Redfields will be of some use, they are always finding ways to ruin a cog or two in my plans."

Chris pulled out a glock and handed it to Jake. "Here...don't waste the ammo. Keep the stick too."

Jake nodded. He still couldn't believe Leon was dead. The man had more lives than a cat. He wasn't going to believe it until he saw a body. Telling Sherry would crush her. Leon had been more of a father figure to her than Birkin, or her guardian Simmons.

"Hey asshole, which way?" He said without looking at Wesker. He was afraid if he did look at him just seeing his smug expression would cause him to lose it. And he knew he was barely holding on to any form of sanity right now.

"Straight forward," Wesker stayed in the back.

"So what's down here?" Chris said moving forward.

"I'm not sure yet," Jake said. "That asshole behind me, won't say."

Chris sighed. He wasn't even going to bother asking. Wesker had a gun oddly enough aimed at Jake the whole time. He joined Jake up front, Jill stayed to his left between them.

Jake glanced at him. "You know, I won't believe Leon's dead till I see a body. That man has more escapes than there are stars in the sky."

Chris looked at him, his expression pained. "Not this time, Jake."