Leon who was in fact not dead stood next to Ada staring at the creature. Even in death, it was still menacing. The side of its head was blown wide, coagulated blood clinging to its chin, the lips were pulled back showing off teeth, the eyes were pitch black and permanently open. He shuddered. It still looked very much alive, despite the hole in the side of its head.

"What is that thing?" His voice trembled in spite of himself. After being picked up by the creature he was sure he was going to die this time. It wasn't the first time he'd been picked up by a b.o.w. but in that moment he was sure it was going to be his last. His shoulder still ached where the claws had gripped him.

"Not sure," Ada was leaning down for a closer examination. She plucked a long white hair off of its head placed it in her pocket.

"What are you doing?" Leon moved closer. He would never trust her completely. Now even less so. Ada told herself it was better this way. 

"Can't find out what this is without a sample. Probably started out as a human." 

Leon nodded. "Knowing Wesker. Yeah." He groaned as a headache started to come on. Being picked up by a creature that was ten times stronger than you was all in a days work. But that didn't mean that you didn't get hit with a painful headache every now again. Or an aching back.

He glanced over at the hole that Chris and Claire had dropped into earlier. He couldn't blame them for leaving him. He'd told them to go. There was just no way they were going to beat this creature in the open. "You got what you need?" He asked not looking at her.

Ada stood up. "Yes."

Leon headed toward the opening. It was as far as he knew the only way in. At least he might catch up with the others, he couldn't wait to see the expression on Claire's face. That stopped him for a moment. Claire had to have been horrified, she'd been in these situations before, true, but it wasn't her job to hunt down b.o.w. activity. She'd chosen another route to stop this kind of madness. But that was the point, wasn't it? He sighed, the technology was here, and that's what it was. They could ban it, or try to, but because they were capable of it, it wasn't going away.

He pried the lid open and looked down into the darkness. Somewhere down there, several people, he considered family were climbing around trying to stop this if they weren't dead already. His head hurt, his back hurt. He flexed and turned his neck, his spine cracking as he worked up the nerve to climb down.  The fear only made him more determined to go. 

"They worth this?" Ada asked from behind him. This time he did look back at her, carrying her sniper rifle. He was used to her being much more in control and more mysterious. Today she looked tired. He wondered if she was feeling as old as he was. 

"I've done more for people worth less to me." He didn't keep the sarcasm out of his voice. She winced but said nothing. She was still incredible to him, still saving his life when he thought it was the end, but he couldn't keep the nagging suspicion that something was wrong here. Something was more wrong than the usual. 

She nodded and moved to join him. He took one more glance at the dead creature and started his descent down the ladder into darkness.

______________________________________________________________________

Sherry stared across the room at the clone of her father. They had closed and locked the door of the saferoom. The Neman Birkin controlled remained stationed outside the door. Anna stayed next to her, but she looked just as lost as Sherry felt. Having her father back wasn't anything Sherry had ever dreamed of. If anything, it was the worst thing to happen. 

Birkin, on the other hand, looked sick. Pale and sweating, he coughed frequently, shivered and glanced nervously at his watch. 

"What exactly did you do?" Sherry whispered from across the room. She refused to be any closer to him than necessary. She knew he remembered her as a little girl, but to Sherry, he looked exactly as her father had appeared before mutating into the monster he'd eventually become. The one that had forced a tentacle inside of her, giving her the virus that had made her life hell. She didn't look at him and see her father but rather the monster. She shuddered and looked away from him again, crossing her arms over her chest. She felt like the small child she was that day.

Birkin glanced over at her and shrugged. "I made a decision to take revenge for my family." Anna looked up at him. She had been holding Anja, now that Jake wasn't here Sherry felt able to relax a little more around Anna. 

"Your family?" Sherry's face turned red. "You murdered your wife and if it hadn't been for Leon and Claire, I'd be dead too...or worse. Just like you." Birkin only stared at her, his jaw clenched as he struggled to find words.   

"I thought you were dead." Birkin put his back to the wall and slid down facing Sherry from across the room, sweat stains were starting to form on his shirt.

"You are supposed to be dead." Sherry snapped. Birkin frowned, he still wasn't sure whether to believe it when Anna spoke up.

"We worked so much on that, the memory overlays, with Albert dropping in and out. He was so interested, we talked about it over dinner often. I had no idea it would work...but..." Her voice trailed off. She glanced at Sherry. "Why does Jake hate me?"

Sherry looked between them. Both sets of parents staring at her. She found Anna easier to talk to than Birkin. "He doesn't hate you...his mother died... I don't know all the exact details. She left him a letter saying his father loved him and would find him one day. He's been a mercenary since he was 14." Anna's eyes went wide and she juggled Jake's daughter on his lap. "And you look just like her before she was sick." Sherry's voice dropped to a whisper. "They were close."

Anna looked at Sherry. "I never, I mean, I never thought Albert and I would get together...I wanted to...but..." 

"Jake hates him." She was blunt. She didn't want Anna to get the wrong idea, whatever the idea was, she was clearly in love with Wesker. A fact that Sherry could barely stomach and Jake absolutely abhorred. The idea that Wesker had left him wasn't as bad as seeing her look at him like a lovesick puppy knowing what had happened.  

"Jake's mother left Wesker and went into hiding in a third world country." Sherry reached for Anja and Anna reluctantly handed the infant over. Anja had begun to squirm, Sherry knew she was hungry. The waiting was killing her. Waiting for Jake to return, waiting for someone to tell them they could leave. Just having to wait when she'd always been to help. Sherry do this for me, please. Jake had asked. She clutched Anja to her breast and nursed her. She would survive this for him, but he damned well better make sure he'd come back to her.

"Why did she do it?" Anna's voice was barely above a whisper.

Sherry eyed her as Anja started to drift to sleep. "We don't know," She whispered back.

"What about with me?" Birkin's voice interrupted their moment. Both turned to stare at Birkin, pale and flushed. "How did I die?"

"You died in Raccoon City. There were quite a few factors that led up to your death."  Sherry stared at him for a moment and then continued. "Your work was taken, probably in the same way YOU TOOK it."

Birkin winced. He and Wesker had stolen the original work from their colleague Marcus. He wasn't suprised that Sherry knew about it.

"But you mutated into this monster, you weren't even recognizable as a human." She shuddered visibly and looked away for a moment. Anja was still sleeping peacefully against her chest.

"And you killed Mom when she tried to stop you. You took me and... and...  ...injected me with the virus." Her voice was barely audible and her eyes went glassy as she remembered the ordeal. Her body started to tremble.

Birkin was silent. "The virus didn't mutate you?"

"I received the vaccine in time."

"But you have abilities now."

"Healing," Sherry's voice was flat. She didn't realize she could hate someone this much. "It hasn't exactly let me live a normal life. I've been a ward of the government, and now I'm their operative. They aren't exactly going to let me go and disappear."

"No," said Birkin sadly. "I'm sorry Sherry. I didn't know..."

"Stop," Sherry held up her hand. "You are not my father. You may share his DNA, but that's it. My father is dead. Jake's right, when people die they need to stay dead."

________________________________________________________________________

Jake stared into the flickering darkness in front of Chris. They'd all frozen at the sound of nails on the concrete walls. A scraping had come from up ahead. The hallway curved from here. Jake reminded himself to kick someone's ass for that. Just who set this place up for failure anyway?

Jake moved up next to Chris pulling the Glock out and stilling his breathing. He could hear better than any of them, with the exception of Wesker and possibly the Ustanak. His ears had picked up the sounds of breathing that were almost too quiet for him to pick up. He put a restraining hand on Chris's arm when the other man started forward. Whatever was over there was waiting for them to come around the curve. 

He put up one finger in his left hand Chris nodded. Jake couldn't make out any more details, other than it was big. 

Jake started forward but Chris laid a restraining hand on him this time. Jake lifted an eyebrow at Chris reached over and pulled the knife out of his vest. He flipped it in his hand and jabbed it into the top of hand and held his hand up in front of Chris. 

Chris's eyes widened at the sight of Jake's hand healing instantly, he gave Jake a look that suggested they were going to have to have a conversation later. Jake gritted his teeth, as always the healing hurt. Chris backed up, shrugged and allowed Jake to take the lead this time. Jake moved forward again. When he tried to hand the knife back Chris gestured for him to keep it. There was a bloodstain on his arm.

Claire followed behind them casting glances back at Wesker and the Ustanak. This was the 2nd of the creatures they'd encountered. But it was not attacking them for the moment. Claire kept her handgun out in front of her not sure if she should be pointing it behind her or in front.

Jill for her part maintained a calm steady demeanor, although inside she was roiling. Having to turn her back on Wesker was the hardest part of being down here. Not to mention Wesker kept giving her glances and smiling. She hated the way he looked at her, the knowing look of something they'd shared, even though she'd not been a willing participant. Her fingers tightened on the gun and she focused on moving forward. She knew by the tightness of Jake's own face that he was having a similar problem to her own and if it came down to it, he'd definitely be the first to back her up.  Mostly she wanted to beat the same placid look off of his face that he'd worn when he'd opened her up out of cryo those years ago. He followed with his pet Ustanak in the rear. He moved quietly but he appeared to be what he was. A scientist observing the results of his tests.

Jake made the decision to just move forward and get it over with. No use in waiting, he thought. He put one foot in front of the other slowly moving forward. The anticipation was killing him. Not that he wanted to know what was in front of him, but that it was a complete unknown. They could all be dead in the next ten minutes or less.

You are the most dangerous B.O.W. here. Wesker's voice floated into his mind. For once he hoped Wesker was right. He desperately wanted to get out of this alive. 

"Fuck it." Jake moved forward again. He was aware of Wesker behind him. He didn't even want to bother with silence. He needed to be the target. If he was hit there was a better chance he was coming back than the rest of them. Except for Jill, he wasn't sure what her abilities were.

And Wesker? The guy was always calm. Almost as if he was observing a science experiment from afar and there was no way he was going to get hurt. Jake paused, his shoulders stiffened at the thought. Seriously?

Was it possible that Wesker had this whole scenario planned out? It did not seem likely. He had the healing ability now, just as Jake and Sherry did... who else?

Birkin had betrayed him. The facility was under siege from the creatures that Birkin had unwittingly created against Wesker's will.

Birkin was in control of one of them.

...and yet.

There was no panic. It was as if the man wasn't even human. He remained in control at the same time as it seemed he was not in control of anything. What happened to the boy they found?

The adult clone that had just died?

He had just left Sherry alone with her father, who in theory was the enemy of Wesker. The enemy of my enemy supposedly is my friend.

Chris, Jill, and Claire showing up.

Leon was dead. Maybe....Jake still couldn't believe it. That last one stung the most. Leon was his mentor and he knew Leon wanted him to eventually take over. Jake wasn't ready for him to just be out of the picture. Not yet.

Was this really an experiment after all?

Was Sherry involved? He dismissed the last thought immediately. No matter what had happened Sherry was just as much of a victim of their parents as he was. They had played with her genes just as much as they had played with his. The fact that they had had a child together was a bonus. The only unexpected thing they had done so far was to find each other.

Jake slowly rounded the corner edging forward wondering how long the creature here was going to take to show itself. He heard nothing and realized, like him, it was probably holding its breath. 

He felt a searing pain in his gut before he saw the cause. The Neman jabbed him through with a broken chair leg. Ironic as he was also carrying one. Well, that proves we're fucking related, he thought sarcastically as he stared down at his gut.

A gurgling sound came out of him. He felt his feet leave the floor as the creature in front of him speared him through and hefted him up. For a moment he felt a brief stab of sympathy for the infected guard dog he killed earlier. Only briefly. 

Time slowed as he briefly locked eyes with the creature that had once been a test tube half-sibling. The liquid black eyes showed no emotion human or otherwise as he was launched over the Neman's head. 

He forgot about it entirely as he felt his body leave the makeshift spear and fly through the air. He hit the wall behind the Neman with enough force that his breath was knocked out of him. He slid down the wall, hitting the floor and his vision blackened as he fought to stay conscious. Don't lose it now! He panicked. "Gahhh," he gasped. The Neman had already turned its back on him. Any normal person would have been dead by now.

Anyone else would be.

He lay stunned for a moment, gasping and staring at his mid-section. He'd put his hand over the wound through his shirt and watched the blood pour through his fingers, it made him feel slightly faint. It had slowed to a trickle.  The skin knit over the inner wound and Jake barely suppressed the urge to scream. Healing was great but it felt like he was burning as the raw nerve endings moved back into place. He managed to take a shaky breath and focus on the commotion in front of him.

All three Redfields were firing shots at the Neman. They obviously stung the creature but did not slow it down much. It was locked arm to arm with the Ustanak. Red liquid leached out of the Neman in several places. Huh, he thought, still bleeds like a human. He couldn't see Wesker at all. Son of a bitch was probably just standing in the background not getting blood on himself.

As the pain in his gut left him Jake smiled ruefully and lifted his gun, aimed, and fired.