Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Piers! No, don’t do this! God damnit, listen to me!” 

Panic had taken hold of Chris Redfield for the third time since they had descended into the hell that was Neo-Umbrella’s ocean facility. The first time he’d lost his composure was when the horror that was the HAOS monster snatched Piers unexpectedly and hurled him against the facility wall like he was nothing, butchering the sniper’s arm in the process and leaving Chris helpless to aid him. The second time had been when Piers infected himself with the virus they’d been carrying for analysis in order to save his captain from a similar fate. 

Now the door to the escape pod was sealed shut and Piers was on the wrong side of it. The virus had taken hold of the soldier’s youthful features, splitting the right side of his face open like those of the B.O.W.s they had fought together. 

“We can still both get out of here. There’s still time,” Chris pleaded through the glass. 

Piers had the look of a martyr on what part of his face Chris could see through the infection. That look scared him more than the threat of dying. 

“What are you doing? No, Piers, don’t! You can still make it out of here!” 

Chris slammed his fists against the window of the pod, desperate to get through to him. Nivans did not have to die like this. He deserved more than that! 

Time was running out fast and Piers gripped the launch lever with his good hand. With great effort he pushed it in, changing the green light above the pod to a warning red. A shrill alarm announced the countdown for launch. 

“Piers, no! Goddammit, PIERS!!” 

The sniper shook his head, no; willing his superior to accept that it was time for their partnership to end. 

“Piers, open the goddamned door- that’s an order!” 

But this was one order that Piers would not obey.

Gripped by the threat of losing his second in command, Chris began smashing buttons blindly from the inside of the pod. One of them had to open this fucking door! 

More debris from the failing structure of the facility crashed down around the escape pods. The infected soldier didn’t flinch when a giant chunk of metal from the ceiling grate crashed next to him in a shower of sparks. His eyes never left the escape pod window. 

With an anguished cry Chris slammed down on what happened to be the launch abort button. The red light switched back to green and the pod door opened with a hiss. Piers’ calm look of acceptance changed to one of panic, “CHRIS, DON’T!” he lunged for the opening door. His mutated arm pushed down against the widening mechanism with everything he had, trying to seal it closed before his captain could do something stupid. 

Too late. The door widened just enough for the captain to swift kick Piers in the gut. The sniper fell back, stunned. Chris flung himself out of the pod and punched him in the jaw. Hard. 

Momentarily incapacitated, Piers could feel his partner haul his good arm over his shoulder and drag him into the pod against his will. “I’m not leaving without you, soldier!” he heard Chris’ muffled voice cut through the daze. 

Everything was falling apart now. The facility’s frame shook and groaned under the weight of the invading ocean. The other escape pods were tumbling out of their respective tracks and colliding behind them. 

Chris pulled Piers inside the pod and closed the door. The round transport shot backward down the tube track a moment later and both men fell forward with the sudden motion, slamming into one another before the inertia let up enough for them to stumble away from the door. Piers dropped into the cushioned wall of their round prison, defeated and in pain. Chris watched the brilliant yellow and orange explosion of the Neo-Umbrella underwater facility as it fell away into the darkness. Damn Neo-Umbrella. Damn them and their Haos monster to hell.

 A slimy substance soaked through Chris’ gloved hand and he pulled away from the window, realizing it was a mixture of his partner’s blood and pus. He turned and knelt at the wounded man’s side. Having his partner with him now lifted a heavy weight from Chris’ shoulders. He’d never forgive himself if he’d left Piers behind. They weren’t out of the danger zone yet, but Piers was still alive. That was all that mattered. 

The frustration reflected in the man’s face told Chris exactly how he felt about being saved. The sniper scowled up at him incredulously through the infection bubbling on his brow, “Why?!” Purple and blue veins crawled up the sides of his normally smooth features like malicious vines threatening to take him over at any moment. 

What exactly had been going through Chris’ mind when he thought it a good idea to open his escape pod and save a monster? Piers would have hit him if he could move. He would have punched his fucking lights out for being an idiot. Luckily for Chris, it was hard for the younger man to do anything but concentrate on the gut-wrenching pain that ripped through his body. The upper right half of his torso was an unrecognizable mess of protruding bone and bloated flesh.

The mutated arm pulsed and oozed with a life of its own. He held it tight to his side as though it would attack Chris if he didn’t restrain it.An electric current welled up within the monstrous appendage and buzzed through his nerves, aching to be released. 

Chris reached to wipe Piers’ good eye clean. Piers pulled away. The last thing they both needed was for the captain to get too close to him now. It was bad enough they were enclosed together in this tiny space…. 

“Chris, w-why did you--” he winced and closed his eyes tight, groaning at the painful changes happening within his body. His right side burned down to his hip like he had been flayed. He could just imagine what grotesque metamorphosis lay in store for him. They had fought enough J’avo-turned-B.O.W.s to have a clear indication of what to expect. He could burst into flame and cocoon at any moment. Oh god, then he would kill Chris…. 

“I-I can’t g-guarantee I won’t--” 

Chris, stubborn as ever, grabbed the younger soldier’s head of cropped brown hair and forced Piers to look him in the eye. “We’re going to live through this. We’re going to get you the anti-virus and you’re going to outlive me, Piers. Do you understand?” He didn’t flinch when his subordinate’s white creature eye held his gaze. A glint of malice flickered in that eye before Piers could suppress it.

Chris stared into it with the conviction of a war hero. Piers wanted him to be a hero. A hero who lived. Piers had given him that chance to live; to go on and help lead the BSAA for years to come. Chris was supposed to save the world, not die in this damnable pod at the hands of his virus-infected comrade…. 

Chris seemed to read the direction of his thoughts. He tightened his grip on the back of Piers’ head, pressing their foreheads together. 

“We’re going to beat this thing.” Piercing brown eyes bore into him. 

Piers relented and leaned into him obediently. He sucked in a ragged pain-laced breath, “Y-yes, Captain.” 

*            *            * 

Piers was beginning to give up again.

Chris could tell by the laxness of the sniper’s shoulders and the almost peaceful way he closed his eyes as the pod rocked on the surprisingly gentle expanse of water. It had been almost three hours since they had surfaced and Chris had opened the pod doors for some fresh air. He had taken up a watchful position on the floor in front of him and occasionally would tap the younger man’s boot to make sure he was paying attention. 

Piers had stopped thrashing from the exterior mutations destroying the right side of his body, but it was still clear how much pain he was in internally. Both men were exhausted and parched, having not eaten or drank anything since their mission in China began.

Chris tried to radio in their position and get confirmation that a rescue team was on standby, as per protocol, but their radios had finally kicked the bucket. Being dragged through water for a lengthy period of time did that to electronic devices, it seemed. Even BSAA communications devices had their limits. 

Up until now Chris had kept his partner awake and focused by simply talking to him.

The older soldier would tell the younger anything that came to mind: Childhood stories, embarrassing antics he’d pulled in his teenaged years, even some of the less than stellar moments of the famous Captain Redfield in the early years in the BSAA. At times Piers would smile or snicker at the stories through his obvious pain, giving Chris hope. 

But now Piers’ sharp hazel eye brimmed with unshed misery. Chris grabbed his hand and squeezed it with both of his. “You’re doing great,” he encouraged, willing the man not to despair. “The rescue team has to be close now.” 

Piers nodded weakly and blinked away the tears. Chris’ heart broke at the sight. He could only imagine what his partner was going through. He shifted beside him and Piers allowed room for the captain’s arm to wrap around his neck comfortingly. The young sniper leaned into him and winced as another wave of pain coursed through his exhausted body. Chris hugged him close, wishing he could shoulder some of the pain for him. He would gladly take on the virus’ curse if it meant Piers could breathe easily again. 

“You s-should have--” Piers took in a sharp half-breath and squeezed his eyes shut, “-left me, Chris.” 

“Not a chance. You don’t get to duck out that easy. We’re going home and you’re going to be back on your feet in no time.” 

“Chris.”   

The older soldier could hear ‘don’t be an idiot’ in the way Piers said his name this time. “This is not where your story ends, Lieutenant,” Chris insisted, bracing himself as a built-up electro pulse shocked through them both. Piers bit down on a cry and buried his face into Chris’ vest. Chris held him protectively, willing the rescue team to hurry. 

“I don’t want to h-hold onto something that’s not real,” Piers admitted, pulling his face out from Chris’ chest after the pain lessened enough for him to do so. “You know they’ve never made a-a vaccine that fast….” 

Damnit, kid, you are not giving up now. I won’t let you! “You want to hold onto something real?” Chris let go of him to pull something out of his vest pocket. He slapped it into the sniper’s hand and squeezed the other’s fist closed around it for emphasis. 

When he let go, Piers opened his palm. His B.S.A.A. badge had seen better days. 

Chris was skewering him with the most determined look. Piers recognized that look of conviction from their reckless pursuit of Ada Wong. When Chris Redfield wanted something, come hell or high water, he was going to get it. 

“The B.S.A.A. needs you, kiddo. I need you.” 

Piers found himself admiring the man beside him for the thousandth time since they had been assigned to each other. “P-promise me--” another shock hit him unexpectedly and he seized against the cushioned wall as it pulsed through him, flickering the lights of the pod as a result. The shocks were getting worse. Thankfully Chris hadn’t been touching him this time. 

Chris’ look of concern returned. “I don’t want to hear any goodbyes,” he warned. 

“Promise me…you won’t turn in y-your b-badge,” he finished. 

“...I’m not going anywhere.” 

“Promise me!” 

“I promise you I won’t turn in my badge,” he swore. Then he added, “…until you’re good and ready to take my place.” 

If Piers could toss Chris into the ocean for being so resilient, he would have. Instead, he leaned back into his embrace and focused on not electrocuting them both. 

*             *            * 

The Canadian B.S.A.A. branch CH-149 Cormorant helicopter was a good sixty miles out from the distress signal. The pilot and rescue squad assigned to collect two of their own in the middle of the ocean had been given their orders last minute by one very insistent U.S. Secret Service Agent, Leon Kennedy. How the agent broke through the red tape of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance was beyond them, but they took to the air minutes after the orders were authenticated. Unfortunately for the men lost at sea, the chopper had been two hours out from their approximate pick up position. 

The vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean could hide the silhouette of a deep-sea escape pod from view, but the blip on the radar was coming in loud and strong. 

“ETA twenty minutes!” the pilot shouted back to the three-man rescue crew. 

“Copy that.” Lieutenant Wright responded through the popping of his chewing gum. The G-36 assault rifle in his hands enjoyed a thorough wipe down as the soldier polished it with pride. “Hey, maybe we’ll finally get to see some of these B.O.W.s everyone’s so afraid of,” he chuckled into his headset. His partner laughed at that, leg bouncing with anticipation. 

The pilot snorted in response, “I hope we never get the chance to see a B.O.W.. I am A-okay with seeing them through a screen, thanks.” 

“Pussy.” 

The men in the back laughed.

*            *            *

Chapter Text

The water was cold against his skin.

“Hold still.”

Piers shied away from the makeshift cloth Chris was using to wipe the infection from his eyes. He knew the Captain was just trying to help but the salt water stung his wounds and his pride in equal amounts.

“Don’t,” he winced, feeling a string of puss pull uncomfortably from the surface of his left eye, “It’s okay Captain, I’m good,” he lied. He didn’t want Chris touching him. Not now. Not…like this. He felt like a monster. His right side was grotesque and alien and noxious and it moved with a life of its own, like something out of a nightmare. He could almost feel the virus in his system fighting against his humanity on a cellular level. It was hard to wrap his head around, but he could feel the limb was no longer his. It moved when he wanted it to, and it pulsed visibly in time with his heartbeat, but it wasn’t his. Not anymore.

Having Chris tend to him now just felt wrong and it put the Captain in danger. Why couldn’t he see that?

Chris withdrew the wet wrap of bandage from him reluctantly. Distress had settled in over his normally composed features hours ago but it was even more prominent now that Piers was refusing what little help he could offer. The state of being helpless was foreign to Chris Redfield. He was a man of action and results. To be so close to his partner, hear his every pained intake of air, feel every brutal shock of bioelectricity tearing through him and be helpless to do anything about it…it was the hardest thing he’d ever had to endure. And considering the life he’d led to date, that was saying a lot.

Piers considered apologizing for being so short-tempered, but couldn’t bring himself to say anything more. Having those concerned brown eyes focused on him was hard enough to handle. This fucked up scenario gave him a whole new perspective on Neo Umbrella’s experiments on human subjects. Piers understood now how much the manufactured viruses could change a person. And there were people out there who injected the virus willingly? To what end? To spread fear? To get rich quick working for extremists? Well it wasn’t worth it. He himself had only wanted to borrow that power and die ensuring Chris lived….

"Let me clean your eye.” It wasn’t a question.

Piers avoided his gaze, but didn’t protest when the cold cloth touched his skin again gingerly. Withholding information from his commanding officer was not something Piers made a habit of doing, but he’d lost all vision in his afflicted eye some time ago and hadn’t mentioned it to him. Informing Chris of yet another side effect of the virus wasn’t going to make this any easier on either of them, so he held his tongue and let the older man wipe the encroaching ooze from his good eye.

The bioelectricity emitted by his mutation had been building steadily since his last outburst. He made a point of trying to time when to push Chris away before it happened. This time the lightning in his arm thrummed more anxiously than it had the last few buildups and left Piers with little to no warning. He shoved Chris away last second, saving him from a particularly violent shock that reverberated through the pod and snuffed out the power in the process. Thank god for the rubber-based cushions insulating their small round prison.

Piers was the only one to feel the shockwave this time. He jerked backward upon impact, sucking in a pained breath and holding it until his lungs could function again. The after effects of trying to restrain bioelectricity hurt like a bitch. It was like trying to hold back a violent sneeze that electrocuted you when you did. Another thing Chris didn’t need to know.

Chris recovered from the shove unsteadily, sitting up in a manner that showed Piers just how tired he really was. The Captain glanced up at the loss of power before returning to kneel at his partner’s side. “That light was giving me a headache anyway,” he commented, wiping his forehead with the back of his gloved hand. It was an attempt to lighten the mood. Chris looked exhausted. And for good reason. They had been going non-stop for almost fourteen hours since their arrival in Lanshiang. The adrenaline rush had subsided and it was causing them to crash. Hard.

“Y-yeah, me too,” the sniper agreed for Chris’ sake.

There was a long moment of silence between them. “Talk to me,” Chris encouraged. He wanted to help. But he couldn’t do any more than he had been and it was killing him to see his young partner in so much pain. It didn’t help that he’d noticed storm clouds approaching on the horizon. It wouldn’t be long before the weather turned against them too and without power to the pod they were in for a rough ride if help didn’t come soon.

“What do you think will h-happen when we get back home?” Piers whispered, looking past him to the waves.

Chris’ heart jumped at the question. That was the first time the marksman had acknowledged they might survive this. Honestly, he’d been contemplating that himself. “Well, first they’re going to get that vaccine into you,” he assured with classic Redfield confidence. Piers leaned his head back against the pod wall and focused on Chris’ deep soothing voice like he was telling a comforting bedtime story. “Then it’s going to be nothing but R and R for you for a while.”

“I hate hospitals…” Piers frowned, thinking ahead to the inevitable protocol and medical procedures that awaited him should they be rescued. The buzzing current in his mutated arm was beginning to build a charge again. He considered submerging the whole damned thing in the water and letting loose as much of the freakish power as he could just to sate it for a while.

“Me too. I hope you like Jell-O.” Chris joked, following the younger’s stare outside the pod. From his position he could see the sky getting darker as storm clouds accumulated on the horizon. Shit.

“You can have my share.” Jell-O was not the marksman’s favorite thing. Neither was being turned into a B.O.W. while your field Captain watched you deteriorate.

“What are you going to do? Sneak it out to me?”

“If I h-have to.”

“If you get caught smuggling Jell-O. I’ll deny my involvement.” Chris was doing a fair job of keeping their light-hearted banter going.

The marksman couldn’t help but laugh. The sound came out weak and laced with pain, but it was genuine. If only trafficking Jell-O was their biggest problem. “S-seriously though,” he winced, looking down in disgust at the pulsing appendage next to him, “If….If I don’t get through this, there’s a letter in my locker back home....”

Chris’ look of disapproval spoke volumes.

“I’ll need you to take it to my parents.”

It won’t come to that. I won’t let it. “I’d rather take you home to them when all this is over.” Chris was leaning in on him again, trying to convince him things would turn out okay with one of his intensely convincing stares. Piers studied him back with more fervor than he’d meant to. He wanted to memorize Chris Redfield: that close-cropped coffee-coloured hair that never fell out of place, the rugged scruff that lined his strong jaw, those fiercely intimidating brown eyes that had a way of holding you hostage… everything about him made Piers want to survive just so he could remain by his side.

A smile breached the sniper’s off-color lips despite himself, “I’d prefer that.” In light of his situation, Piers tried his best to imprint every detail of the man who inspired him into his memory. In case….In case that was all he could take with him if he didn’t survive this.

Chris squeezed his arm as though to reassure the Ace he was not going anywhere, and Piers entertained the thought that the man in front of him might be reading his mind.

“I’ll take you home when you’re released with a clean bill of health. You have my word.”

Piers let his head fall back against the cushioned wall and closed his tired eye. “You like the country?” The opaque white of his mutated iris remained open and unseeing. “My folks h-have a ranch.”

Chris studied the exposed white eye, holding a finger up to it and realizing Piers couldn’t see what he was doing when it didn’t respond. His heart sank, but he tried his best to hide it with a steady voice, “I always took you for more of a city kid.”

“I try not to let my hick roots show,” Piers was smiling through the pain again. Where was that fucking extraction team?

*            *            *

Three miles below the water a swarm of bubbles exploded from the twisted metal ruins of the abandoned underwater facility and shot for the surface like a school of terrified fish fleeing a predator. A grey fleshy arm the length of a bus burst through the wreckage a moment later, blindly reaching for a way out of its misshapen prison. The colossal B.O.W. named HAOS pulled free of the wreckage with great effort. The terrifying permutation of human and squid screamed vengeance out into the depths. It was free to hunt. To hunt down the two soldiers who escaped its clutches one too many times. And to fulfill its grander purpose....

To infect.

*            *            *

Chapter Text

“You have a girl waiting for you back home, Piers?”

“No,” the sniper looked thoughtful despite the pain. He’d been single long before joining the B.S.A.A.. He’d never really had the desire to establish a long-term relationship. Not while his entire focus was on his profession. It wasn’t worth the time and energy spent to maintain it. Now that didn’t mean he didn’t appreciate or accommodate a warm body in his bed when the opportunity arose, he’d just managed to keep his priorities in order so far. “M-my best friend count?”

Chris nodded. “Yeah. She counts.”

“We dated once. Back i-in c-college.” Piers smiled weakly at the memory. “She’s a lesbian now.”

Now that was funny. Both men laughed out loud despite their various injuries. It was worth the tiniest bit of ease and both Captain and Lieutenant doubled over, holding their midsections from the jarring pain it caused them.

“What about y-you?” Piers asked him once their bout of laughter and pain subsided to a manageable degree. “You with C-captain Valentine?” he'd always wanted to know. Chris didn't talk about his personal life much. Even after three years of partnership. Chris didn't just volunteer personal information and Piers had always respected that.

Chris seemed to give the question some thought before he answered, “No.” A fond expression settled over his features. “Jill’s my girl. But she’s not my girl, you know?”

Pale lips curled upward at that. “Yeah. I know.” It was amazing what you found out about someone when you were stuck together for a long period with nothing to do but wait.

Piers couldn’t deny that hearing Chris was single made him happy. Of all the things to be thinking about, that was what was on his mind? Really? Despite how stupid it was, Piers couldn’t help but latch on to that small insight. Maybe if they got out of this alive….

Who was he kidding, the odds of them surviving this were pretty damn slim. Not to mention he was infected now. Which cut his chances to be with someone down to not-happening.

Chris’ soft voice cut through his thoughts, “What are you thinking about?”

“The future.”

“How’s it look from there?”

“Pretty fucking grim.” He wasn’t going to lie about it.

“We’ll get through this, Piers.”

The marksman nodded. He wanted to believe that so badly.

“Ah, I’ve gotta piss…”

Piers gave him as much privacy as he was able, resting his head back and closing his good eye while the other man stumbled to his feet to lean against the pod opening.

“That’s….not good…” Piers heard him say a short time later.

The concern in the older man’s tone had Piers opening his eye again. The weather was getting steadily worse by the looks of it. It already looked much darker and the pod was rocking pretty hard now. Chris had to hold tightly onto the doorframe to keep from falling out and each sway of the small construction had Piers wincing from the involuntary movement. It didn’t help that his arm thrummed with a new charge. He wasn’t sure he could handle another internal shockwave like the last few. Gods, he was exhausted….

Chris was silent while he zipped up. The way he staggered back to his place beside the other man and slid gingerly into a seated position spoke volumes. The Captain was in pain.

“What is it?”

“Blood.” Chris winced. “I think that B.O.W. did a number on us both.”

The Captain was bleeding internally. He’d been left unaided in HAOS’ grip for too long. That fucking monster must have done some serious damage for him to see blood in his urine. Piers cursed their luck for the thousandth time since this mission began. If only he’d been able to get to that damned syringe sooner. If he’d injected himself with the C-virus sooner….

Chris seemed to know what he was thinking. A large hand reached over to squeeze his own. The weak smile he gave him told Piers everything was alright.

But everything was not alright. “Take your vest off. L-let me look at you.”

Chris shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” A closer inspection of his uniform revealed a deep discoloration of the fabric around his midsection. The maroon stain trailed down to the inner thighs of his fatigues. Up until now the adrenaline had masked the extent of his injuries; dulling them while he was in survival mode. It had allowed him to focus on his partner and do what needed to be done. Until now. Now the Captain looked to be sluggish and fading fast.

Piers squeezed his hand.

“Chris.”

When the man didn’t squeeze back the sniper felt the familiar twinge of panic set in. “Don’t y-you pass out on me.” If his partner slipped into unconsciousness now he might not come to again. Not in his current state.

Chris didn’t answer him. Unfocused brown eyes stared vacantly out the pod door. Piers released his Captain’s hand and reached for the front of the man’s vest, fumbling through the front pouches until he found a palm-sized applicator.

“Chris.” He bit into the packaging, tearing it off hastily with his teeth. The pod chose that moment to rock violently, knocking both men off balance and sending the adrenaline shot from the sniper’s hand. A large wave breached the lip of the doorway and sloshed cold water into the pod rolling the syringe away from his fumbling grasp.

Thunder cracked somewhere above them. Chris had slumped over with the force of the wave and he wasn’t pushing himself back up. Piers lunged for the needle and caught the applicator on its way back. “Chris! Don’t you fucking leave me!” he warned his unresponsive partner as he struggled back to his side. He’d be damned if he was going to lose the man now after all the shit they’d gone through together.

He jabbed the end of the syringe hard into Chris’ thigh and held it there. A few agonizing seconds passed before Chris jolted back to the living, the adrenaline forcing his weary body back into action. Chris groaned and pushed himself back into a seated position with wide eyes. Piers visibly relaxed, pulling the needle out and tossing the spent applicator aside. “Welcome back.”

oOo

Such a small disturbance in the rough waters shouldn’t have been detectable, but to the sniper’s keen eye the rush of surfacing bubbles stood out to him between the waves.

Piers frowned at what he’d seen, his one good arm trying in vain to hold himself steady as the pod rocked violently back and forth with the bad weather. It wasn’t raining yet but it was just a matter of time.

Chris was standing at the controls, attempting to reconfigure the wiring and get power back to their vulnerable floatation device before the waves really started to come in. The adrenaline shot had done its magic, keeping Chris energized and moving, but he appeared to be having just as hard a time staying upright with the rocking motion. He would use the cushioned wall to steady himself every now and again when a particularly powerful wave sent the pod roughly to one side, hindering his progress. “Piers,” he said after several unsuccessful attempts at restoring the power.

A tired hazel eye looked up from its focus on the waves. The marksman looked in no shape to do him any favors. “Do you think you can boost this thing?” he asked regretfully. Piers knew the Captain would never have asked him if he wasn’t completely out of options.

Piers sat up with great difficulty. Chris knelt to help him, slinging the marksman’s good arm over his neck. When he was on his feet in front of the panel he let Chris go and gave him a little push out of the way. He needed some space and it would do them no good if he electrocuted them both.

The pod rocked backward and Piers nearly fell over from the force of it. If the Captain hadn’t already been there to catch him and right him again, he would have. Frustrated, tired and in pain, Piers slammed his mutated arm against the control panel on the wall and began to build a charge. He had no idea how he was doing it but his new appendage seemed to know exactly what to do and he didn’t fight the thrumming of bioelectricity as it collected in the sack-like protrusions along the mutated arm. How big of a charge they needed to boost this thing, he had no idea. If he used too much power he could fry the panel. He’d have to be careful….

Chris was silent behind him as he braced himself for what was to come. They were in a big round metal ball after all. He didn’t need a degree in science to know the structure was perfect for conducting electricity. So far the cushions had protected him from the brunt of Piers’ steady outbursts but he’d seen the real power that arm was capable of generating and damned if it didn’t worry him.

Piers unleashed a bolt of white-hot energy. Even through the shielding of his forearm, Chris could see the lightning effect fill the pod. It lasted but a second and the pod was dark again.

“Come on...” Piers growled. He tried again, sending another shockwave of energy into the wiring with a pained cry. Chris felt his own hair stand on end with the outburst. The air smelled of electricity and burning rubber.

The pod came to life with a hum and a flickering of florescent lights and Piers staggered back from the panel, spent and in pain. Chris caught him as he dropped. “You alright?”

“Fantastic.”

Another wave entered their shelter and splashed over the floor, seeping down between the cushions. Chris helped Piers sit against the back wall once more and returned to the controls. The door was half closed when the sniper noticed another disturbance of bubbles hit the surface a few meters away. This time Chris noticed too. The pod door sealed with a hiss and the storm outside was effectively silenced. Chris heaved a sigh of relief. Piers frowned. “We should h-have drifted away from the facility s-site by now. W-why are we still s-seeing air surfacing?”

Chris shook his head, looking out to the rough waters. “They should have been here by now.”

As if on cue, a low beeping began to sound from the panel. A mini radar screen showed a red blip a short distance from their position. It was Chris’ turn to frown. “This thing doesn’t make sense,” he grumbled, tapping the small screen and looking out the pod window to the sky, “Unless I’ve forgotten how to read these things, it’s telling me we have company on the way….”

That was good news, right? So why did it sound like Chris was leading up to some bad news?

“…from a half click below us.”

Below? Piers didn’t understand how that was possible, but he was too tired to question it. “P-probably fried it.” If the radar was telling them help was on the way he could care less if said help was coming from outer space. So long as they got out of this damned pod and back onto solid ground. Another shockwave surged out of him unexpectedly and this time Chris felt the pulse too. The water at the bottom of the pod was more than enough to distribute the charge. Both men cried out and seized in its grip. Piers gasped for breath once it subsided. Chris hit the floor on his knees holding his midsection.

“Chris-!”

The beeping of the radar grew louder and more insistent.

“I-I’m okay.” The Captain reassured him, steadying himself from the rocking of the pod as best he could with one arm.

The pod shifted again violently, sending both men off balance. They crashed into each other against the opposite wall. Fuck this mission. It had to end soon. Had to. A man could only take so much of this.

“I-I’m s-sorry, Captain…” Piers lifted off his injured partner once he was able. He didn’t want to shock him again but a new charge was already building in his arm. Fucking thing.

The radar alarm had reduced itself to one long insistent whine now, indicating the first entity had arrived at their location. Chris was hesitant to open the pod door again what with the last wave having sent the entire pod on its side. He couldn’t make out anything from the window either.

A secondary alarm sounded over the first, drawing the soldiers’ attention to it. This one pulsed steadily like the other had when it first began. Something else was headed their way and it was coming in fast. In fact, it was coming in at the right speed for a rescue chopper…. So what the hell was that other blip on the radar? Chris and Piers exchanged worried looks.

Something struck the pod. Hard.

The lights flickered and the men inside the pod groaned and untangled from one another clumsily. Whatever it was, it found them. Piers stole a glance up at the pod window. It was covered completely by something dark grey. Please god don’t let that be what I think it is.

Chris spit out a mouthful of blood. He hadn’t seen the window yet.

“What was that?!” The Captain was on his feet again. Piers stayed down. He had the distinct feeling it was safer on the floor.

As expected, the pod impacted something with enough force to send its passengers sprawling again. The alarm sounded steadily with the arrival of both screen blips. The second dot was reading from above, while the first was still coming from below them.

The window was clear once more and Piers caught a glimpse of the bright yellow of a rescue chopper before their pod righted itself in the waves.

“T-the chopper’s here, Chris!”

Chris reached for the door controls. The door hissed open allowing for a gust of warm air and a wave of cold salt water to wash over them. It sent both soldiers crashing into to the back wall. Rain had started to fall now and the Cormorant helicopter hovered as close as it dared to the surface of the water before letting down a rope and a single rescue worker into the rough waters. Piers watched the little man’s bright uniform disappear and reappear between surges of water and each time he disappeared the marksman worried he might not surface again.

“I’m infected,” Piers reminded the other dejectedly. “If they see m-me they will kill u-us b-both.”

Chris crawled unsteadily to the entranceway. Thankfully the adrenaline in his system was doing a good job of keeping him going. “I won’t let that happen,” he promised through clenched teeth.

Piers watched his Captain help their rescuer up into the pod. The man carried with him two life vests. He handed one to Chris identifying himself as Leftenant Jones, a Canadian B.S.A.A. operative specializing in mission extraction. “We have to hurry, Captain,” the man shouted over the wind and sound of the rotors. “We need to get out of this storm before she takes us down!” he paused when he spotted Piers.

“Holy crap!” The guy reached for his weapon. Chris stopped him before he could pull his gun. “It’s okay! This is my partner, First Lieutenant Piers Nivans. He’s been infected but he’s not a threat, do you understand me?”

“Like hell he’s not!”

Chris wasn’t having any of it. With a single smooth motion he disarmed the Leftenant, who fumbled in a panic for his weapon and froze with his hands in the air upon having it taken away. “Don’t kill me,” he begged, obviously not expecting any kind of hostility. Chris held the weapon back out to him handle first. “He’s not a threat,” the Captain repeated, gentler than he needed to.

Leftenant Jones hesitated before taking his weapon back. “H-how…?”

“We don’t have time for chit chat, soldier. Get us to that chopper.” Chris was putting on his life vest now and once it was fitted properly he knelt by Piers and helped him up off the wall.

“R-right.” Jones eyed the pair nervously. The infected soldier was horribly disfigured on one side and the mutation was pulsing and glowing an unsettling electric blue. The young man’s youthful face was split open and….was that a third eye forming on his forehead?? There was no way his crew was going to let this guy on board the helicopter.

If he could just get the Captain on board first their mission wouldn’t be a total loss….

Chapter Text

The water was hungry now.

Like an impatient predator waiting for the right moment to claim its wounded prey, it pulled down at the three soldiers as they swam for their lives. When they refused to give in to its cold embrace, the men found themselves pelted mercilessly with heavy waves.

Thunder from the storm cracked deafeningly above. It echoed across the underbelly of amethyst clouds until it was too distant to hear before starting up again. Brief chains of angry lightning followed, illuminating the dark waters and revealing the shining silhouette of the Cormorant helicopter patiently hovering nearby.

Nearby. But not near enough.

Swimming into position beneath the chopper proved to be a challenge. With the added weight of his partner, the relentless opposition of the waves, and the adrenaline shot all but worn out of his system, Chris could feel his body failing under the physical strain of it all. It had been a long time since he’d run himself ragged like he had this mission. The pain in his gut was becoming more prominent with the jarring motions of his sidestrokes and it felt as though one of his ribs might be out of place stabbing into tissue it shouldn’t be stabbing into.

Chris tightened his grip on his partner’s life vest. The force of the waves threatened to separate them if he let go even for a second and the blasts of wind from the helicopter weren’t exactly making things easier for them. Despite the challenge Chris vowed to get his wounded man to the rescue helicopter if it was the last thing he did.

The life vest wasn’t fitted properly to the sniper due to his injuries. It was clipped tightly between his legs, beneath his infected arm and fastened across what remained of his wounded torso as best they could manage, but Piers was having a hard time moving as it was; to now have a harness tight around his chest… well it couldn’t have made breathing any easier for the kid.

“Hang in there, Piers. We’re almost out of here.” Chris held his man close to his chest as they followed the Leftenant away from their abandoned escape pod and further out into open water.

Piers sucked in a lucky breath just as a wave washed over them. The muted silence below the surface was calm and inviting compared to the tempest above. Piers relaxed into it feeling his hair float upward with the rushing of bubbles. The vast echoing darkness below seemed to reach out to him with the alluring promise of peace….

He extended his mutated arm out towards the void, flexing the strange new muscle fully for the first time within the frigid waters. When submerged, the tendrils and various bloated sacks along the appendage glowed an alluring neon blue. It was so unsettling it was almost beautiful.

Disgusting thing. He snarled at it, his hatred for the virus inside burned hotter than the pain of his open wounds and the insistent tearing sensation in his lungs.

I should stay behind. Down here where I can’t hurt anyone. Here in the dark…that’s where monsters belong, don’t they...the darkness….

Something moved in the darkness. Something big.

Piers froze. Whatever it was had been close enough for him to see it through the glow of his arm. And with one eye out of commission and the water being as cold as it was, it had to be a big something for him to notice it.

For the hundredth time tonight adrenaline and controlled panic took hold of his weary body, tensing him for survival against a force that just wouldn’t quit.

HAOS isn’t dead. It’s in the water with us-!

It was Chris who hauled his head and his thoughts back to the surface.

When Piers hadn’t lifted his head to take a breath on his own the Captain pulled the sniper’s face out of the water by the front of his hair. Piers gasped and sputtered back to life at his sudden and unexpected resurgence, choking on the warm air and thrashing at the sudden contact.

“We’re too damn close for you to give up on me now, soldier!” He heard his partner yell over the chaos of the storm and loud beating of the rotors. Piers blinked through the pelting water droplets up at the chopper. The Cormorant hovered above them, a roaring yellow beacon of hope.

Once in position, Lt. Jones grabbed the life line and reached back for Chris. He pulled the Captain to him by his harness. A thick metal carabiner snapped securely to the g-ring on the front of his vest.

“You’re up!” Jones shouted to him, checking him over to make sure he was fastened securely to the line.

“Take him first!” Piers heard his partner shout back. He could feel Chris’ iron grip on him tighten protectively.

“Let me do my job, Captain!” Lt. Jones signaled up to the crew on board the helicopter.

Before Chris could unhook himself, the Leftenant grabbed his wrist to stop him. “My men won’t understand. They’ll kill him before they will let an infected on board that chopper.”

Chris hesitated.

Someone would have to give the men on board some warning if they were to get Piers out of this alive. It made sense that he should have to go first.

“It’s okay, C-Captain.” Piers reassured him through pain-clenched teeth.

Worried brown eyes bore into him. Piers pulled his good arm out of the water to pry his partner’s fingers from his life vest.

“Go!"

Chris released him reluctantly, a feeling of dread welling up inside him as he did so. There was nothing to justify his hesitation. So why then did he feel they were both vulnerable to betrayal?

“I’m trusting you.” Chris warned Lt. Jones before he was abruptly lifted out of the water by the hoist.

“We’re right behind you!” Lt. Jones shouted.

The men in the water watched their fellow soldier as he was pulled up to the helicopter. Once the Captain disappeared from view Jones spared a nervous glance at the infected man in the water a few feet away.

That nervous calculating look didn’t exactly set Piers’ mind at ease. He’d spent enough time in the company of cowards in combat to know what potential disaster was in store for him if the Canadian soldier panicked.

Feeling as though the infected soldier was reading his mind, Lt. Jones grew more anxious under his mutated gaze. The tension between them broke only when the sniper looked from him back up to the Cormorant, willing the rescue to speed up.

Piers was in pain, his mutated arm – although surprisingly feather light in the water – itched with restrained power, and the simple act of keeping his head above water was rapidly draining the last of his strength. The Leftenant wasn’t exactly making a move to help him stay afloat either. Not that he really blamed the guy. If Jones was nervous about being alone with him in the water, Piers was definitely not going to let him know there was a high chance a B.O.W. was in the water with them.

Just a few more minutes…. If they could just hold on a few more minutes….

Lt. Jones reached up to grasp the empty carabiner as it was lowered down to them and Piers watched the man hastily clip his own g-ring to the line. The Leftenant made a point of not looking in his direction as he secured himself until Piers swam too close to ignore.

“Don’t,” the rescue worker warned him. He signaled to his team above.

A sinking feeling hit Piers as he watched the other man adjust the fastenings on his gear. He made no attempt to reach out and help the injured sniper who was mere feet away.

“Don’t do this.” Piers pleaded to him over the waves, swimming closer.

Jones pulled his weapon.

Chapter Text

He’d seen it coming.

Even still the gun in his face felt like a kick to the teeth. He was hurting. Cold. Wet. Tired. His body was fighting mutation, he was separated from his Captain, and now his only chance of survival rested in the hands of this asshole, and the guy had one finger on the trigger.

The act had him reeling back in angry shock,“Oh fuck you!” he shouted through the rain at the man who would leave him behind. It was hard to keep your cool when you were about to be left for dead in the middle of the ocean by a fellow soldier.

The load line attaching Leftenant Jones to the rescue chopper grew taut while the men stared each other down. The barrel of the handgun held its target stubbornly even as its owner was pulled clear of the water. Once safely out of reach, the Leftenant tucked the weapon away again.

"Coward," Piers shouted up at him, spitting out salt water. "You could have just shot me!" 

The look of regret on the Leftenant's face was not enough to redeem him for this. Piers could picture Chris' reaction once their rescuer climbed on board without him. Chris was going to go ballistic when he realized what Jones had done.

Left with no choice, Piers scanned the waves for the escape pod they'd left behind. The round mechanism looked much smaller from so far away and Piers doubted it was an option for him now.

"Shit, shit, shit!" he thrashed in the water, unable to do much else. At least his arm had stopped building a charge. That or he was too numb to notice it at this point. Yelling into the storm in frustration and pain Piers stopped resisting the angry push of the waves and let himself be taken by the dark waters. He lay back and closed his eyes, willing the monster beneath the surface to come take him and get it over with.

A strange sensation pulled at him then. Almost like a suctioning, tugging at him from below. He tried not to panic as the water level around him began to sink inward as though a large portion of it had suddenly been displaced by something.

Something massive and terrifying breached the surface a second later, launching itself from the water next to him straight up at the Cormorant. HAOS ascended like some kind of horrific grey behemoth screaming up from another world. It grabbed for the helicopter with impossibly long arms.

By some miracle the chopper banked just in time to avoid the massive grabbing hands, but one of the creature's tentacles slapped the tail end of it, sending it off balance. The helicopter wavered but stayed airborne. Unfortunately the hoist line wasn't so lucky, it was tossed toward the creature with the inertia of the maneuver.

Lt. Jones didn’t stand a chance.

HAOS plucked the screaming soldier clean off the line like he was meat on a string before disappearing beneath the surface with him.

Piers, who had been swallowed by the resulting tidal wave, surfaced again a moment later in full panic mode. He couldn't help it given HAOS had grown back to it's staggering original size. The thing was fucking huge!

The Cormorant returned to its position over it’s distressed soldier, hovering stubbornly once the B.O.W. dropped from sight. The hoist line still appeared to be intact. In his distress, Piers spotted it dangling from the belly of the chopper, the end of it touching the tops of the waves. Whoever was piloting had some serious balls to continue with the rescue mission after seeing that. The sniper made a mental note to kiss the pilot if he got out of this alive. If.

If he could just get to that line before he too became a snack for Neo Umbrella's pet monster....

HAOS burst to the surface again some distance away. Having made short work of its human snack and with fresh blood on its tongue it was back for more. Piers glanced backward in time to see the creature crushing the escape pod- his only alternate means of refuge - mercilessly between giant palms. The metal shell of the pod screeched under the pressure and folded in on itself without a fight. Satisfied at having destroyed the round mechanism that got away earlier, HAOS turned back and roared in the direction of the remaining helicopter.

Piers swam harder.

Wincing in the strong wind the ace strained to reach the line with his good arm while the pilot of the Cormorant nudged  it closer to him. He grabbed at it with numb fingers, missing a few times with the bobbing of the waves. The chopper lowered another foot or two to aid the one in the water until Piers finally grabbed hold. He moved to fasten his vest to the line but the clasp wasn't there.

It had been torn off with Leftenant Jones.

Piers let the frayed wire slip from his hand back into the water. There was no way they could pull him from the water like this. Even if he had the use of both arms, he had no strength left to hold on.

"Piers!!"

Chris was calling him from the chopper. He was yelling at him not to give up as the other men held the Captain back by his gear as though he were about to jump out. If Piers knew his partner Chris would jump back into the water with him if given the chance.

Piers willed him to stay put. He was safe up there. He'd stay safe if they would just abort the rescue mission. The remaining crew could cut their losses and head home and no one would blame them for it. It was what a smart crew would do.

"Just go!" Piers shouted back. He knew the risks when he took this job. "Get out of here! Now!”

Chris shouted something back, but a cracking of thunder drowned him out.

Turn that fucking chopper around and get the hell out of here! The sniper screamed at him in his mind. His voice was no longer strong enough to reach Chris and the others.

The B.O.W. hurled the remains of the escape pod through the air, flinging it like a rock at the elusive flying machine. The Cormorant swung out of the way just in time to avoid being knocked from the sky by the twisted mass of metal and sparking wires. HAOS screamed in frustration, slapping its tentacles against the waves in a violent rage before diving beneath the surface in the direction of Piers, who was now desperately trying to unfasten his life vest with one arm. If he was going to survive this next attack he would need to be able to move properly.

HAOS was coming at him now, much faster than anticipated. The waters rose to accommodate the body of the beast as it raced just beneath the surface at surprising speed. Out of options and out of time, Piers gave up trying to free himself in favor of channeling his new power. He’d incapacitated this B.O.W. before, he prayed he would be able to do it again now.

With a pained cry, Piers released a chain of bio electricity into the water. On command, it tore through the darkness, white hot and alive with jagged fury, closing in on its intended target and stopping HAOS in its tracks when it connected.

An ear piercing screech resounded as the cephalopod reared out of the water in surprise.

Piers could feel his already weary body weakening as his newfound ability drained him. It was getting harder and harder to keep his head above the waves and so very tempting to give up... His life vest wasn’t so willing to let him drown, however. Chris had secured it tight.

The helicopter wasn’t leaving either. It lingered hopefully. The men on board were shooting at the recovering B.O.W. now, Piers recognized the sound of their firing guns over the storm, though the waves were making it difficult to see anything. Redfield you stubborn sonovabitch, just GO! He shouted at his partner in his mind.

If his new power had crippled the creature during their earlier encounters it didn't seem to be nearly as effective now. HAOS shrugged off his attack from the water and leaped stubbornly for the chopper again, trying to swat the men pelting it with bullets from above. It didn't matter how talented their pilot was, Chris and the rescue team were going to run out of luck eventually.

Piers set his jaw and began to draw in bioelectricity again. He didn’t question his new ability, only did whatever his mutated appendage told him to do to build a strong charge. With one last deep breath the sniper pushed below the surface with the next big wave and aimed at the monster ahead of him. Blue white lightning trailed across the water, shooting straight for the monster. It collided with the beast and engulfed it like a living net of hot energy. The creature screamed again and thrashed about before finally turning its focus on the cause of its pain. It screeched at the little man in the water and snatched him up effortlessly with one hand, tearing him from the waves. It pulled him close, examining the partially mutated human with surprisingly intelligent blue eyes.

Piers squirmed helplessly in the fist of the nightmarish beast. It had both his arms pinned painfully to his sides and was squeezing tighter and tighter...

“Just kill me already!” Desperation was setting in.

HAOS heeded his request, opening its giant maw of crooked teeth to bite the sniper in half. Piers closed his eyes. A barrage of bullets showered down on the B.O.W., plowing deep into the thick flesh of the monster's face. One shot caught it in the eye. HAOS shied away from the gunfire, flailing in pain and shielding its face with the back of its free arm.

That's when it threw him.

Everything slowed down for Piers Nivans at that point. There was no time to freak out. No time to even scream as he was hurled through the air straight at the helicopter like he was nothing. At the height of the action, Piers’ senses seemed to kick in and stall time. He could see clearly the details around him with both eyes now; He saw Chris, leaning out the back of the chopper, reaching for him as the Cormorant began to turn away to avoid him. Two men were trying to hold him back as the Captain screamed his name. He saw the steady spinning of the rotors as if in slow motion, felt their vibration through the storm; saw clearly the tiny projectile water droplets as they flung outward. If he hit those blades now there was no way anyone was surviving this. He heard the heavy pounding of the blood in his ears, felt the tension in his stomach and the ripping pain of his mutation as it ate through his entire right side.

Lastly, he felt gravity reach up to reclaim him. He was falling just short of the chopper...

Somehow Chris managed to grab hold of him mid flight. Had the sniper been tossed any higher he would have been shredded by the rotors. Any lower and Chris would never have caught his hand. Their gloves slapped together roughly and the force of Piers’ trajectory pulled his partner almost completely out of the chopper. Had Lieutenant Wright not been there with a strong grip on one of the Captain's pant legs he and Piers both might have been lost in the momentum. Hell, Chris had practically jumped out of the cargo hold to catch him!

Wright shouted at the pilot to take off, hauling back on the Captain with the help of his other man until most of Chris' body was fully planted back on the craft.

“Hang on to me!” Chris pleaded to a clearly struggling Piers with no regard for his own safety. Even with both of his hands clutching the sniper’s wrist he could feel the younger soldier's grip on him loosening. This was a scenario Chris had played through far too many times with people he cared about. He had no intention of losing Piers. Not like this.

Piers heard a growl of frustration from the man holding onto Chris. He watched their rescuer pull his side arm from its holster and aim the barrel at the back of his partner's head for him to see. Piers' eyes widened in shock at the bold and unexpected threat. The warning was clear: ‘Let go or I’ll kill your Captain.'

The guy was out of his mind if he was resorting to mutiny!

The soldier looked insane with that gun in his hand, but he also looked dead serious given their current situation. Piers hesitated and looked to Chris.

The choice was easy to make but it made him sick just the same.

Chris saw his hesitation. He saw Piers' will to hold on fade suddenly. Watched his expression soften as the fear of letting go seemed to leave his face....

“No!” Chris could feel it already, Piers was letting him go. Why?! They were so close to getting the hell out of here! Why was he giving up now?!

“Don’t you let me go! Don't you do it!”

Piers’ hand slipped from his.

Chris grabbed for him again, desperate fingers missing their target and clutching at nothingness as he shouted his name.

Piers fell away from his screaming partner, closing his eyes so he didn’t have to see the look of agonizing loss on Chris' face. He felt nothing but the tense fluttering that came with falling from a great distance. Gravity pulled him back into the merciless dark water and he let it, hitting the surface on his back and sinking deep.

This time the water could have him. He let the momentum of his fall suck him down as far as the air in his lungs would let him go. He was never meant to survive this. The only reason he’d made it this far was because Chris Redfield was a stubborn sonofabitch who didn’t know when to quit.

Piers hovered there, lost somewhere between heaven and hell. In a frigid limbo of possessive but welcoming quiet.

I’m sorry Chris. I can't do it...

The muffled echo of a monster reverberated through the water. The exhausted soldier stirred at the sound before his life vest could pull him back to the surface.

Fucking HAOS.

He could see it through the haze of the water. The lightning above illuminated the giant cephalopod for a few brief seconds.

Finally giving in to the burning of his lungs, the sniper swam for the surface with new purpose. He broke through the waves and gasped for air. The Cormorant had begun to leave him behind. The pilot must have finally shared it's passenger's views on the failed status of this rescue mission.

HAOS had begun spitting acidic sludge into the air in an attempt to knock it out of the sky.

Piers gritted his teeth and built up a new charge in his arm.

If he was going to die today he was going to take that fucking B.O.W. down with him.

Chapter Text

Fucking HAOS.

The massive B.O.W.'s pained shriek echoed over the storm, a sizeable section of its transparent grey flesh sizzling and blistering where it had been scorched with bioelectricity. Reluctantly tearing its focus from the retreating rescue helicopter, HAOS spun to face the easier target in the water.

Piers unhooked his life vest, tearing at the clasps with the numb fingers of his left hand until they untangled from him and he was on his own in the waves. He knew if he was going to take out this enemy he was going to have to do something drastic: He was going to have to surrender the control he'd fought so hard to maintain over his own body. He had no plan of attack, but he’d witnessed enough to know the chaotic nature of the C-virus needed no strategy to accomplish its gruesome goals. Piers the man couldn't hold his own against this enemy, but Piers the monster.... he might stand a chance.

Chris was safe now. His partner would wake up in a hospital somewhere tomorrow and have people there to take care of him when he did. That was all Piers could ask for.

HAOS reached for him, dragging one of its unnaturally long arms from the water with malicious intent.

This is why you infected yourself, the sniper reminded himself grimly, watching the creature prepare to attack while he fought to stay above the waves. To stop this motherfucker.

Lightning silhouetted the oversized hand as it moved into position above him. It seemed to hover there a moment, dripping down on him, but not descending - was time slowing down for him again like it did when he was hurled at the chopper? Piers took in a determined breath and waited for the inevitable.

The hand slammed down hard. The impact split the waves and forced the air painfully out of his lungs when it hit him. Piers was thrust deep into the crushing darkness before giant fingers wrapped securely around him and squeezed, pulling him back up to the surface. The combination of pressure and pain was disorienting.

HAOS pulled its hand from the waves to claim its prize, extending giant pillars of flesh to expose the wounded soldier to the pouring rain. The B.O.W. studied its prey with wide, unblinking blue eyes; Eyes that might have once been human but lacked any kind of empathy or reason behind them now. Piers struggled to right himself and leaned heavily on his good arm to involuntarily cough up something viscous and black. The substance at his fingers began to bubble and thicken rapidly once it was free of him. The sniper had seen enough human-to-B.O.W. mutations to know: his time was up.

Piers looked up at the monster that would infect the world if he allowed it to live. HAOS roared at his resilience, as if sensing the tiny human wasn't about to go down without a fight.

Piers spat out one last mouthful of black, rose shakily to his feet, and gave himself to the C-virus.

----

Lieutenant Wright had never seen a more pathetic display. Especially one put on by a Captain of the B.S.A.A.. His partner had to hold back their rescued man, lest he fling himself out of the chopper after his infected soldier like some kind of suicidal martyr.

“You turn this bird around! You do it NOW!” The Captain was yelling.

He’d just lost a man, that was hard. Wright sympathized with him, really. They had just lost Jones too. But that was part of the job; sometimes a mission was only half successful and there were always losses. Still, that was no reason to kamikaze out of a rescue chopper because of one infected comrade.

They tried their best to calm their thrashing rescue, but the Captain was beyond reason. The man was considerable in size and he was proving to be a challenge to hold onto.

“What’s he yelling about back there?” The pilot asked via his headset.

Lt. Wright leaned towards the cockpit. “He wants us to turn around,” he yelled back.

“Did he not notice the giant tentacle monster that almost took us down?!" The pilot yelled back, clearly not used to seeing B.O.W.'s of that magnitude up close. "And we can't stick around any longer or we'll run out of fuel!"

Suddenly the crazed Captain was upon Wright, gripping him by the front of his vest and hauling him up onto his toes with surprising strength.

“We’re going back. I am not asking." There was a threat in his tone that had the Lieutenant considering what the man was capable of in his current state. Wright contemplated exercising his right to restrain and relieve their rescued Captain given the man’s obviously unstable condition. Wright's partner looked to him for direction, the soldier's weapon ready but lowered respectfully.

“You turn this bird around or I will.” Chris growled, pulling Wright in close so their noses almost touched. Water dripped down the Captain’s hardened features and Wright felt him shake in rage. The Lieutenant held his gaze steadily.

"I can't do that, Captain."

Chris bared his teeth and slammed him backward into the chopper wall hard enough for the soldier to wince when his head hit the metal frame. Wright's partner raised his weapon hesitantly, shouting for their hostile charge to calm down.

“You know as well as I do if we go back we’ll all die.” Wright reminded him calmly over the roar of the engine. “Do you want that kind of blood on your hands, Captain?”

That hit home.

Like a lucky suckerpunch straight to the conscience, Wright’s words had Chris releasing him and backing away in pain. Chris staggered toward the open mouth of the helicopter; weighed down by the sudden reminder of the multitude of losses he’d already sustained this mission. The second soldier moved to catch the Captain if he tried anything stupid, but Chris shoved him away and knelt on the ramp to scan the vast expanse of ocean behind them for any sign of his fallen partner.

“If he wants to jump, let him!” Wright ordered.

“Uh, guys?! Something big is happening back there!” The pilot interjected, a slight panic in his tone.

A deep purple collection of the most dangerous looking storm clouds they had ever seen were gathering tightly around the site the Cormorant had just left behind. Lightning spat out from the furthest clouds and danced sporadically inward to the center swirl as though something powerful was collecting energy there.

"Holy shit!” Wright's partner shouted, clinging to the handle above the ramp for support. “Let’s, uh, get the fuck out of here, please!” His hair was on end and it wasn't the wind making it stand up like that.

Chris watched with wide eyes the distant silhouette of HAOS in the water below. The B.O.W. looked to be in a rage or a panic, thrashing its tendrils in a frenzy beneath the gathering purple storm. It reached an arm up to the crackling sky....

“GET DOWN!” Chris shouted, covering his own ears and falling to his side to shield his head as best he could from the inevitable impact.

A brilliant white light blanketed the area, burning through all attempts to avoid it, and for a brief blind moment in time the Cormorant was enveloped in a supernatural silence. That silence was swiftly followed by a deafening CRACK that physically hurt as the sonic wave passed through the men in the helicopter.

When his senses returned Chris found himself laying painfully across the other men in a tangled mess. Wright broke free first and fumbled for his mouthpiece.

“The hell just happened?!” he hollered at the pilot.

“Sorry. I’ve got control again…we’re okay now…” The pilot sounded shaken, like he had been at fault for their current predicament.

Chris winced and rolled off of Wright’s partner so the man could right himself again. The soldier signed to him asking if he was okay. Chris nodded, sitting back on the bench and holding his midsection through his gear with a deep exhale.

He wasn’t okay. And that was no ordinary lightening that had struck in the middle of the ocean. That was Piers’ doing.

Chris squeezed his eyes shut. How had things gotten so fucked up?

“Captain, let me look at you.”

Chris felt a tugging at his vest. He didn’t resist.

“Oh shit. You are definitely not okay.” The soldier pulled down a medical kit from somewhere above and fumbled through the contents while Wright knelt in front of Chris and shined a tiny light in his eyes.

Wright whistled in agreement, checking over the Captain’s sluggish physical responses. “You are not well, my friend.”

Chris held Wright’s hard stare, but he was not looking at the man so much as through him. Had Wesker’s son and Birkin gotten out of the facility in time? Bringing the kid into protective custody was top priority now. Leon would have sent another team after him. If there was anyone left to send….

"-you have it on your person…?” Wright was asking him something.

A silicone mask was lowered over his nose and mouth and Chris blinked at the cold feeling of oxygen blowing against his damp skin. Breathing instantly became less of a chore, though the air he now breathed was frigid.

“He’s going into shock, Kevin.” A distant voice informed.

Wright didn’t move even though his partner was speaking to him. He continued watching their shivering charge expectantly. Chris watched him back.

“Help me lay him down. We need to cut his clothes.”

Wright accepted the insulated blanket he was handed but ignored his partner, asking Chris instead: “What happened to your man?”

Chris stared at the Lieutenant, processing his questions but not answering him.

The other soldier shoved Wright hard enough to send him momentarily sprawling, “I said help me move him, damnit!”

What happened to your man?  Wright’s words echoed senselessly in Chris’ mind, looping until they no longer formed a logical question.

What happened.