Some time later...
Claire had only just left a medical tent after giving blood when she watched a small group of trucks approach, only just barely noticing the WilPharma logo on the sides.
Nearby, Leon holds his phone, talking to a woman.
"Hey, Hunnigan. I'm reporting in."
"I already heard. The marines landed in the nick of time and saved the day. I can't tell you how relieved I am."
"I'm amazed and impressed you got authorization for that. You must have pulled a few strings."
"Yes. Well, I have my resources. After I received confirmation from USAMRIID that the virus used in this attack was indeed the T-Virus, I submitted a plan to the president. He pushed it through as a special emergency act. Every marine involved in the assault was vaccinated."
"Have the terrorists made their demands?"
"No, not yet. But the FBI captured a member of General Grande's army in Los Angeles just moments ago. When we interrogate him, he might give us some information that'll establish a link between this attack and the one in India."
"Maybe we'll dig up a lead on the whereabouts of former Umbrella Employees. They've gotta be the ones peddling the virus on the black market."
With Claire
"What the hell is going on? Why are WilPharma drugs being brought here?""
"It's the vaccine."
Claire froze. She recognized that voice. She turned around, slowly. "You? What are you doing here?"
The senator entered the conversation. "He's WilPharma's head researcher."
"Claire was confused and suspicious of the two.
"May I introduce Frederic Downing. He's the one who developed the vaccine for the virus. Which you in particular are so familiar with."
"You mean the infection at the terminal?"
"You thought that was WilPharma engineered, didn't you? Utterly ridiculous! An inoculation. That's what they've been working on, a way to prevent further outbreaks."
"But..."
"Claire, it's true."
"You knew?"
"Yes. I didn't think its use would be sanctioned this quickly. Then, the Human testing in India..."
"An attack by terrorists that somehow got ahold of the T-Virus. All the members of the group supported by General Grande were infected, so we don't know the details. The US government obtained permission from Indian Authorities to administer the T-Virus vaccine to the nearby communities. A vaccine secretly developed by WilPharma. It was a success. The infection rate was kept as minimal as possible."
Angela was furious, grabbing Leon by the jacket. "Why the hell didn't you break out the vaccine for this? If we'd been inoculated before we entered the terminal, Greg would..."
"Inoculation would have been entirely possible had TerraSave not backed us into an adversarial corner. Had we been able to follow proper procedure as outlined in the original schedule, the government medical stockpile could have been shipped anywhere in the US within 12 hours."
Claire was horrified. "Oh, my God. Then...it's all our fault."
Senator Davis smirked as he waddled up to Claire, smug as a mug at a Christmas party. "I wouldn't argue with you there."
Leon found Claire in a tent, sulking.
"We just ended up making things worse."
"That's not true. The villains here are the ones who used the virus, but worse than them are the ones who made it. Seven years ago, our lives were changed forever by the virus from Umbrella Corp. Umbrella collapsed, but their viral legacy continues to spread. I'm going to scrub this virus from the face of the Earth. You chose the role of a rescuer rather than a fighter, like me. You chose a path that your brother and I couldn't follow. You weren't wrong."
"Thank you, Leon."
The ground suddenly begins to shake as a loud explosion fills the air. Shouting soon followed.
"Find some extinguishers!"
"Clear the area before the gas tanks blow!" The commanding officer shouts as one of his men rushes to save a man on fire.
"Let's go! Let's go!"
"Where's the rest of the team? Come on!" The CO shouted, so few of his men assisting as they rush to fight the fire.
"How do I use this thing?" A soldier asks, having trouble operating the extinguisher.
"Help! Somebody help! I'm stuck!"
"I'm coming! I'm coming!"
"Hurry up! Come on!"
When Claire, Leon, and Angela arrive, all they find are the destroyed trucks and Frederic Downing staring into the flames. Running over to Downing, Leon asked, "what happened?"
"The trucks carrying the vaccine..."
"Ahem!" Came a soft voice.
"How much of the vaccine is left?"
"Ahem..." Came a little voice.
"Everything we brought today was all we were able to scrape together from vaccine samples inside the company, and most of that has just been lost."
Approaching the group, Senator Davis asked Leon, "where's the manufacturing data? You think they're after the data too?"
"Could be."
"Why don't you tell us what their demands are already? If you don't wanna talk, I'll just go directly to the president. The truth."
"Truth?"
"They demand the truth."
"The viral weapon from which Umbrella Corporation's T-Virus was derived. They wanna reveal everyone from the U.S. Government who was involved."
"Was the government involved?" Angela asked.
Leon turned to Angela. "The proof went up in smoke with Raccoon City."
"Wait a minute. The truth didn't disappear. There never was any. Convince the terrorists of that."
"If they don't get that information, what will happen?" Claire asked.
Leon slowly turned to face Claire. "They'll disperse the T-Virus in every populated area in the U.S. The deadline is midnight."
"That's only four hours from now!" Angela said looking up from her watch.
"And there's no vaccine left..."
"Ahem..." A little voice said.
"Can we find out who these terrorists are?" Downing asked calmly.
"I have a clue as to the identity of one of them. Right after the first infected victims appeared in the airport terminal, I noticed a man in the lobby. His name is Curtis Miller."
"I know him. He's one of those bleeding hearts protesting against the construction of the new research facility."
"If the terrorists demands are the release of information on what really happened in Raccoon City, then he might be..."
"It can't be..."
Everyone slowly turns to face Angela.
"Curtis Miller is...my older brother." She didn't want to believe it. "My brother wouldn't do something like this."
"He was arrested for threatening WilPharma."
"He just demanded information be made public."
"Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn't see it that way."
"If you claim he's not a terrorist, why don't you bring him here to explain himself?"
Having had enough, Angela stormed off, revealing a little boy standing next to the fire, watching the trucks burn. Claire knelt next to him, wrapping him up in her jacket and pulling him close.
"We'll be okay, Sweetie."
"Mommy?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Is the medicine gone?" Nicholas asked, his eyes filling up with fearful tears.
Leon couldn't keep his eyes off the boy. Especially when he saw strange blackened veins along the boy's arm.
"Not all of it, but alot of it it."
"Oh..." Nicholas's tone seemed to be a bit more hopeful.
Later that night, Leon found Angela armed to the teeth. "You're sure packing alot of hardware just to go see your brother."
Angela glared at Leon and slammed the door to the trailer.
Walking toward Frederic's car, Claire asked him, "where are you going?"
So many things were on her mind at the moment. Most notably, her son.
"I'm going to the office to check on the development data," Downing answered as he got into the driver's seat.
"Can I help you with something? Don't worry, I'm not scheming to infiltrate your organization for my own nefarious purposes."
Downing chuckled silently before returning to his facade. "I'm afraid there's only one thing you can do. Join me for a late afternoon tea."
Claire, surprised by the offer, smiled and nodded.
Helping Claire into his car, Downing never noticed the senator hiding nearby.
"There you are. Comfortable? It'll be nice to have some company."
The senator shook his head as the two drove off, angry at them for supposed treachery.
Meanwhile, Nicholas stares blankly at a doctor writing something down on a clipboard. His gaze settles on the wall, his eyes slowly dripping blood. At first it was unnoticeable., but eventually, it seemed as though a river of the crimson substance began to seep from the cracks in the dam as though there was a hole. One of the staff noticed, boy was still as stone, his gazed seemingly trapped in itself. When he finally snapped out of it, he blinked several times, unfazed by the bleeding due to the dead nerves.
The doctor was concerned of course, no one bleeds from the eyes as a normal occurrence. Performing several tests, she found the reason as to why he was excreting blood from his eyes. Once her tests were done, she bolted from the tent. She never noticed the long haired figure hiding in the dark just outside.
When the doctor came back with a colleague and a few soldiers, they found that Nicholad disappeared. "He was right there...on the table..."
One of the rangers quickly went to his radio. "Search the camp. We have a potential kidnapping in progress."
They were too late, Nicholas was already unconscious and in the hands of Curtis Miller.
In Downing's Office
"There is something, but...Davis wants it to remain hidden."
Claire stood up as Downing moved away from his computer.
"This is the G-Virus."
Claire brought a hand to her mouth as her eyes slowly filled with tears. The memories of William Birkin flooded her mind. She had seen firsthand what the G-Virus could do to a Human being.
"You have that here?"
Downing heard the fear in Claire's voice despite the disguise.
"It's a secret even within the company. The government affiliates don't know about it either. It was obtained through special means. A group with which neither we nor someone in the senator's position can be associated. You got it on the black market. What did you plan on doing with the G-Virus? Create a vaccine, but even the senator couldn't adequately express the threat G posed to the government. The plans were shelved and it has remained in level 4 ever since. The senator is on the committee that decided to bomb Raccoon City."
Claire froze in horror. "I've gotta tell Leon."
"Wait. No, L...if you do that, what will happen to me?"
Claire turned to face Downing. "You didn't seem worried about that when you were telling me everything."
As Claire turned back to her phone, Downing slowly sat down and looked at the screen. "Looks like...looks like there's something wrong with the server."
Claire watched the man leave the room. However, it was to believe he wasn't hiding something. Calling Leon, Claire found him answering her almost immediately.
"Claire? What's wrong?"
"Leon! Get over to WIlPHarma, right now! They've got the G-Virus! They were going to make a vaccine like they did for the T-Virus but Davis just called Frederic and told him to get rid of it."
"Is Frederic there?"
"He just went to go fix a server."
"Or, he may have gone to dump the virus."
"Couldn't be."
"Claire...there's a call coming from inside the building," Leon explained as Claire moved toward the phone.
"Hold on." Picking up the phone, Claire finds Downing on the other end.
"Claire?"
"Frederic? Where are you?"
"In level 4."
"Why? You were going to the server room."
"I saw someone suspicious on my way there and followed him. You need to get out, there's a time bomb! It's too late to stop it."
Staring out the window, Claire spots Curtis holding her son by the wrist, the boy struggling to escape his grip. An explosion quickly rocks the building.
"Claire? Claire!" Leon shouts. "Damnit!"
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know. We got cut off."
Claire awoke only a few minutes past the blast to the voice on the intercom. "Until safe conditions are reestablished and verified."
Slowly sitting up, Claire turned to look at the ruined dome. She was brought out of her horror by the sudden stinging in her leg. It's source: a shard of glass in her left calf. Grabbing the shard, Claire yanks it from its resting place.
On the bottom floor...
Nicholas looked around for his parents, ignoring the pain given to him by the piece of broken rebar stuck in his chest, narrowly missing his heart.
"Mommy! Daddy!" He cried, but to no avail.
Only a few floors up is Leon walking down a hallway about to open a door when he snaps to an open doorway revealing a wounded Claire holding the piece of an Ottoman. Sliding down a wall, Claire can't help but focus on the pain as Leon rushes toward her.
"What happened? Where's Frederic?"
"He was telling me about a time bomb he found on level 4 when..."
Leon looked down at Claire's leg. "A nasty wound. We gotta get out."
"I'm alright, listen to me. Curtis has Nicholas. I saw them, he was holding Nick by the wrist and...and his face was covered in black veins."
"It's okay, Claire. We'll find him. I promise."
"Mommy! Daddy!"
Claire and Leon looked toward a window, down below, a boy finds himself rescued by Angela.
Nicholas stands up slowly, his body healing rapidly, the veins on his face returning to their hidden state. Watching Curtis transform, however, was the tipping point. He slowly backed away from the growing man, one of the rangers picking him up and running out of the room with him in his arms. Setting Nicholas down, the soldier told him to run.
Following orders, Nicholas runs to an elevator that leads outside, however, just as he was about to make it, a hand grabs him from the shadows.
"Hmhmhmhm. Don't think I don't know about you Redfield. Your little gift."
"Fred, you're hurting me."
"Doesn't matter. I wonder what will happen when I put you through same tests your brothers and sisters went through."
Nicholas's eyes widened in horror at the thought, his tiny mind managing to comprehend what was said to him.
"Now, be quiet and maybe, just maybe I'll let you have some ice cream."
"What are you going to do to me?"
"At best, you are the perfect test subject, at worst, leverage."
Sometime later..
"It's me. What do you think? Yes, per your request. As of now, General Grande, only you will be in the possession of a set of the T-Virus and T-Vaccine. Nothing would offer greater advantage when negotiating with a country that wants to keep the existence of this virus a secret." Downing takes a puff of his cigarette. "You needn't worry. I've anticipated everything down to the last detail. Including my own escape arrangements. Don't forget, you owe me extra money for the data on the G-Virus." He smiles and puts his cigarette out. "And one last thing. As a friend, heed my advice and forget about G. The stuff is wickedly volatile and it can't be controlled."
When Downing hung up, he turned to the handcuffed boy who happened to be glaring at him. He kneeled down to the seven year old's level. "What are you trying to do, glare at me so hard that you put a hole in my widdle bwain?"
Nicholas's eyes began to glow a bit as he spat in Downing's face.
"Charming." Downing wiped his face and rolled his eyes, picking up the handgun on the hood of the car.
"You know. It's funny. I have no idea how you managed to stay alive despite the bite. Even with the rare titanic immune system, no one ever has total immunity. What's your secret little one?"
Nicholas giggled like a madman or boy in this case. "I'll never tell."
Downing grimaced, at least until he saw the car. "Ah, right on time." Downing watched two people leave the car, but couldn't make out their identities. "You were supposed to come alone."
"I just wanted to see your face one more time."
Downing, quickly grabbed ahold of Nicholas, putting the gun to his head. "Ah, ah, ah."
Claire, tired her best to remain cool. No one hurt her children.
"Don't move. I have the last of the T-Virus vaccine and the development data. This is all that remains in the world. Well, except for little Nicky here. The perfect test subject, both in viral weapons and vaccine production. His naturally forming antibodies will do wonders for my personal research."
"You won't get away with this," Claire said, fuming under her breath.
"Daddy?" Nicholas whimpered, his voice filled fear.
"It's gonna be okay, buddy. Trust me, okay? Remember what I always tell you?"
The boy nods.
"Yes, that's right. You two can appreciate the situation better than anyone else. Especially after your up-close-and-personal experiences with virus victims. Mankind will need this. The boy more so than anything. It's funny really. It's just like a movie. Except if I pulled the trigger..." Downing pulls the hammer on his gun back. "Everyone is doomed, you more so to grief than viral infection."
Hearing footsteps behind him, Downing smiled.
"Ah, yes. The intrepid police officer, your brother was a thorn in my side. I admit, it couldn't have been done any better. the way he...ripped those poor soldiers apart with his bare...bones. Quite horrific wasn't it? Now...imagine it on a grand scale. It would be madness to try to mass produce it due to our inability to control it.," Downing said, slowly turning to reveal a captive Nicholas. "Now, we seem to be at an impasse here. You have two choices. Either you let me go free or...and I really don't want to do this but...if I have to, I put a bullet in this boy's head."
"You know we can't let you."
"So sad, and here I thought you-"
Downing was swiftly interrupted by Nicholas kicking his knee and biting the arm that held the gun, eliciting a loud scream from his lips, blood spewing from his arm.
The small boy ran over to his mother, his face covered by blood.
Looking at his arm, Downing watched black veins slowly form and protrude in his arm. "What kind of abomination is that boy?"
"He was born because of G," Claire says, holding her terrified son close.
Downing's eyes widened as he watched the res of Harvardville PD arrive, his wound nonfatal.
The next day...
Angela stood on a cliff overlooking the WilPharma buildings. Behind her were Leon and Claire, slowly walking up to her.
"Frederic confessed to everything. He was also the one who provided the T-Virus to the terrorists in India. He even acted as the black market broker. He stole the T- and G-Viruses then escaped right before the Raccoon City Disaster, but Frederic decided that he could sell them as a set with a vaccine. He erased his past, found employment with WilPharma and gained unrestricted access to their research facilities. He had the luxury of searching for potential customers while manufacturing the vaccine. This is how he stumbled on General Grande. The terrorist incidents were demonstrations staged for General Grande's benefit. Sort of a...twisted sales pitch."
Angela stared blankly at the facility. "And my brother was just a tool to them. He was used."
"This doesn't absolve Curtis of what he did, but we share something in common with him. And that's his passionate desire to prevent any further tragedies like Raccoon City."
Angela slowly turned to face Claire before turning to Leon and blinking a couple times.
After a while of awkward staring, Leon said, "I gotta go."
As they walked away, Claire took Leon's hand in hers.
"Leon."
Leon and Claire stopped for a moment.
"Let's go diving together again...sometime."
"Love to."
As they walked away, Claire couldn't stop smiling.
"So, I was thinking. When Nicholas gets better, we could let him carry the rings."
"And risk him vomiting on the carpet due to anxiety?"
"I'm just saying. It's a thought."
Leon chuckled.
"So...when did you two go diving?"
"Don't worry about that. More importantly, what are you up? Need a lift?' Leon asked with a smirk.
Claire smiled and pointed at the old 50's car behind her.
"Nice. Could do with a clean wash. You know, your niece could be a flower girl."
"That sounds like a lovely idea."
The two stop and exchange a kiss, Claire wrapping her arms around her boyfriend's neck. Not long after did it go beyond that, the two lovers making out in the open. Soon enough, Leon's friends began to cheer him on.
"Get some, Kennedy!"
"WHOOOOO!"
"Git'er'dun, Kennedy!"
Reaching into his holster, he pulled his handgun out a little and heard nothing but silence afterward.
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing."
"Oh dear," Rani's aunt says, covering the little girl's eyes.
Pulling away, Claire gives a soft smile before walking back toward her friend and her niece, a deliberate sway in her hips and a quick wink.
Leon watched her the whole way before getting on the helicopter.
France, Hidden Umbrella Laboratory, 8:00 pm
A lone scientist approaches a vat holding a seven year old girl with crimson red hair, smiling with pride.
"Subject 0 is almost ready for field testing, sir."
A lone scientist steps forward. "Good. Now, onto the next Redfield..."