So I originally said I wasn't going to start posting this story until I finished writing it completely. However as a birthday gift to a dear penpal of mine, I have decided to post the first two chapters. I expect this story to be short (~8-10 Chapters) and have already finished writing four of them. If you came to this page looking for an update on my other fanfictions, check my profile for info. In fear that my writer's block has only lifted temporarily, I'm not going to agree to posting regularly until I have a complete rough draft to work on. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the story.

Chapter 1:

Sweat dripped slowly down his back as he surveyed the room for enemies. Chris Redfield's uniform and gear were standard issue, no heavier today than it had ever been before, but the heat of the tropical climate made it feel like a greater burden. During the firefight earlier, his gun had actually slipped for a moment from the sweat wetting his hands. It has been a long time since a mission came to gun fights as close as the last one. The J'avo corpses littering the floor suddenly reminded him of a long past moment in a country far from here.

Suppressing the flashes of memory, he picked his way towards the door to the warehouse and motioned for his team to join him. The new Alpha team had been out in service for four months now, but none of the missions under their belt had come close to his last in China. Chris was beginning to wonder if HQ was going out of their way to give his team the easy cases so that he would have more time to recover. Surprising for an organization that had called him back to service only days after burying the last member of the previous Alpha team. He recognized that bioterrorism waited for no one really, but that didn't mean he didn't grieve privately when time allowed. The middle of a level red mission that was turning into anything but expected, was definitely not the time. Their mission today was finally at the caliber of danger he expected for the BSAA's best and they had been lucky so far.

"Bravo team to Alpha, we're in place for support," a voice spoke through his earpiece. Leon Kennedy was not pleased to be playing second fiddle in today's mission. He had previously been leading the hunt for renowned bioterrorist Maria Gomez. However today's mission required less of the stealth he was known for and more of the ass kicking that the BSAA was known for. An unusual alliance to say the least, but Leon seemed to be adjusting to leading the Bravo squad relatively well. Wiping his palms against his fatigues to dry them, Chris prepared to grab the door handle in front of him.

"Alpha here. Silent ten to infiltration," he replied. Readying his gun, Chris gave a nod to his second-in-command to grab the other door handle. According to their briefing, the room up ahead was a mere storage space. While one would think such a space of little importance, it appeared that their target was hidden somewhere within. Chris had to give the girl credit; she had set up them on a good witch hunt. Leon's original intel had had them storming a nearby pharmaceutical lab that was laden with enemies and nothing of value. They would have probably still been over there if his explosives specialist hadn't looked out a window and spotted Gomez hightailing it into this warehouse.

Throwing open the doors, Chris spotted enemies turning towards them from around the room. The crash of Bravo team entering from the side doors brought the room into chaos. Bullets whistled by and shouts from either side resounded. Chris dived behind the nearest crate as the men behind him rolled for cover. Returning fire, he took out two of the charging J'avo. As he slammed a fresh round of ammo into his gun, Chris spotted a red light sliding towards the crates where Bravo team had taken cover.

"Sniper," Chris warned through the headset just as the shock of an anti-material rifle pierced the air. A groan from behind the nearby crate and a shout of concern told him that the bullet had found its mark. Cursing the unknown foe, Chris took out some of the mesets coming in from the catwalks overhead.

"Target spotted at 11 o'clock," a voice in his ear piece chimed in. Risking a glance, Chris spotted Maria Gomez walking quickly along the catwalks with a briefcase in hand. Her black suit was partially covered by a white leather jacket and her hair was messily tied up as if she had been in a rush. Stopping by a crate at the edge of the catwalk, she stopped and spoke to someone hidden in the shadow. As if separating from the darkness itself, the sniper got down from its perch and swung the gun over its shoulder. He couldn't distinguish the person's features from afar, but they had to be of some interest if Maria was taking the time to collect them on her escape. Knifing the zombie jumping over the top of his crate, Chris began to take ground. He could see Maria's bright jacket moving quickly towards a door at the end of the walkway while her partner appeared to melt into the shadows.

"Push forward, she's getting away," Chris said into the earpiece as he made a quick charge for the stairs. His team moved forward pressing against the J'avo lines. Bravo team, seemingly recovered from whatever damage the sniper had dealt them, began to infiltrate the flank and scatter the enemy.

"Go ahead. We'll finish up here," Leon said as he hastily took down another J'avo, "we can't let her get away."

"Give me some cover," he told his team as he darted up the stairs. The vulnerable space provided nothing to hide behind, but he didn't fear the gunshots ringing about him. Catching Maria Gomez before she evaded their grasp again was more important. Running along the catwalk, Chris made it to the door the pair had walked through. Shooting the lock off, he swung the door open and quickly entered the hallway. As Chris rounded the corner he caught a glimpse of the pair as they yanked open another door.

"Stop," he shouted and the two figures froze for a moment, looking back at him. Chris's heart squeezed in shock as the sniper's profile came into view. The man beside Maria looked identical to the one he had lost six months ago in China. Cold hazel eyes met his warm ones without recognition. The similarities were striking. He was the same height and build as the late sniper, even having the same lean in his posture to compensate for the heavy gun slung across his back. His worn camo fatigues and dirty tee shirt were uncannily similar to what Chris remembered his Ace wearing on the days when he would work on his motorcycle under the blistering sun. Despite the knowledge that Alpha sniper Piers Nivans was dead, Chris took an unbidden step forward speechlessly grasping for words.

"Piers," Maria spoke softly breaking the silence. Her single word brought Chris's entire world into focus and sent the sniper into motion. He yanked the heavy metal door shut and twisted the lock into place.

"No," Chris shouted as he broke into a run towards the door.

"Take care of this quickly," Maria instructed with a nod towards the locked door before she began walking up the stairs towards the roof. There was no hesitation as Piers reached across his body to pull the small silver hook on his right shoulder from its latch. As it released, the skin between the two metal implants began to separate. Within seconds, his right arm was mutated to a form almost identical to that which Chris had seen him wielding against Helios. What had been green rot before was now a solid hardened navy shell and the limb moved without apparent discomfort.

"Piers," Chris yelled as he slammed his hand against the glass of the door. It rattled in its frame, but didn't give. He started to reach for a grenade to blow the metal door down as Piers pointed his claw towards him. There was a moment of hesitation as tendrils of blue electricity appeared rippling along his arm. Chris froze as he saw the electrical sparks through the door window.

"CHRIS," he heard shouted from behind him. It was far too late for his team to reach him. He shouldn't have gone so far ahead to begin with, but the opportunity to catch Maria had been worth the risk. No one could have predicted this though. In a moment of apparent indecision, Piers jerked his arm upward shooting the powerful blast at the ceiling above him. The cement rapidly began caving in and blocking the door with rubble. The last thing Chris could see was Piers starting down the stairs as he nimbly placed the hook back into place on his rapidly unshifting arm.

Firm hands yanked him back from the door in the nick of time as a large chunk of cement took his place. Stumbling over his own feet, Chris could feel someone pulling him down the hallway away from the collapsing ceiling. He twisted in their grasp and ran with them through the door back onto the catwalk with seconds to spare.

"We need to get to the street," Chris panted as he rapidly tried to catch his breath.

"Belay that order," Leon gasped. Hauling Chris Redfield around was not his forte. It was like moving a mountain. Didn't even matter that Leon was in the best shape of his life. "Chris, our mission is capturing Maria. I saw her heading up, not down."

Chris shook his head in disbelief and fingered the grenade tied to his belt. If he blew the rubble blocking the path now, there's a chance he could squeeze through and chase after Piers. However it seemed too risky with how unstable the ceiling was. He could bring down the rest of the building on their heads if he wasn't careful. Pushing off from the railing, he set a fast pace down the catwalk, but Leon caught up.

"I don't know who you think you saw out there, but that wasn't Piers. We buried him, remember? You have to see reason!" Grabbing Chris's arm, Leon wasn't surprised when the much larger man threw him off.

"No, we buried an empty casket for the body we never found. He's alive, Leon. Piers is here. He's obviously still infected, but he hesitated back there. He had the chance to wipe me from the face of this Earth and he didn't. We have to get him back," Chris rambled. He could see the confusion on the two team's faces from down the catwalk. Leon shook his head with a frown.

"Chris, you can't save the dead." Ignoring the implicit meaning to his words, Chris set off again with renewed purpose. Reaching up to his ear piece, he gave his team orders.

"Alpha leader to Alpha team, get to the roof stat. Leon, take care of them."

Chris followed the trail of J'avo corpses back to the room he had spotted the fire escape in earlier. Breaking the glass open with the butt of his gun, he took the stairs as fast as he could towards the street level below. The unexpected sound of blades whipping through the air made his heart panic. Jumping over the rail onto the ground below, Chris raced around the corner. Only a few meters away, a helicopter was taking off. He could see Maria and Piers standing inside of it. Pushing himself to run at full speed, Chris made a dash for the helicopter as it began to gain altitude. Jumping up to reach the rising skid, he was able to get the tips of his fingers around it. However any chance of gripping the cool metal plummeted as the sweat on his hands slicked the surface. The ground had never felt harder as Chris fell onto his back. He could hear shouts from above as Alpha and Bravo team finally reached the rooftop, but it was much too late.

"Bravo to HQ, we need air support," Leon shouted into his headset.

"Nearest air support is thirty minutes out."

"Fuck," Leon shouted as he threw his ear piece to the ground. Chris could hear the fragile piece of technology break from where he was. Realizing that they would have to bite the bullet and accept defeat, Chris put in the call.

"Queen of Hearts has escaped. Alpha Team and Bravo team now in route to rendezvous checkpoint for extraction."