Mission 6 -The Specter in the Code
May 28, 2014 – 02:00 Hours
The Hill Country Silo (The Hive), Texas**
The buzz of the restored facility was a steady, comforting sound beneath the earth. Alen sat in front of the main command console, the blue light from three high-resolution monitors reflecting off his glasses. He was no longer just tracking weather patterns. Through the link connected to his father's stolen "Ghost" satellite network, he was observing the world's nervous system.
His surveillance program flagged something unusual. There was a massive spike in encrypted communication between the Great Lakes region and known black-market bio-data brokers.
"Talk to me," Alen muttered as he typed a command to isolate the signal.
A news feed popped up on the left screen: Explosion reported at the Alexander Institute of Biotechnology in Chicago.
Alen frowned. "A gas leak? No. That's a cover."
He skipped the public feeds and tapped into the local police frequency. The panic in their voices was clear. "…biting… cannibalism… suspects are unresponsive…"
"Outbreak," Alen confirmed.
He checked the details on the Institute. The lead researcher was Dr. Rebecca Chambers.
"Rebecca…" Alen whispered. He remembered her file. S.T.A.R.S. survivor. One of the few who faced the Mansion Incident and lived. She was brilliant, kind, and dangerous to people like Glenn Arias.
Alen's fingers danced across the keyboard, pulling up Arias's file. A former CIA agent. A dealer of death.
Status: Rogue.
Motive: Vengeance.
Asset: The A-Virus.
"You lost your wife on your wedding day, Arias," Alen said, staring at the image of the man on his screen. "Now you want the world to grieve with you. You're not a revolutionary. You're just a grieving widower with a god complex."
A new alert flashed. BSAA Extraction Team En Route.
Alen watched the telemetry. He saw Chris Redfield's team enter the university. He witnessed the chaos. Then, he saw the extraction. Rebecca Chambers wasn't rescued; she was taken.
"They have her," Alen said as he stood up. "Arias needs her mind to perfect the virus. He's taking her to the finish line."
He turned to the holographic map. The tracking signal from the kidnappers' helicopter was weak, but his father's satellites were better than the military's. The signal was headed East.
Destination: New York City.
Alen walked to the secure closet at the back of the command deck. He ignored the standard tactical gear and reached for something heavier. He pulled out a long, black leather trench coat, reinforced with kevlar weave—a relic he found in the armory.
He put it on. It felt heavy, like a weight of responsibility. He slid on his custom sunglasses, hiding his eyes.
"Prepare the VTOL," he commanded the room's AI. "We're going to New York."
**June 1, 2014 – 21:00 Hours
New York City, Manhattan**
The city that never sleeps was in chaos.
From the rooftop of a nearby skyscraper, Alen looked down at Arias' headquarters. The streets were a war zone. A metallic silver gas rolled through the avenues. Where it spread, people fell and rose again as monsters.
"A-Virus dispersal confirmed," Alen said into his recorder. "It distinguishes between targets. Sophisticated."
He wasn't there to play hero. That was Chris Redfield's job. And Leon Kennedy's. Alen could see gunfire flashing at the lower levels of Arias' tower. The heroes were making their way up.
"They create the distraction," Alen murmured as he checked the load in his silenced pistol. "I take the prize."
He fired a grapple line, swinging silently across the gap between buildings. He landed on a maintenance balcony of Arias' tower, shattering the lock and slipping inside like a shadow.
Inside was chaos. Zombies roamed the halls, attacking staff members. Alen moved through them like a dancer. A zombie lunged at him. He didn't break his stride; a single suppressed round to the head dropped the creature instantly.
He reached the server room on the 30th floor. This was his goal. While Chris and Leon fought for Rebecca's life on the roof, Alen was there for the legacy.
He plugged his decoder into the mainframe.
"Come on, Arias," Alen said through gritted teeth. "Show me your work."
The screen scrolled quickly. Latent Virus Formula. Trigger Gas Composition. Vaccine Data.
"It's a three-stage binary weapon," Alen noted, surprisingly impressed. "Download complete."
He pulled the drive but wasn't finished. He walked to the cold storage unit in the lab's corner. Inside, illuminated by blue light, was a canister containing the raw, concentrated A-Virus strain.
He reached for it, but a sound behind him made him freeze.
A massive figure stood in the doorway. One of Arias' experiments. Not a zombie—something stronger.
"You are not authorized," the creature growled.
Alen turned slowly, his leather coat billowing. He adjusted his glasses. "I have higher clearance than you."
The beast charged. Alen didn't run. He dropped his center of gravity, narrowly dodging the massive fist. As the creature stumbled past, Alen drew a modified tranquilizer syringe loaded with a powerful neurotoxin he synthesized in Texas and jabbed it into the creature's exposed neck.
The beast roared, staggered, and collapsed to the floor, paralyzed.
"Sleep," Alen commanded.
He grabbed the virus canister and sealed it in a lead-lined pouch.
BOOM.
A massive explosion shook the building. The final battle had begun.
Alen sprinted to the window. Through the smoke and fire, he looked up. On the rooftop, a mutated Glenn Arias was battling Chris Redfield. Leon Kennedy was drifting a motorcycle across the roof to deliver the kill shot.
"Show-offs," Alen smirked.
He saw the BSAA helicopter moving in to extract the survivors. Rebecca was safe. The city would recover.
Alen checked his pockets.
The Research Data: Secured.
The Virus Sample: Secured.
He stepped onto the ledge. The wind whipped his coat around him. He looked like a phantom, a specter haunting the edges of victory.
"You saved the girl, Redfield," Alen whispered to the wind. "But I saved the science. Let's make sure this nightmare doesn't happen again."
He jumped from the ledge, deploying his glider chute, disappearing into the smoke and shadows of the New York skyline.
**June 2, 2014 – 06:00 Hours
The Hill Country Silo, Texas**
Alen walked into the main lab, exhausted but triumphant. He placed the canister in the secure containment unit.
Master Shi Yan Xing waited for him via video call on the main screen. The old man looked worried.
"You returned," Shi said. "With ghosts in your pocket?"
Alen sat down and removed his sunglasses. "Glenn Arias is dead. The BSAA won. But the research… it was too dangerous to leave in the wreckage. If the black market got this, we'd face a pandemic in a month."
"And now you have it," Shi noted. "Is it safer with you, Nicolas? Or does your father's blood call to you?"
Alen looked at the virus glowing silver in the chamber. He considered the power it held. The power to kill. The power to control.
Then he thought about the vaccine data he also retrieved.
"I'm not my father, Master," Alen said softly. "He would have released it. I'm going to synthesize the vaccine. I'll store it away, just in case."
"A guardian," Shi mused. "Walking in the shadow to protect the light."
"Something like that," Alen replied as he closed the containment unit. "Mission accomplished."
**Mission Update:**
Status: Success.
Asset Acquired: A-Virus Strain & Vaccine Data.
Current Objective: Analyze Arias' data for connections to "The Family."
Next Target: Determine the location of the Burton family.