29 Going Home

[Then, is breaking into the Umbrella facility makes you happy? Were you a burglar in the past life, Sir?] asked Regina.

"No... That's not how it works, and I don't even know what my name was... How could..." I knitted my brows.

I continued talking with Regina. It was nice to talk with her like this although sometimes her response was kinda weird. Well, at least I wouldn't worry about her telling anyone about it. So I just sat there, on the edge of the building while watching the busy Eastern Outpost.

[You were too reckless, sir. What if you lost your life in that place? You have to know that one of my responsibility is your safety.]

"Well, who would expect that the damn Nemesis would rampage around when I was there?"

I just sighed, but deeply I like her answer, that Regina seemed to care for me even if it was just her program. Anyway, I do know the risk of my decision, but all I thought is that it was worth gambling for.

"You see... In my past world, this world was a fiction. It resembled the game I played and the movies I watched even all the characters in it. Whenever I played or watched them, sometimes I was excited, sometimes I was sad, happy, angry. All kinds of emotions mixing like fireworks, brightening my life."

[...]

"But, whenever I recalled each of those memories, all I feel now is suffocation and worries. The world that I knew is now existing in front of my eyes along with the threats that lays inside. Even worse, some of the characters involved were the people that I knew. My uncle, Chris. My aunt, Claire."

[But you can just evade it, Sir. Didn't you feel like doing it earlier when you arrived at the airport?]

"Huh? You said you would never read my mind..."

[It happened before my protocol was activated, Sir.]

"*sigh... Anyway, where were we? Oh right..." While I continued, I take out the small camera that Chris gave me before and used it to take some pictures around me. Then, I continued, "I recalled that in the game, my aunt was abducted by that filthy corporation, how my uncle had to fly a jet to Antarctica. The fact that those events happened depressed me, even if it was just a game. It keeps reminding me that that event could happen some times in the future. That my family would be in danger."

[But you didn't know them that well yet, Sir.]

"You're right, I don't. But my mom does. She loves them so much that she always mentioning them to me whenever she could. Even if most of them were just complaining, she truly cared for her siblings. I will protect what she holds dear to her because someday I too would also love them as much as her, isn't it?"

[You will...] said Regina, whispering, unheard by me.

"As a means to protect them, I swear that I'll do everything that I could from now. But because of my adolescent age, I couldn't do much without gaining attention from others. All I have is this knowledge. I could share it, yes... but how would that help? Who would believe me? Even if they did, what could they do to an event that hasn't happened yet? What if the enemies knew it because of how I blabber around?"

I scratched my head as I realized how huge the responsibility on my shoulder is.

"Just like you said, I could just evade all of these, and let the grown-ups do the rest. But, what if that decision also makes it even worse? This world is far more different than I expected. Too many worlds were assimilated into one. Events that I knew would happen and how it ends might change in a single flip of a coin, just like today. Who would promise me that the bad guys would be defeated and the hero would win? I already lost someone that I love once, who would dare to tell me that the same would never happen again. And yes... I was reckless, but I was just too desperate. That's why, I decided to get all the data before I went back home, even if it cost my life. To make sure, another unknown bullshit happening undetected."

Yes, I was too desperate. Little did I know, that my desperation that lead me to break into Umbrella's facility today, was one of the worst decisions that I would ever make.

____________________________________________________

Inside a mansion, on the outskirt of Paris.

A woman was sitting in front of a desk while clicking keyboard and mouse while occasionally sipping the coffee she brewed herself. The monitor wasn't on the desk, but it was installed on the wall instead. However, it's not just one, there were more than 20 monitors showing the tragedy of Paris that just happen today at a fast speed. Half an hour later, her clicking suddenly stopped.

"Found you," said Dr. Alex Wesker, smiling so wide as if she found the love of her life. On one of the monitor's screens in the corner, was Edward standing on his ground with a P90 in between the Genma and the unconscious Barry and Chris. The picture of Edward in the monitor spread on all of the other monitors as if showing the world of that small blue figure.

What Alex was interested in Edward is not just a simple curiosity and she's not into that kind of stuff either. What was it called? Shota? She was into something much worse. In her mind, all that was projected was how to make a perfect experiment. Which the result, would change humanity's history. And in him, she saw the perfect human candidate. Back then, she saw how truly powerful he is, contending with two mutated Nemesis by himself using that small body. He might have the perfect body and mind. Just like what those people did to her and the other kid, she planned to use him in her own version of the Wesker Project.

*Note : (Shota = you know what it is )

"Now, who might you be... my soon-to-be child?"

Ding!

Suddenly, the beeping from a coffee maker behind her desk broke her train of thoughts. She stood while taking the empty mug on her desk. She walked to the cabinet where the coffee machine was placed and take the warm pot, filling the empty mug. Someone then knocked on the door, followed by a voice asking for permission.

"May I come in, Miss?"

"Come in, Jerome," answered Alex while taking a sip of the hot bitter coffee. Jerome came in while holding a report file on his hand. Alex glanced at the papers on his hand and continued taking another sip.

"You must let the coffee cool a bit more, miss Alex." pretending to be concerned. Although he was the butler of the mansion, he was tasked by Earl Spencer, one of the Umbrella's founders to keep an eye on her. His vision then turned to the many monitors on his left and onto what was being shown in it before ignoring it, for now.

"This kind of thing would never hurt me, you know as well, Jerome. Now, stop taking my time and tell me what is the thing that you held." Alex just rolled her eyes at the butler's exaggerated acting. Although she noticed where this cunning old man's interest laid to, she couldn't do anything to it. The old butler was just too good at his job making her hesitate to cast him away.

Ahe also knew that nobody truly cared about her, except her fellow "sibling", Albert Wesker. As the fellow survivor from the Wesker Project, Alex was the only one Albert deemed as important, and so does she.

"This is a report from the experiment you held earlier, Miss," said Jerome while placing the papers on her desk. Seeing her uninterested reaction, he continued, "it seemed the Nemesis parasites, lost their ability to infect others upon combination. It was the result of fusing with the unknown monsters.

"Oh ho? Is that so? What about its combat effectiveness?" Now she seemed to be a bit interested as she turned around to read the report files.

"The mutation was more than successful, even reaching to the extreme. Our veteran forces were almost annihilated during the cleaning process, and that was after fighting just one incomplete Nemesis." answered the excited Jerome.

"Just one?" Alex knitted her brows, she was confused. "What about the other one?"

"Huh? What do you mean, Miss? Isn't the other test subject is a success?", Now it was Jerome turns to be confused.

"The other o...", it didn't take long before she got an idea of what was going on.

'He defeated it. That kid actually defeated it.' She then told Jerome to leave her alone. She couldn't hold her excitement anymore before letting out a shrill laugh inside the room. My child... He is perfect!

____________________________________________________

I went down from the rooftop through the stairs. I could just jump down, but it looked like it gonna hurt so much from this height. When I arrived, the outpost was still in bustle even though it was past midnight. I looked for Chris and Barry. They were glad at finding me back from my trip. And then, we talked about everything that happened inside the facility, and the Nemesis project that went quite awfully wrong. I purposely cut the part where I fought them and just said that I escaped.

I had to hide the fact that I was still in an injured state and gave them the disk containing the Ashford family's project and Umbrella's B.O.W.s experiments. Although the latter part was still useless now, it would soon be useful to takedown the whole corporation if the mass media take a hold of them. However, they still need to wait at the right time.

"I will take care of the rest, Edward. You need to rest, tomorrow we will leave this city and try to get back home as soon as possible," said Chris.

"Okay. I'll go back to the tent then. Good night, uncle Chris. Good night, Barry."

I slept in the children's tent outside the building. Lara and the other children that I was with earlier were already evacuated hours ago so the tent wasn't that crowded. Finally, I could sleep peacefully without any worries. The injury I felt was slowly mending as I fell into a deep sleep.

I was awakened by the shoutings of some officers on duty. I asked Regina for the time and she said it was still around 8 in the morning. Chris visited me and we had breakfast together with Barry. We were scheduled to be evacuated in an hour. The whole city must be cleared of any looming threat first before the citizen could be brought back and return to its normal state.

We didn't have to do anything anymore and just waited for our turn. The call then was made and we stepped into the truck. It was an open cap, without any covers. We could see the scenery passing beside us and the city's building was getting smaller and smaller in the distance.

'It really is over now.'

____________________________________________________

Two days later, we took a flight home. We had to take another flight from New York to Kansas City, Missouri, where my home was at. There was no noticeable event along the way, except that Chris had to make several calls when we arrived in New York. It might have something to do with the data that I gave him. Barry just tags along behind us pushing the luggage cart.

This was my first time coming back home, to Kansas City. I lived with Mom and Dad here when I was a bit smaller, but I barely remember it. I also forgot where exactly we lived before. All I know was that we lived in an apartment on the second floor.

We were walking out when a young woman suddenly approached us. I was taken aback as she hugged me tightly.

"Edward..."

She whispered my name while still hugging me. My back turned wet with all of her teardrops. She was crying. She was Claire. She looked far younger than the one in the game. She also resembled my mom by a lot, except in height. My mom was kinda tall, almost reaching Chris's height. I loved the way she hugged me, it was warm, just like mom.