Wesker surveyed the man in front of him. He felt no fear of discovery. Only a vague curiosity about what was supposed to happen. He had notes, letters, left over from Wesker. The idea was simple.

He flexed his fingers, feeling the fingers crack. The old man flinched. Damn. Wesker really did have everyone afraid of him. Albert felt a little pride on the inside, to be a part of that legacy, to be carrying it on...

Wesker had been busy. Albert could only be in awe of what the elder had accomplished. The various aspects of different projects, anything that could go wrong. Almost any scenario that didn't place Wesker on top, he'd accounted for.

Even death...

"I'm sorry about your loss." Albert Wesker Jr. looked at the older man in front of him who'd worked with his father on one of his various side projects. He made a mental note to get through the rest, but this one was the most interesting.

"He wasn't found worthy," Malcolm replied looking away. He was having trouble adapting to the clone of Wesker. He knew the much younger man did not yet possess the abilities of the elder. He had all the framework already but none of the experiences that had made Wesker who he was. It was disconcerting to hear him offer condolences.

Albert Wesker would never have done such a thing. Never.

The clone had walked in, and Malcolm realized he was aware of the project, not necessarily his role in it. Project Resurrection, they'd called it. To be used in case their plans had failed...other labs took on the roles of cloning first, rapid cloning came later.

His specialty? Memory...

The younger Wesker narrowed his eyes at Malcolm again, and Malcolm took a step back and swallowed. He may not have been the original, but he had the same frightening presence. Where you always had the possibility of being terminated if you were no longer required. Or if you knew too much.

"I think I understand where this is going." Wesker's voice lowered, almost to a whisper. He moved to the chair in the center of the room. The straps were in place, a large circular dome, at the top, where he would place his head. And the rest? That was Malcolm's job...

He climbed into the chair and Malcolm placed the restraints on his wrists and ankles. He adjusted the straps around Albert's head, moved the dome to his head, where he needed it to go. With the punch of a button, three needles punctured Albert's skull. He went rigid for a moment and then relaxed.

Malcolm took another look around the room again. So far, so good...

The younger Wesker clone sat immobilized in his chair, the wires and tubes running and circling his head gave him an almost cyborg appearance. They would all come off eventually healing over as if they'd never been attached.

Malcolm hoped for the same abilities. His son had not passed the test, the C-Virus had mutated him there in the hospital. He'd been shot down by his own guards. Officially, he'd died of cancer...

Unofficially...

Malcolm had shrugged it off. He was a scientist and they would get the virus to work on whomever they chose; eventually. He left the room to allow Wesker's memories time to implant. He had his own plans as well.

Wesker shivered as memories began to surface that weren't his.

Malcolm's last words about his son rattled around his brain for a while. "He wasn't found worthy."

Remembering another day when he had used a similar line. Estella, was that her name? The Uroboros Virus had not found her worthy either...she'd mutated into something else entirely screaming his name as she'd mutated into a monstrosity that he'd let Chris Redfield and his latest partner deal with.

The sound of it had some sort of religious fervor to it that he found disturbing. He shifted in the chair as the two minds battled for the same space.

Wesker thought about what he'd promised the older man. Immortality? The chance to be young again? The youth might be easier to give than Immortality. He smiled to himself. But to give it, the old man would have to die so his clone could live. He wondered briefly how Derges would take that. It didn't matter, it didn't serve his long-term plan anyway.

Derges was a means to an end. That was all.

In the end, Wesker wanted no competition. He would always be on top. He felt the mind meld began to take hold more readily as more memories filled his mind. It was as if another person was being shoved into his head, an alien yet familiar presence.

Wesker Jr's body sat in the chair. The personalities inside of him circled warily, each taking the measure of the other.

The younger whose body the elder now resided regarded his creator's memories thoughtfully.

"You had a plan for every contingency, it was brilliant, really."

"I know," said the elder Wesker warily. The face changed as each talked. It was a bizarre split personality. "Do you know what will eventually happen?" He said.

"Yes," the younger Wesker came back, quite cheerily. "Our personalities will soon meld into one. All my memories will be open to you and all of yours will be open to me. There will no longer be two of us here."

The elder Wesker considered his cloned self. "You've done very well in my absence."

"Thank you," Said the younger.

"I see that you've not gotten rid of Ada Wong."

"I sent her after Sherry Birkin. After a clone performed a short service for me. She has no idea."

"Ah," The elder looked through the memories of the event. It was satisfying to see Ada Wong caught off guard for once.

He realized the clone of himself had read her perfectly.

"She'll bring us Birkin, or at least a sample of her." Said the younger.

"You'll need the whole person eventually," Said Albert Wesker. He saw with a shock suddenly Jake Muller in his clone's thoughts.

"I have a son." It was a statement, he watched through the memories as Jake Muller battled and cursed his way through each encounter with his clone.

"You have more than one," said the Clone sounding smug. The Clone's mind was starting to fade at the same time.

Albert Wesker could feel the separation between them starting to vanish. He pulled up more memories readily now as if they were his and he had experienced them himself.

"Not as perfect as a clone of myself," he said, "But he's very strong and had a dose of the C-Virus." He grinned. So that had been passed down into the next generation as well. Then a frown came across his features. He'd also had a dose of the Immortality Virus made from mixing the genes between the C- and G-Virus carried by Sherry Birkin.

He could see the plans his clone had started. The Clone who'd thought he was his son at the time had decided against his previous experiments, discarding them as too much work. And it had been a lot of work to keep injecting himself at regular intervals. Especially with the enemy constantly on his trail. He shrugged. He was a scientist and it would simply be back to the drawing board.

He had also been injected with the Immortality Virus. So, had Jake, that put them on equal footing.

Wesker did not necessarily relish the idea of having an equal out there. He'd once aspired to godhood. Still, Immortality was a step in that direction. He didn't know if it worked really or simply slowed aging.

He realized at that point there was no one inside his own mind with him. His two selves were one.

It was a good plan he had put into place with Malcolm Derges. It had worked flawlessly.

Ah, Birkin, old friend, he thought, it looks like I'm going to be chasing your daughter down again.

Then he realized something else. Through the clone's memories, he saw that Sherry had been pregnant the last time the Clone had encountered them.

Jake was the father.

He didn't know whether to feel bewildered or laugh out loud at the irony. Jake had started a line for him. It was the perfect opportunity to see if the virus could be passed down to the next generation. Jake obviously had his blood type, but that didn't mean other things would pass along. The clone had been right about one thing. Jake was the perfect test subject and should he not make it, the child would be a good replacement.

Maybe even an easier one to start with.

Enough time had passed that she would have delivered a child by now. Wesker brought his hands together under his chin as he sat thinking. The clone had made plenty of distractions for him so he could get here undisturbed. It was messy but it worked. Wesker was satisfied.

After a few moments, he decided the best plan would be to remind Ada Wong he was back at the helm. Not his son, or his clone, but himself in full control with all the knowledge that he possessed.

The second idea he had was to pull up the files of all the pregnancies he caused. He noted with distaste that his clone had intended impregnating Sherry Birkin himself but there were so many other ways you could do this without the guesswork or the wait. And unlike his clone, he knew where the files were on the offspring that he'd started in the lab. Most of them artificially inseminated.

All except the one.

Jake Muller was a natural pregnancy, he had never known it occurred. He studied the face of Jake from memory. The boy had grown up in Edonia, turned into a Mercenary and seemed to have a love of fighting. His mother, Albert remembered, had been a brilliant scientist. He could picture Anja clearly. He hadn't thought about her in years, so he was surprised at the brief moment of pang that he shoved away. Anja had left without warning before he'd really gotten started. At least, now he knew why.

He sat up in the chair and keyed in a few codes that let the main Neo-Umbrella systems know he was back.

There were several layers of systems in place to ensure that he or his clone would maintain control, no matter who owned the company now. The memory overlay had worked perfectly. He'd helped Simmons use it to create his own pet Ada Wong.

The woman had believed for a while that she was indeed the real Ada Wong. But the real Ada, ever resourceful had put that notion down permanently.

Simmons had been obsessed with the woman, and Wesker wondered if he should have just had Ada kill him that much sooner. As it was, he was dead and no longer an overly ambitious thorn in Wesker's side.

The Family had taken care of that. Wesker had made sure to never let them have an opportunity to strike at him like that. So far, they interfered very little with his plans.

He returned to the problem of the grandchild. If all went well, they should already be in his possession with Jake soon to follow. He'd take a sample to see if the Virus carried through the next generation. If it had, he didn't mind taking ownership of such genetics.

He would take stock and build up again. There were others to bring in, no, he thought. They are already there, waiting. Not perfect copies but descendants none-the-less.

But the Immortality Virus as it was, was here...all he would need is a pint. In its current form, it only worked on a handful of people immune to the C-Virus. His clone had been on the right track.

The world could be remade that way.

The fire spread quickly.

Sherry ran like she had never run before. Her lungs burned, her legs ached, but her fear for Anja kept her moving. More than once she thought she saw a shape speeding past them as whatever creatures lived in the forest ran for their lives. She hoped none of them were experiments. But if they were, they had the sense to flee and not come after them at least.

Suddenly they burst through a clearing. Sherry glanced around amazed.

Raccoon City...or what was left of it.

Rubble lay everywhere, shrubbery grew up between the foundations. Streets, cracked as they yielded back the ground to nature. Cars lay scattered about, rusting carcasses all that remained of the town that Sherry had lived in as a kid.

Suddenly a growl sounded behind them.

"Uh...you." Sherry didn't know the pilot's name.

"Andrew," he replied staring straight ahead forgetting for a moment he was supposed to remain anonymous. "Andrew Hardy."

Sherry really did not care what his name was. She just wanted to get his attention. Both of them were focused on the ugliest dog that Neo-Umbrella or anyone could ever have spawned.

Hellhound, thought Sherry as she wrapped an arm around Anja who chose that moment to cry out.

Even the dog froze, blood oozed off of its infected skin. Its gums were a grey pallor. The infected dog was not alone.

As the smoke came closer and the orange flames shot up to the buildings more infected dogs emerged from the trees. And several other things as well.

Sherry almost did a double take as the dogs looked behind them and raced away from the fire with a chorus of howls.

A strelat ran by not even sparing them a glance.

Self-preservation at its finest.

She shot a glance over at Andrew not sure whether their luck would hold. Sherry remembered something Jake had once told her. The mutated creatures were basically animals. The infected, however, Zombies, as Jake called them those were something else entirely. They were mindless killing machines, coming after you no matter the danger. The all-consuming need to feast on living flesh was all that drove them. They were one of the few things that gave Jake goosebumps. A strelat, he would charge head first into, no problems. But the infected, or zombies, as Jake preferred... he hated them.

Anja was screaming against her chest now.

Sherry debated on running away from the pilot but he still had a gun and she was armed only with a squalling infant.

He turned back to her finally. "Well, that was amazing..."

His words died on his lips when heavy footsteps sounded over the roar of the flames.

Sherry immediately ducked into one of the buildings, although what cover it was going to provide she had no clue. The fire was loud and crackling now and covered up the sound of Anja's tiny wails. At least Sherry hoped it did. Andrew dropped in next to her and Sherry took Anja out of the carrier and unbuttoned her shirt.

Andrew stared openly as she bared her breast and pulled Anja up and stuck her on it. Anja nursed greedily and Sherry's eyes met Andrew's. He turned away from her lifted eyebrow and stared off towards the forest. He was no longer looking at her but staring slack-jawed at the creature that had emerged from the forest.

It was maybe feet tall, heavily muscled but the drifting smoke was starting to obscure details. Sherry was almost certain it was an Ustanak like creature. The creatures were incredibly smart, although Sherry could not imagine choosing to be one. The last one she fought had been a friend. They were tenacious killers, stalking their prey for weeks on end. They were smart, fast, and loyal to their makers. They killed without mercy and tended to take it personally if you fought back or escaped.

Like the J'avo, she was fairly certain they didn't have much room for speech. Although Devon as an Ustanak had called her by name.

The fire hit the edge of the forest and began to slip into the brush of the city. The Ustanak was forced to move away. Sherry noticed the flying bugs it sent out. How they alerted the creature to anyone's presence she did not know. But unarmed she certainly wasn't going to set one off now. Jake had been able to smash them into the floor without alerting the Ustanak when they were stuck in the mines with it. But he could actually reach them here. Sherry didn't even have a stick to knock them down with.

"What is that thing?" Andrew whispered glancing at her with fear filled eyes.

"Shhhh." Sherry put a finger to her lips and peeked over the edge of the concrete through the brush.

The creature had moved away from them but was standing still with its head cocked to the side listening. Suddenly Sherry heard it too. The low sound of helicopter blades coming closer.

Well, the forest is on fire, she thought. Maybe that's a good thing.

Then the helicopter was there and Sherry saw it wasn't a Forest Service helicopter but a US Government helicopter, specifically a DSO unit. She started to leap up, wave her arms and yell when Andrew clamped a hand over her mouth and yanked her back down.

"Are you crazy!" He whispered. "That thing is still right there!"