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BIOHAZARD CODE:Veronica Complete Edition Kaitai Shinsho
(バイオハザード コード:ベロニカ 完全版 解体真書) |
Released: 31/03/2001
Softcover: 304 Publisher: Enterbrain ISBN-10: 4757704224 ISBN-13: 9784757704220 |
The world’s teeming with stimulation. The latest news, transmitted by the minute.
Wars break out on the other side of the world, with people dying by the thousands or tens of thousands.
These however are merely scenes displayed on a receiver. Change the channel and you'll find the same entertainment being broadcast as usual.
So, people forgot about the incident. They let it fade away. So wrapped up in their daily lives, they're unaware of the horrors that lie gaping behind them.
The widely disseminated information obscures a great evil.
"This news comes to you courtesy of Umbrella Pharmaceuticals."
Unbelievably, even the events three months ago are rarely mentioned by anyone now.
The U.S. Government's decision to launch a missile strike on the midwestern town of Raccoon City-- a decision that resulted in the deaths of 100,000 victims-- nearly led to the President's impeachment at first. A thorough investigation into the cause of the attack was called for, with an array of rumors and speculation dominating the media on a daily basis. People mourned the deaths of Raccoon's citizens and flew into a frenzy over the incident.
It was like it was a festivity with a poised conclusion.
As if by someone's design, at just the right moment, yet another sensational affair would spring forth. One after another, all over the world, with no apparent connection.
Before anyone knew, there were no longer any media outlets covering the disappearance of Raccoon City. Invisible forces were gradually smothering the smoldering embers one by one, unnoticed by anyone.
Reports of bizarre incidents and sightings of monsters occurring frequently in the Raccoon region since the summer, along with an outbreak of an unidentified infectious disease-- rumors suggesting a connection between this series of mysterious phenomena and the Umbrella Pharmaceuticals drug factory, which occupied a large part of the area, have all but vanished immediately after the incident, as if a purge has taken place.
Manipulated news stories cleverly diverted the public's attention.
There are however those who'll never forget what happened in that city, what Umbrella did.
Those who survived the biological attack. Yes, their memories are etched with the wrath of the hundred thousand who were turned into the living dead by a virus then scorched to death by hellfire. The onus was on these survivors to unmask Umbrella and expose the truth of their insane bioweapons development to the light of day.
Chris and Claire. The Redfield siblings are also doomed with the weight of such a battle on their shoulders.
The older brother, worried over the danger of involving his younger sister in the struggle against a massive organization that even has its own private army, started to take action on his own. The sister, however, follows her brother's lead and ventures deep into Umbrella's clutches.
The episode opens with Claire's infiltration of the base of the Umbrella Europe branch, the Paris Laboratory, along with her capture and transfer to a prison hidden away on a remote South American island.
Can Chris retrieve his sister in her dire straits, struck by a new biohazard as an isolated bird at the sea's edge?
Wars break out on the other side of the world, with people dying by the thousands or tens of thousands.
These however are merely scenes displayed on a receiver. Change the channel and you'll find the same entertainment being broadcast as usual.
So, people forgot about the incident. They let it fade away. So wrapped up in their daily lives, they're unaware of the horrors that lie gaping behind them.
The widely disseminated information obscures a great evil.
"This news comes to you courtesy of Umbrella Pharmaceuticals."
Unbelievably, even the events three months ago are rarely mentioned by anyone now.
The U.S. Government's decision to launch a missile strike on the midwestern town of Raccoon City-- a decision that resulted in the deaths of 100,000 victims-- nearly led to the President's impeachment at first. A thorough investigation into the cause of the attack was called for, with an array of rumors and speculation dominating the media on a daily basis. People mourned the deaths of Raccoon's citizens and flew into a frenzy over the incident.
It was like it was a festivity with a poised conclusion.
As if by someone's design, at just the right moment, yet another sensational affair would spring forth. One after another, all over the world, with no apparent connection.
Before anyone knew, there were no longer any media outlets covering the disappearance of Raccoon City. Invisible forces were gradually smothering the smoldering embers one by one, unnoticed by anyone.
Reports of bizarre incidents and sightings of monsters occurring frequently in the Raccoon region since the summer, along with an outbreak of an unidentified infectious disease-- rumors suggesting a connection between this series of mysterious phenomena and the Umbrella Pharmaceuticals drug factory, which occupied a large part of the area, have all but vanished immediately after the incident, as if a purge has taken place.
Manipulated news stories cleverly diverted the public's attention.
There are however those who'll never forget what happened in that city, what Umbrella did.
Those who survived the biological attack. Yes, their memories are etched with the wrath of the hundred thousand who were turned into the living dead by a virus then scorched to death by hellfire. The onus was on these survivors to unmask Umbrella and expose the truth of their insane bioweapons development to the light of day.
Chris and Claire. The Redfield siblings are also doomed with the weight of such a battle on their shoulders.
The older brother, worried over the danger of involving his younger sister in the struggle against a massive organization that even has its own private army, started to take action on his own. The sister, however, follows her brother's lead and ventures deep into Umbrella's clutches.
The episode opens with Claire's infiltration of the base of the Umbrella Europe branch, the Paris Laboratory, along with her capture and transfer to a prison hidden away on a remote South American island.
Can Chris retrieve his sister in her dire straits, struck by a new biohazard as an isolated bird at the sea's edge?
ORIGINAL STORY #1 - RODRIGO JUAN RAVAL'S FLASHBACK (p.098-099)
Descending the dark staircase leading to the underground prisoner management room, the man tried to find the answer to why he was heading there.
His name was Rodrigo Juan Raval. He served as the Third Security Unit Commander at the Paris Laboratory building, the European branch of the giant pharmaceutical company Umbrella. Or rather, he'd been assigned to that position-- pressing his right side where blood seeped relentlessly, Rodrigo laughed bitterly.
Confined in the cells below was Prisoner Number WKD4496. Unusually young for someone sent to the private prison on Rockfort Island, she was a woman. He understood this place was Umbrella's "execution Island"-- a facility for isolating and secretly disposing of those who had accessed information inconvenient to the corporation, information classified at a certain level or higher. Indeed, Rodrigo, who also served as the prisoner transport captain, had delivered countless individuals to this place. Not a single prisoner had ever been released and returned on the return flight. It was unthinkable for a girl not yet twenty to be transferred to such a place under ordinary circumstances.
But Rodrigo knew the reason, at least in part. Because this girl was the "mad" woman who infiltrated the Paris Lab building alone, causing numerous casualties-- though the main reason for that was upper management overreacting to the intrusion and ordering a combat helicopter to open fire-- and it was he himself, one of the security officers in charge, who finally captured her. The prisoner's name was Claire Redfield. She was the younger sister of Chris Redfield, currently listed as Umbrella's most critical surveillance target. To search for her brother, whose whereabouts even Umbrella's unofficial global surveillance network couldn't fully pinpoint, she'd infiltrated the Paris Lab-- a facility boasting top-tier security among "official" sites-- and even managed to access various classified information. Indeed, this couldn't simply be treated as a case of trespassing. Given her extraordinary initiative and precise split-second judgment, Rodrigo surmised she must've received some form of training from her brother Chris, likely a former Air Force and police special forces operative.
However, he suspected there was another reason, beyond this intrusion incident alone, behind the frantic efforts of unseen higher-ups within the organization to eliminate her. Namely, that incident three months prior that shocked the entire world-- the horrific catastrophe in Raccoon City, a midwestern U.S. city where a highly contagious new plague erupted, forcing the U.S. military to launch a missile strike to halt its spread. Rumors, whispered even to someone of Rodrigo's standing, suggested Claire was one of the few survivors of Raccoon City's annihilation-- a disaster claiming over 100,000 lives and marking America's deadliest mass casualty event on its own soil since the Civil War.
Officially, neither the U.S. government nor any media outlet has stated it, but even junior high students know Raccoon City was essentially a company town for Umbrella. If that's the case, then whatever bizarre disease struck that city can only be attributed to Umbrella's darkside-- its biological weapons development division. And what Claire, a survivor of the incident, must've experienced could potentially expose a terrifying truth that would shake Umbrella to its core-- which Rodrigo believes is precisely why the higher-ups went to the trouble of transferring her via a top-secret route from Paris to this isolated South American island, the Rockfort prison. To quietly draw the curtain on Claire's life in this place, cut off from society--.
Shortly after her transfer was completed however, the island was attacked and destroyed by an unknown combat unit. Rodrigo had no idea how many survivors remained. There mightn't be any left at all.
Worse still, before descending here, he'd witnessed corpses that should've been lifeless rise, growling as they began to wander. The existence of Zombies and that plague connected up in Rodrigo's mind-- he knew the American president's decision to use a missile on his own territory had been correct. Had Raccoon City not been wiped out then, the North American continent would likely be uninhabitable by now. And now, Rockfort Island was in the same situation as Raccoon City...
With his severe injuries, he knew he was beyond saving. Looking back, he could say it was all Claire Redfield's fault he ended up like this.
He was originally from this island, once part of the Ashford family's estate. He was one of those forced to leave their familiar homeland when Umbrella ordered construction of their facilities here. Grieving that there was now no one left to guard his ancestral graves, he'd been hired by Umbrella to gain access to Rockfort Island. He'd willingly accepted the task of escorting prisoners all the way from Europe, hoping to pay his respects to his ancestors' spirits while there. Dying here wasn't without reason.
But the escort itself wasn't a frequent occurrence, and the reason he happened to be on the island at the worst possible moment for an attack was because a special transport had been hastily arranged to carry only Claire. In other words, if this little brat hadn't done something reckless, he wouldn't have ended up dying like this.
So, he should've hated Claire enough to want to kill her. He knew that normally, one would want to shift the blame like that. Yet Rodrigo found himself strangely not angry. The answer he'd wanted to find before dying-- just as he tried to open the door to the prisoner management room-- suddenly surfaced in his mind.
What had he expected from Umbrella? Joining the organization for his family's sake, he'd been met only with illegal orders disguised as security work: hunting down spies, apprehending leakers. Among those who joined Umbrella around the same time, several were already missing persons, unreachable. Perhaps, like him now, they'd been assigned to remote "backdoor" facilities and, like the Paris Lab guards who died in gunfire from a helicopter that should've been an ally, their lives had been discarded as expendable. Only now did he truly realize this corporation wasn't sane. Beneath the mask of a pharmaceutical company contributing to human health lay its true face: an unethical cabal devoted to nothing but the relentless pursuit of profit.
Had he, who'd become a lapdog for this antisocial organization and fallen to being a ferryman to a murder prison, ever lived a life worthy of resentment toward others for hastening his own death? The answer was surely no. Looking back, Rodrigo felt his life ended years ago, when his beloved family had passed him by. He too was a Zombie, wandering the living world long after he should've died.
He owed his master no further loyalty. So what could this dead man do in his final moments? Perhaps it was to release from its cage the brave stray dog that, risking its own life for its family's sake, dared bite a giant elephant.
If this girl truly was a survivor of Raccoon City, she might escape the hellish battlefield that was Rockfort Island. At the very least, it was better than waiting here for a slow death-- like the dead, his emotions numb, Rodrigo took the key to the cell holding Claire.
When the sound of the lock clicking open echoed, he felt, just a little, as if he too had been freed from the monster that was Umbrella--.
His name was Rodrigo Juan Raval. He served as the Third Security Unit Commander at the Paris Laboratory building, the European branch of the giant pharmaceutical company Umbrella. Or rather, he'd been assigned to that position-- pressing his right side where blood seeped relentlessly, Rodrigo laughed bitterly.
Confined in the cells below was Prisoner Number WKD4496. Unusually young for someone sent to the private prison on Rockfort Island, she was a woman. He understood this place was Umbrella's "execution Island"-- a facility for isolating and secretly disposing of those who had accessed information inconvenient to the corporation, information classified at a certain level or higher. Indeed, Rodrigo, who also served as the prisoner transport captain, had delivered countless individuals to this place. Not a single prisoner had ever been released and returned on the return flight. It was unthinkable for a girl not yet twenty to be transferred to such a place under ordinary circumstances.
But Rodrigo knew the reason, at least in part. Because this girl was the "mad" woman who infiltrated the Paris Lab building alone, causing numerous casualties-- though the main reason for that was upper management overreacting to the intrusion and ordering a combat helicopter to open fire-- and it was he himself, one of the security officers in charge, who finally captured her. The prisoner's name was Claire Redfield. She was the younger sister of Chris Redfield, currently listed as Umbrella's most critical surveillance target. To search for her brother, whose whereabouts even Umbrella's unofficial global surveillance network couldn't fully pinpoint, she'd infiltrated the Paris Lab-- a facility boasting top-tier security among "official" sites-- and even managed to access various classified information. Indeed, this couldn't simply be treated as a case of trespassing. Given her extraordinary initiative and precise split-second judgment, Rodrigo surmised she must've received some form of training from her brother Chris, likely a former Air Force and police special forces operative.
However, he suspected there was another reason, beyond this intrusion incident alone, behind the frantic efforts of unseen higher-ups within the organization to eliminate her. Namely, that incident three months prior that shocked the entire world-- the horrific catastrophe in Raccoon City, a midwestern U.S. city where a highly contagious new plague erupted, forcing the U.S. military to launch a missile strike to halt its spread. Rumors, whispered even to someone of Rodrigo's standing, suggested Claire was one of the few survivors of Raccoon City's annihilation-- a disaster claiming over 100,000 lives and marking America's deadliest mass casualty event on its own soil since the Civil War.
Officially, neither the U.S. government nor any media outlet has stated it, but even junior high students know Raccoon City was essentially a company town for Umbrella. If that's the case, then whatever bizarre disease struck that city can only be attributed to Umbrella's darkside-- its biological weapons development division. And what Claire, a survivor of the incident, must've experienced could potentially expose a terrifying truth that would shake Umbrella to its core-- which Rodrigo believes is precisely why the higher-ups went to the trouble of transferring her via a top-secret route from Paris to this isolated South American island, the Rockfort prison. To quietly draw the curtain on Claire's life in this place, cut off from society--.
Shortly after her transfer was completed however, the island was attacked and destroyed by an unknown combat unit. Rodrigo had no idea how many survivors remained. There mightn't be any left at all.
Worse still, before descending here, he'd witnessed corpses that should've been lifeless rise, growling as they began to wander. The existence of Zombies and that plague connected up in Rodrigo's mind-- he knew the American president's decision to use a missile on his own territory had been correct. Had Raccoon City not been wiped out then, the North American continent would likely be uninhabitable by now. And now, Rockfort Island was in the same situation as Raccoon City...
With his severe injuries, he knew he was beyond saving. Looking back, he could say it was all Claire Redfield's fault he ended up like this.
He was originally from this island, once part of the Ashford family's estate. He was one of those forced to leave their familiar homeland when Umbrella ordered construction of their facilities here. Grieving that there was now no one left to guard his ancestral graves, he'd been hired by Umbrella to gain access to Rockfort Island. He'd willingly accepted the task of escorting prisoners all the way from Europe, hoping to pay his respects to his ancestors' spirits while there. Dying here wasn't without reason.
But the escort itself wasn't a frequent occurrence, and the reason he happened to be on the island at the worst possible moment for an attack was because a special transport had been hastily arranged to carry only Claire. In other words, if this little brat hadn't done something reckless, he wouldn't have ended up dying like this.
So, he should've hated Claire enough to want to kill her. He knew that normally, one would want to shift the blame like that. Yet Rodrigo found himself strangely not angry. The answer he'd wanted to find before dying-- just as he tried to open the door to the prisoner management room-- suddenly surfaced in his mind.
What had he expected from Umbrella? Joining the organization for his family's sake, he'd been met only with illegal orders disguised as security work: hunting down spies, apprehending leakers. Among those who joined Umbrella around the same time, several were already missing persons, unreachable. Perhaps, like him now, they'd been assigned to remote "backdoor" facilities and, like the Paris Lab guards who died in gunfire from a helicopter that should've been an ally, their lives had been discarded as expendable. Only now did he truly realize this corporation wasn't sane. Beneath the mask of a pharmaceutical company contributing to human health lay its true face: an unethical cabal devoted to nothing but the relentless pursuit of profit.
Had he, who'd become a lapdog for this antisocial organization and fallen to being a ferryman to a murder prison, ever lived a life worthy of resentment toward others for hastening his own death? The answer was surely no. Looking back, Rodrigo felt his life ended years ago, when his beloved family had passed him by. He too was a Zombie, wandering the living world long after he should've died.
He owed his master no further loyalty. So what could this dead man do in his final moments? Perhaps it was to release from its cage the brave stray dog that, risking its own life for its family's sake, dared bite a giant elephant.
If this girl truly was a survivor of Raccoon City, she might escape the hellish battlefield that was Rockfort Island. At the very least, it was better than waiting here for a slow death-- like the dead, his emotions numb, Rodrigo took the key to the cell holding Claire.
When the sound of the lock clicking open echoed, he felt, just a little, as if he too had been freed from the monster that was Umbrella--.
ORIGINAL STORY #2 - STEVE BURNSIDE'S HATE (p.116-117)
Steve was inexplicably irritated.
No, there was a reason. He knew exactly where this unsettling discomfort stemmed from. What he didn't understand was why he had to get so worked up about it, why his emotions had to flare up... it was about this problem within himself.
----Getting mad's just ridiculous, isn't it?
Steve told himself. I'm me, Claire is Claire-- we're separate people living our own lives. Whatever she thinks, whoever she chooses to trust, that's her freedom. Deep down, Steve himself knew it was absurd he felt irritated by it.
But--.
Still, seeing Claire stubbornly cling to the belief that her brother Chris would come for her-- simply because they shared blood-- to this prison on an isolated island as remote as the edge of the world, a place that was also the base of the vicious organization hunting him down... his irritation just wouldn't subside.
He wanted to show Claire how much more reliable he was than Chris, who wasn't even here now compared to someone she'd only met a few hours ago. He'd make her admit what she should trust wasn't blood ties, but Steve, armed with two golden pistols.
The once-in-a-lifetime chance to do that was unfolding right before his eyes. Inside the warehouse, separated by glass--. There, something that had wandered out of a nightmare world was present.
A hideous form, like a grotesque mannequin covered in thick, sticky rubber skin. Its left arm was missing, replaced by a right arm that had abnormally elongated and swollen. This arm, seemingly devoid of bone structure or possessing joints that could dislocate freely, instantly extended into a clawed whip nearly three times his height.
It was far more absurd and utterly insane than anything Lewis Carroll could've imagined in Wonderland-- the latest B.O.W. created in Umbrella's mad laboratories. A monstrous offspring of runaway biotechnology-- created by humans using humans as material, designed to efficiently kill humans.
That abomination held Claire captive with its astonishingly elastic, powerful single arm. It grabbed her delicate head, hoisting her up, ready to crush it in its grasp.
Without a moment's hesitation, Steve curled his body and hurled himself through the window. Glass shattered spectacularly. Even the monster released its grip on Claire and turned its attention to him. Its eyes, grotesquely transformed yet still intensely human-like, dulled with a glint as they recognized the youth falling toward them amidst the glass fragments as the priority threat.
17-years-old, still barely a boy, Steve couldn't possibly lack fear of a creature far more terrifying than any Zombie. Yet in Claire's desperate life-or-death situation, he stifled his terror and plunged into the danger almost reflexively.
The heavy, solid presence of the golden, old-style Lugers in his hands were the young man's lance, his weapon of choice. The twin pistols spat fire alternately, relentlessly hammering 7.62mm lead bullets into the monster's flesh. As he pulled the trigger, he could forget everything. Fear, frustration-- and his fierce hatred for his father. Like a single piece of steel, Steve kept firing bullets with no mercy.
Normally, this caliber would be insufficient to take down a bioweapon like the Bandersnatch. But the bullets loaded into the Luger were special, stripped of their casings to maximize the force of impact. Before the magazine emptied, Steve planted his weight into a full-force kick to the belly of the monster, now staggering weakly.
He fired one last shot, as if to confirm the reaper's work, ending the Bandersnatch completely. Steve then cheerfully shouted to Claire, who'd sat up.
"See! Couldn't have done it without me, right?"
Yet, despite this outward cheerfulness, a dark, bitter memory resurfaced in his mind.
----Yeah. You can't count on family. If that man hadn't been her husband, my mom wouldn't have died... and neither would I...
Steve's father was an ordinary man who worked for Umbrella.
He likely had no involvement in the company's covert operations, such as bioweapons development or virus research. Like most Umbrella employees, he probably only saw himself as working for one of the world's rare giant pharmaceutical companies.
By chance though, he glimpsed top-secret data from the weapons division, and that's when he stepped off the rails of his life. It was pure temptation. He took that information and tried to sell it for a fortune.
Naturally, being an amateur with no connections to the dark underworld, he quickly made a foolish mistake. He tried approaching the media or Umbrella's rival companies, and his movements were instantly detected by Umbrella's counterintelligence network.
To make matters worse, he attempted to flee, and it worked just a little too well. Failing to apprehend him, Umbrella's special forces, fearing leaks from another source, targeted his family-- namely Steve and his mother.
His mother, completely unaware of the situation, resisted the men who suddenly stormed into their home and was shot dead with no hesitation. Keeping one alive would suffice to track down his father. Watching this unfold, Steve couldn't even scream, paralyzed by the fear of the gun barrel pointed at him.
Ultimately, his father was found soon after, and Steve was sent with him to Rockfort Island. Even if he wasn't involved in the leak, Umbrella couldn't let Steve, who'd witnessed their murder, return to the outside world alive. Due to his father's reckless actions, his mother was killed and he became a prisoner in a private detention facility whose doors would never open.
Steve hated his father with a passion for bringing disaster upon his family without a second thought. He even thought that man should've died in his mother's place. Even after Rockfort's security collapsed, he never once considered searching for his father, who could've still been alive, to escape together.
And yet--.
Why couldn't he pull the trigger on the Ingrams?
The father he hated stood before him. As a dead man, a cursed Zombie with milky white eyes that only sought the flesh and blood of the living, he was about to tear into Claire, trapped with her leg pinned, at this very moment.
What hesitation could there be in shooting the man I hated ever since that day-- the man who was already a corpse-- to save her? Just pulling the trigger would send over thirty rounds a second from both guns, finally putting what was once my father to eternal rest. So why won't my fingers move?
----Did I want to trust my family like Claire did? Was all that anger just jealousy over how she trusted her brother so completely... No matter how much I hated him, I... yes, I--.
He hears Claire's scream as she's grabbed. Steve, who'd closed his eyes as if praying for salvation, thinks it's just like when it happened to his mom. Will I freeze up again and fail to save her this time too? And will I just end up hating my father even more for killing her?
----No damn way! I won't let Dad kill Claire too! I won't let the father I loved so much do something like that!
His eyes snapped open, and he locked onto his target in an instant. Steve's scream echoed, drowning out the crack of gunfire.
"Faaatherrr!!"
Throughout this exchange of fire, he couldn't forget a single thought about his father.
No, there was a reason. He knew exactly where this unsettling discomfort stemmed from. What he didn't understand was why he had to get so worked up about it, why his emotions had to flare up... it was about this problem within himself.
----Getting mad's just ridiculous, isn't it?
Steve told himself. I'm me, Claire is Claire-- we're separate people living our own lives. Whatever she thinks, whoever she chooses to trust, that's her freedom. Deep down, Steve himself knew it was absurd he felt irritated by it.
But--.
Still, seeing Claire stubbornly cling to the belief that her brother Chris would come for her-- simply because they shared blood-- to this prison on an isolated island as remote as the edge of the world, a place that was also the base of the vicious organization hunting him down... his irritation just wouldn't subside.
He wanted to show Claire how much more reliable he was than Chris, who wasn't even here now compared to someone she'd only met a few hours ago. He'd make her admit what she should trust wasn't blood ties, but Steve, armed with two golden pistols.
The once-in-a-lifetime chance to do that was unfolding right before his eyes. Inside the warehouse, separated by glass--. There, something that had wandered out of a nightmare world was present.
A hideous form, like a grotesque mannequin covered in thick, sticky rubber skin. Its left arm was missing, replaced by a right arm that had abnormally elongated and swollen. This arm, seemingly devoid of bone structure or possessing joints that could dislocate freely, instantly extended into a clawed whip nearly three times his height.
It was far more absurd and utterly insane than anything Lewis Carroll could've imagined in Wonderland-- the latest B.O.W. created in Umbrella's mad laboratories. A monstrous offspring of runaway biotechnology-- created by humans using humans as material, designed to efficiently kill humans.
That abomination held Claire captive with its astonishingly elastic, powerful single arm. It grabbed her delicate head, hoisting her up, ready to crush it in its grasp.
Without a moment's hesitation, Steve curled his body and hurled himself through the window. Glass shattered spectacularly. Even the monster released its grip on Claire and turned its attention to him. Its eyes, grotesquely transformed yet still intensely human-like, dulled with a glint as they recognized the youth falling toward them amidst the glass fragments as the priority threat.
17-years-old, still barely a boy, Steve couldn't possibly lack fear of a creature far more terrifying than any Zombie. Yet in Claire's desperate life-or-death situation, he stifled his terror and plunged into the danger almost reflexively.
The heavy, solid presence of the golden, old-style Lugers in his hands were the young man's lance, his weapon of choice. The twin pistols spat fire alternately, relentlessly hammering 7.62mm lead bullets into the monster's flesh. As he pulled the trigger, he could forget everything. Fear, frustration-- and his fierce hatred for his father. Like a single piece of steel, Steve kept firing bullets with no mercy.
Normally, this caliber would be insufficient to take down a bioweapon like the Bandersnatch. But the bullets loaded into the Luger were special, stripped of their casings to maximize the force of impact. Before the magazine emptied, Steve planted his weight into a full-force kick to the belly of the monster, now staggering weakly.
He fired one last shot, as if to confirm the reaper's work, ending the Bandersnatch completely. Steve then cheerfully shouted to Claire, who'd sat up.
"See! Couldn't have done it without me, right?"
Yet, despite this outward cheerfulness, a dark, bitter memory resurfaced in his mind.
----Yeah. You can't count on family. If that man hadn't been her husband, my mom wouldn't have died... and neither would I...
Steve's father was an ordinary man who worked for Umbrella.
He likely had no involvement in the company's covert operations, such as bioweapons development or virus research. Like most Umbrella employees, he probably only saw himself as working for one of the world's rare giant pharmaceutical companies.
By chance though, he glimpsed top-secret data from the weapons division, and that's when he stepped off the rails of his life. It was pure temptation. He took that information and tried to sell it for a fortune.
Naturally, being an amateur with no connections to the dark underworld, he quickly made a foolish mistake. He tried approaching the media or Umbrella's rival companies, and his movements were instantly detected by Umbrella's counterintelligence network.
To make matters worse, he attempted to flee, and it worked just a little too well. Failing to apprehend him, Umbrella's special forces, fearing leaks from another source, targeted his family-- namely Steve and his mother.
His mother, completely unaware of the situation, resisted the men who suddenly stormed into their home and was shot dead with no hesitation. Keeping one alive would suffice to track down his father. Watching this unfold, Steve couldn't even scream, paralyzed by the fear of the gun barrel pointed at him.
Ultimately, his father was found soon after, and Steve was sent with him to Rockfort Island. Even if he wasn't involved in the leak, Umbrella couldn't let Steve, who'd witnessed their murder, return to the outside world alive. Due to his father's reckless actions, his mother was killed and he became a prisoner in a private detention facility whose doors would never open.
Steve hated his father with a passion for bringing disaster upon his family without a second thought. He even thought that man should've died in his mother's place. Even after Rockfort's security collapsed, he never once considered searching for his father, who could've still been alive, to escape together.
And yet--.
Why couldn't he pull the trigger on the Ingrams?
The father he hated stood before him. As a dead man, a cursed Zombie with milky white eyes that only sought the flesh and blood of the living, he was about to tear into Claire, trapped with her leg pinned, at this very moment.
What hesitation could there be in shooting the man I hated ever since that day-- the man who was already a corpse-- to save her? Just pulling the trigger would send over thirty rounds a second from both guns, finally putting what was once my father to eternal rest. So why won't my fingers move?
----Did I want to trust my family like Claire did? Was all that anger just jealousy over how she trusted her brother so completely... No matter how much I hated him, I... yes, I--.
He hears Claire's scream as she's grabbed. Steve, who'd closed his eyes as if praying for salvation, thinks it's just like when it happened to his mom. Will I freeze up again and fail to save her this time too? And will I just end up hating my father even more for killing her?
----No damn way! I won't let Dad kill Claire too! I won't let the father I loved so much do something like that!
His eyes snapped open, and he locked onto his target in an instant. Steve's scream echoed, drowning out the crack of gunfire.
"Faaatherrr!!"
Throughout this exchange of fire, he couldn't forget a single thought about his father.
ORIGINAL STORY #3 - ALFRED ASHFORD'S PERVERSION (p.146-147)
Alfred was occasionally tormented by an intense sense of inferiority.
Even when he tried to suppress it with the pride woven into his heart as head of the prestigious Ashford family, it'd crawl out from somewhere like a writhing, soft-bodied worm. And then, taunting him from within, it'd mock Alfred, who should be feared and trembled at by everyone on Rockfort Island as a cold, cruel, and brutal absolute monarch.
When that happens, he becomes unbearably thirsty. A thirst water can't quench. The only things that can appease this craving are the desperate screams of helpless victims, cut to pieces and realizing their impending death, and the crimson red of the blood dripping from their flesh-- for him to truly feel his bloodline's nobility, chosen by the heavens, he must demonstrate the worthlessness of the lives of the unchosen fools.
Alfred had long amused himself torturing prisoners sent to this facility, reveling in their agonized deaths. Not a shred of conscience troubled him. He genuinely believed taking lives as a whim was permissible entertainment for royalty and nobility.
A profound impairment in emotion and ethics-- those involved in Umbrella's dark operations all, to varying degrees, formed such twisted mental structures to sustain their egos. Yet Alfred's was vastly different from others. Nurtured on an anachronistic chosen-people ideology, his mind was incapable of empathizing with anyone he didn't perceive as his equal or superior. He could neither feel compassion nor be moved by their life or death. During his brain's developmental stages, these socially essential emotions failed to develop-- or rather, never existed within his psyche to begin with.
Fundamentally lacking, he felt no need to reflect. His brain was dominated by a demonic, monstrous mental structure retaining infantile traits-- a perfect case study for the doctrine of innate evil which views human nature as inherently wicked.
The only person Alfred could turn his heart to was his twin sister, Alexia. He recognized only this beautiful and intelligent sister as superior to himself, and he harbored feelings for her that bordered on worship, somewhat beyond what could be called sibling love.
Ironically, it was his determination to live up to Alexia's expectations that was the source of Alfred's only human-like complex.
The Ashford family, which had been built up by its founder Veronica and his grandfather Edward, had now lost all traces of its former glory. The name of the Ashfords, one of the world's most prestigious noble families, had been brought into disrepute by the incompetent leadership of his father, Alexander. As the family's current head, Alfred had to do whatever it took to restore the glory days of the past and rebuild the fallen noble family in both name and reality. His beloved Alexia had high expectations of him, and if he failed, Alfred would be just as incompetent as his father.
He wasn't Alexander. He was the commander of the Rockfort base, renowned for his courageous and decisive actions, and above all, he had Alexia, hailed as the reincarnation of the beautiful and praiseworthy founder Veronica, standing firmly by his side. Soon the Ashford family would be restored to greater glory than ever before-- yes, he believed that with all his heart.
But the black insects seeping from the walls of his heart whispered. What about reality? Are you standing on the stairs leading to the height of glory? Or are you like a guard dog at the entrance to hell, waiting gleefully for sinners to descend?
The words Claire Redfield had hurled at him, a low-ranking Umbrella officer, now pierced Alfred's chest with even greater contempt. Yes, no matter how much he denied it, it was clear to any outsider he held no significant position within Umbrella.
Though he oversaw important departments-- a prison for detaining and disposing of individuals inconvenient to Umbrella, and a military training facility for the special forces serving as the organization's enforcers-- he remained permanently excluded from Umbrella's core. He held no decision-making authority regarding the organization's policies. This was despite his illustrious grandfather Edward being one of Umbrella's founding members. To Umbrella, the Ashford family was little more than a withered, dead-end branch.
And deep down, he actually took pleasure in this situation. At the training facility he could indulge his military hobby by equipping it with the finest gear, funded by Umbrella. To the prison, prisoners whose social histories had been erased were sent as living dolls to satisfy his sadistic whims. This place was truly an independent realm, a kingdom where Alfred could have anything he desired.
Yet, every time he tried to wallow in that satisfaction, Alexia's contemptuous gaze snapped him back to reality. His sister was absolutely right. As siblings born into humanity's elite, they should never have resigned themselves to the Ashford family's current state of utter disgrace.
And now--.
The kingdom was entering its autumn of collapse. Rockfort Island, his territory, was engulfed in chaotic biological disaster following a surprise attack by an unknown unit and the release of the T-Virus.
Alfred firmly believed Claire had guided the special forces. The assault occurred immediately after her transfer, and above all, that little brat was the sister of Chris Redfield-- the most notorious figure currently opposing Umbrella.
Alfred himself always kept a means of escape from the island ready. But before fleeing, he assigned himself one final task: to demonstrate his competence by eliminating the hated Claire right here on this land.
Yet Claire, who should've been nothing more than a pitiful rabbit fleeing in terror, concealed the fangs of a wolf and the agility of a panther. His plans backfired completely, every trap he set to deliver the fatal blow was chewed through. In the end, even with Alexia's help, a young prisoner's interference thwarted his efforts.
Worse still, this series of stumbles led Alfred to recognize a staggering truth.
What he saw reflected in the mirror was his sister's face. Alexia, as beautiful and dignified as ever, her lips painted a vivid crimson—but her long, lustrous blonde hair was cut short like a man's and slicked back.
No, that figure wasn't Alexia at all. It was Alfred in women's clothing. Alexia had never existed here at Rockfort from the start. The sister he'd believed in until today was a false persona, a phantom played by his own face, born from a fragile heart unable to endure loneliness.
Struck dumb by the shock of this truth, Alfred suddenly burst out laughing.
----How utterly foolish. In this state, reviving the Ashford family is utterly impossible. So it seems I was never meant to be Alexia's substitute after all.
His violent laughter stopped abruptly. His eyes now held a mad light unlike anything before.
----Then at least, I'll put an end to the life of the one who knows this shameful truth. I won't let you escape, I won't! Claire!
The already blurred boundary between the two personalities vanished, and Alfred's self rapidly succumbed to chaotic madness. It was high time he prioritized his own escape, but he was no longer capable of making such judgments. A murderous intent, akin to an obsession with Claire, had completely overtaken his mind.
His fingers danced frantically across the console, inputting the complex passcode with precision. He hammered the button to unlock the final safety mechanism with his fist. Alfred, now wearing a woman's face, smiled bewitchingly.
It was the code to reactivate the life functions of the trump card stored in cryogenic suspension at Rockfort-- a large B.O.W. whose practicality and combat capabilities were so exceptional that mass production had begun. Deep within the subterranean vault, the Tyrant-- its target directly imprinted into its brain-- stirred.
Crimson lips formed a curse upon the monitor displaying Claire.
"You'll learn what happens when you defy me...!"
Even when he tried to suppress it with the pride woven into his heart as head of the prestigious Ashford family, it'd crawl out from somewhere like a writhing, soft-bodied worm. And then, taunting him from within, it'd mock Alfred, who should be feared and trembled at by everyone on Rockfort Island as a cold, cruel, and brutal absolute monarch.
When that happens, he becomes unbearably thirsty. A thirst water can't quench. The only things that can appease this craving are the desperate screams of helpless victims, cut to pieces and realizing their impending death, and the crimson red of the blood dripping from their flesh-- for him to truly feel his bloodline's nobility, chosen by the heavens, he must demonstrate the worthlessness of the lives of the unchosen fools.
Alfred had long amused himself torturing prisoners sent to this facility, reveling in their agonized deaths. Not a shred of conscience troubled him. He genuinely believed taking lives as a whim was permissible entertainment for royalty and nobility.
A profound impairment in emotion and ethics-- those involved in Umbrella's dark operations all, to varying degrees, formed such twisted mental structures to sustain their egos. Yet Alfred's was vastly different from others. Nurtured on an anachronistic chosen-people ideology, his mind was incapable of empathizing with anyone he didn't perceive as his equal or superior. He could neither feel compassion nor be moved by their life or death. During his brain's developmental stages, these socially essential emotions failed to develop-- or rather, never existed within his psyche to begin with.
Fundamentally lacking, he felt no need to reflect. His brain was dominated by a demonic, monstrous mental structure retaining infantile traits-- a perfect case study for the doctrine of innate evil which views human nature as inherently wicked.
The only person Alfred could turn his heart to was his twin sister, Alexia. He recognized only this beautiful and intelligent sister as superior to himself, and he harbored feelings for her that bordered on worship, somewhat beyond what could be called sibling love.
Ironically, it was his determination to live up to Alexia's expectations that was the source of Alfred's only human-like complex.
The Ashford family, which had been built up by its founder Veronica and his grandfather Edward, had now lost all traces of its former glory. The name of the Ashfords, one of the world's most prestigious noble families, had been brought into disrepute by the incompetent leadership of his father, Alexander. As the family's current head, Alfred had to do whatever it took to restore the glory days of the past and rebuild the fallen noble family in both name and reality. His beloved Alexia had high expectations of him, and if he failed, Alfred would be just as incompetent as his father.
He wasn't Alexander. He was the commander of the Rockfort base, renowned for his courageous and decisive actions, and above all, he had Alexia, hailed as the reincarnation of the beautiful and praiseworthy founder Veronica, standing firmly by his side. Soon the Ashford family would be restored to greater glory than ever before-- yes, he believed that with all his heart.
But the black insects seeping from the walls of his heart whispered. What about reality? Are you standing on the stairs leading to the height of glory? Or are you like a guard dog at the entrance to hell, waiting gleefully for sinners to descend?
The words Claire Redfield had hurled at him, a low-ranking Umbrella officer, now pierced Alfred's chest with even greater contempt. Yes, no matter how much he denied it, it was clear to any outsider he held no significant position within Umbrella.
Though he oversaw important departments-- a prison for detaining and disposing of individuals inconvenient to Umbrella, and a military training facility for the special forces serving as the organization's enforcers-- he remained permanently excluded from Umbrella's core. He held no decision-making authority regarding the organization's policies. This was despite his illustrious grandfather Edward being one of Umbrella's founding members. To Umbrella, the Ashford family was little more than a withered, dead-end branch.
And deep down, he actually took pleasure in this situation. At the training facility he could indulge his military hobby by equipping it with the finest gear, funded by Umbrella. To the prison, prisoners whose social histories had been erased were sent as living dolls to satisfy his sadistic whims. This place was truly an independent realm, a kingdom where Alfred could have anything he desired.
Yet, every time he tried to wallow in that satisfaction, Alexia's contemptuous gaze snapped him back to reality. His sister was absolutely right. As siblings born into humanity's elite, they should never have resigned themselves to the Ashford family's current state of utter disgrace.
And now--.
The kingdom was entering its autumn of collapse. Rockfort Island, his territory, was engulfed in chaotic biological disaster following a surprise attack by an unknown unit and the release of the T-Virus.
Alfred firmly believed Claire had guided the special forces. The assault occurred immediately after her transfer, and above all, that little brat was the sister of Chris Redfield-- the most notorious figure currently opposing Umbrella.
Alfred himself always kept a means of escape from the island ready. But before fleeing, he assigned himself one final task: to demonstrate his competence by eliminating the hated Claire right here on this land.
Yet Claire, who should've been nothing more than a pitiful rabbit fleeing in terror, concealed the fangs of a wolf and the agility of a panther. His plans backfired completely, every trap he set to deliver the fatal blow was chewed through. In the end, even with Alexia's help, a young prisoner's interference thwarted his efforts.
Worse still, this series of stumbles led Alfred to recognize a staggering truth.
What he saw reflected in the mirror was his sister's face. Alexia, as beautiful and dignified as ever, her lips painted a vivid crimson—but her long, lustrous blonde hair was cut short like a man's and slicked back.
No, that figure wasn't Alexia at all. It was Alfred in women's clothing. Alexia had never existed here at Rockfort from the start. The sister he'd believed in until today was a false persona, a phantom played by his own face, born from a fragile heart unable to endure loneliness.
Struck dumb by the shock of this truth, Alfred suddenly burst out laughing.
----How utterly foolish. In this state, reviving the Ashford family is utterly impossible. So it seems I was never meant to be Alexia's substitute after all.
His violent laughter stopped abruptly. His eyes now held a mad light unlike anything before.
----Then at least, I'll put an end to the life of the one who knows this shameful truth. I won't let you escape, I won't! Claire!
The already blurred boundary between the two personalities vanished, and Alfred's self rapidly succumbed to chaotic madness. It was high time he prioritized his own escape, but he was no longer capable of making such judgments. A murderous intent, akin to an obsession with Claire, had completely overtaken his mind.
His fingers danced frantically across the console, inputting the complex passcode with precision. He hammered the button to unlock the final safety mechanism with his fist. Alfred, now wearing a woman's face, smiled bewitchingly.
It was the code to reactivate the life functions of the trump card stored in cryogenic suspension at Rockfort-- a large B.O.W. whose practicality and combat capabilities were so exceptional that mass production had begun. Deep within the subterranean vault, the Tyrant-- its target directly imprinted into its brain-- stirred.
Crimson lips formed a curse upon the monitor displaying Claire.
"You'll learn what happens when you defy me...!"
ORIGINAL STORY #4 - THE NAMELESS PRISONER'S MEMORIES (p.158-159)
In the frozen, dayless dungeon beneath the earth, "he" had endured an unfathomably long time of solitude.
Had this been a low-latitude region, the sun would likely have risen and set over his head more than five thousand times. Here, beyond 82 degrees south latitude, the tilt of the Earth's axis meant days lasting months, followed by brief intervals of day and night, before the long night descended. An endless night, an unending nightmare-- this underground confinement beneath a secret research facility on the Antarctic continent seemed to doubly symbolize his predicament.
He had no name. He'd long since forgotten the name he was once called. Whenever he tried to recall it, unrelated scenes would vividly resurface, causing him to even forget he'd been trying to remember his name. This symptom signified a severe disruption in the link between the brain's central hub, the hippocampus, and cerebral cortex that stored memories, though he himself couldn't possibly be aware of it.
The first thing to resurface was a spiral that seemed to stretch infinitely. An endlessly ascending double helix composed of the four bases AGCT-- it stood before him as an insurmountable wall, defying all attempts to cross it.
The unknown virus, whose existence had long been whispered about and which his father had attempted to discover, held immense potential. Days were spent trying to forge personnel who could support the virus research by applying genetic engineering-- his field of study-- in place of his own lack of expertise in this area. Yet, it was also a memory of failure.
The concept of analyzing the DNA of preserved geniuses to genetically unravel the secret behind their advanced intelligence development was fundamentally sound. Yet, pattern analysis of the seemingly infinite base sequence proved exceedingly difficult, stalling far beyond his predictions. Consequently, the project, which should've been operational by the time the virus was discovered, fell irreparably behind. and subsequent virus research allowed a rival clan-- his co-discoverers-- to gain the lead. The divine legacy promising eternal prosperity was about to be snatched from their own clan's grasp.
All because of his own inadequacy, and amid agonizing desperation, his protector father met his end. That day, he remembered being seized by violent tremors. Could he truly shoulder the weight of leadership for this noble house, now clearly starting to falter? Completing the project was the only way to break the deadlock, but could the tangled double helix ever be untangled? What if his approach was flawed, meaningless from the start...?
The memory skips abruptly like a scratched record. Next, his mind replayed the image of newborn twins. Golden-haired, blue-eyed, undoubtedly inheriting the chosen noble bloodline-- a radiant brother and sister.
Especially the sister, displaying unprecedented genius, particularly genetically-- they'd surely restore glory to this house. They'll become the great progenitor's reincarnation...
Then, as he tried to picture their mother, "he" was overcome by a strange sensation. The recalled woman's face was unfamiliar. There were no memories of her as a wife he'd lived with. It was as if that part had been erased, or perhaps never existed at all. Who was this woman with her sullen expression...? Only a dry emotion, akin to that felt for a test subject, welled up. Certainly, she must've been the one who gave birth to the two children--
Years flashed by beyond his memory.
When he awoke, he found himself in a stark lab. He, this facility's owner, was somehow lying on a hard, built-in bed. Judging from the intense headaches that struck in short, violent cycles, he realized he must've been drugged with some anesthetic and brought here.
Trying to sit up, he discovered he couldn't move at all. He was tightly bound to the bed, secured by multiple belts.
Standing right beside him were his son and daughter, now 11 or 12-years-old. As he tried to call for help, he noticed their cold stares. Yes, it was these twin children who had drugged him, secretly brought him here, and deprived him of his freedom. A chill ran up his spine. Terror made his throat spasm, and no sound came out. Unspoken words formed a lump, blocking his throat, threatening to suffocate him.
Seeing this, the two exchanged satisfied smiles. Then the daughter brought a small syringe filled with some terribly murky-colored chemical closer. As if injecting a lethal preservative into an insect specimen.
The visual image of the liquid dripping slightly from the slanted, cylindrical needle tip was the final scene etched into his memory. Instantly, the needle moved swiftly, a small sting darting through his neck. He felt the cold liquid being poured into his vein. The chemical was quickly drawn into his heart, sent throughout his body via his blood vessels--.
The coldness abruptly transformed into a searing, blazing heat. The shock caused his eyeballs to roll back, revealing the whites, and his stiffened tongue jutted out like a stick. Against his will, his body arched like a bow, straining with such force it threatened to tear the skin where he was strapped to the belt, making the sturdy experimental bed creak.
By then, "he" already knew what had been injected. Because it was something his own clan had been researching for a long time.
Why... why... he repeated this in his mind, then his memory abruptly ended.
What followed was agony that felt like eternity and a clouded consciousness that continues to this day. Blindfolded, gagged, and tightly secured to the chair by sturdy restraint belts, he remained there. The handle of a massive axe, driven deep into the wall, mercilessly pressed against his neck. In that position, denied food and water, yet unable to die, he'd continued to moan.
Far from weakening after over a decade of confinement, his body remained perpetually brimming with strength.
He was no longer human. His physique had enhanced nutrient absorption efficiency to such an extent it warped even the physical laws dictating energy decay. His somatic cells resembled cancer cells, possessing no limits to division and regeneration-- and possessing telomerase activity that promised eternal life.
However, "he" merely existed. When his body underwent transformation, his brain cells suffered such violent tampering they were destroyed beyond the point of retaining his original human consciousness. A failed, pitiful test subject not even granted death-- the nameless man, ruminating on his limited past memories, remained chained for time eternal.
But at this moment--.
A powerful signal struck his brainstem. It was the first intense stimulus he'd received since being imprisoned in this place.
It might've been the ability possessed by some insects to sense the peril of their kin. The primal imperative to expel the approaching enemy from the clan's territory... triggered further changes in his utterly transformed body.
Cells that had been dormant to conserve energy awoke simultaneously, triggering a violent transformation that could easily be called a chemical reaction. His rapidly developed heart burst through his chest, starting to circulate toxic bodily fluids that would infuse his frozen body with vitality.
With effortless ease, he tore apart the restraints that had bound him for so long. Using only the surging strength in his neck muscles, he deflected the axe and finally rose to his feet.
From the cold, dark depths beneath the earth, the prisoner once called The Undead slowly began his ascent into the world of white darkness--.
Had this been a low-latitude region, the sun would likely have risen and set over his head more than five thousand times. Here, beyond 82 degrees south latitude, the tilt of the Earth's axis meant days lasting months, followed by brief intervals of day and night, before the long night descended. An endless night, an unending nightmare-- this underground confinement beneath a secret research facility on the Antarctic continent seemed to doubly symbolize his predicament.
He had no name. He'd long since forgotten the name he was once called. Whenever he tried to recall it, unrelated scenes would vividly resurface, causing him to even forget he'd been trying to remember his name. This symptom signified a severe disruption in the link between the brain's central hub, the hippocampus, and cerebral cortex that stored memories, though he himself couldn't possibly be aware of it.
The first thing to resurface was a spiral that seemed to stretch infinitely. An endlessly ascending double helix composed of the four bases AGCT-- it stood before him as an insurmountable wall, defying all attempts to cross it.
The unknown virus, whose existence had long been whispered about and which his father had attempted to discover, held immense potential. Days were spent trying to forge personnel who could support the virus research by applying genetic engineering-- his field of study-- in place of his own lack of expertise in this area. Yet, it was also a memory of failure.
The concept of analyzing the DNA of preserved geniuses to genetically unravel the secret behind their advanced intelligence development was fundamentally sound. Yet, pattern analysis of the seemingly infinite base sequence proved exceedingly difficult, stalling far beyond his predictions. Consequently, the project, which should've been operational by the time the virus was discovered, fell irreparably behind. and subsequent virus research allowed a rival clan-- his co-discoverers-- to gain the lead. The divine legacy promising eternal prosperity was about to be snatched from their own clan's grasp.
All because of his own inadequacy, and amid agonizing desperation, his protector father met his end. That day, he remembered being seized by violent tremors. Could he truly shoulder the weight of leadership for this noble house, now clearly starting to falter? Completing the project was the only way to break the deadlock, but could the tangled double helix ever be untangled? What if his approach was flawed, meaningless from the start...?
The memory skips abruptly like a scratched record. Next, his mind replayed the image of newborn twins. Golden-haired, blue-eyed, undoubtedly inheriting the chosen noble bloodline-- a radiant brother and sister.
Especially the sister, displaying unprecedented genius, particularly genetically-- they'd surely restore glory to this house. They'll become the great progenitor's reincarnation...
Then, as he tried to picture their mother, "he" was overcome by a strange sensation. The recalled woman's face was unfamiliar. There were no memories of her as a wife he'd lived with. It was as if that part had been erased, or perhaps never existed at all. Who was this woman with her sullen expression...? Only a dry emotion, akin to that felt for a test subject, welled up. Certainly, she must've been the one who gave birth to the two children--
Years flashed by beyond his memory.
When he awoke, he found himself in a stark lab. He, this facility's owner, was somehow lying on a hard, built-in bed. Judging from the intense headaches that struck in short, violent cycles, he realized he must've been drugged with some anesthetic and brought here.
Trying to sit up, he discovered he couldn't move at all. He was tightly bound to the bed, secured by multiple belts.
Standing right beside him were his son and daughter, now 11 or 12-years-old. As he tried to call for help, he noticed their cold stares. Yes, it was these twin children who had drugged him, secretly brought him here, and deprived him of his freedom. A chill ran up his spine. Terror made his throat spasm, and no sound came out. Unspoken words formed a lump, blocking his throat, threatening to suffocate him.
Seeing this, the two exchanged satisfied smiles. Then the daughter brought a small syringe filled with some terribly murky-colored chemical closer. As if injecting a lethal preservative into an insect specimen.
The visual image of the liquid dripping slightly from the slanted, cylindrical needle tip was the final scene etched into his memory. Instantly, the needle moved swiftly, a small sting darting through his neck. He felt the cold liquid being poured into his vein. The chemical was quickly drawn into his heart, sent throughout his body via his blood vessels--.
The coldness abruptly transformed into a searing, blazing heat. The shock caused his eyeballs to roll back, revealing the whites, and his stiffened tongue jutted out like a stick. Against his will, his body arched like a bow, straining with such force it threatened to tear the skin where he was strapped to the belt, making the sturdy experimental bed creak.
By then, "he" already knew what had been injected. Because it was something his own clan had been researching for a long time.
Why... why... he repeated this in his mind, then his memory abruptly ended.
What followed was agony that felt like eternity and a clouded consciousness that continues to this day. Blindfolded, gagged, and tightly secured to the chair by sturdy restraint belts, he remained there. The handle of a massive axe, driven deep into the wall, mercilessly pressed against his neck. In that position, denied food and water, yet unable to die, he'd continued to moan.
Far from weakening after over a decade of confinement, his body remained perpetually brimming with strength.
He was no longer human. His physique had enhanced nutrient absorption efficiency to such an extent it warped even the physical laws dictating energy decay. His somatic cells resembled cancer cells, possessing no limits to division and regeneration-- and possessing telomerase activity that promised eternal life.
However, "he" merely existed. When his body underwent transformation, his brain cells suffered such violent tampering they were destroyed beyond the point of retaining his original human consciousness. A failed, pitiful test subject not even granted death-- the nameless man, ruminating on his limited past memories, remained chained for time eternal.
But at this moment--.
A powerful signal struck his brainstem. It was the first intense stimulus he'd received since being imprisoned in this place.
It might've been the ability possessed by some insects to sense the peril of their kin. The primal imperative to expel the approaching enemy from the clan's territory... triggered further changes in his utterly transformed body.
Cells that had been dormant to conserve energy awoke simultaneously, triggering a violent transformation that could easily be called a chemical reaction. His rapidly developed heart burst through his chest, starting to circulate toxic bodily fluids that would infuse his frozen body with vitality.
With effortless ease, he tore apart the restraints that had bound him for so long. Using only the surging strength in his neck muscles, he deflected the axe and finally rose to his feet.
From the cold, dark depths beneath the earth, the prisoner once called The Undead slowly began his ascent into the world of white darkness--.
ORIGINAL STORY #5 - CHRIS REDFIELD'S RESOLVE (p.170-171)
In the dreadful room where cylinders containing bioweapons stood in rows, Chris Redfield faced a specter.
The man who orchestrated the "Mansion Incident" five months prior, leading to the annihilation of the Raccoon City Police Department's elite special forces unit, S.T.A.R.S. The villain who'd sealed the fate of Chris and the survivors against Umbrella, only to be consumed by the trap he himself had set, his ambitions consumed as he journeyed to Hell.
Yet the man who ushered the nightmare appeared before Chris once more. Not in the American midwest where Raccoon City had stood, but far beyond, on the isolated island in the Southern Hemisphere that served as Umbrella's outpost-- Rockfort.
"Long time no see, Chris."
With a low chuckle, as if amused, the man spoke from behind Chris.
The moment he heard that voice, Chris' blood began to run cold. The unmistakable resonance. Even before turning around, he knew exactly who it was.
That voice had once issued operational commands to Chris and his teammates. The cold-blooded Judas who, as S.T.A.R.S. Captain, sacrificed them as living test subjects for the B.O.W.'s-- those products of madness. --The dead man resurrected nearly half a year after that fateful day stood before him, unchanged except for his trademark jet-black sunglasses, calmly meeting Chris' gaze.
"Wesker!?"
Even knowing the voice could belong to no one but Albert Wesker, Chris couldn't help but be startled. "You're alive!? Why are you here!?"
But truthfully, how Wesker had survived, or what purpose brought him to this land ravaged by the biohazard, was of no consequence to him.
Overlapping with Wesker's smirking face were the faces of his teammates who'd perished one after another in that cursed mansion-- Joseph, torn alive by dogs; Kenneth, devoured by Zombies; Forest, his body picked clean by T-Virus-enraged crows; Richard, who suffered and died from a monstrous snake's venom; and Enrico, the deputy leader, shot dead by Wesker himself... Their unresolved grievances still pierced deep into Chris' heart.
And now, Wesker-- the very man who kicked them into that hellish pit-- stood before Chris, alive and unpunished. He couldn't get away with this. For his comrades' sake, this man alone shouldn't have been allowed to live.
Though maintaining a calm exterior, Chris was like a large pistol on the verge of exploding.
He'd once served in the US Air Force, and after his discharge, he had a history of confronting violent crimes and terrorism with the special forces unit S.T.A.R.S. However, he never condoned the act of killing another human being. He was prepared for it, of course. Even possessing the skills of a first-class sniper, Chris wasn't so overconfident as to believe he could always make shots that subdued a target without taking their life. In a field where countless accidental factors existed, sniping always carried the risk of killing the criminal. And if that decision meant preventing the sacrifice of innocent civilians, he'd pull the trigger with zero hesitation.
However, Chris never forgot those whose lives he took. No matter how vicious or ruthless the terrorist, he'd etch the act of completely extinguishing their "potential for rehabilitation" into his memory as his own form of atonement. If he numbed his senses to killing in the name of justice, he feared he might one day, without realizing it, be a monster incompatible with human society, like Umbrella conducting its insane human experiments. Until his final day, Chris earnestly wished to remain a man who could meet the gaze of his beloved sister Claire without looking away.
But facing Wesker, Chris felt a savage beast swelling within him. The beast called murderous intent roared and gnawed at him from within, threatening to tear him apart. Don't let the man who trampled his comrades' trust and snatched away their future live-- Chris barely suppressed that overwhelming impulse.
"My target is Alexia."
Wesker answered flatly, as if deflecting Chris' fury.
"What?"
"I was hired to capture her."
With these words, the enigmatic, blurred situation at the already devastated Rockfort took on a clear form. Simultaneously, the thin shell of reason that had been stretched taut over the beast crouching within snapped and shattered.
"So you're the one who attacked this place! You bastard! Claire too?!" The suspicion that his beloved sister might've fallen into this scoundrel's hands became the hammer of rage, releasing Chris. He wouldn't kill him-- not even an enemy of his comrades. But first, he'd wipe that smirk off his face. Less than five meters away-- at this range, even if the enemy moved, he could shoot both legs clean through without accidentally hitting an artery. Once he couldn't laugh anymore, Chris would drag him out into the outside world, even if he had to haul him by force, and make him face the judgment of the law. For those incapable of atoning themselves, the law exists.
But--.
The instant Chris raised the muzzle of his Glock 17, something unbelievable happened.
There was no opening, not even a breath's worth. Yet, the moment he tensed his right arm slightly, Wesker was already upon him. He could only reflexively tense his muscles, barely shifting the point of impact. A full-weight elbow strike drove into his abdomen, sending Chris' body-- weighing over 100 kilograms-- flying through the air. Unable even to inhale the air forced from his lungs, he slammed back into the console.
Had he taken the blow without reacting, it'd have been no surprise if his internal organs had ruptured. Struggling to hold onto his fading consciousness, Chris tried to analyze what had just happened. The blindingly fast charge that seemed to leave afterimages-- absolutely beyond the realm of human physical capability. Memories of the deadly battle at the mansion flashed through Chris' mind. Yes, that monster (the Tyrant) that appeared on the helipad just before their escape had also attacked with this same abnormal burst of speed...
When he came to, Wesker was already standing before him. Chris, still reeling from the damage, couldn't even twist his body. Through his sunglasses, Wesker fixed him with a cold, calculating gaze. He grabbed Chris by the neck, yanked him upright, then effortlessly hoisted him overhead with just his right arm.
This too was no ordinary feat. While Wesker was Army-trained and physically gifted, his background was as a technical officer. Even in S.T.A.R.S., his primary roles were strategic planning and command. He had no doubt about his physical strength, but he certainly wasn't someone with such exceptionally outstanding arm strength.
"I despise you. Tearing you limb from limb wouldn't suffice."
In a chillingly calm voice, Wesker whispered to a half-hanged Chris. "You destroyed my plan... So I sold my soul to a new organization."
What a shameless, self-serving statement-- the rage surging up again temporarily restored Chris' strength. Everything was Wesker's own doing, and the plan had failed. Sacrificing irreplaceable comrades. This man possessed no capacity for self-reflection-- Chris clenched his teeth tightly and concentrated all the strength he could muster into his right fist.
"Die here!!"
The instant Wesker tensed his fingers, a slight opening appeared. Seizing it, Chris unleashed a punch with all his might at Wesker's left temple. Using only the strength of his upper body, with his seized neck as his pivot, a devastating hook packed with lethal force struck Wesker. His sunglasses flew off, clattering across the floor. Yet Wesker didn't fall. Slowly, as if relishing the pain, he turned his eyes, boiling with hatred, toward Chris. Their irises were golden, their pupils narrow and elongated like a reptile's, glowing crimson.
At that moment, Chris understood clearly. The man who'd once been his superior had sacrificed even his own flesh as an offering to the devil. Albert Wesker the man no longer existed. What remained was a pitiable being, utterly transformed into a "monster" in both body and soul.
The law can't judge monsters. Then there was no other path but for him to condemn this man, who lived burdened by the unresolved grievances of his comrades.
Suddenly, a woman's shrill laughter echoed from the monitor, snatching him from the grip of death. Watching Wesker's retreating back at the edge of his vision, Chris resolved within himself. Next time, no matter what, it would be a matter of life and death.
----But even so... I'll stay human. I have to, don't I? Claire...
Thinking of his sister, taken far away to Antarctica, the wounded warrior summoned his strength and rose. As the voice of the fallen S.T.A.R.S.-- and as Claire Redfield's brother.
The man who orchestrated the "Mansion Incident" five months prior, leading to the annihilation of the Raccoon City Police Department's elite special forces unit, S.T.A.R.S. The villain who'd sealed the fate of Chris and the survivors against Umbrella, only to be consumed by the trap he himself had set, his ambitions consumed as he journeyed to Hell.
Yet the man who ushered the nightmare appeared before Chris once more. Not in the American midwest where Raccoon City had stood, but far beyond, on the isolated island in the Southern Hemisphere that served as Umbrella's outpost-- Rockfort.
"Long time no see, Chris."
With a low chuckle, as if amused, the man spoke from behind Chris.
The moment he heard that voice, Chris' blood began to run cold. The unmistakable resonance. Even before turning around, he knew exactly who it was.
That voice had once issued operational commands to Chris and his teammates. The cold-blooded Judas who, as S.T.A.R.S. Captain, sacrificed them as living test subjects for the B.O.W.'s-- those products of madness. --The dead man resurrected nearly half a year after that fateful day stood before him, unchanged except for his trademark jet-black sunglasses, calmly meeting Chris' gaze.
"Wesker!?"
Even knowing the voice could belong to no one but Albert Wesker, Chris couldn't help but be startled. "You're alive!? Why are you here!?"
But truthfully, how Wesker had survived, or what purpose brought him to this land ravaged by the biohazard, was of no consequence to him.
Overlapping with Wesker's smirking face were the faces of his teammates who'd perished one after another in that cursed mansion-- Joseph, torn alive by dogs; Kenneth, devoured by Zombies; Forest, his body picked clean by T-Virus-enraged crows; Richard, who suffered and died from a monstrous snake's venom; and Enrico, the deputy leader, shot dead by Wesker himself... Their unresolved grievances still pierced deep into Chris' heart.
And now, Wesker-- the very man who kicked them into that hellish pit-- stood before Chris, alive and unpunished. He couldn't get away with this. For his comrades' sake, this man alone shouldn't have been allowed to live.
Though maintaining a calm exterior, Chris was like a large pistol on the verge of exploding.
He'd once served in the US Air Force, and after his discharge, he had a history of confronting violent crimes and terrorism with the special forces unit S.T.A.R.S. However, he never condoned the act of killing another human being. He was prepared for it, of course. Even possessing the skills of a first-class sniper, Chris wasn't so overconfident as to believe he could always make shots that subdued a target without taking their life. In a field where countless accidental factors existed, sniping always carried the risk of killing the criminal. And if that decision meant preventing the sacrifice of innocent civilians, he'd pull the trigger with zero hesitation.
However, Chris never forgot those whose lives he took. No matter how vicious or ruthless the terrorist, he'd etch the act of completely extinguishing their "potential for rehabilitation" into his memory as his own form of atonement. If he numbed his senses to killing in the name of justice, he feared he might one day, without realizing it, be a monster incompatible with human society, like Umbrella conducting its insane human experiments. Until his final day, Chris earnestly wished to remain a man who could meet the gaze of his beloved sister Claire without looking away.
But facing Wesker, Chris felt a savage beast swelling within him. The beast called murderous intent roared and gnawed at him from within, threatening to tear him apart. Don't let the man who trampled his comrades' trust and snatched away their future live-- Chris barely suppressed that overwhelming impulse.
"My target is Alexia."
Wesker answered flatly, as if deflecting Chris' fury.
"What?"
"I was hired to capture her."
With these words, the enigmatic, blurred situation at the already devastated Rockfort took on a clear form. Simultaneously, the thin shell of reason that had been stretched taut over the beast crouching within snapped and shattered.
"So you're the one who attacked this place! You bastard! Claire too?!" The suspicion that his beloved sister might've fallen into this scoundrel's hands became the hammer of rage, releasing Chris. He wouldn't kill him-- not even an enemy of his comrades. But first, he'd wipe that smirk off his face. Less than five meters away-- at this range, even if the enemy moved, he could shoot both legs clean through without accidentally hitting an artery. Once he couldn't laugh anymore, Chris would drag him out into the outside world, even if he had to haul him by force, and make him face the judgment of the law. For those incapable of atoning themselves, the law exists.
But--.
The instant Chris raised the muzzle of his Glock 17, something unbelievable happened.
There was no opening, not even a breath's worth. Yet, the moment he tensed his right arm slightly, Wesker was already upon him. He could only reflexively tense his muscles, barely shifting the point of impact. A full-weight elbow strike drove into his abdomen, sending Chris' body-- weighing over 100 kilograms-- flying through the air. Unable even to inhale the air forced from his lungs, he slammed back into the console.
Had he taken the blow without reacting, it'd have been no surprise if his internal organs had ruptured. Struggling to hold onto his fading consciousness, Chris tried to analyze what had just happened. The blindingly fast charge that seemed to leave afterimages-- absolutely beyond the realm of human physical capability. Memories of the deadly battle at the mansion flashed through Chris' mind. Yes, that monster (the Tyrant) that appeared on the helipad just before their escape had also attacked with this same abnormal burst of speed...
When he came to, Wesker was already standing before him. Chris, still reeling from the damage, couldn't even twist his body. Through his sunglasses, Wesker fixed him with a cold, calculating gaze. He grabbed Chris by the neck, yanked him upright, then effortlessly hoisted him overhead with just his right arm.
This too was no ordinary feat. While Wesker was Army-trained and physically gifted, his background was as a technical officer. Even in S.T.A.R.S., his primary roles were strategic planning and command. He had no doubt about his physical strength, but he certainly wasn't someone with such exceptionally outstanding arm strength.
"I despise you. Tearing you limb from limb wouldn't suffice."
In a chillingly calm voice, Wesker whispered to a half-hanged Chris. "You destroyed my plan... So I sold my soul to a new organization."
What a shameless, self-serving statement-- the rage surging up again temporarily restored Chris' strength. Everything was Wesker's own doing, and the plan had failed. Sacrificing irreplaceable comrades. This man possessed no capacity for self-reflection-- Chris clenched his teeth tightly and concentrated all the strength he could muster into his right fist.
"Die here!!"
The instant Wesker tensed his fingers, a slight opening appeared. Seizing it, Chris unleashed a punch with all his might at Wesker's left temple. Using only the strength of his upper body, with his seized neck as his pivot, a devastating hook packed with lethal force struck Wesker. His sunglasses flew off, clattering across the floor. Yet Wesker didn't fall. Slowly, as if relishing the pain, he turned his eyes, boiling with hatred, toward Chris. Their irises were golden, their pupils narrow and elongated like a reptile's, glowing crimson.
At that moment, Chris understood clearly. The man who'd once been his superior had sacrificed even his own flesh as an offering to the devil. Albert Wesker the man no longer existed. What remained was a pitiable being, utterly transformed into a "monster" in both body and soul.
The law can't judge monsters. Then there was no other path but for him to condemn this man, who lived burdened by the unresolved grievances of his comrades.
Suddenly, a woman's shrill laughter echoed from the monitor, snatching him from the grip of death. Watching Wesker's retreating back at the edge of his vision, Chris resolved within himself. Next time, no matter what, it would be a matter of life and death.
----But even so... I'll stay human. I have to, don't I? Claire...
Thinking of his sister, taken far away to Antarctica, the wounded warrior summoned his strength and rose. As the voice of the fallen S.T.A.R.S.-- and as Claire Redfield's brother.
ORIGINAL STORY #6 - CLAIRE REDFIELD'S GRIEF (p.196-197)
For the first time, Claire tasted the taste of hopeless despair.
Until today, no matter what situation she faced, she'd never truly given up. Even during that nightmare in Raccoon City, Claire never abandoned hope, pushing her abilities to the absolute limit to escape.
----The greatest enemy's always yourself, trying to give up and find relief.
Having witnessed her older brother Chris' unyielding determination and unwavering sense of justice since childhood, this mindset was ingrained deep within her bones. No matter how painful or agonizing, she relentlessly sought a way to break through the situation and achieve her goal-- Claire possessed an uncommon drive and decisiveness for a college girl precisely because this consciousness was intensely cultivated at the core of her being.
Yet now, that very Claire stood helpless, trembling and terrified like a fledgling fallen from its nest. Her sapphire eyes, which had never lost their spark of courage even when facing Raccoon City's most vicious monster, "G," now reflected only the abyssal darkness of bewilderment and sorrow.
A prison cell deep within the Antarctic terminal base, its concrete walls seeping bone-chilling cold. To drive Claire trapped within, the sound of steel blades striking iron bars echoed fiercely. Again and again-- each time, she felt a pain that felt like her soul was being scraped away.
A mindless beast's roar drowned out the clanging metal, shaking the frozen air.
A monstrous demon, wielding a ceremonial long-handled axe like a flail, a monstrous demon swung a massive ceremonial battleaxe like a fishing rod, hacking at the sturdy iron bars blocking its path to Claire with unbridled destructive fury. Its skin was stained a green akin to a rotting swamp, and the ridges covering its protruding spine were abnormally swollen, reminiscent of a conch shell. Within its entirely enlarged body, only the head retained its original features, making it all the more unsettling.
It was the utterly transformed form of Steve Burnside.
After fifteen years of cryogenic sleep, the Ashford family's true head, Alexia, had been revived. This demonic woman, possessing a body harboring immeasurable power and an utterly evil soul-- the polar opposite of her almost divine appearance-- subjected the captured Steve to an insane human experiment. She directly injected him with the T-Veronica Virus symbiotic within her own body, leaving him exposed without the necessary gradual acclimation period required under cryogenic conditions.
This experiment's outcome was all but certain. No, Alexia, who defined herself as the supreme transcendent being, never even considered creating another entity possessing equal power. Administering T-Veronica to Steve wasn't even a biological experiment. Her intent was to inflict unearthly, cruel suffering upon Claire and Steve-- the pair who'd defeated her foolish yet loyal servant, her soldier ant brother Alfred. She intended to make them kill each other as they tried to escape hand in hand, reveling in that hellish spectacle.
And her plan was working perfectly. Steve, who'd undergone dramatic physical changes brought on by the completed T-Veronica, which had become more potent inside Alexia's body, lost his reason and self-awareness as his brain cells were rapidly eroded, just like Alexander, the Ashford family's previous head who'd once been a test subject. All that remained was a fighting instinct that caused him to indiscriminately attack any living thing that caught his eye. Unaware the person before him was his beloved Claire Redfield, what was once Steve continued to swing his steel axe, weighing nearly 100 kilograms, without mercy.
However, what Alexia found uninteresting was that Claire showed no sign of fighting back against Steve, who'd become a monster in both body and mind.
Claire had no will to attack. Even if he had become a monster, even if he no longer recognized himself, the person standing there was unmistakably Steve. Reckless and self-centered, appearing to push others away yet truly lonely, but brave enough to save her in her hour of need-- like a brother she couldn't abandon. How could she possibly fire bullets at that Steve?
Yet she couldn't die yet. Most people born into this world felt that way, but for Claire, what she wanted to do-- what she needed to accomplish-- was too vast, too heavy. She must strip away the mask of the Umbrella pharmaceutical company and defeat its leaders-- demons in human form. If their power extended into politics, then the very structure of society itself needed cleansing. And finally, she had to return to the orphaned girl who adored her like a mother: Sherry Birkin. She couldn't just leave it to others and die. She had to survive, even if it meant clinging to a rock--
That's precisely why Claire was trapped in deep despair.
Right here, right now, there was nothing she could do. Not save Steve, nor fight... She was merely a helpless being, staring at the raving Steve and praying he'd regain his sanity. Confronted with her own limitations, a warrior maiden whose wings had been broken, waiting only to be hurled from the heights of the sky back down to the earth's surface--
Soon the iron bars, twisted beyond recognition, would snap with a loud crack, welcoming Steve back inside the cell. Seconds later, she'd be struck down by a deadly slash and die. By the hand of the friend who'd sworn to survive together...
It was then. Something burst through the thick concrete wall, rushing into the prison like a torrent.
It was no helping hand. What appeared was a tentacle as thick as Claire's waist, long and resilient like a giant serpent--the same bizarre entity that had attacked them during their escape attempt, now coiling tightly around Claire, completely immobilizing her.
It was an organ developed outside the body, moving freely at Alexia's will. Growing impatient with Claire's lack of resistance, Alexia had volunteered to play the executioner's role: capture her to ensure she couldn't escape, then have Steve deliver the final blow.
Claire, her upper body tightly constricted by the tentacle, gasped for air, letting out a groan of agony. Her bones creaked and groaned, if just a little more pressure was applied, they'd shatter. In her fading consciousness, she accepted her fate. In her dimming vision, she saw the destroyed iron bars and a massive shadow approaching through them.
Before her prey, she felt the shadow swing its weapon wide. The heavy, sharp sound of the axe's thick blade cutting through the air made Claire realize death was now unavoidable.
Countless regrets flashed through her mind in an instant. Chris would blame himself. Would Sherry wait forever for her to return? And if Steve retained even a shred of consciousness, how agonizing would it be for him to have to kill Claire? More than her own death, she felt profound sorrow at the thought of causing such pain to those she loved.
But death never came. Just as the thought flashed through her mind-- perhaps she was already dead-- a voice reached her ears.
"C-Claire..."
It was Steve's voice, faintly regaining consciousness.
Had Alexia not intervened, Steve might've swung the axe down without hesitation. But the visual information of Claire, trapped and suffering by the tentacle, revived the sliver of intelligence left within him. He'd protect Claire at all costs-- this vow, buried deep in his heart, suppressed his destructive impulse and gave him the will to control his rampaging body.
With a roar, his blade flashed, cleaving the tentacle wrapped around Claire in two. The tentacle, dripping green fluid from its severed end, faltered slightly. But in the next instant, Alexia's fury surged forth, sweeping Steve aside. The impact, powerful enough to overturn a snowmobile, seized Steve and flung his massive body away like a paper doll.
The wounded tentacle retreated, and silence descended upon the depths of the earth--.
Steve, fatally wounded in his internal organs, began to revert to human form. The young knight apprentice had finally broken the curse inflicted by the wicked witch and upheld the vow he'd sworn.
Claire had escaped the jaws of death and been granted respite to heal her white wings. A chance to soar once more into the skies of battle and extinguish Umbrella's last breath. Until the day she shot down the giant grim reaper spreading pitch-black darkness, she had no time to grieve. She must become stronger, much stronger.
Still, just for now--.
Burying her face in the silent knight's shoulder, the Valkyrie wept unceasingly.
Until today, no matter what situation she faced, she'd never truly given up. Even during that nightmare in Raccoon City, Claire never abandoned hope, pushing her abilities to the absolute limit to escape.
----The greatest enemy's always yourself, trying to give up and find relief.
Having witnessed her older brother Chris' unyielding determination and unwavering sense of justice since childhood, this mindset was ingrained deep within her bones. No matter how painful or agonizing, she relentlessly sought a way to break through the situation and achieve her goal-- Claire possessed an uncommon drive and decisiveness for a college girl precisely because this consciousness was intensely cultivated at the core of her being.
Yet now, that very Claire stood helpless, trembling and terrified like a fledgling fallen from its nest. Her sapphire eyes, which had never lost their spark of courage even when facing Raccoon City's most vicious monster, "G," now reflected only the abyssal darkness of bewilderment and sorrow.
A prison cell deep within the Antarctic terminal base, its concrete walls seeping bone-chilling cold. To drive Claire trapped within, the sound of steel blades striking iron bars echoed fiercely. Again and again-- each time, she felt a pain that felt like her soul was being scraped away.
A mindless beast's roar drowned out the clanging metal, shaking the frozen air.
A monstrous demon, wielding a ceremonial long-handled axe like a flail, a monstrous demon swung a massive ceremonial battleaxe like a fishing rod, hacking at the sturdy iron bars blocking its path to Claire with unbridled destructive fury. Its skin was stained a green akin to a rotting swamp, and the ridges covering its protruding spine were abnormally swollen, reminiscent of a conch shell. Within its entirely enlarged body, only the head retained its original features, making it all the more unsettling.
It was the utterly transformed form of Steve Burnside.
After fifteen years of cryogenic sleep, the Ashford family's true head, Alexia, had been revived. This demonic woman, possessing a body harboring immeasurable power and an utterly evil soul-- the polar opposite of her almost divine appearance-- subjected the captured Steve to an insane human experiment. She directly injected him with the T-Veronica Virus symbiotic within her own body, leaving him exposed without the necessary gradual acclimation period required under cryogenic conditions.
This experiment's outcome was all but certain. No, Alexia, who defined herself as the supreme transcendent being, never even considered creating another entity possessing equal power. Administering T-Veronica to Steve wasn't even a biological experiment. Her intent was to inflict unearthly, cruel suffering upon Claire and Steve-- the pair who'd defeated her foolish yet loyal servant, her soldier ant brother Alfred. She intended to make them kill each other as they tried to escape hand in hand, reveling in that hellish spectacle.
And her plan was working perfectly. Steve, who'd undergone dramatic physical changes brought on by the completed T-Veronica, which had become more potent inside Alexia's body, lost his reason and self-awareness as his brain cells were rapidly eroded, just like Alexander, the Ashford family's previous head who'd once been a test subject. All that remained was a fighting instinct that caused him to indiscriminately attack any living thing that caught his eye. Unaware the person before him was his beloved Claire Redfield, what was once Steve continued to swing his steel axe, weighing nearly 100 kilograms, without mercy.
However, what Alexia found uninteresting was that Claire showed no sign of fighting back against Steve, who'd become a monster in both body and mind.
Claire had no will to attack. Even if he had become a monster, even if he no longer recognized himself, the person standing there was unmistakably Steve. Reckless and self-centered, appearing to push others away yet truly lonely, but brave enough to save her in her hour of need-- like a brother she couldn't abandon. How could she possibly fire bullets at that Steve?
Yet she couldn't die yet. Most people born into this world felt that way, but for Claire, what she wanted to do-- what she needed to accomplish-- was too vast, too heavy. She must strip away the mask of the Umbrella pharmaceutical company and defeat its leaders-- demons in human form. If their power extended into politics, then the very structure of society itself needed cleansing. And finally, she had to return to the orphaned girl who adored her like a mother: Sherry Birkin. She couldn't just leave it to others and die. She had to survive, even if it meant clinging to a rock--
That's precisely why Claire was trapped in deep despair.
Right here, right now, there was nothing she could do. Not save Steve, nor fight... She was merely a helpless being, staring at the raving Steve and praying he'd regain his sanity. Confronted with her own limitations, a warrior maiden whose wings had been broken, waiting only to be hurled from the heights of the sky back down to the earth's surface--
Soon the iron bars, twisted beyond recognition, would snap with a loud crack, welcoming Steve back inside the cell. Seconds later, she'd be struck down by a deadly slash and die. By the hand of the friend who'd sworn to survive together...
It was then. Something burst through the thick concrete wall, rushing into the prison like a torrent.
It was no helping hand. What appeared was a tentacle as thick as Claire's waist, long and resilient like a giant serpent--the same bizarre entity that had attacked them during their escape attempt, now coiling tightly around Claire, completely immobilizing her.
It was an organ developed outside the body, moving freely at Alexia's will. Growing impatient with Claire's lack of resistance, Alexia had volunteered to play the executioner's role: capture her to ensure she couldn't escape, then have Steve deliver the final blow.
Claire, her upper body tightly constricted by the tentacle, gasped for air, letting out a groan of agony. Her bones creaked and groaned, if just a little more pressure was applied, they'd shatter. In her fading consciousness, she accepted her fate. In her dimming vision, she saw the destroyed iron bars and a massive shadow approaching through them.
Before her prey, she felt the shadow swing its weapon wide. The heavy, sharp sound of the axe's thick blade cutting through the air made Claire realize death was now unavoidable.
Countless regrets flashed through her mind in an instant. Chris would blame himself. Would Sherry wait forever for her to return? And if Steve retained even a shred of consciousness, how agonizing would it be for him to have to kill Claire? More than her own death, she felt profound sorrow at the thought of causing such pain to those she loved.
But death never came. Just as the thought flashed through her mind-- perhaps she was already dead-- a voice reached her ears.
"C-Claire..."
It was Steve's voice, faintly regaining consciousness.
Had Alexia not intervened, Steve might've swung the axe down without hesitation. But the visual information of Claire, trapped and suffering by the tentacle, revived the sliver of intelligence left within him. He'd protect Claire at all costs-- this vow, buried deep in his heart, suppressed his destructive impulse and gave him the will to control his rampaging body.
With a roar, his blade flashed, cleaving the tentacle wrapped around Claire in two. The tentacle, dripping green fluid from its severed end, faltered slightly. But in the next instant, Alexia's fury surged forth, sweeping Steve aside. The impact, powerful enough to overturn a snowmobile, seized Steve and flung his massive body away like a paper doll.
The wounded tentacle retreated, and silence descended upon the depths of the earth--.
Steve, fatally wounded in his internal organs, began to revert to human form. The young knight apprentice had finally broken the curse inflicted by the wicked witch and upheld the vow he'd sworn.
Claire had escaped the jaws of death and been granted respite to heal her white wings. A chance to soar once more into the skies of battle and extinguish Umbrella's last breath. Until the day she shot down the giant grim reaper spreading pitch-black darkness, she had no time to grieve. She must become stronger, much stronger.
Still, just for now--.
Burying her face in the silent knight's shoulder, the Valkyrie wept unceasingly.
CHARACTER OF CODE:Veronica
CLAIRE REDFIELD (p.005)
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Height: 169cm
Weight: 52.4kg
Blood Type: O
A cheerful and curious college student who loves motorcycles more than anything else. She'd been living a peaceful life until three months ago when she visited Raccoon City, where her older brother Chris worked, to meet him. There, her fate took a drastic turn. After witnessing the horrors of the biohazard outbreak in Raccoon City and learning of her brother's efforts to expose the evil deeds of the pharmaceutical company Umbrella, Claire set off for Europe following clues she gathered in Raccoon City.
She infiltrated Umbrella's research facility in Paris but was captured and transported as a prisoner to the remote island of Rockfort. Less than half a day after her imprisonment however, the island was attacked by unknown assailants and her escape attempt began once again.
Her older brother Chris, whom she's been searching for, is her only remaining family member, and the influence he's had on her is immeasurable. Despite her lack of experience on the battlefield, Claire's skill with heavy weapons and her precise, swift movements are likely the result of training from her brother, a seasoned warrior. Her strong sense of justice and courage are also inherited from her brother, and she rarely shows weakness. Additionally, she's often admired by those younger than her, likely due to the kindness that shines through her.
ACTIONS IN PRIOR GAMES
Claire made her debut as the female protagonist in "BIOHAZARD 2" (hereinafter referred to as "BIO2"). In the same game, she sets out alone to Raccoon City on a motorcycle in order to find her brother Chris, who she lost contact with. She races through the city turned into a city of terror by the T-Virus outbreak, and after tracking down her brother, she escapes with Leon, a rookie police officer she meets along the way, along with the young girl Sherry. Her skillful use of heavy weapons and a lockpick, along with her unexpected bravery for a college student, are similar to her performance in this game. In the subsequent "BIOHAZARD 3" (hereinafter referred to as "BIO3"), while she doesn't appear in the main story, a post-game sequence from BIO2's shown in a hidden image.
Claire's an avid motorcycle enthusiast, and in BIOHAZARD 2 she can be seen riding her beloved bike with style. However in "BIOHAZARD CODE:Veronica" (hereinafter referred to as "CODE:Veronica"), which begins with Claire being captured, she never rides a motorcycle. The only time she can be seen on a motorcycle is in the clear screen of the extra game "BATTLE GAME" when using Claire.
OUTFIT EVOLUTION
In the original design, Claire's identity as “the sister of Chris, the protagonist of "BIO HAZARD" (hereinafter referred to as "BIO1") was essential. As a result, in BIO2 her connection to her brother's emphasized through superficial aspects like fashion. For example, the red vest Claire wears in the same game has a "MADE IN HEAVEN" back print matching Chris' hidden costume (leather jacket) from BIO1. The fact she wears a knife on her shoulder is also the same as her brother.
On the other hand, Claire in CODE:Veronica has changed into a vest with a print of a warrior maiden Valkyrie. This is because she gave the aforementioned vest to the young girl Sherry in BIO2, but even without copying her outfit, it serves as proof Claire's inherited her brother's passionate spirit while also maintaining her own unique personality, a fact already recognized by players. Incidentally, the color of the vest in this installment is also red, the same as before. This color could be considered her trademark color, symbolizing her passionate and proactive nature.
CHRIS REDFIELD (p.007)
Gender: Male
Age: 25
Height: 181cm
Weight: 80.5kg
Blood Type: O
A former member of the Raccoon Police Department's Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.), he's one of the survivors of the "Mansion Incident" that occurred five months ago. He also has a background as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force. While his somewhat careless nature's a drawback, he possesses a rugged physique, steel-like mental fortitude, and the best marksmanship on the team, having survived numerous life-threatening situations. He also has an exceptionally strong sense of justice. After learning the truth about Umbrella through the Mansion Incident, he continued investigating the company with a small group of allies even after returning to the city. Disillusioned with the corrupt police force, he traveled to Europe to gather more information.
Fully aware of the dangers of his actions, he severed all contact with his beloved sister, Claire, in order to protect her from harm. This precaution backfired though and Claire became deeply entangled in the incident while searching for him. Upon learning of Claire's crisis from her acquaintance Leon, Chris sets out alone for Rockfort Island to save his sister, despite being under Umbrella's surveillance. However, who could've predicted he'd reunite with the "traitor" who was the mastermind behind the infamous Mansion Incident and supposed to have died before his eyes?
ACTIONS IN PRIOR GAMES
Chris is one of the main characters from the first game in the BIOHAZARD series. In BIO1, he was a member of S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team investigating bizarre incidents in the outskirts of Raccoon City. While taking refuge in a mansion, he faced a biohazard outbreak. After learning the truth about Umbrella and overcoming numerous crises, he managed to escape the mansion alive. In the subsequent BIO2 and BIO3 his whereabouts were only documented in files, making his return in CODE:Veronica a long-awaited opportunity to shine once again.
In BIO1 Chris had fewer items than the other protagonist, Jill, and his cautious nature and lack of knowledge about medications often put him at a disadvantage. In this game, he seems to have learned from his past mistakes (?) and can carry more items, but he still has his flaws, such as accidentally dropping the supplies he'd prepared into a ravine.
CONNECTION WITH LEON
In this game, Chris starts his mission after being informed by Leon about his sister's crisis. It's unclear how or where the message reached him, but the speed of his subsequent actions is remarkable. It took Claire at most half a day to escape the island, and by the time she was fighting in Antarctica, Chris had already arrived at Rockfort Island...
The Leon who contacted Chris is the young man who teamed up with Claire in BIO2, and it's believed he has no direct connection with Chris. He's Chris' junior In the Raccoon Police Department, but Chris had already left a month before Leon assumed his post. While it's possible they met during the three months between "BIO2" and "CODE:Veronica," their connection ultimately boils down to Claire.
Claire trusted Leon and entrusted him with contacting her brother, but those who've seen the epilogues in "BIO3" may wonder if it was wise to rely on Leon, who might've become an agent of a US intelligence agency. According to the developers however, he's currently a member of an underground organization fighting against Umbrella, so there's no need to worry.
STEVE BURNSIDE (p.009)
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Height: 173cm
Weight: 67.5kg
Blood Type: AB
A young boy imprisoned in the prison on Rockfort Island. While escaping the island amid the chaos at the base, he meets Claire, who was also imprisoned in the island's prison, and they begin to work together.
At heart he's kind and honest, but due to his youth, he's overly confident and reckless, often rushing into things alone and ending up in situations he can't get out of, or regretting his actions after suffering painful consequences. This childlike nature's evident in his excitement when faced with a gun. However, his disregard for others and blind faith in guns, which are inanimate objects, seem to stem not only from his age of 17 but also from his distrust of humanity. When combined with his denial of family bonds and his irritability when the topic of family comes up, it's easy to imagine this distrust originates from conflicts with his family. His family also seems to be somehow connected to the reason he was brought to the prison on the island.
He initially refused to cooperate with Claire and tried to escape the island on his own, but as he came into contact with her kindness and mental fortitude, he gradually opened up and eventually developed special feelings for her.
CLAIRE'S KNIGHT
Steve's the youngest character in CODE:Veronica, and as such, his immaturity's evident.
His transformation through his collaboration with Claire, growing into a reliable, mature man, is one of this game's most notable aspects. What's interesting about Steve's words and actions is that, despite initially rejecting Claire's help and treating her as a nuisance, he gradually began to emphasize his reliability, as if to say, "I want you to need me," as he spent more time with her.
Perhaps before meeting Claire, Steve feared relying on others—knowing the despair that comes from being betrayed—yet deep down, he longed for it. Claire, an older woman who appeared in his life, never betrayed his expectations. Even when Steve made silly mistakes, she didn't laugh at him. When he finally opened up about his feelings after parting ways with his father, she took his words seriously. Through the process of protecting her and being protected by her, he naturally began to feel gratitude and affection for her, and it's not hard to imagine those feelings eventually turned into love.
At first, he jokingly referred to himself as “Claire's knight.” There was no deep meaning behind those words, but as he stopped saying them, his feelings for Claire as a precious woman and his determination to protect her grew stronger. And the Steve who protected the woman he loved, Claire, was no longer a half-baked boy but a knight worthy of the name.
ALFRED ASHFORD (p.010)
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Height: 176cm
Weight: 61.8kg
The young commander of the Umbrella base on Rockfort Island. A direct descendant of the prestigious Ashford family, he ascended to the position as the family's seventh head at a young age following his father's mysterious disappearance. His grandfather achieved great glory as a founding member of the Umbrella Corporation, but the family fell into decline during his father's generation, leading him to be exiled to a remote region as an Umbrella officer. He's overly proud of his birth and harbors deep dissatisfaction with his current circumstances, burning with an unyielding determination to restore the Ashford family to its former glory.
Though he has a handsome appearance, his unstable mind's evident in his every word and deed, often manifesting in brutal acts toward prisoners. On the other hand, he's said to deeply love his twin sister, Alexia, and lives with her alone in a private mansion on a hill away from the base, but no one knows anything about their private life.
ALEXIA ASHFORD
Gender: Female
Age: 27
Height: 175cm
Weight: 54.3kg
She's said to be the twin sister of Alfred, the current head of the Ashford family, but her true nature's shrouded in mystery. According to records, she was a talented young woman who graduated top of her class from a prestigious university at the age of only 10, and her intelligence and beauty led to rumors she was the reincarnation of Veronica, the family's first head. After graduating from university, she was welcomed at Umbrella as a chief researcher, but 15 years ago, shortly after her father Alexander disappeared, she died in an accident during an experiment... and that's where records of her end. According to Alfred however, as of 1998, she's supposed to be living in a private residence on Rockfort Island, and there are even reports of people who've seen her from a distance. It's unclear why there are such discrepancies between the records and the current situation, but one thing's certain: her independent research reached a major turning point 15 years ago.
HISTORY OF THE ASHFORD FAMILY (p.011)
According to Alfred, the Ashford family's one of the most prestigious aristocracies in the world, but was his lineage so venerable as ruler of an isolated island? When did the relationship between the family and Umbrella begin in the first place?
The Ashford family's matriarch was named Veronica. It has been passed down that she was a wise and intelligent woman who established the aforementioned family's firm position in her generation. Afterwards, the Ashford family made good progress and peaked in the time of Edward's fifth generation.
Edward's greatest achievements, together with his aristocratic companion Lord Oswell E. Spencer--- owner of the mansion which became the stage of the "Mansion Incident"--- were advancing joint biological research and launching the pharmaceutical company Umbrella. In other words, the Ashford family was located at the heart of Umbrella from the very start. When Edward died and his son Alexander took over however, the situation changed completely. The Ashford family and Spencer family, divided between light and dark as a remote commander and a man of power at Umbrella's core.
Ashford Family Successive Heads
The seat of the Ashford family head's passed down exclusively to direct descendents from generation to generation, inherited by children or siblings once the predecessor dies. Only the sixth generation head Alexander wasn't clearly confirmed deceased, but was deemed to have relinquished his authority by disappearing, so the position passed to his son.
First Head: Veronica
The woman who founded the Ashford family. Renowned for her beauty and sharp hearing.
Second Head: Stanley
Veronica's son. He had twin boys.
Third Head: Thomas
The elder of Stanley's twin sons.
Fourth Head: Arthur
Became family head after the death of his twin brother Thomas.
Fifth Head: Edward
Arthur's son. One of the key figures in founding Umbrella Corp., his achievements elevated the Ashford family to its peak. He was apparently both a fellow noble and a rival to Lord Spencer, the owner of the "mansion".
Sixth Head: Alexander
Edward's son. Perhaps not a particularly talented individual, he brought disgrace upon the family name soon after becoming its head, and as a result, seems to have been despised by his own son and daughter. He mysteriously disappeared in March 1983. His specialty was genetic engineering.
Seventh Head: Alfred
Alexander's son and twin brother. He inherited the family headship at the young age of 12. He's determined to revive the family, but has yet to show any results. He seems to make many mistakes as a commander, with voices of discontent from the field.
Alexia
Alfred's twin sister. According to one theory, she's said to be the true head of the Ashford family.
ALBERT WESKER (p.012)
Gender: Male
Age: 38
Height: 183cm
Weight: 84.5kg
Blood Type: O
A man who held the concurrent posts of Captain of S.T.A.R.S. and Leader of Alpha Team within S.T.A.R.S. He acted as Chris' former superior officer but his real identity was that of an Umbrella agent whose true role was to mobilize the unit at the company's mercy. As commander of S.T.A.R.S. in the Mansion Incident, he schemed to eliminate all the members behind-the-scenes as they attempted to solve the case, but failed due to the unexpected resistance of Chris and others. In the end, he was killed in front of Chris and Jill at the hands of a B.O.W. he created. However, five months after the incident, it was unmistakably Wesker, commanding a mysterious organization, who attacked Rockfort Island.
He has been known as a capable, calm and composed individual since his time as S.T.A.R.S. Captain and makes cool-headed judgments, but he now possesses superhuman strength and speed in addition to being more ruthless than before. There's no way of knowing by what means he was able to survive when he says he's "A ghost back from Hell." But behind his sunglasses shine gold eyes and thin pupils reminiscent of reptiles, clearly showing he has already abandoned being a genuine human and begun walking as a truly alien life unworthy of the natural world.
ACTIONS IN PRIOR GAMES
Wesker, who appeared in "BIO1" as the senior officer of the two main characters Chris and Jill, is an important individual holding the key to the mystery of the Mansion Incident. One would initially think the Captain of S.T.A.R.S. could be relied on, but he had a lot of very easy to see suspicious behavior since entering the mansion and his true intentions behind it were difficult to discern. One core to the story to BIO1 is learning Wesker's identity and that he has an ambition that goes beyond the company's boundaries, unrelated to Umbrella's bioweapons development.
In BIO1, Wesker ultimately lost his life after being defeated by Chris and others. Given these circumstances, it'd be natural for him to bare hatred for Chris in this game. The only thing noticeable in this game is that when he meets Claire for the first time he tells her "Chris killed me." BIO1's a game with many branches in the story, but regardless of the path, Wesker's attacked by a B.O.W. and dies, not by Chris' hand directly. So did his statement "Chris killed me" come from a sort of persecution complex, that the failure of his plan meant his own destruction? Or, perhaps, he wanted to convince Claire her older brother committed murder, hiding his intent to shake her bond with her brother.
CLAIRE REDFIELD (p.005)
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Height: 169cm
Weight: 52.4kg
Blood Type: O
A cheerful and curious college student who loves motorcycles more than anything else. She'd been living a peaceful life until three months ago when she visited Raccoon City, where her older brother Chris worked, to meet him. There, her fate took a drastic turn. After witnessing the horrors of the biohazard outbreak in Raccoon City and learning of her brother's efforts to expose the evil deeds of the pharmaceutical company Umbrella, Claire set off for Europe following clues she gathered in Raccoon City.
She infiltrated Umbrella's research facility in Paris but was captured and transported as a prisoner to the remote island of Rockfort. Less than half a day after her imprisonment however, the island was attacked by unknown assailants and her escape attempt began once again.
Her older brother Chris, whom she's been searching for, is her only remaining family member, and the influence he's had on her is immeasurable. Despite her lack of experience on the battlefield, Claire's skill with heavy weapons and her precise, swift movements are likely the result of training from her brother, a seasoned warrior. Her strong sense of justice and courage are also inherited from her brother, and she rarely shows weakness. Additionally, she's often admired by those younger than her, likely due to the kindness that shines through her.
ACTIONS IN PRIOR GAMES
Claire made her debut as the female protagonist in "BIOHAZARD 2" (hereinafter referred to as "BIO2"). In the same game, she sets out alone to Raccoon City on a motorcycle in order to find her brother Chris, who she lost contact with. She races through the city turned into a city of terror by the T-Virus outbreak, and after tracking down her brother, she escapes with Leon, a rookie police officer she meets along the way, along with the young girl Sherry. Her skillful use of heavy weapons and a lockpick, along with her unexpected bravery for a college student, are similar to her performance in this game. In the subsequent "BIOHAZARD 3" (hereinafter referred to as "BIO3"), while she doesn't appear in the main story, a post-game sequence from BIO2's shown in a hidden image.
Claire's an avid motorcycle enthusiast, and in BIOHAZARD 2 she can be seen riding her beloved bike with style. However in "BIOHAZARD CODE:Veronica" (hereinafter referred to as "CODE:Veronica"), which begins with Claire being captured, she never rides a motorcycle. The only time she can be seen on a motorcycle is in the clear screen of the extra game "BATTLE GAME" when using Claire.
OUTFIT EVOLUTION
In the original design, Claire's identity as “the sister of Chris, the protagonist of "BIO HAZARD" (hereinafter referred to as "BIO1") was essential. As a result, in BIO2 her connection to her brother's emphasized through superficial aspects like fashion. For example, the red vest Claire wears in the same game has a "MADE IN HEAVEN" back print matching Chris' hidden costume (leather jacket) from BIO1. The fact she wears a knife on her shoulder is also the same as her brother.
On the other hand, Claire in CODE:Veronica has changed into a vest with a print of a warrior maiden Valkyrie. This is because she gave the aforementioned vest to the young girl Sherry in BIO2, but even without copying her outfit, it serves as proof Claire's inherited her brother's passionate spirit while also maintaining her own unique personality, a fact already recognized by players. Incidentally, the color of the vest in this installment is also red, the same as before. This color could be considered her trademark color, symbolizing her passionate and proactive nature.
CHRIS REDFIELD (p.007)
Gender: Male
Age: 25
Height: 181cm
Weight: 80.5kg
Blood Type: O
A former member of the Raccoon Police Department's Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.), he's one of the survivors of the "Mansion Incident" that occurred five months ago. He also has a background as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force. While his somewhat careless nature's a drawback, he possesses a rugged physique, steel-like mental fortitude, and the best marksmanship on the team, having survived numerous life-threatening situations. He also has an exceptionally strong sense of justice. After learning the truth about Umbrella through the Mansion Incident, he continued investigating the company with a small group of allies even after returning to the city. Disillusioned with the corrupt police force, he traveled to Europe to gather more information.
Fully aware of the dangers of his actions, he severed all contact with his beloved sister, Claire, in order to protect her from harm. This precaution backfired though and Claire became deeply entangled in the incident while searching for him. Upon learning of Claire's crisis from her acquaintance Leon, Chris sets out alone for Rockfort Island to save his sister, despite being under Umbrella's surveillance. However, who could've predicted he'd reunite with the "traitor" who was the mastermind behind the infamous Mansion Incident and supposed to have died before his eyes?
ACTIONS IN PRIOR GAMES
Chris is one of the main characters from the first game in the BIOHAZARD series. In BIO1, he was a member of S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team investigating bizarre incidents in the outskirts of Raccoon City. While taking refuge in a mansion, he faced a biohazard outbreak. After learning the truth about Umbrella and overcoming numerous crises, he managed to escape the mansion alive. In the subsequent BIO2 and BIO3 his whereabouts were only documented in files, making his return in CODE:Veronica a long-awaited opportunity to shine once again.
In BIO1 Chris had fewer items than the other protagonist, Jill, and his cautious nature and lack of knowledge about medications often put him at a disadvantage. In this game, he seems to have learned from his past mistakes (?) and can carry more items, but he still has his flaws, such as accidentally dropping the supplies he'd prepared into a ravine.
CONNECTION WITH LEON
In this game, Chris starts his mission after being informed by Leon about his sister's crisis. It's unclear how or where the message reached him, but the speed of his subsequent actions is remarkable. It took Claire at most half a day to escape the island, and by the time she was fighting in Antarctica, Chris had already arrived at Rockfort Island...
The Leon who contacted Chris is the young man who teamed up with Claire in BIO2, and it's believed he has no direct connection with Chris. He's Chris' junior In the Raccoon Police Department, but Chris had already left a month before Leon assumed his post. While it's possible they met during the three months between "BIO2" and "CODE:Veronica," their connection ultimately boils down to Claire.
Claire trusted Leon and entrusted him with contacting her brother, but those who've seen the epilogues in "BIO3" may wonder if it was wise to rely on Leon, who might've become an agent of a US intelligence agency. According to the developers however, he's currently a member of an underground organization fighting against Umbrella, so there's no need to worry.
STEVE BURNSIDE (p.009)
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Height: 173cm
Weight: 67.5kg
Blood Type: AB
A young boy imprisoned in the prison on Rockfort Island. While escaping the island amid the chaos at the base, he meets Claire, who was also imprisoned in the island's prison, and they begin to work together.
At heart he's kind and honest, but due to his youth, he's overly confident and reckless, often rushing into things alone and ending up in situations he can't get out of, or regretting his actions after suffering painful consequences. This childlike nature's evident in his excitement when faced with a gun. However, his disregard for others and blind faith in guns, which are inanimate objects, seem to stem not only from his age of 17 but also from his distrust of humanity. When combined with his denial of family bonds and his irritability when the topic of family comes up, it's easy to imagine this distrust originates from conflicts with his family. His family also seems to be somehow connected to the reason he was brought to the prison on the island.
He initially refused to cooperate with Claire and tried to escape the island on his own, but as he came into contact with her kindness and mental fortitude, he gradually opened up and eventually developed special feelings for her.
CLAIRE'S KNIGHT
Steve's the youngest character in CODE:Veronica, and as such, his immaturity's evident.
His transformation through his collaboration with Claire, growing into a reliable, mature man, is one of this game's most notable aspects. What's interesting about Steve's words and actions is that, despite initially rejecting Claire's help and treating her as a nuisance, he gradually began to emphasize his reliability, as if to say, "I want you to need me," as he spent more time with her.
Perhaps before meeting Claire, Steve feared relying on others—knowing the despair that comes from being betrayed—yet deep down, he longed for it. Claire, an older woman who appeared in his life, never betrayed his expectations. Even when Steve made silly mistakes, she didn't laugh at him. When he finally opened up about his feelings after parting ways with his father, she took his words seriously. Through the process of protecting her and being protected by her, he naturally began to feel gratitude and affection for her, and it's not hard to imagine those feelings eventually turned into love.
At first, he jokingly referred to himself as “Claire's knight.” There was no deep meaning behind those words, but as he stopped saying them, his feelings for Claire as a precious woman and his determination to protect her grew stronger. And the Steve who protected the woman he loved, Claire, was no longer a half-baked boy but a knight worthy of the name.
ALFRED ASHFORD (p.010)
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Height: 176cm
Weight: 61.8kg
The young commander of the Umbrella base on Rockfort Island. A direct descendant of the prestigious Ashford family, he ascended to the position as the family's seventh head at a young age following his father's mysterious disappearance. His grandfather achieved great glory as a founding member of the Umbrella Corporation, but the family fell into decline during his father's generation, leading him to be exiled to a remote region as an Umbrella officer. He's overly proud of his birth and harbors deep dissatisfaction with his current circumstances, burning with an unyielding determination to restore the Ashford family to its former glory.
Though he has a handsome appearance, his unstable mind's evident in his every word and deed, often manifesting in brutal acts toward prisoners. On the other hand, he's said to deeply love his twin sister, Alexia, and lives with her alone in a private mansion on a hill away from the base, but no one knows anything about their private life.
ALEXIA ASHFORD
Gender: Female
Age: 27
Height: 175cm
Weight: 54.3kg
She's said to be the twin sister of Alfred, the current head of the Ashford family, but her true nature's shrouded in mystery. According to records, she was a talented young woman who graduated top of her class from a prestigious university at the age of only 10, and her intelligence and beauty led to rumors she was the reincarnation of Veronica, the family's first head. After graduating from university, she was welcomed at Umbrella as a chief researcher, but 15 years ago, shortly after her father Alexander disappeared, she died in an accident during an experiment... and that's where records of her end. According to Alfred however, as of 1998, she's supposed to be living in a private residence on Rockfort Island, and there are even reports of people who've seen her from a distance. It's unclear why there are such discrepancies between the records and the current situation, but one thing's certain: her independent research reached a major turning point 15 years ago.
HISTORY OF THE ASHFORD FAMILY (p.011)
According to Alfred, the Ashford family's one of the most prestigious aristocracies in the world, but was his lineage so venerable as ruler of an isolated island? When did the relationship between the family and Umbrella begin in the first place?
The Ashford family's matriarch was named Veronica. It has been passed down that she was a wise and intelligent woman who established the aforementioned family's firm position in her generation. Afterwards, the Ashford family made good progress and peaked in the time of Edward's fifth generation.
Edward's greatest achievements, together with his aristocratic companion Lord Oswell E. Spencer--- owner of the mansion which became the stage of the "Mansion Incident"--- were advancing joint biological research and launching the pharmaceutical company Umbrella. In other words, the Ashford family was located at the heart of Umbrella from the very start. When Edward died and his son Alexander took over however, the situation changed completely. The Ashford family and Spencer family, divided between light and dark as a remote commander and a man of power at Umbrella's core.
Ashford Family Successive Heads
The seat of the Ashford family head's passed down exclusively to direct descendents from generation to generation, inherited by children or siblings once the predecessor dies. Only the sixth generation head Alexander wasn't clearly confirmed deceased, but was deemed to have relinquished his authority by disappearing, so the position passed to his son.
First Head: Veronica
The woman who founded the Ashford family. Renowned for her beauty and sharp hearing.
Second Head: Stanley
Veronica's son. He had twin boys.
Third Head: Thomas
The elder of Stanley's twin sons.
Fourth Head: Arthur
Became family head after the death of his twin brother Thomas.
Fifth Head: Edward
Arthur's son. One of the key figures in founding Umbrella Corp., his achievements elevated the Ashford family to its peak. He was apparently both a fellow noble and a rival to Lord Spencer, the owner of the "mansion".
Sixth Head: Alexander
Edward's son. Perhaps not a particularly talented individual, he brought disgrace upon the family name soon after becoming its head, and as a result, seems to have been despised by his own son and daughter. He mysteriously disappeared in March 1983. His specialty was genetic engineering.
Seventh Head: Alfred
Alexander's son and twin brother. He inherited the family headship at the young age of 12. He's determined to revive the family, but has yet to show any results. He seems to make many mistakes as a commander, with voices of discontent from the field.
Alexia
Alfred's twin sister. According to one theory, she's said to be the true head of the Ashford family.
ALBERT WESKER (p.012)
Gender: Male
Age: 38
Height: 183cm
Weight: 84.5kg
Blood Type: O
A man who held the concurrent posts of Captain of S.T.A.R.S. and Leader of Alpha Team within S.T.A.R.S. He acted as Chris' former superior officer but his real identity was that of an Umbrella agent whose true role was to mobilize the unit at the company's mercy. As commander of S.T.A.R.S. in the Mansion Incident, he schemed to eliminate all the members behind-the-scenes as they attempted to solve the case, but failed due to the unexpected resistance of Chris and others. In the end, he was killed in front of Chris and Jill at the hands of a B.O.W. he created. However, five months after the incident, it was unmistakably Wesker, commanding a mysterious organization, who attacked Rockfort Island.
He has been known as a capable, calm and composed individual since his time as S.T.A.R.S. Captain and makes cool-headed judgments, but he now possesses superhuman strength and speed in addition to being more ruthless than before. There's no way of knowing by what means he was able to survive when he says he's "A ghost back from Hell." But behind his sunglasses shine gold eyes and thin pupils reminiscent of reptiles, clearly showing he has already abandoned being a genuine human and begun walking as a truly alien life unworthy of the natural world.
ACTIONS IN PRIOR GAMES
Wesker, who appeared in "BIO1" as the senior officer of the two main characters Chris and Jill, is an important individual holding the key to the mystery of the Mansion Incident. One would initially think the Captain of S.T.A.R.S. could be relied on, but he had a lot of very easy to see suspicious behavior since entering the mansion and his true intentions behind it were difficult to discern. One core to the story to BIO1 is learning Wesker's identity and that he has an ambition that goes beyond the company's boundaries, unrelated to Umbrella's bioweapons development.
In BIO1, Wesker ultimately lost his life after being defeated by Chris and others. Given these circumstances, it'd be natural for him to bare hatred for Chris in this game. The only thing noticeable in this game is that when he meets Claire for the first time he tells her "Chris killed me." BIO1's a game with many branches in the story, but regardless of the path, Wesker's attacked by a B.O.W. and dies, not by Chris' hand directly. So did his statement "Chris killed me" come from a sort of persecution complex, that the failure of his plan meant his own destruction? Or, perhaps, he wanted to convince Claire her older brother committed murder, hiding his intent to shake her bond with her brother.
SECTION 3 MONSTER
ZOMBIE (p.064)
As a result of being infected with the T-Virus, brain cells are necrotized and abnormal changes in metabolism are caused, transforming them into living corpses. They no longer have any reasoning as people and wander in search of human flesh motivated solely by hunger. In this game, a large variety of people fell prey to the T-Virus such as agents of the organization that attacked the island, Umbrella special forces trainees, as well as prisoners held captive on the island.
Previous Game Facts
Zombies are familiar in the "BIO" series. More and more variations appear as the series goes along, in the first game researchers stationed in the mansion were the hosts, along with Raccoon City residents in the second and third games.
ZOMBIE DOG (p.068)
The Doberman breed military dog bred in the Antarctic Base and Rockfort Island training facility was secondarily infected by eating food and creatures contaminated by the T-Virus. Although decomposition of the flesh is advanced, it can pounce on prey with speed unchanged from its lifetime, unlike a Zombie.
Previous Game Facts
Zombified dogs regularly appear in the BIO series, but only that which appeared in BIO1 was named "Cerberus" rather than Zombie Dog. In other words, the military dog-based B.O.W. Cerberus was created artificially and is different from the accidentally created Zombie Dog. However, there's no difference in respect to appearance or behavior.
BAT (p.069)
Bats that inhabited Rockfort Island were infected with the T-Virus that leaked from the base. Its size has become only slightly large in appearance but its ferocity has increased significantly and it actively attacks by sucking blood when it senses the sound of humans. They like dark, damp places and always move in groups.
Previous Game Facts
Surprisingly this is the first appearance of a monster with a bat as the base. Small flying monsters that've appeared in past works are the crow mutations "Crow" (BIO1), the "Crows" ("BIO2" "3") and the bee mutation "Wasp" (BIO1).
BANDERSNATCH (p.070)
A mass-production prototype based on the Tyrant, manufactured for practicality as an individual weapon rather than perfection. It was sent to the solitary island's military training facility for combat data collection and soldier training. It has an ugly appearance but is assumed to be human. It has difficulty walking due to the degeneration of its lower body with its left arm's also missing, but strangely it overcomes these faults by using a flexible right arm for movement. In addition, the codename of "bandersnatch" comes from a fierce animal in the novel "Through the Looking Glass."
Previous Game Facts
The "Tyrant" B.O.W. was the basis of the Bandersnatch's development, it's a familiar monster in the series and continues to appear since BIO1 in this game. Although the Bandersnatch's offensive abilities and physical strength pale in comparison with the Tyrant, this is probably due to them taking different directions.
ALBINOID (Baby) (p.072)
A B.O.W. completed by administering the T-Virus and performing further gene manipulation on a salamander often seen on Rockfort Island. Its greatest characteristics are its phenomenal growth rate and electricity generation ability dozens of times that of the species used as its base, and if the juvenile's small physique can be transported into enemy territory and the adult with excellent offensive strength's released, it's usefulness as a weapon is high. Although the adult's a little weak on land, the baby makes full use of its abilities in both land and water and it can crawl and slide on the ground.
MOTH (p.073)
A moth for experiments kept in the Antarctic Base infected with the T-Virus brought by refugees from Rockfort Island, and became gigantic. Although it doesn't actively attack, its poison-tinged phosphorus powder leads people who inhale it to death. In addition, since it needs to parasitize other living things in its larva stage, it lays its eggs on them.
Previous Game Facts
Moth mutants resulting from T-Virus influence include the Giant Moth that appeared in BIO2. A moth bred for experiments became the base and there are many surface differences with other kinds. In addition, the action of laying eggs on people is unique with this game's Moth.
IMPROVED HUNTER (p.074)
A weapon developed by the mysterious organization Wesker belongs to based on information he brought on the Umbrella B.O.W. "Hunter." Although its appearance is no different from Umbrella's, it has higher practicality as a weapon than the original as its actions can be controlled with a peripheral device called a "self-propelled surveillance drone." Above all, another type called Sweeper containing poison in its claws was manufactured for the purpose of sweeping within operation areas.
Previous Game Facts
The human-based practical type bioweapon Hunter which appeared in BIO1 was the original model of the Improved Hunter, it admirably cooperates with companions to "hunt" prey and so was named Hunter. Subspecies named Tick in BIO1, Hunter β and Hunter γ in "BIO3" have also been documented.
BLACK WIDOW (p.076)
A B.O.W. created by Umbrella based on data collected in a series of incidents in Raccoon City. The base organism's the extremely venomous black spider called the black widow, and it has phenomenal vitality unseen in conventional models, capable of moving around lightly even if its abdomen's destroyed. In addition, it was deployed for combat data collection and training of the solitary island's troops, but was due to be transported from the Antarctic Base to Umbrella branches everywhere.
Previous Game Facts
Monsters based on spiders have appeared throughout the series. However, their color was poisonous-looking and their entire bodies were covered with long hairs, a more grotesque impression than this game's. Incidentally, BIO1 Web Spinner and BIO2 Giant Spider are the same size as those in this game.
TENTACLE (p.077)
Mysterious tentacles that developed in the Antarctic at the same time Alexia awoke from her 15 year sleep. Its true nature's similar to the roots of a large tree, a part of Alexia, who achieved symbiosis with T-Veronica over the course of 15 years. The tentacle in itself doesn't have sensory organs, but if Alexia senses something it'll appear from anywhere in the base and approach targets wriggling like a snake, then attack by slamming its distal portion.
GULP WORM (p.078)
A large organic weapon created by Umbrella through improving the genes of an earthworm and administering the T-Virus. It's still in the prototype stage and was brought to Rockfort Island for data collection, repeating mock battles against trainees of the Anti-B.O.W. Countermeasure Force present in the base. It usually hides in the ground and jumps out when it senses the smell of prey, then swallows them whole.
Previous Game Facts
The Gulp Worm closely resembles the "Grave Digger" that appeared in "BIO3." The Grave Digger was the result of a kind of accident, an arthropod that transformed in the shadow of the T-Virus permeating the soil. This game's Gulp Worm was this turned into a B.O.W.
ANT (Page 079)
Ants bred by Alexia for virus research in the Antarctic Base laboratory. After T-Veronica was created, the same virus was injected for Alexia's final "plan" and they enlarged to a size similar to a small bird. Its ferocity increased at the same time and it sometimes attacks humans using its large mouth.
TYRANT (p.080)
A B.O.W. developed aiming for "the ultimate form of a Bio Organic Weapon using the T-Virus." As a result of administering the T-Virus into the body of an adult male and applying gene strengthening and reconstruction, destructive power and strength were achieved suiting the Tyrant name. The one on Rockfort Island's a mass-produced type transported to the island by Umbrella special forces, with the limiter usually released on the verge of death having been removed from the outset.
Previous Game Facts
The Tyrant symbolizes Umbrella's insane experiments and has appeared in all the series' games with an overwhelming presence, BIO1 especially. Judging from its appearance, the Tyrant in CODE:Veronica's the mass-produced type, the same type that appeared in BIO 2.
NOSFERATU (p.082)
The completely altered appearance of former Ashford family head Alexander. As a result of being injected with T-Veronica by his daughter Alexia, he became a ferocious monster and was imprisoned in a cell beneath the Antarctic base for 15 years due to the danger he posed. "Nosferatu" is a Romanian word meaning "immortal vampire" and was a name given by workers in the base who were unaware of the circumstances. Its bound limbs and covered eyes are relics of his time in confinement and lack of freedom, but it attacks by swinging tentacles produced by the virus. In addition, a special poison's produced inside its body which vaporizes when it touches the air, becoming a poisonous mist assailing the enemy. The heart exposed on its chest by breaking its ribs is a vital part.
ALBINOID (Adult) (p.084)
The juvenile Albinoid completely accomplishes growth after several hours. Its length exceeds 2m in the transformation process and is topped off with four legs resembling human arms, although those who see it get a bizarre impression as it doesn't appear to have a head. It can discharge a large amount of electricity in comparison with its juvenile stage, establishing and fully displaying its ability underwater.
MONSTER STEVE (p.087)
Steve was injected with T-Veronica as Alexia's guinea pig. Like Alexander 15 years before, he failed to adapt with the virus, his spine protruded unseemly from his back and his skin changed color, resulting in a grotesque green thing reminiscent of reptiles. He lost his sense of reason at the same time and lacks the ability to distinguish between friend and foe. He attacks using a broad axe in his hands with the destructive power to smash stone statues in a single swing.
ALEXIA FIRST FORM (p.088)
As a result of her self-made virus T-Veronica adapting within her body over the course of 15 years, Alexia has begun to "evolve." Aside from the muscles on each part of her body which resemble the Tentacle, her shape as a human's almost the same, with an expressionless face and greyish brown skin that evokes more of a statuesque atmosphere. Flowing through her body is special blood that ignites when it comes into contact with oxygen, so when she's wounded and bleeding, her surroundings become a sea of flames.
ALEXIA SECOND FORM (p.090)
Alexia's first form evolved further, morphing into the figure of a monstrous queen ant. The four wings that've grown on her back are derived from the ant genes incorporated into T-Veronica, so it merely indicates symbiosis between Alexia and the virus has progressed. Although her enlarged lower body formed a huge fallopian tube, her reproductive function hasn't yet fully matured since it hasn't been long since her symbiosis with the virus, so she can only produce imperfectly formed juveniles. The "roots" supporting her whole body suggest T-Veronica contains the genes of plants in addition to ants.
ALEXIA'S BABY (p.091)
Infantile creatures produced by Alexia's second form. Since it's born from an incomplete mother's body, it can only have a simple form like a protist. However, it uses its body and tentacles to detect movement and attack.
ALEXIA THIRD FORM (p.092)
The fallopian tube in Alexia's queen ant form was destroyed, but her upper body separated. She flies freely through the air using her four wings while attempting to burn enemies from above by launching green blood capable of igniting. Her face barely retains its human form and reveals a complex expression encapsulating her pride as a scientist, disappointment in her plan's failure, and a desire to never admit she has been defeated.
ZOMBIE (p.064)
As a result of being infected with the T-Virus, brain cells are necrotized and abnormal changes in metabolism are caused, transforming them into living corpses. They no longer have any reasoning as people and wander in search of human flesh motivated solely by hunger. In this game, a large variety of people fell prey to the T-Virus such as agents of the organization that attacked the island, Umbrella special forces trainees, as well as prisoners held captive on the island.
Previous Game Facts
Zombies are familiar in the "BIO" series. More and more variations appear as the series goes along, in the first game researchers stationed in the mansion were the hosts, along with Raccoon City residents in the second and third games.
ZOMBIE DOG (p.068)
The Doberman breed military dog bred in the Antarctic Base and Rockfort Island training facility was secondarily infected by eating food and creatures contaminated by the T-Virus. Although decomposition of the flesh is advanced, it can pounce on prey with speed unchanged from its lifetime, unlike a Zombie.
Previous Game Facts
Zombified dogs regularly appear in the BIO series, but only that which appeared in BIO1 was named "Cerberus" rather than Zombie Dog. In other words, the military dog-based B.O.W. Cerberus was created artificially and is different from the accidentally created Zombie Dog. However, there's no difference in respect to appearance or behavior.
BAT (p.069)
Bats that inhabited Rockfort Island were infected with the T-Virus that leaked from the base. Its size has become only slightly large in appearance but its ferocity has increased significantly and it actively attacks by sucking blood when it senses the sound of humans. They like dark, damp places and always move in groups.
Previous Game Facts
Surprisingly this is the first appearance of a monster with a bat as the base. Small flying monsters that've appeared in past works are the crow mutations "Crow" (BIO1), the "Crows" ("BIO2" "3") and the bee mutation "Wasp" (BIO1).
BANDERSNATCH (p.070)
A mass-production prototype based on the Tyrant, manufactured for practicality as an individual weapon rather than perfection. It was sent to the solitary island's military training facility for combat data collection and soldier training. It has an ugly appearance but is assumed to be human. It has difficulty walking due to the degeneration of its lower body with its left arm's also missing, but strangely it overcomes these faults by using a flexible right arm for movement. In addition, the codename of "bandersnatch" comes from a fierce animal in the novel "Through the Looking Glass."
Previous Game Facts
The "Tyrant" B.O.W. was the basis of the Bandersnatch's development, it's a familiar monster in the series and continues to appear since BIO1 in this game. Although the Bandersnatch's offensive abilities and physical strength pale in comparison with the Tyrant, this is probably due to them taking different directions.
ALBINOID (Baby) (p.072)
A B.O.W. completed by administering the T-Virus and performing further gene manipulation on a salamander often seen on Rockfort Island. Its greatest characteristics are its phenomenal growth rate and electricity generation ability dozens of times that of the species used as its base, and if the juvenile's small physique can be transported into enemy territory and the adult with excellent offensive strength's released, it's usefulness as a weapon is high. Although the adult's a little weak on land, the baby makes full use of its abilities in both land and water and it can crawl and slide on the ground.
MOTH (p.073)
A moth for experiments kept in the Antarctic Base infected with the T-Virus brought by refugees from Rockfort Island, and became gigantic. Although it doesn't actively attack, its poison-tinged phosphorus powder leads people who inhale it to death. In addition, since it needs to parasitize other living things in its larva stage, it lays its eggs on them.
Previous Game Facts
Moth mutants resulting from T-Virus influence include the Giant Moth that appeared in BIO2. A moth bred for experiments became the base and there are many surface differences with other kinds. In addition, the action of laying eggs on people is unique with this game's Moth.
IMPROVED HUNTER (p.074)
A weapon developed by the mysterious organization Wesker belongs to based on information he brought on the Umbrella B.O.W. "Hunter." Although its appearance is no different from Umbrella's, it has higher practicality as a weapon than the original as its actions can be controlled with a peripheral device called a "self-propelled surveillance drone." Above all, another type called Sweeper containing poison in its claws was manufactured for the purpose of sweeping within operation areas.
Previous Game Facts
The human-based practical type bioweapon Hunter which appeared in BIO1 was the original model of the Improved Hunter, it admirably cooperates with companions to "hunt" prey and so was named Hunter. Subspecies named Tick in BIO1, Hunter β and Hunter γ in "BIO3" have also been documented.
BLACK WIDOW (p.076)
A B.O.W. created by Umbrella based on data collected in a series of incidents in Raccoon City. The base organism's the extremely venomous black spider called the black widow, and it has phenomenal vitality unseen in conventional models, capable of moving around lightly even if its abdomen's destroyed. In addition, it was deployed for combat data collection and training of the solitary island's troops, but was due to be transported from the Antarctic Base to Umbrella branches everywhere.
Previous Game Facts
Monsters based on spiders have appeared throughout the series. However, their color was poisonous-looking and their entire bodies were covered with long hairs, a more grotesque impression than this game's. Incidentally, BIO1 Web Spinner and BIO2 Giant Spider are the same size as those in this game.
TENTACLE (p.077)
Mysterious tentacles that developed in the Antarctic at the same time Alexia awoke from her 15 year sleep. Its true nature's similar to the roots of a large tree, a part of Alexia, who achieved symbiosis with T-Veronica over the course of 15 years. The tentacle in itself doesn't have sensory organs, but if Alexia senses something it'll appear from anywhere in the base and approach targets wriggling like a snake, then attack by slamming its distal portion.
GULP WORM (p.078)
A large organic weapon created by Umbrella through improving the genes of an earthworm and administering the T-Virus. It's still in the prototype stage and was brought to Rockfort Island for data collection, repeating mock battles against trainees of the Anti-B.O.W. Countermeasure Force present in the base. It usually hides in the ground and jumps out when it senses the smell of prey, then swallows them whole.
Previous Game Facts
The Gulp Worm closely resembles the "Grave Digger" that appeared in "BIO3." The Grave Digger was the result of a kind of accident, an arthropod that transformed in the shadow of the T-Virus permeating the soil. This game's Gulp Worm was this turned into a B.O.W.
ANT (Page 079)
Ants bred by Alexia for virus research in the Antarctic Base laboratory. After T-Veronica was created, the same virus was injected for Alexia's final "plan" and they enlarged to a size similar to a small bird. Its ferocity increased at the same time and it sometimes attacks humans using its large mouth.
TYRANT (p.080)
A B.O.W. developed aiming for "the ultimate form of a Bio Organic Weapon using the T-Virus." As a result of administering the T-Virus into the body of an adult male and applying gene strengthening and reconstruction, destructive power and strength were achieved suiting the Tyrant name. The one on Rockfort Island's a mass-produced type transported to the island by Umbrella special forces, with the limiter usually released on the verge of death having been removed from the outset.
Previous Game Facts
The Tyrant symbolizes Umbrella's insane experiments and has appeared in all the series' games with an overwhelming presence, BIO1 especially. Judging from its appearance, the Tyrant in CODE:Veronica's the mass-produced type, the same type that appeared in BIO 2.
NOSFERATU (p.082)
The completely altered appearance of former Ashford family head Alexander. As a result of being injected with T-Veronica by his daughter Alexia, he became a ferocious monster and was imprisoned in a cell beneath the Antarctic base for 15 years due to the danger he posed. "Nosferatu" is a Romanian word meaning "immortal vampire" and was a name given by workers in the base who were unaware of the circumstances. Its bound limbs and covered eyes are relics of his time in confinement and lack of freedom, but it attacks by swinging tentacles produced by the virus. In addition, a special poison's produced inside its body which vaporizes when it touches the air, becoming a poisonous mist assailing the enemy. The heart exposed on its chest by breaking its ribs is a vital part.
ALBINOID (Adult) (p.084)
The juvenile Albinoid completely accomplishes growth after several hours. Its length exceeds 2m in the transformation process and is topped off with four legs resembling human arms, although those who see it get a bizarre impression as it doesn't appear to have a head. It can discharge a large amount of electricity in comparison with its juvenile stage, establishing and fully displaying its ability underwater.
MONSTER STEVE (p.087)
Steve was injected with T-Veronica as Alexia's guinea pig. Like Alexander 15 years before, he failed to adapt with the virus, his spine protruded unseemly from his back and his skin changed color, resulting in a grotesque green thing reminiscent of reptiles. He lost his sense of reason at the same time and lacks the ability to distinguish between friend and foe. He attacks using a broad axe in his hands with the destructive power to smash stone statues in a single swing.
ALEXIA FIRST FORM (p.088)
As a result of her self-made virus T-Veronica adapting within her body over the course of 15 years, Alexia has begun to "evolve." Aside from the muscles on each part of her body which resemble the Tentacle, her shape as a human's almost the same, with an expressionless face and greyish brown skin that evokes more of a statuesque atmosphere. Flowing through her body is special blood that ignites when it comes into contact with oxygen, so when she's wounded and bleeding, her surroundings become a sea of flames.
ALEXIA SECOND FORM (p.090)
Alexia's first form evolved further, morphing into the figure of a monstrous queen ant. The four wings that've grown on her back are derived from the ant genes incorporated into T-Veronica, so it merely indicates symbiosis between Alexia and the virus has progressed. Although her enlarged lower body formed a huge fallopian tube, her reproductive function hasn't yet fully matured since it hasn't been long since her symbiosis with the virus, so she can only produce imperfectly formed juveniles. The "roots" supporting her whole body suggest T-Veronica contains the genes of plants in addition to ants.
ALEXIA'S BABY (p.091)
Infantile creatures produced by Alexia's second form. Since it's born from an incomplete mother's body, it can only have a simple form like a protist. However, it uses its body and tentacles to detect movement and attack.
ALEXIA THIRD FORM (p.092)
The fallopian tube in Alexia's queen ant form was destroyed, but her upper body separated. She flies freely through the air using her four wings while attempting to burn enemies from above by launching green blood capable of igniting. Her face barely retains its human form and reveals a complex expression encapsulating her pride as a scientist, disappointment in her plan's failure, and a desire to never admit she has been defeated.
SECTION 4 SCENARIO
-1998 BIOHAZARD CALENDAR- (p.214)
May
11 ► A biohazard occurs in the mansion owned by Umbrella in the outskirts of Raccoon City. But the Umbrella side conceals this fact.
20 ► The remains of a woman left with tooth marks of a fierce animal is discovered on a river bank in Raccoon City.
June
16 ► A local newspaper reports sightings of dog-like monsters in the Arklay Mountains.
July
9 ► The investigational intervention of S.T.A.R.S. is decided in order to investigate and resolve the bizarre murder cases.
21 ► Prior to the full-scale intervention of S.T.A.R.S., an important researcher in the mansion moves their research base to the Raccoon City underground. Thereafter, pollutants begin flowing into the sewer.
24 ► S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team headed to investigate and disappeared in the Arklay Mountains, Alpha Team's deployed in succession.
25 ► Among the S.T.A.R.S. members who entered the mansion in the Arklay Mountains, the four members of Chris, Jill, Barry and Rebecca survived.
August
8 ► Chris reports details of the Mansion Incident to police chief Brian.
17 ► Under the influence of pollutants discharged from Umbrella's underground research facility, mysterious incidents occur sequentially in Raccoon City.
23 ► Weakening S.T.A.R.S. is devised through relocations within the police station.
24 ► The trio of Chris, Jill and Barry grasp the existence of the G-Virus and decide to fly to Europe to further investigate Umbrella. They take a long vacation.
September
20~23 ► In response to an order to seize the G-Virus, HUNK and the Umbrella special forces attack William in the underground research facility. As a result of this, virus contamination spreads and citizens begin to become Zombies.
24~25 ► The police's handling falls behind the curve making it impossible for citizens to escape.
28 ► Remaining in the city to investigate the underground research facility, Jill begins to act.
29 ► Rookie police officer Leon visits Raccoon City for his first day and Claire visits the city to find her brother, they're embroiled in the biohazard.
30 ► The trio of Leon, Claire and Sherry escape from Raccoon City.
October
1 ► Jill and Carlos escape Raccoon City by helicopter. At the same time the U.S. Government attacks and wipes out Raccoon City with a missile to prevent the virus from spreading.
December
17 ► Claire infiltrates the Umbrella Pharmaceuticals Paris Laboratory and is captured by security division chief Rodrigo.
27 ► Claire's jailed in Rockfort Island prison. On the same day, the island's attacked by a mysterious organization and the T-Virus leaks on the entire base.
-1998 BIOHAZARD CALENDAR- (p.214)
May
11 ► A biohazard occurs in the mansion owned by Umbrella in the outskirts of Raccoon City. But the Umbrella side conceals this fact.
20 ► The remains of a woman left with tooth marks of a fierce animal is discovered on a river bank in Raccoon City.
June
16 ► A local newspaper reports sightings of dog-like monsters in the Arklay Mountains.
July
9 ► The investigational intervention of S.T.A.R.S. is decided in order to investigate and resolve the bizarre murder cases.
21 ► Prior to the full-scale intervention of S.T.A.R.S., an important researcher in the mansion moves their research base to the Raccoon City underground. Thereafter, pollutants begin flowing into the sewer.
24 ► S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team headed to investigate and disappeared in the Arklay Mountains, Alpha Team's deployed in succession.
25 ► Among the S.T.A.R.S. members who entered the mansion in the Arklay Mountains, the four members of Chris, Jill, Barry and Rebecca survived.
August
8 ► Chris reports details of the Mansion Incident to police chief Brian.
17 ► Under the influence of pollutants discharged from Umbrella's underground research facility, mysterious incidents occur sequentially in Raccoon City.
23 ► Weakening S.T.A.R.S. is devised through relocations within the police station.
24 ► The trio of Chris, Jill and Barry grasp the existence of the G-Virus and decide to fly to Europe to further investigate Umbrella. They take a long vacation.
September
20~23 ► In response to an order to seize the G-Virus, HUNK and the Umbrella special forces attack William in the underground research facility. As a result of this, virus contamination spreads and citizens begin to become Zombies.
24~25 ► The police's handling falls behind the curve making it impossible for citizens to escape.
28 ► Remaining in the city to investigate the underground research facility, Jill begins to act.
29 ► Rookie police officer Leon visits Raccoon City for his first day and Claire visits the city to find her brother, they're embroiled in the biohazard.
30 ► The trio of Leon, Claire and Sherry escape from Raccoon City.
October
1 ► Jill and Carlos escape Raccoon City by helicopter. At the same time the U.S. Government attacks and wipes out Raccoon City with a missile to prevent the virus from spreading.
December
17 ► Claire infiltrates the Umbrella Pharmaceuticals Paris Laboratory and is captured by security division chief Rodrigo.
27 ► Claire's jailed in Rockfort Island prison. On the same day, the island's attacked by a mysterious organization and the T-Virus leaks on the entire base.
THE MYSTERIES OF CODE:Veronica (p.216-218)
Even seemingly trivial matters conceal various mysteries. Unraveling them should reveal new facts.
>> The Architect Trevor's Traps
If you've ever played BIO1, you probably remember some of the traps in Antarctica. That's no coincidence, the blueprints for the mansion section beneath the Antarctic Base were left behind by the very person who designed and built the mansion that served as BIO1's setting.
The architect George Trevor accepted a commission to build a mansion and paid extraordinarily well by Lord Spencer, completing the mansion in the Arklay Mountains near Raccoon City over a five-year period. However, he died after being imprisoned within the mansion because he knew the mansion's secrets.
Trevor met an untimely end, but it seems he was valued not only by Spencer, but also his rival Edward, who had left the blueprints of the Ashford family home before he himself died. It's unclear whether the mansion was completed or if it still exists today (if completed, it's probably located in England, home to the Ashford family), but the blueprints at least were made use of as part of the underground research facility in Antarctica. Even though Trevor's a renowned architect, his intense demand on design requests behind the scenes suggests a rivalry between the duo, Edward and Spencer. Due to that, it's interesting how things which look identical in concept slightly differ.
■ SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE MANSION IN BIO1 & THE ANTARCTIC BASE IN CODE:VERONICA
① The [Entrance Hall] of the BIO1 mansion and the [Antarctic Hall] of the CODE:Veronica Antarctic Base
② BIO1 Mansion's [Art Room] and the CODE:Veronica Antarctic Base's [Sterilization Room]
③ Statue of a Woman Holding a Water Jar
...Both share remarkably similar room structures. Moreover, the [Entrance Hall] and [Art Room], as well as the [Antarctic Hall] and [Sterilization Room], are adjacent in the same configuration. For reference, the photo below shows comparison ①.
④ Tiger statue with gemstones set in both eyes
…In BIO1, it exists in the【Tiger Stone Statue Room】while in CODE:Veronica, it exists in the【Sterilization Room】. In both games, using the red and blue gemstones to rotate the statue halfway allows you to obtain items on the reverse side, but the methods for rotating it halfway are contrasting. In BIO1, you must insert gems obtained elsewhere into the tiger's eyes. In CODE:Veronica, you must remove the gems already set in the tiger's eyes. Furthermore, the positions for the blue and red gems are reversed between the two games.
⑤【L-Shaped Hallway】
...The map name and room shape are identical, and they share similar design elements. In BIO1, Cerberus bursts in through the window, and moving the shelf reveals a Beretta magazine. In CODE:Veronica, tentacles break through the wall, and moving the shelf yields crossbow bolts and grenade rounds.
⑥【Living Room】
...Although the map name's the same, the room layout differs significantly. However, both feature shotgun-related mechanisms. In BIO1 you can obtain the shotgun hanging on a wall hook. In CODE:Veronica, placing the shotgun on the hook behind the bookshelf yields ammunition.
Wesker's Secret Organization
On each character's status screen, some mark's displayed beside data such as name and height. We want to say this represents the person's affiliation, but Claire and Steve belong to no organization. In their case, they're marked with the pack print on their clothes.
What we're interested in here now's the mark of Wesker, who has now become part of a mysterious organization. When you select Wesker in "BATTLE GAME" and open the status screen, you will see the "HCF" logo and a mark that looks like two capsules crossed. The logo and mark are undoubtedly related to the mysterious organization that attacked the island, to which Wesker currently belongs.
So what does the abbreviation HCF stand for? The text "Hive or host Capture Force" is written on Wesker's original drawing. According to this game's bonus gift DVD "Wesker's Report", the mysterious organization seems to be very much a pharmaceutical company, but "Force", referring to a military unit, is an unnatural name for a pharmaceutical company. In other words, HCF isn't the mysterious organization's name, but the name of a squad or unit owned by that organization. However, the above name was set in the early stages of development and may have been changed to a completely different name in the end. The only way to know the truth is to wait for the sequel.
Grim Reaper HUNK's History
HUNK, the writer of one of the files available in this game, "HUNK's Report", is someone who has also appeared in previous games.
He first appeared in the side-scenario from BIO2 called "The 4th Survivor." After recovering the G-Virus as the sole survivor of the Umbrella special forces Alpha Team and escaping the city, HUNK left an impression as the fourth survivor after Leon, Claire and Sherry, but he was mysterious, his true face unidentified, with no detailed setting disclosed either. In the subsequent BIO3, a setting emerged where he appears to have a rivalry with one of the characters, Nikolai. In addition, in the ending bonus image, he speaks and his true face is revealed, making it clear he's a veteran in battle known as "Grim Reaper." Then this game "CODE:Veronica" newly reveals his past with military training at the training facility on Rockfort Island.
As the series progresses, HUNK's personal image is being highlighted. Is the time near for him to appear in a main scenario?
< According to the setting, HUNK was trained on the island in 1996. In other words, he matured in just two years before he was called Grim Reaper.
Godspeed Wesker
Wesker's use of a submarine to escape from the Antarctic Base can be inferred by reading "D.I.J.'s Diary." So, did he use this submarine when traveling from Rockfort Island to Antarctica? In conclusion, the answer's no.
When Chris arrives in Antarctica after fighting Wesker on Rockfort Island, Wesker's self-propelled surveillance drones are already in motion at the base. From this we can infer Wesker had traveled from the isolated island to Antarctica at about the same speed as Chris who flew by plane, but even assuming that Rockfort Island's located at the southernmost tip of South America and he headed to Antarctica at 82 degrees south latitude via the shortest route, his travel distance would be less than 3,000km. Using a submarine to travel this much distance in not much different time than an airplane is impossible, no matter how mysterious the organization may be. Even the latest real submarine has a speed at 40 knots an hour (= about 74km)...
It'd be reasonable to assume Wesker flew to Antarctica and the submarine was brought by his subordinates who'd gone to Antarctica first.
D.I.J.'s True Nature
Of all the files, D.I.J.'s Diary's particularly striking. The story progresses from the perspective of a third party named D.I.J. (what the abbreviation is hasn't been clarified)... You want to know who's writing because it spells out Claire's actions in detail.
D.I.J.'s true identity's not a human, but a rat. You can find him by watching the screen carefully in the event scenes documented in the diary.
However, it doesn't seem like a rat would leave such a diary. There are two possible positions. Either the rat was given "something" (possibly preyed on?) and gained human-like intelligence, or a former human was given "something" and turned into a rat. Since Umbrella would've administered it, the "something" would be the T-Virus or a newly developed virus. We've yet to hear of the T-Virus enhancing intelligence, but it's more likely than the latter. Incidentally, speaking of a rat whose intelligence has been enhanced by an experiment, there's the white rat Algernon from Daniel Keyes' novel "Flowers for Algernon."
>> The Darkness in Alfred's Heart
A ruthless sadist, military fanatic, and split personality, with blind love for his sister... Alfred, master of Rockfort Island, is portrayed as an abnormal human being by anyone who sees him. But were these abnormalities something he was born with?
The darkness in Alfred's heart is probably rooted in his birth. Born as a result of Alexander's experiments, he was an "unwanted child" unlike his sister Alexia, who was born at the same time. He was an unplanned existence whose abilities failed to meet his father's expectations. Naturally, there was a difference in how his father Alexander treated him and Alexia, who was born as the super-genius he hoped for. Alfred also felt his father's coldness firsthand, and combined with the loneliness of not having a mother, he naturally became twisted. And so, he began to seek a strong bond with his only remaining close relative, Alexia.
But this was exactly what Alexia wanted. A genius but possessing an evil soul, she skillfully exploited her brother's repressed psyche to realize her own terrifying "plan." She made him devoted to her and turned him into a useful pawn, a loyal soldier. Alfred adored his sister and naturally came under her considerable influence. The coldness and cruelty later seen in his prisoner abuse were traits inherited from Alexia.
Subsequently, two shocks struck Alfred's psyche. The first was learning the secret of his birth and the second was Alexia entering cryosleep. The first shock completely severed his already tenuous bond with his frail father, driving him further into blind devotion to his sister. Then when the second shock struck him-- now with only Alexia left as his anchor-- his mind truly began to unravel. Though she was currently asleep, Alexia would eventually awaken... He should've known this better than anyone, yet he couldn't endure the loneliness of waiting for her return. And so, he fabricated another "Alexia" within himself.
In 1993, he graduated from university in his homeland of England and moved to Rockfort Island as its director. This only accelerated his alternate personality's formation. Had he remained in the mansion where he'd lived before, the fact Alexia had "died" long ago would've been common knowledge, and the progression of his delusions might've been halted. However, at the newly completed base on the isolated island, no one knew Alfred's past to notice the contradictions in his statements. As a result, his delusion that his sister was nearby progressed to the point he built a house (private residence) for them to live in together. Only Harman, the butler who'd watched over Alfred since he was a boy, seemed to sense his abnormality, but he left the mansion without being able to do anything.
Distrust of his father, his sister's psychological manipulation, and the loneliness of losing her-- these multiple factors warped his mind over many years and shaped the darkness within his heart. When you think about it that way, Alfred seems like a sad man, full of very human weaknesses.
■ SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF THE DARKNESS IN ALFRED'S HEART
【Private Residence and Antarctic Base: Fixation on Childhood】
The underground of the Antarctic base and the private residence on Rockfort Island contain rooms with identical layouts. These are Alfred and Alexia's rooms. Considering the order in which they appear in the story, one might assume the Antarctic base was modeled after the isolated island residence. However, the residence was built four years prior to the story's events, while the Antarctic base construction began in 1969. This means the base is the original.
Alfred and Alexia likely spent most of their time at the Antarctic base until Alexia fell asleep. They were born at the base, and for Alexia, it was the ideal environment to advance her research. And for Alfred, the time spent with his sister at the base must have been pure bliss.
In other words, the private residence on the isolated island's a recreation of the Antarctic room where Alfred really spent his childhood-- that is, a recreation of a happier era. That's why the private residence is decorated in a manner far too childish for a space inhabited by a man and woman in their late twenties.
※ Considering the entries in "Alfred's Diary," the Antarctic base's structure in the game presents numerous puzzling aspects. This is likely because the current positions of hidden doors and such differ from the era when the diary was written.
► Alexia herself has never set foot in her own room within the private residence. Consequently, everything within it must've been gathered by the Alexia "personality."
【Message Card ~ Split Personality】
The "Message Card" found in Alfred's room takes the form of a congratulatory letter addressed to her brother by Alexia. However, Alexia, who has been in cold sleep since she was 12, couldn't possibly have written such a letter. This means it was written by Alfred, the Alexia personality, to himself.
If the card itself is a product of delusion, its contents are a list of ideals. The Alfred within the card, blessed by his beloved sister as a fine soldier and entrusted with restoring the family, is precisely the image he desires. Here we see an escape from reality: the reality of failing to become a fine soldier, being separated from his beloved sister, and being unable to restore the family.
【Projection Room ~ Military Fanatic】
As the aforementioned “message card” indicates, Alfred seemed to yearn to be a “proud soldier.” Furthermore, the military videos and firearms piled in the projection room, along with the submarine in the basement, reveal the extent of his military obsession.
His fascination with military things might've been simply a matter of hobby. Though couldn't it also be that he wanted the strength to protect his beloved sister? Alfred, who became the sole guardian of his sister in cryosleep when he was just 12-years-old, likely sought military power pragmatically to acquire the strength befitting that role. It's heartbreaking, though, that to Alexia, he was literally nothing more than a "soldier ant."
Even seemingly trivial matters conceal various mysteries. Unraveling them should reveal new facts.
>> The Architect Trevor's Traps
If you've ever played BIO1, you probably remember some of the traps in Antarctica. That's no coincidence, the blueprints for the mansion section beneath the Antarctic Base were left behind by the very person who designed and built the mansion that served as BIO1's setting.
The architect George Trevor accepted a commission to build a mansion and paid extraordinarily well by Lord Spencer, completing the mansion in the Arklay Mountains near Raccoon City over a five-year period. However, he died after being imprisoned within the mansion because he knew the mansion's secrets.
Trevor met an untimely end, but it seems he was valued not only by Spencer, but also his rival Edward, who had left the blueprints of the Ashford family home before he himself died. It's unclear whether the mansion was completed or if it still exists today (if completed, it's probably located in England, home to the Ashford family), but the blueprints at least were made use of as part of the underground research facility in Antarctica. Even though Trevor's a renowned architect, his intense demand on design requests behind the scenes suggests a rivalry between the duo, Edward and Spencer. Due to that, it's interesting how things which look identical in concept slightly differ.
■ SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE MANSION IN BIO1 & THE ANTARCTIC BASE IN CODE:VERONICA
① The [Entrance Hall] of the BIO1 mansion and the [Antarctic Hall] of the CODE:Veronica Antarctic Base
② BIO1 Mansion's [Art Room] and the CODE:Veronica Antarctic Base's [Sterilization Room]
③ Statue of a Woman Holding a Water Jar
...Both share remarkably similar room structures. Moreover, the [Entrance Hall] and [Art Room], as well as the [Antarctic Hall] and [Sterilization Room], are adjacent in the same configuration. For reference, the photo below shows comparison ①.
④ Tiger statue with gemstones set in both eyes
…In BIO1, it exists in the【Tiger Stone Statue Room】while in CODE:Veronica, it exists in the【Sterilization Room】. In both games, using the red and blue gemstones to rotate the statue halfway allows you to obtain items on the reverse side, but the methods for rotating it halfway are contrasting. In BIO1, you must insert gems obtained elsewhere into the tiger's eyes. In CODE:Veronica, you must remove the gems already set in the tiger's eyes. Furthermore, the positions for the blue and red gems are reversed between the two games.
⑤【L-Shaped Hallway】
...The map name and room shape are identical, and they share similar design elements. In BIO1, Cerberus bursts in through the window, and moving the shelf reveals a Beretta magazine. In CODE:Veronica, tentacles break through the wall, and moving the shelf yields crossbow bolts and grenade rounds.
⑥【Living Room】
...Although the map name's the same, the room layout differs significantly. However, both feature shotgun-related mechanisms. In BIO1 you can obtain the shotgun hanging on a wall hook. In CODE:Veronica, placing the shotgun on the hook behind the bookshelf yields ammunition.
Wesker's Secret Organization
On each character's status screen, some mark's displayed beside data such as name and height. We want to say this represents the person's affiliation, but Claire and Steve belong to no organization. In their case, they're marked with the pack print on their clothes.
What we're interested in here now's the mark of Wesker, who has now become part of a mysterious organization. When you select Wesker in "BATTLE GAME" and open the status screen, you will see the "HCF" logo and a mark that looks like two capsules crossed. The logo and mark are undoubtedly related to the mysterious organization that attacked the island, to which Wesker currently belongs.
So what does the abbreviation HCF stand for? The text "Hive or host Capture Force" is written on Wesker's original drawing. According to this game's bonus gift DVD "Wesker's Report", the mysterious organization seems to be very much a pharmaceutical company, but "Force", referring to a military unit, is an unnatural name for a pharmaceutical company. In other words, HCF isn't the mysterious organization's name, but the name of a squad or unit owned by that organization. However, the above name was set in the early stages of development and may have been changed to a completely different name in the end. The only way to know the truth is to wait for the sequel.
Grim Reaper HUNK's History
HUNK, the writer of one of the files available in this game, "HUNK's Report", is someone who has also appeared in previous games.
He first appeared in the side-scenario from BIO2 called "The 4th Survivor." After recovering the G-Virus as the sole survivor of the Umbrella special forces Alpha Team and escaping the city, HUNK left an impression as the fourth survivor after Leon, Claire and Sherry, but he was mysterious, his true face unidentified, with no detailed setting disclosed either. In the subsequent BIO3, a setting emerged where he appears to have a rivalry with one of the characters, Nikolai. In addition, in the ending bonus image, he speaks and his true face is revealed, making it clear he's a veteran in battle known as "Grim Reaper." Then this game "CODE:Veronica" newly reveals his past with military training at the training facility on Rockfort Island.
As the series progresses, HUNK's personal image is being highlighted. Is the time near for him to appear in a main scenario?
< According to the setting, HUNK was trained on the island in 1996. In other words, he matured in just two years before he was called Grim Reaper.
Godspeed Wesker
Wesker's use of a submarine to escape from the Antarctic Base can be inferred by reading "D.I.J.'s Diary." So, did he use this submarine when traveling from Rockfort Island to Antarctica? In conclusion, the answer's no.
When Chris arrives in Antarctica after fighting Wesker on Rockfort Island, Wesker's self-propelled surveillance drones are already in motion at the base. From this we can infer Wesker had traveled from the isolated island to Antarctica at about the same speed as Chris who flew by plane, but even assuming that Rockfort Island's located at the southernmost tip of South America and he headed to Antarctica at 82 degrees south latitude via the shortest route, his travel distance would be less than 3,000km. Using a submarine to travel this much distance in not much different time than an airplane is impossible, no matter how mysterious the organization may be. Even the latest real submarine has a speed at 40 knots an hour (= about 74km)...
It'd be reasonable to assume Wesker flew to Antarctica and the submarine was brought by his subordinates who'd gone to Antarctica first.
D.I.J.'s True Nature
Of all the files, D.I.J.'s Diary's particularly striking. The story progresses from the perspective of a third party named D.I.J. (what the abbreviation is hasn't been clarified)... You want to know who's writing because it spells out Claire's actions in detail.
D.I.J.'s true identity's not a human, but a rat. You can find him by watching the screen carefully in the event scenes documented in the diary.
However, it doesn't seem like a rat would leave such a diary. There are two possible positions. Either the rat was given "something" (possibly preyed on?) and gained human-like intelligence, or a former human was given "something" and turned into a rat. Since Umbrella would've administered it, the "something" would be the T-Virus or a newly developed virus. We've yet to hear of the T-Virus enhancing intelligence, but it's more likely than the latter. Incidentally, speaking of a rat whose intelligence has been enhanced by an experiment, there's the white rat Algernon from Daniel Keyes' novel "Flowers for Algernon."
>> The Darkness in Alfred's Heart
A ruthless sadist, military fanatic, and split personality, with blind love for his sister... Alfred, master of Rockfort Island, is portrayed as an abnormal human being by anyone who sees him. But were these abnormalities something he was born with?
The darkness in Alfred's heart is probably rooted in his birth. Born as a result of Alexander's experiments, he was an "unwanted child" unlike his sister Alexia, who was born at the same time. He was an unplanned existence whose abilities failed to meet his father's expectations. Naturally, there was a difference in how his father Alexander treated him and Alexia, who was born as the super-genius he hoped for. Alfred also felt his father's coldness firsthand, and combined with the loneliness of not having a mother, he naturally became twisted. And so, he began to seek a strong bond with his only remaining close relative, Alexia.
But this was exactly what Alexia wanted. A genius but possessing an evil soul, she skillfully exploited her brother's repressed psyche to realize her own terrifying "plan." She made him devoted to her and turned him into a useful pawn, a loyal soldier. Alfred adored his sister and naturally came under her considerable influence. The coldness and cruelty later seen in his prisoner abuse were traits inherited from Alexia.
Subsequently, two shocks struck Alfred's psyche. The first was learning the secret of his birth and the second was Alexia entering cryosleep. The first shock completely severed his already tenuous bond with his frail father, driving him further into blind devotion to his sister. Then when the second shock struck him-- now with only Alexia left as his anchor-- his mind truly began to unravel. Though she was currently asleep, Alexia would eventually awaken... He should've known this better than anyone, yet he couldn't endure the loneliness of waiting for her return. And so, he fabricated another "Alexia" within himself.
In 1993, he graduated from university in his homeland of England and moved to Rockfort Island as its director. This only accelerated his alternate personality's formation. Had he remained in the mansion where he'd lived before, the fact Alexia had "died" long ago would've been common knowledge, and the progression of his delusions might've been halted. However, at the newly completed base on the isolated island, no one knew Alfred's past to notice the contradictions in his statements. As a result, his delusion that his sister was nearby progressed to the point he built a house (private residence) for them to live in together. Only Harman, the butler who'd watched over Alfred since he was a boy, seemed to sense his abnormality, but he left the mansion without being able to do anything.
Distrust of his father, his sister's psychological manipulation, and the loneliness of losing her-- these multiple factors warped his mind over many years and shaped the darkness within his heart. When you think about it that way, Alfred seems like a sad man, full of very human weaknesses.
■ SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF THE DARKNESS IN ALFRED'S HEART
【Private Residence and Antarctic Base: Fixation on Childhood】
The underground of the Antarctic base and the private residence on Rockfort Island contain rooms with identical layouts. These are Alfred and Alexia's rooms. Considering the order in which they appear in the story, one might assume the Antarctic base was modeled after the isolated island residence. However, the residence was built four years prior to the story's events, while the Antarctic base construction began in 1969. This means the base is the original.
Alfred and Alexia likely spent most of their time at the Antarctic base until Alexia fell asleep. They were born at the base, and for Alexia, it was the ideal environment to advance her research. And for Alfred, the time spent with his sister at the base must have been pure bliss.
In other words, the private residence on the isolated island's a recreation of the Antarctic room where Alfred really spent his childhood-- that is, a recreation of a happier era. That's why the private residence is decorated in a manner far too childish for a space inhabited by a man and woman in their late twenties.
※ Considering the entries in "Alfred's Diary," the Antarctic base's structure in the game presents numerous puzzling aspects. This is likely because the current positions of hidden doors and such differ from the era when the diary was written.
► Alexia herself has never set foot in her own room within the private residence. Consequently, everything within it must've been gathered by the Alexia "personality."
【Message Card ~ Split Personality】
The "Message Card" found in Alfred's room takes the form of a congratulatory letter addressed to her brother by Alexia. However, Alexia, who has been in cold sleep since she was 12, couldn't possibly have written such a letter. This means it was written by Alfred, the Alexia personality, to himself.
If the card itself is a product of delusion, its contents are a list of ideals. The Alfred within the card, blessed by his beloved sister as a fine soldier and entrusted with restoring the family, is precisely the image he desires. Here we see an escape from reality: the reality of failing to become a fine soldier, being separated from his beloved sister, and being unable to restore the family.
【Projection Room ~ Military Fanatic】
As the aforementioned “message card” indicates, Alfred seemed to yearn to be a “proud soldier.” Furthermore, the military videos and firearms piled in the projection room, along with the submarine in the basement, reveal the extent of his military obsession.
His fascination with military things might've been simply a matter of hobby. Though couldn't it also be that he wanted the strength to protect his beloved sister? Alfred, who became the sole guardian of his sister in cryosleep when he was just 12-years-old, likely sought military power pragmatically to acquire the strength befitting that role. It's heartbreaking, though, that to Alexia, he was literally nothing more than a "soldier ant."
THE WHOLE STORY OF THE "CODE:Veronica" PROJECT (p.219-220)
Chronology related to the Ashford family & Project CODE:Veronica.
[1960s]
► Edward, fifth generation master of the Ashford family, and his friend Oswell E. Spencer begin their search for the Progenitor Virus.
- From this, it's understood the Progenitor Virus wasn't discovered by chance, but intentionally. Perhaps they realized the Progenitor Virus' existence in the process of researching an existing virus.
► Edward's son Alexander initiates the secret CODE:Veronica project.
- Alexander, who was aware he lacked virus research ability, imposed a duty on himself. The purpose was to create a child gifted enough to take over his father's research.
[1962]
► Architect and builder Trevor begins to design and build the mansion in response to Spencer's request.
- This mansion's used as an Umbrella bioweapons lab and becomes the stage of the Mansion Incident. Moreover, Trevor installed various kinds of traps in the mansion according to his client's orders, though he didn't know what they intended to use them for.
[1967]
► The mansion Trevor handled is completed.
► November 13: Trevor's invited by Spencer to commemorate the mansion's completion, and he vanishes in the mansion.
► December 5: Trevor's shut in the mansion and dies.
- It seems he officially disappeared from the public on November 13th. Alexander knew about his death, so it's likely the ringleader Spencer leaked it to Edward, who in turn passed it onto his son.
[1968]
► In collaboration with Edward and others, Spencer discovers the Progenitor Virus.
► Spencer and Edward establish the pharmaceutical company Umbrella to camouflage their Progenitor Virus research.
- The mansion completed in the previous year is in fact intended for use as an Umbrella bioweapon experiment facility, though officially a recreation facility.
► Edward becomes infected with the Progenitor Virus and dies. Alexander assumes the position of family master.
- His father's premature death was the largest miscalculation for Alexander since the successor of his father's research was supposed to be born before he died.
[1969]
► The Ashford family's position within Umbrella deteriorates. Feeling threatened by this, Alexander devotes all his efforts to the CODE:Veronica project.
- The Ashford family starts to embark on a path of decline in just less than one year since Alexander's succession. Edward's presence was absolutely major, no question, but it still seems a bit too early.
► February: The Antarctic Base construction project starts.
► November: The Antarctic Base is completed.
- Alexander conceived the Antarctic Base construction plan, though Umbrella owns the property. However, the underground lab was constructed in utmost secrecy for Alexander to proceed with the project.
[1971]
► Alfred and Alexia are born.
- Judging from the description in the "CODE:Veronica Written Report", these two were clones-- that is, replicas of Veronica, and they aren't Alexander's children*. Moreover, he modified Veronica's original genes in order to achieve an intelligence surpassing the original.
(*) ...When specific genes are electrically fused into an unfertilized egg from which the genes have been removed, the egg becomes fertilized and begins to divide, becoming a clone of the owner of the fused genes (cloning method). Alexander also created the siblings by adding Veronica's modified genes to the unfertilized egg of a surrogate mother, without the use of his own sperm. It should be noted that cloning from the genes of a deceased person is still considered impossible in reality.
[1981]
► Alexia graduates from a famous university as top student at 10-years-old. She's greeted by Umbrella as chief researcher.
- By this time, the Ashford family's standing within Umbrella has degraded considerably. Alexia however seems to have been greeted by Umbrella with greater reception than her father, not for her parentage, but rather her superior intelligence.
[1983]
► January 30: Alfred tries to find a way into the "forbidden room" in the Antarctic Base.
► February 17: Alfred gains entry into the forbidden room. He learns the mystery of their birth and feels animosity towards his father.
- Regardless of Alexia, if Alfred had faith in his father he might not have intended to use him as raw material for the virus, even though he scorned his incompetence.
► March 3: Alexia transplants T-Veronica into Alexander for an experiment.
- Officially, Alexander was handled as a "mysterious disappearance."
► April 22: Alexander, who turned into a monster under influence of T-Veronica, is imprisoned by the twins in an underground cell.
- Though the first actual experiment utilizing T-Veronica ended in failure, these results gave Alexia insight that enabled her to commence the second experiment.
► Later in April: Alfred becomes the family's successor at 12-years old.
► December: Alexia injects T-Veronica into her body and enters a 15-year cryogenic sleep.
- It was officially announced Alexia died in an accident during research and people believed it just as they did with Alexander who was handled as a "disappearance". Though only Alfred knows of her survival, he soon finds Alexia in his imagination since he's unable to cope with the reality his dearest sister's gone.
[1993]
► Alfred graduates from a university in England.
► Alfred's appointed director of the Antarctic Base. Successively he becomes a high official of Umbrella and is appointed head of the base on Rockfort Island.
- It looks like Alfred finally secured an official position in Umbrella by taking the opportunity afforded by his university graduation. Given his lineage though, a position as head of a remote area's too minor.
► December 8: The military training facility on Rockfort Island's completed.
[1994]
► Alfred builds a private residence and a prison on Rockfort Island.
- Construction of the private residence confirms Alfred was already ill before he developed a split-personality. Moreover, his personal feelings were intertwined with the prison's construction, carried out around the same time.
[1996]
► HUNK, later of the Umbrella special forces, receives military training at the training facility on Rockfort Island.
[1998]
► Alfred's secretary Robert (Bob) incurs the director's displeasure and is held at the prison.
- Bob was fired as secretary merely because he claimed to have saw Alexia. This poor fellow's assumed to have been sacrificed in the cruel "ritual" of the anatomist and Alfred on May 21st of this year.
► December 27: Claire's held in the prison on Rockfort Island. Mysterious special forces attack Rockfort Island and soon the T-Virus leaks over the whole island.
Chronology related to the Ashford family & Project CODE:Veronica.
[1960s]
► Edward, fifth generation master of the Ashford family, and his friend Oswell E. Spencer begin their search for the Progenitor Virus.
- From this, it's understood the Progenitor Virus wasn't discovered by chance, but intentionally. Perhaps they realized the Progenitor Virus' existence in the process of researching an existing virus.
► Edward's son Alexander initiates the secret CODE:Veronica project.
- Alexander, who was aware he lacked virus research ability, imposed a duty on himself. The purpose was to create a child gifted enough to take over his father's research.
[1962]
► Architect and builder Trevor begins to design and build the mansion in response to Spencer's request.
- This mansion's used as an Umbrella bioweapons lab and becomes the stage of the Mansion Incident. Moreover, Trevor installed various kinds of traps in the mansion according to his client's orders, though he didn't know what they intended to use them for.
[1967]
► The mansion Trevor handled is completed.
► November 13: Trevor's invited by Spencer to commemorate the mansion's completion, and he vanishes in the mansion.
► December 5: Trevor's shut in the mansion and dies.
- It seems he officially disappeared from the public on November 13th. Alexander knew about his death, so it's likely the ringleader Spencer leaked it to Edward, who in turn passed it onto his son.
[1968]
► In collaboration with Edward and others, Spencer discovers the Progenitor Virus.
► Spencer and Edward establish the pharmaceutical company Umbrella to camouflage their Progenitor Virus research.
- The mansion completed in the previous year is in fact intended for use as an Umbrella bioweapon experiment facility, though officially a recreation facility.
► Edward becomes infected with the Progenitor Virus and dies. Alexander assumes the position of family master.
- His father's premature death was the largest miscalculation for Alexander since the successor of his father's research was supposed to be born before he died.
[1969]
► The Ashford family's position within Umbrella deteriorates. Feeling threatened by this, Alexander devotes all his efforts to the CODE:Veronica project.
- The Ashford family starts to embark on a path of decline in just less than one year since Alexander's succession. Edward's presence was absolutely major, no question, but it still seems a bit too early.
► February: The Antarctic Base construction project starts.
► November: The Antarctic Base is completed.
- Alexander conceived the Antarctic Base construction plan, though Umbrella owns the property. However, the underground lab was constructed in utmost secrecy for Alexander to proceed with the project.
[1971]
► Alfred and Alexia are born.
- Judging from the description in the "CODE:Veronica Written Report", these two were clones-- that is, replicas of Veronica, and they aren't Alexander's children*. Moreover, he modified Veronica's original genes in order to achieve an intelligence surpassing the original.
(*) ...When specific genes are electrically fused into an unfertilized egg from which the genes have been removed, the egg becomes fertilized and begins to divide, becoming a clone of the owner of the fused genes (cloning method). Alexander also created the siblings by adding Veronica's modified genes to the unfertilized egg of a surrogate mother, without the use of his own sperm. It should be noted that cloning from the genes of a deceased person is still considered impossible in reality.
[1981]
► Alexia graduates from a famous university as top student at 10-years-old. She's greeted by Umbrella as chief researcher.
- By this time, the Ashford family's standing within Umbrella has degraded considerably. Alexia however seems to have been greeted by Umbrella with greater reception than her father, not for her parentage, but rather her superior intelligence.
[1983]
► January 30: Alfred tries to find a way into the "forbidden room" in the Antarctic Base.
► February 17: Alfred gains entry into the forbidden room. He learns the mystery of their birth and feels animosity towards his father.
- Regardless of Alexia, if Alfred had faith in his father he might not have intended to use him as raw material for the virus, even though he scorned his incompetence.
► March 3: Alexia transplants T-Veronica into Alexander for an experiment.
- Officially, Alexander was handled as a "mysterious disappearance."
► April 22: Alexander, who turned into a monster under influence of T-Veronica, is imprisoned by the twins in an underground cell.
- Though the first actual experiment utilizing T-Veronica ended in failure, these results gave Alexia insight that enabled her to commence the second experiment.
► Later in April: Alfred becomes the family's successor at 12-years old.
► December: Alexia injects T-Veronica into her body and enters a 15-year cryogenic sleep.
- It was officially announced Alexia died in an accident during research and people believed it just as they did with Alexander who was handled as a "disappearance". Though only Alfred knows of her survival, he soon finds Alexia in his imagination since he's unable to cope with the reality his dearest sister's gone.
[1993]
► Alfred graduates from a university in England.
► Alfred's appointed director of the Antarctic Base. Successively he becomes a high official of Umbrella and is appointed head of the base on Rockfort Island.
- It looks like Alfred finally secured an official position in Umbrella by taking the opportunity afforded by his university graduation. Given his lineage though, a position as head of a remote area's too minor.
► December 8: The military training facility on Rockfort Island's completed.
[1994]
► Alfred builds a private residence and a prison on Rockfort Island.
- Construction of the private residence confirms Alfred was already ill before he developed a split-personality. Moreover, his personal feelings were intertwined with the prison's construction, carried out around the same time.
[1996]
► HUNK, later of the Umbrella special forces, receives military training at the training facility on Rockfort Island.
[1998]
► Alfred's secretary Robert (Bob) incurs the director's displeasure and is held at the prison.
- Bob was fired as secretary merely because he claimed to have saw Alexia. This poor fellow's assumed to have been sacrificed in the cruel "ritual" of the anatomist and Alfred on May 21st of this year.
► December 27: Claire's held in the prison on Rockfort Island. Mysterious special forces attack Rockfort Island and soon the T-Virus leaks over the whole island.
THE AIM OF PROJECT "CODE:Veronica" (p.221)
THE PROJECT'S PURPOSE
The project CODE:Veronica that Alexander was secretly working on. What was this project's true purpose?
The project, which bears the name of the Ashford family's first matriarch, wasn't a concrete one from the outset, like "T-Veronica's development." "Reintroducing the matriarch Veronica's power to the Ashford family and bringing unprecedented glory to the Ashfords" --- this is the project's ultimate goal, and the development of a new virus based on the Progenitor Virus was just one step in the process of the family's glory.
This plan was set up when Alexander's father, Edward, began his search for the Progenitor Virus. Alexander would've realized he had no power to take over his father's research and known that even if his father brought him glory, he couldn't sustain it.
Therefore, using his expertise in genetic engineering, he decided to send a genius into the world and entrust this person with the Ashford family's future.
For those of the Ashford family, the ideal form of a genius is none other than the matriarch Veronica. This intelligent and beautiful first generation matriarch was already legendary, with Alexander also fascinated by her brilliance. Thus he didn't want Veronica to literally "return", so created her clone. It's no mere clone. Based on his own research, he attempted to artificially enhance intelligence by manipulating the intelligence factors in Veronica's genes in an effort to create a being surpassing the original. However, it could be said this act twisted the nature of the children who were born and that as a result, the plan went mad.
THE PROJECT'S END
Alexia was soon born and, possessing an unprecedentedly high level of intelligence and incredible beauty, she was a girl who gave the impression of the matriarch's literal return. However, her personality was ruthless and cruel with selfish thoughts.
Alexia also had a passion for glory in her own hands. If she simply stayed in the "Ashford family", then this passion could've helped her flourish. However her desire wasn't for her own family's prosperity, but her own personal prosperity. For she who seeks to subjugate the world, not only her father (the man who named her), but even her brother with whom she shares blood, are merely "convenient servants." In this way, by the time it came to send the person out into the world, the project was completely out of order.
Having been created as an error in the project, Alfred must've dreamed so much for the Ashford family's prosperity. Although he was merely spinning his wheels, his passion for rebuilding his home was extraordinary. He also promises to his beloved sister "glory to the Ashfords", also desired by his imaginary Alexia (Alexia personality), as proof of his absolute loyalty. In other words, for him, it can be said his desire = his sister's wish = family's prosperity.
In the end, Alfred couldn't grasp his sister's true wishes. It's ironic, however, that he had the same dream as his father, whom he never stopped hating.
THE THREE PILLARS OF THE PROJECT'S PROGRESS
① Discover the Progenitor Virus
② Bring back the first master, Veronica, as a genius scientist
③ Allow the person in ② to study ① in order to develop a new virus and grasp the cutting edge of biotechnology
THE PROJECT'S PURPOSE
The project CODE:Veronica that Alexander was secretly working on. What was this project's true purpose?
The project, which bears the name of the Ashford family's first matriarch, wasn't a concrete one from the outset, like "T-Veronica's development." "Reintroducing the matriarch Veronica's power to the Ashford family and bringing unprecedented glory to the Ashfords" --- this is the project's ultimate goal, and the development of a new virus based on the Progenitor Virus was just one step in the process of the family's glory.
This plan was set up when Alexander's father, Edward, began his search for the Progenitor Virus. Alexander would've realized he had no power to take over his father's research and known that even if his father brought him glory, he couldn't sustain it.
Therefore, using his expertise in genetic engineering, he decided to send a genius into the world and entrust this person with the Ashford family's future.
For those of the Ashford family, the ideal form of a genius is none other than the matriarch Veronica. This intelligent and beautiful first generation matriarch was already legendary, with Alexander also fascinated by her brilliance. Thus he didn't want Veronica to literally "return", so created her clone. It's no mere clone. Based on his own research, he attempted to artificially enhance intelligence by manipulating the intelligence factors in Veronica's genes in an effort to create a being surpassing the original. However, it could be said this act twisted the nature of the children who were born and that as a result, the plan went mad.
THE PROJECT'S END
Alexia was soon born and, possessing an unprecedentedly high level of intelligence and incredible beauty, she was a girl who gave the impression of the matriarch's literal return. However, her personality was ruthless and cruel with selfish thoughts.
Alexia also had a passion for glory in her own hands. If she simply stayed in the "Ashford family", then this passion could've helped her flourish. However her desire wasn't for her own family's prosperity, but her own personal prosperity. For she who seeks to subjugate the world, not only her father (the man who named her), but even her brother with whom she shares blood, are merely "convenient servants." In this way, by the time it came to send the person out into the world, the project was completely out of order.
Having been created as an error in the project, Alfred must've dreamed so much for the Ashford family's prosperity. Although he was merely spinning his wheels, his passion for rebuilding his home was extraordinary. He also promises to his beloved sister "glory to the Ashfords", also desired by his imaginary Alexia (Alexia personality), as proof of his absolute loyalty. In other words, for him, it can be said his desire = his sister's wish = family's prosperity.
In the end, Alfred couldn't grasp his sister's true wishes. It's ironic, however, that he had the same dream as his father, whom he never stopped hating.
THE THREE PILLARS OF THE PROJECT'S PROGRESS
① Discover the Progenitor Virus
② Bring back the first master, Veronica, as a genius scientist
③ Allow the person in ② to study ① in order to develop a new virus and grasp the cutting edge of biotechnology
CODE:Veronica SETTING TERMS GLOSSARY (p.222)
To understand CODE:Veronica's story, here are explanations of terms you should know, arranged in Japanese syllabary order. Note that characters introduced on pages 4-12 are excluded.
Umbrella
An international pharmaceutical company with branches around the world. The company name's expressed by the company motto "protecting the health of the people", but its true face is a merchant of death that develops and sells bioweapons with the T-Virus. Despite causing several biohazards, due to deep collusion with international politicians and VIPs, military and police forces are unable to conduct a criminal investigation. Headquarters is in Europe.
William Birkin
An Umbrella researcher. Although a very brilliant scientist, he came into conflict with executives over his work on the "G-Virus." After sustaining fatal injuries in an attack by HUNK and his men, he injected the virus into his own body and transformed into the monster called "G." There was an exchange with Wesker since they were both researchers, and he seems to have had a role in Wesker's revival.
Oswell E. Spencer (Lord Spencer)
The owner of the mansion which became the stage of BIO1. He discovered the Progenitor Virus alongside fellow aristocrat Edward Ashford and others, then established the pharmaceutical company Umbrella to camouflage the research. A world famous millionaire, he collects artwork as a hobby.
Progenitor Virus (=Clay Virus)
A virus discovered by Oswell E. Spencer in cooperation with Edward Ashford and others. As a result of continuous research for military application, variants named T-Virus were developed and used for B.O.W. manufacture. Incidentally, the company named Umbrella was established to camouflage the research of this Progenitor Virus.
George Trevor
A prominent architect based in New York. At Lord Spencer's request, he designed a mansion full of traps in the mountains near Raccoon City. He mysteriously disappeared just after the mansion's completion. In addition to the above-mentioned mansion, he also designed the Ashford family's mansion.
Scott Harman
Former butler of the Ashford family. He served two generations with Alexander and Alfred, but in 1998, he left the master a note that he was unable to stay witnessing Alfred's confusion, and he left the mansion.
T-Alexia
A generic name for the T-Virus created by Alexia. Almost synonymous with T-Veronica. By the way, this word was used for the first time in Wesker's dialogue that's been added to the Complete Edition.
T-Virus
The generic name of Progenitor Virus variants developed for the purpose of B.O.W. manufacture. T is the initial of Tyrant, as its name suggests it causes drastically increased vitality with significant changes in appearance, while intelligence and reason are virtually lost. In addition, since it's highly infectious and unstable, the leakage of small amounts could lead to catastrophe.
T-Veronica
A virus developed by Alexia in strict secrecy within the Antarctic Base, possessing the absolute dominance ability of a queen ant. It was produced by transfusing the Progenitor Virus with the genes of a queen ant and plant genes. It causes rapid changes in an organism's cells, and in order to preserve mental functions, the body must adapt slowly over time at low temperatures.
B.O.W.
Abbreviation of "BIO ORGANIC WEAPON (Organic Life-Form Weapon)", the generic name of biomonsters intentionally created by researchers. Infected people like Zombies and Nosferatu accidentally created in the process of experiments aren't included in this. In addition, Umbrella created the B.O.W.'s in previous games, but ones also created at the hands of an organization other than Umbrella appear in CODE:Veronica.
Mansion Incident
The first virus outbreak incident caused by Umbrella. The T-Virus leaked from a lab attached to a mansion built in the Arklay Mountains, the outskirts of Raccoon City, then the researchers and lab animals became Zombies. This developed into the bizarre murder cases in the city suburbs, but was settled for the time being due to the activities of S.T.A.R.S. However, Umbrella Corp. was never finger-pointed as the mastermind of the incident. In addition, the intervention of S.T.A.R.S. in this matter's concluded to have been decided by Umbrella with the intention to extract B.O.W. combat data and eliminate the officers.
Leon S. (Scott) Kennedy
One of BIO2's main characters. He was a rookie Raccoon City police officer, but was embroiled in a biohazard on his first day and escaped the town in cooperation with Claire. Afterwards, he joined an anti-Umbrella organization and seems to be in contact with Claire. 21-years-old, 178cm tall, weighs 70.2kg, blood type A.
Rockfort Island
A South American island where an Umbrella base is located. There are facilities such as a prison, airport, and a training facility for the irregular troops the company owns. Above all, those who know the company's secrets or rebel against it are thrown into the prison, and from here, transported around as test subjects. The person in charge is Alfred Ashford, grandson of a founding member of Umbrella.
To understand CODE:Veronica's story, here are explanations of terms you should know, arranged in Japanese syllabary order. Note that characters introduced on pages 4-12 are excluded.
Umbrella
An international pharmaceutical company with branches around the world. The company name's expressed by the company motto "protecting the health of the people", but its true face is a merchant of death that develops and sells bioweapons with the T-Virus. Despite causing several biohazards, due to deep collusion with international politicians and VIPs, military and police forces are unable to conduct a criminal investigation. Headquarters is in Europe.
William Birkin
An Umbrella researcher. Although a very brilliant scientist, he came into conflict with executives over his work on the "G-Virus." After sustaining fatal injuries in an attack by HUNK and his men, he injected the virus into his own body and transformed into the monster called "G." There was an exchange with Wesker since they were both researchers, and he seems to have had a role in Wesker's revival.
Oswell E. Spencer (Lord Spencer)
The owner of the mansion which became the stage of BIO1. He discovered the Progenitor Virus alongside fellow aristocrat Edward Ashford and others, then established the pharmaceutical company Umbrella to camouflage the research. A world famous millionaire, he collects artwork as a hobby.
Progenitor Virus (=Clay Virus)
A virus discovered by Oswell E. Spencer in cooperation with Edward Ashford and others. As a result of continuous research for military application, variants named T-Virus were developed and used for B.O.W. manufacture. Incidentally, the company named Umbrella was established to camouflage the research of this Progenitor Virus.
George Trevor
A prominent architect based in New York. At Lord Spencer's request, he designed a mansion full of traps in the mountains near Raccoon City. He mysteriously disappeared just after the mansion's completion. In addition to the above-mentioned mansion, he also designed the Ashford family's mansion.
Scott Harman
Former butler of the Ashford family. He served two generations with Alexander and Alfred, but in 1998, he left the master a note that he was unable to stay witnessing Alfred's confusion, and he left the mansion.
T-Alexia
A generic name for the T-Virus created by Alexia. Almost synonymous with T-Veronica. By the way, this word was used for the first time in Wesker's dialogue that's been added to the Complete Edition.
T-Virus
The generic name of Progenitor Virus variants developed for the purpose of B.O.W. manufacture. T is the initial of Tyrant, as its name suggests it causes drastically increased vitality with significant changes in appearance, while intelligence and reason are virtually lost. In addition, since it's highly infectious and unstable, the leakage of small amounts could lead to catastrophe.
T-Veronica
A virus developed by Alexia in strict secrecy within the Antarctic Base, possessing the absolute dominance ability of a queen ant. It was produced by transfusing the Progenitor Virus with the genes of a queen ant and plant genes. It causes rapid changes in an organism's cells, and in order to preserve mental functions, the body must adapt slowly over time at low temperatures.
B.O.W.
Abbreviation of "BIO ORGANIC WEAPON (Organic Life-Form Weapon)", the generic name of biomonsters intentionally created by researchers. Infected people like Zombies and Nosferatu accidentally created in the process of experiments aren't included in this. In addition, Umbrella created the B.O.W.'s in previous games, but ones also created at the hands of an organization other than Umbrella appear in CODE:Veronica.
Mansion Incident
The first virus outbreak incident caused by Umbrella. The T-Virus leaked from a lab attached to a mansion built in the Arklay Mountains, the outskirts of Raccoon City, then the researchers and lab animals became Zombies. This developed into the bizarre murder cases in the city suburbs, but was settled for the time being due to the activities of S.T.A.R.S. However, Umbrella Corp. was never finger-pointed as the mastermind of the incident. In addition, the intervention of S.T.A.R.S. in this matter's concluded to have been decided by Umbrella with the intention to extract B.O.W. combat data and eliminate the officers.
Leon S. (Scott) Kennedy
One of BIO2's main characters. He was a rookie Raccoon City police officer, but was embroiled in a biohazard on his first day and escaped the town in cooperation with Claire. Afterwards, he joined an anti-Umbrella organization and seems to be in contact with Claire. 21-years-old, 178cm tall, weighs 70.2kg, blood type A.
Rockfort Island
A South American island where an Umbrella base is located. There are facilities such as a prison, airport, and a training facility for the irregular troops the company owns. Above all, those who know the company's secrets or rebel against it are thrown into the prison, and from here, transported around as test subjects. The person in charge is Alfred Ashford, grandson of a founding member of Umbrella.
DEVELOPMENT STAFF Q&A (p.287)
We questioned Director Mr. Kato over the enigmatic parts of the story & settings of CODE:Veronica. Since some answers hint at future developments in the BIO series, it's unmissable.
Q1: Did the mysterious organization bring the T-Virus and intentionally cause the biohazard on Rockfort Island?
A1: It was caused by the fact the virus leaked out of the solitary island's storage warehouse as a consequence of the attack. In the military training facility, a variety of B.O.W.'s and viruses were stored for anti-B.O.W. warfare training.
Q2: Was the land of Rockfort Island unrelated to the Ashford family until Alfred became the director?
A2: It was the Ashford family's land from the beginning and the inhabitants were driven out when constructing the facilities for Alfred arriving at his post.
Q3: The words "Progenitor Virus" emerge for the first time with this product, but does this have the same purpose as the "Clay Virus" in BIO1?
A3: They're synonymous. I think the details will become clear in "BIOHAZARD 0."
Q4: In BIO2 it was said William Birkin developed the T-Virus, but in this game it has become the general term for Progenitor Virus variants?
A4: What William dealt with was only the T-Virus developed at the Raccoon City underground laboratory. He wasn't involved with T-Viruses developed in other labs.
Q5: Although the music box in the office of the official residence is an elaborate treasure, please tell us if it has some sort of setting.
A5: Ever since Alexia went into a cryogenic sleep, Alfred clung to his memories with Alexia while beguiling loneliness. The music box was a memento for Alfred, which Alexander gave the siblings on their birthday the year Alexia graduated from university. In addition, the password of "1971" is the two's age.
Q6: What was Leon doing when Claire sent the e-mail?
A6: Leon has joined an underground anti-Umbrella organization. Since he was carrying out a certain mission while this tale was taking place, he was unable to come rescue Claire (this scenario's been completed, but I can't reveal it). For the moment, three people, Jill, Barry and Leon have joined underground organizations. It's unclear whether Barry and Leon's organization is the same as Jill's organization, however.
Q7: Was project CODE:Veronica a joint project between Alexander and Edward?
A7: Edward was aware of it, but it was Alexander's independent project.
Q8: Didn't Alexander have a hand in T-Virus research?
A8: Although Alexander and Edward jointly researched the virus initially, Alexander felt his talent as a virus researcher was limited and personally gave up the path of a virus researcher. He then chose the path of genetic engineering and started the CODE:Veronica project.
Q9: Where'd Alexander obtain the genes of his ancestor Veronica from?
A9: Veronica's corpse was mummified and had been enshrined in the basement of his home in Europe.
We questioned Director Mr. Kato over the enigmatic parts of the story & settings of CODE:Veronica. Since some answers hint at future developments in the BIO series, it's unmissable.
Q1: Did the mysterious organization bring the T-Virus and intentionally cause the biohazard on Rockfort Island?
A1: It was caused by the fact the virus leaked out of the solitary island's storage warehouse as a consequence of the attack. In the military training facility, a variety of B.O.W.'s and viruses were stored for anti-B.O.W. warfare training.
Q2: Was the land of Rockfort Island unrelated to the Ashford family until Alfred became the director?
A2: It was the Ashford family's land from the beginning and the inhabitants were driven out when constructing the facilities for Alfred arriving at his post.
Q3: The words "Progenitor Virus" emerge for the first time with this product, but does this have the same purpose as the "Clay Virus" in BIO1?
A3: They're synonymous. I think the details will become clear in "BIOHAZARD 0."
Q4: In BIO2 it was said William Birkin developed the T-Virus, but in this game it has become the general term for Progenitor Virus variants?
A4: What William dealt with was only the T-Virus developed at the Raccoon City underground laboratory. He wasn't involved with T-Viruses developed in other labs.
Q5: Although the music box in the office of the official residence is an elaborate treasure, please tell us if it has some sort of setting.
A5: Ever since Alexia went into a cryogenic sleep, Alfred clung to his memories with Alexia while beguiling loneliness. The music box was a memento for Alfred, which Alexander gave the siblings on their birthday the year Alexia graduated from university. In addition, the password of "1971" is the two's age.
Q6: What was Leon doing when Claire sent the e-mail?
A6: Leon has joined an underground anti-Umbrella organization. Since he was carrying out a certain mission while this tale was taking place, he was unable to come rescue Claire (this scenario's been completed, but I can't reveal it). For the moment, three people, Jill, Barry and Leon have joined underground organizations. It's unclear whether Barry and Leon's organization is the same as Jill's organization, however.
Q7: Was project CODE:Veronica a joint project between Alexander and Edward?
A7: Edward was aware of it, but it was Alexander's independent project.
Q8: Didn't Alexander have a hand in T-Virus research?
A8: Although Alexander and Edward jointly researched the virus initially, Alexander felt his talent as a virus researcher was limited and personally gave up the path of a virus researcher. He then chose the path of genetic engineering and started the CODE:Veronica project.
Q9: Where'd Alexander obtain the genes of his ancestor Veronica from?
A9: Veronica's corpse was mummified and had been enshrined in the basement of his home in Europe.
CODE:Veronica SETTING ORIGINAL DRAWING COLLECTION (p.274-287)
CHARACTER COMPILATION
Claire's early design for this game. The jeans color and vest design differ from the actual game. Also, at this stage, she still had the trademark knife holder on her left shoulder (present in "BIO2").
Chris' initial design for this game. He wears a vest similar to the actual game, but this version lacks the S.T.A.R.S. emblem. Perhaps due to the sleeveless design exposing his muscular arms, he exudes a wilder aura than in the game.
Alfred in officer style. White gloves and a cane emphasize his aristocratic aura more than his in-game appearance. Incidentally, he was named "Hilbert" early in development.
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The Valkyrie-inspired emblem on the back of her leather vest. Combined with the words "Let me live," it seems to symbolize Claire's strong will.
The familiar S.T.A.R.S. emblem. In the game, it appears on both sleeves of Chris' shirt and the back of his vest.
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Alexia, with her striking cold smile concealing madness. "Hilda" was her early development name, suggesting she was given a name similar to her twin brother's even at this stage.
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Rodrigo, muscular and well-built. His thigh protector bears the Umbrella logo and the abbreviation "AAT".
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Wesker, whose role significantly expanded in the "Complete Edition". The letters "HCF" on his back appear to be his unit's abbreviation.
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A security guard, presumably before becoming a Zombie. His belt buckle's shaped like the Umbrella logo.
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MONSTER COMPILATION
Parts of the face's flesh have rotted away, making it utterly terrifying.
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Graveyard Zombie (up) and Prisoner Zombie (right). The Prisoner Zombie bears a bullet wound in its chest.
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The sandworm with its mouth open. Not only inside its mouth, but also around it, numerous spines protrude, designed to capture prey.
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Front view of the Bandersnatch. Its abnormally developed right arm and the blue veins protruding from it create a grotesque impression.
A bat with exceptional hearing. It bites its prey with its sharp, gleaming fangs to feast on their blood.
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Front and rear views of the Improved Hunter. Its design emphasizes reptilian imagery, featuring crocodile-like green scales.
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The Moth viewed from the back. Its ovipositor's visible. This illustration shows it stationary, when flying, it spreads its wings wide.
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Front view of the Improved Hunter. Its ferocious-looking face evokes snakes or lizards, yet its well-proportioned body bears a resemblance to humans.
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Moth larva became this form after infesting a Zombie. Its sharp, pointed claws are for hooking into its prey's throat upon bursting out of the Zombie.
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Two slightly different designs of the same spider. The illustration on the left is eerie, with its eight eyes glowing purple.
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Although amphibious, the adult Albinoid rarely appears on land during gameplay, making its form difficult to observe.
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Depicted in its normal state (left) and flipped over (up). The flipped side shows its mouth. In early development, it seems to have been called "Tadpole of Albinoid".
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Its prominently protruding back and beast-like limbs show advanced monsterification, yet it still retains traces of Steve's appearance compared to the in-game version.
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Ants, one of the keywords in this game. While winged ants appear in the game, a design resembling a termite, white and wingless, was apparently also a candidate during development.
Three tentacles sprouting from its back, shoulders, and sides are a defining feature. Shackles remain on both ankles, remnants from when it was restrained.
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Alexia, whose entire body has turned gray except her eyes. Blue-black veins protrude all over her body, including what appears to be her hair.
The second form where her lower body has become bloated, leaving no trace of her former beauty. The shape of her lower body differs from the in-game version, lacking oviducts and tentacles.
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The third form, where the massive abdomen's been severed. Like the second form, the shape of its lower body differs from the in-game version.
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MAP COMPILATION
The overall view of Rockfort Island. In the game, the island's exterior is only visible during the opening sequence and when Claire and Steve escape Rockfort Island.
The Prisoner Management Room in Prison 1-1, which is also the game's starting point. A dim, damp, and unpleasant atmosphere pervades the space.
A top-down view of Prison 1-7 • Prisoner Dorm (up) and a table with toiletries in the corner of the room (right). Detailed specifications extend even to parts of the background, notably the razor on the table's drawn down to the shape of its blade when removed.
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The design of the eagle emblem. It features the Ashford family crest of an eagle and halberd, augmented with a coiled snake.
The prison medical wing, which has the most original illustrations. The infirmary in particular has extremely detailed settings.
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The official residence's exterior. Judging by the original artwork, it has an incredibly elaborate design, but it's a shame only the entrance area is visible in the game.
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3-2 Official Residence Hall viewed from the entrance side. The position of the counter and the shape of the shelves behind it differ from how they appear in the actual game.
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3-6 Official Residence • The room beyond the projection room, decorated with the Gold Lugers. The reflectors on the ceiling likely amplify the effect of the trap that torments intruders with intense heat.
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A chandelier with projection lenses hanging from the ceiling of the 3-6 Residence • Screening Room. Alfred and Alexia's childhood footage is likely projected using this.
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The antique music box and desk in the 3-9 Residence • Office. It seems there was an initial proposal to place the music box on the desk.
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3-11 Official Residence • Casino Bar: Full view. The ceiling aquarium and fish are only visible when selecting FIRST PERSON view in BATTLE GAME and pointing your weapon upward in this room.
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An old paper piano roll. Incidentally, its core appears to be metal, as it triggers the metal detector in-game.
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Concept art for an unused event. It appears a mechanism resembling an airplane engine was considered.
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An angel statue with its chest open and ribs visible, located in a corner of the Fountain Square in the private residence. In the game, it doesn't contain water, and the shape of its wings and legs is different.
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The transport aircraft Claire and Steve used to escape Rockfort Island. The Ashford family crest's painted on the rear fuselage, and the Umbrella mark's painted on both wings.
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Private Residence • Bedroom Front Hallway. Everything from the carpet and fabric patterns to the decorations on the pillars and columns was meticulously designed, revealing the developer's attention to detail throughout.
Private Residence • Toy Room: A giant ant mural and a silver dragonfly. The silver dragonfly's designed to be 20cm long and is inserted into the ant's mouth from the rear.
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King Ant Object (left) and Queen Ant Object (right). The Queen Ant Object, like a real queen ant, has a large abdomen, and consequently, more jewels are lavishly used on it compared to the King Ant Object.
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View of the Training Facility from the rear. The crescent-shaped building near the center's the 5-5 Bathroom, beyond it, the 5-7 Assembly Square's also visible.
5-19 Training Facility • Tank Storage & 5-17 Garage Side Passage. The positions of the tank and doors differ slightly from the game.
5-5 Training Facility • Full view of the Bathroom. The arched roof's high, creating a spacious design.
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The so-called Lion-kun, continuously running hot water in the bathroom tub. Looks like it had front legs during the design phase.
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5-14 Training Facility • South Underground Waterway, viewed from the location with the strange face relief. The stairs are raised, revealing counterweights for raising and lowering them in the background.
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Line art of the strange face relief. In-game, handgun bullets are stored inside this mouth.
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An unused concept art piece for the Training Facility • Crypt. The moth-like object on the left ceiling is intriguing. A typewriter and item box are also visible in the center-right.
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The docking point for the submarine at the Airport • Submarine Dock. In-game, you can glimpse its exterior through a window while ascending or descending the dock's stairs.
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A broken doll suspended in the center of the Mansion Hall. In the game, its head is further detached and its hair is askew, making it several times more unsettling than the concept art.
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A locker installed in the Training Facility Director's Office. In the game, sulfuric acid grenades can be obtained from here. Is the flight suit the one Alfred wears?
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Three accessories worn by the Ashford family's legitimate heirs. Each gem appears designed to be easily detached from its setting.
The boarding lift at 4-3 Airport • Transport Aircraft Stop (1F). The control panel design differs from the one in the game.
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A tri-view diagram of the airport's lift bridge. It shows the bridge is raised and lowered using multiple thick wires.
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