Jean didn’t know she was about to be attacked. Right now she was busy dealing with the man in front of her.

With supernatural speed, Jean put her hand next to the man’s stomach. A small surge of golden energy appeared, and immediately the man felt something foreign inside him.

“What have you done?” He demanded with a scent a fear. The comfortable smile was nowhere to be seen. He tried to remain calm, but it wasn’t like he was a biologically engineered killing machine who got her emotions wiped. As much as he tried, he couldn’t really stop the fear from creeping into his heart.

“I just placed a…” Jean carried the same smirk the man in grey had the entire time. It was the ultimate mocking. “a bug inside you. The only thing is, this bug can explode.” She held her hands out and made an explosion gesture.

The man frowned, compromising. Whatever Jean did to him was beyond his understanding. Logic told him it was better to do whatever Jean wanted, for now. “What do you want?”

“First, get this chopper on the ground,” Jean demanded. The man nodded slowly, and the pilot, who somehow didn’t know there were two people in the back seat, suddenly decided to land. The chopper quickly landed at a field a distance away from Racoon City. Now that his purpose was fulfilled, Jean put a bullet in his head.

“Now, tell me all about you.” Returning the pistol to her watch, Jean crossed her legs and laid back in the leather seat, completely relaxed. She was in a completely dominating position. A psychic without energy was basically a normal human being

The man sighed. He knew the only thing he could do now was try to survive. As long as he could get past this, he might be able to find a way to fight back. But before he could come up with a carefully crafted lie, Jean spoke again.

“Don’t lie to me.”

The man smirked inside. This wasn’t the first time he was stuck in an awkward situation, and everytime the interrogator would warn him not to lie. He lied anyways. If this woman thought he was completely broken by whatever trick she put inside him, she was wrong. At his caliber, every voyager was a battle hardened survivor. The weaklings were already gone.

Plus, it wasn’t like he was completely lying. Most of the times, 90% truth and 10% lie was much smarter than lying all the way.

“Let me introduce myself again.” The man tried to make himself seem more likable with a smile. “Aidan. 5 missions.” He had a proud tone when he mentioned the number of missions he got through. He had a reason to. Very few voyagers could live through five missions.

Jean frowned and came to a sudden realization. The name was oddly familiar. It didn’t take her long to remember where she heard that name before. “You were with us upon arrival! Carl even introduced you to me, but somehow we forgot about you. All of us!” She exclaimed and waited for an explanation.

“It’s a psychic trick. I first changed the color of my watch and made you think I was a recruit. Judging from experience, no one would pay attention to a recruit, and I managed to lower my presence more and more until everyone simply forgot about me.”

“Why did you do that?”

The man knew a straightforward answer was suspicious, so he put on a hesitating face. He thought Jean would push with more words, but the girl didn’t share his patience. Suddenly, Aidan felt a pain in his stomach that made his knees buckle. It was as if something was in his body and was chewing on his intestines. There was nothing he could do but hold his teeth tight and wait for the torture to end. He bet Jean wouldn’t kill him because he hesitated a bit.

The torture ended in two minutes. As the pain faded away, Aidan collapsed on the ground and coughed, silently cursing the girl’s ruthlessness.

“Don’t make me ask again.” The beautiful girl repeated.

“Because I have a different target!” Aidan answered loudly. His coat stained wet. “I want something. I want a way to merge with t-virus.” Jean sat back as he explained. The man got back onto the seat, regained some strength, and continued. “Look, all my crystals, they have been poured into my psychic power. Otherwise how in the world did I become so powerful in five missions?” He suddenly realized even with his strongest category he still couldn’t defeat Jean. This brought his spirit down, but he immediately overcame it. Now was not the time to question himself. ”Point is, my physical body is completely human. A single bullet can kill me, but if I can have the benefits of t-virus...I can have both a powerful body and a powerful mind.”

“Is that why you kidnapped me?”

“Yes...I know you and Carl, somehow, used Alice’s blood to merge with t-virus. I didn’t know why or how, so I ordered an Umbrella strike team to go after you and Carl.” He suddenly realized something. “It was you, isn’t it? In the original history Alice’s blood didn’t have the same effect. Why did you do that?”

Jean’s eyes turned colder. The man knew too much. Aidan must have seen that as well, because he desperately tried to buy some hope for himself. “Look, I can help you. Whatever you want, I can help you get it. My power can turn most of the natives into puppets. Letting me live provides much more value than killing me!” He said quickly, knowing Jean might kill him to tie up all loose ends. He should’ve played dumb, but it was too late now. The mistake was already made. Now he needed to make it more appealing for Jean to let him live. Her mercy was his only hope.

Jean considered her options before suddenly smiling. Aidan took a breath of relief. He was defenseless. If the girl wanted him dead she wouldn’t need to use pretense to lower his guards.

“I want you to return to the Umbrella headquarters and keep sending armed forces toward Carl’s party.” She suddenly grabbed onto Aidan’s face. Her fingernails digging into his chin. “But keep in mind, psychic, you can hurt Carl however you want, but if you kill him…” She got very close to Aidan. Her breath on his ear. “There will be a very muffled explosion, and you will not enjoy seeing it.” She added Aidan on her watch. “Remain in contact.”

Jean got off Aidan and left the chopper without turning. Behind her, Aidan's expression quickly turned from a weak smile to a cold frown.

On the other side, as Jean was walking, she suddenly sensed something was wrong. A dangerous feeling covered her. Immediately she tilted her head, and ten whooshes of something piercing the wind made her head hurt. What also hurt her was a sudden pain on her chin.

Behind her, ten crows shining in yellow energy circled around. Their speed made them the perfect assassins. If Jean had reacted a second later than she did, her head would literally be gone.

Jean touched her face and felt blood.

Xel’naga blood.