Impressive, Important

2nd Story: An Important Issue to Address

*** A/N: This story is slightly canon divergence because Piers Nivans and Merah Biji are both still alive.

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A military helicopter flew across the Amazon Rainforest. It was large and sturdy; on its body, it bore the emblem of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance, a global counter-terrorism organization under the United Nations more commonly referred to as the BSAA.

Inside the aircraft, able-bodied men and women in the BSAA uniforms sat on two rows of long seats across each other. They had all their battle gear with them; firearms, bulletproof vests, and all sorts of equipment to boost their survivability in dangerous combats. In spite of their intimidating appearances, however, they maintained a casual atmosphere with each other — perhaps so as not to scare themselves and their comrades before the mission even began.

"Say, Piers... I'm sorry for asking a weird question, but do you think our Captain's been acting strange lately?"

Piers Nivans removed his attention from his rifle — that he was in the middle of wiping — and lifted his face. Next to him, his comrade in arms, a black-haired young woman with somewhat tanned skin, was talking to him in a hushed voice, as if not wanting anyone else to overhear what she was going to say.

He tilted his head slightly, not understanding where the other person was coming from with this question.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You didn't realize it?" Merah Biji raised her brow, "He's been like that since news of our joint mission with the DSO was announced last month."

"That's what I'm saying. What do you mean he's been acting strange?" the blond man with spiky hair returned the question to her, "I think he looks pretty normal to me."

As he said this, he shifted his gaze toward the subject of their conversation.

On the row across from theirs, at the innermost end of the long seat, Captain Christopher Redfield appeared to be busying himself with the mission preparation as per his usual self. He checked his communication device, he checked his guns and rifles, checked the mission brief, and occasionally spoke to his subordinates to instruct them about something or to answer their questions.

In the eyes of his young second-in-command, there did not seem to be anything out of the ordinary about their esteemed Captain Redfield.

At least only at a glance.

"...He's strangely tense," Piers whispered back after observing the other man for a while, "I didn't notice it before because we've been busy but it looks like he's nervous about something."

"Right?" Merah was happy to discover that her peer saw the same thing she did, "I don't know what happened during the meeting with the higher-ups when he first received the mission, but I remember he's been really fussy about preparing everything from that day onwards."

"Maybe he's nervous because it's an important mission. I mean, the DSO will be there, too, so the Captain probably doesn't want us to embarrass ourselves in front of them."

"I'm sure that's one of the reasons but I feel like there's something more than that."

"Why?"

"Hmm..." Merah appeared to sink into her thoughts, "Hard to say. It's not something I can easily put into words."

Piers looked at his younger comrade, then back at their Captain again. The more he observed Chris' behavior, the more he felt that there was some sense in what Merah said. She was right in describing it as something that couldn't be easily put into words. At the very least, he also felt that something about Chris was a little off yet he was unable to pinpoint what exactly it was.