She maintained her close relationship with Chris and was extremely proud of his work in S.T.A.R.S. He also taught her many survival techniques for her own protection and even gave her a standard-issue S.T.A.R.S. combat knife she kept with her at all times for self-defence. He also gave her shooting lessons to ensure she was competent with firearms. In addition, her manual dexterity was on par with Jill Valentine and she was an expert at picking locks.
Following the mansion incident, Chris left America for Europe to investigate Umbrella’s main headquarters. In order to protect Claire from potential dangers, he broke off all contact and did not tell her where he was going. But this move backfired when Claire grew worried about why he suddenly failed to keep in touch. Eventually, she decided to take time out from college and travelled to Raccoon City to find him. But by the time she arrived, the city was already destroyed by the t-Virus outbreak. After stopping off at Emmy’s diner for a break, she was soon attacked by hordes of zombies and was eventually saved by Leon S. Kennedy, himself a rookie cop who had only just arrived in town for his first day on the job. But shortly after they met, their way was blocked when a rampaging tanker truck exploded. After arriving at the police station Claire met surviving cop Marvin Branagh who told her the R.P.D. had lost contact with Chris over ten days ago and that every last S.T.A.R.S. survivor had disappeared. She then made her way to the S.T.A.R.S. office and found Chris’ diary, confirming he was no longer in Raccoon City. Claire and Leon made plans to escape when she came across a little girl who identified herself as Sherry Birkin, daughter of legendary Umbrella researcher, William. Claire searched for Sherry around the police station and eventually found her hiding in the Chief’s office. But as they tried to escape through the sewers, they became separated and Sherry was infected with the G Virus at the hands of her mutated father. Claire later met Sherry’s mother, Annette, who told her the truth behind the outbreak.
After being reunited with Sherry, they travelled to Umbrella’s lab build underneath the city and set about finding a cure before it was too late. Annette was mortally wounded by G-Birkin but before dying she relayed instructions on how to create the ‘Devil’ vaccine for the G-Virus. Together with Leon’s help, Claire and Sherry managed to escape Raccoon City on an underground train and they administered the cure to save her.
Immediately following the incident, Claire said her goodbyes and left Leon and Sherry behind. She had to find her brother and did not want to be delayed by the authorities. Both Leon and Sherry needed immediate medical attention and so they waited behind and were taken into custody of the U.S. Government. Claire’s ongoing search for her brother led her to Umbrella’s Paris lab facility. After infiltrating the building on the evening of December 17, she was captured and taken to Rockfort Island; a prison facility somewhere south of the equator and home of the legendary Ashford family, co-founders of Umbrella. She was escorted to the island by Rodrigo Juan Ravel and given the identification number of ‘WKD4496’. Whilst spending Christmas 1998 incarcerated, Claire was suddenly freed when an aerial attack from a special forces group codenamed ‘H.C.F.’
belonging to the rival Company decimated the island’s defences and the t-Virus was released once again. She then met up with a fellow survivor, an escaped prisoner named Steve Burnside, and together they managed to get to a computer and discover Umbrella had found out Chris’s whereabouts and had him under surveillance. Claire e-mailed Leon the location of Chris and told him to get in touch and warn him, also sending the co-ordinates for Rockfort Island.
As she fought her way through the island, she met the deranged Alfred Ashford and his sister Alexia, although she later discovered that ‘Alexia’ was in fact Alfred dressed up in a costume complete with make-up and a wig. Alexia had apparently died years ago. She also had a run-in with Albert Wesker who revealed himself as the one behind the island attack. He decided to let her live, certain that her presence would lure Chris to the island so he could get his revenge following events at the mansion.
Claire and Steve eventually managed to escape on a plane, but straight after take-off the controls locked out and the aircraft was automatically rerouted to Umbrella’s transport terminal at the Antarctic. There they faced off with Alfred once again until Steve dealt him a mortal blow. They both found a snowmobile and appeared to escape, only to be suddenly attacked by the minions of a recently awakened Ashford sister that was long thought to have been deceased…
Claire woke up some hours later to find Chris standing over her. He had come to rescue her. But before they could leave they had to find Steve. However, Alexia had infected him with the t-Veronica virus and he mutated before Claire’s eyes. Steve regained just enough of his humanity not to kill her and was himself killed by the Alexia-Pod tentacles shortly afterwards. Whilst Chris dealt with Alexia, Claire tried to escape to his waiting jet but was captured by Wesker. Once Chris found them, Wesker let Claire go and she ran for the plane. Both Chris and Wesker survived their ensuing face off, and Chris made it back to the jet where Claire was waiting. With seconds to spare before the base self-destruct activated, they both escaped the facility.
Upon her return to America, Claire joined N.G.O. TerraSave; a group that aided victims of bio-terrorism and campaigned against inhumane medical experimentation. Soon she travelled regularly around the world helping people and raising awareness of the glowing plight of bioterrorism. It was a role she enjoyed and she revelled being in the position of ‘rescuer’ rather than ‘fighter’ as chosen by people such as Leon and Chris. She also often visited Sherry, who was now in full-time custody of the U.S. Government, allegedly to protect her from Wesker’s organisation, but the main reason was to perform extensive tests to unlock the secrets of the G-Virus antibodies in her body. Sherry’s legal guardian was Derek C. Simmons who Claire immediately developed a dislike to, finding him untrustworthy. Although Sherry’s very existence was a classified secret, Simmons permitted Claire to visit her and be at her side during the tests and experiments.
In 2004 when the B.S.A.A. was formed, Chris invited his former S.T.A.R.S. teammate Barry Burton to join as a consultant, and this was how Claire came to know him and his daughter, Moira. Although Barry and Moira had their differences, Claire became close to all of them, with Barry acting as a mentor/father figure to both Redfield siblings. In return, Claire viewed both Moira and Polly as her younger sisters.
In 2005, Claire was thrown right back into the nightmare after being caught up in the t-Virus attack on Harvardville Airport. She was in town for a TerraSave protest against Senator Ron Davis and WilPharma Corporation, only to become one of a handful of survivors trapped in one of the VIP lounges. In an ironic twist of fate, Leon Kennedy turned out to be her rescuer once again. Claire later went with WilPharma head researcher Frederic Downing back to the main research facility and discovered the company were in possession of the G-Virus. The building was then subjected to a suspected terrorist attack and she was injured in the blast.
Claire was forced to watch from behind the scenes, helping out as best she could as Leon and S.R.T. member Angela Miller took care of the outbreak in the lab. She later aided Leon and Angela in arresting Frederic Downing and recovering the t-Vaccine development data. Following the incident, Claire resumed her work with TerraSave, promising that the next time she and Leon met it would hopefully be under more normal circ*mstances. But the next time turned out to be very soon when Claire was asked to mediate a face to face meeting between Leon and Chris, both of whom would be meeting each other in person for the very first time. The aim of this historic event was to help mend the fractured relationship between the U.S. Government and the B.S.A.A. What was said in the meeting was classified though the inclusion of Claire as a common bond between both men helped to break the ice.
During this time she continued to visit Sherry and spend time with her whenever she could. Several years later when Sherry became an agent of the U.S. Government, Claire sent her a letter warning her not to trust Simmons. But this letter was intercepted and never given to Sherry nor shown to Simmons.
Over the next few years Claire still travelled the globe working with TerraSave, aiding the ever increasing numbers of bio- terrorism victims. TerraSave even hosted the B.S.A.A. Alpha Team at their headquarters and she became acquainted with Piers Nivans who fished for old stories regarding her brother. From that point on they kept in touch via e-mail.
In 2011, Moira Burton joined the organisation and a party was held to welcome her and other new employees. But this gathering was raided by a team of mercenaries working for Alex Wesker and several individuals, including Claire and Moira, were incapacitated and transported to an isolated island on the Baltic Sea. Due to her past experiences with biological weapons, Claire had been chosen to participate in the t-Phobos trials as part of Alex Wesker’s quest to find a suitable vessel to transfer her mind into. Claire was given a sensor bracelet and worked with Moira to survive various obstacles across the island, including a prison swarming with infected creatures known as Afflicted.
They were later saved by Neil Fisher; Claire’s boss at TerraSave and someone she felt she had a close attachment to. But Neil later betrayed them after they discovered he was working for Wesker all along. He was later infected with Uroboros and attacked them both, only this time it was Moira who came to Claire’s rescue by overcoming her irrational fear of firearms. The two of them went on to confront Alex Wesker at the top of the monument tower only to witness their adversary suddenly shoot herself in the head. This triggered a self-destruct device and Claire was forced to leave Moira behind as she became trapped under rubble. Claire leapt from the tower and landed in the sea, badly injuring herself. Luckily her comatose form was picked up by a passing ship and she was taken to hospital on the mainland. Claire was visited by Barry Burton who was desperately searching for his daughter but Claire believed Moira was dead.
As she recovered she later briefed the B.S.A.A. on what she knew about the Overseer and the Afflicted creatures, but her lack of knowledge on Uroboros or Alex Wesker’s true identity meant Barry went in blind when he later breached orders and travelled to the island alone. Following her recovery from hospital, Claire took a helicopter to the island and helped rescue Barry, Moira and Natalia Korda by delivering the killing blow to a mutated Alex using a rocket launcher.
Over the next two years Claire continued her duties at TerraSave, checking in on her brother in 2013 after he had been found in Edonia having gone missing for six months. She learned he was being taken to Lanshiang in China and asked a B.S.A.A. official to tell Piers Nivans to look after him. She then visited Barry in Canada and checked in with Moira and Natalia.
