Piers Nivans
Piers Nivans was the latest in a long line of military men. All male members of his family had enlisted in active service dating back to the time of his great-grandfather who served in World War 2. Piers wanted to follow that path, believing it impossible for him to choose another profession in life. He was the eldest son in the Nivans family and as soon as he was old enough, enlisted in military academy. He graduated at the top of his class and was highly recognised for his skills as a sniper. Not long afterwards, he joined the army’s Special Forces and was assigned to the Green Berets.
However, he only served for a short period of time before becoming disillusioned, wondering just what it was he was really fighting for. Although he continued to participate in his drills without a hitch and improve his sniping skills, he yearned for some greater calling, a reason for all this training.
In 2010, he found that calling when Chris Redfield, impressed with Piers’ sniper skills, asked him to join the B.S.A.A. Chris himself had recently just become a S.O.U. captain, and Piers found himself impressed with the way Chris ran Alpha Team; treating his men like a family and not like expendable soldiers. Chris, for his part, knew he couldn’t be a field agent forever, which is why he recruited Piers. He believed the future of the B.S.A.A. rested with talented young individuals like Piers, and Piers, for his part, now had a cause worth fighting for. His military upbringing ensured he had a high level of respect for Chris and in turn his captain acknowledged Piers’ natural leadership skills and wanted to keep him close by to groom for a potential future command.
One of Piers’ earliest missions was the clean-up of low level t-Virus B.O.W.s at an American shopping mall and he quickly demonstrated impressive abilities in the field. Later that year he accompanied Chris to Philosophy University in Western Australia to answer a call for aid from one of Chris’ old S.T.A.R.S. colleagues, Rebecca Chambers. There he aided Chris and Rebecca in taking care of a zombie outbreak at the university and clashed with U.S. Government agent Tyler Howard. Piers didn’t trust Tyler’s motivations, but he was willing to fight alongside him for the sake of Chris. He also bonded with a local B.S.A.A. operative from the Oceania branch named Sophie Home. After defeating both the insane Mary Gray and the grief-stricken Professor Ryan Howard, Sophie gave Piers her phone number before they parted ways.
A few months later, Piers went with Chris to visit a training camp in Asia for the next generation of recruits for the B.S.A.A.’s Far Eastern branch. It was there Piers met rookie Merah Biji and was left impressed by her determination and desire to succeed. Piers liked to evaluate the rookies by sparring with them and Merah gave him a run for his money, ensuring the two of them would go on to become firm friends. Piers honed his already impressive talents during his time in the B.S.A.A. under Chris, who he always looked up to and aspired to be like. His hand-eye coordination and concentration skills were without peer, making him the B.S.A.A.’s top-ranking sniper. He could react quickly to the changing conditions on a battlefield, and, as such, would usually find a way to complete his mission in spite of any adverse conditions.
He was a serious and determined man in battle, yet still had time to offer a kind word for his fellow soldiers. It was these qualities that caused his C.O. to comment that the future of the B.S.A.A. rested on the shoulders of men like him. Piers himself preferred not to think of his team as subordinates, but as members of a big family. He believed that the strength of the B.S.A.A. hinged on the bonds of all its agents. He held Captain Redfield in the highest respect, and Chris trusted him implicitly. As well as his shooting prowess, Piers was also skilled with mechanics of bomb defusal and software hacking. He also had extremely impressive driving skills and thought of himself as the best driver within the whole B.S.A.A., taking over the mantle from the late Dave Johnson of the West African branch who died in service during the Kijuju operation.
At some point Alpha Team also visited TerraSave headquarters and Piers was introduced to Chris’s sister, Claire. He got on well with the younger Redfield sibling and pestered her for embarrassing pictures of Chris from his younger days,and the two later kept in touch via e-mail.
In 2012, Piers and Chris assisted Merah Biji in Asia when she went to look for Professor Doug Wright at the remote Marhawa Academy. But by the time they arrived, all the students had become zombies and Piers took up position on the roof to pick them off and cover the others. Because communications were poor at this remote location, Piers later retreated in a Gambit to reach an area where he could call for back-up from the Far Eastern branch. Returning to the school, he then saved Merah from the Bindi Bergara J’avo before Merah in turn saved Piers’ life and was killed for her efforts. Piers mourned her death and was evidently a lot closer to her than he had led anyone else to believe. Her last words to him was a plea for him to look after Chris and help create a world free of the horrors of bio-terrorism. Piers vowed to keep that promise.
Later that year, the North American branch were asked to assist in the ongoing civil war in Edonia in Eastern Europe where guerrilla forces had been using a new species of bio-weapon. It was there they learned of a new virus called the C-Virus and a terrorist organisation known as Neo-Umbrella. It was during this conflict that Piers and Alpha Team first met Jake Muller, the secret son of Albert Wesker that nobody knew about, and Piers took an instant dislike to him. He distrusted his motivations and was irritated at Jake’s lackadaisical attitude towards both Chris and the B.S.A.A. in general. In turn, Jake held no respect for Piers and the two almost came to blows on several occasions.
After securing city hall, Alpha Team fell into a trap orchestrated by Carla Radames and the entire squad save for Piers and Chris were killed. Chris was badly injured in the attack and Piers had to physically pull him to safety single-handed. Days later, Chris went AWOL from hospital and after extensive searches proved fruitless, Piers was asked to take over as Alpha Team Captain, despite his own private misgivings that he was not up to the job. After a month in command, a high-ranking official commented how well Piers was doing in the role.
Although he wasn’t as strong a natural leader like Chris was, he was certainly up to the task and command believed Alpha Team would be in good hands should he ever want the job full time. Roughly five months later, Piers was informed Chris had finally been tracked down to a bar in Edonia and he and the rest of a newly assembled Alpha Team went to get him. Chris was a drunk and initially had no memory of Piers or the B.S.A.A., but once Piers reminded him of the men who had died under his command, Chris slowly began to come round.
At the same time, an outbreak of the C-Virus had just occurred in Lanshiang, China. After the U.S. Government denied the B.S.A.A. to intervene in the Tall Oaks outbreak, Alpha Team quickly made their way over to China where Chris retook command of the team under Piers’ guidance as he slowly regained his memory. The city was swarming with J’avo and after rescuing U.N. hostages from a tenement building, Chris recalled how Carla Radames had betrayed them all in Edonia. At first, Piers was elated, but tensions soon rose when it became apparent his captain and friend was quickly becoming consumed with vengeance. But out of respect, Piers continued to follow Chris’s commands to the letter even though it was obvious he didn’t agree with them. After helping out Jake Muller and Sherry Birkin, Piers wanted to escort them both to safety away from Neo-Umbrella but Chris wasn’t interested.
Later, all of Alpha Team were picked off one by one by an invisible B.O.W. until only Chris and Piers remained. Piers lashed out at Chris, arguing that they could have prevented some of those deaths had he not been so blinded by vengeance and his personal vendetta against Carla. But Chris refused to listen. Again, Piers would not abandon his captain and followed him across the docks to an aircraft carrier where they finally confronted Carla and watched as agents of The Family put an end to her. Immediately afterwards, Piers desperately tried to defuse a missile which was set to detonate over downtown Tatchi, but was unsuccessful. After receiving intelligence from Leon S. Kennedy, they then flew to an undersea oil field to rescue Jake and Sherry once again. On route, Piers was amused by the irony of Chris having to save the son of his former nemesis, Albert Wesker. Chris then announced he planned to retire following the mission and wanted Piers to take over his command.
Shocked by this, self-doubt again washed through Piers’ mind as he believed he was still not ready to take over. After rescuing Jake and Sherry, they were attacked by Carla’s ultimate creation; the Haos; a creature designed to spread the C-Virus globally should it ever reach the surface. Saving Chris once again, Piers was badly injured by this creature and his arm was impaled on a sheet of metal. In great pain, he could only watch helplessly as the Haos moved in to kill Chris. Faced with no other option, Piers injected himself with an enhanced strain of the C-Virus, growing a new arm with the added ability to discharge electrical current. He was able to use his new abilities to save Chris and together the two of them finally managed to defeat the creature. Although Chris tried to get them both out, Piers knew his mutation was too extreme and stayed behind, pushing Chris against his will into the escape pod and hitting the release mechanism. As Chris’s pod made its way to the surface, Haos attacked again and Piers destroyed it with one last energy blast, preventing the creature reaching the surface and potentially spreading the C-Virus across the world.
Shortly afterwards the underwater facility detonated and Piers was killed. Chris was overwhelmed with sadness following the loss of his trusted subordinate. He looked down into his hands to see that Piers had ripped off his B.S.A.A. emblem and placed it in his hands. He had done everything for the B.S.A.A. and so to honour his memory, Chris changed his mind about retiring and chose to stay as captain of Alpha Team.
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