-1Jill stared out the window of the STARS force vehicle, wincing as it passed over a speed bump smacking her forehead against the tinted glass with an audible thump.
"Ow." she lifted a hand to touch the reddening area, but someone beat her to it. Chris touched around it with a frown.
"You okay?" he asked gently, blue eyes filled with concern. She stared at them for a second before blinking out of her trance and smiling.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bump. Not like I got shot or anything." Jill spoke with a grin, recalling several close calls with the tiny metal things.
Beside them, Barry rolled his eyes at Brad, who grinned slightly. They were both wondering if those two would ever actually hook up. The tension between them was enough to bind with a rope, cut in half and there would still be ample to burn on a funeral pyre. Barry was sorely tempted just to shove the two together in a room so he could look around the STARS office without espying those two looking at the other when they weren't paying attention.
At the front, Captain Wesker merely ignored the small talk in the back, eyes locked on the road, hidden behind the darkened sunglasses. The fact the team were investigating the damage a Hunter had done worried him. The Umbrella team sent out the previous night had been about as useful as Brad at a horror movie. Now it was up to STARS…he'd just have to figure out how to stop them from actually seeing the damned thing.
Finally, after listening to Valentine's head banging against the window a few more times, and more of Redfield's disgusting sympathies for her, he stopped the van, just across the road from the Polier's family home. The Alpha team clambered out the back, standing around Wesker in a tight nit group as he issued orders.
"Barry, you and Vickers will deal with Mrs. Polier. Chris, Jill, find out what the neighbours know, what they have done with the knowledge and whether they've noticed anything unnatural recently. Joseph and I will investigate the crime scene itself." The crime scene was fairly close to the outskirt settlement of Raccoon, barely a few minutes away from the buildings.
Before anyone could move off to their respective duties, however, a familiar looking car rolled up behind the STARS and Wesker's face clouded angrily. The last thing he needed was for that damned reporter to appear. The blasted woman just couldn't take a hint!
Alyssa Ashcroft stepped from the vehicle, looking slightly flustered when she realised she'd just pulled up in front of the entire Alpha team when she was meant to be driving in the opposite direction. So much for the sneak approach. The reporter decided to play ignorant. "What?" she called out as the S.T.A.R.S filed out of their cars. "What are you guys doing here?"
Wesker left the team where they were, and approached the reporter, who was apparently playing the innocent. If anything at all, it managed to drive his annoyance level up. "Miss Ashcroft, what a coincidence. I will not bother to ask for your reasons this time. Please climb back into the car and drive to the RPD. You have an appointment with STARS Bravo team for today. If my note from earlier wasn't clear enough, I will repeat myself. Your presence here is not asked for."
Talk about bad timing. Chris mentally winced, feeling sorry for the reporter. Getting chewed out by Wesker wasn't the most fun thing in the world, he knew only too well from experience. At his side, Barry tugged on Joseph's arm and the two moved off, intent on going to the crime scene with or without the pissed off Wesker.
The Captain's irritation didn't come unexpected to Alyssa, but it certainly was striking - enough to nearly make her shrink back in response. Wesker was cold, certainly, but this was something else altogether. "You're right," she said. "Honestly, I didn't know this was where you were being sent. I was asked to come here by the Daily Raccoon's editor." She gave a wary glance at the house and then back at S.T.A.R.S, noticing their full armour for the first time. What if it really was something crazy? She would have no way to protect herself once S.T.A.R.S had to start shooting things. For a moment she really did consider leaving.
But then I'd never hear the end of it from him, she told herself. The editor would just send others out, like Ben Bertolucci. That she could not let happen.
"Mrs. Polier requested to speak to the newspaper," Alyssa added. "If I can talk to her for a minute-"
"Mrs. Polier doesn't know the procedures," Wesker cut her off. "She will talk to the police first of all, and then act accordingly to what we deem appropriate."
Waving off any comments that the reporter might be about to give, he continued. "You have signed a paper that requires you to not circulate news, which the RPD doesn't approve for the time you are with STARS. I don't care where you get your orders from normally, Miss Ashcroft, but for this week you get them from me." He crossed his arms in addition to his words.
"I don't want to have an untrained, unarmed civilian hindering my team in an investigation. You can see the heavy gear in use. This is the wrong place for you."
Alyssa huffed, more out of instinctual reaction rather than planned response. Rolling her eyes, she replied, "Well, you can go ahead and send me home, but the woman's neighbour already called half the papers. Try getting them to sign wavers."
The journalist crossed her arms and leaned against the car, glaring at nothing in particular. She hadn't tried the temper tantrum route yet, and seeing as she was sincerely angry about the situation, Alyssa figured it wouldn't hurt to try.
Chris lifted a hand to his face, hiding the smile that came to it at the reporter's action. Jill frowned at the marksman, evidently not amused at him. "Come on Jill; let's leave them to the lover spat." He grinned and tugged her arm leading her to the Polier's neighbour's house.
"Chris! They aren't lovers!…Are they?" She raised an eyebrow at the idea of Wesker and Alyssa. Amusing but very unlikely, especially the way they treated each other.
"How should I know? It's not like I keep tabs on Wesker, you know what he's like, all secretive 'n shit." Chris shrugged, heading towards a house to the left of the Polier's.
Wesker took one final look at the reporter, sorely tempted to pull out his Colt and blow a beautiful gaping hole right through that nosy little mind of hers, but forced himself away before his hand slipped towards it's holster. It wouldn't do to cause a fuss in front of his team now would it?
"Let's go," he told Joseph as he caught up again and shook his head as he thought about Alyssa. He muttered something under his breath, but it was too faint to understand. Presumably something about wanting to shoot the reporter no doubt.
They reached the crime scene, Wesker briefly turning his head to assure that she was not following them. When focusing on the remains of blood and gore where the body had been, his lips formed a tight line. The Hunter had done a considerably job.
"Don't touch anything," he told Joseph. "If it's an animal you want to avoid picking up any illnesses." Or mutagenic viruses in that case...
Joseph nodded, warily looking around the inside of the house at all the gore. "So he was attacked in the forest, and managed to make it here before he died?" he asked the captain. If it were so, that was something short of remarkable, seeing as Joseph saw how the body ended up looking back at the briefing.
Brad in the meantime sat outside on the porch with Mrs. Polier and Barry. The woman's eyes had been spent of all their tears for the time being. She managed dry sobs, but that was all she could really do to grieve for her husband. From the corner of his eye, Brad caught the reporter walking away from her car and to the neighbour's house, probably to ask them questions instead.
He gave a little smile when he spotted Chris, who turned and stopped the reporter.
"I'm sorry Miss Ashcroft, I can't let you go any further." Chris gave a wry smile, holding up his hands to stop her. "Not only is this a crime scene, with active investigation and interrogation currently going on, but I believe our own Captain Wesker specifically told you to remove yourself before whatever did this returns to find more prey."
Jill couldn't help but grin absently at Chris's last words. Perhaps Captain Wesker wouldn't even mind if the thing came back for more prey and picked Alyssa. She didn't hold any personal grudges against the woman, but she had to realize when stubbornness was good and when not. In this case it wouldn't get her very far.
"Miss Ashcroft," she said, standing beside Chris. "We must insist that you keep away from the crime scene until it's considered safe by the police. You're better not going against the Captain's orders. He can have you removed forcefully and that wouldn't be very pleasant." she didn't say it as a threat, merely informing Alyssa of the possible consequences. She didn't want the reporter to get on the Captain's bad side, if for no other reason that it was them who'd have to endure it for the rest of the week, and she knew from experience that she didn't want to experience it again.
Alyssa glared at the two STARS members. "Okay, he said nothing about the neighbour's house being part of the crime scene. And it was the neighbour who requested to speak with us in the first place." Still, Alyssa walked back to the cars, her expression still looking a little defiant. The story really wasn't worth the handcuffs, she figured. The journalist took her brooding position against her car, not quite ready to get inside. I'll leave when they leave, she stubbornly decided.
Inside the house, Barry walked over to Wesker, a frown on his lined face. "Captain, I found a Gun Cupboard. There's a rifle, a flare gun, a pistol and a lot of ammo missing from it sir. I think that's the reason the son took off. He's planning on hunting down whatever killed his dad." Barry's face was grave, locking onto Wesker, waiting for the order to find the boy before he shot himself in the foot. Before Wesker could reply, Joseph appeared.
"The dog's missing sir. If Barry's right, which he usually is, then it means he took the dog to track his father's killer as well as the guns to return the favour." Joseph looked to the captain with a questioning expression. "So what next, Captain?"
Wesker took a moment to push the sunglasses further up his nose. "The possibility is comes into question. Whoever took the weapon ventured out into the forest, which is all we can be sure of at the moment." Whether the son and his dog were still alive was an entirely different question…Wesker doubted it. "Gather the team outside," he told the two Alphas. "Every minute we spend here could be the last for Mr. Polier's son."
"Yes sir!" Joseph was gone in a flash, Barry following more slowly. Within moments, the team was back outside the STARS vehicle awaiting orders.
Wesker motioned for them to follow a bit off the road, double checking that the reporter - who, much to his annoyance had yet again disobeyed him - didn't catch a word.
"We'll move out in teams of two. Barry and Joseph, Vickers and Jill, and you, Chris, will come with me. Try to scout out as much as possible, but remain in visual contact with your partner. I want a radio check every five minutes, sooner if you find something." He looked at them, adding, "Stay on guard. You have seen the picture. And don't forget about the son. He's armed. We don't know what he's seen, or how he is going to react to our presence. Chance is he will be hostile, so don't take any risks."
"Let's move."
--
End of Chapter 1
Transcribed by laraanita
Roleplayed by:
Emerald - Alyssa &Joeseph & Brad
Chaed - Wesker & Jill
Laraanita - Chris
1sttruth - Barry