Disclaimer: Own not. Profit not. Sue not.
A/N: Sooo this is my take on how Alice would solve the problem of Umbrella party crashing... again.
"Trouble," Alice declared and couldn't suppress the grimace that snaked over her face as she silently counted the Ospreys she could see. As she took in the seemingly endless horde coming their way she suddenly realized what had to be done.
"Get everyone below deck. Now," she snapped and moved forward, away from Chris and Claire.
"Alice?" Claire's voice made the older woman pause, she turned to regard the redhead and found Claire standing directly behind her, confusion cloudy in her blue eyes.
"Claire, just go," she took hold of Claire's wrists, firmly, and gave her a hard look. There would be no arguing about this. No talking her out of it. No matter how much she desperately wanted it to work out differently, Umbrella had once again ruined her brief moment of triumph. "Please, go. I need you to be safe."
"What are you going to do?"
Alice could see the turmoil written on Claire's face in the way her lower lip barely trembled, the way the younger woman bit down on it to hide that fact; her eyebrows knit together and her eyes were wide and startlingly blue. All Alice wanted to do was take hold of her and assure her that it was going to be okay. That they were going to be fine. That she, Alice, was the invincible superhuman that would save the day and give them all the peace they had so rightfully earned.
It would be a baldfaced lie, and she just didn't have the heart to do that to Claire. The other woman looked so much younger in the moment, achingly beautiful and so very young. Claire was their hope; Alice's hope, the convoys hope, most likely Chris's hope. If anyone was going to survive the hell they were in and lead the survivors to a new life - it would be the fiery redhead. Claire was the heart and soul of Alice's humanity, she had no doubt she would be a light to everyone else.
"I'm going to burn some more crows," Alice said cryptically, arching an eyebrow for some forced bravado. She had no idea if Claire even remembered the infected flock, but she saw realization dawn in Claire's eyes and faked a smirk for her lover. "Now go."
But Claire shook her head and stepped forward, crowding into Alice's personal space a little closer than most polite company would venture. "No. No, Alice, you said Wesker stripped you of those abilities. I'm not going to let you play up your little messiah complex. I'm staying with you. We fight together."
"I had a feeling you were going to say that," Alice said regretfully and with a sad smile pushed Claire back, hard, in the direction of the man who claimed to be the redheads brother. "Chris, take her and get them all below deck. We don't have much time."
Chris caught Claire around the waist, nodded shortly and started tugging her with him, shouting to the others, "Get back inside! Everyone! Back inside!"
"Alice!" Claire cried, fighting to get Chris's arm off her.
"Go!" Alice ordered and wrenched her gaze away from the pair. The cold air coming up off the ocean slapped her in the face, blowing her hair back and biting at her skin and eyes. The Umbrella fleet was so much closer now. She would have to hurry.
"Come on," she urged herself out loud and narrowed her eyes, willing the power swimming in her blood to come back to life. Just one more time. "Come on!" She clasped her hands together and brought them up to her forehead, praying for or trying to will her abilities back into existence. Maybe a bit of both.
"Just one more time," she whispered, "Please. Let something work in my favor just this one time."
She needed it to, for the survival of humanity. For Claire.
It was still there. Alice felt it, the raw strength and frightening force the T-Virus had granted her. It sang in her head like some sick, twisted, symphony. No matter how human she might now feel, how limited and frail, it was always there, lingering in her system like a bad cold. Like the virus it was.
"Please," she said again. "I don't have much time."
With a gasp she felt the first rush of sensation that always signaled the opening up of her mind; that heralded the appearance of the doomsday weapon that Umbrella had created in her.
At the edge of her mind she could feel the enormity of what she was doing, how much it would cost her. It only strengthened her resolve. She'd always known that it would ultimately come down to this, this was her price to pay for atonement. She tightened her hands into fists at her side and focused on letting the pressure building in her skull escalate until the pain dropped her to her knees. She felt liquid leaving her eyes, her nose, her ears, knew as it hit her lips that it was blood, but she had only one chance at this, so she ignored all of it, waiting for that moment of clarity. It clicked in her mind and her body was flooded with adrenaline, so hard and fast that it felt like an electric shock to her system. Her eyes flew open as the live wire that was her mental abilities sparked and flared to life. It was, as always, a strange sensation and if she could compare it to anything, she'd have to go with being struck by lightening. Everything slowed and she could see the most minute of details, hear the tiniest sounds amongst the clamor of helicopter blades slicing through the air. Her body tingled in an almost unpleasant way, she shrugged a slim shoulder against it and set her jaw as she took in the now slow moving Ospreys.
Surprise rose in her chest as she caught a brief glimmer of someone familiar, their thoughts were dark, clouded, and directed as they brushed against hers.
Jill?
She immediately adjusted to compensate - she would spare Jill.
But the rest...
Closing her eyes again, tightly this time, she pushed through the fire consuming her, looking for what she remembered felt like ice against the flame. Her whole body felt like it was burning, no longer vaguely unpleasant but completely agonizing. It started as a hot coal where her heart used to be and then slowly licked its way outward, flowing through her veins and lighting up her extremities. She knew she was screaming, her throat was already raw and her lungs were howling in torturous harmony. Finally she fumbled upon the blank cold, it was the only way she knew to think of it, cold, and focused upon it with all her might, thinking only one word: burn.
All the power, the energy, intensified to unbearable levels, and then she pushed at it and sent it flying outward in the direction of the Umbrella force. Her eyes flashed open again as she felt it leave her and her body began to fall. The darkness rimming her vision grew darker, deeper, closing in. She hit the cool, slick, wetness of the deck on her back and what was left of her breath left her abused lungs in a rush. She had time for one thought, one last wish, before she willing let herself slip into the calling blackness.
I hope Claire went below deck.
"Alice!"
She felt consciousness return in one fire-laced inhalation. Groggy disorientation gave way to sheer panic as she returned to herself but only saw black. Not the lake of fire she'd been expecting to find herself in, that was oddly comforting, but instead a never ending blackness.
"Alice, please," the voice called again. Familiar, but she couldn't remember who it was.
Awareness of her body came back slowly, a damp cold creeped it's way into her back and limbs, making her shiver involuntarily. Then the pain returned in a heavy, dull, ache that she felt even in her teeth. A groan made it's way free from her torn throat and clenched teeth, vibrating in her skull in the worst way.
"Alice?"
Then she realized why it was so dark. It was a struggle but she finally managed to open her eyes and light flooded back in. She groaned a second time and quickly returned her eyelids to their previous position, shielding herself from the harsh glare of the sun. Her eyes felt gummy, her eyelashes were glued together. She jumped when something featherlight and gentle touched her face, running along her eyes to alleviate the stickiness. Her stomach lurched as she remembered the coppery taste of blood in her mouth and realized that it was her blood that had begun to dry on her eyelids.
"Open your eyes, please."
Recognition now dawned, and she immediately did as asked, grateful when a shadow came across her vision and blocked the sun from her.
"Claire?" It hurt to speak, but she had to. The redhead filling her vision smiled down at her and adjusted to sit fully on the cold deck of the ship they were on, she pulled Alice's shoulders a little further into her lap and nodded.
"Yeah. Claire." She seemed amused about something, there was a small smile on her chapped, yet still tempting, lips. Alice could also see the concern etched deep in her features. Her smaller hands were stroking against her forehead and dipping into her wet hair, and she could feel them trembling. "Do you know where you are? How do you feel?"
"Arcadia," Alice croaked and wished she had some ice cubes to battle the blaze in her vocal chords. "Anesthetized. Umbrella?"
"Went the way of the crows," Claire said with a fond shake of her head. "You seem to have this thing about flying objects."
"Had to protect you," she said weakly and tried to get her heavy limbs to move. She wanted to touch Claire, to assure them both that she was really alive still. Somehow. "Had to fix it."
"You don't have to die, you strange, wonderful, crazy woman," Claire hissed, eyes flashing. "You listen to me, it's not your fault or your price to pay, so do us both a favor and quit trying to get yourself killed."
"Sorry," Alice mumbled, still trying to get her hands to cooperate with her. Everything felt like it'd been injected with Novocaine.
"No you're not," the younger woman sighed and reached down to grab Alice's pathetically waving fingers. She brought up the captured hand and set it against her face.
"I'm not," the brunette agreed, pleased to feel the soft skin of Claire's cheek beneath her palm. Her lover watched her for a moment, her eyes flickering back and forth as they stared into hers. She put her tiny hand against Alice's much larger one and turned to press a kiss against her palm.
"Come on, let's get you inside before something else happens," she huffed after a few seconds. She slipped out from under Alice gracefully then helped the wobbly woman to her feet. Her arm circled Alice's trim waist, steadying her by pulling her close into her side. Alice leaned into her welcome strength and couldn't help but stare at the side of her young lovers face.
"Claire?"
"I know," Claire said and met her gaze with a soft smile. "I know."
End