A/N - Revised 28Apr2013

Chapter 3

Laundry and Overripe Bananas

The front door slammed open, and a man's voice hollered, "We've got a sniffer!"

Rain was up and drawing a gun before Anise had time to ask what the hell a sniffer was. Carlos and the other woman also had guns out and were stepping in front of the little girl as shields. Sounds of a scuffle preceded the newest arrival. With no weapon of her own, Anise pulled herself into a fighting crouch.

"Let me go!" Anise recognized that voice. "I wasn't doin anything." She was moving in front of Rain just as Buck came into view being hauled by a chocolate skinned man with a gold plated pistol to the boy's ribs.

"Don't shoot him. He's with me." Anise pleaded with the group.

"Who the hell are you?" The new man demanded.

"She's way more important than you are." Buck quipped.

Anise glared at the teenager. "Shut up, you aren't helping." She placed two fingertips on Rain's wrist. "Please." The soldier lowered the muzzle to point at the floor.

"Let him go, LJ." Rain stated calmly.

"Rain, what's goin on? Who is she?" Buck was let go, LJ however, kept his shiny gun trained on the boy.

Anise glared angrily at Buck, grabbed him by his jacket and pulled him close. "Dammit, you pain." She hissed looking around at the weapons still trained on her young friend.

"Someone gonna explain? Jill? Carlos? Why the fuck is Rain doin what she says?" Angry and confused, LJ's eyes flitted between his friends.

Rain ignored him for another moment, turning to Anise. She took in the woman's protective stance and fearful eyes. The soldier flicked the safety on the handgun and stuffed it back in her waistband. Carlos hesitated a moment before following her lead. The other woman, Jill, hesitated, looked pissed, then did the same. Rain nodded and spoke up when LJ did not. "LJ, this is Anise. She was in the Hive with me. I trust her, and she's vouched for the kid. Put the gun down."

"Jus' like that?" LJ balked. Rain glowered at him. He lowered his piece. "Shit."

The threat to his life stopped, Anise rounded on Buck angrily. "You were following me. How many times have I told you not to do that?"

"I dunno. Every time?" Buck responded smartly. "I brought your bag." He started to pull off the shoulder strap, stopped, fear suddenly back in his eyes. LJ had his weapon aimed at the teen's chest again.

"What?" LJ squawked at Rain when she glared daggers at him again. "OK, alright. Damn. But if he pulls an Umbrella GPS out of that bag, don't blame me." He shoved his gun in his pocket, and then crossed his arms over his chest.

"Anise." Rain stepped closer. Anise could hear the woman's strong heartbeat, and it was distracting. "Explain."

Slipping her bag over her shoulder, the woman swallowed and nodded. "Sorry about Buck. He's been my personal shadow since Raccoon City. He..." She trailed off, her stomach gurgling again. Loudly.

Buck laughed. "See, I knew you would need your bag."

Rain chuckled as well, allowing the shortened explanation and the kid's obvious familiarity with Anise to be enough for the moment. "Let's order those burgers. I'm hungry too. We can discuss this sitting down."

"You're always hungry, Rain." The young girl piped up.

"Blame Anise. It's her fault." Rain pointed at the taller woman. "What do you like on your burger?"

"Mushrooms, avocado, Swiss cheese, diced onion, light mayo." Buck answered for her. "Or lettuce, tomato, pickle, ketchup, onion, mustard. Guacamole and chips on the side. I like that too."

Anise rolled her eyes. "He'll eat anything. Don't let him fool you. You could order him a cheeseburger with chipotle, whipped cream, rhubarb, and peanut butter and he'd eat it."

"Only that one time! You dared me to."

"See what I mean?"

Carlos started laughing. "You sound like an old married couple."

Buck's smile reached from ear to ear while Anise groaned. "Don't. Ugh. Even if I did like males, being with Buck would make me a pedophile. Nope. We sound like brother and sister, understand?" She shook her finger at the laughing man.

"Oh, I don't know. You two look cute together." Now the other woman had joined in, smiling maliciously.

"He's half my age!"

"I am not. You're only," he stopped to count. "Eight years older than me."

"You two don't look like siblings at all." The little girl had joined the fun as well.

LJ was obviously over his Umbrella scare because he added, "Yea, the kid is what, six inches taller than you? Blonde hair, blue eyed, big ears, enormous shoulders, narrow little nose. You're a typical brunette with a nose almost as big as mine. Opposites attract. You two look like a couple to me."

Anise groaned, rubbing her eyes. Rain snickered. "Come on, I've got dry clothes you can wear. Carlos, you wanna get the kid something to change into?"

"Sure thing." Carlos gestured for Buck to follow him into the other bedroom.

The room they entered was the master room, with a king sized bed and a rollaway next to it. Rain explained that Jill shared with Angie while she took the rollaway, given she slept so much less. The men had queen beds in the other room, which meant she spent a lot of nights exercising in the hotel gym. While she rummaged through the dresser under the TV and pulled out men's clothes, Anise wanted to ask if her guess about the disguise was right or if Rain went drag normally. A t-shirt, hoodie, and athletic pants were tossed over. Rain threw a ball of socks at her too. "We can send your wet stuff to the laundry."

"Sounds good." Anise did not wait for privacy, peeling off her dripping clothes immediately. Everything was drenched. She had not been prepared for the sudden downpour, so everything was coming off. She got down to her underwear before she looked up, hoping that Rain was watching. The soldier had her back turned and was pulling her sweater over her head. Anise watched as more beautiful olive skin was revealed, smooth muscle rippling underneath. Her braid had been unpinned and draped down past her shoulders. There were a few scars visible, pale contrasts to the darker skin. They only increased the woman's natural beauty with reminders of how fiercely she lived.

Rain started pulling her pants down, bending slightly to tug on a pant leg. The view was amazing. Rain had the best ass Anise had ever had the pleasure of drooling over. Her breath caught as the pants came off completely. "You're supposed to be changing, not staring at my ass." The soldier looked over her shoulder, amused.

"But I like your ass." Anise retorted still staring at the silk covered beauty.

"I figured that. Get dressed." Rain threw her wet pants at Anise, and they landed with a splat on her head. Anise pouted when she pulled the offending article from her eyes. That amazing ass was being covered in jeans again. Another sweater went on as well. Rain sat down to replace her socks ignoring the other woman's petulant look.

"Fine." So Anise finished stripping and put the borrowed clothes on, mildly disappointed they smelled of soap and not Rain. She gathered up her wet clothes and shoved them into a plastic laundry bag from the closet. The women returned to the living area at the same time as the men. Carlos had another laundry bag that he tossed near the door. Anise grabbed a towel for her hair and flopped down to a loveseat, quickly followed by Buck. Sweatpants fit the teen fine, but the shirt pulled tight across his broad shoulders as he was easily twice the size of Carlos and LJ. He had the nerve to wrap his arm around her shoulders. Her elbow slamming into his gut had him pulling his limb back swiftly.

"Good effort, kid." Rain ruffled his damp hair. She settled herself on the loveseat's arm, invading Anise's personal space. The hotel phone was in her hand and she was dialing room service. While Rain placed their orders, Anise rubbed her hair dry and watched the group settle in. LJ and the girl took a couch while Carlos sat in an armchair. The other woman leaned on the couch next to the girl, exuding maternal protectiveness.

It took an effort not to squirm in fear seeing the girl and remembering the Red Queen. Something must have appeared on her face because the girl swallowed nervously. Rain was still speaking with room service, not bothering to ask anyone for their order, so she must know them fairly well, Anise thought. The girl swallowed again, this time she followed it by speaking softly. Her familiar voice with its accent was hard for her to listen to. "My daddy designed her. It's why she looked and sounded like me."

Anise grabbed Rain's arm. "Order alcohol." Rain furrowed her brow, glanced at the girl, and nodded.

The girl continued bravely. "My name is Angela. My daddy was Dr. Charles Ashford. Did you know of him?"

Ashford. It sounded familiar. Anise thought for a few moments. One of her hands drifted to her chin, and a finger started to tap out a beat on her lips. He probably had an accent too. An image of a man in a high powered wheel chair came to mind. "Charlie? Wheelchair, right? We didn't do last names in the Hive." Except Belst, she mentally corrected, his first name had been fucking impossible.

"That's right."

"I met him a few times. He was an arrogant jerk at first." She paused, thinking that she had not liked the man then. "He was really polite to me the next time we met. It was after I joined Afterthought." Her thoughts drifted, wondering about why that was, maybe he had known about the project too? Anise focused her gaze on the girl, really looking at her. Angela appeared to be just another preteen girl. Her clothes were a bit snobbish, yet her face was open and vulnerable. She really did look like her father with her light brown hair, greenish eyes, cute button nose, and freckles. In the quiet room, Anise could her the girl's heart pounding and there was something else. Her sensitive nose twitched. She smelled Rain next to her, Buck's lingering cologne, and the standard scents of a hotel. There was something else in the air, not strong, just enough out of place to catch her attention. It was almost familiar.

Rain set the phone receiver down, the order complete. "Food'll be here soon." She caught the expression on Anise's face, saw her nose twitching, and touched a hand to her shoulder, "What?"

"Do you smell that?"

The others stiffened, their postures going rigid. It did not reassure Anise. "Overripe bananas?"

Anise nodded.

"You can smell that?" Surprise colored Rain's voice.

"Yea, kinda. But it's not quite right."

"It's Angie." Rain took a breath. "She's..."

"Infected." Anise finished, her face screwed up, confusion etching lines in her brow. "I don't understand."

Buck jumped up yelling. "What the hell?" He looked down at Anise, who had not moved. "Anise, why aren't you freaking out? If that little girl's infected..."

"Sit down, kid." Rain ordered.

"She's not contagious." Carlos added. Jill wrapped Angela in a protective hug. She glared at the newcomers.

"She's INFECTED! I'm not sittin around when she might try to kill me at any second!" Buck was terrified and gesturing wildly.

"Buck." Anise yanked him down by his sleeve. "Stop. She's not mutating." She held him down firmly, staring into his eyes until he calmed enough for her to look at Angie. "Right?"

Angie nodded.

"See, Buck? Now settle down and stop pissing off the people with guns." Anise smacked him lightly across the head.

The teen nodded glumly and did not attempt to stand again.

"This is getting absurd." Carlos took over the conversation. "We all have stories to share and they all start back in Raccoon City. Rain told us about the Hive and what little she learned about the R&D going on down there. Angie shared how her father developed the T-virus to combat a disease that was ravaging her body and making her weak as a kitten. She's strong and healthy now, she just has to inject the antivirus occasionally to keep it in check. Umbrella took his research and made it into weapons. She isn't a threat to anyone except Umbrella, especially after that video they managed to discredit. Did you see it?"

Anise was nodding, the video could only have been the one about the apocalyptic events in Raccoon City. A news reporter had started hand filming from the beginning, when the infection had suddenly swarmed the city. It had shown Umbrella sealing the exits and opening fire on civilians and their own people that were trapped inside the dying city.

The reporter had joined Jill and her now dead partner, running for their lives. Alice and Rain had rescued them from a pack of Lickers. The two women had been more than a match for the monsters. Together they tried to make it out of the city, each sharing their personal experience on camera from working for Umbrella. Neither had spoken about Anise, and it had been both heartwarming and humiliating for the woman. A mysterious man had promised to get them out of the city if they rescued his daughter from a local school. There they had met Carlos and LJ, found Angela, and made it to an Umbrella helicopter. The video had ended when an Umbrella commando had smashed the camera. Apparently the SD card had survived.

Watching the video had brought hope to Anise that some of her friends were alive even if Umbrella had put bounties on their heads. She had not been able to locate any of them though, nor could the resources at her disposal help. The team had been thorough in hiding themselves.

Ooh, Anise realized, that would explain the beard Rain wore.

As for the rest of the world, it had scared enough people to strengthen the resistance, or Keepers as the name of the lab proclaimed. Someone had thought it was appropriate after Anise had shared her pet name for the Afterthought team. Umbrella had covered up the nuclear strike saying that the local nuclear power plant had had a meltdown. Liars. Anise had also kept herself hidden, without the T-virus for proof, exposing herself was suicidal.

"You mean the one about Raccoon City that had international attention and that Umbrella squashed faster than a teenage hand session?" Some things were starting to make more sense.

Carlos laughed roughly at her crude humor, "Yep. Umbrella has been after us since. That's why Rain wears that disguise, and the others mostly stay hidden in hotel rooms. We've been alternately running and trying to expose Umbrella since we escaped Raccoon City." He paused. "We need to know more about this Project Afterthought and what it means to Rain and the T-virus."

Anise opened her mouth to answer. Rain however, spoke first. "I wanna know how you got out first."

Smiling, she poked her young companion. "Well, that's how I first met my little shadow here."