a/n: This thing keeps growing like an infection itself. But I imagine most of you don't care about chapter length. I'd like to celebrate making it to 10 reviews! Keep 'em coming guys. Wesker feels a little off to me in this chapter, so be sure to let me know if something about it stands out to you guys.
Ch 3- Keeps getting better
It was dark by the time they finally made it to the small border town. The name was Spanish and even after Wesker told it to her she felt like she was still horribly mispronouncing it. It was dark as they drove through it and the only thing she could see that was open was a small bar. There were also a grocery store, gas station and a post office. There was a small cluster of houses around the buildings, but Claire knew that the majority of money that came in through this town was likely illegal: drugs and coyotes taking advantage of people. It was just the cesspool of sin she expected someone like Wesker to feel the most at home in. Another fifteen minutes and they were driving up in front of a sprawling ranch style house. The driveway was gravel and Claire was glad that Wesker had traded the sports car they had been driving for a H2. She couldn't imagine what the driveway would be like without the shocks built into the vehicle. Wesker stopped and turned the vehicle off.
"I'd advise you to wait for me before trying to get into the house, dear heart," the blonde said as he got out of the car. Claire frowned at him and narrowed her eyes. That almost sounded like a threat. Just what was guarding that house? She couldn't believe that he would be careless enough to leave B.O.W. wandering the house this close to population. The risk for an outbreak and rapid chain of infection would be too great. Which just left her wondering. She got out of the car, and began to open the back door to help Wesker get the things from there. Having helped transfer them from the sports car to the hummer she knew that there were at least six different duffel bags and two cases like the one she had gotten the pistol out of. She grabbed the last two duffel bags and had to jog to catch up with Wesker. It amazed her that he trusted her to carry his things, but figured that he had little reason not to. What would she do with them anyway? Toss them in the trash? She doubted that they were the type of things that the general public could handle without dire consequences. The blonde stopped in front of the door and instead of reaching for the doorknob he popped a panel out of the wood. It revealed a keypad and a large screen. He typed a series of numbers into it before resting his palm on the screen. She heard a sound like an airlock opening as the door swung open.
"You'll get your own code as soon as we go down to the lab," he told her walking inside. Claire nodded and followed him. She sneezed as she walked inside, the place smelled stale and full of dust. The furniture was covered with dust cloths and the entire place was dark. She actually took her sunglasses off and put them into one of the pockets on her vest so she could see better. She set the bags she had carried in next to the others in the hallway and frowned as she noticed that Wesker had disappeared. The place was giving her chills. It was like something out of a horror movie. She closed her eyes and inhaled, finding the rock candy and ozone smell of Wesker easily. The brunette began to follow it, her eyes slits so she didn't run into walls, and frowned as she picked up another scent. It reminded her of the woman at the diner and the people at the mall. It wasn't as strong as the blonde's smell, but it was clear that someone had been here. Several turns brought her to a door and she reached for the handle.
"I would not advise that," a female voice said sounding like it was coming from right behind her. She whipped around only to find nothing behind her. "You have not been given authorization to go into the labs," she looked all around the room trying to find the source of the voice.
"Where are you?" Claire asked and a sound like a computer humming to life followed. Seconds later a green tinted hologram of a child in a dress that belonged in the Victorian Era appeared. Claire sucked in a breath in shock as she heard the door open next to her. Wesker stepped out and looked amused.
"I trust everything was satisfactory, sir," the little girl said and Claire was left blinking between the two of them. She knew the little girl was some kind of advanced AI, but something on this scale was unheard of. The brunette knew she was gaping like a fish.
"Naturally," Wesker said. "Claire Redfield, I would like for you to meet the Red Queen. She runs security for all of my labs. We wouldn't want another outbreak like Raccoon City."
"It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Redfield," the computer said. It even gave a little curtsy. "What is your security clearance?" The question caught Claire off guard and she looked at Wesker uncertainly.
"She's not a researcher," Wesker said pushing a button next to the door and the lights came on. Claire winced and slid her sunglasses out and on. "She's a guest and will need her own codes for her stay. Give her Charlie access." Claire frowned at the two of them and wondered what that even meant. Wesker had given a lot of thought as to how much Claire would be would be allowed to see and poke around with in the lab. He knew that he needed to keep her away from the virus samples which she had unwittingly carried in just moments ago. There was no way he was going to let someone else handle them. There was too much potential for disaster not to mention the corporate espionage. No, he kept the virus samples as close to on his person as he could within the constraints of his life. He also didn't want her to happen on something delicate and destroy it thinking she was preventing something else getting on the black market. But he also needed her to have access to the lab in case of an emergency or if she was down there for some kind of testing. That meant she needed the lowest clearance she could get away with.
"The codes are printing in the main control room," the computer said. "Would you like the security report now or later?" He noticed how Claire was watching him and decided that it would not be a good idea to have the AI give it now. When he had gone down into the lab to switch on the main power and make sure there were no glitches in the system, he had noticed that there were several subjects locked in quarantine as per the security level he had set. He wondered who would be foolish enough to send people snooping here.
"Later," Wesker said as he closed the door to the lab. "If you would turn the power on to the rest of the house and get to work on ordering groceries." The hologram nodded and disappeared recognizing the dismissal. Seconds later the house came to life around them, air conditioning turning on, along with lights. "We'll get you settled into your room tonight and start running the basic blood work tomorrow," he said turning on his heel and heading down the hallway away from the door to lab.
"It's confirmed, sir," the young man in digital camouflage said as he saluted the woman behind the desk. She looked to be in her early thirties with pale blonde hair twisted up to fit in military regulations. A pair of half-moon reading glasses sat perched on her delicate nose and she wore a white lab coat over her dress whites. The eagles that sat perched on her shoulders were the most obvious indication of her rank as captain in the Navy. Reports were spread across the surface of her desk, all of them labeled classified. "Brunhild was confirmed by the locals in the Las Vegas area. It appears that she is traveling with Odin and that their general direction is south," the man said holding his posture ridged. The woman wiggled her fingers in dismissal. That made sense concerning what she knew of the man's movements. She had not expected the subject to willingly cooperate with him given the known history. She toiled over the photos from the surveillance cameras from Crystals. She needed the woman back. They had already tested her brother's blood to see if it would react the same as their samples. It had been a failure. They had almost had a biohazard on their hands with the way the pure virus they had extracted from her blood had mutated. With the subject's escape they were also dealing with pressure from Washington to shut down the Valkyrie program altogether. She needed to get her hands on the woman.
One perfectly manicured finger traced a still shot from the feed at the laboratory. It was the figure of a man saluting the camera. She knew him. Hell, every virologist and geneticist worth their salt knew who he was, even if he was a virtual ghost. He was whispered about in dark corners and it was rumored that nothing hit the market (black or otherwise) as far as viral and anti-viral technology was concerned without him having a hand in it. She didn't know how he figured out where the subject was, but she knew he would be the key to finding her. Unfortunately, he was as slippery as an eel. She would have to hope that he goofed up or that HUNK came through. The man was expensive but he looked to be worth it. He had gotten them the G-virus sample from Raccoon City, after all.
Wesker had waited until the Red Queen had confirmed that Claire was asleep before returning to the control room in the lab. He had noticed that while his metabolism had slowed down with the absorption of the virus, hers seemed to have accelerated. She had complained of being hungry roughly every three hours if she wasn't sleeping. That was one thing he was going to have to explore. He slid into the thickly padded office chair in front of the myriad of monitors. They came to life without prompting. A read-out of what had happened with his experiments since his last visit was on one screen, another showed him Claire's sleeping form, and yet another gave him the closing day's stock prices for the various companies he had his fingers in. There was a different humming sound as the Red Queen projected herself next to him.
"Would you like your report now, sir?" the little girl asked. Wesker waved a hand for her to go ahead. He would always wonder at the mind that had produced her. Why a little girl? Why not a full grown woman? Or, hell, a talking dog? "After being downloaded onto the current server and put into security level orange three armed individuals attempted infiltration. Judging from their level of weaponry they were expecting fierce resistance. I managed to lock them in the cell level. What would you like for me to do with them?" The blonde leaned so that his head rested on one hand.
"Did they have any identifying markers?" he asked wondering if he was going to have to make a trip down there.
"No sir," the little girl said shaking her head making her hair move around her head. "Though one of them had a hit in my database." He raised an eyebrow which was one of the learned cues for her to go on. One of the monitors went black for a second before displaying a captive in one of cells. He was sitting against the wall, throwing a hunting knife into the air and catching it. "His voice, despite the distortion from the mask, came up as one HUNK. He has made no attempt to escape unlike the others." Well that was noteworthy. Wesker was well aware of the fact that the man sitting in a cell three floors below was responsible for the death of his fellow researcher William Birkin. That was enough of a reason in his book to kill the man and he knew that the agent was well aware of it. Which meant he had to have a reason other than simple espionage to track him down.
"Anything else to report?" he asked the AI.
"No, sir," the computer said disappearing back into the background. Wesker spent the rest of the night studying the computer screens, mind whirling just as fast as the computers before him.
Claire woke as the sun shone in her face. Wrinkling her nose she opened her eyes, it took her a moment to place where she was. She sighed and sat up, clad only in the t-shirt she had taken from Wesker and her underwear. She hoped that she would have a chance to get some more clothes from somewhere. Maybe he would let her order them online. She put her feet on the wood floor and stretched, her eyes catching a white piece of paper on the table next to her bed and her sunglasses. She was pleased to find that the light wasn't bothering her eyes as she picked up the paper. There was a long string of numbers on it and she realized that this must be her access code for the place. She folded the paper in half and put it back, heading towards the en suite bathroom. She needed a shower before she did anything else. She probably smelled like a hobo.
The bathroom was elegant and clearly modeled to look much older than it was. She smiled to herself as she turned on the water to get it up to temperature. She'd have to put back on her clothes from yesterday, but she could live with that. She pulled the shower curtain and stepped into the hot water, closing her eyes in ecstasy. A small smile curled on her lips. One thing she had learned jet-setting all over the world for TerraSave was the value of a hot shower. Hell, half the time it was better than sex. Not that she had had much of that, and with the way things were going it was likely that she wouldn't for the foreseeable future. Who could she risk infecting? She knew that viruses and diseases were only passed more easily in blood transfer than in sex. The only person on the planet who would likely be capable of having sex with her without adverse effects was Wesker. Laughter bubbled in her chest before spilling over and out her lips. The entire idea was absurd. Yeah, he was good looking. But, he was also evil incarnate. She bit her lips and paused in washing her hair. Could she honestly say that after what he was doing for her? Granted, he had done it for his own selfish reasons, but he didn't have to be doing all this. He could lock her up in some cell somewhere and only bother with her when he needed a sample. Instead, he was treating her like a human and not a test subject. Well, she would find out just how far that extended today.
Claire walked out of the bathroom thirty minutes later drying her hair. She felt much better and was humming Chumbawaba as she walked towards her bed. She began pulling her clothes on and wondered just what Wesker would want her to do. He had mentioned blood work the night before, but surely he knew how bored she would get waiting around for results. But then again, maybe not. Science was his world. He'd likely find nothing else as entertaining. It would be like her brother and the newest copy of American Handgunner. She blew her bangs out of her eyes and grabbed the code to shove in her pocket.
"Mr. Wesker would like to see you now," a little girl's voice said. Claire nearly had a heart attack as she whirled around looking for the source only to remember that it was the computer system. What was eerie was the giggle that her actions produced. It made her feel like she was in a horror film.
"Can you please not do that?" Claire asked reaching to pull her hair up. "At least not without having a body? It's creepy." There was a hum before the Red Queen appeared.
"Is this better?" the hologram asked her. She nodded. "I'll lead you to him. The lab can be a maze." The little girl smiled at her and when Claire began walking she skipped ahead. She wondered just how someone had managed to capture the mannerisms of a child so well.
Wesker was washing his hands when the door slid open behind him. One inhale brought him the scent of cinnamon and sugar that was Claire overlaid with cherries. The extra scent was likely the result of her taking a shower. He turned around as he dried his hands to see her loitering in the doorway. She was biting her lower lip and seemed nervous, though he was pleased to note that she didn't seem to need the sunglasses. His own were firmly in place and he had decided to forgo a lab coat.
"Did you sleep well?" he asked motioning her inside and to the examine table. The room looked like a doctor's office and he hoped that it would help her feel at ease. She nodded her head. "You act like you're going to your funeral, dear heart. I promise to tell you everything that I'm going to do before I do it. If you don't want to do something we'll talk about it," he offered as he snapped on latex gloves. Claire glared at him.
"But you won't stop just because I ask," she said seeing the loophole he had given himself right away. She sat down on the table anyway though. Wesker twisted his lips in a little smile.
"No, but I doubt that I'll be doing anything you'd object to," he told her looking over the objects on a tray. Claire snorted.
"Forgive me if I find that statement ironic," she said eyeing the tray he brought over and set next to her. It held several neatly labeled tubes and a sterilized disposable needle. She was snapped out of her contemplation of the just what he was planning on doing with her blood as he put a large red ball in her hand to squeeze.
"I'm going to be taking your blood, Miss Redfield," Wesker told her as he tied a stretchy piece of rubber around her upper arm. "You're not afraid of needles, are you?" he asked as he ran an alcohol swab over the juncture of her elbow. Claire glared at him.
"No," she said as he flicked her arm to get the vein to surface. "What are you going to do with my blood?" She kept her eyes on him while he worked and barely felt the prick of the needle as he slid it into her vein with practiced ease.
"The standard: blood sugar, cholesterol, red blood cell count, white blood cell count, thyroid profile, hormone levels," Wesker didn't bother to look at her as he worked, fingers deftly changing the tubes as they filled with her blood. It was thick and a little darker than normal, but it smelt the same as an infected to him. "I'm also going to run a full genetic profile and try to separate out the virus from your cells." All of which sounded so incredibly boring to Claire. Yes, it might tell him what was going on with her on a cellular level, but it would take hours and hours of waiting.
"And what am I supposed to do while you run your tests?" she asked as he finished and put a piece of cotton in her hand before pressing it and her hand to the wound. He put the blood into a tray and threw the needle down a shoot labeled biohazard.
"There's a computer upstairs and a TV," Wesker said snapping his gloves off before tossing them as well. "I wouldn't recommend trying to contact anyone, though." He watched as Claire stood up and swayed for a minute. "I would suggest you eat, however. It should help you recover from the blood loss."
"Don't I just heal over like you?" Claire asked as she pulled the cotton away from her skin to not even see any blood on it. The blonde took a second to think about it.
"It seems to not be as instantaneous as mine. It did take you almost half an hour to recover from a fatal gunshot wound to the head," he said at length. "It's one more thing to explore. Now I suggest you go upstairs and get yourself breakfast." Claire glared at him as she made her way out of the lab unsure as to even what had made her mad.
Three hours later and Claire was decidedly bored. She had eaten and she would be beyond glad when the groceries showed up. All that had been in the cupboard were instant ramen and a snickers bar. Surprisingly, the candy had been in date and she ate that while waiting for the ramen to cook in the insanely futuristic looking microwave. The entire kitchen looked like something out of a science fiction novel. Everything was chrome and black marble. The microwave had more buttons on it than a Swiss army knife and it was nothing compared to the oven. The dishes and everything had been covered in a layer of dust despite what she knew was the best attempts of whoever had been here last to prevent it. So, she had put all the dishes into the dishwasher in order to get the dust off them after eating her ramen.
Then she had run through the house pulling dust sheets off furniture. This ended in a coughing fit and the Red Queen had been forced to open all the windows in the place in attempt to help air everything out. But she had found two more bedrooms, three bathrooms, a formal dining room, study, and living room. The study was where she was currently, having just finished a marathon online shopping session using the same little black credit card Wesker had given her to use at the mall. She had looked at the name on it this time and couldn't hold in the snicker. It was one like the one that TerraSave gave her to use on business trips; which meant that it was monitored by the parent company. She wondered how the blonde was going to explain two weeks' worth of women's underclothes to his boss. She could just picture the face of the poor person in accounting. Eventually, the giggles subsided and she sprawled in the over padded office chair.
"God, I'm so bored," Claire whined looking up at the ceiling like it might have some answers. She had been through all the files on the computer that she could get into (the Red Queen seemed to be monitoring her activities and had been forced to bounce her out of her email twice before she gave up). She'd been everywhere in the house and had no desire to unload the dishwasher. That left the lab. She bolted out of her seat a wicked little smile on her lips. Wasn't this sort of what she had always wanted? She now had the innermost workings of a bio-weapons lab spread before her. She could learn everything there was to know here and be able to tell TerraSave and her brother the second she managed to go back to her life. Because there was no doubt in her mind, she would be going back to her life. Objective firmly in mind, she headed for the entrance to the lab, digging in her pocket for her clearance code.
Chris Redfield sat in his boss's office, frowning out the window. He'd just managed to get back on the ground from dealing with the outbreak in Korea and found one weird ass message on his cell phone from Claire. Something about not believing anything he was told. To make matters worse he had been calling both her cell and home numbers and getting anything. The cell was out of service and her home phone was nothing but a message machine. Then, he had gotten a call from his boss in DC demanding that he come straight there. He couldn't even get a hold of Jill to ask her if she knew what was up with Claire. The last he had heard, she was on her way back to the states from Korea. He knew that Claire could take care of herself and so hadn't been concerned. Until, that is, he got that message on his phone.
"Redfield," the man said as he came in and closed the door. "It's good to see you in one piece." Chris stood as the man entered, the old military habit having come back when the US government starting taking over the BSAA. Claire had told him this was a good thing, but Chris and Jill weren't so sure. Granted, it got them out on missions more often and they spent less time trying to actually run a 'business', but the man who had been put in charge gave him the chills. Not as bad as Wesker had in that last year, but still bad.
"It's good to be home, sir," Chris offered as they sat. He was getting a bad feeling about this. His boss leaned back into his chair, and Chris's eyes went to the retirement plaque. He had been a three star general before taking on this job.
"I'm afraid that I have some bad news," he began and Chris focused on him, his entire body stilling. "It's about Claire. She never made it home from Korea. We've officially labeled her MIA, but with the level of things in the area she was in, the chances of finding her alive are next to none." He gripped the armrest hard enough that his knuckles stood out in stark white. Don't believe anything they tell you. Claire's voice rang in his head. Now he got it. The message was dated the day before, which meant that she was still out there and that either his boss was lying or he didn't know. Someone was trying to cover something up. His instincts told him so. So he sat in a boiling rage, the man thinking it was at what happened, rather than at the idea that the government had done something to his sister. "You're understandably upset, so we're going to be giving you a few days off to deal with this. If you need anything I want you to know that we're here for you," the man said in clear dismissal. Chris stood and was pleased that the wood had warped where it had touched his hands. Something had happened to his sister and he didn't care that she had told him not to look for her. He was going to find her and find out what the hell was going on.
Wesker moved around the lab like he was born to it. He was in his element here-moving among the vials and machinery like some kind of twisted dancer to music only he could hear. This place had been as close to a home as he got and it had been that way for a long time. He had graduated college at seventeen and been snatched up by Umbrella before the ink was even dry on his diploma. He had spent a majority of his time in the lab, with his only other hobby being the peace of mind he had when making use of his marital skills. That was the reason he had been chosen for the S.T.A.R.S. project to begin with. Well, that and the fact that Umbrella wanted to separate Birkin and him. William really was the closest thing he had to a friend in his life and the two of them together had advanced the T-virus by leaps and bounds. They saw things that even Marcus would never have thought of in the potential of the virus. A dinging noise was heard and he turned around in a whirl of white lab coat to face a machine that was rapidly printing out something. He frowned as he held the paper up.
"Red Queen," Wesker said flatly and there was a tone to indicate that she had heard him. "Where's Miss Redfield?"
"Claire is in the third level attempting to get into the cell block," the little girl's voice stated. The paper made a crinkling noise as he crushed it in one hand.
"What?" he hissed all concern over the results gone. He was reminded of a book he had seen one of the kids in the hospital with when he had gone through there in order to collect some results. If you give a mouse a cookie…
Claire had just been wandering around the lab seeing what rooms she could get into when she found the elevator. Most of the rooms turned out to be locked, though she had found a gym she was planning on making use of later and a shooting range. There hadn't been any weapons in stock, but she figured she could likely talk Wesker around. The way that she tended to stumble onto shit like this meant that she needed to keep up her practice with firearms. At least, that was the plan before the elevator. The second floor had been full of little individual lab rooms and what looked like unused offices. The entire time she had been getting commentary from the Red Queen. She was proving to be quite talkative for a computer. It seemed that she had been ordered to answer her inquiries, even if she hadn't been allowed to open the lab doors. That was how she knew that the T-virus and all of Wesker's other viral samples were on the second floor in lab 208. Not that she could get at them…
Which lead her back to the elevator. There was one more floor. She popped her code in and hit the button. The elevator roared to life and she found herself in some kind of foyer. One door led to the left, another to the right, and both were thick steel doors unlike the air lock ones on the other floors. Claire walked over to the door on the left and keyed in her code, only to hear the hum that meant the Red Queen was materializing. She had taken to heart the bit about the brunette not liking it when she just spoke from seeming nowhere.
"You're not allowed in there, Claire," the little computerized girl said. Claire pouted at her and put her hands on her hips.
"Why? What's in there? Wesker's personal collection of B.O.W.?" she couldn't help but smart off, even if it was to a harmless computer. The little girl tilted her head.
"No, he didn't bring any of his bio-organic weaponry with him. It is too dangerous to ship on commercial carriers," the little girl's dress moved as she smoothed her hands along it in what appeared to be a nervous gesture. Claire was once more left wondering at the genius that had created her.
"So what's in there then?" she asked again.
"That is where prisoners are kept," the computer told her. The gears turned in Claire's head turned. If there was no one in the cells then she wouldn't be denied access. That meant there were people in there! She didn't even bother to think about it as she pulled a bobby-pin out of her hair. Jill had taught her how to pick locks one winter during a blizzard while Chris was stuck at the grocery store. She had also said that while most modern facilities used swipe card or code locks, running a bobby-pin down the swipe slot would often pop the door open. "I would not advise this," the computer said sounding worried. "Mr. Wesker will be most unhappy." She tossed her hair over her shoulder and snorted.
"Yeah, well, fuck Wesker," Claire tossed out her mind on just who could be behind those doors. What if Sherry was back there or some innocent people from the town? She couldn't just let them suffer until Wesker came along and decided that they would make good experiments. Speaking of Wesker, why was she smelling him? Hell, if she didn't know better she'd say he was right behind her. Freezing, she turned around and found herself inches from a black t-shirt. She swallowed thickly and looked up at him a nervous smile lighting her face. A black gloved hand was around her throat and lifting her in the air seconds later.
"I invite you into my home, clothe you, feed you, and you decide to disregard my wishes at the first opportunity?" Wesker snarled. He had always been told he had a temper. The time he had spent in S.T.A.R.S. had been pure torture and as soon as he had freed himself from he had vowed to never suppress it that way again. Claire felt her own anger peeking at his words. She had hardly asked him to do anything for her. Hell, he was the reason she was here in the first place. If he had never worked on the damn virus in the first place she would never had to escape Raccoon City, never had to chase Chris across the world, and never gotten infected. She glared at him and her eyes narrowed into slits. Fuck it. She was not about to let some bastard who was barely human push her around like this. Swinging her leg back to get momentum, she shifted her hips and kicked him in the face. The brunette ended up in a heap on the floor in shock. Both Wesker and she were too used to him being more powerful. This was fortunate for her, seeing as she put her entire strength behind the kick fully expecting it to have no effect. Unfortunately for Wesker, this meant he hadn't bothered to block it and with her new strength had been sent flying into a cement wall. Claire was quick to regain her feet as she watched Wesker pull himself out of the broken cement wall.
"You're going to regret that, dear heart," he snarled cracking his neck as he advanced on her. The brunette held a defensive stance; feet spread shoulder width apart for balance, arms across her torso, one high and one low. Most people thought that Chris was the reason that she had learned how to fight, but that wasn't true. The Judo lessons had been her idea and once she had realized how much she loved the martial arts more had followed. Chris had tagged along behind her as she wandered her way through everything from kickboxing to Tae Kwando. It hadn't been until after the Raccoon City and Antarctica incidents that she found her niche though. It had been from a war friend of Chris's. The man had gone to work for the Israeli Mossad-their version of the CIA. He had stopped in at the BSAA to do a demonstration and Claire had ended up hooked on the practical Krav Maga.
"Really? It isn't like I have anything else to regret, is it?" Claire snarled as he began to circle her. She watched him, being sure not to present him with her back. "It's not like I even want to be here. This is all your fucking fault anyway," she hissed her temper getting the best of her and causing her to lose her patience. She rushed him, bringing her leg up in a roundhouse. But the element of surprise was lost. He caught it and used it as leverage to toss her back.
"Language, Redfield," Wesker told her before he was on her. "What would your dear brother think if he could hear what was coming out of your pretty little mouth?" Claire ducked, some instinct screaming at her to move as he blurred with speed. His fist hit the steel door opposite the one she had been trying to get into and it groaned.
"He'd be sad that he wasn't here to tell you himself, you bastard," she used the second it took for him to pull his fist out of the door to launch a vicious kick to his kidney. It missed and he grabbed her upper arm that was already on its way to follow through with a punch from the missed kick. He twisted it around behind her only to be stopped from following through with the hold as her other elbow slammed into his solarplex. A cracking noise was heard as he slammed into the door. Wesker was surprised as he pulled himself out of the human shaped imprint on the door that he was having trouble breathing. More than likely she had broken a rib. When was the last time someone had managed to hit him, let alone break a bone? But he had little time to think on it as Claire was already trying to follow up on her previous attack.
"And what, pray tell, are you planning on doing if you manage to get into the cells, hmm? You don't know anything about the people in there. They could be worse than me," the blonde tyrant said using the momentum from her attempted charge to slam her into the door. The steel gave a whine of protest before it gave, electricity sparking along the frame from where the security panel had been. Claire let out a groan of pain as she leveraged herself up off the twisted remains of the door. Blood was running along the palms of her hands from where she had tried to stop herself resulting in the nastiest case of road rash she had ever had.
"I doubt that," she spat rolling to the side to avoid a well-placed kick. She failed to notice the sizzling sound coming from the metal door from where her bloody palm slid across it. But Wesker was on her before she could get her feet underneath her. He grabbed onto the front of her black vest and lifted her up, throwing her into the open door frame of one of the cells. A wrench across her shoulders indicated that he hadn't meant for her to go flying, but the material in the vest had given. There was a loud popping noise and Claire wouldn't be surprised if her shoulder was broken from where it took the impact. "What could be worse than the man who has killed and experimented on thousands? A man who was willing to kill his entire team, the people he had spent so much time building up just so he could get some data? How about one who injected himself with some kind of virus to gain power only to end up as a monster? When was the last time someone bothered to look at you without fear, Wesker?" She knew that she was treading on thin ice as he pulled her up by the hair. But she didn't care. These were the things she had been thinking since she had seen him on that island all those years ago. They were questions that she wanted answers to. The pain brought tears to the corners of her eyes as she reached up to grip a sleeve covered wrist. He forced her to look at his eyes, eyes that were shaded by black tint.
"I'd watch what I said, dear heart," Wesker hissed giving her a good shake. "You're a lot closer to this monster than you think." Claire felt her eyes widen as she looked at her reflection in his sunglasses. There was no color, but even she could see them shining with an eerie light. No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO. Her mental repetition was interrupted as he dropped her. "Fuck," he swore looking at his wrist where she had been gripping him. The material surrounding it had been burnt away and the flesh was just hanging there. It looked like someone had splashed him with acid. It was seconds later that the automated sprinkler system came on.
"An acid spill has been detected," the Red Queen's voice stated. Claire blinked and looked around to see the metal door smoking. What had happened? She got to her feet cradling her shoulder just as Wesker appeared satisfied with whatever he had been doing to his wrist.
"Acid? Where did the acid come from?" she asked blinking the water out of her eyes. Wesker sighed, the water having cooled his temper and ran one hand through his hair. This was what he had wanted to talk to her about in the first place.
"That would be you, Miss Redfield," he said motioning to her palms. She looked at them, the blood being washed away by the sprinklers. "It turns out that your blood is highly acidic. That would be why you don't heal from flesh wounds as fast as I do. It's a defense mechanism." Claire looked at her hands in horror the memories of Alexia Ashford and her flammable blood running through her mind. "I would suggest you go upstairs and see if you can find something to change into. I want to go over the results of some of your blood tests." Claire felt her cheeks darken as his eyes swept up her soaked form. The jeans fit like a second skin and her t-shirt was white; it had turned transparent under the onslaught of the water. She was practically displaying everything. She quickly crossed her arms, failing to notice that the pain in her shoulder was gone. She practically fled the room, prisoners in the other room forgotten.
Reviews:
Tayzie-Lee: Still amazing?
Shadowninp: Hope you're still enjoying this. And I want there to be more good Claire/Wesker stories out there. The length of the chapters can attest to the chemistry between them
Project X: I get noteworthy and addiction in one review? That is deserving of a cookie. –offers-
Tinkies: Glad you love my descriptions. Sometimes I worry that I babble. And is this ASAP enough for you?
HappyThursday: Hope you continue to enjoy it and thank you for the praise.
Ceville: So am I still on par? Still intriguing?
