Alexia jumped back with a little scream as the zombie clawed at the glass right where she was, raking its nails and even biting futilely at the smooth barrier. Soon the glass was streaked with the ghoul's partially-clotted blood, making it difficult to see the creature assaulting the quivering pane of Plexiglas.
The most unnerving thing was that, other than the shuddering of the glass, no sound reached them from inside the chamber. When Wesker spoke, it almost startled Alexia. "This variant shows vastly improved performance from the muscle systems, but there are still several problems with it. It's stronger, faster, and more coordinated than the other strains, but just as fragile. Just by flexing its muscles, it could crack or break its own bones. We still need to give them more skeletal integrity before they become as functional as the Hunter line."
Soon, the near-silent blows stopped raining down on the glass. Alexia moved to the side to see around the wide, frantic smear of blood and watched the creature retreat back to the center of the room. It was twitching fitfully, as if in pain, though Alexia suspected its diseased brain was not receiving tactile input from the nerves that still functioned. It moved gingerly, and its arms hung at its sides. "It just mangled its own arms, didn't it," she muttered, furrowing her brows at its odd posture.
"From the look of it, yes," Wesker responded. Why did he sound bored? This was remarkable!
Oh, right. He'd been working with human test subjects for a while. Tyrant was nothing new to him. Alexia tried not to be jealous.
"Is this the only specimen you have for this strain?" she asked instead, turning to look at Wesker.
"Yes."
"And you just let it damage itself?" Were these subjects so easy to come by?
"That thing is the reason I had to deal with Sergei," Wesker retorted, thinning his lips. "That strain is far too volatile for animal testing yet. Have you noticed anything unusual about it? Have a closer look at what it's wearing."
Alexia looked into the chamber once more, and under the layers of blood streaked and dribbled over it, she noticed an article that might have once been a white, long-sleeved lab coat. "This was a researcher?" She looked back at Wesker sharply.
"He made one, minor mistake while working with a hot sample. I was visiting you in Rockfort at the time, but when I returned, William told me that Dr. Kimmel here had a pinhole in his latex gloves."
"A pinhole," Alfred breathed. His face was pale; his expression showed horrified awe.
"The strains we have been working with are much too easily communicated. That nearly caused an outbreak within the lab," Wesker said, pointing to the wobbling zombie behind the glass. "We nearly lost an entire research team. Some of them are still in the level 5 medical wing under observation."
Well, I stand chastened, Alexia thought to herself. She looked back through the glass, and her brows furrowed in confusion over what she saw. The creature inside was swaying drunkenly, and before her eyes it collapsed, falling into a limp mound on the floor.
"Good, it's nearly dead," Wesker observed. When Alexia glanced at him for an explanation, he continued, "Because they have improved strength and speed, they have faster metabolisms than normal zombies. If they stay dormant they can last for some time, but after the outburst that thing just had it should be on its last legs, since we haven't fed it."
"So you're just going to let it die on its own?"
"It's the most efficient thing to do. We've been able to gather useful data from it, but because it's too hazardous to work with in close quarters, there's not much more we can do. It's safer to let it waste away like this."
Alexia took one last glance at the unmoving zombie before she indicated with a gesture that she was ready to leave; Alfred beat them out of the room, having gone a little green from staring too long at the smears of blood on the observation window. As they returned the way they came, Alexia cast a wistful glance over her shoulder. "Do you have functioning animal specimens for the other strains?"
"Some, yes. However, this is a research and development lab, so we do not keep many live subjects for long. If they survive and are viable, the hot samples are sent to the production facilities and we only keep cold samples for our records. Since most of the BOW we design are meant as cannon-fodder there isn't much need to keep them alive for long-term observation and testing."
"I would be interested to see the other live subjects you keep, all the same," Alexia announced.
Right then, Alfred pulled a face; partially because he wasn't so sure he wanted to see something like that zombie again, but also because his stomach gave a gurgle that was not due to nausea. Alexia looked to her brother and smiled slightly. "Actually, I'm starting to get hungry too. Would it be possible for us to get food? Alfred and I haven't eaten since we left Rockfort."
Wesker nodded. "Of course." With that he turned, leading them back to the same elevator, and riding it up to the floor they had recently left. He took them through a new door and down a new hall; a few more turns that had Alexia's head spinning with the size of the place, and Wesker was holding open the door to what appeared to be a cafeteria.
"The staff should have just set out hot food for lunch, so help yourselves," Wesker said after glancing at his watch. The twins trotted into the line with eyes wide open, both in a bit of awe at the fact that the facility boasted a full cafeteria. It made sense, but it was just another clue to the scale of this place.
They brought their food to the small table Wesker had staked out. "You aren't eating?" Alexia asked curiously.
"I'm not hungry."
Alexia sat down and dug in, curious as to the quality of the food served here. To her pleasant surprise, it was pretty good. "I take it you ate here before we arrived?"
"I ate at my apartment." Oh, right. He lived outside the lab. "Most of the researchers who live in Raccoon itself eat there. The food in this cafeteria is nutritious, but it gets old after you've been here long enough."
Alexia contemplated her plate. "The city must have a wide variety of options available."
"Yes. In fact, I had planned for us to go out to dinner, once we're done here for the day."
Alfred perked up slightly. "What kinds of restaurants are there in Raccoon City?"
"Essentially, everything." Wesker sipped idly from his glass of water. "I know most of the decent restaurants in town, so you two can have your pick when we go to dinner."
That definitely pleased Alfred. Her twin brother was even happier when, once lunch was finished, Wesker informed them that they could go on that tour of the mansion now. Evidently, Alexia's curiosity would have to wait. She couldn't stay too upset, given Alfred's eager smile as they left the cafeteria.
And as it turned out, exploring the mansion's maze of passages and rooms wasn't as excruciatingly boring as she had expected; with the number of booby-traps waiting to spring on the unwary, it was something of an adventure.
Especially when Wesker "forgot" about one of them that slammed a set of iron bars across the door and triggered the ceiling to drop.
He was able to deactivate the trap so quickly that they barely had time to panic, but after that, the twins stayed prudently back until Wesker entered the subsequent rooms. And Alexia could have sworn that she saw the ghost of a smirk hovering about Wesker's face for a few minutes after that little mishap.
It was late enough after they finished the tour that neither of the Ashfords minded taking a moment to freshen up and change before they headed to dinner. While the older researcher waited patiently, the twins took turns in the bathroom.
"What do you think, so far?" Alexia asked the bathroom door.
"It's interesting," Alfred answered from the other side. "This mansion is pretty great."
Alexia chuckled to herself. She had noticed the look of wonderment on Alfred's face; she knew that if Wesker had offered for them to stay and explore the mansion for a week, her brother would have jumped for joy. "Yeah, it was all right. I'm just sorry we didn't stay in the labs for long." But, hopefully, there would be more time for that tomorrow.
Alfred made a rude noise as he emerged from the bathroom. "Maybe you are," he muttered, "but I was glad to leave. That places smells even more like latex and hospitals than your lab at home."
She had to giggle at the way he wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Was it really the smell, Alfred? You looked like you were about to be sick everywhere when we saw that test subject."
He retched. "I have been trying to forget about that for hours, Alexia!" Alfred whined.
Since the thought seemed to sincerely distress him, Alexia dropped the subject and bounced to her feet. "Sorry, Alfred. Let's go. I'm interested to see Raccoon – Dr. Wesker says it's pretty much Umbrella's city."
They followed their host to the Ecliptic Express station near the mansion, and boarded it with him. Though they had both traveled enough to be familiar with such modes of transportation, it was still somewhat of a novelty, despite the fact that there was nothing to see but darkness through the windows.
After that, it was but a short walk to Wesker's car. Soon, they were riding on the interstate into town. "Do either of you have a preference for where we eat?" Wesker called back to them.
Alfred (as usual) shrugged and left the decision to Alexia. She pondered for a moment, then leaned forward. "Are there any good Italian restaurants?"
"Several. And my personal favorite is close by."
Alecia was pleased. She usually wasn't reassured by the statement "It's my favorite," since she most often heard it from Alfred, who was like most ten-year-old boys and had a singularly peculiar taste. But she trusted Wesker's taste much more, especially for good Italian.
As it turned out, the restaurant didn't look like much from the outside. It had recently rained, making the humid air heavy with wisps of mist that lifted off the pavement. The muggy city air was not something the twins were used to. Wesker raised an eyebrow at Alfred's cough, and shrugged. "The air here is much cleaner than many other cities I have visited," he remarked. They followed him inside, ready to be out of the humidity.
As they followed the host to a table, Alexia had to wonder what this looked like to the passers-by. Probably, a grad student taking out young siblings or cousins, perhaps babysitting. Certainly Wesker's fair coloring made him look superficially as if he were related to the twins. She quickly shook off that thought and ordered two glasses of water from the server before Alfred could open his mouth to get a soda. She ignored his glare and turned her attention to Wesker. "Thank you for doing this, Dr. Wesker."
He nodded, taking off his sunglasses to clean them and fold them on the table. "It's nothing. I go out fairly often anyway; I'm at the lab so much that I barely have time to cook for myself when I'm at home." Wesker folded his hands on the table and regarded her neutrally.
It was unusual enough for Wesker to set aside his sunglasses that Alexia found herself slightly unnerved. His eyes were so pale that it was impossible to see his irises at all in the dim light of the restaurant. The resulting effect, of sclera giving way directly to pupil, gave him a singularly piercing gaze that he no doubt cultivated. Wesker struck her as the sort to deliberately make himself intimidating to others.
Alexia smiled sweetly at the server who brought them their drinks, and was rewarded with a dimply smile from the waitress in return. Wesker could use intimidation tactics all he wanted; Alexia would use her girlish charms to disarm people. She knew how to make it work.
If it hadn't been for Wesker's solemn presence, Alexia was sure she would have had the waitress completely charmed by the end of the meal. It felt good to exercise her skills on people who didn't already know what they were getting into. Even so, despite the fact that every time Wesker's voice droned out from the slightly shaded corner in which he sat the waitress started slightly, the young woman was grinning and perky when she came to the table, all her attention on the twins. They got frequent refills, and eventually, Alfred even got his soda.
Once the waitress finally left the bill on the table, Wesker took it up and levelled a look at Alexia. She answered the searching glance with another angelic smile. He had caught on to her ploy early on. And she was well aware that he had caught on. That was the intention, in fact. She was showing him that he wasn't the only one who could manipulate people.
With the bill paid, they retired to the car, and Wesker drove them back toward the Arklay lab. "Aren't you done for the day?" Alfred ventured, mildly confused, when Wesker explained that he would be staying at the lab, rather than just dropping them off.
"I have a lot of work to get done, especially after the Colonel's surprise visit today." He did not sound pleased with that prospect. "We've been running some time-consuming tests on our latest strains, and I need to check on them before anything else gets done. I'm fairly certain that at least one will have to go through again, which will take another eight hours of babysitting the machines."
"What about your partner, William?" As Alexia asked the question, Alfred performed a fair imitation of the sour expression for which William Birkin was practically famous.
"William was running them today while I was with you."
There was a stretch of silence, in which Alexia was contemplating how to phrase her next question, when Wesker beat her to the punch. "You are welcome to come down to the lab and assist me with the tests, if you desire," he stated, looking over his shades into the rear-view mirror that reflected her face. "Your lab does not have the equipment we do at Arklay, but when you do start to acquire them, it would be prudent for you to have some experience with these techniques."
That was one of the few times she did not mind that he seemed to have the ability to read her thoughts. "I would like that very much, thank you," she said instead. Alfred rolled his eyes.
Since the twins still had no idea how to successfully navigate the mansion, Wesker escorted them to their room so that Alfred could retire. He gave his sister a pitiful look, silently begging her not to go back down to the labs, but she merely wished him a good night and trailed after Wesker once more.
In the research sector of the lab (which Alexia had realized was unbelievably huge, perfectly concealed with its entirely underground) she and her host ran into William Birkin, who was walking down the hall toward them in the company of a young woman with chin-length, pale hair. Birkin looked up and made as if to speak, but the sight of Alexia turned his expression to stone.
"William, Annette," Wesker greeted, nodding o the pair. "Any progress?"
Birkin's jaw was clenched shut. Seeing that her companion was silent, the woman spoke up for him. "We've completed the first round of analyses on the latest strains, Dr. Wesker. The C-series sample came up inconclusive, as we expected."
Wesker nodded. "Very well. I will take over from here." Alexia was slightly astonished to see a sly grin touch her host's features. "Enjoy your date."
The woman flushed slightly, and Birkin quickly grabbed her wrist and strode off. Once they were out of sight, Wesker chuckled under his breath. Alexia trotted after him, looking back over her shoulder once or twice.
"'Date?'" she echoed curiously.
"Workplace romance," Wesker said, still smirking to himself. What he found so amusing was a mystery to Alexia. Apparently it was an adult thing.
They got to the largish lab that had Wesker and Birkin's names on placards beside the door. Alexia couldn't help but look around in envy at the equipment that the lab boasted. This facility was on the cutting edge, even in Umbrella. The public at large wouldn't see technology like it for a decade, at least. She came up behind Wesker, who was looking through a stack of printouts, presumably from the tests Birkin and his companion had just been running. The little she could see of the reports was enough gibberish to make them completely uninformative, so she found a nearby lab bench that contained familiar instruments and began imposing a level of order to the cluttered benchtop. She personally couldn't stand her workspaces to be messy, though apparently Birkin was more hasty and careless. She wondered how he hadn't wrecked something yet through slobbishness.
"Thank you," she heard, and turned to see Wesker giving her a look of mild surprise. She smiled into those pale eyes, unshielded now by sunglasses, and accepted the research folder he handed her.
"Those notes are on the strains we are working with right now, specifically. While I set up the machine for another round of tests, feel free to read those over." Eager curiosity had her eyes glued to the research notes even before Wesker had left the room.
hey look, Desert's alive! gasp! since it's winter break and i have a laptop again, i'll be able to get a tiny bit of writing in. this is prolly all i'll be able to produce that's worth publishing, but it's better than nothing.
i hope you lot continue to enjoy this. like a lot of my recent stuff, this is mostly interaction-based rather than driven by any specific plot, though there is an ultimate purpose behind this. if i get to the Code: Veronica timeline in this fic things will pick up; right now i'm just developing the characters and their relationships to everything in their respective worlds. my writing is developing, and at the moment, i'm mostly working on characterization; that is, for me, even more important to a story than a plot. you can have something interesting to read that has no real direction, but if the characters are flat and generic, it drags down even the most exciting plot.