A/N: After an extremely long break, I am back with an update! I am very sorry that it took so long, but I guess its true when they say better late than never. Hopefully the next update won't be so long a wait.
A/N2: I want to thank everyone who sent messages pushing me to update. It means a lot to know that people care about this story and it really did help push me to get out of my funk and get back to writing.
A/N3: Thanks for reading, and leave me a review so I know how you feel about this chapter.
The couple forced Matt to walk several feet ahead of them and they ended up at a small rundown apartment complex only a few blocks away from the department store where they had been reunited.
"This explains how he was able to find us so quickly." Claire surmised as the man unlocked the main door and they followed him inside.
Their destination was on the second floor, apartment 7. The small hallway smelled of dirty carpet and cats. The low ceiling and fading pink walls created a very tacky retro vibe.
Alice didn't feel comfortable at all. "This is where you guys meet?" She questioned, feeling more and more like they had made a mistake in coming here.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Would an old abandoned warehouse have been less conspicuous?" Matt sarcastically replied. "Most of the apartments here change occupants every few months. It's easier to hide with so many different people coming in and out of the building all the time."
Matt slowly unlocked the apartment door. But the door only opened half an inch before it stopped, the chain lock on the inside preventing it from moving any further. Matt huffed and banged loudly on the metal door.
"Kaplan! Open the door!" He hissed.
A pale face appeared in the crack but Alice was more focussed on the gun peaking out halfway down. "You fool. How could you bring her here? Are you trying to get us killed?" The former assassin could tell the man was more panicked than angry, his fear was evident in his wide eyes and the sweat dripping from his brow.
"Let us in and I'll explain." Matt coaxed but Kaplan shook his head furiously.
"No way." He denied and Alice heard the safety on his gun click. She automatically sprung into action. Her pupils dilated and the chain locking the door broke. The force of the heavy door swinging open pushed the man back, his body flying into the wall and he slumped to the floor. The blonde was instantly in front of him, kicking the gun from his hand before he could even raise his arm. Her arm was raised to attack but a voice drew her attention away from the man.
"Alice!" Claire's scared voice reached the blonde and her eyes returned to normal. The redhead clutched at her arm and eased it back down to Alice's side. The redhead waited a moment for Alice to gather herself and for her own panic to subside before she spoke again. "What was that?"
Matt quickly entered the room, closing the door and locking it behind him. "What the hell? You said Project Alice was gone."
"She is, otherwise he would be dead, and so would you." Alice squeezed her eyes shut, trying to calm herself from the adrenaline rush her body had just exerted. She breathed deeply but only really relaxed when Claire's soothing hand began rubbing her back comfortingly.
"It's okay Alice." Claire reassured her.
"The hell it's okay." The dark haired man from the floor groaned as he stood up. Matt tried to help him to his feet but was shoved aside. "What the hell is wrong with you Addison?" He stared at Alice and Claire. "I told you not to go out there and not only do you not listen but you come back with Umbrella's top fugitive and their most elite assassin!" He was shaking uncontrollably.
"Kaplan calm down. She's not going to kill us."
"Did you not just see what happened with the door?" He swung his arms widely, trying to illustrate his point.
"You had a gun." Alice interrupted. "I'm sorry, it just...happened. I wasn't even thinking about it, just reacted."
Kaplan stared at her like she was some sort of animal in the zoo. Some new species he had never seen before. "How is this possible?" He shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around the impossibility of what was happening. He pointed at the redhead. "You should be dead. Why are you not dead?"
"Alice stopped herself." Claire answered, looking proudly at the blonde. "We don't know how but she freed herself from the program. How do you even know about any of this?" She turned the questions back on him. "This was barely an hour ago."
"He knows everything Claire." Alice spoke. "Don't you?" She stared at Kaplan with interest, a half smile forming as something in her mind tweaked in recognition. "Chad Kaplan, despite your previous statement Claire is not the Umbrella Corporation's most wanted. You are."
"You've read my file?" He surmised.
"Yes. As you can probably understand, it's one of the few that only exists in paper copy. And as dangerous as you might think I am, even my file is not as classified as yours."
"Uh, can someone please fill me in." Claire requested, looking between her three companions for clarification.
"I use to work for the Umbrella Corporation." Kaplan confessed. "I was part of the team that designed and programmed their computer system. Intelligence, security, you name it and I had a hand in creating it. I was second only to Dr. Ashford who was our project leader, and even though it was a massive undertaking only five people were hired to work on it. We had to fill out dozens of non-disclosure agreements. I thought I was selling my life away, but the money was more than I would make working in five years."
"So what happened?" The redhead inquired. "What did you do to piss them off."
"The stuff we were doing, it was intense. The Corporation wasn't nearly as powerful back then but those in charge knew where they wanted it to go. It didn't make sense to me why they needed all the information they wanted on file. The records they kept on every single employee was unbelievable. Tax records, report cards from middle school, parking tickets! At first I shrugged it off as them just being overly thorough but then we started working on the surveillance system. It was like Umbrella was Big Brother but on acid. But by then it was too late to back out. I knew they wouldn't let me quit or get away so I finished the job. However, I left myself a back door into the system." He motioned for the others to follow them and led them into what would have been the living room had not the space been consumed by wires, monitors, hard drives, stacks upon stacks of files. Every available surface was cluttered.
Kaplan sat down at the table with the most monitors on it; Alice was able to make out six or seven hard drives under the table. "This is how I've managed to elude Umbrella for so long. I created a virtual blind spot to their surveillance system." He brought the centre most screen to life but Alice couldn't make sense of the lines of code she was seeing.
"Through the back door, I've been able to piggy back on their database." He continued to explain. "The only flaw to Ashford's design is that all their information is connected. It doesn't matter if they're hiring a new intern or selecting Project Alice's next target; every time something is entered into the system I know about it. At first I was only watching the system to see what they needed such a secure system for but then I saw what they were actually doing." He visibly shuddered at the memories. "Bribing government officials, kidnapping people in the middle of the night, executing anyone who stood against them.." Alice's chest tightened with guilt. "...so I manufactured my own virus and tried to shut it down."
"But it didn't work."
Kaplan's eyes narrowed. "Obviously not," he grumbled. "But I still had the back door into the system that not even Ashford was able to find. So I was always one step ahead when they were looking for me." He leaned back in the chair as he told the two women his story. "I've been on the run for about eight years. At first I thought a major city would be safest but that turned out to be the opposite. New York, LA, Chicago, Umbrella has their hand dipped in their municipal governments, their law enforcement, everything. I couldn't stay in any place for long. I was hiding out in Mexico for about four years, and I probably would have stayed there, but things changed about nine months ago."
"What happened?" Claire asked.
"That idiot over there." Kaplan motioned to Matt, who had been standing off to the side as the other man told his story. "I was watching the system one day and noticed someone else was trying to hack in. It was easy for me to trace, especially with Umbrella's resources at my fingertips."
"It was my sister Lisa and I." Matt stated. "She worked at one of Umbrella's facilities, the Hive."
"We know all about the Hive." Alice spoke, though she avoided eye contact with everyone in the room.
"Then you know what they were up to down there." Matt continued. "Lisa didn't like it, she confided in me and I did a little investigating on my own. I used to work in law enforcement," he explained. "But I couldn't come up with much so she decided to try and hack the system to try and find out more. Unfortunately, Kaplan wasn't the only one who was able to trace the break in back to her." Matt trailed off.
"They killed her." Alice stated when he failed to continue.
His lack of response was all the confirmation Claire needed. "So how did the two of you end up working together?"
"I guess it was my idea." Kaplan responded when Matt still remained silent. "Umbrella keeps a list of all dangerous individuals.."
"Unofficially of course," Alice added sarcastically, but Claire's hand around her elbow quickly silenced the blonde.
"Of course." Kaplan agreed and leaned forward in his chair. After several minutes of silent typing he pushed away from the computer so the two women could see what was on the screen. "This is the list, as you can see our three names are at the top. Matt appears further down. I have an alert set, so I know right away when the list is updated and when a hit has been sent out on a particular target. Every time the corporation sent Alice on a mission her name would be added, as if they expected that one of these times she wouldn't come back. About an hour ago, your name went straight to number one." He continued to scroll through the list of fifty or so names, but only Claire was actually looking at it.
"I would have thought there would be more," the redhead commented.
Alice shifted uncomfortably. "There is, this is just the priority list. And of course, people who have been disposed of, are removed and any connections they had to the corporation are buried to keep curious officers like Matt here off the trail."
"How many of them did you 'dispose' of?" Matt finally spoke up from the corner.
"I don't think that's important right now," Claire said, feeling the blonde tense slightly under the loose grip she still had on her arm.
"Well it's important to me!" Matt fumed, staring daggers at the former assassin.
"I didn't kill your sister." Alice stated. "And you're the reason I'm here remember? You came to us, we didn't go looking for you."
Kaplan, smartly decided to return to telling his story. "Anyway, once Lisa and Matt were put on the list, I knew what would happen to them if I didn't do something. It was around this time that I figured out Seattle would be the best place to hide if I ever returned to the States. By the time I got to Raccoon City it was too late for her, but I managed to track down Matt before Umbrella agents. It took some persuading to convince him I was on his side, but eventually we agreed to team up and we've been out here ever since."
"What do you guys do out here? Besides avoiding capture."
"We do the same thing Umbrella does, track down as many rebels we can. Only instead of killing them we enlist them or help them relocate off the grid to keep them safe."
"We have people working undercover all over the country." Matt added.
"How many?" Alice asked.
"Dozens." Kaplan answered.
Claire frowned. "Doesn't Umbrella notice that so many people on their list are eluding capture?"
"Yes. They know exactly what we're doing."
"So why don't they take the list off their database?"
"They're trying to flush Kaplan out." Alice spoke, her mind tweaking as she figured it out. "The list is bait. They're just waiting for him to slip up. They must not know how he's piggybacking the system or managing to elude detection or they would already have him." She turned to the man in question. "When you track someone down, you have to set up some means of contacting them right?"
"Yeah. That's my job." Matt said.
"Some of the people on this list are probably decoys."
Kaplan nodded in agreement. "Yes, I've thought of that." He reached under the table and pulled out a paper box. Opening the lid revealed dozens of file folders. "We do a lot of background checking. These files are for people I'm pretty sure Umbrella put on the list as decoys. The corporation only makes up enough records to cover the last five years. These are the people I couldn't dig any further back."
"We also have a team who run surveillance before we initiate contact with these fugitives." Matt added.
"Interesting," Alice drawled. She was quickly growing bored of the conversation, a trait she had developed as Project Alice. She crossed the room to the window and peered between two blinds down to the street below. It had become dark outside and even though she knew it wasn't safe she was itching to leave the apartment. All this talk of Umbrella only served to remind her of how much she had done for the corporation. And while those thoughts should be horrifying she could feel herself thirsting for violence instead. She didn't know how much longer she could keep herself in check.
Behind Alice, Matt scowled while Claire frowned in concern at the blonde's behaviour.
"It's been a long day." Kaplan jumped in, changing the subject. You two are welcome to stay here."
"Thanks," Claire said gratefully. "It will just be a day or two," she looked at Alice. "Just until we figure out what we want to do."
"Take all the time you need." Kaplan reassured. "This is about as safe as it gets from Umbrella."
"Nothing is safe from them." Alice spat before she could stop herself. And what was worse was that the blonde couldn't even find it in herself to feel bad for her behaviour. Alice forced herself to stare out the window at a fire hydrant across the street. She could feel the traits of Project Alice rearing up within her and it was all she could do to keep herself from slipping back into assassin mode.
"Alice?" Claire called tentatively and she turned around to see the redhead looking at her, concern clearly etched across her face. Alice wanted to reassure her, but didn't know how. Claire, recognizing her struggle grabbed the blonde's hand, and muttering a quick 'we'll be right back,' pulled her from the room.
The apartment was small and it wasn't difficult to find the bathroom. Claire promptly locked the door behind them but didn't speak now that they were alone. The redhead looked at Alice carefully, her eyes searching, not for answers but understanding.
"Sorry," the blonde finally spoke.
"For what?"
"I know I've been out of the social scene for awhile, but even I know how rude I was just now with Matt and Kaplan."
"I don't care about them, I care about you. Are you alright?"
Alice shrugged. "I don't know. I was feeling like my old self, but I think pieces of Project Alice are still floating around inside." In fact, even now as they stood at the opposite end of the apartment, with several walls between them, Alice realized she could easily hear the conversation the two men were having in the other room.
She brought her attention back to the other woman as Claire continued to watch her. "What are you thinking?" The redhead prompted gently.
"I still have all her abilities and skills. You saw what I did to Kaplan at the door. It was so easy and I did it without thinking. I may not be under Umbrella's control but that doesn't mean I still won't hurt people." Alice confessed her fear. "What if I snap? There's nothing to prevent me from killing all three of you in your sleep tonight."
"Hey," Claire took Alice's face in her hands. "I trust you Alice. I know how strong you are. You can keep it at bay. I know you won't hurt us. I know you would never let anything hurt me."
Alice took a deep breath and was able to manage a half smile. Claire was right on the last count. If today had proved anything it was that Alice would rather die than allow anything or anyone to harm the redhead. She stared into deep blue eyes. The same elusive blue that she realized now had haunted her dreams the last five years. "I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe." She said with conviction.
Claire pulled her into a soft kiss, a gentle reminder that she was there and they were together. For a moment Alice thought maybe, just maybe things would be okay.
"We're in this together." Claire promised. "If you feel like that part of you is trying to take control, I want you to tell me. I won't let what they did to you take you away from me again. Maybe Kaplan can help us. He seems to know a lot about your program."
"We already owe them for letting us stay here. I don't want to feel indebted more than I have to."
"We're all on the same side here Alice. And this is what they do right? Help fugitives of Umbrella? They might be the only ones who can help us."
It was hard to ignore the pleading in Claire's eyes so Alice silently agreed with a firm nod.
The tiny bathroom was beginning to feel claustrophobic to the blonde, despite spending much of the last five years locked in a six by six white cell. And while during that time she had never once felt compelled to break free from that prison, Alice could now literally feel herself itching to escape the small space.
Alice led them out of the bathroom and just as she had heard them discussing with her superior hearing, the two men were still debating over what to get for dinner.
"Sorry," Alice apologized gruffly. "I was rude earlier and I apologize. I'm having a little trouble adjusting."
"That's alright," Kaplan replied, though Matt still eyed her warily. "I was more than a little wary when Matt brought you here but if a little rudeness is all we have to worry about we are in good shape."
The blonde shifted uncomfortably. "Well to be honest I'm not sure if that is all we have to worry about." Alice then went on to explain how traits of her former self were trying to bleed through.
Kaplan frown deeply in concentration. "It makes perfect sense if you think about it." He stated. "Technically you're still Project Alice, the only difference is that you've deviated from your program objective."
"So she is still dangerous?" Matt prompted.
"Maybe," the dark haired man answered. "Actually, Alice is still lethal it would seem. But as long as she is resisting the control of Umbrella, the more violent tendencies should remain dormant."
Matt scowled. "Should is not something we should risk our lives and our work over."
"I don't think I need to remind you that it was you're idea to come find us and bring us here." Alice challenged with a hard glare, immediately causing Matt to become silent.
"They aren't going anywhere Matt. I think it will be safer for everyone if she stays with us." He turned to the blonde. "At least until you have a better idea of how much you can contain Project Alice."
"And what if I lose it?" Alice asked.
"You won't." Claire reassured with unfounded certainty. "I won't let that happen."