Resident Evil: Fractured Promises
Chapter Three: Sterling Silver
-New York, 2022-
Jill steps into the middle of the volatile trio and holds up her hands, "I think we should all take a second and collect ourselves before something happens we are going to regret doing in a church…"
Rebecca gasps and steps back as Chris attempts to say something, but receives a slap across the face, "No, Chris. We need to be quiet now, got it?"
"Fine," the largest man in the room holds up his hands and quickly walks away, dropping into a seat on the far side of the church.
Crystal blue eyes watch the room, locking on Leon as he steps toward the podium, his eyes locked on Claire, "Don't."
Her voice stops him dead in his tracks, "What can I say? What can I do to fix this?"
"Let me in, Leon. Let me help you…"
None of them are prepared for his response, "By letting you in, Claire, I got Sherry killed!"
-June 26th, 2022-
Leon smirks and nods at the redhead next to him, "Our little girl is all grown up now, Claire."
It feels good to say and it feels even better to say it to Claire, but he needs to focus, needs to maintain his alertness so he can be prepared for anything. Their footsteps continue to squelch in the soaked mud underfoot, every member of their team almost losing their footing more than once as they slowly continue their descent down the tunnel. Leon's eyes scan left and right, the flashlight in his hand sweeping to light his gaze, but there are no immediate threats to be targeted and neutralized.
Can I turn it off? People always think that when Leon goes into his 'Soldier Mode' he has no thoughts other than the mission, but that is so far from the truth it makes his head spin sometimes.
There is always a part of his mind open, kind of a defense mechanism to fight off the silence and battle back the demons that dwell in the recesses of his mind. Off to his left, the light quickly turns and off in the distance another Graboid scurries away; this is when he sees it. There are several gill-like flaps in the flesh around its backside that excrete a mucus-like liquid. So that is why the tunnels are soaked and slimy: the monsters are coating it with excrement as they eat the dirt.
"Gross…" his voice is a mere whisper, but it is enough to snatch Claire's attention.
Her right hand sinks into the muck above them as she pivots on the arm to follow his gaze, "What's up?"
"Their excrement is why the tunnels are slick and mask our steps," a small chuckle leaves his lips as he watches her arm slowly shake and release the ceiling, her blue eyes shimmering with disgust before she wipes the hand off on the back of his shirt. "Thanks. That might never wash out…"
"Well, you should have worn a crappy shirt since we're in such a crappy area…" he feels her beam with pride at the low-hanging joke, but he's got one up on her, every time.
Leon continues their march, eyes focused and ready, and then he says, "Just remember, the tunnels aren't the 'fecal point' of our adventure here; it's the lab."
"I cannot believe you just dropped a pun like that right now…" does she really not know him?
There is one more pun, but he holds off, deciding to return to making sure the team reaches its destination in one piece. As they continue their trek through the tunnels, Leon catches the occasional piece of conversation from DC, Nadia, and Sherry. Leon cannot fight the feeling of pride at the blonde woman they are all surrounding and protecting. The day Leon heard she became an Agent, he almost threw a chair and had to be talked down from travelling to where she was and stopping her from making that mistake.
One of us had to escape, one of us had to be free of this nightmare, it was her wish, though.
They sent him on missions after that to keep his mind busy and away from Sherry's choice and it was only when they reconnected in China that he accepted her resolution. The life fit her well and she was a born natural it seemed. He offers a glance back at her and smiles a little, yeah, she's a natural for this life, just like the rest of them stained by bioterror. DC makes a joke about Sherry's healing ability, a gift born from a dark curse and tainted bloodline. A chilled breeze crosses through them, putting everyone's senses on high-alert.
"Into the heart of the beast," Claire's voice carries easily across the cavernous room they have slid into.
Five pairs of eyes scan the large junction chamber for threats, escapes, and hidden places for threats to hide in. Leon watches as a large glob of the slime lining everything forms at end of a tunnel offshoot and drops to the soggy ground with a wet slop. Nadia steps up next Leon, DC steps up next to Claire, and Sherry steps behind them all, none of them prepared for what is to happen.
There is a sudden explosion of white as the chamber is filled with bright light from fixtures mounted overhead, "Oh, seems I do have some trespassers. Kill them."
"Short, to the point, and pretty cocky," Sherry checks her pistol and smirks up at the voice, "do you not know who we are?"
"Doesn't matter who sent you. D.S.O. B.S.A.A. Blue Umbrella… You'll die the same," Leon actually senses that Sherry's words got to the mysterious voice, which he can't help but feel more pride in that he probably should.
The group falls into a circle, their eyes and weapons trained for anything to move before DC speaks up in a hard whisper, "Villain does know these things can't see us, right?"
A sound of a hard punch followed by a small cry of pain, "Why did you hit me, Nadia?"
"Stop jinxing us, DC. We're going to make it out of here. Sherry, any idea where we should go?"
The blonde scans the chamber, noticing that the upper levels have all the makings of a full-blown facility, "Well, our target is clearly in that building, so I think we have two tunnels to choose from. Splitting up might be a decent idea if we knew what we are up against. Do you guys hear that?"
He doesn't need to hear it, he can feel it: the trembling ground, the shifting earth, and it's all coming from below, "RUN!"
As the team moves toward the tunnel nearest to the compound, the ground where they were standing explodes in a cloud of dirt and slime. Three of the Graboids erupt from the hole, slamming into the ground like some horror-movie version of breaching whales.
"You mind?" Leon picks up the sound of a pin being pulled after DC's question.
"Please do!" Sherry's answer is almost frantic, but Leon knows it's the adrenaline.
They round the turn, almost slipping in the soaked mud, and DC tosses the grenade behind them. The D.S.O. superstar hopes his aim is spot-on as Claire approaches the metal door and proceeds to rip it open. The door jumps partway open, with Sherry slipping through and helping pull from the other side. Nadia jumps into the gap and uses her entire body to help gain them entry as Leon and DC take defensive positions on either side of the tunnel.
"Ideas, hotshot?" the B.S.A.A. pilot drops his rifle into a chunk of muck jutting out from the wall, smirking as it's solid enough to use as a brace.
Leon holds the Desert Eagle steady in his hands as a chuckle leaves his lips, "I'm too distracted trying to figure out how you two work with the brain-dead Redfield. You both crack jokes, have fun, and bring smiles to the party."
"The Captain is a riot, just another one of the guys when the mood hits him right," DC sticks a few extra magazines into the muck for quick reloads, "You've known him longer than we have, how do you not know that?"
Rumblings up ahead snag Leon's attention for a second, but he looks at DC, then nods back toward Claire, who almost has the door open, "Kind of hard for him to be funny and loveable when I'm too close to his sister."
No further words can be shared as one of the monsters appears from the end of the tunnel, mandibles snapping open and closed, body aimed to slam into them and the door. Leon readies another magazine for a reload and prepares to fire, his left eye closing to offer him a bit more stable aim. DC glances over at Leon, waiting for a signal to fire, but it never comes.
"We're in!" Leon nods for DC to jump through first and then turns to join him as the beast charges for them, screeching something horrendous.
Once Leon is through the door, DC slams it closed, and Sherry flips the locking mechanism, all of them breathing a sigh of relief, "That was a lot fucking closer than I want to ever get to those things again…"
"You," Leon smirks and pats DC on the back, "and me both. So, what are we looking at here?"
He notices that Sherry is walking back and forth across the corridor, staring at her feet, "Something up, boss?" Leon fights the urge to call her 'kiddo'.
"The floor is padded, or springy, or something, I'm not sure. I think it's designed to eliminate footfalls," she jumps up a little and nods when she wobbles a little from the landing. "Yeah, this floor is designed to hide the tremors from walking, running, and moving things."
Leon smirks at her words, "So the creatures do sense us through the vibrations in the ground."
"Why didn't they find us sooner?" Nadia leans against the wall and absentmindedly traces a finger along a large rifle round hanging on a chain around her neck.
Sherry offers up the answer before Leon can, "The muck they excrete, it made the ground softer so our steps didn't carry as far. Running, though, that set them off. The tunnels were soaked, the main chamber wasn't, which I guess is how our mysterious host found out we were here."
Claire shows up in Leon's peripheral vision and they exchange glances, the same glances proud parents share when their child is showing off how amazing they are. Leon is almost caught off guard as Claire's hand snakes around his own, their fingers interlocking. He traces his thumb over the back of her hand and feels a warmth filling his body he hasn't felt in a long time. They share one more look before nodding and turning to Sherry, awaiting her next order.
"What's the plan?" DC cleans some of the muck from the magazines he tucked into the wall and slips them back into his vest.
Blue eyes close slowly as Sherry thinks on this, "Well whoever our target is, they know we're here…"
Everyone turns to glare at Leon, who holds up a hand and hurriedly counters, "Sorry. Habit and all."
"Again, he's right. Since they know we are here, it's going to turn our mission timetable up a few notches. We need to gather what intel we can, capture the target, and destroy the lab so their work cannot continue. I am," Sherry looks at each of them, "looking for suggestions on how to proceed. Splitting up may not be our best option when it comes to safety…"
"But," Claire steps up and places a hand on the younger woman's shoulder, "it is our best option to complete our tasks in an expedited manner. DC, Nadia, you two okay with tracking down our target?"
"Leave whoever this sick bastard is to us," Nadia nods and DC throws a tiny salute at Sherry, "We'll keep in radio contact, Miss Birkin."
"Good luck," she returns the salute to DC and soon, the Raccoon City trio is left alone as the remainder of Silver Dagger vanishes down an intersecting corridor up ahead.
Leon drops the bag he's had slung over his shoulder since they disembarked the plane to the ground in front of them, "Well, we better bring out the big guns…"
"Exactly what did you pack?" Claire eyes the bag suspiciously as Leon hands out two remotes, each one filled underneath with eight small metal sticks.
He beams with pride as he opens the bag the rest of the way, revealing an obscene amount of plastic explosive, "You want this place destroyed, right? A gift from a friend of mine in the military. Each detonator has its own frequency if we need them to detonate separately."
"Like if we want to feed a piece to one of those Graboids and then detonate it," the smile on her face when he confirms her thoughts is infectious and he finds himself smiling at their leader.
"Alright" he sets about handing a few blocks of C4 to each of the women before him, "Pull the detonator, click it to activate, stick in the explosive, and toss. When ready, just press the button and we've got sushi."
"Charming," the redhead takes the plastic explosive and winks at him, melting more of his heart, Do you have any idea what that little wink does to me?
Focus, Kennedy, he nods back to her and slings the bag back over his shoulder, holding out his hand for Sherry to lead the way.
The large revolver is pulled up high enough for body shots on a person and possible headshots on these tunneling freaks as Sherry steps forward and begins to lead the two older survivors down the corridor. They constantly scan for threats, Leon opting to look back once in a while in case something tries to sneak up on them. As they continue to move, they find that something sneaking up on them will be harder to miss than originally thought, since the way the floor moves travels through a decent distance. It takes them a few minutes to get into a matching march in order to balance out the wobbling floor, but soon enough they are moving in tandem like a well-oiled machine.
Barry and Jill have taught her well it seems, though he isn't too happy with her choice in weaponry, Leon did get to experience her skill with an even larger magnum in China against the Ustanak.
"Wait wait, you two were just at each other's throats and you just continue the story like that didn't happen?" Rebecca is kind of confused at this sudden turn around.
She watches as Leon looks at her before sighing, "Her story needs to be told. We can hold off on the fighting until that is done. We owe her at LEAST that much, don't you agree?"
Claire, Jill, Jake, and even Chris nod, though Chris hasn't moved his gaze from the D.S.O. Agent. Awkward silences are never good, especially when there is tension so thick in the air that Rebecca swears she can see it. It has a weird feel to it though, almost sexual in nature, powerful as well. Her eyes slowly move between Leon and Claire, noticing that the two of them haven't moved their eyes off each other.
Before she says it, the professor knows that even on her deathbed, she'll never ever be able to explain why the words left her lips, "After her story is all said and done, the two of you need to book a hotel room and fuck whatever this is out of both of you."
END of Part Four