Disclaimer: Haha, BloodOfMyLove, I'm glad you enjoyed. I try to capture a lot of things that I feel should be highlighted on. I will go back to certain points here in the next few chapters too. Such as this one. This chapters goes back to the people mentioned by Chris to Jill in the Prologue. Sofistinha, haha. I'm laying this story out in such a way that it seems to drag just a bit.. intentionally.~ But nevertheless, it should be slowly getting back on track. Laura will begin to play a bigger part in the story, if it works out the way I imagine it to. She's quite the conniving Wesker sibling, much like her brothers but more.. ruthless, I believe.
OrionSolares, yas. Wesker is back.~ :3 Guest, si, things are about to get.. interesting. I'm sorry for the delay between chapters. xD Work is calling Overtime since it's the busiest part of the year. Wesker, in my eyes, as always had a sort of.. attraction to Claire. Kind like "playing with fire", or perhaps the allure of her being his enemy's little sister. Either way. Laura is very manipulative. Let's see just how much so.
We're about to see.. a traitor spring up. I'm not saying who or why. Enjoy everyone!
Straight up lying was too.. easy, too simple. It didn't require much true thought, just a small notion of how to make something false believable.
Now.. to make a half truth. That was much harder. You had to weave things in with the truth hinted at in such a way to make consideration the only true option in response. It was complex at times. But Alex had become good at half truths, priding himself in never straight up lying.
Alex felt.. some measure of anxiousness at the prospect of seeing Redfield again. He hadn't physically met the man though. The sharpshooter was quite the hothead from what he knew and rationality often went out the window. He didn't really need HUNK along, but the man was a damn good negotiator. He'd help convince Redfield. Yet at the same time.. he figured Kennedy and Mrs. Redfield would be there as well. He was.. aware of the union between Redfield and his partner Valentine.
He pinched his nose, deep in thought. He wondered.. no, that likely wouldn't work. Rejection would be high.. tests would have to be run. All was to be considered.. carefully planned out, tracked, watched.
Infection was not a toy to play with. Mutation meant failure. Failure was frowned upon. Spencer had taught him that key instruction. That, among very little, remained as a ghostly echo as he played with his new virus.
He glanced to the clock, waiting for the time it would be to make the next move..
To meet with Chris Redfield.. to begin setting the next piece of the puzzle into place.
His eyes flashed brightly with a burning hunger.
Smooth blue eyes blinked down at the shorter man standing 'proudly' before him. A snort escaped him. "Tackett, you're not scary, you know that right?" He gave a soft smile. "Puff that chest out a little and you MIGHT just scare a kitten."
A round of laughter followed from his snarky comment.
"I don't need intimidation to whoop your ass." Came the bitterly triggered response of the five foot six male trying to reign in his temper. His captain always seemed to poke more at him than the rest. He felt pressured constantly, like he was the only one that Von really pushed. Like he was the one that needed to do more. He was kind of fed up, to be honest.
An 'oohhhh' chorus arose as the gathering crowd of coworkers reclined in chairs, leaned against walls or stood in a semi-circle around the secondary Captain and his Lieutenant. The B.S.A.A. HQ was a curious place at the moment.
Damien Von cracked his knuckles. That small smile grew into a devious smirk, a very.. frightening expression that always meant you crossed a line. "That so, Lieutenant? You think you can challenge me? You think that a wise idea?"
That was when the first spike of fear raced up Aiden Tackett's spine. The scenario resembled much of years prior on the Raccoon City S.T.A.R.S. team Chris trying to stand up to Wesker. Aiden was also one of the few that Captain Redfield actually called by first name. Which was surprising. Typically he stuck with the surname.. or rank.
Aiden narrowed his eyes to his current commanding officer. "I'm positive."
Von let out a chilling chuckle before reaching a hand tentatively to the table beside him. "Checkmate." He said after moving a piece.
The crowd roared.
"Arggghhh!" A disgruntled whine sniffled out from Aiden.
"Third game in a row." Von crossed his arms. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he took it out, noticing that it was a call from Redfield. He accepted it, pressing it to his ear while holding up a hand and walking away from the crowd to a separate room. "Hello, Redfield."
"Damien, change in plans. I'm having Phoenix work on that important task I asked of you prior. I have something else I'd like you guys to assist me with if you wouldn't mind."
"I'm always up to whatever you've on your plate, sir."
"We were supposed to go on vacation, me and the missus, but it seems.. startling news has come up.." Redfield trailed off, seemingly lost in thought.
Von pressed a hand to his free ear, trying to quiet the laughter from the next room. "Anything you're willing to share? I'm always willing to lend an ear or a voice." He said with a smooth laugh.
"Do you remember what happened.. five years ago, in Louisville, Kentucky?" Redfield's cold voice asked in a soft whisper, as if.. not wishing to go in the direction he was thinking.
"Mostly what I've read in the newspaper or heard through the grapevine. Is this relevant, sir?" He hesitantly asked, then realized the question came off rather rude. "I didn't mean to sound.. disrespectful, I'm just a bit confused."
"Five years ago I lost my sister in that outbreak." This.. was news to Von. He knew Chris' sister had died, but had never gotten much more than 'she's gone' out of his commander. "She was infected in that outbreak. She was among the loss we suffered. Any loss of life is saddening, but her death hit Jill and I really hard.." A sigh followed.
"Was it ever known how it started?" Von thought to ask, a careful edge of his cool voice.
"Some scientist that used to work for Umbrella." Another sigh from the commander. "Anyway. My point is. We never recovered Claire's body and the reason was because someone took it. He told us as much. He got into contact with me earlier and is wanting to meet. I.." Hesitancy.
"Sir?"
"Claire's alive." Disbelief still hung heavily.
"Aren't we late for this mission, sir?" He quietly asked as his superior came back into the room, the roar of laughter dying to stifled coughs at the cool air the man carried. At this topic the cold blue stones of Damien Von flickered up from the floor to study him calmly.
Vic Walker could tell from that expression that something had happened. Something urgent. The Captain was never really.. this cold. Yeah, he was level headed and a bit cool to the talk, but the man felt like a freezer of something irking him.
"Gentlemen." Von chose to ignore the question, instead waiting patiently as every man in the room snapped to attention quickly. "We have a change in orders. We are to get suited and be in route to Redfield's location ASAP. I expect a swift assembly and full account of artillery."
That meant.. something big was happening.
Everyone saluted and jogged off to gather supplies. All but Vic. He stood there as Damien turned his back, arms folded.
"Sir." Vic's almost.. timid voice spoke up, alerting his commander that someone was still present. He turned back around to study Vic's calm expression. The normally comedic man was icily standing straight, the calmness switching to a more on guard one.
"Walker?"
"What's going on. I've never seen you like this. Yea, you get alert pretty often and distant, but you're coming off as a man with a heavy burden. What's going on that you've yet to tell us?"
Von's expression turned to a crisp frown, brows knitting. "We have a new potential threat. A guy by the name of Alex had Chris' little sister's body since the Louisville Leak. She was apparently infected in the incident and died from mutation, from what I was told." He heaved a sigh, running a hand through snowy hair neatly trimmed. "They don't know a lot, but.. when I was digging around Umbrella files seven years ago, ones I uncovered as a freelance agent.. I know that name. Alex."
He peered darkly toward his subordinate.
"Alex Wesker."