Disclaimer: All characters, likenesses, and locations are property of Capcom and their respective owners.

Chapter 6: The Bird of Truth

Not many people know that in one of the first tellings of Sleeping Beauty, "Prince Charming" actually raped the princess as she slept. He did it repeatedly. When Sherry looked at Chris; that was what she saw: like he had just awoken with a kind of pain he could not explain but knew exactly what was. He had taken to scotch like it was an old friend. Mason, Ashley, and Rebecca were beginning to worry, but if Claire's stories were accurate: Chris was in coping mode. This state was more of an effort to keep himself together than it was a conscious effort at self-destruction. So Sherry took the first opportunity to sit next to her commander at the kitchen bar. He downed a glass of scotch and popped the bottle open to refill it. Sherry set the glass she had gotten from the cabinet down and motioned for him to share, "You sure?" Chris questioned.

"Does a black hole suck?" Sherry replied.

"Okay." Chris tipped the bottle and poured the drink into Sherry's glass. Now Sherry had never had scotch before but had read things, so she believed that she had prepared. She was not. Once, on a dare from Claire, Sherry had taken the cork from one of Claire's hard liquors and tossed it into her mouth. Scotch tasted like that, if the cork had been roasted over an open fire first. She tried to stifle her cough. Chris laughed.

"Maybe not," Sherry downed the rest of the glass to be done with it.

"What's up, Sherry."

"The kids are worried."

"Tell them not to be." Chris downed another glass.

"I'm worried too."

"Oh?"

"What happened between you and Jill?" there, she asked it. At some point everyone wondered what the inseparable partners had gone through that would make Jill want to disappear. Information said that they were living together just before she left.

For a moment, Chris looked like he was going to resist, but then he took a deep breath, "I don't know. We were doing well. Sometimes she would wake up in the middle of the night crying over the things she had done under Wesker's control. I'd wrap my arms around her and she'd fall right back asleep." Sherry was stunned. From what she knew, Jill wasn't the crying type. That meant one of two things: that Jill had done some horrible things and/or she was close enough to Chris to let her guard down. Sherry surmised that it probably more the latter than the former. Knowing Wesker it was, likely, very much warranted, "That day, I caught her leaving. She had just packed a bag and was… leaving. When I asked her what she was doing all she had to say was that she 'had to go' and that there were consequences needing to be dealt with, whatever that means." Chris downed another glass of scotch, "I practically begged her to stay." Tears built at the corners of his otherwise stoic face.

Sherry did not think before she moved a little closer to him, "I don't know Jill, but I know what being a tool for someone in power is like. They did… things to me, but I had someone to talk to about it. I had Claire."

Chris grimaced, "Yeah, Claire told me." Chris's eyes glanced at Sherry's stomach and she knew he had been told about them harvesting her ovaries in her teens. Sherry folded her arms over her stomach and Chris pulled his eyes away, "I wish she'd come to me sooner."

"Hey, Boss," Mason knocked on the kitchen archway, "Tech Geek Barbie has something. I think you're going to want to see this."

It was at that point that Sherry realized how close she was sitting to Chris and pulled away, "We'll be right there." Chris answered and Sherry got up to go after Mason when Chris stopped her, "Thanks."

"Anytime." Sherry smiled.


The 'Pit' as Ashley liked to call it was the conference room that she had repurposed for the sole function of housing her home-made super computer. She had been offered an official requisitioned terminal, but declined and used the money for parts. She liked to say that building the computer, which she referred to as 'Beast', was half the fun. Combining black market parts with military grade hardware was the other half. Sherry never understood the E-peen references, though, but Beast could put certain NSA super computers to shame. Chris and Sherry did not get two steps into the conference room before Ashley was on top of them, "You are gonna kiss me, Commander, wait not kiss that would be inappropriate, hot, but inappropriate. Will you stop talking I have something to show you." Ashley zipped back to her computer, placed her hand on a computer screen and swiped it toward the display on the wall, "Meet Juliana Hart," Ashley pointed to what was an obvious picture of Jill Valentine, "Secretary for the head of the Secret Intelligence Service."

"The SIS? Ashley, how did you get this information?" Sherry questioned.

"Via some puzzle pieces on the hard drive we 'acquired', elbow grease, and a-LOTof highly illegal network massaging. It seems someone gave her asylum in the UK and a new identity. If I didn't know what she looked like and the right places to peek into, I wouldn't have found her. Now pet me on the head like the good operative I am."

"That's good work, Ash. Pack bags, everyone, we're going to London." Chris ordered. Sherry examined the screen and could not help but think there was something more to this story.


Even though being primarily funded by the United States via the United Nations, the BSAA's headquarters are based in the United Kingdom. Chris had always found that interesting but never really gave it any thought. It was one of the things on Jill's plate when the BSAA had just received its funding. Chris was in charge of the training curriculum and recruitment criteria. He had almost forgotten what perks being a founder had when he transferred back to the trenches. The BSAA, for its espionage purposes, purchased several high-end hotels and resorts. Jill was also in charge of this decision. She said it was to eventually make the BSAA independent of the government contracts it was reliant upon at the moment. That being said, it was nice to be put up on the penthouse floor of one of the ritziest hotels in London.

"Have you seen the mini bar in this place?" Mason snickered with child-like glee, "It's not mini!"

"I don't think anything in this place is mini." Rebecca quipped.

"What do you think the staffers thought was going on when they saw two guys and three girls all check in to the same penthouse suite?" Ashley smiled, causing Rebecca stutter something unintelligible.

"This hotel is known for its discretion." Chris answered, "It's why I chose it."

"So all kinds of things are going through the staff's minds, Great." Sherry sighed

"It doesn't matter what people think, it's time to work." Chris turned to Ashley, "Ash: are you alright with just that laptop?"

"Def, this thing has twice the processing power of most desktops. That, with the sync to the Beast, there's nothing that'll be able to handle me."

"Then get me a location on Ms. Hart. The rest of you set up shop. We move at a moment's notice." Chris turned to find Mason with one hand in the mini-bar and the other dialing a phone number, "What are you doing?"

"Ordering Room service," Mason shrugged, "You don't expect us hunt on an empty stomach, do you?"

The team got finished unpacking quicker than Chris expected, and were now huddled mostly around Ashley. She seemed to work better when people were breathing down her neck. Aside from the periodic crunches from Mason biting into crawdads, Ash was making real progress. Though how Mason managed to get crawdads in London was beyond Chris, "Bazinga." Ashley exclaimed.

"What do you have?" Sherry inquired.

"They protect her like I've never seen before, that coupled with the fact that she has almost no digital foot print made for one hell of a 'where's Waldo', but I found a party that was not nearly as guarded. Juliana Hart is on the guest list as one of the VIPs."

"Since when are Secretaries VIPs?"

"Since Jill became one." Chris responded, "Ash, when is the party?"

"Tonight."

"Can you get us in?"

"Can I get you in, he asks." She tapped the keys a few times and pointed at her printer, "Mister Redfield, you're going to need a black tie."


Finding a tuxedo was as simple as calling the hotel concierge. Men really had it easy when it came to that sort of thing. Chris was happy with anything as long as it fit, which with his body size was not a task easily accomplished. Sherry on the other was a girl, and, to her surprise, a rather girly one. It took Rebecca, Ashley and one of the Hotel staffers to help her find the dress she would wear: a knee-length, sapphire, silk dress tailored over one shoulder like a toga. The staffer found matching Sapphire earrings, a necklace, and pumps. When Chris came to pick her up Ashley let out noise she was Sherry's mom, sending her to the prom. Ashley also wanted pictures but Chris would not stop long enough to indulge her. He did not look at Sherry once during the drive except to whisper the game plan to her.

Apparently, the plan was to gather intelligence not interact. Chris wanted to know what Jill was doing in the UK, why she was there, and why she was working a life with a different name and life. Sherry suspected he just wanted to know why she had left. It seemed like a waste to get so dressed up for someone was not going to pay her only a passing bit of attention, "We're here. Are you ready for this?" Chris asked.

"I'm trained for this. I'm more worried about you." Sherry responded.

"I'll be fine."

"Will you?"

"I'll be fine.


The beeps of the machines droned a soft tune. It was the same tune they had been singing for months now. Despite her comatose state, Claire Redfield often gave the doctors signs that not only was she still alive, but, if they did not know better, awake. This night was no different. Her pulse began to race and her EEG readings spiked. Claire was trying to wake up.

AN: Sorry for the long wait, things have been really hectic, but you don't want to hear about it. Let me know what you think.