Author Note: Continuation to Secrets and Flies that starts three months after the end of the last one. Love, betrayal, suspense and action are on the menu for this story as we watch our favourite band of Umbrella renegades give it there all to hopefully bring a final end to there hellish lifestyle once and for all. To do that, assistance will be required from some, unconventional characters.
I do not own the characters & this will be very different from any RE movie and/or video game plot (to date)
Please read & review as you wish!
B.
Updated 18-Dec-2015: Since the first part "Secrets & Flies" has been edited and changed a bit (especially in the end) I figured I should extend the editing to the first few chapters of this story as well before adding more.
Chapter Seven
Ada released the pressure to Alice's throat, dropping her pistol and stepping back. Umbrella's best assassin removed her head covering, revealing her chiseled jaw line and short jet black hair that blew in the smoke filled air. Leon approached, extending out his hand for Alice to take. She shrugged it off, not wanting to take any assistance from the two people who just attempted to kill her. Alice re-holstering the discarded shot gun as a sign of good faith, scanning her surroundings.
Crackling flames engulfed the whole bow section of the Arcadia from disembodied helicopters. There was no more gun fire, no explosions, everything was quiet. Shrapnel lay about, lodged in crates, people, and the steel plating to the ship. Scorched corpses of people she swore to protect were intermingled with dead Umbrella Operatives, the deck boards slick with blood. Alice felt nauseous for the first time in years at the smell of gasoline and charring flesh. This was different than being around infected and deformed Umbrella experiments. She turned, looking up at what remained of the bridge above. The windows were blown out, the frame charred and a blaze of orange and red. Last Alice knew, K-Mart and Angela were up there.
The small morsel of humanity left inside of her wanted to go and make sure everyone she cared about was still alive. In the haze of smoke and blood she could no longer make out Luther pulling Claire from the water, or Jill manning the turret gun, or Chris wherever he had ventured off to. Somehow she knew they were all safe, and she could focus on why Leon and Ada concealed themselves as Umbrella Operatives to get here.
"Is there some place we can talk?" Leon asked.
Like a switch Alice nodded, "Follow Me." She stated flatly leading the way.
Ada and Leon holstered their weapons, now that Alice was going to co-operate. They walked single-file through the riveted hatch under the broken metal staircase above the bridge. The stairs were taken out when the helicopters targeting the bridge had exploded like firecrackers in the sky. Alice closed and locked the door behind them, leading the two stowaways down a maze of deserted halls. It was a good thing, with all three of them dressed in Umbrella fatigues and in light of the battle outside, it would be difficult to stop someone from pulling the trigger. She was taking them to Claire's stateroom, a place she abandoned three months ago, returning to just yesterday in the dead of night. It was safe, at least for now.
The slow motion replay of Claire diving into the ocean moments before the Umbrella bird crash landed on the deck leaped back into Alice's mind. She could feel her fingers twitching, fighting the urge to turn back round and regroup with the people she trusted with her life, but the desire to not give her uninvited guests any leverage, especially Ada Wong, Alice refused to give in. Playing along with their demands was a safer course of action for the moment, she knew Claire was in good hands with Luther. Making an executive decision on the fly was more Claire's area of expertise than Alice's. Chris was going to chastise her in the future, but information had to be contained and no one understood that better than Alice.
"Where are you taking us Abernathy?" Ada demanded.
She pushed open the stateroom door to her left, switching on the light. Stepping aside, Leon and Ada entered, inspecting the decor of the small room. The scent of Claire still lingered in the sheets and air. Alice closed and locked the door behind them, taking a seat on the unmade twin bed. Ada took the only chair from the wall, spinning it around on two legs before slamming it down, using the back rest for her arms. The slit in her red dress revealed a hidden throwing knife tucked into a garter around her muscular, tanned thigh. Leon remained standing, crossing his arms, and back against the door as if he was a bouncer at a club. The three of them made the already small stateroom feel claustrophobic.
"How does Leon S Kennedy a well known resistance fighter become friendly with Ada Wong, a ruthless Umbrella Assassin?" Alice questioned.
"So, you have heard of me." Ada muttered with a snicker, drumming her fingers on the wooden chair.
Alice narrowed her eyes, "In the worst way possible."
Leon shifted, a snicker appearing on his lips momentarily at the playful banter happening between the two most deadly women he had ever met before. Alice was just a myth to him and his crew back on the mainland. There had been theories of a woman who was able to bond with the virus, who had become the ultimate weapon, but had enough sense to still stay true to the resistance. He removed the blonde locks that had fallen in front of his eyes before clearing his throat.
"I know this seems unconventional, but hear us out." Leon stated as he met Ada's eyes and nodded "Give it to her." He ordered.
Ada sighed as she unclipped a PDA from her left hip, tossing it at Alice who caught it with ease in mid-air. She turned on the screen, her blood beginning to boil. The plastic cracked in her palms as she tightened the grip on the small handheld device.
"Hello Alice,"
The slicked back blonde hair, dark sunglasses, and Matrix styled jacket were unmistakable. It should have came as no surprise that Ada was still a faithful lap dog to her homicidal master. Foolishly, Alice had believed he died in a helicopter explosion months ago, when she, Claire, and Chris had originally taken back the Arcadia from Umbrella.
"Wesker," Alice seethed behind gritted teeth. He was the one man she wished she could kill over and over again.
"A normal person would respond with a Hello, but you are far from normal aren't you Alice."
She looked up at Ada, the sneering smirk on her ruby red lips staring back at her, like a vampire who had just finished it's last kill. It seemed like a life time ago, but there was a time when she to was like Ada; a drone to the corporate giant that kept a roof over her head and food on the table. It was no surprise she would be partnered with Wesker, but the piece of the puzzle that did not fit was Leon. His retaliation against Umbrella was strong, even before this biological war. He was the poster boy in violent, belligerent protests at Umbrella's news conferences. His specialty were ones about futuristic cosmetics. Alice remembered, in her days as a security operative, that Leon had a sister who died using an Umbrella product. The file conveniently left out what product it was exactly, but that was what fueled his rage against the corporation.
"How-"
"Did I survive? I'm sure you're mind is racing with questions Alice, but right now we don't have time for questions only action." Wesker interrupted.
Not only was he a jackass, he was also rude, and pompous. Alice eyed Leon, "Action? Against what, you're the enemy, you started all this."
"Mr. Kennedy, will you be so kind as to elaborate."
Leon cleared his throat, "Wesker is no longer the head of Umbrella Alice, and Ada no longer works for them either. We're all on the same side." He saw the blonde's eyes narrow. "I would not be standing in this room speaking with you right now if it wasn't true." He reasoned.
As much as Alice hated to admit it, Leon did make a very good point. There would be no way in hell someone like Leon would get this close to Wesker and Ada, or that they would be conversing instead of fighting in a hail of gunfire. Arguing over semantics was a waste of everyone's time, and explanations were overrated. She above everyone else in this room believed that.
"If Wesker's no longer the head of Umbrella, then whose left to issue the orders?"
"The Red Queen." Wesker's voice came from the PDA.
"The Computer," Alice whispered, shaking her head, "You can't be serious."
Never one for conversations, always about the action Ada shifted in her chair, clearly getting tired of this back and forth. The same homicidal computer that almost got herself and Matt killed in the Hive five years ago, the same AI that killed the team sent into check for survivors, and the same thing that was controlled Claire and Jill with the red scarab bugs was now in charge of what remained of Umbrella. She currently has an endless supply of mindless drones willing to sacrifice their lives for her, bio weapons that are far from human, and a single agenda of exterminating anything in her path.
"She's been in control since my apparent, death. The Red Queen orchestrated the first attack on the Arcadia with Jill Valentine and now this one, tracking you after leaving Moscow." Wesker explained.
It was hard to tell from his stoic image, but Alice swore she saw a smirk. Blanks in the timeline of events were beginning to make sense. Like it always had been, and will always be, Alice was the cause of death and destruction. This raid was orchestrated as a safety measure,a fire bombing of sorts. That homicidal computer knew that the only people that posed a threat to her master plan were aboard this ship.
"Wesker was able to piggyback onto the Red Queens signal, that was how we knew to be apart of the strike team being dispatched to the Arcadia." Ada explained and nodded at the PDA. "He's the one who actually saved your life."
Alice jumped to her feet as Ada grazed over the handle to her knife, ready to strike when necessary. "Never will there be a time when Wesker saves mine or any one else's, life." Alice snarled.
She would rather die and become one of the undead before she ever gave Albert Wesker credit for her being alive today. "It was his doing that got me into this mess, that made me become what I am, what I hate to be."
"I took that power away from you remember. I gave you back your freedom and clearly your desire to feel, superior, outweighed your humanity. You cannot deny the fact that you went to Moscow on your own accord." Wesker stated.
Alice was cornered, like a feral rat about to be guided into a trap. She hated when other's knew more about her than she did. At this point, she had no choice but to work with Ada, Leon, and Wesker. They needed her just as bad as she needed them. If the Red Queen was truly behind all this, then partnering with the people who knew her best was their only chance at survival. The desire to check on Claire was to strong to ignore as Alice stood, shoving the PDA into Leon's chest.
"Well this was great, but I need to make sure my people are alright." Alice stated. These two unannounced guests had taken up enough of her time.
"The only way your people are going to be alright is if we work together." Ada reasoned.
"We know you've injected yourself with the T-Virus, you're now exactly what we need to end this, for good."
She looked at Leon who had been silent throughout this whole discussion. "What made you trust the organization you swore to destroy?" She asked.
Leon shifted his machine gun that was slung over his left shoulder. "The same thing that's kept you in this room this long. I want to end this just as bad as you Alice and if that means allying with my enemy, then so be it."
Alice closed her eyes for a moment. Thousands of red flags screamed at her with every thought she had. This could all be a trap, a double cross, but that felt like it was her hatred talking instead of reason. They were all tired of fighting, tired of living every day as if it could be their last. Claire deserved to have a better life, Angela deserved a world where she could raise her child in peace, and K-Mart deserved to start a normal teenage life again.
She sighed, "What do you need from me?"
"We need you to come with us to Washington D.C. The Red Queen is using what remains of the White House as a command center. It will be heavily guarded with all types of monsters that go bump in the night." Wesker replied.
"Not to mention thousands of Umbrella drones, high powered weaponry, and God knows what else." Ada interjected.
There was no way she could leave the Arcadia once more without telling the others. This time she'd prefer if they were standing at her side as opposed to rallying against her. They were all fighters, well trained in both military formations and hand to hand combat. They would be assets to the resistance, and it sounded like as much help as possible would be required to take down the Red Queen and her army of monsters.
"Even with my, abilities, I won't be enough. We're going to need reinforcements." Alice stated.
"Who did you have in mind?" Leon asked, eyeing Ada who looked disgusted at the very thought of more people joining them in Washington.
"My crew here on the Arcadia. They are trained, skilled survivors. They would be an asset to us."
Ada looking Alice straight in the eye as she stood from her chair, "Looks like we're going to be working together after all, Project Alice." She slithered, pushing past Leon and going into the hall, slamming the door shut behind her.
Leon looked at Alice and smiled, "After a few days the two of you will be the best of friends." He quipped.
Alice grunted a laugh, "The day Ada and I become friends is the day hell freezes over."
"I'll send a helicopter to your location within four hours, and Alice, I'm glad to be working with you again." Wesker stated before the screen went black.
"What will it take you to be friends with him?" Leon asked.
"A fucking miracle." Alice stated tempted to smash the thing any ways.
T.B.C.
Lets see where this goes shall we?
Please let me know what you think in the form of a review, and what might happen in the next chapter. Thank-you!
