I'm hearing a lot of whining from people who don't think I can keep to something I solemnly swore.
I really wish I could be there when you log onto fanfiction and are proven wrong.
Anyways, I have to give credit to the great directors and scriptwriters of the film noir genre. I basically stole all of their best quotes in writing this chapter. He-he. God, this should be fun to write…
Chapter 10: Reunion:
Full moon. The sun had finished setting for the night for nearly an hour. In the small Midwestern town of Raccoon City, a pale orange light phased through the thin, sparse clouds. Almost as if it was encouraging those who walk the night to rise. No, not hellhounds or zombies (yet), but the most dangerous predator of all:
Humans.
What few night clubs Raccoon City had were just warming up, along with the midnight diners and steakhouses. While the clear dark night was just beginning, it was balanced out by a myriad of morose noises.
Air conditioners blasting away.
A cat screeching.
A couple standing at a street corner throwing insults back and forth before splitting up and leaving one another.
He heads west. She heads east.
Leaves rustling in the dull breeze.
The shattering of glass as kids threw bottles against concrete sidewalks.
The squealing of tires as an ambulance roared it's engines, quickly coming into view. Inside, a young man wearing a white lab coat was busy on the phone discussing with a friend of his the finer points of this little confrontation they had organized.
"You still think I'm the best person for this job? Cause let me tell you, Wesker, I'm not above you changing your mind at the last second."
A cold, British voice responded from the other end.
"Birkin, we've been over this. Yes, you are the only person who has any chance of catching her off guard. That's final."
Birkin sighed in resignation.
"Wesker, is there any way to win against you?"
"No, there are only ways to lose more slowly."
"Fine, I'll do it. But if things go haywire, I will ask Mr. T to help bail me out, so if he goes overboard and wrecks this steakhouse, then get ready to cover the whole thing up."
"Birkin, you do know plausible deniability is the first thing taught to police captains, don't you? Besides, we've both been researchers for Umbrella, don't you think old Spencer can solve any mishaps by randomly throwing around all his money?
"I guess your right, but you're going to owe me big time."
"I haven't forgotten your request. When the T-virus inevitably spreads to the city, and if for some reason you are incapacitated, I will see to it that our people extract your daughter Sherry and take her to safety."
"Alright, I might as well get this over with…Oh, and by the way, Wesker,"
"Hmm?"
If it does come to that…you know, you getting Sherry out of here, I…I just want to say…thanks…"
"Don't mention it."
And so, having exchanged final words with Wesker, Birkin parked the ambulance at Sullivan's Steakhouse, a local favorite famed for it's stylized, 1940's flair and live jazz music plus a dance floor. Waiting inside that restaurant was one of the most dangerous femme fatales in all history.
Ada Wong.
How it was arranged for them to meet was this: Wesker had been spending a good deal of time lately at the Spencer Mansion. He worked in Umbrella's top secret intelligence division, so it was easy to scare the nerdy researchers down there into thinking that he was there on an inspection tour. Because it had been him who arranged the ordeal, he knew that the only researcher there who had a girlfriend was the current head researcher, John Howe. That mission he gave to Ada: winning over John's confidence so that he would spill the codes to the Spencer Mansion's biofilter to make the task of spreading the T-virus a whole lot easier, was where Wesker and Ada's game of cat and mouse began.
Wesker simply eavesdropped on John, who was a notorious blabbermouth, always bragging to his coworkers about having a girlfriend. One day, he was rambling on about some big, Friday night date he was supposed to take her on. Wesker knew that she would be desperate to find any excuse to get out of that, so he sent her an anonymous invitation to a dinner for two at Sullivan's Steak House.
She gladly accepted it.
Sullivan's Steakhouse was the classiest restaurant in all of Raccoon City. People would drive hours just to get a knife in edgewise with something tasty on their menu (A steak knife, not a combat knife. No, they don't serve zombies for food.) And the specialty drinks were usually a treat, as well. Once a year, on a Saturday night, they organize a drinking game, which has become very popular.
The first place winner for the year of 1998 was of course Chris Redfield. They took his picture directly after he won and pinned it up next to a first place trophy in one corner of the restaurant. Unfortunately, because of all the vodka, gin, and bourbon that was coursing through his bloodstream at the time, he thought that the flash from the camera was being caused by miniature aliens who were going to try and abduct him and fit him into a pea sized UFO, so in his picture he is seen diving face-first into a side window, trying to make a quick getaway. Ambulances were quickly called to the scene over that incident…
The second place winner was Barry Burton. In his picture, he is rearing back, preparing to punch Chris in the face, jealous of finishing second to him for the last 2 years in a row. Sadly for him, his sense of balance was way off, so instead of connecting his fist with Chris's jaw, he fell harmlessly to the floor, which was a much more gravitationally sound place for him to be anyways.
The third place winner was a newcomer to Raccoon City named Leon S. Kennedy. He hadn't downed quite as many martinis and Chris or Barry, and he was a much nicer drunk to begin with. In his picture, he is seen flashing the camera an ultra-sexy look that would make Humphrey Bogart jealous.
When she entered the steakhouse and saw that picture, Ada immediately told the waiter she wanted to sit next to the trophy case.
Ada had been waiting there for twenty minutes before she decided to cave in and order a drink. She ordered an experimental new specialty, the 'Dirty Saketini.' It was basically a martini made from a mix of vodka, gin, and sake along with the usual lemon on the rim. She sat there, staring at the picture in the trophy case, lost in thought. All of the troubles of her life weighed heavy in her mind, from having to publicly date the creepiest pervert in Raccoon City, to all the trouble of playing cat and mouse with Wesker and wondering what her next move would be, to more basic things like keeping her status as the most badass femme fatale on the face of the earth and the issue of not having any real sort of identity or anywhere to call home.
Or any family…
"Uh…ha-ha…um…excuse me, Ada?" a nervous voice rang out from what seemed like very far away.
"What?! Oh!" Ada exclaimed, snapping back to reality. Looking around, she did a double take on the lab coated person to her side.
"Oh. My. God. Birkin?!"
"Uh, Hi Ada. It's been awhile." replied Birkin. He was so nervous he was shaking, waiting any second for the gun to be pressed between his eyes.
"Birkin…this is great!-your treating me to dinner and everything! How have you been?" an enthusiastic Ada responded, genuinely happy to see an old friend. She stood up and was about to give him a hug, when the mission snapped back into her head.
"Oh, right. Birkin. G-virus. Secret Underground Lab. The possibility of Wesker putting him up to this." she thought, and her mood dropped significantly. She politely stretched her hand out and shook his, making extra sure to grip really hard just to remind him who he was dealing with.
Birkin was already near hyperventilating with fear. Her greeting had been sort of warm, but that didn't change the fact that she was a highly skilled, professionally trained secret agent whose mission was to secure a sample of the G-virus that he invented.
"Okay, remember: shoulder and chest pain. That's how you tell when the heart attack starts." Birkin thought desperately.
"So why did you bring me here?" asked Ada, looking to intimidate him further by being more direct.
"Wh-what?! The…this steakhouse? Um…I couldn't find it for the longest time…uh…I'm sorry…s-sorry if you were waiting long."
"You reserved a table at a steakhouse you couldn't find?" inquired Ada.
"Uh…sorry" piped Birkin.
"Okay, it's official. Wesker put him up to this for some reason. But…why? What on earth could he be thinking? He's not stupid, and he knows that trying to use the G-virus as some sort of bargaining chip is the same as openly declaring war. What does Birkin have that Wesker could possibly bait me with?"
They sat in silence for awhile only listening to the house band improvising over a lively beat. The waiter came around and took their orders. Ada ordered breaded mushrooms with rice pilaf. Birkin ordered a seafood sampler with a water to drink. In the past few weeks, Birkin had gained a fuller appreciation of how fragile his sanity really was, so as a safety precaution, there would be no alcohol in his system that night.
"Okay, think Birkin, she has the upper hand on you. What can you do to change that around?" he thought, wondering yet again what Wesker thought he had that would tempt Ada besides the G-virus. He could tell that she had already played him a little, so it seemed smart to avoid mentioning the virus unless he wanted to be dragged away and tortured by his former fellow college student. Suddenly, something Wesker had once said to him during their college years came flooding back into Birkin's mind:
"The class is called 'Persona 401' it's all about how you adopt an evil, bad-guy persona to appear more intimidating to enemies."
That was the key! All Birkin had to do was adopt some kind of persona. Ada wouldn't expect him to do something like that! But what kind of a persona?
He looked around the room. As the waiter came back with their food, he noticed the drinking contest trophies to his side. First, he considered the top two pictures of Chris and Barry stapled next to the trophies.
"Hmm, there's a 99 percent chance that they are both completely wasted. I could order something alcoholic and probably go crazy again, but then I would not be able to control myself and I wouldn't be able to remember anything…Hmm…"
He noticed the third picture of Leon giving the camera a sexy look.
"Hey, that's just like in those old film noir movies. That'd be a great persona! Okay, think. What would somebody like that say?" Birkin concentrated, got into character, grinned at Ada, and then the real battle of wits began:
"Yeah, listen Ada. I couldn't find this damn place for the life in me. I was about to give up, and I was just breezing through, and, lo and behold, there's the name of the place on the sign outside."
Ada was confused by this sudden outburst.
"Well, it's a small world."
"Or a big sign." Birkin replied. Ada's confusion was becoming visible.
"So why didn't you try to contact me sooner, if you knew I was in town?" Ada asked, trying untested waters.
"Why didn't I go to China? Some things you do, some you don't."
"Ah, he's learned to be indirect." Ada thought. "So he's looking for some kind of weakness. Two can do that, Birkin." And so, also having the skill of rhetoric, Ada shot right back with one of her best seduction lines; the same one she'd used successfully on John a few weeks ago:
"Would you mind saying a word or two to me?" Ada asked.
"On what subject?"
"I don't think it really matters. It's just that my mother always told me 'if a girl could be at a party for 30 minutes and not have a guy talk to her, she might as well go home and shoot herself.' I've been here for 25."
Birkin grinned widely. "Well in that case, I'd be very happy to save your life, liar."
"Oh? Now how am I a liar?" Ada became cautious. That line usually worked, but Birkin was unfazed.
"Well, now. How should I put this?" Birkin was also becoming caution. His answer depended on something that might be a touchy subject for Ada.
"Well, I know where you come from. You were adopted by the University when you were an infant…You don't have a mother."
Ada laughed. Birkin was even more on guard.
"Oh yeah, that's right. You're one of three people who know where I come from. It's really been too long, Birkin, I forgot you knew that."
"Damn! She's not giving up, is she? Well, I'm out of ideas. I'm going to need help on this one."
Birkin excused himself to the restroom, pulled out the cell phone Wesker had given him, and began to dial for the police station…
Meanwhile:
Back out front, inside the ambulance, Mr. T and Lisa Trevor were getting bored in the hot and stuffy ambulance. Suddenly, Mr. T had a great idea.
"Rawr?" he asked Lisa.
"Mother?" she asked back.
"Rawr."
"Mother?"
"Rawr!"
"Mother!"
And so it was settled. Mr. T opened the back door to the ambulance and they both climbed out. Now they had something to do…
Back to Birkin:
"But that's the problem, Wesker! She's as clever as you are. Nothing I say has any effect on her! You said before that there is something I have that I can use as near full-proof bait. Something she would definitely listen to."
"I obviously can't promise I'll know what Ada's response will be, but I can assure you that there is something you have that she will respond too."
"And as soon as I mention the G-virus, she will drag me away, torture me for a few days, and then I'll have to give it to her!"
"First, Birkin, realize that if Ada does get her hands on the G-Virus, she will simply be mailing it back to me, whether she realizes that or not. So if she threatens you, please, by all means, give her a sample. But I wasn't talking about the G-virus."
"Then what?! She's better than me at witty dialogue, and her guard is up! I can't get her to do anything! You have to tell me what it is!"
"Birkin, calm down and look at this objectively. You've done everything as planned so far, yes?"
"Yeah"
"And what was the result?"
"Complete failure."
"Exactly. If I tell you what it is she will respond to, it will become forced and she'll see that it's just another one of our tricks. Whether you find out what it is or not, you have to be as sincere as possible with her. Understand?"
Okay, that makes a little sense. But what is it exactly you want from her? Didn't she steal that Blue Notebook of yours?"
"Ah, yes. That. The notebook is something that I would like for her to return."
This talk of notebooks brought back memories for Birkin. Specifically, it reminded him of that one Christmas day, where Ada swiped a notebook from another college student and showed it to Wesker and him.
"Is it your diary? Because if it is, then you should just gather some self esteem and realize that it isn't the worst thing in the world that Ada should read it."
"No, Birkin it's not that."
"Then what?!"
"I can't reveal it over the phone, but, in basic terms, that notebook represents information. I honestly don't know what to make of the information inside of it, but I believe that if Ada were to find out, she could present a significant threat to both our future operations and, more importantly…to my Spencer Mansion plot."
"That still leaves one problem. Nothing I do will get through to her."
Wesker chuckled a little over the phone. After a long pause, he responded.
"Okay, Birkin. I trust you to give me an accurate analysis of the situation. Are you 100% sure that nothing you say can get through to her?"
"If not, I wouldn't have called."
"Well then, Birkin. I have good news and bad news."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Wesker began to chuckle again.
"The bad news is that the Martians have landed…In Manhattan…and they've checked into the Waldorf Historia hotel."
Birkin, who was already frustrated, could make no sense of Wesker's words.
"What. The. Hell?!"
Wesker chuckled some more.
"But the good news is that they only eat homeless people of all colors, and they pee gasoline."
"You've lost me completely." said Birkin.
"You see Birkin, that's the sort of thing I would expect you to say whenever you spray yourself with first-aid spray or take green herbs, or do something else to go completely insane. And it has a tendency of breaking down people's mental guards."
"So you want me to voluntarily induce myself with something that will make me go crazy so that I will raise a huge storm, and then we will see where we are when the dust settles?"
"To put it bluntly. I still have faith that you can pull this off. And yes, this is my final trump card. Remove the back casing on this cell phone."
"Okay."
Birkin did as instructed. As he pulled it off, a small plastic bag fell to the floor. Birkin picked it up and examined it."
"Oh, I see, you sent me here with green herbs stuck in the cell phone. So I just take these, and leave everything else to fate?"
This time, Wesker broke out laughing.
"It has nothing to do with fate. There's some chance involved, but I still believe you can do this."
Birkin was still examining the bag of green herbs.
"You know, Wesker, this bag is pretty small. I don't think the insanity effect will last very long."
"Well, that's all the more Rebecca would let me buy off of her. She said the rest of it was for her own use."
"Okay. I'll want a minute to prepare. Either I'll call with the results, or you'll hear about it on the police radio.""Don't worry, Birkin, you can do it." Wesker hung up the phone. Birkin stood in silence for a minute.
"How in Hell did it come to this?" he asked to no one in particular. However, he had a job to do.
Birkin opened the bag of herbs…
Meanwhile, Back to Ada:
"You know, Leon, sometimes I wonder how in Hell it came to this. I mean, back in school, Wesker, Birkin, and I were friends. Now it's like we're mortal enemies."
Ada had turned her attention back to the picture on the wall, and was talking to it quiet enough so that nobody else would hear.
"And then, you'd say back something childish and silly, wouldn't you, Leon? But I'm sure I could find some wisdom in it." Ada smiled. It wasn't often she found anything peaceful in her line of work.
But then…
"HEY! There, you are, love. I was wondering where you were."
"Please, God, No! I'm going to close my eyes for 5 seconds, and then you will make that voice disappear." Ada thought wildly.
"Hey, Oda, how's it going?" the voice only grew closer.
Ada gulped and took a few deep breaths to try and relax.
"John, um…dear, my name is 'Ada.'"
Just those few words took an enormous strain on Ada's part so that she wouldn't shout them.
"Oh! Duh! That's totally right! And here I was…"
"Was wondering why you couldn't log onto your work computer because you changed your computer's password to 'Ada.' You find that romantic somehow, and you've told me that exact same line at least 6 times by now."
John was stunned. "Wow, Ada, you know what that's like?"
Ada had already heard this line also.
"It's like the two of us are connected in ways that, no matter how hard I try, I'll never be able to erase from my mind."
"That's what she said!" John rattled off.
"Ugh, disgusting." Ada muttered under her breath.
"So what are you doing here?" John asked.
"Do you remember what I told you yesterday on the phone?"
"Yeah, of course. You said that you were going to go cheat on me with someone who is my enemy, so I should definitely follow you wherever you go and beat him into a bloody pulp."
"Surely, to any other human being on the planet, stalking does not seem to be an effective remedy for a bad dating situation." Ada though.
"No…uh…honey. I didn't say that. I said it was an important business meeting.
"And where is it you work, exactly? And what is it you do at your job?" John inquired.
"Uh…Well…" Ada stalled for a few seconds. That's all she needed.
Because then, of course, the obvious coincidental thing happened:
"Holy Great Geezers, Batman! It's your arch nemesis, the Molester Mole!"
Yep, Birkin had returned, insane as ever.
John looked between the two with a dumb expression on his face. After a few seconds he came to his own conclusions.
"Oh. My. God. You're cheating on me with him?!"
"Now John, calm down, nobody is cheating with anybody." Ada said calmly.
"Yes you are! With him! With a married man who has a kid!
Those words struck Ada strangely. She stood there, gaping at him, not sure how to respond. There was a long pause.
"Shall I beat him senseless with my rubber Bat-Chicken, Batman? Or will the Molester Mole find that too kinky?" inquired Birkin.
"God! I feel like this is some kind of twisted nightmare!" John whined.
SMACK!!!!!!!!!!!
The motion was so fast nobody even noticed. But a split second later, John was falling towards the ground, unconscious. Ada caught him and dragged him to her table, where she sat him down in an empty chair.
"The nightmare is over." she said, "May sleep come peacefully without any such fears again."
Ada never clarified whether she was talking to John or to herself.
"But of course, Batman! Kicking it Old-School with the Bat-erang will always work!"
Ada stood there for a minute, testing her arms to try and confirm the fact. She felt lighter. John was just one more concern that weighed her down. And now he would be out for the next few hours. Even a small relief was a welcome one.
Then, the manager to Sullivan Steakhouse walked up onto the stage and took the microphone.
"Okay, ladies and gentlemen, you know what time it is! It's time to put on your dancing shoes and join us in our weekly Dance-Off! Join in on the excitement as one lucky couple gets to bring home the fabulous Dance-Off trophy!
His address met with widespread cheering.
"So now, who would like to be the lucky couple number 1?"
Birkin jumped in excitement at this.
"Oooh, Ooooh! Batman, Batman! With those specialty Bat-pills we invented, we can become expert dancers! Can we do it, can we do it, can we do it?! Oh, but make sure you can tell the difference from the real bat-pills and those bat droppings we crystallized in pill form."
Ada looked at him and smiled, too self absorbed to notice how insane he was acting.
"Ha, you want to dance, Birkin?" Ada asked.
But it was too late. Another couple had already shouted out and was quickly bounding up to the stage. This is what they shouted:
"RAWWWRR!!!!!"
Everyone watched in shock and awe as the two strangely dressed giants romped around the dance floor. It wasn't the most graceful dancing anyone had seen, but boy, oh boy, was it some of the most creative and entertaining dancing.
"AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Batman, I can't take it anymore. Must. Go. Get. Groove on!!!
Birkin joined Lisa and Mr. T dancing onstage. Birkin was different than the other two, because he looked like some nutcase in a lab coat whose dancing made it look like he was flapping wings. Normally, security would have removed him, but everyone was so fixated on the other two dancers that nobody paid any attention to him.
It took a long time before anyone noticed that Ada or John were mysteriously absent from the festivities. It took an even longer time before anyone noticed that the picture of the person who ranked third in Sullivan Steakhouse's yearly drinking contest was also missing.
Lisa, Mr. T, and Birkin left the stage and let couples have their turn dancing, before a giant lollapalooza was announced and everyone got to come up and dance at the same time. Everyone that night had loads of fun dancing the night away.
The good times came to an end, and the steakhouse announced that it was closing. Lisa and Mr. T walked back to the ambulance triumphantly holding the 1st place Dance-Off trophy. They were followed steadily by Birkin, whose small dose of green herbs had wore off quickly after all the dancing.
He was about to climb into the ambulance himself, when he noticed an odd figure silhouetted in the dark.
It was Ada, sitting on the hood of her car, blending into the red paint.
Because the night did not end with Ada going batty and murdering Birkin, but instead went much nicer, Birkin forgot the mission that Wesker gave him and decided to see Ada off.
"Hey, Ada. I had a really fun night. Take care of yourself. Just maybe we'll see each other again in the next…decade." Birkin said as he walked up. He noticed that John was slouched over, still unconscious, in the back seat, and Ada, facing away, was clutching a picture in her hands.
"So, uh…goodnight, Ada. It was really nice to see you again."
"Hey, Birkin?" Ada said softly.
"Yeah?"
Ada turned around and smiled.
"Congratulations on getting married! Who would have thought that the neurotic and eccentric William Birkin would ever find a wife!"
"Hey! Thanks a lot…You know, I complain about it a lot, but the married life can be kind of fun sometimes."
They shared a quick laugh.
"Birkin?"
"What is it?"
"How the Hell did it come to this? I mean, look at us. Just a few hours ago, we were treating each other like mortal enemies, trying to outwit each other. What happened?"
"I don't know. We grew up and got jobs working for evil masterminds?"
"Well still. Is that reason enough to hurt someone you care for?"
"I've never really thought about it… You know, I wonder what my daughter Sherry would say if she ever found out what we do on a daily basis."
Ada started laughing hysterically. Birkin watched confused as she laughed so hard she fell off the side of her car.
"Ha-ha. Damn him. It all goes back to him, doesn't it?"
"Who and what?" Birkin asked.
"Wesker. It all goes back to Wesker. He wins this round. Clever bastard. He really outfoxed me by sending you on this mission. I've been wondering all night why he sent you instead of coming by himself, but now I see it."
Birkin quickly accepted the fact that Ada found out the whole night was a farce, because that was a question on his mind as well.
"Ada, I've been wondering why he choose me since he first asked me to do this, but honestly, I still don't see it. Why was it me?"
"Because Wesker has nothing to bait me with. No amount of money, no special favor, there is nothing in his power that can tempt me to give him back what he wants, because our games of cat and mouse are personal; they're a matter of honor. But he's seen my human side, and he knows my soft spots. I have to give in. It hardly even amounts to a choice."
She walked around the side of her car, opened the door, and pulled something out of the glove compartment. It was Wesker's Blue Notebook.
"He wants me to give this back, doesn't he?"
"Ada, you're only confusing me more. What is special about me that makes you all of the sudden give in?"
"Information. You have information that Wesker knows I want. Something I could only ask an old friend. Something I could only ask you."
"Well get to it. What do you want to know?"
Ada hesitated, took a deep breath, and looked straight at Birkin. Her eyes were already turning red.
"I want to know what your life is like. You know, being married and all."
Birkin was aghast.
"Ada, seriously! You can't honestly be considering marrying that guy!" he pointed at the unconscious heap of flesh in the back seat of her car.
"Who, John? I despise him. He had codes that Wesker wants, and I accepted the duty of extracting them. Whenever the researchers at Raccoon City are thoroughly zombifed, I'm going to seek him out personally and do him in."
Ada began tapping her foot from the nerves. Her eyes glanced back toward the photo.
"Look, I just want to know about a path in life that is different than being an evil, triple crossing mastermind."
"Ada for people in our profession, there is no time to balance work and relationships. I'm sorry to bear bad news, but…I mean, take me for example. I work in this business, and I have a wife and a daughter. I work so much that I never see my wife, and when we are near each other, neither of us can be happy. And my daughter Sherry is quickly becoming timid and has dependency issues. In our profession, you know there is no such thing as regular work hours or taking days off to spend time with children. Usually, it's just best to stay in the shadows.
"So then it's better to leave those whom you care for alone?"
"Ada, I'm no saint, but since you're asking me, my answer is this: You can only have one thing or the other: A career as a triple crossing mastermind or personal relationships. It's impossible to balance the two. You'll just have to make a choice."
Ada gazed back into the picture in her hand. A single tear fell from her eye.
"I understand." she said, resigned.
She silently handed the notebook to Birkin before climbing into her car. She rolled down the window and said her final goodbye:
"Take Care, Birkin. It was nice seeing you again."
"Sure, anytime. So long, Ada."
Birkin watched the car drive off into the distance.
"Hmm, well…that was unusual. But I guess Wesker will be happy. I should probably take this back to him now."
But after Ada's bizarre questions, Birkin found himself questioning just how worth it his job really was…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Author's Note:
No, I didn't sleep last night, because I was up writing, and I'm really happy with how the chapter turned out. It got kind of mushy near the end because I wanted to try and make a realistic explanation as to why Ada acts the way she does around Leon in RE2. If you want an explanation as to why she acts the way she acts in RE4, then go find the storywriters, follow their every movement for a few days, and find out what kind of crack they smoke. There's your answer. Anyways, I obviously have one more chapter to write, and it will definitely be done by 11:59 Thursday, April 30th. This one will be faster because I already know everything I'm going to do for it.