XXI
From the beginning to the end: the truth of the Organization
-S-
Krauser finally woke up, feeling blissfully lethargic after what seemed to be eons; the strong drug that left him in this condition still coursing through his body; it left him bereft of his motor skills. Trying to lift even a finger hadn't helped matters. It only brought a sharp pain, and seized up his muscles, giving the indicative catalepsy disorder and wasn't pleased. But pain had always been second nature to him; it brought him a sense of humanity and the feeling of living. It still didn't help matters much when he was still strapped, ready for another abuse therapy which he personally felt was a catagenesis of his progression.
The 'organization' had always kept Krauser under intensive study, being as he was prone to violent spurts of disorder, and being as that his brain matter had slowly deteriorated in the number of years since. In the truth of things, he was kept under surveillance this long because of his skill as a military soldier, and he would have followed orders just like a perfect pawn – and pawns sometimes do great things…..
The doctors that had operated on him were examining the plagas that was infecting his body, taking over his immune system, and most assuredly already burying itself in the folds of his brain. It was another to retrieve the perfect sample from the Salazar's surreptitious bloodline, spreading onto its poor victims, and sharing generously the rest of its power to the glorified and self centered Saddler. They found that the sample hidden in Krauser had mixed remarkably well with his blood; stalwartly embracing in the folds of his body, as if it was loved by its host, it thrived abundantly and gave back to Krauser what he wanted in exchange.
It was not without some ideal cause that all of this was happening. It needed to be done, and unfortunately, human victims had to be sacrificed. For the greater good. That's what they kept assuring themselves, and if they can sleep peacefully at night knowing those new generations would survive in the brutal attacks from being 'controlled' and manipulated, then so be it.
They told each other, equally elevating their podiums of self importance that science itself would be more than a passing revolutionary, bringing order and power to an insane world. It was programmed in Krauser's mind as well, and he kept his part of the bargain, keeping an eye on Saddler and his cult, and as always, keeping an eye on Ada and Wesker.
But what they forgot to jot down in their extensive reports, were the austere candid things that even epigraphists have misused; they were doing this not for the generations, but to keep from dying….out. If the thought of giving immortality extensions to a race of people that required boosting in the intelligence and comprehensive section are the only means to keeping humanity alive, they'd rather not. Unless, of course there were enough serums to provide for it. Why should they give scientific benefits to those who are too unintelligent to understand? But, they had agreed with a kind of generous attitude, if all goes according to plan, they can boost the brain's cerebral cortex and adjust the genetic code in the bloodstream to train a single mortal being to possess more than super-human strength. There were complications. The living mortals able to withstand small amounts of injected serums devised from their experimental mutated viruses, are alive today...
It was all in the matter of blood and the perfect coding of their DNA; it was for the reason that of the current rising depression that is causing the world's decay, which the organization deemed it fit to ensure peace. Even if that peace had to eradicate future mutations in blood, eliminating any imperfections; a perfect race was not what they were trying to ensure, they reminded each other. The organization isn't ignorant to the previous attempts that tried for a perfect human race.
How innovative was that? But ah, they reminded each other with reticent actions, it was original…..
They believed that they had to start with themselves. And to find pedigrees, as that in Salazar's family line; they possessed the true ability to mutate and infect, just as the Ashford family had the ability to attain. Ramon Salazar was the mutt from a long thread of a wealthy and revered dysfunctional family; however, he possessed a skillful inherited power to hone the plagas.
It was in his genetic makeup.
Indeed, the organization told each other, nodding in agreement to their equal shared vision, as the rise and fall for market dominance and territorial control kept them in power; it was in the bloodlines that these precious mutations and hidden knowledge were distributed.
They didn't want Krauser to awake fully, knowing entirely well that the American soldier would gut them without hesitation, and where would their valuable experiments be? When they tried so hard to achieve the goal of prolonged immortality? Even with their tampering in Krauser's immobilized body, they truly felt that they were doing him a service by keeping him alive this long. It was only a matter of time when he would finally succumb to the degradation of his tried body and mind.
Without some heavy barter, it had to eat up something for the fee he was rewarded.
-S-
Ada was quiet. Too quiet.
Wesker watched her silently as she ate with the same well mannered way she always radiated. Only to find her grey-green eyes straying over to him every so often; he leisurely sat back, the food before him not to his liking, and decided hastily to end the game. With the poise of a predatory cat, he had always been watchful, wary; preparing to pounce on his would be victims when and only if the need rose. A cat, with its musculature and ready powers, exuded patience and drive, but starving to know, and want, generally drove them to make rash actions.
" Ada, let's cut to the chase, shall we?" His fingers encased in the dark gloves he always wore, entwining deftly, but she knew beneath them, they vibrated with a causal deadly strength.
"I was just about to say…" She started, her cool eyes assessing him, but she stopped. He had taken off his sunglasses even in their darkened corner of the restaurant. They sat outside in the open air, much like it would be on a Parisian street, with the overhanging lights above sturdy round tables, charitably displaying a faint romantic air. She nearly
scoffed at the visage. Wesker was a pragmatic. She knew romantic men, like John, and even Leon despite his inexperience was a romantic….soul, if not balanced by an amount of munificent practicality.
Wesker was far too sensible. Too realistic for anyone's good.
"You left this behind…" He drew out a private communication transmission attached to her files. A recorder which kept her data files up to date with her alliance to the organization she worked for. She arched a delicate brow, not in the least surprised. She was hardly careless, and it was only a matter of time when he would approach her with the fact.
"You're slow, Wesker…" She simply said, reaching for her cup of coffee….then slightly paused, seeing the cappuccino before her in a delicate design of a butterfly made from frothy micro foamed milk. Bracing herself, she gritted her teeth then sipped the hot beverage.
"Thought you'd find that interesting……" He smirked, noting her reaction.
"As exciting as the rest of your 'gifts'."
"If I thought you found them so exciting….I should have generously given you more…" There was a scathing razor edge to his tone, "Now….in the matter of your affiliation with a certain group."
She snorted, leaned back against the chair and folded her arms. "If you want information from me, you're going to have to do something in exchange."
"That's my girl…" His lips stretched into a lazy grin. "I knew I could count on your sharp powers of negotiation."
"I want Neveah."
It was point blank. He didn't even raise an eyebrow.
"Quite a high price, Miss Wong…." His golden hypnotoid eyes steadily looked into hers, searching for perhaps a recognizable spark. Impatient, Wesker brought himself closer, inching forward enough so that he whispered for her ears alone. "And just what is it that you plan to do with Neveah? Give her over to the organization you work for? For what?"
She drew her eyes away from him, rolling them heavenward, fluttering her dark lashes to close over them; anywhere from the intensity of his glare. Would he notice the contempt in her eyes right then and there? Ada challenged him back, the salvo was fired.
"Neveah is an important test study, and you and I know that she was able to take into her body, an alien substance that made her what she is….your reports only gave me enough information on what transpired between the two of you…."
Lounging back, placing one arm over the back of the chair, Wesker rested his ankle on his other leg, while his other gloved hand thoughtfully touched his jaw. Watching her, he shrugged. "And? You didn't answer my original question."
"I don't think so…." She countered back. Then stood up. "I'll pay my own meal. And you'll take me to Dr.O'Neil, Wesker, yes you will…." She commanded...gently, watching his body tense, his actions serene and calculated. He reached for his sunglasses on the table.
"I will, will I?" he laughed, despite himself, the rumbling of his laughter muffled as he covered them with his gloved fist, as if to hold a cough.
Drawing a ragged breath, Ada drew her perfect brows together. The man before her could kill her, but she knew he wouldn't……what purpose would that prove? Everything had to have a principle…and she knew him more than anyone else.
That knowledge alone should have been enough for him to kill her - wouldn't it? Because what insane man would keep and harbour a spy who knew every secret, every motive, and just about anything else……….her eyes strayed to the hard line of his lips, the broad line of his shoulders, and the way he easily and indolently placed his sunglasses over deadly nearly glowing eyes.
Ada visibly tensed. Realizing spartanly, beneath the fall of lights and cover of honeysuckle scents, the candles burning brightly, glowing, over the half eaten food on their plates…..the knowledge that there were only a few people outside with them, though further away from their table – giving them a near private accommodation…..brought an emotion inside her. This could have brought on by the ambiance itself, as she was weak to quixotic settings. Had it been planned?
The calm intensive logic Wesker displayed, even when she went through her missions, even when he was kissing her, drawing out her passions, fucking her – he was still unapproachable. His mind was so powerful that it could completely override all emotion when he wished it so. Whoever thought that a renaissance man would be the most sensible type ever to grace her world, and the most, she gasped inwardly, to give her everything she had ever wanted….
But the price was too high.
With logic so strong, Wesker can irrevocably decide to separate himself from anything whose loss could cause him further torment…and why? Had he experimented on himself so many times, or were his emotions ready to boil out from underneath like a dormant volcano?
And they used to say Vesuvius would never blow….
His deep eloquent drawl pierced her musings…..
"Nonsense. I said I'd treat you to fine meal, remember? When I saved you from drowning yourself on Madre-falls?"
"Suit yourself." She shrugged one shoulder, "I'm going to Madre-falls, Wesker, with or without you…"
"And just what do you expect to find there? There's nothing but a black hole in the middle of that isthmus. Do you really believe Neveah is placed there?"
"I'm going to find out her lineage….Wesker, because there's something about her and Dr.O'Neil that I couldn't find in the computer files or any of the data bases. They don't exist before their association with you…"
"Yeah that would prove quite annoying…" He grinned.
She wanted to wipe that grin away but smiled gracefully back. "Are you coming with me?"
"Back to Madre-falls?" Chuckling, he seemed to find the whole affair amusing. "There's nothing there, Ada…..nothing. What you'll find is a bottomless pit full of dead bodies, piling high, and anything else there that touches human contact would undoubtedly receive their fate."
"And the dead bodies, Wesker? What about the workers? Their families?"
"Don't be ridiculous." He waved a hand elegantly in the air. "They won't be missed…..much."
She took the recorder away from him, slipping it into her small attaché case. "You're so cold, Wesker, that's why you're so charming."
"I didn't mean to sound - " then paused. "Let's face it, Miss Wong...sometimes lives have to be taken, and they willingly gave their lives in blood."
"You mean, they read the requirements and yelled, 'what an opportunity to get that 5 minute fame'?"
"That's a myth. It isn't true and you know it."
She blew him a kiss, a lace of sarcasm in her honeyed voice. "You're bad for my sweet tooth, Wesker."
"Why I hire you over and over again, Ada, is largely the fact that you're able to separate emotion from attaining the projected goal…you're doing it now. You're never going to change. Never. So, unless we work together…"
"No."
He raised a dark blond brow. "Methinks you protest too much." He got up and pulled out some bills, slapping them down on the table. Wesker preferred to pay mostly in cash since it left no trace.
"I told you, Wesker, my last mission was done….i'm through taking orders from you. This time, we work together, by my rules."
"You must be getting well compensated for your time." He harshly bit out through gritted teeth. "Tell me…is it for Leon? Do you want to save the world? Or are you doing it to save the world from me?"
He was pulling on his jacket, brushing his sleek blond hair back. "I'll drive."
Well, that was easy, Ada thought. He asks a serious question and avoids it completely.
They had taken separate cars, but insisted that he take the driver's seat….and she wondered if he was going to spill any information at her feet. Before she could utter a question, walking alongside him, his dry tone cut in.
"We're going over to Dr.O'Neil's place of residence, before he took the long leave to work on Madre-falls….there you'll find everything. To your hearts content."
As they drove into a wealthier area, past the security gates, and lush hilly landscape towards a high gothic-esque built mansion which stood on high ground; Ada noted that the private property hadn't been well kept. From a distance, it appeared that overgrown trees and hedges had been neglected from their regular shearing, but upon closer inspection, they had been attended to, purposely keeping the grounds hidden away with a heavy forest-like appearance.
"Why are you doing this, Wesker? Why are you taking me to the source? Do you trust me, darling?" She deliberately drolled out the last word.
Her whisper hung in the air, captured in a timeless spell in the dark interior of his car. His silence was enough, and she inhaled his masculine scent. Was this a trap? She had every right to distrust him and he had every right to find her betrayal abhorrent. But wasn't he too just as guilty by betraying his former so-called 'friends' and comrades? Wasn't he too the same way?
How hypocritical would that seem if he took out his fury on her, while she, knowing the Mephistophelian approaches he possessed, not see that what she did, she did because she too had a projected goal? Wesker didn't take it kindly when Chris Redfield botched up his plans, and before that, he had saved both Jill and Chris from an attack years ago….. it was clear later that he needed them for further study on the mansions hidden 'secrets'.
Ada tensed. Was Wesker taking her to the O'Neil's residence for the same fate?
Bastard……she closed her eyes.
He cut into her betrayed thoughts. "Something troubling?"
She opened her eyes, parting her lips, but nothing came out of them. She was too stunned somehow…..and why would he care what she thought?
" Ada….I know how you operate. I don't need further study to understand how you act under certain circumstances. For one, recent study, you proved to me that your 'emotions' have gotten in the way when Leon was around. I've always known how you work, Ada…..from the very beginning of your betrayal to John and working alongside me…"
Wesker seemed to understand and it only made her slightly perturbed. Her eyes strayed outside, taking in the scenery of a clean neighborhood, the high lantern lights serving as street lights. Anything to take her mind away from Wesker. She sat demurely, like a princess with supreme manners, yet she was nothing like a princess. Speaking of blue bloods, her mind remembered many instances of pedigreed bloodlines and how secure they tried to keep them within the family. Her eyes flickered over to Wesker………there was something about O'Neil that wasn't right...it was his last name.
"I told you, Wesker, a woman doesn't like it when her mind is being read….."
He pulled his car up the steep driveway, turning off the engine to face her. "Like all good scientists who have the clout and family backing, Dr.O'Neil has an invaluable supply of information in his private laboratory."
"A workaholic huh?" She rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised? One of these days……" she quietly murmured………. "I'll actually start dating a non-researcher."
"And what? Date a Government Agent? Or a mercenary in need of change?" He remarked dryly. Somehow he didn't see Ada dating anyone without some reason to. She was invaluable that way. Unlike most women………..
"Mercenaries never change." She countered bluntly.
He gave her a sidelong glance, a wry smile revealing straight white teeth. "We shouldn't have any trouble inside."
"Are we breaking in? Or shall I infiltrate?" She lazily replied, her interest now piqued as her eyes took in the splendour of O'Neil's former mansion.
They approached the front steps, looking up at the columns displaying a flavour for an ionic artistic love: the feminine touch of the familiar artistic architecture mixing in with a dark Neolithic appeal. Pristine steps, despite the growing vines, covered parts of their path. The scent of honeysuckle lingered. Ada gave Wesker a suspicious look.
"What's going on?"
"We should hurry inside……before the guard dogs spot us." He hurriedly walked on, climbing the steps.
She turned back, a shiver ran along her spine and her hand stole to the gun at her hip.
The sound of a low growl behind her brought her gun up, but she was already on her back as two dogs in the shadows jumped, missing her by inches………bending backwards to avoid the salivated jaws, Ada kicked out, swiveling her body on the ground. And her booted heel caught the jaw of a large mastiff violently; she heard a cracked noise, the heavy dog whined pitifully as it hit the ground, whimpering. The other growled menacingly, leaped again, but was immediately silenced….and hit the ground next to the injured companion.
From above, Ada looked up and saw Wesker with his silencer.
He shook his head slightly. "Now..." He drawled, "You're the one too slow, Miss Wong…..shall we get going?"