Sundown, 19:44 – The Iron Gate, Nevada
So this was what it felt like to have a partner on his level.
That was all Wesker could think as he and Christopher slipped into the base like ghosts. That this was the future he had envisioned; evidence of the excellence he knew mankind capable of. They wouldn't all be like himself and Christopher, of course. In fact, there would be no other like them. He was in no mood to enable anyone to take advantage of their newfound health and evolutionary growth, not after everything he sacrificed to make it possible. He wasn't here to make a new race of superhumans only for mankind to continue on its current path of war, greed and overpopulation. No. Mankind needed guidance and a firm hand. The virus was that firm hand. He would be the guidance.
And Christopher would be his shadow; the knife in the dark ready to keep the shepherd safe and steady. He had begun to wonder if such a relationship would ever be possible, and suddenly there they were – side by side, working together as though it had always been that way.
It felt surreal, almost impossible. And yet, it also felt natural. Right. As he knew it would.
The alarms weren't even blaring yet. They were precisely 30% through infiltration, and one of the globe's most secure infrastructures had not even begun to bleat it's dying cries yet.
Boss, came Christopher's voice – not aloud, but in the bond they shared. Wesker turned to him, his own shoulder braced against the hallway wall cutting right, and found Christopher braced against the other. As humans, they would have used hand signals, as they had in STARS. Wesker could still remembers those days, those signals.
Instead Christopher used their bond without a second of hesitation.
Two soldiers coming our way, Chris thought.
Do not let them alert the others, Wesker responded in kind through the bond.
Christopher didn't respond any further. Instead, he pressed himself flatter against the wall. The brunet's nostrils flared, a soft inhale. He began to count silently with fingers twitching against his hip in soundless taps to the ticking seconds. Five, four, three, two, one…
Just before two figures rounded a corner mere feet from the one they hid behind, Wesker slid back into the shadows of an empty office space and became perfectly still. It did not matter that he was still partially in sight. When it came to humans, stillness often times was easily overlooked. It wouldn't be the first time it had worked, even on cleverer opponents. He watched as Christopher's eyes opened slowly, canted in the direction the guards were coming from, irises glimmering like jewels in the dim hall.
"I think it was just corroded wiring, personally. I don't care how "sophisticated" it is, you just can't leave tech in a swamp 24/7 exposed to the elements and expect—"
Christopher cut them off.
For the humans, what came next would happen too quickly to comprehend, but for Wesker, it was like watching art in motion. The moment they breached the corner, Christopher struck. One moment they were walking together, discussing the "false alarm" at the sewer entrance they were sent to investigate, and the next one of them was flat on his back, gagging for air after Christopher had effectively clotheslined him in the throat. There was the horrid, wet sound of bile hitting the cool tile of the floor as said guard twisted onto all fours to vomit, trying to clear his bruised airways.
The other guard had barely a second to react – eyes wide as he stumbled back to take in his fallen comrade at his feet – before Christopher was on him. The BOW lunged around the corner, pressing the advantage of his cover and his speed to invade the man's space. The guard only had enough time to let out a strangled little yelp before Christopher was manhandling him. He twisted the guard until he had the ordinary human's back to his front, a thick arm wrapped around his throat and squeezing. Choking him out quickly and effectively, all the while gently sinking to the floor with him to ease his fall as, finally, the man passed out.
"Jeff," his partner wheezed, the sound thready and barely there as horridly trembling fingers reached for his walkie at his shoulder.
Wesker saw it the moment Christopher realized he'd have to be more physical this time to take care of the possibility of the remaining man alerting the rest of the base. With a regretful twist of his lips, he quickly gave the man a quick boot to the temple. The guard fell before his fingers ever properly grasped the walkie.
"Cameras?" Wesker asked as he watched Christopher take both incapacitated guards by the scruff of their uniforms and dragged them to the empty office Wesker occupied.
The brunet shook his head and said, "They can't monitor every hallway, there's just not enough eyes to even hope to cover it all even if they did set up that much surveillance. I saw cameras a hall down. This is just a cluster of empty offices. I doubt they're paying it any attention. I'm not worried."
Wesker nodded at that, watching as Christopher eased both unconscious men into a closet, then took the metal legs off a cheap plastic chair and easily bent the leg around the double door knobs, locking them in. He turned back to Wesker then, obviously pleased both men were still alive and their presence a secret, before he asked, "Two less to worry about. How much further?"
"We need to access their servers," Wesker said, stepping to a nearby wall and the fire map they had seen repeatedly now in their infiltration. It was not so obvious as to label its individual rooms, but regulations were regulations, and fire routes had to be provided to staff – even top-secret intelligence staff. Which meant that the map, its rooms and the layout had to be to scale. His finger traced across likely rooms based on size, what Wesker had already noted about the infrastructure of the AC in the base, and where they would most likely be able to keep that much hardware and keep it dry and cool.
His finger trailed down, down, down into the depths of the base until it landed on what appeared to be a strange, structural amalgam of dead space.
"Five floors down," Wesker said, tapping that space on the map. Because he saw it, that meant Christopher saw it without having to stand next to him and observe it himself. Such was the nature of a hive-minded pack. Christopher nodded, mouthing a quick pattern of left, left, right, left, down, left – and so on – until he seemed content with the information and looked to Wesker.
For a moment the man's expression was so surreally familiar from the past, Wesker nearly felt unbalanced as Christopher flashed him a cocky little smirk and said, "Wanna bet we can get all the way there without being detected?"
Wesker caught himself, shook the surprise from his bones, and snorted as he knew Christopher expected him to.
"Bet? I expect no less than excellence, Christopher. We better make it there without detection. Unless you intend to disappoint me?"
Christopher rolled his eyes with a peeved little grunt and a murmured, "You're no fun," before he went back to the doorway. He didn't peek around it, however. All he needed were fingertips on the door to detect oncoming vibration, keen ears and a sensitive nose to know if the coast was clear or not. He left the room – confident they were alone. Wesker remembered the early days of the man's infection. The way he had fought his ability to detect lifeforms around him in the catacombs of the training areas Wesker had specifically designed for him. To see him use it now instinctually, without flinching…
Wesker couldn't help but smirk, pleased. It drew Christopher's attention for a moment. Where Chris had tried his damnedest to stop anything incoming or outgoing through their bond, Christopher remained open at all times. It was something Wesker would need to get used to and become more mindful of, because his little burst of pride had evidently conveyed, and when Christopher caught his eye, he looked pleased as well, if a little confused by Wesker's distracted observations.
You know, I almost feel guilty, Christopher conveyed to Wesker via their bond as they set off once more. Wesker did not even need to indulge the thought with a question. This Christopher knew the alpha would not both with small, instigative questions. He merely continued his thought: They aren't even remotely prepared for us. Even if they were, it'd still be too easy.
Wesker smirked. It was the first time Christopher had ever so much as acknowledged the truth: they were beyond humankind now. They were evolution incarnate – the new leaders of the food chain. And humans, as sympathetic and concerned for them as Christopher might be, were more akin to tissue paper than enemies. Their stealth wasn't a matter of personal preservation. It was a matter of ease, and more so than anything, a matter of keeping Christopher's fragile new psyche in line.
Wesker did not want to find out whether the needless death of humans would be the straw that broke his newfound partner's back.
Plus, it was an excellent way to gauge Christopher's skills in a way Chris would never have been cooperative enough to allow. So Wesker let the brunet take point on the infiltration, the information shared in their hive mind more than enough to ensure Christopher was headed in the correct direction.
Infiltration continued on as planned. Christopher hid them when confrontation would have been detected on an obvious camera. Whenever possible, he focused on incapacitating and hiding security personnel. One less body on staff meant one less potential accident on extraction. It slowed their progress, but if that was the peace of mind this new facet of Chris needed to operate efficiently, it was a small sacrifice Wesker was willing to make – at least for now.
Wesker was being weird.
Overly observant, strangely hands off with the infiltration… It was a thought that kept rising in the back of Christopher's mind as they made their way deeper into the facility. There was something happening that Wesker wasn't letting on. Some factor at play that Christopher wasn't aware of, and he didn't quite know if he should be concerned about that. After all, even with their bond and hive mind, Wesker still had his moments of secrecy – moreso than usual lately.
But it was something Christopher would have to ask about later – in the safety of home turf. Now, in the middle of an infiltration mission, was hardly the time to air out the man's secrets. After all, whatever the alpha was hiding, Christopher doubted it would be anything that would shake his faith in the man. Not this far along. Not after everything they had been through.
This is it, Christopher thought, opening the connection between them easily as they came to a stop in the middle of a thin hallway that led to a rather innocuous looking set of elevator doors—
Silver doors sliding closed, blood on the back wall. A slumped figure and a man overtop of them, eyes wide and horror struck as the elevator lifted them away—
Christopher shook his head like a horse shooing flies, sharp and instinctive. As though the intrusive thought had never been, it was gone. So quickly, in fact, Christopher struggled to remember what exactly had distracted him in the first place. All concern fled when a hand came to brace his shoulder curiously. He turned to find Wesker observing him closely.
Is this not it? Christopher broached, confused by the scrutiny. Whatever Wesker had been looking for, he obviously didn't find it because the alpha simply looked in the direction of the lift as well and replied with a simple, it would seem to be what we're looking for.
Wesker advanced toward the lift another pace or two, before he stopped at the final intersection of hallways that led to it. Christopher already knew what the man was thinking – he didn't even need a hivemind for that.
Covered in surveillance, yeah. This is it. The second we pass this hall, they'll know we're here, Christopher thought, going through the tactical possibilities in his head. Their confusion will get us a little time, but not much. This is the point of no return.
The point of no return was long ago, Christopher, Wesker replied, eyes keen as he glanced at his second in command from over his shoulder, scrutinizing him.
Christopher acknowledged the point with a little nod as his icy gaze flickered to one of the cameras facing the elevators, then down to the doors themselves – or more accurately, the pad beside the call buttons.
Identification pad, Christopher flagged.
Hmm.
Did you know this would be here? Christopher asked.
I assumed, Wesker said, unperturbed.
Then what's the plan?
Wesker turned to him then, eyes so bright they were nearly visible through the dark lenses of his glasses, and he smirked. We find a helpful volunteer, of course.
Night, 21:35 – BSAA Facility
Leon had just turned on the shower after finally, finally taking a break from planning with the others when the smart watch on his wrist pinged urgently: Med bay now.
He gave the shower that had just begun to pleasantly steam a mournful look before twisting the knob, cutting the water, and dashing out of his temporary lodging in the BSAA facility to head back to med bay. It was luck that he hit the hallway just as Sherry had come around the bend, the two of them matching each other's quick jog as Leon asked, "What the hell's going on now?"
"Evacuated personnel from the Iron Gate just landed," Sherry said, clipped and concise. Leaning into the comfort of her training in the face of all the new unknowns they faced. "Other than that, I don't much more than you do. Heard the call on comms, just got lucky I passed by when it came through."
"Lemme guess, you were heading to take a shower?" Leon asked. He nearly laughed at the utterly confused look Sherry gave him and said, "No? Just me? Yeah… that sounds like my sort of shitty luck."
That cracked a small smile on Sherry's exhausted face. If nothing else was going his way, Leon would at least count that as a win.
"Look on the positive side," Sherry chuckled wryly, "At least you didn't get pinged naked with suds in your hair."
Leon let out a barking laugh at that.
"Maybe I should skip this and go get a lotto ticket instead."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Sherry said, her smile slowly disappearing into a concerned frown as their jog slowed, close enough to med bay now to see it was all hands on deck. Medical staff were tersely tossing emergency jargon to one another as evacuated agents from the Iron Gate were ushered this way and that. No one looked dead or dangerously maimed, at least, but there was still an urgency about the chaos that made the fine hairs on the back of Leon's neck stand on end.
He saw a young uniform with a clipboard at the corner, quickly ticking off items on some list, and decided they were as good a place to start as any.
"What's going on?" Leon asked, jogging up to catch their attention. The kid looked keen to ignore him at first before they realized who he was. They immediately paled in that way young soldiers often did around higher ups. Unsure if stopped would get him in trouble, or if not stopping would be worse.
"Evac from the Iron Gate – if you think this is crazy, you should see the cafeteria. Most of'em are getting loaded off there," he said, gesturing with his clipboard to the chaos. "Not much official news yet, but so far it sounds like the facility got attacked."
"Attacked?" Leon asked, "What sort of attack? Anyone hurt?"
The kid shrugged before he thought better of it and stammered a rushed, "I-I don't know, sorry sir. They told me to start inventorying arrived personnel, that's all I know. Not a lot to go on right now, just orders."
Leon held out a hand expectantly and took the list from him, eyes glancing over the names – not so much taking any one name in as scrolling to see if any names stood out. He was a page and a half deep when one finally did.
"Leon," Sherry said sharply, drawing his attention. He handed the clipboard back to the kid with a soft, "Keep it up," before he met her just outside the chaos of the med bay. "Someone's here you should talk to. I have a feeling they know what's up."
That's what he figured she was going to say. He nodded, gesturing for her to lead the way – already knowing who they were headed to see.
Rebecca Chambers had been on that list.
Piers frowned as voices suddenly began to grow outside the peace of Jake's observation room. He stilled, both men's gaze going to the door, playing cards in hand.
"Ominous," Piers murmured softly, rising to stand just as Buddy wheeled himself into the room.
"I'm being called away, I'll be in room…" he paused, checking a message on his phone for confirmation, and read, "405b, looks like. If anything changes for you, Jake, please find me there."
Jake sat up straighter on the edge of his bed, brows furrowed as he looked at the door behind Buddy as though he might suddenly gain the ability to see through it.
"What's going on?" the red head asked.
Buddy's mouth softened into an apologetic grimace, but he said, "While we don't fully understand the reach of Jake's connection with Wesker, I can't go into details with you, I'm sorry…"
"He already can hear urgency outside," Piers said, gesturing to Jake, "If he's leaking information somehow, they already know we're reacting to something."
Buddy nodded and said, "Which is the only reason why I came in to say anything at all. As of right now, Leon wants you to stay put. 405b, if anything happens."
Piers scowled, and with a huff he flopped back down into his chair, but nodded – watching as Buddy reluctantly left with one last sympathetic look.
"Something's not right," Jake said sourly, glaring at the door.
Piers tossed his forgotten cards onto the side table and muttered, "No shit," leg bouncing anxiously all the while.
She was smaller than he remembered. Even though it hadn't been long since he'd last seen her – just since Mexico, actually – she seemed so damn small. Not that Rebecca Chambers wasn't actually small, because stars above knew she was. Slight, like a wisp, and one hell of a medic and agent because of it. Able to squirm into the tightest spaces; whether that be to provide medical attention to a fallen squad member or to unlock a barred door for the team, it didn't matter. Rebecca was so compact that she could do it. Even so, Rebecca Chambers' presence didn't come across as small, not to Leon. While she was by no means sassy or boisterous, she had an aura to her that filled a room. A lightness that she carried and spread so easily, despite everything she had been through. A contagious positivity.
So it felt wrong to see her sitting on one of the base's medical beds, wrapped in a shock blanket and fresh off the convoy that had evacuated her from none other than Area fucking 51. The blanket seemed to dwarf her, making her look younger than Leon knew her to be. Big eyes, small hands and a bruised cheek. The medical staff had been sure to treat her first and confirm that she had no hidden life-threatening injuries. Thankfully there had been no internal bleeding or other complications, but they did set her up with a sling before they allowed Leon into the room to debrief and question her.
He dragged a chair over, legs squealing, and let it settle beside the bed before plopping into the plastic monstrosity with little grace. He huffed, feeling weighted down with the knowledge that – without even hearing it yet – she only had more bad news for him.
Leon sighed, watching her face for a moment, taken aback by her silence. She seemed stunned. Shocked in a way that was utterly unlike her – or perhaps lost in thought was the more apt word. She was, after all, a scientist. Perhaps she was hip deep in some riddle he wasn't even aware of yet. Only one way to find out.
"Long time no see," Leon said, trying for the easy tone most people knew him by. It didn't quite carry the way he hoped it would, but it was close. Some of the tension around her eyes gentled then, and she forced a smile.
"Yeah… Wish the circumstances were better; we gotta stop running into each other like this," she joked, the words a bit unbalanced.
Leon laughed honestly at that, some tension loosening around his own eyes as well. He blew out a breath that swayed his fringe as he made himself more comfortable in his chair, legs stretched out, and said, "You can say that again… I'll level with you, Becs. I'd love to make small talk and catch up, and not force you to immediately go through whatever it is you went through but—"
"—Short on time," Rebecca forced another smile – this one understanding – and said, "I'm definitely aware of that. Let's get into it."
Leon nodded at that, fingers rubbing at the stubble on his jaw; thicker now than he was used to. With small talk out of the way, there was a whole field of questions to deal with and Leon found himself at a loss of where to start for a moment. But one question just kept repeating in his head over and over like a chant.
"Was it them? Wesker and Chris?" He asked.
Rebecca looked a little paler than she had a moment before, but she nodded and said, "Yeah. It was them."
Leon felt his jaw tighten, molars grinding ever so slightly before he asked next, "Did they get whatever they were looking for?"
A wash of guilt crossed her face. She looked down at her nailbeds – bitten and bleeding – and picked at them as she said, "Yes."
"Hey," Leon said immediately, leaning forward and catching her attention. "Whatever happened, it's not your fault. You're one person against two…" he paused, then with a little snarl, "Fuck, I don't even know what to call them. We had more men then you had and still lost out in previous encounters against one of them. You did what you could."
"You weren't there," Rebecca hedged, but then with the faintest flicker of a smile, "But I appreciate that, Leon. Thank you."
Leon nodded at that, leaning back once again.
"Did you happen to see whatever it was they were trying to do? A glimpse, anything?"
Rebecca shook her head wearily and said, "I'm afraid I wasn't conscious for whatever they did…"
A soft frown marred Leon's brow and the curve of his lips. He watched her face keenly for a moment before he asked softly, "What happened, Becs?"
Rebecca swallowed, the sound tight and clicking as she looked back down at her fingers. Leon couldn't help but try to remember if she had had that tick before as he reached for the pitcher on the nightstand and poured a drink for her. She accepted it gratefully, her nailbeds puffy from her attention. Leon couldn't help but think that was new.
She took a sip, then sensing she could delay no longer – or perhaps having finally found the words she was looking for – her eyes darted up to his and she said, "Chris is with Wesker. They're… I don't know, a team. We crossed paths in the facility. I… I tried to reason with Chris, but it was no use."
That made Leon's stomach sink. Was Chris lost to them? Was that it? Was it finally time to smell the roses, face the music, sing the last song?
His attention drifted back to her as he noticed her shake her head, her own gaze sliding away as though she were remembering whatever had happened afresh once more. She shivered, shook her head again in a dazed little motion, and said, "There's something wrong with him. He's different."
Leon felt himself go rigid, as though he were afraid to move and the moment would be gone and the opportunity, however slight, with it.
"Well… yeah," He tried not to get his hopes up, "He's teamed up with Wesker and has glowing eyes and inhuman strength. Something's definitely not right."
She let out the faintest snort – more a whisper of air than anything else – and said, "Well, yes. Obviously. But that's what I mean. He… I don't know how to phrase it, he remembered me, but he didn't remember me."
Leon blinked. Opened his mouth. Lost for words, he closed it before he cleared his throat and gestured vaguely with a sheepish, "You're gonna have to do me a solid and explain that a little more."
She shrugged her shoulders, and it was obvious then what had her so lost in thought when Leon had first come in. She was a scientist, frustrated by her lack of answers, and it showed.
"I don't know, Leon. He tried to convince Wesker that I might be useful in "bridging the gap" or whatever that means. That I… That I hadn't betrayed them like the others and maybe it was worth giving me a shot. It just… The way he was talking about the past just didn't make sense. It was like we were talking about the same story, but he had watched the movie and I had read the books… You know?"
Leon leaned forward at that, chair scraping as he scooted a little closer and said, "What do you mean? What was he saying?"
Rebecca swallowed, shook her head. She picked at her nails once more before, as though suddenly remembering, her hands disappeared into her shock blanket. They reappeared holding a small, button like device – made to mimic the shiny black buttons of a casual dress shirt, but made to record their surroundings. She held it out to him and deposited it gently into the palm of his hand with a soft, "I don't know how to explain it, but thankfully I don't have to. You can see it for yourself, thanks to Hannigan."
Leon's gaze jerked up from the button to Rebecca's face and he said, "Hannigan? She gave you this?"
"Yeah," Rebecca said slowly, not having expected his surprise. "You… didn't know she was stationed at the Iron Gate?"
"I never really know where she is," Leon admitted, "She's just sort of everywhere at once for me. I… Becs, was she with you? Is she—"
"—She's fine, Leon," Rebecca said quickly, leaning forward to place her hand on his and squeeze reassuringly. "She was evacuated the moment the first alarms went off. I'm not sure where, but she's fine. She got out."
Leon felt the vice that had suddenly seized his chest lessen. He blew out a soft, slow breath and said, "I'll take whatever victories I can get. Good… That's good."
She pulled her hand from his, and slowly he raised the little button she had placed into his palm up to look at it between thumb and fore finger. So small, so unobtrusive, and yet it held all the answers to whatever had happened to Rebecca at the Iron Gate. It was surreal to think about.
"Why did she give you this?" Leon asked, his gaze switching back to Rebecca curiously.
"It wasn't exactly planned," Rebecca said, curling her blanket around her shoulders a little tighter. "She hadn't wanted to be evacuated first. She felt guilty for going. She pinned this on me at the last second hoping that it'd help."
Leon knew what that meant. He knew that meant that wherever Hannigan was, she had one on her blouse too. Field agents like her were trained to do that sort of thing when a mission started going south, if they could, on the off chance their body might be found if the worst happened. Then, at least, they could carry on helpful information in death.
Hannigan didn't think either of them were going to get out of the facility alive.
Leon rubbed a thumb over the edge of the little hidden camera pensively before he nodded and stood.
"Do you want to be there, Rebecca?" He asked before he left.
"No," she said softly, but she stood regardless. "But I'd be furious with myself if we missed something important just because I didn't… Let's go."
He looked at her sympathetically, but he didn't bother trying to change her mind. She was right.
They couldn't afford any mistakes now.
[a/n] surprised to see me so soon? me too. meee tooooo.
(frantically tries to remember small details)