Hello lovely readers Sorry about the delay. Things are getting back to normal for me with work, which means losing two hours of free time a day to commuting OTL I kinda needed the weekend to veg after the first week back, but I'm still kicking and ready to write. We're gonna be entering arc 3~ from the looks of it this arc is gonna be a bit more slice of life with some occasional zombie nonsense.
Song Suggestion: Saints by Echos
Disclaimer: I own nothing~ Resident Evil and its characters belong to Capcom.
Time moved slowly after Charlotte's visit from Emma. The more she tried to distract herself from the cross road placed in front of her, the more it seemed to weigh on her mind. She managed to make it 3 weeks while keeping the quandary to herself, but even then the words still plagued her thoughts the second she'd allow herself to relax.
... Because you'll be in the same position as me if you end up having kids.
Shut up. shut up, Shut Up, SHUT UP! Grah! Charlotte closed the book she was reading with one hand creating a solid snapping sound as the pages collided. A frustrated huff of a sigh crossed her lips as she pushed herself to sit up, so she could go put the book away. One more month and she'd be free to do whatever she wanted to do... whatever that was. She never planned this far, she always expected there would be one more hurdle to jump, one more thing keeping freedom out of reach. But that didn't happen this time. No more puzzles to solve, no more metaphorical daggers over her head. Normally she was anxious about messing up or stepping out of line, now she was anxious about not being anxious.
This line of though continued as she put the book away. At least thinking about this kept that stupid cross road at bay. She walked around the house to find she was alone. He was probably in the mini factory then. With that thought, she went to their room and got changed and dolled up in a nicer casual outfit, then made a few phone calls before heading out to the factory.
Sure enough there was the metal lord, welding away at a few larger pieces of metal causing sparks to fly and bounce across the treated floors as the pieces fused. Charlotte stood off to the side for a bit before speaking to get his attention. "Hey."
Karl continues to work but his shoulders and neck shift slightly due to being more alert to his surroundings. "Yeah?" he asks after finally turning off the loud equipment, so he could hear better.
"I want to go on a date," Charlotte says bluntly in response.
"Well that's one way of aski-"he says as he moves his welding mask out of the way as he turns to face her. "What did you have in mind sweetheart?" his tune shifted as quickly as he saw her. She was wearing makeup on a weekend, always a good sign for him.
"There's a place a few miles away that I want to check out," Charlotte replies in return.
"Not going to tell me what it is?" He asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Nope," Charlotte replies with an amused smile.
Surprises always came with a risk, could be nice. Could be accidentally electrocuting himself at the beach. Let's see, context clues, she was wearing jeans not a skirt or dress, so probably not a restaurant, or anything too snooty. She's still wearing make up though so probably nothing outdoorsy like hiking or camping. "Fine," he replies as he ultimately was left confused. Maybe the movies? "Do I need to get changed?"
"You might want to wash your hands and face but other than that not really," Charlotte replies still happily content with her surprise as she realized he was fishing for clues.
"I'll meet you at the car then," He says as he rolls his eyes, that didn't give him anything to work with.
Charlotte chuckles at this and makes her way to the car as Karl heads inside to wash up. That took a resounding 3 minutes as he just used the kitchen sink and a paper towel to wash his hands and face before joining her in the car.
"You know I could drive for once right?" he says somewhat annoyed as he gets buckled in all the same.
"You need a license for that," Charlotte points out in return as she backs out of the garage once he was settled in.
"Didn't bother you in Romania," He counters with a slight frown.
"In Romania I didn't care if we got arrested since that would have been a mercy," She says while rolling her eyes. "If you want to drive we can work on getting you a license. I'll have free time come October since the company will be shut down by then."
"Suppose It's something to do," he agrees while his frown remained. If she wasn't going to the office, that would make hiding the additions to the factory a bit more difficult. "Are you going to drop another half a million dollars on that too?" he asks still a bit annoyed by that. She was smarter than that he knew it, so the fact she still did something that stupid bothered him.
"Suppose that depends on how many times you crash the car and I have to fix it," Charlotte replies while trying to avoid the question.
"Smartass," Heisenberg says.
"Dick," Charlotte replies with a slight smile.
"Later," Heisenberg says with a laugh.
"We'll see," She says shaking her head.
Despite the name-calling and picking the two continued to talk and joke for the rest of the drive. While it was certainly not the most normal way of communicating for anyone else, for them, it was, and they were able to tell when it was meant as an insult and when it was a joke about how poorly they used to get along.
Before long the two parked and found themselves in front of a large brick building with no windows. A bright neon sign read PanIQ Room!
Heisenberg looked from the sign to Charlotte with some mild confusion. While he had gotten better at reading English, play on words were still a bit difficult, so he wasn't sure what the sign meant. "What is this?"
"It's a puzzle room," Charlotte explains as they walk inside of the building and found themselves in a waiting room that was designed to be dark and dingy. "You go into a room, and you have to find the clues to figure out the puzzle in a certain period of time to win the game."
"And if you don't figure out the puzzles?" Heisenberg asks with a mixture of concern and curiosity.
"Nothing happens. They just let you out," Charlotte answers with a shrug.
"Well, that's boring," He admits feeling slightly disappointed.
"we'll see," Charlotte says with a smile.
"Hi, are you guys walk in's or do you have a reservation?" asks a worker who was dressed in a messy lab uniform.
"Reservation for two under Heisenberg," Charlotte replies in return.
"Let me see here, ah there you are. Now did you want to work cooperatively or competitively?" the worker says still happy as could be.
"That's an option?" Karl asks amused.
"First one out wins?" Charlotte offers with a smile.
"I think I can work with that," He agrees with a confident smirk.
"Alright competitively it is, is this your first time playing?" the worker asks as they mark down the information.
"Sort of," Charlotte admits, first time where it was a game.
"Okay I'll explain the rules then," The worker replies as they motion for the two to follow them. "You'll each be on one side of a fenced off room, so you'll be able to see and speak to each other but not interfere with the other player's puzzles. There are 3 main puzzles that must be completed in order. A red herring puzzle and two special puzzles which you can solve to earn more time or to penalize your competitor." The worker says and stops by a door with a large number 3 over it. "You're also allowed one helping hand per game if you need a hint. After that if you ask for a hint, it will take 2 minutes off your clock giving you less time to solve the puzzle."
"Seems easy enough,"Karl replies as Charlotte nods.
"Perfect, Sir if you'll go to the left side, and ma'am if you'll go to the right side I'll close the door behind you and get the game started," The employee instructs.
Sure enough the two comply and find themselves in opposite halves of a cluttered office covered in papers books, fake blood stains and metal furniture.
"This should be easy," Karl says with a laugh.
"No cheating," Charlotte says with a slight frown, chances are the furniture was bolted down anyways, so it wasn't supposed to be moved.
The squeak of a radio turning on announced the beginning of the game "You're police officers that find yourselves locked in the lab of a mad scientist and stuck in one of his nefarious traps. You must find the three keys to unlock the door to safety, but only one can survive, good luck,"
"Wait what?" Heisenberg asks as he looks across the room to Charlotte. "I thought you said nothing happens if we don't figure it out."
"Nothing happens, it's part of the game. They're setting up a story for the puzzles," Charlotte assures him though his frown remains.
"Oh..." he knew that. "So what do I do now?"
"You're the one who wanted to be competitive, figure it out," Charlotte says with a laugh as she starts digging through papers and books to look for clues.
"That was you, asshole!" Heisenberg replies as he starts to do the same.
"What the hell are we even supposed to be doing here?" Heisenberg complains as he looks through notes, how does any of this lead to keys?
"25 minutes left," says a voice over the speaker system.
"Fuck!" Karl replies while digging around only to notice Charlotte messing with some kind of box. "Where the hell did you find that?"
"Do I get to pick a movie later?" Charlotte asks with a playful smile.
"Sure fine," he agrees with a slight frown.
"Check the third locker to the right, if we have the same set up that's where I found mine" Charlotte replies while fidgeting with a lock on the box and looking over more papers from the desk. Heisenberg hurries over to the locker and sure enough there was a box. he glanced from the box to Charlotte a few times before heading over to a desk to pretend he was looking at the papers while using his powers to mess with the tumblers of the lock and get it undone.
Click. The box opened and there was a key with a helmet on it. "Haha!" he says victoriously as he hurries over and puts that key into the matching lock on the door. The lights change from a low blue tone to a more ominous yellowish orange. A desk drawer pops open that was previously locked on Karl's side.
"20 minutes left," the voice announces.
Charlotte continues to fidget with her box while trying combinations as Karl makes his way back over to the desk to find a journal and some wires. Wires. Where do the wires go... he flipped through the journal which was particularly hard to read since it was English chicken scratch But he was eventually able to understand that the wires worked with two puzzles. One to get the next key and another to get him a boon of some kind. He looked around and found that the computer had a few holes in it for wires while the door was also set up to accept a few wires with a shield symbol above it.
By this time Charlotte managed to open her box and put her key in the door giving her access to the same journal and wires. Whiles Charlotte stayed focus on the task at hand and went straight over to the door Heisenberg focused on the computer.
"You're falling behind~" Charlotte taunted as she messed with her door.
"15 minutes left," the voice announced.
Chunk! The shield emblem on Charlotte's door lit up as the lights of the room shifted to a more urgent red hue. Water slowly started to pool on the ground. Charlotte laughed as she splashed through her side of the room and started looking for the final key.
"GOT IT!" Karl announced as the light over the computer went off.
"Congratulations player one, would you like more time or to penalize your competitor," the voice over the radio asks.
"I'll take the penalty for miss high and mighty, getting too big for her britches," Karl says before taking the wires out and heading over to the door.
Charlotte looked over at him with annoyed shock only to hear a soft plunk as the wires from her door were ejected out on to the water covered floor.
"You bitch," Charlotte says annoyed as she hurries back over and starts shuffling through the water to try and find her wires again.
Hearing this causes Karl to laugh. The sound of a tumbler falling could be heard once more and his door was one step closer to opening.
"10 minutes left," the voice announces.
"Plenty of time," He says as he takes the lead and starts looking around for the final key. The only problem was, he'd been pretty dependent on watching Charlotte solve her puzzles to get ahead. While he had been messing with the computer, he watched her put the wires in order. Since he knew the rooms were the same already, he just needed to remember the order, and he was able to get the answer and the boon in the time it took for her to just get the answer.
"Now where is that last god-damn key," He grumbles while looking around. He found an Allen wrench, but that wasn't it...
"Finally!" Charlotte says as she managed to get her wires back into place. Finding them in the water was the harder part of that penalty.
Water...
"5 minutes" the voice announced.
Heisenberg looked around and eventually found that both sides of the room had a drain to keep the water from getting too high and knelt down to look over the drain. Sure enough the drain had a hole just the right size for the tool to fit and pull up the cover. By doing so, he managed to uncover the last key which was in the shape of a sword. He smiles at this and hurries over to the door placing the sword into an impression in the wall. A magnetic click could be heard as the sword stayed in place and another tumbler fell allowing the door to open.
"Congratulations player 1 for completing the puzzle," the voice announced "Player 2 you can continue working on your puzzle if you'd like, you have 2 minutes left."
Charlotte had started to catch up to Heisenberg but only just found the Allen wrench.
"One minute," the voice announces.
Just as Charlotte got the final key the voice could be heard again. "Time. Player 2 fails."
"Damn it," Charlotte says with an annoyed frown as she put the key back where it was.
Just as she said, there was no penalty for losing and her door opened all the same allowing both to leave with sloshing steps thanks to their water logged shoes.
"I'll take my prize later," he says with a wink.
"Traitor," she replies with a pout.
"You wanted to play," He points out still more than proud of himself for winning, even if he kinda cheated. Twice. "That was fun, we should do that again," He says as he walks with her out of the building, now that he understood a bit better how the game worked.
"Fine, but only if we're working together against a different team," Charlotte says in return. She would have won if he didn't have her most difficult key ejected into freaking water darn it... "And, I'm still picking a movie when we get home."
"I'm a man of my word," He agrees as he holds up his hands to signal surrender as they make their way over to the car.
Charlotte was still a bit pouty about this but accepted that the promise would be upheld. "Should we pick up dinner on the way back?"
"What you don't want to practice before your lessons?" Heisenberg asks as he continues to push his luck. Charlotte stares him down for it causing him to roll his eyes. "Fine, Burgers sound good."
"I can do that," She says with a nod. Burgers and fries were acquired from a local drive through since their jeans and shoes were still soaked and uncomfortable. Heisenberg ate his meal during the ride back while Charlotte drove.
"So what are we watching?" he asks as she eventually parks the car in the garage.
"Not sure, I'll have to see what I have," Charlotte replies as she shuts down the vehicle and gets out.
"You made that your condition, and you didn't have something already in mind?" Karl asks amused as he picks up the remaining bag of food and the other filled with greasy paper and trash to bring them into the house.
"You say that like I was supposed to expect that you'd ask me for a clue instead of the people in charge of the game," The woman rebuttals.
While Charlotte heads over to check the shelves of movies Heisenberg throws away the scraps from his meal before heading over to the couch and placing the remaining bag of food on the coffee table.
Charlotte hummed to herself while looking over the cases before smiling as she found one labeled Game Night. That could work. kinda fit with their impromptu date. She got the movie started up before making her way over to the couch to snuggle up next to Heisenberg and enjoy her meal. Unfortunately for her, she had forgotten a rather important subplot of the movie.
The movie starts showing the main characters, a couple, growing closer and bonding over playing games together until the two are eventually married. The opening montage ends as it shows the couple in counseling as they're unable to have a child despite all of their efforts to do so. The therapist blames the infertility on the man's lack of confidence and feelings of inadequacy.
Charlotte rolls her eyes at this, what sort of pseudo-science nonsense was that...
You'll be in the same position as me if you end up having kids.
SHUT UP!
She tried to ignore the running gag of infertility and starting a family the film wouldn't let die, as the two characters made their way through the game night that went too far resulting in abduction and being chased by thugs.
Honestly, this was the stupidest thing to be even thinking about. She knew her family had a predisposition to complications regarding... that. So, way was she even thinking about it. Charlotte's unspoken internal argument continued as the movie played on and by the end it showed a happy couple enjoying a game night where the wife was well into term with a child.
"... We're both pretty messed up people... right?" Charlotte asks as she watches the film show how happy the couple was.
Heisenberg glances at Charlotte with mild curiosity before returning his attention to the movie. "Depends on who you ask," He replies with a shrug.
"Like. We shouldn't be in charge of a small human's well-being messed up?" Charlotte says hesitantly in an attempt to further explaining her question, without actually explaining it.
"Small human... like a kid?" Heisenberg asks confused as he returns his attention to Charlotte, in full this time as the movie had moved on to showing credits.
Charlotte nods.
Heisenberg laughs. "Oh yeah no. Definitely. We are waaay fucked up and have way too many issues for that."
Charlotte nods again as she heard him say what she'd been thinking. "'Kay that's what I thought." What a waste of money.
Heisenberg shakes his head. Are the two with extreme trauma related to family, too messed up to watch after a kid. What a stupid questi- the thought cuts short. She doesn't ask stupid questions. A suspicious expression crossed his face as he continued to look at her. "Why are you asking?"
Goddamn it... "No reason," Charlotte replies while trying to play it off as she moved to get up, so she could throw away the trash from her meal.
Heisenberg reached up to grab her waist and pull her back to the couch. "Bullshit," he replies while staring at her. He was getting to the bottom of this. Where he expected an argument, he got silence. He hated it when she did this and left him to try and figure out what was wrong on his own. She'd been acting weird ever since she had that meeting with that bitch that's watching after Rose. Is that what this is about? "...You know it's a bit too late to kidnap the child now. They probably have her locked up somewhere in a fortress."
"What?" Charlotte asks confused before shaking her head. "No that's not. We're not kidnapping anyone." she starts off as an annoyed frown crossed her face. "Look. I said it's nothing. It was a random thought because of the movie. I was trying to see if you agreed with me, and you do. End of discussion," Charlotte says as she moves to get up once more.
This time Heisenberg allows it while watching her with a continuously suspicious stare.
"Besides... She's better off with them," Charlotte says while she gathered the remains from her meal.
"Better off with some asshat that doesn't see her as a person and is just training her to be a tool?" Heisenberg asks with a note of disgust. they were thinking of the same guy right? Roid Rage McAngerson? Sole mission in life is to kill and destroy bioweapons? that guy?
"I don't think that's what's going on..." Charlotte admits quietly while thinking back on the meeting with the pleading woman. "I think they actually care about her," Charlotte admits before moving to leave the area. "Besides what was it that you wanted the kid for again?"
Heisenberg remained silent as he watched her head to the kitchen to throw away the scraps she picked up. "That's not the point," he says in return.
"Then what is the point?" Charlotte asks frustrated.
"You're letting your emotions get the better of you again," Heisenberg says while rolling his eyes. Seriously what the hell, was she on her period or something? "And the point is you're not being honest with me." he says as moves to get up and walk over to stand in front of her to stare her down. "You keep saying it's nothing, but you're the one who brought this up, so it's not nothing. What the shit is it because this is getting old."
"I just asked a question," Charlotte points out, "you're the one sending mixed signals. Oh no, we're too messed up to take care of a child. but hey let's go kidnap one and take it from a loving situation, so we can really mess it up."
"We are too messed up to take care of a kid, I'm just trying to figure out what the shit's gotten into you," Heisenberg replies with a frown. "And if we're talking about leaps in logic. A loving situation? seriously? The asshat kidnapped her, got her father killed, and her mother arrested."
"It's not a leap in logic because she flew out here while looking like a blimp to beg me to help her save the fucking kid," Charlotte argued back. "I asked her to give up everything for it, and she said yes." Charlotte further explains. To work for the rest of your life. That was no different from captivity to Charlotte. She knew well enough already if either of them were in the same position they would have said no. The child was better off with them. Maybe it wasn't the best situation but it was better than what they could offer.
So, this was because of that meeting she had a few weeks ago. "And you settled on cooking classes?" Heisenberg asks with annoyed confusion. That bleeding heart of hers would be the death of her. "We could have gotten something actually useful from the BSAA. A pardon, access to more mold. Genuinely anything useful."
"Doubtful," Charlotte replies rolling her eyes again. "The kid's sick. From what she said, the asshole found some scientist into develop some kinda medicine to help her even when it was against the orders of that bullshit company he works for and," Charlotte shifts a bit as she crosses her arms and looks away. "and she made a good point..."
"Well I'd certainly like to hear it because it sounds more like let yourself get swindled to me," Heisenberg says in return.
"... The reason the kid was sick and dying was because her father was infected..." Charlotte hesitantly admits.
Oh... That got Heisenberg to shut up as the pieces of their hodgepodge argument started to fall into place.
"I had 5 minutes to make a choice and turns out it's not a problem so yeah it was a waste of money." she says with a shrug while avoiding eye contact.
"You're not," he makes a vague gesture to her stomach. "You know... Are you?"
"No, good god no." She replied still frustrated with the topic.
"Okay... good," he says feeling some level of relief. The two of them taking care of a kid, that would be a mess.
"Can we please just let it go now? It was a stupid question," Charlotte says in response.
It takes a second but he nods. "yeah."
Charlotte moves to head to their room. that definitely could have been handled better but hey. at least they managed to argue about agreeing... They really were a mess.
'*'*'*'*'
An awkward air filled the house for the next few days thanks to that argument. It made Charlotte almost grateful for her time in the office since it meant having time to herself. It was a dumb question she shouldn't have even asked. Charlotte walked through the emptying halls of the failed business. only a skeleton crew was left and even then they were only around to answer questions when various legal entities needed information.
She wanted to be happier about this, but the argument had put a bad taste in her mouth. Hopefully, they'd get over it in a few days. they just needed a distraction. Maybe she'd just focus on getting Heisenberg his license, and they'd forget it even happened.
Charlotte made her way into the oversize office and turned to close the door behind her.
"I do hope I haven't caught you at a bad time," says an all to annoyingly familiar voice.
Charlotte takes a breath before turning back around. In the seat across from her desk that was once empty, Duke sat patiently waiting. "What do you want Duke?"
"Just a conversation with an old friend," the man replies before making a gesture to the metal chess set on her desk. "It's a lovely piece. Is it only for show?"
"I use it when I see fit," Charlotte says before making her way over to her desk to take her seat.
"Of course, naturally," the man replies before reaching over to nudge the board to the middle of her desk. "I've heard some condolences are in order. Or would you prefer congratulations."
Charlotte rolls her eyes at this and moves her pawn to d4. "offer what you like."
"Aiming to hold center ground off the bat?" Duke says amused, "One might suggest that's rather hostile," the man points out before matching the move and placing his own pawn at D5 to block the path.
"Pawn c2 to c4," Charlotte replies disinterested. "It's a war game of course it's hostile."
"A fair point," Duke replies with a nod. "Pawn d5 to c4," he says while taking the piece. "And is that how you justify going around behind my back?"
Charlotte remained quiet for a moment before moving a piece. "Pawn e2 to e3," She says as she maintains her stone faced expression. "I have no idea what you're talking about, I upheld our agreement in full."
"Yes funding from a company that's shutting down," Duke points out still calm as ever. "Knight from G8 to F6,"
"Bishop f1 to c4" she says as she takes the pawn from the board that was previously on the space. "Here I thought you'd be grateful, there's no way to trace the money if the company doesn't exist."
"And yet, the BSAA has been breathing down my neck for the last few months," Duke says as the first hint of annoyance could be heard in his voice. "Bishop c8 to g4" he says as he places the piece in a way to directly threaten her queen.
"... Knight g1 to f3" Charlotte says as she moves the piece.
"Still playing piece for piece when you should simply move out of the way," Duke comments amused.
"I will not be threatened," Charlotte replies in return as she glared at him. "What the BSAA does is no concern of mine nor do I have any control over it."
"No, I'm sure it's just a coincidence, that agent from before is trying to knock down my door. Redfield, I believe was his name?" Duke replies still smiling. "Since we're accepting technical truths as such. I'll technically keep my agreements as well while protecting myself from this, unfortunate turn of events. Hopefully, you won't mind."
"What do you want," Charlotte asks while watching him look over the board.
"Unfortunately for you, I'm afraid I don't need anything from you now," The man replies contently. "After all, you're the one who found out you don't need all the pieces to put a man back together," he says as he reaches over and simply lays down her king piece. "Do take good care of that pearl, I'm sure it's priceless to the right person even if it's worthless to me now."
"You fucking asshole," Charlotte says as she moves to get up.
"Hmm I believe that means I've over stayed my welcome," Duke says still calm as could be. "I hope, should we meet again, that it's on more agreeable terms Miss Wiltse."
A sudden burst of wind and feathers forced her to cover her eyes and when the squall had calmed, the duke was gone.
Well, this was a fun chapter x'D set up some new points wrapped up some others and managed to get in some suggestions too. Charlotte and Duke playing chess was brought to you by a reader suggestion from QuarrelingDM. For those looking for the answer to "what happened to the deer," I hear you, and you'll have your answer next chapter lol.
Review Responses:
Dumi Pear - yes XD cooking classes are definitely going to be fun. it was initially a throw away idea, but I dusted it off and revised it a bit since it worked well with introducing a few different reader requests. I do like the idea of Heisenberg helping the BSAA =v= keep an eye out for this in future chapters
nadillaandlaprasthefireandice - aw quq you're so sweet, thank you! The BSAA is basically built on hypocrisy at this point XD and my mind shall not be changed
Charadrius - definitely not a shot in the dark, the other lords are definitely in motion