It is time. The beginning of the end. [sorta X'D gonna continue the story past RE8 that's still a thing I just wanna be dramatic.]
Song Suggestion: The Hounds by The Protomen
Disclaimer: I own nothing quq/ Resident evil belongs to CapCom. I'm just an extremely stubborn fangirl with way too much time on her hands
Chris sat in a bustling airport by one of the many Luggage return carousals with his arms crossed as he impatiently tapped his thumb against his arm and listened to the announcements. They should be here by now.
Boarding call for passengers of flight 09x292 please have your boarding pass ready
He gave a tired sigh. nope, still not them.
"Hey Alpha," Canine says as he and Night howl make their way over to sit with him.
"anything?" Night howl asks as he offers Chris a coffee from the convenience store.
"If they were here you would have seen them" Chris points out but accepts the drink in one hand while digging out his phone from his jacket pocket with the other to check the time. Thursday, October 1st, 4:56 pm. They were an hour late...
Now arriving international flight 01x158 from Bucharest to gate 16.
"Is that them?" Canine asks and Chris pokes around at his phone to get the details up.
"Yep that's them," Chris says as he moves to get up from his seat. it takes a good 20 minutes even after the announcement but eventually Umber eye, Lobo and Tundra came into view.
"HEY! OVER HERE!" Canine calls as he raises a hand to wave.
"EY!" Lobo calls back as he holds up his arms in greeting. He hurries over with the other two to join them "Papa Alpha came to pick up his kids from the airport." Lobo says while placing a hand over his heart and pretending to be emotional "Told myself I wouldn't cry."
Chris Rolls his eyes and flips off Lobo. "You're lucky this is important or I'd be ditching you here without a ride."
"Yeah no, as emotional as this reunion is," she says while giving Lobo a side-eye "We need to talk," Tundra says as she shifts her weight and crosses her arms before looking around.
"Yeah," Chris agrees. "We really need to catch up," he says, though his tone suggests a more serious topic.
"We need somewhere secure, I don't know how freely we can talk at the moment," Umber eye whispers, and the others nod
"so what we go to a random bar? Civilians could overhear us." Canine says with a slight frown
" and we might be tailed..." Night howl points out as none of them trusted the people around them.
"... I think I know where we can go," Chris says with a nod. "I'll drive. get your bags."
"Yes sir," Lobo says with a short chuckle "been a while since I was able to tell you that huh?" he adds as he walks away.
It takes a while of waiting through luggage return hell but the 3 eventually claim their bags and follow Chris back to his car. They put their bags into the back and Chris motions that they shouldn't talk. The ride was made in silence for a long painful hour before pulling into a familiar parking garage and parking.
"Leave your bags, phones, and any tech in the car" Chris instructs and the group nods.
"Yes sir" "Rodger that" "Got it" "Can do boss" "On it"
Clicks and plunks of phones and watches being removed and placed into cup holders were heard before doors opened and closed.
"You think your place is secure if they bugged the car?" Lobo points out as they walk out of the parking garage.
"They probably only got the bugs in there since I drive it to work," Chris says as they walk into the apartment building. "And I already checked the apartments once I noticed the bugs in the car. they're clean."
"Well, that's a relief," Tundra says as they head up the stairs and follow behind Chris as he unlocks and opens the door to Emma's apartment.
Upon hearing the door open she smiles to herself. he was a bit earlier than usual hopefully that meant work went well. "Welcome ho-" Emma says as she turns around only to see 6 people walking in "oh mmm... I suppose I should have made a bit more for dinner..." She says stunned "It's good to see you all"
"Sorry for not saying anything," Chris says and waits for the group to enter before closing the door.
Canine gives an excited gasp as he noticed Duke lazing on the couch "You didn't tell me she has a dog oh my goodness hello friend" he says as he quickly walks over to start giving duke attention and belly rubs "Who is this good boy?"
"Canine," Chris says unamused.
"This is important," Canine counters as he continues to pet the now very happy dog whose tail was wagging at a mile a minute.
"Oh, sorry I hadn't realized I never mentioned him to you guys. That's Duke," Emma says as she feels a bit bad for that. how did that never come up?
"Duke, such a regal name," Canine says very much so instantly distracted, but he was a K-9 handler for a reason. He loved dogs.
"So, what brings you guys here? is it poker night again?" Emma asks as she mentally starts trying to figure out how to turn a meal for 2 into a meal for 7. Rice. she needed to make a lot of rice.
"We're being monitored," Chris admits with a slight frown.
"Monitored?" Emma says concerned as her mental dinner calculations came to a screeching halt. "how so, what's going on?"
"Are you sure we should be saying anything in front of her?" Umber Eye says as he looks at Chris with a slight frown. it would mean getting a civilian involved.
"We don't have much of a choice at this point... We need a secure location indoor location that we can monitor the coming and going of that they won't guess off the bat as a base of operation. There isn't a paper trail that would lead them here. Even if they track my GPS location they'd assume I'm going to my own apartment," he says with a nod. Luckily he was pretty dang quiet about his personal life at work. Even his own squad barely knew anything about it considering it took a year for them to find out they were seeing each other. With that thought, he looks at Emma.
She was definitely at a loss for words. What in the actual heck was going on that he wanted her to be around for what sounded like a work conversation? It took her a moment but she eventually nods "How can I help?"
"We just need a place to talk where we won't have to worry," Chris says and she nods again.
"Well my home is yours" she agrees as she agrees and goes back to trying to figure out how to stretch the meal she made. With permission given the 6 move to sit at the table so they can all talk. Duke Follows Canine over to the table and lays at his feet.
The group is silent at first before Chris decides to just go ahead and say it"The BSAA is up to something."
"Yeah, I'll say. they didn't even let me take the Chopper back to the states." Lobo says as he crosses his arms "Had us fly commercial that's weird since we finished our stint there. hell even if we didn't why wouldn't they want the equipment returned to the proper HQ?" He points out
"It gets worse," Tundra admits shaking her head. "I tried sending in a report for a tip I got and that report just. Disappeared." She explains with irritation evident in her tone. "I was trying to get it back to you as quickly as I could, we've got a major security breach for the winter's case"
"You're kidding," Chris says annoyed now as well, "I tried bringing a security issue to the director's attention for the winter's case just the other week and he completely blew it off."
"It's not just you, I heard Tiger Orca tried reporting a security breach but the report got covered up." Umber eye says as he leans forward onto his elbows and claps his hands together.
"What was the tip you were trying to send me?" Chris asks as he looks to Tundra.
"I overheard that there was an infiltration plan. Some woman by the name of Miranda is after the kid. From what I understand she's after the kid because of her connection to the baker incident in Louisiana."
"The kid of two stabilized infected individuals? her blood would sell like hot cakes on the market," Lobo says with a sneer. "Fuckin disgusting. She's just a baby."
"When did you get the tip?" Night Howl asks concerned.
"About two weeks ago," Tundra says. "From what I was told she's laying low for now but we need to make a plan."
"Did your tip come with a location where we can track this Miranda person?" Chris asks and Tundra nods.
"yeah, still in Romania. probably a 3-hour drive from the safe house" Tundra says with a frown "We need to start gathering supplies to prepare for a stakeout. it doesn't sound like she's particularly active yet but she is a known threat that the BSAA doesn't want on record apparently."
"We need supplies for the stakeout and a new secure location for the family outside of the BSAA's knowledge." Canine says with a slight frown "That's a tall order. It could take months"
"We better get started then" Chris says and the others nod.
"We should tell Ethan," Umber eye says but Chris cuts that short.
"No," Chris says in a low authoritative tone, "Absolutely not, he can barely keep up with his training."
"I mean, It is his kid," Night howl points out.
"Exactly my point, he's going to want to get involved. he's a civilian, regardless of how much training we give him. He's not ready for this kind of fieldwork." Chris says in return "He's not to know and that's final."
"Yes sir," Lobo says though his tone suggests he disagreed with the choice as well.
"Not to rain on everyone's parade but. How are we going to get enough gear for 6 people for what? 3 weeks worth of Recon and potential armed contact without raising a few alarms at the BSAA? If they think we're up to something they might move the winters without telling us," Tundra points out. "And even if we gather it over time where are we going to put it? that's a lot of gear."
"Store it here." Emma finally says which gets the group's attention. having everyone suddenly stare at her made her a bit self-conscious but. "You said it yourself, they wouldn't really look here because it would just look like Chris is going home for the day on a GPS. So assuming the bugs are sound and location only. if you put a few pieces of gear in his car each day for the next few months you'll have more than enough for 3 weeks."
"Are you sure you want to get that involved?" Umber eye says with a slight frown. "Storing weapons isn't something you can plead ignorance for if the BSAA catches us before we can get over there."
Emma shrugs. "seems to be a theme with the apartment... the last guy was storing stuff here for a gang." She says with a half-hearted chuckle. "I could rent out a storage unit but even that's not much better all things considered. that would be considered a paper trail right?"
"Yeah..." Tundra confirms but shakes her head. "I don't think we have much a better choice."
Chris thinks on it a bit more "What about Mrs. Russo's old apartment?" He says with surprises Emma.
"that's right. it's still empty..." She affirms "maybe we could talk to Mr. Jacobs? If we tell him that we're planning on moving in together and we need some extra space to store a few items that we're buying in advance, he might be okay with an over the table deal to let us use the empty apartment for storage while he's trying to rent it out?" she says while trying to follow Chris's line of thought. The other five slowly look at Chris with slight grins as he remains quiet for a bit.
"That's... true that could work," he agrees and silently confirms that was something the two were planning on to the rest of the squad.
"Better hope he doesn't do any walkthroughs of the place then," Cainine points out, "and here you'll find our heavy mutations room standard in our newly renovated 2 bed 1 bath apartments I assure you." the K-9 handler adds while Lobo snickers a bit and leans back in his chair.
"That's a fair point... Again I don't mind if you use my place." Emma offers while going back to poking at the meal having shredded the two chicken breast and added them to a now warming part of tomato sauce, beans, garlic, diced onion and pepper and some additional spices while she waited for the rice to finish cooking.
Chris shakes his head at that, "We'll just use mine for storage, I don't want you getting in trouble for this. meeting at your place has deniability but this is going to be subordination at best."
"What are they going to do, fire me? I don't work for them," Emma points out with a slight chuckle.
"Jail time for illegal possession of firearms," Umber eye points out in turn.
oh... right." She says with a wince. This was a pickle...
The group spent a good 15 minutes spitballing ideas for how to store the equipment when Lobo decided to speak up. it's not like they were actually getting anywhere aside from running in circles. "Well, you two could just rush the move-in plan. There's deniability that way." Lobo says with a teasing smile.
"Lobo," Chris says in a warning tone as Emma works on plating up the meal by putting some of the chicken chili over a bed of rice. Bless rice for being a good plate filler.
"I know this is an important mission but rushing to buy a house for that doesn't seem like the best long-term plan," Emma says as she walks over and starts putting plates down in front of the group.
Lobo stops leaning back in the chair in favor of leaning forward to rest his elbow on the table and his cheek against that hand to look at Chris with a Cheeky grin. "An excellent point. Anything else we missed while we were gone for the year?" he asks highly amused by the night and day contrast of Chris and Emma when it came to their willingness to share details about their plans. Yeah, yeah, the thing with the kid was serious and all but he could still appreciate a good laugh.
"Thank you," Umber eye says quietly as Emma returned with another round of plates.
"No problem. Deniability and all that," She says as she walks back for another set of plates. "It's always good to have friends over for dinner after they were away for so long," She says to subtly suggest that could be used as an excuse going forward.
With the meals set and glasses of water placed after the conversation shifted back to the matter at hand.
"So it's agreed then? We'll use Emma's as a base of operation for conversation and storage of the gear overall with the backup plan that if we hear any sort of suspicion of our activity the gear will be moved to Chris' apartment." Umber eye says and the group nods.
"We'll Use one of the BSAA choppers to head over to Romania on the last week of January. by then we should have enough supplies." Chris says with a short sigh, "In the meantime, Wolf squad will continue to monitor the winters during the monthly checkups to make sure there isn't any unusual movement." He lists and the others nod. "Tundra will try and establish a link to Tiger Orca squad for further tips in case something happens when we're not there. If we hear anything odd then we move in right away."
"Agreed," "Sounds good" "Let's get cracking" "They won't see what hit them" "Let's go squaaad"
They had roughly 4 months to get this in motion. it wasn't ideal to hold off like this but if the BSAA was trying to bury this they needed to be careful and figure out why.
"Let's get going then," Chris says as he moves to get up and picks up his plate. the others get up as well and start moving for the door which gets his attention "Hey" the team stops "Dishes in the sink." he says with a mixture of annoyed confusion.
The squad stopped a bit surprised, He didn't usually make them do that when they visited him but all the same, each person went back, got their plate, and washed it before putting it in the dish drainer by the sink. Emma moved to cover her mouth knowing she was failing to suppress a laughing smile. He wasn't always comfortable with being publicly affectionate so little moments like that were cute and appreciated.
With the table cleared the group once more moves to head out. Emma walked with them over to the door to make sure she'd be able to close up after they left. Chris stops as he was about to walk past and gives her a quick peck of a kiss. "It's probably going to take a while to drop everyone off so make sure you lock up."
She blinked a few times while trying to process that. "Yeah, I'll make sure to take care of that. travel safely" She happily says in return.
"Love you," he says as he gives a short wave over his shoulder while walking away.
Holy frickin heck she was going to have whiplash if he kept this up. Who are you and what did you do with Chris? "Love you too" she replied while smiling like a derp before closing the door behind them. It was a simple gesture but one that made her feel like she was over the moon. Hound Wolf Squad was practically family to him, and he was actually communicating with her about a pretty serious choice of going behind the BSAA's back and why he felt it was necessary, before it happened. That was a leaps and bounds progress with communication. That with the simple gestures of affection meant that much more to her. Neither of them were perfect, but they were growing together.
The wheels have begun to turn ufufu and still managed to work in a bit of cute fluff too X'D next chapter is going to be interesting because I have no idea what to do for November. that was the one month I didn't have a plan for... Thanksgiving anyone? maybe house hunting with a side of supply stashing. we'll see what my fingers end up typing.
Response reviews:
Guest1995 - When in double, blame the director lol. Ah you caught that. I mean. yeah, it was kinda insinuating something but nothing that extreme. there's not really a way to dance around this question without making it worse X'D She was actually looking up baby facts like Chris suggested. One of Emma's life goals is to have a family. that was on the written list which was why she was worried/embarrassed about Chris seeing it. she wasn't ready for that conversation because she's worried about how it will go. All the same after seeing tiny baby rose, it had her going awwww nope not ready for that conversation. I will just look at baby pictures and articles instead... so in her mind, she got caught doing that. That topic is not dead and done though so look forward to more shenanigans in the near future.