That last chapter makes it sound like I don't like Chris very much o_O but
I do! He's one of my favs! On another note, I'm a C/L fan, but you all
probably figured that out already.Hope you're all liking it so far, and
please review! (thanks, LeonFan!)
Also, I'm gonna update a little more than once a week I think because the
fic is done, it's just a matter of when I can get online to update.
Okay, so without further ado, here is chapter 4!
Chapter 4
"Kindred Spirits"
Claire had the larger of the two guest rooms. As much as she loved her brother, she was not sharing a room with him; she wasn't about to start playing maid. She needed her space. Marcy, on the other hand, was more than welcome to stay in her room. After all, it would only be for a few nights.
"Hey, Marcy?"
She looked up from her lap top which, at the moment,displayed Marcy's own write-ups of past missions. With a tap of a key, the screen promptly disappeared.
"Yes, Miss Redfield?"
"Um, just 'Claire' is fine... you don't have to be that formal with me?"
For the first time ever since meeting the enigmatic girl, Claire saw her smile.
"Okay, Claire...what's up?"
When Marcy had mentioned Umbrella's involvement with the death of her sister and the disappearance of her brother, Claire had immediately- and unknowingly- connected with the mysterious girl. She knew Marcy didn't want her pity or sympathy, but Claire couldn't help it. She suffered- and is still suffering- through the same ordeal Claire did when Chris was missing. What if Chris, like Marcy's sister, was killed? What if he was still missing? Claire couldn't bear the thought, much less live like that.
"Um, Marcy...when, I mean, how did Umbrella, you know... your sister a- and your brother..." Marcy seemed to relax as Claire stuttered through her sentences, "...if you don't mind my asking, that is."
"I was wondering when you were goin to ask me that."
Closing her lap top, Marcy stood up and faced Claire. She explained as she slowly walked over to her.
"About...I guess it was 10 months ago, my sister was in Umbrella's underground lab- you know, the one under Raccoon?"
"Yea...I know."
"I wish I didn't..."
"Well, she started working in the Hive- that's the name of the lab- to obtain more info and the virus. it wasn't enough, so she hired a contact, along with my brother, to have access to securtiy codes, survalence papers- the works..."
"The Hive...so that's what it was called..."
Marcy continued her story as she sat next to Claire.
"Anyway, to make a long, long story short, she was betrayed and the Hive's computer system shut the place down after a vial of the T-virus apparently broke and infected everyone down there.
"10 months ago,"Claire thought,"that's before my brother even knew about the Spencer Mansion...she knows how this whole thing started..."
Marcy's cold, icy gaze seemed to melt as she kept explaining.
"Soon after he heard about this incident, my brother took action. He snuck into the Hive...I remember him asking me to make a fake R.P.D. I.D. for him..."She smiled, again- then it was gone as soon as it appeared."Oh- so he went, but..."
"You haven't heard back from him yet?"
She shook her head. "I'm just continuing his fight. 'Companies like Umbrella think they're above the law...but they're not.'"
Claire looked at her. Marcy stood up again and turned her lap top back on. "My brother told me that once when I first asked him about Umbrella."
Not wanting to delve any further into Marcy's life, Claire quickly switched subjects. "So, that 'window of opportunity' Leon was talking about before...what did he mean by that?"
"You don't need to change the subject for my sake. I'm...okay, really..."
Marcy had figured her out, but Claire could also see through her- she really wasn't okay. She couldn't blame her. There was a pause- silence- until Marcy motioned with her hand for Claire to come see the bright display on her lap top.
"That 'window' he was talking about...he's referring to the time when all of Stonybrook's computer terminals will be deactivated- including security devices- for a system cleaning and update."
She clicked around until she found the information she was looking for. As mysterious as she was, Marcy had typed her full name at the top of every report Claire had seen her scroll through: Marcy Addison.
"They do this about...twice a year. The procedure requires them to shut down the computers on three seperate occasions within a 24 hour period."
"Three?"
"Yes, three. It's smarter to update in chunks rather than deactivate everything for a long stretch of time."
"True..."
"Anyway, we missed the first 'window.' The next one is at about 3:07 AM tonight, and then tomorrow at around 8:00 AM."
Claire wanted to help her, needed to help her. "Marcy, I want to help."
"But I thought your brother said-"
"Never mind what he said... I'm my
own Redfield, thank you very much."
Marcy snickered a little. "You know, he kind of reminds me of my own brother. He always told me to never get involved with Umbrella, to leave that to him. He trusted me enough to tell me about it- bad move on his part... of course I would get involved after hearing what they've done."
"Word to that."
Both shared a much-needed moment of laughter before getting back on track. Marcy pointed to a blurb of numbers and letters on the glowing screen.
"Some kind of...code?"
"Marcy, that's not...when did you...Leon-"
"What Leon doesn't know about the mission is that I've already breached their security codes and layout program. I know where the lab is located on the campus, but I need to access a program in the lab itself to find out where exactly they keep the anti-virus."
The gears in Claire's head were turning rapidly. "Sooo...what window were you and Leon planning to shoot for ?"
Marcy knew where Claire was going with this- and she liked it.
"Well, since Leon thinks I still need to do some hacking, we were
supposed to go tomorrow at 8:00 AM...however, I personally think the 3:07 AM window is better..."
If Chris knew what his sister was planning, he would kill her...
* * * * * *
Three missions, all in different places. Minor injuries, another bullet wound, and close to no recovery time. An exhausted Leon sat on the couch, aimlessly staring out of the window. Except for the few scant rays of light the moon provided, it was pitch black in Jill's apartment. These thoughts ran over and over in his head for hours as he hopelessly tried to get some sleep.
"if I'm so tired, why can't I just fall asleep already!?"
Hopeless...
With a heavy sigh, Leon craned his neck back, propping it on the soft, cushony back of the couch. His clear, frustrated blue eyes scanned the ceiling. Unable to sleep, he kept his mind occupied by thinking about the mission, the virus, Umbrella, Raccoon...
...and Claire.
Running into her like that...it was more than he could ask for. Seeing her again bought so much back to him; not just memories, but something else. The "something else" he couldn't quite pinpoint, but it was definitely there.
"What about Ada, Leon? Remember her?"
Ada...
Right before she died, she told him how she felt about him. "Why should I believe her," Leon thought. "Everything else she ever told me was a lie..." He couldn't be mad at her, though. Maybe that's why he was still mad at himself for not protecting her- not doing his job.
"Yea...what job?"
The more he thought about it, the more he didn't- couldn't- understand. He could still picture in his mind, as if it had just happened seconds ago, the way she looked as she fell to her death. He couldn't let go of the image, and it hurt him to think she could let go that easily.
"That's right, Leon. She let go...you tried to save her..."
He shook the thought out of his head. No use beating himself up over something that already happened.
"And this is why I can't get any sleep..."
With another sigh, Leon tried closing his eyes. He immidiately opened them again when he heard the faint squeeking of the apartment's floorboards.
...footsteps...
He swung around to see who was sneaking around behind him.
"Chris?"
"Hey, Kennedy...I sense that hint of dissapointment in your voice. Bet you were hoping it was the other Redfield..."
Even in the pitch black of the apartment, Chris could tell he was blushing.
"A-and what's that supposed to mean?"
A smirk grew on Chris' face. "Ahh, nothing...nothing at all."
"Sure..."
Chris kept talking as he walked over to the window. An eery, white glow engulfed Chris as the moonlight spilled through the transparent, watery-clear glass of the window.
"I actually did come out here to talk about Claire."
Even more cautious, Leon stood up and slowly and made his way over to the window.
"You did?"
"Yea."
Turning to Leon, Chris' face turned overly serious.
"Here it comes...'Stay the hell away from my sister,' or maybe 'Don't even think about her- I'll kill you before you can-'"
"Thank you."
That was a suprise...
"I never actually got to thank you for keeping an eye on her while you two were in Raccoon...and especially for finding me and getting the message she was stuck on Rockfort to me in time, and- what's the matter? You look confused...and a little pale..."
That was not what he was expecting at all. Leon fumbled for words as to not look too obvious.
"O-oh,no, I'm fine. I'm just-I guess I'm a little tired."
"Yea, I figured that..heard ya talking to yourself..."
No wonder this guy was on S.T.A.R.S...
"Anyway, I also wanted to ask you something about the, uh, mission."
"Shoot."
"Well, you mentioned before about finding the anti-virus. I was just curious... why not just take the virus?"
"That's exactly what I thought at first, but it makes sense. The anti- virus is essentially another form of the T-virus. The virus had to be developped before a cure could be synthesized..."
Chris nodded. "True, true."
"So with the anti-virus, we can prove Umbrella
needed it. They needed it to reverse the effects of the T-virus, should an accident ever occur..."
"Wow...good thinking there, Kennedy."
"Thanks. Plus- well you heard what Marcy said before about using it for ourselves and doing more research on it...anyway, the point is this: Umbrella is expecting us to take the virus. We're going for the element of suprise, here..."
About halfway through Leon's ramble, a pang of guilt struck Chris. He was downright rude to Marcy before. "I feel like a total ass..."
"I-I'm sorry, Leon, hold on a minute. I have to apologize to Marcy."
Once again, a confused look crossed Leon's face.
"Right now?"
He heard Chris softly say "Yes" as he made his way over to his sister's room. Gently rapping at her door, he quietly asked his sister if it was okay to come in.
"Claire? Claire- it's me. Is Marcy there with you?"
No answer.
Chris continued his apology as he opened the creaky door.
"Look, I'm sorry about before...I was out of line, and-"
No one.
Leon was now standing next to him, peering into the seemingly empty room. Chris entered, searching and surveying the room carefully as he walked around.
"Chris..."
He knew what Leon was going to say. He just knew it.
"I take my eyes of her for a second, and now this!?!"
"Chris, I think-"
"I know, Leon. I know."
Chapter 4
"Kindred Spirits"
Claire had the larger of the two guest rooms. As much as she loved her brother, she was not sharing a room with him; she wasn't about to start playing maid. She needed her space. Marcy, on the other hand, was more than welcome to stay in her room. After all, it would only be for a few nights.
"Hey, Marcy?"
She looked up from her lap top which, at the moment,displayed Marcy's own write-ups of past missions. With a tap of a key, the screen promptly disappeared.
"Yes, Miss Redfield?"
"Um, just 'Claire' is fine... you don't have to be that formal with me?"
For the first time ever since meeting the enigmatic girl, Claire saw her smile.
"Okay, Claire...what's up?"
When Marcy had mentioned Umbrella's involvement with the death of her sister and the disappearance of her brother, Claire had immediately- and unknowingly- connected with the mysterious girl. She knew Marcy didn't want her pity or sympathy, but Claire couldn't help it. She suffered- and is still suffering- through the same ordeal Claire did when Chris was missing. What if Chris, like Marcy's sister, was killed? What if he was still missing? Claire couldn't bear the thought, much less live like that.
"Um, Marcy...when, I mean, how did Umbrella, you know... your sister a- and your brother..." Marcy seemed to relax as Claire stuttered through her sentences, "...if you don't mind my asking, that is."
"I was wondering when you were goin to ask me that."
Closing her lap top, Marcy stood up and faced Claire. She explained as she slowly walked over to her.
"About...I guess it was 10 months ago, my sister was in Umbrella's underground lab- you know, the one under Raccoon?"
"Yea...I know."
"I wish I didn't..."
"Well, she started working in the Hive- that's the name of the lab- to obtain more info and the virus. it wasn't enough, so she hired a contact, along with my brother, to have access to securtiy codes, survalence papers- the works..."
"The Hive...so that's what it was called..."
Marcy continued her story as she sat next to Claire.
"Anyway, to make a long, long story short, she was betrayed and the Hive's computer system shut the place down after a vial of the T-virus apparently broke and infected everyone down there.
"10 months ago,"Claire thought,"that's before my brother even knew about the Spencer Mansion...she knows how this whole thing started..."
Marcy's cold, icy gaze seemed to melt as she kept explaining.
"Soon after he heard about this incident, my brother took action. He snuck into the Hive...I remember him asking me to make a fake R.P.D. I.D. for him..."She smiled, again- then it was gone as soon as it appeared."Oh- so he went, but..."
"You haven't heard back from him yet?"
She shook her head. "I'm just continuing his fight. 'Companies like Umbrella think they're above the law...but they're not.'"
Claire looked at her. Marcy stood up again and turned her lap top back on. "My brother told me that once when I first asked him about Umbrella."
Not wanting to delve any further into Marcy's life, Claire quickly switched subjects. "So, that 'window of opportunity' Leon was talking about before...what did he mean by that?"
"You don't need to change the subject for my sake. I'm...okay, really..."
Marcy had figured her out, but Claire could also see through her- she really wasn't okay. She couldn't blame her. There was a pause- silence- until Marcy motioned with her hand for Claire to come see the bright display on her lap top.
"That 'window' he was talking about...he's referring to the time when all of Stonybrook's computer terminals will be deactivated- including security devices- for a system cleaning and update."
She clicked around until she found the information she was looking for. As mysterious as she was, Marcy had typed her full name at the top of every report Claire had seen her scroll through: Marcy Addison.
"They do this about...twice a year. The procedure requires them to shut down the computers on three seperate occasions within a 24 hour period."
"Three?"
"Yes, three. It's smarter to update in chunks rather than deactivate everything for a long stretch of time."
"True..."
"Anyway, we missed the first 'window.' The next one is at about 3:07 AM tonight, and then tomorrow at around 8:00 AM."
Claire wanted to help her, needed to help her. "Marcy, I want to help."
"But I thought your brother said-"
"Never mind what he said... I'm my
own Redfield, thank you very much."
Marcy snickered a little. "You know, he kind of reminds me of my own brother. He always told me to never get involved with Umbrella, to leave that to him. He trusted me enough to tell me about it- bad move on his part... of course I would get involved after hearing what they've done."
"Word to that."
Both shared a much-needed moment of laughter before getting back on track. Marcy pointed to a blurb of numbers and letters on the glowing screen.
"Some kind of...code?"
"Marcy, that's not...when did you...Leon-"
"What Leon doesn't know about the mission is that I've already breached their security codes and layout program. I know where the lab is located on the campus, but I need to access a program in the lab itself to find out where exactly they keep the anti-virus."
The gears in Claire's head were turning rapidly. "Sooo...what window were you and Leon planning to shoot for ?"
Marcy knew where Claire was going with this- and she liked it.
"Well, since Leon thinks I still need to do some hacking, we were
supposed to go tomorrow at 8:00 AM...however, I personally think the 3:07 AM window is better..."
If Chris knew what his sister was planning, he would kill her...
* * * * * *
Three missions, all in different places. Minor injuries, another bullet wound, and close to no recovery time. An exhausted Leon sat on the couch, aimlessly staring out of the window. Except for the few scant rays of light the moon provided, it was pitch black in Jill's apartment. These thoughts ran over and over in his head for hours as he hopelessly tried to get some sleep.
"if I'm so tired, why can't I just fall asleep already!?"
Hopeless...
With a heavy sigh, Leon craned his neck back, propping it on the soft, cushony back of the couch. His clear, frustrated blue eyes scanned the ceiling. Unable to sleep, he kept his mind occupied by thinking about the mission, the virus, Umbrella, Raccoon...
...and Claire.
Running into her like that...it was more than he could ask for. Seeing her again bought so much back to him; not just memories, but something else. The "something else" he couldn't quite pinpoint, but it was definitely there.
"What about Ada, Leon? Remember her?"
Ada...
Right before she died, she told him how she felt about him. "Why should I believe her," Leon thought. "Everything else she ever told me was a lie..." He couldn't be mad at her, though. Maybe that's why he was still mad at himself for not protecting her- not doing his job.
"Yea...what job?"
The more he thought about it, the more he didn't- couldn't- understand. He could still picture in his mind, as if it had just happened seconds ago, the way she looked as she fell to her death. He couldn't let go of the image, and it hurt him to think she could let go that easily.
"That's right, Leon. She let go...you tried to save her..."
He shook the thought out of his head. No use beating himself up over something that already happened.
"And this is why I can't get any sleep..."
With another sigh, Leon tried closing his eyes. He immidiately opened them again when he heard the faint squeeking of the apartment's floorboards.
...footsteps...
He swung around to see who was sneaking around behind him.
"Chris?"
"Hey, Kennedy...I sense that hint of dissapointment in your voice. Bet you were hoping it was the other Redfield..."
Even in the pitch black of the apartment, Chris could tell he was blushing.
"A-and what's that supposed to mean?"
A smirk grew on Chris' face. "Ahh, nothing...nothing at all."
"Sure..."
Chris kept talking as he walked over to the window. An eery, white glow engulfed Chris as the moonlight spilled through the transparent, watery-clear glass of the window.
"I actually did come out here to talk about Claire."
Even more cautious, Leon stood up and slowly and made his way over to the window.
"You did?"
"Yea."
Turning to Leon, Chris' face turned overly serious.
"Here it comes...'Stay the hell away from my sister,' or maybe 'Don't even think about her- I'll kill you before you can-'"
"Thank you."
That was a suprise...
"I never actually got to thank you for keeping an eye on her while you two were in Raccoon...and especially for finding me and getting the message she was stuck on Rockfort to me in time, and- what's the matter? You look confused...and a little pale..."
That was not what he was expecting at all. Leon fumbled for words as to not look too obvious.
"O-oh,no, I'm fine. I'm just-I guess I'm a little tired."
"Yea, I figured that..heard ya talking to yourself..."
No wonder this guy was on S.T.A.R.S...
"Anyway, I also wanted to ask you something about the, uh, mission."
"Shoot."
"Well, you mentioned before about finding the anti-virus. I was just curious... why not just take the virus?"
"That's exactly what I thought at first, but it makes sense. The anti- virus is essentially another form of the T-virus. The virus had to be developped before a cure could be synthesized..."
Chris nodded. "True, true."
"So with the anti-virus, we can prove Umbrella
needed it. They needed it to reverse the effects of the T-virus, should an accident ever occur..."
"Wow...good thinking there, Kennedy."
"Thanks. Plus- well you heard what Marcy said before about using it for ourselves and doing more research on it...anyway, the point is this: Umbrella is expecting us to take the virus. We're going for the element of suprise, here..."
About halfway through Leon's ramble, a pang of guilt struck Chris. He was downright rude to Marcy before. "I feel like a total ass..."
"I-I'm sorry, Leon, hold on a minute. I have to apologize to Marcy."
Once again, a confused look crossed Leon's face.
"Right now?"
He heard Chris softly say "Yes" as he made his way over to his sister's room. Gently rapping at her door, he quietly asked his sister if it was okay to come in.
"Claire? Claire- it's me. Is Marcy there with you?"
No answer.
Chris continued his apology as he opened the creaky door.
"Look, I'm sorry about before...I was out of line, and-"
No one.
Leon was now standing next to him, peering into the seemingly empty room. Chris entered, searching and surveying the room carefully as he walked around.
"Chris..."
He knew what Leon was going to say. He just knew it.
"I take my eyes of her for a second, and now this!?!"
"Chris, I think-"
"I know, Leon. I know."