Title: Into the Light
Author: Malenkaya
Rating: R for violence and swearing
Summary: (RE movie fanfic, 2nd in trilogy): What began as a mindless effort to survive has developed into a race against time to stop Matt's sudden mutation as Alice, Rain, Michael, Matt and J.D. re-enter the Hive in search of a cure.
Disclaimer: Consider the lacking amount of people using the characters out there, I should own them. But I don't. So don't sue :)
Feedback: Please! I live and breathe reviews! Flames, as long as their explanatory, are fine.
Author's Notes: Firstly, sorry for the late update. As some of you may or may not know, was having another stupid, inconvenient "updating" session. Am I the only one who's growed bored with them lately?
Secondly, hope you all had a happy New Years! Again, a thousand thanks to all those who have reviewed and commented upon "Into the Light" thus far! Particularly for chapter six: FREAKSHOW1, Susan LeGrow, Jordsan, rain1657, Gabzilla, Darkness Amber, Faded Writer, and kk! And again: please feel free to critique, I'm completely open to comments and suggestions.
This chapter's a bit longer than most, though I'm not sure why.
"Y" for spaces again :)
Thanks again, enjoy the fic!
Into the Light
Chapter Seven: Shattered Circle
"And then they jumped at me."
Matt paused, feeling Alice's hand clench around his own.
He'd woken up six hours after his escapade with the mutated dinosaurs to a sea of concerned faces and Alice's worried inquiries. Michael had conned Olivia into leaving the room under the pretext of re-examining the files, and now Matt sat explaining what had happened to everyone present.
"And then- I don't know. I must have just passed into Nemesis, because when I woke up, both of them were dead." He paused again. "Shredded, actually."
He squeezed Alice's hand. "And then I heard Rain, and it just got worse. I think the virus, whatever it is, somehow reacts to people; I was able to keep it under control until I could sense her, and then—I locked the door. And when I figured I had it under control, I left to find her."
He swallowed. "Except I didn't have it under control. I talked to Rain for less than a minute, and it took everything I had to resist reverting back into Nemesis."
He paused again, remembering that moment when he'd walked up behind Rain, thinking he had everything under control again. Remembered seeing her surrounded by the blood and tissue of the corpse she stood next to, her own blood, the sound of it, pounding in his ears.
When he'd grabbed the back of her jacket, it had been a predatory move, an attempt to snap her neck.
Instead he'd managed- just barely- not to hurt her, to control the instinctive desire to hunt, to destroy that had been pumping through his veins. He'd yanked Rain to her feet, and though startled and annoyed, perhaps afraid, she hadn't been physically hurt.
But despite that, Matt couldn't shake the knowledge that next time he might not be so lucky.
Shaking the thoughts away, he shrugged. "And you guys know the rest," he said, trailing off as he realized exactly what emotion he was feeling.
Fear.
It was terrifying to know that you had no control over your body anymore. That in one moment the people you'd been working so hard to protect could be dead by your actions.
And the anti-virus had wiped him out this time for six hours or less. Six hours, compared to the twelve it had knocked him out for days ago.
At this rate, he might not even last the next seven days—and everyone here knew it.
Nobody seemed to want to say anything to his story, and instead of giving voice to his fears- they would only further worry the group- Matt changed the subject abruptly. "I think Olivia knows."
J.D looked at him sharply. "What makes you think that?"
Matt shrugged. "She's been acting wary of me all morning."
"She was awake last night," Alice said flatly, looking exhausted. "She heard everything."
As if on cue, the entire group turned towards Olivia where she sat in the observation room. Involved in her reading, she seemed oblivious to their stares, and Rain was the first to break the silence. "So now what?"
Matt shrugged. "Does it matter?"
"I don't trust her," she said flatly.
J.D sighed. "Rain, you don't trust anyone," he pointed out.
"If Olivia's so fucking trustworthy, why hasn't she told anyone what she's heard?" Rain countered.
"Look, I agree with Rain," Alice broke in. "But J.D's right. She could be innocent. Either way, we just have to wait and see."
"Wait and see?" Rain said, her tone disbelieving.
Alice smiled at her. "What else can we do, Rain?"
Rain seemed to ponder the question, then shrugged. "Fine."
A silence fell over the group as the door opened and Olivia and Michael walked in, both still enthusiastically debating the fine differences between cohesive and adhesive membrane adjustments.
Rain stood, followed by J.D. "So we're going back to the theatre now?"
Matt glanced at Alice, then nodded again. "Yeah. There might be more files of Umbrella's test activity there. It could be useful."
Rain shrugged. "Whatever."
With that said, she turned and left, leaving Matt to stare after her, a small smile on his face. "She's not happy."
"Rain's never happy," J.D said shortly, a dark look affixed to his face as he turned and followed.
Matt raised a surprised eyebrow at Alice, a look she returned. Rain was exasperating a lot for the time, and everyone had, at some point, lost their tempers with her—except, of course, for J.D. Easy going, affable, and generally protective of Rain, none of them had ever seen him snap at her or even insult her with any degree of seriousness.
"Something's going on with him and Olivia," Alice observed quietly.
Matt glanced at her. "How can you tell?"
She smiled. "He defends her when we argue," she pointed out. "And Michael keeps staring at them, so he obviously knows something about it too."
Matt raised an eyebrow, surprised despite himself at how closely Alice was able to see people. "So what do you think about that?"
She shrugged, and then laughed. "Honestly? I think he should probably tell Rain. She's going to flip out when she finds out he's been keeping it secret."
Matt looked at her, surprised. "She doesn't know already?"
"She trusts J.D," Alice said simply. "She's willing to believe that his defending Olivia doesn't mean anything more than what it looks like. She forgets that he's a man."
Matt grinned. "Is that an insult, Alice?"
She laughed. "No. J.D, though—he's lonely. Everyone has been, and sometimes that just takes top priority over everything else."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "So you're basically saying all men are secretive idiots driven by their hormones?"
She grinned. "Well," she said thoughtfully, lowering her eyelashes in a mocking play at modesty. "Some are."
He laughed. "Like me?" he asked teasingly.
In answer, she leaned forward and kissed him fully on the mouth, putting her hands on his knees for balance. He deepened the kiss instantly, and she pulled back, smirking at him. "Obviously."
He smiled back at her, a dopey, love-struck smile he couldn't hold back. With a ticking clock hanging over their heads, rarely were their moments together anything but stressful and emotional; it was nice to share a gentle, ordinary moment like the one they'd just had instead.
What could have developed into a touching moment was interrupted by Rain, who stood over them, her bad mood already dissipated. "Come on Alice, let's move," she sing-songed, looking pleased that it was Alice holding up the group rather than her again.
Alice rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Rain," she said stonily, imitating the brunette's common response.
Rain laughed, and as J.D walked by she smacked him in the arm. "Hurry up, J.D, let's go," she said cheerily.
Looking exasperated, but amused despite himself, J.D followed.
Matt smiled, looking around him at the people he'd grown so close to over the past month.
Things were stressful right now. With his mutation, their search for the anti-virus, and Olivia's new introduction to the group, it was hard to find a moment of happiness.
But then, some things never changed. Him and Alice would always share their moments, Rain and J.D would always engage in their teasing bickering, and Michael would always flit from group to group, so unlike the others but somehow fitting in so completely all the same.
It was comforting to know that no matter how much the situation changed, their group would always stay the same.
y
"Order, please, we need order in here."
Anderson's face was crimson as he began to add, "Order in the—" before stopping, apparently realizing how idiotic the statement would sound.
Glasses askew, expression embarrassed, Anderson cast him a look of desperation. William smirked.
He remembered his first important meeting, and while it hadn't been his best, it certainly hadn't been this fiasco.
If his daughter's situation had been any less imminent, he might have found it amusing.
Unfortunately, he wasn't amused, but aggravated.
Taking pity on Anderson, William stood—this godforsaken meeting would never start otherwise—and cleared his throat. "Gentlemen."
An instant hush fell over the room as all eyes turned to him and he stared at them all, his face impassive, a simple trick he'd learned from Crawford. That man never smiled.
William was powerful. He knew that. But to have the sort of power Crawford held over the corporation… that was only a fantasy to him.
William frowned. Either way, it made no difference. Once he had Lea, he was taking all the money Umbrella had so kindly funded him with and leaving to another life. Perhaps somewhere in Hawaii. Lea loved the sun.
Which, of course, was what this blasted meeting had been called for in the first place.
William sat down again, nodding to Anderson, who's expression was both impressed and relieved.
As he stood, beginning the meeting once more, William smirked again.
He'd see how relieved Anderson still was when he took a chunk out of his monthly wages for this ridiculous fiasco.
He frowned. Except, of course, he probably wouldn't even be here by then.
"With an extensive search of the scene in question—"
Firing Anderson would probably be more simplistic.
"And a detailed survey of Umbrella's most trusted members—"
Assuming, of course, Anderson actually survived their excursion to Raccoon. He seemed to think he would, but then, William hadn't made him any promises.
"Many different sources of escape were discussed—"
Either way, it wasn't important.
"And eventually, one particular route was decided on."
Realizing Anderson might have finally babbled himself into something other than mindless drivel, William re-focused his attention on him as two other employees unfolded a map and he begin to go through the plan they'd decided on.
"Mr. Archangelo, myself, and 28 others—including the pilot, drivers, and S.W.A.T. teams actually loyal to Umbrella—"
Here Anderson broke off and smirked. William glared at him. On him, smirking looked like it was supposed to: cold, superior, and at times frightening. Anderson, on the other hand, looked like a spoiled child.
"Will be arriving in Raccoon at seven a.m. From there, three cars will drive to the house and both S.W.A.T. teams will be sent in to secure the scene and find Miss. Archangelo. Mr. Archangelo's car will be further accompanied to a secondary entrance to the Hive currently secured and under video observation, where he and his daughter will be taken to a secondary helicopter site and flown to California."
Silence followed this recap of events; everyone in the room had obviously been through it before.
William smiled slightly. "Not a bad plan, Anderson," he acknowledged coolly.
Anderson's smile was that of a four-year-old's who'd just been told his artwork was identical to the Mona Lisa.
It faltered when William added smoothly, "I assume this was Evan Rouhiainen's doing."
Anderson's blush answered his question, and William smirked before moving onto his next question. "When, exactly, will these events be taking place?"
"July 21st, sir."
William frowned. "Why July 21st?"
"Crawford is at a board meeting all day," a small, dark-haired man sitting across from him interjected. Looking more closely, William was able to recognize him as Crawford's glorified secretary, though he couldn't recall his name.
Not, of course, that he needed to. The man was just an employee, for God's sake. Certainly no one worth remembering.
William glared at him, his expression patronizing. "So?"
"He won't be able to—interfere," Anderson cut in hastily, obviously sensing his displeasure with the other man. "As far as risk of detection goes, Crawford's the only real obstacle to this plan, and that's the only day he'll be away from all the surveillance equipment in the Hive."
William nodded. "Fine." Glancing around the room, his displeasure evident, he added shortly, "You can all leave."
The inhabitants of the room gazed at one another uneasily, obviously wondering at his answer to the plan and afraid to ask for one.
"I said, you can all leave now," William repeated, an edge to his voice.
They left.
Obviously realizing his ire, Anderson turned to look at William, a stupidly hopeful look on his face.
William ignored him, frowning. The plan was sound, but couldn't have been chosen for a worse day.
He sighed. Well. What needed to be done, needed to be done. It was unfortunate, of course, that he'd have to miss Addison's eagerly awaited mutation, but sacrifices had to be made. Unless…
William smiled. "Anderson. How many men are accompanying us to the Hive, and how are they leaving?"
"Including pilots and drivers… 15. Seven, including the train operators, will be accompanying us, and the rest will leave by helicopter."
"Any surveillance inside the Hive?"
Anderson nodded. "Yes. For safety purposes—"
William cut him off. "Get rid of it." Leaving Anderson looking confused, he strode to the door, before stopping and looking back at him, a smile on his face. "Anderson?"
The man looked up. "You can operate that train, can't you?" he continued casually.
Anderson nodded again. "Yes, of course," he answered warily. "But sir, no more than eight people can fit into those helicopters."
William smiled at him, feeling almost sorry for the idiotic Umbrella employee. "No one's leaving on that helicopter."
With that he turned and left, pleased when Anderson fell into step behind him like a whipped puppy.
Annoying as he was, Anderson was loyal. He wouldn't be a problem.
No witnesses, no crime… and by the time Umbrella realized what had happened, he'd be off in Hawaii with Lea, sipping brandy and relaxing—hopefully—with the fresh memory of Addison's mutation to feed off of for days.
William smiled.
Other than forcing Olivia's betrayal… his work here was done.
Now all that was left was getting the hell out of Umbrella.
y
"Do you want to look beautiful? Stay young forever?"
The woman onscreen smiled widely at the camera, flipping her long blond curls back and nodding.
"The Umbrella Corporation can help you."
Alice smirked; despite the audacity at Umbrella's attempts to advertise the viruses they'd created, the video was ridiculously amusing.
Matt brushed past her, hurrying up the aisle where a film projector stood, a pale light flashing. Alice continued to stare at the screen, transfixed, as the rest of the group filled into the room and the woman plunged a syringe into her upper arm. Her expression didn't change.
"God, that's disgusting," Rain commented, nodding towards the screen. "That they actually tried to, y'know, sell all that shit."
Alice smiled slightly. "Amazing what people will pay for the price of beauty, isn't it?" she asked rhetorically, her voice ironical.
On screen, the woman's face smoothed itself out, the eyes brightening, her hair growing longer and thicker.
Rain laughed. "Hey Alice, that looks like you," she said, her voice teasing.
Alice cast her an exasperated look, but was saved from having to formulate a response by Matt, who called her name and beckoned her forward, his face lined with tension.
"What is it?" she asked softly, stepping next to him where he stood.
He glanced at her, then said quietly, "The videos aren't playing here."
Blue eyes met blue eyes; and then Alice looked up to the wall behind them, Matt following her gaze. Both could clearly see the narrow line of windows set into the protruding block of wall obviously housing the media player. Lights were flashing inside and Matt turned to Alice, saying grimly, "Someone's up there."
Alice nodded, her expression wary. "Or something."
She glanced back at the group as Matt straightened, lifting his gun, and said quietly, "We need to get upstairs."
"That's where the video feed is coming from," Michael stated, his expression curious all the same, and Alice nodded.
"Yeah. You, Rain, Matt, and I will go upstairs and take a look around; J.D and Olivia will stay and watch the exit."
Matt smiled as an irritated look passed over J.D's face, only to be quickly replaced with one of resignation as he realized he was the only sane choice to be left with Olivia. There was no way either Matt or Alice would give up the chance to search for more information on the anti-virus, Michael's skills could be needed in interpreting the files, and Rain—
Well, leaving Rain with a frightened Olivia could only result in disaster.
Michael looked slightly surprised to be going on the alpha mission instead of simply guarding, but pleased all the same; and Rain, true to her nature, had already taken off towards the door.
J.D, his expression resigned, grabbed Olivia's elbow and left for the door.
Alice had already begun to walk towards the door, and Matt hurried to catch up to her, smiling—
And stopped, his smile freezing on his face.
The scaled dinosaurs from last night—what was left of them, anyway—lay across the floor, the seats, directly beside him.
They'd been torn open, into pieces. Bubbling black blood spilled across the floor, and Matt stared at his sleeves, at the black splotches still splashed onto the blue material—
Waking up, terrified, hands covered in burning black liquid which he wiped frantically on the red seats before scrambling away in terror, staring up at the black domed ceiling as if it knew and understood what had just happened and would force him to understand the events that had just taken place—
"Matt?"
He hadn't even been able to understand what was going on, that Nemesis had regained power over him, until he'd heard Rain's voice outside—
"Matt?"
Matt blinked, then turned to look at Alice. Her blue eyes were bright with worry and empathy, and he realized she'd already seen the bodies. "Are you okay?"
He forced a smile as she wrapped her arm around his waist in a gesture of comfort.
"Yeah," he lied. "I'm fine, Alice."
y
"So what are we doing?" Olivia asked quietly, as soon as they were out of earshot.
J.D turned to look at her, smiling despite himself. "Guarding the door," he said dryly. "Just in case."
She frowned. "With one 9 m.m. and an automatic?"
He shrugged, then grinned at her. "No one's actually expecting anything to come in here," he said honestly.
"So why are we here?"
He glanced at her, thoughtfully, wondering whether he should lie or be honest with her. No doubt she wouldn't enjoy hearing the honest answer, but then—Olivia hated it when the group left her in the dark. And she could take the truth.
"Probably because they don't trust you."
J.D wasn't sure what sort of reaction he'd been expecting from her—anger, sadness, confusion? He barely knew the girl. They'd made out, yeah, and he cared about her—but that didn't mean he knew anything about her.
And Alice's news had shaken him. That Olivia had seen, had found out about Matt, and hadn't bothered to tell him anything made him wonder what else she could have forgotten to mention.
Instead of looking annoyed, or even upset, Olivia just looked confused. "Why wouldn't they?"
He shrugged, lowering his gun and turning to look at her fully. "Maybe because you didn't bother mentioning you'd found out about Matt?"
She flushed. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. J.D glanced at her, surprised at her ready apology, but waiting for her to continue. "I just—none of you trust me. And I shouldn't have listened in on your conversation, but I couldn't stand being left in the dark like that."
He stared at her closely, before saying thoughtfully, "I don't blame you." She looked relieved at his answer, and he continued. "I just don't get why you couldn't tell me."
Biting her lip, she looked at the ground, and he was struck by the automatic urge to hold her, to protect her from whatever was upsetting her. Surprised despite himself at the onslaught of feeling, he held it back, waiting for her answer.
"I was afraid to," she confessed quietly. "It's just—you and Rain, you and everyone here, you're all close. I'll always be outside of that, and I was worried you'd take their side."
J.D looked at her, exasperated. "Nobody would have blamed you for listening in, Olivia.
They might have been pissed off, but let's face it, we've all done shit like that before." He paused. "By keeping it a secret, you only made it worse."
She nodded. "I know," she said softly. "Do you think I should… I don't know, talk to the group about it?"
He grinned at her. "I'd suggest you talk to Alice. She's the most protective of Matt, so she's the one you'd better apologize to."
She laughed, and he couldn't help but smile at her, reaching out to push a stray curl behind her ear. She quieted, smiling back at him in return, and he leaned forward and engulfed her mouth with his, pulling her closer and leaving his gun abandoned by his side as well as the door behind them.
The other group would be upstairs for awhile, and until then, he and Olivia would keep themselves busy with something slightly more interesting than guarding the door.
In a way, he still didn't trust Olivia, simply because he still didn't know her that well. But he trusted her enough to know that she wouldn't ever do anything to intentionally jeopardize the group, and that was enough for him.
Whether this thing was meant to be or just a temporary hormonal thing, J.D still didn't know. He didn't over-think anything to do with relationships; to him emotion wasn't exactly something that could be explained. It was just there, and why bother making an issue out of it?
Hopefully it would last for awhile. Maybe they'd leave the Hive, and, despite all the odds, him and Olivia could find someplace to settle down once this had all blown over.
And maybe it wouldn't work out. Maybe this was just some fling that'd last the entirety of their stay down here, and then burn out again.
Whatever the case, J.D just hoped that Michael, and Olivia herself, kept quiet about it.
And hopefully, this whole thing wouldn't blow up in his face.
y
Rain was quiet, pensive as they waited back by the seats in the middle of the aisle while Matt and Alice went about forcing the door open. Her face was absent of emotion, an uncommon expression on her, and Michael waited a few minutes before finally venturing forward with a simple, "Rain?"
She turned to look at him, clearly still thinking about something else. "Yeah?"
He paused, then shrugged. "What's up?"
The apparent stupidity of the question appeared to wake her out of her stupor and she grinned at him. "What's up, Michael?"
He smiled. "Yeah."
"Well, see," she began with exaggerated patience. "Alice and Matt are going to get the mean door open so we can go inside and look for… something to do with the anti-virus."
He nodded. "Oh."
She looked sharply at him. "So what did you want to ask?"
He felt surprised for a moment, but then realized that, despite her at times impulsive attitude, Rain could be particularly observant. She rarely bothered to do so, and even when she did wasn't quite as observant as either Matt or Alice or even J.D; but then, Michael wasn't exactly good at hiding his emotions or intentions either.
He shrugged. "You've just been quiet lately," he pointed out simply.
She looked at him shrewdly, as if debating whether she should confess what was bothering her or not. Apparently deciding that he was trustworthy, she just shrugged and said, "I just don't trust Olivia. And everyone has gotten way too close to her to be normal."
He smiled softly. "Everyone, or just J.D?"
Rain's expression was murderous as she snapped, "Does it matter?"
Michael laughed, stepping back and lifting his hands in a classical gesture of surrender. "Sorry."
She shrugged, then smiled abashedly at him. "Maybe. I just wonder what other information she might be hiding from us."
Matt called them over then, him and Alice having apparently succeeded in their efforts with the door, and Rain hurried off, Michael following closely behind.
It was obvious that Rain was upset about J.D and Olivia's closeness, never mind not knowing about any actual relationship. And contrary to most people's opinions, it wasn't jealousy—she was obviously worried about J.D, and the effect Olivia might have on his judgment.
Michael could relate. Olivia seemed sweet, nice, and intelligent; but they'd only known her for two days. Hardly enough time to adequately judge someone's character.
But, he mused, as he stopped next to the three of them, poised and ready to enter the control room, there's time for that later.
Right now he needed to concentrate on what they were here to do.
Matt kicked the door in and they filed through, walking in standard positions with Alice leading, Michael following behind Matt and Rain bringing up the rear. Each held their gun at the ready, straining their ears for sound as they scanned the small room they were in anxiously.
It was dimly lit, but clear all the same that it was empty. With a bare, concrete floor and file-laden shelves lining each wall, the focus of the room fell upon the light, steel-framed staircase set into the far corner of the back wall.
Alice begin to step forward, the others following instantaneously—
And then stopped, just as suddenly, as Alice held up a hand. Straining his ears, Michael listened for what she had obviously already heard—
A steady creaking sound from the top of the stairs, coupled with a series of clicking noises.
Listening closely, Michael realized it wasn't a simple tapping of claws or even a vocal sound, but—
"A keyboard," he whispered.
Matt glanced at him and Alice looked back, her face grim.
"Somebody's up there."
They glanced around at one another once more, each person readying his or her respective weapon—
And then they hit the stairs running, moving for the element of surprise against an unknown attacker, filing out immediately when they'd reached the top.
Michael couldn't help the sound of disgust when he located the source of the noise.
Zombies lay out across the floor, bloodied, obviously shot and disfigured; except, of course, for the one remaining zombie sitting chained to a high leather chair.
It's eyes red and unfocused, it moaned hungrily when it saw them standing there, fresh meat after God knew how long, lifting it's hands from the keyboard and reaching out in a vain attempt to reach them—
And sagged as the bullet entered it's head, it's hands falling uselessly to it's side.
Michael glanced at Rain, who flicked the safety back onto her gun, her expression disgusted. "Who the fuck would chain something up like that?"
"This guy was still alive when he was chained up," Alice said softly, looking pained. "He was fed to the rest, and then whoever chained him up shot them."
Silence permeated the room, and Matt broke it, asking stoically, "Umbrella?"
Alice nodded. "Almost definitely."
She shook her head, as if coming out of a trance, and pointed to the basement. "Michael, Rain, go check the files downstairs; Matt and I will take care of the ones up here."
A smirk played across Rain's face and Alice caught it almost instantly, giving her an exasperated grin. "Rain."
She shrugged. "I'm not saying anything," she said lightly.
Matt snorted, and she grinned at him before turning and walking down the steps. Michael took one last look at the room around them, a psychotic mix of blood and gore and expensive electrical machinery, and left.
y
Past the mess of advertisements and commercials bundled into boxes set underneath the computer counsels, the top room was nearly empty.
Matt had managed to find one single box of media files, unmarked and unlabelled, which he'd dragged over to the desk where they both sat, plugging movie after movie into the machine and watching as it was splayed across the screen.
The film projector Umbrella used was top of the line, but simple to use; Matt, with an array of previous jobs requiring machinery work, had it running in less than five minutes.
Unfortunately, the files they'd found were relatively useless.
Matt wrapped his arm around Alice's waist, and she glanced at him, smiling softly. "You okay?"
He nodded. "Yeah." Smiling bashfully at her, he added, "Just bored."
She laughed. "Well, there's not much to do," she said teasingly. "Unless you find Umbrella's board meetings fascinating."
He smiled at her, wishing he knew what to say, wishing he knew what to do to keep everything still working. Alice was the only bright spot in this miserable situation they'd fallen into, thanks to Umbrella; and he still found himself unsure around her sometimes.
Alice was undoubtedly upset about last night, and worried about him; but Matt knew she'd only worry more if he tried to focus all of his attention on her.
It bothered her, he knew, that she couldn't simply erase the effects the virus had already taken on his system.
"Hey," she said suddenly, "Pause this."
He did as she asked, pressing down on the pause button.
An image of a board meeting filled the screen, and Alice gestured to one of the men seated at the table. "See him?"
Matt nodded, and she smiled triumphantly. "There's Archangelo. Olivia's unwanted contact and employer."
He took the words in, staring closely at the screen and the man she'd gestured to. Sitting attentively, his posture confident, he was an attractive man, with blond hair and blue eyes; a male version of Alice, even.
The only difference between the two was the smug, arrogant smile on the man's face and his obvious disdain as he watched over the proceedings of the meeting.
"They're discussing the incident with the mansion," Alice said flatly. "More specifically, us."
Matt stared at her, surprised, and slightly embarrassed at having apparently missed so much. "What, exactly?"
She shrugged. "Everything. You, the hidden rooms, Kaplan—"
Her voice broke only slightly on his name, and she hurried forward, forcing a painfully fake smirk onto her face. "We're all apparently 'hamsters' to him."
Matt nodded thoughtfully, glancing back at her. "He probably knows about the trip down here, if he's been talking to Olivia."
"Which means he's probably been watching us," Alice said grimly, her focus returning to the screen.
Matt hit the play button without a word, both of them watching intently as the meeting filled the screen again.
Matt's perception of Archangelo didn't change as the man's face filled the screen; if anything, his dislike increased.
"Mr. Addison's mutation has been so far kept at bay; it's uncertain right now whether any of them have detected it this far in. No plans seem to have been made over the past few days, and it's uncertain how long they'll be there," a nervous-looking man, probably a secretary or lab assistant of some kind was explaining.
Archangelo interrupted, his expression disdainful. "And has any information been leaked regarding the anti-virus?"
The man nodded. "It's still being kept in the labs down in the Hive, with top computer security."
Alice and Matt exchanged a look, Matt wordlessly turning up the volume as Archangelo continued with another question.
"And with the Red Queen disabled?"
"Still well protected," the man answered. "It's being kept in one of the basement labs, password 7-6-8-3-9-7."
"And the room number?" Archangelo asked, voice arrogant, his expression one of boredom.
The man flushed, Matt and Alice leaning further forward to hear his answer.
"Room—"
The video shorted out.
Matt shared a confused glance with Alice, stabbed at the controls uselessly—
And the video slid out of the machine, the tape tangled up around it.
"God damn it!" Alice exclaimed violently, standing abruptly and turning away from Matt.
He stumbled to his feet, surprised at her reaction, still shocked at the video's untimely demise. "Alice, don't," he said softly, wrapping his arms around her middle. "It's okay."
She leaned back into him, turning her face away. "No, it's not. We have less than a week left, and we can't even find any decent information—"
"Alice, honey, it doesn't matter," Matt said softly.
The unexpected term of endearment seemed to reach her, and she turned in his arms, pulling back slightly to look at him. "I'm sorry."
He shook his head. "Don't be. I understand."
She exhaled heavily, wrapping her arms around him. "I hate this. I wish none of this had happened, that Umbrella never existed."
Her face was blotchy and red, her eyes teary, and Matt pulled her close without a word.
Rain and Michael appeared at the top of the stairs then, both looking taken aback at the scene in front of them; Rain looked to him inquisitively, and he said quietly over Alice's shoulder, "Go tell J.D and Olivia we're leaving soon." Alice tensed briefly against him, obviously embarrassed before relaxing again as if realizing the futility of trying to hide
anything from Rain or Michael.
Rain nodded, turning and heading back downstairs. Michael waited a moment, looking decidedly awkward, before lifting a file and waving it questioningly at Matt. "We, uh, found a file."
Alice pulled away from him then, and he kissed her lightly on the forward. She gave him a brief smile, before turning to look at Michael. "Let me see."
He hurried over, and Matt came in close as well, looking over her shoulder as she flipped through it. "Anything useful?"
Alice smiled. "Codes to every single lab in this forsaken building." She grinned at Michael. "Nice job."
Michael beamed. "Glad to help," he said sincerely. "I'll, uh, go check on Rain."
He hurried down the stairs, and Matt glanced sideways at Alice, who stood clutching the papers as if they were a lifeline to her. "Are you okay?"
She turned and smiled at him, looking beautiful despite the red rimming her eyes.
"Yeah," she said softly.
And Matt smiled, hearing the sincerity in her voice.
y
Rain hurried down the stairs, wondering what Alice had seemed upset about, what newfound information they'd both heard.
Hopefully nothing serious. And the way Alice was lately, the slightest thing could set her off.
Not that Rain blamed her. It was hard, what she and Matt were going through. Matt was the one mutating, and yet sometimes Rain thought it was even harder on Alice than it was on him.
She opened the door quietly, still lost in thought over Matt and Alice. It wasn't like her to be so wrapped up in the lives of everyone around her, and it was stressing her out. She cared about Matt, about J.D, about everyone, and she certainly didn't want to lose Matt to Umbrella's fucking experiments.
But all the same, she wasn't used to being the slightly interfering, but caringly observant character. That was Alice, not her.
Rain scowled. And anyway, she had enough to worry about, with her distrust of Olivia coupled with worry for Matt.
She rounded the corner, opened her mouth to tell J.D and Olivia to clear the fuck out so they could get out of here, where Umbrella's oppressive stigma seemed to hang over everything—
And stopped dead, her mouth still open but no words coming out.
J.D and Olivia weren't guarding. Fuck, J.D and Olivia weren't even holding onto their weapons anymore.
Instead they were plastered against the wall, in the process of heavily making out, Olivia's hands under the back of J.D's shirt and J.D's hands pretty much everywhere.
For a moment Rain just stared, not knowing what to do. She wanted to explode, to demand an explanation—
But she couldn't. She just stood there, staring at them.
After what seemed an eternity, J.D pulled back, and Olivia, glancing over his shoulder, caught sight of Rain. She stiffened, and J.D pulled back immediately, whipping around to look behind him.
When he saw her standing there he paled considerably. "Rain."
He seemed to be waiting for her to say something, and yet she couldn't. She just stood there, staring.
"Rain, I, uh—"
She realized suddenly, that she was waiting for an explanation that would never come.
J.D and Olivia were together. End of story.
And he'd lied to her.
"Whatever." She halted his next words, her own voice surprising even her. "Fuck, J.D, I just—I don't care."
"Rain," he started, and then trailed off, looking at her desperately as if realizing that there was nothing to say anymore while Olivia stood behind him, looking everywhere but at the scene in front of her.
Rain just stared at him. Took in every aspect of his face, from the guilt in his eyes to the desperation in his demeanor.
It wasn't enough, and she turned and walked away.
A/N: And voila, the end to the seventh chapter :) I'm hoping for another second Friday update on January 28th; I do, however, have finals that week though, so that might interfere. I doubt it, but just thought I'd warn you :)
Again, sorry for the late update, and reviews would be lovely :)
