AN: Things are starting to build up a bit with Alana and Chris… and it's not good. Let's find out what he's got on his mind. ONTO THE STORY!
11:00 am the next day
RPD Alpha Team Office
After lunch yesterday, things had gone back to normal as the team returned to the office and to their routine. Alana had sat quietly in Wesker's office, waiting for her guardian to finish his work before going home with her. And now it was Friday, the day the team had been waiting for. Meaning no PT sessions with Bravo and no shooting practices either. And also, paperwork was minimal. What the team did on Fridays was just hang around the office, sometimes acting like little kids, laughing and sharing jokes or stories with one another. Even Chris got into it, hanging with Barry and Joseph at one corner of the office. With Alana now with them, Jill took the girl to her desk and promised to teach her how to draw.
"I already know how to draw, Miss Jill," Alana said, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"But how would you like to draw better?" Jill smiled back at her as she took out a sketchpad and showed her some of the well detailed drawings she had. From a simple sketch of a bird, yet with more details, to a face drawing of Rebecca Chambers, the young medic for the Bravo Team. She also showed her a drawing of the sunset at Raccoon Park, which amazed Alana to no end.
"That's so cool!" she said in awe.
"How about it? Want me to teach you?" Jill asked, getting an immediate nod from the little girl. Satisfied with her answer, she gets out an empty sketchpad and some pencils. "Just follow me as best you can, ok? No one's perfect, remember that."
Wesker watched from his office with a smirk as Jill and Alana began to draw together, giggling occasionally. 'Jill makes a good mother. She's grown attached to that girl… as have I,' he thought to himself as he observed.
"Knock knock!" Forest came in, carrying two dozen donuts, a dozen in each box. "DONUTS!"
"Sweet!" Joseph hurried over and taking the boxes, he sets them on his desk and opened them up and the team began to help themselves. As Alana reached in… the box suddenly closed on her hand, Chris glaring down at her.
"STARS only, kid," he spoke in a low tone. "Ask someone else. These are for us." He added, eyeing her with a spiteful look. He didn't want her touching anything that would end up in his system. He didn't trust her not to be contagious or something. Anything to keep her away. He might barely tolerate her presence, but he wanted her nowhere near anything he might use. Or eat.
"Chris!" Jill yelled at her as she came over to Alana, who had began to tear up again. "Stop that! She's just a kid! Let her have a donut!"
"No… it's ok… I'll just get something else…" Alana sighed and looked down before starting to head for the staff break room, hanging her head a bit. However, Joseph stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder.
"No way, chica. If you want one, you're free to have one. Don't let what that idiot says get to you," he said before guiding her back to the box of donuts and grabbed one, handing it over.
Chris cursed under his breath and scowled at Joseph. Ignoring everyone, he went back to his desk, slipped on his headphones and got back to his paperwork, still muttering away to himself. Wesker sighed and shook his head, taking off his sunglasses and pinching the bridge of his nose, annoyance clearly showing on his face. He was trying so hard not to lose his temper with the short tempered Redfield. Alana now sat in Wesker's office, happily now munching away at the glazed donut. Jill shook her head at Chris; she was getting so close to snapping at him, but she knew if she did, she could get in serious trouble.
Finishing off her donut, Alana licked her fingers and used a napkin to brush off her lips of the sugary glaze. Looking out the office, she caught Joseph's eye. "Thank you, Joseph!" she chirped at him with a grin.
"No problem, kid!" Joseph shot her a thumbs up before going back to chatting it up with Barry at his desk.
Now going back to Jill, their drawing lessons continued… until Forest sounded the alarm. "Grinch! Grinch!" The call sign for the impending arrival of the Chief.
Hurrying to place the donuts away so Irons would not see them, the team went back to their desks as Alana ran back into Wesker's office and sat down on the sofa, sketchpad in her arms with pencils in her pocket. However, Irons ignored their office and passed by. This caught Chris' attention and he got up from his desk. Going over to the door, he peered out and watched the fat bastard waddle down the hallway. He seemed to be in a hurry. Finding this suspicious, Chris darted out and followed the Chief, though at a distance to avoid being detected.
Someway up ahead, Irons was speaking a rather one-sided conversation with a man Chris didn't recognize. This man walked over to the statue in the middle of the hall and placed a large red gem the size of a fist, into its hand. He then moved two smaller statues that had apparently been delivered onto two pedestals either side of the larger statue.
A click sounded and the large statue's hand clenched, locking the gem inside its palm. Chris was puzzled by this. Why would Irons do this? What was so special about that gem that he'd go to such lengths to conceal it? He quickly dashed back to the STARS office before Irons noticed him, then relayed what he had seen with the others.
"A jewel?" Jill asked of him as he got curious looks from the team.
"What would Irons want with a stupid gem?" Joseph piped up, crossing his arms, raising an eyebrow.
"Hell if I know. It looked like a ruby, about the size of a fist. Irons sure seemed pretty protective of it. Wonder what he's planning to do with it?" Chris wondered aloud, thinking to himself. "It seems like a complete waste of money to pay for something like that, unless he meant to use it for something... Man, Irons just gets weirder every day."
"No shit," Barry spoke, rubbing his bearded chin.
Inside the office, Alana was wondering the same thing. What would Irons want with a jewel? Looking to her guardian, she piped up to Wesker. "Wesker, why would Irons want a jewel? And why hide it?"
Of course, he knew exactly why. There were two of those gems, and they were part of an elaborate scheme to hide the keys to Irons' hidden section in his office. However, he couldn't reveal this knowledge to any of them. Not even Alana. Wesker shrugged, indicating he knew nothing. With a sigh, she shook her head at the others, signing that neither she or the Captain knew why.
"It's gotta be important if Irons is going through such lengths to hide something like that," Joseph said, rubbing his red clothed head, brows furrowing.
Though the STARS had gone back to work, the others were still wondering what was Irons trying to hide. 'Too bad I can't read his mind,' Alana thought to herself as she played with Lancelot on the floor of Wesker's office. She then felt her stomach rumbling and she stood to her feet. "I'll be right back Wesker. I'm going to get something to eat," she says before tottering off to the break room.
As Chris watched the little girl depart from the office, he knew it was time to make his case known to Wesker about Alana. He had to get him to see that her attitude could be fake. Getting up from his seat, he made his way to Wesker's office. He would knock three times and upon his permission to enter, Redfield stepped inside. "Captain, I need to talk to you."
"What is it, Redfield?" Wesker asked, not taking his eyes off his paperwork.
"It's about Alana-" Chris began, but the Captain held up a hand.
"I don't want to hear any complaints about her being here. You've done enough of that as it is," he says, glancing up with his eyes slightly narrowing at him.
"But Captain... what if this is attitude Alana has is a fake? A ploy? She said that Umbrella experimented on her... what if this is a trap set up by them?" Chris shook his head, placing his hands on the desk.
With a sigh, Wesker took off his sunglasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Chris.. Alana has been through enough without you thinking she is just an act to get us to lower our guard." Slipping his shades back on, he looked up at him fully. "You need to stop this and grow up. She is only a young child who has been through a major ordeal."
"But Captain! This could be a fake from her! She's probably waiting for us to lower our guard and then WHAM!" He pounds a fist into his palm. "She'll get us all! We don't know what she's capable of!"
"ENOUGH REDFIELD!" Wesker barked back, bolting up from his seat. Outside, Alana was just coming back when she heard the arguing. "One more negative thought about Alana and you will face consequences!"
"Oooh, I'm so scared, Captain," Chris scoffed. "Don't come crying to me when that little rat offs you all! She's a freak! An unknown!"
Once more, Alana's heart jerked as her entire body began to shake... with anger. As Chris walked out of the office... a blast of psychic power sent him rocketing halfway across the office and making him slam onto the floor. An unopened bag of chips would drop to the ground as Alana's hand was outstretched, eyes glowing with bright green light.
As if Chris needed any more proof in his mind, that was the final straw. "Alright kid. You've attacked me for the last time. Irons is going to hear about this!" He shouted angrily, picking himself up and nursing a bruised rib. "You've pushed the line too far now!"
"STOP THIS!" Jill cried out, but Barry held her back, not wanting her to get caught in the crossfire.
That was when Alana turned her wrist a bit and Chris felt as if he were being choked and lifted off three inches off the ground. Her power flowed around her, making her hair dance as if she were underwater. Chris clawed at his throat, trying to remove the invisible hands holding him up. That was when Alana let it all out. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH, CHRIS! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO MEAN TO ME?! I TRIED BEING NICE TO YOU, EVEN APOLOGIZING TO YOU! AND THIS IS WHAT I GET?! I HAD THE PEOPLE I RAN INTO BEFORE YOU GUYS CALL ME A FREAK! A MONSTER! AND I AM GETTING SICK AND TIRED OF IT! ESPECIALLY FROM YOU!" she would holler before slowly closing her hand, tightening the grip on his throat.
"Y... You... GAAH!" The grip tightened more, making the retort he was going to say die out quickly.
"This stops now! DO YOU HEAR ME CHRIS REDFIELD!? This. STOPS! NOW!" Alana yelled out before slamming him into the wall, creating a small dent in it.
Struggling for air, Chris managed to get enough oxygen to scream back "If you kill me now, all you will achieve is proving to every witness here that you are exactly what you say you aren't!"
"It's people like YOU who make me feel this way! Why can't you just leave me alone?! I don't want to hurt you, but if you keep calling me a monster, you're going to get it!" Alana screamed at him and prepared to use her power again.
"ALANA ENOUGH!" Wesker intervened, wrapping his arms around her. All fight died out of her as quick as it came and broke down crying in his arms. Wesker shot a death glare at Chris while holding the crying girl. "You've done it now Redfield. When I am done taking Alana home... I want you in my office by the time I get back," he spoke in a cold tone before picking up Alana and carrying her out.
Chris coughed heavily in response, picking himself up once again. Rubbing his throat, he called to him "This isn't over, Wesker! I ain't done with her yet, not yet by a long shot!"
"Dammit Chris! What the hell has gotten into you!? Have you lost your mind?!" Joseph yelled now once the Captain had gone. He was steaming mad from the insults Redfield threw her way.
"Chris she is only a child! That was wrong in what you did!" Jill lectured next, pointing an accusing finger at him.
"Oho, and her attacking me isn't just as bad?! Why do you keep defending her? The law doesn't care how old you are, you break the rules you get punished! You, Wesker and everyone else are intentionally ignoring the law! If Irons learned about this, whether I told him or not, we'd all be fired and arrested ourselves. I lose this job, my sister loses her place in College. And I can't feed her. Nothing, NOTHING, matters more to me than Claire's well-being. Letting that kid walk free is threatening Claire's livelihood. I refuse to accept that! Now get out of my way!"
"Are you fucking nuts Chris?! Are you saying she should've been thrown in jail?!" Joseph growled, about three seconds away from throwing a punch to Chris's face, but someone beat him to it. But it was not one of the guys...
WHAM!
A right hook came from Jill, striking him clear across the face. "How dare you Chris! We know you need this job, but I am sure your sister would think the same when I say you are being a HUGE asshole right now! Calling Alana a threat?! Really Chris?! I thought you were better than this. But all I see right now is ANOTHER IRONS!" she would yell back at him at the top of her lungs.
Chris said nothing, wiping a bit of blood from his mouth. He stared at Jill, slightly shocked for a moment. He regained his composure and replied softly "For a former master thief, I would have expected a different reaction from you."
"Chris, this needs to stop! Alana is just a little girl who just lost everything! I thought you would know that pain of losing family. But instead you are acting like a complete douchebag! And I speak for all of us and Alana when I say enough's enough!" Jill snapped back at him, hands balling into tight fists. "Do you take pride in picking on innocent little girls Chris?! You've really sunk low. You're no different than how Irons treats others..."
"Ouch..." Joseph muttered to Barry, who nodded in agreement.
"And you, Jill, are a fool. Child or not, even you have to admit, she's dangerous. Even if say nothing to her, it's clear to everyone here that she is unstable. But of course, you don't give a fuck about that. The only thing you're giving a shit about is my attitude. And you say I'M low..."
"Because you are making it worse Chris! We're trying to help her and here you are, throwing insults and trying to make her look like she's the problem. She is not the problem! YOU are the problem!" Jill said before slapping him hard across the face. "And I'm getting sick and tired of you treating her like an outcast!"
"I'm the problem? I'M THE PROBLEM?!" His face contorted with rage, anger building up inside him as he almost towered over Jill, drawing himself up to his full height. For a moment, it really seemed like Chris was going to hit Jill.
But he didn't. Calming down, he closed his eyes and said "Fine. You know what, if that's what you really think of me..." he reached his hand up, not to hit her, but to grab his badge. He ripped it off and tossed it into the office. It landed on the edge of his desk.
"I quit."
He turned his back and walked away. The badge on his desk fell off, and hit the ground with a resounding thud. The rest of the team stood there in shock. Chris was quitting, after all that talk of taking care of Claire?!
"Chris, what about Claire?! What about her college, man?! You can't just walk away like that! It'll hurt her!" Joseph called to him.
"After all that talk about taking care of your sister, you want to shatter her dreams?!" That was when Jill marched up to Chris, yanked him around and socked him hard in the jaw, sending him to the floor.
"What do you care? You don't want me here, that much is clear. And it seems to me that you guys care more about that child than doing your job..." Chris spoke, wiping away a bit of blood.
"I've had it, Redfield!" Jill yelled out before pouncing on top of him and began to wail on him like no tomorrow. Barry immediately jumped up from his desk and began to try and pry off Valentine, but she just pushed him away and continue to rain down punches on Chris. She had it with Chris. Every day he threw insults at Alana, her anger grew. And now it was at its boiling point.
"Jill stop! You're going to kill him!" Joseph yelled, jumping up and went to help Barry.
But Chris, despite everything he had done, still had some semblance of honor. He refused to fight back and took every hit like a man. Not once, did he lift a finger. Not to hit back, not even to defend himself, he just laid there with his 'partner' on top of him as she continued to pound him into oblivion. The boys continued to try and pry off Jill, but she just kept wailing away, even after blood started to appear on her hands. By the time they finally got her off, Chris was not moving...
"Holy shit... CALL AN AMBULANCE!" Barry shouted, seeing that Chris was barely breathing.
Jill's eyes widened, shock overcoming her blind fury before looking down at her bloodied hands. "Oh my god... what have... I done...?" she whimpered as she backed away from the bloody scene. Chris was a bloody mess, his face almost unrecognizable. Laying in a pool of his own blood, he was barely clinging to life.
"...J...Jill..." an almost inaudible whisper reached her ears. He weakly reached his hand out to her before he lost consciousness, his hand dropping to the floor.
That's when Cadet Leon Kennedy came running down the corridor, having heard the commotion. "Holy shit! What the hell happened here?!" He said in shock, looking at Chris' motionless form and the blood all over Jill. He grabbed his radio and yelled into it. "OFFICER DOWN! I REPEAT, OFFICER DOWN! I need an ambulance here, ASAP!"
It was all a blur of motion for Jill and by the time she would blink, Chris was placed into the ambulance on a stretcher before being whisked away to the hospital. Wesker had come back and heard from Barry what had happened. Stepping inside with the Alpha Team, Jill was now in the break room, looking down at the floor, trying not to look at her blood caked hands.
"Jill... what happened?" Wesker would ask in a calm tone.
Jill just shook her head, not wanting to speak of what happened. So Barry stepped in. "Chris and Jill got into a big argument and he threatened to quit because we took Alana's side rather than his."
"He was acting like a complete asshole and Jill just started beating the shit out of him," Joseph would add in.
Wesker would sigh; he couldn't say he had it coming. Chris was overdue for a beatdown for how he treated the poor girl. When he had brought her home, the tension in her was so great, she threatened to break a few of his things if he hadn't calmed her down. But hurting a fellow officer, sadly, could not be overlooked. Looking towards Jill, who had tears falling down her face, he spoke. "Jill, as much as I know Chris was due for an ass kicking, hurting a comrade cannot be overlooked. I'm afraid... I'm going to have to place you on suspension for 3 months."
"... I know..." Jill replied, hanging her head more.
The Captain placed a hand on her shoulder, knowing what she was feeling at the moment. She didn't mean to almost kill him, but at least to her, it was off her chest... but nearly at the cost of Chris's life. "Once you've calmed down, why don't you go see him?" She made to retort, but a held up hand stopped her before she began. "I know you don't want to right now, but in time... I think Chris would like that. I know you didn't mean for this to happen. You were angry and that is understandable. Right now, you need to leave. This will also give you time to clear your head, alright?"
Jill could only nod before standing up from the couch. Barry came over and gave the woman a warm hug, which she returned as she broke down what seemed like the fifth time. He rubbed her back, making shushing noises. "Calm down, Jill... don't cry..."
"But he almost DIED because of me! Oh god, I'm so sorry!" Jill sobbed.
"Valentine, settle down." Wesker's hand returned to her shoulder before turning to Barry. "Why don't you take her home? I don't think she is in a stable mind to drive."
"Yes, sir," Barry would nod before wrapping an arm around Jill and escorted her out of the office.
In the ambulance heading to the hospital, an unconscious Chris began to have subconscious visions about Alana, the experiments, his behaviour and perhaps most important of all, Jill. Her face when she'd seen what she'd done was... heartbreaking. Even in his state, his mind was aware and knew it was his fault. Everything that had happened was all because of him. He'd become the monster he accused Alana of being. In that moment, despite being out cold, a tear slipped down his battered face.
He had been wrong all along.
What a way to end the chapter. Things were bound to come to a head. Find out what happens next time on RESIDENT EVIL: FALL FROM GRACE!