11. Jill

Claire had left about 10 minutes ago accompanied by Dr. Hiwamura, who had insisted on performing a complete revision to be safe. On the other hand, Claire had been quite explicit with her desire to take a bath and change into a decent outfit, as the woman evidently did not feel comfortable in her hospital gown.

Chris and company had been careful to ensure that no one knew of Claire's presence at the BSAA base. It was sad to say, but all those who might have recognized her had died in last night's attack. Considering that Mobius had clearly expressed his intention to recapture Claire, the elder of the Redfield had decided that he wanted to keep the attention as far away from her as possible.

As soon as Claire had left the room, all present adopted expressions of gravity and asked Leon to give his report of what happened. Leon was precise as he explained the details of the events that had transpired inside the MedCenter the night before. The group listened silently as the blond told them how Claire seemed to understand the creature's patterns and how she had prevented him from using their "usual" methods to fight them. He noted that Claire had led him to rely more on stealth, avoidance, and patience, rather than taking the offensive as they would usually do.

"I don't know for sure what those things were, but they certainly have a resemblance to the things we encountered eight months ago in Germany," Leon said, crossing his arms with a bitter look.

Jill did not need to be a telepath to know why the agent had made that expression. None of them had good memories about that night, and the fact of having Claire back did not change it.

"At the time, neither Claire nor I knew what we were facing, but firearms were certainly not enough to cause significant damage. I can only assume that the situation wouldn't have been different this time, and that's precisely why Claire stopped me before I tried to shoot the thing."

"But the thing died when we shot it, though…" Barry observed.

"Yeah, but Claire only told me to shoot when the sun had begun to harm their flesh. So I think that in regular conditions of no light, bullets might not be effective. Claire had known that if I used firearms, I'd just attract their attention."

"So, you are suggesting that Claire knew about it from experience?"

"Honestly, I don't want to imagine Claire fighting one of those things alone, but due to the circumstances, I can't discard that probability…" Lein said, shaking his head.

"Well, Claire certainly is in one piece, so we know who won that fight." Barry reasoned, "And under that reasoning, she might have pulled something similar to what she did this time…"

"Using the sunlight in her favor, you mean?" Jill said thoughtfully.

Barry was right. Whatever problem Claire had fallen into, she had managed to pull through it somehow. Maybe it was something in the Redfield genes.

"Claire is smart and capable. I wouldn't be surprised. However, I did notice something…"

"What?"

"She has a terrible fear of darkness."

"Darkness? Well, that makes no sense. Claire has been crawling through dark tunnels, streets, and god knew what else for a while now. Even if she had such a phobia, wouldn't it be overcome already?" Barry asked.

"Claire never feared the dark. Not even when she was younger, the only thing I know she fears with all her soul are spiders." Chris said with a frown, "Are you sure she was afraid?"

"Positive…" Leon nodded, "I had to stop her from getting a panic attack when the blackout happened, and then I saw her hesitate to move when we're making our way to the roof through the darker corridors. I don't know the cause, but she certainly fears the darkness."

"..." Chris was speechless, but Jill knew the man well enough to see that he was containing his anger.

"Fears are things that can be learned," Jill whispered. She did not want to imagine the things Claire had gone through, to make a girl who was originally indifferent to the darkness and could walk through dark tunnels full of monsters without blinking, become a girl who hesitated and panicked about crossing a dark corridor.

Leon didn't say anything. He simply nodded.

" The alarm ran on us when we were heading to the roof. The monsters didn't take long to catch on us. Claire wasn't lying when she said they were blind, they knew we were on the roof, but they couldn't tell where. CLaire used your pen to lead them straight to where the sun would reach them. And that's pretty much all I have to report…" he said, "Now's your turn…"

Jill took a deep breath and looked at the other two men from her team. Barry was sitting a few steps from her cleaning up his magnum, while Chris stood with his back leaning against the wall and his arms crossed. He seemed to be pretty much lost in his little world. Somehow, it always fell on her to do the debriefs.

"The attack on the MedCenter was deliberate. None other spots in the area seemed to be affected by anything more than the energy shortage."

"Neo- umbrella?" Leon asked, staring at her.

"No, a new group: they call themselves Mobius. They even managed to hack BSAA mainframe and send us a little message."

"Mobius? I've never heard of them. What did they say?"

Jill didn't reply immediately. She looked at Chris to see if the man was planning to make any comment.

"Claire was their target." Chris said cuttingly, "They launched the attack to retrieve her."

"What? How does sending some bloodthirsty monsters after her translate to retrieve?"

"We guess that they don't care whether Claire is alive or not." Jill explained, "Claire was obviously a subject in their experiment, and if the thing she was tested with creates things like the ones we saw on the roof this morning, then I bet Claire must have something special if she didn't turn into that."

"They only need her body. Her life is a plus…" Chris said, angrily.

It was a blunt way to put it, but as much as she'd have liked to correct Chris, she knew he was right.

"Their attempt failed, but it's a safe bet that they will try again."

"Let them come and try. I'll be ready to blow their pathetic asses any time…"

"If only it was that easy..:" Jill sighed, "We considered persuading Claire to hide, but …"

"Claire won't go into hiding. She's too much like her brother's sister. Too stubborn for their own good, and none would accept going into hiding when they are putting other people's lives at risk…" Leon said, shaking his head.

"She'd do something stupid…" Chris nodded with irritation.

"Can't she be left under BSAA protection?"

"That can be arranged, but it seems we lack capable agents for the task," Jill explained.

"Excuse me if I can't believe that."

"Right, let's just rephrase that. There are not enough capable agents that are good enough, to Chris's standards, to be assigned as Claire's bodyguard."

"I am not leaving my sister under the watch of some rookie without a single drop of experience handling B.O.W.s. Especially, if some crazy terrorist group is after her."

"Don't let Claire hear you...you make it sound like she can't take care of herself…" Barry snorted.

"Oh, I know she can kick some asses, but I am not taking chances after all that has happened."

Jill thought Chris, though a little over the limit, was acting reasonably. He had always been a slightly overprotective brother, and after losing his sister and then suddenly getting her back, it was only natural that his innate overprotectiveness went up a few stairs. She would have been the same were she in his shoes.

"Then why don't you do it yourself, Redfield," Leon asked with a slightly amused frown.

"Oh, I'd love to…"

"Our team was given some new orders. We must track down Mobius and figure out the location where Claire was kept for the past eight months. Chris barely managed to persuade Adams to let him escort Claire back home, but he must come back here soon after…" Jill explained "but you know, maybe that's the best...the last thing she needs is her brother freaking over her every single minute…" she added teasingly.

Chris rolled his eyes and said nothing. Jill had to admit, after Claire's sudden return, the team seemed to be more like it used to be. It was as if a veil had been pulled off from them: Barry was back to his usual dad jokes and Chris seemed much more relaxed.

If only you knew how many lives you influence, Claire.

"What if I do it?" Leon offered.

"What?"

"What if I take on the task of watching over her? It is not the first time I do a bodyguard job for someone, and Claire is more likable than many of the people I've had to take care of, and all you'd need to do is give Hopkins a request to put Claire under the Special Witness Program, and I can request to be assigned to the case."

"Aren't you busy with 007 stuff?" Barry asked good-naturedly.

Leon frowned at the reference. That was a recurrent comparison, and now that she thought of it, it'd been more or less Claire's fault that everyone was often using it.

"I have no mission calls right now."

"You know, that is a very good idea. Leon sure can live to your standards, Chris, and he's Claire's friend. I am sure it'd be much likable for her…"

Maybe she shouldn't have said the last part. Chris was frowning, and Jill had to make a huge effort not to laugh. Chris sure wasn't best buddies with Leon, but the blonde was actually among the top list of Chris's respected people; he would more or less fulfill all of Chris's crazy standards. However, there was a little detail that made Chris reconsider Leon's offer.

The simple thought made her want to burst into laughter. Not too many years ago, the younger Redfield had developed some sort of crush on the blonde agent; years later, and despite Claire's constant assurances that Leon and Claire were only on friendly terms, Chris's brother jealousy was still at 100%.

"Chris?"

"Yeah, right. I'd request both Adams and Hopkins, I guess," he finally replied and then looked at Jill with a look that seemed to say I hope I don't regret this later. "You do your calls, Leon. I'll do mine. I'll be right back..."

"Don't take too long. We are meeting with Claire for breakfast…"

Chris walked out of the room, and Jill was finally able to laugh, earning herself a smirk from Barry and a confused look from Leon.

"Sorry...sorry. I feel like I haven't had a good laugh in a while."

"Gotta admit there's something too funny about Chris acting like a normal person, for a change…"

"That's normal?" Leon asked with a frown.

"As normal as he can get. It's more like the Chris we knew when we were in STARS back at Racoon. No zombies, no terrorists, no viruses to worry about…" Barry laughed " Just worrying about how to keep boys and their mass of hormones away from his sister. Damn, those were good old times…"

"You're talking like an old man, Barry," Jill laughed, "but he's right, though. It was funny to see him at the time. Makes you wonder what we have turned, huh?"

Jill remembered Chris talking to Claire on the phone in his full big brother mode. She couldn't quite recall what the discussion was about, but Chris was all worked out about some kid trying to hit on Claire. Everyone had stayed quiet for a few minutes just to listen to his blabbering about pulling out a background check before Claire could consider dating the boy.

"Chasing off boys from Claire…" Leon mumbled, " I think I remember Claire telling me something like that, but what does it have to do with all this?"

Jill tilted her head, wondering if she should tell him. It was in the past anyway, so it sure didn't mean anything. Claire had been a young girl at the time.

"Oh, it's just a little bit of brotherly jealousy."

"What?"

"For Claire. She sort of had a crush on you when she was younger, and Chris still can't get over it." Barry replied, and Jill glared at the old man. Leave it to the father of the group to spill out unnecessary secrets. Barry definitely didn't know what the Honor Code for a girl's secret was.

Leon was definitely surprised by the revelation. It was kind of cute to see him looking so confused, and she could tell why Claire would feel attracted to him. Some years ago, the man would have been the apple in the eye of many girls.

"Anyway, we should get going. Claire must be out of the check-up now. We should go to meet her." Jill quickly said before Barry could spill any more of Claire's secrets.

Luckily, Leon didn't seem to try to dig more information from them. Jill did see a hint of curiosity in the man's face, but he quickly replaced it with his usually stoic face.

I wonder what he thinks of Claire.

"You guys go ahead. I still need to make a call. I'll catch up later…"

"Don't take long. Barry is paying after all…" Jill said, walking to the door with a smirk. He probably deserved it. At least he owed it to Claire for telling Leon her little embarrassing secret.

"Hey, when did we agree to that….?" Barry complained.

Jill laughed and pushed the door open as she enjoyed the little piece of normalcy.